Are "haters" part of the Deep State overthrowing our country, or are they Deep State lackeys embedded into sports media to color revolution-ize the greatest game ever invented, or are they just hemorrhoid sufferers?
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jaybate 1.0
10346 posts
KU no longer uses the word "injuries." The new term is "collateral health imperfections."
Was Everett ahead of his time?
Maybe Washington political coverage can learn something from this?
😄
Some how I missed this moment. Was this scene a stunt, or did this happen for real?
Bradley?
@Fightsongwriter :+1:
@BeddieKU23
Uh-oh! I made a boo Boo. It sure seemed low for many were dropping last game at the end!
Really glad to see last 4 games at 29% from Trey.
Let the slump continue in the conference tournament for a total of seven Cold games, the hit the Carney on fire for 6 games of 50% from Trey and, voila! Shoot our way past apparent seeding and whistle asymmetries!!!
Replacing players with at most 4 seasons of eligibility has always been part of what has created the drama and prevented sclerosis of the college game, and it strangely has even helped it survive the problems of HYPER TURNOVER from OAD stacking.
4 years enables continuity, development, bonding and change.
D1 used to be a series of 3-4 year dramas. Could the coach develop and fit the pieces together in 3-4 years? If not, new 3-4 year drama unfolded.
OADs and other early departures now make it more of a 2-3 year drama at programs that rely on < 3 OADs each season.
Look at how much Frank (and Devonte) allowed Self to change the way KU plays, regardless of who the OADs were.churning through. A lot. It was dramatic. Not boring. Familiar enough to bond with but not so static as to be predictably boring.
Now Change again.
Core groups with a revolving OAD.
A nice mix.
I am beginning to think 1 OAD a season is optimal from a fan stand point and should be instituted.
One OAD can really help a team, but be endured if he can't cut it--a drama in itself.
Each season we would assess our core group. Where are they on their development arc? Is the OAD a likely good complementary fit? Will he be the missing peace? Drama.
There are constructive entertainment values and destructive ones. Constructive one heighten the game itself. Destructive ones become more important than the game itself.
10 OADs on a team become a 1 year drama of seeing if 10 OADs can be stopped.
A core group and one OAD become a completion and a drama taking place on many campuses to see which "team" can fit the pieces together the best--what the D1 game has, at its best, always been about.
Spread the OADs around 10-20 programs and it's still a core group main course dish. The OAD is the spice, not the whole dish. But what a spice he can be!
Josh Jackson becomes the gold standard for an OAD. Plays hard. Develops fast. Completes the core group, rather than replacing it.
At the same time a player of Frank's extraordinary stature is unmistakable and a beloved, heart felt loss.
It's all good.
Never thought I could say that about the OAD era.
Frank is an all-timer.
And he and Devonte are an all time tandem.
@drgnslayr said:
I rarely blame everything on refs.
I agree and go beyond this as follows: I WOULD SUGGEST NEVER blame everything on the refs.
WHATEVER MAY OR MAY NOT GO ON, IT SEEMS APPARENTLY WRAPPED IN SUCH COMPLEXITY THAT IT IS APPARENTLY EFFECTIVELY LEGAL.
Team's with big strong guards and 4 big men, as well as running teams 9 Deep will populate KUs bracket. Being from the EST will be another criterion. --from Predictions of batenac 1.0, the Magnificient Seer from the Black Hole.
The way I feel about it is that it's worth watching the regular season for basketball and in March for entertainment for whatever may actually be going on. Why in the world would one not want to watch the greatest game ever invented? There have been extended periods of point shaving scandals and corruption has never been claimed to have been eliminated from D1 by any NCAA investigator I have ever read quoted, and I have continued to watch. I feel by staying engaged and supporting and cheering for right way programs I and others are part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. Why surrender the greatest game ever invented to apparently legal entertainment values, if simply by watching one becomes part of the audience metrics that appreciate apparently right way programs and dislike apparently legal but entertainment driven Ball?
If it helps you not to wonder about what I wonder about and cheer for, simply don't read my posts and be a part of another audience metric shaping the game. It's cool how it works.
Rock Chalk!!!
