@wissoxfan83 Yep... there was some discussion a while back when the news broke...
bskeet
4171 posts
I'm going to agree that Selden should be most improved because 1) he should be healthy and 2) he has a higher ceiling than most of the rest of the team.
However, let me also suggest we add most surprising player.
For this I would pick Frankamp.
Here's why: The usual suspects all had pretty good PT last season and we could see what they could do. It won't be as much of a surprise for Greene to light it up or for Traylor to become a mini-T-Rob...
But we only saw what Frankamp was made of in the Stanford game when he was turned loose in the first half. This year, with Tharpe gone, Conner will come off the bench much sooner and play for longer stints.. We'll see him get into the flow of the game and, on some nights when he catches fire, we will see him remain in the game longer. (Caveat: This all requires the team become MUCH better at passing than last year. If he doesn't get the ball with space, all bets are off.)
I think he'll be better, the game will slow down a bit, but most of all, he'll be on the floor.
@HighEliteMajor LOL.. you guys crack me up.
On a semi-similar note-- check out Bowlsby's comments from the Big12 media days about rules violations.
Big 12 chief rips NCAA, says 'cheating pays' ↗
On one hand, it seems like a pretty bold statement. On the other hand, no one would argue with him, so is it really bold or just calling a spade a spade?
And if it is the latter, isn't that an even bigger indictment on the NCAA?
personally, I suspect that the pundits are applying the same rules to football that they apply to basketball -- After several years of evidence, they will assume that the past is a fair predictor of the future.
So in basketball, they say the B12 championship goes through KU until someone de-thrones us. And in football, they say the B12 cellar is occupied by KU until we prove otherwise.
@drgnslayr practice makes perfect ;-)
@approxinfinity Another thought-- if you killed the one offending thread, would you be able to migrate the site to the new platform? I think it might be worth sacrificing one thread for the benefit of everything else.. And if we were really concerned about losing something valuable in that thread, I'm sure we could work to manually recreate it..
I'm leaning toward putting this one in moth balls somewhere and moving to a newer version to get the latest features and fixes.
I can live with starting over, but I hate losing all the history. I really wish there was a way to have this site sitting somewhere for reference, even if it was frozen and uneditable.
http://cjonline.com/sports/2014-07-12/could-ku-basketball-study-lead-change-way-game-played ↗
I love the fact that KU continues to help innovate the game in the 21st Century..
This is true leadership and it makes me proud to see the great cross-disciplinary efforts within the staff. We (the program and the university) will reap benefits from this for years to come.
It seems like several think LBJ's return to Cleveland is GOOD for Wigs.. I tend to agree...
Anyone think there's a downside for Wiggins that we're missing? (I see the suspected trade posts..)
That T-Rob video is full of sick and nasty stuff....
That brought me back a few years and made me smile. He was/is special.
@wissoxfan83 Ack.. I didn't read the instructions closely enough.. I just saw a bunch of great players, stopped reading and started picking ;-)
I'll try to give a list within the limits:
- 1 Jacque Kerouac
- 1 Special K
- 4 Nick (Dickie V salute)
- 5 Dan the man
- 5 The Stilt
- 2 Huckleberry hound
Watched it.. Loved it! Reminded me that I have the BMA Classic poster from that year when Roy, Pritchard, Calloway, Gueldner, etc were decked out in western gear. They were a great team!
q: whatever happened to Pekka?
ESPN: Adidas has signed Cleveland Cavaliers draft pick Andrew Wiggins to shoe deal ↗
Andrew Wiggins, the first overall pick of this year's NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, has signed a shoe endorsement deal with adidas, sources have told ESPN.com.
Sources with knowledge of the signing say the contract is a multiyear deal that comes with a guarantee of at least $2 million annually.
Wiggins wore adidas during his only year of college ball at the University of Kansas.
It's the first No. 1 overall draft pick adidas has signed since signing Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose in 2008.
Almost an impossible task, but I would love to see this bunch go up against many a team:
- Jacque - because he's the cerebral floor general
- Mario - because he's clutch and versatile; love his steals and fast breaks
- Paul P - because he's a threat everywhere... and he's the Truth ;-)
- Danny - not the prototype PF, but able to be creative for high efficiency production. He's the SuperGlue.
- Wilt - because he's Wilt. Together with Danny, there will be a lot of blocks, a lot of thunderous dunks and a lot of wins.
- Larry - because he's a more modern innovator; he doesn't have the olympic medal, but he has the NBA and NCAA rings.
if you put the link into your post, I'll fix it so it works...
