🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Like all fans, I like being aggressive on offense and going for it on 4th down. Until we fail and I stare in disbelief that we went for it with the #1 punter in the league standing in the sideline. KU shouldn't have a poor kicking game this year: Kyle Thompson led the league on punting average at 43.3 yds. as a sophomore. Gabriel Rui had the longest FG in the league of 54 yds., but graduated, so I don't know who will kick this year. Since I expect the defensive line and linebacking crew to be two of our weakest areas, I'd opt for Thompson to punt on most 4th downs to give our defense the longest possible field to defend.

I'm planning to attend both the Indiana State and Coastal Carolina games. I want to show support for the coaching change and our players. Also, because my daughter is a senior and lives just a few blocks from the stadium on Tennessee street. We have the personnel on offense to run the ball, so I hope that's the focus of our offense. There's nothing quite like watching a running back break through the line, make a move and then sprint to the end zone. Rock Chalk

Nice analysis. Thanks. I'm really impressed by the rapid progress Iowa State has made. I hope someone on our staff is studying Iowa State's path to success. IState was first in rush defense, first in scoring defense, and second in total defense in the conference last year. TCU was first in total defense. KU was sixth in total defense, ahead of Baylor, TexTech, OState and last-Oklahoma. But, IState was just average on offense-seventh in scoring offense, while we were eighth.

Success for KU this year will likely depend on the offense being much, much better, since it appears the Dline and linebacker groups are our weakest areas. I'm hoping the defense surprises me and outplays the prognosticators.

With the running backs settled and a known strength, this year's team has two weak or unknown areas that will greatly impact this year's success: defensive line and QB. The offensive line looks competent and experienced and is more than two deep at each position for the first time in many years. Thanks Coach Beaty. Defensive backs are set and experienced. Wide receivers look good. The defensive line sets up as:

DE 94 Cody Cole, 6'7", 287, Sr. 91 Jelani Arnold, 6'2", 270, So.
NT 90 Jelani Brown, 6'2", 297, Sr. 93 Sam Burt, 6'4", 285, Jr.
DE 97 Darius Morange, 6'7", 265, Sr. 44 Willie McCaleb, 6'2", 240, Sr.

This is Benton Smith's best guess at the two deeps from spring practice. I don't think the official depth chart gets released until close to the first game. Maybe, there will be a surprise from the new guys coming aboard this summer. At least there looks to be a lot of experience on the defensive line. QB is always a mystery, but MacVittie looked way better than Stanley in the spring game. If QB isn't a weakness and is at least competent, this will be a very competitive team, even in the Big 12. KU was very competitive with Oklahoma last year and I hope this year's team builds on that.

I assume Pooka will be suspended for the Indiana State game and maybe even the Coastal Carolina game, but I'm excited to get the rebuilding started. If MacVittie is at least steady, I hope to be looking for tickets to a bowl game in 2020.

I sure hope we have a packed house for the Indiana State game on August 31. I hope our fans show Coach Miles and this year's team we are fully supporting them.

While Dedric wasn't the athlete all of us demanded, I'll always admire any KU player that scores 20 and rebounds 10. Where would last year's team have been without Dedric?

After the NBA draft and Grimes's transfer, Coach's statement "We'll get some guys," still resonates with me.

Matt Tait says he committed to us. RC

I love Marcus as a Jayhawk. He brings many things to the team: energy, defense and basketball knowledge. It took a lot of courage for Marcus to play on the injured ankle last year. I can't wait to see what Marcus brings to this year's team.

@KUSTEVE I trust coach to start his best five. If that includes Garrett that's fine. Garrett adds a lot on defense and a little on offense. I just hope that when he's being intentionally left open at the 3, he continues to pass up the shot and passes or drives the ball.

May we please curb the irrational exuberance for Ochai? Perhaps it's irrational optimism, instead. Ochai's numbers were very similar to Q's and all of us seem to agree Q wasn't likely to help next year's team enough on offense. Ochai hit 31% from 3 (23/75), while Q hit 34%. They averaged nearly the same amount of minutes per game, 26 for Ochai and 27 minutes for Q. Of course Q played in more game and played the 2, but Ochai's shooting wasn't better than Q's. I like Ochai's potential, but I'm still waiting for higher and more consistent scoring from him. At this point, I don't see Ochai as the player to pick up any of the points we are losing from Dedric's departure. But, I'm hopefully optimistic that Ochai will improve on offense. I also liked that during the tournament, Garrett seemed to understand his role on offense was to drive to the rim and not take the outside shot. I see three pieces of the starting puzzle, Dok, Silvio and Devon. I'm nervously waiting for two other quality starters to emerge.

