🏀 KuBuckets Archive

The take away for me is that this KU team knows that they can beat any team on any floor and we just proved it. I love our chances of finishing strong in the Big 12 and getting another 1 seed. With non conference wins over Duke and Kentucky we should be in a fantastic position in March if we take care of business in conference and I expect us to do just that.

If K State can come into AFH and almost steal a win, why can't we do it at Rupp? I say it's a 5 point game and comes down to who can make plays in the final minutes.

RCJH

Unreal!!! We are now 6 deep going into UK game. Not great timing, holy shit.

@justanotherfan Agreed. I like it partially because the teams are battle tested at this point of the season. The Champions Classic is amazing and I hope it goes on forever but the teams are not nearly as polished in November as they are in late January / early February.

The #1 seeds don't necessarily always go to the best teams. They go to teams that take care of business in their own league. KU has won the Big 12 many many times in a row as we all know and that has resulted in a lot of 1 and 2 seeds. If we are fortunate enough to win the Big 12 again this year we will likely be a 1 or a 2 which is all you can ask for as it gives you the best chance of getting to the Final 4. Even if we lose to UK this weekend it is not a big deal. We just need to focus on winning the Big 12 and getting a solid draw that hopefully puts us in Kansas City in March.

Rock Chalk!!!!

I thought about not watching this game as it would only make me angry as WVU plays a brand of basketball that I struggle to handle. It's hard to watch but I love the effort. Hawks!

We are 18-1. I don't really care how that happened. It's tied for the best record in the country and we are in a great position to win another Big 12 Championship which would likely earn us a #1 seed in the tournament which will give us a great chance to make a deep run. I'd rather have our record than Duke, Louisville, UNC, etc. WVU is currently losing at KSU. Baylor will start losing as they have Scott Drew as a coach. I couldn't imagine us being in a better spot at this point of the year and we have not even played a full game up to our potential.

RCJH

@Crimsonorblue22 Easily one of the best single player performances in any KU game I have ever witnessed and one of my fondest memories as a fan of KU in general.

@DCHawker very good point about UCONN. That most recent team that won it for them was very similar. And you are right about Duke's post players but Grayson had hardly played like that all year. It would be like Bragg putting up 20 all of the sudden in the national title game.

Something I failed to mention is that I think this KU team will be a very good defensive team come March. Bill has a history of getting his guys to play some of their best defense late in the year and into March.

RCJH.

@stoptheflop I say yes. KU can win another Big 12 Championship and make a Final 4 run with the current game plan and lack of depth. Duke won't all recently with no bench and essentially one big man. We all know that Nova won it last year with a similar look. The key will be getting hot and staying hot. Nova was on fire last year in the tourney and was able to cut down the nets. It is possible for a team to shoot its way to a title and this KU team has more shooters than any other contender.

I can't believe Phil Forte is still playing. He must be 24 or 25.

I would obviously love to have Trae Young but it seems like we are going to be good with him or without him. We will without a doubt have guys back like Vick and Newman and I assume Devonte will be back for his senior year where he has a Frank Mason type season.

The recruiting of Young reminds me of a story a buddy of mine who is a huge Oklahoma fan once told me. According to my friend when Bob Stoops was recruiting Adrian Peterson he told him "We are going to win with or without you but if you want to win you should come play for us". Does Trae want to win 90% of the games he plays in and be a star or does he want to go be a part of the rebuilding process at OU / OSU?

@stoptheflop I have watched more basketball than I wish to admit and I have seen few teams that influence the refs as much as WVU. They constantly foul. From start to finish they foul. It's not great defense. It's fouling.

These charges calls are tough. It almost seems like the refs enjoy making the super emphatic charge call instead of the simple block.

I love the effort from Josh. Not that Wiggs and Oubre didn't play hard but he is at another level of effort in my book. Those blocks are a prime example.

Frank may have to take this over himself.

Few things make me as upset as the weave.

@dylans Brannen had a lot of problems on and off the court as we all know but I would say he is probably one of the best FT shooters ever at KU. It is probably the one thing in his arsenal that this years team misses the most.

@Statmachine I am not sure what indefinitely will mean. 2 games? 5 games? It will be interesting to see.

Also of interest. How does Coach K allow this kid back in the game after the tripping occurred? I truly feel that Bill Self would sit any player who committed an act like this on the bench for the remainder of the game and then figure out a suspension after the dust settles. Am I wrong?

My vision may be clouded by my love of Coach Self and my contempt for Coach K but to me it seems so classic of who Coach K is and what he stands for. Say one thing and do another. Is there a more self righteous, holier than though coach in all sports? All of the post game shit where he puts his hand on opposing team players chests and the in person congratulations when other teams beat Duke in the tourney. It is so incredibly fake and self serving. I would love to write an entire thread about this at some point but maybe I should focus more on the positives of having Self as our coach and less about how much I dislike a rival.