"I am frustrated as well, but the refs do not decide the outcome"
--@HawkChamp
I'm grateful and joyful about the way Self and KU have vaulted over apparent obstacles to a great decade plus 3--NOT even a little frustrated.
Things are going great. Each season the apparent obstructions are overcome and we then seem a season closer to the powers that be being incentivized toward enabling the appearance of a more symmetric system, or ever more speculative chatter about the appearances of asymmetry.
FWIW, I'm enjoying the season immensely. I feel vindicated about my long support of Self's skill and genius. And frankly the apparent trend of appearances of obstruction year after year just keeps accruing and so makes it appear more and more conceivable as a hypothetical possibilty IMHO worth inquiring about. What is there for me to be frustrated about?
Now I might be getting VERY frustrated were I defending your apparent POV.
You're the one that seems stuck polishing a metaphorical scat dropping, at least to me. You would appear to keep having to explain away and rationalize year after year and to some degree omit the accruing stream of appearances to hold this apparent POV, right? Yet these appearances just don't appear to stop, so board rats with your apparent POV appear to have to keep polishing. I just get to keep noting them, when they appear to occur. I just get to note them. I don't have to explain them away, or even explain them at all. It's not my job, as a fan. I just get to note what appears possibly to have happened. I just take the appearances perceived and note them. If it turns out not to have been as it appeared, I am happy to discover it. It's not an agenda with me. I don't need it to be proven true. I would be happier if it were proven false.
I don't envy board rats with the task of having to explain away on-going intermittent appearances of asymmetry. It's probably easy once or twice. I believe that's why some just try to do it once or twice. But season after season for years on end, over a decade now, it must feel kind of daunting. It seems like trying to explain away to guests what appears a 300 pound gorilla wearing a lamp shade on your sofa that shows up at every end of recruiting season Party and March party you throw for 13 years running. Having to posit a few anecdotal historical what-if examples about post season refs as a dike in the face of more or less yearly (especially Since 2008 and counting) accrual of more regular season wins and titles by Self, despite accruing appearances of apparently legal whistle and seeding asymmetry in post season, plus no OAD center and PG signings by arguably one of the game's three best coaches for a decade? Hmmm. 'splaining persuasively why a coach of Self's increasingly unparalleled success in regular season doesn't sign OAD centers and PGs since 2008 must be a kind of tight rope walk. To mix metaphors, it must feel like the little Dutch Boy running out of fingers to plug the dike. What if Self wins five more titles, ups his winning percentage to 85% and even bucks the seeding and refereeing and wins another ring, but still can't sign an OAD center or PG--what then? Are you going to keep buffing the scat? The more you polish the appearances away, the more polished the appearances appear to become; that's the problem you appear to be stuck with. The appearances apparently aren't going away generally yet. They just appear to keep coming year after year after year, and ocassinally appear to change form, like say from apparent long stacks for a few to apparent medium stacks for several.
Board rats with your apparent POV appear to be doing some heavy lifting on this. Think about your assertion that refs don't win/tip games. It's kind of counter intuitive. If refs can't win/tip games, then why do coaches appear to expend so much energy on managing refs during games? If refs can't win/tip games, why have fixers over the years reputedly involved refs in shaping outcomes and point spreads of games? Why do coaches complain about refereeing from time to time, if the refs can't win/tip, why not? If bad refereeing can't win a game for an opponent, why would coaches complain about it at all? It appears one might be stuck polishing again.
It appears you are suggesting, well, I know refs' roles appear to be significant in winning/tipping games, but they aren't significant. Over time, the potential internal contradiction of the assertion just seems harder and harder to assert persuasively.
Time sometimes tells in this sort of thing.
I feel like time might be looking more and more like my teammate on this, but it's all appearances and speculation still. Fan chat and nothing more. No conspiracies and nothing illegal IMHO seems part of the phenomena, but I'm a layman.
Rock Chalk!
It must be cool to see the world through lenses that correct for apparent asymmetry. I want a pair. I see the appearance of some asymmetry on this issue. Where do you go? Symmetricrafters?
