🏀 KuBuckets Archive

drgnslayr said:

@jaybate-1.0

Kind of surprised we haven't seen more of the football player in action.

THIS DUMBFOUNDS ME ALSO.

THE ONLY REASON I CAN SEE IS THAT SELF DOES NOT SEE HIM ON THE TEAM NEXT SEASON, AND SO REFUSES ON PRINCIPLE TO USE HIM IF HE DOESN'T HAVE TO. DEVELOPMENT MINUTES GO TO GUYS THAT WILL BE HERE NEXT SEASON.

I AM ALSO VERY CONCERNED ABOUT SILVIO NOT SEEING MORE THAN 1-2 MINUTES. THIS MAKES ME WONDER IF SELF SUSPECTS SILVIO WILL GO PRO, RATHER THAN STICK AROUND AND PLAY BEHIND THE TRANSFERS NEXT YEAR. HENCE, SELF IS JUST SHOWING SILVIO ENOUGH TO DISCOURAGE NBA SPECULATORS ON WHAT IS CLEARLY AN NBA BODY. AS I OFTEN SAY, SELF IS A HARD MAN AND HE IS CLEARLY THINKING ABOUT NEXT SEASON, EVEN AS HE JOCKEYS TO TRY TO MAKE THIS SEASON HAPPEN.

Texas Hawk 10 said:
(SEE COMMENTS IN CAPS)

The chemistry issues are stemming from Self giving Graham, Newman, and Svi multiple days off each week because he has no bench. (NOT PERSUADED BY THIS. WE SAW THIS STUFF EARLY IN THE SEASON, WHEN EVERYONE WAS PRACTICING DAILY. INFERENCE: OTHER DRIVERS YET TO BE ADEQUATELY EXPLAINED. I PLAYED ON TEAMS IN WHICH THE STARTERS GOT SOME BREAKS. I DIDN'T PUNCH ANY OF THEM, OR REFUSE TO SHAKE THEIR HANDS, OR PLAY WITHOUT BENDING MY LEGS AT THE KNEES.) Doke can't play balls to the wall because there's no one behind him. (BUT HE IS PLAYING HARD MOST OF THE TIME. WYSIWYG WITH DOKE. CLEARLY THE REASON FOR LEARNING TO PLAY THIS NEW SCHEME IS TO FIND A WAY TO KEEP IT TOGETHER WHEN HE RESTS, OR WHEN THEY START FOULING HIM LATE AND HE HAS TO BE REMOVED.)

At this point, Vick is a liability for this team. (AFFIRMATIVE.) That stretch he had where he scored for Baylor, then threw it away, then threw it so far in front of Graham he carried it killed all of KU's momentum and allowed Baylor to regain control. (VERY CONSPICUOUS KIND OF PLAY FROM A GUY THAT COULD AND DID DO IT ALL EARLY IN THE SEASON. THIS IS WHY I COMBINE HIS APPARENT INABILITY TO BEND AT THE KNEES AND SELF'S STATEMENT THAT THIS IS A LONG TERM CHANGE IN SCHEME THAT LACOBRE IS NOT A BAD GUY, JUST AN INJURED GUY AND SELF IS TRYING TO RETAIN THE ILLUSION THAT HE MIGHT BE REINSTATED AT ANY MOMENT BY SPINNING ABOUT HIS FRUSTRATION WITH HIM. WHAT IF SELF WEREN'T FRUSTRATED WITH HIM AT ALL? WHAT IF THIS WERE JUST A RUSE TO KEEP OPPONENTS HAVING TO PREPARE FOR HIM FOR A FEW MORE GAMES? IT WOULD LOOK AND PLAY OUT PRETTY MUCH LIKE THIS. BUT IT COULD ALSO BE THAT SELF REALLY IS TIRED OF DEALING WITH A PLAYER THAT CANNOT STAY ON THE COMPETITIVE EDGE. I DON'T THINK ANYONE OUTSIDE THE TEAM CAN SAY WHAT SELF IS REALLY UP TO. ALL I CAN SAY IS THE FAILURE OF TEAMMATES TO RALLY TO VICK'S DEFENSE IS CONSPICUOUS AND MAKES ME LEAN TOWARD VICK BEING INJURED AND THIS BEING A RUSE.)

Right now, if we lose in Ames, we're probably looking at a 5 game losing streak because then the schedule gets hard with WVU, OU, and @Tech all in a row. (I SUSPECT WE RALLY UGLY IN AMES, AND GET BACK ON TRACK DOWN THE STRETCH. BUT WE ARE NOT EVER GOING TO BE AS GOOD AS WE WERE, BECAUSE VICK IS PROBABLY TOO INJURED TO RECOVER THIS SEASON. ALOT DEPENDS ON HOW WE SHOOT IT IN AMES. IF SVI STAYS COLD, WE PROBABLY LOSE. BUT I THINK WE ARE GOING TO SEE DOKE GO OFF FOR ABOUT 30. SELF HAS RESTRUNG THE TEAM TO LET DOKE CARRY THE MAIL, WHEN WE ARE NOT HOT, AND WHEN THE OPPONENTS ARE NOT LONG INSIDE. AMES IS DOKE'S GAME TO ROCK, IF HE HAS ENOUGH GAS IN HIS TANK.

