🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@drgnslayr I think you need to get past the PG has to be the leader because that's not always true. Is it ideal? Yes, but it's not always reality. T-Rob absolutely was a leader with Tyshawn. The Morris twins were the undisputed leaders of the 2010-11 team. Cole and Sherron were both leaders from 2008-2010.

Teams typically take on the personality of their leaders and what is the personality of this team? You look at this team's personality and compare it to Perry's personality, I think you'll see who's viewed as the leader of this team and it's not Frank Mason, it's Perry Ellis.

This team is missing more than just a chip on their shoulder.

@VailHawk Selby was suspended for 9 games and then almost immediately got injured and played hurt the rest of the year. Self started Selby as soon as he was eligible to play and still gave him way more minutes that he deserved when he came back from the foot injury.

Selby is the cautionary tale of what can happen when a presumed OAD is dead set on being OAD and ends up being a bust. At least Cliff was indicating he realized he needed at least another year in college before the investigation started.

@drgnslayr Devonte isn't a leader either. Real leaders don't need to be told to step up or wait to be pushed into that role. Leaders lead from Day 1 without prompting. That's what always stick out to me the most about Nic Moore. He just came in, saw there was a void of leadership and filled the need. Graham might be a sociable person, but he isn't a leader. The leader doesn't have to be a PG, they can play any position on the court. Thomas Robinson was a great leader for KU, the Morris twins were leaders, Cole Aldrich was a leader. Those guys may not have been the only leaders on the team, but they were leaders and took charge when they needed to.

My question to you is what leaders?

Nobody on this team wants to rally the troops when they face opposition. This is still largely the same team that Bill Self had to bring in a drill instructor for last season during boot camp and the drill instructor straight up told them none of the players leaders. There is nobody on this team that gets on to someone else to snap them out of a funk.

Frank Mason might be the only Type A personality on the team, but he doesn't use that to his advantage. Nic Moore may not have played very well in Korea, but that kid was/is a great leader and wasn't afraid to get on his teammates when they needed it. As much as KU needed Diallo's rebounding abilities yesterday, they needed Nic Moore's leadership even more and that's going to become more and more obvious as the year goes on and nobody on KU steps up and rallues the team in tough situations.

This is largely the same team team as last year except worse at rebounding because they lost theor 2 best rebounders from last year and Diallo can't play yet.

Last night, Perry Ellis and Brannen Greene were the only players to have a good game for KU. I know Greene didn't attempt a FG all game, but he was open a lot and nobody looked for him at all. On the rare occasion he did get the ball, he blew by his defender and actually drew some fouls to take advantage of his FT shooting.

Frank Mason reverted back to his freshman form of driving and not even thinking about passing. KU had 12 assists on 23 made FG's while MSU had 20 assists on 28 made FG's. Valentine had as many assists by himself as KU had as a team.

KU's absolute biggest weakness is their inability to get rebounds. MSU was +7 on the glass and had on possession in the middle of the second half where the got 3 offensive rebounds. That was also the moment when MSU seized all the momentum and their comeback started.

This is not a physical team, and they still don't have a guy who steps up and leads this team when they really need it. I hope this team doesn't win the Big 12 title because they are soft and shy away from physical play. This is a finesse team with a coach who doesn't know how to or doesn't want to play finesse ball and that square peg is never going to fit into a round hole.

Anybody who watched the game last night saw just how skinny Carlton Bragg is. According to KU, he weighs 220 lbs. Does anybody actually believe he weighs 220?

I don't remember if it was here or not, but somebody actually said MSU's style of play was conducive for Carlton Bragg, really? 4 points, 1 foul and goose eggs in every other category is conducive? Mid range jumper is all Bragg can do right now because he's too damn skinny and weak to hold his position. He had this issue in Korea as well, but because KU steam rolled just everybody, it was overlooked.

