February 8: Our Daily Threads
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Also see today’s News Digest, February 8, and News Digest for Yesterday, February 7, as well as Daily Threads for Yesterday, February 7 ##Our Daily Threads for February 8:##
##Tharpe: Can We Get More? - @HighEliteMajor##
I left my viewing of KU’s methodical win today wanting more – wanting more from our point guard, Naadir Tharpe. The question is whether Tharpe is bumping up against his talent ceiling? We’ve seen Tharpe be near spectacular shooting the ball. We’ve seen him drop 12 assists against zero turnovers. We’ve seen Tharpe be the best player on this team at times. But many times, we’ve seen him play at a pedestrian level as a whole, and subpar in some of the other parts of his game. Today, to me, was downright frustrating.
Five areas I want more from Tharpe…
##Feb 8: JIE: Warning–WVU Dangerous - @jaybate##
jaybate intelligence estimate
RE: WVU THREAT LEVEL–HIGH
Bob Huggins team last season was one of his rare bad ones. He rebuilt his team this season and it looks like he designed it specifically to beat KU. Three combos and two bigs. The combos play a lot of minutes. The bigs are two deep. This WVU is modeled after SDSU and Florida and to lesser degree Texas. It is big, brawny, deep, and has long and strong guards. Couple this with Huggins thug ball and this means the threat level for an upset of KU is HIGH, I REPEAT HIGH.
##Feb 7: Huggie Bear’s Bonus - @wrwlumpy##
http://mellinger.kansascity.com/entries/maybe-bob-huggins-beat-ku-contract-isnt-all-weird/
I look at this as Bob Huggins paying Bill Self a compliment.
##Feb 7: True Grit: The Story of UT and Rick Barnes - @drgnslayr##
I’ve got to hand it to USAToday. I normally put their journalism level down towards the bottom, but they have stepped up on a few good basketball pieces this year. They stepped up again:
###Feb 6: Which Game Will Andrew Wiggins Go Off for 40 In? - @jaybate###
Wiggins is clearly in a slump the last two games. He let it get to him in Austin. He fought through it and helped the team in other ways in Waco. So he is going to come out of it sometimes over the next 3-4 games.
###Feb 5: Big day today - @eastcoasthawk ###
Already have two LOI’s in house to start the day. Tait has the coverage at LJW. Seems HCCW is the only coach that made it into the office so far with all the snow. Tait thinks he might have slept there next to the fax machine. Hard to believe anyone uses those anymore.
http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2014/feb/5/rise-sign-ku-football-ushers-in-2014-rec/
###Feb 5: Love him or hate him… he’s not going away anytime soon! - @drgnslayr###
I found something rare this morning… a quality write-up on USAToday:
This explains a lot.
###Feb 5: FLOOR BURN AWARD: KU @ BU - Feb 4 - @drgnslayr###
This was a different team than was on the floor in Austin three nights earlier. This team brought one key ingredient: hustle! If we didn’t bring hustle we would have endured the same fate we suffered in Austin. We didn’t start out a hot team last night. Our “three amigos” freshmen were colder than the arctic front blasting over America now. If we didn’t hustle, and continue to hustle all night, Baylor would have pulled away from us and gave us a good pounding.
###Feb 5: Jayhawkers - the Movie - @RockChalkinTexas ###
Kevin Wilmott, a film writer/director and University of Kansas film professor, will draw back the curtain later this month on “Jayhawkers,” a look at KU, the city of Lawrence, 1950s America and integration through the experiences of legendary hoops coach Phog Allen and his prized player, Wilt Chamberlain.
Wilmott, whose previous work includes “Bunker Hill” in 2008 and “The Confederate States of America” in 2004, answers a few questions for the newspaper in this latest Q5 installment, including tidbits about filming scenes from his movie in Leavenworth.
###Feb 5: #PlayforDre - @eastcoasthawk###
Don’t want to forget there is one Jayhawk that will not be able to sign with us. Wonderful story of a great guy.
