🏀 KuBuckets Archive

"Every year in the B12, critics, haters, and the like are dying to see KU get knocked off as conference champs."

@truehawk93 - Absolutely! And the main reason they want KU to lose isn't just a dislike for KU... if we are talking about east coast media... it is about making the B12 irrelevant! The B12 is (for the most part) irrelevant outside of the Midwest UNTIL you factor in this dominant conference streak! It is our streak that has really raised the stock of Kansas basketball beyond the Midwest.

This is why I continue to bring up just what a big deal it is for Kansas basketball to win 9 B12 titles in a row. Because of this dominance, it is impossible to overlook KU nationally. Our NC from 2008 has largely been forgotten (nationally-speaking)... but our 9 in a row is active, and can't be denied or shoved in the shadows. It is the reason why I have Bill Self down as the best coach ever at Kansas!

And it is because of this dominance that we need to maintain our streak and keep it going!

I seriously doubt Bill Self would consider leaving Kansas as long as this streak is alive. I seriously doubt he would abandon a legendary record like that just for more money and a new challenge. Bill Self is B12 basketball. It runs through his blood, both as a player and as a coach.

@HighEliteMajor - right on the button again! You communicate the points so well... a big reason why I think you should be coaching.

I agree with your assessment. I'm excited to see Lucas getting some minutes. He plays probably the best fundamental basketball of anyone on this team. He may not be the most athletic player we have, but he utilizes well what he does have, and plays within his potential. He has good upside, and whatever minutes we give him now will pay off in future years, plus, he clearly can give us quality minutes now.

I thought JoJo and Perry looked much improved, even though we were facing probably the biggest post team to date. Makes me wonder if the smaller teams are a bigger challenge to our post players. That is typical... and points to players needing to move their feet more. Embiid has the best feet of any big man in years.. perhaps decades. He'll adjust. And Perry has great wheels, too, he just needs to make the mental adjustment. Perry's learning method is through reps... but I think in this case, he needs to start working harder on visualization. He has had a lifetime of reps, and they will always be there as an excellent tool for him to use... but his biggest gains today will come from visualization training. So many players come back from injuries and play the best basketball of their careers because they spent their recovery period visualizing about their game and what could be improved. Perry can even visualize the part of playing looser and not over-thinking during a game. In fact, all our guys should spend some time visualizing the game and where they are and how they can improve.

After watching them strategically attack the Lobos bigs, I now realize that Self gets it... about how most of our games this year will be decided by who wins the foul wars. I viewed our attacks on their interior with great joy, more than anything else I took from this game!

It was a good game to emphasize Perry's battle for post real estate. He had to battle bigs with more size and weight, which always poses a challenge. Perry should receive a bump for his self esteem in knowing he can battle post players of any size for position. He can. Take a look at Wichita State... and watch the play of Tekele Cotton. What is he, 6'2"? He plays the post like a giant. It isn't the size of the dog in the fight, it is more about the size of the fight in the dog.

I like what Greene has to offer. Sure... he needs polishing. He so often breaks CS's rules... but so did B.Rush and others. The guy has some sneaky skills, and someday we'll take advantage of all his abilities.

Naadir played a bit better... but he still seems to be missing on a cylinder.

It was obvious that in the past few days in practice this team worked on ball motion to prevent it from sticking. The ball moved much better than at Florida, even though the pressure was not intense from the Lobos. I'm sure many of the teams coming up on our schedule will try to use perimeter pressure to get the same results Florida and Villanova received. We are not done being tested on the perimeter.

We still don't run a set hi/lo offense, but at least we had more emphasis on feeding the post. One step at a time!

With Embiid's offense coming on, it should help relieve a bit of pressure off of Perry, though I think it is good to keep the pressure on Perry. My concern is Embiid's offense continues to improve and so Perry backs off. Perry needs to realize, even with Embiid improving, Perry is our main weapon for post offense! Perry and Embiid should work together in the post with screens and spacing to help each other.

We seemed to play with more confidence and bounce yesterday, but we will make a grave mistake if we think we are much different than the team that showed up in Florida or in the Bahamas. We still have to hustle every day in practice and listen carefully to CS.

Wayne (John Wayne) seems to be in a micro-rut... and I hope he can limit it to micro. He posted respectable stats in this game, but he still doesn't attack as much as he did in the first games. I think it would do some good to see us create a few plays for Wayne to finish on. It will help with his confidence, and he is so capable of finishing well... either with the 3 or in the paint. I think CS nailed it by saying he tries too hard... I don't think that means he is physically hustling too much... it means he is mentally trying too hard and it is slowing his game down. He needs to loosen up and try to have fun out there!

Jamari will continue to make too many fouls... but he is bringing good energy into the game and he plays with good emotion. We need to see plenty of emotion out there and the guys need to channel their emotions in a positive way.

Looking better! I still have them placed in the COLD COLD COLD phase but if they keep improving like they did yesterday, I'll bump them into WARM WARM WARM!

"Perry needs to work hard for position, demand the ball, handle the ball when he receives it, pass out of double teams, and take the ball to the hoop with authority. But even more than that, he can't play second fiddle to Wiggins. And he can't play second fiddle to Embiid. Ellis has to play like he's "the man." "

@HighEliteMajor - I hope you are coaching somewhere... it would be a pity if you aren't sharing your basketball wisdom with young players somewhere.

@Careful you - That's right... too many TOs, and I'm blaming Perry for his participation of a dysfunctional offense. Florida's perimeter players playing way out from the basketball means their post is open for 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 offense. We all know Perry has the moves to rack up a sensational FG% within the post. If he had fought for position, it would have created another outlet for our guards, and would have reduced TOs.... especially after we burn them a few times with Perry.... then they would be forced to mush down in the zone.

For many of those games where we couldn't hit a 3... we were usually contested on the perimeter. We should have been playing typical Selfball, and been feeding the post. Where is the famous Bill Self hi/lo? And none of those teams had big post players. In fact... the original strategy of Villanova was a desperate attempt to keep the ball out of the post, where our bigs could go to work, scoring and drawing fouls. Wright had no idea it would work, and you can bet no one was shocked more than him that it actually worked! Now the word is out to play a mix of zones and put pressure on our perimter... why?.. because Perry is slacking off in the post!

With Perry playing soft in the post and not fighting for position on the court and sealing his man away from the interior pass, our interior offense becomes nil while perimeter defenders keep putting more pressure on our guards, forcing more TOs and not allowing us to get into any real offensive set.

Our guards are playing poorly, or they would realize they can take advantage of the high pressure and draw fouls... but Perry is the big reason we aren't running an effective offensive set and why our guards are being pressured into TOs. Most of our TOs happen once we cross half court.

Perry's NBA stock is dropping rapidly. If he can't man up playing college ball, how is he going to do it in the No Boys Allowed league? Someone mentioned his game is finesse... all good 4s have finesse moves, but they also use muscle to create their opportunities by establishing position, which creates an opportunity for the feed into the post.

I kind of think Perry is starting to think he is a 3... or maybe he thinks he can jump to the 3 in the NBA. That is very unlikely. His scoring skills are in the post, and he has great skill. He just needs to play more aggressively and use his strength to create opportunities. I was so pumped to read about him in the off-season... and how he added on muscle.

Hard to say what Perry's goals are. Is he hoping to jump to the league after this year? Or does he know he wants to stay? If he wants to make the jump then he certainly hasn't been playing the right basketball ever since the Bahamas.

If I was Perry I would be putting all my energy into playing aggressive basketball this year and go for the draft. He has no guarantee of minutes next year, and Alexander will show everyone (fans and scouts) what a top player looks like at the 4. This is Perry's year to shine... the 4 spot is all his...

