Bill RE: Next Season
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It’s okay. I was just trying to think of a JUCO player that was a major contributor for KU during Self’s tenure.
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@BShark Mario Little.
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We have a different definition of major. He was an okay end of the rotation player imo.
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@BShark That was the only juco player I could remember that even played for our team. not major at all.
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Tyrone Appleton!
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@KUSTEVE @BShark Can we split the difference? Not major contributor, but not end of the rotation? Solid contributor? I have fairly favorable memories of his contributions. His senior year, he averaged about 14 minutes per game, scoring about 5 ppg with 3 rbg. Scored double figures a handful of times. Played bigger than his size. Definitely don’t think he was end of the rotation, but obviously not a major contributor, either…
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Sure my only real point was not to expect to much out of a JUCO. KU might need a post body though. There are exceptions where a JUCO player might be pretty good, those would be cases where the player was ranked coming out of HS but had to go JUCO due to grades. Does not appear to be the case here. KU still hasn’t offered yet of course so it’s hard to say what “interest” means.
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@BShark John Douglas was a JUCO, I believe. Only 40 years and 3 coaches prior to Bill…
“His 46 points on the road against Iowa State in 1978 broke the legendary Wilt Chamberlain’s record for most points scored by a visiting player in the Big Eight Conference. John went on to earn All Big Eight Honors, Honorable Mention All American, Newcomer of the Year and MVP at KU.” (Wikipedia)
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I’m assuming 2 year guy.
if you search iowa western basketball you’ll find some recent highlights with him in it. Doesn’t look like anything special. Just seems like KU is getting out there looking for a spring-time big. Juco’s haven’t really been needed at KU. He must be okay if he’s got 2 D-1 offers already with 4 other bigger programs looking at him.
Definitely he’s doing great. He also had the benefit of a red-shirt year but Acuil Jr was one of the top 5 JUCO’s 2 years ago.
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If Huggy is interested I figure he is at least a hard worker.
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Let’s assume a few things for a moment to discuss.
Assume that Coleby’s injury is one that forces him to retire from basketball or he looks for more opportunity as a grad transfer.
Billy Preston’s grades become a hot topic of discussion in the spring and there’s general concern for his eligibility.
Carlton Bragg still decides to pursue a professional career or a fresh start after an up & down year.
Doke is recovering from Wrist Injury until early summer. Conditioning/skill development cut a good 2+ months into his off-season.
Lightfoot continues to play sparingly the rest of the season.
How far off is all of this from what might happen or is going to happen? Obviously the worst case scenario of everything I have layed out but if I’m Self I’m going into the Spring saying I’ve got 1 starting spot in the post available and plenty of rotation minutes. Self needs to find athletes and size.
We expect Doke to be a rock at the 5 next year but the 4 spot is far from settled right now. And who’s going to back them up?
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Yeah I get why Self is looking for bodies. It’s a weird situation where we might have 5 bigs or we might have only 3 or 4. Gotta take one for sure whether it’s a JUCO, grad transfer or HS project. Personally I hope for a player with only 1-2 years left as to not mess with the 2019 class.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Coleby left and Self took two post players.
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It is a very weird situation.
I would put the % that Coleby isn’t playing next year at 50%. Just a hunch the way they’ve kept him out of games. Let’s say best scenario for Coleby is he gets healthy enough to play next year. Best case would be what Hunter Mickelson minutes of out him? That injury changed the whole complexion of why he was brought here. We may be better off finding a replacement who’s 100% ready to go.
Preston if eligible is obviously a 15-25 minute player. A Bragg/Preston rotation at the 4 is good enough.
Bragg should be back. With the way Self is making him play out of position it could really help his development this off-season. If he played like he did against Iowa St the rest of the season I would have a totally different view of him. Going back to the 3 out 2 in would really benefit him.
But will Self go that way? He’s looking to get Young and Svi is a wildcard to leave. Cunliffe signed on as well gives him another athletic 6’6 type. A 4 guard lineup of Young/Newman/Vick/Svi/Cunliffe with Garrett mixed in is very intriguing again. That is assuming Graham leaves.
Lightfoot is still a bit away from impacting the team. Going to be a big off-season for him.
Doke’s injury has bigger implications then some may realize. And that’s assuming he’s back in the time-frame they gave. This team needs a legit backup to him because Doke was foul prone and that’s not going to change over night.
