Bagley for Whitman
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I think this is pretty crappy news. I highly doubt Bagley is gonna even end up reclassified or even at KU at this point. Only having 3 bigs could translate to trouble in the games that Doke is in foul trouble. I would be shocked if we didn’t add a Juco or someone just to have a 4th big. The positive is that Mitch is likely ahead of where most thought he would be hence Whitman not thinking he would play much. One other good thing with the Italy trip is Billy should be ahead of most freshman entering the season.
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I wonder if Svi kicking ass this summer has something to do with this. Was Self considering minutes for Svi at the 4? A 6’8 stretch 4 that can get you 25 points on any given night? Sounds pretty great to me.
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@approxinfinity Is Svi good enough to get 25 points any night AND defend another 4 AND rebound well? I think we should stick with playing two posts. Defense last year was atrocious at times and that was with a great talent like Josh at the four. I doubt Svi is good enough to do it, plus his 6-5 wingspan would really hurt his effectiveness at the 4.
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@HawkChamp We need a Dwight Coleby.
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Whitman is leaving because he was behind Lightfoot.
And yes, Bagley would start and play 30+ mpg.
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Lightfoot is a much better option than Svi at the 4. Hell I would posit that Vick is as well. We don’t want to see Svi at the 4.
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@BShark Lightfoot is, except if Svi finds his consistent trey gun / mid-range shot and Udoka turns into an overpowering glass monster. In that case I could see Svi working out at the 4.
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@approxinfinity vick would be better than svi. Gator arms. Josh was perfect.
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@Crimsonorblue22 but Vick is 6’5. Josh was 6’8.
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@HawkChamp somebody’s poisoned the waterhole…Oops.
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@approxinfinity that’s why vick didn’t play there! He’s still better than svi there!
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@BShark Curious, where did you hear that Whitman was behind Lightfoot? @JayHawkFanToo might only be a year off in his breakout prediction, which is still earlier than I would have thought.
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mayjay said:
@BeddieKU23 As a further note to my last comment, you see many discharged servicemembers struggling to adapt to an unstructured life even after looking forward to getting away from military life.
Not me. Never looked back after 20 years. Looked forward to settling down in one spot for a change. Think about the AF twelve times a yr when I check to make sure the retirement check is in the bank.
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@brooksmd ah but you are always one step ahead of the rest!
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@KUSTEVE I myself believe everyone of my fellow Crimson and Blue know how I feel about Mitch. - -I think the kid is a scrapper and when all said and done is going to represent himself and KU just fine.- - - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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Just rumours. I could have been more clear.
Oh and per Matt Scott Whitman was NOT pushed out by Self. It was just a poor fit and a decision completely by Whitman.
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@BShark Whitman reminds me of kip LOL!!!
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Coach Self indicated that Lightfoot has been having a terrific summer and gaining confidence.
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Self doesn’t sound too optimistic about being able to fill Whitman’s scholarship this year.
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Texas Hawk 10 said:
Self doesn’t sound too optimistic about being able to fill Whitman’s scholarship this year.
Yeah, it’s pretty difficult at this point.
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“We’re not gonna sign somebody just to sign somebody,” Self told the Journal-World. “The pool of players is so small.”
“The idea is to find someone to help you this year,” he said. “I think that’s the best way to put it. But if you can’t find someone to help us this year, there’s no reason to burn it.”
“This does not affect us on how we will play as long as everyone’s healthy,” Self said. “If you have an injury, that will obviously change the way we play a little. But, right now, I still see us playing two bigs more than we did last year.
“We’ve gotta get our best players on the floor and we’ve got a pretty good seven or eight right now. And that wasn’t including Jack. So not having Jack doesn’t affect how we play at all. Where it could affect us is, if a guy becomes injured, now you’re gonna probably be playing small a lot more.”
Staying healthy is a key part of any team’s success so nothing changed for the Jayhawks there. And Self will spend the next several days, including Friday, looking at every possible avenue to add a player who could impact the team in a positive way right away. He said the chances of adding such a player before the trip to Italy were “next to zero,” but added that he would still have time to look around at potential additions after their return on Aug. 8.
“We’ll go wherever we have to to find a body,” Self emphasized. “But the chances of finding somebody I don’t think are real high.”
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2017/jul/21/self-will-seek-fill-scholarship-opened-whitman-dep/
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@BShark doesn’t sound good or planned. Now the broken nose…
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tl;dr like @Texas-Hawk-10 said it seems like the spot might remain vacant.
Also it sounds like Whitman wasn’t going to play much at all but that could be perceived as damage control. I think Self is being honest though.
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@BShark It might remain vacant or it might not. Self said they were going to try to find someone. You never know.
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@Statmachine can’t get it. Over the limit
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More of the same.
“We’ll go wherever we have to, to try to find something,” Self said. “If there’s an unsigned (high schooler) or a juco (player) or overseas or whatnot, but the chances of finding somebody I don’t think are real high. If there’s a big walk-on out there, we’d probably be interested in him,” Self added.
Self said the loss of Whitman “doesn’t affect how we play at all. We’re going to play three bigs. We’ve still got three bigs who are going to play. Jack would have provided depth. Where it could affect us … if a guy becomes injured, now you are going to probably look at playing small a lot more.”
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@Crimsonorblue22 Clear your cookies. The count starts all over.
