ESPN Top 25
-
WE SHOULD NOT WORRYABOUT THAT
-
@joeloveshawks Yeah, I dont pay much attention to “Way too early top 25” polls or lists or whatever.
That said, we do need Diallo ready to play in November if we really are going to be a top 5 team.
-
Looking forward to another year of Kansas Basketball. Coach Self finally has another veteran squad, with a few young guns sprinkled in. Impact Seniors, Juniors, Sophomores and Freshmen. Someone will probably red-shirt. I am hoping Diallo gets cleared and I don’t believe it will be at anybody’s expense. Anyone that can win the MVP of both the McDonald’s Game and the Jordan Classic is good enough for me. Self continues to be an excellent recruiter and coach. As far as last year, had Cliff been eligible and Perry not injured, who knows? Oh well, time to move on to another season.
-
I wouldn’t worry about this update. UK is in the top 5 because its ESPN and they are the new media juggernaut. What would a top 5 be without UK, UNC or Duke? It wouldn’t be a poll at all so I’m not worried. The Pre-Season football polls have Alabama in the top 5 with no QB or WR’s… It’s the same ol same ol in the media. Both teams could be a top 5 program but they both have so many unproven parts.
I’m surprised Maryland is getting so much respect as a possible #1 team. Don’t get me wrong they have a great chance to be up there but they have a lot of new faces that need to gel together. I think the #1 ranking they are being given is more about the new faces that need to blend in then what stayed behind. Tremble could be Big 10 player of the year, Layman is also a All Big 10 type player but they will rely on a freshman (Stone) in the post & the only guy to ever be kicked off Duke’s team in Suliamon to play big roles.
As you look at all the possible teams out there there isn’t a dominant team out there that has separated itself. All the top teams have question marks, can Paige for UNC stay healthy? Duke is likely to start 3 Freshman, KU is reliant on a freshman big man, Virginia lost arguably its best player, Iowa St brought in a new coach, Oklahoma lost their best post player. The list goes on for each team…
KU has as good a shot as anyone with Diallo. W/out, well we all saw what last year was like…
-
@BeddieKU23 You said, “What would a top 5 be without UK, UNC or Duke?”
You realize people see us in the top five and say the same thing they’re saying about UK, UNC and Duke? We get plenty of lofty preseason attention almost every year as well, which is better than the alternative, like the Badgers being underappreciated like they are again this year!
What is also great for us is there are three other teams in that top 5 with KU connections, Turg, Roy, and Cal. (I know we don’t like to admit it, but he was a Jayhawk, once a Jayhawk always a Jayhawk!)
-
@wissoxfan83
Your probably right we do get a lot of attention but you look at a UK team that lost its top 7 scorers and there in the top 5. Seems lofty to me? And the Freshman replacing those that left are not even on the same level. Meanwhile KU is only 5th with its possibly best team suited for a title run in years…
I don’t think Wisky is being under-appreciated they lost so much of the core from the Runner-up team. Hayes & Koenig will be big but what else do they have? 4 players are back who even played last year. Happ I hear could be good. I don’t doubt that Bo will have another good year but its crazy to expect this won’t be a down year from the past few.
You could argue that the Big 10 will be a tougher conference then the past few years too. Indiana, Maryland & Michigan all expected to have good years. Michigan St is always there, Iowa & Purdue have a chance to be good as well.
-
@wissoxfan83
I like how Michigan State fits into the basketball world. They often don’t get the early love by media and it helps Izzo build a chip on his team. He likes to lose tough games before conference season, and doesn’t even seem to mind losing a player or two to injuries. It all creates a scenario that is perfect for other players to STEP UP to the challenge.
I’m always leery of a Jayhawk team that gets too much early love. It creates some bad side effects; chaos and ego-building, two things that almost always STUNT the growth of a team full of kids. So we start off strong and then we peak out around the end of January while all those teams with chips just start coming around (like Izzo and MSU).
How many years have to go down with the same results before we learn the psychology of all of this?
Think back to last year… we ran out quick in our conference because we were clearly the best team, then sputtered over the conference finish line at the end, losing about half of our games down the stretch, and then falling on our a$$e$ in March…
I recall Hudy being involved in some physical performance metrics to try to get us to physically perform our best in March… how about we study some psychological performance metrics to see if we can be psyched properly for March and the development month of February leading up to it?
-
@drgnslayr speaking of michigan state, the LJW had an article that Harris was suspended indefinitely for a DUI.
-
@Crimsonorblue22 He is a very talented player. Hopefully he gets his act together.
@BeddieKU23 You are right about UW, they have lost a lot. Vitto Brown is ready to shine I think. Bo’s teams almost always finish ranked higher than they start the year.
