VCU won a thriller over George Mason to keep all bubble teams happy.
Texas Hawk 10
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5 games to wrap up conference tournament season today and 2 could affect the bubble. The A-10 and AAC title games George Mason and UAB looking to steal bids today.
A player I would be interested in pursuing should he enter the portal would be Minnesota's Frank Mitchell.
He hasn't entered yet, but with a coaching change and pretty much everyone else on Minnesota being out of eligibility, I would be surprised if he didn't enter the portal.
Miller isn't someone to pursue with expectations of him starting, but would be an ideal back up for Flory IMO. Averaged 5 and 5 on 66% shooting in 16 mpg this season. He began his career at Canisius and led the MAAC in rebounding a couple of years ago.
@wissox Good player, but not a good fit for KU. He can't play the 4 so it'd be a choice between him or Flory and I'd rather have Flory.
Also, the schools involved with him are Arkansas, Creighton, Gonzaga, and Michigan.
UC-San Diego has won the Big West which will make all bubble teams happy because they would've had a very compelling case to get an at-large.
This is a school I would not want to see show up as a 1st round opponent if I was a 5 or 6 seed.
Boise losing the MWC title game to Colorado St. isn't good news for other bubble teams.
Looks like St. John's is going to win their first Big East Tournament title in 25 years. They are very much a possible 2nd round game for KU.
VCU moving to the A-10 finals is good news for all bubble teams.
There are several games that could affect the bubble tomorrow. In the A-10, Loyola-Chicago could steal a bid if they upset VCU who should still be in as a at large, but might be bumped into a First Four game.
In the Mountain West, Colorado St. could steal a bid and put Boise's hopes in the air as Boise is currently a bubble team themselves.
The Big West title game between UC-Irvine and UC-San Diego could be a contender for game of the day.
Big day today for tournament titles with 12 conference championship games taking place today.
The Bryant Bulldogs already won the America East title this morning.
@approxinfinity I don't care about feelings at this point. Rylan has been bad the last few games and AJ played pretty well last night. Start him and see if it carries over. If not, go back to Rylan because even if he does nothing, that's what he's been doing recently anyway.
High Point, Omaha, and SIU-Edwardsville so far are the 3 team programs that have clinched their first ever NCAA Tournament bids. UC-San Diego has a chance to join that list as they are overwhelming favorites to win the Big West and could even get an at-large if they lost to UC-Irvine. St. Francis (PA) will be the 20th team to make the NCAA Tournament with a losing record.
Here's the list of the automatic qualifiers so far and which title games are still to come.
A10: VCU Rams
A-Sun: Lipscomb Bisons
ACC: Duke Blue Devils
America East: Bryant Bulldogs
American (AAC): Memphis Tigers
Big 10: Michigan Wolverines
Big 12: Houston Cougars
Big East: St. John's Red Storm
Big Sky: Montana Grizzlies
Big South: High Point Panthers
Big West: UC-San Diego Tritons
C-USA: Liberty Flames
CAA: UNC-Wilmington Seahawks
Horizon: Robert Morris Colonials
Ivy: Yale Bulldogs
MAAC: Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers
MAC: Akron Zips
MEAC: Norfolk St. Spartans
Missouri Valley: Drake Bulldogs
Mountain West: Colorado St. Rams
NEC: St. Francis (PA) Red Flash
Ohio Valley: SIU-Edwardsville Cougars
Patriot: American Eagles
SEC: Florida Gators
SWAC: Alabama St. Hornets
Southern: Wofford Terriers
Southland: McNeese Cowboys
Summit: Omaha Mavericks
Sun Belt: Troy Trojans
WAC: Grand Canyon Antelopes
WCC: Gonzaga Bulldogs
North Carolina won a battle with Wake Forest to basically knock Wake out of the tournament.
Minnesota just fired their coach. One player that stands out to me as a potential back up for Flory is Frank Mitchell. He started his career at Canisius where he led the MAAC in rebounding a couple of seasons ago. A PER of 19.6 last season while averaging 5 and 5 in while playing 16 mpg would be ideal production from a back up post player. He was 66.3% from the field last season so he doesn't take a lot of bad shots. He is only a 40% FT shooter so not someone you'd want on the floor in crunch time, but that's probably the biggest weakness in his game.
