Who Is the Team to Beat in the B12 and the Dark Horse? Or Grinding to Golgotha
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West Virginia is my pick for team to beat. My main reason for picking them is HC Bob Huggins, who has aged well, and seems to understand the strengths and charisma of his own personality better and better. Coach Huggins was a serious bad boy, for public consumption, for a lot of years. He reputedly had some bottle issues, but I always felt, despite the violent streak of his style of game, and his willingness to kick opponents when they were down, that there was a man inside that loved the game. He is wearing lighter colored clothing this season, showing some emotion, and saying the right things. He wants in the Hall of Fame this season for sure. But he also appears to have discovered as the years have that the game and WVU have a place for The Marlon Brando of College Basketball. I compare Huggins to Brando not just because of his volcanic emotion that seems always on the verge of eruption, but in fact rarely does, but rather because like Brando he has been able to harness his animal fury to commitment to technique. And he has done so not to impress, and dazzle, but to get to the essence of his role and the essence of the game. I would never coach the physical intimidation and aggression that Huggins, along with Izzo and Knight have brought to the game, because I think the essence of the game lies closer to balance of athleticism and fierceness. At the same time, I do not deny that basketball can be played and played well the way Huggins has taken in. Huggins coming into the Big 12 was yet another lucky break for Bill Self. Self has coached against a lot of good coaches in the Big 12, but Huggins is the only great one. And there is nothing like having to compete against greatness to force a coach to find his highest level. Would I prefer Bill Self’s approach, even if the coaches switched schools? Yes. But could I get behind Bob Huggins and say, “There are more ways than one to skin a cat, and Bob’s way has been proven over time.” Huggins is interviewed at the following link about the possibility of the HOF. The most interesting part of the interview is Huggins saying what all good coaches say; that he has been blessed with great players. But the defining thing Huggins says is in paraphrase: I have recruited a lot of guys that no one wanted and that proved they could play with the best. THAT is the essence of Bob Huggins. Lots of great coaches could his’n and beat your’n and your’n and beat his’n. But Bob Huggins tried and often succeeded in taking no one’s guys, and beating your’n, and their’n and anyone’n that got in the way. Watch these interviews and see how intense and sharp this guy really is.
The dark horse is between OU and TCU. I pick TCU. I know Lonnie will field a good team and might even win it. But Jamie Dixon is on a mythic mission. He is something like Huggins in this one regard. He has proven he can win big, but now he wants to do the Odysseus thing and come home and see if he can do it there on his own terms for the place that gave him his shot. Dixon also coaches a kind of ball that Self has had trouble with in the past. He was Ben Howland’s assistant at one time and then took over Pitt when Howland left for the UCLAN. Pitt never missed a beat when Dixon took over. Howland and Dixon took that Mountain West style of game and hybridized it with long exposure to the Big East warfare, and it was like Howland and Dixon ran it through a Bessemer Process to toughen pig iron into a steel alloy. Howland caught Self off guard in the NCAA’s with the hack’n’slap trick. Dixon was tough with almost nothing his first season at TCU. He’s gotten a few players in and his returning guys know what he’s about now. If Dixon can find an angle of attack that’s fresh to go with his physical game, he, like Izzo, coaches the blunt, head on style, with a Joe Frazier style of getting in close to take some punches and find some weaknesses, that Self’s teams often struggle with. They take Self’s teams straight to grind. They are designed to grind every game, rather than designed to grind when that is what is given. Dixon’s and Izzo’s grinds are who they are. Self’s grind is a subset of play it anyway they want. Play it any way they want is who we are on Self’s team.
The conference season comes after Christmas. The myth of conference basketball goes from away in the manger, to stuck on a cross in April, with some miracles on the road, and some amazing things happening in that building at home. Facing a round robbin with a good Huggins team and a good Dixon team blocking our way 4 times, call this: Grinding to Golgotha.
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ESPN thinks it’s over for KU - cite’s Trae Young and OU, TCU and WVU.
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They have been wrong so many times.
They are fake news.
But it does look very bleak for the boys in blue.
But Self has two hat rabbits in Preston and De Sousa.
Its not that they are so good.
Its that they are just exactly what he needs for reserves and they are both probably good enough to be those reserves.
Could Preston and de Sousa be great? Yes, but next year.
