🏀 KuBuckets Archive

As reported by Rustin Dodd ↗:

▪ Friday, Oct. 9: Late Night in the Phog

▪ Wednesday, Nov. 4: vs. Pittsburg State (exhibition)

▪ Tuesday, Nov. 10: vs. Emporia State (exhibition)

▪ Friday, Nov. 13: vs. Northern Colorado

▪ Tuesday, Nov. 17: vs. Michigan State at United Center in Chicago (Champions Classic)

▪ Monday, Nov. 23: vs. TBD (Maui Invitational at Lahaina, Hawaii)

▪ Tuesday, Nov. 24: vs. TBD (Maui Invitational at Lahaina, Hawaii)

▪ Wednesday, Nov. 25: vs. TBD (Maui Invitational at Lahaina, Hawaii)

▪ Tuesday, Dec. 1: vs. Loyola (Md.)

▪ Saturday, Dec. 5: vs. Harvard

▪ Wednesday, Dec. 9: vs. Holy Cross

▪ Saturday, Dec. 12: vs. Oregon State at the Sprint Center

▪ Saturday, Dec. 19: vs. Montana

▪ Tuesday, Dec. 22: at San Diego State

▪ Tuesday, Dec. 29: vs. UC Irvine

▪ Saturday, Jan. 30: vs. TBA in Big 12/SEC Challenge

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And announced by the guys:

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Self was true to his word in terms of dialing it back, but I gotta say, he may have gone a little overboard. Unless the SEC/Big12 challenge opponent is UK, we don't really have any marquee home games (although I think playing LSU or aTm would be fun too), and the lack of another true road game, stinks. Really, the game I hate the worst is Oregon State at the Sprint Center. We did it 3 years ago, and I'm just not that interested this soon. Get a top half Big 10, ACC, or PAC-12 team at the Sprint Center and another on the road, and I'd be happy. The way it stands now is a little underwhelming, though.

@jaybate-1.0 Norm was the primary on Diallo as well, so he gets two big pats on the back.

The guy I want to see pushing himself in the weight room is Landen Lucas. If he's ever going to live up to his potential, he'll need to be clocking in at least over 260, and preferably closer to 270 or 275. He's a very good rebounder, but until he gets strong he'll never be able to score. He lists at 240, but my guess is he's a bit shy of that. 230 maybe. Do the work, son, and you'll be greatly rewarded.

@HighEliteMajor I don't think Greene as a 3pt shooter is a mismatch for Self's system at all. I know Self doesn't value the 3 ball as much as you do, but everything you've said about Greene's offensive game was also true of BMac's, and he set a freshmen scoring record in his lone playing season at KU (I know you could also run lob plays for him, but that's about the only real difference). The problem for Greene is that Self values defense more than 3pt shooting, and that's an area where BMac wasn't lacking. If Greene could show value on the defensive end, I have little doubt that he'd get more of the elevator plays, screen and curls, and flare screens and other shooting orchestration Self was willing to do to get BMac his. Until that happens, though, Self will see Greene as just a shooter, and if you're a shooter on a Self team, it's produce or dog pound because you're not going to make up misses with extra possessions.

Full Metal Jacket. And I guess, technically, Forrest Gump too.

So with that out of the way, is it safe to say that the platoon thing blew up in Squidward's face? My biggest fear coming into this season that my long held belief that it was virtually impossible to play an undefeated season in the 40 game world of college hoops would be shattered by a new era of single school dominance to rival John Wooden's, anchored not in having transcendent talents with no other options than to play college ball for 4 years at a time, but by crews of top 10 talents willing to eschew franchise level pt in exchange for 20 minutes of fame per game, and a cakewalk to the title each year.

But this post season, UK missed on every top recruit left on the board. This could be coincidence, just poor timing with all the UK departs (of which at least 3 shouldn't be happening). Alternately, it could be the case that 20 minutes of pt isn't enough for the modern blue chip. I know it was a factor in both Zimmerman's and Diallo's commitments to non-UK schools. Ivan Rabb was also notably underwhelmed with UK, being more excited about Halloween than Big BM (phrased for emphasis).

