🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Post Script:

One more thought about what triggered Mitch's break out.

Five words: Devonte bashing and Devonte driving.

Self decided to win it by playing through Devonte and driving Devonte quite a lot. In anticipation of Self's use of Devonte, Dixon was giving Devonte very physical treatment and Dixon was using a lot of big man hedging on Devonte and scraping Devonte off on the other end with a lot of back screens with his bigs. That translates to asking a lot of his bigs on both ends over 40 minutes and it also triggers lot of situations with Dixon's bigs being away from the basket and away from Mitch. Finally, it meant that even with rotating two bigs, Dixon's not particularly great leapers were getting leg fatigue.

So: Mitch had some day light, because Self decided to ritually sacrifice Devonte's body on driving to maximize the likelihood of stealing one on the road and avoiding losing two straight so early in the conference circle bird, er, round robin.

To project what Mitch might do versus ISU, one has also to ask then: how will Self use Devonte? Will he dare to sacrifice his body again for 38 minutes to get 28 driving the hard way, and so pre-occupy ISU bigs, and thus give Mitch more daylight?

Or will Self turn Devonte back into a distributor and try to win the game at the wings with Vick and Garrett/Newman?

If Self decides to win it on the wings, with both wing driving, and weaving, and popping the triceratops, I am not sure Mitch will be left as alone as when Self is playing through Devonte; other things equal that could translate to less room to work for Mitch.

On the other hand, Self's brilliance may help him find a way play through the wings in a way that does force the opponent into hedging with their bigs on wing driving. If so, then Mitch could find himself with as much if not more daylight.

Common sense suggest Self will at least try to play through his wings against ISU to cut Devonte some slack.

On the other hand, if the wings are not up to the challenge, Self will probably quickly default to Devonte body sacrifice in order to get the home win. Home wins are requirements from here on.

I saw this one coming, but...

Guard against over optimism and over expectation.

Players improve gradually and that improvement accrues.

The accrued improvements often lie in latency waiting for a favorable match up to come into view.

I did not expect Mitch to break out, because he is suddenly a hyper talent coming out of a funk.

I figured the guy has been working his butt off, he's been getting serial dabs of fire baptism; then Doke's back blew up, and Mitch found himself in several matchups (first and second strings of TCU bigs) that he was suited to hang with. None of TCU's bigs he faced were real Dixon style bruisers of the kind he used to bang with at Pitt. The TCU bigs were slightly more experienced versions of Mitch; i.e., what Mitch could be in anos tre y quatro, senores.

So: when you combine matchups that didn't automatically blow him out, with the Oral Roberts of basketball coaching coming to Mitch pregame in a dire, must-win road situation, early in the conference season and laying on of coaching hands, and telling Mitch "son, you really can leap tall buildings in a single bound, and I recruited you for exactly this kind of situation, don't let your teammates down," well, the timing seemed right.

Unlike TCU, I haven't seen the Bomb Cyclones bigs this season, so I don't know what to expect from actual match ups.

We can be sure that if Iowa State's bigs are similar in morphology and skill level that Mitch will fare about the same. His accrued development means he could maintain that level of play against those kinds of bigs. But...

If ISU is sporting prison body bigs cut from the WVU cloth, or if they are bringing a footer with them, or a near footer with a lot of back to the basket moves, then it would be rational to expect Mitch's line score to drop back down to a sound floor game with more goose eggs than impacts.

Mitch, like most other first year in the rotation bigs, is a work in progress that shows well when the match ups are just right and not otherwise. Its not a knock on him. Its just how it is.

A big man has to get very sound and very strong, and very assured to handle bad match ups with aplomb.

@REHawk

Coach, just between us, as I age, it gets harder to connect to the deep spirit of the game that triggers posting onslaughts.

Aging is something I have tried to do gracefully, and I am at peace with the almighty. So: I don't really mind getting old on most levels, for it beats hell out of the alternative. And I dig the joy of learning as much as ever.

But the part of aging I hate with a passion is the repetitive discovery and, so, reinforced knowing of the darkness, not after death, but in the human soul of some of those at the highest levels manipulating our leaders; that part of aging callouses the heart and makes is difficult to connect with the life force that makes life so worth living.

Yet we cannot be the change we seek, if we let our hearts harden.

And the bad guys strategy is always to harden us with such dark knowledge to cut us off from the life force, and then dissociate us with trauma and fill our brothers and sisters with fake explanations. It is a cruel strategy lady justice has not found a way to counter balance yet.

Some days the only thing that knock the callouses off are the beautiful and undoubtful doings of some basketball players and basketball coaches going about their business on the sacred wood.

Its strange that the game is as essential to me now, as it was, when I was 8...only in a different way.

I pity those that let go of it just because it gets hard to access that deepest level of the game, or that never dare to.

But I confess, what used to come easy, comes harder now.

Still and all, I don't resort to substances to stimulate the connection.

That would be cheating.

I get there the old fashioned way.

I care.

Rock Chalk!

Comedians know there are acts you do NOT want to follow.

Sam Kinison was one.

