🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@Statmachine Brannen Greene is not a future NBA player. There's too many players that have better overall skill sets than Greene that also have comparable shooting ability.

@clevelandjayhawk Absolutely no to a platoon system. It kills team chemistry because players don't play with everyone else. Even Calipari said he would never do that again.

@Red.Rooster I think has to do with Bill Self being afraid of losing more than loving to win. He coaches every game to win instead of letting his teams learn lessons from losses and figuring out how to deal with adversity. This doesn't mean intentionally losing games obviously, but that's one thing I've always loved about Izzo. He doesn't care if MSU loses a few early season games because he uses those to toughen his team up and learn how to handle adversity so they're better prepared to deal with in March and I think MSU's track record in March speaks for that approach.

@HighEliteMajor I absolutely would rank KU ahead of UConn over the last 15 years despite UConn's 3 titles because UConn has also missed the NCAA tournament 5 times during that stretch. Missing 1 of 3 tournaments just isn't consistent enough despite the titles to rank ahead of KU hasn't been lower than a 4 seed during this stretch. UConn is the definition of a boom or bust program with lots of peaks and valleys while KU trends pretty highly every year.

As for Self in the tournament, this is where his preference of playing lower scoring games comes back to bite him. Every possession is magnified in lower scoring games and Self reverts back to a lot of his bad habits the more intense the magnification gets. That Germany game was the perfect example. KU had played loose and up tempo for basically the entire tournament. I do think tired legs played a big part in the Germany game, but Self tightened the rotation like he always does the only subs he made during the 4th quarter and OT's were when someone fouled out. Bragg and Vick both had relatively fresh legs compared to everyone else and could've forced tempo.

@clevelandjayhawk said:

I thought you meant a 14 year old Cadillac, that would be an upgrade from what I currently drive.

Didn't Cadillac still use the Northstar engine back then, if so then there's very few cars you could drive that are worse than those things.

@madmaxKU Where did I say Frank Mason can't/won't put up great numbers this year? All I said was that even with the numbers Sherron Collins put up as a junior (19 and 5) he was not a projected 1st round pick by many sites. Frank Mason is listed at the same height as Sherron (5-11) and isn't as good a player as Sherron. There's better odds of you winning the Powerball jackpot than of Mason declaring for the NBA draft after this season.

You're argument for Monk over Graham (who will start this year) is that talent trumps experience. Bill Self runs a complicated system and it takes time to learn all the nuances to it. This is why reigning AAC player of the year Nic Moore struggled in Korea despite loads of evidence that he is a very good player. Brady Morningstar started over Elijah Johnson and Josh Selby while he was an upperclassman. It takes time to learn Self's system so while Monk may have a higher ceiling than Graham, Graham would be the better player in Bill Self's system in 2016-17.

About Svi and his draft projection, there's only one credible site that still has him projected to even be in the 2016 draft and that's Draft Express. NBADraft.net had Svi as a late lottery until Selden's emergence at the 3 in Korea. Just remember, most improved doesn't mean best player. Svi was also always projected to be the player making the biggest strides this past year because he's now 18 and starting to fill out his frame. Prior to Korea, there absolutely was a lot of debate about Selden and Svi and who should start over who, but Selden's play ended that discussion and KU's starting line up this year appears like it's going be Mason, Graham, Selden, Ellis, and then Mickelson early on replaced by Diallo later in the season in a similar situation to Black/Embiid provided Diallo is cleared to play this year.

@madmaxKU That's a lot of what if's for your reality to play out. Here's some facts that support my opinion. Devonte Graham was slated to start in Korea before he got injured. Because KU isn't adding another guard between July and November, there's no reason to believe Graham won't be starting the rest of his time at KU since he's already earned a starting spot.

Frank Mason isn't leaving early because he won't be drafted in a spot where he would get a guaranteed contract. Even Sherron after his junior year was projected as a borderline 1st rounder and that was one of the best seasons by a KU PG in a very long time. Size matters and if you're under 6 feet tall (Mason is listed at 5-10 I believe), you're not going to be drafted very high.

