🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@HighEliteMajor Just saw this thread now. Interesting inquiry into some of the intangibles that go into the concept of being a team.

One answer to a question you asked: a couple of games after JB brought up the interaction, or lack thereof, between Svi and Newman, there was a major chest bump between the two right after one fed the other for a bucket during a loud run KU was making. I recall it because I planned on rewatching it and finding the time it happened, and I thought about posting it because of JB's observation. But I didn't do it right away, we started a kitchen renov, and other things happened.

That is the only one I recall, though, and it may be meaningless in the big picture.

@HighEliteMajor You seem to have missed my opening phrase: "actual trafficking" covers the distributing scenarios you accuse me of condoning, and I said I have no sympathy. The draconian reference is to laws that presume trafficking based solely on an amount possessed, even if there is no history of, or intent to engage in, distribution to others.

So, in clearer words, if he was really distributing or intended to, I have no sympathy for any drug problem he himself has. If he is charged with trafficking because he bought a pound for his own use while going through Colo, I don't like the laws that impose things like 5 to 10 year sentences based on the amount alone.

@AsadZ If he was involved in actual trafficking (as opposed to technical charges based on a minimal excess over a silly miniscule amount set out in our draconian statutes), no sympathy here.

@jaybate-1.0 I am not sure what you are referring to re N Orl winning the SB after a hurricane. They won their only SB in 2010 after the 2009 season. The only hurricane hitting NO that season was November hurricane Ida, which caused only minor damage when it hit Louisiana as a TS after major damage in Nicaragua. Katrina hit N Orl in August 2005, after which the Saints went 3-13.

Makes a nice thought, but 4 years removed does not give much support to the Chatlottesville theory.

I will, however, offer up the 1988 Dodgers, winning the WS after the earthquake! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_World_Series ↗

Much higher than our overall football performance ranking (118). Get a ranking every year in recruiting that is that disproportionate to how bad we play every year, and eventually we will have a better team.

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/ranking-all-130-college-football-teams-2017 ↗

@bmensch1 That salary would be what he gave up being in limbo for. We may never know what he got for giving up KU, but it may have also included a car...

BeddieKU23 said:

30 for 30 already in the works

In honor of his prodigal point production, they are giving him a 40 for 40.

@BeddieKU23 Not if we end up in the bottom tier for the opening round.

@BeddieKU23 Max possible is 7 + 4 + 6 = 17, but we don't want that extra B12 tourney game, do we?

@Barney "I find excessive CGI a turnoff and a poor substitute for good story telling and writing. I realize I sound like an old fool."

They also have taken to burying the dialogue in overwhelming music and blaring sound (I wish we had close captioning at the theater sometimes). Ridley Scott did it as an innovative sound technique by making conversations just barely audible against the background ship noises to enhance the anxiety level in Alien, but now they do it because they can't write worth crap.

I guess there are lots of us old fools around!

@JayHawkFanToo I think they need to prep for the future, and getting his huge salary off the books is a big step. I like Alex Smith, but he was not going to shepherd the team through an overhaul. I also hope he thrives with Wash. I hope to like Mahomes.

@BShark Ditto.

When someone has not learned something, it does not mean that no one tried to teach. We do not know what the staff did or did not try to do about FTs. There are many possibilities.

One is that the staff never noticed what our resident experts have, and that only in the Oklahoma game did someone say, "Hey! Doke can't shoot free throws! His form sucks. Anyone notice that flying elbow before?" "Huh? No, not me." "Me neither. Doesn't matter, though, cuz he will get better. What the hell."

I think it is more likely that they noticed the problem, but it was a lower priority than a few other things. Like getting Doke to set picks and defend the rim without fouling out (a work in progress), learn up-and-under footwork (coming along nicely), and teaching him a hook shot so his range can go all the way to 5 feet or so. A few minutes of trying to improve FTs enough to get by was likely the only time available. 43% probably seemed adequate so they could get his action lessons to take, and until the OU game, may have seemed worth the risk. Agreeing with @JayHawkFanToo does not happen all that often, but I think his discussion of resource allocation and priorities is right on.

For everyone who thinks that if they tried to teach him he would have shown improvement, I would just point out that it took several technicals before Doke stopped hanging on the rim (including Italy), and he is still getting T'ed up for taunting (Doka Dunk Face). Maybe he is just not a fast learner, or, more likely, in stress he resorts to old habits like all of us do.

