Jan 8: The journey begins for Title 10 of 10... and the search for joy.
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@KansasComet - “Let the best players play.”
Non-Conference is over. What is the best rotation? Who should start? My humble opinion:
Starters
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Frank Mason.
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Naadir Tharpe
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Andrew Wiggins
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Perry Ellis
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Joel Embiid
Rotation Bench
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Wayne Selden
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Andrew White or Brannen Greene
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Landen Lucas
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Jamari Traylor
Bench (emergency/blow-out playing time)
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Andrew White or Brannen Greene
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Tarik Black
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Conner Frankamp
A couple of thought -
-The idea would be that, ideally, Selden would earn his way back into the starting lineup.
-I believe the best point guard to prep for March is Frank Mason. Commit to it. Go with it. Tharpe a key rotation piece.
-I hedged on White or Greene – pick one. Doesn’t matter. Just pick one. And that “one” could compete to get in the starting lineup. If Selden didn’t improve, then this “one” would ideally start over Tharpe. Greene is maybe the more pure shooter, long, athletic. White is an excellent rebounder, more experience, and maybe more ready. Coin toss. Don’t think there is a wrong choice.
-The Lucas-Traylor minutes might vary game by game, with the one getting rotation minutes, the other getting minutes in the 5-9 variety.
As of now, this would be my preference.
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@KansasComet @HighEliteMajor Yep. Perfect analysis.
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@HighEliteMajor-I too have believed for some time that Selden should play back into a starting role. But I also believe that a 10 man rotation including Brannen & AW III both could make for better competition for pt involving all vying for min at the 2 & 3 spots. Self needs to sort this out to narrow down the field, but alas, it hasn’t happened yet so I won’t hold my air. Plus I also agree that Lucas should be ahead of Black off the bench-can it make that much difference which guy gets the scraps? Personally, the guy that will be back next year if skillset is comparable, should be the first in line. Black has the energy, but it’s by & large out of control IMO.
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Additionally I’d be thrilled to see Joel & Landon execute hi-lo, as PE may be too short to be the best option. Hey, make Perry compete for pt also. Hell, make em’ all mad enough to compete. Bill may sound like the touchy feely guy on the camera, but we all know what he can really dish out in the gym. If all things are equal there, then make everyone including the MCDAA’s work for pt.
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@REHawk I saw that. One genius has us finishing 9-9 in conference. I love this team, and I love this coach. I think we’ll throttle OU, beat the Kitties, and cap it off with handing the Clones their first loss. I believe.
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“Think happy thoughts!”
We even have Eamonn on board!
Time to bring the MOJO and the JUJU to Norman and make a big splash!
Rock Chalk!
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@HighEliteMajor I agree with you. Mason has shown time and time again that he is ready for the big moments. He drove to the bucket and scored with time running out against Villanova, he nailed a clutch 3 against San Diego State, and above all, he has no fear. That’s how you survive and advance in March.
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“Newell: Self wants to see more energy, emotion from quiet Jayhawks.”
With that quote I am convinced that Bill Self reads KUBuckets to help prepare for the next game. Many of us observed the same.
I won’t offer coach any tips. I’m basically a ball watcher so I don’t have the intricacies down like some of you do, but if he asks, I’ll tell him who here to read.
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I actually think Self needs to have a shorter leash with guys and yank them instantly if they aren’t on their toes. Self will never be a 10 player rotation guy so let’s figure out those 8/9 guys who want it. I’m fine with guys missing shots if it is a shot they should be taking but when Green comes in the game and shoots a contested 3 with 28 seconds left on the shot clock instead of reversing it to the weak side I cringe - I cringe deeply. I don’t care if it goes in or not I want Brennan out of the game instantly. When I watch Naadir forgo an extra dribble and a dish/close range opportunity for a step back mid/long range jumper I want him out of the game instantly. When I see Wiggins catch the ball and then make a decision rather then knowing where he is on the court/feeling his defender and having a plan the second he touches it I want him off the court. When I see Selden take a back seat and not work for an opportunity and not bring energy when he makes a shot I want him off the court.