KU needs help in the low post, but Carlton Bragg is not the answer because he is not a physical presence. The rotation really needs to be Mickelson, Traylor, Lucas in that order with Bragg subbing for Ellis exclusively. When/if Diallo gets eligible, he moves behind Mickelson and gets more minutes as his skills develop.

@HighEliteMajor Your bias against Traylor and Lucas is clouding your judgement about what Bragg has actually done so far in Korea and the first 2 games.

Bragg was a 5 star recruit, not every 5 star recruit plays like a 5 star recruit right away. His offense at this point is a top of the key jumper. Any time he gets near the paint, he gets shoved away on both ends, this happebed in Korea. There's no way he's the 220 lbs. KU has him listed at. His ceiling is very high, but his ability level on November 18, 2015 isn't anywhere near that ceiling yet.

If 3 rebounds in 28 minutes is good enough for you, then so be it.

Since you asked who I'd play, my order would be Mickelson starting and then rotate the other guys in based on match ups. KU does not have a great option at that position right now as all 4 players have massive holes in their game so it would probably.

You can huff and puff all you want about Bragg having more talent from day 1 than either Morris twin, I don't think you're wrong, but talent and ability are 2 different things. Talent is where your ceiling is and ability is where you're at in regards to that ceiling today. Carlton Bragg's current ability level is far below his ceiling.

@HighEliteMajor You like stats. Here's Bragg's stat line tonight. 11 minutes., 4 points (2-2 FG), 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 blocks, 0 steals, 1 foul.

Carlton Bragg did not do a damn thing tonight. He has 3 rebounds in 28 minutes this year. Stats don't lie right? How does 0.1 rebounds per minute compare to Lucas or Traylor? Bragg isn't physically ready yet and I called that during Korea as well. Bragg is listed at 22o on KU's site, the same weight Diallo is listed at and yet, Bragg would need to add weight to be toothpick.

One thing you're good at is twisting people's words to fit whatever point you're trying to make. Tell me where I said Bragg isn't as talented as Lucas or Traylor because I'm dying know how far up your butt you had to dig to find that load of crap from.

@ralster Carlton Bragg had 4 points and 1 foul in 11 minutes. That's his entire stat sheet from the game. Bragg isn't ready to contribute at KU yet. He gets pushed around more than Lucas does. This was a problem in Korea and it showed again big time tonight. KU doesn't have a good answer right now either because all 4 bigs besides Ellis all have major holes in the game right now.

@Statmachine KU's not winning anything with this front court as is. They can't rebound for crap. Carlton Bragg did not get a single rebound in 11 minutes. Talk about Traylor and Lucas all you want, but why did Bragg play 11 minutes of basketball that was far less productive than either of those guys. Bragg will be a good player one day, but right now he is one of the skinniest post players I've ever seen and gets pushed around way more than even Lucas does. That's where Mickelson's minutes really need to come from at this point because Bragg's body is not ready for high level college basketball yet.

KU lost because they can't rebound plain and simple. You can't be -7 on glass against MSU and expect to beat them.

This is why KU needs Diallo so badly. Even while he's learning how to play offense and defense, he can be a rebounding monster like Robinson was.

I'd also like to know why Greene wasn't in in the last couple of minutes when KU needed a 3? You don't need his defense because you're fouling anyway, but to leave your best shooter on the bench is just stupid.

Self is 5-6 all time against Izzo including a 2-3 mark against him while at KU. KU should win on paper, but Izzo is a coach that seems to have Self's number.

@Crimsonorblue22 They lost their starting PG from last year to graduation. Kenny Chery was a big loss for them because he was a pretty good PG and we all know that when you change PG's there's an adjustment period and Baylor's going through that adjustment right now.

I'm not reading too much into how a team looks in their second game of the season. It could be indicative of Baylor because they have a history of being inconsistent under Drew, but you can't draw anything definitive from that game other than Baylor looked bad on the road against a top 25 team.

Has anything actually been accomplished in this thread other than ticking people off?

