@JayHawkFanToo Budinger and Dekker were both 5 star players who only playes 3 years in college. Chase Budinger was the runner up in the McDonald's dunk contest and both he and Dekker averaged double digit points per game all 3 of their seasons.
As great as Budinger was at Arizona, he was still only a mid second round pick. Unless Lightfoot turns into KU's Trey Burke (low ranked player who significantly overachieves his ranking), he's not an NBA prospect.
He committed to KU a few minutes ago. This isn't the high profile signing that's going to vault KU to a top ranked class. He's a kid who's ideally the 3rd big in the class who could develop into a solid role player by his 3rd or 4th year. He's someone a redshirt would likely greatly benefit. He's also someone that if he doesn't show signs of developing into a contributor at KU, can be recruited over and encouraged to find better opportunities elsewhere.
This isn't a signing to jump for joy over, but it's not one to dismiss either. My personal opinion of Lightfoot is that I can see him ending up in the 75ish range by the time the final rankings come out. He did go to invitation only camps this past summer which is an indicator that he could jump up the rankings.
@Lulufulu Not cool and not appropriate. If you want to put someone on blast, put Skal's handler on blast for being as shady as hell. Don't rip a kid that's been through more hardship in his life than you could imagine and wants to try and give himself and his family a better life.
@JayHawkFanToo Mitch Lightfoot is nowhere near as good as Sam Dekker. Dekker was Rivals 13th ranked player in 2012, and left after his junior year. Mitch Lightfoot might have similarities to Dekker's game, but his skills are either inferior or nowhere near as refined as Dekker's.
@drgnslayr Self's been able to keep Townsend around for over a decade despite Townsend consistently being rated among the best assistant coaches in the country.
@Lulufulu Manning doesn't matter because he's not scholarship and doesn't play outside of garbage time. Reality is that KU isn't likely going to lose both because Svi likely won't play the minutes come out this year. Should Selden leave though, Lagerald Vick is the one likely move into the rotation and compete with Greene for minutes. There's also a good enough chance of KU returning their entire back court next year that KU's not going to land a wing until the slring if they even land one at all this year.
A wing that can play immediately isn't a dire need based on current projections for next year. Look for KU to target a decommit from a coaching change, a reclassified players, or a transfer in tge spring time.
@jaybate-1.0 Here's the thing when you get into looking at guys like Wooden, Rupp and those who coached pre-1975, only conference champs made the NCAA tournament in those years. Any pre-1975 numbers should be ignored in relation to this trend you're looking at simply because of how the NCAA tournament was formatted prior to 1975.
@BeddieKU23 Bolden's handler is also the one who influenced Terrance Ferguson to Alabama I believe. If it's the same guy, he's really tight with Avery Johnson so Alabama is going to be a player for D/FW recruits while Johnson is at Bama.
@MoonwalkMafia I would put Weber ahead of Ford and Johnson. My personal list would be:
Self: Future HOF coach, won all but 1 Big 12 titles, taken 3 schools to the Elite 8 or deeper, has a title and multiple Final Four appearances.
Huggins: Taken multiple schools to the Final Four and his teams consistently finish in the top half of the league.
Kruger: He just wins wherever he's at and is almost always a threat to win a conference title.
Smith: Has the national title, but with Pitino's players and Kentucky dropped from an elite program to just a steady team always in the tournament at Kentucky. His run at Minnesota was nothing special, but his teams were also never bad there either.
Smart: He has the Final Four and alwaulys had VCU in the tour in harder leagues to make the tournament in because of the fewer bids.
Drew: Had some really talented teams, but until last year, he had never made consecutive tournament appearances so he gets bumped down for the inconsistencies.
Prohm: His Murray St. teams won the regular season conference title all 4 years he was there so even with only 1 NCAA tournament appearance, his teams were always a threat to make the tournament from a one bid league.
Weber: Very good in gane coach, but just sucks at recruiting and his teams consistently get worse every year.
Ford: Consistently has had top 3 talent in the Big 12, but he just consistently underachieves to the talent level of his team.
Johnson: He's a consistently average coach. His one regular season conference title came in a year when the SEC was beyond awful.
@MoonwalkMafia Recruiting is 50% of the job. Bruce Weber is a terrible recruiter which significantly hurts him as a head coach. You cannot separate recruiting and in game ability when evaluating a coach because they are both part of the job description for a head coach. Weber has had a couple of good years when he first got to Illinois and KSU, but those programs progressively got worse under his watch. I would say 8th is probably where he goes on this list, maybe 7th depending on Prohm.
