BREAKING NEWS: Mason Benefits From Growth Hormone!
Lawrence, KS - Frank Mason, the 5'11" starting point guard from Kansas, is no longer the shortest person on the Jayhawk roster.
Over the spring, Frank was a guinea pig in a health study that studied the effects of a new growth hormone, called "holeeschithisworx" (holy sh*t this works!).
The results of the study are quite noticeable. In two months, Franks has grown 8-inches and now towers over many of his teammates at 6'7".
(no malice intended)
A victory for small ball! A victory for x-axis basketball... the future of the NBA. Yes, 3 points are more than 2. Height will get you 2s. Small and talent will get you 3s. Height will get you rebounds. Small will get you steals. Height will get you shots in the paint. Small will get you shots from 3. 3 > 2.
The difference was an amazing feat. The winning team basically concedes the boards, the inside paint. They were giving away what Jayhawks value, especially under Self. "Defend the paint! Rebound!"
It is hard to realize just what these finals came to mean because of watching 2 teams with such different philosophies.
I know, I know... the Cavs were missing Irving and the Warriors had too much overall talent. Even with those odds, it was still tough winning while being so small. So small that they put their only big 5 on the pine to watch the rest of the series.
Curry is truly MVP of this season. For as good as he is with his shot, he is equally good with his feet, and it is his feet that creates the opportunity for him to take the shot, usually under about any defensive pressure. The guy is one of the best at creating floor space to get his shot off... perhaps one of the best of all times. I remember a lot of great guards that were wizards at creating their own space. Like how about Isaiah Thomas? Not a guard, but how about Larry Bird and his famous step back jumper?
Curry has some magic feet, and it was a joy watching him fake and make cuts with blazing accuracy then nail a rapid-fire 3. I bet that kid can dance!
2015 NBA FINALS
X-AXIS 1 Y-AXIS 0
And he will!
I'm in the books as putting Perry as my MVP this year. I agree with others that Frank and Devonte will be key factors. Perry can't score if they don't get him the ball, and in the right spot at the right time.
I had an eye on Perry through HS. I know what he is capable of once he leaves all doubt behind. We still haven't seen the Perry Ellis I know. It is his time. No tomorrow. It is now!
What is going to determine our Ws and Ls the most this year will be PACE! I'm afraid that the shortened shot clock isn't going to be kind to Wayne. I think it will be very kind to Devonte. We are going to need a lineup that pushes the pace. Not so much fast break basketball (even though we should do more of it)... just that we push the ball up the court and get into running offense before defenses set. That will be the #1 aspect of Jayhawk basketball this year that will determine if we have a good year or a great year.
P A C E !
"#1 thing that Bill Self yells at his team, “DON’T LET THE BALL STICK!”"
Guys are going to get serious bench time this year for letting the ball stick. This might even equal in importance to defensive intensity as the factor that determines who sits and who plays.
I know we watched Self turn our team into playing "bad ball" last year. But I don't think he wants to stay playing bad ball. I think he will hunger for BOTH offense and defense this year. He better... because if we let our offense drag down, with a shorter clock we might dig ourselves into some serious losing ways if we don't score enough points.
Self just has to realize that we don't have to make it a competition based on being a points race. We just need to make sure we can score enough to buffer any type of performance our defense puts out in any given game. And he has to realize that the other team will have something to do with the outcome, too. We will be in games where we play decent defense but teams are just hot on offense. Whether he likes it or not, there will be some games that will become a points race. I'm thinking mostly about ISU....
Perry's stats last year weren't too bad: 13.8 PPG, 6.9 RPG off of 28:46 MPG.
There is a good chance Perry lifts his numbers slightly. But also, one has to think even though we have more depth in the post this year, that Perry will probably get even more PT this year. Self has already laid out the clues.
I can see Perry's stats this year being something like: 16.9 PPG, 8.1 RPG off of 31:25 MPG. That is only a slight performance improvement. His extra minutes are also adding in to his stats. Self and Perry are on the same team; Self wants Perry to play harder on a more consistent basis, and Perry wants Self to give him more PT so he can build his stat line for the NBA draft.
If Perry gets a stat line like my projection, what other player will impact the game more than Perry? Maybe Frank? I'm thinking Frank will be focusing more on his assists this year and protecting the ball over being a big scorer. It is hard to statistically stick out on a "team first" coaching philosophy.