With the news about Tiller, KU is going to need a lot of post depth and Mitchell would appear to be a guy that fill that role nicely behind Flory. If Mitchell enters the portal, that's a name I would be contacting to gauge interest his in backing up Flory.
@BeddieKU23 said in Peterson:
Tiller had ankle surgery recently. Another setback
Do you know any updates on Elmarko's recovery? He should be close to being cleared based on Self's previous updates, correct.
The North Dakota kid mentioned above would be a hard pass, unless it would be in a back up role, but even then I think KU already has better on the roster with Passmore.
@BeddieKU23 said in 2025 Portal Madness Thread:
Think I saw Trilly report Keyshawn Hall from UCF who we play tonight and had 34 against us last time could be in play for that 3 or 4 spot.. if he enters which i would imagine is likely. So early but KU mentioned there.
I would take him in a heart beat for next season.
Ugly win, but nice to see AJ have a good game. He's the one guy on this roster being a difference maker that hasn't really been one this season. With his performance tonight, I would reinforce it by starting him over Griffen tomorrow.
@SlimShaddy54 said in Third 2025 basketball season:
@Texas-Hawk-10 ya, just seems crazy that's the only one. Sure looks like there would be all kinds of room for them to have an adjusted time slot. No other mid major or low on ESPN either , just Gonzaga- -just seems weird
Tonight is giving a spotlight to the low major conference tournament games including several conference championship games. Those are more exciting games than watching a bunch a crappy major conference teams in an opening round game.
@approxinfinity said in Third 2025 basketball season:
@SlimShaddy54 bryce thompson when he was kansas had a pretty janky shot, wasnt really a great scorer. Seems like he is a decent role player, but having a weird form that doesn’t go in puts a ceiling on things.
Probably for the best he left because he's still a very limited offensive player. His best PER rating for a season was this year and it's 14.2 which is below average. As much people crap on Dejuan and KJ here, they're both better overall offensive players than Bryce. He's AJ Storr levels of inefficient on offense. He is a good defender though and would've been a nice defensive stopper on a good team though.
@approxinfinity said in Third 2025 basketball season:
@dylans i went to a baseball game, good seats, and the juice was definitely not worth the squeeze. By comparison streaming services dont look like a ripoff.
I went to the Rockets game last night. Concession prices were so damn ridiculous. $17 for a chicken tender basket with fries, $11.50 for a souvenir sized soda. Premium beer was $15 and regular beer was $11. A bottle of water was $6.50. I think the big bucket of popcorn was $13 and the small bucket was $8.
I paid less than $25 for the ticket (front row of the upper bowl) from Stubhub, but it's the concession prices that are keeping regular families away from games. I ha e so much respect for Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank for keeping concession prices low at the Falcons stadium.
I pay less for the Disney/Hulu/ESPN+ bundle than it costs for a family to buy concessions, not tickets, just concessions, at a Houston Rockets game.
@SlimShaddy54 said in Third 2025 basketball season:
Can't believe that NONE of our tourney games are on any of ESPN'S Channels today OR tonight- -Nice ESPN - Real NICE
Today is all low/mid major championship games. None of the ACC games are on ESPN/ESPN2 either today. Only big time match up on either network is the WCC title game between Gonzaga and St. Mary's.
@BShark Reason why I ignore him at this point. Anytime he's wrong about something, he changes the argument into something different.
@DCHawker said in This is The Feel Good Edition KU-AZ:
@BShark said in This is The Feel Good Edition KU-AZ:
@kjayhawks Could be a 7 but beating Arizona will help.
I think there could be a fair amount of variability in our seeding depending on how we do in the B12. We are only 5-10 against Q1 and 11-11 against Q1-2. That's more like a 10-11 seed profile. What has us around a 7 seed right now is overall strength of schedule and wins against Duke, MSU, ISU and Arizona. I don't think any other projected seed lower than a 4 has 2 wins against 1 or 2 seeds.
A loss in the 1st round would add a Q2 loss and a losing records against the first two quadrants, probably resulting in a 8 or 9 seed. 3 wins, if the third was against TTU might get us to a 6 seed. That would keep us on the 2 seed side of a bracket and avoid playing the 2 seed in the first two games...