He better slap on his headphones and listen to a little Eminem...

"Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity,
to seize everything you ever wanted, one moment,
would you capture it or just let it slip?"

I know I'm being theatrical... but I can't think of a better way to nail it than this!

Of course, @ValiHawk !

Fall to one knee and repeat after me (while I layeth our Jayhawk sword on thee head):

"I shall remain loyal to our King Wig, Sir Andrew Wiggins, for as long as thee shall thrive in the leagueth called "college basketball" and beyond to the N-eth B and A-eth!"

There is a good story about Perry's recent troubles fresh off the press today:

http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2013/dec/13/kus-three-point-struggles-impacting-perr/ ↗

Matt points to our troubles nailing 3s making it harder for Perry to establish his low post position.

i don't really buy it, at least, as a single directional blame. Let's look at our last game with Florida as an example. We actually shot well from 3, nailing 42.1% of our treys. And if you review the game again, you'll notice Wiggins played a big part of our success from 3, going 4 for 9. None of his shots were right on the line, he was back a ways... because Florida was not sunk down on Perry. Florida's guards played both high and middle, putting pressure on the ball or closing the passing lanes, trying to create TOs (which they did) and make it hard for our perimeter players to do anything except turn the ball over.

Perry produced a whopping 4 points and 4 rebs in 24-minutes of floor time. Not exactly something to write home about. There were two reasons for Perry's poor performance; first, Perry, second, our perimeter players.

Perry's play was the main reason for his lack of production. Perry performed well early in the year, when teams played soft defense. Everyone we play now scouts us and they now know to make Perry earn his position in the post. Perry isn't fighting for his position. It's right there available... the same space available to Julius Randle... but Perry isn't fighting for it (Julius is). So without an open Perry in the post, passing it in is risky for another TO.

Second... our perimeter players were only focused on the pressure they were receiving... and not looking to pass well to make the defense pay for all that high pressure. They were busy turning the ball over on the perimeter, so they weren't exactly full of confidence to throw it into the post to a guy who wasn't totally open.

We can blame Perry's poor performance on the perimeter... like Matt does. Or we can blame Perry for our perimeter's poor performance (too). I'd tend to go for the later here because Perry never gave it chance in the Florida game. He never created the opportunity for a safe interior pass. Had he done that, and if our guards started feeding him (and he scored from it) Perry would have helped defeat the high pressure put on our guards which helped force all the TOs. So in essence, Perry is as responsible as anyone on the team for creating all those TOs.

Let's look at how teams are starting to play Kentucky. Remember Randle's game against MSU? He chewed them up. So teams are realizing they can't run their guards too far out, and if the ball feeds into Randle, they have to help out on the front side, too. So Randle is starting to feel the heat, and putting up less stats, while Kentucky's guards are starting to burn the nets from 3. Defenses can't protect both. It's one or the other... or somewhere in between where limited opportunities exist all over the court.

So all of this negative attention pouncing on our team, much of it going to our freshmen and to our PGs... more should be going to our post, and to one of our only experienced players, Perry Ellis. By reversing the way sports media keeps telling us to look at it, we see that responsibility must be shared by the entire team. Our post play impacts our perimeter play, and our perimeter play impacts our post play.

What we should be taking from all of this is that basketball is a team sport. Everyone has to be held accountable because when a player performers poorly at his position, the other positions are impacted, too, with more pressure going towards them. Zone defenses are all about shifting defense to cover areas on the floor in an attempt to put more pressure on the areas where the biggest threats are. So if we can't hit a 3, the zone sags to put more pressure on the post, and we have to prove ourselves from the perimeter to get them to bring the pressure back on top. It also works the same way in reverse... if we can't score from the post, the perimeter defense is allowed to pressure up high.

Villanova exposed us by putting heavy pressure out (up top) on our guards. Part of the reason why we didn't make them pay for that came from our post players not working harder to receive the ball and score from it. The same thing happened against Florida.

I'm not letting our perimeter players off the hook. With the new rule enforcement they should easily be able to punish any teams for putting on heavy pressure. The should be able to drive out of any pressure and often force a foul call. They should have used their feet to attack the seams of the zone, either by creating a driving or passing lane (if they have the ball) or creating a passing lane to receive the ball (if they don't have the ball). Our guys played flat footed and also let the ball stick. All the traps worked great because of that reason. And our guards had difficulty passing on the perimeter, so feeding the post to someone who hasn't sealed their man from the path of the ball, would almost guarantee another TO.

Everyone on this team deserves the credit for failing the system... including Perry! These losses fall on every player!

I'm hopeful this was discussed in the team meeting... and why Perry spoke out about it being helpful. Their only hope of coming together as a team is to realize that everyone together is responsible for their failures (and success)!

Question: Where Art Thou, Bill Self's infamous hi/lo?

Rock Chalk!

I don't always understand why CS yanks guys out. If they are just making a mistake, yanking them every time is not going to fix the problems... more likely to make things worse.

I do understand yanking a player for not hustling. When they aren't hustling it is doubtful they are paying attention, too. Yanking them out is a wake up call... and CS should tell the player why he has been yanked... right at that moment.

I do understand yanking a player for making a mistake related to being lazy or not following another order that lead to the mistake.

I do not understand yanking a player just because they rushed a shot, or created a TO, or panicked. Young guys are going to do that and they need to play through some mistakes. Young players need continuous play to develop their game. Heck, even old players make all these mistakes, but they get the benefit of the doubt and get to continue.

All the coaches have been complaining about all the ticky-tack fouls because they break the continuity of the game... what about the continuity of each player?

I don't understand a lot of CS's moves... but I do understand that he is one of the best in the business! Maybe that's why I'm blogging for free, and he is coaching for millions! Still... I'm going to question some of his stuff, if for no better reason than to maybe resolve the question within myself.

Before Self came to Kansas, we would have benefited from a home-and-home with WSU. Their gate was decent and would be a definite sell-out for this game. It's become tougher now because our non-conf is either home games, or some kind of tourney or a big venue.

Still... I'd like to see us play. I like our chances and I like to own bragging rights for a year with a win. And if we lose it is a loss close to home and can only help put a chip on our shoulders for the rest of the year. And it does help us to play tough mid-majors... the teams we often lose to in March.

As long as we avoid them, we always get the wrap of being afraid to play... and I hate hearing that nonsense. We have nothing to lose... it's pre-conf and the Shocks are gaining rep. With the way they develop SOS now, it might as well be the Shocks instead of the Golden Buffs or someone else.

It would do our current team some good to play the Shocks now. They need to play every style possible between now and March. I can easily see us get beat in March by a mid-major this year (again!).

Bring on the Shocks! In the long run it could develop into a nice inner-state rivalry and we could use more games with real meaning to them. There was no meaning to our game with Florida... nothing.

I've been a huge Mason fan ever since I watched him in that open practice at AFH.

I've heard he doesn't talk much though. Gosh... if you could meld the qualities of Tharpe and Mason...

I'm just not sure if Mason is ready to verbalize to his teammates and take over the entire role needed. He is (by far) my pick for "leading by example." That is where Tharpe is weakest.

Mechanically speaking, how does this team change now, from Tharpe to Mason? How do they turn off Tharpe's talking and turn on Mason's? And the team has to be on board with the change. They have to want to follow Mason.

I just don't get it why Tharpe hasn't completed the evolution to being team leader? Self has told him to penetrate, and he has the skills to do it... but he doesn't do it. And he is quite capable of being a disciplined passer. He's already experienced two seasons of away games. Why did he freak in Florida? Doesn't he realize that how it goes with the leader is how it goes with the team? Doesn't he realize that he has to control the tempo? Does he even realize that he has to take control, period?

