March 13: Our Daily Threads
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Also see today’s News Digest, March 13, and News Digest for Yesterday, March 12, as well as Daily Threads for Yesterday, March 12 ##Our Daily Threads for March 13:##
Making a run without JoJo - @icthawkfan316##
So by now the disappointing news has sunk in for most of us regarding Embiid’s back injury. While we may speculate as to if/when he will be back, it is in the best interest of the team to prepare as if he will not be back. After all, they’ve had a whole season’s worth of preparation playing with him, so if he is available at some point, re-inserting him in the line-up will not necessitate any adjustments. So make plans to play without him.
Andrew and the Miracles… - @drgnslayr##
For some of us that go back a ways in Kansas basketball, we’ve been in this situation before.
We lost a very special player in Archie Marshall.
We were well on our way to having a disappointing season with a big pile of losses and expectations dashed.
Kietzman and the KU Conspiracy Theory - @wrwlumpy##
Yesterday WHB brought back a Spinal Specialist for a second time to delve into Coach Self knowing more than he really was saying about Joel and went down the road to accusing him of being a coach who plays kids when they are hurt. This brought back memories of his 3 day rant wanting to portray Roy Williams as a person who disrespects the American Flag and all of the brave men and women who have fought and given their lives for this country - http://cjonline.com/stories/021502/spo_kuflag.shtm
Mar 12: Making Up for Joel - @jaybate###
So we are probably 1 and 1 in the B12 tourney.
The B12 Tourney is meaningless, except as 1 or 2 practice games for learning how to beat muscle without Joel, and more if he doesn’t come back.
Pruning back the lion killer luv, Joel gave 12/10 plus rim protection.
Mar 11: Have Faith - @HighEliteMajor###
Faith.
We hear the word every day. What does it mean?
Two definitions to choose from:
- Confidence or trust in a person or thing.
Or
- A belief that is not based in proof.
Mar 11: jaybate Basketball Intelligence Estimate (jBIE): Joel’s Back Injury - @jaybate###
SigInt (the brief camera shot of treating Joel’s injury court side) tells jBIE’s basketball spies a whole lot about Joel’s back injury.
Observed treatment: Joel laid on his back and a team official treating Joel pulled his right leg over his left and appeared to stretch the lower back in a spiral/twisting motion.
Mar 10: Random Thoughts: Greg Marshall’s Future & KU Defense - @MoonwalkMafia###
Following VCU’s impressive (and heartbreaking) run to the Final Four in 2011, many college basketball pundits questioned whether Shaka Smart would be leaving the mid-major ranks and jumping into the deep end with the big boys. Smart ultimately turned down offers from bigger programs to stay with what he had built.
Mar 10: Equipment Changes for Redemption Season - @drgnslayr###
Our “Redemption Season” starts March 20th.
We need to makes some tweaks to several of our current players’ equipment.
EQUIPMENT CHANGES CHECKLIST…
Mar 9: Does Wiggins become our point forward? -@Hawk8086###
Some have brought up Carmelo. After thinking about it, given all of the concerns with Tharpe, does Self try running everything through Wiggins? At least most of the time? He looks inside for the big men first. He breaks down the defense and then either takes it to the hole, or dishes off? Tharpe, or whomever brings the ball up the court, but maybe Wiggins does that part of the time. I know his ball handling skills could be better, but is he the other option we’re looking for? Ride him as far as he can take us. Is this completely crazy? Desperate times make us all think of desperate measures.
Mar 9: Wiggins 41 points and 2 Assists and Other Take Aways - @jaybate###
~The WVU game was such a bitter pill on so many levels. Let me count the ways.
~The WVU game made starkly clear that even a Herculean, come-from-behind, scoring performance of 41 points by Andrew Wiggins cannot carry this team to a victory over a 65th ranked KENPOM team. How can this be? How can such an obviously exceptional talent putting on such an awesome individual performance (he scored efficiently, rebounded his own misses well, made steals, and blocked shots) not succeed? How could Andrew putting his team on his back not yield a W against a good, but not exceptional team?
###Mar 9: Big 12 Teams - @TheDrunkenJhawk###
Now that the Big 12 Season is over, I will post my superlatives:
1st Team:
Marcus Smart (I don’t want to put him here, but I have no choice)…
Mar 8: 7 losses: Advantage or disadvantage? -@bskeet###
Some say you need some losses to expose the chinks in the armor and allow you to neutralize approaches that are likely to lead to defeat. This school of thought suggests that it is possible to grow stronger from failures if you learn from the mistakes.
