@nuleafjhawk I think he is gone. UT has not even been to the Elite 8 in 7 years. They did not even make the NCAA a couple years ago and might not make it again this year. They were billed this year as the team with the most talent in the country not named Kentucky. Now they are on the bubble. If Mack Brown gets the boot I can't imagine why Barnes would stay.
joeloveshawks
853 posts
@nuleafjhawk Exactly. The cupcakes are the only games we won big...and Texas Tech.
@Crimsonorblue22 Honestly. I think we have won 3 games all year that seemed "in hand" for an extended period of time.
@Crimsonorblue22 Perry has practiced and from what Self and other players have said I highly doubt it is an Embiid situation. I think he is probably just still sore and there is no reason to push it. That is my completely ill-informed medical assessment.
@Crimsonorblue22 I wish I was that smart.
I like the uniforms.
I like that Perry isn't playing.
I like that we are playing against a team that fouls the crap out of you.
I like that Hunter is going to be forced to play more minutes.
All of these things should help in March (except the uniforms).
I like it too. It is probably not a perfect plan but a move in the right direction. It should help improve both the pro and college game.
@DoubleDD I love your last point. All year I have been hoping that I am not the only person in the country who thinks that UK winning is not a big deal. Of course they are winning. They have assembled a team with more height and more talent than anyone else. UK winning does not impress me. Not in the least. If they won every game by 25 points I might be impressed.
@drgnslayr I love Sherron. Quite possibly one of the best Jayhawks ever. But is there actually talk of him coaching? If we are discussing letting go of Coach Howard due to some character flaws I suggest we remember that Sherron does not exactly have a sterling reputation. Elevator issues, etc.
Totally agree on resting players. At least for the TCU / KSU game. Nothing against either team. We could lose to both of these squads even at full strength. It is more about getting another day of rest and one game less of bumps and bruises and for Svi and Greene (if he plays) and Hunter another game to get some reps. These guys may have their number called a ton now in March.
Our post situation is really quite interesting now. Landen has been getting minutes all year but not a ton. Hunter has barely seen the floor. Now with Cliff out and Perry hurt both guys are seeing huge minutes. If you told me at the beginning of the year that Landen and Hunter would be getting 20 minutes a piece in an NCAA tourney game I would have said you are nuts! But at this point it seems probable.
@KUSTEVE I agree. This team can make a run as long as we are healthy. Perry and Mason will be the keys but other guys will step up.
Our 3-3 record in the last 6 doesn't bother me. How me play in the Big 12 tournament doesn't really get me that excited. It just isn't that relevant. How many times have we come into the NCAA on fire and then simply laid an egg? Quite a few. 2010 and 2011 come to mind.
It is all about winning and advancing. UCONN last year is such a great example of this. They limped into the tournament. Got beat by Louisville by 35 late in the year. Barely beat St. Joe's in the opening round of the tourney as a 7 seed! They scrapped. They won games they trailed in. They beat taller and more talented teams. They simply dug deep and played "tougher" than the competition. This is a tough KU team. Mason is tough. Selden is tough. Perry has been playing his most aggressive and inspired basketball of his KU career. I think we tough our way to a good run as we did in 2012.
@BeddieKU23 I agree. Hunter looks like if he got big minutes he would foul less. It is hard to play once every 10 games and be expected to play great defense. If for some reason Cliff isn't back this year it will be nice to know that Hunter is no slouch.
Speaking of Cliff...any word? I have not read anything further. It would be nice to get him back for at least a game in the Big 12 before the Big Dance.
@brooksmd Duke especially. I feel like every year they somehow have their first games in North Carolina. Makes me crazy!
I don't even know how to reply to this. It is just stupid. Our SOS this year is #1. Last year our SOS was supposedly the toughest in the history of NCAA basketball.
How is this for a tough schedule. The only time 4 #1 seeds went to the Final 4 KU won the National Championship. Suck on that.
@wrwlumpy It is funny how it all works. Usually the team that makes the finals does not have nearly as tough of a run as they think. Last year if we win the games we "should" have we end up playing Florida in the Elite 8 and play two very low seeds on the way to that game. Let's say for fun we upset Florida. We then play UCONN. Another very low seed. Let's say for fun again we beat them. We then play UK. A very low seed. My point is you never know who you are going to see and very often the bracket "opens up". This of course means nothing as we know as the Cinderella team is never an easy out either.
@Hawk8086 I don't disagree but we have the #2 RPI. The #1 SOS. Just saying it is a possibility. Unlikely I agree. We will all know 2 weeks from today!!
@Hawk8086 Still a remote chance at a 1 seed. If KU wins out that is. If we win the regular season and post season of the "toughest" conference in America it will be tough for the committee to keep us off of the top line.