I'm thinking we live or die by Perry's performance this year.
Self is already selling it to the world that Perry is going to have a "break out" year. So will he vastly improve this summer? No. He doesn't need to. He just has to bring a constant aggression to the game.. something a lot easier to do than make huge technique improvements or muscle up over the summer. And Self is already selling him as a MVP so you know he is going to push Perry to stay intense and get more shots up on the rim.
Perry can no longer take the back seat in games and chunks of the season. He is a senior who will be looked at as the leader of the team (to most degree).
Perry is the only senior that is vital to the team. He has to step up. And he needs to if he wants to try to lift his NBA stock.
I'm not saying players like Carlton won't play an important role, especially come March. But we can never count on freshmen carrying the team. And we shouldn't have to count on them. McD's AA, senior Perry must bring it all this year... all the time! If we get Perry to not take games off he will get used to playing with great intensity all of the time and he will become a real monster everywhere on the floor!
And 30-seconds is a lifetime compared to 24-seconds.
Even from just lowering it from 35 to 30... in a couple of years we will be watching old game footage and notice how slow the games were. How a couple of players would hold the ball... balls sticking all over the place.
There is plenty of time to score, even at 24. Watch the NBA and a lot of times the PG will hold the ball for 12 seconds or so before he starts his move, and then the ball might change hands 3 or 4 times before they get off the shot.
It is time to push college kids to react quicker and to be more in tune to the shot clock and general game reality.
"Cant imagine a team with LBJ and Wiggins losing to anyone, but I’m a little bias towards Jayhawks."
I was thinking how could Wigs, LeBron and Kyrie lose to anyone!
This is so much better than the "3 Amigos" lineup in Miami....
I wonder if Cleveland still loves the Love trade?
Imagine their chances now if they had Wiggins with them in the Finals?
Andrew seems like a good choice for guarding one of the Splash brothers... maybe even Curry (after Irving went out).
I'm not saying Andrew would be the difference in this series... but you can be damn sure that the Cavs would have another uber athlete to help carry the energy load. Energy attrition is the biggest factor hurting the Cavs chances of a ring.
The Warriors went to small ball, mostly to increase the pace of the game, hoping a quicker pace would cause the Cavs to tire in the 4th quarter. That strategy appears to be working. Young Andrew would have no problem keeping up with the fast pace of the Warriors.
I'd like to see Perry have the break out year Self has started talking about... and I'd like Frank to be right on his heels for B12 MVP!
The key for us having a successful year is for our guys to stay healthy. If that happens we should be in for a real ride!
"And if the refs keep allowing more contact again, then this 30 second clock is going to greatly hamper ever getting an open look at all."
You raise an interesting topic.... how the refs are going to call contact this coming year.
With the shortened clock, I'm almost certain the refs are going to have to let them play and allow more contact. If they call all the ticky-tack fouls this year, with the shorter clock we are talking about more possessions... meaning more compressed play where there will be contact. I'm pretty sure both defense and offense will want to push aggressive play because of the compressed shot clock.
Who is going to bend first.... refs and the pressure applied by the NCAA to keep the games within the time slot, or teams that get called for a ton of fouls? How many games will be allowed to happen that run 2 1/2 to 3 hours?
The NBA deals with it in a different way. Because the seasons are so long, players have to conserve their energy and also their bodies from too much contact and injury. This is the reason why so much of the season is played without intense defense. Without intense defense, the refs don't have to blow the whistle as often. Then game time slots can be controlled easier by the amount of whistles.
But every game is important in D1. Teams are going to try to bring defense every night. This could lead to too many whistles unless the refs back off... it is either that or the defense has to back off. I don't see the latter happening.
"Teams reliant on getting the ball into the post may struggle because swinging the ball from side to side to get that quality entry takes time. There will come a point where you have to abandon the post entry in each possession in favor of either a side pick and roll or a 1-4 clearout. "
You mean... Kansas and Self's hi/lo.
I think Bill is in for a real treat this year. I think he is going to learn what a huge mistake he has been making ever since he arrived at Kansas.
I still think the hi/lo can be run with a 30-second clock. I just think the key is to get into our offense much quicker. The hi/lo needs to happen so quickly that it is almost considered a "secondary break."
