January 24: News Headlines Digest
-
**Also see Our Daily Threads (Jan 24) and the News Digest for yesterday (January 23) as well as Daily Threads for Yesterday (January 23) **
##Newell: Self says KU’s offense should be better##
LAWRENCE — Though his Kansas team ranks at the top of nearly every statistical measure in Big 12 play, Bill Self says there is still room for his team’s offense to grow.
“I feel like our offense hasn’t been so good,” the KU coach said during his weekly news conference Thursday. “I think our numbers have been good. Our numbers are misleading.”
###Dodd: KU freshman Brannen Greene tries to remain patient###
LAWRENCE — During his first semester on campus, Brannen Greene’s role at Kansas basically amounted to this: Andrew Wiggins’ practice defender.
It’s not what Greene, a freshman small forward, envisioned when he signed with KU in the fall of 2012. He was one of the top 30 recruits in the country, a player with length and skill, and four-star prospects never plan on sitting on the bench.
####KU’s Black feeling the love, and feeling better, after sprain####
Silence gripped Allen Fieldhouse on Monday night as Kansas University senior forward Tarik Black sat on the floor, wincing in pain after spraining his right ankle in a victory over Baylor. Black, who said he appreciated the love and concern from fans, was able to practice in non-contact drills on Thursday and is expected to play in Saturday’s contest at TCU.
####WSJ: The 7-Footer Who Snuck Up on College Basketball####
Joel Embiid started playing organized basketball only in late 2011. Before that, he played volleyball and soccer in Cameroon, his native land.
Now he’s projected to be the NBA draft’s No. 1 pick come June.
####KC Star Andrew Wiggins can’t control Expectations
LAWRENCE — Andrew Wiggins is a fabulously talented basketball player and the truth in there can be explained simply in one sentence. As a freshman, he is the leading scorer and best defender on a top 10 college basketball team, and a lot of people can’t stop talking about how he stinks.
**Also see Our Daily Threads (Jan 24) and the News Digest for yesterday (January 23) as well as Daily Threads for Yesterday (January 23) **
-
@approxinfinity It is good to see Coach Self publicly acknowledge his teams major weakness. I hope it means that he can do something to move that particular issue in the right direction. Our guys don’t need to be turning the ball over 16 times a game when March Madness comes 'round. I mean this is almost a beating the dead horse moment. We’ve been saying this on here for days and days and it keeps being not dead. Here’s hoping also that Coach identifies the higher turnover rates during zones and traps; and that something can be done to fix that as well.
-
@approxinfinity I hope that Brannen sticks around. Met him and the rest of the team briefly after a preseason game in AFH and he seems like a good kid. From what he says here, it looks like he has taken notice of players like Releford and how they have stayed 4-5 years on one of the best teams in college ball and ended up making a big impact. Now that I say it, I bet that Releford even talked to some of our freshmen and sophs wanting more playing time this year when he was in town. They might have even read his book, which I would also like to do btw.
-
Just the fact that Greene was made available to the media shows a degree of trust. Everyone knew he would get questions about playing time and the temptation to transfer.
Now, when is White going to be made available to the media?
-
I agree with the posters above that the fact that Greene was made available to the media offers a very telling sign that Greene is an important part of this team.
To me Greene has all the intangibles. He’s a great shooter, he has confidence (which is clear when he’s not worried about getting the quick hook, which makes no sense when you consider that Self would have to be ok with all the mental mistakes Selden makes–but I digress), and watching him closely, I feel that his defense is much better than people give him credit for. I also think that he looks comfortable with the ball, which has for a long time been something that I never really saw in AWIII.
That being said, I don’t buy what Self is trying to sell about White. “Before he got injured he was probably ahead of those guys (Frankamp and Greene).” He didn’t tear an ACL, or break his wrist. He had a hip pointer and was out for two games (I believe). So it’s not as if he’s coming back from a devastating injury where he needed to completely refocus and refine all his skills. I just don’t see this as being true at all. He’s so far behind that he hasn’t played since he got a couple of minutes against SDSU? I don’t buy that. Either that or he’s just the most godawful player in practice ever (which again can’t be true based on what Self has already said).
