@ralster Great summary!
I too wish Embiid come back next year. Guess he may have to choose to be either one of the guys next year or another Hakim Olajuwon when he is ready. But he will have millions regardless.
Wishawk
393 posts
@bskeet Great find! I found myself agreeing with many of the points he made. I'm glad he pointed out some of the obvious few are willing to discuss here.
I would not take Adam back. His attitude on the sideline was cancer. I'd keep who we have, Frankamp, Mason, Selden, and Tharpe. All of them were higher ranked, so what's the upgrade? The pasture is always greener on the other side of the fens, maybe.
@REHawk I'm no Bate, but I'd put Greene there unless Oubre pulls a McLemore.
He also reminds me of a young Sherron charging blindly ahead only to get trapped
I think Mason and Wiggins had the same tendency and once they started driving they could never dish. It almost seemed they had tunnel vision and could only see the basket in front of them or had no plan 2 once they started moving. Otherwise Mason had a few beautiful lob passes to Wiggins when he was almost standing still.
@drgnslayr Thanks for replying. I may appear to blame the players, but really I'm not. I know my place and I'm not the one who was on the court. So it really is just questions that I can't answer. I don't have a lot of BB knowledge to dive in and give any technical analysis. I know this team has weakness, but it's my understanding Stanford is not an exceptional team. By looking at the numbers, outside of Wiggins and Tharpe, the team appeared to have performed to their average. If Wiggins had the average output, we'd have scored around 70, and if Wiggins had a super human game, we'd hit 85. The team played according to Coach's plan, and they attacked the paint (stubbornly, some said), and actually got Stanford big men into foul trouble, but we didn't capitalize when their big guy sat. So I'd like to hear from the more knowledgeable posters here of the breakdown of the game and show how the individual players did something successfully while did something incorrectly. Basically the nuts and bolts of the game. Basketball is a team sport, so they either succeed as a team or fail as a team. But it'd be interesting to look at how and which piece broke down and caused some of the processes to fail. Maybe Wiggins was at the right place and right time, but none of the supporting cast was, so Wiggins couldn't do anything about it. There got to be some explanations why Wiggins only touched the ball so few times and score so few points.
@JayHawkFanToo and @Crimsonorblue22
Actually Joel had the back issues in high school too. It's not new. But I agree the games in college are a lot more intense, and the number of them put more wear and tear on their bodies.
KU Sports column by Tom Keegan
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2014/mar/25/column-absence-proved-embiids-worth/?mens_basketball ↗ ↗
There is nothing in the column that we didn't know already. But I like the head line, and I wonder if Embiid is worth more to both KU and also the NBA.
Wiggins had 41, 30, 19, then 4 points in his last four games in KU uniform. He was projected to be the number one draft in the up coming NBA draft. And he proved his potential by scoring over 40 in one game, and 70+ points in two games, at least that was what every reporter on TV was talking about. Had Wiggins scored 9 points in the last game, we might still be watch both Wiggins and Embiid in the next game. Now we have people talk about Wiggins might one of top 3 drafted instead the top player.
So what did Coach Self tell Wiggins and why did Wiggins shut down completely in his final game in college?
To be honest, I've stayed away from the KU news for three days after the loss. And now my heart finally stopped crying. I've read all the analysis on how Coach Self didn't help the team and players, but there was none on the players. Is there no opinion of how the team or individuals performed? Floor burns or the lack of?
Thanks @approxinfinity and @bskeet for your hard work. It's been great on this site. Let me know if there is anything I can help.
@VailHawk I'm a Badger fan, but I don't like Bo much. The team is good and has several talented players. And they play gritty. This is team is a little different from the traditional defense oriented Wisconsin teams. They have balance.
@VailHawk They sure did! We will probably have a Badger attire day in the office on Monday. :)
@truehawk93 Saw you were trying to modify the imbedded Youtube video. I think you may try using the link they provide in the "Share",
instead of the one in the address, https://... ↗[
@truehawk93 Yes, the charging call is tricky and inconsistent too. Hope the officials forget about the new twist in interpreting the rules. That was too confusing.
