🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Does anyone else think Bill uses the pre-season and to some degree the conference season to manufacture close games and those anxious moments in games where it's set point and they must get a stop or get a bucket to pull out the victory? This could be why he has more close games than a lot of coaches, and he is VERY good at winning them because his teams have a lot of practice at it.

Specifically, it seems like he loves to tinker with substitutions, especially when the Hawks are on an offensive roll. I don't think he likes KU to run away with a lot of big victories because he believes that not nearly as much is learned or experienced in a comfortable 15 point victory.

I think he prefers to create those "anxious moments", as he calls them, late in games because of the mental benefit for the players come tournament time.

One thing I don't understand is why he changes his use of words for post-season when talking about how the team needs to prepare for the NCAA tournament. Once the Big 12 tournament is over, he says things in the media like.. "we need to play loose with a free mind", etc. I think it actually hurts the team's attitude when he changes his message prior to NCAA tournament games. I think the team would play better if he would keep the message consistent with prior to a game with K-State or Oklahoma, etc.

@DoubleDD Mueller is just letting Donald stew in his own juices for a while. It's the best way to keep him in check for now. Mueller knows fully well that it takes 2/3 senate vote to get him completely out.
Trump's striving for full dictatorship. If he were to win the 2020 election, top of his agenda will likely be a constitutional amendment to remove term limits for POTUS. Mueller knows what he's doing in this situation.
And ironically, the longer Trump stays in office without getting an impeachment, the more it hurts the Republican party. If Donald goes all the way through this four years, the blue wave in 2020 will look like a tsunami compared to the one we just witnessed for the midterm. Republicans need him out of there asap, but they are too intimidated by him to stand up for themselves. Classic budding dictatorship scenario.

Benders poor accuracy is the main problem with his game. In my opinion, the placement of his throws is not good enough to keep him in the game getting snaps. If you look closely at the Rutgers game, his throws, even if they were caught, were off target causing the receivers to lose the opportunity for YAK when they did catch the ball.

Kendrick is the way to go moving forward.

@mayjay sounds like Joe Monaco has already played that card. But it's not nebulus enough to be effective :)

These days, all KU Athletics needs to do is say the magic words in a tweet... FAKE NEWS!

I watched his press conference, he could not make a statement as strong as that without it being true. No lawyer would advise him of that. Rather, if he was truly guilty, he would go away and have his lawyer make statement for him, ala Rick Pitino.

So, that means that either ESPN or the federal government is going to get sued by U of A. Or perhaps both. I read that ESPN is standing by their story, so does that mean that the Feds lied to ESPN about the wire tap, or fabricated a wire tap?

This is going to get very interesting!!

Is it possible that someone high up in our federal government didn't get selected for the grade-school kickball team, and as a result has a strong distaste for athletics in general, particularly ones of a physical nature? And in an attempt to take his ball and go home, he is going to attack the organizations that support and foster the participants in these activities by crippling the organizations publicly and financially. Perhaps the assault will begin with basketball, then quickly move on to football and baseball, gutting the integrity of the institutions and wearing down the AD's, coaches and players to the point of capitulation.

When Bill Self says he is worried more about our sport than the University of Kansas, is it possible he is referring to the unknown of how persistent the federal government will be in running the "non-profit" institutions and athletic departments out of existence, more in favor of the Grand Canyon University formula of for-profit, and publicly traded university and Christian school? Is it possible that one failed "University" in particular is part of the ax to grind with regard to non-profit universities?

After another year or two of "investigations" into basketball, football, etc., will it be possible to pay these AD's and coaches enough to stay in that realm of college athletics? Whether or not the investigations turns it's teeth to football will say a lot about the determination of one spurned young man with the possibility of revenge on his mind.

I would argue that Huggins is neither a "terrific coach" nor does he possess "one of the country's great dry senses of humor". I would characterize him as sarcastic and insulting, but not a person with a witty and dry sense of humor.

