🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@Statmachine

Seriously, why are the players talking with you? I find this interesting.

Recent stories on Fox and CBS indicated Coach K spies on his players by surfing Twitter under an alias. Coach K admitted doing so in both stories I saw.

Have Self and staff entered the spinfluence wars and do you believe you are wittingly, or unwittingly, being used by the staff to valve information, or do you believe this is just coincidental communication among players and yourself?

Do you think Self and his staff want the players talking with you and reporting the information you valve here, or do you think they would prefer it did not happen?

Do you have any idea if Self and his staff know about it and approve, or just don't know about it?

The anomalies of internet sports discourse continue!!!

Rock Chalk!

@Statmachine

Do your sources tell you if Coach Self and John Feinstein will write a book about this team called "A Season Beyond Play Station"?

If I take the quotes coming out of Self's and Devonte's mouths seriously (something that is hard to do given Self's tendency for blowing smoke this time of year), Frank and Devonte are going to be playing a lot together with Wayne at the 3.

So: since injuries often happen over the course of a season, especially when starters play 30-35 MPG against the good teams, who will step up and play the small guard roll played by Frank, or Devonte?

Since both are going to be frequent ball handlers, whoever replaces either will have to be a frequent ball handler, OR the team will have to default to a single ball handler offense.

It seems pretty clear that Svi is the only likely "frequent ball hander" type on the bench this season, unless Self defaults to Evan Manning, which seems rather unlikely.

So: that raises a follow up question--does anyone think Svi is ready to be that second frequent ball handler, or do they think Self will default to a "one ball handler" attack?

I can see Svi maybe filling the role, but then who would back him up as a frequent ball handler? This is the problem I see with the two ball handler offense. It can't be sustained during injuries to either Frank, or Devonte, even if Svi can play the role, because Svi would have no backup, and so that means Self has to teach the team two basic schemes to be ready for such an eventuality.

But what will the second scheme be?

BAD BALL?

Or something else?

And I live 2000 miles away!!!!!

Do these dorms have magical powers, or what?!!!!!!!

" I got measured today at 6-6 with shoes on,"--Wayne Selden quoted in a news story

These shoes were reputedly made by John Fluevog of Seattle, WA. famed for making many shoes of rock and rollers including some of Madonna's super thick wedgees of the last century.

In the same pair of shoes, Frank Mason is 6-3.

Just kidding!!!!

(Author here--DFW RIP--Many will start. Few will finish. What we see is not always what we get, but it is often enough to evaluate it. :-) )

!6tfqOmq.jpg ↗

So: now its time to analyse the team photo to see what can be gleaned from it relative to the physical attributes of this year's Jayhawks.

Morphology in this case refers to body form.

Some acronyms are used for the morphology analysis to expedite typing.

SH = standing height from floor to top of head. SH is evaluated relative to position and is usually characterized as AASH (above average standing height for position), ASH (average standing height for position), BASH (below average standing height for position)

NL = neck length, usually characterized as AANL (above average neck length), ANL, (average neck length), and BANL (below average neck length)

LL = leg length inferred from relative belt height among those standing, or, in the case of those seated, shoulder height given standing height among those seated. LL is a surrogate for a rough proportional relationship between length above the belt and length below the belt.

EH = effective height, usually characterized as AAEH (above average effective height), AEH (average effective height), BAEH (below average effective height), refers to SH adjusted for LL.

EMA = effective morphological athleticism is a crude concept that assumes longer legs and shorter trunks allow a player to have a longer first step on offense, a greater ability to slide and drop step rapidly on defense, a greater ability to hook and cut off an opponent on either end of the floor, and a longer stride that could make one faster at running the floor, and also faster to get to rebounds, and in some cases jump higher given equivalent fast twitch muscle mass and tendon/ligament elasticity, due to greater leg leverage relative to trunk length.

WYSIWYG = an acronym borrowed from computer software, hardware and monitor design and engineering that means WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET. It is used here to say that a player's SH is truly indicative of his height, after indexing for NL and LL.

MUA = Match-up Advantage, as in a player has body morphology that gives him an edge over most other players he faces.

(Note: all observations assume no one is on tip toes in the picture, which, as @drgnslayr has noted, may be a questionable assumption.)

The morphology analysis seeks to index reported standing height for variables of approximated neck length (NL) and approximated leg length (LL) to arrive at a crude quantitative characterization of effective height (EH) for position. Effective height refers not only to effective height (standing height adjusted for neck length to find a shoulder height more indicative of a players reach (the picture does not allow wing span inferences, which would significantly contribute to effective height, also), but also to effective morphological athleticism (EMA). Thus EH is actually a compound variable of EH and EA. Would that we could disaggregate these from the picture, but alas it is not possible, without resorting either to further purely subjective estimation--the very thing photo analysis seeks to minimize, or photo analytic software an FBI lab has, but that yours truly does not. :-)

In any case, the idea is to clarify the length and athleticism of our players in this crude morphology assessment.

(Note: crude, or coarse grade, QA is not necessarily a bad thing. Degree of crudeness should fit the data. Never try to be more refined than data permits. And if differences stand out at a crude level, then one has perhaps more reason to rely on them than less.)

The analysis starts with Vick on the top row left and moves left to right player by player assessing individual morphology attributes.

Vick--6-5 Vick probably has slightly AASH for his position at the 2, and appears to have ANL, AALL (a belt line as high as 6-7 Brannen Greene implies long legs on a short trunk), which mean Vick's EH is slightly above his standing height because of long legs. If one recalls that Vick has AASH, and notes also his AAEH, one infers Vick could with skill development hold significant skill and strength development hold significant MUA.

Self--ASH for a guard, but AANL and sharply BALL; this translates to sharply BAEH.

