🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@wrwlumpy No, players still can't touch the ball on the way down, but once the ball touches the rim, it's fair game.

@Statmachine What I think is going on here is the terminology I'm using is complicating things. I tend to use the terms skill and finesse interchangeably when describing a players game.

Diallo is not a finesse player just like T-Rob was never a finesse player.

@JayHawkFanToo It is apt comparison at this point because Diallo was almost always the biggest player on the court. The number of 6-9, 220-225 lb. HS players is a very small number. Like I said above, not having the biggest variety of moves does not preclude someone from being a competent, capable scorer. Once Diallo learns how to seal his guy under the basket, it doesn't take a lot moves to be able to score inside of 5'.

@Statmachine Not being a highly skilled player does not mean a player is incapable of being an efficient scorer. Shaq was never considered a highly skilled player, he just over powered people and took the vast majority of his shots from inside 5' of the basket.

It doesn't take a lot of skill to score off of offensive rebounds, lobs, and inside of 5' which is what Diallo is going to be asked to do this year.

@Statmachine What does starting or coming off the bench have to do with ones skill level? That is determined by the skill level of other players on the team.

Diallo and Davis don't have much in common with their games. Davis was a vastly superior offensive player because he was a PG until he shot up 8 inches before his senior year. Davis and Embiid are the two most offensively skilled big men in a generation. Diallo is not a highly skilled offensive player, he is a high energy, power player who will get most of his points off of offensive rebounds, lobs, and establishing position under the basket like Robinson did as a sophomore. Similar per 40 min. numbers to what Robinson did as a sophomore aren't out of the question for what Diallo is capable of.

@Statmachine Shooting was not the only thing Svi was long on frequently last year. He sailed a lot of his passes as well and played on fast forward a lot last year. That is a sign that his adrenaline was pumping and he couldn't control it which is a sign his nerves were getting the best of him a lot last year.

@konkeyDong I think Robinson as a sophomore is more where I see Diallo now. T-Rob was a high 4 star recruit and Diallo is a top 10 player so Diallo is entering college further ahead than T-Rob did.

Didn't Greene end up being the best FT shooter on the team last year?

Svi may not have the 3 point shooting or FT shooting that Greene does, but is the better all around player. His handles, driving, passing, finishing, and defense are all better than Greene. Svi's biggest problem last year was culture shock and nerves. It's not easy to everyone you know and just move to a new country and culture. You could also tell nerves got the best of Svi a lot last year because he was playing too fast and rushing stuff and that's where the majority of his mistakes resulted from. Both of those should be better with a year in America under his belt.

The more I watch Diallo's videos, the more he reminds me of T-Rob. Diallo's minutes will be largely dependant upon his ability to stay out of foul trouble as others have said. I would expect him to be around 20 mpg early on while he learns to play D1 defense eventually ending the season in the 25-27 mpg range playing in the 30 mpg range at the end of the season. I don't remember who compared him to Blake Griffin, I don't see those offensive numbers because Diallo will be at best the 3rd or 4th option and may be the 5th option. Ellis and Mason will be the top 2, and Graham will likely be third and I think Svi will be 4th and then Diallo.

@wrwlumpy It's because of your cookie settings. You were on a web page with something for sale and your cookie settings are going to show that on any page that has banner ads until you go to another web page with stuff for sale such as Amazon. Then it'll switch between those products for awhile.

@globaljaybird If you're actually on the aisle directly behind the basket, those seats aren't that great. I had similar seats for the CBE a few years back and the stanchion for the goal blocked a significant portion of my view of the court.

@JayHawkFanToo Kurtis Townsend discovered Embiid almost by accident. He was down there recruiting Chris Walker (thank you that didn't work out), saw his back up and was impressed enough with the footwork of the back up that Townsend told Self about this kid, and Self was able to get on this kid who transferred to a HS in Gainsville, Fl before Billy Donovan got involved.

If Gary Parrish is correct, Murray State's Steve Prohm is going to be the new head coach at Iowa State.

@Statmachine If it wasn't for his foot injury, Embiid would be a Cavalier this year, Wiggins a Milwaukee Buck, and Jabari Parker on Philly. So Self may have thought 2 years, but if it wasn't for his foot injury, it would've been 1 year. Cheick Diallo will be a very good player, but he does not have the footwork Embiid does and that's what limits Diallo's offensive game. Diallo is also a power player and Embiid is more of a finesse player on offense. I will take skill over power any day of the week.

