🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@ralster

Yeah.... we won't have to wait too long to see if Shaka can cut it or not. I give him two more years to show that he is on the right path. If he can't by then he still may not be fired yet but we will know he doesn't have what it takes.

Heck, we need Texas to be a good team, for the strength of our league.

I'm not a Shaka fan and think he is a one-trick pony who has already showed us his "magic." But I still want Texas to be respectable. I don't care if it is with him or someone else. I will be happy if Shaka can get it together, just as long as we still own their Longhorn arses. We do need other decent teams to hang losses on WVU, ISU and Baylor.

I could be wrong.... but I think the Landen thumb issue is an arbitrary point having little impact on his game, or possibly no impact.

Playing with tweaked fingers and thumbs is just a part of basketball.

I recall, several times, big shooters having taped fingers and playing fine. Sometimes when they remove the tape, their averages drop and they go back to taping again more out of superstition.

@BeddieKU23

I'm not expecting constant big games from Carlton or Dwight. But the fact is now either of those guys has the potential to have a big game. Just having the potential is a huge step forward, and chances are, both will have some good games ahead. We will take that. And it will just make our opponents have to deal with that much more and not be able to just focus on stopping the three amigos.

@BeddieKU23

I agree with your post that Barnes would have done more.

I liked Barnes. He wasn't an "earth shaker" but not many of those out there anyways.

I have my doubts about Shaka performing magic in Austin.

Shaka needed to stick to the same formula Marshall uses at WSU. Be the underdog. Feed off of that. Texas is not an underdog school. Just like I have my doubts if Marshall left for a big school where he couldn't use the underdog bait any longer.

Huggybear works the same way. The Mountaineers will always be underdogs, as well as life in their culture of West Virginia. He is from there and has the ability to push his kids to over-perform.

I predict sadness..... in a big way.

Last home game for Frank, Landen, Tyler, Josh, and maybe others.

Very sad.

@BeddieKU23

"So what are the chances this gets worse."

From what we know, it doesn't sound like it will get worse. More likely to slightly improve.

Meanwhile, Dwight playing without a brace and looking much better. And, of course, Carlton showing good signs of improvement.

I think we will be fine in March.

@KUSTEVE

KU Motto from here on out -

"Done Losin'!"

@Bosthawk

I try to watch as many UCLA games as possible. I am a huge Lonzo fan. Their offense is legit... but their defense is marginal. I like our chances against UCLA. I think our athleticism creates a matchup issue for them. I don't see how they stop our offense, at all. I see a better chance that we step up on defense and slow down their offense.

I'm happy to play any western teams.... UCLA, Arizona, Oregon, Gonzaga....

@Texas-Hawk-10

I totally agree. It's a cultural thing and basketball is nowhere near football in popularity in Texas.

@BeddieKU23

I think a fair way to view Shaka is with a comparison to Lon and OU. They are both in a rebuilding year and basically have the same record.

Texas basketball has a huge advantage over Oklahoma basketball. Between their Longhorn Network and top notch facilities they should have better results than Oklahoma, if the coaching was the same.

Let's see how these programs compare. My money is on Lon, by a mile.

@MoonwalkMafia

I did like how Walton spoke of Kansas. Much of the info he gave we never hear on national TV. But we had to listen to the rest of his stuff which can be pretty painful if you aren't a Walton personality fan.

Gonzaga should bounce to #10 or so. They aren't a top team in my book.

We have to remember that the fan votes are only a part of the selection process. First, I doubt that the Gonzaga guy's votes are totally legit. Second... remember it is only part of the process so we just keep going, regardless if we appear in second place.

@Crimsonorblue22

[link text](

Beep... beep... beep..... Frank Mason.... beep... beep... beep....

@BeddieKU23

Shaka's canned enthusiasm has worn off on a crowd that really isn't hardcore basketball in the first place.

Bill tipped his hand.... said we might expect our guys to play really good ball because the pressure is off.

I thought we did look like our guys were loose.

Here is a big one I forgot in my opening post...

How about seeing us go on long runs again? Do you all realize how many games we just grind out because we didn't have our pull away runs?

That may be the best sign for this team moving forward.... our ability to pull away quickly on those runs! Not only does that give us some breathing space, it totally demoralizes our opponents!

!GettyImages-634775062.jpg ↗

That was fun.

More good signs....

Dwight stepped up big. Looks like he has a bit more snap back. Bill said he is still making good gains so he will only get better between now and March Madness. His lateral movement is still very slow, but he stays focused and makes plays.

Devonte is the guy I stay focused on most now to see if he continues to bring more energy to our games. He was solid and our Three Amigos scored 46 of our 77 points. They also made 12 of our 14 assists. Definitely no ball hog on this team!

Congrats to our guys for owning #13 all by themselves!

Someone needs to post in this thread every day to push it to the top, so people remember to click the link and vote.

@jaybate-1.0

I think it is hilarious.... even though the reality of it isn't.

@mayjay

Yeah... I didn't see a reason to suspend Josh for this. My concern isn't about any of the trouble this year, but just the fact that we've had so many situations, showing we need our guys to be monitored better off the court. It's not like any of our guys are criminal types. But our guys are a target for every wannabe out there.

