🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Jack Whitman of Bill & Mary Jane is not the first player in the Self Era from the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) to transfer to KU to ball on the Naismith cellulose.

Frank Mason of Towson State (well, he backed out of a Towson commitment, right?) was the first to pull the CAA---->B12 switcheroo.

That worked out okay, didn't it?

National POY.

Hell yeah!

So ol' bate 1.0 has a leeeeeeeeetle hunch about what's going on under the surface of this apparently improbable coincidence of Self bringing two CAA players in the succession of a decent interval.

Self has now apparently conceded that the adidas conveyor is NEVER going to bring him any top 1s and 5s, and maybe even fewer and fewer 5-star and 4-star types at those positions.

But what to do about it?

Self threw everyone a knuckle ball with the sibling transfers from Memphis. Everyone thought: oh, well, Self has gone back to the Graceland well to become a raider of unhappy Memphisto players.

WRONG! That was an anomaly. Just like Tarik Black was an anomaly. Josh Pastner is gone. Once Tubby gets his guys in Graceland, they won't be leaving.

Self will take anomalies anytime, of course.

But what is really, really, REALLY going on here is that Self needs a system.

And what might be that system be?

Well, I'll give you a hint.

It has to do with becoming a raider.

I hypothesize Coach Self has decided to become Mr. CAA Raider.

Whoa, Mistuh CAA Raider? Bate 1.0, are you mainlining some of dat new Syrian shit dat ISIS (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) be dumping into da Windy City dat be spikin' dey crime stats, since dey MOAB-ed the jack outta the underground junk labs in Middle-Uh-Nowhere Afghanistan?

Most definitely not.

But what I am suggesting does follow a vaguely similar principle.

An' whut might dat be?

Well, when TPTB apparently deny Coach Self his 1 and 5 OAD and 5-star junk, and when the 4-star junk even begins to dry up, or move on, well, then Coach Self has to change supply. You dig?

But sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-it, Bate 1.0, the CAA?

Yup, the CAA.

Think about it.

CAA members and partial members have been giving majors fits for years in the March Carney. Just look at some of the schools in the CAA.

George Mason University.

East Carolina University

Old Dominion University

University of Richmond (remember the Spiders?)

St. Francis University

Virginia Common Wealth

UMass

Rhode Island

That's a veritable murderer's row of first weekend upsets of D1 majors in the tournament.

Recall how many times KU has had a tough half against teams like those, once in awhile even been upset.

Everyone of those teams always appear to have at least one or two guys that could play some back up rotation minutes for KU's 8-10 man rotation, and it seems especially so now that Self can barely get a whiff of 5-star and 4-start players at 5.

And half of those school's probably have one 1 that could back up whatever Self signs at the 1.

Self grew up watching Barry Switzer be the Red River Raider at OU. Barry probably got in a big Eldorado and carried his pappy's bootlegger's equalizer and some pints of sour mash and raced over the Red River Bridge on I-35 after dark and went down and wowed the mothers of those big drought horse lineman in those little panhandle towns and then raced back north across the river before the Texas alumni in pick'em up trucks with gun racks and coon hounds got to him and split his skull.

Now Bill Self is about to become the CAA Raider.

Instead of an old Eldorado, he and Norm are going to sweep in low in the alumni jet and low altitude drop with a parafoil--Navy Seal style--into some of those little CAA feeder towns and wow some of those mothers of the better CAA players and, bam, once they finish the dog and pony, he and Norm race out to the darkness at the edge of town and hold up their sky hooks get picked up by an alumni helicopter that takes them to an airport and a waiting Citation to wing it back to Lawrence.

He might sign a whole second string of these guys.

Imagine, KU might again have enough actual players on the roster to have legitimate practices again.

No more coaches suns.

No more projects from other hemispheres.

Just guys that already know the fundies.

Know how to dribble and have seen a cheerleader with a short skirt before.

In the off season, almost anything seems possible.

Go, Bill, go!!!!

.

Let's put it this way.

Wilt Chamberlain was able to overcome KU's PR black hole, and play in San Francisco's and Philadelphia's PR black holes, and spend barely the last quarter of his career in LA's spotlight, and still become recognized as one of the greatest players of all time by an NBA and media hell bent on finding OTHER greatest players of all time before, during and ever after his career that would (and did) make the NBA and national media vastly more money than peddling the truth about Wilt's unparalleled greatness ever could.

Superman?

Let's be real about this: Wilt was bigger and better than Superman.

He was Mega-Superman.

I've suggested this before.

He was what the the Roman poet Ovid had in mind when he conceived the Latin "semideus." or half-god, that we have come to call "demigod."

In Roman times, the gods and demigods and mortals existed in their poetry and drama and mythology to call attention to human capability.

There really were gods beyond us.