Regardless, I'm not at all upset with Brown's decision (though I was totally caught off guard). With so many top recruits dispersed to so many schools, it's unlikely they'll be a dominant group of teams. More a 2010 or 2011 style year than a 2012 or 2013 where the title favorites were obvious from the get go. Most importantly, we got ours. Diallo and Bragg give us exactly what Self's offense was missing: rim protection and more scoring at the 4. I'd still like to get Tevin Mack, but I won't be surprised if he follows Smart. That JuCo shooting guard we were in contact with would also be a fine addition. Just a depth add, but a guy who can get minutes in Korea or if it takes time for Greene to get back into the groove. Overall, next year is shaping up just fine in my eyes.

Gotta say, this is the biggest surprise of the recruiting season. Months ago I predicted Brown would be wearing yellow. I was just expecting it to be UCLA or Michigan yellow. Cal? I had no idea. Good on Cuonzo Martin. He put together quite the class. Does it make the Golden Bears a Pac-12 contender? That remains to be seen. I'd put Utah and Zona ahead for now, but Cal has this pieces to be good. The question is, do they have the coaching...

@Statmachine As awesome of a play as that was, I'm pretty sure that, technically, it was a turn over.

@wrwlumpy As much as I love what Wiggins did in his rookie campaign, I really don't think he deserves the honor. Making room for Mario was the right thing to do because of what he did for the university and the program. Wiggins didn't accomplish what others have done at KU, and I don't see any way the honor would be warranted.

@drgnslayr Nice posts. Unfortunately, early indications are that Donovan's players are staying committed to UF. That could very easily change depending on who the new coach is. There may even be a bit of a domino affect. At any rate, Self has been a master at exploiting the coaching carousel to pick up late talent. Tyshawn, X Henry, and Withey to name a few. Definitely worth watching.

@benshawks08 Diallo is raw just like Big Cliff is/was. But Diallo is ranked where he is primarily for his defense and effort. Cliff had a rep being a bully down low (which didn't translate as well as it could have) and an athlete. Diallo has more of what Self traditionally values in a starter, though.

Thanks for the moral support, guys. To answer your question, @Crimsonorblue22, I don't remember the exact name of it, but it was like an encyclopedia of Japanese legends with illustrations by a famous Japanese artist. It was a macabre, but nothing too gruesome. Nevertheless, I don't think my mother really liked it, which is why she was willing to offer another gift. I think she thought I'd lose interest. A few years later the book got ruined when our septic tank backed up into our basement (where my room was). I'm sure I could track it down on Amazon or something if I got really motivated :)

I don't mean do you remember Christmas time last year. If you're at all like me, you spent Christmas worry about what gifts to get your kids and wife and folks and such. You negotiated travel plans or how much time to spend with your family and how much time the in laws got. Were you supposed to bring wine or a desert to the white elephant exchange?

What I mean, do you remember the feeling of Christmas from when you were 12. That year, the only thing I really wanted for Christmas was this book. It was really well illustrated and I could just stare at it for hours. It wasn't a terribly long book, nor an expensive gift. My mother actually told me I could get anything else I wanted in addition to it, but there was something about that book that just fulfilled my every adolescent desire. I didn't need a skate board or a new bike. I just needed that book, and the anticipation and build up to that particular Christmas has always stuck with me.

Nowadays as a man of means, I don't get that feeling at Christmas time anymore. I love Christmas as much as any red blooded American should: I love the traditions; spending time with my family; my son's excitement when he unwraps a present. But me, I don't get excited anymore. I tend to just go out and buy something when I want it, and as I've grown older and amassed more stuff than my house can manage, my wants have grown fewer and less urgent.

For a long time I'd thought I'd never get that kind of a Christmas feeling again, but today, cheesy as it sounds, and pitiful as it is for a grown man to feel this way, I felt that same twinge my 12 year old self did unwrapping that book.

I've followed Cheick Diallo's journey for the past 3 years. I'd heard the name when Kansas first offered him, but it wasn't until I found a clip of this play that I got excited (it's at 47 seconds in case this doesn't embed correctly):

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He wasn't a top 10 or even top 15 recruit at that time, but after seeing him get that kind of a hustle play put back, I knew I wanted to see him play in Allen Fieldhouse. So the wait was on. I watched him play on live streams of all star games when I could. I followed him on social media. I'm sure in my low moments, I did things bordering on cyber-stalking. The anticipation. The hope. The dream!!!

