🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@BeddieKU23

Please understand that I am not arguing for changing shoe brands yet. Before we advocate for, or against, such a move, we need to understand if:

a.) changing shoe brands would help us win more rings; and

b.) would the negatives of changing shoe brands out weigh the positives in pursuing more rings through changing brands?

I don't know the answers to these questions yet. Maybe others do, but I don't yet.

You cite some possible negatives. I reckon there could be more possible negatives. I'm advocating for trying to figure out what those might be, so as a fan base, however small we are, we can express usefully informed opinions.

@JhwkSqdn

First, I agree that this past year's UNC team did not seem to be as stacked with super players as Roy's other ring teams at UNC.

And appeared to me that Roy won a ring playing in the way that you describe, but did so with a team and bench brimming with a greater number of more highly recruited players signed as freshman, than KU had, and as many, or more than the other teams in the Final Four had.

I recall thinking after seeing then play during the season that Roy probably had the best team in terms of physical talent and pieces needed for a champion. But I doubted Roy was still up to coaching them to a ring, given his ill health and the EASYGATE scandal and potential infractions hanging over the program.

Someone will no doubt correct me, but I don't recall UNC having started two guards ranked as low as Frank and Devonte were before Self signed them. Frank was a Towson de-commit on the rise. Devonte was on the rise as a recruit, also. But I'm guessing UNC's guards were ranked more highly as recruits than Frank and Devonte were.

I also recall UNC had a rotation of legitimate big men that were more highly ranked as recruits than Self's, unless you want to call Josh Jackson playing out of position at 4 a legitimate big man.

Finally, I don't recall UNC resorting to filling needs with three transfers to fill slots after this past season. Maybe they did and I missed it.

@HighEliteMajor

Presently, I am not even sure board rats view an elite major's rising reliance on transfers from lesser majors and mid majors as a sign of recruiting decline; i.e., of Coach Self not being able to keep a D1 elite major roster full of highly ranked freshman recruits.

To me it seems patently obvious--Self is crapping out so often now on the OAD, 5-star, and maybe even 4-star recruits that he is finding better quality recruits in transfers from lesser majors and mid majors than he can sign among each year's high school recruiting classes.

This situation astonishes me more each season, because Self has had an incredible 12-13 year run, sky high winning percentage, one ring, and induction into the College coaching HOF.

Self came to KU with a sparkling reputation as a great recruiter, not just a good one. As a young coach at Illinois, Self had signed three terrific players to one Illini team that might have been as good, or better than any three-player cluster he has signed at KU, an elite major, the last 3 seasons after he has acquired wide fame, emulation, and much-deserved respect.

Think back to Self at Illinois. To my recollection, he did not need to take a transfer from a William and Mary to fill out his Illinois roster to achieve sufficient depth to field an eight man rotation with two credible 9th and 10th men for injury situations.

I look at the guy on TV, and he still seems vigorous and smooth and at least as charismatic as Roy, Coach K, and Calipari.

Everyone is copying Self's Xs and Os now. Calipari, Coach K, and Cal run the flipping weave and chop. Self has worked both ball screens AND 4 out 1 in into the High Low. Self seems the king of the Stretch 4, and, after Josh Jackson, the stretch 3, too. His guard play is state of the art! When was the last time you even read the words "Dribble Drive Offense" or "secondary break" in the media? Kentucky's Princeton on Steroids and Roy's running game now looks more like Self's Carolina Passing offense with wrinkles than anything else.

And despite all of the above, Self has to fill out his roster at an elite major probably with more transfers from lesser majors and mid majors than Coach K, Cal and Roy combined!

So I look around and ask: what could possibly trigger this?

A thought flashed: could it be shoes?

So: I posed the question the way I did to see what others thought these days.

It might suggest some possible implications though.

@drgnslayr

I notice that the revolving doors at the elite majors contracted with Nike and Air Jordan appear to have slowed down some with the shorter stacks, and yet they appear still not to have to rely on as many transfers as KU.

I still am not sure shoe contracts are the sole driver either.

There still seems to be some unexplained dynamic involved to me.