@wrwlumpy No, there is no limit to the number of walk ons that can be on a team so there is zero correlation. Pollard said he's trying to pay his own way and just can't afford out of state tuition at KU. BYU and Utah both told him they're not looking for a walk on, nothing was reported about Utah St. or Weber St., but Pollard said he's likely headed to a JuCo next year to try and earn a scholarship somewhere regionally.

@drgnslayr Diallo will be a good offensive player in time, he just doesn't know how to use his body yet or have the refinement in his game yet on offense to be a high impact playear on that end in college unless he stays multiple yeas which isn't likely.

I'm not joking about Embiid being once in a generational offensive talent. He is the most offensively gifted big man since Hakeem Olajuwon and I really hope Embiid stays healthy enough to show off that skill in the NBA because he has HoF potential and I don't say tJat about many players. Anthony Davis is the only really young player (3 years or less) that I see right now that has HoF potential in the NBA today.

So KU's roster for the WUG is as follows

Back court: Mason, Graham, Selden, Vick, Manning, Self, and Moore from SMU.

Front court: Ellis, Traylor, Lucas, Mickelson, and Bragg.

Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (Ukraine), Cheick Diallo (Mali), and Dwight Coleby (Bahamas) are not eligible to play with KU because they are not Americans and Brannen Greene is still recovering from his hip surgery.

My guess is Mason, Graham, Selden, Ellis, and Lucas start with Moore, Vick, Traylor, Bragg, and Mickelson getting most of the bench minutes. I know Self said he'd play everyone, but he's a competitor and I just don't see him playing Evan or Tyler big minutes.

4 of the projected starters are competent 3 point shooters which should really open up the high-low with proper spacing on the perimeter. Of Lucas gets double teamed, there should be an open man on the perimeter for a high % look deep. This is the biggest thing the 24 second clock will do is not allow KU to reset their offense if the ideal look isn't there. Self should be preaching to look inside first and foremost, if that's not open then let Mason drive and if the defense collapses on him, kick out of the open three.

I am really looking forward to what kind of sets Self will run without a true wing on the roster that can take over games, and how he and the team deals with not having the extra time to run a second set if the first set isn't there. KU may not medal in the WUG, but I fully expect them to emerge from the games a much better team and have a better idea of how to run their offense than last year.

Teams and players improve the most by playing against better competition that force them to either improve or wilt. Most countries are bringing basically their U23 teams to this tournament that are going to factor into their national teams in Rio next summer so this will be a big challenge to KU and one they hopefully improve from.

The biggest question mark on this team is not on the court directly, it's who will step up fill the leadership void that had been missing since Taylor and Robinson? There's signs out there that Mason is embracing this role. I'm also hoping this is the biggest contributions Nic Moore makes to this team because he has been a great leader for SMU. I really hope he helps mentor Mason and Graham and breaks the bad habits instilled by Johnson and Tharpe.

As far as on the court, this national title caliber team. There is not a Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin, or Virginia pre Justin Anderson injury out there this year that you look at just knew was better than KU. There's also no reason to believe KU will have an assistant coach suspended in the middle of conference play, or have NCAA issues with the best low post player. Injuries are always a question mark, but hopefully KU doesn't get bit by the injury bug tournament time again like the past 2 years.

I don't see KU getting the same production overall from the freshmen they got last year because there isn't a freshmen that can score like Oubre did. Vick can get there, it just won't be this year. Diallo will be better than Alexander, but he's not as good overall as Embiid because he doesn't have the offensive game Embiid had. Embiid is a once in a generation offensive talent for a big man. Bragg may end up being the 5th big who does get consistent minutes and therefor not a regular contributor. Vick and Bragg will be good players, but just not major contributors right away because of who's ahead of them in the rotation.

Svi will make the jump people are hoping for. He'll be 18, more physically mature, mentally mature, and already has a year under his belt. He's also projected by multiple draft projection sites as a mid 1st round pick in 2016. I do believe he will live up to that hype.

Devonte Graham is the player I'm most excited to see howuch he grows. He's going to have a chance to go down as the best PG in the Bill Self era by the time he leaves. I'm also very excited to see an on court line up of Mason, Graham, Selden, Ellis, and Lucas/Mickelson during the WUG. That is line up that can flat out shoot the basketball and should be a great high-low team. During the regular season, switch out Svi for Selden, and put Diallo in for the post and I'm just as excited about what that line up could produce.