Big loss but these things happen and teams move forward. We lost Wayne for the year in 2003 and ended up going to the national title game. I know that team had Nick Collison, etc but similarly guys will need to step up and raise their level of play. We are still a Final 4 level team if we can stay healthy.

@Crimsonorblue22 Yes, totally. That is how I read it as well. I wish we could have seen more of him too. I guess I always assumed it was a 1 year deal with Kelly so I didn't give it too much thought when he left.

@JayHawkFanToo Agreed. I loved watching for a year but if you are a lottery pick you have to go. He is looking good and happy that it seems to be working out.

What I don't understand is the Wayne Selden type leaving. Does anyone else?

@approxinfinity PHOF

@drgnslayr Good post.

The thing that the 08 guards had that we don't have now is the skill in the post. If you have 4 NBA level guys rotating in the post it makes life easier on the guards. Thinking back on the 08 run I think of big plays by all 4 big men including huge shots by Arthur, huge blocks by Cole, and overall solid play from Sasha and Darnell. Hard to believe we will be even close to that level this year. Not being pessimistic, I just don't see Lucas/Bragg/Dok/Coleby living up to that level of skill and experience.

@DCHawker it's a scary stat. Landen ended last season on a great streak. Bragg flirted with the draft. What is the explanation for this complete lack of production?

The only constant in our victories in the Champions Classic have been having Duke as the opponent and Frank Mason being an absolute star. This win tonight was so much more than just one win. It was a win in a tournament we have struggled in, a win against the #1 team in the country, a win against Duke and a fabulous bounce back game after a tough loss. Certainly the best November win in a long time even though the game itself was a war against the refs by both teams!

I predict a KU win. Partially because Duke is missing a number of key players and partially because I honestly can't remember a Bill Self team losing 2 big games in a row like these. I know it's the begininnig of the year but I expect our guys to come out hungry after a loss and a game at MSG against the #1 team in the country should be all the motivation in the world.

RCJH!!!

I truly hate Duke.

My $$$ is on Frank.

@BeddieKU23 I agree that UK is over ranked but it doesn't bother me. I am just looking forward to being ranked #1 after we beat Duke at MSG.

@HawkChamp I don't have anything to back up that claim at all. Just a feeling that we are going to take it to this Duke team as we are the older and more experienced team and should be the better defensive team.

This top 25 just makes me impatient for when we beat Duke at MSG by double figures. It will be great to hear Dick make excuses about how good Duke is going to be once they are healthy and how Coach K is the most important sports figure of all time.

Also, this reminds me that the last time we played Duke we won. The last time we played Kentucky we won and the last time we played UNC we won. When was the last time this was the case?

RCJH

Defensively I don't see a huge change from last year if we play "small". Perry was not tall as a post player and neither was Jamari and neither guy was really known as a great defender in the post in general. I plan to see better defense this year no matter who is on the floor, small lineup or big.

KU was the favorite for Julius Randle. FSU was the favorite for Wiggins. Who the hell knows.

@jaybate-1.0 Fully agree on Perry. He has been a stud this year but he could probably be putting up over 20 a game if he shot more 3's and more jumpers. Perry has to hold the all time KU record for shots blocked. Admirable as he keeps trying but sometimes it is sort of frustrating to see when I know he is a very talented shooter.

I may take quite a bit of heat for this but is Diallo really that good? Just pretend for a minute that you have no idea that he is a top 10 recruit. Like all of us I love that we have him and I hope the light goes on or the game slows down or he learns to play without fouling...whatever cliche you prefer. But seriously, does he really past the eye test as a stud D1 player? He was just getting abused down low at WVU on D and is a liability for the most part on offense. Personally I'm far more confused about Braggs lack of minutes than Diallo's. To me he and Skal at UK were way over ranked and need another year if school without a doubt.

I'm not sure what happened with Frank and Wayne last night but I am personally not worried at all. Frank played his worst game of the year and maybe ever. Wayne was not himself. One of the WVU guards has his best game ever. It happens.

In addition to their guards playing better than ours I honestly assumed we would lose this game. WVU was super motivated to play the #1 team in the country. This is their biggest game of the year and they are a solid top 10 caliber team. They will certainly be a factor in the Big 12 race and probably a threat to go deep in the NCAA.

I fully expect Kansas to bounce back from this loss and to return the favor at AFH against WVU and to make a run to another Big 12 title and another #1 or #2 seed in the tournament. This was one game and it is a game that I think we lose 7 out of 10 times. It may be hard for some of us to swallow but WVU is a very good team with a very good coach and is incredibly hard to beat at home.