Then there were the demigods--humans of such capabilities that they could do to limited extent godly things that event he great mortals could not aspire to.

One look at the Wilt's empirical statistics of performance make clear that there are all the other great mortals that have played the game, and then there is the demigod aka Wilt Chamberlain.

Wilt was NOT a god. He could not make even 60 percent of his free throws. He could not win a college national championship. He could not win more than two NBA championships. He could not coach the San Diego Conquistadores to better than a .440 record in his only season of coaching professional basketball.

But here is just some of what he did do from his wikipedia page and remember he did these and many more remarkable things amid a league and media that sought to promote others that did far less specifically at his expense. Wilt struggled against not only racism, and Kansas-ism, but against Goliath-ism. As he said sardonically, "No one roots for Goliath."

2× NBA champion (1967, 1972)

NBA Finals MVP (1972)

4× NBA Most Valuable Player (1960, 1966–1968)

13× NBA All-Star (1960–1969, 1971–1973)

NBA All-Star Game MVP (1960)

7× All-NBA First Team (1960–1962, 1964, 1966–1968)

3× All-NBA Second Team (1963, 1965, 1972)

2× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1972, 1973)

NBA Rookie of the Year (1960)

7× NBA scoring champion (1960–1966)

11× NBA rebounds leader (1960–1963, 1966–1969, 1971–1973)

9× NBA field goal percentage leader

NBA assists leader (1968)

No. 13 retired by Golden State Warriors

No. 13 retired by Philadelphia 76ers

No. 13 retired by Los Angeles Lakers

NBA 35th Anniversary Team

NBA 50th Anniversary Team

NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player (1957)

2× Consensus first-team All-American (1957, 1958)
No. 13 jersey retired by University of Kansas

NBA records

Single-game scoring record (100)

Highest single-season scoring average (50.4)

Single-season scoring record (4,029)

Single-game rebounding record (55)

Highest single-season rebounding average (27.2)

Single-season rebounding record (2,149)

Highest single-season minutes average (48.5)

HOLDS NUMEROUS OTHER RECORDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Career statistics

Points 31,419 (30.1 ppg)

Rebounds 23,924 (22.9 rpg)

Assists 4,643 (4.4 apg)

Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Basketball Hall of Fame as player

College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2006

Rock Chalk, Mr. Chamberlain!!!!!

@dylans

In D1, you have to have the right time zone and program to win serial rings.

In the L, you have to have one of the most marketable superstars in the right city to win serial rings.

The NBA never decided to make Paul the most marketable superstar, for whatever reason (and I'm sure there were many). And Boston, though once the flagship of NBA franchises and cities, was no longer that by the time of Paul's years there. Miami and Florida, Lakers/Warriors and CA, Knicks and NY, Cavs/Spurs and Texas: these are just vastly more important markets than Boston and Massachussetts. The audience demographics and locations of those viewers changed and the NBA changed with them.

The NBA simply cannot afford to let a team like Boston become a serial champion. It would wreck the TV and petrowear deals. Persons on this web site always talk about how no one cares about KU on either coast. Well, try marketing Boston jerseys in Texas, our second most populous state! Try marketing Boston tennis shoes in California! Try marketing Boston anything on the Redneck Riviera!!!! Not. Going. To. Sell. Worth. A. Damn!

Look at who the most marketable superstars were in Paul's time and you will see why they gave Boston a short time in the spot light, because Celtic restoration nostalgia was something they could market until LeBron was ready.

The NBA and D1 are businesses. Period.

Winning and who wins how much is apparently ALWAYS engineered around what makes the most business sense for the NBA enterprise.

Its good for bidness for David Stern and his replacement, Nosferatu, to see that the rings get spread around some. But the clusters of rings? Those have to happen where, and with who, it makes bidness sense. The L's always been that way. The National Bidness Association: Its Buck-tastic.

The above is the Real Economik of the L.

But there is also a basketball dimension to Paul winning only one ring.

First, it appeared to me that far more of Paul's prime was wasted with incompetent rosters and coaches than, say, Michael Jordan's was. Jordan played about 3 seasons or so with shizzle and Doug Collins, then Phil started to putting together a team for him. Paul seemed caught up in the mess that was created during the Cousins years and had to play through that, and then play through a rebuild too. FWIW, Paul appeared to be significantly past his prime after his first ring.

Then there is Doc Rivers. How shall I put this politely. I like Doc Rivers. He is among the last coaching connections to the Al Maguire/Hank Raymonds/Rick Majerus tree. But he is a career .580 NBA coach. Now, stop and think about it. What are the win/loss ratio of some serial ring winning coaches in NBA history?

Red Auerbach .662

Pat Riley .636

Phil Jackson .704

Gregg Popavich .694

Doc Rivers is a good coach.

But Doc is not in the same league of coaches that win serial rings.