I keep coming back to and wondering about the role of agents, because talk of agents has appeared to suddenly and inexplicably fallen almost entirely off the radar screen of mainstream media.

But who can say right now?

@Texas-Hawk-10

Your analysis is the best I have read over the years for the simple reason that you articulate the gradations of trade offs to be considered.

There are a constellation of benefits and costs to be considered with any brand.

Apparently, Nike offers the best path to win rings, since Nike and Air Jordan teams win ALL the rings under the current regime since 08 and dominate the Final Four.

Apparently adidas offers an excellent cash benefit and enough access to talent to win conference titles but not rings, or to operate without increasing numbers of transfers.

adidas appears to treat KU as its premier program, and one can only wonder where KU might rank in Nike's pecking order.

I suspect there are many more factors at play.

KU fans need to become as knowledgeable of the cost-benefit calculus operating as possible, so they can judge whether KU is maximizing its potential, or falling far short.

We know leadership almost always says
it knows best and is making the best tradeoff possible, but we also know from experience in all paths of human endeavor that leadership is almost always biased by the net benefits it is receiving and so not a wholly reliable judge of its own performance.

Thus, KU fans should never solely rely on the opinions of its coach, AD, and Chancellor in matters of what is best for KU BASKETBALL. We fans, fickle though leadership accuses us of being, when they are defending their performances and paychecks, are frankly far more objective, and devoted to KU Basketball over the long term than are coaches, ADs and Chancellors. They come and go. We remain. They get pay checks and other benefits that can bias their judgements, even with them having the best of intentions. We don't.

What we fans lack, that they possess, is insider knowledge, which is often witheld from us, and professional expertise, which we cannot expect to have, or we might be the coaches, ADs, and Chancellors. And to paraphrase Self, if you're at a place like Kansas, you should win.

So: KU fans must become as knowledgeable, as possible, in what is and is not feasible in net benefits regarding winning rings at KU, before they accept, or reject, that the best is already being done, or not.

If we don't, we are letting down THE LEGACY.

Why can't we win rings as frequently as other elite majors and recruit sufficient talent to avoid such numbers of transfers?

What can be done to win more rings and recruit sufficient talent to avoid so many transfers?

What would the costs and benefits be to KU BASKETBALL of achieving these objectives?

Should they be borne, or is this the best trade-off probable?

Rock Chalk!

@Hawk8086

I would think the huge sums adidas reputedly pays Self and KU could compensate, since TV monies and gate receipts are already maxed regardless of which brand were contracted with.

Put another way, would Self and KU likely be able to sign more highly ranked incoming freshman, especially at 1and 5 positions, in most recruiting classes, and so have fewer "needs" most seasons needing to be filled by transfers, if Self and KU CONTRACTED with Nike, rather than adidas?

@mayjay

In the interest of fostering discourse with you about what you propose, I have eliminated a counter hypothesis I first proposed in this post and instead refocused on your proposal.

While I do not yet follow how your proposed explanation would tend to combine, and recombine drivers, over time, in various situations, to tend to yield the phenomena of recruiting outcomes we observe generally, or in this particular case. Your proposal triggered an interesting question.

Why would adidas-contracted Self at adidas-contracted KU appear to need to more fill holes with more apparent frequency in the ways you describe, than Nike- or AirJordan-contracted coaches at, say, Nike-UK, Nike-Duke, and AirJordan-UNC would appear to need to?

It appears that if adidas-Self were able to sign approximately as many freshman OADS and 5-stars each year , as the other coaches and schools referred to above, he would not have so many holes needing filling in the way you propose, or in any other way?

@Lulufulu

They opened it to have a place to hide Lester Thurow!

@Hawk8086

Hope so, but read this before final conclusions. It's suggests something pretty scary.

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

@approxinfinity

Thx. I'm getting too old for anymore major political scandals. I came of age on Watergate. lt was foul and reputedly only touched the tip of a deep, ugly ice berg. I always wondered if it were a distraction away from Nixon and ITT. Then all the other awful scandals that have followed. I hope this turns out to be a tempest in a tea pot.