Greene--at 6-7, Greene has AASH for the 2 but only ASH for the 3. He has ANL and slightly AALL, which means he is close to WYSWIG in EH. So: for Brannen to hold MUA he has to play the 2 and hope he can improve his quickness. At the 3, he will hold little or no MUA in most cases. Self likes for players to hold MUA, whenever possible and that is why he plays players out of position so much. Players can hold MUA with EH, or they can hold MUA with superior quickness despite shorter SH. The way to get the most bang for the buck out of Greene is to play him at the 2, teach him to guard better, and hope Hudy can improve his quickness and flexibility, so he can use that long first step on short guards, both to get past them, and shoot over them, but also to use a long drop step to neutralize their superior quickness and cut off their drives, while using his EH to block or alter their shooting. Thus a hip injury poses a very critical risk for Greene performing well, because it directly impacts on his quickness and flexibility--his two most vulnerable variables in exploiting his MUA at the 2. Without a great drop step, Greene is toast at the 2. And if reduced flexibility forces him to the 3, then he probably holds no MUA there.

Svi--morphology analysis of the picture makes starkly clear why Svi struggled last year despite pre-season hype and despite the early and late opportunities (playing opportunities first with little practice experience and later with much practice experience) and why he could have problems long term. Svi’s AASH for the 1 and 2 is highly appealing given his deftness with ball handling and his reputed good shooting eye (though that was not in evidence last season). But he has sharply AANL and sharply BALL (notice his belt line in comparison with the inch shorter Greene and the 2-3 inch shorter Vick is much lower indicating a much longer trunk) that make him in some ways a taller, more celebrated version of Tyler Self and Evan Manning in terms of morphology. Svi has short legs and a long neck for his AASH; thus he has BEH, unless he plays point guard, which so far, Self has appeared not to be inclined to do. Why? At 17, he simply lacked the leg strength to slide quickly enough to cut off shorter legged offenders, or stay with them over screens. But even with improved leg strength, he faces something of a predicament. At the 2, he appears likely to face many players with similar leg length and less upper body to drag around, while at the 3, he appears likely to face many players with GREATER leg length. Thus the AASH can ONLY create MUA at the point, but he appears not quick enough to play point, so far. Svi seems one of those gifted basketball players that may not have the morphology needed to flourish with MUA at any particular position in American college and professional basketball, where the top athletes seem mostly to possess AAEH. It will be up to Svi to create a quickness, foot speed and strength that can give him an edge his BEH cannot.

Bragg—here we have someone near a basketball coach’s morphological wet dream. Apparently now 6-10, he is either ASH, or AASH for his position 4-5 position, but his short neck and his high belt line yield sharply AAEH. Compare him to 6-10 Landon Lucas. He and Landon share a high belt line, but Bragg’s shoulders are at least an inch above Landen’s. We need say to more to understand why Bill Self says there is really nothing Bragg cannot do, if he will just stick around two seasons, muscle up, and skill-up. At a certain point of development, Carlton Bragg is a walking MUA.

Landen—there is a reason Self took a flyer on Landen. Average standing height for his position with a high belt line mean he can run the floor very well. And his ANL means, while his shoulders are not above Bragg’s, they are above a lot of goose necks his height playing in the post. Brandon should rebound well against all but long legged no necks like Bragg. And Landen working on positioning and strength can help him battle the Braggs, too.

Colby—one look short neck and high belt line, which are comparable to Braggs, plus his girth, make clear why Self pounced on Colby. Colby, if coached up, and provided a money move, is an MUA in waiting, as surely as Bragg is. Colby just doesn’t reputedly have Bragg’s touch. Fine, he can rebound and stick back Bragg’s out side Js.

Diallo—Cheick has ASH. long neck, low shoulders, and a low belt line. He isn’t going to be a star due to the MUA of his body morphology. Compare Cheick’s shoulders to Bragg, and Colby in particular. And compare his belt line with Bragg’s and Colby’s. Cheick is going to have to do it all with a big cardio vascular motor, the great rebounder’s sixth sense of where the ball will come off, and more than his share of fast twitch muscle. Cheick reputedly has all of those in spades. Let’s hope so. Because from here on out he will increasingly play against players taller than him, just as strong as him, and with much more advantageous body morphology.

Selden—he looks so powerfully built and so athletic that those looks obscure some underlying morphology short comings that make him player smaller than has SH. Wayne has a long neck, a low belt line, implying a sharply BAEH. Compare Wayne to LaGerald Vick. Wayne is an inch shorter than Vick, but look at that bleacher line behind both their heads. The bleacher line is almost even with the bottom of Wayne’s chin and is almost halfway between Vick’s chin and his lower lip. Then compare the belt line. Vick’s is an inch higher than Wayne’s. The vertical line of Wayne’s arms starts a good inch and a half lower than Vick’s. Vicks legs are way longer than Wayne’s. From the morphology, its clear why Self wanted to play Wayne at the 2. He was short for his size. But Wayne really struggled driving on 2s. His short legs couldn’t carry him past the 2s and he was carrying way more bulk up top than the 2s, so he basically could not get to the iron. When Self moved Wayne to the 3, suddenly Wayne got to play an up and under game with most 3s that were taller and willowier than Wayne. Wayne could use his greater quickness to get a step on a 3 that he could not get on a 2, then he could turn the corner and use his great brawn up top to muscle around them and over them at the hoop. It is a bit counter intuitive at first. But once one understands body morphology, it makes good sense. Wayne will have trouble with quick strong 3s with a couple inches on him. But he should be okay as long as he plays up and under against most, the same way Frank Mason and Sherron Collins used to have to play up and under on point guards. Of course, the best defensive roll model for Wayne is Brady Morningstar, who was the master of up and under against long 3s. The good fortune for Wayne is that if can master Brady’s up and under and combine that with Wayne’s great upper body strength, Wayne will not just contain opposing 3s, he will dominate them. But even in Korea, he has a way to go to match Morningstar’s quick feet. But by losing weight and decreasing body fat, Wayne is making his feet have to move less. And the plan apparently is to get his feet fleet and retain that muscle on top to create a lock down man. Travis Releford of course is the ideal type for Wayne to emulate, but Wayne lacks 2 inches of standing height that Travis had. So: Brady’s defensive style, from the waist down, counterintuitive as it may seem to some (are you scraping yourself off the ceiling yet, @HighEliteMajor), is really the way for Wayne to go in modeling, and then model Travis from the waist up. Do this, and Wayne Selden can be a strikingly good up and under 3.

