I'm trying to decide if I'm supporting the typical "Duke officiating" in a Duke vs UK game.
I'd kind of like to see Okafor foul out every footer on UK and get them down to a small team.... forcing the twins to play in the post.
Wouldn't that be fun to watch! Finally... a fun UK game!
I'm not a Duke fan but I'd like to see someone spoil the squids team of trees.
He's going to be a great player... and the really good news is we have him for 4 years!
I'm watching them now... some painful officiating. They swallowed their whistles on the Utah end.
I think we could use more help in teaching our guys Basketball IQ... and probably Life IQ.
Older players or coaches that used to play can watch current players and give them a lot of advice about all aspects of the game, and part of that is knowing how to take care of yourself. Playing wild, frenetic ball might get you a few more rebounds, but also might put you out for the year. I'm not saying to play cautious, or inhibited.... just play smart.
For example... in most cases, if you do your work on boxing out you don't need to shoot in, going airborne and coming down on another player's foot, blowing out your ankle. Play smart and get your 10 rpg.
Even doing everything right, there will always be risk. But it helps to play with fundamentals, learn to increase your court awareness, and listen to old wise players and play with high basketball IQ. If you do that and build your body the right way you will limit your risk. That is about as good as it gets!
I've had some questions about our training, too.
I am under the opinion every players comes in and gets assessed as to what their goals should be, and then a custom training program is designed (and monitored) to make sure they hit their goal.
We have been told that Andrea is also supposed to focus on keeping our guys healthy.
I'm not sure it works to train a guy to increase his athleticism and strength, while helping him cut down on injuries. When you learn to go harder, you put additional stress on your body.
I know weight plays into this big time. All the pounding on the court... you want to do it without carrying unneeded fat.
Like I mentioned in my thread on strength and conditioning... I had mixed results with my extensive weight training program, but I don't think it is fair to compare the technology from 30+ years ago to today.
I do like some of the newer training gear. It's great for working on fast-twitch explosive power. But does that become a positive in preventing injuries? I'm not so sure about that.
I think the biggest part of players staying healthy has to do with fitness IQ and basketball IQ. Lots of players take big gambles on a loss ball or rebound. You can never prevent all the injuries... but you can limit them. It does seem like we have been burdened with lots of injuries the last few years, but as @HighEliteMajor said... maybe we just notice it more since we are focused on Jayhawk basketball.
Look at all the "sin taxes" it raises!!!
I love ya, man!
"On the plus side: We get almost everybody back,"
I know the logic says that is good... but is it? Will our returning guys improve enough to perform a lot better in March? I'm not sure.
I'm thinking more about the dynamics. Is this a good mix of guys? Is Self able to improve their games considerably?
I really thought we had great team chemistry potential this year. All our guys really like each other and stick up for each other... that is a great thing. But it didn't really end up transferring into success towards the end of the season.
It seems we need a leader and a catalyst... preferably, one in the same. Is Devonte that player?
I'm just throwing out an open mind here.... I have to say that I was very impressed with how he stepped up against WSU. He seemed to be the only player with the right energy.
Maybe next year we put him in the starting PG role and slide Frank over to the 2 and also backup PG minutes? Frank is awesome... but it's time we have a leader. We had 3 leaders in '08! TT was the last real leader we had in '12 and we almost won it all.
I suspect there may still be some bad blood between the NCAA and SMU, dating back to Mustang football and their death penalty. There is a lot to that story.... including some likely bad blood between SMU and other southern universities.
States legalizing pot, college sports gambling... what's next, legalizing prostitution?
With the change to super conferences... those leagues will have to travel far, too. I'm wondering if they will have some of this type of impact over time.
There is no Pasadena Post. It's a fraud site selling us on fraud. Doesn't mean some of that information isn't true.
