February 5: News Headlines Digest
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@wissoxfan83 Oh! Gotcha.
(By the way, thank you for editing my post to the Marcus Smart article yesterday - I’m not too " techy ".)
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@wissoxfan83
CRAP - told you I wasn’t too “techy”. I need to thank @Wishawk for editing that. Sorry to both of you for being a knucklehead.
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@nuleafjhawk lots of knuckleheads on here, maybe even me! I’m not techy either, so need all the help I can get!
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@tis4tim I honestly think Embiid is pretty hurt. He just does not look like the explosive freak athlete he was before the collision during the TCU game. Obviously I hope that I am wrong but he just looks like he is laboring a bit and struggling to plant and not getting much on his shot that looked really pure just a couple of games ago. Also, he was really late to his spot last night multiple times on D which lead to his foul trouble. I would love to see a blowout or 2 down the stretch where we barely need to use him so he is healthy or close to it by the time we have our first round game. As we all know he is pretty scary when he is 100%.
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@tis4tim Regarding the starters still in with a 16pt lead…My thought is that we absolutely needed the W, and any team with a “Heslip” or a “Forte” on it needs to keep what’s working out there on the floor. In as quick as 2 possessions (40seconds), Baylor or OkieState is capable of hitting 2 3s, and making it a 10pt game with 2:20min to go, then comes all the fouling/FT line thing. Self played this one as we knew he would do to Mr. Scott Drew: foot on the throat till the very end.
Baylor actually unravelled the last 60sec or so. Stick a fork in their season. Maybe they can defend their NIT title. Their bigbeef player named Gathers, with the priceless scowl --> He must have smelled the air inside the Ferile Center…
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@joeloveshawks And he has fallen down hard on his knees the last 2 games. Just when he probably thinks things are progressing, he takes a hard fall and his knee swells up again. After the Texas game he had a huge bag of ice wrapped around his knee when they were headed to the bus.
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@RockChalkinTexas when he fell after his and 1, he didn’t seem to be in any pain. He was “shooting it up” w/the fans. I thought he fell hard and was watching for his reaction, holding my breath!
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http://kansan.com/sports/2014/02/04/tarik-black-steps-up-in-joel-embiids-place/
We were talking about being a finesse team, nice to have the grid and grind father on our team! Nice article for Tarik.
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@Crimsonorblue22 Right and he did that here in Austin too but still had to have ice.
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Baylor is not a good offensive team and our good defense statistically last night had nothing to do with KU stopping them as much as they missed shots. They don’t have anyone who can create shots and KU was able to hedge on a lot of screens yesterday knowing that they didn’t have players who can hurt them.
When Baylor came down the court were you worried about anyone other than Heslip finding time to shoot a 3? 3 days ago Texas got whatever they wanted against KU, although just a subpar game all around was a big part of the Texas loss.
When Tharpe is having a hot shooting night we can expect to win almost every time because his impact on the rest of the game skyrockets. Great effort from him off his bad Texas game.
Interested to see how we do in Allen against WVU. Henderson and Harris are shooters that have hurt us all year. Staten has improved a lot and gets in the lane a whole bunch. Will we see Waco Tharpe or Texas Tharpe? Big advantage inside for KU, I’m sure half of West Virginia’s shots will be 3’s.
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@RockChalkinTexas Ice is par for the course! Ice baths!
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“Regarding the starters still in with a 16pt lead…”
That was the right thing to do. To keep on the gas, instead of possibly leaving Waco with a small-margin victory.
Also, by keeping in starters, it gave them clear possession of this game. The owned it, and they posted a decent beat down on Baylor in Waco!
This team needs confidence, and it starts with our starters!
They have to be held accountable, and the first step with that is to make them own it!
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@drgnslayr I totally agree. Good win and partially because we won it big. That is something we need to have happen more often.
The starters are really taking turns having big games. Ellis and Tharpe showed up last night and the 3 Freshman looked bad and we still win big on the road. It is exciting to think how good we could be if 4 of the 5 starters have quality games at the same time.
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I don’t agree.
Wigging had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assist, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 0 turnovers and 1 foul. I would call that pretty darn good game.
Selden did not have as good a scoring game as he has lately but he still finished with 4 points, 3, rebound, 5 assists. 1 turnover and 1 foul and played superb defense against Haslip, which is what he was asked to do. Again not great but pretty decent stats.
Embiid had a sub-par game and played only 17 minutes because of foul trouble and still managed 5 point , 7 rebounds and 1 block.
Again, not great performances but I don’t believe they “looked bad” either.
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@JayHawkFanToo You are right. Good points.
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Can’t base “good games” on offensive stats alone. Nice to see they are learning how to effect the game when their shots not falling. Love some D!
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@icthawkfan316 That had caught my attention as well and I am glad that you have brought it up. I agree with your assessment that TT was a better scorer and Tharpe is a better shooter. Also, TT was a much better defender, simply due to his size although Naa has gotten much better.
Mid way through last year I did not believe that Naa would survive at KU, too many TOs and lack of confidence, he was in HCBS dog house big time. But what a turnaround by him, hats off to Tharpe for his accomplishments.