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Yeah the worst part for Doke is most likely the experience lost by not playing this year. I think if everything else is equal Self snaps back to 3 out 2 in. Getting a back-up center for Doke is extremely important for that happening though. I want ZERO part of Zach Brown though and I would bet the staff feels the same way. Not worth it.
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I know we had some previous interest and I assume we left him be after his first troubles. I can’t imagine any school is going to be reaching for him after these latest arrests.
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Yeah we should start hearing even more new names soon would be my guess. I’m interested to see what grad transfers will be available.
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@BShark Oh wow just read up about Brown. Crazy. Sounds like he grew up in a really rough area and while he left the hood the hood hasn’t left him…
I’ll bet that he does another year of prep school and tries to show he has his act together. A 7’1 talent, someone will be desperate enough to take him.
The funny thing I though about his recent arrest, I mean how dumb does someone have to be. Dude you are 7’1. You can’t rob anyone where there is a camera. You are one of the most identifiable people on the planet… Friggen dummy.
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If that happens, Maxwell would have missed on a great opportunity. Does anyone know for sure why he left…or was forced out?
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“I think if everything else is equal Self snaps back to 3 out 2 in.”
That would be my guess. Kind of a kneejerk reaction to old habits.
But we have the rest of this season to show him how much better a 4 out 1 in is.
If we can continue to rebound okay then that would be a big help.
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We probably won’t know honestly. Before he jumped on the KU offer there was talk he wanted to transfer closer to home and maybe even drop a level to avoid the sit-out year. I can understand any kid jumping quickly at a KU offer and forgetting why you were transferring in the first place.
I think that probably had something to do with it, as well as him not being good enough to play here. There was plenty of talk about that when he committed. Self is a honest guy and might have told him he had no chance of becoming a rotation player. And to my knowledge there hasn’t been any official word of where he ended up since leaving.
Even if we return all our scholarship big’s next year (Doke, Carlton, Mitch, Dwight) and Billy is eligible I still feel like KU needs to get one more big with some ability.
You think after 2017-18 Mitch could be the only scholarship big left. Doke, Carlton & Billy could all be drafted and Dwight will have graduated. Self has to find a guy willing to compete for minutes as a freshman with a possible feature role after…
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Ok, guess I’ve missed the boat – again. - -Read about a name from the 2018 class, that’s making his choice tomorrow I guess, I hadn’t hear anything on this kid - -but getting the impression we have been recruiting him, Someone saying he was 100% CB for KU - -but also said they wondered if he was going somewhere else by him making his announcement tomorrow.
His Name is - - - Daniel, Oturu - - what can anyone tell me on him - - people say with him announcing tomorrow word is he is choosing Minnesota. - -My question is, is this a big loss for us IF we have been recruiting him for 2018 or is it more like an EH no big deal? - just hadn’t heard this name - -any help guys - -Gals? - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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He verballed to Minny today.
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It’s not a bad loss if KU has others it prefers that they can close on. The problem is the 18 class is weak top to bottom and has just a handful of elite type players. KU seems to be after man-child Zion Williamson who plays the same position. Oturu wasn’t an immediate contributor type but he’s a nice 4 year player for any D-1 program. He had some upside and was ranked right around where his ceiling is right now.
KU offered by the way of Coach Townsend but Self had not seen him yet. It looks like the home-town school pushed for him to commit before the important AAU season came around and KU had a chance to recruit him and they succeeded. He’s a really good get for Minnesota who’s having a turnaround season.
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Yeah can’t really do anything about it when a lower ranked player wants to commit this early. People would have been up in arms if it was KU. Not that Bill isn’t afraid to do so when he really likes the player like Markese but still. I hope the staff prioritizes Emmitt Williams. I think he is very obtainable if KU presses there, unlike say Naz Reid or Zion. At this point it’s LSU and Florida schools. I understand the temptation of trying to get a top 15 player so hopefully Naz and Zion don’t drag out their recruitments.
I’d love for Zion to end up at KU but I just don’t see it. Duke and UK in deep, AZ lurking. We are talking about a basketball prodigy like Josh, Porter Jr, Ayton here too.
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Just posted in the 18 recruiting about Williams. Oh my! And we were talking about Oturu. Williams is on a different level. I can see the kid jumping into the Top 10, I can’t imagine there is 10 kids better then him in that class. Having compared the 3 I would take Williams over Zion and Naz. Mean streak in that Williams kid, something Self would love to mold.
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Yeah he would be a great fit with Self. The kind of kid that sees the floor early with Self. I hope he is the top post priority for 18 but I don’t know of course.
