Jan 23: News Headlines Digest



  • @globaljaybird Thanks. My boss (who read this first) called me from Colorado where he is vacationing just to tell me about it. He knows my passion for all things KU.

    I felt I needed to put the disclaimer in there because I don’t have a subscription.

    In the article they mention 2 videos that I couldn’t figure out how to get in here. One is Joel’s scouting video and the other is a video of Joel vs. Andrew in high school. Check them out.



  • @RockChalkinTexas Is your company hiring?



  • @approxinfinity One comment on each story: Why are the Bears green? Most Bears I’ve seen are brownish, blackish, or whitish.

    Alexander’s Jam Time Band is playing to rave reviews in Chicago. I read the papers there and he is putting up some monster numbers against top teams.

    Wooden awards don’t matter much just like Heismanns. It’s a nice honor, but it’s not a predictor of success, just ask Tim Tebow, Ron Dayne, etc. etc. etc.

    Embiid is very good, so is Wiggins. Embiid should have made the Wooden list, but three years ago, I bet he never had heard of it.

    Sorry to hear about Tyshawn. He played decently when Darren Williams was hurt, thought he might be valued as a backup there but I guess not.

    The article on Embiid in the WSJ was nice, but nothing new for us seasoned Jayhawk fanatics.



  • @globaljaybird Remember Nate and the Kings well. Which reminds me of a change in bBall equipment. I got to play exhibition at half time on that court once. one thing about those goals back in the day. They had zero give and the balls were really inflated making for a lot of misses and rebounds. These days the breakaway goal that gives when you dunk hard means a bit of give-helps the shooters touch. I’m okay with that, just saying the goals have changed.



  • @wissoxfan83-In another month or two, the Wooden list will again be altered to the final 15 & they will add or subtract players again. Joel might well be on the list then. Barring serious injury, I’d be quite dismayed if he’s not. JMO



  • @globaljaybird glottal call you on that Patton quote. If George C. Scott quoted Patten correctly. In the movie he narrates a scene describing a slave whispering a warning to a victor, “All glory is fleeting.”



  • Glottal??? And I swear I haven’t been drinking.



  • @JayhawkRock78-Wedman, Lacey, Birdsong, Grunfield; they had a whale of a team that not enough people supported buying tickets. Most speculation suggests that college hoops has the BB attendance market pretty well sewn up here in the metro.

    I could stand to be corrected by @jaybate 1,0, but I believe there have been more Final Fours played at old Municipal Auditorium than any other arena in the USA. I’ve literally been to hundreds of BB games, concerts, rodeos, & circuses there since the 1950’s. That’s why I was so thrilled to see it get refurbished & UMKC start playing their home schedule again there this season. When they began their D 1 program 20+ yrs ago, my nephew was one of Lee Hunt’s first recruits from Memphis. When Ron & Dumas played together there in the early 90’s, they had a pretty decent 3/4 year run & played a lot of Big 8 schools in their non con. The year Huggins made the FF, his Bearcats only beat them by one at the buzzer. I was too outta shape to play then, but many of my friends used to play in charity games there, with Royals, Chiefs, etc.



  • @JayhawkRock78 Probably was Scott-anyway, it damn sure is.



  • @globaljaybird That was a really great way to start my hoops reading day. And I don’t think you are pipe dreaming even a little. Fouls and/or injuries and sickness will trigger the situation you are talking about sooner or later this season. And I agree with you that these back ups are going to be up to the challenge.

    Regarding Tiny, he was a positively super PG who went on to Boston and Bill Fitch and Larry Bird and won an NBA ring as the leader of the team. After years of scoring big for the not so good Kings, no one thought he could fit in an ever win a ring. Boy did they misread a great talent. Put him with the Boston team and, like the great pro he was, he blended right in and delivered them to a championship.

    Another thing persons forget about Tiny Archibald is that he played for Don Haskins at UTEP and that means that Tiny was an Okie Baller. Haskins is famous for the Texas Western aka UTEP team that beat KU and then UK for the ring, but young folks often forget that Haskins, who was one of the few guys that Bob Knight truly deferred to, was one of Iba’s big three disciples: Haskins, Sutton, and Hartman.

    Thanks for recalling Tiny for me and though it hadn’t occurred to me to compare Frank with Tiny, I do believe you are right that there are parallels and that they could develop much further.



  • I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but I heard Cliff is suspended for the next 2 games. Anybody know what happened?



  • @jaybate 1.0 My dad used to visit the El Paso haunts in his younger days, and met Haskins at a bar one night. They proceeded to become best friends in the world for that one night, at least that’s the way Dad used to tell the story. I’ll never forget that tournament game where UTEP took us down that one year. Dad was from Kansas, but was never a huge KU fan, so I heard about UTEP beating us for years. I didn’t like it at the time, but I sure wish he were still around to give me a hard time about that game.



  • @eleehehe

    Unless it is a new one I have not heard of, the suspension was back in early December and was the result of being ejected for picking up 2 Technical fouls in one game. The first one was for taunting and the second for hanging on the rim.