In my mind, the concern over White’s likeliness to transfer is wasting your breath. He’s gone. And quite frankly, he should leave. If he was my son I’d tell him to. Unless something drastic changes, which I don’t see happening, this will be another year of eligibility lost on the bench. White may not be a slam dunk NBA prospect by any means, but why can’t he be a guy that does enough in college to get drafted and gets in his chance in the NBA? In order to do that he’s got to be given his chance, and the future doesn’t look promising. Self has already showed that he’s wiling to play guys that have been around the program less time ahead of White (a guy who Self said worked harder than everyone in the offseason), so why wouldn’t that be the case in next year’s lineup? With Oubre coming in and the possibility of still having Selden, Greene, and Frankamp next year, it would be naive to think that what has happened so far this year won’t happen all over again next year.
I have no issue in Self playing the players that give us the best opportunity to win, but if there’s nothing going on behind the scenes (like White already telling Self that he will transfer, which I think may have already happened), then why can’t White get even a little look? 3-4 minutes? To me the answer is obvious. It’s a done deal.
Typically when guys leave, I act like the spurned lover. But with AWIII, I would be genuinely upset to see him go. He’s a good player and could turn into something very special at KU, but it looks like he won’t get his chance. I (would) hate to see him go, but (would) wish him the best.
-
@MoonwalkMafia If it’s a “done deal”, White shouldn’t have played at all second semester. A few minutes on the floor and he lost an extra semester of eligibility.
Right now, he has no good choice: either redshirt here and hope for minutes someday, or transfer and redshirt. Maybe he’s waiting to see if Greene stays…
-
@ParisHawk didn’t the semester start this week?
-
@Crimsonorblue22 Oh, is that right? OK, I take it back. Does this mean White could transfer and play second semester next year? I think it does, but I just found out I can be wrong
-
I’ll be honest, I don’t know a ton about eligibility by semester and how that works with the school’s semesters.
That being said, the game against SDSU was over two weeks before the start of the spring semester.
-
Here is a great article about Wiggins and how he is doing versus expectations.
-
A player must receive a written permission-to-contact letter from his current coach. He must have spent a full year in “academic residence” – i.e., attending classes as a full-time, 12-credit-hours-or-insert-your-school’s-equivalency student – before he is eligible to get back on the court at his new school.
All you need to know about transfer is right here.
-
@MoonwalkMafia-Yogi himself couldn’t have prophesized it more eloquently,“deaj vu all over again.” White is a pure shooter that could immediately impact a boxcar load of D 1 schools if he goes. I also think he should & will. Regardless if Wayne returns, AW III will be in a mele for minutes vs the others remaining plus Oubre. Oubre himself will have to fight Greene for minutes also, & unless Bill can convince someone to redshirt, we’ll have another logjam even without Wayne or White. I’ve just been thrilled about Brannen Greene since he signed day one. 6’-7’’, great leaper, strong finisher, excellent rebounder, quick defensively to get through screens & help, hedge, or slide, PLUS he can shoot the flippin lights out! He’s exceptionally quick to recognize & adjust mistakes, has super court vision, seems to instinctively know how to fill the passing lanes, & has plenty of confidence, PLUS he’s getting tested in the gym defensively as tough as maybe anyone in D 1 ball by Wigs & Wayne & Joel on a daily basis. If Brannen doesn’t jump ship himself, I can envision him as, not only as the prolific lockdown guy Travis became, but packing an offensive arsenal well beyond, what I describe as Rele’s “38 Special game”-good, real strong pop/punch & mighty when you need it, but a slightly lesser weapon than many adversaries have, & best equipped & suitable for close range conflicts. I think Brannen Greene is the complete package like Rush, who is a potential 3 to 4 year player that will develop more every year forward. I also really dig his roots from PSU where my Dad was a 3 year & 3 letter athlete in the 1920’s. Again though, these are just my opinions & gut feelings, & I’ve been wrong many times before.
-
@Kip_McSmithers Thanks, Kip. So to play second semester elsewhere next year, AWIII needed to enroll there before semester started.
-
@ParisHawk technically we played mon pm, before semester started. I think we would have heard!
