🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Jam Tray is 6-6, or I am a soprano.

His game is unrelated to Thomas Robinson's game.

But Jam Tray proved this season that he is a good 20 minute per game back up at four and could be a good short game 5, if Self goes with 4 perimeter players.

Whether Jam Tray is a viable starter at the 4 depends entirely on what the 5 and the 3 can do. If Joel stayed and became a well-rounded scoring threat, then Traylor could be an ideal 4, if Oubre at 3 were Outrey, and not Notrey. If Oubre were Notrey, then Alex or Ellis.

The point is it all depends on who is at 5 and 3.

Manning had to go. He was too old to wait. He has to be from a major to get to a blue blood. He was ignored for a lot of years by Roy and probably wants a piece of him before Roy retires. Also North Carolina's population divided by four majors is still better recruiting than Oklahoma's population divided by two majors and Tulsa. Finally, he has to think of his assistants; that's part of the professional code. It will be much easier for his assistants to get coaching jobs having assisted at a major, than at a mid-major. add it all up and he has to go.

@Careful you

Agree about the dumbing down. I think we saw that this year with Wigs and Selden starting. The actions seemed much simplified.

And look at what complex stuff the teams in the Madness that have been together several years run vs. the newbies like UK!

@JRyman

The title implies you think the masses are given a lot of dishonest questions. :-)

First, I am going to respond without considering the long debated influence of shoecos on such outcomes, which frankly seems significant but so far not sufficiently transparent to analyze much.

With that caveat, no, I do not think the offense Self plays is the problem. Most successful teams now play high low, or very close variations off of it. Few persons seem to understand that Self's High Low descends from Dean Smith's Carolina Passing Offense that Larry Brown brought Dean after Henry Iba developed the hi low for the 1964 Olympic team. Larry coached it at KU. Self's basketball philosophy is also heavily shaped by concepts of Eddie Sutton. Dean, Larry and Eddie have never had trouble attracting good point guards over the last half century.

What you can sign depends on PT available and occasionally on recruits not working out at the last minute. Cat Barber seemed a go until he did something or other wrong, and Self pulled out of the sweep stakes. Josh, who he signed, was the number 1 PG and player in the country and Self only played him at the 3, because he didn't want to have a PG for only one season. Sherron was a highly regarded PG prospect. And I think Self's long time unwillingness to turn point guard duties over to an OAD for only one season caused him to fall out of graces with a lot PG prospects. But now that he has committed to signing and starting OADs, he will land one as soon as he has an open slot. It might even happen as soon as this off season, if he can get a recommit.

Another of his PG prospects in Oklahoma had troubles academically.

Also, PGs are probably along with centers the most hotly sought after players, so, not only is Self competing against other blue blood programs for these guys, he is competing against all the schools that reputedly want to pay big money to get a hot PG. Self appears to run into this phenomenon with centers,too. Centers reputedly get some pretty flashy cash under the table, more apparently than KU appears willing to give.

Self came in a close second to Cal on both Derek Rose and John Wall, if you recall.

Remember Cal wanted Thomas Robinson, and Andrew Wiggins. No one finishes first all the time at any position.

Frankly. Cal's offense does not favor PGs any more than Self's does as far as I can tell.

Year in and year out Cal's heaviest hitters are his 3, 4 and 5 position players. Even when he had Derek Rose and John Wall, by later in the season, both of those teams depended very heavily on forwards and centers for their scoring. CDR was a bigger factor in our game against Memphis, than Rose, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was a bigger factor than Marcus Teague and Cousins was a bigger factor than Wall.

This PG drought will end eventually, just as Self's drought at getting a bunch of OAD grade talent finally broke.

Almost forgot.

LONG LEGS AND SHORT NECKS on any players that are short for their positions.

Long arms and big hands on everyone.

All perimeter OADS have to have 40% 3pt shooting their first season. Period. Otherwise pass on them. You have start OADs and without 40% treys they are useless in March.

Starting perimeter must have TWO 40% 3pt shooters. No exceptions.

Not more than one perimeter starter can be a weak dribbler to one side.