Let's just say worst case scenario Cliff is done for the year. Obviously not exactly like losing JoJo last year right before the tournament but certainly not a good thing. He adds depth at the post if nothing else. Can KU get to a Final 4 with Jamari Traylor and Landen Lucas splitting time at the 5? My gut reaction is no. It worked yesterday when Perry Ellis went nuts. It worked yesterday when AFH was going crazy. I am not sure this works in 4 straight games on neutral courts. Not being a pessimist. Being a realist. This lack of depth at the 5 could be our undoing.
@drgnslayr I like it. "The team with no identity". Let's hope it is as successful as "the show about nothing".
@Hawk8086 Lunardi said yesterday that we are "a lock" for a 2 seed if we don't really screw it up. That was before our win over UT. If we beat WVU I think we hold onto the 2 no matter what.
As far as the shooting is concerned I am not alarmed exactly but I certainly wish we attempted more than 8 shots from deep. I can see a Stanford type defense on Wiggins coming against Perry in the tournament and that scares the sh*t out of me. Who is going to step up? Our post play other than Perry is questionable at best so if we are not shooting the ball (well or not just making attempts) I am not sure what Bill will do.
Obviously we know nothing but is anyone else concerned this is going to be major and Cliff is done? Very early to speculate but I am speculating...
Unbelievable. Horrible timing. The NCAA didn't know about this issue weeks or even months ago?
@JhawkAlum Those are good examples. You and I both know that it works sometimes and sometimes it does not. Such as the KSU game this week. I just wish there were a couple more plays to choose from in this scenario.
@nuleafjhawk I was also born in Topeka but that is where the similarities stop. I really hate UT and I expect this to be a very close game. Their post season depends on this game. If they have a big win against a top 10 team on their floor it will probably put them into the NCAA. They are like a cornered animal and I anticipate all of their players bringing all they have.
I hate that every time we are in a situation where we need a late game 3 and Fran is calling our game he says "They like to run a chop play in this situation". This is as we all know the play we ran for Mario to hit "the shot" against Memphis. Are we literally still running this play? In the last 7 years we have not come up with a new way to get a must have 3?
@BeddieKU23 I don't think ISU losing means we did not win it "on our own". Just means that ISU lost.
At any rate, I will be routing for Baylor. If we can keep the streak alive it is a good thing no matter how it happens.
Another reason I am "keeping the faith" in KU is last night. Yesterday I posted that we are more than likely going to drop to a 3 seed as Notre Dame and UNC are playing well and may take us over on the 2 line. Both teams promptly lose along with Wisconsin losing. I am not going to assume Wisconsin drops very far but it is just good to know that every team fighting for these top seeds is going to drop games. Not just KU. If we win 2 of our next 3 and then win at least 1 game in the Big 12 tourney I still like our chances of getting a 2. It will make our lives much is easier if we just win the rest of our games! Why not?
@BeddieKU23 I understand. I agree that we more than likely lose at OU. It is just the fact that you never know. If we come out and playing great and they come out tight as there is so much on the line you never know. I still think we are a deeper team than OU even if they have a better starting lineup and one guy who is better than anyone on our roster.
Even after losing to KSU and WVU on the road I am not that worried. We could and maybe even should have won both of those games. We were not blown out. We did not simply roll over.
With three games to play a lot can still happen and I love our chances of beating UT and WVU at home. That means that KU will have a great deal to play for in the final game at OU (assuming ISU wins their next 3). It is exciting and hopefully our guys will respond with their backs against the wall.
@BeddieKU23 Of course we can win in Norman! Keep the faith! RCJH!
@drgnslayr It is one of the craziest conclusions to any sport on earth.
After last night it looks like we are going to all have to get excited about playing the spoiler role for a 2 seed in our bracket as it looks like we may be dropping to a 3. This to me is not being pessimistic but realistic. That was a bad loss to a bad team and if we don't win the rest of our games in the regular season and at least 1 game in the Big 12 tourney I am betting on a 3 seed. But that is ok. As we all know it doesn't matter that much. A 1 seed has not exactly done us that many favors over the years.
Anything can happen and we still have as good of a shot as anyone come March.
@drgnslayr Ok. I understand your points. Unfortunately I agree with you that we may be on our way to another early upset...if we don't make adjustments. If we let Greene/Oubre/Selden hit 3's I like our chances. We will all see if this "fools gold" approach is used in March.
@drgnslayr Great post. Love the term "dissection".
One thing I don't fully understand though, is why you don't think Greene is going to be a factor and we should "put him on ice"? He needs to be in the game and we need to actually design plays for him. If he is open he probably hits 65% from the floor. If he is taking guarded 3's obviously his percentage is not terribly great. He is our best 3 point option and one of the best in the country. If anything he should get 5-7 clean looks from 3 each game and not by accident...by design. Set plays for Greene.