If we are rotating the ball, pushing the tempo, creating shots for ourselves and teammates in tempo then I could care less whether or not they fall, but this team just gets apathetic and watches/waits for an opportunity rather than taking it. Everything that gets under my skin about these guys is 100% fixable and has mostly to do with awareness, energy, and making sound basketball decisions. I think the majority of the onus is on Wiggins and I have been beyond frustrated with his lack of consistency this year. It has nothing to do with shots falling it has everything to do with him not utilizing what makes him the best prospect since Lebron - his speed. The guy needs to know what he’s going to do before he gets the ball. If he has a step on his defender he needs to catch and make his first step immediately towards his defender. He has the quickest first step I’ve ever seen yet he never seems to utilize it. If he doesn’t have an angle he needs to swing the ball and get to open space and try it all over again. Our system is dependent on ball movement and when it sticks and we look to create shots off the bounce the entire structure collapses. It’s the reason McLemore was so successful despite the ability to create his own shot - in fact, I can’t remember a single Kansas player who, going into the draft, didn’t have question marks about his ability to create his own shot. It’s not that these guys can’t do it (although Bmac has no off hand yet) it’s that our system is built that they never have to. When we run our high low we’ll either get one on one with a big or the d collapses and we get an open 3 point shot. When we’re in transition we need to force the issue, get to the bucket, and kick it out/rotate if the shot isn’t there.
The ball sticks too much on this team. If guys aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do get them out asap and bring in a guy who will.
On that note - I’m very pro Lucas over Black/Traylor but he lacks the one thing Self says we’re missing, intensity. Black/Traylor are the only two guys who get hype when things go well and if they leave the lineup we could potentially become the most bored team in D-I.
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Mason needs to temper his lack of fear back a bit. He has hit some big shots and he has missed some big shots - my issue with both of these is why the hell is our worst shooter taking big shots? Having no fear can lead to wrecklessness and a lack of respect for the opponent. Remember the fearless Morri team who got their butts handed to them by VCU? Confidence is a much more important then fearlessness and they’re really one in the same. I don’t want a team over confident the same way I don’t want a team to be completely fearless. It leads to mistakes.
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I never would have guessed that our starting 2 guard only has 12 3pt shots downs so far this year. While we are still soul searching, heck, let’s try Wayne at the 1 since he is obviously not an aggressive enough scorer. I’m sure Mason has him beat in the handles and dime department, but a 6’5 guard has a lot of an advantage a 5’10 guard does not.
I really think the best line up moving forward is Mason, Selden, Wiggins, Perry, & JoJo. Surely Mason has learned how to break the zone by now, and that, imho, is the reason he lost the 1 back to Tharpe anyway. We need Alpha Mason on the court. It’s a completely different team with him out there.
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@HighEliteMajor I am good with Selden coming off the bench for now. Black is just not better than Lucas at this point. He has an advantage of having a year under his belt in the system. There were years past where we did not have the talent. This year we have a surplus of talent. There are minutes out there. Coach Self can pull it off, just like he did when we were loaded in 2008.
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Question: who blocks out the best on this team? Leave out Embiid, he’s busy bothering shots.
The thing that made me most cringe against SDSU was gimmes after Embiid blocks because the other SDSU big was all alone under the basket.
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@iowajayhawk2005 Completely disagree on Mason. Part of the problem with the team this year is they are walking on eggshells. Afraid to shoot the ball, standing flat-footed on loose balls and letting opponents dictate pace. Frank Mason is a Freshman. He has stood up for his team and drilled clutch 3 point shots when others would or could not. Did they all go in? No. Are there better 3 point shooters on the team? Yes. However, Frank Mason is exactly what this team needs. I would much rather strike out swinging than looking any day of the week.
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@ParisHawk Nobody. But the good news is that blocking out is the easiest correctable flaw in basketball.
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You’re missing my point. Frank Mason is great for this team but the problem is he is the one taking the shots. There are not only better 3 point shooters he is arguably the worst shooting guard that we have. You are 100% on point that this team lacks tenacity and stands flat footed - it is our glaring weakness. If these guys are going to continue to be aloof and not be the aggressors and Frank is going to continue to take control due to his lack of fearlessness we will be an early exit from the Tourney and we won’t win the Big 12. I love his mentality and I sure hope it rubs off on everyone but our problem is our guys are content with watching our worst shooter take the big shots. It’s on them to demand the ball and stop playing bored.