Concerning fixing games:
Surely it must happen sometimes. There are just too many games played in this world to have all of them clean from tampering. The obvious reason to fix a game is the game is on a booking board. Second... that it's spread enough to collect a decent pot of gamblers. All of D1 fits in these requirements.
The fact that no proven cases have appeared in several decades indicates that if it is happening, the culprits are very careful and very capable. This means carefully vetting officials and carefully interviewing them to find the right opportunities. No one that isn't directly involved can know this is going on. Why? Because if prison time isn't hanging over your head, eventually you will talk.
Could someone like WWW pull this off? Highly unlikely. He may be a scumbag, but he doesn't have the same kind of infrastructure a mob crew has. To pull something like this off, you need to have insurance. You need to know if someone suddenly looks like a snitch, you can take care of the situation, by any means necessary. The only situation where I see someone like WWW being able to pull this off is if he has direct ties with a syndicate. Those ties would have to be connected with blood. Like I said earlier... the penalties in a case like this could far exceed most murder cases. Most likely, feds watch a guy like WWW. Or at least, they notice if he suddenly is seen with mob figures.
Even involvement of the mob doesn't guarantee success. We know that from the NY point shaving scandal from the 50s.
But if you jump down to basketball below college.. there is major fixing going on every day. I mentioned before playing on tournament teams. We'd go to a bunch of small towns and typically win their tournaments. But sometimes we'd face some very crooked officiating provided by the tournament organizers. Their crooked whistle would become apparent when we play the local teams. Gotta pull for those local boys!
There's the rival we always wanted....
What Marshall doesn't realize is that a big part of his success relates to his theme of being an underdog. At Texas, he won't have that card and he'll have to learn how to defend against it from other scrappy teams... like WSU.
The jump to Texas for him will be like making half a jump to the NBA. It's a different basketball world.
Bravo!
"Another infamous big mouth."
YEECH!
Donald Trump... the guy that has uninformed spectators believing he is a business man. Here is a guy who has basically spent up $4 billion of his daddy's money. I believe his inherited wealth was something like $6.5 b, and he has wasted it down to $2.5 b. Bet his dad rolls over in his grave every time his kid opens another failing casino or silly building with gold TRUMP letters on it!
"...how did BG gets this far w/out dribbling skills? "
And how did he get this far w/out being able to score off the dribble? He must have spent his whole life with his dad feeding him spot ups.
There is no room at the next level for spot up shooters. You have to be able to move and score. Create your own scoring, too.
I remember that game. Probably good I wasn't in attendance. Gutierrez pissed me off so much I probably would have been hanging around outside by their team bus.
"Our vision of the team's strength is skewed every year by Self's incredible win % at Allen."
I kind of wonder if that is the problem with our entire conference. This can explain why the rest of our conference doesn't perform well in March, too. Most of our league plays well in their own home.
This may have something to do with travel. Our conference is too spread out. You go back east and a lot of those teams are just driving across town to face their next game.
I'm going to throw up a new thread on this... let's see what everyone thinks.
" And I don't care who I offend on here. I don't want anyone taking my life, or my family and friend's lives for granted."
I'm with you on that. A friend of mine lost his teenage daughters because they were texting and driving. In most countries now it is illegal. Many countries you aren't even allowed to be on a handheld phone while driving. In Europe, you will get heavily fined and you get a bunch of penalty points towards losing your license.
"Sonny Liston was like a 36-0 team when Ali went on a rant. Didn't seem to harm him. Larry Bird doesn't appear to have harmed his career and he was known as one of the best at trash. Not saying its great and nobody coaches it but is happens a lot and always has. If you can't back it up, you look like an idiot."
The thing with having a big mouth... it's all about if you can back it up. Like you said, if you can't then you look like an idiot. A marginal player playing on a marginal team going against easily one of the most stacked college teams in recent history was just plain stupid.
At least what it showed us was how good UK really is. They didn't throttle back on this game.
