Any Win Is A Good Win
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@Kcmatt7 No way was this KU’s best defensive effort last night. TCU got way too many open looks to be considered good defense. The defense was good the last 10 minutes of the game, but the first 30 were definitely not good.
The KSU game in Manhattan has to be the best defensive game by KU at least in Big 12 play this year. KSU never had a chance in that one.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Well we all have our opinions. A lot easier to play good D when you put up 40 in the first half , shots are falling and you are actually getting to the free throw line. That keeps teams from getting out in transition. I mean, from what I remember, KSU had plenty of open looks too. They just didn’t make them.
We were far more active last night jumping lanes than in the KSU game. We forced 12 turnovers compared to only 7 against KSU. We also held TCU to .402 from 2pt, which is solid.
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drgnslayr said:
I’m still trying to decide if I buy the media’s version of this game; that Self complained at our guys and the guys stepped up on defense. TCU hit plenty of treys and missed many wide-open treys.
I still saw a soft game. How many times did our guys dive on the floor for a ball? Had things gone bad a few more points, the world would be falling. Come on, this was TCU! …and without their star guard.
I know Rome wasn’t built in a day… but wow! How did we degenerate to this level of play?
We are doing destructive things just lowering our expectations to the point that this team is being judged as a “rebuild year”… “mediocre”… etc etc etc.
How many McDs AAs are on this team? How high were our players ranked out of HS? How did we get to the point where we have all these highly-rated players only playing even with teams that have ZERO highly-rated players, or maybe one?
I don’t get it.
Is it just because we don’t have post depth? Kind of like most of those UCONN teams that didn’t even have a Doke, but somehow won plenty of NCs?
I’m sick of all the friggin’ excuses made for this team. I’ve stuck behind them this entire way. I will continue to back them, but I can’t say many positive things about this team.
Agree with everything. I actually thought we regressed despite seeing improved effort and energy levels out there as a team. We picked possessions to defend with purpose and force TCU out of their normal flow. The 2 big look was only effective until Doke got a foul two minutes in and Lightfoot got his 5 minutes later.
Making shots has suddenly become an issue. We’re simply missing open and easy looks. I don’t know what the solution is. We let TCU control pace and tempo or that was a deliberate change from KU on how we attacked and took shots. I saw a lot of shot clocks going under 10 last night that usually were a rarity in this years offense. That could have been a response to the “selfish thoughts” line Self used.
Glad we won, we looked vulnerable even into the last few minutes. We have lots of flaws unfortunately. Shooting better then we did might have just masked them. I hope this is a game that moves us forward in some way
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I am still seeing the upside of this team when they play. The conference tourney is a month away from today. We are playing our best defense of the season right now. Bill has started pushing buttons and pulling strings to get all 4 of our guards to play at a high level. Not to mention, we have seen growth from Doke, Garrett and Lightfoot seemingly every game.
Imagine, a team where we are active on D like we have been 3 of the past 4 games. But, they also make wide-open shots and exploit mismatches like they can. Vick and Newman are both talented enough to shoot 45% from the field. If they can start to do that, this team will start cruising to victories. One more month of tweaks. Bill already got Newman to break out of his shell. If he can work the same magic on Vick, I’m not sure anyone can beat this team.
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@drgnslayr doke’s boards, huge step forward, confidence w/throws huge step forward. Tcu good rebounding team.
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Good rebounders and TCU leads the Big 12 in 3-Point FG PCT at .411
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The conference would have to have upsets of biblical proportions for KU to drop from 1 to 7, it is just not happening, so it is 3 games at the most in the Conference Tournament.
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Svi had the lowest usage of any player that played yesterday at 5.6%, the next lowest was TCU’s J.D. Miller at 11.8%; the next lowest KU players were Newman at 15.9% and Lightfoot at 16.9% which gives an idea of few times Svi was involved in the game plan; Doke had the highest at 32.1%.
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I think holding TCU to 64 when they have been averaging 86 speaks to the defense.
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Self didn’t like Greenes last second lay up because Greene acted like he was gonna dribble it out and then then ran in and laid it up.