@approxinfinity

I'm still in shock trying to decide how credible any of it might be. So far I haven't found anything claiming Comey actually did anything wrong back then. The only connection is Comey on the board of this HSBC bank holding company prior to becoming FBI Director that astonished me. What the heck was a Federal prosecutor doing on the board of a major bank, much less one later reputed to be involved in drug money laundering. Its apparently old news from back in that era that I never heard of back then. I recalled only that Comey was a Federal prosecutor that appointed Patrick Fitzgerald to be special prosecutor and that seemed to make him a good guy in most everyone's mind at the time, because it seemed dirty pool to out a CIA agent. But this International Consortium of Investigative Reporters piece supposedly alleges that HSBC was involved in some seriously shady stuff. Check Comey's wiki page for starters. What a world!!!!

@approxinfinity

Self needs to take Frank to a really good plastic surgeon and give him a new face and identity and then re enroll him at KU. How will we live without 50% trey shooting at the point?

@approxinfinity

Hey, I just added more to my post without knowing you upvoted the first part of my post. Feel free to remove your up vote, if what I added is not something you want to approve.

I just had to say SOMETHING about this Trump-Comey mess today. Its all too weird for words.

@approxinfinity

No, no, no, I've started doing stretching exercises every day.

Soon I will be able to get myself around this new Age of Aquarius 2.0 regarding transfers.

Look, things could be a lot worse than KU loading up on transfers.

Look at Trump feeling he had to fire Comey!

And then warn him there might be "tapes," when Comey starts "leaking" about Trump!!!!!!

OMG! OMG! OMG!

This is not just Reality TV.

This is Reality Reality.

Regardless of what one thinks of Trump, it took some kind of new super alloy balls to fire the NY guy that appointed Patrick Fitzgerald the special prosecutor in the Valerie Plaime CIA agent outing case back under Dubya (and so got Cheney's pal Scooter Libby convicted), while at the same time reputedly miraculously keeping black drug money laundering out of the Plaime case, and then Comey had the chutzpah to join the board of directors of HSBC bank holding company that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reputedly later revealed to be a major launderer of drug monies for the drug cartels during that time, BEFORE Comey became director of the FBI!!!!!! Talk about weird and twisted!!!!!!!

By god, I will be happy to do my stretching exercises and sooner or later get my head around this "transfer strategy", if only so as to take breaks from learning such bizarre things about public officials.

Help me, help me, help me, I think I am going insane!!! :face_palm:

Rock Chalk!

@Texas-Hawk-10

That's good and bad.

Good that a high grade OAD might play for us.

Bad that he might not, because of failure to be cleared, or late clearing.

Is this the more things change, the more they stay the same?

Or is this a sign the apparent embargo is weakening?

Could it be that Self is engaged in some misdirection to bring in KU's first woman hoopah to play mens D1?

She's a transfer.

She is from a lesser program than KU.

She reputedly has a little baggage from having transferred once before.

And she was not on the men's OAD, or 5-star rankings, as a high schooler.

If the shoe fits...

@Texas-Hawk-10

Preston not being cleared?

Dang!

THAT'S depressing.

But I should have known, right?

Preston is over 6-7 and called by some an OAD and he signed with KU. He had to have baggage.

I can almost hear Self putting in a call to Tractor Supply for bailing wire and duct tape for next year's team now.

I am getting incredibly tired of only being able to sign OADs over 6-7 that have some kind of baggage.

How about starting a Top 100 Baggage Player Ranking for high school players that are going to be tough to get admitted, or keep eligible?

mayjay said:

@jaybate-1.0 Sorry, not engaging. It was a joke, on myself as much as you. If you wish to have a discussion about vaccines, you will need a new partner.

Basketball transfers then?

I tried to give more than one option.

@dylans

Bragg in Tempe?

He will lose weight in that heat!

Wish him well.

It's a tough time of life, and some need resets to get it right.

He'll need a break.

Hope he gets one in the Valley of the Sun..

@globaljaybird

We have mileage. I got your back. Period.

@Fightsongwriter

I'm willing to say it's complicated and there may be several drivers, but...

