SkinnyKansasDude said:
@Gunman got a good reason why? I'm sure their fans have enjoyed the final 4s. The last time we played in a final 4 we lost to arguably the best college team of all time... A team recruited and coached by the mystery man we are speaking of.
Not really a mystery man... more like "He whose name shall not be spoken."
Voldemort.
@CRH107 I think that apparatus that they showed is similar to the device that olympic athletes such as Michael Phelps and more recently NBA players (GS Warriors) are using. It stimulates bloodflow to the muscle which brings in oxygen and helps accelerate the recovery of muscle fatigue.
Yeah, he is awesome... but he starts looking almost human when playing OSU.
I'd like to know what our problem was with OSU this year because both losses weren't even close. I struggle to remember the last time a KU team was so dominated by a league team.
It wasn't Durant-led Texas and it wasn't Griffen-led OU. I really can't think of a time. I think it would be back in the days of Roy.. Maybe a Missouri team in the Norm Stewart days or OSU back in the Sutton era?
With nothing to play for, Kansas sent a group of imposters to Stillwater. They did not look good.
Now the question is: who will show up in Kansas City?
@BeddieKU23 :-) Yep-- it's a question for the omniscient ESPN sports writer.
BeddieKU23 said:
Don't think ESPN is hitching their Wagon on KU anymore.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/insider/story/_/id/22596994/high-seeds-danger ↗
No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks
Even though BPI rates Xavier as the worst No. 1 seed by a decent margin, the current batch of second-round opponents for the top seeds are, overall, a worse matchup for Kansas.Like Xavier, they lack elite wins.
And how exactly does the most elite team get an elite win?
Bill Self's 14th symphony is his "Ode To Joy"
Shaq is probably still a little singed from his loss to KU.
This "cool cat" as HCBS would say, is out of the bag.
Crimsonorblue22 said:
@drgnslayr dg was also holding his left hand.
Yeah, I'd like to know what that is about... and even more, I'd like it to go away.
HighEliteMajor said:
@bskeet Do you see any sign of any leadership potential with Vick? That said, a kid can be a non-leader and be fine, even as senior. I love his skills. It is obvious that something else is going on.
It's a good question. I can't say that I've seen any, but at the same time, there are leadership qualities that might not be visible to fans. So maybe he possesses leadership qualities that are not externally evident.
It's also possible he hasn't been given leadership opportunities that we can see.
I try to recall Frank in his early years and Devonte before this year and think of what attributes were present then that signaled they would be the players they became in their final season...
I think they played their position well... but I think the surprise that people have regarding Devonte's success is evidence that few could see what he would become until he had the opportunity.
I hope Vick can do what he needs to do now to get the opportunity next year.
Garrett is terrific and I love the potential. But Lagerald knows the system and is poised to be a leader next year... maybe the leader. So he's probably going through the coach-conceived crucible as someone mentioned above.. and there may be something else that is digging at him. Unfortunately, it's all speculation.
I'm certain he has the talent to make it to the NBA. Just hope he can get his emotional IQ aligned with his extraordinary basketball skills.
BShark said:
How cute is little Graham in this pic?
My guess is that when this was taken, KU only had won 3 consecutive titles..
Let me start by saying that Vick is one of my favorite players and I have been watching his career with great anticipation since he was a freshmen. He has amazing leaping ability and must be one of the most athletically gifted Jayhawks in the past 10 years. His shooting stroke is beautiful.
But then he's had off nights and lost consistency. He's disappeared and looked less interested. There are long stretches where the offense doesn't move through him or even include him, except for the occasional lob and jam (which are almost always spectacular).
But more of a concern than the recent inconsistency is the body language.
Body language sounds subjective, so I will provide Exhibit A and Exhibit B for your consideration:
EXHIBIT A: Lagerald distant and disconnected
!0_1519595552624_#14 4.jpg ↗
EXHIBIT B: Watch the team entering TT locker room -- each player celebrating as they high-five Hudy. And then watch how Vick walks down the hall and greets Hudy...
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article202007479.html ↗
C'mon Lagerald!! We need you! If you are at the top of your game, there isn't a team that can beat us!
Just a thought.. Maybe a way to properly honor the B12 championships is to give it a banner all to itself.
FROM THIS:
TO THIS:
Sherron = SnacksJr?
My favorite quote: "Winning at Allen Fieldhouse is rare, so just know that if you pull it off, you're trading that upset for a home loss vs. the Jayhawks that same season."
