🏀 KuBuckets Archive

4 freshmen and a sophomore on the floor now, not working too, not even waiting for the under 8 timeout.

Big Dave in

@approxinfinity I'm ahead of her

I'm at the game, watching Garrett on offense, he's not a shooter, knows it, but he is a great facilitator of offense even without the ball in his hands. Garrett moving without the ball sets up a lot of positive things for the rest of the offense.

Kubie said:

Mitch and Garrett are both better topics! How about Garret playing point?

I've been on board with Garrett running the point for awhile now, even before Doke's injury. Garrett has the best A/TO ratio among the guards, it forces defenses to have a man on him and it would free up Dotson to get him open looks from 3 because Dotson is who KU needs to get more open looks for. Devon Dotson is the best shooter on the team. There's a lot of Devontae Graham in Dotson's game. Dotson's 3 point shooting is the most underutilized aspect of KU's offense. Taking the ball out of his hands and letting him be the screener in pick and pop situations with Garrett would get Dotson a lot more open looks from 3.

@dylans Isn't a video what cleared Bragg when he was accused of domestic abuse?

Video may also confirm the legal punishment Pooka is recieving is a fair and doesn't warrant being kicked off the team.

@kjayhawks Vick has ALWAYS been a streaky shooter. Best case scenario for KU is that he gets on a hot streak in the NCAA Tournament

BShark said:

Texas Hawk 10 said:

Agbaji finishing on the floor over Grimes in his first game...WOW!

Kid can defend, Grimes can't.

Didn't say Agbaji was bad or Grimes was good, just surprised Agbaji actually finished because I definitely wasn't expecting him to look as good as he did tonight.

Agbaji finishing on the floor over Grimes in his first game...WOW!

truehawk93 said:

@Texas-Hawk-10 I like the Dotson/Garrett in idea, but in reality, that's just it. Dotson is more of a threat and keeps the D guessing. You put Garrett out there and the D will simply pack in the lane daring Garrett to shoot.

I would have his butt in the gym shooting 50 arc shots a day. He needs to hit a minimum of 20/50 or better before he leaves. I would add Vick and Grimes to that shoot around too.

The defense wouldn't be able to pack the paint like that with Dotson and Vick on the wings. Dotson is going to be a very good 3 point shooter, but he's not where he do what Mason or Graham did to create their own shots. Dotson needs to be set right now. Defenses that pack the paint with Vick and Dotson would regret that decision because Garrett with the ball would create more space on the perimeter for our only good shooters to operate and get off open looks.

If defenses still pack the paint, Garrett can drive for a layup, he can make those, or a kick out to open Vick or Dotson or a lob to Dedric for an easy basket.

@approxinfinity Devonte didn't learn how to be an alpha dog. When KU had that military guy come in for a couple of days during boot camp Devonte's freshman year, he Devonte was the best natural leader on the team as a freshman.

The reason we didn't see the alpha dog from Devonte until his senior year was Mason. Part of being a good leader is knowing when to defer leadership and Devonte deferred to Mason until Mason was gone because Devonte knew KU didn't need two guys filling the same role while he and Mason were together.

Play Garrett at point, get Dotson off the ball. Dotson is KU's best shooter, but he can't get his own shot yet on the perimeter. Dotson and Vick on the perimeter without the ball will force defenses to respect their shooting because they're the only two who can consistently make an outside shot. Garrett is a good enough passer and protects the ball well enough that him running the show could actually open some stuff up inside for Dedric and for Grimes to drive which it seems like the light has come on for him finally.

At least we're not Nevada getting blown out at a bad New Mexico by almost 30. Calrton Bragg had 9 points for the Lobos tonight.

As bad as KU looked, I still don't think ISU is a real threat to win the league. They don't shoot that well and I think they're 5th or 6th best in the league. I think Tech, OU, are all better right now and KSU with a healthy Wade is better. Not saying ISU is a bad team because I think they're a tournament team this year, but they really didn't impress me that much today. This game was much more about KU playing they're worst game in years than ISU lighting them up.

I think the B12 is a 6, maybe 7 depending on Texas, bid league this year. I think Tech and KSU (with Wade) are built the best to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament this year, but I still think KU wins the regular season title. I'd put money on Tech in B12 tournament.

ISU sped up Dotson from the get go and KU never recovered. The only reason the game started close as long as it did was because ISU was missing their shots. Once those started falling, KU was done.

@approxinfinity Vick has never been a dead eye shooter though. He's always been streaky. Dotson is one that can be a dead eye shooter, but he needs to be off the ball more to get more open looks.

Garrett needs to start over Vick and run point and let Dotson play off the ball. Dotson is better off the ball and Garrett is better when it's in his hands running the show.

This is the worst I've seen KU look from start to finish in a game since the TCU "Topeka YMCA" game.