This has always been a problem at Kansas... guards walking the ball up. We've never realized the gain by trying to run our offense before the defense sets. This is particularly vital when running a hi/lo because probably the last players on defense to set properly is the post defenders, because they have to step up and form body contact with the offensive post player. Most other defenders just need to be set on a spot on the floor, unless they are playing M2M, which means just about anything, depending on how they play their man.
We should never have an issue feeding the post on a quick setup offense. I just hope we finally realize what we have to do to be successful with a shortened clock. We should have already had this mindset with a 35-second shot clock.
There is a world of difference between a 30-second clock and a 24-second clock. 30-seconds is enough time to run a hi/lo if we don't fart around bringing the ball up or have our PG holding the ball at the top of the key. We've always done that before and I got sick of screaming at my television. I recall several years ago when Bobby Knight mentioned how slow we were in setting our offense.
You are right. The college game is all about schemes. It is rare that a guy comes along who can always create his own shot in the college ranks. Even Steph Curry had some issues creating in college, though not many. We prevented him from getting his shot when it counted most. Today.. he would be able to get that shot off, even under a double-team.
It is just too much to ask of our perimeter guys to start creating their own shots when they have never had to before. It takes time to develop this valuable tool.. so much so that not even many pros can do it.
But what we can teach these guys is how to watch the defenders challenge and learn when to use a shot fake and draw fouls. This isn't tough at all to learn and just having this one tiny tool in the tool chest means putting opponents in foul trouble and making them be more conservative on contesting shots.
What really bothers me is we don't teach this part of the game, and every season we have to deal with opponents who are throttled up because they are playing Kansas and they totally over-commit themselves trying to defend perimeter shots. We could be living at the FT line and putting opponents in deep foul trouble and then creating a safe barrier for our perimeter guys to get off their shots. All this from teaching one easy-to-learn tool.
I'll never forget our total beat down from UK last year and the sportscasters screaming at Kansas (at halftime) to use shot fakes. Even these guys could see it.
It boggles my mind....
Which Big 12 teams benefit most from the 30-second shot clock?
It might make more sense to ask which teams will struggle most with the quicker pace.
Just thinking out loud here, it seems that old Huggy Bear's Mountaineers will benefit the most. You can bet he is licking at the chops to get going on this year. His full-court press is really going to make it tough for teams to get off a good shot on a quicker clock. And with that problem, it will also force teams to push harder through the press, committing more TOs in the process, too.
We are fortunate to have this WUG ball to work out the pace issues. Making us use a 24-second clock will later make a 30-second clock feel like an eternity. If we didn't have this extra season to work it out I believe I would have us near the bottom in our league for struggling through the pace pickup. Self's game is half court offense, and traditionally, he likes to see his guys work the ball until the final seconds of the shot clock to get a good shot off. The mindset moving forward will have to be different. The mindset now will be: "take the first good shot we have, unless you can directly assist for even a better shot!"
Moving forward, we may see a shift in Self's priorities and see him rewarding PT based more on offensive attributes over defensive attributes. With a quicker clock, players with less defensive skills will have to perform it 5-seconds less (per possession) than last year. And the players with more offensive skills will need those skills to get a shot off 5-seconds quicker. At least, that is the way it appears on paper.
Back to our league.... If Fred was still at ISU I would put ISU up there with WVU at the top of our league for teams with the biggest + on the quicker clock. But I'm not so sure now. The Cyclones will be a mystery team this year. Lots of great offensive talent but a new coach and a learning process for everyone. I still place them high because they will be stocked with quality offensive players and many will be veterans.
I'm thinking Texas might suffer with a shortened clock. Shaka's first year and he'll have to learn to communicate quickly to his players and get them to perform with a faster pace. I would think that a shorter clock will hurt players like Ridley, unless he has dropped more weight in the off-season.
Baylor seems more like a wash. Not sure how Drew adjusts or if he needs to. His teams always seem a bit undisciplined so I'm doubting they have a problem getting off quick shots.
Oklahoma always has Buddy to get off a shot whenever he wants to. He can put it up right over anyone in the league. I think we need to see what new talent they bring in to see how they will react to a faster paced clock. Last year, they didn't need a lot of time to get off their shots. I'm predicting them closer to the top with WVU.