Screening has to become part of the offense every possession.

Posting up mismatches has to become part of the offense.

Isolating on mismatches has to become part of the offense from each tipoff.

Against 2-3 zones the high post has to set up at the FT line and be passed to.

The 2-2-1 3/4 court zone press has to be played every possession.

Point guards have to be able guard and distribute.

Everyone on the team has to be strong enough to finish at the rim, or else have a 40% 3pt shot.

Being able to pass well is required of everyone in the rotation.

Defense is not optional.

All PERIMETER OADS HAVE TO HAVE HIGH FOUNDATIONS. We don't care about their ceilings! Low foundations and high ceilings are death in March.

Rock Chalk!

Executive summary: both guard hard and physical. UW relies more on the trey with three 40% trey ballers to UF's 2 and outscores UF nearly 4ppg. UF defends the rim sharply better. UW defends the trey slightly better. UF holds substantial edge over opponents on the boards. UW holds a slight edge over opponents on the boards. UW protects sharply better with 3.1 fewer TOs per game than UF. Blocks are nearly even. UF is +2 in steals over UW. UW leads UF decisively in FTA and FT%. You beat UW by protecting, keeping UW off the line and pushing its trey shooters 2 feet deeper and pressuring it into a few more TOs. You beat UF by banging and shoving its inside players to take away their athleticism in rim protection and rebounding and their rim scoring. You push Florida's two trey ballers two feet farther out. UW holds a counter intuitive edge in transition. It shoots so well and ends so many possessions in made FTs that it can afford not to care so much about rebounding edge, and so can release and get back on defense to STOP UF's transition game. UF, on the other hand, has to go to the glass on both ends, because it doesn't shoot well enough to win without dominating the glass. So: UF, which has the athleticism to beat UW in transition, won't be able to get in transition if UW is shooting well and getting back. But if UW shoots poorly and has to go get rebounds, then UF will get into transition and the game will be over. Both teams have tons of experience. In a big game called tightly, UF athleticism inside can trump Wisconsin muscle. It can keep UW off the line, wreck its inside shooting percentage, and push its trey shooters farther out. But if they let 'em play, which they usually do, Wisconsin, on a good trey shooting day, will almost certainly win. Florida's average FT shooting gets beat by UWs excellent FT shooting. Referees decide this game.

Florida looks like the best team.

Long starting guards with one short backup for short match up and one long backup to stay long.

Low TOs.

A bunch of LSAs that guard hard, get up and alter, and board.

Two starting 40% trey shooters on perimeter that can also drive with either hand and finish strong for a bucket and a FT at the iron without TOs.

Average .46 FG for team.

+1 on 3pt made average vs opponent.

Massive edge in FTAs.

LSAs that hold opponents to .397 FG.

Plus 5 rebounding.

Close on strips.

Edge on blocks.

Small lead the first half.

Huge lead second half.

Better or even coach.

So: where did KU fall short even with Embiid able to play? I will give you a hint. It wasn't on opponent's FG%, so it wasn't on defense. It wasn't FT %. And it wasn't on rebounding. One final hint. Tharpe was at most half the problem, but maybe not even half since he was never designated to be one of the first two options on the perimeter. Hmmm. So: where did KU NOT MEASURE UP, even with Embiid playing, to this contender profile?

Just saw Keegs' "Requiem for a Point Guard" story signaling the faithful that Naa's days at PG are likely done.

I'm ready to put Selden at PG. No more seasons depending on his trey gun. Let Wayne take everyone to iron.

@Lulufulu85

I am working away dutifully at it again with the '14 season euthanized. Alas it has turned into a monster and I don't have a forecast on when i will finish. But thanks for asking.

How about a line of t-shirts that just have:

"KU > 38%"

Thanks to all that responded to the thread. As usual, learned more than I taught. And that's the great benefit of online kibitzing.

Moonwalk: at least part of it probably is the rigors of the season. But Self did say Wayne had a sore knee in November or December and Wayne did wear the longline model of the knee wraps after that. Maybe some of both?