He burned down the club and then blew it up as he left. The next comic walked into a charred crater of laugh destruction in front of the standard brick wall. The next comic might as well have put on a blind fold and asked for a last cigarette. He was as unlikely to top Kinison, as a mountaineer was to climb higher than Sir Edmund Hillary. It doesn't get any higher than Everest.

So: Frank Mason was a rags to riches story perhaps unprecedented in college basketball history. He backs out of a commitment to Towson State, comes to KU, fights through the great players and tradition of the cradle of college basketball coaching AND IMHO college basketball, where the court is named after a coach and AD that invented the flipping game, and the former nowhere man of Towson State becomes legendary for mental toughness, clutch performance comparable to George Brett at the bat, and physical endurance approaching that of Merrill's Marauders. Frank balled two teams to 30 win seasons and hyper-balled himself to NPOY and an early jersey hang. Then as if to say, while standing at a roulette wheel in sucker town, and already way ahead in chips, he said, let it all ride on crimson and watch me take it to Lebron in the L.

You can't make that sort of shizzle up!

Excellence in any field is a tough act to follow.

Just ask Bill Self.

Roy, despite his masked recruiting "issues," and failure to win the big one, and a deceitful exit, was nonetheless awarded the deity treatment by most in KU basketball, when the Edmonton Kid rode into town grinning and spinning about how the high-low game of Eddie and Hank and Bill were going to keep KU on the map despite the incredible 15 year run of 80% winning by Roy and his "Carolina System." Self ignored his dad's loving (and sage) advice to turn down the KU job, because those KU fans would never be satisfied with anything short of perfection. Self, to put it bluntly, walked into a great and storied basketball program at one of its peaks and said angels may fear to tread here, but I don't.

Self, you see, had looked out of the wrong end of a rebuilding telescope once at ORU, and knew first hand how: a.) lucky he had been to survive that career move; and b.) how much better it was later to start with something, rather than nothing, and when possible, with a lot rather than a little. The Edmonton Kid had been educated in side the protective walls of Gallagher-Iba Cathedral, where the Okie Baller faithful understood and cherished what few beyond the sacred spring of Stillwater had even heard of. They loved you in Stillwater, even when the team sucked. The Edmonton kid became Friar Bill and soaked up Oklahoma Hard Scrabble in the Basketball Gothic Monastery of Arch Bishop Iba, while assisting both Bishop Sutton and Father Leonard, and then as is the habit of the Okie Baller basketball order, was sent packing, ordained as Father Bill, into the basketball wilderness of Tulsa twice, for a little trial by rebuilding fire under the fundamentalist gaze of a man suitably named after the human oriffice from which the word of god emits--Oral Roberts. Bill learned from Henry Iba and Oral Roberts--two men who had followed the toughest acts in their respective fields--Iba against Allen, and Roberts against two thousand years of Catholic Popes and 400 years of Reformation Protestant ministers, especially Martin Luther--and held his own in an oil town in a state created with the snap of a finger by Thomas and Andrew Mellon. The Edmonton Kid hereafter known as Coach Bill learned that tough acts can be followed, if one is really good, and if one works really hard, and if one eats struggle for breakfast, lunch, dinner and communion.

Thus, a stage was set by a most unforeseeable chain of events to give one, young, mop topped, baby faced, child-man his own epic sized cross to bear, and greatest opportunity to overcome adversity and so become a champion of the human spirit and a peer, maybe even a transcender of demigods, like Frank Mason.

Without Roy Williams sterling precedent, Bill Self would not have even had a chance to show us all the difference between great and greater.

Without Frank Mason's incredible performance at the point, and the luxuries of a relatively speaking "full complement" of players Frank in retrospect enjoyed, Devonte Graham would have no chance to awaken us to the insight that another level of greatness beyond Frank could even exist.

Its like the basketball gods looked down at Devonte Graham and said, "this young man has the greatness within him, but it is the kind of greatness that cannot reveal itself by giving him exactly what Frank Mason had and then showing the disbelievers that he is as good as Frank. We basketball gods understand mere humans and demigods. We understand that mere humans are spoiled by their demigods we grant them. We basketball gods understand that spoiled humans want to be taken ever higher, even when there is nowhere higher to go, until they leave their mortal coil. So: in our infinite wisdom, we created more and more impossible situations, greater and greater obstructions, more and more seemingly insurmoutable problems, for the demigods we grant to inform and inspire the mere humans with. This year we give them accrued costs of recruiting asymmetry AND injury AND more good conference teams AND the long shadow of Frank Mason, and we say; human beings, listen all ye who are spoiled and of little faith, see how Devonte Graham toils against all odds in a way even Frank Mason never had to do. Notice how Devonte throws down 28 points even on a bad shooting night when his only strategic advantage--Udoka Azubuike--is taken from him by the same dark devils from the nether regions that once took Joel Embiid. See how Devonte has had to lead a team that broke and ran on him in a way that never happened to Frank and has had to look down into depths of his own soul that he and most others have never even glimpsed! See how despite more plagues and problems than Jonah faced even after being swallowed by a stinking whale, Devonte Graham has lead the short handed band of irregulars we gods have bestowed upon him, to an .800 W&L Statement and a tie for second place, whilst being only one game out of first. And see how Devonte has done this against a highly ranked power conference and how he lead his team to some victories over elite programs during pre-conference. And give this young mop-topped demigod some cred for doing it all as we keep taking more and more away from him, and taunting him with not clearing big men he desperately needs even as we animate his coach to talk positively after each game about their imminent arrival. This, you mere humans, is the stuff of greatness happening before your eyes. Any demigod point guard can marshall a full complement of starters and rotation players to a 14th consecutive conference championship and a deep run in the asymmetrically seeded and whistled March Carney. Any demigod could do that. What we basketball gods have done is meticulously confronted young Graham with a challenge for the ages. Maybe it is the only challenge that could awaken the feeble eyed and demented one you humans call jaybate 1.0 (what kinda damned alias name is that any way?) to the extraordinariness of Devonte Graham. Behold the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune we cast down upon Graham and see how he surmounts most, and demonstrates his resilient character time after time. Truly, he has been given the opportunity of a life time and is making the best of it. You mere mortals should savor it, relish it, respect it!!!!!"

