Italy Updates



  • jayballer54 said:

    Well after the game today, and I realize it’s just the two games, But if this is what Cunliffe has to bring to the table - - - - -then umm it’s not much. - - -Looks terrible, On the other hand Garrett looks pretty dam good, like what he has got, should fit right in and be able to help us quite abit, the guys look decent all things considered playing in the heat and the conditions. Positives Newman - - -Garrett - - - Graham - - -Doke, - -all doing well, thing is though Doke has to find some kind of shot other then dunks -that won’t work all season, needs some kind of shot. - - Overall these 4 games should help with team Chemistry and working kinks out getting to know one another. - - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

    The best part about Garrett is that he will do whatever it takes. So since he is willing to play any position, that will help him see the floor.

    I had been growing on Cunliffe as time went on but it seems like my early thoughts were correct. He has time to improve but right now he is probably the last guy on the bench.

    Doke isn’t gonna do anything but dunk/lay-up. If he takes a jumper, that bad shot imo.

    I’d say Svi and Vick have played well too.



  • @BShark don’t forget hook shots for Dok. We need some b2b points.



  • Garett reminds me of a mini Jamari who can actually rebound



  • @jayballer54 @BShark I’m a little worried Sam could be in trouble. He just looks outta sink from what I’ve seen and heard of the games. Garrett didn’t have a great line yesterday but he was very active and today he filled up the stat sheet. Self likes his 8 man rotations and Garrett may have the upper hand by playing early in the season compared to Sam. but on the other hand Sam really doesn’t have a ton of game experience himself. @DanR We have got to find a guy that takes pride in getting on the glass like a Trob that grabbed everything with in 10 feet of him. The last 2 years have been some the worst defensive and rebound teams that Self has had here and it has hurt big time in close games. On a side note did anyone else see Rico Gathers catch a TD for Dallas tonight? He was a rebounding machine and looked like it tonight jumping up and taking the ball for a score.



  • @kjayhawks That’s awesome about Rico suave! I have always liked him. I hope Sam figures it out. He has the tools! Marcus is terrific.



  • Someone on the Phog uploaded both games.

    If anyone here wants to watch them, here are the links.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByT74DnTqLCVYjNkMl9FdDE5UHc/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByT74DnTqLCVSUsxZGVXUnRFODA/view



  • @BShark this is awesome. Thanks for posting. Please do it again…at least 2 more times!



  • @BShark So, which of you computer geeks can tell me how to reformat the file of that game to where i could watch it on my desktop? The file appears to be an mp4- when I click on it just sits and spins. This seems to be above my Jethro Bodine 6th grade education.



  • @Fightsongwriter Well I’m not the one uploading them, to be clear. If the guy on the phog uploads the next to I will post the links here. I know some users here don’t go to the phog.

    @KUSTEVE alt text

    Edit: Or did you download the file and try to play it but nothing happens? If that’s the case, I’m downloading it now, I’ll try to help you troubleshoot when it finishes.



  • Fi am on my iPad and they work fine. 2nd game was not full screen. A little small but no complaints!



  • Many thanks Sharkman for the repost of the first two exies. Those will really help me get through the weeks until Late Night. Wow, it’s fun getting to know the new guys. Anyone else notice that Newman shoots his 3s with a scissor-positioning of his legs instead of squared up? I think that’s why he is stepping out of bounds on his shots in the corners. There just isn’t enough room for his back leg to extent out. Isn’t it time to widen the court by a foot on each side?



  • @KUSTEVE Well it’s playing fine for me.



  • @BShark I see now. chrome wasn’t dling it because it was too large to scan for viruses.



  • Glad you got it sorted.



  • @RockChalkinTexas I’m retiring on August 31st. I’ll be going back to teaching for a couple of years. I have a stepson in Austin. Maybe I’ll come down there and you can tell me where the best barbecue is located.



  • @wrwlumpy Congratulations!



  • I saw where coach said Garrett’s low mins were by design. Any ideas what he meant?



