🏀 KuBuckets Archive

I'd just note on the original story about the officer, the professor called the police because another student complained about feeling unsafe. I don't know why that student complained, and obviously the journalists didn't do a good job of figuring that out, but the professor was right to act on the student's complaint. With on campus shootings happening, if you don't know that this person is actually a real police officer, the fact that he is sitting there armed is reason for caution.

As for the electoral college, I disagree with Trump, but he won the necessary amount of states, so I would rather the electoral college finalize his victory. If he is tied to Russia and acts in his own interests, instead of the interests of the American people as a result of his conflicts of interest, I hope the Republican controlled Congress holds him responsible rather than putting party over the good of the country.

I look at winning a national championship like this.

You have to have X amount of talent to win a national title. That's the bare minimum. Let's say that in any given year, you have to have 80 talent to win a national title at a minimum. Anything less than 80, you can't win because you just aren't talented enough to get through all of the games - maybe not even quite good enough to make the tournament.

Now, if you are only 80, you probably need to have a superb individual star carry you (think Kemba Walker or Danny Manning). As you move above 80, you don't need that singular star because you just have so much talent at your disposal anyway.

So really, winning a title is a two step process. Step 1 is get to 80 - again, that's just an arbitrary number to set a baseline. Step 2 is getting as high as you can after 80 to increase your chances. Let's say that for every point above 80 you go, your chances of winning a title increase by 20%. So if you have a 1% chance of winning a title with 80 talent, 81 talent gives you a 1.2% chance of winning, 82 gives you a 1.44% chance, 83 is 1.72%, 84 is 2.06% and so on.

So of course, based on that, you want to stockpile talent because that alone increases your chances just because you are good enough to win six games in a row because of your talent.

After that, it's still comes down to those six games, but your chances are better with more talent.

@Kcmatt7

I thought in baseball if you didn't sign, you could maintain your amateur status. I am not as familiar with their draft rules, though.

I think they should do away with the OAD rule and just let guys declare whenever. I think it takes the pressure off guys that are going to make the leap anyway, while giving guys that need a year or two of development the chance to go to college to actually develop, rather than just going to bide their time.

I wish the new CBA also put more emphasis on the D-League as a true developmental tool, but I think that is still a ways off as teams learn how to really use the D-League.

The question for me is always who makes the team better in each given year.

So next year's core of Vick/Newman/Svi/Bragg/Azuibuke/Preston/Lightfoot/Garrett gets to add either a PG with a very good shooting touch that may be a bit undersized or a great athlete that may struggle with his shooting stroke, but is devastating in transition and when he gets into the paint.

I'm taking Duval with the group I listed above simply because he, Newman and Vick will put a lot of pressure on perimeter defense, and adding a guy like Duval to that core puts KU right back into the national title hunt.

Not saying that Young would be a disappointment. I think he would be great, but Duval puts so much pressure on the defense because of his slashing ability that he creates space by collapsing the defense, while Young creates space with his shooting gravity. The thing is, shooters have slumps. Slashing doesn't slump.

Additionally, Duval has the superior defensive potential. That allows him to plug in alongside Vick and form a potentially dynamic defensive backcourt.

I don't so much worry about 2018-19 because that team could be so much different. You're potentially looking at Azuibuke, Bragg, Vick and Newman all being gone, plus Svi. Trying to guess about how Young helps that next group is tough, because all we can assume is that Lightfoot and Garrett will be there, with Preston hopefully also back for year 2. Trying to project the rest of that squad is basically impossible. Maybe Newman is back, in which case it may not be critical to have Young returning. With that much uncertainty, I'd rather take Duval and see if the small difference between him and Young is the difference between a title or not than hope for two or three really good seasons from Young, but missing out on a Final Four.

@JayHawkFanToo

Understood. The issue is that there is no tryout process for kids that aren't enrolled (it is against NCAA rules to hold tryouts for student athletes that are not enrolled), so Harding, or Pyle or Weathers or whomever would have to come to KU, enroll as a student and then walk on, or be offered a scholarship prior to enrolling.

@KansasComet

I'll go a year earlier, with the Sixers taking Keith Van Horn (Keith! Van! Horn!) over Chauncey Billups. Iverson and Billups in the backcourt together may have been what they needed to stabilize their team. They also could have taken Tracy McGrady with the #2 pick in 1997.

They missed in 1997. Missed again in 1998. Didn't have a lottery pick in 1999, and by then Iverson had made them too good to get high picks again. The key when you draft a superstar is to immediately draft another one (see also Orlando landing Shaq and Hardaway in back to back drafts, or Seattle/OKC getting Durant, Westbrook and James Harden in consecutive drafts). If you don't do it immediately, your once in a generation player will make your team too good to have the chance to get another pick like that (see James, Lebron).

@JayHawkFanToo

I agree that the Gatorade list is much, much, much more reflective of who the best player was in a given year, and I think you nailed the reason why - no instate bias to recognize certain players or certain schools. There's no reason for a national group to recognize a kid that's not a D1 prospect unless there are literally no D1 players in the state, but even Gatorade can miss.

