Blog link found on Diallo eligibility concerns.



  • I dont know if it means anything at all. But thought it was interesting all the same.

    My opinion stands. Diallo Will be cleared by season start!

    link text



  • @Lulufulu

    “He was always made of glass! Selden sucks!!!”

    Pretty bad blog. I smell some fake KU fans. Reddit really invites spoof posters because of the openness of being a general site.



  • I’m definitely not going to sweat anything I heard on reddit. Our Savior has had some problems in the past, but according to a source, KU compliance had a plan in place for dealing with this. Coach Self was obviously rather frustrated when his 2011 class was cut in half by eligibility issues, and he’s been said to have vowed to never send papers to a kid that he wasn’t sure he could get eligible again. We went through the same rigmarole with Adams the next year. Self didn’t send him his grant in aid until he was sure Anrio would qualify. I think that’s the reason Diallo wasn’t totally finished with classes until after the 4th of July (ormally northeastern schools let out after Labor Day). My guess is Self knows what he’s doing and it’s going to be one of those things where Diallo gets cleared but not until the last possible moment, just like what happened with Rush and the Morris Twins.



  • Do you think, secretly, Mickelson is rooting for ineligibility here?





  • @Lulufulu

    This uncertainty regarding Diallo’s eligibility that you have discovered and posted makes me view Self’s use of Mickelson in the WUGs in South Korea in a new light.

    It seems axiomatic that Self sharply increases players minutes only in anticipation of having to use them sharply more down the road.

    Mickelson got an enormous bump in minutes at the WUG for a guy that was in the cryogenic ice most of last season.

    Further, when the team went to the WUGs, there appeared no indication in advance that Mickelson was going to get big minutes–in particular such big minutes that Traylor wound up nearly on ice himself at times.

    Self appeared determined to get Mickelson and Bragg a lot of work, but he was noticeably more committed to getting Mickelson extended minutes than Bragg.

    Frankly, the style of play the team used, especially inside, in South Korea appeared rather tailored around Mickelson’s strengths and weaknesses.

    But back then, heavy reliance on Mickelson just seemed simplest to explain as expedience in the absence of Diallo for the WUGs. We were temporarily short handed, because the regs did not allow Diallo to participate.

    But now it is reputed that significant uncertainty about Diallo’s eligibility exists this coming season. In turn, Self’s heavy use of Mickelson appears to make more sense as something other than a stop gap measure.

    Self at least appears to have been hedging on whether Diallo would be eligible or not.

    Self apparently already knew what Lucas and Traylor could do, given he had developed them considerably two seasons. The team already knew how to play BAD BALL with Lucas and Traylor and their limitations. The real question facing the team, then, was: how might the team play something other than (or more likely in addition to) BAD BALL this coming season, under one of two possible scenarios–Diallo eligible, and Diallo ineligible.

    The answer to the question, in retrospect, appears to have been to see if an offense like the one we witnessed could work with Mickelson playing big minutes as a scrambling, keep it alive type of garbage man big–the same kind of big, only better, that Diallo would be if he were ruled eligible.

    The idea was to play the kind of offense inside that Self hoped to play if Diallo were available–a scrambling, keep it alive offense inside working off quick field goal opportunities–and offense that both Diallo and Mickelson, or only Mickelson could play, too.

    If Diallo were ruled eligible, then Self would be two deep at 5 playing this kind of post in the paint.

    If Diallo were ruled ineligible, then Self would have created an alternative way for the team to play that could make use of Mickelson for stretches of games this coming season and give this year’s team another offensive look than just Bad Ball.

    So: how did this new offense work?

    Answer: PDW–pretty damn well.

    I suspect there must be significant risk that Diallo will not be eligible, or Mickelson may not have been added to the rotation. Self might have gone another route.

    I suspect that Self’s failure to sign a legitimate footer type five also fed into all of this. Failing to sign a footer for the 5, and there being some risk that Diallo would have to sit, made Mickelson even more worth developing.

