So nothing yet?
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Woe is us because we don’t know if or when they’ll approved. Woe is us because the players coming in might take a while to get up to snuff. Let’s end the pity party. So our team will be at their best once we start playing for the Big Cheese - I can live with that.
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dylans said:
How much was Ayton paid?!?
I read somewhere that it was like 500,000 and that the money was already spent. - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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BShark said:
jaybate 1.0 said:
Next season brings transfers and not one but the sudden, inexplicable anomaly of two 5-Star PGs. This all fills me with apprehension about the baggage that may hit the carousel next year.
You are overthinking it. Grimes grew up a KU fan. Dotson wanted desperately to play for a blue blood program. Dotson was targeted and prioritized in his JR year by KU while UNC and Duke closed their heavy PG leans.
jaybate 1.0 said:
As for this season, I am just advocating for tempered expectations regarding what the newbies second semester will actually enable.
All this team really needs from the newbies are subs, so our starters can play hard most of the game.
The newbies could supply that after a month or two.
More than that I doubt.
I would agree with this. I don’t think Preston or Silvio save this team. Just letting the starters get a bit more rest and not having to play Mitch at the 5 could help a fair bit in the long run.
if nothing else with Silvio Coach Self can use Him like he did our football walk on the other night. Coach ask him -can you do this? - He responded I don’t know any of it.
Self said then just set a high screen and then roll to the basket. Hell if nothing else Silvio can do that for the first couple of weeks when he is in till he picks up on the offense, do that and get some rebounds, - make some stick back buckets and he will be ok until he can pick up the offense gives us depth and 5 more fouls anyways for a bit. - I think he will be fine. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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jayballer54 said:
BShark said:
jaybate 1.0 said:
Next season brings transfers and not one but the sudden, inexplicable anomaly of two 5-Star PGs. This all fills me with apprehension about the baggage that may hit the carousel next year.
You are overthinking it. Grimes grew up a KU fan. Dotson wanted desperately to play for a blue blood program. Dotson was targeted and prioritized in his JR year by KU while UNC and Duke closed their heavy PG leans.
jaybate 1.0 said:
As for this season, I am just advocating for tempered expectations regarding what the newbies second semester will actually enable.
All this team really needs from the newbies are subs, so our starters can play hard most of the game.
The newbies could supply that after a month or two.
More than that I doubt.
I would agree with this. I don’t think Preston or Silvio save this team. Just letting the starters get a bit more rest and not having to play Mitch at the 5 could help a fair bit in the long run.
if nothing else with Silvio Coach Self can use Him like he did our football walk on the other night. Coach ask him -can you do this? - He responded I don’t know any of it.
Self said then just set a high screen and then roll to the basket. Hell if nothing else Silvio can do that for the first couple of weeks when he is in till he picks up on the offense, do that and get some rebounds, - make some stick back buckets and he will be ok until he can pick up the offense gives us depth and 5 more fouls anyways for a bit. - I think he will be fine. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
I WOULD AGREE WITH ALL OF THE ABOVE EXCEPT OVERTHINKING THIS STRUCTURALLY RECURRENT PROBLEM WITH KU’S RECRUITING.
WE HAVE OBVIOUSLY UNDERTHOUGHT THE PROBLEM, BECAUSE EACH TROUGH IS LOWER AND EACH PEAK IS NOT AS HIGH.
THINGS ARE NOT GETTING BETTER. SELF KEEPS HAVING LESS AND LESS LIKELIHOOD OF REACHING A FINAL FOUR BASED ON HIS TALENT IN COMPARISON TO THE TEAMS THAT STOP US. OREGON CLEARLY HELD MUA LAST SEASON. SINCE 2012 KU KEEPS RUNNING INTO TEAMS THAT HOLD SHARP MUA AND STOP KU COLD BEFORE THE FINAL FOUR.