Diallo isn't Embiid on offense, but if he learns how to seal his opponent under the rim and develops a spin move, he will be extremely effective on offense.

The Final Four is at NRG Stadium in Houston, I live in Houston, I am excited this team has the potential to play 2 games down here and I hope I don't get screwed out of seeing them in Houston like in 2011.

@drgnslayr

Maybe Greg McDermott finds his way into the B12?

McDermott was in the Big 12. Look up who was head coach at ISU before Hoiberg came back.

@HawkInMizery Does KU not grant in state rates for the KC metro area? I always assumed they gave the in state rate to those who lived in Jackson County and those on MO side of KC.

@HighEliteMajor I've always been under the impression that spelling is part of grammar. I could be wrong about that one though.

@HighEliteMajor The Indiana Thomas is spelled wrong. His name doesn't have the first A in it. It's just Isiah whereas the current Thomas from Washington is the biblical spelling of Isaiah.

Not intentionally being a grammar nazi here, but there's a lot of people that don't realize how the Indiana Thomas's name is spelled like how a lot of people also misspell Brett Favre's name by switching the V and R because of how it's pronounced.

We are also going to see another physically small guard go in the first round that would be a top 5 if he was 6-3 or 6-4 in Tyus Jones. Kentucky is also going to end up with very good senior point guard in 2 years wit Tyler Ulis since he's only 5-7.

At the end of the day, I just don't see this as a strategy that would ever win a national title. To even make this an workable offense to give yourself a chance at a tourney bid, a team would have to be probably 38% or above as a team and that was maybe 10% of D1 teams last year. You'd also have to sustain your average or better for 6 or 7 straight games in the NCAA tournament to win the title against at 4 top 25 caliber teams.

I think a good test for this would be to hire a coach a low major D1 team, put 5 shooters on the floor with at least one of them a stretch 4 and see what happens. It would probably take a full 4 year recruiting cycle to nail the system down so a school would have to be patient which is why some low major program with a long history of a lack of success would be ideal to try this out initially.

Thus is the kind of gimmicky offense that I don't ever see being successful at a major conference school just because of the caliber of opposing defenses, but I could see this being a gimmick that's effective at a low major program if given the time to develop properly.

@Statmachine @JayHawkFanToo I know y'all know what I mean by small guard. Just clarity for others, in Bill Self speak this would be a lead guard.

Swap Svi for Selden as an early departure candidate and I think that would be more accurate. Svi is projected as a mid 1st round pick (same range as Oubre) in 2016 and Selden when I've seen his name has been in the second round.

I think a big is the top priority over a wing in 2016. A small guard is the 3rd priority for 2016. Mason, Selden, ???, Bragg, Lucas is probably the starting line up in 2016-17. I know this would imply a wing would be the need, but there's different options here. Svi if he isn't good enough to leave, Graham starts and Selden is the wing, or Brannen Greene starts in that spot among the current known options. Should Bill Self land a OAD type player to plug into that spot, I would not complain in the least.

I say a big is top priority because I don't like the Lucas/Coleby option. Neither player is a good offensive player, and neither is an above average defensive player. I just feel better about the perimeter options in 2016-17 without landing a top level wing than I do about the post. Landing a small guard also makes sliding Devonte Graham into the starting line up a viable option for 2016-17 as well.

@jaybate-1.0 The loan date is the UCC filing date. What's known about the situation is that it was an agent (or an agent's runner) that pointed Cliff's mom to the loan agency and the lawyer later on. I don't think Howard any involvement or knowledge of the loan situation because that's the type of infraction that gets a coach a show cause tag and basically black balls them from college coaching.

@jaybate-1.0 They were approximately a month apart. The Howard arrest happened in July and the loan happened in August of 2014.

@jaybate-1.0 Here's a page to look at to get different numbers relevant to this hypothetical offense. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/statistics/team/_/stat/3-points/sort/threePointFieldGoalsAttempted ↗

Let's do this on a per 100 possession baseline. The average team shot 48% on 2FGA last season. The average team would make approximately 25 FT's per 100 possessions and we all know that 95%+ of FTA come off of 2FGA so let's reduce 25 to 24. The average team would score approximately 120 points per 100 possessions give or take based on FT's if a team shot exclusively 2FGA.