I'm sure someone can find some coaches that have won 2 rings and have modest win/loss ratios, but once you get into the realm of these coaches with lesser win/loss ratios you are talking more about luck producing the difference between 1 and 2 rings, and less about the quality of the coaching.

Paul never got to play for a great coach in the NBA.

Hence, Paul's chances of winning multiple rings even with those two players on his roster for a few years, seems slim in retrospect.

@JayHawkFanToo

Good points for clarification.

I will try to clarify in another post as time permits.

But thanks for bringing this up.

It is important for persons to appreciate Naismith's and Allen's long dissatisfaction with the NCAA and why their and one time NCAA Director Walter Byers' dissatisfactions need to be understood to make sense of the game that is being sold to us today.

Rock Chalk!

@wissox

I was lucky to have had him for as long as I did.

Rock Chalk, pop!

@Fightsongwriter

Naismith requires a lot of caveats to talk about.

First, he shouldn't be judged on his W&L statement, because he never really tried to be a basketball coach in an conventional sense of the word.

Naismith was an AD and academician.

He coached basketball more or less to save the school and himself the money of hiring a basketball coach. As nearly as I can tell, basketball coaching was never more than a second or third job to Naismith.

Naismith needs to be judged based on the incredible athletic department he built, the NCAA he helped start, the NAIA he helped start, the game he invented, the integration he helped pioneer, the sciences of medicine and physical training that he helped pioneer, and the coaches he identified and mentored (not only Allen and Hamilton who won, but John McClendon and others back in the early days of now forgotten YMCA ball.).

Naismith was a GIANT who came to the sticks and stayed. Had he done what he did at Yale, instead of KU, he would be remembered as one of the great men in America of the first half of the 20th Century instead of the condescending "inventor of basketball."

My point is this: The guy became exceptional at everything he ever focused on.

I have no doubt that if he had chosen to be a full time basketball coach that he would have been one of our top basketball coaches. He coached, then hired and retained Phog Allen, the first great college basketball coach for a long time.

I think Naismith deserves some respect about coaching.

I'm doubting Allen did what he did the first ten years without ANY mentoring from Naismith.

Gotta believe Jimmy could have been one of the greats had he ever chosen to coach basketball full time.

My dad, who died six years ago, and who was a great judge of who would make it and who wouldn't, said Paul was going to be a great NBA player the moment he saw him at KU.

Dad ranked KU PLAYERS this way.

1 Chamberlain.

2 Manning and Lovellette.

3 Pierce and White.

He put Pierce there after only one season at KU.

Pierce was probably the most unique appearing player and possessed the oddest Combo of talents outside Charles Barkley.

Paul looked slow, but was incredibly fast and efficient.

Paul looked soft, but was incredibly strong and physical, when needed.

Paul looked lumbering but could out quick everyone.

He didn't look like a very good dribbler, but he could get everywhere he wanted faster than the best defenders.

His shooting form wasn't pretty, but he was a fine shot.

He appeared taciturn and moody sometimes, but he was relentlessly reliable and fiercely competitive.

My dad always said Paul was the kind of great player you had to play through every trip for him to make his teammates better, where as Jordan was the kind you wanted to weave in and let him take over in bursts. He said Roy wasted Pierce trying to fit him in like Smith fit Jordan in. He said they were different kinds of players. He said Pierce was like Oscar, or Wilt. He had MUA every trip and could play 3/4 speed and still dominate. Jordan was more of a thoroughbred that had to play hard to dominate. Smith and Phil
Jackson were right to weave Jordan into offenses and let him take over games in bursts. He said Pierce was wasted that way. He wasn't as brilliant as Jordan in bursts, and his ability to wear down and overpower opponents was squandered in short bursts. Pierce needed to be the hub every trip to maximize his advantage and let him pass out to his teammates as the moment dictated.

The Celts finally understood Pierce. Once they found the right guys for him, he got them rings.

He was an all-time great.

@jayballer54 and @BigBad

Thx for the assists!!

Archibald.

Nash.

Rondo.

Murphy.

Cousy.

Frank has to show them the afterburner now.

They won't risk on a short player without seeing the blinding speed.

He also needs to show a lonnnnng Trey.

If he shows these two things plus his freaky vertical, he is Worth a risk.

Remember, Frank is reputedly only 2-3 inches shorter than Curry. His hops are good enough to make up that difference.

But can he stay Curry deadly another 3 feet out?

God I would love to see him make it!
Go, Frank, go!!!!

Keep hoping I wake up and he is coming back---for his sake.

Ah, but time's arrow.

Based on what each did for KU:

1 Allen--put KU on the map.

2 Brown--put KU back on the map

3 Self--kept it on the map and won a ring.

4 Williams--kept it on the map, didn't win ring.

Best head to head with equal talent?