😀
Seriously I'm curious. How exactly do you explain a coach at an elite program that can win 13 straight conference titles, and 84% of his games against some of the toughest non conference competition ever scheduled some seasons, but only one ring and being effectively unable to sign OAD centers and OAD point guards, while facing not infrequently apparently asymmetric talent stacks, bracket stacks and March whistle leans? Something seems a little out of kilter and the argument it's Self is starting to get a little tenuous after 13 years IMHO. Again, only talking about appearances. How do you explain the appearances that are significant enough that some notice?
After you 'splain that, then consider this: ever notice how little trouble Self has with Shaka in conference vs Shaka in the March Carney? Shaka arguably has better players at Texas than he had at VCU and Self arguably has a less complete team than he had when he lost to Shaka in the tourney. Why was Shaka soooooooooo good in the tourney, but not in conference. Are you saying there are some great tourney coaches that can't coach a lick in regular season? I don't follow that logic any more than I do those that say there are great regular season coaches that can't coach a lick in post season. I can buy some are a little better in post season, maybe, or vice versa. But Self has spanked Shaka several times in regular season. What gives here. Was Shaka beating Self in the tourney a "random" chance, or is Shaka a better tourney coach and a lousy regular season coach, or might whistle asymmetry have had a hand?
After 13 years, but especially since 2008, I sometimes wonder If fans are waiting for Assange, or Snowden, to dump some emails about college ball? After 13 years some apparent patterns are out on the table for the reasonable to at least wonder about IMHO. Not talking about proven and certainty. Talking about appearances! Not to every one, just to some. No one agrees on anything except maybe slow death sucks. Do you ever notice some appearances, since 2008, like some others have? Not talkin' 'bout proof. Talkin' 'bout appearances that might make some reasonable fans wonder. Do you?
Ready, set, go. This I gotta hear! I am keeping an open mind. The broth of skepticism makes the gravy of every discussion better.
Howling!
Have you been holding out on us on this juicy Landen tidbit, or did I miss it?
Operable Landen.
Put three best, non B12 power conference winners as 1 seeds outside Midwest region.
Put KU and winner of last non B12 power five conference 1 and 2 respectively in Midwest Region.
Fill the Midwest Region with the best of the rest of the teams across the country, especially those that are bad match ups for KU.
Wait for KU to have an off shooting night and be eliminated before Final Four.
If KU gets to the FF, default to referees in semi final game.
If KU gets to Finals, referees again.
If KU wins, have everyone talk about the loser, then cut away to "One Shining Moment" edited to emphasize EST teams and cut to Fake News.
WE HAVE A WINNAH!!!
Joe Doooooo is ready for the NC State job.
Or Texas.
I was reading about Mega Regions, a new regional economic unit used by Regional Planning Association (RPA) planners to describe the emerging new economic units for the rest of this century.
The USA has 11 mega regions. Here is a map of them.
!MapofEmergingUSMegaregions.png ↗
The basic idea are that these mega regions hold the vast majority of jobs, firms, housing, commericial property, in USA and for planning purposes straddle existing civil divisions like cities, counties, states and countries. Mega regions are not just a phenomenon of USA, but they are emerging around the world.
The thinking is that over time these mega regions will tend to grow into more and more integrated economic units and will have regional planning authorities guiding them more and more.
It is interesting to see that while the state of Kansas is considered a fly over state and a low population, largely agricultural state, and Kansas City has tended to be considered a small media market and a medium sized metropolitan area, in the realm of mega regions, Kansas City and its metropolitan statistical area are considered part of the Great Lakes Mega Region. This is significant, because the Great Lakes Mega Region with 53 Million persons is the largest mega region in USA just slightly larger than the Northeast Mega Region.
Think about this for a second. Down stream, as this mega region grows together still more it is likely to become under certain scenarios the MOST dominant regional economic unit in North America. It has the water It has the land. And it has the food. And it has the energy and natural resources needed to super nova, if USA and the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership were put back on a greater "domestic" and hemispheric production and consumption basis; i.e., if jobs and firms were brought back from Asia over a sustained period of time, and if America were to be put back on a more domestic energy emphasis, all of which seems in the very nascent stages of being moved toward.