Frank—Mason is the exception that proves the rule on body morphology. Frank has BASH for his position. Frank has ANL and a slightly low belt line, which means slightly short legs . Therefore he has BAEH. But Frank compensates for disadvantaged morphology in many, many ways. The guy is awesomely, beautifully muscled. His cardio vascular is stunning. He is basically fast twitch muscle attached to tennis shoes. He can jump out of the freaking gym. He is literally quicker than some cats. He also has the best rebounding knack I have ever seen in a guard. He is without exaggeration the Bill Bridges of guards. Fans are not going to really grasp his freakish greatness until many years from now, because there is really nothing to compare him to. There haven’t been any great rebounding 6-0 guards. EVER. And to take unprecedentedness into the stratosphere, Frank has an after burner speed above fast that is frankly hard to believe until you actually see it. He has learned not to use it much, because he outruns everyone on his team at the D1 level. If Frank were to learn to play under control at his after burner speed, he would become some weird variation on Steve Nash. I have a hunch that Frank can learn to play under control at that speed if he can just get a fair shot in the NBA. Nash did not play at blinding speeds until he got to the NBA where he was eventually given teammates that could keep up. I believe Frank falls somewhere between Steve Nash and Tiny Archibald in pro potential. Frank will look like a very good point guard in college, but he will not burn the place down, or score 40 points, just as Nash and Archibald did not do that sort of thing in college, much if at all. But when Archibald and Nash got to the pros, where they could air it out end to end with players capable of filling lanes and handling their passes at incredible speeds, Frank could blossom in the NBA as they did. Frank Mason is an athletic freak. He violates all the norms. He’s even a great outside shooter. And he’s supremely tough mentally. He is Self’s true unfair advantage and the exception to the morphology rules I’m working with here.

Devonte—Graham has ASH for the 1 and is probably slightly BASH for the 2. His neck is about average. He seems to have ALL. But he guy is powerfully muscled and cat quick. He is WSYWIG. He is 6-3 an plays that height. He strength is not morphology, or freakish speed, freakish jumping, but great court vision, the keen anticipation of great passers, an all around athleticism. He also possesses the gift of high emotional IQ, which will in coming years be better and better understood as a critical attribute to recruit.

Number 21—I don’t even recall this walk-on’s name. Call him Curtain Beard. Next.

Jamari—Traylor is an explosive jumper. He can get a block. He has even developed a 2pt J form 17. He is listed as 6-8 and 220 so he has ASH for 4 and BASH for the 5. He is cut and buff. He is tough. So: why can’t this guy buy a rebound? Well, the biggest factor is probably an absolute lack of the rebounder’s knack of guessing correctly where the ball will come off. That has nothing to do with morphology. But I think there is a morphology component to Traylor’s rebounding problem. First, he is probably 6-6 instead of 6-8, so in fact he has sharply BASH for the 4 and the 5. But the photo implies still more morphological disadvantage. Compare Jam and Mick seated side by side. Mick is listed at 6-10. Mick could be overstated, too. But however you slice it, Mick is 2-4 inches taller than Jam in terms of SH. But notice that seated, Jam’s head height seems even to slightly above Mick’s!!!! One might call Hunter Mickelson Daddy Long Legs, or one might call Jamari Traylor Daddy Short Legs. My hunch is that the reality is some of both. Now forget Mick for the time being and focus on the implication of this for Jam. Jam is severely SH challenged to be playing the 4, or 5 to start with, but it also appears that he has short legs and a long torso. Those short legs are so well muscled that they don’t impair Jam Tray from jumping tall buildings in a single bound. But those short legs do mean that he is taking vastly shorter first steps and ensuing steps to get to rebounds that most other bigs that he is playing against. If you get to a rebound late, it really doesn’t matter how goddamned high you can jump. The other guy has it already. Mick may not be able to jump over pancake, I don’t know. But I can tell you that Mick’s first step to a rebound will put him their quicker than Jam’s will. And when Jam is going against an explosive jumper with long legs, well, he really hasn’t got a prayer of getting to a rebound first. Some will no doubt ask, yes, but why about little Frank Mason? Well, Mason has the great knack of guessing where the ball will come off, and Frank is usually rebounding from outside against other guards that often are not even thinking about rebounding. Frank is not going up against dedicated rebounders in the 4 and 5 positions. He is generally doing the rebounding equivalent of cherry picking. Jam has to keep them on his butt, or he is being kept on their butt, and so the first step takes on sharply greater significance in the outcomes of rebounding. Or so the hypothesis goes.

Hunter—Mickelson has ASH for the 5 and just maybe slightly AASH for the 4. But he mostly plays the 5. As already noted, he has AALL. But he is cursed with a long neck. Result: he is quick to rebounds but his BAEH and his modest hops make him a so-so rebounder. This is why Self made the somewhat cryptic remark about Hunter: he has finally learned how to play hard enough to get to play, or something like that. Translated that meant, Hunter is not a jumper, even though he has a nice knack for reaching tall, not leaving the floor and blocking shots a la Jeff Withey. But he cannot rebound well relying on a long first step, because he does not have an explosive jump. So: Hunter had to become a constantly revving cardio vascular motor in perpetual horizontal movement in order to use his Daddy Long Legs to get to rebounds first in order to tap them away, rather than go up and get them. There are just too many guys in D1 that can combine bodying and explosive jumping in ways that could offset Mick’s long first step to the ball and preventing him from grabbing it on a consistent basis. But when Hunter doesn’t focus on trying to grab the ball, but rather on getting there first and slapping it, or slapping whomever out jumps him for it, then Hunter keeps the ball alive for KU’s other superbly quick players to go get. Put another way, Hunter Mickelson is not so much a guy who is supposed to get the 50/50 balls as he is supposed to create 50/50 balls off rebounds for other KU players to get.