EJ on the other hand threw down Insult points against Iowa St in 2013 in the waning seconds and that didn’t bother Self because EJ was intent on taking it to the rack as soon as he got it. Hoiberg thought it was a shit move. Self didn’t. EJ had been spit on the year prior to that by an Iowa State fan and that was pay back.
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KU fans. I gotta be honest here. Just two games ago we got our asses handed to us by Okie State…at our house no less!! We have lost 3 games at AFH so far. That hasn’t happened in the Bill Self era. Hasn’t happened since 98. This team has such a slim margin of error, its not even funny. Sure, we played good last night but the defense won the game for us. Are we all 100% certain that this will be the case until the final four? I’m not. At all. I mean KU should have beaten them by double figures but this team cant do that anymore. Slim margin of error. I remain optimistic about our chances to at least tie for the conference crown by season end. I doubt we win it out right. I also doubt we win our big 12 tournament ( Sprint Center ) and I doubt we make it past the second game of the NCAA’s
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@CRH107 Ned did you hear that? @drgnslayr
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@Blown EJ was in a zone! One of my favorite games. He was also very sorry. Bg did it w/no defense on him. Dick move, one of many that we don’t even know half of! Svi was lucky he didn’t get a T, ref knew he was mad at himself, decent of him for a change.
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@Lulufulu You said, “I also doubt we win our big 12 tournament ( Sprint Center ) and I doubt we make it past the second game of the NCAA’s.”
Ah, but how many times in years’ past did you, me, and everyone else predict great things in March? Embrace the chaos for the chaos is normal. This is a roller coaster ride. All we can do is hang on and enjoy. And you never know, teams like this can find a crazy little hot streak. Not one doubt in my mind that this psychotic team can win it all (just so long as no tourney games are at AFH).
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@drgnslayr “How many McDs AAs are on this team? How high were our players ranked out of HS? How did we get to the point where we have all these highly-rated players only playing even with teams that have ZERO highly-rated players, or maybe one?”
This year in particular, I have really been noticing how Many solid players we have played against… all season. Guys, Who may not be McD AAs, but are basically good tough players. I’m an eye test guy, don’t have the basketball acumen or knowledge or the time to do an in-depth stat Deep dive analysis, but there are apparently a lot of solid decently talented players in D1, who with the right team makeup and competent coaching, can be a force.
Which makes me think, what really are these high school basketball rankings anyway? They can only analyze and therefore predict only so much for high schoolers (teenagers!) So much can change in college and beyond. Granted there are guys who are obviously going to be pro studs barring injury based on their high school performance, but how many high rated guys Peter out or don’t live up to their top 50 high school label?
I think we naturally assume we should beat our competition because we have more top 50 or 100 “rated” guys than they do. It’s much more complicated and all kinds of factors have to happen… our conference has a LOT of good players at all positions. we often this season are just getting outplayed for large stretches of games… out hustled, out rebounded, out-defensed, out-shot etc. and when this happens, I admit I’m the first one to think “ why is this happening?? We are better than these guys!! ? Aren’t we???” Look at our ranking! Look at our coach!! Look at all out Mickey-Ds!!!
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Bosthawk said:
@drgnslayr “How many McDs AAs are on this team? How high were our players ranked out of HS? How did we get to the point where we have all these highly-rated players only playing even with teams that have ZERO highly-rated players, or maybe one?”
This year in particular, I have really been noticing how Many solid players we have played against… all season. Guys, Who may not be McD AAs, but are basically good tough players. I’m an eye test guy, don’t have the basketball acumen or knowledge or the time to do an in-depth stat Deep dive analysis, but there are apparently a lot of solid decently talented players in D1, who with the right team makeup and competent coaching, can be a force.
Which makes me think, what really are these high school basketball rankings anyway? They can only analyze and therefore predict only so much for high schoolers. So much can change in college and beyond. Granted there are guys who are obviously going to be pro studs barring injury based on their high school performance, but how many high rated guys Peter out or don’t live up to their top 50 high school label?
I think we naturally assume we should beat our competition because we have more top 50 or 100 “rated” guys than they do. It’s much more complicated and all kinds of factors have to happen… our conference has a LOT of good players at all positions. we often this season are just getting outplayed for large stretches of games… out hustled, out rebounded, out-defensed, out-shot etc. and when this happens, I admit I’m the first one to think “ why is this happening?? We are better than these guys!! ? Aren’t we???” Look at our ranking! Look at our coach!! Look at all out Mickey-Ds!!!