OSU seems like a team that might be hit hard by the quicker pace. Again, it matters who they have recruited, but I can see them being rushed often on their shots.
Texas Tech and TCU seem closer to the bottom because they just lack enough competitive players. They may fall victim to attrition, too.
KSU... well... they look like they are going to stink regardless of the shot clock. I put them at the very bottom even though Weber usually does a decent job coaching up the players he does have.
My final assessment, teams with the most positive gain first:
WVU
ISU
KU
OU
BU
UT
OSU
TCU
TT
KSU
It is extravagant if he doesn't get a contract. And I wonder if there is a house involved, too. The car is parked in front of what appears to be a pretty nice house. It is unlikely he gets a contract going in the second round. He'll be headed to Dead-League where players go to die and get paid essentially the same wage McDonald's employees make. This is likely the scenario for Cliff. I hope he breaks through..but he shouldn't be buying anything yet on future earnings that are a total 50/50 shot of coming through.
Cliff already made a huge error in judgment that is going to cost him a fortune (most likely) regarding getting a hold of some quick cash. That is the basis of why I think he is in for hardship ahead. We can blame his mom... but I'm not going to do that. Cliff is the one that had to step up and be responsible.
Wouldn't it be grand to see someone make a docu on all the great shooters? Perhaps a "30 for 30." Have someone narrate that knows the mechanics of shooting and have him work through several of the greats... showing ultimate footage on their shots and some of their most divine moments.
I'd pay "cinema money" for that one!
"(Note: Honestly, I feel so dumb about this stuff. I can’t believe I have watched college basketball all these years and read posts about recruiting, and I still can’t understand this circuit that delivers players hither, thither, and stack.)"
Welcome to the club!
"What we need is for, someone, say, a retired AAU coach, to draw us fans a little wiring diagram of the circuitry today."
That's what I'm thinking. And... I believe they only know a piece of the puzzle... the piece that involves them. I'm sure there are some "deal makers" out there that will always be silent. Why would they interrupt the flow of cash into their accounts?
I think what ended it for Sonny was his public visibility. And when the cameras went on, he started sharing more information. "Loose lips sink ships!"
I don't think Big Shoe wants this:
I wonder if schools still make deals based on connections to recruits? Sonny Vaccaro wasn't selling shoes, he was selling his connections.
How many connected guys are out there? Does World Wide Wes "sell shoes?"
I bet we could learn a lot from talking to some of the infamous AAU coaches....
"Having said that, my point about KU 3 point shooters not being able to create their own shots still holds true."
I can't think of many past Jayhawk perimeter guys that were great creating their own shots. What comes to mind is Langford. We've had several capable drivers. But how many were great at just shaking a man so he can get off a good perimeter or midrange jumper?
Right... I can think of Langford.
Our current perimeter guys are spot up shooters, like you said. Very limited offense. I don't consider someone a great shooter just from being a spot up shooter. There are a zillion guys capable in a game of horse.
Klay Thompson was just a spot up shooter in college. He is starting to learn how to create for himself. He still isn't the caliber of Curry at creating... but great to see guys who expand their games. I really enjoy both of these guys play!
"BTW, I am in 100% agreement about the referees giving the game to Duke."
Gosh... I think this is the first subject where we have a unanimous decision in here!
"Golden State is not an anomaly at all.
Golden State is the statistically driven future of the game."
Bingo!
Good post!
I wonder what percentage of offensive possessions we run actual plays?
I'd think not too many. We run plays out of timeouts and sometimes on inbounds moments.
I think they mostly run positional sets every play. That means... the guys know, on each possession, where they are supposed to be and what options they can run out of those positional sets. Like when we have a big up top to set ball screens. From these opportunities, players are supposed to create something.
Actual plays are called after timeouts, etc., and they run a play which is supposed to end on a score. If it doesn't they have a fall back to run some offense with the remaining shot clock.
I'm not sure how much has changed since the 2008 squad. I think we've put in quite a few new wrinkles the last couple of years.
My original post wasn't really targeting the 3-pt shot. Obviously, GS is very gifted at hitting 3s... but even they go through highs and lows, even in this series.
I still don't think GS is hitting 3s like they are capable of.