Larry Brown would win the most games against all of these other great KU coaches. There are only three guys Larry could not consistently beat with equal talent in all of basketball history: Red Auerbach, John Wooden and Phil Jackson.

The least talented of these four?

That's easy. ROY WILLIAMS. Roy has never built anything in his life. He has been a coat tail rider his entire career. Roy has proven he can't win any rings at all without superior talent delivered by petroshoeco regimes and an EST whistle. There's just no doubt. If Roy had not started at KU with the apparent petroshoe connection from UNC and the nucleus of players like Randall that Brown left him, he probably would have been a .600 coach at best at KU. Roy has wasted more great talent at KU and UNC than the other three great KU coaches have ever had COMBINED. Roy is a good coach, not a great one, that has won multiple rings once he got a huge edge and even then he has choked frequently. Roy only wins when he holds the most aces.

The above sounds too harsh about Roy. Roy is a fine coach with a gift for getting players to play incredibly hard. In comparison to other UNC coaches, it's pretty clear Roy is their best coach now. But this list of KU coaches is a murderers row! And Roy just wasn't as good in his time at KU. In Roy's defense, when he does hold all the aces, he tends to "get her done." Lots of coaches that have held them haven't. LB blew it with his best KU team. So: to take Roy down a notch here is not so harsh as it may sounds. But bottom line? Every guy on this list ahead of him has built a program and "got her done" with LESS aces than an opponent had, but not Roy.

By comparison, Brown won his ring with when he equal or less talent, and Self won his ring beating a more talented UNC team and a Memphis team full of ringers.

Of all the coaches, the jury is still out on Self. He could still surpass Brown and Allen, but the clock is his opponent now. It appears he will never be allowed to sign OAD 1s and 5s.

...unless Self and KU give up the gravy train shoe contracts and regain apparent full access to the lion's share of available talent at 1 and 5.

Go, Bill, go!

@dylans

Yes, replacing a national player of the year at point guard AND an OAD 3/4 that was a truly gifted and deserving player to jump to the NBA is a tall order for a coach that does not appear to be allowed to sign OAD 1s and 5s, or even 5-star 1s and 5s.

But Self is a genius and he keeps finding cracks in the apparent regime.

Billy Preston really excites me as far as physical gifts go. But I fret about his adaptation to the D1 violence and intensity. There just are not too many guys with the ferocity and resilience of Josh Jackson.

But there are a few.

If Preston were one, I would be incredibly bullish about this coming season.

@HighEliteMajor

I so hope you are correct.

But I'm going out on a limb here and predicting Roy ties Coach K's record. :basketball_player_tone1:

For what its worth, I would not be totally surprised, if there were one day a very fascinating book written by some professional journalist about the apparently anomalous interweaving (direct and indirect) of KU and UNC basketball for several decades that might include a cast of characters including, but not limited to: Phog Allen, Frank McGuire, Dean Smith, Larry Brown, William "World Wide Wes" Wesley, Roy Williams, Sonny Vaccaro, Michael Jordan, Matt Dougherty, ADs and Fund raising officials at both KU and UNC, various and sundry academic counselors and tutors, and some Chancellors from both schools, John Calipari, Danny Manning, and Bill Self.

I know I would buy it.

.

@Lulufulu

I posted this on the other thread before I saw you created this thread. I think it will clear up this issue. I did not say what you apparently thought I said.

DYLANS SAID:

@JAYBATE-1.0 I’D TAKE MARIO AND RUSROB OVER MASON AND GRAHAM ANY DAY OF THE WEEK.

Chalmers and RR were the greatest defensive tandem at 1 and 2 I have seen at KU. Period.

But Frank and Devonte now go down in my book as the greatest offensive tandem at 1 and 2 that KU ever had. Period.

In the past, I have never chosen against Chalmers and RR, or Rush, or the 2008 team, because they won a ring and rings were once the ultimate currency for me.

But now rings appear a fiat currency, like Fed Note Dollars. Ring winners since 2008 appear to be entertainment value engineered in an entertainment value engineered March Carney. I know many do not agree with me, but that’s increasingly how it appears to me.

So: I have to compare guys without the gold standard that rings once appeared to be.

Under this criteria, Chalmers and RR–supreme defensive tandem–are in a tie with Frank and Devonte–the supreme offensive tandem.

And if I were forced to pick one pair over the other?

Well, Frank and Devonte have done what they have done without playing on a team (this season, or last season) that had any kind of a dominant inside game. Thus, their accomplishments exceed in my mind even what the great Chalmers and RR tandem achieved. Think about it. Chalmers and RR were able to play the kind of defense they played because they FOUR future NBA draft choices for bigs inside. FOUR!

By comparison, Frank and Devonte have been doing what they do on both sides of the ball without a single draft choice big the last two seasons. Thus, we might even argue that Frank and Devonte might have played vastly better defense than they did had they had FOUR future NBA draft choices backing them up on defense so they could really bird dog opponents.