With all the talk about hot seats, are we about to get our big-man assistant coach back in the Phog? I'm not sure Wake Forest will tolerate another year (record) like this one. No doubt Bill will find a way to get Manning back if he becomes available.

@Statmachine What's the theory behind drinking apple cider vinegar to raise the pH in the bloodstream and organs? Are there other ways to effect pH in the body?

Hi Statmachine, I am also a believer in eating properly to prevent and cure diseases. An excellent book is "It Starts With Food" by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. They recommend eating paleo, that is removing grains from the plate. It's hard for many because grains are the food that give us that full feeling that us mid-westerners are so addicted to achieving at every meal. They also cite the ease of which we are able to fill our carb tank with a grain based diet. It puts the body in a state of never thinking it needs to burn fat because it can never work through the carb tank to ever get to the point of needing to burn fat. In the book they talk a lot about gut health and solving those problems with what we put on our plates. I have had many positive effects from incorporating ideas from that book.

That's interesting stuff about pH and viruses, I will look into that.

I definitely see what you guys are saying. But, I would be totally glued to the TV if that line-up were to ever be given a go. I think Mitch could handle the three position with his active legs and three point shooting potential. Is he still shooting 50% from trey? Out of maybe 6 tries? :)

OK, so I'm salivating at the thought of Dok, Silvio and Mitch on the floor at the same time. Mitch playing the wing and sliding Svi to the 2-guard with, of course, DG at the point. That's some serious height and rebounding. Also block city for opponents getting around our tall guards on the perimeter.

I'm not a fan of Huggins, personally. He is a classic bully on the sidelines, constantly berating the refs and complaining about calls... always the victim, his team is. I've never seen refs so afraid to make calls as when watching Huggins teams play. They tend to swallow their whistles and allow a ton of arm slapping at the ball, which they end up letting go.
Huggins complaining rubs off on his players and they complain to the refs constantly on the floor. Huggins is also a sore loser as he's shown so many times throughout his career. Even last night he had a sneer for Legerald Vick in the handshake line.
Not an ounce of class in Huggins.
He has to play the gimmick style of pressing, ala Mike Anderson, because of his inability to coach the game any other way. He doesn't value the offensive prowess of a well-coached big man. As a result, he will never attract a NBA caliber big man to WVU as long as he stays with the press Virginia gimmick.
The dude's just bad for the sport of basketball. I think Bill Self buddies up to him because Bill knows how to beat guys even before they play. Sort of like Bill coaches his bigs to score before receiving the ball in the post.

I watched most of the Kings/76ers game last night. The Kings were behind by double digits, then Frank came in and dominated the game as the point guard. Dished, lifted his teammates, and also scored a career high of 16. No way the Kings win that game without him.
He has some kind of torso injury because he was wrapped and in warmups toward the end of the game. Otherwise, he is their closer and would've been in there for the last 5 minutes or so.
Funny, I was watching ESPN Sportscenter this morning just to see what they said about the game, because I couldn't hear the announcers at the sports bar where I was watching, but Frank was constantly in the camera and was no doubt getting compliments from the announcers. But the "highlights" on ESPN didn't say a word about Frank or show his killer plays. Once again, ESPN was clueless and missing the summarizing that game. Very disappointing ESPN. Frank was a freaking stud out there and toyed with Philly's guards. And it's obvious that the King's bigs love and prefer to play with Frank at the point. Fun to watch!

Looks like Billy Preston stands a good chance to win the starting 4 spot. After the game, Townsend had nice comments for Garrett. He did look good, particularly on defense.

@Crimsonorblue22 Thank you! Just signed up!

Could someone please post the link to where I can subscribe to watch the game today?

We need a good quality leaker ala White House staffer to get us some info on what is going on in practice!
Did Whitman break Lightfoots nose?
Did Dedric throw a punch at Dok?
I can't believe the LJWorld staff can't find out what's going on in practice. C'mon Keegs and Tait, get the scoop on Slug-gate!