    And if there were some risk of Diallo not becoming eligible, then Self would likely also view there would be considerable likelihood that Diallo would simply jump to the NBA at the end of the coming season, rather than come back.

    And that’s where Colby comes in. Colby can work with the team this season, and be developed to play some next season, if the apparent embargo continues to make OAD and 5-star bigs scarcer than Ron Paul if there turns out to be no currency crisis.

    I suspect the risk regarding Diallo’s eligibility has been known quite awhile.

    Heck, what if Self and Hunter decided Hunter did not need to transfer for PT, precisely because of this situation?



  • @HighEliteMajor

    I think Traylor & Lucas might be doing the same prayer dance as well.

    Hopefully they are just dreams…





  • @konkeyDong said:

    Coach Self was obviously rather frustrated when his 2011 class was cut in half by eligibility issues, and he’s been said to have vowed to never send papers to a kid that he wasn’t sure he could get eligible again

    Coach Self has never before felt such sustained effects of an apparent domestic OAD/5-Star Big Man drought/embargo, as this season.

    What you say above makes a lot of sense under conditions when Self has credible D1 Elite Major players to fall back on

    But presently, Coach Self has at the 5 two projects and a transfer that was not wanted at Arkansas, for a second straight season.

    We love these three guys for their hearts and gameness, but they would not be threats to join the rotations of UK, or Duke, this season, even during what some are calling UK’s and Duke’s “down” seasons.

    This is getting scary. Like walking thin ice two winters in a row and now anticipating some risk of having to do it a third.

    In a pinch, Self could slide 4-star freshman Carlton Bragg to the 5, but that would be asking rather a lot of freshman Bragg base on what we saw in Sur Korea; i.e., to be the anchor rebounder, post defender and rim protector as a freshman muscling against blue meanie upper classmen in the Big 12 of the kind Tough Tubbie and Tougher Trent use on green wood. And those are just the cellar dwellers of the Big 12.

    Were it not for a 5-star in-stater, Designing Perry Ellis, imagine the hives Self would have entering this season.

    And Self is nothing if not a forward looking (and planning) fellow.

    Knowing that he struck out on signing any grade of footer this past season, and knowing that Perry, Hunter and Traylor are gone for sure after this season, and Lucas and transfer Colby are it for next season, imagine the pressure on Self to sign Diallo even just for some sizzle alone, but also for the long shot chance he might mind control Diallo into come back, if DIallo were ruled ineligible this coming season.

    The season after this coming season increasingly appears to be the REAL nightmare scenario everyone was hand wringing about maybe happening this coming season.

    Tally up the birds in the bush likely and then recall the difficulty Self has had signing domestic OADs and 5-stars–the kinds Self would have to sign for even a modicum of immediate relief in the paint–and think about that paint rotation.

    Pardon me while I apply some steroidal cream to my hives.

    Blockades and embargoes work slowly.

    They often appear to be unsuccessful early on and for quite awhile.

    Blockade runners find ways to break through and the break throughs are celebrated and keep the attention off the accruing long term effects of the blockade.

    But eventually the adverse effects of blockade are felt.



  • @wissoxfan83

    A couple of things about that write-up:

    1. ““I don’t anticipate this being cleared up in the near future,” Self told Dodd.” - I’m curious what Self considers “near future?” For me… “near future” means between now and our season opener. That means, in the least, Cheick isn’t running with the first team and will get behind for the year.

    2. “Diallo’s AAU coach, Terrence “Munch” Williams, …” - I’m wondering what it would be like to go out to dinner with Terrance “Munch” Williams and Jerrance “Snacks” Howard? Pretty obvious it would be a huge mistake to put “Munch” with “Snacks” at the same dinner table… and if either has a brother nicknamed “More”… it could spell real trouble!



  • @jaybate-1.0

    “Pardon me while I apply some steroidal cream to my hives.”

    Sounds like a case of the heebeegeebees!