As for Svi's draft projection, those were before Selden was named the best player in Korea playing the same position Svi plays. Svi doesn't appear to be a starter this year now because of what Selden did in Korea which will hurt his minutes which will in turn hurt his chances of being drafted in 2016.

Wayne Selden's emergence in Korea now means he will likely be swapped out with Svi once the mock draft projections are updated since most haven't been updated in a few months. Outside of Cheick Diallo, Wayne Selden is the next most likely player to go into the NBA draft in 2016.

There is no logical reason to believe KU will not have both Graham and Mason back next year which means there will not be starters minutes available for a OAD caliber player like Monk. Take away the hometown advantage of Arkansas and just look at projected rosters and KU is the worst fit of the 4 schools Monk is making official visits to.

@joeloveshawks said:

Shaq (the best pure center in the NBA over the last 30 years)

I'm sorry, but Shaq is not the best pure center of the past 30 years. He was a one dimensional player who only knew how use his butt to move people of the way. He was an overrated defender who could basically be brick wall and extend his hands. Give me Hakeem as the best pure center of the past 3o years. Hakeem was a legit 7 footer who had moves like a guard and could actually guard away from the basket. If you want to see a center with amazing skill and not just run people over like Shaq, go watch Clutch City next time it comes on NBATV because that was Hakeem at his peak and he went through all 3 of Ewing, Robinson, and Shaq to get those two championships and was the best player on the court in all of those series.

@madmaxKU Arkansas is a not a mid to bottom level SEC team. Mike Anderson is a very good coach who's never had a losing season in 13 years as a head coach. Arkansas will probably be a top 25 team by the time the season's over just because of Anderson being a really good coach.

I also don't see any way KU lands Monk because KU doesn't have backcourt minutes available next season. KU figures to have Mason, Graham, Greene, Vick, and one of Selden/Svi back in 2016-17 which doesn't leave any starters minutes available for a OAD talent like Monk. The roster situation for KU just doesn't add up to KU landing any big time back court or wing prospects at this point and that's been the case for some time now. The battle for Monk is going to be a 2 horse race between the basically hometown Arkansas and Kentucky who figure to have an opening with Isaiah Briscoe being a likely OAD player.

@nuleafjhawk said:

It is beautiful indeed! I hope the day never comes that we have to read "FED EX FORUM", "KFC YUM CENTER", or any other God-awful brand of advertising on our court.

Keep in mind with Memphis that they are not the primary tenants on their building. The Memphis Grizzlies are, but the CEO of FedEx is a big time Memphis donor (he offered any power conference $10 million per year to accept Memphis) so the Tigers are probably getting a pretty good deal on renting it out, if they're even paying any at all.

@clevelandjayhawk Scott Drew isn't in danger of getting fired any time soon. Bruce Weber is probably getting canned after this year regardless of the KU so I say go for their jugular and run up the score to try and get Weber fired after the game in Manhattan.

@justanotherfan This is why Schnider Herard is not someone you recruit as a centerpiece of the class. He's someone you recruit as a second or third big in this class because he is raw and is a project player who doesn't figure to contribute significantly until year 2 and beyond at KU.

Fancaster isn't a site I'm too familiar with in regards to their reliability on breaking stories. Anybody familiar with what their track record is on the reliability on their stories?

I think Howard is a very overrated recuiter. He made his name at Texas A&M under Gillespie, followed him to Kentucky, but wasn't a good enough recruiter for Cal to retain, and didn't bring in top talent to Illinois. This is his 3rd recruiting season at KU and he has only landed 1 recruit so far, that is not good. He also hasn't helped KU's guards elevate their play significantly.