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@jaybate-1.0 We have 6 new players coming in next year. One was the AAC POY. 19 ppg + 10 boards a game. His older little brother averaged 12.9 + 9 boards a game. Charlie started for a Power 5 team. The 3 we signed were all top 40. Overflow from an overabundance of talent in the market? Does it matter when you have a brilliant coach who is now licking his chops over the prospect of having so much talent on board? I think not. We are LOADED FOR BEAR NEXT YEAR. Keep the faith. Final Fours are coming.
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It looks good on paper going in, but so did the Alexander, Diallo and Preston years.
I am not unappreciative of how good we have had it. 82% to 84% is to die for.
But with the nearly unparalleled success we have enjoyed for nearly 30 years, it sticks out anomalously that we cannot sign the basic pieces required to let Self power to a ring the way Consonants, Cal and Roy have gotten to do. Just plain wrong. Self deserves one to three POWER teams that others have to get lucky to beat instead of KU always being the team that has to get lucky.
Regardless, I will work on my attitude!
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Kcmatt7 said:
@mayjay Chicago Sun not only reported it, but then doubled down on it after the Davis’ threatened a lawsuit saying they had sources from 3 separate universities that claimed Davis Sr. asked them for anywhere from $125k to $150k.
This.
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Researching this was interesting. The original article by author O’Brien was on Aug 5, 2010, on the Sun Times website. It said Davis was likely to go to UK and alleged that rumors were that the commitment cost S200,000. That was removed from the website that day.
The next day, Davis Senior’s lawyer threatened to sue. O’Brien contacted him for a comment, and he said “Thanks for ruining my son.” UK denied the story.
On Friday, the paper published a new O’Brien story that had the new quote about 3 alleged sources from other schools saying Davis Sr. had been seeking the 125 to 150 thou, but not alleging anything more about UK in particular.
The University issued a statement the next week threatening a lawsuit, noting the family and school denials, and seeking a statement specifically retracting all allegations and rumors as not based on credible sources.
No lawsuits were filed. No retractions, either.
A few years later, O’Brien wrote a retrospective about Davis in which he mention that “the Sun Times” had written about the Davis recruiting rumors in 2010, never mentioning that he himself wrote those articles.
Conclusion: I think the Sun Times very cleverly changed the allegation from the UK commitment to general allegations that the dad had sought money from other schools. This converted the original story to a Cam Newton story, and eliminated any allegation about UK specifically. Had Daddy sued, that would have opened his bank records to scrutiny. Whether he received anything illegitimate would have come out. The school no longer had any great harm it could assert, so it had no incentive to sue anymore.
Kuddos to Sun Times lawyers for a brilliant non-retraction/double-down that has still left everyone using those stories as their sources of alleged well-known payments to Davis.
I suspect Daddy got something at least, and he has gone quietly into a wealthy retirement.
Amusing aside: I came across this quote on a Louisville board’s 2014 recap of the Davis rumors:
That . . . sums up the Calipari era at UK. I’m coming to this realization: if that’s what it takes to land the #1 class all the time and to make 3 final fours in 5 years, count me out. I’d rather wait another 27 years for a championship than see the university from which I earned two degrees do business that way.
I didn’t do any follow-up to see what that poster has said following the unveiling of UL’s prostitution based recruiting, or the latest scandal that has cost Pitino his job!
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I say we run and gun and see what havoc we can wreck on the B12-2. Throw Sam, Silvio, Billy (fingers crossed), and even young and the DE out there for 2-3 min bursts before tv timeouts to give the thoroughbreds a reasonable rest and see what we can do through pure offensive fire power. We could very well run teams under the table with our extra boys. Guards win college bball. Let’s see if anyone can keep pace with our guards.
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@mayjay Yeah all of this stuff is very messy. There is no doubt at least in my mind that players get paid.
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@KUSTEVE I like how next year is looking A WHOLE LOT. I have no idea what jaybate is expecting.
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KUSTEVE said:
Woe is us because we don’t know if or when they’ll approved. Woe is us because the players coming in might take a while to get up to snuff. Let’s end the pity party. So our team will be at their best once we start playing for the Big Cheese - I can live with that.