EJ has been maligned by many for some reason. I thought he was amazing and I'm surprised he hasn't had more impact in the overseas leagues. My favorite memories are his night in Ames where he just decimated ISU and the 2011-12 tournament run beating Purdue, UNC, and OSU in absolutely thrilling games.
Maybe I'm misreading the big picture... but to me, the implication in all of this is that the NCAA has more responsibility than they can govern, rules that they are ineffective at enforcing consistently, and are therefore a feckless institution.
At first glance this is bad for CBB; but with a deeper look, I think our gaze has to be fixed on the NCAA.
Saturday was the first game I've been to in 20 years. It had some loud moments, but wasn't as loud as some I attended. I thought it might be because it was an 11am game. But, it could be the acoustics from the seat I was in - This was fate first time I have sat in the corner.
A wake up call, I hope.
Regarding Dok's confidence:
Watch Dok shoot free throws in the Baylor game, especially the second shot after missing the first. He looks defeated. He sulks, looks at the floor.. his broken psyche is pretty apparent.
Self needs to stop worrying about damaging his confidence. Based on his body language, it couldn't be much lower.
Funny, my son (12 yr old) was watching the game and said "what's wrong with his hair? I don't like it."
You gotta believe that Trae's aware it's not his strong suit. The kid is confident in his own skin (and hair) and that is part of his strength.
"Hopefully it doesn't hurt him moving forward," Self said of Azubuike, who finished the game with nine points and six rebounds.
"I've always been a big believer that you send a bad message to somebody when you don't have confidence in him. Especially when you know he's going to have to play every big minute late in the season against good competition."
On this bright bright stage -- all eyes on the hyped up KU/OU match up -- Self knew the scouts would be watching. So this was Azubuike’s opportunity to show he was ready for the NBA.
Make the FT down the stretch, go to the next level. Miss, and stay another year.
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Well, we all know how the story ended. And for that reason, I think we just witnessed Self get Udoka back for his junior year.
I don’t think Self will trust Doke in close games late the rest of the regular season at least. That will limit his opportunity to be a hero -- with either a game-winning block, dunk or free-throw. This will sink his stock with scouts.
Oh and one more silver lining given the recent turn of events:
Now that Doke can't be trusted in the game the final 5 minutes, he can be turned loose to play more aggressively the first 35. If he gets foul #5 any time after the 3min mark, it's not the end of the world. And likely he's created more havoc defensively blocking shots and scrapping for rebounds. This alone could change the games. Not that I think he's been timid up to this point, but I do think Self has worked to protect him and his minutes. Once that becomes less of a priority, Doke should adjust his game accordingly.
I suspect the coaching staff aren't interested in modifying his mechanics at this point because it would be disruptive. Of course, could the percentage be any worse?
My only suggestion is to teach the rest of the team how to rebound his bricks more effectively. They are so bad they have a distinctive bounce that might be able to be covered by the forwards on the lane.
BShark said:
This WSU team would probably smoke us.
BOO.
@Gunman I agree. They played great the first part of the season, but had no motivation and lost steam mid-way through the season.
Our streak would be unbelievable without that break.
Crimsonorblue22 said:
But if you are a good coach, what do you call for ou at the end knowing they will be double teaming your guy that takes over 60% of your teams shots?
Maybe an alley-oop from Trae? Get someone close to the basket and have him throw it at the basket sooner rather than trying to create an open shot.
Easy to say with 20-20 hindsight. If Trae hits that game winning shot, his legend grows.
mayjay said:
@cragarhawk Well, we gotta find something else to wonder and gripe about now, don't we?
Well, that didn't take long.
I'm staring, right now, at the book "The Good Gut" by J Sonnenburg and E Sonnenburg on my bookshelf...
Regarding the article on BPI that puts the Pac12 as #7 conference (lowest of the power conferences) and projects 3 teams invited to the NCAA Tourney: Don't look now but Stanford is 5-1, tied for first after beating Ariz. St. this week.
I don't think the Pac12 is so awful, but if the pundits deem the teams bad, then it could have an impact on KU and even the Big12 given our 1-2 record against Washington, Arizona State and Stanford.
I'd love to see the guys come out on Saturday and lead wire-to-wire to show they are not distracted or letting up for a moment.
Thoughts and prayers to Andrew Jones... Hope his youth and great conditioning give him all the advantages he needs to defeat leukemia.
