@Lulufulu85 Another prime example of why I don't like the OAD thing. Sure, Wiggins got great advertising all year long, but in the end - we're going home early. It's definitely not all his fault, not by a long shot. But how long has it been since a OAD has really done anything to win his team the crown? I'd say Carmelo in 2003.
nuleafjhawk
5999 posts
Football will be here soon.
Football rarely disappoints me.
@Hawk8086 I think the team ( and me personally ) loses confidence in Tharpe when he throws the ball away all the time. Just sayin...
@globaljaybird LOL
But in the future, please eschew obfuscation.
@drgnslayr If he's not busy making commercials this weekend, do you seem him starting on Sunday?
@RockChalkinTexas I'm in 8,578,374th place.
It keeps me humble.
When Conner graduates from Kansas, he is going to own the hearts of a lot of us fans. Anybody keep track of the improvement of Perry Ellis from year one to year two? Watch for more of the same from Conner.
I am so impressed with this kid. He does not get rattled, he makes smart plays and he plays good D.
I'm even more impressed with him in the interviews. I'm convinced he's going to make some team a pretty dang good coach some day.
@Crimsonorblue22 I "generally" root for the Big 12.
The Missouri Valley - not so much.
@Crimsonorblue22 That's her real name! She's married to a gentleman named Dennis Hopeless. He's a very talented artist himself and does great work for Marvel comics.
@Crimsonorblue22 I have one on each shoulder. I'll dig up a picture of them one of these days, because trying to describe them never really does them justice. There are long winded stories to go with them too.....
I'll do some shameless advertising though - the tatoo artist is named Jessie Hopeless and in my book - she's the best!! She works at Exile Tattoo in Kansas City - just a couple of blocks from the KU Med Center. If anyone decides they want a tattoo - call now - she's booked about 12 months out. It's worth the wait.
www.jessiehopeless.com
Someone earlier mentioned that tattoos are a "cry for attention", from here forward referred to as CFA.
I didn't want to call that individual out or reply directly as that might constitute a CFA and besides, after much consideration, I believe this individual is correct.
SO - I spent my day:
Painting my house white with light gray trim.
Traded my maroon Jeep for a less gaudy tan one.
Got my haircut and shaved my mustache. I blend in much more nicely now.
Had my wife get rid of her earrings, jewelry and high heels - VERY ostentatious!
We got rid of all brightly colored clothes - now we only have white, gray and flat black. Shiny black is kind of " looky here!!" ya know.
I told a guy with a red 'vette that he should be ashamed of himself. He apologized and said he would trade it in for a beige 1987 Chysler Cordoba. He seemed like a man of his word.
I had to apologize to a whole restaurant full of people when I pumped my fist in the air and said " whooo hoooooo " at the end of the Ohio State game. One of my worst CFA displays ever........
OK - refer to jaybate 1.0 disclaimer. - no malice, all in fun. If I was serious, that would be a CFA and I simply will not have that.
@drgnslayr I waited until I was 53 to get my first one, so I feel like I didn't just jump right into it! lol
I also talked to (ok, asked) my wife, my pastor and my kids before I did it. I spent a lot of time researching who I wanted to do it and could not be happier with my tattoo artist. I've got two very nice, quality tattoos right now and have an appointment for another one in the next few months.
They are located where nobody will see them unless I have my shirt off ( Oh LORD! ) so it's not like I'm jumping up and down saying " look at me, look at me ! ".
Anyway, I know it's not for everyone, but I'm very happy with mine. Maybe we should talk about gardening or something??
@HighEliteMajor -
1) I'm not real sure what a "mindless" tattoo is. I've got a few well thought out tattoos so I'm going to ignore that one.
2) Falling on the floor a couple of times doesn't really constitute getting after it in my book, but hey - a couple of times in 32 games is better than none I guess.
4) There was a fellow named Wilt once......
I agree with all your other points - especially #10. He is a defensive beast and that has endeared me to him.
@Wishawk Thank you for editing that. I ain't got no smarts when it comes to that stuff.
@wissoxfan83 Thank you for editing that. I'd do it myself, but I ain't got no good smarts when it comes to that stuff.
@NightPhog If Warren does write you that check - consider me your new best friend.
@approxinfinity I've often been told that I think with my heart and not my head. I don't really think that's true - UNTIL I start filling out these stupid brackets!!
I've had KU winning every year since probably 1975. I can't help it - I go through these scenarios in my head and dang it (or dad-gum it, as Roy would say) I always sincerely believe that we are going to win every game.
Glad my family doesn't depend on my gambling income to survive......
@DinarHawk It can't hurt.
At times this season we've tried playing Stupid. We've tried playing Lazy. Those games haven't worked out too well.
Let's play ANGRY.
Or as @drgnslayr has so eloquently pointed out repeatedly - let's play with a chip on our shoulders.