For instance, last year's Mr. Kansas Basketball was Drew Pyle of McPherson. He's currently playing about 10 minutes a game for D2 Washburn pumping in 3.5 points per game. Not knocking him, because he was a very good, maybe even great high school player, but there were better players in the state.

The Gatorade POY was Jerrick Harding of Wichita Southeast, who is playing D1 ball at Weber State and is averaging 5 points in 10 minutes per game. But Michael Weathers is putting up 20/5 for Miami (OH). His brother Marcus is averaging 8/6 for those same RedHawks. Logan Koch is at Eastern Illinois getting almost as much run as Pyle and Harding are at their schools.

Part of the issue here in Kansas is the broad difference in talent levels for the different classes and different parts of the state. For instance, Perry Ellis and Willie Cauley-Stein never matched up in HS. I don't think Semi Ojeleye and Ellis ever faced off, either. The top teams in the Wichita area don't always face the top teams in the Kansas City area, so big time recruits often miss each other. For a state like Kansas, with typically fewer than 10 serious D1 prospects each year, that makes it really hard to evaluate who has the most impressive numbers and who is feasting on less formidable competition.

It could be argued that even Gatorade got it wrong last year. I realize the Gatorade award also looks to recognize academics, which are important, but don't ultimately tell you whether a guy can play at the D1 level or not. One other observation about the Gatorade award is that it can go to a player of any grade level. Mr. Basketball can only be a senior.

Either way, I don't think KU should just guarantee even a preferred walk-on spot for an in-state award winner, either Gatorade or Mr. Basketball. Could Michael Weathers play at KU? Probably, but he didn't win either award. Could Pyle? No. Could Harding? Maybe, although his lack of PT at Weber State makes me wonder. Should KU have pursued any of these kids? I don't think it was a mistake not to.

@Crimsonorblue22 who, in a strange twist, now runs the Federal Government

Gonzaga probably carries their undefeated record the furthest. If they can get by St. Mary's at home, they could go into February unbeaten. If they get by the BYU trip, the only thing between them and a perfect regular season is probably the road game at St. Mary's (which I can't see them winning if they are still undefeated at that point).

USC will have a loss soon. I am not even sure they are a tournament team right now.

Creighton is solid, but not as good as the defending champs.

Nova, UCLA and Baylor are the best undefeated teams left, but with the way schedules are, I doubt any of those three are undefeated on January 11.

Baylor starts Big 12 play with the following - at Oklahoma, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, at West Virginia. If they win all four of those, get ready for a long, tough battle for the conference title.

Villanova starts Big East play like this - Depaul, at Creighton, at Butler, Marquette, Xavier. They will be hard pressed to come out of that stretch better than 3-2. If they win all five, look out.

UCLA doesn't have any outright terrifying games, but as @BeddieKU23 points out, they open conference play in Oregon, so they may have a loss fairly quickly as well.

@JayHawkFanToo

I'd be careful with saying always. There have been some serious issues with the voting for Mr. Basketball from time to time. It doesn't always go to the best player in the state. If KU were to always offer, the voting would probably get even more skewed.

For example, in 1997, Brett McFall (son of a HS coach) won the award. Future NBAers Earl Watson and Maurice Evans were both passed over.

In 2003, Aubrey Bruner won the award. He did not even play D1 basketball. There were at least 7 guys in that high school class across the state that ended up playing D1 eventually.

In 2008, Travis Releford did not win the award. That went to Jordan Cyphers instead. He played at Tennessee State.

In 2011, the award went to Christian Ulsaker, who played at Washburn. Ron Baker and Evan Wessel were both in that class.

That's four different years right there where its pretty clear the best player in the state did not win the award. There's no way KU should have offered a scholarship to the winner in those years, as two of those players weren't even D1 prospects. Not saying the guys that won the award weren't good players - just that they were not KU level players.

@mayjay

Iverson's a tough case. He couldn't be Jordan, Bird or Magic because he simply wasn't big enough. His team's never found him a Dumars so that he could be Isiah. So he took what he was given and threw his body into brick wall after brick wall and emerged victorious far more than a guy his size ever should have. Iverson punched above his weight class every night. That's something that most could not do. How many one man gangs have we seen go to the Finals in the last 20 years? Honestly, just Iverson's 2001 Sixers and Lebron's 2007 Cavs. Every other team had far more depth. Iverson accomplished something that only the greatest player of this generation was able to do.

Yes, he was a headache, but going it alone for so many years probably didn't help. Would Iverson's career have turned out differently had he ended up on a decent team early in his career that actually surrounded him with talent? Probably. But we will never know.

@JayHawkFanToo good call on Gail Goodrich. A forgotten big time scorer from the 1970s.

What classifies as underrated? Can a perennial allstar be underrated? A HOF guy?

I would submit the following name for underrated: Joe Dumars.

The resume - two time NBA champ, Finals MVP (1989), six time all star, 4 time NBA all defense team.

The problem is that Dumars played SG at a time when Jordan, Drexler and others dominated the position, and on a team that already had Isiah Thomas as its star and go to player.