Perry—Perry has BASH for a 4. He has a looooong neck. BUT he has freakishly short torso and relatively long legs for his height. Perry also has elf hands. Perry tries to make up for the disadvantaged morphology with hops and impressive quickness for his size. Nevertheless, Perry is not equipped to rebound the 4 against big athletic 4s willing to put a hurt on him. But he can make life very miserable for those same kinds of 4s on the offensive end of the floor, and 20 or 30 minutes of chasing Perry doing his spins, and long cuts and outside shooting, and drives, and, well, you get the message. Perry, as a stretch 4, can wear down a lot of blue meanies, if he can survive their punishment the first 20 minutes or so. Perry has BASH and BAEH, and doesn’t like to dish out punishment, and so he really takes a beating. But he keeps on coming. And he frankly has a cornucopia of offensive moves now that make him very hard to guard despite his morphological disadvantages at the 4.

Evan—Manning is a 4 above the waist, and a 1 below the waist. Look at Evan in comparison to Jam, Hunter, and Perry. Long neck. Long torso. Short legs. Whew!!!!He is the same freaking size sitting down as three of our bigs. There may be a little trickery involved with Evan. He might be seated farther forward.

So that is a summary of the KU players’ morphologies and some remarks triggered by study of them in this picture.

Body morphology doesn’t tell how well you play the game.

It tells how much MUA you could hold physically if you can get to where you play the game well.

Play ball !!!!!!!!

When McCarthy is retrofitted in a few years each suite will come with is own regulation court! 😂

@drgnslayr

Hudy's assistants?

Cheerleaders?

Welcome Wagoneers?

NCAA clearance investigators?

@wissoxfan83

Self is looking thinner and that's a damned good thing at his age!

@JayHawkFanToo

:triumph:

Games soon.

I am so ready.

@JayHawkFanToo

Think of my response as doing the same for you.🙌

@justanotherfan

I like it except...

Self may want to build a two PG team, as in 2008, but he hasn't got 3 PGs this time for a two PG rotation, unless Svi is the third one. Is he?

What Self has material for is a 1 pg offense two deep. He can play 2pg offense until an injury to Mason, or Graham.

Self never schemes "who we are" unless he thinks he can sustain it 40 minutes with reserves.

He can't sustain a two point guard offense unless Svi is a PG. Is he?

Self also has never started a freshman big AND rotated one as first big reserve that I recall, unless it was Marcus and Kieff and Kieff was Horrible that first year..

Thus, either Mick, Traylor, or Lucas is in.

Self is readying people for Bragg maybe not playing a lot.

Self is readying people for Diallo not to play at all.

People are underestimating Lucas' rebounding and how weak the team is at rebounding. If Big Luke doesn't play quite a bit, KU might not win many rebound stats and that is a recipe for 20-24 wins even with all the talent and experience.

I actually think Mick, Luke and Jam will committe the 5 and Bragg will backup Ellis. If Bragg develops well, he could also force one of the committe to pine.

Diallo is a wild card that pushes one of the committee to pine, ID Diallo were cleared. But the 5 is going to be a committee for sure.

@JayHawkFanToo

Not sure what you are referring to here.

I wrote three of four would get big minutes.

I thought it would be mastering the obvious to mention Evan was not likely to be one of the three.

@drgnslayr said:

perhaps they “advise” their schools.

Nice glean.

And hypothesis.

Hopefully an investigative sports journalist will investigate "advise" one day.

There would likely be a email trail of it.

Question: Why does Bill Self look so relaxed and happy in this picture?

Answer: He is flanked by 4 seniors and three of them are going to play big minutes.

jSPN Headline

Dateline: Washington, D.C.

jSPN stringers in Alexandria have learned that Frank Underwood, of House of Cards notoriety, has agreed in principle to the first four comma head coaching deal with so far unidentified UK boosters in the history of D1.

jSPN stringers indicate that UK put a lot of thought into whether or not to take the plunge on a fictional character coaching the Wildcats. The conclusion was that with a fictional character, UK could get away with anything.

Underwood was unavailable for comment, but his wife Claire stood around a preening like an eagle, the image of which she claims to use to inform her performance as Underwood's wife.

Underwood's dirty tricks assistant Doug Stamper indicates he has been asked to join Underwood at UK, as Assistant Head Coach for Dirty Tricks and XTReme Cheap Shotting.

(Note: All fiction. No malice.)

!KU join or die.jpg ↗

@VailHawk

You are welcome.

As always we try to not pay you more than anyone else is not paying you. Its how we keep great people around the organization. And the BIA is a people business.

@Statmachine said:

He is a guard stuck in a 6’10" body

Oh, no, Self will play a 3 at the 4 with Perry AND he will play a guard at the 4-5 with Bragg.

What will we do?

What WILL we do?

MEMO

TO: Case Officer @Crimsonorblue22

From: jaybate 1.0 director/janitor, BIA

As director/janitor of the Basketball Intelligence Agency, I can neither confirm, nor deny the special operations activities of Case Officer @VailHawk involving Cheick Diallo, or any other D1 college basketball player being unfairly withheld from participating in games his freshman season.

I am at liberty to report that Case Officer @VailHawk is recently back from NESA (Near East South Asia) and especially the 'stans, where he has been working out some really tall bedouins to see if the act of daily erecting mohair tents as far east as the Gobi desert produces an effect similar to that which volley ball produced in Jeff Withey. I am also at liberty FINALLY to report that Case Officer @VailHawk was instrumental in connecting Jeff Withey with Kennedy Sommers and Case Officer @VailHawk came up with the vegan legend for Jeff that enabled him to connect with Ms. Sommers on a spiritual, macrobiotic level. For this Case Officer @VailHawk has been nominated (and will receive) the highest civilian spook award the BIA has to offer--the Bill Cosby I Spy Knock Out Pill Award for romantic stealth.

Carry on.

P.S.: On second thought, since Bill Cosby is reputedly currently alleged to be a depraved sex predator that has drugged a steadily rising number of women in order to take loathsome advantage of them, the name of the award has been to the James Bond-Pussy Galore Award for Romantic Stealth.