  • @wrwlumpy Definitely congratulations … and for going back and doing something you presumably love to do. That’s what retirement is for.



  • @wrwlumpy Everybody know the best bbq is in KC.



  • My youngest says kc joes, he like jack stacks too. Hasn’t been to all of them



  • @Crimsonorblue22 Garrett’s minutes were limited by design in order to give other players more minutes. Cunliffe got 17 minutes, which is the most he’s received so far.



  • @wrwlumpy If you don’t go to Arthur Bryant’s on 18th and Brooklyn, you have never had real BBQ. Dont let the yuppy suburban places fool you. This is the mecca of bbq. I recommend the smoked turky, smoked sausage and the Rich and spicy sauce. It is better than the original sauce imho.



  • Joe’s was just named the best barbeque in the nation. Hard to go wrong there!



  • KC Joe’s is the best. Fiorella’s Jack stack is overrated and overpriced, in my opinion. Gates is very overpriced but not bad, Arthur Bryant’s has a great history and reputation but the food is sooooooo greasy that you might need a shower or a trip to emergency or both. Johns’s is good and used to be very popular but not as much lately; I get their special package for 20 people when I have parties at home on Sundays since Joe’s does not open on Sundays. Lots of other good places.



  • @dylans But IDK if the old BBQ team “Slaughterhouse Five” is still the operating entity of Joes KC anymore. I’m thinking they sold out a few years ago when their star was still rising. At one time they had purchased the name “Oklahoma Joes” from the New Braunfels Corp for their restaurant, but could not use it for their products which they labeled “Cowtown” I used to buy authentic Ok Joes rubs, spices, & sauces at Ranchers Gourmet meat market in overland Park in the middle 90’s. One rub in particular was called Sweet & Spicy & was hands down, to me, the tastiest seasoning on the planet for real brisket burnt ends.The Ok Joes name now belongs to Charbroil I think, as they bought out the original New Braunfels Grill Co. who owned the OK Joes trademark name. When I first got my old Oklahoma Joes smokers 25 years ago, they were mfg in New Braunfels Tex under that Oklahoma Joes name The pit at the old gas station on Mission Road was the pinnacle of BBQ brisket & pork ribs in KC to me in the 40 years I lived in the metro. Arthur B’s on Brooklyn, The Smokehouse (now Fiorellas Jack Stack) in Martin City, & even the original Haywards Pit at 95th & Antioch in Overland Park still get much honorable respect from this old cowboy, but that flippin gas station was simply the cats ass of BBQ cusine in all the KC metro IMO. Damn I’m hungry !



  • @JayHawkFanToo Johns? Would that be Johnny’s in the old South Olathe Oxford Steak house location on West 56 Hy? We used them for catering many holiday & occasion family celebrations & get togethers. Very good food, but not on the same playing field as Ok Joes IMO. IDT if I ever got one slab of greasy ribs from that gas station location. Can’t say the same for the other joes sites. All pork simply is NOT created equal.



  • The original gas station site is where I fell in love with Joe’s bbq. Great stuff.



  • Kc joes is WAAAYYYY too salty. Bbq is already salty enough and they just send it over the top. Arthurs is not greasy. That is poppycock. Ate there today. Smoked turky and sausage is heavenly.



  • @stoptheflop huh. I hadn’t noticed that about his feet on the floor, but had noticed that he does some funky things once he jumps. Often, his knees are still very bent in the air, sometimes he scissor kicks in the air, and sometimes he kicks both feet down, and both seem to be done to get extra lift on the ball if he’s tired (?). I wonder if this helps with his accuracy, as it allows his upper body to always do the exact same thing?



  • @Red_Rooster what’s your favorite kc BBQ?



  • @approxinfinity It’s going to be fun getting to know Newman’s shooting motions. So far, he isn’t worrying about squaring up and having both feet set, like Frank and Devonte. It seems like his lower body is all over the place depending on what he needs for balance. He’s built much bigger than any guard I can remember since Darnell Valentine. RCJH



  • I finally watched the first game this weekend. My notes.