There's no easy way off The Canal.

Rock Chalk, Devonte Graham!

approxinfinity said:

from rags to mitches! 99 problems but a mitch aint one! #mitchismo!

PPHOF

(posting pun hall of fame)

Go, @approxinfinity, go!!!

Tip of the cap to all.

Now think NEXT.

After losing at home to Chris "High Plains Drifter" Beard and his Lagos terrorizers from Lubbock, stealing a road win in Fort Worthless from the Hopping Disciples of Christ coached by a man whose head doubles as a road stripe on two lane black, well, that was a HUGE win-theft on Conference Highway 14.

But it would've been an L without the spontaneously combustible trifectation and the ritual body sacrificing of Devonte.

Winning with hot trey shooting is not proof of getting better. Its proof of getting hotter.

And hotter we got.

But we gotta get better, mi amigos.

We gotta find a stop button on the defensive dashboard, or our rig is going to keep bouncing out of control every game we get the chills.

For god's sake, though, it surely was good to see Mitch turn from tenderfoot to Lightfoot and go into blocking heat. SIX BLOCKS! OH. MY. GOTTERDAMMERUNG. And 26 minutos did not seem to phase our man en flambe either. What kind of a nickname befits a 6-8 210 pound post man? Paint the Pinto Postman? Let's just say way to go, Mitch.

Mitch's break out was most fortuitous due to Doke's break down game. Doke played his only uninspired game of the season, and between you and me, Doke seemed like Joel Embiid with a bad back. SHUDDER!!!! Please, basketball gods, don't let ANOTHER gifted KU footer get the lumbar blues for the rest of the season.

Devonte got 28 the hard way. Yes, he was .500 (3-6) from trey, and yes he doing a Talking Head thing burning down the house from the Free Throw line (13-15), but that glaring 3 of 10 from inside the trey stripe made clear how hard the Hoppers were working him over on his dribble drives. To drive was to dive. I hope the trainers are able to hyper therapeut the D-Man, because its only three days till the Bomb Cyclones blow into Larryland for 40 more minutes of Graham cracker crunch.

Marcus Garrett finally forced these old failing eyes to see what my fellow Band of Bucketeers have been proclaiming for quite some time now. Garrett goes about his business without flash, but with dash. Garrett is a "getter done" kind of guy that Self loves, and that Self is rarely wrong about. Garrett brought not only his usual defense but a sizable dose of rebounding to his wing in a way that Malik Newman cannot yet do. He also seemed to fit in, to manage the daunting team situation with calm and grace and lunch pail purposefulness.

Speaking of Malik, the devolution continued. Malik seems to have STARTED his KU career in the Mother of All Slumps; this is a first in my recollection. This slump of his is so epic it might not end until after he leaves KU. Malik we hardly knew ye, is something I do not want to ever have to say, but its seems he and we are still moving that direction. Say it ain't so, Bill. Say you will find the right set of buttons to push, and your trainers and docs will find the right set of therapies, to make this guy who not only passes the eye test, but looks like a candidate for an NBA logo of a ball player, when he walks around the wood, say you will make him ball with the best. But, damn, when he starts PLAYING something seems out of whack STILL. I don't really see the limp of a foot injury to blame it on, but the foot injury story has never been retracted that I recall. By the process of elimination, and based on my own experience, I smell lingering effects of a brain concussion. Whatever, it sure would be nice for Malik to get better. This man needs some saving. Each season I pick one player NOT to give up on, even though part of me wants to. This season Malik is that player. Prepare for an inappropriate amount of moral support (and beyond eye test criticism) for Newman from me in the coming weeks. Malik, survival on The Canal is tough for everyone. Eyes on the prize. Even if your head doesn't quit hurting till April, one foot in front of the other and keep humping through the tall grass. There are many more battles before we get off this rock.

Svi played more within himself and his numbers and game restored to net positives, after his out of control flailing versus Tech.

With Doke and Malik walking wounded, the new motto for this team may be "Thin and Thinner."

Let's be real here. Even with the great outside shooting and ritual body sacrifice of Devonte, and break out by Mitch and the increased level of quality contribution by Marcus, and Svi playing within himself again, I still have no flipping idea how Self coached what amounts to half a team to a road win against a decent opponent with an opposing coach that wanted to will a win so bad he could taste it.