So, what would television markets begin to look in such a mega regional perspective? Well, this Great Lakes Mega region is already the biggest single mega region TV market and it straddles the EST and CST. And KU in Lawrence inside the Kansas City sub region is a member.
Today, our conferences are largely aligned along energy, water, and other voting blocks of state-Federal based political economy.
What if the state-Federal based political economy receded in importance due to budgetary constraints and into that vacuum came the mega region planning authorities as the more basic building blocks of regional economy?
What if a conference of schools were established to comprise the Great Lakes Mega Region universities? Call it the Great Lakes Mega Conference. It could include the Big Ten, the northern Division of the Big 12, Elements of the Missouri Valley, Canadian Universities like McGill, the Ohio Valley Conference, northern SEC conference schools, and so on. Would this be a great football and basketball and hockey conference or what?!!!!! And it would be the biggest, richest conference with the arguably the biggest TV/internet revenues.
KU would go from laboring in Big 12 national anonymity, from being in the fifth power conference to be in the first Mega Regional Conference.
This is the likely future of sports and sports television and sports conferences, people, not a merger of the SEC and the Big 12.
Not talkin' 'bout conference realignment.
Talkin' 'bout conference reorganization!!!
Glass half full...Bragg is daisy fresh and properly motivated for OU and Lonnie in Lawrence on Monday.
Self.
Never misses a beat.
Glass half full...Bragg is rested and insulted for OU and Lonnie in Lawrence.
Self.
He never misses a beat.
First, let me be frank.
What follows is not kicking Texas, when they are down, as they would likely kick us, if they ever had the chance.
What follows is just an honest description and assessment from this old fan's POV.
Texas blows.
They are maybe the worst looking 10-19 team I have seen.
At times they do not even appear to have practiced together.
Quite a deterioration from the last meeting, when I thought they looked quite a bit sharper.
I never saw a Shaka Smart team back east look, or play, like this one, even in losses.
Shaka Smart looked like Shell-Shocka Smart. Shaka looked like he had no clue how to make his team play like a team. He looked like a coach that knew his players had quit listening--quit believing he knew what he was doing.
While Shaka has rubbed me the wrong way at times--don't most opposing coaches sometimes?--I have always respected him for getting his players to play hard and getting them to run his system, whether I liked it or not.
Tonight's performance by his team was an embarrassment and a negative reflection on him.
Shaka needs to elevate his dobber and start demanding his players man-up. He needs to focus on seven guys that want to hold the court in maker take, not just relive their AAU salad days. He needs to start drawing up some stuff that will work, however simple it has to be for his troubled team. He needs to play who ever will play hard, even if it means going 0-fer the rest of the way. Shaka could be a good coach, but the has to quit thinking its him against the world. He's in a profession. Listen to Self. Get three guys that can make plays. Get some glue guys. Hope for a rotation of eight, settle for seven. Play good defense. Find an offensive scheme that doesn't take rocket scientists to figure out. Have a thousand page play book but only use 20 pages. Show the players how nauseated their mistakes make you. Smile big at the good they do. Think next. Indoctrinate them that they don't leave a buddy on the battle field. Team, team, team.
It looks easy, but its not. Better start now.
And thank Bill Self again for not running the score up on you.
Memo to Shaka: It was professional curtesy 2.0.
Zero doubt IMHO.
Coleby and Bragg would not have played 16 minutes combined otherwise. One of them would have gotten the minutes and it wouldn't have been the guy with the trick knee. He wouldn't have let Svi stink up the floor the way he did. And Bill would have given them some wrinkles to run instead of letting them labor. He would have given Frank and Josh something to do instead of just letting them stand out their and shoot clankers.
Notice how little they ran the weave, Shaka? That was to try to keep your hapless guys legs under them. A lot of weaving would have most o your perimeter guys spent and fouled up.
Those times when KU separated to plus 14? They would not have defended the lead back down to 9. He would have stretched it to 20 and kept it there, or just stepped on your throat and blown you out.
Self deftly modulated a respectable 11 point loss for your AD and your Chancellor to save face with. Self got some work for Coleby in the quid pro quo.