To me, the arrest and suspension is the biggest deal though. What he was arrested for isn't a big issue, although I'm sure there's parents of kids he's recruiting that doesn't sit well with, but the bigger issue is that did not disclose the arrest to Self when it happened. KU was 20-4 before the suspension and was barely an above .500 team after the suspension. People can spin that however they want, but that was absolutely as big a distraction as Cliff's situation was to the team.

Snacks not disclosing the arrest is absolutely being used against him in recuiting by other programs and is damaging his ability to land talent because it's easy for other coaches to attack Howard's honesty.

One other thing that's very telling me about where Howard stands on the totem pole is that Self didn't leave him in the US to recruit. To me, that says Self views Howard as the weakest recruiter on staff and I would feel much better about Bolden if Townsend was his lead recruiter, especially now that Alabama is getting involved and the same guy that sent Randle to Kentucky and Ferguson to Alabama is also the same guy involved with Bolden and has very strong ties to Avery Johnson.

@clevelandjayhawk My favorite part is that Self says Diallo forces everyone to play at a higher tempo. This is the area where Bill Self has never taken advantage of the talents of his team at KU. KU is annually more athletic than all but a handful of teams out there, but we frequently see Self prefer to play games in 50's and 60's which allows inferior teams to hang around and have a better shot at upsetting KU. I would love to see KU regularly play in the 70's and 80's and take more advantage of their athleticism and play at a faster tempo.

@jaybate-1.0 said:

Re: Frank–which is more important to his leadership: shooting 43% from Trey, or being a good communicator with his teammates? I would hate to give up either. But it is an interesting question.

Leadership is far more important at this point from Mason. KU has other good 3 point shooters (Graham, Selden, Greene, and possibly Svi), but they haven't had a true on court general since Tyshawn and T-Rob. Elijah and Withey weren't great leaders, Naadir Tharpe was a terrible leader, and Mason and Selden have yet to embrace that role and I do think that has played a not insignificant role in some of KU struggles in March the past 3 years.

I was encouraged by what I saw out of Mason and Selden's leadership skills in South Korea and I think that might the biggest contribution Nic Moore made to this team was showing those two how to be leaders since neither had seen good leadership during their time at KU.

We're definitely seeing that Self knows that big men are the absolute top priority this class. KU is being prominently mentioned with 6 bigs right now I believe and I'd be happy with a trio of Bolden and any of the other 2 bigs Self is chasing right now.

@jayballer54 KU needs at least 3 bigs in this class and if Schnider is the best big KU lands, that's a problem. Schnider is someone that would be good as a second or third big for the class as he's not someone who can start immediately and may not be able to contribute immediately, but he's still worth pursuing.

@dylans said:

Wish the A.D. Mr. KSU would’ve signed Gus Malzahn insead of Wies, but go Beaty!!!

He would already be gone gone from KU. Weis was a mistake, but Malzahn would've been here 2 years max before taking an SEC job and KU still would've needed a new coach for last season.

@HighEliteMajor said:

Think about this possibility – we could have all of our perimeter players back in 2016-17, which means he’d still be in the logjam as a sophomore.

I've mentioned this on several occasions only to have people say no chance of it happening. This is also why I don't think KU signs a combo this year because the guards KU could lose are 2/3 making wing players the second priority afters at least 3 bigs in this class. I just don't see a scenario outside of disciplinary issues in which Mason, Graham, and Vick aren't around next year and none of those 3 have any disciplinary issues in their background I'm aware of.

@dylans A basketball game takes up about 3 hours of time going to the venue, game, and going back to the room. Unless you're staying well away from the venue, that's still more than enough time to sight see and enjoy whatever tropical locale the tournament is in.

@drgnslayr Selby was at the BBQ that led to Bruce Pearl getting fired from Tennessee. He also took about $6,000 in benefits which is why Selby was suspended.

@drgnslayr said:

Don’t expect Self to push Frank into 38-minutes of play in this game to guarantee a win. He’ll be saving our guys for league play.

