🏀 KuBuckets Archive

The simple reason why this team doesn't blow a lot of bad teams out is depth. This is probably the second shortest bench Self has had at KU, amd the reality is it takes a lot of energy to keep up the pressure to blow out Big 12 teams on a nightly basis. Self has decided this year that allowing KI to build up a 10-15 point lead then slack a little is the best way to conserve energy throughout the year. When teams get up to a 20-25 point lead early, a lot of teams check out mentally and the comeback starts, they can't refocus. Keeping the leads in 10-15 point range means the lead isn't big enough to mentally check out on so they have to stay engaged. There's always the risk of that plan backfiring like it did against ISU, but there's also no foolproof plan either.

The 2007-08 team could runaway from everyone because Self had the depth to play fast all the time. This team doesn't have the depth to that even before the UA injury. This team has to find ways to conserve energy during games because Mason and Lucas especially are going to play 35+ mpg the rest of the way fouls permitting.

The only commit I have any concerns about flipping between now and December or February (there's a new rule proposal that could allow all kids to sign in December) is QB Clayton Tune. I'm not concerned about any of the Louisiana kids flipping unless Hull gets a HC offer somewhere. Tune however did not have any other offers yet, but was drawing interest from UT, TAMU, and OU who could be possibilities to flip Tune if the decide to offer him.

KU needs to slow down. Playing way too fast and making a lot of stupid turnovers playing too fast.

It is Nelson Jenkins I was referring to. I was sitting in line at a drive thru so I didn't have time to post details. Jenkins is the 7th commitment for KU in 2018 so far and the 6th from Louisiana. Jenkins was actually not part of the group that was up for junior days and made his commitment without even taking an unofficial visit to KU. It was all word of mouth with the others who committed and Tony Hull is probably the early favorite to win the Broyles Award this year at this point for the efforts he's putting into cleaning house in Louisiana for the Jayhawks.

I don't have time to update at this moment, but KU landed another Louisiana kid today. A 3 star DT so I'll update that later tonight.

@justanotherfan Here's the thing with Corione Harris and Devonta Jason. They were previously committed to LSU and both decommitted from there. They both already had offers from Alabama so Alabama has already called them. Those two still chose KU after being committed to LSU and having had Alabama offer them. Another huge factor in KU's favor is those two were HS teammates of Mike Lee who helped sell both of them on KU. I'm legitimately not very concerned about KU losing either one of those two players because of that connection.

@justanotherfan All the 4 star guys already have those offers amd still chose KU. Jason and Harris were committed to LSU last summer before decommiting after the coaching change. I'm not too concerned with losing them. Tune is the guy I'm more concerned with because he doesn't have the big offers yet, only interest.

KU and Beaty need to do everything in their power to keep Tony Hull because as long as he's at KU, that pipeline KU now has into New Orleans is going to stay open until for KU until Hull is no longer here. Louisiana is just an entirely different culture from the rest of the country and these guys aren't joking about the family atmosphere having a huge influence on their decisions. I know @wissox and anyone else including myself who have spent a significant portion of time in Louisiana will 100% back up this claim about the loyalty of Louisiana people being accurate and Hull has the loyalty of HS coaches and players all over the New Orleans area specifically.

Landing Tyriek Starks was the beginning. The connection with Hull was made during this recruitment because Starks played at Warren Easton under Hull. Reggie Mitchell then leaves for Arkansas and KU has a need for a new RB coach. Beaty takes a calculated risk by bringing in Hull in an attempt to get some players out of Louisiana. Almost immediately, Hull gets commitments from Mike Lee and Malik Clark (Clark is also from Warren Easton) and then gets Lee to enroll a year early at KU. In his 1st year, Hull also lands Travis Jordan and Takulve Williams both from the New Orleans area as well. In a little over a year on the job, Hull brings in 4 Louisiana players, one of whom gets a chance to play early. Getting players from Louisiana to visit KU is a big enough deal which hiring Hull allowed KU to at least talk to players in Louisiana. Seeing Mike Lee emerge on the scene however is a game changer for KU in Louisiana. Without the success Mike Lee had last year, KU does not land any of the Louisiana recruits that committed yesterday, at least not early like they did. They probably go home and tell their younger teammates about how nice KU is and that keeps the line of communication open with Louisiana prospects for Tony Hull. Lee's success is a game changer because it shows these kids that they can come in and be successful very early on at KU instead of having to sit and wait behind other 4 and 5 star guys at LSU.

