Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk 5 star
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Rivals.com is now listing Sviatoslav Mykhailiukas as a 5 start recruit which means they think he is a “franchise player who is in the elite of the elite. College superstar and upper end lottery pick after one year of college.” this is straight from their web site. That also puts him in the top 25 HS prospects in the class of 2014. They haven’t placed him in the rankings yet but 5 star is a good start. Rivals also ranks Graham number 36 in that class. Giving HCBS 4 guys in the top 100 at number 36 or better! That’s almost just as good as last years recruiting class without a 7 footer! I will take it all day long.
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@Statmachine If these four newcomers play enough by March to retain their smiles, and Ellis + Selden play enough to help the Jayhawks log another league title, which 2 of the following 6 will play significant minutes to comprise Bill Self’s customary endofseason 8 man rotation: Traylor, Greene, Mason, Frankamp, MIckelson, Lucas? And will the remaining 4 be inclined to go the way of Tharpe and White? (Or will we see a 9 or 10 man rotation by tournament time, with only 2 considering a transfer?) But wait! There is still one dangling open scholarship…
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There has to be some more players that want to bail out of Ukraine and the Baltic States, while Russia and USA are flexing their nuclear dinguses.
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@REHawk It is crucial that Bill Self plays Alexander, Oubre, and Selden so he can keep the 5 star talent carousal spinning. On the 05-06 and the 10-11 team HCBS had ten guys average over 10 minutes. He can keep most of the team happy but doesn’t have to.
Due to the possible exit of Ellis, Alexander, Oubre, and Selden I would expect HCBS to sell PT to next years elite talent. Hopefully we sign 2-3 five star guys in October after Late Night. With the amount of transfers on the rise it wouldn’t surprise anyone if someone jumped ship. I keep seeing every ones concerns about who might transfer but I gotta remind you that KU has had some guys use all 4 years of their eligibility and not everybody makes an NBA roster. Depending on who starts next year and who we pick up this summer will determine if someone transfers or not?
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Man, I bet HEM has gotta be loving the recruiting up-tick: 3 x 5stars + 1 x 4star (incoming class). Now we could get HEM giddy, if we could somehow get Self to not get outcoached, outgameplanned on the recurring basis that we’ve seen lately: Michigan, Topeka-Y-TeeCeeWho, StanfordAllStars, TubbyTechies. Just when KU fans thought we’d seen the Nadir (in his/its entireity…), we also saw the latest trick: disappearing defense, disappearing clothes, disappearing PG. Wow! At least there was ‘softness-all-around’ to cushion the landing from the latest tourney-bounce.
(lol, zero malice…just had a rare attack of general sarcasm about coaches, playstyles, recruiting…and the years of comments by all of us on all the above, myself included.)
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@ralster HEM giddy?
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@Crimsonorblue22 Haha, all in fun. I think HEM is the most respected tracker on the recruiting front, and if wishes were fishes, I’d love to corner Self and ask him candidly about HEM’s pushing-the-pace idea, which I really like, as it would highlight this athletic/talent advantage Self works so hard to recruit…Basically a top3 recruiter in Div.1, I think, we think, deserves better results…
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I would rather be talking about all of our new players and transfer possibilities rather than having to worry about our depth like on the 2012-2013 team. HCBS needs to capitalize on the increase in momentum, star power, and attention Wiggins and Embiid brought to the program. I still think Self will add a 7’ center if one becomes available to this years recruiting coup. The fact is Bill Selfs system doesn’t fire on all cylinders without one. Our title shot rests on recruiting a serviceable 7’ transfer able to start this year. That’s what we should be talking about here at KU buckets!
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@ralster all due respect, quite a few posters, in fact most of them have wanted a faster pace, a press, all around better D!
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@Statmachine well ok! Who are our choices for this coming year?? Let’s talk!
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I’m not going to bag on Wiggins… after all, I was “Head Wig of Wiggymania.”
But… isn’t it possible a player like Svi (or Svee), even with his youth and not quite the athleticism of Wiggins, become more productive for Kansas in his first year than Wiggins was?
Just an idea I’m throwing out there.
I know we all know very little about Svi… but from the tapes it looks like he has a plethora of offensive moves. Andrew, primarily, had his spin/pivot move.
And perhaps Svi has that tough Eastern block attitude, which could come in handy on defense.
I’ve been psyched for next season to come for quite some time, but once we landed Svi, I’ve been really psyched! And to put it in Self terms… I’m not far off of “really, really!”
A big part of my excitement is to just experience answers for all the questions about this kid.
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@drgnslayr I just can’t get it in my head a 16-17 year old can compete his first year at a D1. In watching some of the tapes, it looked like jr high teams. He’s gotta be awesome, I trust Self, just need to see him play at this level to believe it.
