Friday Tourney Chat
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15 to 9 second-half fouls in favor of WSU. I think they were wanting to see this, and the media has been talking about it for days. NCAA needs drama like I need some 25 year Scotch and a stogie to celebrate for these AWESOME JAYHAWKS today. I don’t smoke or drink, though
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@Crimsonorblue22 Why? You’re from Ta town?
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@Blown It’s hard to evaluate people at a distance, but Marshall looks kind of high-strung to me…
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This will be WSU’s national championship. We should treat it the same. There is no tomorrow.
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@Blown if that’s means wichiTa no, but close, get all wichita tv stations. I was watching nit celebration when he called us chicken hawks.
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@ajvan I’ve not seen Marshall up close either. Self is a different story.
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@Crimsonorblue22 So you don’t like him because he called us Chickenhawks?
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@Crimsonorblue22 He’s a greasy little weasel. I hope we pound them…
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@Blown yes!! He’s got a big mouth! Shows no respect!
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@KUSTEVE If Self left, he’d be one of the first two or three guys I called. But for now, yes he’s a greasy weasel
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@Blown Not me. He’s strictly small time…
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@KUSTEVE No he is not. And time will tell you otherwise. But we can just agree to disagree.
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@Blown I’d have trouble calling him before at least 5-6 others. Danny, Dooley, Turg, Boyle, Vaughn, Haase-right off the top. Surely there are more but must ponder the subject further.
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@Blown we would never call him after how he talked about us!
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How’s everyone’s brackets after the morning / afternoon session?
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@globaljaybird you’ve heard the fans castigate Self even with his outstanding career here and you think any of those coaches other than Turg would last more than 3 years? Not me. Danny isn’t ready. Tad can coach but he couldn’t cut it at Kansas either. And Jacque as a college coach at high elite level? Maybe in a decade.
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@Blown hopefully Self will still be here! I can’t think of anyone to replace him.
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What will osu be w/out Nash next year?
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Great story from Gary Bedore on KU sports! Jayhawks having fun!!! Please stay Kelly oubre!
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Bob Huggins’ West Virginia beat Buffalo earlier this afternoon, and you’d think he’d be all sunshine and roses, but apparently was dwelling on the haters who picked against his team. “I’m going to have really lost my mind when I start paying attention to what Jay Bilas and those people say,” said Huggins, via Tim Graham of the Buffalo News. “I mean, Jay always does those tweets, ‘Got to go to work.’ I’m trying to wonder what that is.”
If, like Huggins, you don’t get the reference, it was explained when the ESPN analyst met Young Jeezy, the rapper whose lyrics he’s always quoting:
Young Jeezy and Jay Bilas Talk “I Gotta Go To Work” Tweets 00:00/03:43
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OMAHA – Perry Ellis is a fine, upstanding young man who would never intentionally try to deceive anyone.
So if he says he “felt great” in his 23 minutes during Kansas’ 75-56 second-round NCAA Tournament win over New Mexico State on Friday, I’m inclined to believe he believes he feels great, even if he doesn’t.
This is the NCAAs. Ellis is determined to overcome.
But it didn’t look like Ellis, his right knee sporting a big brace and wrapped in adhesive tape, felt all that great Friday.
He lumbered. He missed an early dunk. His spring was not springing.
Ellis scored nine points and made a three-pointer. He played sporadically because KU coach Bill Self wanted to get him off that knee. More than two weeks after suffering the injury in a game against West Virginia at Allen Fieldhouse, Ellis’ return to form is a work in progress.
That’s what I believe.
“There’s still a time when I might feel a little hesitant,” Ellis said. “But overall, I feel great. No pain.”
I believe the part about feeling no pain and so does Self, who said there is no structural damage.
It looks, though, like Ellis is having a difficult time letting go, trusting that the knee will hold up if he plays with a more no-holds-barred mentality.
“I think physically, Perry is pretty good,” Self said after the Jayhawks breezed through New Mexico State by making 9 of 13 three-point shots. “He’s shown no indication of the knee bothering him during practice the last three days and that kind of stuff.
“He just doesn’t have the same explosiveness, the same bounce. To me, he looked a little tentative out there, very tentative, and he got off to a rough start. He had the dunk that he missed and a layup right after that he missed and it looked like after that that he didn’t really explode on the knee.”
When asked how close to full speed Ellis looked, Self gauged it at 70 percent with a caveat.
“With the potential to be 100 percent later (Friday night) because I don’t think it’s anything structural.”
The Jayhawks are starting to right their ship from long range after an awful six-game stretch when they were 11 of 71 from three-point range.
A healthy and springy Ellis, though, would be a huge asset against Wichita State on Sunday. The winner heads to Cleveland and the Sweet 16.