If being a multiple time allstar is too much, I would submit a different name: Sean Elliott. A lot of people don't necessarily remember him from the mid to late 90s Spurs teams, but he was a big time player on those teams. Unfortunately, kidney disease probably cut his career short a couple of seasons, and likely held his numbers down as well, but he was a big time player.

@drgnslayr

The question though is whether Conner would be okay with being a 5-10 minute per game guy as a senior, because that is probably all he would play. My guess is no, which would turn into a significant distraction. I hate that we probably could use one more guy and that might burn us in March, but I don't think Conner would be willing to be that last guy for a chance to win a title if it meant only playing 30 minutes total in the tournament.

Frankamp and White are two guys that ended up leaving KU for the same reason - simply not athletic enough.

Both are more than capable as shooters (I believe Frankamp's numbers will go up), but the other aspects of their game (athleticism, strength, defense, decision making, etc.) are just not up to par. Don't get me wrong, they are D1 players, but they would not have ever made it playing at KU. Just too much talent coming in every season.

White can't match the athleticism of most wings. Add to it that he isn't a top notch ball handler, and its easy to understand why he struggles sometimes. He is a shooter only. He can't create for others, doesn't defend or rebound much and can't operate as a secondary ball handler.

Frankamp can handle the ball, but he's too small and too slow to really take the leap as a lead guard. He isn't big enough, so getting his shot off against D1 athletes is a challenge, so he is in a position where he will struggle from time to time. He's two inches too short to play his role effectively.

Not surprised to see Cliff and Diallo playing well. Both of those guys have a ton of physical talent. Remember, there are a finite number of people on this planet with the physical gifts to play in the NBA, or even the D-League. Cliff and Cheick both have NBA talent.

Cheick, with that developing jumper, can be a stretch four, kind of a poor man's Serge Ibaka.

Cliff is probably going to develop into a Tristan Thompson type rebounder/defender. He's strong enough to go against true centers even though he isn't as tall, and his long arms help him match up there, plus he can still handle 4's. There's a place in the NBA for him.

@BeddieKU23

Bragg is the most skilled KU big man, so he could make a difference in theory. However, I agree that he isn't critical to this team because the perimeter talent is so great I don't know that they actually need any standout performances from big men to go deep in the tournament.

Remember, we still haven't seen a Josh Jackson nuclear performance - something like 22 points, 16 boards, 8 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks. Jackson has that type of showing in his game. We also haven't seen Devonte go off yet, and Landen suddenly looks much healthier.

Bragg is helpful to a deep run, but by no means critical.

@kjayhawks

I am a lawyer, but without access to the facts I wouldn't feel comfortable speculating on what the situation is. I just don't know nearly enough right now.

Just looking at the list of latest users, there are probably 50 that have never made a post or anything. It sucks that bots pop up here and elsewhere on the internet, but I appreciate the work of the admins here to keep it cleaned up.

@dylans

You point out that the president elect is cutting deals, except how did he cut those deals? Oh yeah, that's right, tax incentives. That means that he basically gave a company a few million dollars not to move. He paid them to stay. So what happens when another company wants to move? You have to pay them to stay as well. And so on, and so on, and so on. He has unfortunately started another cycle and set a precedent for his administration.

It will be very difficult to run the government like a business because there are certain functions of government - public safety, education, criminal justice (the court system) and infrastructure immediately come to mind - that will never generate revenue to match their costs. In business, you would just cut those programs due to underperformance. You can't really do that in government.

Without public education, there is no way to train a large workforce. Many countries are still struggling today because they lack basic education infrastructure that allows for the training of their workers on a large scale. I've been to a lot of countries. The ones that lack good public education struggle mightily because there's no economic mobility. We have already seen changes to public education funding here in this country create a system of haves and have nots. Are we ready to experience that on a much more widespread level?

Without public safety (talking about fire protection, health care and things like building codes, etc.) you can't keep the nation functional. One of the things that stunted the growth of the US throughout the 1800's was the outbreak of illness. Vaccinations and the availability of health care made the US much more productive and elevated this country to its current status as a world leader. Do we really want to undo that. We have already seen what wildfires do in this country with our current public safety regime. Do we want to test that out if we start to dismantle it?

Without infrastructure it is impossible to build an economy. Things have to move from place to place, so we need roads. People need water and electricity. Want to throw our country back 100 years? Just dismantle the infrastructure and say hello to the 1900's again. And before you argue for cuts, remember, the best way to make infrastructure most efficient is to focus the infrastructure on the areas that have the most people, and away from the areas that are more sparsely populated. Guess what, densely populated areas tend to be blue, sparsely populated areas tend to be red. If the president elect uses his business acumen, the very people that voted for him will likely be left out in the cold when infrastructure improvements come, while large metropolitan areas receive those benefits.

And then there is the court system. Yes, the prison system needs to be reformed, but much of the money that currently flows into an inefficient prison system really needs to go into the court system anyway. There's simply a lack of available court time to take up all of the cases in a timely manner. That means delays for months or, in civil cases, even years, leading to eroding memories, lost or cold evidence, etc. Cutting that budget would only make those problems worse.