This KU team is now mylar thin in front court and paper thin in back court.

Self is a genius, yes, but he is something more. The squad broke and ran against the Red Raiders. Somehow he got the squad to regain its manhood, its poise, to a level sufficient to allow win-theft on the road. Most coaches have a hard time taking a full complement of players into an opposing gym and stealing a W. Self just did it with a recently routed bunch of walking wounded. He, or they, "re-moralized" this team. I don't think I've ever seen a team crack wide open in a game they were supposed to win and needed to win and a few days later come recover from the disarray find a way in hostile territory.

His remaining players must have great hearts and tremendous character not to sink irreversibly into demoralization from the adversity they are facing.

This team just kept Henderson Field operational against a reinforced opponent. Hot shooting, or not, that kind of resilient resourcefulness counts for something.

They are headed to Lawrence on the Matanikau River next.

Don't let the home floor fool you.

Its going to get tougher.

Much tougher.

But this is one resilient bunch of leathernecked Jayhawks.

Goddamned, my dad would have loved these guys at this moment.

I would have been hanging my head and saying, "Dad, there's no way. Doke can't even jump. God only knows what's wrong with Newman."

He'd have looked at me with those cool blue eyes that had seen so much blood and death.

And he wouldn't have hesitated.

Difficult comes easy...Impossible takes a little longer.

Rock Chalk!

Sempre Fi.

Do or die.

Every try.

@Bwag

Huggins seems to have some kind of deep state bargain with the refs in Morgantown.

By break out game, I'm just hoping 8/6.

After watching the Mountaineers put the Kruger Sooners in their places in Morgantown, its going to be tough for OU to beat them in Norman.

Trae's a very good guard, but WVU really locked the rest of OU down.

@tundrahok

I was thinking by April.

The kid's hair is almost as thin as Kruger's!!!

Just testing you!

What is the latest scuttlebutt?

Every game, same question?

No substantive progress reported for a long time now.

What is the latest scuttlebutt?

@Gorilla72

In a just system, a player should get more eligibility for such long delays.

approxinfinity said:

@jaybate-1.0 excellent! thanks for the update. I'll tell the NSA backed Chinese hackers to stop messing with your account.

Howling!

PHOF!

@approxinfinity

The issue appears to have resolved itself. Thanks.

jaybate 1.0 said:

@BShark

I am with you and @wissox. Conspiracies are for suckers, as @wissox already said. I can reinforce what he wrote even WITHOUT my java.

What appears to be being done to shaft KU on recruiting, if it in fact were being done, would apparently be being done entirely legally, i.e., without actionable conspiracy, or KU would have taken legal action, right? We are talking about a KUAD with television, gate and Petroshoeco Endorsement revenues of considerable size and import to Self, KUAD and KU. There appears no way that KU would knowingly tolerate a conspiracy that threatened its revenues by starving it of crucial recruits at the 1 and 5, if it were legally possible to bring action to eliminate that risk.

Its so simple in some ways.

THERE. APPEARS. TO. BE. NO. CONSPIRACY. TO. SHAFT. KU. RECRUITING. AT. THE. 1. AND. 5.

KU recruiting appears to be being shafted legally, if at all, based on an appearance of a shortfall of 5-star 1s and 5s the last 8 years, when compared with the appearance at other elite programs.

I don't know why this appearance is so hard for persons to process.

I don't understand why so many wish to explain it naively as a conspiracy, or perhaps even more naively as just random occurrence, or perhaps most naively of all, as a product of KU's inclement winter weather. Doesn't anyone notice how improbable those explanations appear after 8-9 years? OMG!

FWIW, Kentucky has never been down to six credible D1 players that I recall, except when those six were all OADs/TADs and even then UK had enough back ups to rest them, when fouled up, suffering wear and tear, or just in need of a blow. Oh, and that 2012 UK champion had an OAD 1 and an OAD 5. And I'm not talking here about the peak dump truck years of UK and Duke, when they were 10+- deep in OAD/TADs either. I'm talking about their 8-year averages at the 1 and 5 versus KU's 8-year average at the 1 and 5--arguably the most decisive positions year in and year out for winning rings.

No other elite program I can recall has gone through a comparable extended drought of OAD/5-star 1s and 5s that Self and KU have gone through, since winning the ring in 2008, while winning 82-84% of their games afterwards. Not one. We're not talking here about Coach K, or Cal, or Roy, having a rare off year, because a top player got injured, or some guys jumped earlier than expected, or a scandal scared a few recruits away once season. We're talking a nearly 9 year drought of OAD 1s and 5s, and really not even any 5-star 1s and 5s, unless you consider Selby a 1, which Self did not, and the guy was hardly a lottery choice after KU!!!

And the two 5-star 1s Self has reportedly signed for next season? Based on Self's experience with recent 5-star 5s like Alexander, Diallo and Preston (so far), what does anyone think the chances really are that both of his 5-star point guards that broke his 5-star drought either: a.) become OADs; or b.) actually both arrive and start, or even play 20 mpg next season? Self apparently signed Charlie Moore--a third PG--for insurance. Why? Self is not stupid. It appears he understood that the chances of signing both 5-star 1s was slim, given his shortfall since 2008, and that them showing up, getting cleared, and having no baggage was another significant risk.

