🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@REHawk wow, i cant imagine anyone roasting Kruger for hackaDoke, where did you see that? ...why would anyone roast him? It was a brilliant, timely tactic when nothing else was working for OU the whole game...they never really closed the gap, until several empty KU possessions in a row.

@JayHawkFanToo I think Self is the best coach KU has ever had. But I’m only speculating if perhaps he learned something by the way the KU OU game played out.

I want #14 almost more for Self and his legacy, than I do for myself or us fans, because he will have crafted it. Thats the macro view. But Udoka’s FT woes are unbelievably maddening, considering what’s at stake. We’ll see how this conf race plays out, we’re still in driver’s seat.

@JayHawkFanToo I like your points. But, as this particular B12 starts to near the halfway point, to me it is far far beyong next-day bragging rights— leave that to the KSucks of the world, let them rush their court at Sherrontagon-o-gloom if they pull the upset...what we are chasing this season (#14), is one for the ages, a record that may stand for 30+ YEARS, like UCLA’s has. Getting an L in the fashion we did, we can’t afford an L, not with this flawed team.

Just imho, any 1 game now matters most: All those years of gutting out OT wins against TX, WVU, OU (Hield), EJ39 game at ISU...all kept the streak going.... To lose the streak before owning it outright over ucla, would be a shame. So to lose a game by giving it away late, simply magnifies what’s at stake.

@HighEliteMajor hit this topic 100% correct. That Udoka photo of his retarded FT form, is just horrific. Literally, I’ve never seen such bad form on any level of bball, even down to jr high level. Its just moronic that a storied program’s alumni & fans, and its $52mil HOF coach have to waste time cussing & discussing Udoka FT form.

Every future KU opponent just took note of how & when Lon Kruger did what he did...

Scout on KU 2017-18: Defend the 3, no sagging...and Hack-a-Doke.

Part 2: Of course the BIG f—king elephant in the room is Doke’s riduculous FT shooting release. Has anyone in ever seen such nonsense.

So he’s played for only 3-4 yrs, which translated, means we cannot let that FT release get ingrained, teach him better, rt now, before it gets ingrained.

Sorry, Im old school: ANY of his coaches ought to physically imitate/mock his FT release right in front of whole team in practice gym, and ask him wtf that is, and if he’s EVER seen any pro or college player shoot FTs like that?!

Whats the real problem, when we are forced to concede we shouldnt have our 5star McD 7ft 270lb center in the game late? Why?

Udoka isn’t stupid, he just saw Self take heat from media & fans about leaving him in. He saw KU take a loss because of him. Maybe he needs to be told he’s hurting his NBA stock with that weakness. Whatever happened to spending hours on your game, by yourself in the gym. Now is time for Norm Roberts to lose sleep, stay up with Doke for LateNite in Phog v2.0: shooting 1000 FTs until he F’n figures it out!

Jeez, a whole generation of kids got it, trying to imitate the best, “Be Like Mike”, etc, and we saw Embiid practicing Olajuwon’s dream shake, and used it at KU (vs NMex). But we’re talking FTs. How many months has KU coaching been watching this kid shoot his stooopid FTs?

Trae had below avg game for him, OU was down most of the game, and critically they were down 10 with 3-4 min left. KU played Trae better than most all opponents this season, yet...?

The KU coaching fail on Doke’s FTs predated this game, and they share the blame with Doke. This loss is on him.

Okie, Dokey? (laughingstock). A chance to make history, yet we watch our royalty program pull this ignominious L. I’m eating some crow, as I admit Landen Lucas would’ve outperformed Doke on the FT line.

We can argue about Self leaving Doke in (agree Lightfoot should have been in!!!)

Someone tell me just what offense we are running with Doke + Vick standing off in far corner past 3pt line (to make foul on Doke an intentional foul, I get that, but what offense comes with that weirdness?). All it does is force NotMason to dribble drive 1 on 3. Credit Lon Kruger for disrupting KU offense late. He got our Okie, with his Okies, down in Okie....(now for part 2):

Loved the post! If we ever suffer a sustained reduction in the quality of our own product we put out on that hardwood, we wouldn’t be doing justice to the Fieldhouse either. Kudos to this coach for stirring up the Phog to the current level of Phrenzy. Lotsa banners have kept AFH’s relevance at the forefront.