@jayballer54 Jarrett Allen is a consensus top 20 player and Udoka Azubuike doesn't have a consistent range of rankings. Allen is a better player Azubuike, but like @BeddieKU23 said, it's more likely that Allen stays in state than comes to KU. I personally would put Texas as the front runner for Allen at this point.

I fully expect Self to tighten his rotation up tonight so we'll get an idea of who he trusts in some key battles. I haven't read every comment on here so I might I have missed it somewhere above, but KU is going to be without Lagerald Vick tonight because his eye got scratched in practice and doctors told him no basketball activities for a few days.

In order for KU to win tonight, they have to win the rebounding battle and take advantage of offensive rebounds. KU only scored 5 second chance points on 9 offensive rebounds. KU has to do better than that to beat Michigan St. The best way for KU to win the rebounding battle is to get their bigs in foul trouble and make them play less aggressive. Mason and Selden have to aggressive and take the ball into the lane and force the issue. If KU can win the rebounding battle, they will more than likely win the game.

@BeddieKU23 Kentucky signing 3 bigs and guard fits with their projected losses for this year. Poythress is graduating, Labissiere, Briscoe, and Murray are presumed OAD's and Marcus Lee is always projected high despite being a colossal bust to this point. Malik Monk is still very much in play for Kentucky, but Adebayo's signing probably significantly deters Jarrett Allen from signing with Kentucky though.

I've read players will use money they get paid from working camps on tattoos. We also know from tge Ohio St. case that players will also trade personal memorabilia for tattoos.

@SoftballDad2011 That's my point. Derrick Rose was retroactively ruled ineligible starting at a certain date and Memphis forfeited every game Rose played in because he was an ineligible player.

The NCAA gave KU a heads up, but Cliff would've been ruled ineligible from the date those loan papers were signed which means KU would still have to forfeit every game Cliff played in and KU's official record would be something like 6-5 for last year or whatever theor record was post sitting Cliff out.

@JayHawkFanToo What are you talking about? I didn't reference any specific program ir prior. The way the Cliff situation would play out if the NCAA got their hands on the loan documents would be that Cliff would be retroactively ruled ineligible from the date his mom signed the loan papers. That allegedly happened in August well before the season started and therefore KU would forfeit all games Cliff played in.

I honestly don't know which Kentucky situation you're referencing, but the closest recent high profile case I can think of would be Derrick Rose. Rose was retroactively ruled ineligible after the season and Memphis had to forfeit every game Rose played in because the time he was deemed to be an ineligible player happened prior to any game Memphis had played.

@JayHawkFanToo The loan happened in August, so the NCAA would retroactively declare Cliff ineligible from that date (wouldn't be the first time they've done something like that) and considering people didn't excatly cooperate with the investigation, I doubt the NCAA would go easy if they ever got a chance to dish out punishment for that situation.

@REHawk I hope there's never a Cliff lawsuit. You start getting people involved in that case that have subpoena power looking into the loan documents and KU is probably vacating last season.

@FarSideHawk KU was in the Final Four in 2002 and 2012 and anytime you get to the Final Four, you have a legitimate shot to win it and KU was the #1 overall seed in 2010.

@jaybate-1.0 I said, "could have", not "should have". Those two words don't mean the same thing and your entire post is based on "should have". Even teams that win the titles are flawed. KU lost 3 games in 2008 so obviously there were flaws since they didn't go undefeated.

As for the player comparisons, why are you attempting to invalidate my opinion by throwing out a bunch of comparisons I didn't make in the first place? Where did I even mention Graham or Lucas? I didn't because neither would be in that rotation. I was also unaware that Brandon Rush ever played a senior season at KU.

Like I said in my post, the only one I will say right now that I will say definitively is Sr. Ellis over So. Arthur. I don't care that Arthur went pro after his sophomore year. His NBA career is a pretty good case that he should've come back to KU for at least one more season. Arthur wasn't nearly as polished on offense as a sophomore Perry Ellis is today. Arthur was the better defender, but my opinion is that as good as KU was defensively on the perimeter that year, Perry's offense would have more value than Arthur's defense.