If it were Self-inflicted, why would they spend so much time recruiting guys they don't want?

@BeddieKU23

I hadn't heard where Bragg went.

What a sweet irony!!

@wrwlumpy

:basketball_player: :basketball_player:

mayjay said:

@jaybate-1-0 I am more convinced than ever that you must be having chemical issues: how on earth did you miss Trump University?

All fun, no facts!

Ah, back with the apparently passive-aggressive, CAMP SMEAR-style. chemical booga-booga, eh?

Kind of disappointing, but I will hang in.

I am a mensch.

Let's talk some hoops.

WHAT ABOUT THE NUMBER OF KU TRANSFERS?

WHAT OTHER ELITE MAJORS HAVE WON RINGS WITH THIS MANY TRANSFERS?

Let's enjoy the game in the off season, @mayjay.

We can do it.

Heck, I'll even throw you a bone here and talk about something you appear to like to talk about.

I have one issue with chemicals. Well, I don't have it personally, but it is a chemical issue. Does Mercury in vaccines count? Let's talk about that. That would be constructive and probably not be viewed as sniping, and so drive @globaljaybird away.

I recall reading recently that the CDC has reputedly acknowledged recently the existence of several pieces of research suggesting a connection between certain vaccines with significant mercury in them and certain adverse side effects like autism. Imagine that. Some persons have been saying for years that the vaccines were a likely culprit. But CDC and many others have reputedly indicated for many years that vaccines just weren't involved. But now. Boom! CDC reputedly comes indicates there reputedly a number of research papers that suggests otherwise.

What do you think? Could it be true? Is it true? Estimates of folks with autism run between 4-10 million that I recall, and the number is reputedly growing. I read where there are dozens more kinds of vaccines than the children vaccines that use mercury as a preservative. You and I have almost certainly had them. I recall it was mercury. Maybe it was some other toxic substance, but I recall mercury. What do you think? Robert Kennedy Jr. seems to be promoting a lot of vaccine awareness regarding autism. Do you think the vaccines triggered it, in part, or in whole? Should there be some consequences for the folks at CDC responsible, if it turns out that they have been concealing a connection between mercury laced vaccines and, say, autism, or other afflictions?

Think about this. If 10 million were to have autism, they probably come from households that average around 2-3 persons total. That means that there could be as many as 20-30 million persons living just with autism, or with persons with autism, and essentially bearing the costs of coping with it, largely by themselves, and without legal recourse to those responsible for afflicting them. It doesn't seem totally fair, or legally equitable.

I am trying to draw you into discourse about issues, one of which--chemical issues--you even seem to care about--and away from your recent apparent smear booga booga. I am not doing this so much for you, or me, but for @globaljaybird. And likely others like him.

Take my virtual hand.

Let us begin the journey to joyous, rewarding discourse today, so as not to drive @globaljaybird farther away.

Rock Chalk!!!

@wissox

If it works for you, YES!

@wissox

ROTFL

See revised conference membership above.

@approxinfinity

Glad I could get someone to laugh around here and not just focus on my misreads.

And, you know, the truly incredible thing is that despite my "gross mischaracterization" of the B12 above, KU still is going to have a bundle of transfers, sub-five stars, and guys originally bound for less than elite major programs on campus.

Just between you and me, I don't see how that's possible.

I know you are more prone than me to attribute this to Self simply trying to get more experience, rather than having to end run what increasingly (as the years go by) appears to me to be a recruiting embargo, but, either way...

Surely my gross mischaracterization of the Big 12 above has to have some causal, or at least a quantum entanglement, effect on the quality of KU's talent levels.

Surely my unforgivable, egregious, major, large and generally really big cognitive recognition boner about misreading the Big 12 wiki page just now has to have had a similar gross, gigantic, universally-far-reaching-and-morally pernicious effect on my suggestion about where and how Self may recruit in the future, that my gross, huge-acious, hyper-mongo-meta-epic error in listing the CAA members had recently.

Maybe the fiendish, diabolical, "way" that I said it, as @BShark might put it, just hasn't rippled through the neutrino, muon and quark soup yet?

Regardless, forgive me, Father Naismith, for I have sinned.

