🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@wissox Nike is smarter than Adidas, and didn't get caught.

All politicians lie. The smart ones just don't get caught.

Everybody cheats on their taxes. Taxpayers with the best accountants just don't get caught.

Everybody speeds. Wary drivers on the lookout for cops and cameras just don't get caught.

I don't know if any of those things are actually true, but it's the same argument for top basketball programs. Adidas just wasn't as good at cheating as Nike. They got caught, and we're suffering for it.

Or maybe not.

jayballer73 said:

Yet the last voting means we now have been ranked in the top 25 for - - - 200 straight weeks -- not too shabby

Here's another streak we should be hearing more about:

Who has the most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances?

#1: Kansas — 30 (1990-present)

Also-rans:

2: North Carolina — 27 (1975-2001) ...
3: Duke — 24 (1996-present) ...
4: Michigan State — 22 (1998-present) ...
5: Gonzaga — 21 (1999-present) ...

@BeddieKU23 Just like Calipari. There's no evidence he's dirty. But the last 2 schools he left had to vacate Final 4 appearances. I'm sure that's just coincidence.

@BeddieKU23 That's just jealously. How can somebody be that good for that long? He must have cheated! No logic there, or evidence. Just bitterness.

Danny Manning has been described as the greatest college basketball player ever. He's certainly in the conversation, because of all the characteristics mentioned above. But he's certainly better than any player in the current era because nobody even close to his skill set stays in college 4 years. He was phenomenally skilled, smart, and by the 1988 tournament he had 4 years of playing experience under a hall of fame coach (Larry Brown). We won't find anybody that skilled and well-developed in the NCAA again, until the NBA bumps its age minimum to 21 (which it would never do).

Danny may be less well known than others whose NBA careers were not cut short by injury. But as a college player in his 4th year, he's hard to beat.

Greatness is a function of both skill and experience. The older I get, the more I value experience (as my skills in everything fade!).

@wissox Unless it's aimed at Duke.

@wissox Where are their priorities!?!

wissox said:

Salt Lake is the furthest from home we've played I'm sure in a decade.

We haven't been lower than a 2 seed in a decade.

I wish KU played Friday instead of Thursday. As soon as we lose, whenever it is, I will pout and quit watching. At least for a few days. But I sure enjoy this tournament.

Texas Hawk 10 said:

Potential second round game against Auburn and potential S16 game against UNC in KC.

Roy is about due a win against KU, finally. Being in KC could help us. If we get that far.

@Crimsonorblue22 Ooh, you're right, I didn't realize until I looked it up.

Paddy = nickname from the Irish name Padraig, whose Anglicized form is Patrick

Patty = a woman's nickname. Also a hamburger.

Thanks, I've learned something today!

HighEliteMajor said:

But we need options that score the basketball. Of course, maybe we don’t have a lot (but I won’t let that get in the way of a good rant).

That made me laugh out loud. I don't think Self is that hard to understand. He values defense. Effort, toughness, keeping the other team from scoring. As you said, Garrett grabbed 15 rebounds last night! That's huge! Especially from Self's perspective. Garrett does the things that Self values: defense, toughness, grabbing boards. That's why he plays so much. Self cares more about defense than offense.

I've said before, facetiously, that offense is fools gold. I do think that's Self's perspective, to a certain degree. Of course you need to score some points to win. But if he had to make a choice between his player making a bucket vs an opposing player NOT making a bucket, he'd choose the latter. Almost every time.

Self is trying to teach a philosophy, a perspective, to his team that he thinks has the greatest long-term chance of success. Defense is more predictable, less reliant on chance, than offense. That's why he was so strangely happy after last night's loss. He saw his team buying into his philosophy, and playing the way he values. We missed shots because shit happens, and there's nothing we can do about that. That's just probability. But the things his team could so something about, on that night, they did. That made Self happy (whether you can change somebody's shooting form to increase their shot percentage midseason is another discussion). His very young team finally seems to be getting it.

Playing 2 bigs was not the best defense last night. Self will adjust his defense to best match the opponent's offense, even if it hurts his own offense. Because to him, defense is more important than offense.

I realize I'm not saying anything new, and most of us understand Self's preferences inherently. I just get surprised by all the surprise expressed at some of Self's decisions. I don't think it's that surprising when you understand his philosophy. Usually, it works.

Pts in the paint = 22. We hit 2 of 8 free throws. That's 0 points outside the paint. Jeez.