I agree that cuts need to happen, but the where is not as easy as it may seem on first glance, and I think the president elect is starting to discover that as he works more with his transition team.

@wissox

I think you have identified the most likely pitfalls, although if I had to predict losses, I would say at West Virginia, at Oklahoma State and at Texas Tech. Tech gives us problems down there, although we usually survive the scare. One of these years, we won't survive that scare. I suspect it may be this season simply because Tech is a little bit better than they have been in the past.

West Virginia is just a nightmare trip for us every year. Oklahoma State is a tough one for Self to prepare for, and I think there are some distractions down there for him.

@BeddieKU23

Agreed with most everything you have said here. I haven't seen Texas Tech or TCU play yet, so I am trusting your stuff there.

WVU is going to be tough because of defense. Baylor is as complete as they have ever been. Iowa State can put points on the board. That's three solid challengers to KU.

OSU probably will be tough at home. The conference title may get determined by which contender can go to Oklahoma State and Oklahoma and win. Those could definitely be separation games because I figure some of the contenders will slip up in one or both of those games.

KSU is better than I anticipated, but they probably finish 7th or lower in the conference (had them pegged for dead last before). They have a lot of almost good enough players that will start getting exposed in conference season.

@wrwlumpy

Coach Self has taken a huge leap forward this year in being more adaptable. Some of that is due to just not having a dominant post scorer on the roster, to be certain, but I also think the last couple of years of trying to work with Perry, who needed to move around a lot more to be an effective scorer, also has helped.

If we had the Morris twins on this roster, I am sure we would be throwing the ball inside a lot more, and that would be the right decision. Instead, we have the best backcourt in the country, so we slash and bomb away from the outside. Self has adapted and I think that makes him a leading candidate for coach of the year because this is one of his most impressive coaching jobs because he has had to change his philosophy.

This team will certainly struggle against really good big men, but let's look across the country for a second. Indiana has good bigs. Duke does also. Kentucky. UNC to some extent. But what team has both bigs and guards that can match KU? Probably nobody.

That's the rub. Yes, we give up a lot inside, particularly if none of the Bragg, Azuibuke, Lucas group is playing well. But most teams are going to struggle to contain our perimeter attack. In fact, teams that traditionally play two big men will likely have to go small at least a little bit to try and defend KU's four guard attack. KU basically neutralizes traditional big men in the same way that smaller teams in the past have neutralized our post advantage.

And with the size and athleticism of Jackson, Svi and Vick, teams can't just abuse us on the glass because we can hold our own there also. Remember, Jackson is rebounding very close to the rate that Perry Ellis did for us. We will be okay inside because most teams simply can't compete both inside and outside against us.

Self closing in on 400 wins at Kansas as well. Now only 7 short of that mark. Could get it either at Oklahoma (if KU does not lose between now and then, or home against Oklahoma State. Certainly should be over 400 before the end of January if the current performances hold.

@JayHawkFanToo

I agree that Mason having a 30 point game helps his POY chances because his overall numbers will get a boost. That game probably adds an extra half point to his scoring average for the season, which may put him a little higher in people's minds. I think that is definitely a bonus and I hope Frank has a chance to win a POY award at the end of the season.

I do not think it will help his NBA stock. Most NBA scouts evaluate games on two criteria. First, they consider competition. Second, they consider production. UMKC was without one of their two best players. They have no real NBA prospects on their roster. They are a fringe NCAA tournament team and their defense is not known for being particularly stout. If Frank had gone for say 50, that would raise some eyebrows, but going for 30 against an averagish team not known for its defense won't move the needle for NBA scouts. It's likely that no one off that UMKC team will even get a training camp invitation, so anything less than an otherworldly scoring performance won't get much notice.

The only thing that scouts will notice is that Frank had no turnovers, but that's something that he could have accomplished in less minutes just as easily.

@StLJhawk

The key is in games like last night. We basically ambushed UMKC to start the second half. From the 16:20 mark in the second half until the 12:17 mark, KU outscored UMKC 18-0 to make a 22 point lead a 40 point lead. So with 12 minutes left and the margin at 40, it's time to start really thinking about getting Frank, Devonte and Josh out of the game so they can get some rest. No need to put those miles on them unnecessarily. This is exactly the situation you want. Big lead expanded to the point of no return. There's almost no way UMKC can come back from down 40 with 12 minutes left no matter who Self puts into the game.

So how many minutes did they play? Graham played 25 (not bad). Jackson played 28 (a little on the high side). Mason played 31, which is way too many considering that the game was absolutely over after 28 minutes.Mason played 17 first half minutes, which is fine, but his second half total should have been closer to 10.

Are those 4 minutes going to destroy Frank? Of course not. But that was one game where he could have gotten some rest. Davidson is possibly another. Other than that, Frank is going to be playing 33+ minutes every night. This was one of the last chances Self will have to give Frank a break on a game night barring foul trouble.