A 10-11 seed is a bubble team. KU doesn't have a bubble team resume. Xavier is the last team in on ESPN's projection, they're 1-8 in Quad 1 games. KU has 4 wins over top 13 teams in the NET rankings including over number 1 Duke. If KU somehow made a run and won the Big 12 Tournament they would likely move into a top 4 seed if that path included wins over Arizona in the quarterfinals, Texas Tech in the semifinals, and Houston/Iowa St in the championship game.
@kjayhawks said in This is The Feel Good Edition KU-AZ:
I’ll take my usual stance on the B12 tournament, win it all or lose the first game. Although with the way with this team had played if we won, it will be something
Considering our first game is likely either Utah or UCF, I'd prefer to not take a quad 2 loss going into the NCAA Tournament. The quarterfinals game would be either BYU or Arizona (they split so I don't know who has the tiebreaker). If it's BYU, I'd like to avenge that embarrassing performance in Provo.
Zeke not inbounding, Self has learned in that situation.
@StLJhawk said in This is The Feel Good Edition KU-AZ:
7 pts under a minute,looking good
I don't feel comfortable yet.
Zeke having another rough game so far.
Should've been a foul on Love
That looked like goal tending to me
Good aggression so far
@BeddieKU23 Elmarko is close to being 100% barring a setback. Self said in January that Elmarko should be 100% by March and would begin full contact after the season was over. Elmarko should be able to go through a full off season.
Elmarko should to be the starter next season with Peterson playing off ball, or even playimg the wing. Peterson hasn't been a lead guard since his freshmen year of high school soccer I doubt he's going to play that role next season.
@Crimsonorblue22 Tiller played for Overtime Elite which is an invitation only league for top high school players that Tiller was playing in. Tiller got injured over the summer (ankle) and decided to enroll early at KU and redshirt to rehab and be around the program. He should be practicing with the team at this point unless he's had a setback at some point.
@kjayhawks said in Peterson:
@Texas-Hawk-10 I think Clemence is just a waste of space at this point unfortunately
For me, keeping Clemence is bigger than basketball. It's about helping him get his degree and setting him up for his post basketball life. I'm fine with him being the last scholarship players on the bench because he's shown he can playa few minutes and be fine. If he feels he can keep himself out of trouble and wants to play more, then a transfer to another program is fine. I don't want to keep him because of his basketball ability, just to help him personally stay on the right path in life.
@approxinfinity said in Lets take the lead into the first TV timeout!:
@Texas-Hawk-10 mission accomplished on Hunter, I thought. (Apologies if you already circled back on your point about the importance of his engagement, otherwise would be curious if you were happy with his output in large part)
I don't know if happy is the word I would use because he did have 7 turnovers, but his energy and effort was there all night and helped keep KU in the game until the end.
@kjayhawks said in Peterson:
Okay so what are we thinking here team wise next season? I hope Diggy stays and uses that extra year so whom else do we want to return? Obviously Flory, Mari and Elmarko. I’m really thinking that it I’m just worried that guys in the portal won’t want to come here thinking it’s purgatory and it’s how the transfers have worked out here.
For me, ideally the starting line up next season would be:
1-Jackson, Coit, McDowell
2-Peterson, Coit, Passmore, McDowell
3-Griffen, Passmore, Calderon
4-???, Calderon, Clemence
5-Bidunga, Tiller
If Griffen leaves, then that creates 2 open starting spots at the 3 and 4. I would also look at a back up 4 as I don't think Calderon or Clemence should get a lot of minutes next season. As far as rotation level players go, that's about it for next season for what I would be looking for.
@approxinfinity said in Lets take the lead into the first TV timeout!:
@Texas-Hawk-10 ok but he didnt say that. He should say that if he means that. Sloppy Fran.
I thought it was pretty clear what Fran was referring to.
@approxinfinity said in Lets take the lead into the first TV timeout!:
Frans an idiot. This team has nba players on it
He meant next season and he's not wrong. Nobody on this roster is good enough to play in the NBA in 2025-26.
This felt about as good as could expect for the first half. Keep it up in the second half, clean up some turnovers and do a better job on the defensive glass and KU's got a shot.
Other than rebounding, the defense has been very good tonight holding UH to 31% from the field and 36% from 3.
Same thing I've said the last couple of games, I want to see Hunter active and engaged. If that happens, KU has a chance. If he plays half-assed, KU loses by a lot.
