🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@ParisHawk

I really don't. We all saw how he built body mass. He put a ton of reps in to build mass. That didn't seem to earn him PT.

I think he would have served himself better (and us) to work on his toolbox.

Instead of putting all that time in on weight reps, what if he would have put that time in on perfecting scoring moves and developing "hot spots" on the floor where he refined his shooting (and do it within the framework of our offense so we can capitalize it within Self's offense)? What if he spent all his extra time trying to become a better defender?

My heart ached when we lost AW3, because I saw him sort of like how I see Greene... both with a lot of talent, but not finding a way to EXECUTE their talents. Both of these guys have the ability to be big-time scoring machines!

A guy I do think will figure it out is Conner. He has an uphill climb, but I think he has the mind to figure out how he can contribute to the team and earn minutes. Just a hunch I believe in.

@Crimsonorblue22

Could be... but will it matter? Did you see where Cal said he is going to run two teams, both playing a half of ball?

We should all be looking at the NFL and what's happening there.

We can now easily see how money sugar-coats many issues the league refused to deal with.

Nothing happened in the league until a woman getting knocked out in an elevator went viral. Then a kid being beat with a switch. Then this, then that.

I believe in the American way. I love our free enterprise system of capitalism. But I also realize how "money corrupts."

Drop your wallet with a dollar in it. Chances are you'll get it back, with dollar intact.

Drop your wallet stuffed with $10k in it. Think you have the same chance it will be returned with the dollars intact?

We are watching a train wreck happen in slo-mo. It's the same train wreck that is happening in the NFL, but this time it will be tougher to straighten out. The NCAA only has powers to tamper with a player's eligibility. It doesn't have powers to stop shoecos and coaches (etc) from trading favors. It seems a bit like big time drug trafficking...

What is the answer?

The popularity of sports only seems to be increasing.

Sports sponsorship is proven as the very best marketing model.

Kids in the wrong area can't wear certain shoes or risk being x'd for their shoes.

Does anyone else see this is a train wreck happening in slow motion?

Imagine 10,000 years from now... when archeologists dig up our bones and piece together the story. Imagine how strange we will appear when they discover how much status, wealth and power we have put in silly shoes?

@Crimsonorblue22

I hope Hudy has an answer for him. Brannen could be our best defender (easily) if he can work out his mechanics. He's a great shooter and we all like that... but I think he has some magic that we all sense. He has some plays inside him like when Sherron stole the ball and then hit the 3 that setup Mario's winner. We all feel like Brannen sees things other players don't see. He has a bit of Larry Bird in him.

If he could suddenly become our best lateral player that guy would dominate the game and KU would be a tougher out than Kentucky in March. There is that much potential if he could resolve his mechanics. He better spend 4 hours a day in the pool and in dance classes. It would take something like that kind of discipline and work ethic to become the player he could be.

I hope someone is showing him the big picture.... how to take his game from A to B. I kind of felt like that was the issue with AW3. He was a guy with a different hill to climb and I don't think we got him focused where he needed to be.

@Crimsonorblue22

I think the twins are the key to their success this year. Their size makes them a tough team to shoot over on the perimeter, and also to feed the post against them.

It gives them the opposite ability on offense. It is easy for them to shoot over defenses, and very easy to pass into the post.

They play very boring basketball and are not really extremely gifted.... it's their size that makes them lethal and too many teams get intimidated.

A good small guard with abilities to drive and knowledge of the game can eat their lunch! A guy like that can get both of these guys in foul trouble within just a few minutes.

I see the obvious... Kentucky has the most talent, and this year, they have a higher degree of experience.

There is that possibility that they win it all just by having more talent and by overwhelming their opponents with their size. That would be a horrible thing... if they didn't even really come together as a team but won by shear talent alone. I can imagine a horribly boring finals game if this happens. To be honest... Cal's first (and only) NC game was considered boring by everyone that wasn't a KU or UK fan, largely because UK didn't play that much like a real team that night.

The season is long, and anything can happen between now and March. Kentucky will have to survive everyone's best punch. And though they are deep, Kentucky is still vulnerable to key injuries that could take quite a bit out of this team... like if one or both of the Harrison twins went down.

I think it will be tough to find any team that can play them force-to-force and win. It will have to be a team that really knows how to play small ball and takes advantage of Kentucky's size. Yes... that's right... TAKES ADVANTAGE OF KENTUCKY'S SIZE! Make it work against them. Kentucky will have weaknesses just like everyone else, and I suspect their weakness to largely be lateral issues, especially off the dribble. Young totally rescued them last year in that area. How many times did we see Kentucky's offense stuck with poor movement and Young rescued the play by taking his man off the dribble?

I'm doubtful UCONN will be ready this year. It would be great to see Kansas really utilize small ball and win with it but I'm not counting on it. IMO, that would be Self's greatest accomplishment ever... to teach a very different game than he has ever done before. Have a team focused on guard play! In doing so it would actually help players like Perry and Cliff in the post! '08 turned out that way because our perimeter was stacked! BRush swinging out, Mario, RRob and Sherron. Man... what I'd give to have a perimeter that capable today!