What caught me in the last two games, the real difference was a few of the offensive changes:
First... by going small in the post, it opened up another scoring option so all 5 guys on the floor were a threat. Lee is an exceptional passer, too... so once he received the ball in the low post or he drove it into the low post, he would force the double-team and then kick to someone open.
Second... perimeter GS players started penetrating more and then kicking it out (or in). They were great with pick and rolls. Especially Curry.
Third.... the most important factor was how much they picked up the pace. That was the deciding factor and what tired out the Cavs.
How many teams can we run out of the gym? 98%? Shouldn't we win 98% of our games merely through attrition?
I think it is a lot more than bombing 3s. What about penetration? Who can stop Curry on his drives? When he is able to blow by his man and gets to around the FT line he hardly ever misses those shots. So the defense has to try to challenge him and leave someone else open. Obviously, being able to hit 3s makes the offense a lot more "spacious" where it can attack.
I think Kansas can "go small" with Cheick. He doesn't have to hit the long ball... he just has to be able to finish well near the rim and be able to pass well. When he gets the ball inside he has to be capable of finding another open man with the pass.
Cheick can also benefit with small ball by getting out quick on the break. Especially when we play a bigger team... run his man to death! And if the big opponents don't keep up then burn them!
I'm really anxious to see Kansas playing with a 30-second clock. I think this will be huge. Why? Because we typically have more depth than our opponents. We should be able to make this a game of attrition!
I've been thinking for more than a decade now that Self needs to use his bench better and make most games about attrition. He should be running in lots of subs and keep the ball moving!
How many in here see Cliff's future as being financially sound?
I'm not trying to address this with any racial tone. There are great examples of financially sound athletes in all races. But there seems to be a push in Cliff's life to buy goodies as fast as possible... and perhaps it is more than just Cliff wanting goodies...
That "baby" seems to be parked in a nice residential area. Is there more to the "baby" story? Like a sweet-azz crib?
I don't know... maybe borrowed money? ;-)
Cleveland has had a lot to overcome.
I'm not sure if they lost much with Love and Varejao... at least in perspective of the Finals. Not sure how effective these guys would have been.
Irving, on the other hand, was a monster loss! Not only do they miss his offense and ability to run the show.. he was doing a phenomenal job of shutting down Curry.
This series might have already been done and the trophy in Cleveland had Irving stayed healthy. I've taken criticism for saying this... but I do really think Blatt made a very freshman coaching mistake by going heavy on Irving in Game 1. Sometimes coaches have to look ahead and see the broad picture instead of just trying to get a single win under their belt. Wasting out Irving in Oakland was a major blunder. It did look like his injury was brought on by fatigue. He was tired and he slipped up. Yes, it could also happen in the first minutes of a game with fresh legs, but a lot more likely down the stretch with tired legs.
Having Irving on a limited basis would be a lot more valuable then not having him at all. Experienced coaches know this, and most coaches wouldn't have pushed Irving so hard in Game 1. They should have almost conceded the first two games to rest Irving and bring the challenge back to Cleveland to tie it up, then push for a road victory later in the series. JMHO....
I think your "mom comments" concerning Cliff's mom sound harsh... but that doesn't mean what you said is not true!
I think a lot of parents have totally screwed over their kids by getting too involved in their activities.
If I can think of parents I would consider correct in how they remained supportive of their athletic children I would look at Andrew Wiggins' parents. They seemed to be there for him and offer him advice from their experience, but in the end, they instilled responsibilities in Andrew to make his own decisions and they weren't fiddling around with Self too much to try to influence to meet their desires... an often very selfish attitude parents can have!
I don't know if Cliff is a "momma's boy" but if he is and he lets her continue to influence his future, he is in trouble. This is HIS future and he is supposed to be entering manhood and taking some responsibility for himself.
The more I write about this, the more your comments sound less harsh about Cliff's mom. I like to remain respectful about anyone's parents because it feels like prying.... so my statement isn't about Cliff's mom as much as it is about parents of athletic children.
I never thought I'd see the day. Tristan Thompson, at 6'9", was the tallest man on the court for most of the NBA Finals last night.
Someone sent a memo to the coaches in the NBA Finals... "Play small, x-axis ball is what wins!"
