Virginia Tech - legit top 10 in BASKETBALL
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@drgnslayr this is an aside but if you have time check out the VT game against Duke. Their guards put on a clinic, Duke had zero chance, never led and trailed by double digits most of the game. I was extremely impressed. And also a little concerned… They were way better than we were against Duke, save our hero zero. But, I have a feeling we will trash Duke if we see them again in March.
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Will do.
Actually, I think we match up well with Duke… at least, the old Duke without their star freshmen. Not sure how it will go if their lineup changes considerably between our first meeting and March.
Duke has a bit of turbulence, now and in their immediate future. But they could become a frightening team by March. Could. Didn’t say “should” or “would.”
Their lineup may shift several times this season and along with that, so will there sets and schemes. If they can execute with all the changes, they may become next to impossible to scout and prepare for in March.
Is it possible that K uses their chaos to his advantage?
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@drgnslayr is his advantage different than the teams advantage?
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I think he wants an “X-factor” this year. He has a barn full of McDs AAs… and I think he wants to use them in unpredictable ways.
I don’t think his team has found their identity yet. And I believe he has become skeptical that they will find their identity this year. So he wants their identity to change throughout the season.
Might sound weird. But I think this is one of his most-challenging years he’s ever coached. And I don’t think he currently sees a path for his team reaching the Final Four… not without developing an alternative plan to try to catch opposing teams off-guard.
I could be way off base. But I get the feeling like he is going to be very sneaky this year. Just my gut speaking to me… just like it does before a bowel movement!
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@approxinfinity VA Tech is not a top 10 team. They also won’t end up a top 25 team either. Their record has been inflated by a terrible nonconference schedule. They rely on an uptempo style, but don’t shoot ball well as they are below 50% from the field. They’re a really good 3 point shooting team at 40% which is good, but they only take 37% of their shots from 3 so they don’t play to their strength. They also turn the ball over 12 times per game which is really bad. They are also not a good defensive team either. Bottom line, Va Tech looks like a bubble team again this year which is where they are most year.
Basing how good or bad a team is off of one game is never a great way to judge a team. If the TCU game was the only KU game anybody saw, they would be scratching their head trying to figure out how KU is #3 in the country.
That game against Duke was a combination Va Tech at their best and Duke playing their worst game of the season.
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@drgnslayr coach k=
Movement= sneaky. Hmmmmm
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Two highly ranked players that Duke thought would deliver, Giles and Bolden, have played a combined total of 62 minutes and have been a non-factor so far. Had they produce to their projected potential, Duke would be dominating. In my opinion, the only player that has performed above expectations has been Kennard and possibly Tatum.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 haha. Well stated! Thanks for the dose of reality. What you say is completely rational. But I’ll hold out hope that what we saw against Duke could be their new norm and that they might trash the ACC this year.
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Definitely. I just feel like K has something else going on.
Kennard has been an amazing offensive player. Does he offer them enough defense to make it to the Final Four? And now with Allen having troubles and booted off as a captain… how will K give them a shot in March?
Is Giles still injured?
Bolden… I bet he has second thoughts for picking Duke.
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Kennard was a UK fan growing up; sound like when the time came to pick a school, he picked an elite program with matching academics. Can’t argue with that.
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I know he has that bratty Duke look… but I have to admit I dig his hunger on offense. He has cred with me.
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@JayHawkFanToo Do you have any evidence that Kennard picked Duke based on academics? I’d assumed it was because Duke is the long McD stack.
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@approxinfinity With “rat-face” now going under the knife for back surgery and off the court for 4 weeks, how does that affect Duke with Capels taking on HC chores?
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I seem to remember mentioning at the time that he liked the value of a college degree or words to that effect but is could have been his father. Too busy to google it but sound a bout right; a degree from Duke is much more valuable than one from UK. He is one Duke player I wish would have played for KU, Singler being another.
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@brooksmd honestly maybe not they much. probably doesn’t matter much this coming week against Georgia Tech and BC at home. Following games @florida state and @louisville are tough, but ones that could well be losses had K been at the helm. The following week home Miami and home NC St could be losses but Cameron is such an advantage … If they lose one of those maybe K would have made a difference, and certainly if they lose this week.