If he would have taken control of that game we would have spanked Florida big time. To play as bad as we did and only lose by a handful is amazing in itself.

I would have like to hear that something went down in the locker room after the Florida loss. Like last year... the team having it's own meeting and coming together off that meeting with a better outlook and energy. I was hoping we would have heard that at least one of these guys broke down in frustration and went wild after the game... bursting out about hating to lose and not wanting to ever lose again.

I wish someone would post the story about Manning again. When Manning came unglued and couldn't handle losing anymore. And they didn't. And they stepped up as underdogs and thumped Oklahoma. That's the kind of attitude we need on this team... if not from everyone, at least one guy. One can be enough to win it all.

I am not of the belief that someone can be turned into a leader. Those abilities are built into individual's core... might even be innate tendencies. There are some who can gain some leadership skills through time and effort... but the real leaders will want to lead immediately upon arrival to a team. Granted.. sometimes players have to wait their turn below upperclassmen.

I was of the opinion (mostly from reading KUSports) that Tharpe was a natural leader. He is doing many of the things that leaders do. He is verbal with all the guys. From what I understand he is very verbal during practices.

A leader is judged by his execution in the heat of battle. That is what matters most. Maybe Tharpe is verbal in practice and maybe Black works with the other bigs... great... those guys are then "helpers" and different from "leaders."

The best leaders will have more control over their guys than the coach. The best leaders have that much influence. With the best leaders, on a time out, you will see the players listening to the coach, but often looking at the leader... and when they are walking out of the time out they will be talking to the leader... to get some clarity and final instructions. Do we see that going on?

The best leaders don't always play perfect basketball, no one does... but the best leaders will always lead by example. They will always dive for loose balls, and even if they don't get the ball, the other teammates will vibe in on the hustle and mimic their leader. More than getting the ball away, the leader has done his job by "leading by example" and the tone his hustle sets will be what his teammates follow.

If your floor leader has bad habits, his teammates will pick them up. If your floor leader (Tharpe) is careless with the ball, his teammates will be careless with the ball. It takes quite an effort to have 25 TOs in a game.

If Tharpe is the leader then he steps up to the microphone right now and he takes it on the chin. Because leaders take responsibility for their troops. If he was a leader he would be apologizing to the world for the effort in Florida and he would take 100% responsibility. That's what leaders do... whether on a team or in a company.

The best leaders can't stand to lose. A real leader, coming off our recent play, would spend every breathing moment in the gym after returning from Florida, and would recruit teammates to join him. A real leader will realize that the coaching staff can only do so much... mostly because they have to follow NCAA rules. But there is nothing stopping any of these guys from putting in extra reps. And to be honest, the best play always comes from teammates who put in extra time of their own and develop their own chemistry... chemistry that isn't forced on by coaching... chemistry that is developed naturally from those players meeting on their own and working together.

I'm looking for someone on this team to grow a pair. I'm looking for someone who is ready to step up. I'm looking for someone to take responsibility. Talk the talk to teammates and go out and walk the walk.

That's what it takes to lead. And you need a good leader if you hope to do well in March. If we don't resolve this... March will be a huge disappointment!

Now Wiggins is a star? The media just had him labeled as "over-rated!"

Maybe they should meld the two definitions to cover their bases:

"He's a bright new superstar who sometimes earns the tag 'over-rated'!"

I'm curious to see what is written about him after our next game.. especially if he goes back to having a lower stat night. If he would have missed all those 3s the other night he would have been labeled a bum. The light gets hot when they are all shining on you....

I hope Wiggins can zone out all this chaos. I hope the team can, too.

It's clear that our victories from here on out will be won in the practice gym. Focus, fellas!

A+!

Interesting.... I already started writing for a new thread: "Has Bill Self gone soft?"

No sexual pun intended!

Awesome reads in here today! Pretty calm posting.

I'm not in a panic yet... but feel it is my duty to hammer down on the team. I'll panic when we start dropping conference games!

@Blown - I don't get it either. The rule mods totally rescue ball handlers being pressured. All any of these guys had to do was drop their head and shoulder and drive right through the edge of the defenders. Just don't drive to the edge, where you can be trapped. This is beyond basic... it's elementary.

The guys are letting the ball stick anyways... and that split second of hesitation allows defenders to pinch in, then it becomes even harder. And if they aren't passing the ball rapidly they should be dribbling around... making the zone shift to create bigger seams to attack.

I guess they have been instructed to not drive the ball. (?) Even Mason hesitates to drive now when he's pinched... something he would have naturally done at the beginning of the season.

I believe there are some issues in communication. I don't think Self has ever had this green of a team before... so his teaching methods aren't hitting home because he basically has no elder players to show by example. That's why I blast Tharpe and Ellis for not taking a leadership role. From the part I watched last night, I couldn't tell that either of these guys were not freshmen, too. Really sad to see. Seems like they wasted their previous Jayhawk experience because they seem to be back to zero.

I can't blame Black for much of anything. Essentially, he's a freshman in the Self system, and he appears to be playing at a similar level of what he was at Memphis. I do think he has made improvements over Memphis. Obviously, I'm with the crowd wanting as much PT for Embiid as possible!

Someone on this team is going to have to step up and take charge. Our first road games were the perfect opportunity for Tharpe to show his leadership skills... and he had an entire team in need of a leader... and he didn't step up. That's not the sign I was looking for!

My eyes are pointing to Mason. I know he's green... but he shows signs of determination and he doesn't quit.

I believe perhaps our biggest move going forward is choosing a PG. Who is going to lead this team?

I've always been a Tharpe fan... but he isn't showing me that he has what it takes to lead this team. He needs his teammates to believe in him, 100%. How is he going to earn that status now? It's a tough thing to win over in the middle of the season. Mason can lead by example. Granted... he needs to learn a bit more, but the time is now!

COLD COLD COLD... They are in that period I warned everyone was coming.

I also missed the first half (will see it tonight). But what I saw in the second half was enough.

I can't believe they lobbed passes over a zone the entire time. I can't believe Self let them look like that in public. It was embarrassing. You can make some lob passes over defense, but to go side to side, over and over, lobbing up the ball told me enough... this team has an attitude problem.

Wiggins and Mason were the only ones even marginally attacking the zone. And it wasn't even a decent zone. I don't know what is going on in practices... but clearly there are communication issues with the coaches and players. You can not come to a D1 game this unprepared. There is no excuse for the conduct of that game.

You could see it in all their faces... disgust... frowning... tell me any of those guys wanted to be there? These ladies better man up soon because as of right now, they are the laughing stock of college basketball.

I've never seen an entire team with that "deer in the headlights" stare before.

I guess they had no preparation for a road game. No long talks and watching file footage of what it is like to go in an opponent's home arena and deal with a huge crowd screaming for your demise. That is the only explanation for what occurred.

I've never seen such a timid team before. Afraid of their own shadows.

I know I sound harsh. But they will never be babied into manhood. Someone has to kick these kiddies in the gut. The road isn't going to get any easier. Something has to change to make them want to show up for a game. The only thing I can think of is someone on this team will have to grow a pair.

Imagine if they maintain that defeated attitude on the road in the B12? You can not only kiss another league title goodbye, you can forget finishing near the top. Imagine they act like that at ISU... or OSU... or Baylor?!

I can't feel pity for them. It's not the attitude you need in sports.

It's time for these kids to man up!

BTW: If they are able to learn, this file footage should be about the best learning tool possible moving forward. I'd make them watch 10 minutes of it before every practice. Total humiliation. The score did not indicate the level of their a$$kicking!