Blatt and Kerr must have started to realize that over 90% of the game of basketball is played at an altitude of 6' or less. Kerr was the first to learn this lesson. After dropping two in a row to the Cavs, who were playing "tall ball" (and winning) with Mozgov dominating Bogut, Kerr realized he needed a different matchup in the post, so he went small. In Game 4, he dusted off David Lee, 6'9", to man the post. He wasn't put in for his defense... Lee has offense, plenty of it. He can shoot from most of the floor, can drive the ball and create his own shot, and is an excellent passer, so he can draw in the defense and hit someone open for a 3. This move was brilliant. Even though Mozgov got his tournament high of 28 points, the Warriors ran away with Game 4, in Cleveland, in "LeBron land."
Having Lee on the floor not only gave the Warriors another scoring option, he helped speed up the game considerably, and by quickening the pace of the game, the Warriors were able to tire the Cavs and ran them out of their own building.
Game 5 was more of the same. Even though Mozgov scored 28 points in the game before, he was largely benched for Game 5. Even though the Cavs are in desperate need of another scorer on the floor who isn't named LeBron James.
Kudos to Kerr for using size as a weapon. His own listed height is 6'3", but realistically, he is 6'1". Kerr understands that height in basketball is more a state of mind then a determining factor on its own. The outcome of this series is more likely going to be determined by the little guys, not the bigs, even if one of them is named LeBron.
It feels like basketball is reaching its renaissance. Finally, the medieval thoughts of height being the dominant attribute of a player is being refocused away from point guard Magic Johnson's legendary status and advancing to players like Steph Curry who uses his footwork and foot speed to create dominance.
I can see the 2015 NBA Champion t-shirts now... the new slogan will be "Size doesn't Matter!"
I hope we can learn something from this. I can easily see our best lineup with Frank and Devonte on the floor at the same time. If it works in the NBA why can't it work in college? Play small, play fast, win championships!
Imagine a different Final Four.
Imagine the controlling interest ends up completely in the hands of ShoeCos. So you have a Nike league... an Adidas league... a Jordan league.. and one other. The playoffs lead to a winner of each league squaring off in a Final Four!
It would help level out the power structure of ShoeCos. You would see a lot of teams dumping Nike to increase their chances in a less competitive league.
So you would have all the same conferences now... but when March brackets come along after conference play, each team splits into its ShoeCo brackets.
The NCAA has basically stated that they have reviewed some of their policies and will make efforts to take a different approach towards penalizing schools. They want to limit hardships that lead to economic damages. Why? Because even the smaller D1 schools still have the financial prowess to challenge NCAA decisions in higher courts.
The situation Kansas was in with Askew almost brought us the death penalty just because we loaned a player money for a flight in order to visit his dying grandmother. Kansas made the mistake of handling this from within the university and did not bring on better legal capabilities. You won't see a situation like this again at Kansas, where they face the death penalty for squat.
I believe a good legal team in the right case can completely dismantle the power monopoly held by the NCAA. Their reaching into commercial interests where they want special treatment under the law. Just a matter of time...
I am for "dumbing down the playbook." Too many plays mean that your offense constantly has to live off of set plays. By March, teams completely know our offense.
I'd rather have fewer plays and put the pressure on guys to develop their own shots in specific situations. It means less thinking and more performing. I think the stiffness we have in our offense sometimes is because guys are trying to think so much. Back in 2008, we had a veteran team that relied heavily on sets and "team offense." That can work great when you have an experienced team full of great players. But there is a weakness to that approach. Predictability.
It is harder to predict how guys will create their own offense, and where. We were just a basket away from losing to Steph Curry and Davidson that year. And, of course, the Memphis game took a Chalmer's bomb to take us to OT.
I would have liked to see that team run half the plays and force guys like RRob, Mario and BRush to create more for themselves, even a young Collins. Seems like BRush actually did it sometimes.
If players have less on their minds, then comes an important game, it should be easier to put in a few specific plays adapted to mismatches. For example... how is Svi going to score in the low post when he gets a mismatch and the ball?
Good idea.
My thoughts were to feed the low post and force contact and draw fouls. What made the unibrow so effective on defense was the long space he could make up to contest a shot and without fouling. Get in the low post and take shots into his body and see how he would have done. Lots and lots of shot fakes and motion fakes. Force the contact, even if we lose a guy or two, it was a trade worth making.
