NBC Sports is disappointed in KU Non-Conference schedule.
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Schedules are made up to five years in advance. This team could use some time to gel. If our boys beat the UK Freshmen, we should be 13-0 to start the season. Most of the Mid-Majors were conference winners last year.
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@wrwlumpy I feel like this gets said every year about our schedule. And by the end of the season we are almost always a top 10 in SOS. Mainly because the mid-majors we play ARE in the top one or two of their conference by the end of the season. I feel like we always do a great job getting tough experienced mid-major teams in.
I’d almost rather start us slow and build up to it like Kentucky does. Let guys gel together and figure out what rotations work the best. Who plays better with who. But doing that always makes it harder to land the #1 seed to. Sort of a catch-22.
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Playing top competition sure hasn’t seemed to get us ready to win big when it counts. There just isn’t any sure fire formula.
Beating a non-dead horse, but how fun would our non-con be if we removed Nebraska and played at WSU, and removed Washington at the Sprint Center and played MU there instead? That’s right, I forgot, we get nothing out of playing either WSU or MU, our feelings are hurt with the latter, and we’re scared of losing to the former. But we get so much out of playing Nebraska and Washington.
CBS has the same opinion - Story Link.. Whoopee.
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@HighEliteMajor I would say that KU got the better financial deal with both of those schools. WSU and MU would want better splits than KU would give them.
Just my assumption of course.
My opinion though, we should play both of them every season. UK plays UL every single year. And the fans go nuts over it. I miss getting riled up. I cried after KU lost a game to mizzou once. I get that pit of nervousness I only get during the tourney when we play them. KU vs. MU not being played is a slap in the face to the fans.
I think WSU would change their tune after KU put a couple of good spankings on them. It isn’t like they have always wanted to play us. They only want to play us because they are good right now. In 5 years or whenever Greg Marshall is gone, what happens to WSU? Let’s not prop up a program that doesn’t deserve it. If WSU goes on a 10 year stretch through multiple coaches and proves that it is the program that is successful and not the coach, maybe I would change my tune.
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WSU is a school that gets good for a few years, then back into the toilet. If we’re going to restart the series with them, let them be good for more than a 5 or so year stretch.
Whoever mentioned UK/UL, those two are almost always good and have very few down years unlike Missouri or WSU.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Of course, since and including 2000, Wichita St. is 385-179 … nearly a .700 winning percentage. Under Gregg Marshall, since and including 2007, a .743 win percentage.
That said, not perfect, not the best team in the country, all the qualifiers I’m sure a point/counter point would assert. MVC, all of that.
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@HighEliteMajor 1 NCAA tournament appearance between 1988 and 2012. MVC was traditionally a multiple bid league during that stretch amd WSU only had the 2006 run, not impressive at all. Let WSU show they can be good without Marshall coaching them and then get serious about playing them regularly.
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Besides playing KU, Kentucky will play UCLA at Rupp, North Carolina, and Louisville.
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UNC, besides UK, will play Indiana, Tennesee and the Maui Classic.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 With your logic, we wouldn’t play Nebraska. Or Davidson. Or Utah. Or Texas AM. Or Colorado. Or Arizona St.
And you say play regularly. I just want one home and home for now.
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@HighEliteMajor The Nebraska series was scheduled woth the intent of KU being the first opponent in their new arena and they wanted the best program in the region to open the arena. Last time we played Utah at Sprint, they were a top 15 team. Arizona St. was supposed to be Cal before California politics got in the way, and KU did not control their SEC opponent otherwise, Self probably picks Florida for his opponent. Colorado was scheduled so KU fans in western KS didn’t have to drive 6-8 hours to see KU play in person (along with Tad Boyle being a Jayhawk). Davidson has veen a much more consistent program over the past 25 years than WSU has under McKillop and is always a good mid-major test.
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Hey NBC,
Worry less about KU’s strength of schedule and more about the chronic fake news you have reputedly been vending.
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So is CBS Sports, but who cares? You don’t get a trophy for having the toughest non-conference schedule. KU will be judged by two things next season: 1. Winning their 14th consecutive Big12 title, and 2. Making it to at least a final four in the NCAA tournament. Failure to do either of those things will result in people saying Kansas choked. Fair? Not really. But it’s Kansas.
The only concerns I have with playing a weak non-con are impact on tournament seeding and the guys being sufficiently prepared/tested for tournament play. But I think both of those are concerns are pretty much offset by playing in a tough Big12 conference. So it’s not that big of deal as far as I see it.
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I guess if you look at it more from the perspective of a casual basketball fan, I can understand the gripe a little bit. College hoops is more fun in non-March months when quality teams play quality teams. But for a lot of the fans who post here, I think we get excited about all of KU’s games, regardless of who they play. So it tends not to be as big of deal for us.
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@HighEliteMajor Ha! Love the sarcasm. Also agree with no sure-fire formula. The mid-major land mine: Self keeps scheduling very good mid-majors. The elite program danger. We’ve played Duke and KY alot recently. Only sure-fire thing would be how to get a team playing to peak effectiveness for 6 games straight, especially those last 4 against very good competition. Self’s mentioned it over the years, if he or any coach knew how, they could bottle it. Brad Stephens doesnt even know, nor does Mark Few. Nor does Coach K or Calipari. Roy’s team won a NC despite having an ugly offensive night, but actually played D. Go figure.