So would you create content (podcasts, blogs, video) or just maintain a location for presenting those created by others/media, etc.?
I like the idea of podcasts because I love to listen to that stuff while I work in the yard and such. Jayhawk podcasts especially.
In my opinion, a good podcast doesn't have to be professionally produced, polished, or have high profile guests, it just needs to be somewhat entertaining and informative.
By the way, is anyone going to Italy?? I was trying to make it but it's just not coming together for me. We could use some serious commentary from anyone going over there. We have basically a brand new team (even DG will be mostly playing a different role). This would be a perfect time to kick off some amateur podcasts!!

A couple of months ago, I posted the message below about Bill Self's change in demeanor come tournament time. It seems appropriate to bring this up again now that we are repeating our Groundhog Day for KU fans.

In light of the comments below, if the game against Oregon was a conference game, say against Oklahoma or KSU, Bill Self would've called an early time out and tore into the team for the sluggish start. Instead, he coddled them and didn't coach them the same as he does during conference.

Previous Post:

Have any of you noticed that Coach Self seems to have different ways of motivating the team when it comes to tournament games relative to conference games? Not sure if it’s my imagination or not, but when it comes to tournament time, Self spends a lot of time talking (publicly anyway) about how the team needs to "play loose and with a free mind".

We rarely, if ever, hear him say something like that during the regular season. Instead, he says things like he did this week where he called out Vick and Bragg in the locker room before the game. During conference he prefers to put pressure on the players in a masterful way so that they are peaking for the difficult road games and turning down the intensity before easy home games. Sorry I don’t have more specific examples to cite here at the moment, but over the years I have noticed a definite shift in his coach-speak when the tournament starts up.

I don’t know if I would call it coddling and I also obviously don’t know if his “play loose” comments are just for the media/public while he is coaching them in the locker room and practice like they are going into Manhattan with the B12 championship on the line. Whichever, he doesn’t seem to be able to get the team anywhere close to the killer instinct that the team possesses both at home and on the road during the regular season.

If somehow Coach Self could get the team to believe that the jerseys on the opposite team read K-State, Baylor, or West Virginia, you can bet many of those disappointing losses in the first or second weekend of the NCAA tournament would have been W’s.

I’ve also noticed that his sideline demeanor changes and is more mild mannered during tournament games. He smiles more at the players and goes easier on them in the huddles. Again, maybe trying to get them to not play “tight” but actually sending the message that it’s OK to lose. During conference games, he almost never smiles and is always chewing someones butt, even if they are winning by 10 points.

Landon Lucas is just plain bad. Bad defense, bad offense, and bad body language. No quickness, no hustle, no emotion, no intensity.

Svi was not aggressive at all. Shied away from driving it. That really hurt us tonight.

That pretty much sums up the WVU loss.

Have any of you noticed that Coach Self seems to have different ways of motivating the team when it comes to tournament games relative to conference games? Not sure if it's my imagination or not, but when it comes to tournament time, Self spends a lot of time talking (publicly anyway) about how the team needs to "play loose and with a free mind".

We rarely, if ever, hear him say something like that during the regular season. Instead, he says things like he did this week where he called out Vick and Bragg in the locker room before the game. During conference he prefers to put pressure on the players in a masterful way so that they are peaking for the difficult road games and turning down the intensity before easy home games. Sorry I don't have more specific examples to cite here at the moment, but over the years I have noticed a definite shift in his coach-speak when the tournament starts up.

I don't know if I would call it coddling and I also obviously don't know if his "play loose" comments are just for the media/public while he is coaching them in the locker room and practice like they are going into Manhattan with the B12 championship on the line. Whichever, he doesn't seem to be able to get the team anywhere close to the killer instinct that the team possesses both at home and on the road during the regular season.

If somehow Coach Self could get the team to believe that the jerseys on the opposite team read K-State, Baylor, or West Virginia, you can bet many of those disappointing losses in the first or second weekend of the NCAA tournament would have been W's.