Limb time: KU wins 14th in a tie with TTECH.

Team comes out of tail spin.

TTech hits a rough patch.

Beard is a really good coach though.

Shay Zeng has a KU men’s basketball team coached by a BHOFer battling for first place during one of its leanest seasons.

His hapless but rebuilding football program signs the 48th ranked recruiting class and so adds the roster depth needed to start winning some games in a weak B12.

KUAD has MEGA endorsement deals that allow it handsomely to fund all its minor sports.

KU Basketball infrastructure has been enhanced till its second to none.

Some progress on fund raising for fix of white elephant football stadium.

No big new scandals on his watch attributable to his hires.

KUAD selling merchandise and concessions like crazy.

No scandals or budget deficits for his new boss to worry about.

One bad early season PPV deal that nevertheless covers the need and cost to promote minor sports to meet compliance and keep non revenue generating coaches happy.

Donations keep rolling in.

Butts in seats.

Kids going to school.

Could be a tough out.

Buffer 1

Picture this: a basketball genius and professional coach clearing something like $10M/year is reading and laughing about fan posts in the middle of a bid for a fourteenth straight conference title after his recently restructured first place team loses to a near .500 team in February. Now that is quite a hoot.

kjayhawks said:

If tech loses tonight we are still in first and even if they don’t they have @Baylor, @OSU and @ WVU. I highly doubt that they finish this season out not losing again in this conference with what would be 9 straight wins. We have OU, TT and WVU again, with us having a game on WVU and 2 on OU and at least 2 on KSU after today. We still will have plenty of say as for what will happen. They guys just need to come together right now, no more selfish play, no more silly Doke fouls and five guys operating as a unit.

I think you nailed it here. This is February. Most teams are battling something. Perseverence and coming together will win this thing.

Gunman said:

Somebody forgot to tell Svi he was one of the guys that was suppose to score.

The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.

Self strung the bow for Svi to keep gunning it around 40-45%.

But he gets a mouse so bad he can barely see out of it.

Self shifted gears and enter Malik!!!

Tactics can become strategy in a moment's notice.

Who knows?

At this point, Svi could wind up not recovering his shooting eye, because of a cracked eye socket, or a scratched cornea, or a detached retina, you never know.

Malik could be the guy.

Malik could get his by a car jaywalking.

Vick could become the guy.

Vick could get hit by an errant directed energy strike by rogue elements of the CIA.

Fred, or Teahan 2.0, could wind up in the saddle.

Strange days are these.

Buffer 1

@HighEliteMajor

Yup, some kind of lack of love, or maybe too much, as I will spec on later.

I thought we were past this with Svi and Malik, but today sure makes you wonder.

I know the "narratives" about the black eyes (Svi and Mitch), but, well, who thinks that if players were fighting at practice, or in the locker room before the game, that Self would come out and admit to that?

All we can say is we've got two players that need to wear raw porter houses on their eyes, and we've got Svi and Malik evidencing something other than conventional behavior among teammates intermittently during the season.

And we've got a coach that is starting not one, but two guys with fewer stars than the guys he is asking to become back ups.

And we've got a team going in for a total rebuild in first place in February.

And we've got a coach saying this IS a long term change.

And we've got Vick, a former starter who was having a GREAT early season with several 20 point games walking around with no pop, and largely unable to bend his knees on defense.

And Norm and Kurtis are sitting there leaning back so Self can't see them and giving those "I hope Captain Kirk knows what he is doing, because I sure as hell don't" looks.

And we've got Snacks, apparently delegated with trying to connect with Malik, on some level, any level, riding Malik's butt, or patting his butt, EVERY time Malik comes out.

This won't make me popular, but a lot of these problems have to go on Devonte; this is his team and he should never have let these relationships sour this far. Think back on just some of KU's point guards: Russell, Sherron, Tyshawn, Elijah, Frank and so on. Everyone of these guys were characters and plagued with personal problems on and off (except Frank, it seems), but all of them were absolute men when it came to their teammates. And Self recruits some incredibly wacky, strong willed teammates, too. Russ Rob stares could burn a hole through even Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush and Sherron Collins. And when Sherron took over? OMG! Mr. Off the Court issues was literally a gunny on the floor. Sherron was down right scary, when he cut loose with the chest-thumping, cannibal shizzle. Everyone had a bone to pick with Elijah's play and whether he was really a point guard, but think of the cast of Caribbean pirates he kept in line. Who isn't going to listen to their point guard when the guy likes to give stiff screens. Tyshawn had a serious problem with him and TRob as the core that would not let Withey into the inner circle for a time, but then when Withey took the hit that made him look like a victim of gang violence, and kept playing, everyone said, ooooh, isn't Withey a man? But remember someone had to convince TRob to let some 7 foot stick into the inner circle, when TRob aka Superman, probably had felt like doing that to Withey a few times for blocking TRob's shot. The man who faced down TRob and said, "Superman, we need this guy to be one of us," was the artist of lightening himself, Tyshawn Taylor. Taylor had to convince his guys that they could win with Conner Teahan as their sixth man and fuggeddabout there not being any 7th or 8th men.