    Since the next game was cancelled due to bad weather, the suspension was postponed so he was able to play in the Chicago Elite Classic Tournament and served the one game suspension later. Not a big deal.



  • @JayHawkFanToo Ah I went back to the article and I missed the date. I appreciate the info.



  • @KUSTEVE Dads do leave a big hole when they go!



  • After coming back from Viet Nam, I was in the reserves for two years in KC. They needed volunteers for the Color Guard. No one signed up. The officer in charge was bitching about not getting anyone and said to me, the reason we need them is so we can do the colors before every home Kings game. For two years I marched out to Center court then sat in the front row with my wife, my brother and his wife for two years. Bob Cousy was our coach,. Chamberlain played for the Lakers. Dr. J played for the Sixers. Bob McAdoo got kicked out of a game and kicked the basketball to the top row of Municipal. Tiny would score 50 points a night and Kareem would just shake his head when he got dipsey-doodled by Tiny. My cat’s name is also Tiny. Frank has the speed of Tiny but doesn’t quite have the moves yet. Spud Webb was smaller than Tiny and won the NBA dunk contest.



  • @KUSTEVE - Don’t remember ever being sooooooo POed over a game as a teenager as when they called JoJo for stepping on the line as he knocked down the shot that shoulda won it. Haven’t looked it up but seems to me it ended like 88-87. What a heartbreaker the way it unfolded.



  • @jaybate 1.0 My father was a Wichita St grad, and all his kids went to KU. He always had a chip on his shoulder about KU- he always thought KU basketball fans were uppity…lololol.



  • @globaljaybird I was too young to remember that. I started getting interested in KU when I saw them play Villanova in the NCAA tournament back in 1971, or 1972…maybe? I remember Dave Robish was KU’s big man. I was hooked from the first game. I remember I went up on the roof at halftime, and swung the tv antenna around so the picture would come in better. Those were the days…



  • Self is doing the same thing he did earlier in the season… he’s playing Frank against Naa, trying to keep pushing Naa for better performance. It worked the first time and Naa opened up as a real offensive threat with his 3-ball.

    Naa’s biggest weakness now is his defense. Most PGs we’ve faced have continually dogged Naa, and I’m not sure why. Naa has speed, including decent lateral speed, but he keeps getting burned off the drive and has resorted to arm bars to slow down his man… which is getting whistled now.

    Naa hasn’t figured out how to hedge his man and play the driving lanes. He needs to hedge more and get right in his man’s underwear out on the key. The refs are starting to call it with a bit more fairness to the defensive player now, and if the ball handler drops his shoulder and the defender helps sell the call, defenders are starting to get the calls again. Naa needs to play with more contact and know how to play it to get calls.

    Frank should be his example. Frank is still learning, too, but he doesn’t fret the contact, he aggressively seeks it out!

    If Naa can figure out his defense, we’ll be a much better team because our defense is starting to step up now, but it can’t ever be very good without decent defense from our PG.



  • @wrwlumpy Oh wow…I remember those teams. The Kansas City Kings.



  • @globaljaybird With all the joy at winning the OSU game, I forgot that my first thought was that Frank actually made the wrong play…he shouldn’t have tried to knock the ball loose…could have been a disaster…but it worked out.



  • @wrwlumpy-Kool stuff lumpy, thanks for the memories & all you sacrificed too. jaybate 1.0 reminded me that Nate won the title at Boston before he retired. I remembered that Wedman played for the Celtics after KC, as he played at Colorado & I followed BG 8 ball close, but I’d also forgotten about Cousey as well. Some things are a tad more faded than a few years ago-if not for google, I’d be like Hogan’s goat without you guys making the clock tick in reverse.

    I sure remember taking that flippin Army physical at the old induction building & the s**ty chow across the street at Fred Harvey’s in Union Station. Some guys even said they found buckshot in the food & most of us didn’t even attempt to eat that krap. Ah yes, those were the days we shared fellas, most definitely not the best, but the worst for sure. The women were young & hot, the beer was frosty & cold, & the damn bullets were real as real could be. Following KU BB was one of the few pleasures I could actually sustain back then without looking over the shoulder.



  • @wissoxfan83 Yeah, that color should not be allowed for away uniforms. That green is brighter than white!



  • @HighEliteMajor Agree on Tharpe shooting. Ridic 3% in conf play. As I have said all along, Tharpe in his own head, sees himself as a scorer & shooter–> and is nothing but a 6ft tall combo guard. After all, that is what Self “likes” when he recruits a kid. Kid gotta be able to score, and Self will teach the rest.

    Oh, and the announcers just dont know: Frankamp is not the “best shooter on the team”. The best 3 shooter, statistically is Tharpe, I believe. Definitely in BigXII play. His experience shows. It’s suddenly not about high school anymore. Its about what a kid can do for KU. Thats the best way he can make himself look good. Do what the team needs.



  • @approxinfinity

    I always thought those uniforms look like glow-in-the- dark rubbers. 🙂


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