And on the offensive side of the ball, well, Frank and Devonte are just flat better as a tandem than Chalmers and RR, and Frank and Devonte never had the luxury of a backup of the quality of Sherron Collins EITHER!!!

Hope this helps.
.

@Lulufulu

See what I wrote above to @dylans.

I believe that will clear things up.

dylans said:

@jaybate-1.0 I'd take Mario and RusRob over Mason and Graham any day of the week.

I used to think that until I had a chance to step back from this season and get a little objectivity.

Chalmers and RR were the greatest defensive tandem at 1 and 2 I have seen at KU. Period.

But Frank and Devonte now go down in my book as the greatest offensive tandem at 1 and 2 that KU ever had. Period.

In the past, I have never chosen against Chalmers and RR, or Rush, or the 2008 team, because they won a ring and rings were once the ultimate currency.

But now rings appear a fiat currency, like Fed Note Dollars. Ring winners since 2008 appear to be enteratainment value engineered in an entertainment value engineered March Carney. I know many do not agree with me, but that's increasingly how it appears to me.

So: I have to compare guys without the gold standard that rings once appeared to be.

Under this criteria, Chalmers and RR--supreme defensive tandem--are in a tie with Frank and Devonte--the supreme offensive tandem.

And if I were forced to pick one pair over the other?

Well, Frank and Devonte have done what they have done without playing on a team (this season, or last season) that had any kind of a dominant inside game. Thus, their accomplishments exceed in my mind even what the great Chalmers and RR tandem achieved. Think about it. Chalmers and RR were able to play the kind of defense they played because they FOUR future NBA draft choices for bigs inside. FOUR!

By comparison, Frank and Devonte have been doing what they do on both sides of the ball without a single draft choice big the last two seasons. Thus, we might even argue that Frank and Devonte might have played vastly better defense than they did had they had FOUR future NBA draft choices backing them up on defense so they could really bird dog opponents.

And on the offensive side of the ball, well, Frank and Devonte are just flat better as a tandem than Chalmers and RR, and Frank and Devonte never had the luxury of a backup of the quality of Sherron Collins EITHER!!!

.

@Kcmatt7

IMHO, Rush remains the best 3 that Self has had and the only one that was so good he could carry a KU team to a ring, while rehabbing a knee. It was insane what Rush did his last season. Too many talk about his final season as not being dominating. OMG! He was the hub of a national championship team, while rehabbing a blown knee!!! I don't recall any other player in NCAA history pulling that off!

If Josh Jackson had stayed 4 years, he might have eclipsed Rush. But remember, in comparing Rush with Jackson, Rush never once got to play with a national player of the year the likes of Frank Mason, as Jackson did. Chalmers was a great one, but he NEVER hung a season like Frank did this past one for Rush to ride the coat tail of the way Josh got to ride Frank!

Brandon never could drive it, like Josh could, but Josh will never trifectate like Brandon did. And in the 3pt era, I will take that school over driving. And never forget that Brandon could run and jump as well as Josh, and for four years he was our best defender--the guy Self turned to again an again to shut down anyone from 1 to 4.

JayHawkFanToo said:

@DoubleDD

I cannot think of even one scenario where Coach Roy Wlliams is not huge positive for KU.

I am not sure I can comment usefully on what scenarios you cannot think of, but Coach Roy Williams appears a significant net positive for KU to me.

Roy looked pretty besieged a year ago, but now it appears Roy's health has improved.

IMHO, Coach K's total wins record seems too tough for Roy to catch.

Could Roy break Coach K's record for total rings?

@justanotherfan

Predicting the next KU head coach is tougher than trying to predict when enough regime change will be enough.

@mayjay

Totally correct.

My goof.

@Kcmatt7

I prefer not to attribute it to old age so much as to being one of 200 Million Americans reputedly with Chromium 6 in their tap water supply.

@nuleafjhawk

I would be grateful to anyone going back and finding proof refuting the reputed story that Roy promised to recruit west of the Mississippi, when Roy took the elite KU job (note: KU's storied program had just won a ring and LB's recruiting infraction and KU's NCAA penalty at least appear relatively minor in retrospect) as a UNC assistant to Dean that had never been a D1, or D2, head coach. Please do so, as soon as you can, if time and resources permit you to. I look forward to reading your research. Your doubts about this reputed story mean it needs to be resolved for the sake of THE LEGACY and future fans by someone with the resources and time to do so.

But, AGAIN, until the reputed story were refuted by such future research, what might we make of the apparently long overlooked question, which I would like to rephrase as follows: is there any corresponding reputed story that Dean imposed a reputed complementary restriction on himself, and UNC, also (i.e. focusing most of his recruiting east of the Mississippi, or alternatively perhaps agreeing to compete head to head mostly only in the western US), and why would he, at the peak of his career, have done such a thing?