The KU impact players got reminded how hard it is to score, when the old coach is making you find a way to win on your own. For sure the KU players will be hanging on every word Self gives this week about wrinkles to work on for the post season.
Welcome to the big time, Shaka.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Self just used a little professional curtesy to keep from killing you.
So you'd get stronger.
He's collegial that way about fellow coaches.
Treat him right some day, if he gets sideways as he surely will sooner or later.
You owe him two just from this season.
Rock Chalk.!
But why did Self let him out of the cro-ice in the first place?
It's possible, but it could also correlate with sun spots. I was looking for probable. Did Self wait until the games didn't matter to give him some work? Maybe he has been well for months as Self has suggested, and now is a low risk time to let him get over the psych obstacle?
Can someone explain why Coleby is suddenly playing so much?
I guess everyone named Allen is a potential tripper!
Bill Walton is in fine form today.
Irreverent about almost everything.
Gotta love an all time great that wears a tie dye in Austin and sleeps at the foot of Stevie Ray Vaughn.
😄
Duke Interim HC Jeff Capel appears finally to be confronting the physical limits of the human ankle weaponized for tripping. Grayson had to be rested today, because of a sore ankle. Was it to get him ready to trip in the March Carney?
Eh, I meant this as a joke, but I'm afraid it could be true.
Isn't it great how this issue that's been percolating for awhile came to a head AFTER we won the 13th title.
What an incredible coincidence!
Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
Ugh, I keep getting confused on Landen's status next season.
LOL!
@et al
Devonte disappeared for a long stretch of this season and has only regained his brilliance the last few games, now he has a mummified shooting hand, so his shooting heroics are apt to disappear again. He won't turn pro based on the season he has had. He will turn pro only if the injuries he has had raise no doubts in the limited, sheep like minds of most NBA GMs. Every year D1 spits out guards like a sand and gravel quarry spits out gravel. There are so many potential short NBA guards each draft that one has to be near bullet proof to be taken first round.
The real question facing Devonte is if another D1 season would convince GMs he can stay healthy. If not, he might as well take a low or no second round this year and pack for Europe right now. If his injuries this season were anomalies, then stay and play. He is very gifted and as a full time guard with Malik and Svi and Vick to keep teams honest outside and Landen, Bragg, Doke and Preston inside, he could drive at will and go on a major tear....unless Self decides to play inside out.
Devonte's other NBA obstacle is his greatest strength is his INCREDIBLE clutch shooting!!! In college he is worth his weight in real gold. In the NBA, the superstars take most of the big shots, so they will only view him as they viewed Chalmers--expensive glue. There are lots of Nike guys that can do the expensive glue. Advice to Devonte: sign with Nike if he wants to last as glue in the NBA.
ESPN: Monopoly Corrupts. Absolute near monopoly corrupts near absolutely.
I believe board rats are prejudiced against Bill, because he looks increasingly like a near footer Bugs Bunny.
He blows inwards with lips pursed.
He vacuums orally.
He creates lower atmospheric pressure inside his mouth than out.
He breaths deeply while maintaining a bilabial seal.
He gives good brain case.
It's possible Rick was annoyed about something else and took it out on the fan. Like may he just got last month's bill for recruiting hookers and it was over budget?
Just kidding!
Wow! That was very kind. Glad you enjoyed the posts.
Thx
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Maybe even an all electric, all in wheel motored Tesla!!!!
That Tesla with the electric motors in every wheel is now the fastest accelerating production sedan in the world, maybe car.
Bring on Billy "The Tesla" Preston!!!!!!
On another link, board rats indicated NC State, Illinois and washington would be opening up. Surely Self's assistants will land one of those jobs!!!!!!
Norm and Kurtis are soooooooooo ready!!!!!
Imagine what Norm could do at Illinois.
And Kurtis knows the PNW better than the guys up there do!!!!!
The B12 is just going to get better and better without Fizzou hanging around its neck, like a pedophile at a pizza parlor.
I've heard the MU Chancellor is trying to improve MUAD's image. He has required The Antlers to learn how to spell F#%^!