@KirkIsMyHinrich Didn't say Dotson was worse than Vick, just Dotson's worst game this season.

Worst game by Dotson and Vick and Dedric all season.

Self's gonna get T'd up at some point before the game is over.

@BShark Hurt wrist yesterday, Self basically called Doke out for not toughing it out today because he thought Doke could play today.

Garrett needs to start over Vick once Doke comes back.

Cut the turnovers way down and KU wins this one.

wissox said:

This looks like a junior high game, no offense to junior highers.

None taken, it definitely looks like one of my team's games.

I'm surprised more teams haven't just packed the paint against us like ISU is. Offense has been ugly for the most part outside of Grimes driving.

They are sloppy as hell so far today.

I don't get the ISU love from ESPN. I've seen them a couple of times on TV and haven't been that impressed with them.

@BeddieKU23 I know a person who has already pled guilty to the charges against him has very little reason to lie about what he's already pled guilty to.
He's not trying to save his own ass or throw others under the bus like the other two were.

Based on the circumstances, I have very little reason to doubt Gassnola's testimony regarding that money so I'd put it at 95% that Silvio's guardian got that 60k from Under Armour.

@BeddieKU23 Under Armour paid Silvio DeSousa's guardian $60,000 before Silvio played college ball. Gassnola had zero reason to make up the $60,000 from Under Armour because he had already plead guilty. He wasn't saving himself during his testimony, he was ratting everyone else out to reduce his punishment for cooperating with the feds.

The issue with Silvio's eligibility is at least $62,500 in impermissible benefits. Just because that $60,000 wasn't from KU or to influence Silvio to KU doesn't mean the NCAA is going to ignore that $60,000 and pretend like it didn't happen.

Silvio's college career is done.

McLemore just isn't a good enough shooter to be a valuable piece to anyone. He was never a good ball handler, he wasn't an elite defender so I'm honestly surprised he's still in the league considering he came into the league with a reputation as a shooter, but he's only a 35% career 3 point shooter. He just doesn't offer much else if he can't make shots.

Mason's problem is twofold this year. The biggest issue is that DeAaron Fox has really come on this year so Frank's minutes will be limited because of that as long as Fox is still in Sacramento. The other issue is that Mason's shooting has be ice cold this year. He's sub 40% overall and only at 20% from 3. He's not helping his case for more minutes. He's someone I think will get traded because there really isn't a need for him in Sacramento.

This is not simply $2,500. If was just a matter of the $2,500 for the online class, Silvio wouldn't have missed a minute this year because that money would've already been paid back. Silvio's eligibility also involves the $60,000 Under Armour paid to get him to Maryland. I have no reason to doubt the testimony of a man who pled guilty to his charges and said that he was in the process of giving Silvio's guardian another $60,000 to repay Under Armour, but couldn't do so because of the announcement of the investigation. Silvio is never going to be cleared because the money tied to his camp is a minimum of $62,500 in impermissible benefits based on my understanding of this.

The next time anyone see Silvio DeSousa play a meaningful minute of basketball, he will be wearing a professional uniform.

KUSTEVE said:

@jayballer73 I think there are times we look like an NIT team. We're going to look ugly when we shoot 4 for 21 from 3. I would personally like to see Devon shoot 10 3s a game, but that is probably not going to happen. The good news is Q seems to be coming around. Vick is Vick, so he is going to have games where he is the best player in America, and others where he looks not so good. I am still waiting for one complete good game, and hopefully we can get that at some point.

Also, last year's team never played a complete 40 minutes at any point in the season.

@KUSTEVE Nobody should be taking 10 3's a game for this team. This team shouldn't even be taking more than 12-15 3's total for a game. The problem with Dotson shooting 3's is that he has to be wide open and since he's the primary ball handler, he doesn't get many of those looks.

The way Vick has been playing recently, I would actually sit Vick and start Garrett and let Garrett run the point. This minimizes Garrett's weaknesses on offense and let's both him and Dotson play where they're stronger at. Garrett is at his best on offense when he is facilitating the show and I think Dotson is better off the ball than on the ball on offense. Garrett averages more assists per 40 min (4.1 to 3.7), has a lower TO% than Dotson (12.4% to 18.6%) and has a much better A/TO ration (3.0 to 1.4).

With Garrett at the point, you can run stuff to get Dotson open spot up 3's with pick and pops, Dotson would also get a lot of easy lay ups off of pick and rolls and that hides Garrett's weaknesses on offense because teams will have to play on him if he's running the point instead of shading way off of him when he's off the ball.

@Crimsonorblue22 Self pulled Doke shortly after the first time OU intentionally fouled him and Doke didn't come back in the final 4 minutes or so because of that.