One last thought...I have seen a number of posts saying "what if this happens in an NCAA game?" Well, then the season will end. That is the case every single year. If you play a bad game in the NCAA and 2 of your 3 best players don't show up you are going to lose and in the one loss format the season is over. That is just a fact and it doesn't matter if you are a #1 seed or a #10 seed. Look at UK last year. They played one of their worst games of the year in the Final 4 and that was it. No second chances. Dream season over. Just like every year KU will have to try and avoid a game in March where we play poorly against another high quality team.

One of those nights. Franks worst game in entire career. Can't hit FT's. Can't hit 3's. It's not us. Take this loss and learn.

@DCHawker I almost put my beer into the TV when I saw the weave.

I'll admit it. I hate Tubby Smith. His teams at UK were so easy to dislike and my feelings live on. Sorry for the personal note.

A Greene 3 there is far better than a Lucas layup.

@Lulufulu thank you very much for sharing. B Rush is one of my all time favorites. Incredibly smooth and beautiful shooter who turned into one of the best defenders who won a national title. Hard to beat that.

@MoonwalkMafia Like most of us I don't like the OAD circus. It is a pain as a fan as we don't get to fall in love with the players as they go through their years at KU. We don't get to discuss how much they developed in our system under the tutelage of Coach Self, etc. But he is going to continue doing it. He will keep recruiting the best players. Simple as that.

Some OAD players pan out and bring their teams to the promised land. Duke and UK are a pretty good example of this from last year. Some presumed OAD don't exactly live up to the hype. Skal this year has been beyond underwhelming. He is averaging like 7 or 8 points a game and plays far more than Diallo who I think averages 5 or 6. I am certainly not saying that Diallo is living up to his hype. Far from it. I do believe that we would be seeing a more polished and D1 ready Diallo if he wasn't forced to sit out our first 5 games.

Diallo and Bragg may not end up being OAD and that is why it is still ok in my book to keep recruiting them. As much as I hate the Cliff Alexander / Oubre class from last year as far as results are concerned I think you still have to recruit these kids. Bragg and Diallo may end up being back and our 2016-2017 team could be yet another squad who could be in a Final 4.

@Crimsonorblue22 Me too. I love Frank but I prefer Perry and Wayne taking the last shots due to their size.

@Crimsonorblue22 Simmons is really good and is the most NBA ready. I can't imagine he won't be the #1 pick in the draft. That said, LSU is not a great team. They are starting to play much much better and their win last night over Kentucky was really solid but they have 5 losses already and will probably have closer to 10 or more once it is all said and done. I don't see Simmons carrying them very far.

Valentine and Hield are obviously the keys to the post season success of their respective teams. If either of those guys get hurt the teams will totally fold. That is one of the things that I think separates KU from the others. Just incredible depth. If one of our guys tore an ACL tomorrow it would be awful but we are the best prepared team in the country for a guy to step in if needed.

OU and MSU both look like Final 4 teams to me if healthy but I am sticking to my assessment that KU is the team to beat for the rest of the year. Too many guys on our roster can carry the entire team on a given night.

@Crimsonorblue22 Highest in the draft or highest in what they will achieve this year in college?

I watch a ton of college ball and I am 100% convinced that KU is the #1 team in the country. No one has our depth. No one has our upperclassmen. Few teams have our talent.

OU played an incredible game the other night and they may have the best player in the country in Hield (Valentine and Simmons are right there with him). This was their Super Bowl, though. I honestly don't think that they could have played any better than they did.

UNC is really solid. Johnson has been on an absolutely crazy streak the last few games and Paige is Paige. Both guys can flat out score.

Once Valentine is back at MSU they will be right back to winning games handily. He is that good.

Maryland and Duke are both very solid squads and I assume they both continue to get better.

At this point in the season I don't think that you can argue against KU being #1. Our two most talented freshman are going to get better and they are going to see more minutes and Svi is going to get more polished and we are going to be scary good. 2008 good. I truly think KU will be #1 most of the rest of the season.

@RockChalkinTexas I am typically very opposed to Landen playing at all and in favor of Jamari only getting limited minutes but last night certainly made me eat crow. They both played fantastic games. They may not have incredible stat lines but Bam Bam's energy in the first 1/2 was unmatched and Landen was amazingly steady in the second half with rebounds, altering shots and knocking down key free throws. We don't win without the performance of these two veterans last night.

Win or lose this is classic

The 11 point cushion was nice but I expect this to be closer than that the rest of the night. Great game so far!