Here is the problem in a nutshell: basically, when the team huddles, its Svi and Mitch putting arms around guys and Devonte, Malik and Doke (and Vick when in) just stand their like who do these low-stars think they are hugging us?

You tell me what that's about. It could be about almost anything. It could be the talent gap. It could be the racial. It could be someone having stolen someone's girl. It could be three guys just not liking the cut of two guys jibs. It could be differing body odors. I'm not seeing the racial frankly, because these guys treat Marcus Garrett like the Mayor of Mayberry treats Barney Fife, too.

But the longer this thing with Svi and Malik goes on, the more it feels like a couple stallions bucking over a philly from the past. Oh, man, I hope not for these guys and the team's sakes; that is tough water to put under a bridge. I'm still sore as hell 45 years later about a guy that wrecked things for me and my blue-eyed blind sider in college, even though I should probably thank him for sparing me from having had to live with that kind of heart smasher. There's nothing rational about young love in college. NOTHING! Guys step on other guys toes and think nothing of it, because one of them has never been head over heels, while the other guy is in so deep he can't think clearly anymore! Then their pals feel they have to take sides.

Or maybe the team's just in a little slump. HA!

I don't know what's going on. I am just throwing darts in the dark here.

But something is NOT right...still.

And its going to have to get right pretty quick to save the ship as it is sailing waaaaaaaaay into the Battle of the Philippine Sea, where the kamikazes are going to come fast and furious from here on out.

Rock Chalk!

@kjayhawks

The coach said this was long term.

After all these years folks still don’t really hear him.

The train is leaving the station.

Malik and Vick are subs until they learn to play the new way.

Vick probably is permanently, because he literally cannot bend his knees on defense. His pop is gone and my hunch is he told Self and that’s the driver for restringing the bow.

Malik probably just missed curfew, or a class, or had too much contact with a teammate’s eye.

Malik will be back, but let’s face it: he’s only listed 6-3 which means he is 6-1 or 6-2 tops; that means he will only rarely be able to rebound.

The new scheme requires feeding the post and rebounding first—driving and shooting second.

In the old scheme, Malik was an ideal starter.

In the new scheme, Malik would have to guard and strip like Mario Chalmers to fit in well.

Vick and Malik will get minutes to rest starters and see if their trey guns are warm. But any dogging it and Mitch and Garrett are back in to glue.

@DoubleDD

Nothing you mention sounds fixable.

But don’t worry.

We are going to suck some more before we get this new offensive scheme down.

Gotta get Svi shooting with stereoscopic vision.

Also it will help for Mitch not to have a mouse.

Must be some bad blood being worked through at practices.

I expect more conflict before the herd of horses readjusts the pecking order in the pasture.

As Self said, this is a long term change.

Self is doing all this on purpose, for whatever reason.

It will sink in some more each day for a couple more weeks to these guys that two guys with more stars—Malik and Vick—are reserves permanently now, and would have to learn the new way to play, to play more.

Self schemed for Malik and Vick and now he is scheming for Mitch and Garrett.

Vick and Malik are in shock.

It’s like Trump getting elected.

The adjustment is brutal and irreversible.

All the old ways of thinking have to change.

Everything you thought you could count on? Now you can’t.

“Self has to go back to the old line up of DTG, Newman, Svi, Vick and Doke.”
—@kjayhawks

But he probably won’t.

He doesn’t believe the team can max it’s potential that way.

This new way is the only possibility of maximizing team potential, even if it fails.

Self has made this sort of decision many times, but never this late in a season!

AUDACIOUS!

@CRH107

Great point!

Now, watch THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA again. Remember when the arrogant young John Agar and John Wayne are in the hole on Tarawa ordered not to give away their short handed position and a wounded and dying Marine keeps calling John Wayne’s character’s name: “Stryker! Stryker!”

Agar finally cracks and says he will go get him and that Stryker will have to kill him to stop him. Stryker puts the muzzle of his M1 in Agar’s face and says: “That’s just what I’ll do!!”

Think of Self as Stryker right now. He’s been given a tough assignment, but his job is to do it and get as many through alive as possible.

Self thinks this shorthanded team can’t get the job done the old way.

He has redeployed them in the way that gives them the best chance to pull through.