@mayjay

Good read.

I'm just not sure the police and DA have the same heart they had back in our day... even though I had crazy things happen back in the 70s and 80s. For example, I'm in another guy's car and he gets pulled over and they brought drug dogs into his car and found 3 pot seeds buried in the back seat. This was in Texas, and at that time they gave a minimum 10 year sentence on drug charges (with no parole). The police discussed with themselves whether 3 seeds was enough to get a conviction and there were 3 of us in the car and we were all going down. I had nothing to do with those pot seeds. We were let go... luckily.

Friggin' crazy.

But I think back about everything else we got away with in our youth and police just let us go. Now they bust kids and give them a record, including felony record, and they do it too often.

@HighEliteMajor

Yeah.... It isn't common for the DA to knock down a felony slamdunk to a misdemeanor the way they did it. The idea of parsing damages to negotiate it down to under a $1000 is laughable.

It sure pays to wear a Kansas Jayhawk uniform.

The real story here is that our guys are floating around in this world non-tethered to responsible watchers. For as frivolous as we look at these charges, we should be imagining a much worse scenario in the near future. It is just a matter of time. And along with all of these situations and their promotion to the entire world, bad people read, too, and expect our guys to be that much bigger a target next time.

I want to hear from someone in charge, letting us know that there will be a better structure in the future.

How many of the problems we have had this year relate to this one female?

The AD and coaching staff better figure out some structure that will help keep our guys out of trouble. This has become friggin' ridiculous. I'm getting peppered with all kinds of garb from non-KU fans.

Now prepare for March.... and the sports media going wild on all of Kansas' troubles off the court. Does that represent this team? No.... but we asked for it.

@Crimsonorblue22

Lots of KU footage there. Maybe this is something in his wheelhouse?

@Kcmatt7

That happens.... doesn't mean I don't totally respect you as a person and your valuable input to this site! Thanks for keeping it respectable.

@Crimsonorblue22

Did a search and that link was all I found. I don't think the streak is really news news until next year, when we own it (hopefully). It would be awesome to see interviews with Self and coaches and many of the players that supported the streak in their playing days.

@Crimsonorblue22

I did... and the only thing I found was this -

Tom Keegan: Former KU football player directs compelling documentary on Thailand prison fighters ↗

We are one year away from potentially owning this record. I think that is the right time to have the story told.

@Kcmatt7

Right... the story isn't over until the streak ends. What if it goes on for another 10 years? We don't push to promote the accomplishment until then?

From a fan-following perspective, it is best to let fans out there know while the streak is intact... so they can follow along and cheer for or against it.

I'm trying to think of a bigger story in college basketball that happened the last 10 years.... can you think of a bigger story?

@Kcmatt7

Actually, now is the time to organize programming. What we want to do is hold down one slot from the few remaining programs to be made in this series. It is believed by many that after this last series is complete, ESPN will not continue making more.

Getting our ducks in a row now will set us up perfectly for next season. So IF we break UCLA's record, the film might even be ready for March of next year. Most of the film can be completed now with only a small portion showing what happens next year.

If anything.... we may be late!

!hkFQ1gKCILY.market_maxres.png ↗

Okay. It is time we all get involved in promoting our winning streak.

I'm asking everyone in here to fill out a request to have 30-for-30 make a documentary about our winning streak.

There is plenty of great material for this show to make a very entertaining and educational piece on our streak.

Here are contact links:

Contact ESPN, Inc. ↗

Twitter: ESPN Films 30 for 30 ↗

In September 2015, it was announced that 30-for-30 would return for a third volume of 30 films, beginning in October 2015. To date, it appears that only about half of those films have been formalized. Room for one more! But there has been a major shake up at ESPN, after the network closed down Grantland and seemed to create friction with executive producer Bill Simmons.

And then there is uber-Jayhawk Josh Swade, best known for directing the 2012 ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "There's No Place Like Home" and the force behind bringing the rules to Kansas. He is a good place to start for getting something like this accomplished.

Twitter: Josh Swade ↗

Personally, I'm not on Twitter, but I'm sure many of you are!

@Blown

Thank you for starting this thread.... it got me thinking and I am starting a new thread on how we need to TAKE ACTION NOW!

@wissox

I smile when I see 'Cuse fans storming the court. It tells me that even their fans know their program has fallen.

Imagine what it would take to have Kansas fans storm the court?

We could hold the NCAA National Title game in AFH where we beat UK 150-50 and we still wouldn't do it... but we sure would be applauding loudly from our respective seats!

Pitino has lost it.

He has quite a history that influenced the game of basketball. But the Pitino we see today is not that Pitino.

Call it "old age" or maybe he is sampling too much of that Kentucky bourbon with his name on it.

@dylans

Hey wait a minute.... Mizzies have perfect unity when lining up to buy meth from their dealer!

@JayHawkFanToo

Sometimes he is the only guard driving the ball. I do notice that teams aren't scouting him to drive. He has a much easier path for driving than any of the 3 amigos.

I like to see Svi and Vick battle for minutes. Neither have shown a high level of consistency. It seems like a good thing to make them fight for their minutes.