I would take a final four over winning the conference any day of the week. The national media would never shut up about it,but honestly, I don’t follow those yahoos like i used to. I’m much more concerned about our preparation for march and if the guys we need contributions from are developing.
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@mayjay well now that you looked at that, read up on the AD, Kentucky and World Wide Wes connection…
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I am not sure what is the big deal about recruiting. Had Preston not had the car issue KU is doing fine and no one is taking about depth issues. Next year KU has the #2 class with still one more player to get. If KU gets one the players it has been pursuing it will likely move to #1 and this does not even consider the Lawsons and Moore who were all top 40 players and when included it makes up for likely the best class ever at KU.
Considering that in the last 10 years KU has the best record in college basketball while playing in one of the thougher if not the toughest conference means that it has had lots of quality players; you just don’t get to have the best record with average players.
The main factor affecting recruiting is location. As much as we like Lawrence, it is not the preferred destination for the largely urban group that makes up the bulk of the top prospects.
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@JayHawkFanToo Even if we had Preston, this is the thinnest collection of post players ever under Self.
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Coach Self has always indicated that by conference play he likes to have an 8 man rotation which is what KU has now, not even counting Preston; with him it’s a solid 9 man rotation.
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Only 1 5 guy though!
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Teams are moving away from Centers and using PFs instead. The Cavaliers start 3 PFs, LeBron as SF and one PG. The two Centers for the Warriors average just over 20 mpg combined. Two PFs that can hit from outside and rebound are better than one Center.
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Well ltft isn’t a backup for Doke no matter how you spin it. He’s out of position. Heard all that all a million times.
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I like the defense tonight.
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No, Lightfoot is not a backup for Doke, but if KU wants to go big it could do it with Preston and Lightfoot and have the outside shot to boot. Preston not playing has been the main issue and grades was the original concern and once he was cleared who would have thought a car would end up being the real issue, not me and obviously not the KU staff either.
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I hope I’m not the only one who has googled “Silvio De Sousa” 3-4 times a day for the last month praying for an update. Make it stop!!
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Self sounded confident after the game last night they will hear news today unless they have to appeal.
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@HighEliteMajor A fan might come to think that Self has actually become enamored of small ball. But then a look at next year’s probable lineup debunks that thinking.
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Wednesday was the final day of classes at IMG this semester. That’s why Friday has always been the day to hear about Silvio. Teacher’s have to input grades and then paperwork has to be processed which takes a day to do so in a situation like Silvio’s.
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@JayHawkFanToo I disagree just a bit with your analysis of playing “big.” You could claim to be playing big with Preston and Lightfoot, but you really aren’t. Big is Withey/TRob. Big is Aldrich/Morris. Big is Collison/Gooden. Big is Jackson/Arthur. Big is Embiid/Ellis. Big is Black/Ellis.
You are correct. You do not have to have a true center. But you have to have players that have post skills and can score down low, and players that can defend the post. Lightfoot isn’t that guy. And of course, Preston is just a hologram at this point.
But you seem to suggest that if we had Preston, then this wouldn’t be an issue.
I would suggest that your response about Self preferring an 8-9 man rotation is irrelevant when it comes to being thin up front. Even with Preston, we have only Doke and Preston. Lightfoot is not a competent 3rd big, when we compare to Self’s tenure. He is only playing because Self has no choice. How nice would it be to have a Hunter Mickelson right now? But my point is Doke, Preston, Lightfoot – that’s way thin. Thinnest ever. No doubt. Sosinski at least gives us a body. The next thinnest is 2011-12, when we had Withey, TRob, KY, and Wesley. And that collection of 4 is better by a long shot than what we have now (including Preston). We’ve had times when we have 6 true bigs on our roster.
Under Self, that 8-9 man rotation consisted of 5 perimeter players and 4 bigs. We would see the 5th perimeter player and 4th post guy get limited minutes, but that would depend on the game. We don’t even have a third big right now, and even if Preston was here, that 3rd big would be an Lightfoot.