###Feb 4: We win at Baylor - @JayhawkRock78###
After last years 3 game skid I was nervous about tonight. We played badly at Texas and with inexperience I was concerned it would remain in our young heads.
And baylor was coming off a big win, and had KU coming to play them at home. I was nervous about momentum. Just before the half. We has frosh no shoes.
###Feb 4: INTERSECTION SOUFFLE! - @drgnslayr###
I’ve had a long, hard day at work. I’m tired. I’m driving home and all I can think about is a plate of grub then jumping in bed for a long snooze.
I’m driving too fast. I always drive fast at 6pm. It is my time to race home.
###Feb 3: March Madness Options Without Cable - @JayhawkFan1954###
If I missed a previous posting on this topic then I’m sorry to bring this up again. BUT. Does anyone know, or has anyone read anything yet about what the NCAA and CBS have planned for making March Madness games available on internet next month?
###Feb 3: Wiggins 2 / Selden 3? - @jaybate###
Self subs Mason for Tharpe, but the lead does not narrow significantly.
Inference: Tharpe, despite his defensive limitations, was not the real problem.
###Feb 3: How to Beat Long, Strong and Athletics (LSAs - @jaybate###
As some of you probably realize, I am not partial to continuing to think in the box when the box is getting the shizz beaten out of you.
Well, if Self and Company cannot yet figure out how to beat long, strong and athletic opponents (LSAs) like Florida, SDSU, and Texas, let the Greek Chorus of KUBuckets.com become a hot bed of strategic and tactical thinking outside the box, if only to create a karma of problem solving that might free Self and Company to find their own path outside the box.
###Feb 2: FLOOR BURN AWARD: KU @ UT - Feb 1 - @drgnslayr###
I really didn’t feel like doing this award, so I’ll make it brief. At first, I felt like planting a big goose egg on this one because of the lackluster effort put out by our Jayhawks in this loss.
I could barely watch this game and I needed to take breaks in the first half in order to keep myself together. I mean, come on, watching this team jog back and forth to both ends of the court was was… I’m not even sure what to say.
###Feb 2: What We Have Here Is a Failure to Compete - @jaybate###
Nobody. Wanted. To. Compete.
That was for slayr, who said before the game he still had some doubts about this teams desire to compete.
Competing means fighting for what is needed to survive amidst scarcity, against long odds, when there is no help coming.
###Feb 2: Two Good Books on Strategy - @jaybate ###
I find books on strategy and tactics from other fields help one think about strategy and tactics of basketball.
These are two military histories-one about Civil War generalship, and one about generalship from WWII to present. One completely rearranges your thinking about Robert E. Lee. Another rearranges your thinking about many generals of the post WWII Era. Both do so within the framework of assessing the great troubles generals have identifying effective strategy and tactics. Not much pussy footing around in these histories. About the only knock against them is that they both to some extent make the great mistake of most military histories not written by career military men–they largely overlook, or understate, the logistics that underpinned both the bungling and the astute strategies and tactics examined.
###Jan 31: UNICAST Uniform Forecast for UT Game - @jaybate###
UNICAST, formerly known as Basketball Uniform Forecasts, Inc., of Netherland Antilles, now of Lichtenstein, has announced its expectation for the uniforms KU will likely wear in Austin, Texas, against the University of Texas Longhorns.
###Jan 31: Why I could root for Texas - @HighEliteMajor###
Some images are burned into our memories … Hook 'em Horns!
Jan 31: We the People Gov. web site - @JRyman###
So I saw a news story where someone went on to this web site and started a petition to have Justin Bieber deported and they already had over 120,000 signatures in about 10 days, it only takes 100,000 for the Presidents staff to have them look at it and make a statement.
So with that in mind can we start one to get Doug Gottlieb off of TV, radio and internet?