And anyone that threatens that...well, there is nothing he won’t do.

Self and his players played it this new way and closed to within 4 with 5 or so minutes to go; then backslid into the old offense and completely blew up!

This is always going to happen, a few times when you try something like this.

The question now is does Self have the balls to stay the course and the brains to make it work?

I think Self is going to be very optimistic about what he will see on tape in the stretch when KU closed to 4.

The blow out at the end was ugly, especially to fans that want to stay in their comfort zones, but Self said this was going to be a LONG TERM change, so I’m guessing Self will stay the course and view the ending as his team having to learn a new way to close in this new way to play.

This was a HUGE learning experience!

Did you see the players’ eyes? They all looked scared and confused from the opening tip!!

Malik is utterly baffled about what is happening. Self has taken them completely to a new unfamiliar world.

They are not sure if he is Crazy, or not!

This is absolutely thrilling drama to watch unfold.

I thought we were just going to grind it out and settle for what ever 3pt shooting stats would allow.

But nooooooo!

I love it!!!!

I’m onboard!

We have leaped ahead to Iwo Jima.

All that jungle fighting stuff you thought you mastered? Well, fuggeddaboutit! We are now on an island of volcanic ash, a volcano and endless crags and ravines.

Buckle your chin straps Devil Dogs!

There aren’t any palm trees. No stifling heat. No creepy crawlies!

Welcome to hell, boys!

Sulfur fumaroles! Ash you can’t dig fox holes in. Pill boxes cared out of volcanic rock. Cave networks six stories deep. No where to hide above ground. Every square inch raked with machine guns and knee mortars shooting down hill. Stand up anywhere and get mowed off at the waist.

You say you like to fight?

Well here’s a fight like you never fought before.

Some say it wasn’t even necessary; that we did not even need to learn to fight this way on this lousy rock!

But the brass decided it was necessary.

And they dropped us on this rock.

And there’s no way off now, but to learn to fight this new way and take it!

We fight our way up Suribachi.

The rest of us go one crag at a time through Cushman’s pocket.

See you on the other side of the island.

Any that make it!

Self is doing something else interesting with the 2-1-2 morphing zone.

Often he is turning it into a box and 1 with Doke the 1. Doke goes where ever the opposing post man goes, effectively playing him M2M.

The rest play a 4 man box zone.

This is definitely NOT a traditional match up zone!!!

This is a box and 1 with the center being the 1; that is another defensive first by Self!!

P.S. : They can resort to 4-1 for stretches, but Self decided Kruger proved they can’t sustain 4-1 down a stretch unless they are shorting 45-50 % from trey.

So: they are learning to play the new way.

Self likes the audacity element of von Clausewitz!

And old Carl would love Self’s audacity.

Or else he just plain got bored being made irrelevant by 3pt shooting in the 4-1.

He has elected to retool against weak teams, and opposition weakness is the only thing keeping the Hawks from being blown out by Failor by 20. As it is, they are “only” down 10 to near .500 Failor.

Self’s plan is clear now, even if so far painfully ineffective.

Play a down the middle game with only three scorers (Devonte, Doke down the middle with Svi on a wing for kick outs) and two glue guys that defend and board; this is old 3-2 Okie Ball.

Alas, today Svi has a mouse and can barely see stereoscopically to shoot from treyville, so Malik is stepping up.

These guys are supposed to play hard and guard hard and run the double post.

Malik and Vick are reduced to giving breathers and outside scoring, since they don’t like to board or mix it up, and since Self has no subs for them as starters.

This is Self searching for some offense they can sustain and win with on off-shooting nights and be competitive on the glass with.

Self is trying to create a core offense that they can keep running whether Doke is in or out and still guard and rebound. The 4-1 without Doke was essentially offensively “reboundless”; i.e., no one near enough to glassvac, and on defense defenseless and rebound less.

Put another way, Self tried to make scorers into rebounders with Vick and 6-3 Malik and decided Lon Kruger exposed the buck naked emperor. Poke a Doke and reduce KU to a reboundless bowl of blue jello shooting treys.

So now Self is trying to play Lightfoot and Garrett as glue guys and give more FGAs to only three guys, then spell the glue guys with gunners. In short he is putting Lightfoot, Garrett into glue roles they fit, and putting Malik and Vick into strictly gunner roles because that’s their long suit.

Trying this in February, while in 1st place, or second, with 13 years of titles in the balance, is madness of a high order.

This is genius, if you can stand the pain and uncertainty.

No one ever gets to say again that KU is a prisoner of the title run!

Genius craps out sometimes.

But genius it is.

Why?

Because it would be a better team, if they can learn to play this way before it’s too late.

Who else but Self would gamble a 14 year title run at this moment on such an audacious plan?

No one!

Imagine being his parents.

@justanotherfan

You make a solid case for Lebron’s accomplishments. Wilt struggled whenever he lacked great players, coaching and management, too.