John Wooden wanted players with "fire in the belly." He said he could teach such players to control themselves, because he had been such a young man. Competitive fury could be turned into competitive greatness--the cap stone of his pyramid of success.. Building a fire in a player seemed not a task Wooden mastered and he had tried a few times over the years, he said.
In the contemporary era, the politically correct word for fire in the belly is motor. The player has a good motor. He has a big motor.
Thomas Robinson had a big motor. It was so huge Self had to reinforce his motor mounts for his freshman season just to keep him from fouling out. TRob came with a crated 426 Hemi fro out of the past. It was in credibly rough and powerful. Self had to tune it down to keep it from shaking him and the team apart.
Not all motors are big and rough. Josh Jackson came with a compact ZO-6 from a Corvette that can purr before it shrieks and winds out.
Some powerful motors are even balanced and muffled and you aren't sure they are big motors. Perry Ellis was like that. Self spent a full two years running Perry's motor out of its range down on the blocks. It lugged and he thought he just needed to take the mufflers off. He found later it ran best outside. Outside it revved like a stripe-ed assed ape, my salty tongued Marine Corp dad would have said borrowing vernacular from having run a motor transport battalion in WWII..
Joel Embiid was a freak. He had a huge flipping Mercedes diesel tuned to use brute force torque to run fast in an agile chassis with quick feet in wide sticky treads. Mercedes and Audi made a few of these racing oddities to prove diesels weren't just for hauling trailers.
Danny Manning had the true everything motor--the silky smooth V12 that could roar down the straights and scream through the curves. It was so vibration free LB could stand a penny on edge on Danny's shoulder and it didn't tip over even in a fast break. It had power in the low blocks and could run the floor. He could smoke tires or hum.
But now to Allen International Raceway comes Billy Preston from Oak Hill Basketball Fac, er, Academy--him of the questioned motor displacement. Preston has it all but the vaunted smoke belcher--the praised CO1 factory--the hefty hunk of burnin' junk at the center of the thoracic cavity--the v-10 stump puller--the Ford 427 side oiler--the MOTOR.
Self calls PRESTON Marcus MORRIS, as a freshman, which means he could play everywhere that you don't need more than a 36 inch vertical, but do need to rebound and drive the lane from high post. Never mind that Billy's coach says Preston can PLAY above the backboard box already, and shoot the Trey, pretty much the way Perry Ellis' coach rightly said he could too. Billy Preston and his handlers are coming to KU to get Hudy-ized, to learn defense from the POTUD--the President of the United Defense--Bill Self, and to have his hood lifted and his motor wrenched on by Chief Mechanic Bill Self and his legendary pit crew. The preceding is a long way of saying Billy Preston will play garbage 4. He will be expected to start, guard, rebound, pick up garbage baskets on stick backs, and master putting it on the deck to drive the lane by the first conference game. If he can do this, then he will be granted two branding games. If he cannot, he might become a sub, or worse. Preston will learn the meaning of Stretch 4 from the inside out. He will have to stay a second season to lear from outside in; either that, or else discover the biggest, filthiest, two-stroke Detroit Diesel with a prehistoric blower about the size of King King's heart! It's the carrot and stick approach to engine development. Be a garbage man 4 with a gas motor under development, or junk the delicate overhead cam shizzle and the high octane gasoline, bore the heart chambers out to the paint can diameter of a Detroit Diesel cylinder, and begin roaring and clattering and sounding like you are flying apart in every direction that you make Bill Self want to use you to pull his 84% rig into March.
I'm going to be blunt; this is a problem waiting to happen; this is Perry wanting to play outside and Self playing him inside; this is Bill Self saying we've got to get big again and play two big men; this is Self playing a small motor with scary athleticism and a good trifecta inside with Landen, or trying to make Billy his Landen backup for 15 mpg, if Doke can't bounce back. This is Mr. 6-9 Imma Guard and a Trifectatin' sunnuvagun with a Ford Fiesta 3 banger under the bonnet facing the genius lusting for the good old days of long cats in the paint.
Oh, Bill will say they are playing 4-1, as he does with Josh, because he has Devonte, Vick, Svi, Malik and what the recruiting cat drags in outside, but does anyone seriously think Bill Self, who likened Billy Preston to Marcus Morris as a freshman, is going to put Mr. Above the Box Preston 23 feet from a short Trey? NOT!