It’s nothing specifically against Frank it’s just that the overall problem is that we have Frank taking these shots in the first place. If our team is going to be successful we’re going to need our shooters to change their mentality and Mason to get the ball up the court, push the tempo, and find our shooters in space. If our shooters want the ball but he’s looking to create his own shot and not get other guys involved we’re in for a long season.
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@iowajayhawk2005 Here’s the rule of thumb: when our point guards take less than 10 shots, we win. When our pgs take more than 10 shots, we lose. Now, which comes first: the chicken or the egg? Does the pgs taking the most shots mean the offense isn’t moving, the guys aren’t getting open, and there is no one else left to take the shot… or does it mean the pgs are trying to hog the shots, and not looking to set up the teammates? I’ve been asking that question for awhile now. I’m not sure I’ve come up with a definitive answer yet.
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@iowajayhawk2005 do we know who our 3 pt shooters are?
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OU will be a tough out, but…
The saplings learned what D1 is about that first half against SDSU…it is about how hard and tough you play.
Talent?
Talent only comes into play once you play hard enough and tough enough for it to overcome another bunch of L&As playing hard and tough.
Unless every sapling on our team has an XTReme Learning Disability, KU will come out on the floor the first half, as it came out on the floor the second half…conducting maximum amps.
Self WILL amp them for this game. They will not have practiced heavily before it. Legs will be very fresh. Players will be juiced, unless there are deep, abiding relationship, personality and transfer issues eating like a cancer at the team. Self will have some wrinkles for them, because Bi-Brow (formerly Uni-Brow) will have the same for KU.
It is an away game and so KU could lose, if OU shoots out the lights.
But KU should get back to 50% inside and 38-40% from trey with fresh legs and the psychological edge of having played SDSU’s phenomenally L&A starters. Even though OU has some size and athleticism, playing OU is going to feel like going from swinging two bats with donuts in the on-deck circle against a fast baller to swinging one bat in the box against a control pitcher. You gotta be careful not to overawing at first, but if you can get to 3 and 2, you are going to have a quick bat and some of your juices flowing to look for one to yank.
Rebounding is once again the coin of the realm, as I prefaced the last game with, and then went on ad nauseum about during the JNew chat. A game without rebounding advantage is like World Trade Center VII without a jet impact. All sorts of unforeseeable and hard to solve consequences unfold that people in charge have spend a lot of time after the fact trying without credibility to unravel. A game without rebounding advantage becomes a mystery of cascading riddles wrapped in an enigma of complexity.
Rebounding is best done by those that have a sixth sense for it and KU alas has not one of those kind of players this season. That KU lacks this is one of the reasons I forecast them having a very rough go of it before rounding into shape late.
KU’s problems are only partly attributable to youth. The team has serious holes in abilities, as do most teams, as some have noted when I have taken the time to point the shortcomings out. Naa can’t guard and shoot on a long guard. Frank can drive, but has yet to learn to dish cunningly, and his virtue of aggressiveness conspires with his inexperience to make him misread required spacing on his man to prevent blow-bys. Selden is a slow-foot with a long first step that masked the slow feet, until he started meeting fast-foots with first steps as long as his, plus Selden is almost certainly playing injured. NBA bodies in D1 don’t regress without ongoing, denied injury. And Wayne Selden is an NBA body, don’t let the slump fool you. Like a Tyrell Reed on steroids, otherwise L&A Selden will next season acquire fast feet at the muscle couturier–Haut d’Hudy and break a lot of defenders’ hearts…and minds.