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I think Oklahoma and West Virginia will be our biggest challenges. I wouldn’t call a top 20 in Oklahoma a dark horse, ESPN just ran an article about how Young wants to be us and it wouldn’t be surprising at this point. Baylor along with KSU has played schedules ranked in the mid 300s and lost any decent team they’ve played. TCU has won 17 straight and 12-0 this season but has hasn’t played a great schedule ether. I think KU, WVU, TCU, Baylor and OU will finish in the top half of the league. Tech is decent but hasn’t impressed me when I’ve watched them. The bottom half of the league is a crap shoot. Watching KSU Im worried we could see the remake of the valentines massacre that KSU always yaps about when they stomped us by 20 in the octagon of dumb back in 2011. This teams lack of toughness worries me on the road, we must win all games at home this year to win the conference IMO.
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One more thing.
KU would not be so short, if Self were to convince Svi to play like a Bobby Jones from North Carolina back in another century.
Svi is listed at 6-8 and he is pretty solid after Hudy. He seems much more comfortable in his body this season. His problem is that he is playing the 4 like a combo guard.
Bobby Jones was a perpetual motion machine. He guarded, he ran the floor, he constantly worked for garbage, and he could drive either handed.
I believe this is the kind of player Svi can be and that this team needs now. Forget Larry Bird. Forget the trey. Think scrambling, tireless Bobby Jones. Jones wore defenders down with constant motions.
Self had Svi was doing this against Stanford. The weave is made for Svi, but only if he ceases and desists with all this three point emphasis. We need Svi driving off the weave and getting to the line. Svi should be our third option.
Devonte. Take whatever they give him every play, else dish.
Udoka. Dunk, dunk, dunk.
Svi. Drive, drive, drive. Then when Preston gets back, Preston comes in and does the same only more so. Two Bobby Jones.
Vick, trey, trey, trey! Take it every time he is open. No matter how deep. The guy is a hugely underrated shooter. He could easily be our first option this season, but this team needs to become our trifectate. The guy can shoot lights out. He’s also a great do everything player. He should be the first option next season. He should be getting 20 FGAs per game. But this season? This team needs a killer trifectate, which was what Malik was supposed to be but isn’t for a variety of reasons.
Malik needs to become glue. He is the most talented glue player KU has ever had. He could be first or second option next season. But this season, the team will work best with him at glue. and taking the trey off the infrequent reversals.
This team is going to look waaaaaaaaaaay better after THE WEEK OF GETTING BETTER. Self is going to fine tune the roles as soon as he has a better idea of who will arrive when.
What the hell, I have been very pessimistic about this team, while it has been shorthanded.
But I now feel a crack in the door. I feel this team can run to daylight, if they will quit relying on Svi to be a fourth guard and stop him shooting so many treys. Drive the ball. Get to the foul line with Svi. Everyone else keep playing the game they are playing. Svi’s too streaky to put him in that role when of 6-9 3ptas. He will break out shortly and go 7-7 from trey, but he’s too volatile even though he proved he can shoot 40%. We need a steadier 40% and have it in Devonte and Vick. We need Svi to run 4s ragged on offense, so they are not so likely to exploit him on defense.
Hell, I will predict another title, if we can get Preston and de Sousa out on the floor by TCU. But if Preston and de Sousa don’t get here till February 1, or February 15, we are likely not to win another title.
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@jaybate-1.0 Freed up to the Christmastime posting of an 800 word diatribe, you were just bound to blow up somewhere along the written line. Midway, you insisted that Self has coached against some good folk in the Big 12, but that Huggins was the only GREAT ONE. I admonish you to check that very positive statement. Stop to take a look at the heralded success of the very man who swooped in to replace Huggins in Manhattan!
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Trae’s bringing God into the Big Twelve race.
In September, Young – who picked Oklahoma over Kansas – told ESPN.com about his vision to end KU’s reign.
“I want to break Kansas’ [Big 12 title] streak,” Young said then. “It’s not going to be easy, by any means, but that’s something that I’m going to be hard on all year. If I would have [gone] to Kansas, I would have been a little bit different, but I wanted to break that streak. That’s my goal. We’re gonna do it. I have all faith in God that that’s what his plan is.”
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@wrwlumpy Damn he looks good, we had better stop going under screens and actually contest shots when we play OU ir they hang 100 on us like ASU darn near did.
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@jaybate-1.0 GRINDING TO GOLGOTHA! Whooie! You have captured the very essence of Division 1 Basketball. I am picturing the many good coaches and outstanding teams which have gotten strung up on the proverbial cross in late March/early April play…after month upon month of steady or end of regular season surprise success. Then stretched like the wings of eagles, and BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!, nailed almost nakedly aloft!
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Nothing personal and I don’t want to impose my religious believes on anyone but comparing coaches losing in the tournament to Christ being crucified is way over the top and offensive to me personally and it might be to other posters as well. I am speaking only for myself and I don’t claim to represent anyone else and perhaps other posters are OK with it.