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Trevon foolin around.
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@BShark yet you see all the twitter response on this after he done this? Some people just don’t see the writing on the wall - - - I think like 100 - -plus that Trevon is all wrapped up nice and neat for Duke. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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Bill possibly involved with 2018 SF Sidney Wilson - 6’6-7 wing from Brewster Academy (Thomas Robinson, Tharpe, Devonte Graham) high school.
Listed KU among his schools, although UCONN & Texas were the schools he’s visited so far and talked about.
Re-classifying to 2017 is on the table. Seems like he will be a really late pickup (May) if he does decide to graduate early. Might be one to keep an eye on if we are still looking for a wing post Svi’s decision.
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Definitely going to need another wing, especially with Cunliffe unable to play in the first semester. Not sure how involved KU is here though.
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Seems likely he’ll be a 2018 recruit. 6’7, 170 needs to add significant weight to his frame.
Will definitely need a wing if Svi leaves
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@BeddieKU23 I’m just shy of 6ft. tall, when I got down to 170 this summer I thought I was getting skinny. I can’t imagine being 7" taller at that weight. -bean pole.
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Yeah I think if he is reclassing then it’s probably not KU.
I’m hoping that the wing we get will be Chris Smith.
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Me too, I think Smith is definitely a Top 75 wing
He looks like one from his highlights. At his size he should fill out to be 20-30 pounds more at the minimum.
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The question is: does he have the frame to support more weight? Remember Manute Bol was 7’-7" but only 200 pounds and because of his very thin frame and bones, that was all the weight he could carry; any more than that would have resulted in serious injury to the joints or bones. Bragg was able to add 30 pound to his thin frame but I believe he is still having problems coming to terms with that weight; his weight says 240 pounds but his minds still thinks he is 210 pounds.
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Definitely Bragg is still a work in progress playing with his new weight. I do think we are starting to see him put it together, 9 ppg 4 rebs last two games in only 15 minutes of action. That’s really solid production off the bench playing a position he wasn’t recruited to play. I’m cautiously getting optimistic about him for the remainder of the season. Would love to see him have another big week. Having said all those nice things he’ll probably play the opposite. We’ll see how he does.
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Updated ESPN rankings.
Young #15
Preston #20
Garrett #61
Big 12 likely to have 10 Top 100 kids (assuming Young signs with the good guys)
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Matt Scott said Cunliffe took MJ Walker’s spot. Soooo there is that.
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Trevon Duval is visiting on Tuesday
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Exciting.
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Less exciting: http://www.scout.com/player/213529-mark-smith http://247sports.com/Player/Mark-Smith-46038443
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Kid has some skill. Some athletic ability, can shoot the 3. Good vision on his passes. They say he’s now 6’5 220.
I’m honestly shocked he’s not ranked
Looks like Illinois probably in the lead but who cares they won’t have the same coach.
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@BeddieKU23 Think Tillmon will be back up for grabs? As long as he doesn’t think he is a OAD, we could use another big body behind Doke.
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Tilmon would be a great get. Let’s hope Groce gets fired.
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@BShark Looks like it’s heading that way. Let’s hope for that team to just completely lose all heart and close out the season on a bad streak.
We should be feeling the same way about Romar and UW. The actual Husky basketball fans want him gone.
I’m definitely not saying we should hold our breath for either, but those are two situations to keep an eye on. I’m sure Bill is ready and waiting to pounce on both of those guys if the opportunity presents itself in April.
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Well I have long thought groce would be out at Illinois so his signing didn’t make much sense.
But I guess one of the assistants was key in getting him so it will all depend on whether that assistant is back next yr regardless of groce’s status. Have to think that guy will get a long look with any new coach based on that fact. A school like Illinois can’t afford to lose a talent like him.
Tilmon is the perfect 4 year big that will be a good college player granted he stays healthy
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Even if Romar is fired Porter JR will end up wherever his dad does and it’s not going to be KU.
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@BShark Has to get hired first. Is it worth sacrificing the lockerroom, future recruiting and an assistant coach for? Experiment failed at UW.
And the new nepotism rule, I believe, means you have to hire the guy as an assistant coach if it is within 2 years of the kid going to the school.
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Someone will hire him. There is a good chance if fired that Romar (and Porter SR) end up in Columbia, MO.
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@BShark Well, if that happens, it is going to be one dysfunctional program. Let’s hope that is what happens.