I wish things would converge for Lebron. Maybe he needs to join Joel!

Lebron has suffered from playing in this transitional era, where the petroshoecos and big gaming became old variables at huge new scales that made it difficult for great coaches and GMs to adapt.

Kerr with GS has been great precisely because he brought NO baggage from coaching in the old era. No old contractual baggage either.

We basically lost a generation of GMs and HCs that knew their stuff to the politics of new ownership and politics of shoes.

It’s taken a decade or more—basically Lebron’s career span—to restructure ownership to new big gaming interests and to shoe wars.

Nike finally won.

And NBA ownership appears increasingly adapted to the new convergences of big gaming.

Lebron IMHO is largely a cog in a big regional gaming and finance enterprise leveraging with basketball. There have been more important things in Cleveland than hiring the best players, coaches and GMs. They were marketing Lebron, not championships.

And Lebron had to fit same as Wilt had to fit in his time.

Few great athletes have ever worn so many hats so early.

He reminds me a little of Charlie Chaplin in film. Chaplin was the only one good enough to get the best from Chaplin given the complications of the film business, but you make sooooo many enemies wearing so many hats!!!

But hopefully Lebron will get his Laker years eventually. The still has never had a truly great coach and it’s sad. Riley was as close as he came.

He is a great one.

@Bwag

I've never disliked Lebron, although sometimes I got a little tired of the NBA cow-towing to him the way they did to Michael Jordan. I just like Joel more.

I figure Lebron won two rings with Mario Chalmers and so that makes him okay.

What makes you dislike the player that Bill Self memorably called "the biggest athletic freak on the planet" before Embiid came along?

@dylans

I would prefer Lebron in Golden State to give Joel Embiid and his 76ers some drama on their way to 3-5 rings.

Besides, Lebron deserves some good East Bay weather and decent Sierra Cement skiing that he just can't get in Cleveland.

The only persuasive reason to stay in Cleveland is maybe to cash in on some oil deals down stream, when the Rockefellers finally start pumping some of the crude out from under the Great Lakes. But they don't usually cut many small fry in on their big deals and what with abiotic recharging going on around the world's major oil fields, the Great Lakes may stay untapped quite awhile unless America's first strike nuclear policy can finally get a limited nuclear war untracked in the Middle East and central Asia and so put up a radioactive no mans land that divides Eurasia for a half life of 10,000 years, so that the New One Path/One Road Russia-Chinese Transeurasian Super Corridors don't matter.

What world!

Maybe Lebron will join GS?

@dylans

Thx for the details

I see this more as the Cavs and Lebron laying groundwork to go center shopping.

Embiid and Phillie are probably driving the Cavs to dismantle now to move up in the draft or something.

Or is there a good NBA center with a fat contract they have created salary room for?

Without a center to counter Joel, how can Lebron even get to the Finals to play GS?

Strange days in Cleveland.

Lebron needs a center BAD!

Call it the EMBIID EFFECT!

@CRH107

Fingers crossed for Joe Do.

He seems ready for a shot.

@Blown

Danny’s edge seemed like it might be attracting and coaching big men.

But the game has apparently taken a sharp turn to guards and 3pt shooting, which seems to erode his edge.

Also he has struggled finding top big men to go against TPTB in Conference ESPN.

It is too bad. Ironically, his timing was good for crackingg the upper division. B12-like “parity” has come to C-ESPN, at least outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, where Tony Bennett’s 23-1 Cavs seem strangely to have bucked the conspicuous parity-trend that has hit the rest of C-ESPN and other power conferences.

Interestingly, I have not read anyone connect UVa’s 23-1 tear to a post-tragedy (riots) effect in Charlottesville yet, as happened some with the New Orleans Saints winning the SB after the hurricane (note: I stand with recall revised by @mayjay later in this thread that the Aints didn't win for a few years after the big blow and reputed intentional dyke breaking that lead to so much tragedy).

Whatever, it seems the Deacons have given DMan a fair shot at WF, but it’s been a tough corner to turn.

Still, I cross digits for him, but...

He appears on ice film.

@drgnslayr

I agree with the overthinking idea.

What if it were all nothing more than the appearance of rigging of the March Carney now appearing to spread to conference play?

Hypothesis: Rigging makes bet balancing much easier to achieve all season long.

Bet balancing just doesn’t seem statistically feasible with the disparities in teams, betting fan base sizes, and variables in performances of 18-23 year old men.

It seems like rigging would likely be necessary to smooth costly inefficiencies in bet balancing.

In turn, hypothetical rigging would litter the games with anomalous, counterintuitive ourcomes. It would look like there were a lot of equality/parity among conference teams (ie, several tied for first or second), even though distributions of 4/5-star players was quite asymmetric.

Just a thought.

Ochai Tea keeps KU brewing

Everyone needs to remember TCU was without its best player.