Now, I will say three Hail Phogs, and rub my KU sweatshirt between my fingers as I do.

Oh, my, when the weird stuff spikes up in Washington, it has a ripple effect throughout our nation for sure. :-)

Hang in there, Master Moderator. You have to be a saint to put up with us all. And have a grand spring day.

Rock Chalk!!!!

@BShark

No, no, you're talking about the Neo Southwest Conference, not the Big 12/10.

BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEMBERS

CURRENT FULL MEMBERS

1 Drexel

2 Texas A&M

3 Claremont

4 Sophie Newcomb

5 Duke

6 Easy Grade U

7 Sorbonne

8 St. Olaf

9 Butler County Community College

10 Bill & MARYJANE

11 Federal Penal System All Stars

12 WYANDOTTE HS

13 KU

CURRENT PARTIAL MEMBERS

Fractional State

MIT of Ohio

College of Western Indonesia

PAST MEMBERS

Machu Pichu College (high altitude hai alai)

University of Carthage (salt licking)

AGRARIAN MEMBERS PARTICIPATING WHEN TEAMS NOT SHOVELING COW MANURE AT EXPERIMENTAL BARNS

Silo Tech (correction/addition for @wissox)

(Note: All fiction. No malice.)

BShark said:

Yeah football needs to improve.

It's not so much that you're wrong...

Consistency of winning at football hasn't improved for over a century and KU sails happily onward and upward, as a university and as a winning basketball program.

....It's the way you say it.

😄

@jayballer54

It will not be a surprise to me, if Malik does well quickly.

It will be a lesser probability than Josh Jackson doing well coming true.

Do you see the distinction?

It's clear that Self thought there was an opportunity for Malik to be a player still.

It's clear Malik has talent at KU, same as it was clear he had same at MSU.

So: it won't be a surprise.

It will be less probable that he produces successfully.

My recurring point is: should Self at KU, an elite major, have to be dealing with such players on such a frequent basis?

What is the problem?

Why can't he sign enough OAD and 5-star freshmen to keep the cupboard full?

What is stopping him?

Why the anomalous and apparently rising dependence on transfers?

If Malik succeeds, I will be pleased, not surprised.

And I will wonder why Self couldn't have signed an OAD, or 5-star freshman instead.

Rock Chalk!!

@jayballer54

Ya know, there are two kinds of studs among recruits.

The kind that produce.

And the kind that produce excuses.

If Malik produced excuses staying home at Mississippi State, because didn't like playing out of position, then he will really be prone to produce excuses at KU. Self makes almost everyone play out o position part, or all of their careers at KU. IMHO, Self is taking a bigger risk on Malik, than he would be taking on a freshman ranked as high as Malik was when he was an incoming freshman. And the reason Self is taking that risk is that he couldn't sign another highly ranked incoming freshman with Malik's possible roles, so he took the risk on Malik, and he hoped to offset that risk with working with Malik a year before he had a chance to prove he could produce more than still more excuses.

Cliff Alexander and Diallo were studs that were highly ranked too. But they had millions of excuses why they didn't produce. It did not help them be producers by coming to KU. And they have been mediocre at best after leaving.

You have to be very careful about assuming that studs produce.

Studs fool us a lot of the time.

Studs "could" produce.

That is the attraction of studs.

But many don't.

And once they don't one place, the chances of them producing and living up to expectations at another place is probably even less.

We have, or should have, sharply lower expectations for Malik.

Tarik Black was an exception, not a rule. And even he was not a monster producer for KU.

Malik is a risk until he actually produces something other than the excuses he produced at Mississippi State.

Remember, Malik is different from BenMac.

BenMac was the real deal. He was signed as a Freshman. The only reason he had to set out was transcript issues. The guy could have produced from Day 1.

Malik proved at Mississippi State that he was not as nearly good as his OAD hype.

The question now is: with a year of practice, can he at least produce. We're not even expecting him to be a TAD. Being a TAD would be a surprise.

KU has to get more real deals that produce--guys like Josh Jackson--and fewer guys that produce excuses.