I don't have a recollection on this, and I don't have an explanation that makes sense to me yet.

I do recall Dean had suffered through John Wooden's run of cornering much of the top talent out on the West Coast, plus cherry picking top players in the east (Jabbar) and midwest (Lucious Allen). After Wooden retired, Dean was in his prime and seemingly positioned to win a lot of rings, recruiting the whole country. But so were others.

For perspective, Bob Knight reputedly used to not want his assistants and proteges to take jobs in the the same conference Knight coached in. I vaguely recall that Steve Alford taking the Iowa job reputedly triggered some conflict with Knight. At the same time, I don't recall that Knight ever reputedly set any arbitrary boundaries about where he would and would not recruit and he won four NCAA rings, if I recall correctly.

Dean, oddly, won just two, despite an impressive run of talent, wherever he reputedly recruited.

It occurred to me that framing the question this way; i.e., with the speculative focus more on Dean, than on Roy, might unstick some new thinking on this reputed story.

I would be especially happy, if exploring this reputed story of Roy recruiting half the country this way would also lead to it being refuted entirely. Wouldn't that be great?

But either way, it seems a reputed story that deserves some continued reflection about.

Recollection suggests that Sonny, Dean and Roy may all have been in some kind of contact at UNC at, or near, the birth of the Michael Jordan marketing phenomenon.

I wonder if this reputed recruiting agreement between Dean and Roy might have had any basis in shoe marketing and its reputed influence on D1 talent?

"Sole Influence: Basketball, Corporate Greed, and the Corruption of America's Youth" (2001) by Dan Wetzel and Don Yaeger, and "College Sports, Inc.: The Athletic Department vs. the University," (1991) by Murray Sperber, might be two good books for you to read for more information about recruiting as background. I recommend these books often, because though old, and apparently not necessarily perfectly flawless, I don't recall ever reading that the troubling issues addressed in these books have ever been conclusively refuted, broadly remedied and/or eliminated from college sports since. Maybe they have, and I have missed it, but I don't recall the NCAA, or Bob Knight, for two examples, claiming that these issues have been broadly eliminated, though they probably have evolved over the decades since.

As always, great to hear from you.

I see why a young assistant coach without D1 head coaching experience might agree to recruit only half the country in exchange for a chance to become head coach of a legendary elite D1 program that had just won a ring.

But why would the head coach of a legendary D1 program at the peak of his career agree to recruit only half the country?

Were Sonny, Dean and Roy thinking about petroshoeco hegemony back then?

Or were there other dynamics at play?

It has to be a UNC assistant without head coaching experience, willing to split the AirJordan/Nike conveyor 50/50 by recruiting west of the Mississippi, and he has to institute easy classes. He also has to promise to stay 15 years, then take the UNC job.

That's not too much to ask, is it?

Otherwise I don't care.

Lets get AW3's bro to walkon too!

Heck, lets have all the walking be brothers of transfers!!

There was a nice big "delete" button on the old version when I clicked see all notifications.

We need that delete function back, or we are going to have massive lists of notifications accumulate.

So far nothing clears them out.

@KUSTEVE

I can't recall.

But I was a might disillusioned about how the March Carney Finals were officiated, simultaneously discouraged about Easygate having seemed to have receded into the ethers, and also kind of disappointed that Roy appeared to have become more a part of the apparent problems with D1, than a part of those seeking fix those problems. But then I heard the NCAA decision making about the reputed Easygate was still in process, so I decided to go into a 4-corners stall and wait and see for awhile.

Hope that helps.

When I pull down the menu notification menu (the bell at the top of the window), I used to be able to read my notifications and then delete the notifications. Now all the menu lets me do is:

click on "mark all notifications read"

or

click on "see all notifications"

Neither one empties my notification list.

Advice?

Maybe Bragg could go play for Tubby now?

Smart move, Mr. Lawson.

You won me over with "Money isn't the issue."

@wissox

In an America that runs torture prisons, funds ISIS through Saudi Arabia and Qatar, false flags with murder of innocents, and reputedly maintains pedophile rings for its leadership in government, media, corporations and churches, I SUSPECT many doubt UNC will be held accountable for easy classes.

@drgnslayr

Thanks for calling this link about the Maryland Chancellor's reputed POV on UNC's issues to our attention.

@Lulufulu

Imagine the kind of foreign career he can have!!!!

He is exactly what most foreign teams need at the point!

But I'm praying for the NBA for Frank.

@Lulufulu
I think it's best for now, if I let go of the subject of Roy and the officiating in the Finals. Few here seemed to see what appeared asymmetric no calls, so I'm comfortable letting go of it for now.