I don't really see Self having signed Alexander, Diallo and Preston, who barely impacted KU at all, as having broken the drought. I see them for what they appear to have been--5-stars with baggage--enough baggage to impair their abilities to contribute in a big way to KU basketball the way most other elite programs' OAD 1s and OAD 5s have impacted their programs most of the time over the last 8-9 years. (Note: it is still too soon to say what will come of the Billy Preston situation. Hopefully, he is situation will turn out to be a terrible misunderstand and signal a turn of the tide, but so far, had not played any regular season games that I recall, and it is now January.)

I also don't really see one recruiting class of signing two 5-star 1s that haven't even shown up and played a second of D1, as proof positive that the drought has broken either, do you? They are light, but is it baggage train approaching, or a the wide open spaces of recruiting symmetry at the 1 and 5?

We have to get board rats past this bogus notion of conspiracies.

Conspiracies really are often for suckers. The CIA has been proving that since Judicial Watch, or whomever, showed that The Company started meming "conspiracy" back at the time of the Warren Commission through its apparently controlled media. We've got to stop acting like mind controlled sheep and start acting like responsible free men and women trying to govern ourselves and trying to understand our world rationally. We have to start dealing with at least the appearance of reality again in politics AND sports, rather than ignoring the appearance of reality, and instead resorting to these silly reductions of discourse to characterization as either being conspiracy or not conspiracy.

A mind, as the United Negro College Fund used to say, is a terrible thing to waste.

CONSPIRACIES ARE FOR SUCKERS.

CONSPIRACIES ARE FOR SUCKERS.

CONSPIRACIES ARE FOR SUCKERS.

Its the appearance of legal strategies that everyone has to begin recognizing, focusing on, evaluating, and exploring possible feasible counter strategies to, in order to get on with building KU Basketball to be the best it can be.

Rock Chalk!

Oddly, I find myself locked out of editing my post, so I have taken the liberty of editing it in this fashion. I want to emphasize that the situation with Billy Preston is unresolved and that his situation hopefully WILL turn out to have been a misunderstanding and Preston, a Jayhawk and a player of great promise, could turn out to be a drought breaker for KU's efforts to sign OAD/5-star caliber players. Each game that the camera's show Billy Preston sitting at the game, I see exactly the kind of player KU needs in the paint and a player that appears a credit to his team. I really admired his mom coming out in his defense and pointing out that she could have removed him from the team back in November, when all of this stuff surfaced, but that in paraphrase they are standup persons that wished to deal with this situation honorably and with good faith to KU. This appears the kind of parent and player that KU needs to associate with and to attract to the program. For their sakes, I hope this all works out for the best for them and for KU.

Rock Chalk, Billy Preston and Billy's Mom!

There are a lot of different opinions about why KU has experienced an apparent shortfall of OAD/5-star 1s and 5s in comparison to other elite programs the last 8-9 years since KU 2008 ring team.

There are a lot of different opinions about what the drivers are of the current lack of depth of of this year's KU Jayhawk men's basketball team.

There are a lot of different opinions about whether reinforcements will EVER arrive, and whether those reinforcements would really make a contribution, if they ever arrived.

Alas, while the debates continue, we fans must, unfortunately, find coping mechanisms for dealing with the peril the team faces the rest of the season, due to a "thin" front court and a 4- man perimeter that routinely plays 35-40 mpg against even mid rank majors like Texas Tech.

Here are some coping suggestions for the coming months.

1. Find a superb tea blend that masks the taste of bulk, powdered oxycodone.

2. Distract oneself from the middle 20 minutes of each game with a game of solitaire and serial bong rips, (but only if one lives in a state where pot is now legal).

3.While listening to Annie Lennox and the Eurythmics wail "Would I Lie to You, Honey?" Consult a licensed tarot card reader and ask for KU's fortune against the day's opponent.

1. Whenever KU does not have a comfortable lead with ten to go, begin IV drip of Diprivan.

2. Keep a large assortment of comfort food in a lockable safe until Udoka Azubuike gets fouled up, then gorge oneself till the final buzzer.

3. Learn to oil paint real time still life's of KU walking the ball up the floor.

4. Learn to appreciate the fine points of player lingerie.

5. Savor one time vertically explosive athletes learning to play a horizontal game.

6. Practice dribbling blindfolded during Azubuike free throw attempts.

7. Start a betting pool at the office about how many times Svi will get beaten to baseline.

8. Offer a slice of crimson and blue cheese cake to the person that correctly guesses how many minutes it will take Devonte to run out of gas.

9. Use a square foot of 5/8" plywood covered with memory foam to head bang on each time Clay Young has to come in a game.

10. (Thirteen is an unlucky number and so no coping mechanism with that number will be supplied in a season when KU needs all the luck it can get, and so does a fan.)

11. Make an altar of support lingerie and set it on fire just prior to tip-off to appease the injury gods.

12. Grit your teeth and show determination.

(Note: all fiction. No malice.)

drgnslayr said:

Anyone else see this?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/othercolleges/2018/01/03/matt-scott-ex-arizona-qb-sean-miller-got-away-paying-players/1001624001/ ↗

Oh, my, might this be why the UA coach appears to perspire so much? Just kidding.