I know there will never be another TRob, though a lot of players will get compared to him (heck, I've described Big Cliff as reminding me of TRob physically), but Cheick is the only big man who truly reminds me of him where it counts. This kid is all heart and grit. He plays hard and scraps for everything. I don't know how many hours of basketball I've watched this kid play, but I can say with earnestness, I've never seen him take a play off in 3 years. Who was the last basketball player at any level that you could say that about in a span of 3 weeks, let alone years?

This isn't the happiest day of my life, and not even in the top 10, but this will be a day I remember forever simply for the way it made me feel. This is wish fulfillment at it's best. Rock Cheick, Mr. Diallo, and thank you for becoming a Jayhawk. (And thank you too, my fellow posters, for not ribbing me too hard that I'm out here gushing like a school girl!)

Specifically, Paul Biancardi broke the news on twitter, so this isn't just the regular rumor mill.

@BeddieKU23 WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm certainly no pot head. Although I did try marijuana in my early twenties I had terrible experiences with it, I have never felt the slightest compulsion to try it again. That said, I have never once heard a compelling reason for either the prohibition against its use, nor the demonization and misinformation that seems to surround the topic in some circles.

If you find the argument that marijuana is "no worse than alcohol" an uninspired moral equivalency (although it isn't a moral equivalency, but an empirical one), how about we substitute fast food or football? If that seems flippant, may I point out that marijuana is not a chemically addictive substance, so the comparison to fast food addiction or something like pornography addiction is apropos. These substances don't alter the function or make up of one's brain in order to cause their addiction. They merely feed the dopamine engine (our natural reward center in the brain). Literally anything that does this can become addictive to a person, and that means literally anything one finds pleasurable.

Never the less, the fact of the matter is that in a free society, the default position for any activity is always one of permissiveness. We allow people to consume things or participate in activities that have little morally redeeming value and can quite literally kill them because we supposedly value the right of the individual to make an informed and responsible decision, and to the extent that a minority cannot, we tolerate that in order to respect the autonomy of the majority. Were it not for that, any measure of restrictions that today we would find to be draconian at best might seem to be reasonable in the light of preventing harm to ourselves and to society.

But even if appeals to freedom and personal responsibility don't persuade you, I would point out that since 1971 when Richard Nixon fired the opening salvo in the war on drugs, we've invested over a trillion dollars (that's $1,000,000,000,000) in fighting drug use (primarily marijuana, which accounts for about 40% of all drug related arrests), and yet the marginal rates of marijuana use in this country have been relatively stable over the past 30 years. About half of all people in this country are in my camp; people who have tried marijuana in their lifetimes. Yet only a very small percentage of people continue to use throughout their lives (predictably, usage peaks in the late teens/early twenties, before dropping off precipitously as people reach their 30s and beyond). In other words, we've invested a ridiculous amount of money fighting a problem that doesn't actually exist. The only thing that we do have to show for cracking down on marijuana is that we've doubled the arrest rate for marijuana related crimes since 1982 (90% of which are for mere possession) and we've got the largest prison population (both in real terms and per capita) in the western world.

Marijuana definitely isn't harmless and definitely shouldn't be treated as such (and no one who wants to pursue professional athletics should have anything to do with it), but the policy for dealing with this social ill that has existed these past 45 years is a colossal failure and is more a blight to our society than pot use ever was. And for anyone who truly believes that our society is running down the tubes, I'm sorry, but that's a self-serving delusion. Despite the problems we face today, the world, and this country especially, has never enjoyed greater wealth, health, prosperity, and freedom. Today people live longer, have more choices, and are less likely to die violent deaths than ever in human history (even with ISIS/Al Queda, Mexican drug cartels, etc). Don't romanticize the past just because it seemed simpler or better to you at the time. Every era has had its struggles. Today is the greatest day to be alive.

@HighEliteMajor Great post HEM. You actually beat me to the punch on this one. I was going to do a class of 2016 thing once 2015 was official. Great news about Bolden is, not only is he a strong KU lean, but he's a life long KU fan and has made no bones about that. He is ours for the taking if we make him a top priority, which wasn't necessarily the case with Davis.