Lulu: god I hope Dr. Hudy is onto something with cortisol. There just seem to be so many more problems that I recall 10-15 years ago and back. Probably I have forgotten, or maybe the players just didn't wear any wraps or braces then. It used to be most teams had one, maybe two guys with knee problems. But now it seems half the teams encounters sore knees each season. For what its worth, it seemed hyperextended elbows and shoulder separations took a dip this season.

Konk: The feed would not play for me, so I am unable to consider your evidence, but of course I trust you to make a valid point.

JayHawkFanToo: A one third longer season has to be a load to adjust to. Playing through injuries probably is a greater challenge for many of these players who were once the stars of their teams. They probably were highly protected when injured in high school, were probably mostly overwhelmingly stronger, longer and faster than opponents. In D1 they probably are being protected, as much, and they are probably getting banged around a lot more by guys their size and bigger.

CB22: Embiids back problems tracking to high school is interesting.

JayHawkFanToo: This notion relative newness to rigors of a new sport makes a lot of sense to me.

CB22: The booking too many forget. No doubt they are still graded on separate curves for many classes, and they are taking a significant share of easy classes, and the tutors are walking them through writing the papers, but the point is there is still a time commitment and a pressure to meet a certain standard that divide attention. And those wonky bus rides and late night plane connections, and the missed day or two of classes intermittently would be nerve wracking, especially to a freshman.

slayr: Of the guys I mentioned, Sherron and EJ just seemed like the pop was diminished. But Travis always seemed to be able to go up a little higher when he needed it, which fits your explanation. It makes a lot of sense that most guys begin to learn to conserve by junior season. Copy and paste on Wayne's weight.

Wis: most phenomena have complex roots complex interactions. So, yes, HS back issue meets 35 game season equals nonlinearities in lost performance sometimes.

HEM: Wayne is a 38-40% trey away from being a 15ppg college perimeter force even without full restoration on the pop and hop. With full pop and hop, then he would probably go to the top of the 2 guard draft board. What Wayne and Wigs proved this season was that without the trey gun, even great athletes get whittled down, hand cuffed, and finally frustrated on the wings in a conventional hi-lo offense stretched for impact play, rather than ball screened for rub and pop.

Wayne appeared to lose his pop and his hop during the season. The last month of the season there were few lobs run for him and he took on air rarely on drives. He barely cleared iron on most drives.

No KU player in the Self years has gotten his pop back, once the player started wearing knee wraps full time.

Sherron was the classic example of a perimeter player losing more of his pop and hops each season that he returned.

Travis Releford started out with legendary hops and by the last season had had to learn to play "an old man's game," according to Self.

Elijah Johnson same deal. His sticks went from explosive to stiff. He had to adapt to reduced pop.

All three went from exploding at the rim to just enough at the rim. No more hands at the top of the shooters box, just hands at the rim.

Selden's trey increasingly left him as he lost his pop. Travis proved you can get better shooting the trey by shooting with almost a set shot at times.

If Selden's pop comes back, and he sharpens his trey, he has a bright NBA future. But if the hop does not restore, then Travis and EJ are his future. Both are probably overseas and doing ok.

Note: arbrn wrng &cntrl sys is NOT a paint protector. 😃

And I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

@icthawkfan316

Never give an opponent an even break. Ever.

As Self said, he thought we could get a 1 seed despite 24-9.

This time of year, we have 63 opponents on the wood and every media person outside Kansas and some inside.

Use the media card always.

@REHawk

Bill must have anticipated well as a player!

@Lulufulu85

Best respect everything that moves from here on!

@globaljaybird

A man in his youth is a remarkable force of nature!

Kick ass takes both of you. Thx for getting me oriented to what we are up against in some QA detail!

@wissoxfan83

Evil record!!!!!!!

I will do some positive visualization to avoid that one!

@drgnslayr

Madness is bringing out your best.

@approxinfinity

I would even add a "post" link in that home page box.

iErgonomics are all about moving the eye to what the brain wants to do. Not about architectural logic. Often times, I want to post immediately. Your box creates spatial gravitation for the eye, so if you put a link there, then the eye-hand will find it seamlessly first.