@globaljaybird - You are right. I just don't understand any of these kids and what it takes to get them to hustle. I never stepped on a court in my life where I didn't lay my guts out 100%. I've never left a court where I had anything left. I did it because I LOVED to play... and I HATED to lose! I played just as hard in front of a crowd as I did at the Y playing lunchball. I could care less about the venue, if I had a good night's sleep, or if I was already banged up. The only difference in my case is I never had a big $$ carrot dangling on a string in front of my nose because I wasn't at that skill level. Maybe that makes guys play cautious.

I don't believe I ever would have played cautious.. even if I had to stay healthy to land a big contract. I just didn't have an OFF button... or a CRUISE button. And I'll never understand guys that do. I know I never lost to anyone who didn't come ready to play.

I just don't get it...

@HighEliteMajor - to be honest, the only players I've seen NOT loaf (at times) are Mason and Embiid.

That's a big part of why I like those guys so much! ....and also why I put those two guys as our biggest difference makers come March!

"Florida is in a world of hurt..."

"How so @drgnslayr? They reportedly get Scottie Wilbekin and Kasey Hill back for tonight's game. They are still missing Chris Walker, but this team will be as close to full strength as they have been in a month."

I know both are back, but let's see if they can go at 100%. We know what having banged up guards can do...

And Keegan... well... he's Keegan... I've always imagined him wearing a pith helmet and leading an African safari with the Marx Brothers. I don't mean that to be an attack on Keeg... He's just out there. And most of his work should be evaluated by his high school English teacher. However... when you least expect it he comes through with a dandy piece. I like him because of his inconsistency. It shows his personal side. He's definitely not a robot.

I know as I've aged that my likes and dislikes have often changed... especially when judging people. When I was younger I was often hypersensitive about people, and if someone got off on the wrong foot with me then I would throw him/her off a verbal cliff. As I've aged (and have my moments of not being the sharpest knife in the drawer), I've loosened my standards and let things go. It has helped me develop a subtle side of humor, and I learn to laugh at small things. It helps alleviate the obvious reality of aging... And I tend to go on and on and on... imagine that?!

Wilbekin brings senior experience and he's a glue guy they have to have. Last year he lead Florida in assists... 174... fifth-best in Florida history!

He's the guy that turned the odds against us.

This should be a good test game for us... putting us in the underdog role against a battered Florida team that lacks depth and size.

How will we play as underdogs? The last time we were underdogs was Duke... right?

I'm expecting us to play amped-up basketball. I've been wrong before... I've been wrong enough to know it is a wise bet for me to keep my money in my pocket and not with Vegas!

@HighEliteMajor - Once again... you nailed it. I never saw Black as a starter when he signed with us. I just thought (naturally) he would be a backup to Embiid, and he would be an "enforcer" in the post. I expected he would be an option for us, especially when facing some beefy post match-ups.

Because of Black's experience, he seems to get a pass for starting... something we always question about CS. But... as an upperclassman we should expect good execution. He has been a solid rebounder. But we have to have more out of him because his over/under is showing he is not helping the team enough.

In some ways I think he gives Perry a free pass to loaf. Perry is another guy I'm coming down hard on because he can dominate at will... so when he isn't dominating, it is an issue of will. I guess I should look at it in the positive and say that if Perry keeps disappearing on this team, we are guaranteed to have him for another year, because his NBA stock will drop (big time) and this coming year will be a loaded draft.

As I see it today, it looks like Embiid and Wiggins will be our only early departures to the league this year. That could change. If Perry starts playing "relentless ball" he'll be up there in the first round. No post player in college has as good of moves as Perry... and it is reflected in his FG%.

@Kip_McSmithers - Yeah, I saw that. Doesn't mean they can go at 100%. Like I said, sometimes players bring their best games when they are banged up. It must trigger some survival instincts.

Odds Shark had Kansas as 8-point favorites, but have since lost favor and it looks like we are 2 to 2.5 pt underdogs. I'm guessing it is because Florida has their guards back.

Florida is small this year. Because of the foul rules, maybe that is an advantage, but we should be able to score in the post. It seems like Self is making all of these pre-conference games mere lessons (more than doing whatever it takes to win), so I'm not counting on us coming in with a strategy to penetrate and/or feed the post... a strategy that would normally be obvious against a match-up like Florida.

I've said it all year... for us we have to look at every game as a battle of who wins the foul war. If we don't push most of our opponents into foul trouble, they will push us into foul trouble. Our best offense in the foul war is to put them in foul trouble first. Florida is not loaded with depth. This is not a typical Billy Donovan team. He missed out on several recent recruits and it is showing it with this team. But I'd never count Donovan out of a game. He is a fierce competitor and he is as cagy as they come!

Can't wait to see the game... if for not other reason to have the opportunity to watch Self vs Donovan.

If this was March, I'd put my money on Self... because he would be playing this strictly for the win. But I'm not sure since it is December and he's in school with a bunch of rookies. He may make them do something unconventional just to prove a point or to test them out and see how they respond. I'm not saying Self doesn't want to win... but I'm saying he is looking at this more as a valuable lesson opportunity. That's what Izzo always does before January... and his teams always end up playing over their talent level.

School is in session!

Florida is in a world of hurt... we should beat them. But sometimes teams react well from injury and put up a big fight.

I'm thinking we come out fast, build a nice lead... and we either hold on for a tight win or we blow it at the end. We might have foul troubles again.

Or maybe they come out hot and we have to fight back. That would be awesome if we fell behind by 15 or so and could come back in win one. It would be another good lesson, and one where we didn't have to suffer another L.

As you can see, I'm glowing with confidence!

@HighEliteMajor - I'd like to challenge your criticism of Black.... I'd like to... and if I can think of a way to do it, I will... but I just can't make a case defending Black. I know his teammates like him and he's been like a leader to the freshmen.

I thought his leadership was a good thing... but not sure anymore. Some of his fouling tendencies have bled over into Embiid's game. He works with Embiid in practice.... that one tendency Black has where he puts just a little body on the shooter at the end and it does nothing to stop him from scoring but guarantees a whistle has become his trademark foul. That's a foul that drives me crazy because it is easily avoidable and just requires staying focused on the game. Now I'm seeing JoJo do it, too. It's a big man foul that is old school. Years back... before the rules junk, big guys would get away with the really small contact because refs considered them clumsy and in enough foul trouble anyways. It was just a psychological move to let the shooter know he's close to getting hit with a big body. Most of those fouls have been cleaned up over the past 10 years and now they are a guarantee call. It's like watching "retro ball" from the past (every time he does that).

Maybe Black will come on strong eventually. If he does, I know the entire team would respond along with him. But can he? He did have that one nice start. Was that the Towson game? And it seemed like it helped motivate the rest of the team.

I like Black... and I hope he gets it together... for himself and for his team. I'm sure he wants to do well and I know he cares about this team. That's a good start... now he has to learn how to execute.

@FarSideHawk - I think Izzo has partially backed down from some of his typical pressure defense. At least, that's what I saw in their game against Kentucky. They could have pinched down on Randle. Izzo already knew that he could reduce Randle's impact by sinking in a guard to attack Randle's move in the post. He basically let it go the entire game.

I commented in here about it. How Izzo eased off of Kentucky. He did. I'm still not sure if that was to prevent fouling... or to not show Kentucky how they'll beat them in March. I tend to think the later, because leaving his post players isolated on Randle brought foul trouble, too.

I was thinking of Cole and Perry... but neither played many minutes. Guess we'd have to look at their fouls per minute to compare. My point is that we've had some incredible post players come through Lawrence and most of them started off as big time hackers. They could star on the show "Ax men!"

@ralster - right friggin' on!

Let's have a pop quiz:

Name the last Jayhawk freshman post player that wasn't a "hack-a-tron?"

I don't think we should panic until B12 season starts and we have trouble winning games then. Bill Self is all about winning the B12.