Bolden is also on the top of my wishlist for 2016 big men. Everything you've said about him is everything I'd have said too. For comparison, he's a lot like Cole Alrdrich, but a more skilled scorer. His hook shot is what every coach dreams about when recruiting a center. The other guys on that list right now are Australian Issac Humphries and Hatian sensation Schnider Herard.

The Hump is kind of an odd one. He's one of the least athletic footers I've ever seen. Like, a true footer, but a below the rim player. It's weird. Imagine Georges Niang, but 6 inches taller. In terms of pure basketball skills, though, he's the best big in the class. Fundamentals are sound. Footwork is good. Shoots out to 15 ft, but scores with his back to the basket. Catches and passes well. Can put the ball on the floor, but doesn't dribble more than he needs to. Just don't throw him any lobs.

Herard is a lot like Tarik Black: Long, powerful, athletic. He's definitely more of a long term project than Hump or Bolden, but he's the type of guy that is going to give you 4 quality years, then do a stint as a relief player in the league.

Lastly, I am getting more positive buzz these past few days on the Cheick Diallo front. Nothing on the order of what I was hearing two weeks ago, but plenty of reason to remain optimistic. Hopefully we'll find out what's what after Ingram's commitment on Monday. I'll be really shocked if he goes anywhere but Duke at this point, but if he were to venture out of state, KU would probably be the destination.

I would love to add Walker and I hope KU reaches out to him. He certainly hasn't fared as well as I'm sure he would have liked to at UF, but he basically has no prospects in the pros at this point, but he still has every bit the potential he had from when we were recruiting him, and KU was his second choice. He is an academic risk, but given KU and Self's commitment to keeping players not only eligible, but on top of a perfect APR, if there's a school that could sort things out for him, it's KU.

As for Tyler Davis, the he's a case of the negative recruiting aspect that HEM talked about the other day. Davis was sweet on KU, but on his ATM trip, they pointed out all of the guys ahead of him that KU was recruiting and said that he'd probably never see the floor because KU will always be going after the next big thing. It worked and he committed on his visit there, never making it to Late Night.

Looks like St. John's got in another visit with Cheick today and it's being widely reported that he'll announce at the beginning of next week. I don't know if Self can pull any last minute surprises and I really have no idea if this is last second desperation on SJU's part or a totally brilliant coup. Man I wish he'd committed a couple weeks ago when he was hot on KU. It's anyone's game, and SJU is playing for blood.

...but after tweeting this:

!CDE2ZogUIAANYlT.jpg large.jpg ↗

It's been a long 3 years. Just wanted to thanks all the coaches who recruited me and stopped by my school appreciated

Cheick Diallo followed Perry Ellis on twitter. Turns out he follows a lot of Jayhawk players. Just a couple from UK. No one from SJU.

@Crimsonorblue22 said:

@konkeyDong baker walked on at WSU, was invited to try out to walk on at KU.

Not sure what you're getting at.

How many times have we seen a kid have an early growth spurt, get stuck on the block as a 6-2 12 year old, then end up being a 6-4 player in high school and end up being frustrated and disappointed because he didn't keep growing.

Subtract 2 inches and that's the story of my life. I was probably the only 6'2" center in my league in HS and I still can't dribble worth a darn to this day.

@Wigs2 Burks and Baker were both un-ranked or sub 100 rated 3-stars that turned out to be late bloomers. Generally, those aren't the kids any of us has on the top of our lists. Ojeleye I covered with the MoKan stuff. St Louis is close, but again, not a huge producer of top talent, and it's far enough east that East Coast schools will recruit there, so it's not that different from flying to Ohio or Virginia to get recruits. Releford was the last top 100 guy out of KC (and that was what, 7 years ago?) and we got him, so I'm not sure why you're listing him here. Colorado, Oklahoma, and Nebraska combined produce less than an average of 1 top 100 guy each year in the past decade. Missouri and Iowa do produce a good amount of talent, but again, it's nowhere near what you get in big population centers like the NY area, Florida, SoCal, and Texas. Iowa is the only near by state that I don't think we do a good job of recruiting. We still let Roy and Consonants go in there and pluck choice kids. I don't know why, but whatever the reason, Self has no ties there.