@wrwlumpy

This team is being lead by committee. I've always been skeptical of that approach, probably because I come from a more traditional background in basketball.

But I'm not going to deny their success using their approach. I battled to make Devonte into a traditional PG.

I think this relates a lot to our current generation. They seem to not want to be lead by a single person, more of a dictatorship. They all want to participate with a role. Very different approach from our day on the court.

@hawkmoon2020

I noticed Svi getting chewed out by other players in the Baylor game.

Sometimes he does seem like the one outsider. He is the guy that grew up with a different game than what we play here. I think that still shows.

I think the game sometimes goes a little fast for him. My guess is that he overthinks some of the game. He doesn't seem to overthink his shot, and that is his biggest weapon.

He still misses some switches and definitely hasn't always given good weak side help. I wonder if language is still an issue?

@BShark

Yes.... Bruce deserves all the "credit."

I don't attempt to follow the inside workings of the purple kitties.... but I do watch some of their games.

They seem to have lost all team swagger. I felt that their swagger was a big part of what was holding their pants up this season. They definitely need to recruit a few better players, and more important, players that properly fit with other players. They seem to be starved for a dominant swing forward (3).

!-DG_CB_bay_crop_t650.jpg ↗

I'm a happy camper today.

There was some very nice signs we can take away from last night's game.

D E V O N T E !

I noticed he stepped up big in the Baylor game, just had an off-night from the field. That same intensity he brought to Waco was back on display in AFH last night.

The THREE AMIGOS are getting it together for March!

C A R L T O N !

How great was he last night? Wasn't this the Carlton we were expecting this year after his respectable freshman year? I loved his energy last night. His hands were good (meaning, his focus was there), and he had plenty of bounce in his game. Bravo!

I'm not worried about our depth in March. I have worried about "hitting on all cylinders." As long as our top 7 guys all play to their capabilities, we will be just fine in March.

We really needed a game like this and it came at the right time. The game looked grim for a while. Josh went down with an ankle sprain while Landen was in foul trouble. There goes our depth! But wait a minute, not so fast...

This is a pretty minor event. But it does show, once again, a lack of discipline in off-court life for our guys.

I think our staff needs to look at some possible policy changes to keep our guys in line. As bad as it has been this year, it can get much worse if we don't nip this in the arse right now!

We need to keep at this.

Vote the legal way... just once per day.

Frank may appear to be behind but what typically happens after the ballot process is complete is a filtering out of manipulated votes and voters. So... those voting constantly by doing browser tricks will have ALL their votes removed. I suspect the Gonzaga group is doing this because they don't have experience in this like we do.

Don't get discouraged.... plow forward every day, voting for Frank!

@jaybate-1.0

Love it!

We brand him... "Tesla's Revenge!"

@tis4tim

Congrats on taking your daughter to her first game!

I suggest you take a set of ear plugs for her. Hard to say how she deals with the sound level and you want to make sure her first experience is positive.

@jaybate-1.0

Love the reference to Detroit motor world. Fitting.

I'd like to see Billy become the new-age motor. A hybrid electric "torque monster" that can flip to high-octane petrol when his batteries are drained.

Yikes... didn't see your thread covering the same thing.

"Be careful what you wish for.."

A statement all of us have heard before.

The SEC was so hungry to grow their conference and hopefully add riches to their conference.

But instead... they got Mizzou.

[link text](

Mizzou student section successfully annoys John Calipari with ‘Cal you suck!’ chant ↗

Now they are stuck with them and the new sport in the SEC will become Antler hunting.

BTW: The season for hunting Antlers is 365 days a year.

@Statmachine

At great birthday gift for Devonte will be an upsurge in his play from now through the first week of April!

Thought he hustled harder in the Baylor game, just had a bad shooting game. If he had hit some shots, his stat sheet would have matched his effort level.

I have no doubt that Devonte is the key to our success moving forward. He gives us the dynamic "three amigos" on the perimeter... which could develop into the toughest hombres in March. Who can stop that?

Devonte also has "the magic." He has the ability to come up with insane plays. Having "magic" in March is HUGE!

@Kcmatt7

I'm sure low confidence is a big problem with Carlton.

I think his biggest problem is lack of focus. He hasn't been able to really execute any part of his game this year. The off-court antics doesn't help him focus either.

The deeper root to his problems is maturity. I don't like to judge him, but that is sticking out like a sore thumb.

But sometimes players start slow or have hiccups in their development. I just hope he rises to the occasion. His college days are passing him by and he will never have this opportunity again. When everyone around him constantly reminds him of this, it points to his lack of maturity to approach basketball with a higher regard.

I think Billy is the perfect fit with Doke.

He will develop into a stretch four, which is what we need to prevent defenses from clogging the paint on Doke.

Since Billy has the tools of a guard and can develop a respectable trey shot, he really gives us a 4-guard offense without losing size at the 4 spot.

Makes me wonder where Carlton fits in to all of this. The pressure is on for him to develop and bring more to the table. Otherwise, I see Carlton as the first post player off the bench. I don't think Billy is coming to Kansas to ride the pine as a freshman.