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@JayHawkFanToo yeah, I belabor this because i want to keep a fine point on the distinction between the image of bball student academics at Duke and the reality. As a McD AA and as their leading scorer I doubt his degree will matter much in his future profession. I too am impressed with the kid on the court, just didn’t know anything about how he was performing academically.
As we’ve talked about a while back, the basketball players at Duke are in reality held to no higher academic standard than most universities, nor are their b-ball players any more intelligent, IMO, though I guess that is entirely subjective.
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Keep in mind that even great college players don’t always make it to the NBA or an injury can end a career. Having a degree to fall back on is not a bad back up strategy and one from Duke is better than one from UK. As far as basketball, Duke and UK are at roughly the same level with perhaps the edge going to Duke because of Coach K.
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@approxinfinity The quality of education is only as good as the professor or TA leading the class. I’d argue that the difference in education quality at the undergraduate level between places like Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, Harvard, or Rice isn’t all that significant. You might get might some differences in specific schools like a business school or pre med programs, but a basic degree in a liberal arts field (like my History degree from KU) isn’t going to have a significantly increased value until you get to grad schools.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Agree 100%, and I also agree with @JayHawkFanToo in the sense that the public sentiment about the value of an undergrad degree from Duke might be higher than a degree from UK… So in that way, whether justified or not, yes your degree from Duke is likely more valuable, but you likely aren’t any more valuable to your employer having gone to Duke.
It looks like Kennard was a good student in high school (4.22 weighted GPA), though I can’t find his college major anywhere.
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@approxinfinity said:
but you likely aren’t any more valuable to your employer having gone to Duke.
Possibly, but the Duke alumni network, as with any highly regarded private school with a large national attendance base (most of the Ivy, Stanford, Northwestern), can open a lot of doors closed to many alums of state schools. Advanced degrees are different, with many state schools having the same rep that opens doors.
BUT, funny story: The national rep of Michigan Law School was why I went there, hoping to leave KC to do great things in DC. Because they were our family lawyers just down the street in Prairie Village, I did interview at a former Kansas governor’s law firm. When I met the managing attorney his first question to me was, “Why did you go to Michigan? I take it KU wasn’t good enough for you?” All the law degrees in the offices I saw were from KU or UMKC. National reps, I found, we’re valuable only where there wasn’t a good old boy network. Same is true here in South Carolina: SCarolina & Clemson degrees are respected more. Ivy League is suspicious to many.
So, like all generalizations…
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Of course. If you are applying for public defender in Johnson County, a Harvard degree will not help much. However, if you are applying to clerk for a Supreme Court Justice or a big law firm in a big city, a Harvard or Ivy League degree will make a huge difference.
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@mayjay My friend with a law degree from Harvard didn’t seem to have problems getting work. Could’ve been the 4.0 though. Or choice in field, corporate law, mostly in Europe.
My take, the top 1 or 2 programs seperate themselves from the rest. The bulk of the schools get local preference. How many firms in KC have KU grads for lawyers? 90%? But as it is with any job, work experience is key. I.e. Martin of Martin|Pringle is a fantastic adoption lawyer and will make the adoption happen (if he deems you worthy, lawyers are a judgemental lot with the law in their hands…)
Aerospace engineering? MIT or KU. The MIT name caries more weight, but KU was ranked #1 in the late 90s. Go KU!
Journalism both KU and KSU are top 5, but if you aren’t born with the God given talent to write it doesn’t matter what you’re taught.
And so on and so forth.
I don’t use anything near my area of study at work. Bus. Admin vs crop consultant. I guess I will be running my own business soon, but the accounting courses are hardly helpful in my life/work.
My sister holds an animal husbandry degree from KSU and manages a bank in KC. The degree just opens a door. Outside of specialist like Doctors or Lawyer or engineers, I don’t see a whole lot of advantage to a degree. The big advantage is becoming a well rounded individual if you have a communications degree or liberal arts or art history etc. These degrees aren’t gonna make you a dime.
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Back on topic. Virginia Tech is waaay better than I expected. Let’s see if they can keep it up for the whole ACC slate.
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Duke honestly doesn’t scare me. They are mentally weak right now. The whole entire team except for Kennard, Jackson and Jefferson.
Nova, UK and UCLA are the scariest teams right now IMO. Really excited to see us play in Rupp and measure ourselves against another elite team again.