@wissox said in It's time (Irrational thought of the day):
Labaran Philon...? in an article said backed out of his commitment last year because of the guards Self was bringing in through the portal. He's a 4 star guard now for Alabama averaging 10 pts, only 21% on 3's so he wouldn't have been better than Mayo, for long term depth Diggy and Shak may have cost us keeping him
By the time Philon decommitted, KU had retained Elmarko, and added Storr and Mayo in the portal. Elmarko and Zeke would've definitely been viewed as competition, but it was Rylan Griffen's commitment that spurred Philon's decision and they essentially traded Philon for Griffen.
@bskeet The note was in response to all the stuff directed towards Zeke to try and take some blame off of him since Self can deal with all that stuff.
@rcjhdraft I don't think that's our recruiting strategy, do you? I mean lets get a 1 year rental because it'll bring in all the system guys we need? Of course the portal is a game changer too and maybe guys will want to come alongside him next year thinking they'll all mesh into a championship team. Someone will probably fact check me on this but I don't think there's a championship team since Duke in 2015, or maybe Kentucky in 2012 that's ridden OAD's to the championship.
A player's end goal is not playing Kansas (or whatever school they go to), it's to play in the NBA. Darryn Peterson is a difference maker and him being successful at Kansas and then in the NBA will attract more of the OAD level talent. That in turn will attract a higher caliber role player to fill in around those superstar players so that in years when there isn't a OAD caliber player on the roster, it's still a roster loaded with players who have an NBA future.
@wissox said in Lets go 3-0 on the new season:
@Texas-Hawk-10 PD on Saturday? What kind of school district you work for?
Not a mandatory one, something I needed to work towards my GT certification so I can at least show my admin I'm being proactive even though I have no desire to teach GT long term. I prefer working with my SpEd kids much more, but since I'm the only teacher in my content this year, I have to teach all subpops this year.
Basically sacrificing 6 hours to keep admin off my back.
Currently on a lunch break for a professional development and will end up missing the game today.
I just want Hunter to play with energy and be engaged throughout the game because KU won't win otherwise.
Peterson is in the Andrew Wiggins, Josh Jackson level of impact at the college level.
@SlimShaddy54 We're going to have two players who were recruited to KU after NIL began that will be entering their 3rd year at KU next season with Elmarko and McDowell.
@benshawks08 said in Bill Self on potentially hiring a GM…:
Doesn’t Peterson need to be “on ball” too? Is anyone good “off ball”?
Seems like that’s a big part of our problems this year. AJ needs the ball in his hands, Hunter needs the ball in his hands, and if the ball isn’t in Juan or kjs hands they are actively not guarded so better get the ball in their hands, and if Rylan doesn’t have the ball in his hands he just kind of floats to the corner and waits (this has been a little better the last few games).
I see why we all love flory.
Peterson can play off ball just fine amd at his size, he may well end up off the ball the NBA as well.
@drgnslayr said in Bill Self on potentially hiring a GM…:
I hope you are right about Elmarko!
Elmarko was put into a bad situation his freshman season. He wasn't intended to be a starter or play off ball. That all changed when Morris was kicked off the team. Elmarko is an on ball player and should look much better and more natural running the point next season.
@drgnslayr said in Bill Self on potentially hiring a GM…:
@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Bill Self on potentially hiring a GM…:
Zach Clemence, Elmarko Jackson, and Jamari McDowell
We are putting next year's team with these 3 as leaders?
Now I'm worried.
I was watching Houston tonight. Every one of their guys are athletic and want the rock down the stretch. Until we can fill a team with guys like this, we are going to get beat down in games against teams like Houston.
I don't want to post the full section of that article because it's behind a paywall, but it's essentially saying these are three players who have been around the program and can show newcomers what it means to be a Jayhawk under Bill Self because they've only ever been apart of Bill Self’s system in college. Jackson and McDowell will be entering their 3rd year in the program and Clemence his 5th so they're going to be the veterans of the program that will be responsible for setting the tone and culture for next season. Flory, Rakeese, and Tiller have only known Bill Self’s way so it should be harder for players not originally recruited to KU to become a negative influence within the program and not meet program standards or not be held accountable for not meeting program standards.
Essentially KU will have more KU guys going through the offseason to keep incoming transfers from gaining too much influence in the program.
With Elmarko, he's got a chance to be one of KU's two or three top players next year amd hopefully become a leader next season both on and off the court.