Perhaps a better comparison would be climbing Mount Everest; very few make it to the top and most end up in the first aid posts along the way.
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@JayHawkFanToo I’ve no intention or desire to offend. Sometimes my jocular inclinations do interfere with my better judgment. I grew up in a somewhat rigidly religious home setting, so have spent a lifetime stiffarming what I feel to be religious dogma. Oops! There I go again…
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JayHawkFanToo said:
Nothing personal and I don’t want to impose my religious believes on anyone but comparing coaches losing in the tournament to Christ being crucified is way over the top and offensive to me personally and it might be to other posters as well. I am speaking only for myself and I don’t claim to represent anyone else and perhaps other posters are OK with it.
Perhaps a better comparison would be climbing Mount Everest; very few make it to the top and most end up in the first aid posts along the way.
I FIND THESE FOUR RULES ETERNALLY HELPFUL TO KEEP IN MIND ABOUT POSTING ON SPORTS WEB SITES, LIKE THIS ONE.
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ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS SPEAK ONLY FOR ONE’S SELF, WHEN TELLING OTHERS WHAT ARE APPROPRIATE “BELIEVES” FOR A COMMUNITY.
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WHEN DESTABILIZING THREADS AND/OR ATTEMPTING TO DISCREDIT/SMEAR POSTERS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS SAY YOU DON’T WANT TO INJECT RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, AND THEN INJECT THEM IN ORDER TO DISCREDIT/SMEAR A POSTER.
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WHEN DESTABILIZING THREADS AND/OR ATTEMPTING TO DISCREDIT/SMEAR POSTERS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS BE DISINGENOUS ABOUT RELIGIOUS BELIEVES AND USE OF THEM TO DISCREDIT/SMEAR ANOTHER POSTER.
4, WHEN 1, 2 AND 3 DO NOT WORK, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS INSERT ATTACK GRAPHICS AND ASSERT WITH OUT REASON “I AM GETTING TO YOU.”.
BUT OF COURSE, I AM CATEGORICALLY NOT SUGGESTING YOU ARE GUILTY OF ENGAGING IN EITHER 1, 2, OR 3, AND I TRUST YOU WILL NOT ENGAGE IN 4.
THESE ARE JUST FOUR RULES I TRY TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN I READ POSTS, LIKE YOURS, AND ANYONE ELSE’S, FOR INSTANCE.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND MERRY CHRISTMAS.
ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE!!!
THE FANTASTIC CAPACITY FOR HUMAN LOVE, FAITH, UNITY, AND GOOD WILL TOWARDS ALL IN THE FACE OF AN INTERNET FLOODED WITH BOTS AND SHILLS AT THIS TIME OF YEAR SCARES HELL OUT OF TPTB.
AND WELL IT SHOULD!
AND I AM CONFIDENT YOU WILL AGREE 100% WITH THE ENTIRETY OF MY RESPONSE.
NOTE: JUST SPREADING A LITTLE MIRTH AND GOOD CHEER AT MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR.
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BUFFER 1
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BUFFER 2
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Soooo, when he doesn’t succeed is he going to blame God? or does God only get credit when things go good and has no responsibility when things don’t? Inquiring minds want to know.
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@jaybate-1.0 I’m stoked, amped, geeked & psyched for the conference play to start this year. Probly more so than others because we have 3 more players coming to the rescue. Sam’s already here, Preston and DeSousa on the way, which imo makes us instant title contenders. National. Now, our big boys are a bit behind the game but they’ll be ready by March and they will be more rested than anyone else on the team. So, KU will be deeper, more talented and perhaps even healthier than anyone they play against. I like those odds!!
WVU for certain will challenge us. They might even tie us for the conference crown. Its possible.
TCU and OU, cannot write those guys off at all.
People all over said the BIg 12 was down this year. Soft. Less than the SEC. Less than the ACC, Big 10 heavy hitters.
NOPE.
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@Lulufulu Suddenly, national pollsters have caught sight of Big 12 Basketball…again. They are tentative about the Jayhawks right now, and probably with good reason. Let’s hope it whets the appetites of our lads to devour some rare Texas beef these next 3 games. Then we will be encased in the Top 10 once more, with the opportunity to relax, then lose!
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@REHawk Until the Big12 can consistently put teams in the final four/final 2 the regular season high rankings as the best conference don’t mean too much to me.
Part of those high rankings are just a result of there not being any doormats in the league. TCU moved out of that realm years ago. 2002 was the last multiple teams from the league season, and both of us lost in the semi’s in a pretty easy year to win a national championship.