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@icthawkfan316 Just read below from Jesse Newell:
Naadir Tharpe has failed to put up 0.90 points per possession in just four games this season. In each of those four contests (Villanova, Florida, San Diego State, Texas), KU lost the game
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This may perhaps be a little off topic, but I was reading the comments section on the story that Jeff Goodman did on Embiid possibly staying for his sophomore year and was reminded again about how uneducated those casual sports fans are. They simply cannot mentally comprehend the advantages that Embiid would have of staying another year and physically getting his body ready for the long NBA seasons. There is a reason that it is referred to as the No Boys Allowed league. While there are a couple possible disadvantages to staying, an intelligent analyst of NBA prospects would tell you that it would not be a bad idea to stay another year and get physically and mentally ready. As Jimmy Dykes said last night, its OK to not be ready for the NBA. Just come back another year, and hone your skills and build more muscle.
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I want Joel to read that so we get him back for another year! I don’t really believe what I wrote.
He does read Kubuckets, right?
But of course! Anything less will be uncivilized! :o
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@drgnslayr Agreed about the “right thing to do” (leaving starters in to finish off Baylor). But on a totally different note, listening to announcers talk about Baylor’s almost lost season now, I cant help but feel sorry for the Baylor players. They tried really hard at Lawrence, but got beat, then we dust em in their own gym. They realize they cannot be elite. I simply ask this at large: does anyone know inside details of Scot Drew’s coaching style? What is his motivational angle? Does he come from a God/faith angle (like Turner Gill did)? He doesnt seem to be a fiery head coach like Self is… It could be that Baylor players are “nice” kids, too…but are inconsistently motivated. I mean, if God didnt help you beat the Jayhawks, then what/whom/how is KU to be beaten? Apparently only when KU gives a C-rated, phone-it-in version like we did vs. Baylor in the BigXII Tourney 2yrs ago. And this season, Baylor got beat 4 straight times IN Waco: TubbyTechies, Huggineers, Self’s BabyHawks, etc…
I dont feel too bad for Baylor fans. I saw those monkeys mimicking Embiid’s double handed “count the bucket” gesture at the end of the game. That’s pathetic: go ahead and make fun of an international kid with different mannerisms, when he just finished kicking your team’s butt in your own gym. Nice disconnect by Baylor fans. Fan fail =Faylor. Thanks for putting substance in my nickname for Baylor. Maybe your bigs could learn from Embiid’s effort level? Or is that supposed to be a coached attribute?
Its not that Baylor doesnt have talent…so what is it???
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@ralster I know a guy that played at valpo when Scott drew was an assistant and he had nothing but positive things to say about him. I wanted to ask him why he couldn’t coach but I chickened out!
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@ralster Scott D is the only HC I have seen come to a game with prepared notes. You can see him going over the notes and talking to his assistants about the notes. He must be inept at coaching during the games so he has to rely on the notes.
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Really nice post!
I don’t know the ins and outs of Drew’s coaching philosophy. I did read that he is really popular with his players. Barnes is really popular with his players, too.
I sort of put those two in the same boat. It feels like Barnes is a bit more capable however. Coaches that are really nice and popular with their players usually don’t make the best coaches.
We often get critical about Self screaming too much at his players, but he gets results. To some level coaches need to scream at players. If nothing else it proves they care just by their intensity.
I only had one softy type coach that everyone liked and he sucked! Coaches have to be intense… I’ve recently seen Drew show more intensity on the sidelines… maybe he is feeling the heat.
You know they have a renewed spirit for sports success at Baylor! They seem to be doing pretty well in most of their programs.
We’ve all put Drew in the same Calipari boat a long time ago… Rolex watches as gifts, etc. But maybe Drew is just a soft guy who knows how to befriend players.
I’m guessing in my post… He definitely doesn’t seem like a capable coach. All that talent and he really doesn’t have much to show for it!
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@drgnslayr does it seem like Self has not been yelling near as much as in the past years? I think he’s hanging the carrot out there more this year. Handling these frosh a little differently?
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I think it has to due with freshmen with so much raw talent and lack of experience. How much quicker do they have to learn the program right out of high school rather than be a part of the system?
Just think how much time last years squad were in our program learning to play behind other starters. I think he is smart to take it easy on them, rather than act like they’ve had years to learn without being in the spotlight.
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Off topic, some ks state fans were saying they were hoping Texas beat them this weekend in order to keep us from getting our 10th.
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@Crimsonorblue22 LOL seriously?? That is twisted desperation.
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@bskeet I have a kstate “friend” who admits he hates KU more than he loves kstate! Some serious problems!
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When you are not part of the equation ( as in a run at the title) it isn’t a surprise see short sighted fans think this way. Such fans were never competitors. If a coach ever told his players, “we can’t win the title so let’s lay down and make sure our rival doesn’t.” He isn’t worthy of being a coach IMHO.
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@Crimsonorblue22 Wow, that can’t be healthy at all. Seriously he needs to figure out he is giving An advisory free rent in his head. If he is aware of that, maybe he can let some of it go and get back to a positive outlook about his team that exceeds negative feelings about something else.
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@Crimsonorblue22 I felt pretty close to that way about Misswho - Can’t say that I hated them more than I love KU, but I got every bit as much satisfaction out of a Mizzery loss as I did a KU win.