At the risk of being a pedant, a web page is experienced as a painting but is laid out more like a spreadsheet. Few tech people are trained in classical painting composition, but following a few of their simple rules would end all the web site composition problems that afflict even the best web sites. The old painters learned how to move your eyes around a canvas to see in series what you needed to see to experience the meaning of the painting. Google's page works not because it is simple, but because it creates eye gravitation at the center of the screen. The old painters used gravity and form to move and hold your eye on what they wanted you to see in which order. Contemporary painters typically only compose to achieve a sense of visual balance, since it is considered heavy-handed today to introduce Narrative meaning to a painting. But Renaissance painters were always trained and trying to do both.

You have created some gravity at the center of the screen with your box. The Eye tracks there inevitably. Thus, that is a graphically logical place to put a "post" link, if you want to increase the ease of posting.

To think this through just a bit further, visualize holding your smart phone and contemplate which part of the screen is the easiest place for the thumb to touch. I say phone, because that is usually how I initiate an action like posting. It would be somewhat different for a desktop computer screen, because of mousing. Anyway, once I am in the posting window I tend to begin to use either dictation, or an index finger to type. Move your gravitational box closer to my thumb and it becomes easier for me to post. Alas, because I am a left-hander, I would probably want the box near the left side, where as, right-handers would prefer the box closer to the right side. Thus, having the box in the middle is a compromise for both.

My remarks are not meant to dilute the goodness of what you have done, but instead to call attention to them. Thank you so much.

All for now.

Hell no we don't bench Tharpe, unless his hand injury is too severe!

We scheme better for Tharpe. We help him more. We sub for him more.

Throwing people overboard is not who we are!

Until Embiid is back, or until Black hangs 25, all of our perimeter players are going to experience XTREME PRESSURE.

Go inside until the opponent backs off the perimeter pressure.

This is who we are.

All crew and ships of Task Force 2014: Path cleared for Battle of MIDWAY with Florida's monster fleet of carriers. Stop.

Dayton sunk the Syracuse! Stop!

First serious contact with enemy today vs Stanford. Stop. Stanford's two BATTLESHIPS must be sunk. Stop.

KU's battleship, the Black, and cruisers Ellis and Traylor must carry battle to enemy at all costs NOW! Stop.

Shake down trial of reserve heavy cruiser Lucas planned for next season canceled, repeat cancelled. Stop. The Lucas must be fitted for action now and rendezvous with Black, Ellis and Traylor for coordinated, two-pronged attack. Stop. Old fashioned surface engagement imminent. Stop. This is NOT a drill, repeat this is NOT a drill! Stop.

Destroyers Greene and mothballed White being fitted for support defensive duty against 6-7 enemy destroyer plus long range rockets for offensive action. Stop.

Frigates Tharpe, Mason and Frankamp to come under concentrated, heavy attack first. Stop.

Destroyer Selden and light cruiser Wiggins to be decisive once battleships and cruisers engaged. Stop.

This is the break we have been looking for. Stop.

God's speed. Stop.

@ParisHawk

Copy and paste.

But with love and as an assist for all that work out here. (Fragment) 😉

In particular, ict works at it, writes well and makes few errors for his column inches. And he is particularly good at finding my faux pas, which keeps me on my toes and helps me get better.

Rock Chalk!

Much easier for cell phone use!

God was in the details.

L. O V E. IT!

@KUSTEVE

One more thought about how OADs brought us Naa. Self used not to guaranty OADs a spot unless he had a hole and he would not showcase them. He made X split time and played Josh out of position. OADS stayed away in droves. This put extra pressure on signing non OAD 4-5 stars to fill gaps created by unexpected departures. This made Self offer 3-star friends of such players to land the 4-5 star player. Naa was such a player. His 4-5 star friend never came.

The OAD rules have all sorts of deleterious ripple effects.

You are damned if you use them, and damned if you don't. But once you start using them, it is a slippery slope to needing more and more of them.