Right on... typically it is almost impossible to blow out a Self team... but typically we have a defense that limits opposing offenses to a poor FG%. Until we get that going on, we could be blown out! In fact... I'm kind of surprised we haven't been blown out yet!

Gosh @ralster - it is great to have you back posting a lengthier post. Everything you said was spot on.

Right on the mark about Self staying Self. And I wonder if he'd rather take on the challenge of the NBA than take on the challenge of running a zone team. I know if it was me, I'd definitely consider the jump more now than ever before.

I like how you framed up the zone... playing hard for 30+ seconds on defense then letting teams bail out with an uncontested 3. It seems to break every rule Self brought with him to Kansas. Why even put in the energy for the first 30 seconds?

M2M is all about hustle, and it is all about personal responsibility... two key qualities you have to have to win at this level.

These guys are still playing half HS basketball. They haven't made the jump to D1 level basketball. They are learning what it takes; 40 minutes of hustle, 40 minutes of staying focused, 40 minutes of going hard after rebounds and 50/50 balls, 40 minutes of execution. If you slack off in any of these areas you can expect it will eventually catch up to you. It's why most of America watches basketball in March... because it is the real deal.

If you think back just a few years ago, any freshman on our team was not counted on for anything... we keep raising the stakes on expectations. Maybe it's because of all the media attention. I really don't understand why OADs steal most of the attention from established players.... but then, hype isn't earned, it's nothing more than fluff. If you want to have a true understanding of college basketball, go to Vegas and talk to the guys who make a living by putting their money first (over hype). Those guys look for experienced teams to make cover. I'd put their advice 10x over all these fluffy sports analysts who make a living only off the hype. Experienced teams are more predictable.

We have no idea what to expect tomorrow in Florida... we could win by 20 or lose by 30... with young players you just hope someone gets hot and gets the entire team jacked up on momentum. It's the best you can expect out of all those freshmen (this early in the year).

Funny you mentioned UK fans... Cal spent all summer and fall jacking up the fan base with his utter nonsense about perfection. They've already blown their expectations for the year, and we are just in December. Even if they win out from here... it will be remembered as a team that "could have" had a perfect season, but failed. I'm just glad Self paints a realistic portrait of his teams. Never mentions nonsense about striving for perfection...

I'm more optimistic now that we've dropped a couple. I might even get more optimistic if we lose a couple more before league play. Whatever it takes to get these guys hustling. It won't be long before they've completely left their HS games back in HS. I actually think Wiggins has made quite a bit of progress already.... and of course Mason and Embiid have, too. I still think we haven't seen Selden play to the level he already possesses.... he needs to come out of his shell a bit more.

Preparing for the sunshine state. I wonder if it will be sunny for our Jayhawks?

@globaljaybird - good post!

I don't know about the kids not playing hard because they think they are going pro in a few months. That always comes up in conversation when talking about OADs. I remember it coming up constantly with X. I didn't buy into it, and it turned out he went on the hardwoods for more balls than anyone else. He did back down from some finishes at the rim, and who could blame him. The only time I saw him back down was on a contested finish, then he would just play it safe and score the basket.

What really stinks is we have several possible OADs on this team, and we have no veteran players to help keep our pants up until they learn to play decent D1 basketball. I've been chewing on Perry's recent sleepy play because he is the closest thing we have to a veteran player. Black is a transfer... doesn't count the same.

The one thing I do know is Wiggins is a competitor. I think all our projected OADs are competitors... and they don't like losing. Now if we can teach them to HATE losing, we'll be competitive in March! The only reason we have the NC trophy from '88 is because Manning got sick of losing and couldn't stomach another loss! That was the difference in '88, and nothing has changed since. The team that wins it all has at least one player that can not stand to lose!

We'll see what Wiggins and the others are made of. They keep losing and we keep falling out of the public eye... and then people start to talk... and away games become even more difficult because of all the jeering. Wiggins still has a debt to pay with the rest of the world; that SI cover. He better produce or he'll get blasted on that. I've already heard some bad comments and that stuff will go virile soon. I'm not even sure he can do anything to stop it now. Maybe average 50 ppg and we win out.

I'm going to repeat what I said earlier... just trying to get everyone used to this... B12 conference play is going to get extremely nasty this year (within the fan bases). We thought last year was bad... like at ISU. All of that will pale in comparison to this year. Our losses on the road will be insanely humiliating. Every venue will storm the court (when we lose), player's jeered and possibly assaulted. This will be nothing like we've experienced before. I'm warning all Jayhawk fans to be ready to experience this. I do not feel the B12 has prepared for what is coming.

@HighEliteMajor - Excellent thread. The dilemma on Self's plate is mostly about the rules. It doesn't help that we have so many freshmen and such a young team overall. There is really no veteran player left to help these younguns learn defense. Our only senior is teaching habits that might have partially worked (only partially) before the rules tightening, but now Tar's habits are the absolute worst thing a big man can have. I've seen Embiid picking up on some of it, and it scares me. The key for big guys is to stand your ground, hands straight up, no jumping until the shooter commits, and then jump into clean space (with a buffer of space between) and make sure not to touch the shooter. Know where the ball has to go and find a different path to the ball to get the blocks. Tar has been praised for having a big body his entire life. Guys like that always want to leave some body on shooters, just to let them know of their presences. Not a good idea this year.

All our post guys need to look at tape on Withey. If Withey was a senior this year, he still wouldn't be getting in foul trouble!

There is the one call where there is no answer for... it is what I posted over the weekend... If a defender is in the circle under the basket, any contact is a foul on him. The only exception is things like elbows to the head/face. That's just not right... a defender can't even hold his ground!

This dilemma may even impact Self's stay at Kansas. If it keeps going like this, his big strategy for success has been turned upside down. I don't know if he has the stomach to run zone teams.

We will be using some zone this year. We have to. When the fouls pile up, we'll be forced to switch.

Personally, I believe that CS is going to stick with the M2M at least through December. The outcomes of games may not show it yet, but he is making small progress steps with this team.

Our offense is suffering because of our defense. Not only do we need to score run outs off our defensive efforts (part of Selfball)... but he isn't focusing practices as much on offense. He said it more than a month ago... he didn't want our high offensive output taking away our incentive to play tough defense. Selfball puts defense first.

What if we had played zone from the beginning of this season?

We may still be undefeated. Or maximum of one loss... probably against Duke.

We would have been able to polish more of our offense and we would have fouled less.

That's just my opinion.

But what will help us more in March? (and also league play)

I think the M2M helps us most in March. In league play, there are plenty of experienced players that already know our M2M tendencies. But in March, all the teams there will have most of their experience running against zones. If we have a decent M2M in March, we will be a tough team to beat!

The problem is more the rules. Read back on Self... he said it best... you can't defend the ball screens coming over them any longer because those require pinching the ball, and that's a foul now. Ball screens are a problem with both defenses, but especially with M2M.

Our bigs are more susceptible to fouling right now playing M2M.... but who is to say it stays that way later? Teams will get better at attacking the seams in zones. And zones always give up the treys.

@HighEliteMajor - I agree with you on that last game. The shots were there... but previous games they weren't as open. Any guys can go 0 for 5 with open shots...

We'll continue to get better looks, and I'm not worried about our 3s dropping. Those will come around. 2 of the 3 are freshmen and the other a sophomore with limited minutes last year. They'll warm up eventually... as long as the spacing is there.

...and a ruffed grouse in a pear tree!

@JayHawkFanToo - I agree with you. Ellis needs help in the post. They need to feed him at the right time and in the right position... sort of similar to how perimeter shooters need to receive the ball if they are going to hit a constant 3.