I like Wisconsin a lot and hope they can form the right kind of chemistry to cause trouble.

It will feel like everyone is playing Kentucky this year because everyone will be compared to Kentucky and how they match-up. That's the way it looks on paper, and that's the way media will be selling it. I'm fine with that. Let Kentucky deal with all the media chaos and let's just focus on becoming a better team with a humble attitude.

I'm a huge fan of Brannen. But I don't think his game is anything near where it should be. The guy can shoot the lights out, and we are all attracted to that.

But IMHO he should have worked more on his leg strength over the summer instead of his upper body. He may have the worst lateral capabilities on the team. He can probably run fast in a straight line, but I don't think he can cut well or keep his feet under him while he stays in front of a quick ball handler.

I've seen guys like him before... with legs that are hard to build strength and coordination. I wonder if he his one of those guys. I was a bit in that same boat as a player, too. It was easy for me to build my upper body and difficult to build mass and strength in my legs.

I'm pretty sure Brannen's heart is in the right place and he loves KU, but if he has a mechanical issue it will be tough to overcome.

I'd put that kid in a 4-foot pool and make him run and cut for hours. It's a good way to build strength, speed and coordination in his lower body. And the buoyancy will help him develop habits to bend his knees more. His center of gravity is too high.

Another good option would be dance school.

It will be a real shame if he doesn't get this worked out because he has an immense talent in this game and could easily become a solid NBA player.

That's just my humble opinion only....

Forget preseason Top 20s guessing what teams belong there now... who cares about that.

What really counts is where they end up after March.

So brave souls step forward and expose your crystal balls predicting the future.

Tell us the final Top 20 that will come out next April.

Maybe we can get some sponsorship from Quicken to offer you a $1-billion prize for getting it right!

Step right up...

@jaybate-1.0

"I really hope it doesn't come to what you suggest, 'slayr.

It would be such a terrible thing for basketball."

Yes it would be... but what will change until something like that happens? There really isn't a way to change things until something horrible happens and the entire country jumps on the bandwagon to revamp amateur sports.

I didn't mean to paint a portrait of doom and gloom... but when so much money is being thrown out there you know eventually something crazy has to happen especially with all those treasure-seekers surrounding HS and AAU ball. It is even dipping down lower now, to junior high bb.

@DinarHawk

"The reason that Kentucky went to the title game last year was because they were bigger than the teams they faced and utilized it well, while the teams they faced did not have an answer for it, except of course for UConn."

That's it! I thought Marshall was going to figure it out and his PG sort of did, except his game was off that day. The Shocks were intimidated by the size and they got stuck trying to play them like other teams... cutting off passing lanes and applying some pressure. They should have applied even stronger pressure out on the perimeter. Done a better job of denying the twins a dribble and easy pass making them anxious and confused.. They were really the right team to beat Kentucky prior to UCONN.

@Crimsonorblue22

Hunter reminds me of Cole! He needs more reps just to get his timing down better... but I think he's going to be an important member of this team!

Perry looked okay.... but I'm not giving Perry any free passes this year. He's a junior on a team with a bunch of freshmen and sophomores and Perry needs to bring a dominant role to this team.

Wayne looked friggin' fantastic! Total beast!

Cliff is a total beast but Self is trying to restrain him slightly until he learns to play without fouling.

Brannen put some weight on his upper body, but he needs a few pounds on his skinny legs. Still needs to bring his center of gravity down about a foot!

Svi looked like he needs more strength and he definitely needs to shift his style of play from Euroball to D1. Self's discipline will do him some good.

I was amazed at the speed of this team. Obviously, they all had plenty of adrenaline but wow!

Wayne and Cliff looked like men playing a game with boys. Kelly is close... gonna be a man by March. Have hope for the rest....

Where did Perry go?

@jaybate-1.0

"Or should we sell out for more shoeco money and change the name to "Late Night in the Phog with (fill in the highest bidding shoeco)"?"

Let's call it: "Phoggin' in Our Adidas!"

And while we are at it.... let's do the ultimate prostitution and sell the rights to AFH...

"The Tostitos Allen Fieldhouse" and build the world's largest 3d tortilla chip, lit and spinning above AFH... visible from outerspace!

Even our assistant coaches can profit:

Jerrance "Keebler Snacks" Howard

And what about our beloved town:

"Lawrence of Arabia" (our wheat fields before harvest look like dunes of blowing sand) (available on 4k Blu-ray disc!)

Let's see if we can buy the original "Dorothy ruby shoes" at auction to place beside the rules... we can even slightly modify them and sneak in an Adidas logo and some royal blue and a Jayhawk logo!

Ha.... sorry.... just having fun on my weekend, killing time before the Royals game!

How about them Royals?!

@jayhawkbychoice

"Will the team play the x-axis game?"