One thing I have wondered about is whether his teammates, with whom he shares a dorm with a practice court available 24/7, have been tasked with helping him, or whether they give him in-game advice on the bench.

Why did Shaq and Wilt not make quick turnarounds in FT success? A question for those who thinks that Doke's poor form is the result of staff not trying to teach him. I think at least one of Shaq's teams even hired a dedicated FT coach, to no avail. Gross negigence by all the coaches he had? Or poor learning on his part?

Self's comments have given everyone a feeding frenzy for how stupid he has been. A good coach--takes the blame by making it look like it the problem is just his obtuseness rather than a player who won't listen or who at least forgets what he has been taught.

Gross negligence. "We all know that is the only answer." Blah, blah, blah.

@REHawk He also has his 4th 40 pt game, which is a B12 record. Career, or season? Dunno which. Still lots of points.

@dylans My bad. Saw the article written Tuesday from NBC Hardball Talk, but it was actually about Monday trade of Moss, etc. No one mentioned it here?

@truehawk93 I want 'em all to lose.

Just like the Royals trade today.

Salary dump.

@kjayhawks Better than Jim Brown? I just cannot go there....

@HighEliteMajor I was going to add that maybe the most important message was to HCBS himself. Certainly not omniscient--as I said, risking a loss. Maybe the hope was for the regular way to work, but it didn't and everybody learned from it. No staff felony

@cragarhawk No argument here!

@nuleafjhawk It is not the same as intentionally losing. This was risking a loss. Not the desired outcome, but it sent a message that blindly ignoring the FT issue or attempting end of game band aids was not a solution.

@Ralster Next year, Dunkathon in the Dokeagon!

@BeddieKU23 Those plays that look simple have been practiced together for 3.5 years by DG and Svi, 2.5 years by them with Vick, 1.5 with Malik, and a total of over a year with UA (whose reach corrects a few errant passes anyway).

End of bench Sam has had just a few opportunities to execute set plays in a game, and I doubt he gets to practice his timing on the starters' plays much with them. Newbie Silvio has had 4 weeks to learn those and all other plays, and no one knows what his timing will be consistently. I doubt either of them has had much chance to try to catch passes as hard as that bullet thrown by Svi last night.

And as the announcers tell us every game when we see a beauty, the regulars work on them all the time and that is why they look so fluid.
Freshman sub Mitch looked like a dunderhead last year trying to catch his first lobs, and he booted a number of passes. He did it even a few times this year. Layups are supposedly easy, and DG has made thousands in his life, yet he continually puts the ball too hard off the glass.

Easy and simple in games is the result of hours and hours of repetition and drill on stuff that is not always so easy and simple. We are seeing early season mistakes from bench mid-season arrivals. They will get used to the pace.

@benshawks08 T-shirts $12.95, or 12 bales of hay. Uneaten (the hay, not the shirt).

@BeddieKU23 Sorry, I can't really watch them until the tech nerds develop a "CoachK/GAllen" filter. It should be simple--facial recognition software could be tweaked so when they are onscreen we guys see a superimposed face of, say, an SI model, and the ladies can see, perhaps, the Rock. Anyone we want, JUST NOT THOSE TWO!

@Crimsonorblue22 And 0.0 still makes the Dean's list there, doesn't it?

Sam will do better. Got his feet wet, slipped and landed face down. But except for a few with other issues (Bragg, for ex), kids playing for Self get right back up and try to prove themselves. He will be fine.

@HighEliteMajor I am not sure about cumulative fatigue, but I do think there is more of a chance for pulled muscles or cramping when there are constant games without rest. But that is more addressed by between-game conditioning and stretching regimens. If the players keep disciplined, they should be ok. I know what it is like, though, to think you can take that one little session off, and then, just like the nursery rhyme, pop! goes the gastrochnemius!

What was interesting was that the talking heads before the game were saying Wade was a nightmare matchup for our guards, including Svi at 6'8" because he would be able to shoot 3s over anyone guarding him. The zone dbl teams stopped him cold, but I noticed he hardly ever tried to shoot over DG and kept his back to the basket every time he received the ball on the perimeter. He should have tried facing the basket a couple steps further out so he could step up, square up and shoot over our small guys.

@BShark Thx!

Well, geez, people, when the classes aren't fake anymore you pretty much have to cheat.

What the heck are we -- well, you -- talking about for us ignoramuses?

