UNDEFEATED SEASON????
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Of course Self doesn’t think it will happen, he thinks Vick is worth the risk. That doesn’t mean it ends well. Self could be desperate because of 3 point shooting, and I wouldn’t blame him.
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BShark said:
I think Vick could easily make the team worse.
This coming from the guy who said Vick and Dok were gone and not going to come back for another season. Come on BShark cant we just have a little fun? We are loaded and have quite the team on paper so until they lose a game cant we just enjoy the fact that we will have the most dominate team since Selfs arrival? Next year will be extremely enjoyable to watch and I can not wait to get started!
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@Statmachine It took a string of recruiting failures to bring Vick back tbf.
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I don’t agree that KU is supposed to win all games by a wide margin, even on paper. While KU should be favorite for most, for several others such as Kentucky, MSU, Tennessee, ASU and a couple of conference games like at KSU and WVU, KU will likely be the underdog or the game a toss up.
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I’m going to guess 4 losses. They have 4 games (assuming they play Tennessee) against Top 10 teams in the non-conference, and only one of those games is in Lawrence. Two neutral site, and one in Rupp against a UK team that looks very strong preseason and should be better by January. Then 9 road games in conference. Two games stand out on the schedule in particular, and this is what I would like to see:
- Beat Kentucky in Lexington - Because it’s Kentucky
- Blow out Villanova in Lawrence - Because we owe them
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UK went 38-1 in 14-15 with a team that was 10 deep. They almost did it… This team could go all the way!
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Statmachine said:
UK went 38-1 in 14-15 with a team that was 10 deep. They almost did it… This team could go all the way!
I’m not seeing the KAT or Devin Booker on this roster for KU. Which is not a knock on KU’s roster, those guys are NBA studs.
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@BShark We have a much better coach. The Squid has future NBA stars every year, and he’s managed to win 1 national championship in 8 years. This year will be the first year in the last 8 years where i feel we won’t be at a huge talent disadvantage to Tucky. Which is why I feel we will beat them at Rupp. They had 4 players drafted last month, two of which were lottery picks. And we beat them with two NBA 2nd round picks. Do we have a realistic chance of going undefeated? Probably not. I think we’ll beat Nova, Tenn, Tucky, and Sparty, though. Can’t see us going undefeated in the B12- it’s too much of a grind to go 18-0. I figure we 16-2 in conference, and we cakewalk a game in the B12 tournament. I DO think we go 6-0 in the big tournament, which is what we care about the most.
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@JayHawkFanToo KU will be the Vegas favorite in every game they play this year except for possibly the Kentucky game.
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@KirkIsMyHinrich Michigan St. probably won’t start the season in the top 10 and since we play them to open the year, at most 3 although I could see Villanova and Kentucky being outside the top 10 when we play each of them as well.
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National Championships take a team with a player or two that are go to guys and that have shown they can carry a team offensively when the team is struggling. Until one or two guys show that during the season I have a hard time jumping on the Championship bandwagon. I do expect a really really good team because the depth will aid with Self’s way of forcing guys to compete and play really hard to just earn minutes.
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Since Travis joined UK, it is now the unanimous pre-season #1 and you think it will not be a top 10 when it plays KU?
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@JayHawkFanToo 2 things, firstly, Reid Travis isn’t that big of an impact player and the people that jumped on that bandwagon are the same ones who are now Laker fans.
Secondly, I didn’t say Kentucky would be outside the top 10 when KU visits, just that I can see it happening. Reason being is that the game is 3 months into the season and Calipari has underachieved frequently enough that I don’t fully trust him to keep Kentucky that high at that point.
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I thought KU handled Travis just fine but most every sports analyst out there believes he was the piece UK needed to become the top team. UK has way too much talent and enough experience to fall off the top 10.
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@JayHawkFanToo Maybe he remembers last year’s NCAA tournament, and is basing his opinion on a team that had the easiest path to the Final Four, and still couldn’t get it done. They open the tourney against 12th seeded Davidson, and barely win by 5. The 4th seed in Tucky’s bracket was AZ, who laid down and died against a very mediocre Buffalo team, who Tucky beat in the 2nd round. Onto the Sweet 16, where instead of playing Overall number 1 seed UVA, they now face off against lowly Silo Tech, Liberace, and a hobbled Dean Wade, and manage to lose. If they had won, they would’ve faced Loyola. It just doesn’t get any easier than that. Now, I’m sure if you go back and look at pre-season last year, Tucky was Top 5 as well. They’re always the best before the season starts, so with pre-conference games against Dook and UNC, and the resurgent SEC, his prediction may be proven right. I’ve learned you can never go wrong underestimating the Squid.
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@KUSTEVE My opinion isn’t based solely on last season, but it is a factor in my opinion. Kentucky has lost double digit games in 3 of the last 6 seasons so the flat out say they’ll be a top 10 team when KU comes to town is not a foregone conclusion.
If they play to their talent level, they should be a top 5 team, but there’s enough recent history to suggest they don’t do that all the time anymore.
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KUSTEVE said:
@BShark I don’t think there would be any plausible excuses if we can’t get back to the Final Four. Anything less than a national championship is going to leave a deep mark this year.
I love your posts buddy I really do , I think you probably know that. However , I just really have some problems thinking this team would go undefeated, I think in this era where we are now a team going undefeated is pretty unlikely, now come on really I mean if you look at the talent that ol rat face has had recently there could be a legit debate that he had teams that could of gone un defeated.
I agree with you we have a very good chance to return to the final four this year, but so many things come into play. Now I’m just going of you saying there would be no plausible excuses - well actually there is - – a big one would be injuries these things don’t have to be limited to just one player either. As we all know so many factors play into making the final four – the /national championship game.