If Daylon Charlot comes in and has early success and if Tyriek Starks wins the QB job, the floodgates will be fully open for KU to talk to any recruit in Louisiana they want to and to have a legitimate chance to sign those players as well.

What KU did yesterday in getting commitments from Jason and Harris (3rd and 4th best players in Louisiana with offers from LSU, Alabama, and basically everybody in the SEC) is something that has definitely caught a lot of people off guard including everyone who follows KU football. We knew Hull would allow KU to talk to some players out of Louisiana, but to actually land commitments from players the caliber of Jason and Harris is something I don't even think Tony Hull thought was possible at this stage in the game.

Don't be surprised to see KU land possibly 3, maybe even more recruits out of Louisiana this year. Warren Easton has a couple of 3 star prospects who we know Hull has a relationship with and there's a DE out of Baton Rouge that KU is the favorite to land.

@JayHawkFanToo That's why I think that if Wigs and JJ switched which team that played on, both would look even better than they did/do at KU. Being passive was a knock on Wiggins, but he was also a below average ball handler which I think played into his tendencies to pass the ball more than he should have. We know JJ has the shot fake in his arsenal and has utilized quite a bit this year to create his own shot as well as just blowing by defenders who got too close to him on the perimeter.

Just comparing those two side by side as freshmen, I think Wiggins gets the slight nod in just about every category except for ball handling which trickles into scoring

@JayHawkFanToo I firmly believe JJ puts up better scoring numbers on that 13-14 team than Wiggins did. The reason why is that Wiggins was a subpar ball handler which hurt his ability to create his own shots. That meant that he disappeared too many times when Tharpe struggled because there was nobody to get Wiggins the ball. Ball handling is the one area where JJ is vastly ahead of where Wiggins was as freshman and that ability to create his own shot is why JJ would've scored 20+ ppg on that team. I would even go so far to say that JJ could've averaged 22-23 ppg on that team.

I do think Wiggins would've been an even better fit on this current team than Jackson is because of the roster situation. The reason why Wiggins ball handling was subpar at KU was because he had always played the post prior to KU so putting him as a stretch 4 on this team with his shooting ability would've hid his subpar ball handling and made him an even better player on this team than he was on that team.

As of today (February 5, 2017), KU has the 9th ranked class in the country according to 247. I'm only mentioning that now because it'll likely drop as the year goes on, but to see KU football in the top 10 for football recruiting at any point is just insane.

@kjayhawks said:

Had a good weekend excited for these next few years.

This was not a good weekend. This was a great weekend for KU football. I think KU has a pretty good shot at landing at least 2 more kids out of Louisiana. There's a pair of teammates from Warren Easton where Tony Hull coached before KU that KU has their eyes on. Both are 3 star players, one is a WR and the other is a CB.

This might legitimately be the best recruiting weekend KU football has ever had.

It should also be noted with QB Clayton Tune that he tore his ACL at the end of last season so his status for his senior year is up in the air right now. He said he's recovering faster than expected so Tune could play some this year, but he just had surgery 8 weeks ago so best case scenario is 6-8 months which would have him ready for the start of the season or at least very early on with no setbacks. This will be something to keep an eye on this fall.

This is where I will keep a running list of KU's 2018 recruits. I may not add players immediately because of work, but I will try to keep it as up to date as possible. I do the list in alphabetical order, not by highest rated because that can be subjective from service to service.