We may play bad ball... but Kentucky plays ugly ball. There was no entertainment value in watching that game, whatsoever. And if they do that in the championship game, the nation is going to stand up and get even more hateful towards the Wildcats and Calipari.
I wonder... in Calipari's sick concept of "perfection" he has it in there to be hated by 99% of humanity? Probably doesn't even enter his sick mind.
College basketball is a sport... meant to be a competition of like teams.
I wonder what will happen if this multi-zillion dollar business starts losing hoards of fans because the fans are sickened by Kentucky's mutilation of D1? What then? Kentucky fans don't care. They aren't about being sporting they just want to hammer the world. Let's them forget about where they live... in a third-world country.
That game last night was sickening. I don't want to see Kansas ever on that level. It then fails to be a sport, just a lynching.
I was hoping Huggy would freak out in redneck mode and pop Calipari right in his fat Italian nose on the handshake.
"Notre Dame passing, ball handling, and constant attack-mode was so fun to watch. First time in a long time I've actually enjoyed watching offensive play."
They made it look easy. Timing, spacing, attacking... all very well orchestrated. They knew how to drive the ball and attack off the drive. They actually know how to punish a team that plays good team "help" defense. Even the announcers caught on to that.
The answer for WSU was hedge defense. The guy on the ball had to stop the drive. Make them score over the top. Problem even with that because ND stayed hot on the perimeter most of the game. If they stay hot from outside, they are a very tough out!
I hope they give Kentucky a game. It starts by ND guys not making comments like "37 - 1."
SEC - Sewage Excavation Conference
"They'll vacate this record."
The NCAA doesn't vacate anything from Kentucky. If they wouldn't do it after the point shaving scandal they aren't going to do it over something like a recruiting violation.
"Too big to fail."
Calipari finally hit the real jackpot. Backed by a team that is untouchable by the NCAA.
Guess I was dazzled by his guys stepping up. He really left them high and dry tonight!
Alright @wissoxfan83 ... they made it to the Elite 8!
Congrats! I hope they go all the way!
"Right about now Marshall is probably thinking, damn."
Evidently, right now he is considering a deal with Alabama.
What a d-bag! The Shockers were better than that tonight, but after Marshall threw his own guys under the bus, why should they hustle?
Marshall is so focused on making big bucks he couldn't even say the right thing about the bama offer. You don't say you'll consider it when awaiting a Sweet 16 game. That's like taking your wife out on your anniversary and "consider" taking a prostitute's offer while out on the town. The guy is classless.
First off... what d-bag school starts rumbling offers to a coach while they are still playing in March Madness? No class. But then, maybe the pairing is a fit.
Ridiculous game. Why ticky-tack fouls now?
I'm starting to buy into that story about WWW owning refs.
Yes... Plus, I think of these kids. What are they, 18 or 19? It's so much pressure to put on them.
Right on!
I think it would be great if we could sign at least one transfer that can play right away and contribute. Otherwise... we will need probably 3 or more new guys that need to contribute and are freshmen. Another year of being "one of the younger teams in college basketball."
The talk about Calipari jumping to the NBA is a circus barker attempt by his agent to renegotiate his contract next month after Kentucky wins the NC (or so they think). This horse and pony show should sound familiar... it's what came around in 2012 after Calipari won his first NC.
This is also going on now down in Wichita. Marshall's agent is already trying to talk up a possible move to Alabama. If, by chance, WSU can win the NC this year, Marshall's agent will have plenty of leverage to renegotiate his current contract.
Cal has no business in the NBA. His recruiting advantage is gone, then he has to win based on his coaching... and he is no coach. He may do a great job keeping college OADs on the same page, but the NBA is 100x more involved than college. There is a reason why he did so poorly his first go-round in the league... because he stunk!
If you want to know how good a coach he really is... take him and swap him out at ISU next year, with the Mayor's group of transfers and juco players. Let's see Calipari contend for a B12 conference title, let alone a seeding in March. ISU wouldn't even play 500-ball. I'm saying this on the basis that the Mayor doesn't land any 5-star players this year... he might surprise some people!
