🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Texas Hawk 10: that was a well thought out post. Well worth the time it took to read.

@rockchalkwyo Dedric was the best player on the team - not counting players who were injured or otherwise ineligible. Dotson was not far behind imo. He has the skills and uses them but I think he isn't as 'athletic' as other top PFs For him to earn a spot on an NBA team, he will need a team that would allow him time for strength and conditioning.

I also think about next year's bigs and how Self will use them. I'd like to see how he spreads out their minutes and what combinations Self will deploy. Regardless, Silvio is going to be a beast next year. I cant wait to see him take out his frustration on the rest of the BIG12.

@FarmerJayhawk If I had been around and saw them play then an easy yes. I didn't see Jo Jo White mentioned or Darnel Valentine (my time period) either. So many good players it's hard to go wrong.

@HighEliteMajor Cannot argue your choices so I included some well known but not on many lists. I have Steve Woodberry, Mark Randall, Richard Scott, Rex Walters, Darnell Jackson, Scot Pollard, and Travis Releford. There are many others who could be named and discussed here.

We have certainly been near the top of most recruiting classes although this years class was below standard if ONLY looking at incoming freshmen but the way everything else fell into place, it's a very solid class of 3/4 year players who will be the backbone of this team for the next 4 years.

@justanotherfan Coach K won the NCAA in 2015 and just five years before that. There are a hell of a lot of other teams who wished they had Duke's problems.

@justanotherfan It's been done. Hamidou Diallo reclassified at Kentucky in December 2016 but then didn't play and saved his eligibility.

He did attend the 2017 combine in the summer but returned for the 2017/18 season and as of two hours ago or thereabouts, it looks as if Diallo is returning for the 2018/19 season.

@BeddieKU23 If they expand the free throw lane by four feet will the refs ever make a 3 second call?

@mayjay LOL... The unexplored hinterland. That's where you usually find the best things. Like Kansas basketball.

@BShark Not sure if that really qualifies as good news but I give the kid a lot of points for his heart and his drive.

Is Perry Ellis the best big man ever recruited by Coach Self?
The easy answer is Joel Embiid but he had relatively no impact at Kansas.

Landon Lucas was a solid role player but never had the athleticism although he made for it with his heart. Aldrich was soft but maybe the second best big man at KU under Self. And my third pick is between TRob and Marcus Morris.

@Red.Rooster I know that it's not the same, but I was paralyzed when a crackhead put a knife in my neck at an ATM machine on New Year's Eve 1996. Been in a C6 quad ever since. Life events come and go without any reason or fairness. Best we can do is to let others into our lives and keep on going as long as possible.

@drgnslayr About the only thing that would be more satisfying then beating Wichita, Kansas State, and Missouri in the same year, would be to make it into the Final Four. Maybe winning the BIG12 Conference and Conference Tournament.

Somehow I had forgotten about this forum. Glad to see posters from 247, Scout, and LJW but best of all is seeing jaybate and HighEliteMajor. They've
posted some of the all-time best comments at the old LJW site before you needed to use Facebook to verify identity.

@HawkChamp I would be surprised if we lost. We have both experience and talent while Kentucky has unexperienced talent. This should be a competitive game until about midway through the second half but I expect our experience to take over at about that point.

He predicts Zion to KU. If he gets that correct then I'll give him a pass.

KUSTEVE said:

@FarmerJayhawk We need a 4th big. We might not need him, but if we do, we could certainly do much worse

I think we absolutely will need him. If he can post up and rebound, he will be a difference maker. And obviously we could do far worse.

@dylans Going back to 2016, Sam Cunliffe was ranked as high as #36 by Rivals and only played the fall semester. I hope he used the time he had to learn the system and play with and against his teammates.

We recruited him fairly hard in 2016, still I see him as a little bit of an unknown commodity. My bet is that he will be a solid contributor with his defense being what keeps him out on the court.

@dylans Yes. I could have written my previous response better but I think we are in agreement. As for total losses for the season, I'm between 7-8 games. But far too many variables for anything much more than a guess.

Probably not going to be a popular pick but I think we will lose between 7-8 games this year unless we somehow add depth (read add Silvio). A lot will still come down to guard play where we have abundant talent and a good mix of experience/talent.

@dylans I don't agree. What we are lacking is depth in the frontcourt and Sam Cunliffe isn't going to contribute much in this category. We will be guard rich but F/C poor. Maybe Silvio fills that gap.

justanotherfan said:

@HighEliteMajor

Newman is an NBA PG. He doesn't really have a future in the NBA

These are very contradictory statements. Which one is it?

@Chris1955 Way off subject but great picture! I'll have to dig up one of mine.

Develop/play AW3 or Greene..they can't do much worse than Selden (pretty big bust so far). We really need a top tier PG but that isn't going to happen. Next year?? SDSU's freshmen outplayed ours and they have senior leadership. We have none.

