Bruce On The Warpath
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FWIW, the very fist Bracketology for next season has KSU as a #4 seed which makes them top 16. The core of the team is coming back and if they improve some, they will be very competitive in the conference, potentially top 2 or 3.
BTW, Bracketology as 6 conference teams in the dance Texas not being one of them. Another finish in the bottom half and Smart is likely gone particularly when Rick Barnes has Tennessee as a top 10 team…that is got to burn.
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@JayHawkFanToo We will see. I really like the core and depth that UT has. I expect a HUGE year from Coleman.
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I’m not surprised Texas isn’t on these early projections. Roster still in flux without knowing if Andrew Jones will be able to return, if Roach will come back for his senior year and with them very active for transfers there’s no telling what their roster looks like before summer. Really young team.
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@BeddieKU23 Latest update on Jones was that he has started to put weight back on again which is a really good sign.
If Roach comes back, their starting unit looks nice.
- PG: Coleman
- SG: Jones
- SF: Roach
- PF: Ostekowski
- C: Sims
Heppa and Liddell are both solid depth pieces that pose matchup problems off of the bench. Hayes might even be able to shoot himself into some PT. If they land a solid grad transfer, I very much expect them to finish in the top half of the league.
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Don’t forget Mitrou-Long who’s likely to start at SG. Either that or playing big minutes off the bench. Ferbes wasn’t terrible and is a better shooter then he showed. Sims & Coleman’s development is really the key to their season as it looks
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Real questions to me are TCU and Tech.
How does TCU do without their best defender, best rebounder and stretch 5? Guard play won’t be an issue. But post play doesn’t look good.
How does Beard do in his 2nd year at Tech after losing his two best players and 5 senior rotation players? Some talent still in the program, but not the same as he had last year for sure.
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dylans said:
@BShark Taking a large number or unranked kids and booting those who don’t work out seems to be Bruce’s best option to get talent. KU kind of does it too. Bill will take a flyer on a random dude if he has an open scholarship and send him packing the next year (or sooner Milt) if it’s not going to work out. Thankfully Bill lands more of his top 100 targets than Bruce, so the carousel has less traffic.
I think Bruce is a good fit in Manhattan and will enjoy watching Bill’s team whoop on the mildcats for years to come.
I wish Milton Doyle would have stuck it out at KU. Kid could play.
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Kcmatt7 said:
@JayHawkFanToo We will see. I really like the core and depth that UT has. I expect a HUGE year from Coleman.
Shaka tho
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@BShark I know, but something tells me he finally has enough bodies that he can basically just copy Huggins lol.
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@Kcmatt7 Real talk: I think he’d be better off recruiting similarly to Huggins. Try to find underrated kids that are TOUGH and athletic. Now…does he have the same eye for talent and such that Huggy does? Maybe not.
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@BShark Agreed. Shaka at least has to get back to the point where he can do what he does best. He honestly recruited too well for the style he actually knows how to coach.
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Kcmatt7 said:
Real questions to me are TCU and Tech.
How does TCU do without their best defender, best rebounder and stretch 5? Guard play won’t be an issue. But post play doesn’t look good.
How does Beard do in his 2nd year at Tech after losing his two best players and 5 senior rotation players? Some talent still in the program, but not the same as he had last year for sure.
TCU added a ton of post players.
They red-shirted Kevin Samuel (former Top 100ish type) and Lat Mayen another Aussie import. JD Miller is back for his Sr year. They signed two more down-under players McWilliam & Alok (Alok can play inside and shoot the 3). Barlow & Archie (Top 100 kid) have size and are also options. The perimeter is loaded. Dixon will figure it out I think. Too much talent for him not to.
Texas Tech. Getting Tariq Owens was big. He can block shots and is a good athlete around the rim. Zhaire Smith returning would be huge for them. No idea where he’s leaning. They definitely need post help. I believe Odiase returns for another year, he’s always given KU fits in the past.
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Also I wouldn’t be surprised to see Francis of Texas Tech take a big step up. He made some big shots this year. Culver will get better in year 2 as well. They signed an underrated guard and Khavon Moore has versatility that will get him plenty of PT as a freshman. I think Beard is going to continue to put out a good product. He’s very active again for transfers as well.
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Yea TCU will be good. Fisher being healthy is huge. Waiting for all the dust to settle but I see them being top half.
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After the famous run to the Final Four in 2011, Smart has never made it our of the first weekend of the Tournament in 6 tries. The next two years '12 and '13 VCU won the first game and lost the second. Then next four times, 2 in the A10 and two in the Big 12 his teams lost in the round of 64.
This seems to be the make or break year for him.