My reasoning behind this is our offense seems to either be
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Give Perry the ball and let him create against an inferior post player.
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Attempt some form of the hi / low with Cliff/Mari/Landen.
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Weave the ball at the top of the key and take a guarded 3 or long two.
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Frank Mason or Wayne Selden drive out of control into the lane and occasionally score but usually get a charging call or turn the ball over trying to make a difficult pass.
I am sure there are plenty of other examples but to me it just does not seem like we are running a great deal of set plays to get open looks for our guys who can shoot. Am I nuts? I feel nuts watching these games as Cliff has looked awful, Landen is awful and Jamari is undersized yet we keep trying to feed them instead of Greene/Oubre/Selden from the perimeter.
@truehawk93 I agree that most of the potential 1-2 seeds are taking care of business but hey, if we played in the awful SEC, awful Pac 12 or whatever f*cking league Gonzaga plays in we would probably be winning our games in more convincing fashion.
UCONN won the National Title last year from the perimeter. Louisville did the same thing the year before. It can be done without dominant post players. I am not thrilled with Cliff only playing a few minutes, Jamari being an average player and Lucas being a below average player but the season is not dead. Keep the faith.
@KUSTEVE I agree. Coach K simply has a knack for getting Duke back into games. It is one of the reasons that he is the guy that has more wins than anyone else. It also makes it even more baffling that his teams have lost in the first round of the NCAA 2 of the last 3 years.
These articles are written as if Bill Self has some sort of personal vendetta against Cliff.
@drgnslayr The Bilas comments during a Duke game are almost too much. I used to really love Jay Bilas. At this point I am not sure why. As if Dick Vitale isn't enough of a Duke bias during games, now we have to listen to a guy that actually played for Duke! It is impossible for him to call that game in a fair and balanced way. Can you imagine a former KU player calling the KU vs. Mizzou game on national television?
I also agree that those calls were garbage. Especially the Jones "contact" call. He caused all of the contact and it was either an offensive foul or a no call.
@Crimsonorblue22 Agreed. Selden is the guy right now. He is older, stronger and has been really clutch a few times for us this year. Has won us a couple of games honestly. I don't think Svi is at that level yet.
Any chance Oubre is back? If so, we still have Greene, Selden and Oubre ahead of Svi. I know a lot will happen between now and then but hard to believe he will go from not playing at all to being our best player next year if everyone stays on the roster.
I was actually trying to find something else and stumbled upon this little nugget on ESPN. You can do this for any team which is pretty sweet. It is very straight forward and concise which is why I really like it.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/history/_/team1/6292 ↗
It is scary how much I remember every one of these games once I see who we played and the final score. Brings back some great memories...and some "I'm going to go kill myself" memories as well. Either way, it is nice to see it all so cleanly formatted in one place.
@justanotherfan Lunardi has us as a #2 in the South with Duke as of this afternoon. I'd certainly be ok with that. Duke is obviously very good but they are not UK and like KU they occasionally struggle in the first couple of rounds of the tourney.
Actually, come to think of it I will do f*cking cartwheels to just get a #2 and not be in with UK regardless of who the other teams are in the bracket.
Hard to believe any true fans of KU basketball take time out of their schedule to trash Perry for missing that shot. Was it a shot he makes 9 of 10 times? Probably. But without his great play we aren't even in that game. Perry is stud and he has hit big shots to help win us games and he isn't done. There is a lot of season left Perry is going to be one of the main guys we will look to for buckets when the season is on the line.
@RockChalkinTexas Our schedule got us a 2 seed last year. Looks like it may work again. If you look at Lunardi the potential 3-5 seeds who are behind us seem quite a bit behind KU. If we have a rocky finish to the regular season and don't win the Big 12 tourney maybe we drop to a 3. If we literally win every game between now and Selection Sunday we will probably be in the conversation for a 1 but I won't hold my breath. Looks like we are more than likely a 2 seed. If we win the Big 12 we will be rewarded for that and our RPI.
@wissoxfan83 Thanks for sharing the article on Cliff. Like all of us here on kubuckets I want nothing but the best for Cliff and I wish he was playing more but he simply gets burned on D too often. He is not a great passer. He fouls a lot. These are all huge problems.
The article is obviously very slanted. It really only presents the positives on Cliff and shows the "metrics" and his "what if he played 36 minutes a game" stats. Those are all great but until Cliff can routinely stop mediocre post players from scoring in his face it is going to be hard for him to get serious minutes. I know we all have really high expectations for Cliff but he does not seem to be as ready for prime time as we thought. We only have 5 games left in the regular season and I am still hoping that the light comes on for Alexander and stays on. Hopefully he will play his best 6 games in a row in March!!
