Elmarko
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@BShark I honestly think he becomes a solid player in a few seasons. I feel like we have struggled to get guys to buy in long term. TGF is a prime example IMO. I’d like to see us keep a nucleus of players and pick up a few guys that are shooters and/or can go get a bucket. A guy today that can go get a tough bucket to stop a run.
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@FarmerJayhawk said in Elmarko:
Heard earlier it was more likely than not he’d be back but teenagers are notoriously consistent with their decision making
It’s going to be a bumpy road. This was a very recent shift and I felt confident enough to call it a prediction but obviously things can change. AGAIN. lol
If the coaching staff was banking on Elmarko to replace mccullar over a transfer then this is for the better
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@rcjhdraft agree
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Im good with Elmarko returning but hes not going to replace Kevins shooting, at least not next year, imo.
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I think we need to recruit as if Elmarko is the backup PG primarily and find a starting 2. Elmarko can work his ass off and take more time from Dajuan at PG. If he develops a reliable 3 he can earn more minutes at 1 and 2.
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Marko just goes solo, it’s a no from me.
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@approxinfinity Philon gonna be better I think.
Elmarko turns it over, dribbles and falls down and can’t score outside 10 feet. I’m good moving on
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@Crimsonorblue22 said in Elmarko:
Marko just goes solo, it’s a no from me.
Crimson! I’ve never heard such harsh words from you!
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Its interesting that elite hs talent guards can be so incongruous with the teams actual needs, Grimes before this. Beyond recruiting for a position, mentality seems incongruous as @Crimsonorblue22 said. As if “go get me the best talent” wasnt a specific enough directive.
Re: @Texas-Hawk-10 ’s statement about AAU leaving players incomplete, would like to recruit more internationals, I think, if paying them isnt a pain in the ass.
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The talent evaluators all knew Elmarko wasn’t a finished product coming out (think a raw big with oodles of potential but not the consistency). His growth in the last 2 years of HS, athleticism and growing playmaking skills got him ranked where he was because of what they thought he’d become at KU.
Elmarko has only been playing basketball 5/6 years so he’s behind.
After a year here, he’s further behind then anyone could imagine. Been hit or miss with top ranked guards lately I’d say. Dotson came prepared to handle it.
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@BeddieKU23 right. But its the mental side of things we need to do better at. Dotson was a 3 sport athlete, Embiid grew up playing soccer. All the internationals are growing immensely by coming here and seeing life in an entirely different society. Maybe there is a lack of robustness of mind, groundedness, when you are a single (? Is he?) sport athlete produced by the AAU puppy mill.
Im struggling to articulate, help me pick at this thread if it strikes a chord?
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Also i wonder if other sports might teach you to be more of a team player?
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@approxinfinity said in Elmarko:
@BeddieKU23 right. But its the mental side of things we need to do better at. Dotson was a 3 sport athlete, Embiid grew up playing soccer. All the internationals are growing immensely by coming here and seeing life in an entirely different society. Maybe there is a lack of robustness of mind, groundedness, when you are a single (? Is he?) sport athlete produced by the AAU puppy mill.
Im struggling to articulate, help me pick at this thread if it strikes a chord?
If Elmarko is included in your thoughts here, don’t forget that he was a growing Lacrosse star.
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Scouts and coaches will always tell you it’s good for your kids to do other sports.
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There was talk that Elmarko was a better practice player then in games. It was evident from most of his play this year he was not ready for this level, mentally. Who knows if they expected him to start or play a large role before the season but as we know the Morris situation forced their hand. In any case the highly ranked and highly touted player coming in did not live up to expectations. Most of us expected to see some version of why he was highly ranked and we saw far and few evidence to back it up. His rise from unranked prospect to top tier might have been a mis-eval but there was a lot of positives said about him from evaluators to coaches so how did everyone miss the boat?
I hate to use absolutes with freshman because an offseason to reflect and start over in this program has led to far more players improving then not but I have my doubts like many on him. It’s not just the mental mistakes on both sides, it’s the lack of skill that worries me most. Did anyone ever feel comfortable with him dribbling the ball or having to make a pass? It was cringe.