@JayHawkFanToo @KU-Flyer To be clear, there's more to the WCS story than just mutual disinterest. WCS played for Mokan Elite on the AAU circuit and the guys behind that have a beef with Self. Apparently Self snubbed them early on because they didn't have any recruits he was interested in even talking to. Since then, they've had a few come through (WCS and Semi Ojeleye, namely) who show some interest in KU and then just as quickly are turned off and end up committing out of state. They send a lot of guys to KSU, too.

Whatever grudge MoKan holds, it's so strong that even though WCS took an unofficial visit to KU as a junior, within days of him committing to UK, an amateur recruiting blogger posted an interview with him where he bad mouthed Kansas, our fans, and Self for not recruiting him. It was taken down shortly thereafter and I've not been able to come up with it since, but suffice it to say, there is a lot of bad blood there. I doubt we'll get anyone of significance out of JoCo as long as MoKan is the biggest AAU team in eastern KS.

@brooksmd I'm meaning not top 10 guys, but mostly the 80 - 15ish range that HEM prefers. So elite, but mid-tier elite. I was also referring to the amount of money expended on recruiting. The fertile recruiting grounds nearest to us are Chicago and central Texas. There just aren't any places in our vicinity where Self can hop in a car and drive 4 hrs to watch 5 or 6 top 100 guys. Boeheim can hit NYC, NJ, Philly, and DC all in a weekend road trip and still get home in time for Sunday dinner. The amount of flying required for our recruiting activities figures in heavily.

@KU-Flyer That's one of two blue chips in the entire state of KS for that class (the other being Perry Ellis, who we signed). Over the past 10 years how many McDonald's AAs has the state of Kansas produced vs NY? KU can't just recruit regionally and expect to compete nationally. For every WCS, there are a thousand Clayton Custers, and WCS wasn't a McD AA, Mr. Basketball, or 5 star guy. And his offense is still garbage :p.

@drgnslayr Couldn't be more simple. Syracuse isn't putting a whole lot of energy recruiting top guys from outside the area. At KU we have to. Sure, there's the occasional Ellis or Simien, but the amount of top talent coming out locally or even regionally is tiny. Plus lately we've been going for the best of the best, competing head to head with guys that usually have Duke, UNC, and, of course, UK on their lists, not to mention the odd UF, UCLA, or Zona. Boeheim has set his sites on more mid-tier guys lately, much the same as Rick Pitino. Whether or not you go for the top 10 vs the top 50 is a debate that's been rehashed a million times on our various forums, but as long as Self is competing head to head with Calipari and Consonants, we're going to be looking like this every year.

Zim's off the table. UNLV was no surprise. Diallo remains the focus. There may be skulduggery ahead...

Well, Zim made it official. No surprises, though.

@jayballer54 Recent rumors suggest Newman is planning to play overseas, a' la Mudiay. Diallo, as @Statmachine has noted, has an overseas offer too but isn't expected to take it up (apparently his family is well to do and he wants the American college experience). Still, I don't like the news that he's taking a meeting with Mullin this weekend. It's a definite wrench in the gears.

The other mentioned bugaboo, that Diallo might not pass the clearing house, doesn't scare me as much. Although his school has had some difficulties, there's no whiff of academic turmoil on him personally, and someone close to Roberts has indicated that KU's staff has a plan for the clearinghouse should an academic issue come up. I'm not sure what that means. Maybe he does summer school in Lawrence or JuCo in JoCo, but apparently Self and co learned their lesson with McLemore and Traylor and have a solid contingency plan. We'll see...

Ah, the shifting winds of recruiting. As we've all heard by now, Chris Mullin pulled an incredibly baller move and stole the Diallo carpet out from under Calipari's feet. The big question is, with Slice at St. John's, has Mullin now tilted the scales enough to beat out Norm Roberts? I gave it a couple days to let the dust settle, but things couldn't be any less clear at this point.

For starters, Slice to St. John's is perhaps the slickest move, both tactically and strategically, that I've seen in recruiting in the past decade. Short term, you get the obvious in with Diallo, and long term, you get the guy with the best connections in the NY/NJ/Philly triangle, an area we've recruited heavily over the years (Twins, Robinson, Taylor to name a few). That's hardball, hardcore, tough nuts politicking. St. John's now has Cheick's lead recruiters from both ISU and UK. In fact, the move is so strong, it's virtually knocked UK out of consideration, and I thought they'd be our biggest competition given how lukewarm Cheick was to Mullin. But Mullin did what he had to do.