Embiid made every one better, especially Tharpe. Defenses were geared to deny him the ball. All perimeter defenders were focused on denying Jo the entry pass all the time. This made defenses sag off wings who were then easier to pass to. This made defenses play Naa straight up to deny the entry pass. This gave Naa room to work. Jo was easier to feed because of his size.

Now Naa is naked. Offensively, Tharpe suffers from five things:

1.) he is thoroughly scouted;

2.) his left is weak;

3.) shooting hand injury;

4.) his wings can't shoot the trey; and

5.) his wings can't dribble.

The last two mean defenses can scheme him off ball to bake pop tarts.

The first two mean defenders can deny him drives.

Number 3 means he can't make Js.

Embiid made Tharpe better.

Mason has a book on him, too: lightening quick but no trey, no dish, no pull up, weak one way (forget which), gets lost running offense.

Conner had almost no book: shooter whose shot didn't convert to D1, plays sparingly, then nothing.

Conner's weaknesses will be found. He will struggle.

If they can find Wigs' and Selden's weaknesses and make them struggle, they can make anyone struggle.

Lost in Naa's struggles was Selden's terrible game.

The antidote to these problems are playing more through bigs and Wigs inside .... Until the other team is big inside.... Then the only answer may be Joel.

Stanford will test this ability.

Tar, Perry, Jam Tray and Wigs gotta be ready.

@KUSTEVE

I am glad you shared your thinking in more detail. My POV is precisely that the OAD RULES do trigger greater inefficiencies and asymmetries in high end talent distribution and so simultaneously more reliance on OAD grade clumping at some schools and more non OAD grade clumping at schools doing without OADs. And when you are confronted with clumped departures of OADs you have to replace them with OADs and when you have clumped departures of non OADs you have even more pressure to replace with OADs. So yes we see it quite differently. You see the OAD RULES as sucking in some general sense, and I see the OAD rules sucking down at the actual level of recruiting at the individual year and school level. Self could not realistically consider rebuilding without OADs. He had to use them, because the best players are definitionally OADs and if he took a lesser player he would start out farther in the hole.

Rules largely determine outcomes. It did not matter how smart an African American was, if he could not get in an IVY league school , he was not going to become an Ivy League professor 99.9% of the time, so long as race prejudice catalyzed with the bias against less prestigious schools, too.

The OAD rules are wagging the entire dog of college basketball. They are putting "right way" coaches like Self in the position of having to move more and more toward OADs. They are the gift that keeps on giving. To accommodate the one year wonders the game has to be dumbed down. To keep winning with freshman, they have to be used. Our top coaches are now coaching remedial basketball to get the athleticism for one year. The EKU coach is coaching a much sophisticated game. I like the athleticism. I want to see it dominant and developed. Because it cannot be developed, potentially great players like Wiggins and Jabari Parker play on 24-9 teams and don't get significantly better over a season. It's stupid and retards talent.

END THE OAD RULE NOW!

@wissoxfan83

Wigs and Selden really are mediocre as three point shooters, aren't they, as I have been pointing out? And put in a dome the first time they tanked just like mediocre freshmen trifectates would be expected to tank, right? EKU had good, experienced trey ballers that even struggled some, BUT NOT NEARLY AS MUCH!!!!!

Embiid masked how weak Wigs and Selden were at trifectation.

If Embiid were playing, the defense would have had to sag. The only reason Wigs and Selden have even been at 35% and 34%, respectively, was that most teams had to let them shoot at the stripe, not 2-4 feet farther out as that bunch of mid majors were able to do. EKU could pressure outside and Wigs and Selden are such weak dribblers that they could not reliably dribble around the pressure despite their vastly superior athleticism.

Interestingly Embiid playing likely would have only forced EKU TO SHOOT EVEN MORE TREYS, which might well have sunk us!

@KUSTEVE

Good point. And ironically were it not for what OAD RULES have done to recruiting, a guy like Naa would be a sub, or more likely, never even have been offered, so thanks for helping me make my case.

I am so sorry about incorrectly recalling Ernie's quote, for by doing so I apparently gave board rats the excuse not to think seriously about the issue. I will correct it immediately, so it will not distract board rats further.