    Hee-Bee-Gee-Bees-Meaningless-Songs-423488.jpg

    HeeBeeGeeBees_-_Web.jpg

    63137555.jpg



  • @drgnslayr I didn’t like the sound of Self’s quote to be honest.



  • @drgnslayr

    I believe the thread was just KU fans being sarcastic…

    • Just wait until Selden breaks a nail in scrimmage. It’ll be MELTDOWN time.
    • Do you think we’ll have to amputate? Is his career over? He was always made of glass! Selden sucks!!!
    • I smell frontal lobotomy. It’s doom!

    No question they were making fan of how much the Diallo issue is being blown out or proportion…in the slow days of Summer.



  • I consider this a big problem. I was 100% sure that BMac would be cleared to play his freshman year. I was 100% sure that Cliff would only sit out a few games last year. It is really scary. If he is ok to play it shouldn’t even be a discussion. I’m very concerned as Diallo is a starter for this team if he plays to his billing.



  • @drgnslayr

    Well, you can tell by the way that I wait to sign

    I’m an ineligible man: no time to talk

    Shoe lean loud but agent not, I’ve been kicked around

    Since I was hot

    And now it’s all right, it’s OK

    NCAA may look the other way

    We can try to understand

    ESPN’s effect on man

    Whether you’re a brother or his mother

    You’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive

    Eligibility breakin’ and everybody shakin’

    And we’re givin’em hives, givin’em hives

    Ah, ha, ha, ha, givin’em hives,

    Ah, ha, ha, ha, givin’em hives…

    Well now, I fly high and I fly low

    And if I can’t do either, I say I’m set to go

    Got three stripes of adidas on my shoes

    I’m a jammin’ man and I just can’t lose

    You know it’s all right, it’s ok

    I’ll live to play in the NBA

    We can try to understand

    ESPN’s effect on man…

    Bee Gees - Stayin’ Alive Lyrics adapted by BeeBate 1.0



  • Beebate

    image.jpg



  • @Crimsonorblue22

    Howling!

    Yes, I confess, I once wore my collar outside my coat.

    But it was not a white suit.

    Still, it would take a lot of therapy for me to admit what color of suit it was.

    The power of disco was strong, Luke, and the force of it took me away from the path of Bob Dylanesque righteousness for a time.

    Its alright, its okay,

    Bob took a few missteps

    Along the way…too.



  • Diallo is gonna get cleared. Its my Mantra from now on.



  • @jaybate-1.0

    Holy $#&%!

    I need my diaper changed… NURSE?!

    How about I blow off the dust on my old Fender Strat and you start writing more lyrics? There is already a band called “The Jayhawks” so how about…

    S L A Y J A Y !

    I’m psyched to put on some platform shoes again and grab a microphone!

    Do you play an instrument?

    Maybe our first gig can be LATE NIGHT!



  • Well isn’t this page a freakin’ bit of doom and gloom.

    @jaybate-1.0’s post about Mickelson above is terrific analysis. Very well done. Me like Mick.



  • @HighEliteMajor

    The world evolves in mysterious ways.

    It could turn out that Hunter Mickelson holds the fate of the team in his keep-it-alive, ball tipping hands!!!

    From cryo-ice to KU’s crucial piece of Self’s first shoot first and tip team.

    Rock Chalk!!!



  • A bit of update on the Diallo situation.

    It’s his school that is being evaluated.

    He isn’t the only player from his team that hasn’t been cleared. Damon Wilson Jr # 81 in ESPN top 100 has not been cleared to play for Pittsburgh either.

    Davon Dillard 4* player who recently signed with Oklahoma St and Diallo’s teammate was just cleared yesterday by the NCAA. Dillard however only spent his Sr season at Our Savior & there is rumor that his transcript was a mess. -Positive news if 1 of the players has been cleared.