Mason and Selden are maybe's today. My opinion on those two is that if they play like they did in Korea all season long, then I would take Jr. Selden over Jr. Rush and Jr. Mason over So. Collins. Notice I didn't say Mason over Robinson or Chalmers, only over So. Collins.

As for Bragg, we all know Self loves playing seniors over freshmen almost regardless of the freshman being the better player. If we're going to talk about pure talent, Cole Aldrich should've been ahead of Jackson and Kaun because he was a better player than both of them even as a freshman, but Self's love of seniors compells him to play them over more talented players. Based on what we've seen out of Bragg so far, he's easily the second best post player KU currently has behind Ellis, yet Self loves Traylor for some reason sometimes to the detriment of the team. Right now, Bragg should be starting next to Ellis with Mickleson, Traylor, Lucas being the order the bigs come off the bench.

@ralster Since 1997, KU could have 6 more national titles. 2002, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 were teams either talented enough or in position to win national titles those seasons.

Why is that game in South Dakota?

There is a history of kids from Africa and other 3rd world countries having a much more difficult time getting cleared by the NCAA because they are often brought to the US by a person who runs some kind of charity and NCAA just assumes that person is trying to make money off of these kids. While that's certainly true in some cases (the Skal Labissiere case would appear to fall in this category), Tidiane Drame doesn't have the reputation of someone that tries to take advantage of these kids. He didn't direct Diallo or Kassoum Yakwe to a specific school, he just helped them come to this country to chase their dreams and create better lives for themselves.

The fact that the NCAA is investigating his relationship with Diallo and Yakwe and hasn't interviewed him yet is the NCAA dragging their feet on this matter and I'm glad that Drame has hired a lawyer to help Diallo, and I assume Yakwe as well, get eligible to play. Jackson has a great track record in cases like this so hopefully Diallo will suit up wearing Crimson and Blue this year because KU is going to need his rebounding skills this year.

As for the tweet, I think I'd be more concerned about the implications of that person coming into work with a hangover at least once a week. How much is that person drinking that they imply they have weekly hangovers? I'd be more concerned about this person's competency to do their job because of that than an at best in poor taste joke. It could have racial implications because Mali is one of the regions with the outbreak happened and we don't know this person's background. My guess is that it was just a joke that is in very poor taste based on this person's position within the NCAA though.

@JayHawkFanToo The NBA views prep schools as HS and the rule is not 18 or one year removed from HS, it's 18 AND 1 year removed from HS. If the rule was or, Svi would've been eligible for the 2015 NBA draft but he wasn't. There's also countless kids who've gone to prep school for an extra year and don't go the NBA because the rule is and, not or.

The original premise was would anybody on the current team play over the top 7 of the 2007-08 team. So we're talking would anybody this year play over:

Sr. Russell Robinson

Jr. Mario Chalmers

Jr. Brandon Rush

So. Sherron Collins

So. Darrell Arthur

Sr. Darnell Jackson

Sr. Sasha Kaun

One flaw with this premise is comparing this team with an incomplete body of work this season against a team that won a national title and we know what they accomplished during that season so any comparison at this point is purely speculative until we start to see what this team is actually capable of.

That said, based on the small sample size Korea provided, I would say there are 4, possibly 5 (Diallo is the 5th) players that there could be compelling arguments for. I think there could be compelling cases for Jr. Mason over So. Collins, Jr. Selden over Jr. Rush, Sr. Ellis over So. Arthur, Fr. Bragg and Diallo over both Sr. Jackson and Kaun.

If we go with last year's team where there is a body of work for these players, none of them play over any of the top 7 from the title team. Reading through these comments, it looks like quite a few of you are basing your opinions off of last seasons version of these players which isn't the premise.