@justanotherfan

It is an insightful walk down memory lane explaining how Snyder did it.

Thanks.

Great coaches are never duplicated.

Great coaches are great, because they can size up the context, identify a critical path through it, sign the number of talented players required to get to each milestone, and get assistants and players to execute well enough to move along the critical path to success.

Nick Saban could not do it the way Bear Bryant did it.

Bob Devaney did not do it the way Bud Wilkinson did.

And so on.

Times change.

The only thing similar about each of the great ones was their ability to look at the context and make rational sense of it, then devise a plan fitting that context that allowed one to climb a critical path to success.

Again and again and again great coaches come along and correctly read the context and solve the problem of becoming a good team.

Gill and Weis had their chances. Neither read the context correctly and move ruthlessly against those that would make them short timers.

You can bet that there are a lot of bodies around Manhattan with Bill Snyder's Machiavellian finger prints on them over this long tenure of his. Snyder is clearly a guy that gets bureaucratic infighting. We can infer this from your example of what Snyder did to Ron Prince. Snyder knew he needed Ron Prince to come in and take the fall, so that Snyder could take the program in a new direction. Snyder apparently understood the program he had built was in for a 4 year, maybe a six year down cycle. Not a program collapse, but a down cycle that would not make any coach popular with fans used to his success. He was no dummy at all. He hand picked a guy that was a good coach, a good recruiter, but lacked the kind of bureaucratic savvy and ruthlessness to save himself from Snyder when Snyder began to make his move down the road. Prince fulfilled his role perfectly for Snyder. Snyder brought him in with the promise that Prince would be able to carry on, knowing full well that Prince could only carry on Snyder's last bad season, not Snyder's success. It was a sweet bureaucratic play on Snyder's part. Prince in. Prince keeps the ship from flying apart and even signs a couple classes that, once experienced, will constitute the core underpinning Snyder's move back into the head coaching role, so there will be no great drop off in the program. There will just be a great fall off in expectations for the program. There will be a need for the savior to return. And there will be patience with the savior.

Beaty appears quiet enough and guileful enough so far to get it done, and then play it right once he gets it done.

All leaders have to spend a great deal of time keeping things from sticking to them early.

Bill Self is one of the all time Teflon masters.

Self did not succeed with KU fans early on because of how great his teams were. The first two were not as thrillingly good as Roy's.

What made him so popular with fans was he read the context perfectly--KU fans felt jilted and lied to by Roy--and he responded by being quite candid whenever he could afford to be. But his real gift was teflon. Self was smart enough not to show up at press conferences more than briefly when the losses were particularly aggravating. Its only been in the last three years or so that Self has finally begun to take off the teflon and worry less about what sticks to him.

Bill Snyder read the context right.

Wore the Teflon from the beginning.

As you note, scheduled cleverly.

Likely moved to eliminate enemies early.

And was a damned good coach.

Its not for real.

I went to the link.

Takeaway?

UT fans are, how shall I put this politely, not deep thinkers.

Houston and Boise State fifteen times.

Boise State and Houston ten times.

Talk about inside the box thinkers.

I get Houston. A solid demographic in a big SMSA.

And I get Boise State. Biggest political economic unit inside Idaho and Idaho is a state with a lot of oil shale and the eastern most inland port on the Columbia-Snake river system, which is vital for exporting gas, oil, and miscellaneous minerals out of Big Rock Candy Country and into the big blue Pacific to feed China (all the while avoiding the LA, SF, and Seattle ports controlled by hostile private oligarchies.

Its no wonder Texas struggles dominating in football, despite having the ultimate high school recruiting reservoir in the known universe.

It is sad, when the big dog in your conference does not even grasp the imperative of an EST foot print in this era. Pitiful. Hopeless.

And talk about insecurity! Limiting choice to exclude cherry picking Power 5 conference teams.

The Burnt Valencias apparently fear inviting in a legitimate threat to their supremacy in the B12.

KU fans would relish bringing UNC, or Kentucky into the B12.

The Burnt Valencias on the other hand apparently drove Nebraska out, drove Notre Dame away, and would probably join the Mountain West Conference if KU were to convince Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, or LSU to join the conference.

Come, Tayhoss, where's the swagger?

Let's take this political economic football conference unit east into the heart of EST with or without Jeb getting on the ticket.

@Red.Rooster

No, no, this has Kurtis Townsend's cuff links all over it.

Bolden was Kurtis-ed.

from jaybate 1.0 's unabridged COLLEGE BASKETBALL DICTIONARY

to Kurtis v. infinitive

Kurtis-ed v. hyphenated past participle

def.

1. to make a highly ranked recruit see the connection between James Naismith and himself;

2. to show him what genuine love and respect for a young hoopah is all about;

3. to show him just how fun playing basketball at a high level can be like;

4. to show a young recruit the difference between James Harden making $200 M for adidas and other guys as good as Harden getting chiseled by Nike;

5. to show a young recruit the best new living quarters in all of college basketball;

6. to introduce a young recruit from another part of the country autumn on the most beautiful college campus in the country and let him experience the ecstatic identities with nature when the sap run up inside of him as the sap runs down inside the elms and oak under their flaming red, orange and yellow leaves;

7. to show a recruit how incredibly gregarious and fun Self is outside the lines, and what a tireless, while wishing he could have been there to see how hard Self drives the players to reach their potential in order to pull down the big check;

8. to show him what sartorial splendor can mean to a man.

:-)

@drgnslayr

ESPN owns the SEC basketball network.

ESPN needs Cal in the Final Four.

ESPN and Cal

Kay, eye, s, s, eye, n,Geeeeee

Carlton gets love.

“Carlton can shoot it, pass it. He’s going to be strong. He’s a good athlete, has size, length and great feel. There’s nothing I think that kid won’t be able to do in a couple years here.”--Bill Self from an online sports story

Cheick? Can't even find a Self quote about him after late Late Night.