No, I missed it. Thx for posting it.

I hope this isn't found to be the case, but...

If it were found to be true, how would you like to be Indiana about now starting a rebuild with Stumpy's brother?

Was Archie ever Stumpy's assistant, or vice versa?

Ah, but brothers are often quite different in their values.

JayHawkFanToo said:

@jaybate-1.0

...so I am done wasting my time.

It’s always okay not to waste my time, or yours. If you can just remember that, things would go much smoother IMHO.

Rock Chalk!

Buffer 1

@JayHawkFanToo

They don’t count.

Who else?

Buffer 1

@JayHawkFanToo

They don’t count.

Try again.

Buffer 1

@JayHawkFanToo

Which elite program playing a comparable schedule with a comparable bench is doing it?

The whole starting five is now either playing through injuries, or dead legs, against opponents fresh as daisies. .

The Texas effort wrecked them. Too many trips and too much jumping. Then Tech jumped to a big lead and roughed them up big time as they tried a loooooong come back. Every started got hammered a number of times. Even Cunliffe pulled his first muscle against Tech. Vick could barely run by the end. Graham was probably seeing double a couple times.

Prior impressive shooting percentages are now likely unfeasible to sustain. This situation arises in years when Self is short handed. The difference this season is he has no bigs to get physical with, and his perimeter players are both fewer and more fragile than usual.

Self telegraphed same, when he tried to go to Bad Ball driving against Tech the second half. Alas, no one could even lift to the rim to get fouled.

Devonte—exhausted.

Malik—bad foot.

Vick—one dead leg, no more pop.

Svi—shows no apparent injury, but his cuts and driving are so uncoordinated, plus he’s a step slow on defense, so something has to be wrong.

None of these four super accurate outside shooters could hit the side of a barn. And they couldn’t lift on drives.

Self is in pickle. It will be a full month before other teams are as banged and as dead legged as KU is right now.

The weave and Bad Ball driving only work for guys losing their shooting legs, if those guys are strong enough to muscle into opponents at the finish. And the bigs have to be able to make FTs. That lets Doke out.

The logical answer is a deliberate, horizontal motion offense with screening; one that frees up shooters for uncontested looks that do not depend heavily on explosive playmaking.

Alas, KU as never run Knight’s motion offense.

But even the motion offense requires some athleticism and depth to play effectively.

Outside the box time.

Self should consider the Princeton. Yep. He needs an offence a no talent bench can run and keep from getting blown out, while the starters rest. The starters can mix the usual offense and the Princeton. The bench runs only the Princeton.

It’s time to start, unless the legs heal. If the legs don’t heal, this team’s three point game is going down a bumpy road to Hell during January against teams with fresh legs.

@HighEliteMajor

Sosinski HAS to start playing.

So does everyone on the bench.

They have to be sent in to zone and hard foul the middle 5 minutes of each half.

If Self doesn’t do this, the top 7 guys will all wear so much lingerie they will each look like the Mummy by February 1.

@mayjay

Monetarily yes. So has Nick. Hang around as a water carrier in the L and you prosper.

But Pollard was essentially wasted as a basketball player.

@mayjay

ScoPoll did get short changed in the L IMHO.

He didn't pass their eye test, except as a Rodeo Clown Act.

ScoPoll had real talent.

And he understood the game.

Just not much touch.

But he seemed to understand that the L was not going to accept him playing it straight.

If he couldn't be a rodeo crown, like Rodman created a temporary market for, he wasn't posse material for one of the Petroshoeco stars. Nobody appeared to get one of the bench seats during his time without being in some petroshoeco star's posse.

He was apparently right.

Not sure if its still that way, but it appeared to be so during his time.

@mayjay

I bet. :-)

@Jayballer54
"-they go 6’3 - -6’5 - - 6’5 - -6’6- - & 6’8"

This looks like a game tailor-made for Mitch to have a coming out party.

Self will probably use Doke to dunk on their 6-8 big, until they bring their 6-11 big; then Self will counter with Mitch to pull their 6-11 big out. Let's see if Mitch pulls the trigger on some treys to pull their 6-11 guy out.

The other possibility is that the Tech coach starts his 6-11 big; then Self will face a decision. Stay big, or go small with Mitch to pull their 6-11 big out.

We are definitely going to see some strategy regarding the bigs yet again.

If Tech is ten deep, then it seems like Self has to either go zone extensively, OR Self has to break down and use Sosinski, and maybe De Sousa, if he were to have been cleared by game time.

Self HAS to start getting Sosinki some minutes, if Preston and De Sousa are not going to clear.

Its crazy that he hasn't gotten him more than four minutes already.

But Mr. Win Now aka Bill Self knows what is best.

He has made very clear that he is not playing for March.

He is playing for a 14th conference title and he will burn his 5 starters to a crisp, if that is what it takes.

No one will ever be able to accuse Self of building for March this season.

14 or bust.

That's the motto.

Will Self go back to M2M for the Red Raiders?

