SELF WORKING HIS BUTT OFF...
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Go Bill! Full court press!
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I watched the Jordan Brand classic from last night.
Cheick Diallo is an amazing athlete – really amazing. I wanted to watch him again. He is a way better athlete than Cliff ever thought of being. His skill set is running the floor, rebounding, defense – Miles Simon, one of the game announcers mentioned that. He also said that Diallo is not a guy that you’re going to throw it to in the post. That is a concern. I have compared those concerns to Cliff, meaning lack of skill around the basket. But Diallo superior athleticism could take him places that Cliff will never go. I cannot imagine Diallo ever being benched for effort or motor.
Simon also said that Diallo was more of a “garbage man.” (go to the 16:04 mark for Simon’s comments). In watching Diallo, he may be 6’9" but he definitely plays bigger. Diallo did have a nice spin move around Zimmerman for a lay up over the front of the rim. Hit an 8 footer. Scored a lot in transition. It was also mentioned that Diallo really likes Iowa State’s “style of play.”
No doubt in my mind that he’d make us better, and there is no doubt in my mind that he’d start alongside Ellis – of course, after the first few games coming off the bench watching Traylor start. Ugh.
We have moved into “must have” territory.
This season might be a referendum on the pursuit of OADs. If we don’t get Diallo, we’ve literally been shut out on all the top presumed OAD big guys (Skal, Raab, Stone, Simmons, Diallo, Zimmerman, etc.) Diallo seems like a must.
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@HighEliteMajor Yep, Diallo would definitely look good in crimson and blue. Couple of Hawks would have to get their motors tuned up to keep up with him.
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I am not a well developed X & O guy.
Chieck’s athleticism , agility and motor impressed be a lot.
But what did you think of his defensive rebounding prowess on the first two defensive possessions of the game. He didn’t try to block out on either of them. Got the first rebound because of a long kick of the rim and considerable effort/tenacity. Second rebound was another whiff in terms of blockout.
He is a must get if at all possible, not saying anything to the contrary. I want him in Crimson & Blue next year.
I was just curious whether you had seen the same things or can tell me what my untrained eyes were missing. Appears to me there is a lot of room for technique improvement and positioning…which are easy fixes if he is receptive…and then look-out!
What were your observations/Thoughts?
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@SoftballDad2011 self will coach that talent up, think young TRob, Embiid, Withey. It’s all good!
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I agree. TRob and Withey were around long enough to get coached up.
JoJo was simply a sponge-like prodigy that absorbed everyone’s advice.
Cheick is a must have, no doubt.
Was just a bit surprised how advanced he was in some areas, but didn’t attempt to block out . And was curious to know what I was missing.
And by the way I only watched the first five minutes before switching to the Royals…so i didn’t see any of the game after he scored on the spin move to make it 10-10.
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@SoftballDad2011 - He appears to be a tremendous rebounder. Long, active, quick off the ground. But you are right on the blockout thing. Saw your post and scanned through the first half. I’ll cut him some slack as it is an exhibition. I’d say that Self will drill that into him, but we saw Traylor regularly fail to block out in his fourth season in the program. Can’t imagine a guy that plays like Diallo wouldn’t be receptive. Doesn’t appear to have a lazy bone in his body.
My big concern with Diallo is our biggest need right now for a fully function Self system – back to the basket scoring. Every evaluation of Diallo notes this as a significant deficiency. Watching him doesn’t change that concern. In Self’s system, it’s a must. Really, though, it is a bit irrelevant. There is no Ivan Rabb or Ben Simmons on the board.
Diallo, paired with either Bragg or Ellis, is the best we can do. Doesn’t sound too bad to me. Diallo is a rim protector, to be sure. That will help. And his clean up ability – “garbage man” as Simon called him – will make us better. Again, though, we don’t have any other real options at this point now that Thorne is off the board.
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Thanks for the response.
I agree with your assessment on all counts.
Would add that I suspect he would be able to add a basic B2B repertoire to compliment his existing skill set…if he values becoming more well rounded. He has the speed, agility and hand-eye coordination to do it…if he has the interest it should come pretty quickly.
I know he can’t play in the world university games if he becomes a Jayhawks…but has anyone read whether he can practice with the team while they prepare?