This will be the year Self may decide to try some things. He typically likes recruiting height and we may not have our height domination (y-axis) team this year. I say "may not" because we don't know yet how a player like Hunter might impact this team.

Still... x-axis ball is focusing on everything that happens from a little over 6' to the ground. Passing, stealing, ball handling, screens, creating scoring space via non-vertical approach, tempo, pressure, driving, driving lanes, passing lanes, hustle, communication, help defense, ball fakes, shoulder/body fakes, no look passes, everything lateral, hedging.... then I'd add into that... scouting... I could go on and on because I'm talking about all of basketball except that tiny bit played above the rim.

Players get sucked into some of the same pitfalls coaches and others do. They walk on a court and see a team much taller than themselves and they panic. They get intimidated instead of realize the advantages they do have. It's easy to draw fouls on tall and big guys.... especially these days with the way they are calling games. It's easy to stop tall dribblers because the height of their dribble.

Analyze the game and be aware of the physical, mechanical dynamics. Long wingspans are great for something, bad for other things. When these guys are reaching in on a ball handler their longer arms extend out farther. That can be an advantage... also a disadvantage. The extra length is harder to retract. If the ball handler entices the long extension then drives into... who gets the foul? RIght... the long-armed defender. And how about "lateral nimbleness?" How about the fact that long guys just can not be as nimble in lateral movement because their body limbs are longer? Get them going in one direction then change a direction and make them foul you because they don't have the ability to control their lateral movements down the court the same as a smaller player.

So for teams like Kentucky, spread the court, stretch the game and make them guard in space.

Another good x-axis strategy; be VERY good at the FT line. Work on getting fouled, and then knock down FTs.

If we really went at Kentucky the right way, we would expose their weakness (height) and expose their gimmick attribute (height). Cal is counting on everyone they play getting intimidated by their size and no one figuring out that beyond their size they have weaknesses like every other team.

@KUSTEVE

I think the biggest change for Self in his recruiting catches was the change in philosophy he took towards recruiting. He became frustrated just a few years ago... at that time many said he was in a recruiting slump. I know it hit him hard when we missed on Tarc. He spoke out a little bit about it and how he was going to adapt his recruiting style.

His old recruiting style was all about "team play" and no recruit getting guaranteed minutes and every recruit having to fight hard for minutes, and those minutes come tough for freshman.... all the stuff OADs weren't interested in.

I think the final blow came when we lost to Kentucky in the finals with a good team of seasoned players from a lower tier. That game proved to him that freshmen talent can go all the way and in the future will become even more dominant... even though the real answer is to get the OAD star talent to stick around for one more year.

My comment wasn't directed towards the idea that something bad will happen at Kansas or Kentucky... or any D1 school. But dip down into AAU ball and it is a different world. There are all kinds of riffraff floating around that world and let's face it, it is a place where recruiting is taking place.

@JRyman

I really feel for you. AFH is home for every Jayhawk fan.

@DoubleDD

I think people misunderstood my point and thought I advised we should blow winning our conference.

My only original idea was that if we didn't win conference, this team would realize they were the team that blew it for Kansas, Self and themselves. They would be recorded in history as the team that lost the streak. Pretty bad juju.

You can bet that team would want some redemption in March. They would be carrying a monstrous chip. Perhaps a chip almost the size that Manning and our Jayhawks carried into the 1988 NCAA tourney... That team exemplified what a group of guys can do with a sizable chip on their shoulders. It played out perfectly that we got another shot at OU in the finals... the team that haunted and taunted us going into the finals...

My point was we need a big chip.

Then my direction turned towards our conference tourney. Is it a good thing that we can't match other teams in our league for enthusiasm in that tourney? Yes... other teams have more on the line going in... but I'm concerned with what we have going out of the conference tourney. Not exactly the great confidence builder leading in to March play.

Over the past couple years @jaybate-1.0 definitely educated me on shoeco influences. It makes sense. Just too much money in it to not become a major factor in D1. And I believe there is major corruption involved because that is what you always find when big money is involved.

I'll go ahead and put my neck out on this one:

"It won't be long before a situation is exposed, involving crazy money and big time corruption. It wouldn't surprise me if lives were threatened or even taken in the struggle for power and money."

The NCAA, once again, will remain the reactive governing body.

@HighEliteMajor

Pretty solid scouting report on Wigs. He's not quite ready to take over the league.... but if he stays healthy he'll continue to improve and surely he'll have the right people around to help him develop his offense. He does need the go-to moves... that is what I've been saying about him pinpointing a few good spots on the floor to make as his base scoring area.

Kobe was a good example. Then he nailed down both corners of the FT line and started ripping teams apart. He may be the right guy for Wigs to zone in on... especially how Kobe found the discipline to not try to take everything to the hole later on to save his body. Both of these guys have good verticals and Kobe learned not only to create scoring space on his J by using his body and quickness... sometimes he just flat out extended his vertical and shot over most of the league. That's a tough thing to do... to extend to your highest vertical and hit shots. He also had one of the best fade-away J's the league has ever seen. He earned a lot of trips to the FT line because defenders started expecting his fade-away and then he would change to a high vertical, catching the defender smacking all over his arms while he still went higher and hit the shot, too.