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@BeddieKU23 Just think Brodz was a huge mismatch and Kenrich was legitimately one of the better defenders in the conference. Not easy guys to replace.
And I would think Zhaire would be leaning turning pro. Seems to be projected 1st rounder everywhere I look. Losing him and Evans would be devastating to their offense that was never really that great anyways.
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JayHawkFanToo said:
After the famous run to the Final Four in 2011, Smart has never made it our of the first weekend of the Tournament in 6 tries. The next two years '12 and '13 VCU won the first game and lost the second. Then next four times, 2 in the A10 and two in the Big 12 his teams lost in the round of 64.
This seems to be the make or break year for him.
It’s almost like you need some luck to make a tournament run. WEIRD.
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Kcmatt7 said:
@BeddieKU23 Just think Brodz was a huge mismatch and Kenrich was legitimately one of the better defenders in the conference. Not easy guys to replace.
And I would think Zhaire would be leaning turning pro. Seems to be projected 1st rounder everywhere I look. Losing him and Evans would be devastating to their offense that was never really that great anyways.
TTU is adding a bunch of transfers and such. Added some JUCOs last year. I wonder if Beard will continue to take this kind of approach. Though obviously they probably thought they would be getting more than a year out of #194 ranked Smith. Culver was another great find for them too.
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That run made the legend of Shaka and has been smoke and mirrors since then. He has not won a single regular season title in the Colonial, A10 or Big 12 Conferences.
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@JayHawkFanToo I know what he has done. It doesn’t make me not like his roster for next season.
And I still think he gets next year unless this season is an absolute disaster. Not a cheap buyout.
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Your right they are not easy to replace. It’s a bunch of unknown’s. Knowing Dixon though I would think 1-2 of these guys turns out to be good for them this year. Noi came out of no where last year and it seems he has a few more unknowns to play with again. He got lucky red-shirting the Samuel/Mayen duo so I’d imagine 1 of them can play immediately. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Alok start with JD Miller. Alok seems like a Acuil Jr clone according to reports
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KSU will be preseason top 20 and probably be a top 3 B12 team if Brown stays. It will be interesting to see if they get Bruce’s usual transfer quota to free up some roster spots and if it’s just guys that didn’t play much this year.
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Is Bruce apparently the petroshoeco-agency complex’s next coaching hope to unseat Self, after Shaka “Can’t Win with a Footer” Smart has apparently failed them?
How about a little short stack for Brucie, eh?
Note: cui bono? if KUAD, a 501.c3 athletic department, reputedly independent of KU in certain respects (i.e., would KUAD necessarily be a “victim,” as the Feds explicitly characterized the universities to be?) were tagged for something related to adidas’ actions?
Over a period of say the next ten years, would the media-gaming complex and Division 1 exclusive of KU, make more money, or less, from TV revenues and gambling revenues, if KU never won a B12 conference, and never made it out of the first round of the tournament, versus KU winning another 10 straight conference titles and making it to the Sweet 16 8 times, and to the Elite 8 or higher 5 times?
Bill Self kind of appears a huge thorn in the side of the petroshoeco-agency (its not a Nike program) and the media-gaming complex (its not an EST program). Every year that goes by that Self survives and flourishes (82% winning, consecutive conference titles, Sweet 16 or deeper runs), appears to be like Spartacus leading a slave army through the country side flaunting it in the face of Rome.
Bill Self, and his band of NOADS (no OADs, the equivalent of a gladiator army capable of giving Roman legions fits, but not ultimately able to stand up to their full concentrated force) could only be dispatched with a Nike-Nova stacked with 6 >39% trey shooters. Yes, yes, let’s be honest, Nike-Nova was just a new kind of stack. How many other coaches out there in NIKE land turned down 6 >39% trey shooters including 2 that were bigs? I cannot think of a single coach in USA that would have turned down 6 > 39% trey shooters, can you? Do you seriously think Bill Self would have turned down ANY of he 6 > 39% trey shooters on Nike-Nova? Do you Roy Williams, or John Calipari, would have turned down any, or especially ALL, of those 6 > 39% trey shooters?
Who believes 6 > 39% trey shooters including not one but TWO outside gunner bigs just coincidentally, by the grace of a Hail Mary, just coincidentally turned up at NIKE-NOVA?
Who believes that ONLY Jay Wright was smart enough to sign 6 > 39% trey shooters?
Who believes that out of 300 plus D1 programs, only Jay Wright was stupid enough to turn down 6 > 39% trey shooters?
I mean, come on! Bill Self was smart enough to sign AND PLAY three.
And when Bill Self had a chance to sign Kieff Morris, even back in the dark ages when he still ran the 3-2 high-low, Bill Self was smart enough to start Kieff and let him shoot treys.