Preston and DeSousa (assuming DeSousa is as good as expected), that fits what you’re suggesting.
@REHawk Me thinks the hi/low will make its return … hopefully with a higher rate of threes than before. Or at least not an “either/or” approach by Self.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I heard the ncaa is closed today, so we are unlikely to hear anything for a couple weeks if that is the case.
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@HawkChamp The NCAA website says it closes at 5 pm today.
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@mayjay thanks. Folks on other ku sites have posted quotes from the ncaa that they close today but that must be incorrect.
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I will be extremely surprised if we don’t know something today. And I will be even more surprised if he doesn’t become eligible.
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joeloveshawks said:
I hope I’m not the only one who has googled “Silvio De Sousa” 3-4 times a day for the last month praying for an update. Make it stop!!
LOL - -this is the same way I feel when I get up in the middle of the night and get drawn to the cabinet and find myself getting into my bad of powered doughnuts - - I say MAKE IT STOP lol. - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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@drgnslayr I’ve never complained about early Christmas presents.
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HighEliteMajor said:
@JayHawkFanToo Even if we had Preston, this is the thinnest collection of post players ever under Self.
I believe your right. - Because as we have said/heard Mitch is playing out of position, for sure not a true 5. - Mitch if/when he plays need to be out on the floor more like at the 4? - -More of natural position for him. Also I also think actually Billy would or could play more at the 4 then the 5, he is closer to a 5 then Mitch but still. Probably the other real 5 would be DeSousa right?
Just have to see how it all plays out, but IF Billy doesn’t end up getting cleared then I still believe we need to move Mitch out to a 4 and let DeSousa back Doke at the 5, and then and only then if both of them get in foul trouble - -I suppose for a couple of minutes when they sit we could still use the walk on to give them that blow.
Mitch more then anything just does not have the body frame - the bulk to man up against talented big’s -Although he does bring a presence of being able to defend the rim some as he leads us in blocks and in the top 5 they said in the league in blocks. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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drgnslayr said:
I will be extremely surprised if we don’t know something today. And I will be even more surprised if he doesn’t become eligible.
Yes I agree with you. -I think today is the day we probably find out for sure on Silvio. Coach said if everything turns out right he should be on campus by Dec 26th when the rest of the team returns.
There is ONE thing that puzzles me though. - I read from another site that DeSosua was going to be playing in some all Star game this weekend, which brings the question up - - if everything is good then WHY is he focusing on a high school all star game - shouldn’t his only focus be on getting to Lawrence? - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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Would be awesome to hear results on Billy and Silvio today (highly doubt that happens though).
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@jayballer54 it’s Christmas! Nobody will be here
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@jayballer54 I don’t think DeSousa has anything he can do about his eligibility, but worry. So playing basketball and working on skills is a great thing to do!
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@HawkChamp Do you have a site where someone is posting the NCAA quote? The NCAA website for eligibility has the phrase that says they close today for the break, but it says at 5 pm, through Jan 1.
But someone may have a different ref worth checking?
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Crimsonorblue22 said:
@jayballer54 it’s Christmas! Nobody will be here
I understand that, but still WHY you wanting to play in an all star game when your focusing getting to campus with the rest of the team when they return on the 26th? - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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HawkChamp said:
Would be awesome to hear results on Billy and Silvio today (highly doubt that happens though).
DeSousa yes - -a pretty good chance - -Billy - I’m thinking not so much - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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dylans said:
@jayballer54 I don’t think DeSousa has anything he can do about his eligibility, but worry. So playing basketball and working on skills is a great thing to do!
Possibly, I understand the part for sure about it being out of his control , don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to make anymore out of it then what it is- -BUT like some others said - -WHY you would think he would have a lot going on - -preparing to get ready for the trip and being here in time making sure everything in order - just like any other trip anybody makes those last minute things that need to be taken care of and such. - -So he can be here with the team when they return on the 26th. - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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@jayballer54 Well if he’s anything like my 18 year old self. He’s doing the things he loves playing ball, enjoying his HS friends for one last week, & seeing his family. Packing can and will be done at midnight the night before, lol.