Or will Self show zone again to keep coaches preparing for it?

@REHawk

This team is kind of one big statistical anomaly.

It’s fascinating how Self is suddenly turning the game inside out to try to win the 14th title against all odds.

@mayjay

Brown and Lud =

predictive programming

Of reality

Pope and Cardinals

sporting Yarmulkes See?

Crypto religions

and crypto currencies?

Matrix realities.

Controlled entertainments

Fake news for free

In Las Vegas See?

Disappearing

Witnesses and security

Casino cameras

That do not see

Migrating us all

From Judeo-Christianity

In CinemaScope

With reality

To PaganVision

From Lookout Mountain

Labratories

Marvin, Marvin

Oooh, make me wanna holler.

Tell me what’s goin’ on..

Everybody knows

What’s goin’ on...

1. Chigan State Phartans

Coached by perennial smug thug, Ratso Izzo, the Phighting Phartans rose from third to first, despite not having faced any opposing center as good as Bamba, in preparation of being pampered the next four of five games at home. BFD!!!!

1. Flook Dew Devils

Flook rose from 4th to 1st on a weak defense and outside shooting inferior to KU's.

1. Aridzone State Bowevils

Dwarf Hurley's overachievers that lucked out catching KU on a cold night fell inevitably from an absurdly overrated 2 to a preposterously overrated 3. The downward spiral should continue with a game against KU West aka Colorado and then increasingly mediocre Utah, which further expose the pretenders from the valley of the sun.

1. Villareferee-ah Mildbats

Jay Wrong's Mildbats fell from 2 to 4 and now prepare for a hard landing against the Shrivelled East chumps they play, when other teams are playing decent competition.

1. Xavier Mousekateers

Inexplicably, the Mousekateers slid upwards from 6 to 5, despite losing early to Aridzone State and Lost Vegas, and then laughably falling behind 16 to hapless Depaul, before ineptitude overcame Depaul and Xavier lucked into a W.

6.Oklahoma Mooners

Lon Kruger's Sooners skyrocketed from 10th to 6th on the 1-dimensional offense of Trae Young, which has made statisticians forget OU's loss to Arkansas.

1. North Carolina Easy Heels

The Easy Heels incomprehensibly labored up from 8 ti 7, despite the utterly pathetic home loss to Wofford--a loss that would knock KU down into the Bottom 10, instead of up a notch. Rumors are that Easy Heel HC Boy Williams threatened to make his players write their own papers, if they refused to bounce back from Wofford.

1. Durpue Pollipmakers

Rising from 9 to 8, Durpue flat sucks.

1. Arseona Maine Coons

The Maine Coons vaulted from 15 to 9 for no particular reason, despite still smarting from three straight losses in the Bahamas.

1. Texas Anal and Menial Sheep Dippers

The preposterously overrated Sheep Dippers of College Station shame redeemed lady justice some by falling from 5 to 10, after being whipped mercilessly into submission by unimpressive Alabama.

1. Chita State Chaff Schlockers

Bottom line the Chaff Schlockers remained at 11, several slots above what they deserve. Sign Board Forehead continues to defy the odds.

1. Kansas Jayhawks

Grossly under ranked at 12 last week, the greatest college basketball team in the greatest game ever invented was intentionally insulted by being kept beneath all the pieces of fecal matter posing as college basketball teams listed above.

Most Ridiculously High Won-Loss Percentage of a team a head coach ever publicly spoke of junking a 4-1 set and rebuilding as a 3-2 set: .846

Starters averaging double figures in scoring: 5 of 5

Highest Big Man 3pt% Ever to Be Disrespected: 50% by Mitchell Lightfoot

Most insanely, scintillatingly, spontaneously combustible, scorchingly hot three point shooting with over 50 attempts by a perimeter player since Frank Mason: LaCobra 49%

Only player to have as many PFs as Points: Clay Young with 9 PFs and 9 total points

Worst 3pt% by a player trying to become a 3pt shooter: 19% by Marcus Garrett

Most Unimpressive 3pt% by a Reputed Top Flight 3pt Shooter: 36.2% by Malik Newman

Most Unsightly FT% that Makes One Ask Incredulously Why Isn't He Fouled Every Time He Touches the Ball: 42.3% by Udoka Azubuike

Most Efficient Football Player Suiting Up: James Sosinski, 2-2 from the Field in 4 total minutes played, indicating 20-20, or 40 points over 40 minutes.

Best Rebounding Team Inch for Inch in America: KU, starting 4 guards, plus a big man that averages only 8.4rpgs, and as a team is +62 in rebounding at the midpoint of the season

Best Protecting Short Team in America: KU with 29 fewer TOs than opponents

Best Stealing Short Team in America: KU which has 25 more thefts than opponents

Best Blocking Short Teamin America: KU, which has 11 MORE blocks than opponents, despite starting 4 guards and subbing in the all diminutive rotation of backups

The Most Under Free Thrown Team in America: KU which has shot 48 fewer free throws than opponents, despite the even more bizarre statistic that KU has only one less foul than opponents

@AsadZ

Thanks. Maybe he will transfer to DII and not have to sit out. Or catch on with a D-League team. I remember Self enthusing about his potential during his first season, saying that if he stayed around a couple seasons there was no limit to what he could do. That was pretty high praise from Self.