Aaron Brule, S, 6-1, 195, Rummel HS, Metarie, LA, Committed on 2/4/17

Cartez Crook-Jones, DE, 6-5, 230, Grandview HS, Grandview, MO, Committed on 2/9/17

Corione Harris, CB, 6-1, 170, Landry-Walker HS, New Orleans, LA, Committed on 2/4/17

Tevailance Hunt, WR, 6-2, 180, Texas HS, Texarkana, TX, Committed on 4/15/17

Devonta Jason, WR, 6-3, 187, Landry-Walker HS, New Orleans, LA, Committed on 2/4/17

Clayton Tune, QB, 6-2, 188, Hebron HS, Carrollton, TX, Committed on 2/4/17

Anthony Williams, RB, 5-8, 165, Hahnville HS, Boutte, LA, Committed on 2/4/17

The first post on here is the final list of KU's 2017 class. It includes 21 players, 8 of whom are already on campus including QB Peyton Bender. This class break down includes 9 JuCo's and 12 HS players which is not ideal for Beaty, but we also know Beaty doesn't actively seek that ratio like Weis did so I don't think this is a big deal long term. KU's 2017 class is generally considered 9th or 10th in the Big 12, but the walk-ons KU has landed should help with the depth as well. Adding the two Alabama transfers into the mix as well makes this class better than it looks on paper. KU will never be a place that consistently finishes in the top half of the Big 12 in recruiting so player development will always be much more important to KU than at other schools like Texas and OU that bring higher floor guys.

The position breakdown of this class is 1 QB, 2 RB, 5 WR, 2 OL, 2 DE, 1 DT, 3 LB, 4 CB, and 1 K. Both of the OLinemen are HS kids so that's important for future development purposes.

The most important player in this class by far is QB Peyton Bender. KU has the skill position players, the OLine is returning 4/5 starters from last year and will only be better so if Bender shows why Mike Leach wanted him, KU's offense will take a big step forward in 2017.

Here's a big factor with Jason and Harris. They were HS teammates of Mike Lee and his success last year along with Hull played huge roles in them committing to KU.

West Virginia is in an absolutely beautiful part of the country. It needs to be on your list to visit at some point.

@kraken He's from the Dallas area, he's probably going to be a 3 star when his rating comes out. He attended a UT camp and was drawing interest from Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, and Iowa.

@JayHawkFanToo Wiggins was also the #1 option on a team with basically nothing but freshmen and sophomores. JJ is the #2 option on a team loaded with upper classmen. Wiggins should have a higher scoring average than Jackson based on situations. Switch them and JJ averages over 20 ppg on that 2013-14 team and would have likely been a 1st team All American and possibly the NPOY that year.

Rivals has Ja'Marr Chase as committed and 247 also has Aaron Brule as committed to KU.

Great weekend for KU with 5 or 6 commitments depending on which service you look at.

Somebody get Tony Hull a significant pay raise because he is tearing it up on the recruiting trail for KU.

@BShark Doubtful, at least on Rivals. They only have 15 5 star kids for 2018 and their rankings for football don't tend to fluctuate as much as basketball rankings do. Rivals typically has less than 20 5 star football players most years so that's why I doubt Jason becomes a Rivals 5 star.

@wissox There are no 5 stars from Louisiana this year. I'm guessing LSU fans will probably flip their s--- more than usual for losing the 3rd and 4th best players in state to a bottom feeding Big 12 program.

Devonta Jason is rated as the 3rd best player in Louisiana, 6th best WR nationally, and the 35th best player overall nationally by Rivals.

Corione Harris is rated as the 4th best player in Louisiana, 8th best CB nationally, and the 60th best player overall nationally by Rivals.

These two are a big deal for KU because these might be the two highest rated prospects KU has ever landed in the era of rating recruits.

KU actually landed 4 players today. The one that hasn't been mentioned yet is RB Anthony Williams also from Louisiana. He's a 3 star back who's rated as the 30th best player in Louisiana and had offers from Mississippi St., TCU, and UCLA.

I don't know how much money Tony Hull is making, but KU should probably double his salary because he is doing work.