@Crimsonorblue22

"damn, you need to be a d1 eyebrow reader, maybe even w/the NBA! "

I kid you not, I used to do a Wiggins imitation driving to the hole with my eyebrows lifted as high as possible and my mouth open wide with a grimace pulling all the skin back on my face.

To quote Marvin Gaye:

"LET'S GET IT ON!"

@KUSTEVE

Go, man, go!

@nuleafjhawk

Seemed like he had small hands, but it really was his anxiety that created most of those TOs where the ball slipped out.

If you look back at some of those plays pay close attention to Wig's eyebrows. He was a very expressive player (with his face) and his eyebrows would pull up so high they almost touched his forehead hairline!

Wiggins is a super classy guy. He struggled a lot more at Kansas than people think because he masked things to keep everything positive... but he couldn't hide the anxiety on his face when he attempted most of those drives.

I felt like we botched his development. He shouldn't have tried to force everything right to the rim. He should have been pulling up more and tried to master a couple of spots on the floor. It would have relieved the pressure off him to perform and he would have ended up having more successful finishes at the rim. Parker was a lot more polished and he better utilized different places to score on the floor besides just at the rim.

@jaybate-1.0

Always JB... always good!

Thought this read might stir up some conversation about our game with the Wildcats:

Kentucky and John Calipari have a good problem: too much depth ↗

Cal discusses the idea of having two lineups, each playing around 20 minutes.

It will be interesting to see how he shuffles all that talent. We all know Cal's greatest strength is his recruiting. He may (one day) match that strength with his ability to blend egos and expectations of all those top tier recruits. I'd put that down as a "maybe" because every team is different every player is unique.

We'll get to scout them for a few games before we play.

The answer is to beat them through the x-axis... 96% of the game will be played there. It should even be to our advantage if none of their guys plays more than 20 minutes. It should take them quite a while to figure out how to adapt to losing 96% of the game!

I agree with you guys... Wiggins was his own worst enemy because when you never feed out of the squeeze teams quickly learn that and feel more at ease to increase the squeeze.

We all remember that freeze frame and many complained that Wiggins didn't pass it. That wasn't really the typical situation when he got the ball. But other guys were open sometimes and if he had found a few of them perhaps more of them would have fought to get open when he drove the ball.

Hard to say if players just felt like coach wanted Wiggins to finish or they just knew Wiggins wasn't going to pass out of it... whichever the case, the result was guys mostly watching him do his thing.

That part wasn't good for any of those guys to learn.... it is a fundamental breakdown of the team concept.

This year, every guy out there has to realize he is a potential scoring option, and everyone should look for the open guy. That's what it is going to take to win.

@justanotherfan

"He wasn't a drive and dish guy. He was a drive and dunk guy."

I think that was Wiggins biggest problem. He accepted that role as the drive and dunk guy. He wasn't even that. He became so cautious on his moves to the rack that he rarely finished. He should have got his first NBA lesson at Kansas.... learn your spots on the floor, master them, run combinations through them, then over time add more spots.

I lost the link, but there is a great link I posted in here last year showing every NBA players plotted shooting spots on the floor. It is amazing to see how so many players cluster their shots on just a few spots.

Just about every time Wiggins drove the ball, it looked to be out of desperation and without ideas on how to finish out the drive. His anxiety got the best of him and made it appear that his ball handling skills were worse than they really were. He was not a great ball handler, but he was better than he showed.

@KUSTEVE

"winning the conference in 2008 and 2012 certainly didn't hurt us in the tournament."

This has become about winning our conference tourney. We did win our conference tourney in 2008.

@jaybate-1.0

Always great to read a philosophic description of Wooden, especially since he was the Grand Philosopher! He really wasn't so much a basketball coach as he was a life coach. His techniques could be applied to anything... imagine him coaching employees in the corporate world? Laying out the basic groundwork for seeing the big picture and developing accountability within every position.

@JayhawkRock78

Not sure how we could structure a series tournament. At the most, we could put a best-of-three in the Finals. That wouldn't help Kansas much. I doubt we could have won 2 of 3 from Kentucky in 2012.

Ultimately, teams have to bring their best game for every game in March. Luck is a factor, too, but no one can count on it to save them. There is a magic that helps build fan momentum in a single-elimination tourney. I'm pretty sure many schools fans feel they would do better in a series tournament.

As I've said many times before, I don't expect Kansas to win it all every year, or every other year or so. All I expect is that we bring a big hunger to win in every game in March. I just don't see it consistently play out like that. I thought we brought good energy in 2008 and 2012 consistently... and the results were there. If we always come with a big appetite, I think it will be rare when we lose to a much lower seeded team. No way can I include our 5 recent losses to low seeded teams as rare.

What I find really interesting in this thread...

No one in here supported the idea that losing conference might give us an edge in March.