-
@ParisHawk : If I’m reading it correctly he would have needed to be enrolled and started classes already to be able to play second semester at new school. I’m still hoping he stays and has a huge impact as a JR(RS) and SR(RS)…
-
@Kip_McSmithers I agree, but couldn’t fault him for leaving!
-
@ParisHawk Actually, transferring at semester would mean nothing for AW3. It only means something for someone that doesn’t play at all that season (see Withey example below).
You have 4 seasons of playing time. You can’ break season up by semester. Once you play in that particular season, one season of eligibility is gone (except for a med redshirt b/c of an early season injury).
So White only has two seasons left. He would not have had 2 1/2 if he would have left at semester.
When you transfer, you have to sit out two semesters before being eligible. That can be in different seasons. So if White transferred at semester, he would be a junior starting the second half of next season. So just better to stay here for the season and have two full seasons left.
Contrast that to Jeff Withey. He did not play his first season at AZ. So that was his redshirt year. He transferred at semester. He was eligible to play at semester of the next season, as a freshman.
Hope that helps.
-
@globaljaybird Interesting take. Very interesting.
-
@MoonwalkMafia You may be onto something here.
-
@MoonwalkMafia I don’t buy what Self is saying, either. Notice that he did not say “Andrew has a great future here.” Nothing like that.
His statement was more like the hugs and kisses you hear from both sides when a player transfers.
White hasn’t played since the January 6 article by Jesse Newell where White didn’t come out and say that he wasn’t transferring. Here’s his quote, link below:
Though there has been some online speculation about White transferring, he said that thought wasn’t on his mind. “It would be selfish to think about another school at this point in the year. We’re not even halfway through the season,” White said. “So right now, I’m just trying to help this team, play as much as I can and do what I have to do to help this team win. I’m not thinking about transferring anything. I’m just focused on Kansas basketball.”
http://cjonline.com/sports/2014-01-06/kus-white-back-flow-after-hip-injury
-
@MoonwalkMafia The AW 3 story makes zero sense. I have been baffled wondering what the real story is. I keep hearing he is not in the doghouse, but from what was said about him early season, I just can’t buy a hip pointer has kept him out for two months.
-
@MoonwalkMafia AW3 story is turning about to be like Peter’s, drama filled. I hope he stays at KU but I will not be disappointed at him if he decides to leave.
-
Not worried about AW3. I just want the team to keep improving. Want W’s. We are too deep only because Self scored on the recruiting trail, and perhaps consciously stacked his deck after that no-bench 2012 TyshawnHawks made it all the way to the champ game, yet fell short. Gee would have been nice to have 2 more guys to throw at Kentucky…(more fouls to give, thus more aggressive play…who knows…?)
-
@ralster I’ve often wondered whether that “no-bench” was a weakness or a strength, as far as looking at the season as a whole goes. For example, Tyshawn had as good of a second half of the season as we’ve seen from a player, but his first half was fairly Tyshawn-esque. One game you’d see the good Tyshawn, the next maybe the bad. If Self had another option on the bench, does Tyshawn get the opportunity to play through that and elevate his game to what we saw once conference play started? I don’t know. EJ & Releford thrived after finally being given starting roles and all the playing time they could handle. Does that happen if Self had the quick hook option at his disposal? I think given the lack of trust those guys had banked coming into the season, maybe not. I find myself often thinking that the lack of a bench that season might have been the best thing for Self at the time.
I also don’t think for a second that Self believes that, and that season - playing with no bench, and then specifically running into & falling to Kentucky in the championship game, has caused Bill to up his game on the recruiting trail. Awhile back on a kusports thread I did a breakdown of how many high level recruits we’d gotten before that season, and how many we’ve landed in the short time since, and the evidence was clear that he has landed more high level talent last year and this year than in any two year period prior.
-
@icthawkfan316 Our recruiting is off the chain. It’s remarkably better than before. We are getting our foot in the door with practically every player we want. Next year, we bring in 2 top ten recruits to replace the top 2 recruits that went to the NBA ( Wigs, Selden).
-
If only Ben McLemore would not have sat his first year, KU would have another championship. I guess Kentucky should thank the NCAA.
NCAA Publications on Transfer