Of those 5 guys I listed, I'm not willing to make any kind of definitive statement yet other than I believe I would personally take Sr. Ellis over So. Arthur. The reason being that the 2007-08 team had an elite perimeter defense and you could sacrifice some defense at the 4 for offense and Ellis is a better offensive player than Arthur was.

With the other 4 players, I want to see what they accomplish this year and revisit this exercise in April after I get to see KU cut the nets down at NRG Stadium.

@jayballer54 Does it occur to you that a player looks at roster situations to help make a decision. Self can sell Fox on KU all day long, but at the end of the day it doesn't change that Mason and Graham will be back next year while Kentucky is bringing back Ulis and ??? Isaiah Briscoe is a projected OAD so Kentucky has an opening in their back court next year KU doesn't have.

KU is also now targeting Andrew Jones who is a 6-4 combo guard from the Dallas area. Jones is the 38th ranked player which is the same area that Devonte Graham and Lagerald Vick are ranked.

KU can sell recruits all day long on KU, but without an easy pathway to big minutes, it's really hard to sell OAD caliber players on a school.

@jayballer54 In regards to Giles, name the last 5 star recruit from North Carolina who didn't play ball somewhere in North Carolina? Those players don't leave the state for college.

With De'Aaron Fox, where was he going to play at KU? He wasn't going to come in and play over senior Mason or junior Graham.

KU was always a long shot on these two players because of history and KU's roster for next year. Terrance Ferguson was the only legitimate miss so far for KU with 4 other guys (Bolden, Allen, Azubuike, and newly offered guard Andrew Jones) being targets right now who are spring commits.

KU is only going to sign one of Bolden and Allen and is likely running second on Azubuike right now. Jones is too new to the picture to have a good indication of where KU is at with him.

The NCAA is the organization that completely screwed up the Derrick Rose investigation. They clear Rose, he plays the entire season and is retroactively ruled ineligible after the season and that season was vacated because the NCAA screwed up. If I was a prominent lawyer with ties to Memphis, I would've sued the NCAA over that and had that season restored because the NCAA told Memphis they could play Rose so they punished Memphis for their own mistakes.

The NCAA is a corrupt organization that isn't accountable to any organization and a high profile lawsuit of this caliber needs to happen to bring awareness of the NCAA's corruptness and start the ball moving on reforms within the NCAA.

@BeddieKU23 Being a great defender means defending without fouling. You even said in your own post that he fouls a lot which is my point. Diallo has the tools to be a great defender, but when a kid fouls a lot while defending the rim (especially with the rules changes this year), Diallo is likely to struggle on the defensive end of the floor while he adjusts and if he's gone after this year, I doubt he develops into a top defender.

If Diallo gets cleared this year, I would expect him to look a lot like Tarik Black did. High energy guy who has a tendency to pick up fouls at a pretty quick rate.

@phoghawk33 He might be one day, but hus reputation from HS and based on KU practices is that he has a habit fouling a lot on defense which is why I say he isn't a great shot blocker right now.

@phoghawk33 Diallo's not a great defender, his biggest attribute is going to be his rebounding ability which KU will need as they are not a good rebounding team. Mickelson, Ellis, and Traylor are way below average rebounders, Lucas is avaerage but is easily moved out of position, and the jury remains out on Bragg as he hasn't gone against players his own size yet. This is where Diallo can have the biggest impact for KU in an area where they really need help.

@KU-Flyer said:

We have been hearing for years that the US is falling behind in basic high school skills. Could it be that there was no documentation of his Algebra grade in high school because they actually do Algebra in junior high in his country.

Doubtful because in Texas at least, Algebra is a freshman level course that some students take in 8th grade if they're advanced in math. Algebra II is also a junior level math course in Texas.

@Kip_McSmithers Anthony Davis and Cam Newton disagree with you.