That either shows a lack of understanding the value of a "chip" or pretty much everyone has jumped on board with valuing our conference streak about as much as another NC.

I'm very surprised no one brought... "I'd definitely give up the streak for another NC!" Not that I was baiting for that but I did expect to read it on this thread.

In my search for a reason why we underachieve in March I've uncovered the idea that our conference tourney focus (or lack there of) may be impacting our March performance. I'm going to hold on to that one this season and I'll be looking at our conference tourney play as a barometer for what we'll do in March.

I like what @JayHawkFanToo said about conference tourneys...

"The Conference Tournament Title is really meaningful to teams that are borderline and winning it or making a good showing puts them over the top."

I totally agree with that statement. Certain teams come in with a big time hunger to prove themselves. Sounds like March to me and it sounds like that long list of underdogs teams that sent us home early.

From here on out I'm going to value our conference tourney as the proving/test grounds for March. As many have said in here... "winning builds confidence" and there is no reason to think that still doesn't hold true for conference tournament games... the last games played before the Big Dance.

Bringing anything less than our very best game to any game we play in is a recipe for developing an attitude of entitlement. I faced those attitudes a few times back in my day and I was always glad when that attitude wasn't on my team, but on the other side. It made us play so much harder when we felt the other team had that attitude.

If we don't bring a voracious appetite for victory to every single game in March, we are going to lose. And when we don't bring that voracious appetite, our competition can sense it and they sense that they are not being taken serious by us. When we don't bring that voracious appetite we feed motivation to our opponents because we've made it personal and we are slamming them and they will stand up and fight because we've given them that much more they have to prove.

Imagine that long list of 5 underdog teams we've lost to in March (under Self) and tell me how many of those teams we would have beat if they were in our conference and the games were played in our conference season? I venture to say we would have beat most of them (or all) even in their own gyms!

Look at what we are.... our biggest strength (under Self) is our ability to beat tough conference opponents in their venues. That is the #1 strength we have. That is what lifts our overall record and helps earn us a good seed in March.

Why are we able to beat tough teams in their venues but we can't beat lessor teams in a neutral venue?

I believe it is because we honor the strength of our league and we are up to the challenge of playing our away games. We know we are an underdog or at least have a good chance of losing on the road in our conference. Self talks most about winning on the road in conference.

We lose some of that focus by March and our competition senses it. We are supposed to kick their azzes and when we don't we just fuel their victory. Part of it is we show them they have a chance, another part is that we don't take them serious enough and that pisses them off and gives them something extra to prove.

We should get up for all our games like we do when we go to ISU for a conference game.... or Texas or OSU or OU or Baylor or KSU...

Play every game like it has the same value. @jaybate-1.0 called it right... it's the Wooden way.

@jaybate-1.0

Nice post, and I think your assessment of the league on specific players going in and out of vogue is right on.

When Magic Johnson came around the focus really changed toward the big guards (and PGs).

It seems like guards are put against a height chart of expectation. PGs should be at least 6'3" and shooting guards should be at least 6'6". Anything less and the decision makers have to defend the player and what potential that player brings. Taller players are given a little more space.

Then you have combo guards like Hinrich. 6'4" and can play point or shooting guard.

One thing that differs from NBA to college... in the pros, it is all about match-ups and teams look to exploit wherever they have a match-up advantage. To get to this level of ball, all players have to be able to take their man to the hole or be able to get his shot off pretty much wherever he is on the floor. It really is a game where height counts for more because of this reason.

Kids in college aren't that advanced. And a hot shot 6' guard in college can make the difference and become a big part of taking home a NC easier than they can in the pros. Their height disadvantage is rarely compromised because all he has to do is get a hand in someone's face to impact the shot. That isn't always enough in the league.

Still doesn't mean a 6-footer can't make it in the league. Tony Parker is 6'2" but actually plays much smaller. You'd think he is only 5'10" out there and it wouldn't impact his game at all if he was that height. Not sure, but I don't think he can dunk it.

I wish there were more small guards out there in the L. We all miss out on watching a certain skill set because team management goes for height over guys that can really play the game but are a few inches shorter. I don't always think height buys you championships.

@JayHawkFanToo

I know all that and I agree.

But we are talking about how we get this team to play better in March. And recently most will agree we aren't playing our best in March, and we aren't playing our best in the conf tourney. Could there be a relationship with that?

Maybe we need to break the season down into 4 seasons.... pre-conf, conf, conf tourney.. and March.

Right now we have 3 seasons.... conf tourney is only a few games, but it isn't even up on the board in discussions.

Maybe it should be.

Like I said above.... it seems to give us an attitude of entitlement... an idea you do not want floating around in your guys' heads as we roll into March! I definitely feel like we go into March with an attitude of entitlement. That's obvious because we don't seem to adequately prepare for many of these lower seed teams (that end up upsetting us).

I'm just hopeful the pieces all fall right for Conner. He has an uphill battle on his hands to get to where he needs to go and it will be a much easier path if the right pieces fall in place.