@jayballer54 Lightfoot doesn't impact KU's ability to sign Bolden, Herard, or Azubuike individually. It does impact KU's ability to sign both Herard and Azubuike which probably wouldn't have happened anyway. Lightfoot is at worst insurance for next year. If he doesn't show a ceiling worthy of playing time doen the road at KU, Bill Self has never been shy about recruiting over somebody and encouraging them to find other opportunities elsewhere.
@nuleafjhawk Lack of leadership has been a problem with KU for several years now so getting leaders hasn't exactly worked out for KU too well.
When has Bill Self ever been afraid to tell somebody they have better opportunities elsewhere to make room for a better player? Merv Lindsay, Quintrell Thomas, Anrio Adams, and so on. Because Self isn't afraid to engage in this type of recruiting, it doesn't bother me to sign Lightfoot because if Self lands a better player in the future, he can send Lightfoot to some other school.
@wissoxfan83 After they renovated the Towers (I lived in building A the first year after renovations), they weren't horrible. There was new carpet, new linoleum, new cabinets, new beds, and new lighting fixtures. Only thing they didn't replace were the stoves which were still old looking and really small. They obviously weren't anywhere near as nice as McCarthy, but they were a lot better than before the renovations.
I know he wasn't considering KU despite his dad being a former Jayhawk, but his commitment to Arizona could have other impacts for KU. Mitch Lightfoot is supposed to be committing in the near future and Arizona was/is one of his choices. Markkanen committing to Arizona probably means Lightfoot won't be committing there and increases KU's odds of landing Lightfoot.
This wouldn't be the kid you build a class around at KU, but an early commit would build some momentum for KU and Lightfoot wouldn't be a bad 3rd big for this class.
@Crimsonorblue22 The atmosphere doesn't always impact teams though because some teams handle it much better than others.
It's like KU basketball. They've been known to play like crap in Lubbock on occassion which is typically a pretty dead atmoshphere, but they've also had games there where they just steamroll Tech like they're supposed to.
@Crimsonorblue22 I didn't say that did I? I called out the specific games where that happened and the following week, KU got theor asses kicked because it wasn't really progress. Last year, TCU came in and olayed like crap, the next week KU let Perine set the single game rushing record on them. Not exactly backing up the TCU performance is it? KU followed up that OU game in 2013 by losing at home 59-14 to Baylor. KU lost to No. Illinois after the TCU game, and 41-14 to Baylor after Texas in 2012. They lost 61-7 to Texas A&M after taking RG3 to OT in 2011.
I never said everything team that came into Memorial played flat and with no energy because there's certainly enough evidence against that. But it does happen once or twice a season where a vastly superior team plays way below their norm in Memorial Stadium (usually an 11am kick) because there's just no energy in the stadium. On the surface, today appears to fit that mold. If KU follows up today with another decent game next week though, then there's a case to be made that progress was legitimately made today. We'll see what happens next week though.
@jaybate-1.0 You are over thinking this one because we all already know the answer because of Self's history. Once he decides on something, he's going to make it happen come hell or high water. Self has decided on two ball handlers this year and should one go down, Self's gonna plug the next guy in and run the same stuff. He'll adapt the personnel he has to the system, but he won't adapt the system to the personnel and there's 15 years of proof on that.
KU missed 3 FG's (one of them was a 51 yarder though so not a gimme) and an PAT. With the kicks KU should've made, KU possibly wins this game 27-23 and Willis doesn't throw that pick 6 because KU is running the ball at that point.
I'd also hesitate on how much progress actually occurred today and wait for next week. Teams playing really flat because of a dead atmoshphere is fairly common. TCU last year, Oklahoma in 2013, Texas and TCU in 2o12, Baylor in 2011. KU got blown out the following week following all of those games. If KU puts up a good performance in Stillwater next week, then we could say there's progress being made. Right now though, this is just another case of a team playing flat in the dead atmoshphere of Memorial Stadium.
@jaybate-1.0 It wouldn't be a memior, and you proposed title is wrong. It would be, "Clean Nipples: A Collection of Tall Tales From Dorm Bathrooms" There's gotta be plenty of stories from tall girls as well with photographic evidence for their stories.