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@approxinfinity I’m not sure about Svi’s numbers. They seem more predicated on volume than efficiency. I don’t see him playing the volume shooter role on the team unless his 3 pt % improves.
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Statmachine said:
I’m intrigued. Realistic possibility?
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@Bwag lots of to’s too
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@BShark good size at 6-10. I say go for it.
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@HawkChamp no chest and no rear?
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@Crimsonorblue22 sounds like he has some good skills. I think we should give him a try. Better than only having three bigs. Unless of course Bill gets Bagley to commit.
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@BShark There are several possibilities over seas. This is just one possibility. You better believe Coach Self, Staff, and some foreign guy on this years team are on the hunt. Something more than team bonding, extra reps, and playing a few games will come out of this over seas trip.
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@Statmachine maybe the cafeteria did not serve enough steak and nachos!
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@BShark self seemed miffed in his comments with several veiled slights at the Whitman.
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@JayHawkFanToo I definitely like the Lightfoot upside. If he is truly a competent 3rd big this season, that’s a huge recruiting win there. Love the way he moves on the court. Lots of bounce.
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@Fightsongwriter Can’t blame Self for feeling that way this time. Whitman didn’t tell Self face to face, he just left and told Self by phone after he was already home. I hope Self blocks Whitman from transferring wherever until Whitman comes back for a face to face exit meeting like whoever it was a few years ago Self temporarily blocked from leaving until the kid did it the right way. This really isn’t a great look for Whitman because it really does come across as him quitting on the team.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I think Self should just move on and let him go. No need to stew. Looking vindictive would hurt future recruiting. Let Jack be the one who looks bad by himself.
Then again, I hate any coach who tries to block a transfer because I believe kids should be able to move more freely, so this is just an extension of that philosophy. If Self did it before, I have forgotten.
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@Texas-Hawk-10. Who said i was blaming him. I read the papers. Bill is a master communicator (despite the stutter), he made jack the nit Whitman without looking petty imho. He is super savvy with how he says things. He clearly made him loook like the classless coward he must be for slinking out of town. Man up Whit, a grad transfer should be old enough to handle his junk…wait that came out wrong!
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@mayjay It doesn’t hurt future recruiting though. Self has a way of doing things and when players don’t do things the right way according to Self, there’s negative consequences to that. In this case, telling Self face to face and having the exit meeting. I want to say the player Self did it to previously was Rio Adams, but I could be off on that one.
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I think the loss of Whitman is bigger than advertised. But what I’m not willing to say is that this will necessarily be a bad thing. It is starting to look like we will be playing more 4-guard lineups. I like 4-guard lineups, especially if we can have a monster like Udoka in the middle. I just don’t know how many minutes a game we can get out of Udoka and Billy. They are both inexperienced and you can bet foul trouble will be an issue, especially as teams will attack our low depth in the post.
I think the issue with Whitman was his strength. He didn’t have the strength to translate his game at KU. He just wasn’t going to get there in a few months. Hudy is amazing… but she needs time to build players. So… perhaps we wouldn’t have received much help from Whitman in depth.
Bagley? Yeah… that would be awesome to sign him. I think he is Duke bound.
Maybe we can still land a senior transfer? How does that work this late? I would think it would be tough to steal one because of timing. Isn’t it likely that most or all of them have now accepted aid already?
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@drgnslayr The biggest issue is that KU will only have 8 scholarship players until mid-December when Cunliffe becomes eligible. Garrett, Svi/Vick, and Lightfoot will be the bench. If an injury or major foul issues happen, there will be a walk on playing relevant minutes for KU this season.
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@drgnslayr I also like playing four guards IF those guards are really good defensively. Im just not sure our current guards are good enough outside of Devonte. Villanova was the best college example of playing four out one in, but each one of those guards were defensive savants.
I would much rather see the traditional two posts, which Bill said he was going to do. Maybe its just him talking again, but I think we will see it if he can snag another post man, preferably someone around 6-10 or 6-11.
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@HawkChamp KU doesn’t have the depth to play a traditional 3-2 line up all the time. Lightfoot is too small to play in the post on offense so when he’s in, KU will be in a 4 out set. KU is also not likely going to find a capable body to fill that spot at this point.
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Yes, I know. It will be half traditional half four out. It will work if our guards play good defense.
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@HawkChamp It doesn’t matter if the defense is good or not, KU doesn’t have options because they don’t have the bodies. Garrett, Svi or Vick, and Lightfoot are the sub options for the 1st month of the season. Lightfoot and Vick don’t have the bulk to guard bigger 4’s, Svi is just a below average defender, and Garrett is a question mark on defense until we see him play. Cunliffe is the best fit as the 4th big, but he doesn’t become eligible until mid December so KU has 3 subs to start the year before they get into walk ons. KU will be very limited in their options this year as far as subs go.
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I flip both ways on the issues of depth.
It sounds great to have a load of depth every year… but then we get into the issue of keeping the rust off of all of them. That sometimes creates friction within the team… I know it is a good thing to have competition for minutes… but when it gets too far out of balance, where we can’t give minutes to players that really should be getting some, it can be harmful.
Sometimes teams with a short bench do very well because those players get all the PT they need to come together as a team.
What counts (to me) is the guys carrying a chip. Rarely does the most-talented team win in March.