We actually only have two McDAA on the team. Newman and Doke. The real, big problem is we only play 7 guys. That effects so much.
But yeah rankings can be overblown. Cunliffe was a top 40 recruit in a solid class and basically can’t even play basketball.
A lot of it is based on pro potential and athleticism. That how you have guys like Graham and Mason who when you saw them you knew they would be really good college players but they weren’t ranked that high.
KU is about to get a commitment tomorrow from a player ranked outside of the top 300 (NR on Rivals even). Self offered him right after seeing him play. https://247sports.com/Player/Ochai-Agbaji-46042163
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@BShark Thanks for the heads up on this signee- we can only assume Self and his staff can see the potential in him… and we should by odds have him for 3-4 years
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…and, I’m making an assumption (gulp) that Ochai is of African descent. is the continent of Africa becoming the hottest place to look for raw potential basketball talent?
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Bosthawk said:
…and, I’m making an assumption (gulp) that Ochai is of African descent. is the continent of Africa becoming the hottest place to look for raw potential basketball talent?
I know originally he is from Milwaukee but yeah with his name being what it is, his parents might have been born in Africa. Maybe more will come out on that after he commits.
He’s actually not all that raw from a basketball skill perspective. He is a really good shooter. He is shooting 56% from the floor (and I know, it’s KS/MO hs hoops) and he shoots plenty of threes and other jumpers. Which isn’t to say he doesn’t have things to work on, because he does. All indications are he is a really hard worker and very coachable. Have not read a bad word about him. Guessing he will be a 4-5 year player. I’ve seen multiple people that have seen him play use “better shooting Releford” as a comp. I’m hoping to go to his next game.
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He certainly doesn’t plan to redshirt though.
Some quotes
“I’m just looking for the school that’s the right fit,” Agbaji told Rivals more than a week ago. “A school that I can go in and be effective as a freshman right away. I’d probably be a better fit in uptempo but that doesn’t really matter because I just want a good coach who can make me better as a player.”
“I got to see their new locker room and all of that stuff,” Agbaji told Rivals before his offer from KU. “I got to meet Bill Self and talk with him. He’s very interested in me and said they are looking for a wing like me who is strong, tough and can shoot the ball."
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@BShark Now do you have any information other than an educated hunch that he will sign with KU? My quickie internet search came up with the usual non commital statements
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99.9% sure, but I don’t have any first hand/direct information.
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99.9. I likes them odds
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If he is planning to contribute as a freshman the KU is probably not the place where he wants to go, wouldn’t you agree?
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@JayHawkFanToo You’d think so but here we are. We are in the sweet talking phase still so who knows what the staff is telling him.
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Landing Agbaji would be big for KU because he played his AAU ball for MoKan which we all know has always had a negative relationship with KU.
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I was thinking the same thing. KU lost several decent players over the years because of MoKan.
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@JayHawkFanToo Porter and Young were MOKAN right? Not saying MOKAN was the reason we didn’t get them, but it also wouldn’t help lol.
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Yep. Both Porters as well as young, Burke, Cauley-Stein, Ojeleye, Tillmon, Nirn, Milton just of the top of my head.
Kevin Durant has now partnered with them so they will only get bigger. Getting a MoKan/Nike player would be nice.
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JayHawkFanToo said:
Yep. Both Porters as well as young, Burke, Cauley-Stein, Ojeleye, Tillmon, Nirn, Milton just of the top of my head.
Kevin Durant has now partnered with them so they will only get bigger. Getting a MoKan/Nike player would be nice.
It definitely won’t hurt.
Burks was definitely just a miss by the staff. I don’t think KU ever got too serious with CS or Ojeleye. By the time we were kind of interested in CS it was too late.
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You are always going to get my like when posting that photo of EJ.
EJ and Sherron are my Jayhawk favorites on an emotional level.
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Good post.
I believe exactly what Self believes in his chew out on the guys. We lack energy, focus, good attitude, etc.