Love it!
Could you confirm that these four are from the 6 places you mentioned in your earlier post?
Without that tip, I'm guessing things have changed in Paris and Athens and you couldn't find your spots. So, of the remaining four cities I'll place them in this order:
- Rome
- Berlin
- Chania, Crete
- Amsterdam
I'm probably way off.
I watched the whole thing again :-)
"The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team."
- Phil Jackson
If KU were in a conference that extended to a coast, it would be to our advantage for recruiting -- at least in basketball where we have a brand.
In the model mentioned, the exposure we would get in New York and Boston area would bring us access to talent that is currently harder to attract.
That would be true of all the other schools in the conference.
But the unique advantage is that we are geographically on the western edge of that (imaginary) conference, so we would have greater access and exposure to recruits in the west than most of the other schools.
All-- you might have noticed that the article says players who were born after 1990 are eligible for this tournament. And you might have wondered "which players from the past few years were born after 1990?"
Thankfully, someone on Scout.com did the research on a pretty interesting thread: Former KU Players Born Between Jan 1, 1990 and Dec 31, 1997 ↗
According to that thread, here's the list of qualified players (not counting the members of the current team):
Smalls:
- Tyshawn Taylor - Apr 12, 1990
- Elijah Johnson - July 11, 1990
- Josh Selby - Mar 27, 1991
- Ben McLemore - Feb 11, 1993
- Travis Releford - Feb 22, 1990
Bigs:
- Thomas Robinson - Mar 18, 1991
- Jeff Withey - March 7, 1990
- Kevin Young - Jun 24, 1990
- Tarik Black - Nov 22, 1991
Note: Xavier Henry was born March 15, 1991, so he would also be eligible. There may be others.. but the Morris twins were born in 1989, so they are not.
KU's Open Camp Scrimmage: June 18, 2014
[KU Scrimmage](
@drgnslayr thanks for the analysis! This has been a great thread and I do hope that Self can explore some of Pops adjustments and see what works with our team. I learned a lot from all of you!
hmmm.. Maybe I should say KUSA ™
I didn't watch UCONN closely, but based on what little I saw, they were successful largely because of the way they passed and found the better shots. Of course, there are a lot of other things that they had to do well... but, from what I saw, they were a better unit-- better at moving the ball to break down the defense.
I would love to see Adidas do something interesting with the Kansas uniforms with a Red/Crimson White and Blue theme.
I think I'd pay for some apparel with a KUSA logo.
I don't know as much as you all do, but I've been wondering if he's telling us the truth... at least as much as he can. He wants a true floor leader and he wants combos who can be the floor leader. To an outsider, it sounds a bit like doublespeak.
But in some ways, it could be in Bill Self's interest to not have a traditional "point guard" that is a singular leader on the floor because it's actually a 'single point of failure'. In other words, a true point guard invites the other team to 'cut off the head' and slay the dragon-- the defense keys on that guard and disrupts that one position and the offense falls into chaos.
So perhaps this is why he favors combos and wants multiple players that can bring the ball up the floor and handle it. That said, he still needs a floor leader, but not one that the team is all-dependent upon.
The ambiguity might be by design.
Which do you think is the bigger contributor to our PG woes:
1) Challenges recruiting top Point Guards
2) Challenges coaching Point Guards
3) Coaching limitations; Self excels at coaching a very specific type of PG
I've learned not to count my eggs with freshman until they are well through a season of Div 1 ball.
@JayhawkRock78 I agree... And your memory of Danny as a sophomore is one that is often overlooked. A star like Manning had flashes of brilliance in his first couple of years, but didn't pull off the dominating performance necessary get to the NC until he had four years under his belt.
Self tends to go with experience. Last year was an exception out of necessity.
This year, I believe that Traylor and Ellis will start at the 4 and 5. I expect to see Greene, Selden and Frankamp/Mason complete the starting five. The freshmen, as good as they are, will need to come off the bench and grow.
Alexander will be doing well to be first off the bench for Traylor or Ellis -- It will mean that he's beaten out Mickleson and Lucas -- both with two years of D1. I feel like that is a slightly greater accomplishment than Embiid being first off the bench for Black (only beating out Traylor as a sophomore).
Oubre doesn't need to overcome as much experience to find time on the court. Nor does Graham or Mykhailiuk.
To me it spoke volumes that after a full season, Self had more confidence in CF when the going got tough.
@icthawkfan316 ... and yet he didn't give CF the majority of minutes in the second half of the Stanford game for some reason. Grr. I hate thinking back to that game.