Bill Self absolutely would do that if necessary to beat Kentucky. Bill Self's history is that he coaches to win the individual game. The WUG are a perfect example. Self said going into it that everyone would play and yet Tyler and Evan only played garbage minutes in the blowouts. Also jeep in mind during the gold medal game that Self did not sub in the 4th quarter or OT except for foul outs despite having several fresh bodies on the bench.

@wrwlumpy I completely disagree that the Big 12 should go 8-2. SEC could easily win it this year. Tennessee is significantly better than TCU who is still the worst team in the Big 12. Vanderbilt is ranked ahead of Texas so that's not a gimme, OU and ISU are playing road games against top 25 teams so that's not a guarantee.

@BeddieKU23 said:

They just signed Humphries which would lead me to believe that UK is silently worried about him not being cleared in time for the season.

They signed Humphries because even if Skal gets cleared, Kentucky would've had just 3 front court players with one of those 3 playing out of position (Alex Poythress) and another that has been a colossal bust so far in college (Marcus Lee). Kentucky desperately needed Humphries regardless of what happens with Skal to fill a huge hole in the front court.

@JayHawkFanToo Self said that would happen in the near future.

@truehawk93 KU recruited Diallo because he is one of, if the best bigs in the 2015 class and an instant impact player. Kentucky is not immune from eligibility issues either as Enes Kanter was never cleared to play for Kentucky and Skal Labissiere hasn't been cleared yet for them this year.

@jaybate-1.0 I wouldn't say just a QB, but a QB has by far the biggest impact on a programs fortunes. I will 100% stand by my comment that no other position in team sports has a bigger impact of the success and failures of a program than QB and there's all kinds of examples of this in the college game and NFL.

An example at KU is the 2006 and 2007 seasons. KU went 6-6 in 2006, changed QB's and went 12-1 in 2007 and I don't think there's any coincidence that the best 2 year stretch in KU history also coincides with the best QB in program history.

And back to the Texas situation you initially questioned in regards to Colt McCoy. UT went 12-1 and 13-1 in McCoy's final two seasons and could've won a national title had he not got injured against Alabama in that title game. The next QB at Texas (Garrett Gilbert) wasn't nearly as good and with basically the same caliber of supporting cast McCoy had, UT went 5-7 and missed a bowl game for the first time in a long time.

@HighEliteMajor That was not supposed to say Bolden, it was supposed to say Coleby doesn’t impress me. Bolden looks like someone that could come in and start right away for KU as long as Diallo isn't here next year.

Your Selden commentary is also taking my comments out of context. Late bloomer or not, Selden was still a top 10 recruit and most draft sites had Selden as projected lottery pick that year so he was a presumed OAD by most metrics. Fair or not, Selden will get lumped together with Selby and Henry as players that outsiders view as tip 10 recruits who underachieved at KU. As I said to wissox, my biggest complaint about Selden to this point has been his lack of consistency.

@wissoxfan83 Honestly, if a player puts up good enough numbers to justify leaving after their freshman season, I would probably lean towards that. I don't have a major issue with the actual production that has come from the 2 the past 2 seasons, more consistent performances would probably be my biggest issue.

Agree or disagree with recruiting rankings they do have a impact on our expectations for players. Selden and Tyshawn had similar numbers through their first two seasons, yet only one of them is generally thought of as an underachiever through two seasons and that's because one was a top 10 recruit and the other was ranked in the 70's.

@HighEliteMajor KU needs multiple bigs that can play right away so I wouldn't think Bolden would impact Herard very much. Bolden just doesn’t impress as a player and Lucas just isn't strong enough to be a consistent force so there's going to be a starting spot and a rotation spot open right away.

@wissoxfan83 Do we really want another Wayne Selden? A top 10 recruit that was a consensus OAD player coming out of HS that is still around as a junior doesn't exactly speak well for KU's ability to develop guards.

