Mason to start Saturday.
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When will Jo Jo? Coach stated during his press conference that Frank was by far the best on the court during the Atlantis trip. He also included that Frank also played the worst two minutes at the end of the UTEP game. Good for Frank. Jo Jo was voted Freshman of the week with 7 blocks in one game. He’s always been in at the end of the game. I think that starting gives you some stature with the refs in recognizing you as a better player who might be given some slack on fouls. The way the big men have been fouling, Lucas and Wesley will be getting playing time.
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Hey there @wrwlumpy! Jo Jo won’t start soon enough! Lumpy, it looks like 3 people posted same thing within 30 minutes, can we kill this thread and move over to bskeets?
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I’m wondering if this is more of a wakeup call for Tharpe. Self keeps saying we need energy and passion and the older guys need to show the way. What we’ve lacked is energy and passion the past 3 games.
I don’t think Mason will be starting for long. Hopefully Tharpe reacts positively.
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“I think that starting gives you some stature with the refs in recognizing you as a better player who might be given some slack on fouls.”
@wrwlumpy - That’s an angle I haven’t heard before… interesting… I always thought if you wanted some stature with the refs you needed to wear a Duke uniform!
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@wrwlumpy - Remember 2011-12? Wesley would come in the game, breath, and get a foul. jaybate and I used to joke about that. It was like the refs saw KU with 2 team fouls and our opponent with 7, and took it out on Wesley. Of course, Wesley did foul many times. But I do believe that the better players get more slack, and the subs then get the brunt when it’s time to even out the fouls. Refs are human … they might see TRob with 3 fouls at the 16 minute mark in the second half and let some contact slide; then when Wesley comes in, he looks at an offensive player the wrong way and gets a whistle. Works for me. Everyone’s happy. We’ll see Embiid start pretty soon I think.
@iowajayhawk2005: certainly a plausible scenario regarding the move being motivation. It will of course have that secondary impact at the least. I posted the other day about last season. About this time, Self was plainly upset with Tharpe and said if something didn’t change, there would be changes. Self wasn’t happy with much in Tharpe’s game at that point. He was razor close to seeing Rio Adams get the backup PG minutes. Then the light switch went on.
I have sensed that Tharpe has never been a favorite of Self, meaning “Self’s kind of player.” Before the season, Self had said some nice things about Tharpe. I just think/sense that this change is more about performance than motivation. And more about Self thinking this team is just better with Mason starting.