If I had Frankamp and Greene on the floor, I'd tell the team to get them open and to only take 3s.. When Sviat and Oubre show they are shooters on that level, the message would be the same to them.
In the meantime, they are driving and dishing in or out. And the bigs are rebounding and looking for dunks when the perimeter is crowded.
We should be taking shots from two locations: 1) Three-point line and 2) the Rim.
I would lead with threes given the quality of shooters on this team.
@JayHawkFanToo oopsies... missed the 76ers. It would be cool if he ended up there too. I just hope he's in a good situation where he can make an impact.
Fantastic news! Self really has worked more recruiting magic...
It's also great news for Myck who could be entering the NBA draft at the age of 18 -- with TWO years of major college experience. That's remarkable!
Imagine Hudy getting to work with a kid still in the prime growth years of 17-18 and the ability for him to learn from Self's system for two years at this age.
(wondering how much credit we should be giving to Sasha...)
ESPN interviews Andrew (video)
Wiggins Not Focused On Being Top Pick ↗
NBA draft prospect Andrew Wiggins joins "SportsCenter" to discuss the league's minimum age limit and his potentially being the top pick in this year's draft.
So.. will he be going to Cleveland, Milwaukee or Orlando?
I'm all in on Mykhailiuk, based on what I've seen and read. He'd be with the team for two years and would impact the team in a variety of ways both years. He could help the team and the program... That's pretty cool to consider for a recruit coming in this late in the season.
Sorry it took me so long to fix that video in the original post. It finally works.
@Statmachine This is a fair line of thinking. In fact, I'm working with an app called GameChanger that is being used by my son's little league team to capture stats for every game. It's being used across the country at levels all the way up to college to capture the data. Now imagine being able to track 7 years of data on a kid from 10 -17 years-old... being able to find the proverbial needle in the haystack to recruit before others..
Now consider that GameChanger allows for baseball AND basketball. Yes, it is possible to look for kids with certain stats.. or for those that show a good growth curve...
What makes a National Championship team?
It's complicated.
Probably more than any other sport, the NCAA tournament - a single game elimination format - leaves more opportunity for randomness to influence the winner.
When it comes to isolating factors that are present in a Championship Run, I think there are two big buckets: 1) things you can control, and 2) things you can't control.
A coach (and the team) probably prefer not to dwell too much on the things you can't control. But we can spend a bit of time on those things.
In the tournament, the biggest thing you can't control is who your opponent will be. That turns out to be a pretty significant factor in determining success because it brings into play all the things that they can't control as well. Plus, we all know about the importance of match ups.
So, to a varying degree, here are some other things that can't be controlled/predicted (perhaps influenced, but not truly controlled).
• Injuries
• Travel / weather
• suspensions, other discipline or team dynamics
• the media
• the environment around the athletes
• actual strength of schedule
• the player-rotation for the opposing team
• many other things...
A good team does the reasonable thing-- it focuses on the things it can control:
• the player-rotation for your team
• style of play
• athletic training, stretching, conditioning
• nutrition / diet
• schedule
• many other things.
Sometimes the uncontrollable things have a positive effect on the team and other times, a negative effect.
Yes-- UCONN had something to play for. So did McDermott in his final season at Creighton. So did KU when T-Rob's mom died. So did Louisville when Kevin Ware was injured.
Some won, some lost. I'm not sure how to correlate.
Huditioning
@ralster THIS is my favorite word of 2014. Bravo!
For Real Though, We Need To Talk About Thomas Robinson's Block
@RockChalkinTexas Thank you for sharing that awesome block!
I can't believe the posters who blasted Jesse. Guess we are good enough in their minds and there is no need to have an open mind and look for ways to improve.
@drgnslayr Well put.
I think this article has been mentioned in another thread, but I thought it deserved it's own because it's very well researched and, of course, well written.
Personally, I think we are very lucky to have Jesse writing about KU Basketball. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up at fivethirtyieight.com or some major media outlet.
Enjoy him while we have him:
Newell Post: Could switch in offensive philosophy help KU basketball? ↗
In the blog, Jesse not only lays out a case for why KU struggled last year compared some other familiar teams (although, I would love to see how UConn compared), but he also provides some history of basketball analytics that explains how the metrics work.
At the end, he masterfully defends himself against some folks who think he's criticizing Bill Self and trying to tell him how to coach. My take is that if the data speaks that strongly, then perhaps the coaching staff should take note. For all I know, they actually have the same data and were aware of the problems, but this was simply their achilles and they couldn't overcome it.