All hope is not lost, though. Last Thursday, the consensus was Diallo was all but mind made up on KU and ready to commit at the JBC. Even losing some ground, there'd be a long way to slide to lose this one. Mullin is still recruiting as though he's not going to have Diallo on his team, too. That could indicate that he's not as strong as he hoped he'd be even after the move, but he may just be being prudent. Diallo is a Nike prospect, but St. John's is UnderArmor, so it's unlikely that Nike is using any pull to move him in either direction. Norm Roberts is a great closer, too, and I'm sure he's preparing some great stuff to go for the kill. He'll be telling Diallo about Self's track record with getting bigs into the NBA. He'll point to the last kid from Africa that signed on the dotted line, injured his back and foot, and still went #3 in the draft. He'll mention the door is wide open on a potential title contender at KU, whereas at St. John's they'll be lucky to finish 4th in the waning Big East. If anyone can make this deal happen against these headwinds, it's Norm.

Still, the waters have been significantly muddied since last weekend. If Diallo stays on schedule and declares at the JBC or the day after, he's ours. But if he waits until next week, it's anybody's game. Heck, there are even a few die-hards saying ISU is in this, despite the KU v SJU consensus. Things aren't as rosy as they were, but I'm going to keep the faith on this one.

@JayHawkFanToo Diallo has already said he may commit at the Jordan game and Hoiberg isn't scheduled to see him again until the week after, so I don't think the writing could be on the wall any more than that. Even so, I've got solid intel that says Ames is a no-go at this point. I won't say that anything isn't possible, but ISU isn't currently in his top 3. KU, UK, St. Johns in that order.

@dylans ISU is a non-factor now. The in Hoiberg had was a graduate assistant that Chris Mullin (St. John's new HC) picked off to bolster St John's position with Diallo. But since Diallo's relationship was with Steve Lavin, not Mullin, apparently the ploy failed. Diallo is KU's to lose, and Calipari is the loser who could make that happen.

@dylans Well, the biggest potential fly in the ointment is the announcement that just happened on ESPN. Cal just cleared a lot of cap space, and I'm sure he'll be selling Diallo on PT, as that's been a big deal to him. I still think we have the leg up and just as much PT to offer, if not more, but the fact that Darkari Johnson is gone and Poythress may still go is what gives me a little pause in terms of calling this a done deal.

@jaybate-1.0 I expect Diallo to be able to play D near or at the level of a Self starter from day 1. He's easily the most athletic big man in the class (pending Thon Maker actually matriculating, as it seems he may just stay in prep and then go directly to the NBA), blessed with a superior vertical and Anthony Davis-esque proportions (an inch shorter, but similar wingspan and superior reach). He's a for real rim protector and has always been incredibly active and tough any time I've seen him on the floor. He has his work cut out for him against the Jahlil Okafor type bigs that can just back a guy down, needing to add considerable weight to his frame (only clocking in around 220 these days), but it's nothing he can't get sorted out by next fall.

As for his offense, he does have good footwork and finishes equally well with both hand (he's almost Joel Embiid graceful... Almost), but he doesn't have a great arsenal of back to the basket moves just yet. Mostly, he uses his footwork and quickness to get around players, but it's all pretty rudimentary. Don't expect any Dream Shakes from Diallo. He does have great hands and decent handles for his size/position, and is quite capable attacking the rim off the bounce. He even has a couple good spin moves that compliment his ambidextrous finishing ability. He's also an ideal lob target, able to sky and grab the ball just about anywhere. He also uses his vertical and quickness well on the offensive boards and will get a lot of garbage buckets. His court vision and outlet passing skills are solid, and he should be better at the hi-lo entry (both passing and receiving) than any of our current bigs, save perhaps Bragg. All in all, he'll be a work in progress, but I don't think he's nearly as raw as Big Cliff was, and he's got much better instincts/BBIQ.

Anyway, if you can't tell, I've been a big fan of Diallo for a few years now and have watched his development closely ever since I saw he was on KU's radar. I would consider landing him an enormous get. He's a definite OAD risk, currently projecting as a late lottery type, but he could easily be a TAD, and he and Bragg (who I see as a 2-3 yr min) as sophomores would be an amazing starting frontcourt. On the high end, he'll be a strange cross of Embiid, Wiggins, and TRob (graceful, athletic, and energetic) that will give us the defensive presence and offensive spark we lacked ending this season. On the low end, he could prove to be too green and leave us with yet another year of trying to play 5 by committee before bolting for the association.