I've also noticed that his sideline demeanor changes and is more mild mannered during tournament games. He smiles more at the players and goes easier on them in the huddles. Again, maybe trying to get them to not play "tight" but actually sending the message that it's OK to lose. During conference games, he almost never smiles and is always chewing someones butt, even if they are winning by 10 points.

Any Sports Psychologists out there?

The announcers last night were comparing Josh to Wiggins, and like drgnslayr, I like Josh's more all-around game much better than Wigs. Also the intangible, Josh seems much more aggressive and willing to be a court leader than Wigs ever did.
In the loss to Stanford, that final play where Wigs backed away from taking the last shot and instead deferred to Frankamp, is etched in my brain. Also etched was Bill Self walking off the floor after that game. He was furious (presumably) with Wiggins and tearing into one of the assistant coaches. To be able to hear what he was saying would have been interesting.
Doesn't seem like Josh will pull that same kind of disappearing act.
I like this years team a lot and think our bigs will start to produce once we start making it a priority to feed the post. Dok must keep moving forward and getting more and more minutes. His offense and rebounding already look the best of the bigs. His defensive footwork needs some time, but his shot blocking is looking decent.
So far, Dok is giving more effort than the others. If he can keep progressing and improving his footwork and defense, we should be ready to dominate conference play.

@jaybate-1.0 Hi Jaybate... I wish you were my boss and/or wife :)

@Crimsonorblue22 I might do it just for the jersey!!!

@Crimsonorblue22 Yes, even you can try out for $300
https://dleaguetryouts.nba.com/FAQs.aspx ↗

@Crimsonorblue22 I'm just wondering... do you think that was really the plan from the time he left? Or has he exhausted all paths to play for a reputable D-1 school in the Northeast and then decided to go D-league, maybe from an invitation from one of the D-league teams. I still don't think it's a given he will make a D-league roster unless he got drafted and was sent to a team by the NBA team.

I'm just curious how the thought process all went down for Naadir. To me, this sounds like a Plan B.

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/07/09/report-naadir-tharpe-to-turn-pro/ ↗

Wow, that says a lot about the manner in which he left the team. Doesn't this have to mean that he had no good options in the East coast?

I'm not buying the statement about not wanting to sit out a year. Going to the D-League is hugely risky behavior in his situation (not regarded as an up and coming talent, and, like the little article pointed out, he was very inconsistent in his time in Lawrence). Also, he was pretty bad at running the point and he is undersized for a 2 guard by pro standards. For these reasons, I think he must have had no decent options. It's sad but again I think this decision says a lot.

From the lack of options, and that now he states that he doesn't want to sit out a year, I think we can only conclude that he basically got fired and shown the door by Self. And all of the talk about him wanting to get closer to his daughter in New England was he and Bill saving face. He could end up in any city in the D-league.

Amazing, I don't think I've seen a player basically get fired, or at least not have any options.

As a former Jayhawk, I wish him the best.

Isn't the problem with that Rock Chalk Talk site that they just have some goofy little intro and then post a bunch of links to KUSports.com and CJOnline.com? All flash and no substance. (They do have some decent photos on the front page though)

Unless they intend to change their format and allow some real journalism to take place on their site, I don't see why anyone on here would go write for that site. If they want to upgrade their substance, they should say so in their advertisement. Their site is the polar opposite of this site.

I just find it odd that they don't observe these differences in their ad. It's like going to the DNC to hire a Republican campaign manager (or vice versa).

@Crimsonorblue22 He was at CSU for 5 years or so and took them from absolutely horrible to the NCAA tournament (beat Mizzou and lost to national champs Louisville in 2013). Before that I think he was at NDSU and was always upsetting D-1 teams.

Tim Miles is the best young coach in the game right now. He doesn't get a lot of press right now, but in a couple more years, everyone will have heard of him. I'm not sure he is KU's type of coach, and Zenger is not enough of a visionary to go after someone like Miles, but he would be an awesome hire.