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I didn’t see your response here before I posted in the other thread about Diallo.
He is the only guy left who can start from Day 1. It’s rare to give a Freshman praise for hard work and that’s probably one of the things that gets Self so giddy about him. His hard work could really push Ellis & Lucas & Bragg to be better players. We cannot afford to lose him if we want to have a serious chance of the Final 4. Hence why Self met with him right after the game last night, smart because St. Johns has their visit today.
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Let’s say we don’t get Diallo. It appears there are no other bigs available. I know he’s been blasted in the past and some have thought there is no way he’s a KU-type guy. And maybe he’s not. But is there any way that anyone would then consider Thon Maker? Maybe–just maybe–he would get past the clearinghouse and maybe he could be convinced that it might be to his advantage to stay till March 2017.
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This reminds of a few years ago when we were in the race for Tarc. We had put all our eggs in one basket and the basket decided to go to Arizona.
I hope the results are different this year, but I have to admit that I’m surprised we are in that same situation all over again.
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We need his potential talent, but in my limited view of him I think he is a long way from being able to contribute in an organized scheme. Tremendous ability and athleticism and if it were 1 on 1 he would excel, but I thought he had limited court awareness and had trouble competing against people of a similar skill set. Add the one semester and done comment and the whole circus that seems to follow him and I just don’t think he is a good fit in Bill Self’s system…but that is just my honest opinion…so take it for what it’s worth…nada!
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That’s exactly as I see it. But we don’t really know. Maybe strip Thon from his handlers and clingers and maybe we end up with the dream package he had appeared to be on youtube the last couple of years. Hard to assess anything from an all star game. Guys are thrown together in a mixed salad manner. Give him a few months of solid coaching and maybe he finds his identity.
And then there is the eligibility issue.
What is clear is this kid needs to be removed from the people around him.
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Maker isn’t going to graduate until until August at the earliest and then there’s still a big chance he stays with his brother until December. And then there’s still a good chance he just works out until the NBA draft. With all those varaibles with him its likely we should stay away and just hope we land Diallo.
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@SoftballDad2011 I didn’t like that comment either. But you gotta remember this is an 18-year old we’re talking about. Back when RussRob was a freshman and decided he didn’t want to come in one game, I thought there was no way he should come back. But he turned out to be an outstanding Jayhawk.
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@wrwlumpy Gotta get Diallo.
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@HighEliteMajor Yeah, Diallo is a stud. I watched him play for the world team last week and thought he made his team better on both ends. Consider me impressed. We need this guy.
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Zimmerman was the guy the stood out like a superstar to me. Monster talent. Moves as well as Joel, but gets the game like someone that’s been playing it his whole life. I was prepared not to like him because of the talk about his recent “no risk” quote and his long neck and low shoulder sockets, but he could have shut any big man on the floor down AND scored on them at will, but it was pretty clear who was supposed to get show cased among the bigs in the Jordan. And it wasn’t Zimmerman. He was cool with it, too. The guy is a PHENOMENAL talent and his parents need to have their heads examined for not getting him to the best coach on the planet. He is one great coach aways from dominating his class in basketball. What a shame that he went to UNLV.
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Hmm. Self without a butt.
That’s going to haunt me for awhile.
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Unless Thon Maker improves a lot over the Summer, I just don’t see him playing a single day in college. He is not close to being ready to face quality competition (he was exposed at the Nike Hoops Summit) and is a long term project. He will take the NBA big money based on his potential and hopefully develop his game while getting paid…after all, you can’t teach height and he is got plenty of that.
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@JayHawkFanToo I’m not in any way hoping for Maker. But my thought was that if we can’t fill all our scholarships, there’s the possibility it could work out. It seems like these kids change their minds every few minutes. Maybe the best thing for him would be to go to a D1 school and get exposed, come back for a second year and show what he can do.
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I get the impression that Maker has no interest in college unless it immediately improves his NBA chances and at this time it look like college would actually delay that goal
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@JayHawkFanToo I think you’re probably right as of what we think we know right now. But tomorrow morning, he may feel completely different. And once you get them on campus, everything could change. Brandon Rush didn’t want to be in college either, and he lasted 3 years.