I would have liked to see Self utilize that opportunity because the Big 12 is going to be a grind this year. I don't see any easy games on the slate because nobody is really bad, and the one non-con game in the schedule is on the road at Kentucky, one of the best 5-6 teams in the country. Chances to take it easy are basically gone. We have Nebraska, Davidson and at UNLV left before conference season starts. This was one of the last breathers this team will get.

The key to JJ's success is that he doesn't have to shoot it well in order to play well. That takes a ton of pressure off his offensive game, meaning that he can just defend, rebound and take the offense as it comes. When that's the focus, being super talented like he is, the offense will come easily.

As for tossing the lob off the window, that's kids having fun with the game. I hope Self wasn't too hard on them for it because guys usually play their best when they are having fun with the game, plus you want JJ to reward Udoka for running the floor by letting him get the big slam and the cheers from the crowd. That's what guys do to help a guy that is maybe struggling a bit. Now Udoka can have that moment and doesn't go home thinking about a bad game without also having the ovation from the lob come back to him. Guys need confidence, and that slam probably gave Udoka a ton of confidence.

I think KU cruises to 19 point win tonight. Self has them push the pace to an early lead, then lets Mason get some much needed rest. We see Tyler Self get 8 minutes in his dad's 600th win.

@Bwag

I did a study a while back that I think got lost in the reset, but basically the data is this:

Since 1979, the seeds have gotten to the Final Four at these rates (seeding started in 1979):

1 -61 trips, 40% of the time.

2 - 33 trips, about 22% of the time.

3 - 16 trips, about 10% of the time

4 - 14 trips, about 9% of the time

5-16 - 28 trips, about 18.5% of the time.

The difference between a 1 and a 2 is about a 50% drop in FF chances. The difference between 2 and 3 drops by another 50%.

1 seeds have been in the Final 29 times, compared to 11 times for 2 seeds, 10 times for 3 seeds, 3 times for 4 seeds and 9 times for 5-16 seeds. Basically, #1 seeds are almost twice as likely to make the Final as any other seed.

1 seeds have won 19 titles, compared with 12 for every other seed (4 titles for 2's, 4 titles for 3's).

Being a 1 seed is an enormous advantage. Remember, no #1 has ever lost in the first round, so you're already in the round of 32 by being a #1.

@StLJhawk

Each of the last two years, Frank has been banged up going into the tournament. Everyone gets nicks and bumps through the season, but the wear and tear really adds up when you play a heavy minute load. This is especially true when you also have demanding practices. Remember the now legendary "practice" rant from Allen Iverson? There were a couple of issues going with that - one non-basketball related (the death and subsequent murder trial of a close friend that had begun just days before) - and one basketball related.

For the non-basketball issue, here's what Iverson said about his friend during that same interview (rarely played in the clips) - "I'm upset for one reason: 'Cause I'm in here. I lost. I lost my best friend. I lost him, and I lost this year. Everything is just going downhill for me, as far as just that. You know, as far as my life. And then I'm dealing with this. ... My best friend is dead. Dead. And we lost. And this is what I have to go through for the rest of the summer until the season is all over again."

For the basketball issue, at the time Iverson was averaging over 40 minutes per game and basically was the Sixers entire offensive gameplan. For him, given that usage, non game days were for letting his body recover so that he could go 100 mph the next night in the game.

It's been mocked for a while, but that mix of things - the death of a friend and the murder trial having just started, added to the end of the season and the mental and physical fatigue that goes with leading the league in minutes (almost 44 per game as an undersized 2 guard), led to the rant.

Getting back on topic as it relates to Frank, the fatigue is real. Guys wear down physically and mentally when they don't get a break. NBA guys are pros and they wear down throughout the season. Notice how guys will often slump in February or March, or miss a handful of games in the middle of the season with a pretty pedestrian injury. Often, that's just needing a mental or physical break to recover.

That's the challenge for Self. Figure out a way to give Frank and Devonte both enough break that come March, the six games that matter most have the team functioning at the highest possible level.

@dylans

Can they push the pace for 35 minutes a night? That's an awfully tough request given the demands since they both have to play on both ends. It's not as if one of them gets to take a break on defense and guard a non-threat. That's really demanding over the course of the season.

I would love to see KU run all the time, but the truth is that KU, while they have 5 extremely talented perimeter guys, they don't have a sixth guy that they can play for 10 minutes in a competitive game to let Mason and Graham rest. The only other guards on the roster that are currently eligible are Tucker Vang, Tyler Self and Clay Young. You simply can't play any of those three for more than a minute or two in a close game.

This is a year where it would be nice to have a Jeff Hawkins, Brady Morningstar or Conner Teahen type player on the roster that could be on the floor with any three of the other five perimeter guys and provide some floor spacing to let other guys in that group rest for five minutes each half. Basically, play from the under 12 timeout to the under 8 (or longer) in each half to extend the break for guys. Rather than resting for 3 or 4 minutes at a time, guys get a 6-7 minute break each half. Even Frank and Devonte would get an additional minute or two of rest each half with one extra guy.