Wouldn’t Bill Self have signed 6 > 39% trey shooters that could guard like those guys could guard, if he had found them standing around not on a dump truck heading being delivered somewhere? I mean, the guy is running a 4-1 set the last two seasons.
If Bill could have signed one of those two trey-shooting bigs on NIKE-NOVA instead of signing a transfer like 30%-trey-shooting Dedric Lawson (and his brother), wouldn’t Bill have done so?
Its a question at least worth asking.
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Yeah, Bruce is definitely being gifted kids when he has to take loads of unranked players.
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The recent run to the Elite 8 will certainly help with recruiting. Weber is a pretty decent coach, can identify hidden talent…the problem is his personality and voice which apparently make players want to leave.
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@JayHawkFanToo I’m moreso commenting on jb’s absurd suggestion. I should have just ignored it.
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Amen to that.
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Brian Patrick, YOU’RE FIRED!
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Self is downright soft these days compared to Bruce and Shaka.
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I believe this benefits him more then staying.
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@JayHawkFanToo Weber took Illinois to the title game and saw minimal spike, if any, in recruiting from that. Illinois is in a much better spot to recruit than KSU is. Situated pretty close to both Chicago and St. Louis, that is a program that should never hurt for talent, but Weber did and Illinois slid into irrelevance where they remain today.
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@BShark Hey, why are all the Shlocker kids leaving? Think they’re tired of seeing the shiny forehead?
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@KUSTEVE Gregg’s wife probably gets handsy with them in the lockerroom.
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@Kcmatt7 LOL…
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KUSTEVE said:
@BShark Hey, why are all the Shlocker kids leaving? Think they’re tired of seeing the shiny forehead?
Idk but my WSU fan friends kept telling me that WSU PLAYERS GRADUATE UNLIKE WHAT HAPPENS IN LAWRENCE.
I’ve been texting and calling them and no responses now…
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Kcmatt7 said:
@KUSTEVE Gregg’s wife probably gets handsy with them in the lockerroom.
You’d figure they would stick around for that kind of action.
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@BeddieKU23 Well I’m sure it makes for a really awkward situation when Greg is in the corner watching.
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Kcmatt7 said:
@BeddieKU23 Well I’m sure it makes for a really awkward situation when Greg is in the corner watching.
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Two completely different levels of recruiting. Illinois recruits or tries to recruit top tier, i.e. 3-5 Star players where KSU goes after middle level tier, i.e. 1-3 Star players and they migh now be able to go after fringe 4 Star players.
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JayHawkFanToo said:
Two completely different levels of recruiting. Illinois recruits or tries to recruit top tier, i.e. 3-5 Star players where KSU goes after middle level tier, i.e. 1-3 Star players and they migh now be able to go after fringe 4 Star players.
The key is knowing who you can get. Old balls at the end of his first stint at KSU started trying to recruit above his head and it cost them.
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Come on guys…let’s keep it classy.
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@JayHawkFanToo Oh you at least smirked reading it.
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I know I did while I was writing it lol.
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@BShark Sooo…do they still want to play us now???
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@JayHawkFanToo like Marsha and his wife?
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JayHawkFanToo said:
Two completely different levels of recruiting. Illinois recruits or tries to recruit top tier, i.e. 3-5 Star players where KSU goes after middle level tier, i.e. 1-3 Star players and they migh now be able to go after fringe 4 Star players.
And you just completely missed the point. The point had nothing to do with the caliber of recruits. Weber has taken teams to the E8 and deeper before and never saw a meaningful spike in recruiting so why would he now? That has always been his weakness. He’s a great X’s and O’s coach, but the man can’t recruit talent to level he should get. Huggy and Martin showed you can bring in top level talent to KSU, Weber just sucks at recruiting.
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@JayHawkFanToo Very well said. Hmm, lets plot the trajectory of Shaka Smart: his peak was…*wait for it…wait…*way back in 2011…(but UTex is still waiting…). Meanwhile I’m liking Rick Barnes more. Shaka’s record speaks for itself, requires no translation.
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@jaybate-1.0 But how would you define “stack” for Nike-Nova? Thay have some top 100 type guys, but not McDAAs. They seem to be system guys. I think bigs are getting more versatile in 3ability coming out of h.s., with a growing % that can trifectate, more to choose from, even at sub-MickeyD level.
I would even postulate that Jay Wright is wreaking havoc with this anti-stack, craftily looking like a “traditional” roster w/2 bigs, but look at Spellman, effectively allowing Jay to still play as 4+1. Spellman hitting 3x3s in 2nd half just murdered KU literally, and they got Self conceptually, as we had no answer defensively. Udoka totally negated.