    • DG and Newman will be electric together. I’m not sure their is a better back court in the country. Duke and Arizona are right there too, but younger than our guys.
    • Our interior offense is much improved. We will get more than 8 points from that spot per game now.
    • Our interior defense and weak side help are still very very poor. Maybe worse than last seasons. I can’t believe how many dunks we gave up.
    • We are starting two ball stoppers/black holes at PF and C. Neither are great B2B scorers. Doke has no footwork and Billy just looks uncomfortable and does not know how to score with his left hand. With that being said, raw talent is there and we still have 3 months to coach them up pre-season. Or, big picture, 8 months to coach them up pre-Tourney. The focus needs to be getting Billy to finish through contact with both hands and work on driving the ball from the top of the key and corner. Doke needs to master two post moves. He needs to master the drop step and then the up-and under. I don’t want to see anymore running hooks from Doke.

    I’m calling it now, the development of our two studs in the post will be the difference in a Final Four or another Elite Eight bust. If they can learn to keep the offense running with fluidity, provide some consistent scoring and give our guards a little bit more rim protection than we have had the past several seasons this team is a top 4 team in the country. If they can’t learn to do that, this team will struggle in the tourney.



  • @Kcmatt7 That’s it. It all comes down to the development of our bigs.



  • @Kcmatt7

    Wish we still had Danny. I can just imagine him working with Preston.

    If Preston puts the work in, he will be a great Jayhawk, you can see the potential. I hope we get two years…



  • @Kcmatt7 I was out of town and I didn’t watch the games just the highlights but I think Dok does have a good hook shot/running hook. Saw him score last year b2b numerous times with those moves. Not sure what happened but just saying what I have seen him do before.

    I’ll try to watch a replay of the game to see what actually was occurring defensively compared to last year. People typically blamed our defensive problems, erroneously imo, on Landen when in fact our perimeter players were allowing all sorts of blowbys and stuff like that. I’m still hoping to see improvement in that area this year. It puts a lot less pressure on our interior players if our guards play actual defense.



  • @HawkChamp I get that Doke may make some running hooks, but is that what we want him doing?

    I’d rather see him make a strong move instead of a finesse move. For several reasons.

    • Power moves play to his strength and will, in the long run, be a much more efficient shot for him than a hook.
    • He will be a cause a lot of fouls from the other team’s posts. Foul trouble for starting centers means easier buckets later in the game. It means that an aggressive shot blocker might have to back off because he can’t pick up an extra foul. You don’t pick up a lot of fouls throwing up hooks.
    • If he becomes efficient with his power moves and does draw a lot of fouls, teams will be forced to start double teaming him just to keep players in the game. And with our guards ability to move the ball and shoot the 3, that makes us very scary.

    If you think about it statistically, it gets really interesting. Let’s say, if Doke were to draw 2.5 fouls a game and keep the hook and he makes it at a 65% clip on 3 attempts per game while not forcing a double team he would add somewhere around 5.8 PPG playing finesse. (Based on his last years numbers and playing 25 ppg) If instead, he were to get fouled 3.5 times per game, and pass out of the double team that leads to an open trey 3 times a game, he would be adding 5.81 PPG of impact. And that is if we only make those extremely open treys at a 35% clip. If we were to more accurately assume we shoot those wide open 3s at a 40% clip it would be an addition of 6.26 PPG. This is not including what the impact of an extra foul per game could do to the opponents. If he gets a starting center 3 fouls early in the game, all of a sudden that point differential grows more and more.

    So again, my point, he may very well make hook shots at an efficient rate, but his overall impact on the game is much greater if he plays an aggressive, high-contact game where he picks up a ton of fouls. If this were chess, Doke making a hook shot is like capturing a pawn. You’re going to let him have that shot all day long. Where Doke getting a 3rd foul on a starting center is like capturing the other team’s queen.



  • @BShark He has all the tools. You can see it. The game just needs to slow down for him a little and he needs to be able to see the bigger picture. I don’t think he understands ball rotation because he has always just shot every time he had the ball. He is a big mismatch vs other posts, but not sure he understands that you can only exploit mismatches when you catch the ball in certain spots on the floor.