I know the game is changing and moving towards more 3s, but does anyone else get frustrated when a player shoots a 3 and there is not one teammate inside the arc to rebound? I see this often with NBA teams. One and dones from beyond the arc frustrate me.

I've penciled in Silvio for 30 minutes at the 4. Who's going to stop Silvio and Dok in the paint? We don't need 3s from the 4 and 5 spots-just dunks and put backs. I have Dave as Dok's backup, not Silvio. RC

When I heard the NCAA decision for Silvio, my first thought wasn't the benefit to next year's team, but how amazing that Silvio patiently waited all these months and stuck by his commitment to his college education and KU. I still remember the pride I felt when Silvio told his handlers he wanted to go to KU, not Maryland. Silvio sat on the bench all last year and endured all the negative attention with poise and class. Way to go Silvio. I hope to be able to shake your hand sometime soon.

I watched the spring game again and was impressed with our depth on the O-line. We have enough player to go two deep and Coach Miles was even able to rotate in some other reserves. So, we are in much better shape on the O-line than a couple of years ago when Coach Beaty had to cancel the spring game because he had too few players to play on the line. I thought MacVittie looked decent, but Stanley sure didn't do anything to show he should be our starter. How did Coach Miles play offensive line anywhere after junior high school? He looks too small for a lineman, but I haven't seen him in person yet. Well, the spring and summer are sure dragging on. Except for recruiting and players who get arrested, there isn't much to write about. But, at least I have the spring game recorded and may watch it later when I need my football fix.

@jayballer73 Yes, Jojo is sure enjoying himself in the NBA. I like the guy.

@jayballer73 Who is Clayton? Position, etc. Thanks, Gerry.

The spring game sure gave the 3rd, 4th and 5th string QBs lots of reps. I would have liked to see MacVittie and Stanley get a couple of back-to-back series, instead of alternating QBs every series. The TV cameras should have been placed on the east side so it wouldn't have looked like the stadium was empty so often. Fans were only allowed to sit on the west side, which looked almost full to me between the 20s. Dom Williams and Kahlil Herbert looked good. KU is set at RB. Stanley was unimpressive, so MacVittie seems to have the edge going into August. Takulve Williams was all over the place and was used in different offensive positions. Overall, it's a great start for Coach MIles. Optimism abounds. I still don't see how we win more than 3 or 4 games this year with our schedule. Just beat KState and I'll call it a better year.

I'm for fewer interviews and more football.

Why are head coaches reluctant to play the first team offense against the second team defense and second team offense against first team defense in the spring game? There are a lot of spring games today, but I doubt I'll be able to figure out how the teams are divided. The strategy should be to play the most likely starting units together to build chemistry. Yes, I can see the second and third QBs getting some reps with the first string offense and also rotating the RBs. This seems simple and straightforward, so I don't see why HCs do such weird things on the format of the spring game. Just play it like a game in September, right? Obviously, you want to avoid injuries, but it's still an opportunity for the players to play a game and compete against an opposing team.

I'm really excited for the spring game and the continuing return to competitive D1 football under Coach Miles and staff. I hope some posters who are able to attend the spring game will report here on what they saw. I will get to watch the spring game on cable. So, as our basketball players flee the ship daily, at least KU football is developing and will likely be more competitive this year. I sure don't see how Thomas MacVittie has taken over the mantle of starting QB so early, but I can't wait to watch him tonight. I enjoyed Benton Smith's guesstimate on starters and two-deeps. Thanks, Benton for throwing out some information to fact-starved football fans.

Good stuff Jayballer. Keep up the good work.

I've moved on from the problems and faults of the Beaty era and very much look forward to anything new and better under Coach Miles. KU football was competitive against OU and Texas at the end of last year and I would hope our players will use those games as a springboard for this year. Don't we all agree that the offensive line was coming together from mid-season on? It was a work in progress all year, but I saw substantial improvement and I believe that will continue this year. This team just has a lot of unknowns, like QB, Pooka's return, defensive line, etc. But, I'm sure as hell interested again and have great hope for more success this year.

72 years old and Coach K has no gray hair. It must be all the clean living, right?

I looked at the conference schedule and it looks like our best chances of Ws are the 9/21 home game against W Virg., the 11/2 home game against K State and the 10/26 game at Tx. Tech. It's going to be a weird year with all three of those games having new head coaches. The several stories out of our spring practices are getting me stoked a little early this year. There are a lot of questions to answer: QB?, offensive line-better this year?, defensive line? and Pooka? I know I won't spring for season tickets this year, but the coaching change has me intrigued enough to attend many of the games.

I may be the only member of the board looking at our nonconference schedule this early, but I'm done with the basketball tournament.