@BeddieKU23 I associate Duke with Jack Squat instead....

@BeddieKU23 Can you imagine the soundtrack in those poor kids' nightmares?

@KirkIsMyHinrich I agree--you should abuse purple before every game, even if it is not KSU we are playing. It is just fun by itself, like abusing Fizzou.

@Crimsonorblue22 His punctuation needs a teacher to grade it, too! Sorry, @wissox -- couldn't resist.

No one has commented about Fran defending the officials when KSU fans were calling for KU fouls, or all the complimentary things he said about KU.

I'm thinking he blundered onto our board, read @Crimsonorblue22's comments, and realized he needed to clean up his act!

@Lulufulu I am sure Silvio knows he will just have a few possessions each game. He will be fine.

Just tried too hard. Probably had to do a concussion protocol after he fell over when they told him to go in.

@DoubleDD Well, don't let science and facts get in the way. Have you ever felt sick without getting a flu shot?

By the way, everyone who ever died of measles drank water at some point in their lives.

Correlation is not causation.

StLJhawk said:

@Kcmatt7 plus there seems to be a general sense of improvement overall, coach getting looser, iffy players getting solid, defense getting less soft.

A good time to be a Jayhawks!

Last year Frank's play was intoxicating. The team is now finally recovering from the post-BIFM hangover.

@KUSTEVE Where ya been this year (2018)?

@JayHawkFanToo 40 straight games with a 3 ptr! They corrected the story. Not an NCAA record b/c CF's came over 2 seasons. Kerr's record of 38 straight was, and still is, in a single season.

Very impressive for him, tho!

Crimsonorblue22 said:

@DoubleDD you weren’t sick from the shot

Myths die hard.

Silvio has had to join the team without benefit of lengthy fall personal workouts and pickup games with other players. Then he missed Boot Camp and a month of practice before games started.

Graduates HS, had to immediately try to learn team plays, condition, enroll, get used to college, and jump into playing at a level of competition he had never seen before. And in-season practices are much more limited than fall practice, so he is trying to catch up while hampered by fewer chances to do so than a fall starter.

Expecting him to grow into his role quickly without playing is as unrealistic as expecting him to make major contributions while playing at all. Self is obviously thinking long-term by bringing him along slowly and limiting him from being completely overwhelmed. If Silvio can provide a few minutes contributions by March, that is all that can be hoped for.

@Jayballer54 No, he put the jinxeroo on Wade by talking about what a high percentage shooter he is at home!

Wilt was a much bigger braggart than LJ has ever been. With him it was seen as part of the intimidating persona, and in retrospect, he is even more beloved for it even though he was hated by millions when he played. He also had players he didn't like taken out, but now is viewed as simply trying to be a winner. And one of the greatest sportswriters of all time wrote an SI article after Wilt went to the Lakers that was pretty revelatory about him being difficult to play with and causing major coaching issues.

https://www.si.com/vault/1969/01/27/559068/on-topbut-in-trouble ↗

Going back years to his Miami announcement to justify an irrational unappreciation of LJ is really just nuts. He brought Miami 2 championships, and gave Cleveland its best moment in 50 years with theirs. He has given back to that community, which has forgiven him the ill-advised but well-meaning charity special. Time for other bb fans to do so as well.

For people who don't like his personnel involvement, Bird and Russell had Auerbach to run things. LJ has had idiots as GMs. I cannot blame him for trying to find superstar fits, even though I think he would have been better served by trying to find a high quality center and a dishing point guard rather than high scoring forwards or PGs.

I love and admire Wilt but I think the onslaught of 24 hour nonstop sports obsessiveness that LB has had to experience would have left his rep much the same as LBs is today. For example, his philandering was well known at the time but hidden, even abetted, by reporters. What would we be exposed to now if LB was bedding 3 women a day in every city he visited and even more at home?

With that in mind, on @Kcmatt7's suggestion, does anyone here think LJ's morals are inferior to Wilt's? If you admire Wilt, you need to be at least willing to admit that your hatreds of LJ are inconsistent with your ability to forgive Wilt for being nowhere near the angel you demand from LJ.

@dylans Yeah, that was awful.

I had two strained Achilles tendons in about 2002. Took about 2 years to heal, and I was trying to find shoes without raised heel cups. Cut out the backs of several pairs.

Chalmers hurt his last year and has been playing well this year, I think.

@dylans Didn't see this thread until after my last post on the ACL thread!