@KUSTEVE

Not at all. Under the rules, we apparently now have the best one could hope for, or will once we sign an OAD guard that can handle mid major and major defensive pressure, or start and play Conner both halves against mid majors and then wait for him to get smoked by an OAD.

And as Cal says in unapologetic defense of talent ball, hey, when you start freshmen, no matter how good they are, sometimes they are going to play like freshman even to the end of their single season.

In talent ball, the goal is no longer becoming an excellent team at all. The goal is becoming a just good enough team, so you can win with vastly superior talent.

There is no need for Boot Camp at all in talent ball. All you need is the illusion of Boot Camp. There is no need for a 1,000 page play book, because no impact players will be around long enough to learn to execute more than 20 pages. You don't need characters you can keep things interesting with because you aren't going to be together long enough to get bored. There is no more need to struggle to get better beyond December, because you can never achieve more than a minimum standard. You spend all your time coaching a few weak links to minimum standard, and mask the OADs' weaknesses. It used to be the reverse.

This is all the basketball equivalent of short-term management in corporations. If this were allowed to continue, and it appears that it will be, then 20 to 30 years downstream, American basketball will be as mediocre and only marginally competitive in international basketball, as so many American corporations are today Vis a Vis foreign corporations.

The rules make the game.

The rules drove American corporations into short-term management.

The rules have driven Consonants, Self and Calipari into short-term team building. Their teams develop and play increasingly similarly.

So long as the rules stay as they are, self would be crazy to do it any other way.

It's talent ball, baby!

It's talent-tastic.

Chicago Cub legend Ernie Banks used to say, "let's play two."

KU's response is: "Let's play a half."

First things second: I really liked EKU. I liked everything about their offense and defense and trifectation. I liked how their coach spoke at half time, like Norman Dale. I liked how clean and hard their guys played. I liked how even though each of our guys was twice as good as each of their guys was, their "team" beat our "individual talents" for 30 minutes. I found myself rooting for them at times, because they had actually learned to play together long enough to become more than the sum of their parts. They ran the weave better than we did. They shot the three better. They passed better. They dribbled way better. They were better at every aspect of the game that one can teach.

It was like watching my beloved '11-12 KU team vs. UK. They had learned to be the best they could be with what lesser talent they had and then they were worn down and beaten finally by a bunch of talent that had learned the most minimal aspects of team play.

And then I realized just how grotesquely perverted the game had become by the OAD rule, even at Kansas, the last hold out in the last basketball monastery in the last basketball Tibet.

And how much I wished it had not come to this; our exceptionally talented and wonderful KU PLAYERS and COACH thrown together like the finest food ingredients in the world to make a fast food meal in a one season microwave.

Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!!

Let the best become the best they can be again. Let the great talents like Andrew Wiggins, Wayne Selden and Joel Embiid play at the levels of their talent on teams trying to become teams instead of talented simulations of teams. Let them skip college and play for pay so they don't have to stand around stumbling and bumbling for a half trying to play like a real team, only to have throw away the pretense the second half and resort to raw talent to get enough baskets to beat a real team.

All of which brings me back to KU PLAYING A HALF.

The second half they played "talent ball," not basketball and it was quite a spectacle at times. Andrew, Jamari, Perry and Tar all had their magnificent moments, after Self had curbed their talents the first half to keep them rested for game two this weekend.

They began doing the most awesomely talented things and inexorably won.

Yet it was a pitiful magnificence.

It was an admission that after 8 months together they still had little clue how to play as a team. They could still not run the stuff against a team of guys no one in the B12 would give scholars to.

No wonder Self, the fastidious genius, the basketball Mozart of the Midlands, is getting so paunchy. He cannot get this group to play as a team anymore than john Calipari can get his talent ballers to, and he knows it now--has probably known it for a month or more. The only way to win is Crimson and Blue AAU. So he bites his tongue and eats. And Snacks is there to keep the Bon Bons and the OADs coming.