According to the Rivals scouting report on Stanford, http://kansas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1623411 ↗ ↗, they have good players, but are very inconsistent. Their bigs tend to have foul troubles. So we need to drive at them and get them into foul trouble. So Wiggins in beast mode will be a great advantage for us. If we make up all the 3s we missed in the first game, we will beat them by 100. :) OK, I will take a 30 point beat down.
I think Mason is too one dimensional, a driving bulldog. He hasn't made enough progress at making assists, so he is expendable, or is not counted on other than when we need to change the pace. I think we see a little or a lot of him depending on his success at generating sparks.
One year, we ONLY had to take care of VCU to get to the Championship, but we all know what happened. So I'm not looking at anything beyond Stanford. We need to take care of business, drive at them and get their bigs into foul trouble early.
@approxinfinity Thanks, Approx! That makes sense.
Go to KU Buckets home page, then click BBall News Stories link, the click the "New Topic" button on the top left. You will have a new thread in BBall News Stories.
https://vine.co/v/MMqn1tMAW5g ↗
Let's see if this works.
The board doesn't support ! [text] (url ) any more for some reason, so it won't show up as inline video.
@drgnslayr Well said.
If AW3 had been earning PT all year, he could have easily helped Selden out yesterday to make more productive minutes at the 2.
By not playing AW3 this year we gave away a nice chunk of our depth. He's a guy that was very capable at the 2 and even at the 3.
That's the part I don't understand Coach Self. And I don't think he hears what I'm complaining. :(
http://www.kansascity.com/2014/03/21/4906379/halftime-report-kansas-32-eastern.html ↗ ↗
“All the teams in the tournament are good,” Wiggins said. “Even to put a seed on them — a one-seed, two-seed, a 15-seed, all the teams are good. Any team is capable of beating any team at any given moment, so that’s why every team has to bring it.”
It really shows Wiggins' growth in maturity and respect of the game over this season. Somehow I have a hard time picturing these words out of his mouth at the beginning of the season when he didn't even know how good Kevin Durant was at Texas. I'm very proud of him.
@drgnslayr Yes!
@Crimsonorblue22 Great story and thanks for sharing.
Traylor, “He definitely lets everybody know that he’s proud of me,” Traylor said. “And he let me know after the game. I love my coach, and I know he’s got love for me, too.”
Love Coach Self! He's the father of the team!
I loved Conner Frankamp when he committed. Somehow I believe his performance with the USA U-17 team was no fluke. Now I've seen his growth over his first season. He made steady progress even though his minutes on the court were sparse at best. I'm very excited for him and eagerly anticipate more major contribution from him like yesterday. But I won't be disappointed if he stays on the bench most of the game tomorrow. He is after all a relative unknown quantity and people didn't prepare for him. Now I'm sure all the opposing coaches scouted his game by now and it won't be easy for him to have another stellar game. We will see what kind of fighter he is when the defense is keyed on him like they did on Tharpe. I still believe Tharpe will come through with huge games. And Frankamp and Mason give us two different styles in addition to Tharpe. It will be difficult for the other teams to focus on just Tharpe. I think it's brilliant Coach Self recognized Tharpe's deficiencies and introduced Conner at the right moment. According to one of the articles, Coach Self decided he was going to go to Frankamp before the game. He knew EKU's 4 guard lineup would give Tharpe problems, and he made the necessary preparations to get Frankamp ready. Major kudos to Coach!
I don't know much about Standford, but read they have good inside bigs. So we probably will face a more familiar lineup than EKU's 4 guards small. So Tharpe can still be effective. And I'm look forward to KU taking down the trees with our 3 bombs tomorrow!
I must give prop to CBS and the techno advancement for making all the games available online. Now I was able to watch the replay of yesterday's KU game on my computer after missing out on all the games yesterday.
http://www.ncaa.com/march-madness-live/ ↗ ↗
Good scrappy win. Survive and advance.
Major prop for Traylor and Frankamp who stepped up big time at a crucial time. Bright futures ahead. Wonderful!
@dylans Cheers!
@DanR Well, Tennessee made the field, but Iowa didn't. I was rooting for Iowa to beat UMass, but... So much for B1G. Good thing is Wisconsin came through and I'm counting on them beating Creighton.