RCJH

Dixon/TCU got Trae’d!! That kid is something, I’ll root for him whenever he isn’t facing KU. Must admit its a bit more special he stayed to play for his home team. We’ll see what Self cooks up to slow him down

@HighEliteMajor Yep, notice very late when KC switched to the “46”defense, they were getting heavy pressure on Mariota...maybe thru injury and age, our base D scheme no longer suits our personnel. This was not the KC D of 3 yrs ago. But then the KC O had a worse Oline, hurt Jamaal, and an aging Maclin WR. Prior to that it was the draft bust Dwayne Bowe era.

I also remember Trent Green‘s superbowl caliber offense getting wasted by a bad D, back under Dick Vermeil from 2000-2004, losing playoff shootouts, because couldn’t stop opponents.

Look, yall, USE the IowaSt game to explore what each of us various KU people see, when talking analytically. We arent all the same, we graduated with different majors from KU (or are just KU fans, its all ok!), and we may even think very differently politically. Thats simply what America is.

Me personally, I’m having trouble seeing the current lineup get as far as we could if we got the 2 bigs eligible, although we all know it will take 3-4 weeks for them to become real contributors. Im the maddest at the NCAA, giving KU the shaft again!!

Again, differring views ARE what make this board tick. We should be ok with that. Many of us have played or coached at whatever level, so we are going to have basketball opinions, right? And why be just cheerleaders, when the actual KU cheerleaders are far, far better looking, I’d guess...

At the end of the day, we all want a KU WIN...

@jaybate-1.0 Lots to consider for sure. Recurring themes regarding mil-industrial complex stretching back to WW2, heck, even to WW1. Sophie+ArchDuke Ferdinand getting assassinated was only used as a catalyst to start the Great War, the war to end all wars...oops, but history repeats, but greed is an innate human quality.

This is simply why there cannot be a utopia, but people can waste their lives dreaming, but then your 70-80-90 yrs are up...

Appreciate input from other KC watchers here. Thanks to @HighEliteMajor for that chart...I’m also excited about Mahomes. But the other half of my post is, to me, more about why KC is sitting at home: bad D stats. And for the middle of season, had dinged up O line, so Alex got eaten, which wont help his tendency to bolt the pocket. KC is a flawed team.

And that nicely diagrammed Pittsburgh pass rush that several teams including Titans did to KC game after game that KC can’t seem to recognize...

Umm...topic change regarding IowaSt game: Franny Frashrilla is the BIGGEST Cyclone cheerleader there is, jesus...! He cant help spewing that stuff, basically whole 2nd half...

@jaybate-1.0 Ha, yes, but I’m not liking the taste of this distillery so far. I was sooo disheartened seeing warriors like Frank&Josh go down last year, that in October I watched the entire 6 game dvd set of the KU 2008 Tournament run, and now we are watching this particular squad and its lack of Selfian attributes.

Taking away our 3 ball completely exposed how bad our post play is.

I’m a gut feel eye test guy. We played 4+1 last year, and yet I trusted that team, despite laboring with Lucas.

Does anybody here trust this team yet? I don’t. I see a Roy team, get fired up mostly only on 1 end of court.

So, speaking of Roy, they actually won a NC last yr by defense, rebounding, despite Justin Jackson trying to shoot em out of the gym. What a lesson, but not for Roy, as shucks, they’ve gotten beat couple of times by joke teams this season already. We recall that pattern, those of us old enough (always drop an inexplicable game or 3 every year). Shucks, we’re somehow in that style of play this year, and really it is mostly due to factors beyond Self’s control.

@KUSTEVE You could be correct, as we know you cant geek em up for every opponent. But that ISU game wasnt fun to watch, was it? Except for the last 60sec. Cannot call it a “nice” win. Nobodys arguing that a conf W isn’t important, we are more worried about trying to judge & prognosticate based on team performance. Their play gives little confidence to have any predictability for their next outing.

There’s that little matter of uncontested layups for how many games now? Amped or not.

Well...just ask any KU fan about the eye test, not the I/me/we test: B12 Champs goes thru WVa, and possibly OU, as WVU beat OU with a clever disruption of how OU attacks. Anyone think KU defense is capable of doing that to OU? And how will we handle WVU without Frankian handles, and looking/playing gassed in 4th period already, prior to PressVa?

We had cartoonish turnovers from Devonte & point blank layup misses late vs Clones at home. ISU is proven nonfinisher, we just let them answer every run KU made, we made slightly less gaffes late than them.