The phenomenon is not unusual. A great leader masters a field at such a high level that his success takes him and his field into a transformation he never intended and that he finally finds so repugnant that he cannot follow to reap the long term rewards of. It is the King David myth played out before our eyes. Self has almost miraculously lead the kingdom of KU Basketball from the already considerable heights of Roy before him to some kind of pinnacle that finally is become a rich microcosm of what his brilliant resourcefulness is not necessary for any longer.

Bill's sustained brilliance has delivered KU to a level of talent so exceptional that it will be here such a short time that Bill's genius no longer can work its great alchemical wonders of team.

Now all that matters is reloading the OADs and developing the 4 and 5 stars to play good AAU ball with them for a half.

It is like watching Mozart reduced to leading the Boston Pops in an evening of Gershwin.

Oh, well, life goes on.

Who knows?

Maybe basketball Mozart will find a way through this looking glass, too.

Next.

@Crimsonorblue22

backfill slot

If Sam will support building KU some basketball housing and expanding Memorial Stadium, I will support his proclamation.

Othewise, KU is the cradle of college basketball. Full stop.

ESPN: L'ville dodges Manhattan scare Video | Schlabach
BATE: Slick Rick gambles,wins with B game, but AmCon Soft

ESPN: North Dakota St. shocks OU in OT Video | Jennings
BATE: Bi-brow b-game gamble bombs, 2 regrow unibrow

ESPN: Aztecs survive New Mexico St. Video | Home Court
BATE: Fish wins without baiting hook. B game enuff 4 next.

ESPN: Saint Louis stuns NC State in OT Video | Schlabach
BATE: Only one stunned is Schlabach. ACC soft.

ESPN: Texas tops ASU on buzzer shot Video | Rittenberg
BATE: Barnes' B12 B game beats ASU A-Game. P12 OVRATD

ESPN: UConn outlasts Saint Joseph's in OT Video | O'Neil
BATE: UConn B game barely snuff, Implies AmCon soft.

ESPN: Harvard trips up No. 5 Cincinnati Video | Jennings
BATE: 'Vard decent, Natti shows AmCon warm butter soft.

ESPN: Dayton takes down OSU in thriller Video | O'Neil
BATE: Thad the Self Impaler, B-game bet busts.

ESPN: Florida pulls away from Albany Video | Schlabach
BATE: B-game steam roller, Gators Good, Donovan = Self

ESPN: Payne's career game leads Michigan St. win Video
BATE: Ratso's rats leave nothing but bones.

ESPN: Wisconsin crushes American after slow start Video
BATE: Wissox orgasmic, ODs on Velveeta

ESPN: Syracuse clamps down on WMU in blowout Video
BATE: Boeheim sleeps through another first rounder.

ESPN: Harvard's Sweet 16 odds Insider | Amaker rumors
BATE: 'Vard's odds beyond event horizon, Amaker 2 Doris Duke

Rock Chalk!

Even if EKU were blazing hot from trey, this one play would beat them and here it is.

1. Clear out side and don't give a flip if they play zone.

2. Give ball to Wigs anywhere on the floor.

3. Let him drive.

4. Watch him dunk and shoot FT.

5. Repeat next 30 possessions.

Next.

@REHawk

ah-hay, EHawk-RAY, ou-yay opped-tay e-may!

~Light incense and do anti-fouling chant for Tar.

~Throw three sunflower seeds over shoulder and appeal to the Tri-gods for Wayne to be hot from 3pt stripe.

~Hum "John Brown's Body" while asking the basketball god for Perry to have the fire of an abolitionist raiding party retaliating for Quantrill's torching of Lawrence.

~Bake three oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies in the shape of the numeral 3, eat, and positive visualize Greene/Frankamp/White each going 3-3 on treys.

~Put on the right sock worn the time Wigs got 40 and the left sock the time Wigs got 30.

~Make and down a Gatorade ice-cream float with a flavor of ice cream called Mid Major Mocha, so as to cast a spell on Florida to be upset by a mid major.

~Watch an endless looping feed of Tharpe's three point makes this season until you are so in sync with his correct shooting mechanics that you can through telekinesis force him to make his treys with MK/Ultra mind control techniques dating back to the late 1950s.