Self may have to get creative to get guys some rest. Maybe steal a couple of minutes with Tyler at the end of the first half to rest Frank or Devonte. Maybe sub Tyler in at the under four TV timeout for Frank or Devonte, then use the use it or lose it at the 2 minute mark to get Frank or Devonte back in. Not only do you get a break for them, but you break up the last 4 minutes into a couple of minute and a half to two and a half minute bursts. That may give us a chance to push the pace the last 5-6 minutes of the first half.

UMKC has been doing pretty well this season. The Green Bay loss is a bit shaky, but Creighton and South Dakota State are probably tournament teams. Not having Harrison is going to hurt them because they needed him to go up against Frank (would have been a really fun matchup).

Nonetheless, UMKC could be a tournament team this year if they can get Harrison back. Their struggle has always been that they haven't done a great job at landing local talent. To be a successful city program, you have to land in town talent. Just ask DePaul, Temple, St. John's, Memphis, Cincinnati, etc. You have to land the in town guys or you are sunk. That's always been the hurdle that UMKC has not cleared, which is why they have never been more than a middling low or mid major team.

@drgnslayr

I agree that we need to manage Frank and Devonte's minutes better. Heaven knows I have beaten that drum for the last couple of seasons. With 5 guys, we can do that pretty well without over-extending any one guy (plus having the option of playing two traditional big men sometimes).

The key is to make sure that Svi and Vick are both playing at least 25 minutes a game. That's a workload that both those guys can handle without breaking down. Josh can handle 30 or so, which should be able to bring Frank and Devonte both into the low 30s per game.

The way this team is built, there's no way to play Frank and Devonte in the high 20's without having Carlton step forward as a 25 mpg player. You can get 20 mpg from Udoka, 20 from Lucas (hopefully, once he is healthy), 15 from Coleby. That's 55 minutes right there. If Carlton can handle 25 minutes, that's 80 minutes and we are back to playing a more traditional set.

But if Carlton continues to play soft and Lucas struggles, then it's Udoka 20, Coleby 10, Lucas 10 and Bragg 10. That's 50 minutes and we need 150 from the remaining five, which is 30 minutes a game each. That's a huge difference.

@BeddieKU23

These stats suggest that KU can play the 4 guard lineup and compete quite well. They aren't getting blown away on the glass and they protect the rim well, in large part due to the fact that Jackson is so athletic he can man the 4 with no real fall off in production on the glass or defensively.

Unless the interior players step up, it's time to just roll with the 4 guard lineup. It creates favorable mismatches for us on the offensive end (good luck to any power forward chasing around Josh, Svi or Vick) while not compromising us defensively because we have the size and skill to hold our own.

@BShark

An 8 team playoff is really bulky. This year, for example, I don't know that there are really 8 teams that need to be considered. Oklahoma could be included. Maybe one other B1G school. But that's probably it. Most years, there won't actually be 8 teams. There will be 5, maybe 6 most years.

I do think there needs to be some consistency in how to deal with scheduling. Pre-season rankings are too influential. If a team is overranked at the beginning of the year, it takes most of the season to balance that out (see LSU this year). That makes teams that beat them look better than they actually are, particularly early in the season.

I think Self is saying, very politely, that Frank is what Sherron could have been had Sherron been able to control his weight. Sherron was a tremendous athlete coming out of high school, but his battles with weight took a toll on his knees and ankles, robbing him of critical explosiveness.

Frank, on the other hand, has taken the same type of physical beating, but has kept himself in tremendous shape, which has prevented him from losing his explosiveness.

As for shooters, Sherron was the superior shooter, but Frank is surrounded by the best group of perimeter weapons at KU possibly in the history of the program. There are some groups to rival that (Hinrich-Boschee-Miles-Lee, Rush-Chalmers-Collins-Robinson, Pierce-Vaughn-Thomas-Haase), but this group is five deep and absolutely stacked. That helps Frank's efficiency quite a bit, and he has been smart enough to take advantage of that.

@dylans

I don't think it's required that you show any proof of vaccination. There are outbreaks of various things on college campuses every year. Mono, measles, mumps, pneumonia, you name it, it has probably been a college campus outbreak. The combination of dorms, kids not eating and sleeping healthy, poor hygiene, not cleaning up well, and older buildings (remember, many college campus buildings were built prior to 1980, meaning those buildings are 30-40 years old at least, with some buildings even older than that). That means poor ventilation, dust and dirt buildup, mildew, mold, etc. It's a wonder anyone survives college anywhere without contracting some random hybrid infection.

@BeddieKU23

The absence of a true top tier PG is really hurting Texas this year. At VCU, Smart almost always had an all conference level PG to run his offense. Because his defensive style is so demanding, the role of the PG is to make sure the offense runs smoothly when they are in the half court.

You see this issue with Louisville quite a bit. They are great when they are forcing turnovers and getting into transition, but when they don't have a top notch PG, they struggle in the half court. Of course, Pitino has been doing this at a high level for 25 years, so he knows how to adapt. Smart is still putting that together, particularly since his roster at Texas is still in transition from Barnes to his style.