In any case, just want to say bravo! Jesse and thank you
The two B12 teams most likely to win a NC (after KU) are Texas and Iowa State (in the next several years).
I would put West Virginia and Oklahoma right after those two. Iowa State is only there because of Hoiberg. If he leaves, I think their status gets re-evaluated. I know OSU should be considered because of their history, but I don't think they can get it together in the near term. Baylor, with all their talent, doesn't have the leadership or legacy. Same with KSU, minus the talent.
@truehawk93 fixed your link.. thanks for posting!
Perry seems to have been overshadowed last year. His abilities are underestimated probably because of the environment. Plus, he's a sophomore and that means he's still on the early side of the learning curve.
As a junior, I expect a different Perry.
I've been in San Jose for almost 20 years, but I was born in Lawrence, grew up on a farm about 10 miles outside of town and got my undergrad from KU in 88 and grad in 94. Between 89-91 I worked in Vermont and worked with a Mizzou grad that kept the fire burning. After grad school, I worked in Boulder for about a year before moving to silicon valley.
I went to a rural high school but spent a lot of time in Lawrence where my grandparents lived and many friends lived. I have many fond memories of football games at memorial stadium and basketball games at AFH when there were lots of empty seats and you could walk around and find a different place to watch the game during the game. I was a casual fan through high school, because there wasn't a lot to celebrate. The football and basketball programs were firmly situated in mediocrity.
Of course, everything changed when Larry Brown came. My affiliation with the Greg Dreiling fan club was the beginning of fandom that went a bit over the edge. It's continued, uninterrupted, with periods of greater intensity, ever since.
@Hawk8086 I somehow put Michigan out of my mind. I agree that is one of the worst.
I'll amend my post above and put that at #3, though there are arguments to be made for #2 or #4.
Arizona in '97 was the worst at the time and remains the worst in retrospect because we can see the talent that was present on that team.
This year's loss was tough because of the hype, the potential.. etc. But it became increasingly clear that this team had some flaws in addition to their youth.. and they never learned how to compensate for their deficiencies.
It's tough to pick a #2 most painful loss..
I would probably pick Bucknell because I just didn't see it coming. And my wife is an alumni, so I'm reminded of this frequently.
The Michigan collapse of 2013 is a close #3 - With 2:30 left in the game, KU led 72-62 and had the ball... and had a 99.4% chance of winning the game.
UNI would be #4 -- That team was so talented and should not have lost.
UTEP in 92 is #5 -- people forget, but I agree with @KansasComet It was was really a stunner.
Duke in 86 is #6 -- The first time Johnny Dawkins messed with us. Archie Marshall was injured.. we should have won that game and then we would have beat Louisville.
URI (98) #7 -- yes.. We lost to Rhode Island and Lamar Odom. This was the classic Roy Williams loss that should not have been. KU was stacked with talent again. But the previous year's loss to Arizona softened the blow a touch.
VCU (2011) #8 The hubris with that team was its undoing.
Bradley (2006) gets #9 -- only because we were numb after being knocked out by Bucknell the year before.
Stanford (2014) is #10 for now. The 'Experiment' ended one game before JoJo could make an appearance in the big dance.
It's too depressing to go beyond 10.
Who was left out of this ignominious list? Syracuse (2003)? UCLA (2007)? Purdue in 94 with Big Dog Glenn Robinson?
(P.S. this list is based on my memory of KU Basketball... I was less than a year old in 66 when KU lost to Texas Western, so that is not on my list nor is the classic 57 game that @drgnslayr mentioned.)
Seriously, when is the last time we had a guy like him? Cole? Wilt?
@ralster Because JoJo is so young and raw, it will take some time before we can fairly evaluate his talent.
I never saw Wilt and Lovellette at KU; both were before my time. So I can't compare those two big men.
But based on what I saw: Cole is not at the same level. Manning is the only player I've seen that Embiid compares with. I actually think Embiid looked better as a freshman than Danny, but it's tough to compare as they were asked to do different things.
@drgnslayr I'm kind of with you on this. I'm not so negative about OAD anymore... or at least, I would say this past year is not a big enough sample size upon which to draw a conclusion.
The past season had so many newcomers:
- Five freshmen
- two transfers (Tarik and Hunter)
- Two new coaches
This was really a completely different team. Next year will be interesting to see if the team continues to perform as it did last year or if the experience from the past season starts to provide an advantage to the whole unit.
@JRyman Just putting it here for everyone to see