Doke has actually gotten worse this year at the line and is absolutely a liability on the offensive end in close games because of that. I think we'll see more of that strategy this year from other teams in the league as well because it works. Teams can bring in a bench guy to guard Doke and ear up the fouls and be subbed out on offense.

@HighEliteMajor Dotson is faster and quicker than Mason was. Dotson is also lightyears ahead of where Mason was as a freshman. If Dotson stays for all 4 years, doubtful, he'd likely have just as good, if not better overall senior season than Mason. The one thing Mason was better at than Dotson is now is 3 point shooting.

Did DeSousa's guardian return the money he got from Under Armour? If not, then we're talking total benefits of over $60,000 which means DeSousa won't play college ball again anywhere.

In the NCAA's eyes, it's not simply the $2,500 for the online class, it's also the money reportedly given to persuade DeSousa to go to Maryland as well. I'm not going to hold my breath on DeSousa ever being officially cleared to play.

@FarmerJayhawk Also keep in mind that most cord cutting options like Roku, PSVue, Sling and others are not true a la carte options yet, they offer different packages based on similar type of programs such as premium movie channels, sports, travel and cooking, and options like that. Getting a conference network into those line ups as part of a sports package is what each of the conferences needs to do. The B12 is out in the cold on this because they don't have a conference network because of the Longhorn Network which ESPN doesn't want to roll over into a B12 Network which would the smart move on their end since the LHN isn't available everywhere because they won't do a deal with Comcast. Make it a B12 Network and Comcast would pay the price ESPN wants.

I really do believe one of the P5 conferences is going to die during the next round of realignment which is coming in the next 5 years and it's going to be the B12 because the lack media markets outside of Texas that anyone cares about.

@FarmerJayhawk If TV value is the issue, then the B12 is the one that's in trouble because there isn't a top 30 TV market outside of Texas. The B12 has two top 30 TV markets in its footprint, while the P12 has 9 top 30 TV markets.

Online distribution of games is still a long ways away from being the primary method of distribution. Even the NFL games are also still broadcast on major networks along with NFL Network.

That's more where online streaming of games is at now and that won't change anytime in the near future. The P12 already has a conference network unlike the B12 which gives them a leg up on distribution of games over the B12.

justanotherfan said:

Texas Hawk 10 said:

@justanotherfan I know everyone keeps ripping on Shaka, but he'll be fine until 2021 when Texas finally gets their new arena. That's when they'll care about basketball and wanting to be good.

Texas may very well finish top 3 in the conference this year

Don't see it happening this year. If they do, it'll be a multi-team tie a good ways back of Kansas and Tech. I don't see them being better than 5th or 6th this year. I know they blew out KSU late, but KSU is bad this year.

@justanotherfan Keep in mind, when a conference gets that big, you don't play everyone every year in football because of the divisions.

In P12 for example with 16 teams, you would have two 8 team divisions. Let's say you keep the 9 game conference schedule, that's 7 games in your division and two non division games. The divisions would be split between the Central and Mountain time zone schools and the other division would be the Pacific time zone schools. In a set up like that, you're talking one game a year where the west coast teams leave their time zone.

For the other sports, you could easily split into four divisions based on region and play your region twice home and away and the rest of the conference once. For example, you could put the 4 California schools into a region and they play each other twice and the rest of the 12 teams once. That gets you to 18 conference games where you play everyone at least once.

In non revenue sports, keep the 4 team regional divisions, but you may not play every division every year depending on the number conference games that sport typically plays. In baseball or softball, you would only play 3 of the 4 divisions and rotate which one you don't play.

It's a workable situation with proper planning to minimize stuff travel and time zone issues.

mayjay said:

@justanotherfan Do you think coming from a relatively comfortable background with two high-caliber athletic parents could have dulled any fiery need to succeed in Wiggins?

No, as other said, Kobe and Mahomes grew up without need so that has nothing to do with Wiggins personality. He's a type B personality which was on display at KU as well. That KU team lacked a lot of leadership for the amount of talent on that team and was why they underachieved so badly. That team may have been the most individually talented of the Bill Self era, but that was also his worst team because that was a group of individuals and not a team.

@justanotherfan I know everyone keeps ripping on Shaka, but he'll be fine until 2021 when Texas finally gets their new arena. That's when they'll care about basketball and wanting to be good.

@Woodrow The B12 will disappear before the P12 because Bob Bowlsby has been reactive instead of proactive in realignment talks. Larry Scott is at least actively trying to improve the league instead of waiting for others to make moves. The P12 did go big during that first round of realignment, but didn't want to deal with the LHN. Longhorn Network is the only reason the B12 exists today, otherwise Texas, Texas Tech, and Kansas would be in the P12 today with Colorado and OU and OSU would be in the SEC along with A&M and Missouri. ISU probably would've ended up in the B10 along with Nebraska.

Most people don't realize how close the B12 was to being killed off in 2010 under Dan Bebee who was even more reactionary than Bowlsby is. Bowlsby blew expansion by only adding two programs instead of 4 or 6 and really blew it by ignoring a Louisville program that wanted to join the B12.

Larry Scott is a much better leader than Bowlsby and that's why the P12 will survive instead of the B12.

The reason the Memorial Stadium renovation is such a priority now is because of the upcoming conference realignments that will happen as the B12's grant of Rights deal nears expiration. If the B12 wasn't in danger, KU wouldn't be doing what they are to try and improve their football program top to bottom.

FarmerJayhawk said:

DoubleDD said:

Texas Hawk 10 said:

@dylans The B12 is at it's best when Texas is good. It's not a coincidence that the B12's on field decline coincided with Texas struggling, by Texas standards, for most of the past decade. Texas being good is good for the B12 because it's easier to recruit in Texas when UT is good. The SEC has dominated Texas recruiting for awhile now because of UT's struggles.

The B12 needs UT to reclaim the DFW area in recruiting from the SEC and at least be 50/50 in Houston with the SEC.

Even though UH isn't getting a B12 invote anytime soon since they're showing everyone how not to attract a P5 invite, I've always believed adding them would be big for the B12 for recruiting purposes because Houston is an SEC city and the SEC schools (mostly A&M and LSU) have dominated Houston recruiting for the better part of a decade. UH doesn't change it overnight, but it gives other B12 schools a strong foothold in the city to build relationships with area coaches.

Do you think the Big 12 would add schools? I'm just not seeing it. To be honest I think the Big 12 conference's days are numbered. Could be wrong though.

Not unless the PAC-12 becomes open for business and the Arizona’s, CU, and/or Utah want a new home. They’re in much worse financial shape than the Big 12.

The P12 isn't going to be the conference that disappears in the near future. It's going to be the B12 because ESPN and Fox want to get down to 4 major conferences, which let's them expand the playoffs to 8 with ease, which let's them screw over the Group of 5 conferences.

What's going to end up happening is the B12 is going to get carved up with most teams going to B10, P12, and ACC. The goal for the networks is to have each conference have at least 16 teams because that sets up the conference title games as quarterfinal games. We'll probably even see the SEC raid the ACC to get to 16.

Fox already has the B10 and P12 title games while ESPN has the SEC and ACC which makes the TV side easy to set up as well. Fox would keep the B10 and P12 title games along with one of the semifinal games and ESPN would keep the SEC and ACC title games along with a semifinal game and they would alternate the national title game.

Don't be surprised to see something like this happen in the next 10-15 years as the B12's TV deal expires in a few years and the CFP's deal expires shortly after that. The B10 is already trying to expand to 8 teams and if that happens, one of the major conferences will disappear and it will the one based in flyover country, not the west coast.

@DoubleDD The B12 was actively seeking to add teams last year, but ESPN and Fox flat out told the B12 no because they wouldn't modify the B12's TV deal because none of the rumored schools added value. Those rumored schools were Houston, Memphis, Cincinnati, and UCF with Houston and Cincy being the two frontrunners.

UCLA was 1263-682 (.649) entering this season excluding the Wooden years. It also took Wooden 15 years to make UCLA into UCLA.

Although their 12 year run in Wooden's final 12 years is the most dominant in major college sport history (cheating or not), that is essentially their history. They're a good program, but they're not an elite program. That three year run Howland had with Love and Westbrook on those teams was the best run UCLA has had outside of Wooden in their history, but even he couldn't sustain that.

Charlotte got asses kicked last night by Dallas.

@dylans The B12 is at it's best when Texas is good. It's not a coincidence that the B12's on field decline coincided with Texas struggling, by Texas standards, for most of the past decade. Texas being good is good for the B12 because it's easier to recruit in Texas when UT is good. The SEC has dominated Texas recruiting for awhile now because of UT's struggles.

The B12 needs UT to reclaim the DFW area in recruiting from the SEC and at least be 50/50 in Houston with the SEC.

Even though UH isn't getting a B12 invote anytime soon since they're showing everyone how not to attract a P5 invite, I've always believed adding them would be big for the B12 for recruiting purposes because Houston is an SEC city and the SEC schools (mostly A&M and LSU) have dominated Houston recruiting for the better part of a decade. UH doesn't change it overnight, but it gives other B12 schools a strong foothold in the city to build relationships with area coaches.

Wake Forest is the hardest job in the ACC. It's the only NC school not in the Raleigh-Durham area and has the least to see to recruits. Duke and UNC are Duke and UNC and NC State has a couple of titles in their history and play in a professional arena (Carolina Hurricanes) so they have that to offer recruits.

Wake is away from all of that which means it takes a very special coach to win there because it's the toughest job in the ACC.