~Visit a coven of wicans and remind them to use their considerable powers to give Bill Self 6-straight good hair days.

~Remind all D1 refs that are Free Masons that buried under the center circle of James Naismith Court is the basketball holy grail and that beside it is a square and compass medallion, plus a Knight's Templar flag, plus a first edition of Ivanhoe, but NOT the head of Saint Euphemia of Chalcedon.

(Note: all fiction. No malice.)

@Crimsonorblue22

Backfill slot

🙈🙉🙊

yllaer

@Crimsonorblue22

U may be missing who is playing with who.
Nk
Always 4 thuh game.

🙈🙉🙊

"When you see guys in the NBA that score on their follow through after getting completely whacked, rest assured, they come from those courts."

PHOF

@Crimsonorblue22

Nah, won't have to. Everyone here has assured Wigs will be an above average trey shooter by then. Jk

Maybe keep an eye on that lefty dribble though. Jk 😎

@drgnslayr

PHOF^2

You have introduced linguistics into March Madness. This is something I have longed to do, but have never been able to pull off.

Really is the midwestern equivalent of a Chinese pronunciation of an ideogram that can have 20 different meanings.

Bill Self the Tumbled Weed Buddhist reins really supreme.

Rock Chalk!

@Crimsonorblue22

I'm not too fond of tats myself, but if I were going to get one about Wigs, I would wait until he breaks 40% for a season.

40 is such an aesthetically pleasing number for a bicept, don't you think? :-)

File this under seeing Gatorade bottles half full.

KU as I posted recently is not a very good trey ball shooting team.

KU is an average trey ball shooting team at best.

Further, KU lacks anyone on the team that it can count on to shoot KU back into a game with the trey ball.

What KU has is a bunch of average D1 trey ballers and no 40% rain makers like BenMac, or Chalmers, or even Reed, or Brady.

So, jaybate, you grouch, what is half full about this gatorade bottle? This sounds like more of your grousing.

Well, here it comes....

KU has had to learn how to win with this average, frequently horrible, and infrequently hot trey shooting. KU has had to learn to play through horrible trey shooting. KU has had to learn to make do with average trey balling.

So, what the heck difference does this make jaybate?

Isn't the problem that average trey balling teams run into teams with 2-3 40% trifectates and get gunned down like the gang that couldn't shoot straight?

Well, no.

Say what?!!!!

Well, Domes, especially the first game one plays in them in a season, tends to make every one shoot the trey ball like something like guys trying to throw bee bees into the river in the Grand Canyon while standing on the North Rim. They have a leeeeeeeeeeeeetle bit of problem with depth perception.

So: if you're used to depending on great trey balling all season long and suddenly walk into a dome, a couple short practices often aren't enough to recalibrate the sights.

But if you're a team full of average trey ballers that have had to learn to win with out the stinking trey ball more games than you care to remember through the season, well, playing in a dome is really just like another game playing without your good trey ball.

Capice? :-)

I agree with all of the above. Though a short timer, he has shown the qualities we hope for in all of our players after his ups and downs.

But these issues still kind of jump out at me:

--35% from trey;

--34% from 15 feet to trey;

--shaky right hand dribble;

--almost no left hand dribble.

--not many assists;

--turnovers.

But to close on a high note, what I notice about Wigs is that he has a demeanor reminiscent of Joe Dimaggio, who I used to see in a restaurant in San Francisco from time to time years ago, when he was in his Mr. Coffee years. Like Joe, Wigs exudes a deep, unaffected confidence. He is very graceful. He has a kind of charisma rooted in his calmness. He doesn't smile a lot but when he does it casts a lot of light.

If he ever is allowed to practice his jump shot, work on his dribble, especially his left hand, then I think his TOs will fall and he may then be able to broaden his court focus enough that he can make assists. A player with his athleticism, confidence, quiet grace, that also had the fundamentals of perimeter basketball knocked would become the Yankee Clipper of professional basketball. The NBA needs that after the long dose of in your face personalities.

Go, Wigs, go!

@VailHawk

In the Venn diagram of life, jaybate is all not Monsieur Booth. 😃