Malik can definitely help us, same as Tarik Black did help us. Malik can even turn into a TAD and surprise us. But the probability is he will take a couple seasons to be really accomplished, if he CAN stop producing excuses and start producing.

KU needs more real deals to seriously compete for rings.

Give Self three Josh Jacksons and a complement of Malik-grade transfers and he will win you some rings the same way Cal, Roy and Coach K have. Their ring teams have tended to be loaded, relative to the competition. All of their ring teams had more talent than last year's KU team. Board rats that focus on UConn's ring team under Ollie are not mastering the obvious; that UConn team was the exception to the rule. Might last year's KU team have done what UConn did? Under perfect circumstances, yes. But perfect circumstances come along rarely at, at this late point in Self's career, Self could easily never win another ring if he has to keep competing at such a disadvantage in talent and depth.

The Malik grade transfers without the three real deals mean Self will use smoke and mirrors and find a way to the high 20s or low 30s in the Ws, if he has an OAD have a good season and another player have a career year, but then get overmatched by the Elite Eight, or sometime in the Final Four.

You've just got to have so much talent to get to the Final Four and even more to survive and win it.

KU has to get beyond being Tulsa on Steroids.

@KUSTEVE

I do not even believe we are chugging along.

Our roster talent is sliding.

The slide in KU roster talent has apparently been for awhile, and likely will be for awhile longer, masked not only by Self's exceptionally resourceful coaching, but by the reputed declining level of talent in the B12.

The B12 is being hollowed out kind of like the American economy was hollowed out.

@approxinfinity

Cunliffe and Newman may once have been Top 100 recruits, but...

Neither signed with elite majors.

And neither did particularly well at the lesser majors they signed at.

And Self apparently could not get either one to sign with KU before they chose lesser majors over KU.

@JayHawkFanToo

Now you confuse me more.

With "mischaracterization," are you Suggesting an appearance of some intent to mischaracterize on my part?

Or are you trying to suggest an appearance of intent with "gross mischaracterization"?

If so, I lacked such intent.

Next, were you not the one who first indicated I had apparently inaccurately read and recollected the list of CAA schools on the wiki page, if I apparently did? (Note: I still have not gone back to review the Wiki page to check your observation. I am relying on your characterization.)

Next what exactly is a "mischaracterization"? Was I really committing a "mischaracterization" ?

Or was I committing an accurate characterization of an accidental goof in reading and recollecting of the CAA wiki page?

And how might you know enough about what I was thinking to be able reliably to distinguish one from the other?

Why would I want to intentionally grossly mischaracterize this issue?

If I erred, it was an accident.

Next, what exactly is the standardized threshold for a "gross mischaracterization," as opposed to a "mischaracterization"; what you describe would appear to me to be more accurately described as an accidentally, unintentionally inaccurate recollection, if such were in fact to have occurred?

Again, are you suggesting intent to mischaracterize on my part, or are you suggesting some possibility of intent to mischaracterize, or are you accidentally suggesting a possible intent to mischaracterize?

Next how exactly does a mischaracterization differ from an inaccurate characterization? Are they identical? Mischaracterization seems more negative and critical than accidentally inaccurate characterization, and both seem more so than accidentally inaccurate recollection.

What did you mean by choosing mischaracterization instead of the other possible options?

Do you think in retrospect you mischaracterized what you claim I did, or was it an unintended, inaccurate characterization, that has lead me to my confusion about what you meant and about your intent?

Your description of my post as "gross mischaracterization" seems to me the making of a tempest in a teapot, but since you have appeared to attach such gravity to it, I have tried to take you respectfully and have drilled down some to what appears problematic in your apparent teapot.

Now, again, do you really not see KU--a supposedly elite major-- signing a bunch of transfers from lesser majors, plus a mid major transfer from Bill and Mary, as yet another sign of KU recruiting sliding downhill?

Does my reputedly unintentionally inaccurate recollection of what schools belong to the flipping CAA really and truly matter very much in comparison to Self having to sign a mid major transfer from Bill & Mary to fill out a roster he has already loaded with a bunch of transfers from lesser majors?