I've heard some interesting stuff from the twitosphere the past few days, and I'm at the confidence level now where I can say I think we'll be very pleased at the Jordan Brand Classic next week. There are some in-homes coming, and there is always the chance that Cal slips in there and sweeps Diallo off his feet, but from what I've heard, the only thing holding him back was waiting on official word about Big Cliff. Jerry Meyer, the one reliable guy on 24/7 sports, has also made the change, and that's enough that I'd put my confidence level at 90% now. I think the biggest threat now is a last minute super pitch from the Squid, but I don't think Chris Mullin was any kind of draw for Cheick, and the assistant that he knew at ISU isn't enough of a pull. Stay tuned...

Over the past few seasons, I've defended Self's coaching in early exits from the dance, particularly when I felt like the loss was more on the players than the coach. HEM always takes the coaching angle (and being a sometime coach, who can blame him, and I expect such an analysis to follow). This year's exit, though. This is on Self. He couldn't figure out how to beat a team playing a 6'4" 6'7" 6'7" frontcourt? Really? Self needs to find another assistant that can build big men the way Manning did. Lucas did a fine job on the boards, but our inability to outscore WSU in the paint was ridiculous. Anyway, I'm probably done for a couple months. Let you know if I hear anything good on the recruiting wire. Otherwise, God bless and take care for a while.

@drgnslayr Did you watch the end of that game? I swear Scott Drew must have got his guys in the huddle and told them, "Hey look fellas, I got a big chunk of change riding against us on this thing, so let's just throw this one, okay? Promise I'll get you ice cream and pizza on the way home. And don't worry. Nobody will think less of you as players. After all, I'm you're coach. It'll be no surprise!"

@KUSTEVE Problem is, that would have just swapped us with Notre Dame.

I'm speechless at how loaded that bracket is, not just as a KU fan either. The committee really wants to see if they can knock off UK. I guess since no one else has.

@JayhawkRock78 We're best positioned with Thon Maker and Cheick Diallo. I'd be happy to add either. Ivan Rabb likes Self, but it looks like he's going to spend his collegiate life out west. Same for Zimmerman, for the time being.

@jaybate-1.0 I sincerely feel sorry for Gillispie, but I can't imagine a world where teaming up an alcoholic with a group of young women will turn out well. I could see him being an assistant somewhere eventually, but he needs to get that 5 year chip first.

@drgnslayr The NCAA will never, ever, EVER force a school to vacate a title. I guarantee you that if Mario clanked the miracle, Derrick Rose's situation would have been overlooked. Same thing if Chris Webber's infamous timeout never happened. There are a lot of reasons it won't happen, and frankly, I wouldn't want to get the title under those circumstances anyway. We lost the game, we didn't earn it, and it's better that the asterisk appears by the word Syacuse in the book of life than by the word Kansas.

The problem with the argument that Final Fours and Championships prove conference superiority is that it really tells you nothing about the quality of teams in the conference other than the one or two that made it that far. Was the ACC really the best conference in 2010 because Duke won a championship after UNC won in 2009? Well, UNC lost to Dayton in the NIT finals and only Maryland and Georgia Tech made it in with Duke, both being eliminated in the second round. In the same year, 7 Big 12 teams made the dance, 2 advancing to the Elite 8 (while KU produced a massive choke job to UNI, ugh!), so who had the better tournament and which was the better conference? I don't think it's even logical, let alone fair, to judge the entire conference by the showing of its best team. UF and UK both made the Final Four last year, and Tennessee made an Elite 8 run, but again, the rest of the conference was terrible, and it seems an enormous stretch to me to say SEC > Big 12 because they had one good team and two that overachieved. Hell, the AAC is a joke of a conference outside of UConn, and I don't think anyone with sense would claim AAC > Big 12 in 2014 just because the Huskies cut down the nets, right? We can all see how silly that is, right?