###Jan 31: Is soft start paying hard dividends? - @jaybate###
Self started the season with a shorter boot camp and less heavy workload. He said he did this to compensate for the longer season. Is KU’s use current uptick due to the fact that many other teams did not do what self did, and so are hitting the midseason wall sooner than KU? Will KU miss the wall, or just hit it a few weeks later?
###Jan 31: Carrot in Front, Bullwhip in Back… - @drgnslayr###
Motivation VS Competitiveness
There is a difference between motivation and competitiveness. Motivation is the fuel for energy, focus and execution leading up to and during the big event. Most of motivation isn’t experienced by the fans because it is in use before the event… in the gym, video room, team room, etc. Motivation helps babysit players, keeps them directed away from bad avenues outside of their sport and focused on the big picture of winning.
###Jan 31: Compilation of Stats Sites - @bskeet###
Will you all please help assemble a collection of sites that provide stats that are interesting/useful? It would be most helpful if when you list a site, give its name, URL and what it’s significance is or what it uniquely excels at.
I think this would be a useful reference for all the members of the site as the season matures.
###Jan 30: FLOOR BURN AWARD: KU vs ISU - Jan 29 - @drgnslayr###
Now THAT was some exciting basketball played last night in AFH! A supercharged explosion out of the blocks for Kansas, that set the tone for the entire night; big time energy for 40 minutes! These teams like to play each other because they create a powerful synergy when they go after it.
There were many things to consider this time, when picking the winner of the FLOOR BURN AWARD. Wayne Selden had a show-stopping save in the opening minutes that might have made the Sportscenter’s Play of the Day reel had Naadir not fumbled it away trying too hard to advance the ball.
###Jan 30: Kansas Jayhawks… meet Oklahoma City Thunder! - @drgnslayr###
My wife must really love me. There is no other possible reason why she would tolerate me during basketball season. During this time of year, basketball rules our DVR hard drive. All other content eventually gets tossed away to make room for more game footage. Anything “basketball” gets targeted for recording; talk basketball shows, some NBA, all college ball, sometimes HS ball, documentaries about basketball, movies about basketball, vintage old games being rebroadcast, etc. etc. etc.
Often I get ideas by putting miscellaneous games side-by-side for my viewing pleasure. Last night, I caught the Oklahoma City Thunder’s total beat down on the Miami Heat and then went directly to the tip-off of Kansas and Iowa State.
###Jan 30: KU Player’s Studio: Video Interviews with KU Greats - @jaybate###
A few minutes ago I was writing to slayr about what a good selection Perry Ellis was for slayr’s Floor Burn Award this week. At the end, I commented that Perry seemed to me to have moved beyond trying to be aggressive and finally became aggressive. He went from acting a role to being a role. This reminded me of the Actor’s Studio TV show hosted by former Actor’s Studio Dean James Lipton, in which he interviews former students agh the Actor’s Studio that have gone on to fine careers.
Then it hit me.
###Jan 29: Extra Pass Makes Selden Crucial and Other Things - @jaybate###
JNew’s story about Embiid and doubling has triggered some opining.
How much doubling KU sees depends a lot on whether Embiid is good to go, or a gimp being used as an early decoy.
If Lucas/Black play a lot of 5, ISU is quite likely NOT to double either, until one of them proves a threat in the paint.
###Jan 29: Landen Lucas - @drgnslayr###
Landen is quickly becoming a Jayhawk favorite because of his patience, positivity and performance. He must be the best post 5th-man in college basketball.
Could he be the difference in a league game this year? Yes, he could be, and the game he could impact most will be played tonight in AFH.
###Jan 28: One Inch - @HighEliteMajor ###
One inch.
One inch decides so many things in life. Vince Lombardi famously said that “Life’s a game of inches.” And every sport is decided by inches. Against TCU, our season may have been decided by one inch. The extra one inch that Joel Embiid’s knee did not bend backwards. One more inch, Embiid’s ACL was done.
Also see today’s News Digest, February 8, and News Digest for Yesterday, February 7, as well as Daily Threads for Yesterday, February 7