I still think Roy has been a great coach. Once he got to UNC, where he could get a shot at recruiting ALL of Nike's summer game talent across the entire country, not just the west half, as was reputed to be his case at KU, he started winning rings the same as other top coaches of elite EST programs with that same edge.

It appears increasingly likely that being at a nonEST program, and without full access to Nike/AirJordan summer game players across the entire country, one's odds of winning multiple rings, or even any, sharply diminishes.

Yes, my respect for Roy has declined as Roy's apparent ties to the apparent petroshoeco-agency complex and the regime dynamics it appears able to impose on D1 have increasingly come to my attention over many years.

But that maybe the stuff of another post.

Rock Chalk!

KU fans love Frank. @HighEliteMajor fine post on Frank makes clear his radical conversion to Frankophilia.

Strangers love him, too. Those bald talking heads that populate national fake media tried hard to sell EST Edsels at PG much of the season , but finally they cracked for Frank's Ferarri.

Award givers so prone to pre-branded players in EST and PST? They fell all over themselves trying to give Frank their fineries. Frank hit the mother load on awards.

So what made Frank's season so great?

Didn't win a ring.

Didn't get to THE FOUR.

Didn't have a career game his last time on the college shellac.

Didn't shoot lights out in FGAs at 49%.

Didn't even lead his team in steals

So: why do all the hard hearts and privilege-deserves-its rank types LUV THEM SOME FRANK, like all the of us bleeders of crimson and blue blood?

What's so great about Frank?

First off, despite the tats, ripped out muscles everywhere, and the face that ocassionally screws up into a Shitzu's mug, well, he's diminutive as your favorite small breed dog all dolled with a sheared do on top taking Blue at one of those shows in the mid 500s you surf by looking for the KU game. Frank is homely cute as a button. I know. Button cute ain't cool theses days, but Frank Mason restored cute to the respect it has always deserved--made cute and diminutive as cool again. About time, too. I am big but I appreciate small and in between, too. Viva l'difference in all persons. I like our individual uniquenesses. Frank is flat out unique. One off. Don't nobody else look like Frank, act like Frank, hoop like Frank, bounce like Frank, shoot like Frank, or rebound from the mother#%$&@! point like Frank. Frank is one off. He is the original in oil that other prints will be made from. But at the same time Frank is restoring cool to the diminutive, as happens every so often. Cousy did. Nate Archibald did. Calvin Murphy did. Mugsy Bogues did. Isaiah Thomas did. Rajon Rondo do. Nash did. Basketball is the democratic game. It favors the tall, but it has room for the small. There are so many things that need doing on a court and so many ways to do them, the diminutive can be as effective as the long, if it can find its way to doing it. AND FRANK FOUND MORE WAYS TO DOIT DIMINUITIVELY AT A HIGH LEVEL ON A COURT THAN ANY ONE IN A LOOOOOOOONG TIME!

But I know you quants want your numbers.

47 percent from Trey on 174 3ptas. It's not unprecedented, but its largely unfathomable to mortals and flat beyond hope to 98% of D1 basketball players.

And remember: Frank was NOT KU's designated trifectate. Svi actually had 2 more 3ptas and Devonte had 74 MORE 3ptas!!! And Svi and De shot respectably near the magic .400. But Frank shredded cord at .470, while running the team and being cute and diminutive!!! Svi and De were the volume guns. Frank was the match piece Self pulled out again and again, when the game was on the line. He had a career long ball season.

Most humans would think 47% on 174 attempts was a season's worth of accomplishment.

But not Frank.

Frank also shot 79% of 278 FTAs. Perspective? OAD Josh Jackson had the next most FTAs at 173. It was an insane number of free throws! KU should name one of the charity stripes on Naismith Court the Frank Mason Memorial Free Throw Line!

Frank made treys and FTs were practically a full offense for some lesser programs.

Let's see...what else?

After Doke went out, Frank was the third leading rebounder on the team...from the point!!!!!!! I have gone off many times stacking superlatives about his rebounding. He is the greatest rebounding college point guard I have seen in 55 years of college basketball I can remember. Pound for pound he is exceeded only by Bill Bridges and Wilt Chamberlain at KU and they could not dribble drive and shoot the Trey as he did. Hell, Wilt and Bill would have loved Frank!!!!

And he protected.

And he guarded.

And he helped.

And he never backed down.

And he achieved the longest stays in the Psi zone of any KU player I can recall.

And he had the memorable photo of him standing up to that big lug in the tourney.

Question answered!

Rock Chalk, Frank Mason!

@KUSTEVE

The main thing is for the authorities to find those responsible for this sort of agent provocateur event, or whatever it turns out to be categorized, and they need to be brought to justice by trial. We are at the time before Hammurabi's code concerning terrorism. Rule of law has to be imposed on this stuff generally, however else we choose to respond . I'm not saying I'm categorically opposed to retaliation, but it's not enough. we are descending into barbarism relying solely on retaliation, counter terrorism and torture. Revenge is NOT justice. The various cultures of the world all recognize this. Bottom line is: if all a culture and state can deliver its citizens is revenge, individuals don't need culture, or states. Revenge we can do without government.