Carlton gets the showcase at the ivories on Late Night.

Cheick? Didn't see it, but haven't heard anyone raving about Cheick's contribution to the talent show.

This is not feeling good at all for the Cheicker.

Self is now talking about Carlton the way he once talked of Cheick before "the clearance thing" surfaced.

But in the background, when Self is not having to manage expectations about Diallo maybe not clearing, one gets the feeling Self feels like he is Steve Morgan, played by Humphrey Bogart in the 1944 Hollywood melodrama "To Have and Have Not," based on the Hemingway novel of the same title.

Let's work the analogy, shall we?

The movie began with Steve Morgan (Bill Self), the quintessential Hemingway male and rugged individualist, having to ask permission of a corrupt Vichy harbor master (the NCAA Clearance office) if he were free to go fish and help out a seriously fetching dish named Slim (played by Lauren Bacall in the film, but played by OAD dream recruit Cheick Diallo in the basketball present). Slim is so young and fetching and precocious about the vulnerability of her situation that she really doesn't know enough to be afraid. She is also frankly big time taboo for the middle aged Steve (Bill) to lust after.

Steve is trying maintain his fishing boat and business assisted by a toothy old rummie, and every time he turns around there is this low hanging fruit--long and lean and perfect parts in the right places purring at him--wishing she could connect with him and show him what she could do with a guy old enough to work through her father fantasies with.

Self is in somewhat the same predicament. He is trying to put his team together with what he has to work with. But the harbor master won't let him sail, not with his whole team, not with Cheick. Like Steve's, Self's job is a hard one that takes some manliness and concentration. Self can't afford to be distracted with the low hanging fruit of Cheick Diallo any more than Bogey could afford top distracted by Lauren Bacall. Self cannot be thinking about a long and lean OAD with an incredible motor and tempting him to play him regardless.

In the movie, Steve is strong, but he can't help sample the goods occasionally. Same with Self. He's can't resist giving Cheick some minutes. But essentially Steve is teasing Slim as much as Slim is teasing Steve. Ditto for Self and Cheick.

With both Steve and Slim in considerable frustration, Slim finally comes into his room.

"[Slim kisses Steve]
Steve: What did you do that for?
Slim: I've been wondering if I'd like it.
Steve: What's the decision?
Slim: I don't know yet.
[They kiss again]
Slim: It's even better when you help.

Self can only resist the attraction of Diallo so long.

He's only human.

Diallo could completely change the season.

Self knows it.

He's playing it cool, but he wants Cheick bad.

And part of Self is whispering in his own ear, you should never have signed this guy. You knew he was going to break your heart from the start.

But Diallo just keeps hanging around the practice floor. He's sushi, but every once in awhile he squeegees the back board with his forearm as he grabs a rebound no one else on the team could have touched.

Its like Bacall walking into Bogey's room and saying put your lips together and blow, Steve.

Try this rebound on for size, Bill.

Oh, Self wants this guy BAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!

@wissoxfan83

Only Fizzou could join the SEC (Slave Economy Conference) and then decide to work on the problem of racism. 🌚🌝

Lebron has found the center he has needed, since he entered the league.

Kaun has Luc Longley written all over him.

Add him to Mozgov and Varajao and the Cavs can bang opposing centers into the next century.

And with Love, Daye and Thompson plus Varajao swinging 4/5 and this is one deep team now in the front court.

And with Irving and Lebron outside they are just a couple top defensive backups on the perimeter away from being quite a team.

Go, Sasha, go!!!! You'll get as many minutes as your knees can stand.

@Lulufulu

Struggling with it right now.

Usual family issues of the young finding their ways and the old combatting health and mortality coming in clumps have distracted me.

But I will get back on the trail. :-)

@Lulufulu

I forgot to say, thanks for your kind words.

@Lulufulu

Kevin Durant is going to go down as one of the all-time greats. In some mixes of team talent, I would rather have Durant than Lebron, and Lebron to use Self's memorable phrase, is the biggest athletic freak on the planet. Durant is a great, great, great talent in the prime of his game.

So: I am going to say that: a.) it is not surprising Wigs got schooled; and b.) Wigs needs more schoolings like that, if he were to reach deep and move beyond his phenomenal gifts to becoming the best he can be.

This is another way of thanking the head master, Kevin Durant, and moving forward with renewed vigor toward joining the pantheon of the greats.

Go, Andrew, go!!!!!

@HighEliteMajor

Yes, but it is a scary place for Mongo Bill Self fans such as myself to go.

It suggests some possible insight into a problem that might have compromised the run of titles and added some vacated Ws, if you know what I mean. :fearful:

@SoftballDad2011

Interesting and potentially verifiable (the kind that are most useful) hypothesis to test as we move forward this season.

@Bwag

Hypothesis: Self knew all along Cliff was never going to survive the season, or come back, so he did the best he could for Cliff. He gave him some minutes to show scouts what he could do, but increasingly hedged him out of the rotation and developed Lucas and Jam Tray.

@wissoxfan83

The issue of crime is never ultimately about whether a criminal can turn it around. That is a separate issue and science. Many criminals can turn it around under the right circumstances. Everyone wants them to turn it around through reason, Christ or Buddhism, or psychiatry, meds or what have you. And the criminal justice system should be geared to finding the best way, not with perpetuating vindictive punishment. But for selling junk to kids? Rewarding them with a life of loving service to their victims when they change seems the only way to address both need for justice and compassion to perp and victim.

The issue is what must a criminal be required to do after turning it around.

A Butler locked up is pointless for the victims and a Butler. A Butler grinding out a humble living is pointless for the victims and a Butler. A Butler getting rich and doing a few good deeds is pointless, too.

A Butler needs to spend the rest of his rehabilitated life outside prison, or at least a large designated portion of it, worshipping God, and doing gods work with the victims he created, not for the tax deferred and non victim related benefit of it That would be real, meaningful freedom, compassion and justice for a devout Butler and real justice and love for the victims.