Dark thoughts say he is bracing for not being approved and doesn’t want to be too let down. But I think this is less likely than he’s 19 and wants to play around the week of Christmas.
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dylans said:
@jayballer54 Well if he’s anything like my 18 year old self. He’s doing the things he loves playing ball, enjoying his HS friends for one last week, & seeing his family. Packing can and will be done at midnight the night before, lol.
Dark thoughts say he is bracing for not being approved and doesn’t want to be too let down. But I think this is less likely than he’s 19 and wants to play around the week of Christmas.
Ya it was mention by Coach Self this morning that they did have a couple of his grades that was good, and felt pretty good on the others. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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Yes and no. Lightfoot can play better than he has so far if he plays his true position which is SF or PF but not Center where he is over matched, much like Perry was when he played out of position. Preston can play PF or Center although stretch PF is his preference.
You can play Doke and Preston, rest Doke and play Preston and Lightfoot, rests Preston and Lightfoot and play Doke and 4 guards like now, rest Doke and Lightfoot and Play Preston and 4 guards (intriguing lineup). You can see the possibilities and you can see how combining the 3 bigs with a 1-4 lineup at times, basically eliminates the perceived thinness at the front.
Remember that Kevin Young was only 6’8’ and 190 pounds which smaller than Svi. Also, Cunliffe and his freakish athleticism plays taller than his listed 6’6" height that for the first time at KU appears to be under reported.
Like I said, if I were a betting man I would have thought that grades would do Preston in, not a car; hard to anticipate something so stupid.
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I am sure that, much like all major programs, KU has been in contact with the NCAA through unofficial, backdoor channels and has pretty good idea of what will happen. I bet KU lawyers are parked at the NCAA compliance office waiting for the good word. I will guess that KU has been unofficially told the the decision would be handed in today and it will be a 9-12 game suspension which he has already served; it would explain what Coach Self has been saying.
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I think we just expect too much out of Mitch. He hustles probably more than anyone else on our team, and that counts for a lot. But it also exposes weaknesses in his game because he is involved on so many plays. He is still “green wood” and has plenty to learn about the game. His biggest flaw right now is making boneheaded plays… something that happens with all green wood, but in his case, more often because he hustles and is involved in so many plays.
Wow… he sure is swatting a lot of balls away from the rim! Bravo, Mitch!
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Concerning DeSousa’s eligibility… I am of the opinion that we have been discussing his case with the NCAA so we can get him cleared ASAP, once he provides qualifying academics. So… we just need to be able to tick off the boxes today before 4pm CST. And DeSousa has it worked out with IMG to release his grades today, before 4pm CST.
Something could go wrong… but we have choreographed this to have the best chance of working today!
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He has also taken more charges than anyone in the team, something that stats don’t show. I though a couple of the fouls on him last night were unwarranted. At one time, the refs had called 16 fouls on KU and only 6 on Stanford and it was pretty one sided until Stanford started to foul more in the second half trying to get back into the game and the final count was KU 18 fouls and Stanford 14.
Lightfoot leads the team in blocks and is 6th in the conference; he is playing considerably less mpg than the players ahead of him.
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No agreement from me. 17-18 year old players are quite different than 19-20 year old players. All things being equal, a 17 year old is nowhere close to a 20 year old. You can howl all you want but it does not change the facts.
Preston has been with program since the summer and he is as as conditioned as any of the players and DeSousa has been playing at a basketball prep academy where preparing players for the next level is mission 1. Bagley is 1.5 years younger and Ayton half a year younger than Preston and they are both domination with no problems; Azubuike is younger than all of them and he is doing just fine. There is no reason why Preston or DeSousa could not do the same. considering how long he has been in the program.