But natural scorers can make things happen in a non-perfect environment. Randle is an example. Perry will never become a Julius Randle, but he can actually be better... he needs only about 1/2 of Randle's aggressiveness to be effective. Perry has more scoring weapons than Randle. I've been amazed at how many different scoring moves Perry has.

Just like on the perimeter... if Andrew is a natural scorer he'll make opportunities for himself, even if his teammates don't help create one for him.

With all that going for him, Perry is still not using the 1/2 "Randle aggressiveness" necessary to create his own scoring.

I'm a big Perry fan... have been since he was 12 years old! And I know when he's pushing it and when he isn't.

@Crimsonorblue22 - I wouldn't mind seeing Lucas get some minutes at the 5... I just don't want it to take any minutes away from Embiid. That guy needs as many minutes as he can get between now and March. You are right... Lucas plays good fundamentals. If he keeps working on his strength and aggressiveness he'll have a bright future as a Jayhawk!

Sure I'm serious with Lucas taking minutes from Ellis. It should just be temporary.... Ellis should fight to get his minutes back. He's been a horrible slacker for several games now. When he attacks the rim, he scores points. He's either been making weak positioning moves in the post so the ball doesn't go in, or he's getting the ball and throwing it back out.

Perry has to be pushed. He had to be pushed last year... and he's showing signs of needing a push again. No one here is saying Lucas is a better option in the post.

And Traylor needs to play smarter. He had several really bad periods yesterday, where he wasn't playing with good basketball IQ. Traylor has good potential... but he plays a lot like TT played early in his career... showing athleticism and signs of hope, then lots of bad play. There is hope for Traylor... he just needs to play smarter ball.

@Hawk8086 - You may be right with our guys shooting 3s while being fearful that they may get pulled. But yesterday, it seemed like our guys were more fearful of driving and getting pulled.

I just don't believe our problems will be solved by picking one shooter for added minutes. I think our problems are more severe and requires a lot more adjustment. The group of White, Greene and Frankamp shot 0 - 5 yesterday. How many shots would these guys need to take before they started dropping? Granted... sometimes players need a few to get going, but I'm not going to turn away from the real problems this team has by pointing only at 3s for salvation. We didn't need a single 3 to win this game. We've had many past games where we shot horribly from 3 and still blew out teams. Kansas has never counted on the 3 ball. We've counted on defense, rebounding, winning 50/50 balls, and points inside. That's who we are. And it is a formula that works well enough to put Self up there as the coach with the most wins in the past 10 years. The day where we count on the 3 for success is the day where we will not win at the consistency we've won at for the past 10 years.

We are being beat by teams of far inferior talent... but.... far superior experience!

We are being beat by teams that know how to run an offense and defense. They understand that the key to both sides of the ball is spacing... something we haven't figured out yet.

It won't help to give any of our shooters more minutes until we can run an offense that creates good shooting space for them, and they get hit with chest-high passes and can flow through their shots. What's Conner's shooting % from trey this year? 20-something? He won't shoot better just because he gets more shots. He's been forcing his stuff. Same with Greene and White. These guys were decent in the first few games, when opponents hadn't practiced enough defense to limit our shooting space.

It's pretty basic physics. Players can't be in more than one spot at a time. If we spread out our offense and we move the ball, that is only the beginning of doing something right. Then we have to attack. We need players like Mason, Selden and Wiggins either penetrating, or at least getting into the high post and making 12-ft jumpers on a regular basis. Or finishing at the rim will work, too. We've got to do more than throw the ball around side-to-side. That's what we did yesterday, and it reminded me of some bad games from past years, where our offense passed what seemed like millions of passes around the horn, until the shot clock was down to nothing, then hurried a bad shot. If I could condense the description of our offense yesterday, that would be it. Heck... several times we ran out the shot clock.

We have one enormous problem on offense; we aren't attacking. Even Mason pulled back yesterday and rarely attacked the rim. I'm not sure if that was because he was sick, or if CS just told them all to work on 3s.

We have to work within the law of physics; no defender can be in two places at the same time. So we have to stretch out the defense and attack. If the perimeter defense is guarding out high, we have to feed the post, or penetrate from the perimeter, or send someone into the high post to attack in mid range. We weren't doing anything like that yesterday. We were largely sitting on the 3line and passing back and forth, with nothing changing each time, until the clock ran down.

How about some effective screens? How about running high ball screens? Can any of these guys shoot off the dribble?

It's still a case of a young team not knowing what to do. I'm doubtful they will be rewarded with real offense until they start playing better defense. Self isn't showing them much on offense yet because he wants them to focus on defense. It is improving... little by little. We got burned in the zone by perimeter 3s along the baseline. With time we'll learn better defense and understand how spacing works. With all the speed this team has, it's ridiculous to think they can't learn to play good defense. They can...

Last week I mentioned how I saw the phases of this team, in a time line. We are in the COLD COLD COLD period. So absorbing losses is part of it. Don't be surprised if we get smoked on Tuesday.

I can easily see this team losing 6 or more games this year. It may be the best thing for them. If thats what it takes to turn boys into men, so be it. It certainly worked for one Danny Manning! That's what it took for him to get to the point where he absolutely hated to lose and refused to lose again. Go back and check out their march to a National Championship. Go back and read how Danny even challenged Larry Brown in that NC game. He wasn't going to lose and he took it to Oklahoma.

Yesterday... why did it take Tharpe 39 minutes of basketball before he figured out he had to go in attack mode?

It will take leadership to dig this team out of their holes. Tharpe and Ellis are the closest we have to being experienced. Ellis is all but disappeared. Self should start substituting Lucas in for Ellis. Where did his "attack mode" go? We need Perry to be the guy that keeps our lows from dipping too low. I don't know what it takes to get Tharpe to attack.... Imagine if he had attacked in the 39 minutes before the end of the game?

There is too much thinking on this team... too much play where players don't want to screw up, so they try to be invisible. I suspect they are being over-coached a bit right now. Maybe it is for the best.

I look at these losses like taking a dose of Cod Liver Oil. Hopefully, it will make us stronger down the road. But Jayhawk fans aren't used to too many losses... but we also aren't used to having such a young team. We can't blame this on OADs and the philosophy of recruiting OADs. The problem was we lost our entire starting 5 from last year. This goes up and beyond what is considered a "rebuilding year."

It's frustrating to watch... but we'll just have to bite the bullet and suffer through some horrible games and situations.

Just maintain hope that we'll be a different team in March. It worked in '88!

Just be ready for the media smearing. If we lose on Tuesday it is really going to be bad.

Here is a piece of advice that I'm going to try to work out for myself, too... Use some kind of radio delay software or hardware so you can sync your radio broadcast of Hawk games with the television. I've heard of this done before... and if anyone has a working setup, please share it with all of us. I'm on a mac platform. But we are all going to want this moving forward, especially on national broadcast games... because otherwise, the games will be unwatchable because of all the sickening commentary.

I can't handle the next van Gundy spewing gibberish after spending only 10 minutes getting educated on Jayhawk basketball.

@HighEliteMajor - Self nailed it awhile back:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2013/11/04/college-basketball-officiating-hand-checking-rule-change/3422293/ ↗

"And Self is worried about how best to defend a ball screen because the only way to go over the screen is to "jam the dribbler, which now would be a foul.""

Instead of the rule interpretation change, the NCAA should have put more energy into officiating games consistency. No more differences between conferences, and individual officials would go back to school to learn how to call a game consistent, from start to finish, from style to style.

This reactionary knee-jerk was a compensation for their inability to just tighten down a bit in some areas and call it consistent. That is all they should have done. Instead, they opened up a new can of worms and more conflicts and more opportunities to call games with inconsistency. There is no clear answer for the dilemma under the basket... they'll have to add amendments to the rules to make it fair. And they need to address offensive players and putting their head and shoulders down to create contact and get rewarded with foul shots. It's nuts.