This is entirely about doing a Christian thing for a Christian perp, too. He must give all he makes to the victims. He must do all his good deeds for the victims. He must love them and help them and sacrifice for them. He must use the spirit of God and gods love for them. He must seek them out and serve them humbly. He must be their servant, not slave. He must be Christlike to them. Not be crucified. Jesus died for his sins already. He must live his life as Christ would have. He must renounce all worldly possessions and minister to his victims. It appears the only moral and just way for one to address such a wrong. He must do so with love in his heart. Freely, or return to prison till he can. And we must love him enough to help him renounce all his worldly possessions and free him of their destracting nature and instead help him focus his love and service on those that need it because of what he did. It is so kind and loving to do this for the Butlers of the world, instead of executing them, or imprisoning them, or letting them go free and use religion to excuse their sin and help them toward normal lives. Truly free them to do only Gods work, not distract themselves from serving their victims.

But note, this is only a layman's suggestion for the crime of selling horse to children. It is not about Cameron Butler. What's done is done with him.

RIP: Mr. Bridges.

You are my earliest memory of greatness in Allen Field House. Wilt was my older brother's first memory. But you were mine. Oh how I have held you close to my heart these last 55 years or so since I saw you.

The hands!

Oh my god, THE HANDS!!!!!!

"...he had the biggest hands of any human being I’ve ever met, mammoth,” (Dana) Anderson said. “Much bigger than Wilt (Chamberlain)..."

Bill Bridges: inch for inch the greatest rebounder who ever played the game.

On two good knees, he might have become the greatest rebounder of any size, who ever lived.

Bill Bridges and Wes Unseld are the two greatest small big men of ALL time in basketball.

Bill was the greatest rebounder.

Bill was the fiercer defender.

And Bill was the greater stick back man.

And remember all of this was done on two bad knees.

On two bad knees he was better than Wes at rebounding, defending and sticking back.

On two bad knees he was better than all but the great small big man on two good knees.

Bill Bridges was crazy good. He was horse soldier good. He was Sergeant Rutledge good. He was Big Rock Candy Mountain good. He was Wild West good. He was a man 's man good. He was larger than life good. He was hands the size of the Sangre de Cristos good. He was John Wayne good. He was Out in the West Texas town of El Paso good. He was barbecue meets Sonoran cooking good. He was the man from New Mexico good. He was The Lightening Field good. He was cattle drives from the White Mountains to Las Cruces good. He was Armendariz Ranch good. He was White Sands good. He was Truth or Consequences good. Enchanted land good. Big medicine good. John Henry good. He was the greatest player that ever escaped the shadows of Don Haskins at UTEP and the Snake Pit at UNM good.

He was ALL good.

And like every lane he ever owned, or board he ever cleared, or opponent he ever outmanned (and oh my did he out man them), in death he is clearing out a lane for some one else now--someone who needs a daddy NOW--needs the spirit of greatness now.

The ghosts of the great don't just enchant the memories of boys grown into old men.

They haunt the monarch of the Midlands and make great things happen in that building.

Allen and Iba are up in the rafters always looking down. But the ghosts of the great players and the great things done move like shellacked apparitions in the night shadows in the old armory.

I hid out in the Field House one night in college. It was easy then. I staid all night. I sat in mid court seats above the folded bleachers. I walked the wood at 3 am, when it was so quiet and dark I could have heard a jock drop up in the high corner bleachers. The ghosts were everywhere. Apparitions. Blurs I could only catch out of the corners of my eyes. But they were there. Soaring. Playing. Hanging. Talking. Jiving. Field of Dreams before Phil's movie of '87. Shoeless Joe before Kinsella's book of '82. jay before Ray. You want to play before you want a catch. If you rebound it, they will run most definitely before if you build it they will come. There. On the floor. The ghosts. They played. They most definitely played, jay, they most definitely played.

Amazing things happen in that building...

Jamari Traylor: Bill Bridges is your small big man Daddy as surely as James Naismith is every basket ball player's Daddy, and Phog Allen is every coach's Daddy.

Jamari Traylor: I am calling you out.

Your young life so far has all been a fairytale rise from the mean streets of Chicago to a puzzling limbo of arrested development in Allen Field House, where great things happen to those that lace'em up everyday and leave it all on the sacred wood.

Bill Bridges died for a reason.

I don't believe the great one died by chance.

He died like he lived.

With the biggest hands and the fiercest heart that ever grabbed a rebound, he was clearing out the lane for you.

His ghost is going to be in the lane with you this season.

He is up in the shadows of those huge girders passing time till he swoops down into that lane this season and informs every step you take, every move you make...oh, he'll be watching you, as Sting once sang.

Amazing things happen in that building, Jam Tray.

But you gotta believe!

@JayHawkFanToo

Almost forgot...thx for the scoop on UA origins.

@VailHawk

Thx 4 the research and beautiful red Chuck pic.

@drgnslayr

The Jayhawk and Chucks both are bewitchingly iconic.

@wissoxfan83

This is so simple.

Just picture someone like little Caron Butler--but not Caron Butler--selling a few grams of blow to a few kids in his neighborhood. Or whatever narcotic it was.

There. Got that image fixed in your mind?

Now. Visualize these two kids that he just sold some blow to and watch their healthy little bodies grow thin and get dark circles around their eyes over the next six months. Got that?

Now visualize them starting to steal to buy. And one of them getting aids on a dirty needle. And the other one getting the shit beaten out of him repeatedly when he gets too slow and shaky to steal stuff without getting caught by those he is stealing from.

Got that?

Now, visualize someone like Caron--but not Caron Butler--and his little customers climbing out of cardboard condos in alleys, or huddling by trash fires in the crook of underpasses and staggering around in the winter snow looking for a fix.

Got that, too?

Now, imagine those little junkies doing oral sex on old bums for money to get their fixes.

Got that?

Now, imagine one of them getting popped through eye socket with a .38 for stealing from the wrong kind of person, or just for the fun of it by some sadistic bastard.

Got that?

