The Kansas GOAT Bracket
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I worked quite a bit over the last several days putting this together. It was informational and frustrating (grrrr survey monkey). I know some will quibble with seedings. Had I tried to get them 100% right, I still would have been wrong. A few words of how I put it together.
Criteria Averaged 10 points a game over at least 2 seasons.
Or Had other significant statistics such as blocks, assists, etc.
1st and 2nd team All Americans, HOF members, and Jerseys retired received the highest seeds.
1 year players generally not considered with 3 notable exceptions. Joel Embiid, Andrew Wiggins, and Ben Mclemore for their significant contributions and continuing success in the NBA.
Some 10+ point a game scorers had to be eliminated. This was my choice as I wanted to include some very old KU players that earned accolades that would have made them household names to us if they played within the last 30-40 years. Those eliminated were Tyshawn Taylor, Russell Robinson, Scott Pollard, Kelly Knight, Ron Kellogg, Kenny Gregory, Tony Guy, Eric Chenowith.
As you will notice, there is an Old timers bracket. Human nature is we’d probably not vote for these guys since we know little about them. Clyde Lovellette is the nearest to a household name in the entire bracket. Research on your own some of these guys. I was amazed at the story of Otto Schnellbacher! It will be fun to see one of these Jayhawks in the Final Four!
Try to focus on college careers instead of pro careers as much as it is possible. Joel Embiid is a great pro, but his 3/4th of a season in Lawrence isn’t enough to elevate him too high on this list in my opinion. But this is a secret ballot so vote how you feel!
Seedings were just loosely developed by the author. I may have underseeded or overseeded guys. Sorry, this took a lot of time, which I happen to have right now, so play along and have fun. Feel free to share the survey monkey link with other sites. It’d be fun to see this get some play.
Finally, if there are glitches please let me know. I shuffled a few guys around last minute. Hopefully I shuffled everything correctly. I’ll have to do this again for subsequent rounds, albeit with fewer choices!
Bill Self Bracket https://s.surveyplanet.com/7K4WvZmyY
Roy Williams Bracket https://s.surveyplanet.com/YR_uORpeW
Phog Allen Bracket https://s.surveyplanet.com/cRv1nTEGJ
James Naismith Bracket https://s.surveyplanet.com/ZAt8YjRI-x
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Someone please let me know if the link works!
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Looks interesting. Sorry schools are out!
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Great! I can see it’s working now.
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I did Self bracket, thinking it was his players
I hardly knew any of them. I just guessed
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Perry vs trob, hard
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@wissox nice work! I enjoyed reading up about Don Lonborg. HOF coach!
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Also I enjoyed the Wiggins vs Embiid matchup and the Morris vs Morris matchup. Both of these were brutal “mid-major like” thinning of the herd hitjobs reminiscent of a real NCAA bracket
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@approxinfinity Hmmm, now I’ll have to read about Don Lonborg!
@Crimsonorblue22 The matchups will get juicier as the rounds move on. It was fun putting the Morris twins in the same bracket, and the OAD contest between Joel and Wigs!
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My favorite old timer was Otto Schnellbacher. I wanted to seed him higher but it was tough because there’s hall of famers and all americans that would have to be seeded behind him. But his story was amazing.
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All I can say is great work, and you’re a mean one. Stacking my favorites against each other is cruel!
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@Kubie Thanks! It was really an amazing exercise. For example, Kirk Hinrich is one of my favs, and I had to seed him 7th! We’ve had so many amazing players through the years and this was a testament to that.
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The Vaughn - Langford match-up is a tough one for me…loved both of those guys and tried to emulate their games!
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@ajvan Yeah I hear you! I loved Langford, one of my favorites too. Loved to watch his amazing slashes to the rim. Greatest finisher I’ve seen in the Crimson and Blue! Yet you have to choose between him and the point guard of arguably the greatest team in Jayhawk history. Wow!
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LOL at the Morris Matchup and the number of years Perry Ellis played @wissox.
Looking forward to the second round!
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@DanR I’m sending it to some others non KUBuckets folk too, so 2nd round will be coming in 2 or 3 days.
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@wissox With Vaughn, it was like having a physicist or poet running the point. Crazy high IQ and the things he did with the ball to finish…wow.
Langford could get to the rim like no other. I’ve often wondered why guys don’t watch tape and emulate his game. So smart, so crafty, so much swag…and still playing, last time I heard.
After the embarrassing first round loss in The Basketball Tournament, one of the players (Mario Little I think) was saying they hadn’t taken TBT seriously and if they field a team next time, they’ll need to go get some of the big dogs. Langford was one of the names he dropped, along with BRush and Chalmers.
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@ajvan I was so excited for that, my son and I went, ugh! Horrible injury to Perry! Landon and DA were just awful!
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Otto isn’t brought up much. Nor Charlie B Black. I need to do more digging myself.
https://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/mar/10/former_ku_great_schnellbacher_dies_84/
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@Crimsonorblue22 It was so disappointing. I listened to the podcast with Elijah for weeks leading up to it. He talked a good game but…big letdown.
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@ajvan kinda knew right away this was not gonna be a KU come Back game. Case had to play!
First time I wanted to leave early. Landon couldn’t get it over the rim. 
🥶 Arthur was 1-50.
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@Crimsonorblue22 They looked like they’d just been messing around in a gym, jacking up shots instead of getting in game shape. Agreed, Landon and Arthur looked especially bad…but the guards were awful too.
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@Crimsonorblue22 They didn’t take it seriously and it showed. I think I turned the game off in the 1st half when it was obvious they weren’t coming back.
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They just sucked!
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2nd round coming today!