A BIG dang chip.
@JRyman I heard the main line in Manhattan is " You don't sweat much for a fat girl."
@wissoxfan83 Only 34 games into the season and I still can't figure out if they are really good, or if they ARE good, but got that way from playing weak teams, honing their skills and convincing themselves that they are good.
I don't care about SOS's, OAD's or any other acronyms, once you get that swagger you can beat anyone, because you will be convinced that you are better than them and play like it.
I'm so frustrated this year, and I wish I had your optimism that we can win 4 games. Right now it's hard for me to picture winning more than one. Time will tell.
@JRyman I've never been to Hilton Cowaseum, but I'm pretty sure they have a similar banner to the one hanging in the Octagon of Gloom:
Remember That Time We Beat KU?
To echo your sentiments. Good for them. Beating KU will be the one thing that most ISU fans will remember for the rest of their lives. Their top graduates will remind us of it every time we drive through Taco Bell.
Thank all of you for your prayers - it helps! My wife's dad passed away Friday morning, so we're dealing with that the best way we can. He had been very sick for a long time and suffered terribly the last year, so it's a blessing, but it's still her dad.
Kind of puts the whole basketball thing in perspective. (but I still wish they'd play defense, dang it !!)
Thanks again - I don't know any of you, but it sure feels like I do somehow.
God bless!
@jaybate 1.0 Combine worst 3 pt team and worst defensive team and it makes a nice recipe for being back in Lawrence at a very early date.
For years I've harped ( to my wife, kids, pastor, cashier at Dillons ) that it is to our benefit to play the toughest teams we can all year long, here, there, anywhere.
I was wrong.
Because I haven't been disgusted enough with basketball the past few weeks, I decided to look at the top 10 strength of schedule schools. Some things are better left alone. According to ESPN, here's the top 10 strength of schedules for 2013-2014.
SOS Team AP Rank (as of 3/14/14)
1 Kansas 10
2 Alabama NR
3 Wisconsin 12
4 Kentucky NR
5 Minnesota NR
6 Maryland NR
7 Arizona 4
8 Duke 7
9 Colorado NR
10 Baylor NR
Is this a fluke? Do we need to jump to the Missouri Valley and play the Sisters of the blind 18 times per year? It seems to work for some teams.
I'm sorry to be so negative lately. We've had a family tragedy and I've noticed I get a little cranky after 42 hours with no sleep.
But maybe we should consider lightening the schedule for a while.....?
@bskeet I'm not familiar with GameChanger, but I use statsheet.com frequently and it seems to be very reliable.
I thought this game was very entertaining.
I like the way we run the Harlem Globetrotter shuffle. How we put the ball on the floor and between the legs of the opponents. How we throw up half court hook shots and throw buckets of water into the crowd.
I like how we prance around and spin like little ballerinas in pink tutus.
I like how every single person that I watched the game with shook their heads simultaneously and said " Has any one of these guys ever seen a basketball before? "
I look forward to the day when we have two or three juniors or seniors on the team, no matter where frickin Rivals rates them. Mickey D can bite me too.
@drgnslayr Where do we buy the shirts?
This is what my 17 year old, K-State bound in the fall nephew told me last night as a put down to KU.
I didn't know whether he was being clever or stupid, but either way I literally laughed out loud.
Since he's going to go to K-State, I have an idea which one it is though......
There's still 12:17 left to go, but from what I see - NO ONE is stepping up.
Maybe they should call some of their sorority sisters for support. Is the team completely out of Vagisil? There's got to be some explanation for this estrogen induced performance.
@icthawkfan316 Yes! The question is can Tharpe keep his head in the game twice in one season?
That was just for effect, but he has given me reason to question his ability sometimes.
@globaljaybird - When (if, I guess I should say) we do get our next loss, it will tie for the most Mr Self has ever had at Kansas.
Probably no correlation between that and having three potential OAD's and ONE senior on the team who never really gets significant playing time.
I know I'm swimming against the current, and I LIKE Andrew a lot, but I'd much rather have a bunch of Perry Ellis type players who are going to be here four years. Our initial expectations would not be so stupidly high and our end result would be a stronger, more mature team that goes further into the tournament each year.
Now, if we go ahead and win it all this year, I will glady eat crow, my words and about any other concoction that the OAD's come up with !
@JRyman "Flops by Marcus Smart. 5.5"
Before tip-off.....
@JayHawkFanToo There's 3 or 4 players in the country that won't ever go on a 3 point drought. Forte is one of them. Someone will need to be in his face all day long. If we slack off on him, he will embarrass us.
@drgnslayr " I don't see how we can lose if we really get after it...."
Good point. I personally wouldn't care if we lose (well, you know) if we really get after it. As long as they play with some heart and intensity. Not just by one guy either. I took NO solace in the comeback from the WVU game - I was so incensed at being down by 27 or whatever it was that I still haven't gotten over it.