Moving on to Andrew “Earwigs” Wiggins, his L&A amounts to a mega pincher being applied at creepy crawly speed and intensity most of the time. Andrew has been so much better than his competition all these years that he literally had no clue he would ever need an above average trey gun to do in D1 what he has always done since 4th grade. That same dazzingling L&A has obscured from him that he would ever run up against unsung, non OAD guys he would have to play harder and tougher than for a full 40 minutes to crush. Never in his wildest dreams because his wildest dreams have never included clawing and scratching and biting for 40 minutes just for the chance to explode a few times all over someone’s face for the ESPN high light of the night. This is no knock on Andrew; this is why playing AT LEAST an OAD year truly is helpful to NBA bodies with insight. Of course, those without insight it doesn’t help, but that is neither here nor there, because Andrew has insight. He just really, really needed that experience of lessers overwhelming him, kicking him when he was down, and walking off at half time laughing and mocking him precisely so he could hear them. Andrew has the insight to shed the “earwig” exoskeleton and fulfill great expectations, once he learns what Bird and Jordan understood understood after getting their butts handed to them (Bird breaking and running his freshman season with Bob Knight) and Jordan getting cut when he was a wee lad. Andrew needed that butt kicking by SDSU more than any sapling on the team, and he got it in a big, big way. And you just know his father, an NBA player, who probably loves him to the edge of the universe and back, knew deep down in his craw that sooner or later his super son, Andrew, was going to have to take a kicking and keep on ticking in order to make a career, and not just a first gaudy contract, in No Boyz Allowed. Andrew Wiggins is not someone I would want to face today, if I were a Sooner. Andrew’s father and mother were apparently ferocious athletic competitors. You can almost hear the cell phone conversation that must have occurred after the SDSU game. Father Wigs said, “Facing adversity is part of the game, son. You’ve got to fight back.” Brother Wigs said, “Baby Bro, don’t get your robber down. Be strong. Some of those guys on SDSU were old enough to be on NBA pensions. Be yourself and you will be okay.” Those conversations were fine. They made him feel better, like this was just one of those bumps in the road. But then mom probably called on Face Time, or Skype, or something and she put the stern mother look on him. She who has competed at a high level looked at her son and said, “You can do better than that.” Oooh, those mothers! That’s all they gotta say sometimes. Its the look and the failure to live up to even their expectations. Chilling. Just chilling. The mother unit is not satisfied. Ooooh, wee, its like packing a whole bunch of TNT around some U238. Only mothers can come at you from all sides sat once with just a few words and a look. Fathers are head on, linear, battering rams. Mothers are all inclusive, omni-directional imploders. Its the deep nature of evolution. I don’t know how good Andrew will execute versus OU, but I suspect we are going to see some nonlinear increase in activity.
Then we come to Embiid: the player that has the heart and fire of a great athlete; the willingness to mix it up with anyone no matter how fierce; but at the same time the guy that really does not yet sufficiently grasp the spatial relationships among himself and his teammates when double and triple teamed. He is already an accomplished shot blocker. He can “make plays.” But he often cannot know the spatial things Wilt Chamberlain knew from playing the game since a child. He cannot know yet how other players and refs view him and so what he can and cannot get away with. Time and experience alone can deliver these precious insights to him. Embiid is a star incubating. KU is sooooo fortunate to have him, but it is not the same as having Wilt, or Danny, or Kareem, or Walton yet. It is like having Hakeem that first early season at U of Houston, not the last season of Phi Slamma Jamma.
And then there is The Designer–the 3 revolving elliptically in the 4th orbital shell of the Team Green. Sometimes the elliptical orbit hurls him far from his greatness and sometimes too near Embiid’s incubating sun that this team orbits around for him to do anything but score. And then those Blue Meanies of D1–the 23 year old L&As inside–the guys explode all over his head, when he tries to finesse a bucket–they can and do stop him. Its not a knock. Its not a knock. Its like saying Brady Morningstar had a limit at the 3, because he was 6-3 and slight of build and once he ran into the Blue Meanies on the perimeter in the Madness he could not score his usual 40% from trey. It was just stating the obvious. Play out of position without an NBA body in D1 and sooner or later the Blue Meanies separate one from what one is assigned out of position to do. Like night follows day.
And we could go on thusly down the roster. There are holes in this team regardless of age and regardless of the number of ecstatically hyped recruit rankings. They are holes that will remain in one form, or another, for the entire season. Just as other teams have holes.
This is why the game of basketball always defaults finally to which teams have pieces that fit together the most seamlessly and so can mask the inevitable holes the most effectively.
This is why starting freshman is such a chore.
Each game an upper classman starts, he and his coach really only have to worry about compensating for the next one of his flaws opposing coaches expose in his game after several days of film analysis and applying the appropriate player and disruption tactics to him.
But with a freshman, you are also combatting learning everything the first time, plus having opposing coaches expose his flaws.
A freshman has to learn how deafening 15,000 hostile fans can be.
A freshman has to learn how tough and mean long and strong 23 year old men playing for their futures can be on cue from coaches.