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@Wigs2 these handlers!
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I know that we have taken this OAD approach, but at this point wouldn’t it be better to just shut it down and start working towards next year, and the year afters recruits ? HCBS is putting so much time and resources towards players that at best help us in a game or two. I think if we didn’t have Alexander or oubre last year we would have had the exact same outcome. This current KANSAS roster is already loaded with guys that want to be here, and have been in the program several years. Why not focus on them and their development as opposed to recruiting over mason or Greene or Svi and a few more. That is the reason we lost Conor F, and it sucks because he wanted to be here and would have been a solid 4 year guy like perry. The only reason Traylor or Lucas or Michelson are even here is because we swung and missed on so many OADs. I am really looking forward to this ridiculous OAD rule to be over. It just comes with so many unintended consequences, and has ruined more than a few guys that could have been so much better at the next level.
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Diallo is 6ft 9 but has a 7ft 4 wing span. MVP at McDonalds all star classic, CO MVP- at the Jordan classic. went off last night for 26 pts, 11 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 blk, and an assist. I’ve watched this kid through out this year, i feel if he isn’t the best, he is one of the top 1 or 2 big men period. unbelievable motor, sooooooo much better then Zimmerman. Zimmerman is way to soft, plays way to much away from the basket, just another 7ft kid wanting to try and play guard position, watch him in all 3 games and he never had over like 5 rebs in any of the games. Diallo has agility, seen more then once sweet spin moves leaving defenders grasping at thin air. seen him take the ball to the hole with force laast night man went for block and Diallo stuck it in his face, and got an and 1. Glad Zimmerman went to UNLV just way to soft… thing is, our coaching staff has got to start closing the deal on some of these kids. sell the program, put their foot down on the competition’s throat.
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A lot more to the Frankamp story than what has been published. KU has scholarships available, why waste them?
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Agreed, he was overmatched in the World Game. Those games can also be all about guards. He did have 10 rebs & a couple blocks so it showed that he knows how to impact the game more in those area’s than offense right now. I doubt he goes to College at this point and that works out well for his handler who’d have a diminished role if he went into college. He would have been great to get in the perfect world because his talent would be easier to teach then what we have but it’s a longshot he makes it to College
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Hate that we are missing out on these guys, but the silver lining is that UK and our conference are missing on them too.
Self is in a difficult situation.
If OAD expresses interest in Kansas, he can’t just pass on him (unless there is too much baggage). And if we land him and he is only here for a year…that is still better than having had to play against them.
The other thing that forces us to stay in the OAD game is that if pass completely, we are going to have an air pocket in our roster until he gets the 20-100 ranked signees on campus and gives them their two-three years to get up to speed. And those could be a rough couple of years.
And let’s be honest…if our fan base is in an uproar about a 9 loss season (against the toughest SOS in the nation) that had numerous wins over top 25 teams, a conference championship, undefeated home season and appearance in the big dance…how are we going to feel if we are a sub .500 team lose several games by double digits and miss the dance?
IMO the best thing that happens is that the OAD stacking phenomena fizzles out, order is restored in the recruiting process (e.g. stockpiling of multiple OAD goes by the wayside b/c coaches realize the concept rarely works and is not worth the high maintenance recruiting that it takes…so recruiting becomes more equally disbursed as it once was) and we move back to focusing on core roster guys and augmenting them with supreme talent on occasion, but not being reliant on it.
Funny thing is that we had that system down pat…and the mantra then was that Self can’t land the big time recruits…he’s got to figure out how to get that done.
But we are stuck on this carnival ride for now and until we can safely jump-off this moving merry-go-round, we obligated to stay on our current path,…unless we are willing to accept mediocrity for a few years until we can work through the implications of a change in our business model.
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@SoftballDad2011 Wait a minute, UK lost 7 to the NBA but they signed 3 five star recruits… so far. How is that not getting anyone?
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@Lulufulu That’s a good point. I guess it is all relative, but they were all early commits / signees before the luster faded from Cal’s grand plan.
Pretty good chance they whiff on Brown, Ingram, Maker, Diallo…and they already whiffed on Zimmerman, Thorne, Bryant, Rabb.
That many misses is uncharted territory for Kentucky in recent years,