-
I caught that. Let’s hope he can get himself together. These kinds of struggles usually help Izzo players because his entire coaching philosophy starts with struggle.
There is a good chance Harris finds his way, and along with it a new higher performance platform after he fights through the struggle and builds his character to a higher level.
-
Izzo always seems to have one of those magical cookbooks where he can just turn his team on when he wants to. That’s what good coaches do and he’s certainly one of the best.
Doubt he misses a lot of time because without him they hurting at the Guard spot.
@wissoxfan83
Forgot about Brown, he was a guy who got spot minutes and they will need him to step up. I wonder how many of his freshman he will get to be apart of the rotation. You have to think at least 1 or 2 of them will have to be ready to contribute for them to stay competitive. Usually that’s the last thing you would expect from Bo.
-
These summer polls assume a lot of things. They have to assume that every team will be in their best possible form, absent information that suggests otherwise.
For example, they have to assume that Diallo will be eligible, Greene will be healthy, Graham will be healthy and that Selden plays like he did at the WUG. If that happens, KU is a national title contender.
But let’s say that Diallo is ineligible, Selden reverts to his previous form and Greene’s injury lingers. Is KU still a top 10 team? I don’t think they are if that is the case. But I don’t think all of those things happen, so they should be in the top 5 for now, understanding that if things go poorly, they could fall out of the top 15 very quickly.
Same with UK. If Briscoe plays like he did this summer, they are really, really good. If he stalls, they are just good. If Poythress doesn’t come back to where he was, they take another step back. Add it all up and they could be elite again, or just another ranked team.
You could do that for just about every team in the poll right now, and find 2-3 perfectly reasonable reasons why they won’t even be a top 15-20 team.
-
A lot of the hype about Maryland is based on Melo Trimble dominating and being the best PG in college. I saw him play a couple of times at the NCCA tournament and I saw him at the Pan American games and maybe I have not seen him at his best, but from what I have seen, I am not particularly impressed; Murray looked 10 times better than him. I think Mason is also a much better PG than Trimble.
-
Tremble will be very good for them. I prefer Mason myself & Murray is very good. I always wondered why KU never got involved with him but he went to UK anyway so it wasn’t worth the time.
As @justanotherfan pointed out Maryland needs just as many things to go well for them as KU does but yet they are the considered one of if not the favorite for next year.
I have a hard time believing Suliamon is suddenly a changed person, there was a reason he was kicked off the team regardless of allegations against him because he was a toxic player to that team. You know you messed up when Coach K gives up on you. Talented player that can help them but I didn’t view his signing as the icing on the cake that makes them a favorite. Carter was a decent player for Georgia Tech and transfered in & Stone was a very highly coveted freshman big. They are in no shape or form a dominant looking pre-season team.
-
@JayHawkFanToo Dont know much about Trimble at all but Mason is hard core. Im pretty sure he could take anyone in college ball right now. But, I might also be a tad bit biased.
-
Murray was 2016 recruit that reclassified for 2015 (much like Lagerald Vick) and the squid lucked out…big time…I believe most schools were caught off guard with Murray…again, a lot like Vick and KU
-
@JayHawkFanToo OMG! I totally forgot that we had Vick! Whats wrong with me?
When is the Big 12 schedule due to release? There are some games that I need to circle!!
-
@BeddieKU23 Murray is a monster, but I am glad he didn’t sign with us. I like the guys we have on the perimeter, and Murray would’ve taken away some minutes I’d rather see given to the guys who’ve been here for us.
-
Nothing…that midnight madness won’t cure…
-
True I just found it odd because he was a teammate of Maker’s who we recruited hard for a while so how did we not see this guy was going to blow up. He had been on the verge of this for years. As @KUSTEVE said we are happy with the perimeter we got but I just found it odd that we never showed interest.
-
Murray is a monster… will that translate in March? Time will tell. He’ll have a tough job because he will be surrounded with other OADs.
I’m glad what we have. I’d rather have tried and tested, experienced guys out on our perimeter.
-
He showed up huge in the “big” game again the USA at the Pan American Games and won that game for Canada almost single handedly; he will be a load in March…
-
I imagine that because of the perimeter we have and being under the impression that he was a 2016 prospect, the interest was there but the “urgency” not quite there yet. The squid lucked out big time.
-
He was great in the Nike Hoops Summit as well. I think he’s their best guard going into this year, he just can do everything from shooting to getting to the lane.
-
Its a team game and “chemistry is king”… not a single player. He had a magic moment in Toronto, but that doesn’t mean his shot drops next March or if he connects with all the other newbies.
“Any player can have a big game… elite players go do it every night!”
I’m not conceding anything to a freshman, anywhere. He’s got to prove himself. Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. There will be a lot of talented teams out there, and we have no idea if this young Kentucky squad will play like a team or a bunch of stars on their own.