To average 120 points per 100 possessions shooting nothing but 3FGA would require a team to make approximately 40% of their 3FGA just to break even with 2FGA if they were an average 2FG shooting team and the 3FG% would just keep going up as the 2FG% goes up. There were only 14 teams that shot 40% or higher on their 3FGA and all of them were average or better 2FG% teams.

Looking at these numbers, I don't think it's a efficient enough strategy on offense to make 80-90% of the total FGA from 3 worth running because you would have to be an elite 3 point shooting team and below average 2 point shooting team that doesn't get to the FT line on an average basis to make this a feasible strategy and elite 3 point shooting teams aren't below average 2 point shooting teams.

@jaybate-1.0 My opinion on Snacks is that he should've been fired the day the season ended. I don't care the weed part of the situation, that was never a big deal to me. The big to me was always the failure to be honest and up front about the arrest and I will always wonder in the back of my head what else he hasn't been up front about, including the Cliff situation. I also don't think we'll ever hear anything more about the situation because the NCAA will never get their hands on the loan documents themselves that they need to complete the investigation because they don't have the legal authority to do so and there was nothing illegal about the loan from a real stand point.

I also think Snacks is an overrated recruiter and I really wouldn't miss him on staff. He had early success at Texas A&M under Gillespie, but wasn't great at Kentucky, Illinois, and hasn't been anything special here in recruiting. Kurtis Townsend is the top of mountain when it comes to recruiting.

A lot of people have disagreed with me on this, but I believe the Jerrance Howard suspension was the biggest factor in KU's struggles down the stretch last year. Howard was suspended on Feb. 12, KU was 20-4 (9-2) when Howard was suspended and went 6-4 against Big 12 teams, and 7-5 overall after that. The Ellis injury did have a negative as well, but I don't think it had the same impact the Howard suspension had on the overall outcome of the season.

@jaybate-1.0 I figure the biggest reasons why KU will be better is because they likely won't have their best deep shooter injure his hip again, won't have an assistant coach get suspended from all team activities for two week in late February, have their best low post player player held out because of NCAA issues, or have their bast player at about 50% during the NCAA tournament. I also figure there isn't a dominant program of the caliber of Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin, or Virginia pre Justin Anderson injury.

@HighEliteMajor said:

@Texas-Hawk-10 You said -- "There is one big difference between Tharpe and Traylor and Mickelson. Naadir Tharpe had not been redshirted yet and had the option of going to another school ... "

Yea, I know that.

You're smarter than this HEM. You know it would be a terrible PR move for Bill Self and Kansas basketball to remove a player from the roster for non disciplinary reasons that would end their D1 college basketball career a year early. Bill Self will not remove a would be redshirt senior for non disciplinary issues because it will negatively impact his ability to recruit 4 year players. I know I wouldn't want to attend a school where I could get booted from the team with no other D1 option just because a potentially better player is interested in transferring in.

@HighEliteMajor There is one big difference between Tharpe and Traylor and Mickelson.

Naadir Tharpe had not been redshirted yet and had the option of going to another school and coincidentally he was seriously looking at Providence before going to the D-League. The part of this equation that you're either unaware or neglecting is that Jamari Traylor and Hunter Mickelson have already redshirted (Jamari in 2011-2012 and Hunter in 2013-14) and wouldn't have that option to stay at a D1 school. This is why Traylor and Mickelson are not transfer options and Bill Self would look like a major a-hole if he forced either to transfer.

ISU's AD wants Otzelberger, the players want Otzelberger, the ISU President is the one that wants a big name. At this stage, Otzelberger makes the most sense for ISU on an interim basis at least for 2015-16. If he does a good job, Otzelberger deserves it full time, if he struggles, find a big name coach. It just really doesn't make any sense to bring in an outsider in June voluntarily.

ISU should still be very good next year almost no matter who coaches the on 2015-16. Beyond that is the question mark. ISU will be a threat to win the Big 12 in 2016, but another team getting almost zero hype that will be a top 10 team in 2015-16 is Oklahoma. Lon Kruger is a great coach and has revived the Oklahoma basketball program and made them a very good team.

Josh Pollard is leaving because he doesn't want to pay out of state tuition and is going to enroll at a school in Utah. The walk on comment is referencing a Pollard, Manning, Self type walk on who wouldn't be good enough to merit a scholarship at KU.