    We know its not a question of Diallo’s grades or his intelligence but rather if the school provided the necessary classes over his career there to make him eligible. You would have to think that no matter if you spent 1 year or 4 years at the school, that it would make no difference in your eligibility. Dillard attends 1 year and gets cleared but Diallo does if I’m right 4 and is being questioned. Hopefully its the fact that his information has just recently been sent to the NCAA & his recent completion of 2 summer courses at KU that is delaying a decision.

    I’m more optimistic after the news of Dillard being cleared and Diallo not being the only 1 singled out.



  • @BeddieKU23

    I really don’t understand why athletes are put to a stricter standard than normal students. If Kansas admissions have given Cheick the green light why isn’t that good enough? The university evaluates all his classwork and judges each class he took against a required core necessary and if some classes are not considered “equivalent” then he will be required to take the equivalent most likely as a non-credit class at Kansas.

    Perhaps the NCAA believes that schools let athletes slip through at a lower standard so they want to monitor this?



  • @drgnslayr

    I don’t understand it either but when does anything that the NCAA does make any sense.

    Apparently a school doesn’t have the final say in whether a kid goes there or not. Its definitely micro managing at its best and the only possible reason I can see that Athlete’s get this extra attention is to ensure that schools are not accepting them based solely on their athletic ability.

    What if Jimmy slips the KU admin department a few Benjamin’s to look the other way at someone’s grade or this or that and they accept him. Obviously just a hypothetical but its probably the reason why the NCAA overseas athletes eligibility to ensure schools follow the rules in accepting these guys. It will be truly sad if the NCAA has a negative ruling with Diallo because its certainly not his fault that his school may not be up “standards”. I’m certainly more optimistic he will be eligible then I was a week ago but time will tell…



  • @BeddieKU23

    But then… I look at a school like UNC… and then I understand why this must be necessary. If they were willing to create a system where athletes breeze through classes, they would surely loosen the standards for incoming freshmen athletes, too.



  • On the Bee Gees thing … when I was a kid, an older kid called them the BJs. I was like “no it’s the Bee Gees.” The older kid said “no, their gay, it’s the BJs.” Still didn’t make sense to me. And then one day it did. And once that makes sense to you, well, you’re no longer really a kid.





  • @HighEliteMajor

    I didn’t relate to the BeeGees back then. I was more of a hard rock kid. Sometimes it takes aging to recognize that other people have talent, whether it is your style or not. Plus… as you age you tend to soften up on everything that comes from your prime time youth!

    I remember cleaning out my closet several decades ago… throwing out my bell bottom pants, flaming suits and platform shoes. Wish I hadn’t done that! And what I couldn’t wear today (because of added pounds), I could always sell online or to a vintage store. That stuff is worth premium dollars today!



  • @drgnslayr love to see a pic!😳



  • @Crimsonorblue22

    Not going to happen… I’m not exactly proud of my current physical condition and it wouldn’t visually improve just by adding glitzy old 60s/70s attire. I run from cameras today! Yikes!



  • @drgnslayr I meant an old one.😉



  • @drgnslayr

    Actually it is the opposite. Most every schools have outreach programs that allow them to admit students that would not normally qualify and the only chance of succeeding in college is taking a reduced classwork with heavy tutoring. The NCAA wants to make sure that student-athletes are capable of carrying a minimum class load in addition to the time and effort required by the sport, since it is a requirement to remain eligible. Many athletes take summer classes to compensate for the reduced class load taken during the regular school terms.

    If I recall correctly, this is part of the problem at SMU where individuals that normally would not qualify were admitted by virtue of being athletes and then the NCAA said…we don’t think so…private school are free to admit pretty much any one they want.



  • @BeddieKU23

    The school has the final say on whether to admit a student or not; the NCAA cannot and does not tell schools who they can or cannot admit. However, the NCAA does have the final say on whether that student can participle in NCAA sanctioned sports.