Smart is a very good coach. I have watched his work in the USA Basketball program. He knows what he is doing. He's at least an able recruiter. That just hasn't come together yet at Texas. I hope both for his sake and for the Big 12's sake that Texas gives him a legitimate opportunity. KU needs to see different styles from good teams during the conference season. That's why I enjoyed having Hoiberg around, and having Baylor's zone look. Adding Smart and a modified Havoc to the slate gives the Big 12 another style that KU will see twice a year to help prepare for the tournament.

@Kcmatt7

Bol is a top 40 recruit, so he isn't exactly a small time player. He's a much better player than either Vanover or Fitzsimmons is, which is why I brought him into the discussion. The current offers for Bol are Creighton, KU, New Mexico St and St. John's. Yes, KU is certainly the best of that group, but if the list were KU, Arizona, Villanova and Florida, KU would be the best of that group as well because when it comes to college basketball recruiting, you can't do better than offers from Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina.

I don't know what to think of Vanover. I like his range and shooting touch, but I feel like he will never be mobile enough or quick enough to utilize his size at the college level. It looks like quicker, more athletic guards will just blow by him, or rise up and dunk on him. It also worries me that I didn't see him with a single dunk. For a kid that big, he needs to dunk the ball when he gets in close. It makes me worry about his coordination and overall athleticism. I agree with @BeddieKU23 and @BShark. This kid is a project that isn't even quite on KU 4 year project level yet.

I can't figure out a good projection for how he will develop because he's bigger than you would expect, but not really strong or quick. He's skilled, but how useful is that shooting touch if he lacks the quickness to really put it to work against better athletes?

With Fitzmorris, he looks a bit more mobile and athletic, but he's very thin. I would rather have Bol Bol, who is a lot more mobile than either Fitzmorris or Vanover has shown. Guys that size that aren't mobile are not really useful at this point with the way basketball is set up now.

Just as an example, if you have some time watch a highlight of Vanover, then Fitzmorris, then Bol (in that order). You will be amazed at the difference between the three in mobility and coordination. That's the difference in terms of recruiting.

@drgnslayr

I think flopping has more to do with individual players and coaches than race or culture.

For example, growing up in the inner city myself, I played for coaches that would not tolerate flopping, so I never flopped because my youth coaches wouldn't stand for it. You went for the block or the steal, or stood in and took the hit in the chest. You didn't bail out or flop. If you didn't have the guts to stand in, there was a seat on the bench just for you.

Look at a guy like Lagerald Vick. He's not going to flop because he's a good defender, and flopping takes him out of the play if there's no call. That's what's frustrating about watching a guy like Marcus Smart, or Shane Battier when he was at Duke. Both of those guys were legitimately good defenders. There's no reason for them to be flopping! It actually hurts their teams' for them to flop.

A guy like Laettner (average defender) or Greg Paulus (below average defender), it's not as big a deal to flop because they aren't high level defensive players.

Poor defenders flop. Lazy defenders flop. Good defenders don't flop because they are in position to make a defensive play. Marcus Smart has not realized his defensive potential because he flops too much.

Some coaches teach flopping to make up for a lack of athleticism, size or quickness. I have seen this at the high school level. I even saw it change the tone of a couple of state playoff games. But in truth, teaching that hurts players as they advance to the next level. While you may fool a HS ref, that same flop is ignored at the collegiate level. The flop that works in college is ignored in the pros.

Even now we are seeing the NBA officials ignore more and more flops, which is going to really affect guys coming from programs that do flop a lot.

I don't think KU should start flopping. It doesn't help anything.

@kjayhawks

Helfrich as OC at KU would be a very interesting idea. I don't know if Beaty would want to bring him in since Beaty is also an offensive coach. Strong as DC at KU would be really interesting because he can flat out coach defense, but as @Kcmatt7 points out, Strong could get another head coaching job fairly quickly, and I wouldn't want to displace Clint Bowen, who has worked exceptionally hard and deserves the opportunity to succeed here at KU (although I do think Strong is the superior DC).

Charlie Strong, just fired from Texas after a dismal 16-21 record in three years. Strong has been a head coach before, posting a 37-15 record at Louisville, with three bowl wins, including the Sugar Bowl. Strong was previously a defensive coordinator.

or

Mark Helfrich, just fired from Oregon after posting 37-16 record in four seasons in Eugene (including a trip to the national championship game), but lost 8 of his last 10 games with the Ducks. Helfrich has no other head coaching on his resume, but was a fine offensive coordinator for Oregon under Chip Kelly.

Helfrich has the higher rise, obviously, taking Oregon to the national title game, but arguably also has the lowest fall with his 4-8 mark this season, since a Texas win at Kansas would have sent the Horns bowling this year.

Both men are accomplished coordinators, albeit on different sides of the ball and both have had past success as head coaches, with a major bowl win on their resume. Near as I can tell, neither man has been connected to any sort of scandal or off field issue, and there will be plenty of jobs open here very soon.

@mayjay said:

JJ, Devonte, and Frank (and now that tiny little fella at center) all have to be accounted for. How do you scheme for that many options, especially when 4 of them are good--at times, brilliant--passers?