Sounds like Mason now has the flu. If he is slowed from his illness, who will step up and give this team the energy it needs?

This would be a good game for Andrew to step up and dominate.

Andrew... are you ready?

One more element on the rule interpretations this year that bothers me...

In the low post, if the defender is in the circle the offensive player can do absolutely anything he wants to the defender (except hit above the shoulders) and it will be a foul on the defender. Essentially, defenders need to back out of contesting shots that close to the rim.

I hope they are training up Embiid to know how to play within the circle. At least he has one excellent advantage; his foot speed may save him!

I caught the first 2/3s of the UK/Baylor game... but since the women's game ran past, my DVR missed the end. I watched Baylor come back in the second half and brought it back to even.

Cauley-Stein totally got out-muscled for boards... but then he had a couple of big-time throw downs right over top a defender. So he showed he could play physical when he wants to. My worry in playing them, is they feed the ball into Cauley-Stein and he draws quick fouls on Embiid. There is no way to guard in the post except the run out of the way of an offensive player charging ahead.

But I do think we can limit Randle. The key is to do what Izzo didn't do... keep a big in front of him and have guards pinch down on him in the post immediately when he gets the ball. You have to attack his dribble and he'll turn it over quite often on a pinch. He'll definitely be pressured into a quicker scoring move. Another thing with Randle.. he's predictable. Seems he always likes to go to the left side. Can he score with his right hand?

Zone defense works well against UK, as long as they aren't scorching the nets from 3. They haven't figured out all the ways to attack a zone yet. It might not be that easy come March, because UK will see mostly zones between now and then. If we can learn to play a decent man-to-man and fight over top on ball screens, we will be a tough match-up for UK. That is a big "if" because pinching in a defender on top over a ball screen creates an easy opportunity to draw a foul because of the stupid rules interpretation.

I think our best weapons against UK are Mason and Wiggins. They have an extra gear over UK's big guards and can penetrate, leading to fouls and scoring.

I hope we hook up in March. It would be a real shame to not get this match-up.

So now we have one less loss than UK... I guess that means we are better than perfection!

@HighEliteMajor - I'm a big Greene fan, too! I just think he's in CS' dog house because he isn't playing CS-discipline ball yet. CS wants the ball to move several times around the horn before taking the long ball. The hope is to get the ball in the paint first, and if it isn't there then we always have the long ball. Greene plays like a free spirit, and that means he's going to up the ball whenever it is there. Two different philosophies on basketball, obviously, we know who gets to make the decision on this one. Greene is learning some discipline, and he will become a better player for it. I just hope we get a chance to see him develop (on the court) this year. He is a guy I worry about on a transfer, and I think he is definitely worth holding on to!

@globaljaybird - I've had my DVR set for a week on the Baylor-UK game. Should be an interesting game. You never know what Baylor team is going to show up. I'm anxious to see Randle's game against Baylor's bigs. We should all learn a lot from that game.

@justanotherfan - We all share in your concerns. Mason gives us more energy right now, he is a threat to penetrate, and he's also shown abilities to create assists. If he ever starts nailing down 3s it will almost be impossible for Tharpe to take that starting job back. Tharpe will stay an important part of this team. He's been leading both on and off the court, and that's a big help. I hope he takes this in stride, and I hope he makes a decision to bring even more energy to the game than Mason in order to win his job back! He's been told on countless times to penetrate and he just doesn't. CS has now spoken many times on how he wants to see penetration from our perimeter players, including from our PG. It draws fouls and helps us win the foul wars. So far, Mason seems to listen most to Self, and tries to execute what he wants. If you replay most of our games played it is Mason who is a key factor down the stretch.

Anyone else in here thinking what I'm thinking... I can't wait to see JoJo play another game! Has he learned some things this last week?

"I think that starting gives you some stature with the refs in recognizing you as a better player who might be given some slack on fouls."

@wrwlumpy - That's an angle I haven't heard before.. interesting... I always thought if you wanted some stature with the refs you needed to wear a Duke uniform!

Collins was our valuable 6th man on our '08 championship team. Man... was he good in that role! Collins the spark plug! He was fast and brought a bunch of energy into the game!

As much as I wanted to puke sometimes when Gundy was talking in the Bahamas, I realize he is right about one thing; we have to have points generating out of our perimeter if we want to stand a chance in March.

I think Tharpe has earned some cred with his assist numbers... but if he doesn't produce points, and we have some flat games out of our two, we are now limited to Wiggins nailing 3s. I definitely wouldn't hang my hat on his ability to nail 3s. Wiggins should only be shooting 3s because it helps keep defenses honest against his penetration... unless he suddenly jacks up his % accuracy from 3.

I'm on board with Mason leading the charge. I'm betting he must have had a phenomenal week of practice to unseat Tharpe. I'm betting the criticism he took for the end of the UTEP game has pushed him even harder. Someone has to bring the fire to this team, and Tharpe isn't doing it. Doesn't mean Tharpe will play less minutes. He's still going to sub at point, and it looks like he is in the rotation for minutes at the 2.

I like all of this... I like how no one is guaranteed PT. I like how we have replacement options at every position. CS has spoken about this before... and how he likes to bump people out of their spot in hopes of motivating them to play better. Tharpe should take this hard and go work that much harder to get his starting job back.

I thought it was interesting to read CS' words about aggression and how this young team has misconstrued what it is... and how they were accepting aggression as meaning to shoot the ball too quickly.

Aggression can be defined in several ways. Pace is often tied to aggression. Doesn't necessarily mean "speeding up" the offense and getting shots up too quickly. What it should mean is everyone is moving their feet more. Sometimes when I'm watching us play I purposely blur my vision. I just want to see shapes, motions and colors. I want to see how our blue uniforms (or whatever color they are that game) are moving on the court. It gives me a better perspective of how well (or not well) our guys are moving their feet. Who is fighting to get open. Who is making the sacrifice and setting the screen for his teammates. Up until this point in the season... when I go from blurry to clear vision I see one man moving more than anyone else... Frank Mason!

Another part of aggression is fight. Who will use their body and fight hard for rebounding position. Who will set hard screens (legally). Who will fight through screens to play tough d. Who will go get the 50/50 balls.

What has hurt us most of all, up until now, is we have too many guys either thinking too much or just trying not to make mistakes. The game has to flow, and these guys need to develop a team rhythm. There are delays in their motions and too much standing and watching the game.

"Basketball is a game of motion." That was beat into my head back in my days. If players keep moving their legs, good chance positive things will happen. Up until now how many times have we seen the execution of an off-ball screen to free someone up? We'll have to do more than spread out our perimeter and pass back and forth. Someone has to move in order to disrupt a set defense. It's even better when several players stay in motion. And it is best when several players stay in motion and they are tied together with a rhythm! I get really excited when I see an offense running like that. When the choreography, spacing, timing and execution work together. It's where we want to be on offense... it begins to look effortless, and it makes defenses look slow, tired and frustrated. It scores points in bunches.

At times, we've shown some of this in the open court. It is much harder to accomplish it in the half court, when defenses are set.

I'm super psyched to see more Jayhawk ball! It feels like a condensed version of several years of Jayhawk development... because players like Embiid and Mason advance their development quickly!

Rock Chalk!

@BaltimoreHawk - Holy cow on the link! Why didn't we ever see that speed in Lawrence?

@jvhawk22 - I'm still perplexed from last year's results. EJ froze up when all the chips were on the table. Hard to say what Tharpe would have done. The results could have been better or worse... we are just second guessing CS. If we would have gone past Michigan it might have been EJ that pulled the trigger for 30 and helped us capture another NC. We'll never know, because it didn't happen. It's a frustrating ending we all just have to live with as Kansas basketball fans.