The only player that KU's lost out on so far that's been frustrating was Ferguson. Lightfoot is supposed to commit next week, Bolden's decision ahould be coming soon. KU hasn't been considered a serious option for any of the other high profile recruits that have committed yet.
That said, Jerrance Howard needs to go. He's a liability for KU at this point and I think Self brought in Aaron Miles this year to groom him to replace Howard after this season. I know Miles has said he plans on trying to go back to international ball after this year, but Self can pay Miles more and while having one of KU's all time PG's who truly understands Self's system teaching it to the current generation. And Miles doesn't have an attempted cover up of a drug arrest on his record unlike Snacks.
@jaybate-1.0 I think you're over thinking this one and getting way ahead of yourself here. Mason has been very durable and the the only regular season games Graham has missed was because a 300 lb. player stepped on his heel.
Playing Mason and Graham together goves KU the best chance to win a national title this year. If something happens, then they can adapt to the new situation. KU has a pretty good history in regards to injuries because of Hudy.
@jaybate-1.0 Your hypothetical situation was who would fill the secondary ball handling role should Mason or Graham go down with injury. KU would go back to the one primary ball handler system and we'd see a combination of Svi, Vick, and Selden fill the Selden rile last year because there wouldn't be an option.
@jaybate-1.0 Svi is good enough, and Lagerald Vick and Selden would be used before Evan Manning would should either go down with injury.
@Crimsonorblue22 I absolutely despised the showers in the dorms. I'm 6-5 and those showers were nipple high on me. I actually had to get on my knees in the showers at McCollum (thank god that crap hole finally got blown up) to wash my hair because there was no room in those showers.
@justanotherfan Career 9th men in college don't play in the NBA. Brannen Greene has not shiwn the desire or effort to want to get better at anything so why should we expect anything to change now in his 3rd year? If Bill Self tightens up to 8 like he does most years, Greene's SOL on playing time this year.
@drgnslayr IIRC, the original plan was to have it house about 70 people with both the men's and women's teams and the original cost was about $17 million.
@HighEliteMajor Wouldn't be the first time he's been wrong now would it?
@justanotherfan When has Greene ever shown the ability to even be an average defender?
@drgnslayr In the wake of the Louisville investigation, they probably shouldn't be hanging around McCarthy right now. Impressions and what not.
@Kcmatt7 The Towers aren't any further from the practice gym than McCarthy is. The difference is that with the on site basketball court at McCarthy, the players don't actually have to go to the practice gym to workout now.
@drgnslayr Thank you on BG. He's an elite shooter, but you have to have some kind of secondary skill to make it to the NBA or be the big fish in the small pond and get noticed nationally like some the guys from Creighton and Gonzaga have over the years. BG doesn't fit either category. He is strictly a one dimensional player at this point and because he's in on a team where he's the 4th/5th person in the rotation at the 1-3 spots, he doesn't get the opportunity to torch players. Had he ended up at some mid major, he probably is a 15-20 point scorer and on NBA radars, but because he's buried at the bottom of KU's rotation, he's not on NBA radars and his professional future lies outside of the US.
@wissoxfan83 He doesn't look new to me.
@Lulufulu Self likes 5 men rotations at the 1-3 spots. Greene is likely the 5th man once tge rotation gets tightened up because Self will play everyone early on. Svi ends up subbing for Mason and Graham because those two can't play 40 minutes a game.
@jaybate-1.0 Svi doesn't have PG caliber handles, but his handles are good enough to be the secondary ball handler for stretches while Mason or Graham are on the bench. Svi could get 17-20 minutes per game exclusively subbing for those 2 guys. Odds are we'll almost never see a KU line up except for garbage time minutes that doesn't include 2 of those 3 guys on the floor at the same time.
@drgnslayr Svi will be a 2/3 this year. Self doesn't doesn't give a crap what a player's projected NBA position is because that doesn't always help KU out. Wiggins and Oubre played the 3, Marcus Morris played the 4, and so on.
Svi's primary job is going to be to spell Mason and Graham this year, and probably Selden until Greene is 100% so Svi could see a lot of minutes this year early on. Greene likely spells Selden when he becomes 100%. Lagerald Vick is going to be the odd man out once Self tightens the rotation up.
Congrats, I don't hate the Royals at all, they are my #2 team, but I was raised in Houston an Astros fan so they are always my top team. I guess I'll be pulling for the Royals the rest of the way now.