After a full season he could not be trusted to run simple plays at lead guard or defend opposing guards from getting anything they wanted. Self could not depend on him to do anything Juan does, leaving him no choice but to play him at ‘SG’ which we saw didn’t work either. When you don’t have the skills to play either backcourt position what do you do?
I’m guessing the coaches know more about his mental approach and ability to play at this level but I do think it’s a hard question they must ask.
Perhaps all of this is just segwaying into the bigger issue about development at the HS and prep level due to the challenges covid presented among other development issues. AAU ball is a joke, kids are reclassifying at record pace every year, there are lots of players who transfer multiple times in High School now, another recent phenomenon. That lost year for so many set the sport back more then we can measure. The lost year changed so much of how things were done.
On the other side it also left grown men in the game when before it was rare to see guys over 22 still playing. Now you got 5th and 6th year guys still hooping with 18 year olds creating this big gap in physical and mental development. I think that’s negatively shaped our opinions of younger players because nobody is winning right now with a young roster. “Stay Old” is the new model coaches are following. It’s hard to have patience now when everything is being catered to the now
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No more lacrosse players. No more softies like Kevin. Need life long hoopers. DOGS.
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No more lacrosse players. No more softies like Kevin. Need life long hoopers. DOGS.
EXACTLY - - - spot on 100 % - - No more Lacrosse- - -Volleyball , what the hell eve, Basketball - -Basketball , – Basketball players only - -Basketball is what your getting your free ride on so – SHOW ME your BASKETBALL SKILLS . - Not Lacrosse , Volleyball , Badminton- -no we nee top Dog Alpha Basketball players
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@jayballer67 I have a nephew who was a standout baseball player in high school. Pro scouts were at all of his games. He decided to play basketball his senior year against…EVERYONE’S wishes. Tore up his ankle AND knee and oooops - no more baseball career. Now he’s a chiropractor. Not a terrible career, but also not a Pro Baseball Player.
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I’m a big fan of guys that have played multiple sports. Withey and Embiid are good examples
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@nuleafjhawk said in Elmarko:
@jayballer67 I have a nephew who was a standout baseball player in high school. Pro scouts were at all of his games. He decided to play basketball his senior year against…EVERYONE’S wishes. Tore up his ankle AND knee and oooops - no more baseball career. Now he’s a chiropractor. Not a terrible career, but also not a Pro Baseball Player.
yep, understand . I played Basketball in High School-- - but baseball was my nu one sport , actually was suppose to play with Cincinnati Reds, starting in their AA league long time ago - -and yet the Season I was suppose to go -I got hurt playing Basketball - screwed my back up , never was the same - -so much for my Baseball career
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@FarmerJayhawk - lest we forget Wilt Chanberlain…
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@FarmerJayhawk Doke too!
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@Gorilla72 the best!
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No more lacrosse players. No more softies like Kevin. Need life long hoopers. DOGS.
We need a Chicago or New York kid that grew up playing ball on the streets
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Most college coaches prefer athletes who don’t specialize and play other sports because those other sports develop different skill sets.
Even most of our top players in the Self Era were multi-sport athletes until their senior years of high school amd could’ve played at a high major level in multiple sports.
With KU, Withey and Wilt were volleyball players, Sherron Collins was a WR in football, our African recruits first played soccer, KJ was a lacrosse player.
Withey’s volleyball background is why he was a great shot blocker, KJ’s lacrosse is why he has great hand-eye coordination, soccer is why so many African kids have elite level footwork, those that played football are generally not afraid of contact when driving. I don’t know has a baseball background, but similar to lacrosse, baseball players tend to have great hand-eye coordination as well.
Speaking of all time great players, MJ was a baseball player, LeBron was an elite football player, Kobe and Hakeem Olajuwon were great soccer players as well as kids.
I’d absolutely prefer kids that didn’t specialize in basketball from a young age and would rather have those kids that were 3-4 sport athletes in school because there’s a whole lot of other skills being developed and enhanced that translate very well to basketball that wouldn’t necessarily be developed otherwise.
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Wilt was great in track!
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@Texas-Hawk-10 all that diversity of movement helps with durability as well
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@FarmerJayhawk using different muscle groups is good and healthy.
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Adding to the list of great players who played multiple sports, Jackie Robinson was a 4 sport athlete at UCLA playing football, basketball, track, and baseball there.