If you go back several years ago... those guys would have hardly seen the floor at all in their freshman year. Look back at Cole. He really broke through against UNC in the FF. People were shocked that we had a guy as talented as him hidden away on the bench.
In the old days, most programs had JV teams. Guys like Cliff would have been on the JV team for two years before going to varsity.
Interesting thread... great job Ralster!
I think Izzo has no OADs because he is still pitching recruits what Self used to pitch when he wasn't getting any OADs... "you come to Kansas, you'll have to fight for PT. Nothing is a gimme. You first have to learn our system...."
I really think highly of Izzo. In the "teaching toughness" area, he's tops in the country. Even Huggy could stand to take notes from Izzo.
I think it's a mixed bag with OADs. Unless the player is a super freak... like JoJo, Wigs or the Unibrow, these kids need to stay in school for at least 2 years. Kelly, for example, isn't ready for the league and he hasn't even contributed enough to Kansas. We aren't coming out ahead with these kids going OAD. Maybe Wigs and JoJo were worth it because they will bring more attention to Kansas in the future. I do give them credit for helping us secure #10 in a complete rebuild year.
Calipari has it going on right this year. He has a team FULL of OADs but half or more have returned for year 2. Had all that talent crop left and he was stuck in a re-do year, Kentucky wouldn't be a contender for a NC... not this year.
I just think we need to find quality top recruits that want to stay more than one year in college... so we actually get a dividend out of them. Self is still building his own resume with OADs... so he is still stuck in the mode of how fast can he get them ready for draft day and positioned high in the draft. He is playing the old "revolving door" game. Once he gets this to the point Calipari has taken Kentucky, then he can loosely advice some of his OAD players to stay an extra year. Calipari orchestrated this year to happen. He sold most of his guys to stay.
I've been amazed with the media. They have been responsible for sending guys (like Kelly) out the door too quickly. When B12 regular season started and Kelly finally started showing some promise, the first words out of media were.. "be prepared Kansas fans... you only have a few more games left with Kelly because he is gone!" Seriously?! I know that plays in these kids' heads. It's sickening. The kid only scored 333 pts as a Jayhawk but he's ready for the pros? What kind of return did we make on him?
The game still has to be played. Kentucky is no shoe-in this year. I can even see the possibility that they may not make the FF. If they don't win it all, those guys will be laughed at from here to the moon and labeled "underachievers!" To be honest... all those guys except the twins and Cauley-Stein are underachievers. To have that much talent and be satisfied in a system where they only got half game PTs. None of those guys are showing they have a bit of alpha dog. Any of those guys could play anywhere else and be counted on for production and playing 35 mpg. The twins and CS are a different story. They weren't high draft material last year, and they have worked extremely hard in the off season to lift their games. They have improved (but still vulnerable). Pretty impressive to see their character to stick it out and work hard and Kentucky is now cashing in on signing them.
And what about basketball IQ? Wow... it really does matter who you recruit. Okafor and Alexander were considered neck-and-neck last year. Anyone think that today? Alexander's only offense was the stuff. Where would we be now if we had signed Okafor instead of Alexander? I'm guessing we would still be playing and a likely FF team!
I agree with @DCHawker ... Self's FF Runner-up was the corner for him. Proof that OADs can win titles. But come on... Davis was a super freak! And now look at him! He's killing it in the league.
Investment in the super luxury player suites is proof of the direction we are going in... O A D territory!
"On a serious note - I'll bet someone could randomly pick 5 of the regular posters on here to play against this year's team. We'd surely get beat (?) but I'll bet we could teach them youngsters a thing or two about focus, hustle and determination."
Within 5 minutes of play, I'll let you know which guys were a cup. They will learn it's a man's game!