Gunman said:

jaybate 1.0 said:

@BShark

Any win, even a bad one, is a good win for this team right now.

Do we win that game if Vick started? Good job, Bill!

Since Vick played 29 minutes, I reckon yes we would have won with Vick starting and playing 29, too.

I am super excited about Nick Miller at 6-8 and 260.

We badly needed someone to fill Sosinski’s shoes next season on the basketball team!

@drgnslayr

We seem to have peaked back in Morgantown.

Gotta find a new peak soon.

@JayHawkFanToo

Damn, THAT IS her!!!

BG did not learn from Snacks.

Or Wayne Simeon.

Or Norm.

Or Kurtis.

Or Bill.

Lots of roll models.

No learning.

Snacks modeled how to recover and save yourself.

Huna is a problem.

I hope society is ready for more of the good pot will do.

@Kcmatt7

How exactly did Williams guard Svi off the glass?

This Williams must be quite a phenomenal player.

Decent FT denier, too!!

And how did he keep Svi from assisting him senseless, if Williams were coating him like Armorall?

I want this guy Williams on our team!!

Note: I WOULD have been talking about Svi’s desaparecido act, if Malik and Lagereraldo had not gone over the event horizon, too. Maybe even more, give the heightened juxtaposition.

Next, who is Self going to start in place of Malik and Svi, now that Mitch is starting for Lageraldo? I get that Marcus Garrett will replace Svi, but who will take over for Malik? Are we back to Fred? Or has Teahan been practicing really well of late?

Next, Devonte DID look better last night, but...

Does he understand that he just called 7 conference games remaining a marathon?

I get the spirit of it, but here is the truth: it used to be a marathon, but now it IS a sprint!

A warrior needs to understand where he is in a campaign in order to win it.

The 7 games will pass in a blink.

I recall it was @drgnslayr that said “it’s now or never.”

Let her rip Devonte!

Self is going to put Lagerald Vick on Trae Young for 40 minutes and wear Trae down rebounding. Trae Young does not know what he is in for come the KU-OU game. Lagerald will take his 1 carom for the game and absolutely MAKE Young rebound ALL the KU misses. By ten to go in the second half, Trae will have about 23 rebounds and be so tired from clearing the glass that he will be unable to make a basket down the stretch.

Take away the home whistle, and KU likely lost another one.

TCU got a measly 15 FTAs compared with KU's 23 FTAs.

What if TCU had gotten another 8 FTAs just to be charitable? What if they went on a tear and made all eight of them?

Well, KU won by 7, give TCU 8 made FTs and, its TCU by 1.

Egads!

The good news?

There's actually quite a lot in a dark, Lovecraftian sort of way.

KU won, despite the apparitions of tentacle faced ancients haunting their every step and dribble tonight.

KU only got out rebounded by 1.

Devonte played decent, but not great.

Udoka got a lot of dunks, 11 boards, and actually played 25 hard minutes.

KU actually got some production from Lightfoot and Garrett--not a tidal wave, but a lot more than goose eggs.

KU won despite Svi, Malik and Lagerald being arguably unable to hit their own heads with the basketball.

MALIK NEWMAN GOT FIVE ASSISTS!!!!!! (And I have it on authority from the nether regions that Satan has an ice rink and the snow pack in hell is now 5 inches).

What was bad? Anything?

Lagerald Vick was punished with 29 minutes.

Lagerald Vick only got 1 board in 29 minutes. Helen Keller with a blindfold and ear muffs on could get 1 board in 29 minutes! Lagerald looks like he is under mind control, whenever the ball comes off the rim. Lagerald does not seem to grasp the urgency of his, or the team's, needs in this regard. Let me put this in perspective for Lagerald. Malik Newman got SIX glassvacs. SIX!!! And Malik was missing shots hand over foot. Malik Newman gets it. When they aren't falling, go find some thing else to be helpful around the house!!!!

Was there another bad?

YES!

Svi seemed to have contracted the dread do-nothing virus Identified by jaybate's Center for Basketball Disease Control as LVick-1 adenovirus. Svi played 36 minutes and took a whopping TWO FGAs. He got a whopping 3 glassvacs. At the rate Svi was hustling the glass, he could played three 36 minute games and still not broken into double figures on rebounding, and he would have had a total of 6 FGAs in those three 36 minute games. My 82 year old grandmother literally once did score more baskets in 108 minutes than Svi Mykailiuk did.

Was there another bad?

I am going to say this just this one time. I would rather put my eyes out with USMC government issue Ka-Bar fighting knife than watch Ukoka shoot another FT. I don't care if he was 4-7 again. I have taken a vow for the rest of the season. I keep a government issue black, 100 Percent wool watch cap in my lap and any time Udoka shoots a FT, I am pulling the cap on my head and down over my eyes, so I do not have to see that wrist twist again.

So: great victory boys.