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I think most of the best athletes played more than one sport. The best player in the nfl Mahomes played multiple and the best NBA player LeBron did too. I think playing multiple sports help develop better foot work and hand/eye coordination.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 AAU is garbage anymore, Kobe always talked about how much better he was playing a lot overseas compared to here. Read an article that said over seas they played 1 game in a 10 day stretch with 8 practices. While here one or no practices and a weekend full of games. Said the fundamentals were garbage, stuff he still worked on every single day as a pro. Statistically speaking it’s said spend 20 minutes a day practicing something, you will be better than 90% of the world at that thing in one years time.
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All this for nothing, it sounds like.
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Meaning he’ll be back?
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@BeddieKU23 said in Elmarko:
Meaning he’ll be back?
That’s what is now circulating. Shout out KJ Adams dad on this one. Was truly a coinflip with different messaging on different days.
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Good. As rough as Elmarko’s year was I really want to see him return for a redemption story. I have a good feeling the staff believes in his abilities, they just need to figure out which switch is going to turn it on full-time. I always thought he had a good head on his shoulders and was taught well, got the feeling he wouldn’t bail after some adversity. We’ll see if that is true but I’ll be really hopeful again an offseason here could make the difference to him being an impactful player.
I’m also gushing at the skill and athleticism this team might have next year. Bill assembling a real one
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I guess the question is how can the coaching staff mold or make something out of Elmarko?
He’s got a good basketball body. Seems to have quickness and mobility.
Does anybody truly think he can eventually be a productive PG? Or will they try to make him a driver/scorer?
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@rockchalkjayhawk said in Elmarko:
I guess the question is how can the coaching staff mold or make something out of Elmarko?
He’s got a good basketball body. Seems to have quickness and mobility.
Does anybody truly think he can eventually be a productive PG? Or will they try to make him a driver/scorer?
Elmarko has game footage of himself against top level competition. He knows what his weaknesses are and what his strengths were. The biggest improvement in players typically comes between years 1 and 2. Hopefully Elmarko gets with a trainer this summer to work on the holes in his game and continue developing. His athleticism means he has the tools to be a Mason/Graham/Dotson style PG for KU.
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Wishing for the best. Hope he comes humble and hungry. The quickness is there. Recognition may follow.
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Some of it will have to come from Elmarko himself through natural maturation from year 1 to year 2. Things that he was learning last year will be more natural and so on which should lead to natural development and a comfort in what he’s doing so improvement occurs easier.
The staff should develop a plan for him this offseason and to figure out what role they want from him. I don’t think the plan for his freshman season was met.
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He’s already matured some by just staying, knowing he can learn here.
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@BeddieKU23 said in Elmarko:
Some of it will have to come from Elmarko himself through natural maturation from year 1 to year 2. Things that he was learning last year will be more natural and so on which should lead to natural development and a comfort in what he’s doing so improvement occurs easier.
The staff should develop a plan for him this offseason and to figure out what role they want from him. I don’t think the plan for his freshman season was met.
The plan for Elmarko changed because he wasn’t supposed to play off the ball. He was supposed to be Dejuan’s back up. Arterio Morris being kicked off the team led to that change and completely altered the outlook of the season.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 100000%
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@BeddieKU23 I would like him to work on his skills in driving and finishing at the rim, likes of Mason, TT, and Daveonte.
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I see a lot of TT in Elmarko but with a better shot, he will be a great player in a few years if he puts in the work. His pull up game is already pretty salty, he just need to be aggressive.
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Bill heavily implied Marko will be back https://x.com/glenn_kinley/status/1778587672937705888?s=46&t=c0LiaNrxev6XfT7LIH8dAQ
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Bummer
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@FarmerJayhawk said in Elmarko:
Bill heavily implied Marko will be back https://x.com/glenn_kinley/status/1778587672937705888?s=46&t=c0LiaNrxev6XfT7LIH8dAQ
They want him back, but also recommend reading Swain’s thread.
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@FarmerJayhawk said in Elmarko:
Bill heavily implied Marko will be back https://x.com/glenn_kinley/status/1778587672937705888?s=46&t=c0LiaNrxev6XfT7LIH8dAQ
They want him back, but also recommend reading Swain’s thread.
Sure, the buzz has been trending that he’s back