That means the betting crowd fell heavy towards WSU right before the game. The point movement happens to even the betting because even though betting is all about risk, what drives the books is the desire to remove their risk by having even money on both sides so they know they will clear their 10% service fee.
There may have been a little extra movement in this game because some of those betting probably wanted to see if Cliff would regain his eligibility right before game time.
You are right on. There just has to be some crime going on in a game with this huge scale. Corruption exists in this world, especially when you look at anything in mass. Why hasn't someone been caught? Well... first off... this is pretty easy to hide. Second... these crimes get tried in federal court, and that is not only an expensive court to be tried in, but the penalties would be extreme, probably exceeding most murder cases. Last... refs have to have a certain level of intelligence to be able to earn their qualification. Smarter criminals get caught less often.... NEVER!
Performance heavily relates to fast-twitch and slow-twitch. And I know genetics plays a big part of defining how much of each you have, and maybe even the peak potential of every individual.
In college, I dated a track star. She was thin as a rail. Ran the 400. Competed on a National level. Sometimes we trained together. I would jump on her back... 220 lbs, and she'd hit the steps and do 100 straight calf lifts with me on her back. She did them real fast. I'm guessing she was half my weight and I couldn't match her performance with her on my back. She was a superstar. Funny thing... I trained probably twice the amount of time in a day she would. But her goal was just one thing. Track is so specific and you focus on one thing.
Interesting conversation!
By my late teens, I noticed my athletic improvements came in spurts. I'd reach a ceiling and stay there for a while... maybe 6 months to 2 years. Then... I'd make another leap in performance. Still not sure why. I know there is something called "muscle memory." I've come to wonder that maybe I would suddenly improve my performance in one day, and my muscles memorized the performance improvement. Once I would hit a higher mark, I could maintain it. But... I never let off the gas with training. Maybe some of this is just the mind taking control of the body...
Very curious what you all think about that.
"Yes, down the line, and the issue of youth is big. It seems Self either has to get up to 10 draft choices, or start thinking more about maturity. It was interesting to see UK get a little shaky against an older UCINN, even without UCINN having anyone that could shoot."
I don't know why we don't go after more 2-yr college guys. They are instant experience... at least, maturity. Maybe because they don't have March experience.
Even though WSU is really small and not quite as good as they were when they last faced Kentucky, they could easily give Kentucky fits. Kentucky really misses Young and also Randle. Those guys gave them a lot of offensive punch and especially Young could carry them through lows. They do have more add-on talent this year, but it's more of the same kind of guys.
"Kansas now has six first-weekend losses as a second seed, the most by any team in NCAA Tournament history."
My blood is boiling!
Slept like a baby. Now I'm old and lazy. Hard to sleep!
"Here is what I believe whole heartedly. You can only get so far athletically training against your own weight. Training with weights more than body weight wether it be push-ups vs bench press or squats WITH weights give you a HUGE advantage of building strength."
Besides the weight training... I did at least 1000 situps, pushups, jumping jacks and about 10 other calisthenics every single day. I don't think I got much out of those. I considered those to be just for warming up my muscles. 30 minutes of stretching came before those. I was a work-out freak. Also ran 2 to 4 miles (trying to beat my own time) every night before bed.... every night. This was all separate from playing 2 to 4 hours of ball... every single day.
Definitely true... you can only get so far training against your own body. But I do wish yoga was big back then. Yoga is something different and allows you the ability to strengthen your body in different ways.
Where the real advancements have come is in how to impact fast-twitch development. I don't think the techniques I used in my day helped that. I think today they use "burst techniques" in attempts to help fast-twitch. Basketball is probably 90% about fast-twitch. Speed and reflexes. Then add in flexibility and endurance.
That's what I like about this Vertimax equipment. It allows you to work in the range of motion that fits your sport and is built on burst effort. The rubber bands offer resistance and can be adjusted to fit you current strength.