A win in the Solomons campaign is a win.

Rock Chalk!

EDIT: You know, I've thought about the above post, and it is too negative and critical. I am proud of the players for bouncing back and finding a way to win one, on a night that Svi, Malik, and Lagerald were struggling. The team pulled together and fought for a win that was a must. Hats off to ya, boys. This is Solomons and no wins look very pretty in this jungle. But the fighting Jayhawks found a way, and that's what counts. Rock Chalk again!

@BShark

Any win, even a bad one, is a good win for this team right now.

@Fightsongwriter

Thanks for the first hand observations.

We need them.

I will watch those three players more closely in the TCU game.

@drgnslayr

5 days off apparently wasn’t enough time for Graham’s leg to return to normal function even with the hot wire firing his muscles for him. He was dragging his left leg and not taking on much air on his drives even at tip off.

Vick also looked effectively pop-free even after 5 days.

And what is scary is both these.guys were phenomenally quick and explosive for entire games before mid January. Remember the consecutive 30 point games by DG and flurry of 20 point games by Vick.

Now even after 5 days they have no pop and Devonte labors for 17 measly points! And Vick throws near goose eggs!

Maybe these guys need surgeries and a few months off?

I keep hoping it’s just two slumps, but...

wissox said:

@DanR You need to pick new friends!

PHOF

@dylans

Here. Here.

REHawk said:

Aw NUTS! We just need more wins, fewer losses!

And we are going to get one very soon from Trae and OU.

But first we must put on the brass knuckles for Jamie Dixxon's Horned Hoppers.

@HighEliteMajor

Wooden lost Jabbar and again Walton. Both times he said it would be good to get back to trying to win games instead of trying not to lose games.

I think the peace you feel is this.

Making the best of great advantage is good.

But so is making the best of disadvantage.

Greatness comes from both.

If we receive it.

Greatness lies in achieving as much of your potential as you can.

This team has greatness in its grasp as surely as any other.

Time will tell.

@Jayballer54

First, your post is much needed. Our KU CULTURE and our national culture have habituated half-baked over-reaction, because of State of Fear propaganda for 17 years (and counting) trying to keep us all too emotional to organize to support an alternative to government by Deep State. The silly outbursts are evidence of persons unable to think that are just arcing like down wires after a storm.

Second, most KU fans at the other sites now view the Jayhawks as entertainment, rather than as sport. They don’t want to savor and understand the game. They watch them like an episode of a drama; I.e., strictly for stimulation. They don’t know what makes us win, or lose. They can’t appreciate an undermanned team finding ways to win, or bouncing back from adversity. It’s all Win-stim, or Lose-Stim.

Third, I come to this site, because there are aliases here that want to experience the game—the wins and losses, as something richer and deeper than stimming. I quit going to the others, because I did not want anymore uncut doses of Win-stimming, or Lose-stimming. We occasionally slip into it here, but even at our worst we have a critical mass of thoughtful aliases that nudge back to ground.

Finally, thinking isn’t for everyone. It’s something I have had to accept over the years. But it’s for anyone that wants. You don’t have to be a genius to think. You’ve just got to want to.

“This team is not going to ever make us comfortable. We know we can beat anyone. We can legitimately lose a 15/2 game and it would not be shocking. That’s a pretty wide berth.

It’s almost a peaceful feeling.”
—@HighEliteMajor

You nutshelled it.

@CRH107

Most definitely that was the complaint.

This year we are learning about REAL shorthandedness.

Persons that talk about other teams playing 7 man rotations are missing the likelihood that in many of those cases the coach has 3-4 more players down the bench that could contribute if he wanted to use them.

Self has 7. And 6 and 7 are rarely productive.

Self is the only HOF coach of the last 20 years that I can recall being in such a bad situation. And somehow, miraculously, he’s tied for first as late as the first week of February.

These players of his badly want this 14th ring for him. They are playing on fumes mostly.

Fans have to acknowledge how much valor we are witnessing.

These guys can’t foul.

They can’t make mistakes.

They can’t come out of games.

They have to play sick AND injured.

They have to play with bad matchups.

They have produce near peak or lose.

I love this team’s courage.

They are way outside their envelope taking best shots and they just keep clawing and scratching toward the next bunker.

@KUSTEVE

Agreed that every year there are a few bad games. It goes with Self's philosophy of performances:

1/3 good

1/3 middling

1/3 bad

When one assumes this sort of normal distribution of performance, and the randomness of it, one also take on the random overlapping of various levels of the performance distribution.

Over 35-40 games, several of the guys 1/3 bad games are going to coincide in a perfect storm of bad game.

The reason being shorthanded is so bad, from a statistical standpoint, is that when you have more good players to try each game, you have more possibilities of finding guys that are not sucking that day. But even with a ten deep roster, over the course of 40 games, you're going to have a perfect storm stinker once, or twice.

