@nuleafjhawk seriously we should find some obscure sports that make no money and those who play it do it for the love and we should invest an unhealthy amount of our speculating on it. KU Baseball and volleyball are my nominations, but I could be convinced to go weirder and more obscure.

Obscure/Club:
KU Rowing has some recent success. Would be attention-getting among the east-coast elite. Ultimate (just throwing that out there.)

Not Obscure:
Baseball, Softball not so obscure, but would be interesting to see if money is all it takes to eat away at the SEC dominance... That said, you're competing with the deep pockets.

or maybe Soccer?

Also don't sleep on Flag Football. That might be a fascinating place to invest given the clear issues with CTE and injuries... It will only get worse as guys get bigger and bulkier. There will be some who value their brains but still love the strategy and competition of Football. Flag is also great for men and women. You can also use the same facilities that have been built for football (get a bit more value out of that investment.)

Maybe we can start off not giving hundreds of millions to a football program to win 5 games a year or stop getting top 5 recruits for a WBB program that can’t even make the tournament?

Football is the AD’s big revenue raiser and if we want a ticket into the P2 it has to be a huge priority. I’ve waived the red flag about this for years but some were like meh whatever an additional $30m+ per year in tv money isn’t important. Well when we can’t afford an elite basketball hire or to buy out Lance if this year goes south those folks should just be happy we still get to play ISU every year.

KU basketball has been, by far, my longest and most intense addiction but I'm done. It's not worth the emotional investment to watch minor league ball as you say

SWEET 16 since conference realignment:
2025: DUKE + 7 SEC and 4 B1G =12
2026: DUKE + 2 Big East teams. 6 B1G teams. 4 SEC teams = 13.

Big12, allegedly the best conference all year gets 3 teams to the s16. Now maybe they all get to the Final Four, but right now, it doesn't look good.

"His production (DP) was nothing compared to about 5-10 of the other top freshmen. And they didn't command the $3 million that DP did. That's a big concern.

I recall those FF years and the 2 championship runs and there was always a place where you can find moment in the game where you can say-- if that call goes the other way or the ball didn't drop at that moment... Self's legacy looks markedly different. We have never had a team that was so dominant that we didn't need a little luck to get to the FF or NC.

Also, we've been a juggernaut: In the tournament EVERY year and a historic run of B12 championships.

The consistent success made it seem like we should have even more success in the tourney. Easy to forget how difficult and rare it is to get a National Championship. (...I will be grateful, not spoiled...)

Only nine schools have won the title since 2004.

UConn (2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, 2024)
Florida (2006, 2007, 2025)
North Carolina (2005, 2009, 2017)
Kansas (2008, 2022)
Villanova (2016, 2018)
Duke (2010, 2015)
Kentucky (2012)
Louisville (2013)*
Baylor (2021)
Virginia (2019)

We all want more, but there are schools that have had a lot of success in the last 20+ years not on that list (Purdue, Gonzaga...)

On the PAY FOR PLAY topic, I'll just say that it was necessary and appropriate to pay players. It was also predictable that it would be bumpy, especially with the NCAA's track record of poorly establishing governance that drives the right behavior and also poor track record of consistent oversight and enforcement.

Final point: Performance & Payment.

As a fan, focused on the 40 minutes that we watch on TV, it's hard to remember that player performance goes beyond what we see on court — beyond the stats.

We already know that there are aspects to the game that are beyond analytics, despite trying to count EVERYTHING.

But performance includes many things that we don't see and cannot be captured by analytics. These contributions to a program and to a team should still go into compensation consideration.

For instance, did the player show up to all the workouts? All the practices? Were they engaged in community services with the team and good stewards of the university? Did they do something stupid to damage the program's reputation? Were they disruptive or disrespectful?

When they do all the 'invisible' things right, we tend to ignore them as though they didn't count. But, those expectations are certainly there. And these 'employees' are mostly between the age of 18-23.

I'm disappointed by the loss but I am trying to keep things in perspective.

It was a good group of guys and a good coach. Coach probably did a phenomenal job this year in unique and tough circumstances with DP's situation/injuries.

It was a bad way to lose but the comeback (which shouldn't have been necessary) was still pretty heroic.

The rest of the class is mid outside him currently. Perry is a pet favorite of Self, a hard nosed player who can’t shoot a lick but has lots of defensive skill and positional size. Barnett is a guy who averages double figures as a Sr on a team that prioritizes shooting and freedom to let it fly. Adkins is a project big that was touted to have a high ceiling as a Jr but regressed changing schools and has shown not much development and his ranking has tanked because of it.

The roster outside of a few has been shopped by their agents it sounds. Doesn’t mean all will go but for guys like Rosario and Mbiya you have no reason to return again given the limited opportunities given to them this year. Put yourself in their shoes. Rosario started then barely played once conference season started. And with Paul, it took 30 games before he was even an option but had to watch all yr as Self ran his two big starters into the ground regardless of the situation. Neither was a perfect player but we saw more positives from them yesterday then several others that continually underperformed. Our coach plays his favorites and that’s just how it is.

A new coach might have the biggest challenge in decades having to fill a roster.