@drgnslayr Actually, Cliff hasn't lost a lot in the mock drafts, which should be unsurprising given how much NBA scouts hate undersized players, so it's not really a situation I would consider comparable to Turner and Barnes. And I think it's clear that if Turner chose KU, he'd be putting up much better numbers. He'd get plenty of touches, and his shot blocking is one of the main things this team lacks, but you know all that. Cliff, on the other hand, would probably be struggling anywhere at this point. Even before his suspension, he was doing a lot more thinking than playing. When he starts, he just doesn't seem to keep up with the flow of the game, and honestly, even if he is able to get back in, I hope Self goes back to playing him off the bench (with starter level minutes). It's ironic that he was better able to get a feel for a game's speed watching rather than playing, but if that's what it takes to get those leave you wanting more type performances, that's the way it needs to happen.

@JayhawkRock78 I have no doubt that there are refs that play favorites a bit for the coaches they like, refs who put their own egos above calling the game fairly, refs that swallow their whistles at the ends of game just to up the ante, and refs that aren't wearing clean underwear when they come out of the locker room. Refs are human beings, and none of them are totally above the fray, whether they try to be or not. But suggesting Calipari has a crew of refs on the take that he uses to both advance his own team and thwart Rick Pitino at every turn? That's a lot to take without hard proof, especially on a website that popped up out of nowhere. Woodward and Bernstein this Miller guy ain't.

@RockChalkinTexas I did use your link and I'm not saying that it can't be true, but just take it with a grain of salt unless someone else from an established journal corroborates it.

Although this is an interesting read, the source seems incredibly dubious. There is no such newspaper as the Pasadena Post. And I can't find Michael Miller connected with the AP or any other legit org. I'm no fan of Calipari and he has been caught cheating in the past, but this doesn't pass the smell test to me.

Cheick Diallo has been my favorite prospect in this class since his sophomore year, when he first burst on the scene. He may be only 6'9", but he's the best athlete in the class, even with Thon reclassifying, and his energy, effort, and toughness are off the charts too. He's like what you'd get if you crossed TRob with JuJu: raw, but hard, quick, bouncy, and capable of dominating a game by sheer force of will.

I actually like our chances with him a lot, especially if Alexander doesn't or can't come back (although I'm counting on seeing him another year), because he's been recruited by Norm, and Norm's landed a lot of the biggest fish we've gotten lately (Selden, Oubre, Embiid, Greene). But if he doesn't suit up for Kansas, I'm hoping he does for ISU because, with the Mayor at the helm, they can become the in-conference rival that KU fans deserve, and Self needs to get us to that next banner.

@brooksmd Hunter's performance was especially nice. That was the scrawny kid I remember from his freshman year at UArk. Mobile and disruptive. Limited offensively, but helping his team create offense from D. He is still a foul machine (although a couple of those were really sketchy calls), but he definitely made his presence known tonight. Hope we get to see more of that before the season closes out. I still think, in the long run, it'd probably be in his best interest to grad transfer if he can, but I'm not going to give up on him totally.

@wrwlumpy Jamari is a knife. Landen is a spoon. You'll be happy to have each one in different situations.

There are only two teams in that list that I'd be scared to see in KU's bracket: UK and UV. We can beat Duke or Nova on a good day. UV might be more vulnerable to upset because they play at such a slow pace (although neither of the other teams has had a really huge run since Duke's 2010 title), but in terms of actually winning head to head, it would be a gargantuan task. Still, all of those teams but two, Nova and UVA, have bigger post players, at least one footer, and/or more depth down low.

Honestly, HEM's doomsaying about the end of the season has kind of fallen on deaf ears with me, but not because I disagree with his analysis, necessarily (although I think he undervalues the good interior scorers that we do have in Perry, Oubre, and Cliff), but I think he's actually being overly optimistic about our chances in the dance. Even if we do shoot lights out from deep, we still have real issues with TO rate (and what Self team hasn't), guarding quick perimeter players, handling pressure/the press, rim protection, and we're Jekyll and Hide in terms of keeping opponents off the offensive glass. And that doesn't even begin to address the chemistry and leadership issues that we've seen lately. This team doesn't scream built for March to me.

Then again, it is the dance and anything can happen. Nearly everything that I said in the above paragraph can be said of last year's UConn team, but they still got to #4 before us. This year, it would take a miracle for us to cut down the nets, but it wouldn't be the first one in Kansas history either.