Ellis is one of the best high school players to come out of Wichita, where he won four state championships at Heights. He never seriously considered going to Wichita State, though, because his heart was set on playing at Kansas from an early age.
Ellis’ progression this season has been fun to watch. He’s an All-Big 12 player and KU’s MVP. He was playing his best basketball before tweaking his knee and missing a couple of games before returning for two in last weekend’s Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.
There’s still some rust left.
Ellis admitted that the knee is on his mind some. That’s normal. He thinks about protecting it and not doing something that will cause a setback. His mind isn’t yet free.
“I’m still trying to get through it mentally a little bit and trying to trust what I can do,” Ellis said. “But I feel like I’m almost there.”
Wichita State-Kansas is almost here, as well. It’s been a long time.
Ellis wasn’t yet born the last time the Shockers met the Jayhawks, a 103-54 1993 KU win in Allen Fieldhouse. He didn’t have a lot to say about it after KU’s win because Indiana and Wichita State were playing.
“I just know a lot of fans are talking about it,” Ellis said.
Ellis and Wichita State junior Evan Wessel, who won three state championships together at Heights, will be reunited, much as KU’s Darnell Valentine and Wichita State’s Antoine Carr, also Heights graduates, were reunited for the KU-WSU 1981 NCAA Tournament game in New Orleans.
Landen Lucas has picked up some of Ellis’ slack recently. The 6-foot-10 Lucas had seven points and nine rebounds against New Mexico State and has 39 rebounds in the five games Ellis either has missed or been at less than full speed.
But if Kansas is to win more games in the tournament, the Jayhawks are going to need Ellis to dramatically throw that knee brace into the stands and shout that he’s back to being Perry Ellis. Or something like that.
“I talked to Perry before the game,” KU sophomore Wayne Selden said, “and I told him, ‘You’re the best player on the court, go out there and show it.’ I’m confident in him.”
If Ellis starts feeling great, he can definitely be the best player on the court. But despite what he says, I don’t think he’s quite there yet.
Reach Bob Lutz at 316-268-6597 or blutz@wichitaeagle.com. Follow him on Twitter: @boblutz.
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/bob-lutz/article15534218.html#storylink=cpy
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@Kip_McSmithers I did mine in about 5 minutes and it shows! I only did one bracket, I noticed the people winning have done multiple brackets.
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@wissoxfan83 guess I better hang around here and watch some of this game. See if it looks like the badgers are gonna be the first 1 seed to go down to a 16…
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My day can’t be ruined, it was ruined by a speeding ticket earlier, so I can take anything now!
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@wissoxfan83 nah. I’m sure Wisc has this one
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Have you seen them play this year?
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@wissoxfan83 a couple games. Vs Michigan I think and Duke.
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@cragarhawk did you see Conner? I didn’t see him on bench, don’t think he can travel. It would be awkward for all!
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No secret Kominski is a force though. He cannot be stopped
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@Crimsonorblue22 we looked for him. Didn’t see him
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Nice article on him on the NYT today or yesterday.
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Better guard 44. He’s dropping fitty tonite
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@cragarhawk feel bad for him and Cliff, even though I’m mad he left!
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Me too. I wish he’d have stayed.
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@wissoxfan83 how fast were you going? I got one last month, 183 bucks. I was following him, he said I was coming up to fast on him. I asked him how fast he was going! I was not happy!
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@wissoxfan83 I’m glad he left!
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41 in a school zone, before kiddos were out, and past the school in a semiresidential area, basically I had sped up a little too soon. Kind of a speed trap
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Trey guns a work in for the badgers
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Been one of their strengths this year. Especially when you see 6’10’’ Decker and 7’ Kaminsky making them
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This team they’re playing is hot too. Our D is not bo ryan like this year.
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I was just going to say that thus far in this game. Their d hasn’t impressed but the o is working pretty well
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@cragarhawk Iowa surprised me tonight. I usually cheer for BIg 10 teams, but I really dislike them and have for a long time.
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Ya. I had Davidson in that one honestly. That was surprising
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@wissoxfan83 and you’re a teacher? Gasp!!! How much was the ticket? I have a lead foot, kinda go w/the flow!
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@Crimsonorblue22 Louisiana doesn’t put the amount on the ticket for some reason. This state is last in the country in education so they do a lot of dumb things here!
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@wissoxfan83 good one!!!
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KOenig on Wisconsin #24 is a stud sophomore and KU recruited him. I think it was a foregone conclusion he was going to UW though.
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Yes I teach. I just left a tough afternoon, I teach inner city kids and Friday afternoons has them restless, so I wasn’t in the greatest mood, and then the ticket!
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Wisc moves the ball well . And they can shoot . Eye test says they can beat anyone. Interior defense seems a Lil lacking for an upper big10 team though
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@cragarhawk Their D is good enough, not sure it’s good enough for Kentucky, but I think our offense is good enough.
