Kansas Jayhawks Vs UConn Huskies Game Thread 12/2 8PM CT
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I read on another post somewhere the concerns of a Jayhawk fan, who stated, "what bothers me is our homecourt advantage seems to be slipping away. Teams come into AFH now and have confidence they can leave with a win." I concur, totally.
What has changed? Is it Self? Has he become softer since facing illnesses? Is it the crowds? Becoming more passive and quiet? Or is it opposing teams are just tougher? Maybe we are playing more competitive teams now at home? What about our own team... are we as competitive as we used to be?
I put most of the blame on our own teams. Since we've started losing more at home, we are also losing more often away, too.
If you went back a few years ago... I feel like any of those teams would have won this UCONN game. Being close down the stretch used to always spell victory in the old days.
Why was that? My perspective is that we had more players that were true Jayhawks. They bought in to the legendary status of Kansas basketball. They walked the halls and they read the history and why it is so important to maintain tradition. And Kansas tradition was to WIN IN AFH!
Maybe I'm spouting nonsense... too much caffeine this morning! lol
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It all comes down to playing against this NIL parity game. Our team needs 20 or 30 points off the bench but we get 10 or so.
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@drgnslayr In my humble opinion it's because at this stage of the game, these kids have played at or seen every venue in the universe. Nothing impresses them. Find me a 19 year old who is awestruck about anything. They are not easily impressed or intimidated anymore.
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@nuleafjhawk end stage capitalism. What is pride and tradition and what are their exchange rates to the USD?
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Our society has become maybe too transactional.
That is definitely the case in college basketball. You pay the money, you get the player. Temporarily.
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@drgnslayr with universal transactionality, we look for a universal currency to define value.... $$$
I'm ok with transactionality if its sometimes subjective. i.e. barter system. Isn't that really what most interactions always were?
i.e. even if it was a fairy tale, we beleived that talented kids came to play for Kansas because they got love and adulation, and felt a part of something wiht tradition? we got their skills, they got to join the family?
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@approxinfinity @drgnslayr @nuleafjhawk thats the issue it’s not about academics, tradition, hell id even argue it has much less to do with basketball. It’s about money and only money for most. I bet 90% of our roster would go elsewhere for more money tomorrow. AFH isn’t the problem, I was told by several people the atmosphere was top tier Tuesday evening. One of two things is going on either we aren’t good at evaluating talent and are paying the wrong guys. Or we don’t have NIL to compete with the UConn, Duke, UNC and several others. I’ve gone back and forth with which it is, Most likely a little of both. Let me ask ya’ll outside of the last few seasons, when has Kansas not had hands down the best roster in the conference? How about a top 5-10 roster in the Country? I’m not sure I can remember not having hands down the best team in the conference since its inception before 2024. Id trade our roster all day for Duke or UNC prob Houston or Arizona maybe BYU.
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I hear you all.. but the main thing that was wrong the other night was that our best player (or most expensive asset, if you look at it cynically) was not on the floor.
I think this is a good, competitive roster, when the whole roster is considered, plus the staff and the ability of the players to grow and improve.
That last point is worth noting: Most of the players have played less than 10 games under Coach Self. Some of these players are incredibly talented and others are very experienced (or both). Coach Self's track record with seasoned players is excellent. I'm bullish on them all improving faster than the competition (if they all get on the court and play together sooner rather than later.)
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First... I don't put our game with UCONN into any real context; UCONN is an aberration from the norm... I'd also, maybe put Houston in that same category. Those two coaches aren't standard issue... especially Hurley. Hurley is able to recruit a very specific player, just like Houston is with Sampson. I don't care how much money is offered... you won't go to UCONN unless you can stand the heat from Hurley. And your NBA draft stock will fall if you can't meet your commitment with him. You go to UCONN if you want to eat, breath, sleep, basketball. It isn't vastly different at Houston, but with a twist. Sampson looks for guys willing to fight if necessary. I'm not talking redneck basketball. I'm talking about guys who refuse to lose a rebound to anyone.
College basketball is also a victim to our society. Even AI plays a part in this and probably more than I'm mentioning here. AI is quickly creating a world where college education doesn't mean what it used to mean. Half or more of the jobs that used to be available for college grads are vanishing and replaced with AI. So one of the transactional offerings of a school used to be the quality of education. And that may not be a consideration for 5-star recruits... just below that, it used to matter. Scratch that consideration. Get prepared, fans... college basketball will take yet another turn in the not to distant future when college admission standards are lowered to attract students because their enrollment numbers are about to crash. This also means, college sports will open up to a lot of players that previously couldn't make it past the academic bar.
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I have to admit... I envy Hurley and Sampson. Hurley isn't mentally sound. But when it comes to basketball... his direction, and Sampson's, is truly about player development. This is what I've been preaching in here for years, and we are just now starting to address it by hiring Vaughn. I already see a big difference in our play because Vaughn is cleaning up a lot of our play. This is a guy who really understands the game and I'm completely high on this guy and hope he becomes our next head coach, even if he isn't super young.
We are on the subject of transactionalism in college basketball... what is it worth to offer the very best player development? I know many think negatively about youth and they are just looking for a fast, easy buck. That hasn't at all been my experience with youth players, especially the good ones. Most of these kids had to have some level of quality management to reach their current level. They also realize how they got there through hard word and development (good coaching). It's never too late to turn our basketball program into one focused on development, even if we are trying to recruit 5-star recruits. I guarantee everyone here, that DP is grateful for being able to develop with Vaughn.
I know there are other guys out there. But I've always been high on John Lucas. I've experienced what he's done for many players, including our very own Tyshawn Taylor. We probably missed the boat a few years back when we probably could have hired Lucas for development, and brought his basketball to Lawrence. He is now very wedged into the Houston basketball community. But had we brought in Lucas, I doubt we would have signed Vaughn later. It is possible... that Vaughn is the next Lucas!
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@drgnslayr i think we should talk about AI in the other place. My gut reaction is that AI is a distraction. Theoretically, AI should be a tool making everyone better at their jobs and not a replacement. If AI is trained on AI generated content it leads to model collapse. We are already seeing it.
I think this is more smoke and mirrors to keep us off the scent of the giant enshittified corporations stuffing the pockets of their shareholders. Theyre happy to lay off half their work force for whatever reason.
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I see it as the perfect tool for the corporate model. The corporate model is all about shareholder profits. Those go up when you can cut your workforce substantially without a loss, or possibly an increase, in production.
I've spent the last 3 months working most of my time on several AI applications. It helped my productivity big time.
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@drgnslayr i think what you are saying jives with what i am saying. I have no doubt corporations will lay people off rather than having them be more efficient at their jobs aided by AI. They will say that AI has made them redundant but this is a lie.