This is the key point. The passing skills of KU's primary perimeter players (and I would throw Svi into that as well) are so good that it makes each option on the floor that much more dangerous because those players can actually get the basketball.

At times, certain players aren't dangerous not because they don't have the ability, but because the player currently with the ball cannot get them the ball. That's not the case with Frank, Devonte, Josh and Svi. There's not a spot on the floor where those guys can't get the ball to.

Vick isn't quite up to that level as a passer, but he's pretty good, and with those other guys out there spacing the floor, it's pretty tough to close off all of the options without getting burned somewhere.

Was firing Charlie Strong racist? No.

Was Charlie Strong given the resources necessary to succeed? That's questionable.

Was that limitation of resources related to certain donors not approving of his original hiring? Most likely.

What were the reasons for those donors not approving of his hiring? We will probably never know.

The answer to the first question is pretty clearly a no, but as you peel back the layers, the questions get a little tougher, the motives a bit murkier, the morals less steadfast.

Was the decision to fire a 16-21 coach motivated by race? No. It was motivated by being a sub .500 coach. But the real question, as it was in the Turner Gill situation, is whether Strong received as much institutional support as a similarly positioned non minority coach would have received. Given the fact that the AD that hired him was canned less than two years later, its very difficult to believe he received a clear backing from the administration and, more importantly, the donors. This is particularly true when some of those prominent donors make it a point to say that they did not support the hiring initially.

It is similar to the Gill situation where certain donors were privately discussing buying his contract out leading up to his first game!

The real question is not whether Strong should have been fired. He very clearly failed. The question is whether Texas ever genuinely gave him a chance to succeed.

Moving back to Gill, the answer to that second question has always been no. There were donors that had no intent of Gill even finishing his first season. How can you build a program when there are internal questions about your job security from the first game you coach on?

I don’t know the Texas situation as well, but given the comments out there, the question is valid.

Only God can judge the hearts or men. We may never truly know.

Statistically, Kaepernick has been fairly average this year. He's basically ranked in the 20's for all NFL QBs. While there are many that aren't thrilled with his comments and personal stance, there are only a handful of people on this planet with the physical tools to play QB in the NFL. He happens to be one of them. If the 49ers decide to cut him, chances are he will have an NFL job somewhere.

Cleveland, Arizona, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco (depending on what they decide to do), Houston, Buffalo (maybe), the Jets, and Jacksonville all could potentially use a QB that's as good as Kaepernick. That's a full quarter of the league. Hard to see how Kaep fades into oblivion unless his skills erode further.

@chriz

Very lofty there. McLemore was one of the most efficient perimeter players ever at KU as a freshman. He was nearly a 50/40/90 player, shooting 49.5% from the field, 42% from three and 87.5% from the line. Basically 2 made FG and 4 made FT from that standard.

I do think Vick is the superior defensive player, and he appears to also be prepared to be a superior rebounder, but McLemore was likely more athletic and was probably also more efficient than Vick will be offensively.

That said, I think their impact can be very similar if Vick continues to grow.

@justanotherfan said:

There are a million ways to die in AFH for the opposition. LBSU chose death by sniper.

Actually, now that I think about it, LBSU chose to be a VICK-tim. Cheesy, I know, but hey it works.

@BeddieKU23

The "Fools Gold" thing isn't really in play from last night. Look at the shots that were taken from three last night. Of the 26 that went up, probably 18 or 19 were either open or wide open. It's not like KU was hitting tough, guarded threes off the dribble. These were quality looks that should be made more often than not.

Think about this: If you showed people just a freeze frame of the different three point attempts from last night and asked them to guess based on the quality of the shot whether the attempt was made or missed, I bet most people would have guessed that KU would have made at least 10 threes last night.

The good shooting was not an accident. Long Beach chose to give up threes rather than get dunked to death like UNC-Asheville did. KU obliged them by sniping from long range instead of bludgeoning them inside. There are a million ways to die in AFH for the opposition. LBSU chose death by sniper.

@Crimsonorblue22

Doke is ineligible for the draft, so he cannot test (similar to a HS graduate).

My guess is that the following players test or declare:

Jackson (declare), Svi (test, unknown), Graham (test, likely declare), Vick (test, likely stay), Bragg (test, stay)

We know Josh is gone. Svi is a big unknown. I think he could go, but I don't know where scouts will come down on him. We will know much better by the end of February. Graham is probably going to declare. Vick should test, but I think he still returns. Bragg should test while planning to stay. He needs to figure out what he needs to improve in order to take that next step. He has tons of talent, but he just isn't putting it all together. Perhaps a different voice gets him over the hump.

@BShark

If he keeps playing like this, he might get drafted next summer. Just kidding (I think), but if he continues to play at this level, testing the draft waters isn't out of the question. He is playing at a high level and if he's more of a 40% three point shooter right now, that type of game will play in the NBA.

Best play he made last night was on a miss when he tipped the ball back out to (I think) Frank, and the possession resulted in a made three on the reset. He went out of area to get to the rebound, realized that he could not secure it from where he was, but had the presence of mind to direct the backtap to a teammate. Just a great play of court awareness to buy an extra possession.