Other names to keep an eye on out of Louisiana are 4 star WR Ja'Marr Chase from Metarie, 3 star Safety Aaron Brule who is a teammate of Ja'Marr Chase at Rummel HS in Metarie in the New Orleans suburbs. 3 star LB Tajh Brown from Donaldsonville, 3 star WR Lawrence Keys from New Orleans, 3 star Safety Joseph Fousha from New Orleans and teammate of Lawrence Keys, and 3 star OT Cameron White from Gonzales,

I'm surprised Isaiah Windmon and Jammal Houston don't have offers from KU considering they're from John Ehret HS in Marrero which is the same school that 2017 signee Travis Jordan is from. Another name I'm surprised that doesn't have an offer is CB Damien Tate who is from Warren Easton HS which is where Hull was the coach at before KU, especially since his teammate, WR Yo'heinz Taylor does have an offer from KU.

Hull is putting in the time and effort in Louisiana and I really wouldn't be surprised to see more of these names end up on KU's commitment list as the year goes on.

Jackson alongside KAT and Wigs would be an insane line up. Also, Lonzo Ball to the 76ers might make the the longest team in NBA history when Simmons gets healthy.

@Hawk8086 I think they were 36% as a team last I looked. Not horrible, but it's not good either. ISU is just a team that shoots a lot of 3's so they tend to make more because they shoot more, not that they're a good shooting team.

@Hawk8086 said:

@drgnslayr At least WVU is not a good shooting team from 3....I think they will have to be really hot to beat us in AFH.

Like ISU did in the 2nd half? ISU isn't a great 3 point shooting team either, but they got hot today.

KSU scored 18 points in the second half.

KSU's defense came up huge on that last possession.

Considerably less now.

@BeddieKU23 There's a difference between saying Jackson shares some of the blame, and he's the only reason like you're saying. Jackson absolutely deserves his share, but so does Graham who no showed on offense today, Svi whose defense prowess was exploited most of the second half, and Self for falling into old, bad habits of not subbing when his players were clearly running on fumes late d never brought in Vick, Lightfoot, or Coleby for a couple of minutes to let guys catch their breath.

There's plenty of blame to go around for this one and to pin it all on one guy is neglecting everyone who no showed the second half and OT.

Today, we saw the impact of a short bench. Tired legs happened in the second half because Self is a guy who doesn't sub down the stretch in close games. Bring in Vick's fresh legs for a bit and KU probably wins.

Hopefully KState keeps kicking Baylor's ass in the 2nd half.

@BeddieKU23 said:

Like I said Josh lost this game

False

@BeddieKU23 Svi is the one who just fell asleep on defense there and gave up an open 3.

@BeddieKU23 No it's not, Frank's the only one who showed up in the second half.

Tired legs.

Not a good possession to end the half.

Landen screens for a Mason drive, have Svi and Graham on the perimeter fir a kick out, Lucas and Jackson crash the offensive glass.

@stoptheflop The secondary will be just fine. The DLine will only be better next year which means more pressure on QB's which means that the secondary doesn't have to be as good next year to have a better year overall. I'm also not worried about the QB position either next year. Beaty and Meacham have 3 legitimate options next year who fit this system. Bender, Stanley, and Starks are all Air Raid/Spread QB's so the QB competition this spring should be very exciting as all 3 bring different elements to the table. Bender is a Mike Leach guy which means he's a pocket passer and can throw the ball 80 times a game and his arm be just fine. Starks is a true dual threat who would add the option attack to KU's offense and would be utilized much the same way that Meacham used Boykin at TCU. Stanley is sort of the hybrid between the two. The biggest knock on Stanley though is that he doesn't have a big arm which can hurt the deep routes when he throws them. We saw him under throw his HR passes pretty regularly this past year.

My personal opinion is that Stanley is the ideal back up QB for this system and either Bender or Starks need to win the QB job.

@stoptheflop KU is still running the Air Raid. That's what Meacham brought to TCU and he'll run it here. The terminology of the offense might be slightly different, but the learning curve will be minimal for the offense because it's the same concepts they'll be using for the 3rd spring in a row. If Bender wins the QB job for KU, I think KU probably wins 4-5 games next year with the offensive weapons at Bender's disposal. Sims, Quiv, and Charlot will be in the discussion for best WR trio in the league. Hopefully Meacham utilizes Ben Johnson and the other TE's as the 4th receiver to create match up issues galore for defenses. Sims and Quiv are both home run hitters and Charlot and a TE can create underneath issues for defenses. I'm not calling for KU's offense to be elite in 2017, but I do think this is the year we see the offense take a big step forward and KU reenters the world of no longer being an assumed automatic win for everyone.