@drgnslayr I'm confused. Is this in response to Snacks getting caught with pot and that you assume he is gone after the season? Also, has Lucas said he is interested in KU?
These are just questions and curious to know what you know.
Rock Chalk.
Why is Tyus Jones on there in front of Mason? He averages 11 points, 3 boards and 5 assists. Mason averages 12 points, 4 boards and 4 assists. Essentially the same numbers.
@wissoxfan83 I am not convinced it is all about stats. Look at Kentucky. They have the most balanced scoring you could imagine based on the "platoon" system. Towns and Cauley Stein are both on the list. They average 9 points and 6 rebounds each. Those are not incredible numbers. Some of it is just B.S.
@KUinLA The tournament upsets are certainly the biggest issue for most fans including myself. Our standards and our expectations are just incredibly high. We expect a Final 4 every year and if we go out in the Elite 8 even that is a "how did this happen?" situation. The same expectations are an issue at UNC, Duke, Cuse, UK, et cetera.
The early round upsets do seem to cloud our vision a bit though. Let's just pretend we make it to the Elite 8 or beyond this year. If that is the case Bill will have gone to the Elite 8 6 times in 12 years. 50% of his years we will be in a one game playoff to get to the Final 4. Assuming that happens I consider that a pretty good percentage. If it doesn't and we lose to a team I have never heard of in the first weekend? Well, I drink heavily and cuss about our awful gameplan and once I am over it I will make bold claims like "next year we may not lose a game".
Our post seasons may not live up to our expectations (certainly not mine) but things could be worse. This year is a great example of our consistency under both Bill and Roy. We just keep being in the discussion for 1 and 2 seeds. Florida, UCONN, Cuse, MSU, Michigan...these teams probably don't even make the NCAA Tournament this year.
@HighEliteMajor Good points as always. But I don't think it is as bad as you say. I agree that we need to keep shooting 3's. 100% agree as I posted above and have posted all year. But Bill saying "fools gold" is not as much of a concern as what we see on the floor. He may say that shooting 55% from 3 is "fools gold" but he let it happen. He let the guys bomb 3's last night. He is obviously playing Greene far more minutes than he was early in the year and he is doing it because Greene is a great offensive player and predominantly a 3 point threat.
I honestly think we just have to let Self's comments go in one ear and out the other. Don't worry too much about it. The guy wants to win games far more than any of us do. He is not going to go into March and say "hey, I know we are shooting the ball 80% for 3 this half, but let's get Landen Lucas the ball inside during the 2nd half". It simply won't happen. Utah is a great example of him trying to get the ball inside too much but it was also an early season game. A game where we had a huge lead and he wanted to try and get the post game going for the greater good of the entire season.
Does Self screw up on coaching in March? Yes, sure. I would say he flat out got out coached last year against Stanford. But what other March losses can you say he was just out coached in? VCU was crazy. If the Morris twins don't talk incredible sh*t to the entire team before the game to get them fired up and if we shoot over 10% from 3 we probably win that game. Michigan is tough. I honestly don't blame Self. I blame EJ if there is anyone to blame. The punching in the balls is a karma thing in my opinion.
Obviously did not get out coached against UK in 2012. Simply a far better team than us. The UNI, Bradley, Bucknell games. Is that getting out coached? I think it is just far superior teams not showing up to play. Highly doubt Coach K was out coached last year in the first round. It just happened.
Sorry for the long reply but what I am trying to say is that I don't believe for one second that Coach Self is not going to let the 3's fly in March. He is a fabulous March coach. Almost 50% of the years at KU he has been to the Elite 8. Coach will say stupid things like "We could play Wayne at the 4...we could play Svi at the 1...shooting 3's is fools gold..." but I trust that he will allow this team to play to its strengths in the NCAA tournament and honestly I think we go deep into the tourney by shooting our way there.
@Crimsonorblue22 I totally agree. If we are a 1 dimensional team obviously we won't go as far as we want in March. I just hope that he keeps the green light on for Selden and Greene and Mason who can't miss at the moment. No doubt we will need Perry and Cliff and Jamari to step up the post game if we are going to make noise in March. I expect us to get better in the post and I expect KU to go deep into the tourney.
Sometimes when I golf (which I do poorly) I hit a driver off of the tee. If my first couple of drives are in the fairway I don't put the driver away. Why would I? Stick with what is working until it isn't and then reassess. I have faith in Bill. Especially in March where 3's tend to be a huge part of who moves on and also where Bill has the chance to gameplan for each team. For now, please just keep letting these guys hit 3's. We are hitting more 3's than layups!!