If Paschal Chukwu does end up at KU, he would be the walk on for 2015-16 and moved onto scholarship in 2016-17. None of the current players on scholarship are going to be asked to move off scholarship.

@jaybate-1.0 I do believe KU is going to be better than last year and there is reason why Las Vegas has KU as the 4th/5th favorite to win the title this year.

Is it a guarantee that Svi will be as good as Oubre next season? No, it's not, but there's a reason why he was considered KU's best NBA prospect last year despite the amount of bench time he saw. Don't forget that Svi was just 17 last year and doesn't turn 18 until next week (June 10). He has the skill, his body is continuing to mature, he has experience now and it's just a matter of time until he shows why he's a projected mid 1st round pick in the 2016 draft. You may say it's a net negative, but don't forget that Self backed off the elite wings in 2015 AFTER Svi and Brannen announced they would be back.

Speaking of Brannen, the time table for his return was approximately 5 months which at the time of his surgery puts Labor Day as the approximate target date for his return. That's 2 months before the season starts so barring some kind of major set back, BG will be ready to go for the season.

The front court is where KU will see the most improvement. Diallo and Bragg should be much better on the court overall than Cliff was last year. Diallo isn't going to be asked to shoot anything outside of 5' other than FT's and has a much higher motor than Cliff did. Diallo is also considered the best rim protector in the class which is what KU was missing last season.

You bring up Diallo's ability to guard 7 footers. Two things about that, Diallo has a 7-2 wingspan and how teams with 7 footers does KU play in 2015-16? I can think of two and of those players may not be eligible to play. UC Irvine has that 7-5 kid, but it's still UCI and KU should win that one. Kentucky has Skal Labissiere, but he still hasn't been cleared to play by the NCAA yet and there's a chance he won't get cleared at all. Beyond those two players, I don't know of a competent 7 footer that KU faces so worrying about something KU has to deal with twice on the known part of the schedule isn't a big deal to me.

This is the best overall team KU has had since 2010-11. There is depth and experience on perimeter, there is experience on the wing, there is depth and experience in the front court. When was the last time KU had 5-6 upper classmen in their projected rotation? Mason, Selden, Ellis, Greene, Lucas and probably Traylor. Add in Graham and Svi who did play quite a bit last year and we're talking 8 of the 9 rotation spots filled by players with experience.

@HighEliteMajor We can go back and forth all day long about whether or not Traylor, Greene, and Mickelson make KU better, but that's not a discussion that will ever bear any fruit because we simply have different opinions on Greene and Traylor's value to Kansas basketball.

In regards to Brannen Greene, let's say he's on the court with Mason, Graham, Bragg, and Diallo and KU is in their high-low set. Diallo gets the ball and is double teamed by his man and a guard, KU at that point has three 40%+ 3 point shooters on the floor and one of them is wide open. The ability to discourage double teams in the post because of the 3 point ability of the guards is not something that cannot be overlooked when it comes to making the high-low more effective.

Let me ask you a question about this situation. We both know that Traylor and Mickelson haven't graduated yet so that rules them out as graduate transfers. Neither player has the disciplinary history that Tharpe did to justify removal, so how does Bill Self remove a would be redshirt senior that hasn't graduated yet and doesn't have a history of disciplinary issues without damaging his ability to recruit 4 year players?

Aside from the on court issues, the off court PR damage from kicking a would be redshirt senior off the team for a project player, Chukwu may have a high ceiling but he is a project at this point, I would lose a significant amount of respect for Bill Self for pulling a move like that on a 22-23 year old kid who hasn't graduated yet.

At this point, the only viable way to land Chukwu would for someone on scholarship to move to walk on status. There's just not another option that doesn't hurt KU either on the court or off the court.

@jaybate-1.0 Not buying the 7 footer theory because there simply isn't the volume of 7 footers to do this.

Also, KU already has Oubre's replacement on the roster, he was signed last year when Self dumped AW3. Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk is Kelly Oubre's replacement.

Also, LaGerald Vick did get bumped up to #33 before he signed with KU which is a similar jump to what Svi made in the rankings last year.

As I debated with HEM yesterday, I personally think it's stupid to boot someone off of this team that is on the very short list of title contenders this year to prepare for 2016-17 where KU is not guaranteed to be on the short list of title contenders even with Chukwu.