@AsadZ

Thx for recalling the issues. They were unfortunate.

But I still wonder, if it were permissible to transfer back.

3-2...

Not.

Going.

To.

Hap.

On New Years Eve anything seems possible.

On New Year’s Day it’s back to reality.

Self can’t win a 14th Title breaking in a high school senior. Dissociative State. I was in it. I know.

Self can’t get a player back that offers to pay back what an alum paid on wheels. Dissociative State. I was in it. I know.

De Sousa and Sosinski are breathers for Doke, if Doke can keep playing.

The starting 5 is the starting 5.

We are talking WYSIWYG.

Self fears the team shooting slump looming.

But he has to run with what he brung.

Unless D-CIA can beam an alien footer in from Nibiru, as part of a New Years psy-op, no change.

Self is just giving opposing coaches a distraction.

@dylans

“They can fix anything.”—Robocop

@dylans

By then maybe we will all be sub dermal chipped and you will go on the dark net and pay 50 NWO CRYPTO UNITS for black market re-flash of your chip to any age you need?

Maybe 15 years from now Bragg will show up in Lawrence at walk-on try-outs with a ball stenciled with “Lightening Boy” in a worn leather satchel and ask for a tryout from aging Head Coach Daniel “Pops” Manning, himself old and looking at one last season with a whistle. Maybe Manning says, “Your too old, son.” And Bragg says, “I’m not askin’ for a hand out, Pops, I’ve paid my dues. I’m just lookin’ to play some ball. I can help this team, if you will give me one last chance.” And maybe he does. “You look kinda familiar, Bragg. I seen you before?” Bragg says, “I don’t thing so, Pops. I get that a lot. I look like a lotta guys.” Manning eyes him. “Suit up and let’s see what you can do, Bragg. Only thing. Pots legal now 15 years or so, but me? I’m kind old fashioned still. No one smokes on Naismith Court, ya unnderstand?” Bragg looks around. “Ya won’t have to worry about me, Pops.” Manning says, “Show us what ya got. We’re short handed cuz uh this damned embargo I inherited.”

@RockChalkinTexas

I just spoke with Gerhard von Gladhandel, Vice President of Internet Marketing and Sports Mind Control, with Berliner Coal Gas Sportswear. He has authorized a BCGS coal gas-powered Dump Truck to drop 1,948 pairs of complimentary high top sneakers with coal gas-cushioned souls, er, soles on your driveway next weekend. The street value of these shoes is between $.48 and $.53 per pair. He says these can be converted to cash to help get you into several big games!!!

Rock Chalk!!

(Note: all fiction. No malice!)

@Jayballer54

My interpretation of your paraphrase of Self is this: Self wants to play 2 bigs and he needs three to do it. Thus, even if De Sousa were to step in and start with Azuibuke in a tandem, that would mean Mitch would have to backup Azuibuke for 10-15 minutes and De Sousa for 10-15 minutes; that's 20-30 minutes for Mitch, right?

In turn, if Self goes with 2 bigs starting and rotating a third big, that means that the 4 spot is no longer manned by a Svi. Since Svi is shooting 45% from trey, or roughly what he shot last season, that means Svi is the most reliable gun Self has, and he likely moves to the 3. That means Vick stays put at the 2 and Devonte at the 1. That means Malik gets squeezed to back up. Malik has some issues with role playing, but he appears the greater talent and the more developed player to me. So: Malik should get the backup minutes at 2 and Garrett and Malik will share the backup minutes at 3 and Malik will play 3 against opponents where Self wants to go back to four perimeter players (i.e., Svi at the 4).

Given that Garrett is going to be a 4 year type, and Malik reputedly has packaged himself as gone after this season, Malik is REALLY going to have to produce (and fit into his role) to beat Garrett out, even though Malik seems the greater talent. Garrett can guard and fit in already, and since Self has scorers in Devonte, Vick and Svi, what he is likely to value most, once he has a three big rotation, is defense at a wing.

But I still doubt De Sousa is going to be able to transition rapidly to D1.

Self is probably just trying to light a fire under Malik AND Svi to make sure they both understand they could be on some thin ice, if they let up. More than likely, we are going to see our 4-1 set pretty much as it has been for the rest of the season.

@REHawk

I know this is almost certainly not going to happen, but technically speaking could he transfer back to KU?

@wissox

To which I respond:

9 feet 6 inch wing span.

If this measurement is accurate, everything has changed but the way we think!!

He is every bit as good as Joel was at the same age. He just has a ka-ka coach.

Forget whether he is better. He is just an awesome player and along with Azuibuke and Embiid forms a triad of Big Man Era 6.0 to add to Walker.

1.0 Mikan, Lovellette and Kurland

2.0 Russell, Chamberlain, Thurmond

3.0 Jabbar, Walton Gilmore

4.0 Malone Olajuwon, Parrish, Ewing, Robinson, Sampson

5.0 Shaquille, Duncan, Nowitzki, Manning (4.0 and 5.0 kind of run together)

6.0 Davis, Embiid, Bamba, Azuibuke

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Basketball_Fix ↗