    But, from what I watched I’m excited how much of a physical specimen he is going to be at the very least. He rebounded pretty well in the one game I watched.



  • @globaljaybird

    The original Johnny’s (which is the one I meant, dang auto correct) was by the main Shawnee Mission Post Office on Broadmore off Johnson Drive in Shawnee; the Olathe Location opened later. It has won many awards at the American Royals and was featured on the Dinners, drive ins and dives on the food network. Their slabs and burn ends are great. As I mentioned, Joe’s is still the best and the Olathe location is now the more popular and always packed; however, since they do not open on Sundays, Johnny’s is the next best thing in the Olathe if you need catering that day.



  • @Fightsongwriter

    Bryant’s is know in KC for having great but greasy BBQ. I have not been there recently and perhaps it is no longer as greasy as it used to be but at one time, they would serve the food in baskets with paper at the bottom that soon became soaked with grease; females at the office would pass when we headed there for lunch; they had no problem with other places such as the Rosedale BBQ on Southwest Blvd that has great lunch sandwiches. Turkey is the least greasy of the BBQ meats so perhaps that is not the best indicator. Again, I have not been to Bryant’s in a couple of years (Joe’s is better and only 4 miles from home) so my experience is based on previous visits and what I hear from other people…as you know, everybody in the KC area is a BBQ expert and has a favorite place and BBQ talk is very common in all settings.



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    @BShark He has all the tools. You can see it. The game just needs to slow down for him a little and he needs to be able to see the bigger picture. I don’t think he understands ball rotation because he has always just shot every time he had the ball. He is a big mismatch vs other posts, but not sure he understands that you can only exploit mismatches when you catch the ball in certain spots on the floor.

    But, from what I watched I’m excited how much of a physical specimen he is going to be at the very least. He rebounded pretty well in the one game I watched.

    Agree and for once, it’s basically exactly matching what we heard about him coming out of HS. Could be special if he takes the coaching to heart.



  • @Kcmatt7

    Exactly and also, he will be playing now against much better competition than he ever did n HS. He has a long ways to go if he wants to dominate in college like he did in HS.



  • @Crimsonorblue22 Sorry my reply is a few hours after your question but I wasn’t tracking too well this morning. I’m better this afternoon. Barbeque … I loved it … but I have not had any for at least for 3 years. When I did eat it … we liked Jack Stack although it was pretty pricey back at that time. I still buy Hayard’s BBQ Sauce and cook some on the grill. Yum, Yum !!! Thanks for asking!!!



  • Q39 is maybe better than Joe’s. Maybe. A couple bucks per order more expensive, but well worth it. Down by the Med center. Can get reservations at their website. One opening at College and Antioch (old Haywards location) on Sept. 1.



  • Anyone go to Guy & Mays in southeast KS?



  • @HighEliteMajor

    Q39 is very good. I was there not too long ago and it was surprisingly good but I would not say it’s better than Joe’s. It is somewhat different than the traditional BBQ joint insofar as the have items such as shrimp, salmon and burgers that you don’t usually find at BBQ places. It is fairly new but has a pretty decent following; definitely an up and coming place that is quickly becoming a real contender, something that is not easy in the KC market.



  • @bskeet no, guessing it must be good?



  • @bskeet

    I have heard of it but it is not in the KC area, I think is somewhere south of Lawrence-Topeka.



  • @bskeet Guy and Mays in Williamsburg is an institution. Great ribs, wrapped in newspaper. Worth the trip.

    @JayHawkFanToo I would never argue against Joe’s, but the Mr Burns sandwich - burnt ends, pepperjack, onion straws and chipotle BBQ sauce = best sandwich ever.



  • @HighEliteMajor

    I love burnt ends, I will have to try it next time I am there. I am doing some work near the Plaza so I might take a lunch trip there in the near future



  • I have been to Williamsburg, been awhile, it’s excellent!


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