As much as people are talking about building for 2016-17, you'd think KU wasn't in any kind of position to make the NCAA tournament this year, let alone contend for a national title.

@HighEliteMajor As far as I know, as long as a player has graduated prior to the semester their sport starts, they are eligible to become a graduate transfer. The one thing not in that March article that's relevant now is how many credits Mickelson needs to graduate. If he can graduate in August, then he could still transfer to another D1 school and still be eligible next season.

One thing I am curious about is why didn't he graduate in May. Usually a basketball player gets put on the 4 year track to graduation regardless if they redshirt or not. I would be interested in this side of the story and whose choice it was for Hunter and Jamari to get put on the 5 year track like most football players instead of the typical 4 year track most basketball players are on.

@Bosthawk Lucas is not a good option to force out because the reason for wanting Chukwu is because KU is going to be thin in the front court in 2016-17.

@jaybate-1.0 There's one flaw in you 7 footer theory, 2 of the last 3 national champs didn't have a 7 footer on the roster, so it's not a necessity.

@CaptnMo There is no total roster limit, only a scholarship limit of 13. Moving someone off scholarship doesn't prevent them from dressing up. KU moving someone off scholarship to clear room for Chukwu would put them at 17 total players and 15 players eligible to play in 2015-16, the same number of players KU dressed last season.

@HighEliteMajor I personally wouldn't be in favor of dumping Traylor or Greene for Chukwu, but if Mickelson were a realistic option, I wouldn't be opposed to that.

We're never going to see eye to eye about Traylor value and skill so I'm not going to get into that again. One other aspect is that Jamari hasn't graduated yet and has already redshirted so forcing him out ends his college career without a degree, that's a very negative PR hit that would be all over the major sports websites painting Self as a terrible person (and deservedly so IMO) and would have a negative impact on recruiting.

There's two reasons I'm opposed to forcing Greene out. He's too good of a shooter to leave alone and he was making strides in his defense before his injury. The other reason is KU doesn't have the depth on the perimeter to afford dumping a perimeter player. If Greene is forced out, KU would be down to 5 perimeter players (Mason, Graham, Selden, Svi, and Vick) and would struggle to withstand an injury. Also throw in Svi is a projected mid 1st round pick next year on multiple sites and KU's depth issues on the perimeter could be magnified and landing a quality 2016 becomes the top priority in 2016 recruiting over a big instead of the other way around.

Hunter is the one guy I wouldn't be opposed to trading out, but there's not a way to do so without looking bad unless Hunter can fast track an August graduation, but that doesn't sound like a viable option. Also the same negative PR I mentioned about Jamari applies here in forcing out a senior who's already redshirted and hasn't graduated yet.

Of the 3 players you named, the 2 would be seniors aren't going to graduate before August and therefore can't transfer unless it's to a D2 school without ending their careers. And KU doesn't have the depth to logically send off a guard this offseason. I'm not opposed to making room for Chukwu in theory, but looking at the logistics of how it would have to happen combined with expectations this, that's where I become opposed to the idea.

Actually, one option I hadn't thought of and I don't know if you've mentioned is moving a player from scholarship to walk on if the parents have the means. I don't know the financial status of players parents, but Perry or Landen could be a viable option for this route.

@HighEliteMajor No, I'm not smoking weed, but I'm wondering about you right now. There's two things about your rationale right now that don't line up with how I've known you to think.

You were very critical of Bill Self forcing Andrew White III out last year (for who turned out to be Svi) , and now you're advocating that Bill Self do exactly that (I'm guessing to Greene based on your 2016-17 roster) this offseason. Why the 180, is it personal bias for White and personal bias against Greene?

You yourself called 2016-17 a POTENTIAL title contending team. 2015-16 IS a title contending team. You proposed a lot of what if's to make KU a title contender in 2016-17 compared to the reality that Mason, Graham, Selden, Greene, Bragg, Lucas, Coleby, and Vick. Svi is currently a projected mid 1st round pick on multiple credible projection sites so he's not a guarantee for 2016-17. Using what if's to justify kicking a player off team that is currently a title contender to bring in someone to help a team that might be a title contender is very flawed logic, especially for someone like you.

I get you're a big fan of Chukwu, I was a big fan of Williams, but Williams isn't coming to KU and nobody on this team should be sacrificed to make room for Chukwu no matter how big your man crush on him is because nobody in the frontcourt is eligible to transfer and KU doesn't have the depth in the backcourt to sacrifice someone for a player who won't help KU on game nights in 2015-16.