I don't have a problem with getting beat. I have a big problem when we beat ourselves by standing around and throwing the ball away.
@JRyman Why not?
OR ---
We could try this starting lineup:
Wesley, White, Self, Roberts and Manning.
Bring in Garrett as the 6th man.
Run these guys as long as we can, use up some fouls and bring in the humiliated, "chip on the shoulder" former starters to defeat the opponent.....soundly.....in the skirmish. GO my favorite sports team.....
BTW - I'm just having a little fun. Laughing with - not at!!
" Why can't we all just get along? " Rodney King (and nuleafjhawk)
" Why can't we be friends? " (repeat x 3)
" I know you're working for the C.I.A. "
" They wouldn't have you in the mafia "
" Why can't we be friends? " (repeat x2)
WAR (and nuleafjhawk)
@konkeyDong Thank you for pointing out our strength of schedule. I concentrate on our 23-8 record and conveniently forget about who we've played.
It really could benefit us greatly in the NCAA's. I'm not smart enough to figure out how to provide a link to this, but look at our stats compared to WSU. Besides the obvious losses, our stats are almost identical ( or better! ) and their SOS is 109 compared to our #1.
http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/compare?t1-season=2013-2014&t1-type=&t1=kansas&t2=wichita-state ↗ ↗
Just curious,
How would you rank where you feel we are right now as a team, compared to where you thought we'd be? Rank in order from 0 - 10 with 0 being we are the worst team imaginable and 10 being we are indestructible. Then state how far you think we'll go in the NCAA's.
I'm going to say that we are at about a 6.5, I thought we would be a 9.5, and I'm guessing we get to the sweet 16.
So, what I'm hearing in this thread is that everyone's happy with the way things are going for us right now ?
@JRyman F.O.E. has a completely different meaning in Stillwater.
Flops Over Everything
@drgnslayr I agree with what you're saying and I've been thinking the same thing all season long. I'm flabbergasted that these boys (I'll call them men when they start playing like men) have to be prodded into putting forth maximum effort on every possession - be it on offense or defense.
It's sad to me that the play of the WHOLE YEAR that sticks out in my mind is the play where Joel, Andrew and Wayne all went diving after a loose ball and Selden wound up over the scorer's table. I literally jumped off my couch (as I'm sure some of you did too!) as it was, in my opinion, the first time all year that we looked like we really cared.
There have been many times over the years where I felt that we needed to find and latch onto that "chip", but holy smokes, with the talent we have, they SHOULD just be able to go out and play ball. But I guess they don't have that mindset so by all means, find a chip.
A BIG CHIP.
@DinarHawk " I am not sure that the posters understand how good this team can be when they are really motivated and are up for a game. "
My question is - WHY is motivation such an issue for this team? Shouldn't at least one to three of these players have been motivated every game, knowing this is their one and only year in college? They won the Big 12 Conference Title in a rather un-motivated fashion and we've read that (and thought it) all season long. This group has a hard time getting motivated.
Is that the Coach's fault? I suppose it could be, but man, if I'm good enough to play for the University of Kansas and I'm playing in front of 16,300 fans at home and packed houses on the road (usually the other team's only sellout of the year) and I'm on Television and radio EVERY game - I'm gonna be motivated.
@drgnslayr Why don't you publish a book? I would buy it! I've long been a believer that diet (and exercise) would cure or prevent just about anything. The thing is, I don't know how to research it and I haven't stumbled across the right combination of "stuff" yet.
It would be a blessing to have a step by step guide on what to do.
Not joking - please do this !
@ralster I'm not a big proponent of the "don't show your hand this early" theory either. I think Self is enough of a competitor that he wants to win EVERY game. If he's not, then I don't want him coaching "my" team.
The only way he holds back is by not playing injured or disciplined players, but whoever is on the floor better be playing their butts off.
@drgnslayr Don't beat yourself up over the "playing better defense" comments. I've been a Kansas fan for around 50 years now and I don't ever remember a team as unpredictable as this. (My memory ain't that great, but still....)
One day they look like they could beat any NBA team out there, the next day they couldn't beat my local high school team. Notice I didn't say they looked like they couldn't beat my local high school team - they really couldn't.
So, yeah - pencil them in as a sleeper. Because there's a whole lot of teams out there that aren't going to take them seriously after some of our recent games. The coaches won't say that, but the players will be thinking it.
@ajvan 90% agree. The only thing is, if THAT Wiggins shows up and almost nobody else does (like today) it's another " L ". (I'm not dissin Andrew, he played his heart out - just saying it can't be a one man show)
Or if the other team has 3 players scoring 20+ points, or players scoring roughly 3 times, THREE TIMES, their average ppg.....
Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue.
Today, we had one EAGLE, a couple of pigeons and a whole buncha statues.