As long as he stays healthy, I don't see how he will not be a big time contributor to Kansas during his D1 days.

I've watched that kid from junior high until now, and he's amazing. I watched him flip and land on his head... and he walked off the court. He's intelligent and driven.... and tough.

@JayHawkFanToo

"Wiggins set the freshman scoring record at KU (previously hed by Danny Manning), was one of the 10 finalist for player of the year and was the top defender on the team...how can that be a negative thing?"

I'm a big Wiggins fan and I'm glad he came to Kansas. We'll reap the reward for years.

All I said was he thwarted development of other players because Wiggins had to carry the load while the others were mostly spectators. When Wiggins had the ball, everyone stopped playing and started watching. That is a big reason why Wiggins didn't have more assists. No one was open!

All the returning players would have had to step up more if Wiggins wasn't around last year. That would have put them a leg up on this year.

@Crimsonorblue22

Right on... he better learn a lateral game! Hedging properly will help with that, too. Then he may even draw a few charges!

I think Cal has the old school NBA management concept of recruiting.... go after as much height as possible.

I believe he dreams of having a team with at least 6 7-footers, 3 of them starting with 2 6'10" guards.

Kind of hard to take that article seriously.... when you get to the bottom of it you are faced with:

"YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

Katy Perry hits on Oklahoma QB Trevor Knight, throws corn dogs on set of GameDay..."

@Crimsonorblue22

What if Self never spoke much about winning our conference regular season and just spoke about winning our conference tourney and put his energy into that.... would we be having the same results?

Conner is a smart kid who is extremely competitive. He desperately wants to contribute to this team.

He's a guy that will figure out how to get his minutes. Part of it is to adapt to his new role of NOT being a volume scorer. So... he'll have to learn to be more precise with his shooting when he only gets a handful of shots in a game.

But he'll learn other aspects of the game that will keep him on the floor. He may lack size and explosive athleticism however he can learn to play good defense with what he has. And as I've been preaching for quite some time, about 96% of the game is played from about 6'4" to ground zero. Even short Conner can reach that high with his feet planted and knees bent.

He'll learn how to aggravate ball handlers and make them think more about his defense than earning an assist or driving in for a score or pulling up for the long ball.

He'll learn the necessity to go to the film room and scout his opposition, so he arrives at our games with a plan on how to defend and how to score on his counterpart. He'll learn how to properly hedge to prevent drives and passes going where he doesn't want them to go. He'll learn if his counterpart crashes the boards or not, and how to play him off the dribble. He'll learn what screens his opposition like to run him through so he is prepared on how to stick to his man.

There is plenty of things Conner can learn to do well. And if he learns it all, continues to build on his physique, and brings ice veins with him to games for execution, he'll earn plenty of PT and will become a huge contributor for this team and for two more seasons.

If he really figures it all out, he can write his ticket into the league after his senior year! Yes.... there is a pathway for Conner to play in the NBA.

But it all starts with today, and it starts with him organizing a plan for his path from where he is today and taking him to wherever he wants to go with his future.

There is a pathway for every one of our scholarship players to play in the league someday. There exists examples of players with each one of their builds, tendencies, etc., that have made it in the league.

But let's get back to our conference tourney...

Can everyone comment on the idea that our lack of focus in our conference tourney may impact our performance in March.

@jaybate-1.0

Long post and well worth it to read!

I recall a brief comment made by Wooden where he broke down every player's responsibilities into three categories:

1. Physicality - every player was personally responsible for physical training to get into good enough condition to push tempo for 40+ minutes. I added the + because there were no excuses for tiring in OT. Physicality also related to practicing FTs, shooting all over the floor, and making sound moves.

2. Hustle - every player was expected to put all physical and mental efforts into every possession, regardless of the score. Because "winning" related more to the players' performance throughout than winning the game with more points. Winning with more points was a consequence of a winning performance by players and the team.

3. Basketball Intelligence - every player was expected to study the game. They were expected to know every aspect of the Wooden system, starting with their own position but working through every position so knowledge was complete and the players were responsible to not only monitor their own play, but their teammates, too.

Wooden believed he shouldn't even have to be present at a game. Every aspect of the game was taught to the players and the players were held accountable for knowing and executing. Winning and losing fell on the players' shoulders, not the coach. Sometimes he sort of implied he wasn't even a basketball coach, but more a life guidance counselor, and if you follow much of what he was saying, it does sound like a better title than "head basketball coach."

Wooden was the great philosopher and teacher. But no one should expect Self to become another Wooden. That just isn't going to happen. Wooden was Wooden... and a big part of what made him successful was his abilities, but also the time and the place. Wooden offered a complete set of guidelines to live life by and back in the turbulence of Vietnam, LA and the protests and campus life, Wooden attracted players to practice a kind of Wooden zen to shelter them from the chaos. The Big Redhead used to talk about it.