That all leads to not only going soft on defense, but soft on offense, too. Guys are standing around too much on offense. Notice how almost every possession in the TCU game had us use the entire shot clock and then force up a shot, often putting Devonte in a jam.
Our lack of energy and focus prevents our offense from flowing. Flowing is the key to keeping a high FG%, especially when having a bunch of talented shooters. Nothing was right in this game. I can give a little credit to TCU, but most of it was our guys playing soft.
I’m not ready to give a name or names… but I feel like at least one of our Top 7 players will not be asked to return next year. That gets masked in a transfer or an attempt to go pro. And to be honest, I’d rather see a fresh-faced freshman to trade for even though experience should be an important plus with next year’s team.
Self is EXTREMELY UNHAPPY with this team right now. I just don’t see him risking some of the same funky attitude going on next year. There are probably off-court circumstances involved… and those that are involved should feel fortunate that Self has their back, even while they damage his legacy (and KU’s) and the rest of the team. Self knows what is going on.
I know I feel bad for Devonte. The guy is playing 40 mpg and still producing well… and he is banged up. If we lose the streak this year, he will be blamed, too, but let’s face facts, we are NOT even a 500 team without Devonte!
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No one channels “good cop/bad cop” better than Coach Self and he is pulling out all stops to motivate this team.
This “no fear” year (of KU by opposing teams) has been a blessing on the road and a curse in AFH.
Good teams win close games. Great teams win games by a comfortable margin.
Time to go from good to great!
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All I know is this is not the year all four #1 seeds make it to the final four. Our chances are as good as any this year.
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St. John’s that started conference 0-11 beat Duke and Villanova, Michigan State barely got by 3-11 Iowa and now sits in third place in the Big 10, Arizona that is in first place in the PAC 12 trails UCLA by 10 in the second half, 20 something ranked a UNC just beat Duke which is now in 3rd place in the ACC and 4-1/2 games behind Virginia, UK sits in 4th place and 3 full games behind leader Auburn…while KU still sits in 1st place in the toughest conference and fans continue to complain.
Any team can beat any other team this season…as we know it all too well. March madness might end up being a gauntlet for the top teams. This might be the year when it is better to fly under the radar.
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Great post!
I’m curious what your thoughts are about your statement, “any team can be any other team this year?”
It definitely seems so.
I’ve been hearing lots of gossip, mostly negative. Not specifically about Kansas, just D1 in general. Here is what I’m hearing:
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“Millennials just do not have the hunger or hustle!” We’ve all heard this for a while now and not just about basketball. This has not been my personal experiences. I know some very scrappy younguns!
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“Many players are smoking pot!” I can believe that. Not sure. I know we’ve had that issue before. It sure explains a lack of focus, hustle and hunger. But I don’t want to point a finger at anyone.
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“Too many players leaving early for the league!” In my book, MOST players that leave early shouldn’t be leaving yet. Guess I can’t blame them for wanting to secure a check as soon as possible. There is always a risk of injuries. Many of the top teams recruit OADs, and hence are always in a state of “newbies on board!”
Sometimes I think we may be overthinking things. Good chance our guys have been battling the flu, plus we have a lot of young guys and a shallow bench. Plus… the pressure of the streak.
Gosh darnit! I’m making excuses for them again!!! LOL
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Gunman said:
jaybate 1.0 said:
Any win, even a bad one, is a good win for this team right now.
Do we win that game if Vick started? Good job, Bill!
Since Vick played 29 minutes, I reckon yes we would have won with Vick starting and playing 29, too.
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Everyone needs to remember TCU was without its best player.
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I agree with the overthinking idea.
What if it were all nothing more than the appearance of rigging of the March Carney now appearing to spread to conference play?
Hypothesis: Rigging makes bet balancing much easier to achieve all season long.
Bet balancing just doesn’t seem statistically feasible with the disparities in teams, betting fan base sizes, and variables in performances of 18-23 year old men.
It seems like rigging would likely be necessary to smooth costly inefficiencies in bet balancing.
In turn, hypothetical rigging would litter the games with anomalous, counterintuitive ourcomes. It would look like there were a lot of equality/parity among conference teams (ie, several tied for first or second), even though distributions of 4/5-star players was quite asymmetric.
Just a thought.