A freshman has to learn “the system.”
A freshman has to learn D1 speed defense on ball, off ball, and then help one, help two, and help three.
A freshman has to learn to play with a frisky young woman wanting his attentions.
A freshman has to learn to play HARD and TOUGH for 30-38 mpg depending on how close the game is.
A freshman has to go through the pain barrier of length of season starting in January, when the season is already as long as his longest high school season.
And all of the above and more makes it an order of magnitude harder to mask the inevitable holes in abilities on a team hunting for a title and a ring.
I am pretty confident that this team will win the Big Eight Conference, if Baylor doesn’t have an exceptional L&A point guard. KU really will have no answer for an excellent L&A point guard this entire season that does not make it even more vulnerable somewhere else, unless Self begins to swing Perry 3/4 and Wiggins 2/3, which so far he has been effectively unwilling to do. Wiggins and Perry are the go get a basket guys. They are also the bread and butter scorers. I don’t believe KU can win a ring in March/April with Perry sidelined for extended minutes, when he is unable to handle really good L&As at the 4, because of his height and slightness and finesse game. The Designer has to be in the game for KU to have enough scoring to play for all the marbles.
But this headline and thread asked if this team can win another title.
The answer is: yes.
And it seems a high probability to me that it will, not a slim one.
Talent and depth playing well together wins conference titles.
There is no reason to think this team will not make a non linear improvement in playing together when they get their legs back and with the butt kicking by SDSU.
But rings are won by 7-8 guys, three of which have nearly every game MUA, with the other 5 or 6 having the fewest holes to mask, that then get the most favorable match ups in the three 2-game tournaments that comprise the Madness.
KU seems to have too many holes to win a title, even if it gets hot in March, unless Embiid transforms into Hakeem in a single season, or Wiggins actually becomes the next Lebron.
But it can win a long grind to a conference title with its depth, with Cobbins out of OSU’s line up, with Self having correctly anticipated the additional length of this season (KU should not burn out late January and early February), and with Self giving KU the edge over Drew of Baylor in coaching over the course of a round robbin. OSU can get a split with KU just because Smart is an order of magnitude better than any guard we throw at him, but not a sweep without Cobbins.
The Mayor and Iowa State can get a split, but our depth and talent should will out over a round robin.
Kruger and OU may be the biggest threat and so stealing a win in Norman tonight, when we are not yet probably sufficiently developed enough to do so would be huge! We all need to hope and pray for a great shooting game, some aggressive rebounding heretofore not seen, and a big dollop of lady luck. If we get out of Norman with a W, then we can afford the splits I mentioned above and lock a share of this tenth title up. And if we happen to sweep either OSU, or Baylor, well, then we should get it outright.
Rebounding, guard play, and finding a scheme for keeping Perry in games against L&A 4s, are what this team needs to focus on the most. As soon as they are confident in these areas, then they can really focus on the Disruption Stat and so steal enough advantage in possessions to win on their bad nights.
Rock Chalk!!!
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@HighEliteMajor I agree doubly so. But I also think that Tarik is still capable of having a big game for us and should be higher in the rotation.
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@jaybate 1.0-"
“…They will not have practiced heavily before it. Legs will be very fresh. Players will be juiced, unless there are deep, abiding relationship, personality and transfer issues eating like a cancer at the team.”
JB, I’m beginning to wonder if these are issues effecting such a uniquely heralded & exclusively talented group. I do not recall a Self team that consistently played as lethargic as this one sometimes does, for such extended periods. Of course we’ve no answer to this question other than pure speculation on social media posts. And I’m also certain that Bill has a gumshoe (chiphead?) covering that angle, so how much & often these guys comment may have bearing on what they say. Anyway, that is just hearsay to all other than the coaching staff or someone close to the players, so there’s no true way to get the fix. As always, JMO.
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Coach Self absolutely will have them geeked up for every conference game he can possibly have them up for. Until I see it not happen, that 10th straight title belongs to KU, hung up on the rafters! That conference championship net cut up and pass out to all the players and the NCAA tournament teams that have to play us will say KU is just a name but there wont be any conviction to those words! They will know then that KU is a centennial force to be reckoned with on the court! Rock Chalk Jayhawk! Now Lets get some!