We have Indiana State on 8/31, Coastal Carolina 9/7 and we're at Boston College on 9/21. Indiana St was 7-4 in 2018 and should be a nice opener for Coach Miles. Indiana St is no Nicholls St. but will certainly test us. QB Ryan Boyle passed for 1627 yds, 128 compl/205 atts, 12 TDs, 3 INTs, so not scary at all. Their leading rusher graduated.

Coastal Carolina has only been playing D1 ball for a few years and has a new coach this year. But, CC was 5-7 last year with wins over UAB, Campbell, Louisiana and UMass. The ranking services(Athlon and CBS) for last year have CC ranked slightly below us, which reminds me just how low our program is starting from.

Then we go on the road to play Boston College, which had wins over Louisville, Miami and Vir. Tech last year. Very tough road game for us. Who the hell is scheduling a top 30 team for us on the road? Athlon ranked BC 33 last year, way ahead of 54. TCU, 55. Baylor, and 56. Okl. St. So, this will be just like a road Big 12 game.

So, 2-1 in the nonconference?

Thanks for the post on the spring game. I plan to attend the game, but probably won't stick around for the music portion. Too late for me and not my style of music. But, I love that the football program is trying new things to attract recruits and student interest. RC

I like the idea for the spring game. KU must engage the students again, even while it is rebuilding the program. I've always felt deep sympathy for the players when the student section is less than half full. What is the date and time for the spring game? It sounds like fun.

Boy oh boy, I sure didn't see much coverage of our spring practices. Maybe the practices are just spaced further apart, so there's a week between practices? idk.

Alas, the king of the remote is defeated: CBS has figured out how to send all games to commercial at the same time. The bastards.

I really enjoyed KJ's improved game. Garrett was good, then he wasn't. Garrett looked lost in the first few minutes of the second half. But, this team typically follows a good game with a stinker, so Auburn is going to be difficult. And, Auburn had a close first round game, which I think motivates them to play harder against us. Look out.

@RockChalkinTexas I think the efforts there; just not executing well. Good grief, passing the ball out for a 3 from Garrett-Why?

Gotta get a couple of 3s to fall, so Dedric has some room to work.

Who's with me: at halftime I'm going out on the driveway and shoot free throws. I'll do way better than 1/6.

Dedric is taking bad shots

Same old Self corner three defense: Just hope they miss it.

ESPN has IState as a 1 point favorite. Does that seem right to anyone who's followed the Big 12?

@KirkIsMyHinrich Everything I read said it was muscle cramps and that he is fine.

KU hasn't done it yet, but we might want to focus our defense on the Canadian freight train, who scored 24 points on us in our first game and 26 in Lawrence. In Hilton on January 5, Shaytok was 5/5 from 3; IState was 13/25 from 3 on the night.

In Lawrence on January 21, Shayok was 3/8 from 3 and 9/18 overall.

This senior 6'6" streak of lightning is going to eat up our freshman defenders, Ochai and Q. I'm for starting Garrett, telling him don't worry about offense-just watch and save all your energy for defending Shayok. Marcus had a fair night on offense against WV, but I really hope he focuses on slowing down Shayok. Shayok averages 19 pts, but plays much harder against KU. Stop Shayok and KU will stop IState.

Ku 32% FG-6/19; WV 60%-10/16.

Six players have scored for WV. Only three for us.

I find myself cringing when Ochai comes in. Same for Chuck.

Hugs is pulling out all the stops to try to make the tourney. I don't blame him for giving his team the best chance to win. Now, lets hope Big Dave and Mitch have strong games.

Why is Ochai still starting? He isn't helping at all on offense. Might as well start Garrett if his ankle will stand the extra minutes.

I really wish Dotson would shot more 3s. It would help open his drives. He's 1/1 from 3 tonight.

Should Self have pressed McCormack into more minutes much earlier?

Since KU and KState took different paths in their coaching changes, it will be interesting to see both squads develop and perform. KU went the safer route by hiring an experienced D1 coach, while KState coach Chris Klieman comes to the Big 12 with very little D1 experience. Coach Klieman was an assistant to Terry Allen at Northern Iowa and even coached at KU for a brief time. How long does everyone think Coach Miles expects to coach at KU? 5 Years? He's 65, but looks 10 years younger.

When I read articles about Kansas football, I look for information first about the offensive line, second, the defensive line, then defensive backs, QBs, running backs and wide receivers. Of course the only available reports completely skip any mention of the linemen. I can't believe KU sports reporters have enthroned MacVittie as the front-runner at QB. I sure hope for great improvement at QB, but I'm tired of the automatic assumption that the newest guy is going to be our salvation. I'm resigned to small forward steps with the football program, starting with Coach Miles and his assistants. I'm excited for the season to begin. Thanks, Jayballer for your post.

Well of course we are going to miss the start with over 4 min to go in the Syracuse game. I hate ESPN