Don’t bet the wife on #14, as watching her get rode out of our own barn could be very unsettling.

Alex Smith just had 1 of the best seasons by a KC QB going back to 1961. Statistically speaking, leadership, off field. Toughness, throwing blocks at age 34...

Remember every starting NFL QB is 1 hit away from season ending injury. See Carson Wentz. That could be Alex or Mahomes, u nvr know.

Keep Alex as backup to Mahomes. Or keep him as a starter. He wants a SuperBowl too.

KC season in a nutshell: horrific D stats, for the season, ZERO pass rush. Cant win in playoffs without above-avg D. D needs overhaul BAD when all its stars (other than Peters) are 30+.

ALEX FAILED BY KC D. The Alex-haters in KC can simply sit down, shut up, watch some other team in playoffs advance & maybe learn something.

I agree with QB bootcamp guru, analyst , and former SuperBowl coach Jon Gruden who said with a chuckle: “ha, I’d keep Mahomes on the bench another yr”.

@chriz We all share your frustration. 4+1 isnt Self ball. Billy (Preston) is sitting because of his/mom/agent’s mistake with that godforsaken POS Charger (sorry, I’m a Mopar guy who thinks only real Charger is the iconic ‘68-70, current 4dr shld nvr been named Charger).

And so Billy (Self) is making sure any outside party’s mistake does not tarnish KU, himSelf, etc, which as the Streak can attest to: is bigger than any 1 person. The biggest taint on John Calpari is his vacated seasons at UMass and Memphis. As much as I find Cal’s on camera persona entertaining, I don’t want Self going down that path. There is a core genuineness and integrity to Self that is appreciated across the sport.

Billy Preston, like Cliff, Diallo, Bragg, CJGile, JRGiddens...is expendable, but hopefully not...

Best regards to him.

Seriously, the BIFMDog Award is still lockdown by Frank...he put that crown at an even higher perch than where Sherron or RussRob left it. Notice I refrain from using the term lockdown with any of current roster, although DTae & Garrett are reasonably close...

Meanwhile, we about to get BoomedprettySoon by Trae Young, as he tries to slice, dice, dime, & shoot us to death, be it in OK, KU, KC...(might as well add Africa...). Does anybody think our 4-5 guards can do to OU what PressVa did to OU? (I didn’t think so, but we can hope.

No nervous laughter from me, as I wouldnt want the numerals “14” to come flying out of mouth and get lost between the crevices of our own bleachers at AFH.

@JayHawkFanToo 100% agreed. I honestly thought this B- version of the CyClowns was going to get us in AFH. Svi looked lost on D, too often caught in no mans land. Opponents shed like sheep our defenders with simple ballscreens—another “fleecing” in AFH, no less. We hit key 3s only to allow the Clones to answer every KU run. This is ROYball (score 90s, pretty transition, not a lick or “shuck” of D, & get beat when shots not falling, & watch Self get beet). Self ball 101 for this team is that bball is played on both ends of the court, “make the other guy ugly on offense”, to quote Jankovich in about 2007, quoting Bill Self.

Im so sick & tired of this circus sideshow of bigs who cant play for whatever reason. Its like we only get to window shop them, don’t actually get them. Even Embiid was a test drive only.

We are also reminded tha true alphas just arent dime-a-dozen. Rebounding by committee can very easily degenerate into “oops, I thought he was going for that rbd”. Eventhough we lost to Oregon, Frank & Josh battling for same rebound shows the mentality they were wired with. I love Garrett but he’s just a baby yet. Adding DeSousa and Preston completely changes this team, the rotations, the energy level, and both onball, offball, & rim defense. More height by natural post players could help quick, as its more natural for them in the post play game.

My first comment seeing the thread title might’ve been a snide comment like “none”, but then I recall the lack of depth & the fact Devonté may be dinged up. But then we recall we played 4+1 last year also, and we witnessed just how tough TheRealBIFM was. As was Josh Jackson. Newman, Garrett, Sammy on steeeep learning curve. Malik may have just turned the corner.

Maybe we get Preston & DeSousa playing, then maybe a certain 7ft, 270lb kid would consider playing like a junkyard Trex? Right now, he strikes fear in exactly no one. Getting sealed off on rbds and for opposing layups. Not a OAD, not living up to that level of performance yet.

Best tidbit I heard from TV announcers during Stanford game was that Self was really getting after Billy Preston in practice...now just how excited should I be to hear Self is trying have him as ready as possible...?