This is what Wisconsin failed it. Okafor should have had no presence in that game. Frank backed off and Okafor was able to return and have an impact.
I think what we are experiencing in basketball is just a subset of what is happening in our country as a whole. Big money is controlling the game. They support the politicians who write the laws, and have secretive influences on the high courts.... They break laws that harm millions and millions of people and no one goes to jail....
I think someone posted a link a while back that showed how transferring has become very popular with college athletes.
But if you think about it... all these kids are highly-touted out of HS. Then... if they end up having a bad year or two in college, they are now buried on the bench, out of the spotlight. A sudden announcement of transferring puts them right into the spotlight again! It really is a "start over." Now if they can play well in a different system, they continue to get more attention.
Another thing that has grown is the graduated player transfers. I know coaches hate it.... but I am very glad that players have this option. Just a tiny bit of freedom they have earned by working hard through academics.
Even though it sucks that he has to sit... it may be the best thing for the Sixers for other reasons. They may need another disastrous year to get one more high draft pick next year.
The worst case scenario is that JoJo comes back too soon and helps the team win some games, scraping them off the bottom of the league, then gets hurt. So then they lose their star big man AND future high draft spot.
I really want to see JoJo healed and have a real shot at an extended NBA career. That is the only way he will be able to earn his rightful high status around the league.
"But Kaminski and UW proved that a dominant player cannot get it done now without a stack; that’s the sad truth."
Wisconsin really blew that game. There were moments when they didn't play like a senior team.
I've become a big Badger fan... but Frank didn't take care of business. Okafor should have never been even a tiny presence in this game. Frank should have continued to force the fouls, but he backed off. Some say they just didn't have the focus after beating Kentucky.
Maybe they were tired... or whatever. They seemed to be most focused on coming to this tournament to beat Kentucky rather than walk with the trophy.
I know Ratface impacted the officiating in the second half. But still, UW was the superior team with the experience and they seemed to get out-hustled in the second half. They lost their mojo.
UCONN the year before did it without any kind of stack, against a totally stacked UK....
Somehow I had missed your lengthy post until now. Great job!
I think sometimes us fans make a mistake and we put one of our championship teams up on a pedestal and then we like to compare all other teams against them. The thought is that this team is what it takes to win.
Ever since 2008, if you look at all the teams that won March Madness, I can't think of one of those teams that played anything like our 2008 team. I recently went back and watched some of the 2008 team games and I have to admit that it helped remove some of the crimson/blue from my glasses. When I think back, I don't think that team reached near their execution capacity. We were good. And we were deep. And we were the stacked team that year. No way you can compare Memphis to us in talent depth. We often got loose with the ball with TOs. We often had fragmented offensive possessions. Sometimes our defense broke down. Seriously, we should have ran Memphis out of the gym.
Had Chalmers not hit that shot, we would all have a completely different view of that 2008 team. They did have the right pieces... but there were often execution problems. They achieved... but I'm no longer calling them a team that overachieved. I'll save that for our 2012 squad... or Danny and the Miracles.
What we need is our kids to step up. It really is about who can man up quickly. Put everything that isn't vital to Kansas basketball down and focus on ball for the coming year (BTW: academics is part of Kansas basketball!). Someone is going to have to lead.
I totally understand what you were saying when you said back in 2008 Kansas had guards and post players. The only difference was the side... left or right. I agree. That was back when Self looked at basketball in a simpler way. He drew a line down the center and he split the game into a game of symmetric basketball. It worked then. But... we were the dominant team that year. We were not only stacked, but experienced. We should have won it all, almost regardless what we ran.
I believe Self has advanced his coaching significantly since 2008. And though many of us would like to see him adjust his game faster... he does seem to do it on his clock, and that will have to work for us. At least he has made changes to his game. I do believe Self has been helped more by having The Mayor in the league than what any other coach in the league received from this experience. Self has added in several things that don't quite look so symmetric. Twists that are individualized towards the tool box of each player.
And though we still hear phrases like "utility guard" out of Self, he is starting to realize that all guards are not created equal. He realizes now that he must create specific situations to take advantage of the individual skills of his players. Same for in the post. Perry will never be a great "back to the basket" post player. Jamari will never even be close to being able to play with his back to the basket.... but he is very capable of using his foot speed to create a slashing post basket.