@nuleafjhawk If you do all those things, you'd fit in in Johnson County wonderfully. :)
@RockChalkinTexas Lucky you!
I had OSU over Dayton
I had CO over Pitt
I had Cincy over Harvard
I had Iowa in the dance
I still have the following upsets,
Tusla over UCLA (probably not for long)
ASU over Texas
GWashington over Memphis
Tennessee over UMass
OSU over Gonzaga
So I'm now shooting at not to be at the bottom of the heap.
@Crimsonorblue22 Ha! You meant the rest of the farmers? :)
When people talk about Wisconsin, somehow moooo is always lumped into the conversation. :(
Now I wish mooo of Ohio State played like Wisconsin cheese and keep my bracket somewhat respectable.
Watching March Madness app on Android. Albany was really giving Florida a run for their money. :)
@drgnslayr That is really funny.
Never really thought of Kansans that way, really.
@drgnslayr and @Crimsonorblue22 I remember a lot of chatter of about Wiggins not coming during summer school, but I'd never heard he ever questioned his commitment to KU. So it's a surprise to learn he was trying to "negotiate out of coming to KU". Actually I commend his commitment to his country. It's always the highest honor to play/fight for one's country. So I'd have supported his desire to play for this national team, even if it was for U19 in the summer.
Word was he was trying to negotiate out of coming to KU during the summer.
Never heard of that one before. Can anyone else confirm that? Thanks.
@VailHawk See your point.
For me, I filled two bracket, one with my left hand and the other right hand. So one follows my heart, two follows whatever crap I can't think of. :)
The blog shows that some don't understand the concept of team sports. Embiid is important, but Kansas is more than one player.
I'm looking forward to the payback to Florida!
Love Sam Mellinger's piece. It's one of the best in a long time. I wish Joe Posnaski were still at Kansas City, but this is very good too. Lot of insight into Coach Self and the team. Great read!
@jaybate 1.0 I like what you had for breakfast. We all need some Jo in the morning.
Go Jo, GO!!!
I'm watching the replay on ESPN3 and just noticed we played small for the first time this game due to foul trouble to Ellis and Black. We had Traylor, Wiggins, Greene, Selden and Tharpe. That was interesting, and they did alright. Traylor scored, Greene missed a three, then the team forced a travel call on Smart. While they were together on the floor OSU didn't score for several possessions. It was encouraging to see.
Begins with Wiggins, and ends with win!
“Nothing has changed,” Self added. “That doesn’t mean he couldn’t play (first weekend of NCAAs). I think the percentages are he probably won’t.
That's a nice spin by the reports, but why can't it be "Embiid is not laying down, but I won't play him."?
We should talk about Terry Fox, the Canadian cancer patient, former basketball player who died while on his run across Canada. He was forced to stop near Thunder Bay on the west end of Lake Superior after running on one leg over 3000 miles.
@drgnslayr I'd like to see we try going small too. How about Eliis (6'8" ) at 5, Wiggins (6'8" ) at 4, Selden (6'6" ) at 2, Greene (6'5" ) at 2, and Mason (5'11" ) at 1. It's not exactly a small team, but it will be super quick.
LET'S DO THE DEED FOR EMBIID!!!
Let's turn the tournament venues into an extension of Allen Field House! That's what fans can do for their team, home court advantage!
"Begins with Wiggins..."
If Embiid is not playing, it will be just "Andrew, THE OAD". :)
I don't expect Selden to leave after this season.
Comparing to the past teams, I feel we are at 8 and we should get to at least elite 8.
This year we have 3 starters who were McAA, Eliis, Wiggins, and Selden, and Black who was ranked 50s nationally out of high school. Tharpe being the low man on the totem pole, at 90s. And we have 3 others ranked top 50 out of high school, Greene, Frankamp, and White. That's very good combination of talent, and better than a lot of the teams that have the potential going to the sweet 16. Right now they just need more belief in themselves and more spirit. And we fans shouldn't lose hope just because Embiid may be unavailable. Few anticipated Embiid became the player he is and the team should have same goal had Embiid not come or improve as much as he did. So my feeling toward the team is the same when the season started. We should go far, but how far will depend on our luck.
I think Marshall should hold on to the Wichita State job until we have a five round bout between KU and WSU.