My god, even Ted Owens could find enough freshman to fill his first roster spots without resorting to more than 1 or 2 juco transfers max. And LB could coach'em up to a 30 win team with his freshman adds too. And Roy? Reputedly recruiting half the country he could fill a roster most of the time with freshman.

Look at Roy at UNC. At least one near .500 season. Scandals. Health problems. Uncertainty he will remain the coach much longer. Does he have to go begging to this extent for transfers from Bill and Mary, or Memphis, or ASU? C'mon!!!!

Coach K? He takes part of a season off. Old as the hills. Swirling talk about him retiring every season. Occasional near .500 seasons. A former player with a jewelry scandal. Does he have to go begging to this extent for transfers from Bill and Mary, or Memphis, or ASU? C'mon!!!!

Stumpy? Never won a ring. Choked with a long stack. Got cut back to medium stacks. Dresses and acts like a used car salesman in Toledo. Coaches in a state with more scorpions than people. Does he have to go begging to this extent for transfers from Bill and Mary, or Memphis, or ASU? C'mon!!!!

Alford? The charisma of a fence post. Never won a ring as a coach. Recruits to a 12,000 seat overgrown gymnasium. Does he have to go begging to this extent for transfers from Bill and Mary, or Memphis, or ASU? C'mon!!!!

Ratso Izzo? Mr. U.P. with a tire iron? Mr. Line'em up in football pads and scrimmage'em. Mr. I can't win a ring unless the refs don't bring whistles! Even Ratso can keep his rosters stocked with freshman. Does he have to go begging to this extent for transfers from Bill and Mary, or Memphis, or ASU? C'mon!!!!

This issue emerging at KU the last few years of transfers from lesser majors and now one from Bill & Mary, is trending up, not down.

KU is no longer an elite major in terms of depth.

And it appears it's starters maybe moving to transfers from lesser majors.

If Self ever misses signing his 1 OAD per season, KU will be just another major
In talent.

KU does NOT want to let itself slip this much in recruiting AND have to replace Self in a few years. It won't be pretty at all!!!

Rock Chalk!!!

.

@approxinfinity

"You will!"--Yoda to Luke

The surest ways to kill the B12 are:

a.) weaken Texas in football; and

b.) weaken KU in basketball.

✔️ and about to be ✔️

The B12 has to be killed.

4 power conferences are necessary, not 5.

@KUSTEVE

Thanks for bringing the bad tasting medicine.

We needed to take it before we got so sick we died without a fight.

Bottom line?

TPTB want only four power conferences, not five.

Football needs 4 for the play off, not 5.

KU has to pro-act, not react.

@approxinfinity

Yes, Imagine waiting 4 3/4 years for Landen to be a solid defender and rebounder that could not score!

Especially when you knew you likely would NEVER sign a playable OAD/5-star EVEN to complement him at the 5.

I know the big adidas bucks ease a lot of pain, but some days it must suck waking up and realizing you're a Hall of Fame coach at an elite major and OAD/5-star 1s and 5s just don't sign with you!!!!!

@REHawk

I agree with what you say, but I'm not sure he is experimenting. It appears the powers that be keep cutting off one avenue of recruiting to him after another. And now he is down to chasing transfers and perhaps increasingly midmajor transfers.

Hell! Self didn't have to play midmajor players at Illinois!!!!

Its appears flat wrong that such a great coach should have apparently to keep ducking and weaving with less and less talented teams with less and less quality depth apparently just so TPTB can keep adidas on the ropes, while all the Nike and Air Jordan programs keep getting their rosters 10 deep in OADs and 5 stars with few transfers.

KU seems increasingly now little more than Gonzaga with a legacy and one OAD.

It's sickening to watch the program and Self be slowly strangled to death by the current asymmetry in recruiting regimes, seeding and whistling!

I wish I had the emoji for blowing chow.

I would surely use it.

And this second class citizen status of KU is becoming so normalized that KU fans are beginning apparently to start to say, well, that's just the way it is.

It's like if Harriet Tubman came back to life and offered KU fans a ride to freedom, Harriet's heart would be confronted by KU fans that turned down the opportunity to escape to freedom the same way Harriet said some of the broken and beaten slaves turned down her offers of freedom.