Valbuena hit a nice HR there.:sunglasses:
Johnny Cueto vs. a guy who's won 19 games and already won game 1 in KC. I feel good about tonight! Go Astros!
@drgnslayr TV markets don't matter without a conference network. While WVa may not be a recruiting hotbed itself, Western PA is which is just up the road and is a recruiting hotbed. If you go into Florida to add a team, you might as well add both UCF and USF. If you do that, I'd say split the divisions with rival schools in opposite divisions and do like the SEC does and have a designated cross-divisional game. One division could be Baylor, Texas, OU, Kansas, ISU, and USF and the other could be TCU, Tech, OSU, KSU, WVU, and UCF. Everybody gets a guaranteed game in Texas every year and a guaranteed game in Florida every 2 seasons while having a cross divisional game against a cross divisional rival guaranteed every year as well.
@justanotherfan If you don't split north-south, you have to have 2 Texas schools in each division. It guarantees a school not in Texas 3 games in Texas every 2 seasons.
@BeddieKU23 Bolden's comments post Late Night sound like he's back to being a KU lean and is talking about not even taking his UK and Duke visits.
@jaybate-1.0 You forgot something, Townsend is also the one who has the Samantha Ryan hook up as well.
That said, this sounds like a Townsend and Self double team on Bolden to make up for Snacks ineffectiveness.
Willis absolutely has the tools to be a good Big 12 QB. Even if Cozart gets healthy enough to play again this year, he needs to stay on the bench. Realistically, 2017 is going to be the year where we start to see major steps forward. This year is all about surviving and getting experience for some of the younger players. Next year will also be about experience and taking baby steps forward.
Under Armour does seem to be making some in roads with some other programs switching to them in the past couple of years. Wisconsin is the newest, Cincinnati switched this year, Notre Dame last year, Northwestern and Utah also switched pretty recently.
@wissoxfan83 Being from Louisiana originally myself and also an LSU football fan (behind KU and Oklahoma where my dad went), LSU absolutely has one of the most classless fan bases in football. I know that when it comes to issues outside of LSU, they're absolutely one of the nicest most generous groups of people in the country. Get some alcohol in them though, and they turn violent and antagonistic towards opposing fans.
I'm not gonna lie though, I straight up would've pissed that dude off and told him KU basketball is vetter than LSU football. KU basketball is top 3 program all time whereas LSU hasn't become a powerhouse program until the past 15 years with Saban and Miles. Before Saban, they would have the occasional great year, but never followed it up with another great year. In football, you have 6 programs on the Mt. Rushmore of all time greatest programs with Alabama, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ohio St., and USC on there. LSU would probably be on the 2nd or 3rd tier of all time programs in CFB.
@nuleafjhawk I think Fox has something similar to WatchESPN, so maybe start on Fox Sports website.
Yall enjoying this Astros game as much as me? :stuck_out_tongue:
There's always an element of luck to win the NCAA title. What happens if Simien made that shot against Bucknell, what if KU had made their season average FT% against Syracuse, what if that kid from Davidson made that 3 in the Elite 8? What if Trey Burke doesn't make that 30 footer? How many times does the best team actually win the NCAA tournament? One of the best teams does usually win, but not always the best.
The Big 12 streak might truly be the most impressive feat in the modern era of college basketball. This is a streak that is all about consistency which to me is much harder to do.
Another impressive stat to me is that of KU's 27 consecutive tournament appearances, KU has been a top 4 seed 25 times.
Even as impressive as those feats are, I would still trade both of those for any 2 of 1997, 2003, 2011, 2012, or 2013.
Football ratings, even college, have historically crushed baseball ratings. The Astros-Yankees game Tuesday was the highest rated baseball game on ESPN in 12 years which I assume was the Yankees-Red Sox series that year, but the viewership was about 5 million people which is still way under national NFL games.
@BeddieKU23
Who does this voting???
This was the coaches All-Big 12 team. Probably explains why it's just a first team and then honorable mention. It's possible the PG vote was 4-3-3 between Taylor, Morris, and Mason.
@ralster Charlie's system can work in the college game. Alabama, LSU, Wisconsin, Michigan St., Stanford, Florida St. all run pro style very successfully.
I wouldn't have been opposed to another pro style coach because getting west Kansas farm boys as the foundation of the OLine. Local farmboys is what Nebraska did under Osborne, and what Wisconsin currently does. Pro style still works in college, but like any system it takes time to get the right personnel in place to run that system.