Billy Preston is coming to become BILL Preston in one season, maybe two.
"Bill" Preston will discover he has a huge flipping motor under the hood that will let him become a force in the NBA.
"Billy" Preston will be a really tall Garo Ypremian with a Fiesta 3 banger transferring to D-League running around saying, "I keek a trifecta."
If Preston stays two years, he could be one of KU's all timers.
Let the drama begin.
P.S.: I forgot to say in conclusion that I believe Bill Preston will become one of KU's great OADs, or TADs. The guy just looks like he has the right stuff. And Wilt Chamberlain most definitely had the great artist's temperament, so I believe it's actually a positive. I am asking the ghost of Bill Bridges to inhabit you and share his spirit with you. He is my favorite Bill of all KU Basketball players named Bill! We've had a few very good Bills and Billy's play for KU. Rock Chalk, Billy/Bill Preston!
Xxxx
@bskeet said:
Right about now, it’s washing over the rest of the SEC what they really got when they picked up Mizzou.
Like a high colonic.
Baylor fans aren't stupid.
I would find a lot of things to do before dropping a wad of cash to watch Scott Drew coach.
He doesn't inspire optimism.
Shaka has faced an early clump of injuries and roster losses to key players since arriving and has not shown ability to adapt to them. His supporters will argue that once those pass, we will see the real Shaka. What Self has taught me over the years is that how a coach handles this sort of adversity IS the REAL coach. Shaka will look better in a coming year when his roster stabilizes and supporters will say, "See? This was the real Shaka." But in D1, roster instability is the tendency and so being able to identify who can do what and which player to impact with and which to glue with, regardless of scheme deployed, is the real key to success. From the beginning, Self has played players out of position to optimize "team" strength, often asking them to change roles from one year to the next, and successfully. It is scary and painful to players and fans, but it works 84 percent of the time now. It has NEARLY won 13 CONSECUTIVE conference titles. Self has done what he has done under conditions of XTREME ADVERSITY that would have sunk many other coaches. Self is right to say a coach should win at Kansas. But what he has done and continues to do at KU is the greatest sustained stretch of excellence, since WOODEN, even with only one ring. Without the apparent recruiting embargo, and apparent seeding and refereeing asymmetry in March, he almost certainly would have won 5 more rings, maybe 10. Shaka so far has shown no ability to adapt to roster instability at an 80 % plus success rate. He did not show it at his last stop either. This is a rare gift Self possesses and even with it he still needs the ghost of Jimmy to make amazing things happen to do what he does. Texas doesn't need much from. Shaka. His ethnicity let's UT keep hiring which ever football coach they want. That will buy him an extra two years at least. Shaka will likely be like Barnes. He has to worry about what Nike thinks of him. Does he serve a market they want to penetrate. They probably already see he is not the best guy to manage roster instability and so unseat adidas Self. But he may help Nike market to some identity politic segment that they keep the dump trucks stopping in Austin. He's gotta have at least a medium stack to put a dent in Self. This recruiting season would be the perfect moment to dump truck Shaka big time. Self is going to lose this team's huge edge on the perimeter and have little developed experience inside to offset the perimeter losses, unless Doke and Coleby recover fully and Lightfoot becomes "heavyfoot" with Hudy. Bragg? Self believes in him and the ones SELF BELIEVES IN inevitably find a role they can fulfill even injured (e.g., Traylor). A medium or long stack plus what Shaka has coming back could be very tough for Self to deal with next year. Next year will tell how serious Nike is about Shaka IMHO.
Shaka's future seems heavily dependent on SHOEWARS, because he seems so far unlikely to beat Self with the kind of players Self has had to coach up, and the roster instability Self has had to manage. Shaka seems like Cal. He will need an unfair advantage to do much.
Shaka's problem is not Self. His problem is the previous conferences he coached in never pitted him steadily against coaches and players of the unsung but still solid to high quality he has to face every game in the B12. The worst in the B12 is arguably better than all but the best he faced in his former conferences.
Rock chalk!