A really bad finish to a really bad weekend. The Saints were the only team I wanted to see win in the wild card round and the disaster at AFH was gut wrenching.

If I had to give the single most fault w/KU, I would have to say it is lacking a quality PG.
Tharpe just doesn't get it and as much as I like Mason, we need a 6'3 - 6'5 athletic guard who can get the ball out in transition.

Wiggins and Selden are left too often trying to make something happen and neither are capable. I really wish Self could have sped up the developed AW3 and Greene. These are the 3-4 year players we have had so much success with in the past but hard to develop players off the bench.

Sweet-16 at best. I could even see us missing the NCAA but doubt that will happen. Coach - please recruit a top tier PG for next year.

@JayHawkFanToo I want to see us back to where we build a strong nucleus of 3-4 yr players and use an OAD to add to the team..I really don't want to see us as a OAD type program.

@Wishawk I think Embiid will be NBA ready by years end..not saying another year wouldn't help BUT he has too much talent and athleticism not to make it.

Embiid will not be another lottery bust but will be a long term NBA player who a good GM could build a team around.
He will not be a cog in the wheel..he will be the wheel.

@truehawk93 I enjoyed your post..I still think we are his #1 choice BUT we really need a top tier PG/

@JayHawkFanToo I completely agree. RussRob was ALWAYS team first. Lock down defender and great on the fast breaks..

@tundrahok No..not even close

@Wishawk The funny thing is that NOBODY stirs a martini..that's why they make martini shakers.
It would be like ordering vodka straight up and saying hold the orange juice.

Dumbest line of one of the best movie franchises.

@drgnslayr
Winning trumps entertainment because winning defines entertainment.
Entertainment is a subset of winning
Magic, Jordan & Lebron would have never over reached the NBA if they all played on losing franchises.
Success made them bigger than the NBA even if only for a short time period.

Wiggins will be a winner first, entertainer second.

Really enjoyed your post.

And nor should you. HCBS is too smart to recruit players he cannot coach. I think he has had the most success from players like Greene and White but w/Wiggins, Selden & Embiid, HCBS will have us back in the Final 4

I'm amazed (I shouldn't be anymore) by how many fans seem ready to flee because of an early season loss to a team we should've beaten.

• Coastie, KU grad, MSeD FIU

I use my iPod... Pretty sure jaybate could find many ways to overcome any tech issue

Yeah - great excuses lol. It would have been better just to tell the truth in that they lacked motivation... not what I would have expected w/the 'new' UK 'best ever recruiting class'.

I guess they missed UK's final game last year.

"BTW: this post is all speculation!"

No need to say that.... All of these are :-)
Although yours are always knowledgeable.

I was really impressed with Lucas and White. Lucas was almost unrecognizable and White played with confidence. White and Greene both bring a lot of pluses but I give White a slight edge as he already put in his time on the bench but would like to see both of them in the rotation.

As for RS's, no idea. Maybe Connor or Mason although if Mason was to redshirt, we could be short at the PG position.
I'm not going to try and outguess anything, just glad that the season has started.

Nothing worse then when the referees decide the game.
Now it's bound to happen far more often.
They could call holding or hitting the receiver more than 5 yards from the line of scrimmage on just about every play in the NFL.
The referees are going to need to learn when or not to call the foul just as the refs do in football.
Any rule that is only called in rare circumstances, such as palming, should either be enforced or changed.
If enforcing the rule every time hinders the game then it should probably be removed from the refs handbook.

This is exactly what my first post after Facebook verification stated. Of course it's all about money. You give over all your contact information including email addresses of your friends and family which can then be sold to anyone. And is.

I have removed every contact from my home email, Yahoo email and Gmail and store them in a separate folder. Not to beat the "Big Brother" references into the ground but we have built the monstrosity of Orson Welles imagination ourselves and it's called the Internet. We have allowed ourselves to be monitored, profiled, and subjugated big business. This is one cookie that will not go back into the jar.

Just glad to have finally seen this link posted. Regardless of the 'New' new policy towards Facebook, I'm sticking here. I've had other logins connected through Facebook only to find my contacts receiving email from me directing them to malicious sites.
LJW should have done a little homework.

HEM,

Good points. I have always felt that our freshmen are usually very tentative because of the quick hook. Perry was that way until the end of the season. More experienced players get more chances to play through their mistakes. Of course, that assumes that they are also making some plays when they are out there.

All true but there has never been a freshman class at KU with this much talent. HCBS needs to let this class work through their mistakes. The worst thing he could do would to be seen as impeding the OAD's progress (even if not true) into the NBA and hopefully into the lottery.

He will have to walk a fine line this year in order to balance the teams success and the super talented freshmen. At some point, I think he will need to put the goals of the team over the goals of certain players.

So much better! Who gets the credit...well earned!

Could be worse. Scott Drew must be tired of answering why with so many good players does his team continually underperform.