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KUSTEVE I like you. We can hang out. I personally think it’s our guys not moving forcing our pg’s to create themselves. To ease your mind - when I personally think something that means that is exactly what it is. That is my whole argument stating that PROBLEM is that Frank Mason is the one taking the shots. Good on him for having the balls to do it but if our other guys aren’t going after it then we won’t go far because they are simply better. If Frank gets into the role of “go to” guy out of defference by our other players we’re going to continue to lose games.
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@iowajayhawk2005 - Awesome to see you write up your opinions in here. I knew you had quality opinions to offer… and you did!
You call it straight out… and nail the issues.
How do we get this team to execute the plan?
It sounds like you’d keep up a tight ship with plenty of discipline. Will these guys eventually execute if we keep the threat of bench time if they don’t perform? That coaching strategy seems to work well with 4-yr players, especially when we don’t have to count on them producing right now. But what about a team full of star freshmen, many who see themselves as OAD? Will Self be able to break them down and build them back up?
I’m not implying we bow down to any of these star players. I’m just looking for whatever method will work to inspire them to scrap for 50/50 balls, rebounds… and scrap for victory! It just doesn’t look like Self’s typical method of discipline is moving these guys into action. Maybe they just need a good win or two to get back their mojo.
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Thanks drgnslayr. I hate to say it - but it looks like people don’t like me. I don’t know why. I may not be long on this site… civil hawk is preparing the pitchforks. How uncivil.
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I am the best poster on this site bar none. I have yet to see a single post that is even in the same realm of my intelligence. Everyone else’s posts are almost as boring as watching andrew wiggins stand at the free throw line extended while he watches other players run around.
quote from @iowajayhawk2005 re: his opinion of everyone
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Much like Bill Self, I myself have different techniques to try and make everyone else do better. Both of us are elite humans - we simply want you on our level. #donthate #hashitout
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@iowajayhawk2005 - Don’t let it phase you… just keep posting. You offer up some diversity that we need in here. I think we all (me definitely included) start getting flat in here… like you said “almost as boring as watching Andrew Wiggins…”
In the very least you help get people juiced up and that definitely keeps things spicy in here.
The only way you’ll piss me off is if you stop posting!
We should all be big boys and that means sometimes hearing criticism. It’s easy to just be a back slapper like everyone else. Eventually, it’s just a big circle of happy backs… We all need someone willing to push the topics. You challenge people (including myself)… and that’s the only way this forum keeps working!
I’ve got my big boy pants on… let’r fly!
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We just became best friends.
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@iowajayhawk2005 there goes the big boy pants!
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@drgnslayr @iowajayhawk2005 … get a room.
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@crimsonorblue22 - haha
@JayDocMD - only if you promise to check our prostate simultaneously.
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only if you promise to check our prostate simultaneously.
You do know that my prostate exams aren’t done with both hands on your shoulders, right?
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Yuck!
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HAHAHA this is brilliant! see - now we’re all being uncivil and it’s HILARIOUS. thank you. Back to KU bball:
The one player who has disappeared through all these playing time discussions is Frankamp. I highly doubt he sees more then 4 meaningful minutes the rest of the season but I’ll be damned if I don’t wish he had a 5th year available at the end of his senior year. Too bad.
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@iowajayhawk2005 he will need to get much stronger! Last time he was in, he missed an easy layup, but then had a great pass to wiggins for a dunk. Think he lost a lot of confidence! Sucks! Gotta perform when u have chances.
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see - now we’re all being uncivil and it’s HILARIOUS.
uncivil? No
immature/gross/hilarious? Yes
DISCLAIMER: no prostates were harmed in the production of these postings
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This is the first time we’ve all truly lightened up in here!
@iowajayhawk2005 - please do us all a favor. Travel to Lawrence and do your magic on this team! Back these boys off the ledge!
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I’ll be down for the Oklahoma State game. I’ll see what I can do.
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@iowajayhawk2005 I noticed during the drama in the Bahamas that our pgs were taking a slew of shots, and I went back, and saw during our loss to Michigan last year, they had taken the most shots of any position on the floor ( Mclemore included), so I have been openly wondering why ever since. This tells me that GMTA, and I have come to the conclusion almost all of it has to do with the ball not moving, like you surmised.
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@globaljaybird, I come at this team chemistry issue a few ways.