Now, imagine this scenario repeated not with two kids but with dozens, maybe hundreds of little "customers" over a period of a couple of years someone like little Caron--but not Caron Butler--might have connected with.

Got that?

Now, imagine all the mothers and fathers and grand parents and brothers and sisters of those little customers spending what little money they had to try to get their little junkies family members straight and have the little junkies lie and steal everything of any value their poor parents had.

Think of all of this while you praise someone like Butler--but not Caron Butler.

I try never to forget this image stream, when I talk about young scumbags that grow up and make a lot of money and get born again.

@VailHawk

This is a great shoe that has been horrible mis branded for the times.

What flipping century do the guys that did this graphic live in?

It should be Chuck Taylor All Star 2.o.

Next.

@drgnslayr

Yep, that crazy bird is like the Mickey Mouse of sports.

No one wants to admit they like it, but everyone recognizes it.

Everywhere.

Its amazing.

It is one last symbol grounded to something real in a sports sign market, where signs have meaning only in relation to other signs, as Baudrillard might have said had he lived.

The Jayhawk is a pure symbol that has no meaning relative to anything other than Kansas, KU and basketball. The Jayhawk goes to ground on four concrete realities: the geographicalyl specified place of Kansas where Jayhawkers rightfully charged Texas cattle drivers tolls for trying to let their longhorns trample our prairie and eat our prairie grass for free; the university on Mt. Oread; KU basketball fielding a team each season; and James Naismith now resting for eternity not far from the AFH.

Roooooock.........Chaaaaaaalk........Jaaaaaay.........Haaaaak

Gooooooooo KAAAAAAAAAY Uuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!

The KSU Wildcat grounds to nothing.

@JayHawkFanToo

Roger Morningstar was with Converse,wasn't he?

Back when everyone said 40% from trey Brady only played because his dad was Roger.

Why can't a KU alum like the Adams family, or the Anschutz family, or the Boothe family start a PetroShoeCo line and anchor it with KU.

Come on!!!!

Lets do this the right way.

This relying on 2-4 star bigs and dreaming about an OAD from Timbuktu getting cleared is for non elite programs.

We've got to get to where KUAD is run like a for profit not for profit. Capice?

We've got to get a pipeline of KUAD only players.

We've got to understand that KUAD has nothing to do with KU.

KUAD is what we root for.

Not KU.

And we need vertical integration BADLY.

Vertical integration, baby.

From KUAD shoe factories (screw just contracting with producers there) in Industrial City Indonesia, or in the new 130M person Chinese super city, to KUAD flagged container ships bringing them to Ixtapa, to KUAD flatbed rolling stock to run the KUAD containers full of KUAD shoes to Dick's Gebaur, to KUAD Whites to tow the crimson and blue containers to Lawrence for students and athletes to sell out on the streets of Lawrence, to KUAD dump trucks bringing the players to AFH, to KUAD crimson and blue debt notes monetizing the whole shebang, to a KUAD investment bank to take spin-offs public, etc.

We've got to get serious about the real economik of basketball.

@JayHawkFanToo

Under Armour the juggernaut.

Relentless.

Just keeps coming.

If I were Nike, I would have created Under Armour.

And Chuck Taylor Converse II.

Wait! Did Nike buy Converse?

Hmm.

@wissoxfan83

Giga news. Maryland too.

Duopoly, meet oligopoly.

@drgnslayr

Sign him regardless of ShoeCos lean!!!

@ralster

I made my peace with XTReme Muscle ball after the first season of Self Ball. I oppose XTReme Muscle, but I believe in playing by the rules being called. I am satisfied that Self is the lepper with the most fingers in the last ten years of the longest reign of butcher ball I can recall in college hoops.

I don't frankly care what a guy from a school playing 10 OADs thinks.

@wissoxfan83

I probably view these kinds of stories differently than most board rats.

One of the tragic ironies of these kinds of person-survives-crime-and-poverty-and-makes-good stories is how much serious harm persons like Butler have apparently done to so many persons early in life before they turn their own lives into incredible prosperity without ever paying for the many lives they exploited and wrecked early. Instead they start foundations to help those whose lives they didn't wreck, as part of their accountants and PR firm's media strategies for capitalizing even further on their good fortunes. But that's how it is. Frankly, I feel the same way, only more so, about the robber barons of any age.

The same culture that dealt Butler a bad hand early dealt him a fabulously better hand for the vast majority of his life. Who wouldn't trade years 0-15 of survived danger and poverty for $110 million over ten years plus 60 carefree years to enjoy it and help people vs. a long life of pay check to paycheck struggle and agonizing stress for 60-80 years over what will become of one's children? I have been down and up and lived in dangerous hoods and affluent ones and I would make the trade for Butler's life young and old (and I would even skip the crime) without hesitation.

Butler has had such a vastly superior quality of life compared to the life long struggles of most honest Americans that have never turned to a life of crime that it astonishes.

Saw this in WAPO.

CARON describes Gilbert Arenas with four guns in his locker and Javaris Crittendon packing loaded, cocked heat at his locker in a quarrel over $1100 in poker debts, and nearly living the Gunfight at the OK Lockerroom back in the good old leaded days of the Wizards.

BATTLE OF THE HOODS between hoopahs making 100s of millions of scrylla!

Yo!

Be the role model you can be!

In the NBA!

@drgnslayr

Very nice.

Very close to a pair my dad had custom made in Auckland before spending WWII in them.

I wore them years ago hunting for three seasons before I outgrew them. Lard them up and they were water proof. They were 22 years old then and still had some volcanic ash from Iwo Jima caked between the sole and the upper. Never did get cracks in the leather. They'd been in jungles, too. Most comfortable things I ever wore. Wish I hadn't outgrown them.

@Crimsonorblue22 said:

I think they are sexy!!!

If a woman thinks this, a man will wear them.

@drgnslayr said:

Mysterious fault: I’m pretty sure there are factors none of us know. Self hasn’t come this far in his career by making huge coaching blunders. And I don’t think Cliff intended to wipe out in college.

My money is on this one. I believe without it, Cliff would have been a huge star.