I'm not sure if Wooden would make it today. Kids are so indoctrinated into the lifestyle of "instant gratification" that he would have a hard time recruiting. I think top tier players would be more enticed by Calipari and his bait of offering Drake coming to campus more than Wooden and his strict policies and focus on player responsibilities and being held accountable.

Self must surely be torn with this dilemma, too. He wanted Wiggins so much and had to give in to the reality of setting a different set of rules for him over the rest of the team. There is no way to do that without damaging team chemistry.

I do agree with Self that toughness was a definite issue last year. There were other important issues that cost us, too... like the lack of leadership, the lack of team cohesion, the lack of optional sets to run when our offense wasn't working, one or two real type-a personalities willing to step up when everyone else was in retreat.

If I had to pick one overwhelming issue... I'd easily select our lack of leadership.

In 2008 we won our conference and conference tourney before going on to a National Championship.

I definitely realize the benefit of winning our conference.... good seeding and some level of confidence. However, I am looking for whatever it will take to get these guys raging in March. We clearly haven't been that way in a long time, and why not? If winning our conference builds confidence then why don't we see it in March?

Maybe it is just something simple like Self accentuating a bit too much emphasis on conference play. So the guys feel like they can let up a bit after winning the title. Look at last year.... I know Embiid was out for most of it... but we lost 4 of our final 7 games after we clinched our conference. There is no excuse for that and we didn't exactly breed exuberance after clinching our conference.

Maybe our issue is the conference tourney. It is set up as a "everything to lose but nothing to gain" tournament for us. We so often don't come ready for that tourney and we clearly don't care about it like we care about winning our conference. We seem to coast through our conference tourney.

So how does that work? How do you press hard through conference, back off in the conference tourney, then press hard again in March?

This gets into some old posts from @jaybate-1.0 where he discussed Self "throttling down" for certain games.

Using '08 as a marker... it seems we need to make sure we win our conference tourney, too.... even if it means playing an extra game and risking injuries. Does it ever make sense to "play it safe" when it comes to competition?

I'm starting to think our conference tourney attitude and preparation bleeds over (heavily) into our March play. After all, we all seem to agree that winning builds confidence. So how much confidence do we lose when we lose in the conference tourney?

Playing soft in our conference tourney sort of supports an attitude of entitlement... "hey, we are Kansas, and we've already proven ourselves so we don't need to hustle for this one!" Does that attitude disappear before we enter March play?

@jayhawkbychoice

"I think all the individual chips have been build on their shoulders..."

Hmmm.... now that you mention it:

Conner - He has something to prove, can he play at D1 level?

Frank - He has something to prove, can he translate his game to Self-ball?

Wayne - He has something to prove, his injury last year brought his numbers down.

Cliff - He has something to prove, will he be ready for the draft next summer?

Devonté - He has something to prove, can he get big minutes at point?

Svi - He has something to prove, no one knows Ukrainian ball here.

Kelly - He has something to prove, or does he want to stay in Lawrence for several years.

Jamari - He has something to prove, can he be a major contributor?

Landen - He has something to prove, can he get any minutes this year?

Perry - He has something to prove, can he finally play some defense and not play soft.

Hunter - He has something to prove, "Hunter who?" because no one knows what he can do.

Every single guy has something to prove... to us and to themselves. Let's hope they can realize the necessity to prove something as a team!

@HighEliteMajor

"I made the rather absurd suggestion that we might have been better last if we hadn't have signed Andrew Wiggins (I actually still believe that)."

I don't know about that... but I will say I think we would be a better team this year if we didn't have Wiggins last year. It would have forced all these returning guys to fight harder last year and I'm certain they would have advanced further with their game.

It did seem that some of our players (some of the time) last year were more like spectators than players. Everyone was watching Wiggins. He'd get the ball and everyone would just watch. That is not a way to play. The Bulls didn't do that with Jordan. Wiggins had almost no assists... and people were quick to blame Andrew for being a ball hog, when, in fact, it was like time standing still once he got the ball. The rest of our guys would just stand there and watch.

I can't help but think we are in for a completely different year this year. I'm not sorry we had Wiggins last year, and I think we will benefit from the connection to Andrew for many, many years. But our new team will have to define themselves without Wiggins or Embiid...

I really like this team already. There is plenty of talent and depth... and they should develop more of a team connection.

Okay... we are starting to get somewhere with this thread. Let's keep going.

What has to happen for these guys to enter March this year with the determination of a gladiator ready to fight to the death?

Who is going to step up in March and lead this team?

Will we have the toughness this year?

Can we become so determined that our determination crosses the threshold of high pressure to the point where these guys just go out and execute at a high level?

I'm definitely not advising we blow our conference streak this year.... but I do want to encourage that we expand our conversation in here about how to fix our March performances.

We've discussed several things before... but I thought this was kind of a new twist on an old subject. It's all good to add to the overall conversation because it pokes all of us to come up with a better explanation and way forward.

I never expect us to win out in March. But I would like to expect that we always put our best foot forward and I don't believe we've done that and I don't believe it is easy to do all the time. We can always play teams that have more to prove... but can't we up our energy level to match or exceed almost every team out there?