The way that article is worded makes it sound like the NCAA is investigating more than just grades and is also looking at Diallo's handler for infractions as well.

Selden and Greene are both less than 100% right now. Ellis playing the 3 is probably just a temporary thing with Selden and Greene being less than 100% and was more motivating towards Svi since he's the one without a legitimate reason for not playing well even though Euro's wings have the reputation of being disinterested in defense.

@ParisHawk said:

Do referees in a game have a "side"?

Have you watched a Duke game in the past 15 years?

@drgnslayr Every school has prejudiced idiots. I actually applaud the way the students handled the situation. They engaged in non-violent protests for a cause they believed in which isn't being emphasized nearly enough. The inaction and dismissal of events needing to be addressed and investigated absolutely warranted the change at the top of administration. I can't address whether the racial incidents there were isolated or not because there isn't enough information out there on the events themselves.

Sports has always been the biggest and best way for social change to happen. Jackie Robinson 10-15 years before the Civil Rights movement kicked into high gear. If you haven't seen the movie Invictus, it is a great movie about the role Rugby played in helping heal South Africa after Apartheid ended.

I say good for the Missouri students who initiated change in a positive way instead of rioting and destroying property to get their way.

KU started 11 freshmen against Texas. And I know we want Willis to develop, but if he's not at 100%, he doesn't need to be playing and risking further injury and hampering his development this year or potentially missing spring practice if he gets injured too badly.

With a groun injury, his mobility is going to be next to nothing and he's just going to get tee'd off on by defenders. This is the same injury Todd Reesing played with as a senior and KU went winless after he hurt his groin against Colorado when the streak started.

“It’s fools gold because you don’t play as hard defensively because everything is going in. This was great for us to learn to be exposed what our weaknesses are, because if you make shots, you’re not exposed. The biggest thing is we have to play with more energy and athleticism.”

This is Self's explanation of why he thinks 3 point shooting is fools gold.

@wissoxfan83 Forget about Gooden that year, if Wayne Simien had been healthy, KU probably beats Syracuse.

@DanR Favorite doesn't mean best. Danny was a great player, but I was 2 when he won the 1988 title so I have little connection to him as a player so he's not even in my top 10 favorite players.

My favorites list is Sherron, T-Rob, Christian Moody, Chalmers, and Tyshawn in that order.

Gary Bedore put out an article today about the Giles signing, not the relevant part here. In that article, he talked about the rest of KU's recruiting targets including a new name to that list, 6-4 guard Andrew Jones (38th on Rivals, 35th on ESPN, and 34th on 24/7). Of KU's remaining targets, only De'Aaron Fox is signing during the early signing period. Jarrett Allen is a possible early signing, but nothing is official with him on when he may sign. Marques Bolden, Josh Jackson, Udoka Azubuike, Malik Monk, and Jones are going to be spring signings so it should be pretty quiet on the recruiting front for KU for awhile.

On KU offering Jones (@Statmachine, I would guess that Allen and Jones are the players that the KU players you talk to were referring to based on Bedore's article), it sounds like this might be a conditional offer dependent on either Selden or Svi, mostly Selden, leaving early based on how Jones said his conversation with Self went when he was officially extended an offer.

Self is proactive right now still extending offers to players, but with everybody KU is a serious candidate to land being a spring signing, it should be a mostly uneventful few weeks in recruiting for KU.

@BeddieKU23 Bragg would not be a hindrance to Bolden starting. Self has rarely had a true 5 in his line up and has usually had two 4's with one who could play one the perimeter and one in the post. Bragg can play the perimeter and Bolden can play in the post so there's no reason Bragg should keep Bolden from starting. It's Lucas, Coleby, and Lightfoot that Bolden has to beat out.

@drgnslayr I don't think it's specifically the rigidity of the system as much as the system itself not being freshmen friendly. If the system were more freshmen friendly, Self could still be very rigid with it and land elite players early.

@Crimsonorblue22 They have to win the game first.