@VailHawk Just remember, this is the current Miss Missouri...(WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC CONTENT)!Misery girl.jpg ↗

Meanwhile, KU has this...!KU girl.jpg ↗

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/art-briles--lie-puts-his-future-at-baylor-in-doubt-203410911.html ↗

Sam Ukwuachu was a DE at Baylor that was just convicted this week for raping a Baylor women's soccer player in 2013. He was a transfer from Boise St. who was dismissed from there because he was accused of physically abusing his then girlfriend and having severe anger problems.

The issue that could cost Briles his job is that Briles claimed he and Baylor were unaware of Ukwuachu's violent past. Current Washington and then Boise St. coach Chris Petersen said that he personally called Art Briles to inform Briles of why exactly Ukwuachu was dismissed from Boise St. and that the BSU athletic department was not in favor of any waivers to help Ukwuachu get back on the field. This is only 12 years after the Dave Bliss, Patrick Dennehy, Carlton Dotson saga that crippled the Baylor basketball program for quite awhile.

Baylor has to fire Briles for this because of their fairly recent history with the situation in the basketball program.

I'd be shocked if Ballock ends up anywhere else. He's coming in when Mason leaves and should slide nicely into the rotation right away as Graham gets the full time PG gig that year.

@jaybate-1.0 UT's decline is a very simple. The QB position. After Colt McCoy, all of UT's QB's have been underachievers and that's why they've been down recently. It's the same story at LSU and USC as well.

Let's take KU as well in regards to the difference a QB can make. In 2006, KU was 6-6 with 4 very close losses. QB was the only major change in 2007 and KU goes 12-1. Same thing was responsible for KU's decline. There wasn't a competent QB on the roster to replace Todd Reesing.

KU's fortunes could change very quickly and much sooner than hoped for under Beaty if Ryan Willis or Carter Stanley prove to be much better than anticipated. There is no other sport where a single player/position can determine the successes and failures of a team like the QB position in football.

@drgnslayr So you'd prefer a schedule set up that doesn't help prepare KU for deep in the tournament?

That stretch of games will pretty accurately (minus the neutral court and stadiums) simulate the Sweet 16, Elite 8, and Final Four for KU. Texas is absolutely a Sweet 16 caliber team (and only second time facing Smart), ISU is definitely and Elite 8 caliber team (and first time facing Prohm), and Kentucky with the recruits they're flipping and reclassifying (something smells fishy there) has the depth now to be a Final Four contender. The number of days off also is the same time line as the NCAA tournament for those same rounds.

@Crimsonorblue22 @curmudgeonjhwk If had they vacation time I would. Problem is I've been in several weddings this summer and have a couple more in the fall that have used all of my vacation days and I don't get more until late March after the regular season.

I'm not happy with the layout of this schedule at all. The two games I typically make it to each year (Baylor and Texas) are during the week this year and I work late enough on Friday nights that the 11:00 am tip for the TCU game is going to make it to where I can't go to that game. It sucks that this will be the first time in 12 or 13 years I won't make it to a regular season game.

KU really needs to make the Final Four this year so I can make it to a game and hopefully two.

@justanotherfan Sasha Kaun and his wife live in Denver (where she's from) and spend time in Lawrence every offseason. That is one of the biggest reasons why Kaun wanted to move over to the NBA.

@BeddieKU23 I disagree about this being a big time loss for KU. Is Ferguson a very good player and would I have loved to see him wearing KU colors next year? Absolutely, but KU will be just fine without him. Greene, Vick, and probably one of Selden/Svi next year will be back next year so KU isn't hurting at the 2/3 position next year without Ferguson.

The AAU connection and playing time probably were the biggest factors here, but there are plenty of of wings out there who will fit KU's roster in 2016-17.

@ParisHawk said:

Not to mention the selfish wish on our part to see him realize the amazing potential we glimpsed at KU.

How is it selfish to want to see someone reach their full potential in life? It doesn’t matter if someone is a pro athlete, accountant, lawyer, homemaker, or a cashier, we should all want people to strive to reach their full potential regardless of career or profession.