@jaybate-1.0 Yeah, adding new players can be disruptive... we'll see how it all plays out.
Devonte is getting more and more comfortable with the PG position. The UK game was so early, he didn't look comfortable and, yes-- 'hero ball' aptly describes it. But each game, we've seen improvements in his decision-making. In the Toledo game, he put things together for the majority of the game. This is what we should expect of him ---not necessarily the 30+ points, but the ball-distribution and ball-control.
This game against 'Cuse will tell us a lot about Devonte and the team... Will Devonte continue to improve? Will he regress or will he pick up where he left off against Toledo and continue to dish brilliantly, shoot when he needs to and be the floor general?
What does Chemistry look like?
In basketball, chemistry can help a team with less talent defeat a team with much greater talent (and less chemistry). We've seen those team bounce KU out of the tourney on occasion. The one that comes to mind is Northern Iowa. But how do you see chemistry? There's no formal stat for it.
In my opinion, chemistry is exemplified through passing and shot selection on offense and by offering 'help' on defense. Teams with chemistry seem to instinctively make the right pass or find the right guy to take the shot or move around on defense as a team.
So does this team have chemistry?
I'd say it has more chemistry than other recent teams that I expected to have more chemistry because of their extensive off-season activities (in Korea, for example). It is still early in the season, but the ball movement has been exceptional -- the pass that @jaybate-1-0 mentioned is just one example. And the defense has been especially sharp -- I recall two possessions that were shot-clock violations in the first half. That comes from a team moving as one and is less likely when you have 5 guys playing 1:1.
This team looks really good against the teams they've played thus far. Syracuse will be another opportunity to assess the team and its chemistry.
I don't know the guy, but i really like this idea. We've had some good luck with teams that picked up a player from the football team.
Yeah, you all captured my sentiments exactly: We won the game, right?? So why do we feel so bad?
Part of it is the unknowns about us: How good will Preston be? Was that a typical shooting night or anomalously poor?
Part of it is the unknowns about Kentucky: How good is UK? So many freshmen... what do we know about them? They struggled against Utah State and Vermont; we beat them by four; are we in that class?
Part of it is the media which seems to be infatuated with Duke and consistently positions Kansas as an over-achiever. Lunardi's fatalistically negative views of the team are exhibit A.
Not In Kansas Enymore.
Good factoid.
Since Duke was in the house, ESPN was pre-occupied groveling over their glory.
Speaking of the hype machine.. Here's evidence that haters are gonna hate:
ESPN's Medcalf ranks the programs in the Champions Classic using a variety of criteria..
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/21398710/ultimate-champions-classic-rankings-duke-blue-devils-michigan-state-spartans-kentucky-wildcats-kansas-jayhawks ↗
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Spoiler: He ranks KU 1st in 2 categories.. Guess what they are.
Sorry if this has already been asked and answered, but is the game posted somewhere?
There is a lot to be outraged about in this report. This zinger at the end is almost overlooked because the previous revelations are so egregious they nearly numb our sense of injustice..
Jurich, currently suspended because of the scandal, earned more than twice as much as any other AD in the nation last year. His contract included a collection of tax-avoiding boosts and over-the-top perks that brought his compensation to $5.3 million last year.
Tax-avoiding boosts: because making several million a year isn't enough; you also need to avoid paying those taxes.
I think this is one of the ways the middle class has been constricted.
My 2cents (which no one asked for, ever) is to be careful characterizing a group (yes, even kentucky fans, refs, etc.) with a broad brush.
Obviously, sweeping generalizations can be stereotypes and are oversimplified views of reality. They can unintentionally offend those that don't fit the characterization...and even those that do.
@DoubleDD Peace. :beer:
I am sorry you were offended; I meant no offense in my original post.
You don't know me; I don't know you.
I don't think my comment deserved such a forceful and personal rebut. I am disappointed that you have attributed mistruths to me and brought a bunch of baggage into the discussion.
Your judgement of me feels contemptuous and disrespectful. And it is ill-informed and incorrect.
Happy to talk in the future about topics that aren't so volatile...
Ironically, I agree with some of the points that you are making, just not with the way you are saying it.
You seem to protest that I should not have a qualm with the words you choose. You argue that the words you used are correct.
What again is your point about the displays of protest against the flag?
Is it that you don't agree with the approach they chose to express themselves?
Hmmmm.
Your response is kind of reinforcing my point about disinterest in bridging the divide.
How do we feel about this 49 years later: