@Crimsonorblue22 Lol - Thanks Crimson, I enjoy yours as well! You probably ought to sets your sights a little higher though!
nuleafjhawk
5999 posts
@HighEliteMajor I agree about Wiggins. He should stay another year and learn to play. hehe
@icthawkfan316 Well, we will never know about Tarik, so I won't waste any more time on that subject. I hope you understand that the "negatives" are not about the individuals - it's about the whole system that allows it. I've said numerous times that I understand why kids leave college early. Heck, if someone stuck a blank check in front of my face to leave college and go play in the NBA, there wouldn't be much of a choice to make. I just think it's a sad situation.
Schools spend unfathomable amounts of time, money and energy recruiting these kids. The fans are left feeling kind of empty ( at least I am ) as we don't get to know the kids on personal level. (As personally as a fan can get to know a college ball player anyway )
Bottom line is - you're right. And so am I. It's called our opinion.
@icthawkfan316 The difference is that " they " can stay three more years but choose not to. Black could only play one more year and he chose KU over everyone else. He'd be here longer if he could.
@drgnslayr Good call on Tarik yesterday. He didn't have a million, but it was close enough to get my attention !
@jaybate 1.0 I've been whining about OAD's since there was such a thing and I know nobody cares, but I will not be convinced that a OAD (or a group of OAD's) is to any team's benefit.
I think, in almost every case, it just jacks with a team's chemistry and hurts more than it helps. Almost every case.
The thing is, I've been known to let my emotions get the best of me. I like watching players develop on the court, emotionally, spiritually sometimes, and physically (thanks Andrea!). So at the end of four (or five) years I cry like a little girl when it's time for them to give their farewell speeches on Senior night. I feel like I KNOW them (not biblically....I know how your mind works jb lol) and like they're a part of the family. When a OAD leaves, I still like them for having come to KU, but it's like " see ya. have fun sitting on the bench and spending your money for the next couple of years".
I have MUCH respect for Tarik Black. He could have stayed where he was, could have transferred to any school in the country, but he WANTED to be at KU. He will always have a special place in my heart when it comes to KU basketball.
If I could ban the whole OAD thing, it would have already been a done deal. I can't. So, I'll just keep whining and hoping that we recruit guys that want to be here.
By the way, this is not an indictment of Andrew, Joel, Wayne or anybody else on our team past or present. I totally understand why 18 year old kids want to be rich and famous. I'm pissed at the NBA and at the NCAA for allowing it. Let them be rich and famous at 22. I'm 55 and still ain't rich and famous. I've survived.
@HawkInMizery Not so much a cabinet. A vault. Where T. Boone Pickens keeps his concession stand money.
@wissoxfan83 I agree that we probably should not be a #1, even considering our SOS. And not to be a party pooper, but I really don't want to be a #1 this year. Our team is so inconsistent and I sure as heck don't want to be the first #1 to lose to a 16. It could happen.
I firmly believe we can beat any team in the tournament, but I also believe that we can probably lose to any team in the tournament.
@globaljaybird I'm sure your typing skills are excellent. I just happened to be in the " right place at the right time ".
@globaljaybird lol - that was pretty funny until you edited it, global !
@jaybate 1.0
"And if they close the lane then force a dish to Tharpe and close on him if he penetrates, they've got us by the short hairs."
Note to coach: Everyone man-scapes.
@Lulufulu85 HEM has his own teams?? No wonder he knows so much about the game.....
@drgnslayr although - a million points would be pretty cool.....
Some of us have been doing a lot of Marcus Smart bashing the past few weeks, and deservedly so, in my opinion, but there's one thing about him that I will always respect.
He came back.
Say what you will, right or wrong, good or bad. He came back. I realize that the antics he's pulled this season are not making a strong case for my argument as he's probably hurt his own draft status. BUT - that was all of his own doing. His poor decisions. But he came back.
Do you know a lot of 18 year olds that would pass up being a top 5 NBA pick and about a bazillion dollars to stay in Stillwater, OK? Me neither.
No one on this site, including me, really knows what makes him tick but I really admire the fact that he passed up instant fame and fortune to come back to school, play with his best friend since 3rd grade (Forte) and wanted to win at least a conference championship for his school (hehe).
I really wish Andrew would consider the same. Statistically, he's one of the best freshmen to ever play at Kansas, but am I the only one who doesn't think he's NBA ready? Let me back up, I KNOW he's gone - I'm not sending out a plea for him to stay or anything, I just wish he would. I know one big argument for going is " what about injury ?". What about it? My wife broke her ankle fishing last fall. I jacked up my back one time bending over to tie my shoe laces. Injury or illness is something that can happen any time, whether you're in Lawrence, Ks or Orlando, Fl.
Anyway, goodbye Andrew.
And I still think Smart is a nimrod. But I appreciate the fact that he came back.
@globaljaybird Sometimes I'm a half a bubble off of plumb, but when we missed out on Forte and Smart, I was bummed about Forte because I KNOW that he's a good kid and works his ASS off. I knew nothing about Smart other than he was supposed to be a hot shot.
If they were a package deal and we missed Forte because of Smart - then thank you Mr. Smart. I don't want anyone like him in a Jayhawk uniform.
@drgnslayr I truly wasn't trying to dog Andrew, I just wanted to point out that there are so many factors that contribute to a team's chemistry and it's hard to say what kind of effect having another "star" on the team would have.
Honestly, Andrew's been stellar for us this year. I believe his scoring avg per game is higher than ANY KU freshman in history. To me, our team just doesn't have that "family" chemistry that some of our other great teams have had.
And 13.3 turnovers per game don't give me great optimism for the tournament.
@justanotherfan OR - If they had Andrew Wiggins, they may be 22-7 right now. They might have spent all their time and energy trying to get him the ball and getting him to be " the man " and messed up the flow of their otherwise pretty good team.
As you say, we'll never know.
@HighEliteMajor - "Tharpe, the team’s stated leader, drops in on Gallagher-Iba with seven well-earned turnovers. Don’t believe the boxscore. It wasn’t six -- it was seven."
With all due respect - if you watch the game back it was actually six TIMES seven.....
@Crimsonorblue22 Yes, I did and thanks for acknowledging that!! I really was starting to think it was just a bad dream.....
@joeloveshawks I'd love to have a framed picture of Smart and the kid that mops the sweat off the floor at OSU.
" Flopsy and Mopsy "
@wissoxfan83 Hey! Tony Bennett is going to be in concert at the Stiefel Theatre in Salina on May 24th.
Wait - we may be talking about different Tony Bennetts........
@wrwlumpy Speaking of court storming - that was the highlight of the game for me. I literally laughed out loud. How sad is your program when you rush the court after coming from behind at home to beat a team that now has seven losses?
Maybe I should just be proud that no matter how bad we are ( by our own standards ) people still act all stupid when they beat us.
@drgnslayr Hey, biorhythms makes as much sense as anything else I can think of for him. Thanks for the info!
@drgnslayr I agree that Tharpe can be a huge asset when his head is in the game and I guess I had in mind that when we have Mason and Tharpe in at the same time, maybe it should be Tharpe and Frankamp. Conner could handle the ball as Tharpe is a better shooter than Mason right now. I just can't figure out why Tharpe seems so distracted this season. The job is his, he's surrounded by great talent, he just can't seemed to stay focused.
Does he have a girlfriend? Dump her Naa !! Only date during the off season.....
This is not news to anyone reading this, but I am not a basketball guru. I'm a die hard fan and I love all things KU, but I'm not an X's and O's kind of guy. I like to watch the round ball go through the hoop thingy when we have the ball and like to watch it get stolen or swatted away when "they" have the ball. That's the extent of my knowledge.
However. It seems to me that something needs to be done with the dynamics of our team. I know you folks won't hesitate to tell me how stupid this is, but is it just my imagination? When Conner is in the game, it seems to me as though we play better. Given the fact that Frank is fast, but sometimes out of control and that Naadir has his head up .....somewhere besides in the game most of the time, why not give Conner a shot at one of the guard positions? He's cool and collected, doesn't throw the ball away and might bring some stability to this team. With all the other scoring options on this team we don't have to have him in there to score points, although we all know he can light it up from beyond the arc. Why he hasn't this year is one of life's great mysteries. I can only chalk it up to not enough time on the court.
What?
That's it - potential don't win championships......
If anyone read my prior post and wondered what happened to it ( or was glad to see it gone ) - I was getting ready for church and thought " that post wasn't particularly nice " - something like that. Yes, I had a guilty conscience.
So, I sincerely apologize to anyone who did read it and will try not to post similar garbage after games like that. Of which I hope there are no more this season. Or ever.
In order of bug-ness to me:
1) I was meditating on the couch last night (OK, I fell asleep) and woke up around 10:15 pm or so. I glanced at the TV and thought I had accidentally turned to the Sci-Fi Network or FearTv. Here's this hideous, greasy, shiny foreheaded little troll that looked just like Gregg Marshall scowling at me telling me about something that Carlos O'Kelly's is putting on and the Wichita State team, blah blah blah, but he wouldn't be able to attend because he was going to be busy. (smirk, smirk, har har har)
Was this a real commercial? I've been the Mad Googler today and I can find no reference to this stupid commercial. Anyone else seen this nasty thing or do I just write it off as bad pizza? Thank You.
2) Equally as disturbing was the headline in my local paper this morning telling me that a local family had donated 60 MILLION dollareenies to our little buddies in M-Town. Really? I know these people. They are NOT that generous.
At least not if you're wearing a KU hat, KU T-shirt and KU socks. While you're fishing on their land. Maybe without permission. So I've heard.............ahem.
All that aside, let's not be outdone fellow 'Hawks. I see that we have 283 KU Buckets users. If we each contribute $212,014 we could match that 60 mil. I just got paid yesterday, paid bills today and I've got $18.37 left till next month if someone wanted to cover my portion this time. Something to think about.....
To paraphrase jaybate 1.0 - " Mostly fiction, no malice ".
@jaybate 1.0 If I may add one thing, hold Forte to less than 6 or 7 treys. Grrrr.
If we win it all, the high from that will get me through to the start of football season.
I'll get stoked for football until the first game (sorry guys and gals, but I"m just speaking the truth), then I'm in a funk until the start of roundball.
When we don't win it all, I'll sulk non-stop for 48 hours, lamenting the day that "we" hired Bill Self. He's such an idiot.......
After you guys remind me how great he is and how stupid I am, I'm fine.
Will it go round in circles...............
@globaljaybird It's an omen !!
@Crimsonorblue22 LOL - yeah, that color.
@drgnslayr I've been looking when I get a chance and have not found one either, but there's so many references to it, it seems as though he must have said something to that effect.
Regardless, here's an excerpt from the "Men's College Basketball Nation Blog" from December 18, 2013 that sums up the issue pretty nicely:
“This isn’t knocking Wichita State,” Self told The Star on Tuesday. “But if it was best for our program, I would reach out to them about scheduling them. But it’s not. I’ve heard a lot of talk about them wanting to play us so bad; Gregg Marshall’s never contacted me about playing.”
Hold on, though, there's more. Self related his experience as coach at Tulsa, when he couldn't get Oklahoma or Oklahoma State to schedule his team.
“And they wouldn’t play,” Self said.“But I didn’t blame them. And I didn’t make a big deal of it.”
This, of course, is surely the attitude that drives Wichita State fans bonkers -- and the attitude that gives Kansas fans that extra taste of hegemonic joy: We're Kansas and you're Wichita State. Know your place, please. Don't make a fuss. We're not going to play you, because what do we stand to gain? Pipe down. Extra-maddening, no doubt, is that they're right. Even Wichita State fans, who can do no more than turn Marshall's old use of the term "chickenhawks" into a message board/school yard insult, would have to agree with such an obvious dynamic.
@JayHawkFanToo I guess it would be a little over the top to send "Thank You" cards to the teams that beat them ?
Or maybe to Calipari......
@HawkInMizery I just want to thank you for using the word " behoove ".
I agree with everything you say, I just really like the word behoove.
@icthawkfan316 Well, let's not forget that Wichita State plays some pretty darn fine venues as well. What top recruit wouldn't want to play at Tulsa, St. Louis, Tuscaloosa, Carbondale, Springfield, Chicago, Des Moines, Terre Haute, Cedar Falls, Evansville, Peoria and ....drum roll (this is the one that Marshall nails down ALL the top recruits with)......Normal, Il.
I kinda almost wish I hadn't made that list. Now in addition to not liking them, I feel sorry for them too.
@wissoxfan83 Since you asked. My hatred of the Shuckers started in 1981 at the " Battle of New Orleans ". Although Kansas beat Kansas that day (anyone else that was there or watched can attest) much more than WSU did, I naturally walked out of the building with a sour taste in my mouth.
Fast forward to Bourbon Street that night. In 1981, I'd been a KU fan for close to 20 years. I'd experienced huge disappointments and losses before, so losing to a mid major team (albeit a mm team that was LOADED with talent and STILL barely beat us) was hard, but not something that could not be overcome. Until the beer started flowing.
Now, I've been to Missouri games and their fans had nothing on the WSU fans that night. I understand the exuberance of a nothing, nobody team beating a basketball giant like Kansas, but DAMN - they were some obnoxious, rude, ignorant and generally just not nice people.
And that was just the women and children.
OK - fast forward another 32 years to 2013. I've been over the Battle of New Orleans game for at least.........5 years. My beloved Jayhawks are out of the tournament and I figure " What the heck, WSU is from Kansas, got a couple of Kansas boys on the team, there's no reason not to root for them". And I did. I was genuinely excited for them to get to the Final Four and genuinely disappointed when they got beat.
I'M OVER IT!! The anger and hatred is gone !! Hallelujah!!
Until greaseball, slimebag, big mouth Marshall starts calling us Chickenhawks. Really? They've had two successful seasons in a million years and he's calling us Chickenhawks? Not in some jesting, Bill Self's my good buddy and I need to razz him about this way. No. He genuinely believes that the UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS ( Who, by the way has played THE toughest schedule of anyone in the country ) is afraid to play Wichita State. Great Jumpin Jehosaphat!! And their fans buy into that crap. And they play in a weak, crappy conference. And their coach is a slimeball. And their fans buy into that crap. (repeats are intentional!)
I'm just one guy, I know I don't speak for many (if any) others. Most people probably like the fact that they are a (state of) Kansas team. I don't mind being alone in being right ! just kidding. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, I don't like them now - next year when Marshall gets hired away I might.
@HighEliteMajor I'm starting to think we could win another conference title with the three stooges and Abbott and Costello, with Scooby-doo and the gang coming off the bench - as long as Bill Self is the coach!
@jaybate 1.0 I knew it!!
Actually, (when we were on the "other" site) I recall you telling me of a memorable childhood fishing trip. I really enjoyed that story and knew then that you were a great guy!
@HawkInMizery - Just give me all the bacon and eggs you have. Wait, wait. I'm worried what you just heard was, "Give me a lot of bacon and eggs." What I said was, "Give me all the bacon and eggs you have". Do you understand?
@jaybate 1.0 You probably meant that as a joke, but I seriously feel that way. Especially KU Basketball. Whenever I meet someone that does not like KU basketball, I automatically don't trust them.
Same way for fishing. If they like fishing, they must be OK, if they don't like it, they've probably never been.
@Crimsonorblue22 - You took the words right out of my mouth, oh it must have been while you were......STOP. Some days I can't express anything without turning it into song lyrics.
@globaljaybird Lol - I like your dad's sayings. Maybe you should start a new thread that we could all contribute our dad's favorite sayings.
One I remember hearing a lot is :Why don't you use that head for something besides growing hair ?
@RockChalkinTexas The last time Kansas didn't win the Big 12, my whiskers were still brown - not gray! (Ok, white)
@wissoxfan83 - It's good to aim high! There's one sentence in your post that says it all for me:
" Our conference lacks a consistent challenger that year in and year out is our equal. "
My point, and sincere belief, is that you could say that about Kansas no matter what conference we were in.
Fifty-seven conference titles and TEN straight - that's a big fat, hairy deal. Heck, I'd even be impressed if WSU won ten in a row in their cream-puff conference. I won't have to worry about it, because it'll never happen, but it'd still be a big deal if it did.
Obviously, I wouldn't be enthused if we won the Conference title and nothing else, but as you point out, we have a nice run of Final Four appearances and two NC's in the last 25 years, which not many schools can boast.
Mine is two-fold.
1) We get a number one seed and, as inconsistent as we've been throughout the season, we become the first number one to lose to a sixteen seed. Yikes.....
2) Wichita State wins the whole damn thing. Puke.
Although Coach puts up a good front and generally doesn't show a lot of nerves, the pressure of winning 10 straight Championships has had to weigh on him somewhat for the past several weeks.
I wonder if we'll see a looser coach and team from here on out?
@Chris1955 I got the same treatment at K-State many years ago. It was a night that the Kitties beat us all night long and we climbed back into it gradually.
With time running out, Steve Woodberry hit a long 3 pointer and we won ( by one or two, don't remember ). Anyway, I'm pretty sure I jumped up (all by myself!) and yelled at the top of my lungs!! Apparently, I was the ONLY KU fan in the house that night.
I got bad mouthed and dirty looks from every person in there when I was leaving the building. I didn't worry about getting beat up or anything. They're just K-State fans after all.......
@JRyman - I'd give two dollars and a Casio watch if we wind up in the same bracket as WSU.