Come on, KU fans, we can't just quietly keep letting KU be treated as a second class shoe brand and rely on Bill Self to keep pulling out hat rabbits to compensate.

Self and KU deserve better.

@JayHawkFanToo

You appear to be missing the point! KU is an elite major! KU is supposed to be able to keep the cupboard full with a mix of OADs and 5 stars, maybe one 4 star once every few years, as a favor to some colleague, at the 9 and 10 spots. Many of his OADs are problem cases, or sloppy seconds. Many of his 5-stars are guys that either havent played enough to have fundamentals, or have to add huge weight gains to play. He signs 4 stars almost every season and they play big minutes. Self started a Towson DECOMMIT at PG for 2-3 seasons. He has played a 3-star recruit at the five for 2 seasons. The bulk of his incoming class are transfers. And one of them is a mid major transfer. OMG!!!!

Self is doing a great job playing with rosters of players like what he had at Tulsa, plus 2 elite major grade players, but HE SHOULD NOT HAVE TOO!!!!!

That's the point!

@approxinfinity

Maybe.but it seems to go beyond green. He can't even get the green 5 stars with enough frequency to sustain an 8 man rotation of OADs and 5-stars through the usual injuries the way the other elite majors seem able to do regularly. This falloff in quality of depth is acute. Imagine UNC and U.K. and Duke and Arizona and UCLA and MSU backfilling with mid majors!!!

But Self must have looked at all the upsets by mid majors early and late and thought, whoa, maybe I can bandaid by cherry picking advanced mid majors, instead of taking problem OAD s and five star Weight gain projects and long shot foreign projects.

Maybe Self has decided that it is easier to add 10 pounds to an experienced mid major, rather than 30 to 40 pounds with a five star project, or teach fundamentals to foreign players that have only played that game for a year or two .

@et al

Despite my apparent misreading of the CAA wiki page (I haven't gone back to check), an important point remains. Self appears potentially to be moving further down market and into cherry picking mid-major players in the east.

Before anyone responds, make sure you are sober and don't project hallucinogen consumption onto yours truly. I can pass blood tests from here to eternity!!!!!
😄

Now let's enjoy the off season!!!

Walter Byers would want us to.

@drgnslayr

It appears to be both.

OAD 1s and 5s haven't signed for so long that he appears just to take what ever is in front of him, plus he appears to be moving into the CAA conference, and perhaps into other similar conferences to tap a possible willingness of some players to move up to an elite major in a bcs conference. Eh?

@mayjay

Ok, let me see if I understand you. Are you implying you were projecting your hallucinogenic experiences onto me, rather drawing the apparently more probable inference that I just misread something? Since I don't take hallucinogens, I am trying to understand your insinuation that I did. Perhaps if we keep exploring your personal experiences we will get this sorted out. I am trying hard to understand what made you choose hallucinogens? What is it about hallucinogens that apparently resonates so deeply with you that you would insinuate other aliases using them, rather than just remarking that they misread something? I want to help.

@JayHawkFanToo

Are you sure? I thought it was you that pointed it out? Are you operating under two aliases? You seem confused.

@kjayhawks

Don't post to me about shoes and agents. Send your posts to Rick Pitino and the authors of SOLE INFLUENCE, okay? Maybe they can help you. I'm just a fan on website.

One.

Two.

Three.

Virtual levers can move the virtual world with the right software!!!!😂

@mayjay

When you post apparent drug smears, as you appear to do above, I sometimes wonder if you have been de-patterned at Gitmo, subjected to hypnotic retraining, and deployed as a cloud slave on all fours in a cubicle farm that is given lollipup tog treats each time you appear to smear aliases with drug references online.

Just kidding. Really.

Hey, have you read former NCAA director Walter Byers book in my recent tag line?

😉

@JayHawkFanToo

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

Guess they have not updated their wiki page in awhile.

Or is your source mistaken?

Fake News--it's FANtastic!!!!!!!

@KUSTEVE

You knocked this one outta da park!!!!!