Revenge is not working.

Culture we need.

@KUSTEVE

Thanks. I reread my own post and saw how you could have drawn the conclusion you did.

@KUSTEVE said:

but to repeat the scurrilous suggestion that Israel had anything to do with poisoning innocent children in Syria is ridiculous, and as irrational an idea as I’ve ever heard.

That is a ridiculous (scurrilous?) mischaracterization of my remarks and thinking.

But since you are not usually this way I will take the trouble to clarify.

Israel didn't do it.

There are many suspects.

I hypothesize it, and this category of events, was the work of a large global organized crime organization that has insinuated itself into many of the state governments, militaries and certain major corporations. I suspect something much bigger than what Ian Fleming once anticipated (and warned of) in spy fiction may have come to pass.

It would be kind of like what some call a Deep State,, except that it would be a globalized Deep State insinuated into many elements of governance, force structure and commerce. what some once called a Meta Crime Cartel has perhaps metasticized into a hydra headed entity inside and outside governments, militaries, corporations and terrorist organizations. And it's gotten way more control than any crime organization has ever acquired before

It appears to plague USA, UK, the Crown, the Vatican, Russia, China, and probably most of the major states and organizations of the world.

So: Israel didn't do it anymore than USA, UK, Russia, China and Syria did it.

Fleming apparently knew how the world really worked and he apparently wrote fictions about what kinds of dangers could conceivably emerge one day, based on extrapolations and inflations of past threats, as surely as George Orwell did.

Flemming's vision and Orwell's vision may turn out to have been co-evolutionary.

@ralster said:

But WHY has Roy been so "annointed to receive"???

Hypothesis: Dean Smith. Sonny Vaccaro. Michael Jordan. Phil Knight.

@Lulufulu

This post season business reminds me of Casablanca rewritten for basketball.

Rick to Ilsa: We'll always have Lawrence.

Yo, @kjayhawks Lol

D'jou mean sane, witty, entertainment?

Nah, not feeling very witty and entertaining.

Children getting gassed with Sarin shortly after Putin reputedly warned Israel not to meddle in Syria didn't hit my funny bone.

Been waiting for you to entertain me.

Go ahead, make me laugh.

Rock Chalk!

Hey, maybe Carlton can join Conner at WSU!!!

Just kidding, I hope.

Bragg went from a guy that Bill Self was sky high on his freshman season to a guy that Self didn't seem to want for much more than minimal rotation minutes after some events we don't know much about.

Now KU issues a press release saying Bragg is leaving to pursue his dreams Self wishes him well, and Bragg expresses gratitude for his time at KU.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Bragg.

There seems to be two classes of early departures (excluding those to the pros) involving mutual well-wishing: well-wishing where Self reputedly helps a player relocate; and well-wishing where Self does not appear to.

Will Bragg be in the first, or second group?

It didn't end pretty with the DNP, when he might have been helpful.

I hope Carlton is in the former group, but fear he is in the latter group.

Extra weird case.

Hyper weird.

Why he didn't stay at KU = mystery.

I will always wonder if he were actually 5-10 years older than claimed.

It feels like we don't know/get all the facts.

Sounds like he found an organization that is a good fit though.

@ralster

Agree. Fine post. I discuss it because KU fans often are not prepared for its often cruel and unexpected side effects, because they appear to forget, or underestimate its enduring impacts. It

@Kcmatt7

KU fans often appear to underestimate how demanding and critical they are.

My parents used to talk about 50 years ago. My brother talked about it 20 years ago.

It's not the expectations of KU fans that are so tough. It's their expressed judgements rendered from those frequently ridiculously over hopeful expectations that hurt players.

Getting chewed out by Self is obviously a stinging experience, but most players have heard that level of harshness or worse before they arrive. Nothing prepares them for the fans--ours and opponents. Not everyone turns out suited for life in the spotlight and education can be tough for those sheltered from it in the pass.

@Kcmatt7

He'll be fine and successful at KU if he sticks it out, but KU is a tough place for players with thin skins.

@elpoyo said:

if the tourney was engineered, UNC would be in our bracket and would be playing @ home like us.

If the Tourney were engineered based on entertainment values, there could be some conceivable reasons for placing UNC and KU in different brackets, and perhaps some for placing them in the same brackets.

If we are making these claims, the claim can be made that the BIG 12 is engineered to give KU its streak.

Yes, if a group X makes a claim Y, then group X can also make a claim Z, but that does not necessarily make either or both claims Y and Z true, or necessarily logically connected.