@blackmild33 I know Vick has announced for 2015, that was my point in my post. People are still trying to justify kicking someone off the team and bringing in Chukwu now that KU's scholarships are filled and I think it's a stupid at this point to do that.

At this point, I hope Chukwu cancels his visit (either he cancels himself of Self cancels for him) now that Vick is officially in the class of 2015. Nothing against him personally as I would've preferred him over Coleby, but what's done is done and now we're talking about removing a piece of title contender this year to make room for someone who's nothing but potential at this point in 2016-17.

Why are we trying to find a way to fit Chukwu into the mix now? KU will not be a serious national title contender in 2016-17, they are however a legitimate national title contender in 2015-16 (4th favorite in Vegas). Let come what may in 2016 recruiting, but Bill Self needs to leave this roster alone now and focus on winning the 2015-16 national title starting with the opening of the WUG practices next week. Use Nic Moore to make Mason and Graham better PG's, use the WUG to develop Ellis and Bragg's perimeter games because they will see some minutes at the 3 in the WUG because of Greene and Svi being out.

KU is a serious threat to win a national title in 2015-16 and they have been given an opportunity to get an extra month of unlimited practice and some games against top flight competition at this age range. Bill Self needs to take full advantage of this head start he is getting courtesy of USA Basketball.

Paschall Chukwu, you had your opportunity to become a Kansas Jayhawk, you didn't act quickly enough on it, sorry but it's time to find another place to play besides Kansas. The road to Houston starts next week with the opening of practice for the WUG.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!

@Statmachine Austin Hatch is no longer on Michigan's basketball roster. The exemption they got was a medical hardship so that he could stay on scholarship to complete his degree at Michigan, but his playing career is over and that's how they cleared that scholarship spot.

@justanotherfan You're missing Coleby who makes it 13.

@jayballer54 I don't know definitively, but my best guess on why Vick hasn't announced his reclassification yet is that there's a hold up in the process beyond Vick's control. Whether it's a Clearinghouse or Bill Self related delay, I don't know at this point, but that's the most logical explanation at this point.

After looking at the graduate transfer situation, there is nobody that makes sense to transfer to make room for Chukwu at this point. Even with Nic Moore in the mix for the WUG, KU is still short a guard which is why Vick is trying to reclassify. Vick is the the guy to sub in for an injury next season, especially if Greene's hip takes longer than expected to heal or if he has a setback of some kind.

Brannen Greene would be the only possible transfer option and that would solely be because of disciplinary reasons and not to make room for someone else. The only way Paschall Chukwu comes to KU at this point is if LeGerald Vick isn't cleared to reclassify into 2015 because KU needs Vick more in 2015-16 than Chukwu in 2016-17 at this point.

I think what's going on is Chukwu hasn't canceled yet because Self is waiting on an official word from Vick (supposedly some time today) and when Vick announces that he's reclassifying, we may hear the next day that Chukwu is longer taking his visit this weekend.

@HighEliteMajor I actually didn't see the link you posted before I responded, but I think it was the same link I found though.

"When Dwight became available, we researched it and watched tape. He's a exactly what I think we need. He's a big guy that can play either bigs position. He's active. He reminds me of a lot of a bigger Jamari or Thomas Robinson-type body." - Bill Self

Saw this quote from posted to KU's basketball Facebook page. Self apparently believes Coleby is more versatile than Chukwu because Self believes Coleby can play both the high and low post and therefore could pair him with either Bragg or Lucas when he becomes eligible to play for KU in 2016-17.

@HighEliteMajor I just read Mickelson isn't scheduled to graduate until next season so that means if Vick reclassifies, recruiting is done because there's no one on the roster that would make sense to force out for Chukwu.

This situation does raise some questions about a potential post WUG transfer from someone like Mickelson, especially if Vick reclassifies as expected. Mickelson probably isn't going to play much this year and I still wouldn't be surprised if something happens with him, especially if Vick reclassifies as expected.

@JayHawkFanToo I can tell you for a fact that Bill Self sent people to check up on his players to make sure they were in attendance. I can also tell you that Mangino also had people to check on his players from time to time and that I never once saw anyone checking in on the football players while Turner Gill was there in the spring of 2010.