Another way shorthandedness impacts that we just don't have any guys on the bench that even on good days can come in and replace the productivity of our starters. Hence, any day when two starters are struggling, we are very close to an L. Period.

Compare this with a deeper team. Two starters struggle. Two subs come in and only one is productive. Well, that still means Self still has four productive players out of five and that means he can almost always scheme around one struggler. For instance, its easy for one struggler to become just a glue man. That doesn't work this year. KU needs all of its starters to be scoring in double figures to really have a good chance of winning against most teams.

And so on.

There is not substitute for a well rounded and deep team over the long haul. It doesn't mean you will go all the way, but it means you will have a lot fewer losses at home and on the road from flame outs.

As usual, teams that shoot treys more efficiently, and rebound better, while doing everything else about the same as opponents tend to win. Even inspite of the home team getting a home whistle!

OSU was +13 on the glass.

OSU shot 44.4% 3pt.

KU shot 36.4% 3pt.

Thus, despite KU storming back, KU came up 5 short.

Devonte was better today. Maybe he is getting used to playing 40 minutes operable? He shot it less. Made more. Stripped more. Even looked sharp on 8 assists. But frankly DG didn't look very good on defense early or late. NOTE: HIS LEFT LEG APPEARS CYBERNETIC.

Svi was worse. He went Brickailiuk finally from trey on 2-9 and made a glaringly bad TO late to stymie the comeback. But he ,kept playing hard, snagged 5 alassvacs and 4 assists.

Doke was programmed to score 30-40 today, but instead got fouled up and got 20 efficiently, but only played 21 minutes. This drove his rebounding down to 5. Not. Enough. Doke deserves strokes for 4-7 from the line.

Lagerald Vick, after a stellar 2/3 of a season, has entered into, dare I say it? A mother of all slumps reminiscent of Brady Morningstar's monster slump. (pause while I put on my anti-brick-bat helmet). LaCobra still has the hooded, flared trapezius look--the Basketball equivalent of Thomas "hit man" Hearns--the Motor City Cobra albeit on pipe cleaners. But...

Lagerald no makey from closely and no makey from farrey.

Lagerald makey 3 pop tarts.

Lagerald get no strippies.

Selfie no likey 34 minutes of a hooded cobra with no fangs.

Lagerald is about to find out just how long starting an entire season can feel in February.

February is GRIND time.

February is when boys are separated from men.

Malik Newman continues to cruise along scoring and rebounding efficiently, so long as Bill keeps asking Vick to do all the dirty work and Elmer's chores and let's Malik just kind of glide around in his 1-man offensive world. Malik got his 16 points efficiently, and he got his 5 boards dutifully, but notice the assists = 0, steals = 0, and blocks = 0. Self is old school. Anyone can and should get 16 and 5 in 34 minutes if they don't lift a finger to do any other team chores. Self loved on Malik lately, because Malik was doing a lot around the house, not just scoring and grabbing stray caroms. I doubt Self is going to be quite so warm and fuzzy about today after peaking at the video.

Mitch? down arrow. 18 minutes of nothing horrible, but marginal productivity. Mitch has to do more for this team to weather Doke's foul ups.

Marcus Garrett got 14 minutes and did a Mitch. Nothing horrible, but no productivity either.

De Sousa = 1 minute. Apparently practice is not building coaching trust yet.

THE TAKE AWAY: Self sent them out without an AMP in hopes of stealing one at home with a home whistle, Doke pivoting for near dunks, and some decent trey shooting. He got the whistle, only 21 minutes of Doke, and the shooting was pretty bad.

Expect an AMP for TCU. They HAVE to win this TCU game. PERIOD!

This TCU game will be the latest test of this team's character. Their backs are now to the wall. Jamie Dixon will make sure this is a seriously physical game. The Birds have to find a way once they get ashore. Its not the way Sun Tzu says to win, but I am doubtful Self can give them a wrinkle pre-game to buy them this game.

This is like New Britain in the Solomons Campaign. The Army fought this battle, not the Marines. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war. The US Army tried to wage it their way--the Army way. But the butchery and swamps soon dragged them down in to battles just like the Devil Dogs had been fighting elsewhere. Army soldiers after being savaged badly, began resort to tactics instead of strategies and began to fight one pill box at a time. Army soldiers became supreme jungle fighters same as the Devil Dogs had become. This was an island engagement of ferocious butchery on both sides. It was after this battle for New Britain that the Japanese found themselves faced with the worst of all possible worlds. A Navy-Marine column of attack through the Central Pacific and an Army-Navy column of attack up through the southwest Pacific. And both were hardened jungle fighters no longer fearing the Japanese superiority in that kind of warfare, but rather eagerly wanting to kill every Japanese in their paths...whatever it took.

Our guys proved a while back they could fight this way.

But they are going to have to prove it again now in a bigger engagement.

No R and R now.

Resupply, redeploy and fight.