What's selfish is not wanting someone to reach their full potential and encouraging them to be dependant on others to survive. Not everyone will reach their full potential for various reasons, but wishing someone to reach their full potential is not selfish.

@Lulufulu Different surgeries and different bones. Kevin Durant's bone break was connected to his little toe near the ball of his foot. Embiid's break is a bone on the heel side of the arch that has to support much more weight than the bone Durant broke.

They are two different injuries with Embiid's being one that has a very poor track record in regards to ever fully recovering from unfortunately.

@HighEliteMajor With Embiid's foot, it's the same bone that ended Yao Ming's and Bill Walton's careers after they their abilities greatly reduced by this injury. The explanation we kept getting here in Houston about Yao's foot was that his body was too big for the navicular bone to handle. Whether that's because his foot suze, bone density or whatever, that's something I don't know and haven't researched at all so I can't help in that regard.

Embiid may eventually play in the NBA, but he'll never play to the potential he showed at KU and his career will likely end his career much sooner than we all would like.

From what I've seen of elpoyo on here, he seems to have quite a bit of troll in him.

@HighEliteMajor I'm the exact opposite on feeling bad for Selby and Embiid. I don't feel sorry for Selby because all of his problems were self inflicted because he was too stubborn to realize he needed a second year of college. I do feel bad for Embiid because his issues haven't been self inflicted. His foot issues are the result of him just being bigger than his body can handle and that's something that has ended many great big men's careers and Embiid appears to be the latest victim of this.

@jayballer54 DeAaron Fox is going to end up at Kentucky replacing Isaiah Briscoe. He may visit KU, but with Mason and Graham returning in 2016-17 (I don't see a realistic scenario in which either one leaves), it doesn't seem very likely that Fox is going to come to KU when there's a not a starting position or a ton of minutes available.

@RockChalkinTexas Last year, you could only get tickets to the Kansas game in Austin from a season ticket package or third party resale sites like Stubhub. I assume that's going to be the trend going forward with KU-UT basketball games in Austin.

@drgnslayr Is Ames and Austin really tougher than Ames and Lawrence? I think OU by far has a tougher road set up for their two Big Monday road games than KU does. OU's two Big Monday road games are back to back weeks unlike KU's that are about 4 weeks apart.

@Kcmatt7 You're talking two completely different situations. In 2013-14, KU was replacing McLemore, Releford, and Johnson with Naadir Tharpe being the only returning back court player with any experice. KU needed 2 starting back court players that year because there was only 1 starting caliber back court player that was returning.

Next year, KU is going to be returning Mason, Graham, Greene, Vick, and probably one of Selden and Svi. KU will not have the same depth issues in 2016-17 they had in 2013-14 and will not have room for multiple wings (which both Jackson and Ferguson will be in college).

@Kcmatt7 I will guarantee KU does not land both Jackson and Ferguson. They both play the same position and KU won't have a ton of minutes available at the 2/3 positions in 2016-17 and considering KU needs front court players much more than wings this year, Self isn't looking to sign multiple wings in this class as of today. If both Selden and Svi prove to be NBA leans this year, then a second wing will probably be targeted, but the second one would likely be a 4 star wing that wing that be stashed on the bench for a year.

@jaybate-1.0 According to Rivals, Josh Jackson plays for 1 Nation in AAU which is a Nike sponsored program.

@JayHawkFanToo Our Savior has had issues in the past with getting kids eligible to play so it's not exclusively the coursework Diallo took back in Africa. Prime Prep Academy just shut down (where KU target Terrance Ferguson went last year) because their kids have had all kinds of issues getting cleared and some never could get cleared (Emmanuel Mudiay is the biggest of those names). Self said after the 2011 debacle that he wasn't going to recruit kids he didn't think would get cleared to play, so I'm cautiously optimistic that Diallo will get cleared at some point this year.