@Texas-Hawk-10 But dont you think Jr/Sr version of Lightfoot could be like those 6’8 Wisc guys of recent seasons? I keep hoping that would be his ballpark ceiling..

@HighEliteMajor Perfect summation. Lightfoot, to me, is a 3/4 tweener, & still developing. Outta position at the 5, agree. But at least he’s an athlete, compared to our 1 big last year.

Mitch Lightfoot attempting to 1-hand tomahawk jam on top of people told me all I need to know about him...let him develop. There’s all sorts of “6’8”, just like there’s various 6’4: Brady vs Malik vs EJ vs Langford...

I see some logic on both sides of this debate.

What about a 32team March Madness, instead of 64+4? Or would that be a OAD/big-program fest? Far less cinderella runs. Far less no-namers, although that has been part of what defines 'Madness'...

Very high on Garrett's potential. So far, the best newcomer on the team. His D is far ahead of his own offense, at this point, and also far ahead of everyone else's D (other than possibly Devonte).

I'll go throw up behind the fieldhouse if Shaka can get those TX frosh to play better D/more 'havoc' than Self's collection of basketball curiosities...

Personally, I think Lightfoot can play a little bit. He's got a knack for blocking shots, he's got range out to 3, although probably not encouraged in a tight contest. Obviously he is by no means a finished product. I've always referred to him as a Wisconsin-type 6'8 combo 3/4.

Im still learning to read Malik. So I'll give him more time to show us what everybody was raving about in the practice gym...show us.

@drgnslayr Agreed, great idea. Or he could watch tape of Keith Langford (6'4 slasher), Tyshawn (as others have mentioned, specifically Sr year, unguardable), and of course Sherron and Frank Mason, who is killing it in the NBA. Frank flies and glides.

I had a friend comment to me that Malik isnt using any vertical. He doesnt look like Tyshawn or Frank driving to the rim. I was under the assumption he came with a description of "slasher/scorer", and was working on his 3pt shot. Well, I havent seen much yet.

Dont worry about Malik getting flak, while Svi and Vick skate by--Nope: Svi and Vick deserve just as much flak as Mr. Newman. Garrett plays better D than anyone on the team, which is a statement on many levels, not all of them good for Self's current baling wire+duct tape concoction of a team.

Dang it, cannot figure out how to get some Husker cheerleader pics to post here (saved in Pictures on windows desktop)???

I hadnt ever set foot in Nebr prior to 2016, for a job opportunity. Now that has turned into a fulltime job offer I cannot refuse, which means a TON of driving...as in a 4 hour commute about 5 times/month. I must say the people rural Nebr are very nice. Not much different than KS or OK, frankly. Sure, they root for different teams, mostly the Huskers, and Broncos, Packers, and some Chiefs fans. Seen a few Jayhawk shirts around also.

Women pretty much just like KS (gotta love the midwestern honeys).

@HighEliteMajor Indeed, it is. Time to cuss/discuss the Jayhawks...well, mostly cuss the lack of D. Usual 'soft' comments from Self.

I must admit, my enthusiasm has definitely taken a hit the last 2 years. Watching 2 alpha dogs, Mason and Josh...lose to Oregon was an extremely bitter pill, especially after watching the 6-dvd set of the 6 game 2008 championship run. I keep waiting for a new 'standard' to be set, still hasnt happened. Current team has their work cut out for them.

Saw highlights. Looked fun. Why arent there more games like that?

Pounding Nebr into submission, if that's what happens, is still hard to call a "get-healthy" game. Defensively this team has a ton of ground to cover. Getting some of the bigs eligible will help. Cunliffe to give a few mpg of rest for the guards will help.

These guys let no-namers from ASU blow by them, pick their pocket, and also let those 6ft guards shoot over them. Repeatedly. Almost dropped a 100 on us in AFH, no less. We score 80+ and still lose. Shades of RoyBall. Certainly not SelfBall. A perfect example of why the trackmeet philosophy is flawed, imho.

Look at UNC's NC last year, they actually won the NC by playing a grinder, and with defense. I didnt know they had that in them.

Dont bail out these guys by going zone. Put scrubs in for 5min, and then put the starters in to labor on D all game long to come back from 10pts down. That's one entertaining way to teach 'em...

Ineligible players, transfers, walk-ons actually playing. A football player suiting up shortly, possibly...Is this a sign of something??

Need him.