  • @JayHawkFanToo

    I’m thinking it is the Kansas Board of Regents that determine admission guidelines for all State-funded universities… of which Kansas is a member.

    http://www.kansasregents.org/academic_affairs/qualified_admissions



  • @drgnslayr

    Yes, that is the case 98% of the time and applicable to the majority of candidates. However, all schools have outreach programs that allow student that otherwise would not qualify to be admitted under hardship conditions; many athletes are accepted under these programs.



  • @BeddieKU23 Yah! I was feeling like the NCAA is singling out KU here. How many times has this happened to us in the past 5 years?? Too many. Too many.
    How many times has Kentucky ever had a player NOT be eligible to play in that same time frame?
    None that I can remember. Speaking of that, is Skal eligible yet?



  • @Lulufulu

    There has been little word on him, almost like its just going to sweep under the rug while Diallo is making headlines not being eligible. Not that I think UK does anything illegal because they have been on the wrong side of luck before (Kanter) but Skal’s eligibility issues have been talked about a lot more but I have not seen anything recent on him.



  • @Lulufulu

    It looks that way but all schools have the same issues when it comes to student-athletes; we are just more familiar with those associated with KU. Unfortunately, not all student-athletes are like Perry Ellis, Valedictorian of his HS class. A good number of the top recruits (obviously not all) are academically marginal since they see their future in pro-sports and academics come second. The basic NCAA requirement are not particularly high at all and the average HS graduate should not have any problem meeting them.



  • @BeddieKU23 Yeah, Kanter. Almost forgot about him.
    Either way, Diallo WILL get cleared. I know it. I just hope its before October.
    We’ve had to wait on Selby,Anrio Adams, the Twins?, Ben, Traylor, did we have to wait on Embiid or Wiggs? Now we wait on Diallo. It just seems like KU is being picked on while Duke, UNC, UK and others get passes way more than we do.



  • @BeddieKU23

    Skal issues are not related to grades, they involve his guardian asking AU coaches how to make money with or off Skal. Skal’s guardian created a school where he played basketball (basically a traveling basketball team) but his coursework was done at a regular school.



  • @BeddieKU23

    With Duke they aren’t going to have a lot of acadamic issues because of their strict admission standards.

    What standards? http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2008/11/05/stanford-vs-duke-basketball-the-difference-in-admissions-standards/



  • @JayHawkFanToo

    I didn’t know that… thanks for the info!



  • @BeddieKU23 Jay Bilas has been defending Diallo and ripping on the NCAA over this issue on Twitter. He was also bringing up how ridiculous it is because it doesn’t really do anything except delay a student-athlete’s college playing career by an extra year. Makes the kid pay for something that was out of his hands too.



  • @BeddieKU23 crap, I edited your post by mistake.





  • @drgnslayr

    Damn that would be fun, but I’ve tried song writing and I’m not for real. I can do parodies of lyrics easily, but my from scratch stuff leaves something to be desired.

    I would still like for you to dust the Strat off and lay down some licks on an mpeg file, or whatever is used now, and attach to a thread here so we could hear some REAL guitar playing. Too much guitar playing with empty ball sacks these days.

    We’ll call it: The 'Slayr Sessions.



  • @jaybate-1.0

    Yeah… it would be REAL… REAL BAD! Might make you forget about BAD BALL!



  • @BeddieKU23

    Way to stiff screen those pencil necks!!!

    So many people don’t get that private schools get to set their standards any way they flipping like. They can let moronic legacies in. They can let dumb jocks in. They can let the Dean’s 16 year old mistress in to keep her from spilling the statutory beans on the Dean and school.

    Nothing is sacred at these private schools, except the “appearance” of high standards.

    The reality is whatever they want it to be.



  • I accidentally edited Beddie’s post and dogged Duke. Sorry again, @BeddieKU23. I’m on phone today and screwed the pooch on that one.

    @jaybate-1.0 preach on, brother. It’s imperative to dispel the holier-than-thou Duke myth whenever it’s presented as matter of fact.



  • @approxinfinity

    Let me hear an AMEN!


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