I am not satisfied that we bring the needed intensity all through March every year. It doesn't match up with us losing on 5 occasions to teams we should have drubbed. Yes... all those team were decent and played to their max. That doesn't excuse our losses because we had far superior players (and some could say coaches) in all of those games.

Any team can lose to any other team now and then. However, it seems like we have lost to too many lower teams and it is enough to show a trend that something needs to be addressed and fixed.

Since '08, '12 was the only team that carried a chip and almost won a title. We didn't have a single McD's AA on that team.

That was the only year since '08 I've seen us play inspired basketball in March.

These kids have a lot of pressure on them. And it seems to be building in March because the talk around campus is that we underachieve in March. For these kids to overcome the natural pressure that goes with playing for Kansas I believe it takes some kind of circumstance that pushes them up and beyond their normal state when entering March.

That explains KU's trophy in '88, and I'd say also in '08, and our near trophy in '12. It explains what happened at UCONN last year, Louisville the year before and probably most years' winner. Hardship brings teams together and makes them tougher.

I hear what both of you guys are saying. I'm just not sure the way we are structured right now it is working in March. If anything, winning our league seems to make us over-confident and we are not prepared for opponents like Stanford, VCU, Bradley, Bucknell and Northern Iowa. How can we look at these five losses and not realize we have preparation issues in March?

Okay... #6 is not our '88 NC ring... here is what that one looks like:

1988 Kansas NC Ring ↗

Looks more like a typical class ring instead of a NC ring... especially when you put it up against today's standards.

We've gone around the block a few times in here now discussing which has the most "value"... our conference streak or winning another National Championship. I'm definitely NOT trying to reopen that can of worms.

But there is something we have not discussed. The potential relationship of our conference streak with our performance in the big dance.

With every year that we continue to win our conference it has grown in importance because adding another year builds the strength of the expectation for future years. It also earns us plenty of positive media attention and it is a solid indicator of how great our coaching staff is at Kansas.

No other team, in any other conference, will face the pressure this Kansas team will face in their conference performance and outcome. The world is watching and most fans of college basketball either support us to win another conference title or hope we do not succeed and extend our amazing streak.

Imagine for a second, that this year's team is the team that loses our conference streak. No other team in the nation will take it harder for not winning their conference because no other team has so much to lose.

What would losing our conference do for this team in March? I can imagine that it would finally be the chip I scream about us needing every year in order to win out in March. This team would definitely feel the need to redeem themselves. Regardless of the outcome in March, we would definitely be a tougher out than we were last year (and most years).

What would winning our conference do for this team in March? It should give them confidence to know they can play with anyone including winning in very tough venues. But what does it do for our hunger in March? Does it help or hinder us? Might this team say to itself... "hey, we've already had a good season!" Is that what we want these guys thinking as we enter into March play? Surely a big weight will be lifted from their shoulders when they win conference. Is that a good thing?

Personally, I think it will make March a harder road if we win our league. Don't get me wrong, I have a total appreciation for our conference streak, it is definite proof of what our coaches have built at Kansas. However, it feels like it may add another bump in the road while driving for another National Championship. It seems to be a bump as long as we win it, and it seems to offer us a down hill path if we lose it by creating a gigantic chip on their shoulders. Imagine a big chip on the shoulders of this rough, tough and talented team?

I definitely am not saying we need to lose our streak. I'm just discussing the possible dynamic relationship between winning conference and playing for another National Championship.

I'm curious what you think. Please post your thoughts on how you see our conference play impacting our post-season play.

In my crystal ball I see a team with a unique identity from past teams. I see it as a good thing.

I hope we have a bad couple of games before conference and the talk around here is that we will not extend the conference streak.

That will be the fuel for these guys to step up and play good exceptional ball. When was our last team that really played exceptional ball? '08?

I know we are still a young team. I just see a team with so many rough, tough talented guys. I see the potential for solid leadership at the point.

I say this every year. We need a chip. The last chip was TRob's situation that helped that team come together and finish Runner Up.

@wissoxfan83

I second that!

@Kip_McSmithers

Going from left to right... the first NC ring is 4 and the second 6 and the NC-Runner Up 8. 4 and 8 are obvious... it is 6 I'm not sure about. It doesn't make sense that they left it out. Maybe someone knows what ring 6 is... my bet is NC.

@HighEliteMajor

"This team will be more of a Bill Self team. Last season, we had three finesse players in the starting lineup (Tharpe, Wiggins, Ellis). This time, only one.

That will allow Self to play his style of ball. No way we lose 10. No way."

I couldn't agree more!

Last year's team was soft. They didn't even get pushed in boot camp. I think everything morphed around Wiggins. Wiggins was good and even hustled, but he was still soft. I'll prove my point with that statement this year when we compare Alexander to Wiggins.

No way we lose 10. Tharpe was soft, too. Our pg is going to put pressure on the defense this year regardless of our 3 main choices.