@HighEliteMajor - I think we all see how much more Embiid has to offer over Black. I'm just going to back up CS on this one. Embiid is going through a "total makeover" as a player, and maybe he improves better if he stays in the underdog role. I don't know. We all know the over-under with Embiid in the game, and the guy needs to play more minutes. I think he already would be playing more if he could limit his fouling. Clearly, the separation is there and he has "starter" written all over him. I can't think of anyone who follows Jayhawk basketball that thinks Embiid will always come off the bench this year. It's a timing thing. In the process... it appears to mean everything to Black to carry presence on this team, and if you read back through statements made by coaches and players, Tar has been a key component in the development of this team and many players.... including first, Embiid... and then Ellis and the rest. I think we have to put a higher value on Black than what we see on the court during games. All the players look up to him, and he must be one heck of a cheerleader to have it help him start games! I doubt starting a game means anything special to Embiid (since he is new to the game, and it wasn't a part of his cultural experience growing up), but maybe it will become important as the year progresses. I kind of think he has to learn an importance to starting before he can start. I'm thinking that may be the part of the process that still needs to happen before JoJo jumps center.

Anything could happen in Colorado tomorrow. We could burn Tad's team into toast... or we could be flat. Just because a team has a great week of practice doesn't mean it translates into the results of the next game. If it does, I expect to see lots of Jayhawk energy turning into TOs going our way... the majority of 50/50 balls... rebounding dominance... and rewards with several awesome run outs! This would show these guys that hard work pays off with a reward. If we come out nervous, and players over-thinking the game, we'll get burned by Colo's quick guard play. And some early bad moments could grow into a nightmarish outcome. Our guys would leave Colorado in a state of numbness... wondering what it takes to win at D1 level. Going back to the drawing board with even more determination.

I don't really know what's best for them (and us)? More suffering and another kick in the chest? Or another victory... something Kansas is used to?

I put it to all of you in here.... what is the best result possible from this trip?

Seems like if your personality is about final results... if you are one of the fans that says if we don't bring home another NC then the year was a bust... you tend to want to take another painful shot to the gut!

And if your personality is more like mine... I'm more into the journey... then you want the win now and hope they still learn enough and are developing fast enough for March. I like the journey... but if I knew it would help them more in the long run, I'd probably take the gut shot!

"Winning trumps entertainment because winning defines entertainment."

@jhawk7782 - I think that was the way it used to be defined. I think because I put winning as a subset of entertainment my post has a shock value. I think the highlight today trumps everything. It is the tiny clip that draws in eyes, and cements memories, inspires recruits and helps build players into commercial Gods. When we think of Jordan, we first probably think of his image on Nike. That image was off one of his legendary slam dunks. When I think of Dr. J... I mentioned it above... it's his under-goal toss. A big chunk of Andrew's leap above the rest of college basketball's great players was his through the legs dunk. There are truckloads of players that have won championships. Most have faded far out of the sunset. I did say winning was important and a part of it. I just don't think it trumps entertainment.

I'm old school and this "revelation" shocked me. My thought process put winning at the top. But I don't call the shots. And when I analyze myself, I'm as guilty as the rest... I remember the entertaining plays more than anything else. Heck.. I can't name back NC winners for the last X years... but I can recall many awesome plays. LeBron was huge before landing in Miami and taking home the gold. Obviously, it helps to win championships; it verifies a lot, and rounds out the "total package."

I don't know... that's just the way I see it today. I remember back long ago in basketball, when about the only thing remembered were the champions. But I'm guilty of putting entertainment first.... I remember watching Wilt (on TV) and only a few things stick... his finger roll with stretched out arm and all the gimmicks he tried to make a FT. I don't remember his 2 championships. I remember the entertainment more than the championships. And I think the game today is becoming more about entertainment than about basketball. March Madness comes and half the programming is personal stories about the teams, coaches, players. That's not how it used to be. It used to be a game... only. I criticize the changes only because I see it now taking over the game. I see the rules issue as a marketing scam because a big part of what brought the game to here is gone (my interpretation). And what will basketball be in another 10 years? 20 years? You think it will look like it does today? Eventually, you'll have the ability to be your own director and watch the game from your choice of angles (or not and just let it play as produced). This already exists in some sports abroad.... I know that because I worked on some of them. In 10 years or so, games will probably look more like video games because of the control we'll have. I'm not saying I won't enjoy some of that... but as the end product becomes more about things besides the actual game (like the technology)... it will put the entire game at risk. Risk of changing far away from what brought it to here. Heck.. basketball has had many changes anyways over the past 20 or so years.

Maybe I'm just proving I'm an old codger who fears change!

Basketball is art and so is life, and will be painted into a different portrait in the future by different artists.

BTW: IowaJayhawk was right... and I should have built ESPN into that post!

"Can Buffs Get Blue Out?"

That will address 50% of their problem... then they only have to worry about Crimson!

@Blown - good point. I think Self's style rams horns with Izzo's. Izzo comes out on top because they play in the B10, which allows more physical play. Izzo's teams always push physical play to the limit without fouling out.

I think the way for Self to beat Izzo is to hope the refs calling the game come from a conference that allows the least amount of contact. I think Jaybate used to call Izzo's game XtremeMuscleBall... or something like that.

Roy's game is more about floor speed. So their match-up looked like Roy's team out-hustled Izzo's when in reality, he just matched up players with better lateral speed, so naturally they won on 50/50 balls.

I think we have a good team to challenge Izzo's this year. By March, we will have Embiid dominating the middle, with blocks and rebounds. And we have the potential to go small on the perimeter with speed. I would think we would do better running two PGs than Tharpe and Selden (if facing MSU). Selden's play is more about ramming horns (when matched up with an Izzo team). Then look at one of our biggest weapons this year.. one will be Wiggins, but maybe our biggest weapon will be Embiid dominating defensive boards and using the best outlet passing in college basketball! Suddenly we've got Izzo's guards unable to attack on offense because if they do they give up a lot of run outs on the other end.

And we have muscle with Black. If we need to go horn-to-horn with Izzo at least this year we have the services of a real bull!

We have so many diverse weapons to throw at Izzo.... very different from past Jayhawk teams that would get out-muscled in all areas of the game by Izzo's team.

"That's a secret recipe Bill Self needs to ask Roy for."

'Run and gun Roy' is what I used to call him. I like Roy and it was nice to see him thump Izzo. I'm probably in the minority in here, but I like Izzo, too. Cal is one of the few coaches I really dislike.

Nice, approx!

I may have offended some people. I threw out terms like ADHD and I may have been insensitive, especially if someone is dealing with that issue. I have a first cousin who seems to suffer with it to the point where he can't operate a car. He can't keep himself together enough to stay employed. His entire life is a struggle. It's not only been tough for him, but his entire family. And many people rush to judgment and accuse him of negative things that aren't fair.

If anyone in here is dealing with a situation like this... I apologize and hope you forgive me. I definitely don't want to attack anyone facing this issue.

IowaJayhawk is awesome in my books! I like when people push back hard. My post isn't written in stone. It should be challenged. It is only a cluster of ideas. I don't own them... I'm renting them! I can always be persuaded to change and disagree with what I said earlier. I'm a good man if I stand up for what I believe, and a better man if I'm willing to accept something new! So don't back down now, IowaJayhawk!

I'm pretty sure most of us are adults in here. So let's do our best to act like adults, and part of that is handling some push back with grace.

I'm just anxious as all heck to see another game! I want to know if Embiid can stay out of foul trouble long enough to obtain 10 blocks in a half! And I want to see our boy Andrew spank the critics and make them the fools for questioning what he can do.

Let's play ball!