We could have a dominant team through out the regular season , let’s take a look back at who was the team that ran through the season in the past wasn’t it Las Vegas Runnin Rebs with Larry Johnson? Remember that team? - -they was un defeated until THAT GAME. they had a monster team , you can have a really dominant team but all it takes is ONE bad or off night. - - In a tight game , a bad shot in a very important time of the game - - -a costly turnover here or there , a player or a couple of key players getting in foul trouble - - a bad rebounding night where we get best soundly on the boards – -a bad night at the free throw line where the game can be determined - -an example ( remember Memphis in 2008 ) it can happen - I mean seriously you know - -I know that game should of never went to over time. It happens.
We could be very dominant but it just takes one bad night for that perfect season to go out the window and with that name KANSAS written across our jersey - -we take everyone’s best shot every time out , we have to bring it every night as we are a lot of teams NCAA tourney game - we ARE their season. You know where these guys play with half full arena’s for the season but yet when KU plays there it’s packed to the rafters with lunatics crazy hoping court storming idiots playing in their twisted little heads lol. - Teams where just like it is in the tourney where if we played a series best of 7 - we would take 6 of the 7 - but in the tourney it’s one bad game and your out. - Doesn’t mean we are not the more dominant better team - -just means one this one night - - ya know? - -lookback to OUR 1988 National Championship team bud. - I know you wouldn’t tell me that our team was the best team in America - just so happens we got hot behind Danny got on a roll - -a few teams got knocked out that we didn’t have to face. Your right it will leave a mark - it will hurt. - -But a perfect season? - - I just don’t think so -A National Championship - -as always let’s hope – got a really good shot - we look really really good on paper - -yet that’s why they play the game. - - Love your post man keep it up - Who am I - just a looney ol man rambling on lmao - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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Statmachine said:
Where in the top 25 would KU’s b team be ranked? Does practicing against a top 25 b team every day prepare KU for a perfect season? On paper we should win every game by a wide margin so whos to say we don’t? I know its highly unlikely but still possible.
I think we are or should be a top 1-2 - 3 at the lowest - can’t see anything lower then that with what this team is made up of
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@jayballer73 Anything can happen in the tournament. If we get a wave of injuries, it could certainly change things. But this year we have the bench to withstand it.
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KUSTEVE said:
@jayballer73 Anything can happen in the tournament. If we get a wave of injuries, it could certainly change things. But this year we have the bench to withstand it.
Very true , we do have the bench - but yet injuries could be just enough to keep us from obtaining that ultimate goal. - -ROCK CHAL ALL ADY LONG BABY
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KUSTEVE said:
@jayballer73 Anything can happen in the tournament. If we get a wave of injuries, it could certainly change things. But this year we have the bench to withstand it.
I think this year really showed that. KU made a FF but could have easily lost any game except the Penn game.
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The challenge of going undefeated is conference play. In every conference, there is at least one road game where a team just doesn’t play well, usually two.
For KU, that’s Morgantown and Stillwater.
For Gonzaga, it’s St. Mary’s.
For Kentucky, it’s Gainesville or one of their random trips to the SEC West.
For Duke and UNC, it’s each other.
For Arizona, it’s the NoCal trip (Stanford/Cal).
It’s pretty rare for each of those teams to survive those games I just listed unscathed.
The same is true for mid majors. There’s a nightmare roadtrip in there that they just struggle with.
And even if you survive those games, you still have six progressively harder games in March to deal with.
The three best teams of the last decade (2012 Kentucky, 2015 Kentucky and 2018 Villanova) all had their issues. 2012 UK lost two games, a buzzer beater to Indiana and a loss in the SEC title game (going for their third win of the season over a good Vanderbilt squad). 2015 Kentucky made it through the regular season unbeaten, but ran into the best Wisconsin team in the history of their program. 2018 Villanova was a juggernaut, but they lost four games (at Butler, at Providence, at Creighton and that bizarre loss to St. Johns when the Red Storm were briefly the best team in the country - losing by only 5 to Xavier, then beating Duke, Villanova, Marquette and DePaul consecutively to break an 11 game losing streak).
College hoops is just too weird. A team can randomly get hot from three because the shorter three point line introduces more randomness. A guy can randomly get hot because college defenses aren’t geared to stopping one guy often times. A matchup can go unexploited because college offenses aren’t always geared to exploiting a mismatch, or players aren’t skilled enough to fully exploit a mismatch.
That makes it hard to just assume a team with more talent will automatically win. And that makes going undefeated as dependent on luck as it does on talent.
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Texas Hawk 10 said:
@KUSTEVE My opinion isn’t based solely on last season, but it is a factor in my opinion. Kentucky has lost double digit games in 3 of the last 6 seasons so the flat out say they’ll be a top 10 team when KU comes to town is not a foregone conclusion.
If they play to their talent level, they should be a top 5 team, but there’s enough recent history to suggest they don’t do that all the time anymore.
…and KU lost last season back to back games to Washington at the Sprint Center by 9 and to Arizona State by 10 at home, and then by 12 to TTU at home, by 16 at Baylor and by 18 at OSU …that is 4 games by double digits and it still ended up a #1 seed. So you can say that KU also loses multiple games by double digits. The days of a team going undefeated are gone and any team can lose to any other team by double digits…UVA, the overall #1 seed lost to #16 seed UMBC by 20…
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Again UK went 38-1 in 14-15 with a team that was 10 deep. They almost did it and I still think its possible just like 15 consecutive conference victories.
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We should go ahead and make t-shirts like UK did in 14-15 to start the hype machine! Get some KU NCAA 2019 championship hats made too!