"I've got a crazy feeling, but the Ukranian is going to be the prototypical Self player. The kid has talent that will be what Self's wants in all his players. Svi does things you don't teach. He was making plays and passes most freshmen don't make and at 17 yrs old? He's going to be Special, Special Svi."
I totally agree. The question is how long will he be a Jayhawk? Imagine this kid playing 4 years? I'm thinking he might go 3.
Always a good read! Glad to see your passion burning past our last minute of game play!
When you think about it.... Cliff may or may not have helped us this year in conference play. But we definitely felt the sting in March. He accrued a lot of bench minutes, but he also played a lot of minutes that could have helped season Landen and Hunter more, which might have made a difference in March. Both of these guys have responded well to minutes, and are on the upswing.
We definitely will need to recruit some help in the post, but at least we have a base to go from. What we have will improve next year, and what we had was good enough to win #11. I'm not convinced our post play was our main problem why we lost on Sunday. Obviously, yes, it could have been better and helped us more, too.
In the coming weeks we will learn about a lot of "free agency" transfers becoming available. It will matter if they have to sit a year or not. I believe we should be looking through the 2-yr schools, too. It would be great to bring in one or two pieces that aren't complete rookies. I agree with others... how many years are we going to play with "one of the youngest teams in America!"
I wish I had taken some dance classes.... not only for the ladies. Even back 30 years ago, boxers were taking dance classes to help their footwork. I believe Ali probably changed a sport more than any one guy ever has in a sport. Guys freaked out when Ali did his shuffle... something that doesn't even look impressive today.
I hope I can get my kid into dance. Hard to find a sport where footwork isn't a key essential.
I've been chatting up several trainers. That's how I found this Vertimax.
I'm sure weight room techniques have changed considerably over the years.
I thought Wigs often took too many chances with his health by forcing drive into the paint against 5 defenders. Self told him to do that... and if he didn't he sure didn't tell him NOT to do it! The risk was too high for the possible gain (a couple of FTs and a bunch of TOs).
Wigs should have been taught how to pull up for easy mid range shots 8 ft from the basket. He does it now in the pros. He takes it to the rack when he's one-on-one or has an open path. He typically doesn't challenge a crowded lane now.
There were times some fans thought Wigs was guarding his health on 50/50 balls requiring a slide on the floor. I just think he didn't have much experience doing that in HS. There is technique you need so you don't get hurt going down on the court for balls.
I give Wigs a solid "A" for risk taking. His effort could some times be so-so as all freshmen do.
The big criticism on Dean Smith was that he pinned Jordan down on his structured offense and wouldn't just allow him to do his thing and take over games. He held Jordan's game back because a lot of his game was him going 1-on-1 or 2 or 3. Not many college games out there where the coach doesn't teach total team play. The pro game is just about winning... and if one guy racks up 50 pts and they win, then the strategy worked!
I hope for D, too.... especially if he wants to get more PT!
I'm right on with your post... but everyone in here already knows that.
The way to shut up the Shockers is to play them every year and kick their behinds.
We need to develop a real rival game and this is the most natural one out there, unless we go back to playing the Tig crackheads in Missouri. I'd rather play the Shockers. So it helps them more than us. Great! The Midwest needs more powerhouse teams. It's like fast food. Where the heck you going to build your Burger King? That's right... across the street from McDonalds.
I just like watching good basketball and that game will be good as long as WSU has a good program. If they fall again, then let them fall and cut off the game. I think we could help them stay good by playing every year. Help their SOS. It's good for Kansas.
Plus... I never back down. Someone calls me a chicken, we step outside. Kansas is my team, my school, and I can't stand the chicken comments! Let's kick their arses!
I hope he learns to score more off the dribble. He needs that so he's not just a spot up shooter. Man can that guy shoot!
WoW! We'll take that!
He'd be a good hire, too.... just tell him to keep up his guard next time!
"Ya make any mistakes ya have to pay!"
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