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speaking of winning…how much longer will Wake give Danny to get it going ??
and look at Tony Bennett quietly dominating the ESPN conference.
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Meanwhile, Joe Dooley has FGCU 10-0 in conference play (Atlantic Sun Conference). He is a basketball savant. Would love to see him make it to one of the power conferences in my lifetime!
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I am not sure there is one answer but a combination of many. The OAD is now a full business and kids are now looking for the fastest way to the League and college basketball has been fully disrupted.
More importantly, there is so much parity in the sport because quality college seniors can perform as well or better than OADs. Teams like Texas Tech. with a bunch of unheralded but experienced and quality players can now compete with teams with better but inexperienced players. Some of the better players we have had at KU were not highly ranked but developed into outstanding players by their junior and senior years.
To me, the only solution is to get rid of the OADs and revert players to being students first and athletes second. If a prospect is good enough to go pro after HS, let him do It but if he chooses college then he needs to wait 3 years so at least he has most of a college degree under his belt that he can complete if pro sports don’t work; it is fair to both, the student athlete and the school.
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Danny’s edge seemed like it might be attracting and coaching big men.
But the game has apparently taken a sharp turn to guards and 3pt shooting, which seems to erode his edge.
Also he has struggled finding top big men to go against TPTB in Conference ESPN.
It is too bad. Ironically, his timing was good for crackingg the upper division. B12-like “parity” has come to C-ESPN, at least outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, where Tony Bennett’s 23-1 Cavs seem strangely to have bucked the conspicuous parity-trend that has hit the rest of C-ESPN and other power conferences.
Interestingly, I have not read anyone connect UVa’s 23-1 tear to a post-tragedy (riots) effect in Charlottesville yet, as happened some with the New Orleans Saints winning the SB after the hurricane (note: I stand with recall revised by @mayjay later in this thread that the Aints didn’t win for a few years after the big blow and reputed intentional dyke breaking that lead to so much tragedy).
Whatever, it seems the Deacons have given DMan a fair shot at WF, but it’s been a tough corner to turn.
Still, I cross digits for him, but…
He appears on ice film.
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@jaybate-1.0 I am not sure what you are referring to re N Orl winning the SB after a hurricane. They won their only SB in 2010 after the 2009 season. The only hurricane hitting NO that season was November hurricane Ida, which caused only minor damage when it hit Louisiana as a TS after major damage in Nicaragua. Katrina hit N Orl in August 2005, after which the Saints went 3-13.
Makes a nice thought, but 4 years removed does not give much support to the Chatlottesville theory.
I will, however, offer up the 1988 Dodgers, winning the WS after the earthquake! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_World_Series
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@mayjay Didn’t the Saints win in the first full year back in New Orleans after being displaced when the super dome was torn up by said hurricane? It seems I must be misremembering by a year or two as well.
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@dylans Saints made the NFC title game in 2006 but lost to the Bears.
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Thank you for reeling me in!
I’m still hopeful for this team. Especially in March! We tend to play gutsy ball on the road, and March Madness will be one big road game!
If we do lose the streak, these guys should have a monster chip on their shoulders in March.
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The amazing Superdome… wow!
New Orleans is an amazing cultural city… but the governmental corruption has handcuffed that city for decades. The Superdome is a perfect example. After the initial construction, I guess money appeared missing and required a formal investigation which didn’t resolve anything. I’m pretty sure the investigation itself was tainted in corruption. All I know is it went from being NEW in 1975 to a troubled facility within one decade. I recall visiting the SD back in the 80s and have a photo of myself standing on a burned up automobile directly in front of the SD.
But then… what can you expect of anything being built over a cemetary… there are stories of ghost/demon sightings, even during Saints games!
The Katrina disaster turned out to be a blessing for the Superdome… finally making officials punch through a very needed $320 million update, of which only part of that was direct damage from the storm.
The Superdome has undergone several updates since Katrina… finally raising the standards up high enough to earn them a nice extra funding source by branding the Superdome over to Mercedes in a 10-yr contract in 2011.
Actual branding vision:
Better ideas:
Or… how about the entire roof become a lit Mercedes logo… visible from Musk’s Tesla roadster, floating in space! LOL
