The Future of Jayhawk Basketball...
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I smiled when Kinney committed to Kansas. Meanwhile others are telling me to get ready for several highly-touted commits very soon.
Anyone else feel like Coach Self has committed himself… to a new direction for Kansas basketball? It feels like we are in the process of retooling our coaching staff and philosophy more towards high school top-tier talent. You know… the infamous OAD!
In the past, I was always critical of adding too many OAD players (or potential OADs). I was one of the guys who overused the term “revolving door” teams.
Today is a different day. With the transfer portal, NIL, and a key shift away from long-term commitments I believe I’m like Self and starting to embrace going after more OAD-type talent.
Why? Why not?
Look at last year. We had several OADs and none were NBA-draft lottery picks. And to be honest, it seems to have become easier now to recruit in players, either from high school or from the portal, to fill spots we need, especially as our financial situation sweetens now substantially because of large donors.
I may not be as involved in KU basketball as I used to, but I’m pretty sure I know one area of thinking Self has towards players. He has to go out and recruit new players every year and he also has to put heavy energy into recruiting players already on the team in the prior year.
Self is a “players’ coach.” And he is starting to learn that doesn’t mean he can coddle players that aren’t necessarily going to ever contribute in games. I think he’s realizing the value in player turnover. Yes… you heard me say that!
“Self ball” is getting a rebrand! No longer will it be “old school” ball that takes years to embrace. If you don’t believe me, you only have to look at his recent changes in assistant coaches. He’s building a staff built around player turnover. Whether or not you agree with this approach, it is the reality we live in today. Without all the changes to the game, it is unlikely we would have made this move.
Next year will be the big roll out for the new brand of Kansas basketball and Bill Self’s recreating himself (once again)! I haven’t always agreed with all of Self’s moves in basketball but I have always giving him credit for landing on his feet when change is needed. Change was needed after the last two years showed to us, clearly, we couldn’t just build portal teams and expect “KU results.”
Will Self stick around? Unless he suffers unexpected health consequences, I feel like he has committed at least 3 to 5 years to complete his newest brand of basketball!
And though I do not like the current direction of college sports… I am very excited about the direction he will take us in! RCJH, Coach Self!
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@drgnslayr tbh i dont think Self was ever against OAD, just needed the coffers and the NCAA to take a hike.
See the Mario Julian BRush class.
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I don’t know for 100 % certainty if we are headed in a new direction or not but sure looks that way. I DO know one thing though Coach sure kicked me in the Ass about me thinking he could very easily retire at the end of this Season.
I just don’t think with FP here this year and then with I’ve been reading and hearing about the possibility of what could be coming in next year. I just don’t think he would put in this type of energy & effort if this was going to be his last. I think he has found renewed energy and ready to kick some ass and not bother taking names
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What stimulated this direction for me was his moves in assistant coaches. I don’t see us directing towards typical, old school, Self ball… which was directed towards emphasis on defense and a process that takes a player years to implement. Those days are over. He’s been forced into a different strategy. We are being built to accept a strategy of heavy player turnover. I don’t believe had bought into this strategy until very recently. It doesn’t mean he won’t try to hold on to some pieces every year… but he knows it’s a new world for college basketball and so he is adapting to the new game.
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It would be hard for me to think that his historic penchant for playing his personal favorites could be completely turned around. It always felt to me it was because of who he is as a person. Could he actually be an every-year-is-a-new-team kind of coach?
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Self does not have a tendency to play personal favorites. He has a tendency to play the best players on the team. That myth exists as a result of fans who think that they can assess players better than a hall of fame coach.
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@Jhawk69 I don’t claim to know basketball as well as Self, but I may understand people in ways he does not.
This is me trying to dispel a few myths: that Bill Self and questioning fans have to be seen as diametrically opposite forces, or that a basketball coach and all his actions must be seen and discussed as a singular, indivisible thing.
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@approxinfinity I am not saying you or anyone specific is like that. But there are a lot fans who is asked point blank if they can assess players as well as Self will say “of course not”, but then turn around and say “Bill Self is playing his pet too many minutes! If only he could assess his pet’s worth to the team as well as I can!”
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My sense is that Self plays players that work hard in practice (and in games), execute his system and play D. This means that the most skilled players may not always be on the court. Remy early in the season is a great case in point. It also means that older guys he trusts sometimes get more PT than newer guys who are more skilled.
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@HoraceZontal all this may be true but then Bill goes and gets a team allergic to playing D. Masochism?
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Good point. And it seems he was allergic to them as well.
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I feel confident we are about to receive our 3rd big commit any day now and the timing fits my scenario… I’ll be shocked if we don’t sign at least 2 more blue chip prospects this fall. The goal is to prevent our starvation from guys in the portal so we can be more selective as we attempt to lift our talent level while maintaining some level of cohesiveness.
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No teams win with OAD’s these days. The teams that we see in late rounds of the NCAA are experienced, veteran led teams. If what you’re wishing for or saying is our new reality well it’s not a very bright future for us.
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The key is having nba guys on the roster. There’s no NCAA champion that’s won without nba guys, and usually the easiest way to get a surefire NBA guy is through OAD. Most portal players are flawed.
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@wissox I know what you are saying… but how many D1 schools are keeping quality veteran teams around now?
This is exactly my point. I’m certain Self would like to keep a mostly-veteran team of talented players. I just see that possibility now fizzling out as the portal, NIL, and loose transfer rules make it hard to keep talent around for more than a year.
Look at our 2022 championship team… Braun, Agbaji, Wilson… McCormack (had a NBA shot, now in Europe). I’m not confident we can keep a team like that together long enough today. I think Self feels the same. And he also feels more comfortable with top shelf HS talent over portal guys that all bring in their experience, but it isn’t KU/Self experience.
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@drgnslayr I’d say the winning teams are winning with older guys still. Not gonna waste time looking it all up but I guess there’s some stat out there of NCAA winning teams and age. Kentucky and Duke are the two exceptions since 2012 I’d guess as they were very young and (tears) beat my two favorite teams which were laden with vets.
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The winning teams are doing a few different things:
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Finding the right guys in high school and not over relying on the portal. This is not always one and dones, but players who don’t jump ship in the portal and can develop.
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Finding portal players who are not just one year loans, but have 2-3 years of eligibility remaining and are able to stick around and develop. (Florida won a title with players like this).
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Using one year loans from the portal to plug roster gaps.
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