The biggest difference between Wiggins and Jackson is their mentality. JJ is an alpha dog and Wiggins is not. Wiggins is the more physically gifted player, better shooter, better defender, better athlete, but his reserved nature meant that he rarely took over games. Jackson is an alpha dog, he shows his emotions, he talks trash, and he has taken over games at times when necessary. He's not a great shooter (he's going to be a volume scorer in the NBA one day), he's a very good defender but not quite as good as Wiggins who should've been All-Big 12, and he's not quite as athletic as Wiggins. However, if you put Jackson on that 2013-14 team, he probably averages 22+ ppg because that's his mentality. He has a scorers mentality, but he's aware enough to know that he doesn't have to do it all this year and willingly defers to Mason at times.

I could also see Jackson becoming the bigger star over Wiggins in the NBA because of his mentality.

@KUSTEVE JJ is the kind of player that we use against Calipari's ability to coach and develop players. JJ was going to be a star no matter where he played and do the things he's doing now. Had he stayed home at Michigan St., he might be averaging 20+ ppg and MSU might be more than a bubble team right now.

@JayhawksandChill JJ was always going to be the better college player between himself and Wiggins. JJ's game is just much more suited to the college game than Wiggins was. Wiggins game was always gear towards the NBA which we're now seeing him start to become a star alongside Towns in Minnesota.

@stoptheflop CMU won at OSU because of the refs. The blew a call that gave CMU a play they shouldn't have had and CMU won because of that.

With the game in Lawrence, KU will have a shot because I think this is the year we see the offense take a step forward.

@BeddieKU23 Fran's not wrong about teams needing to be 10 points than KU to win in AFH, but it's also like that at Cameron, Dean Dome, and Rupp as well.

As for implying Baylor was playing 8 on 5, that's a load of crap. Refs were letting both teams play the entire game and were consistent about it. There was also no need to tighten up the whistle at any point since things never got chippy or even close to being on verge of being chippy. Last night's officials did a good job of establishing the type of play early they were going to allow early on and were consistent with that style of play all night which is what players and coaches want more than anything else out of the officials.

Here's all I have to say about Josh Jackson. Big time players make big time plays in big time games.

@HawkChamp Perry Ellis was a below the rim player as well. Being a below the rim guy doesn't mean you can't dunk.

A lot of our OAD's have come back for various events over the years when possible. Xavier's been back a few times, B-Mac and Wigs have done camps in Lawrence/KC, Embiid is still very active on social media about KU. I don't know how many of UK's OAD's have gone back over the years, but I think it speaks very highly of Self and what the OAD's thought of Lawrence/KU to keep coming back for different events/camps over the years.

@Crimsonorblue22 ISU shoots a lot of 3's, but they're a low % team and we already beat them in Ames. I don't see them winning in AFH this year so I'm not concerned about them.

We still have to go to Stillwater which has been a house of horrors for KU and OSU is making just under 40% as a team and we still have to go to Lubbock and even though Tech doesn't shoot a lot of 3's, they still make 39% of the ones they take. KSU worries me more than ISU does.

@Crimsonorblue22 Oklahoma State and Texas Tech are the only two teams whose 3 point shooting would make me nervous, but Self would likely go triangle and 2 to minimize the 3 point shooting when needed.

I'm not saying KU will run nothing but zone because we all know that won't happen, but we will Self utilize his zone packages much more this year to rest guys so they aren't chasing players all over the court and to keep LL out of foul trouble because there's nothing of quality behind him with Bragg out. Lightfoot will develop into a solid role player for KU before he leaves here, but it's not going to be this year and Coleby is still playing on 1.5 legs and is strictly a below the rim guy with his knee now.