@approxinfinity I suspect they don't have McDonald's All-Ukrainians, but Svi also came in with quite a bit of hype, for a foreign kid. We weren't sure about him for a while, but he turned out pretty well. I'm still optimistic for Grimes.

tundrahok said:

@RockChalkinTexas Earlier today the schedule at http://www.big12sports.com ↗ listed WVU vs Texas for tonight's game.

Now it says today's game is Big 12 vs. Iowa State. Somebody at Big 12 sports seems to have a problem with KU.

http://www.big12sports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&SPID=13134&SPSID=106110 ↗

@HighEliteMajor I think we will see him next year. I think he and Coach Self have a good relationship. After he came out with that cramp, did you see Coach Self come over and say something to him that made him laugh?

Grimes has strong family support, and the wise move for his long-term future would be to stay another year to play under the tutelage of a hall-of-fame coach.

Remember Svi's first couple of years? Everybody described what a sweet stroke he had, and how he nailed shots from outside in practice with a high percentage. But we rarely saw that in games.Then he matured, got tough and confident, and was fantastic by his senior year.

Grimes is sort of like that, but hopefully we're starting to see the toughness and confidence already. We probably won't get him for 4 years (Svi was what, 16 when he came to KU?), but I bet he'll be back next year. And I bet he'll be good.

@HighEliteMajor Grimes also had 4 assists and 4 steals. Great all around.

@RockChalkinTexas Earlier today the schedule at http://www.big12sports.com ↗ listed WVU vs Texas for tonight's game.

That wasn't just tired eyes.

@Crimsonorblue22 That's awesome. It was just my second game in person in the past 20 years, my first time at the Sprint Center. I had a blast. Pretty cool venue.

I was at the game last night. Cole walked by where we sat, and then Sherron. I felt special.

@truehawk93 I agree 100%. He's just the only one who can give Dotson a rest. I would be thrilled with a neutral impact by Chuck.

Chuck's single function is to give Dotson a breather.

We're 6-10 from 3 and hit 10-10 free throws. Scoring is fun.

Bill, we're actually ahead on boards, 18-16.

WVU FGs: 5 OF LAST 5
KU FGs: 1 OF LAST 11

Efficiency of movement is not Dave's game

We're the top seed left in this tournament. That's something.

How long has it been since neither the 1 or 2 seeds made the finals in this tournament?

Sneed for 3 sounds a lot like Svi for three. I had deja vu.

@KirkIsMyHinrich Will Fran call our game too? Don't they sub in another team to announce, like for refs???

Get rid of all replays in Duke games. Especially if KU follows. If you're going to insist on showing the entire game no matter how much of a blowout it is, let's get the damn thing over with already.

Me too. I think 3 years is most likely. After that, 4 is more likely than 2. He's fantastic, really important for our team, a great college player. He's another BIFM or Devonte, but developing sooner. But the NBA is a different beast.

Dotson is a competitor and wants to win. As long as he's at KU, he will keep winning. He will take great satisfaction from his leadership role, driving the team. He would hate being on a losing NBA team, while riding the bench, and he's smart enough to know that. So I don't see him leaving too early unless it's an absolute sure thing.

Malik Newman should have stayed another year. He would have been our superstar this year, and would have loved it. Now he's in nowheresville. That can't be fun.

@BShark Dotson's individual stats weren't great, but his +/- was +16, high for the team. I just don't think the team runs well without him.

Good D

Was he standing on the circle? That made me nervous

Getting lots of offensive rebounds.

Dotson has 4 fouls. Gonna have to be careful.

ouch.

Easy call, he was set for a year.

I love Dave's potential.

No free throw attempts for OSU, that's odd. Especially with these refs.

@Hawk8086 Grimes has a double-double! If you count minutes.

Dotson has 2 fouls and sat 7 minutes the first half. His +/- is +3. Everybody else's is negative. We can't really play without him.

Mitch pinned that guy with his elbow. Go Mitch!

@KUSTEVE That zone against T-Tech was certainly a head-scratcher. I think we weren't really competing by then. Just practicing.

dylans said:

I believe it was Roy who said something along the lines of, “The best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores.”

Al McGuire gets credit for that one. A lot of truth to it, for most of them. It's why I rarely get upset with young players - until they get older and wiser, and should know better.

Wade out.

Mitch looks tired.

Charles!