You know... it really isn't about the stacks. It is about finding that one player above the rest. Every year (or two) a single player stands out as completely dominant and able to take over a game.
We faced that experience in 2012. The unibrow was the overwhelming difference for Kentucky. Kentucky this past year did not have that single dominant player.
Who will it be for this coming year?
I know I'm focused on Ben Simmons at LSU. That dude can play!
I think college basketball has, largely, become a game for "stacked" teams. It is the easy way to at least be competitive every year.
But I think we can be just as competitive with guys that are right below OAD status that stick around for a year or two more. And perhaps sprinkle in the OAD here and there. Of course... you can't really tell who will be OAD. People were talking like Selden would be in that group.
I just hope Self never goes for a complete starting team of OADs. It's like watching flunky ball with a bunch of footers. Games are boring with too much young talent that is green behind the ears.
It really is about the fan experience. More knowledgeable fans want to see the entire game executed well. Inexperienced fans just want to see a few show dunks. Experienced fans like to see those, too... but the uber dunks should be the exclamation point to a well-executed play.
I am very excited for this year. I'm so glad we are no longer "one of the youngest teams in college basketball." The past two years have had moments of excitement, blended in with some mediocre Kansas basketball. It all starts with experience at PG. Someone has to lead. We haven't had leadership in quite a while. Maybe Sherron was our last guy to take on the role? Maybe TT in his senior year?
I think what Self has done by bringing in Moore is shear genius on his part. A big "thank you" goes out to Larry Brown for remaining a Jayhawk!
I'm starting to think we are going to see a completely different Frank Mason this year! He is going to soak up the experience playing with Moore and we will all gain a huge benefit from this experience!
Then we have Devonte in the shadows, ready to burst into the spotlight!
@jaybate-1.0 ... embrace these years that we don't have a complete stack! Embrace these years that Self actually has to coach up players in order to win. We still have legitimate Jayhawk basketball. And we are not living strictly off the OADs. I just hope it stays like this in Jayhawkland. I would hate to become another Kentucky!
I'm going to lay out a guess here.
Since these two programs suck to high heaven, and are both in a state of complete desperation, I'm guessing they will want to steal the name "Border Showdown" that KU and MU had back in our series.
I think I'll call it the "Bumf*ck Showdown".... something just a wee bit more appropriate for the participants.
Gosh... I can see "Milwaukee's Best" sponsoring this event, along with Hormel hotdogs and a morning-after pill company... after all, don't want to get sister pregnant. Better spread the seed at least to a cousin.
These two schools were made for each other. Let the breeding begin!
Sounds awesome! Please take a bunch of photos to post in here.
I wouldn't heckle Cal in public as a Jayhawk fan. You can always heckle him online in an anonymous fashion because fans across America despise him.
I just wouldn't clap for him. Silence is golden.
Better just focus on the great one... JoJo White!
"Bringing in Nic Moore from SMU, may simply be a direct-injection way to download the “proper” mindset into Mason and Graham, and Selden…"
I have been imagining bringing Nic in is more to show our PGs how to lead. I like how you included Selden, too. I think Self is using WUG 100% for our upcoming season development with less emphasis on winning WUG. Glad he is taking that approach because it is rare when a coach gets summer ball with most of his team and it includes real games and all of it means nothing or as much as you want it to. Perfect test and teaching situation.
That is what it looks like now... but often these small cases build into more. What are the chances that tutors or others only screwed up once or twice?
One way to rationalize it all is to consider how many manufacturing jobs Walmart has stolen from the American workforce and handed them over to China.
I've never shopped there... at "Chinamart!"
I don't know... I guess like how Kansas was punished after Larry Brown left.
"“I think any time you force yourself to play with a short clock, it definitely adds to aggressiveness and adds to guys going and making plays on their own, which sometimes we can get a little stale doing that,” Self said. “I’m excited about us experimenting as coaches. I’m excited about the clock forcing us to play faster and doing some different things defensively. I think it’ll be very good for us moving forward.”"
This is the reason I've been excited for a 30-second shot clock! I want to see urgency in our offense. And I want to see guys forced into creating for themselves.
I want to see a combination of team offense and guys creating for themselves. That is the secret sauce to winning at any level!
I want to believe what CS said above. I want to believe. I just hope he means it.