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@drgnslayr I can’t fathom Svi being as productive of Wiggins for several reasons. The first of which is opportunity. I just don’t see him being able to log the minutes that Wiggins did. Competition at the 3 (Oubre, Greene), an entrenched starter at the 2 (Selden), and probably better suited for the position competition at the 1 (Mason, CF, Graham), if we are to believe he could in fact play there.
The second reason are the physical gifts of Wiggins. The athleticism, the verticle, the unmatched second jump, wingspan, added height, etc. Defensively I don’t think it’s going to be close. Not often do freshman come along with the ability to be as lock down as Wiggins was.
The third reason is competition. I don’t think Svi has routinely played against the quality of athlete that Wiggins faced prior to coming to Lawrence. I think it is going to be more of an adjustment to the D-1 level for Svi than it was for Wigs (age will also factor into this).
The fourth reason is the composition of the team. Last year, Wiggins was expected to be the alpha. Even if Svi is given the minutes that Wiggins received, I can’t imagine him being asked to have the same role. He’ll have Selden on the wing. A year more experienced Selden, and hopefully a year where he has both good wheels. Perry is going to continue to get his, and Cliff will probably equal if not surpass the offensive production we got from Embiid.
And in saying all this, believe me it’s not a knock against the guy. But when asking if it’s possible for a guy to come in and out-produce the guy who just set the freshman scoring record and might be the #1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft…jeez no pressure Svi! LOL
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I understand that Svi has played in the professional Russian League, so he probably has a fair amount of experience playing against older, more physically developed players.
Having said that, it is very rare when a true freshman leads a team into the Championship; unfortunately for KU, it ran into one of those rare players…Carmelo, that is, although in all fairness, his team did have other very good players.
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@JayHawkFanToo and… He was probably older than 16-17??? Do you think he will have to have a guardian? He’s going to learn a lot! If you get my drift. Ha!
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@JayHawkFanToo Well if you remember, we’ve hashed this out once. This is what started the whole race debate on another thread awhile back. And no, I definitely don’t want to re-hash that. But you either believe that or you don’t.
But notice I said quality of athlete. Not tougher players or more skilled basketball players. Athletes. So when you hear freshman talk about needing to adjust to the speed of the game, I think that is where athleticism comes in.
I just don’t believe wherever he played in Russia was against the same quality of athlete that Wiggins played against here.
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No he does not resemble Pistol Pete. Here is rare footage of Maravich in College:
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While the Euro Leagues might not be at the level of the NBA , they are (IMHO) very much at (or even above) the level of Division I college basketball in all aspects of the game. Keep in mind that while there are many quality “athletes” in college basketball, there are not that many superior, Wiggins-like athletes either.
Also a well trained, experienced professional player is likely more competent than an inexperienced, albeit athletic, college player. Look at Manu Ginobile, he is the prototype European player, not particularly athletic or physically gifted but he manages to run circles around more “gifted” t players include Chalmers, who he took to school when he was guarding him in game 1. There are lots of Manu-like players in the Euro Leagues.
Every time we underestimated other Leagues/Countries in international competition, the American team came back with no medals.
Just my opinion based mostly on what I read ,since I watch only a handful of Euro Leagues games, definitely not enough to be knowledgeable on the subject.
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Pete Maravich is one of the top basketball players of all time at any level. Unfortunately because of his untimely passing, his name has been largely forgotten by most. He was a pure scorer and an unbelievable passer and his circus-like passes would have resulted in highlight reel dunks, but dunks were not allowed in college during his playing days at LSU. Also, there were no 3-point shot back then, otherwise his scoring average would have been even higher.
He is one of my favorite players of all time; thanks for bringing him up.
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Bill Walton said in a review of a book titled “Maravich” that Dale Brown went back and charted Pete’s shots for three seasons at LSU and found that Pete averaged MAKING 13.5 three point distance shots per game for three seasons. The guy could do it all. I just regret he didn’t get to play for Wooden and win three rings. Wooden said at a clinic I attended that Pete could have been a very, very, very GREAT team player had he been asked to be. Wooden said Pete was one of the guys he most wanted to coach that he did not get to. Pete was one of the great athletic freaks of the game. I was so lucky to grow up in a time to watch both Pete and Earl The Pearl. Both guys could do things that have to be seen to be understood. Words cannot express it.
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Pistol Pete was VERY VERY special. I remember hearing that he practiced dribbling while running down railroad tracks. As a former Gandy Dancer that would have never occurred to me as a training challenge. I could run the track hitting the ties with my feet but no way dribble them And I doubt many could today-remember there is large gravel between and above the ties.
If you don’t know what a Gandy Dancer is-we carried ties and drove the spikes to secure the rails to the railroad ties.
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Classic take. PHOF!