First, we probably can’t know until after the fact.
Second, all teams have at least some chemistry problems sometime or other during the season. The question is: do they surmount them. I suspect the '08 ring team had some issues, but it resolved them by the end.
Third, the only kind of internal conflict on a team that is killer is if it makes guys not try hard and play tough and up to their abilities.
What we have seen so far could just as easily be explained by young persons that have never gotten the shizz beaten out of them before becoming kind of overwhelmed by the combinations of the big come down from early season hype, the harsh experience of being stomped on a couple of times, and all of the learning and rules changes, plus Finals. Its a lot for even mature teams to deal with. This team is young.
But anything remains possible at this time.
Just have to wait and see.
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@iowajayhawk2005, trust me you do not know what hostile response is. You’re practically beloved already.
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I take it that MDs and theoretical physicists are not big on sarcasm…
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I read sarcasm font just fine thank you very much. On a related note, when was your last prostate exam @JayHawkFanToo?
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@iowajayhawk2005 You make more sense than anyone on here. People like that. I do, at least. I have been grappling with the same issue of having our worst 3 point shooters shooting the most 3 pointers. The fact you pointed it out tells me I’m not the only KU fan who has wondered the same question.
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In a recent phone conversation I had with my old coach he called KU “a bunch of timid kids.” He wasn’t saying it as an insult, just a description of the team.
Could that description nail the biggest issue with this team?
Good call on pointing out the wrong people hoisting up the most 3pt attempts!
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@HighEliteMajor I agree with you. Mason has shown time and time again that he is ready for the big moments. He drove to the bucket and scored with time running out against Villanova, he nailed a clutch 3 against San Diego State, and above all, he has no fear. That’s how you survive and advance in March.
Mason is not our best 3 point option, in fact he is probably the least desirable 3 point shooter. Yes, he made one against SDSU but I can assure you that it was not the shot Coach Self wanted taken.
The only problem I have with Mason is that he tends to hog the ball and take shots when he should be looking for a better option; a correctable flaw.
The best 3 point shooters in the team are Frankamp and Greene. They were part of 8 invited to the National 3 point championship and Frankamp won and Green placed 5th. Unfortunately, Frankamp shooting has not yet translated to the next level and Greene seems to have a standing reservation at the Doghouse Hotel.
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I read sarcasm font just fine thank you very much. On a related note, when was your last prostate exam @JayHawkFanToo?
Not that long ago that I still remember. However, if you are volunteering your services, I will pass; I will stick with my lady doctor, less creepy that way.
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That’s true @jaybate 1.0 I haven’t read anything over a paragraph that you’ve said in over a year and the only time I referenced you personally I mentioned the pending bukakke you’ll receive from the posters awaiting your return. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that you know much more than I what a hostile response is - I’m simply emotional.
@KUSTEVE I’m just going to come out and say it - i’m ready to commit to a long term friendship with the basis of our friendship being centered around KU. We’ll cry together when we lose and drink natural ice together when we win - I hope you’re okay with that.
@drgnslayr if you asked me this morning to notarize on this message board what I thought of you I would have surely been kicked off. I am now here to admit, as a man, that I was entirely incorrect about you. I like you. And I like how you appreciate our differing opinions. I can learn something from you… what is it called… tact? Who knows - it’s a loaded question. NeWaYzZz you’ve got my vote for head moderator of this board. I am fiercely loyal so if you ever need me to do your dirty work don’t hesitate to ask.
@JayDocMD I appreciate that you’re willing to take off the lab coat once in a while and stoop to my level. On that note - with all these prostate exams your handing out I’d definitely leave your gloves on.
@JayHawkFanToo - I’m still of the feeling that AWIII is our best 3 pt shooter. Frankamp will get his chance and I hope Green never does and transfers - I take pride in how good looking our team is and the combination of the Green Ellis ugly is too much. One of them has to go. I choose Green.
Dick Vitale is the worst.
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@HighEliteMajor I think you could see that starting lineup. My sense, though, is that Wayne is outplaying other people in practice…he just hasn’t shown it in the games. Wayne has all the tools…I’m sure Self believes that he will put it together soon. In the meantime, Mason can get plenty of playing time off the bench if warranted. Must be the same thing with Black and Traylor outplaying Lucas in practice.