Some say you don’t need to lose – in fact losing is a sign of weakness to opponents. That a loss brings confidence to the enemy and doubt to oneself.
Mar 8: Is This Team Finally Ready for ‘Self-Ball’? - @drgnslayr###
Is this team finally ready for ‘Self-ball’?
In recent weeks we have seen moments of solid defense. We almost played 40 minutes of defense versus Texas. We can’t compare this team to any other Bill Self team because the NCAA decided to make lock-down defense a thing of the past. But we can still play a decent M2M with plenty of weak side team help.
###Mar 8: Tarik vs.Tech: One More for the Road… -@jaybate###
Black gave a clinic in the process of post play against a weak team. If he can do it again against the muscle of WVU, then we mAy have the missing piece to take the team beyond talent to a well-oiled machine. Either way, Joel needs to watch the tape to add the craft of post play to his growing knowledge of the techniques of post play. As Sade once sang, Tarik was a “smooth operator.”
Mar 8: “Forensics: Self Saying Wigs Should Be B12 POY” - @jaybate
Bill Self threw Gary Bedore an interestingly timed bone today.
Seemingly out of nowhere, to this reader, since Gary Bedore did not provide the circumstance in which the question was asked, Gary asked Bill who Bill thought should be B12 POY.
Some Suggestions for a Big 12 Near Eastern Division - @jaybate
WVU needs an eastern division, so it doesn’t have to keep playing schools out west in the Big 12 Natural Resource Conference. Here are some suggested adds for a Near East Division for WVU.
Crimean A&M–Russian carriers not only secure the area at Svastopol, but games could be played on them thus allowing easy pre game air connections right to the flight decks.
Mar 7: 30 years - @JRyman###
No not my life span. But Thirty years of KU being something great.
1983-84 Second in Big 8
84-85 Second…
###Mar 7: Myles Turner: You are one Lucky Man! - @drgnslayr###
Myles Turner, you are one lucky man! You came to the right Jayhawk game to experience.
Even though we captured our 10th straight Big 12 regular season championship, this has not been a typical Jayhawk season. We are one of the youngest teams in the nation, and with that youth comes the need to educate; to learn what college basketball is all about, and further, to learn what Jayhawk basketball is all about.
###Mar 7: FLOOR BURN AWARD: KU vs TT - March 5 - @drgnslayr###
Tarik Black! Tarik Black! Tarik Black!
I can’t stress it enough. Tarik Black’s performance last night not only won the FLOOR BURN AWARD for this game, he may have won it for the entire year! That was the most-inspiring play of any Jayhawk all year!
###Mar 7: Welcome to the OAD Merry-go-round! - @jaybate###
It was about as strong of a signal as potential recruits could get short of an official announcement.
Wiggins, Embiid and Selden appear to be goners.
So: it’s unofficially official: Self and KU are on the OAD Merry Go Round.
###Mar 6: Tarik Black: Future Coach - @jaybate###
Let’s see. Tarick Black is playing his 4th season of college basketball, it’s senior night, he got his BA before he set foot on campus, and he is going to have a Master’s before he leaves after this one season? He plays a musical instrument and is 6-9 and 260? And he has a kind of positive outlook that the maestro of positive, Bill Self, admires? And he has the insight at this young age to say of Self, “Here, I’m playing for a coach who has a national championship, who has coached many great teams, that’s had similar players and just knows what to do, when to do it, and the message that needs to be portrayed at the moment”?
###Mar 6: 2009 vs 2014… Similarities - @drgnslayr###
KUSports is running a blog on our 2009 team. Amazing… some of the similarities with our current team!
http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/all_eyes_ku/2014/mar/5/10-years-of-big-12-supremacy-2009/
###Mar 6: Senior Day Pre and Post game ceremonies - @jayhawkfantoo###
Does anyone know if the pre and post game ceremonies (speeches) will be televised or streamed on line somewhere?
It would have been ideal programming for ESPN 3 but their schedule shows only the game and it would be blacked out in Kansas anyway.
###Mar 4: Want A Bold Move? Start Lucas - @HighEliteMajor###
Opportunity presents itself in the face of adversity. Kansas will be without Joel Embiid for the final two games of the regular season. That we do know. But could we be without Embiid for the rest of the season? That we do not know.
Time for a contingency plan. Planning requires consideration of how we can win a national title without Embiid. If we lose our second game of the tourney, or in the Elite Eight, no one will care if it’s done without Embiid. If we lose before the Final Four with Embiid, it will be a bitter disappointment. Without Embiid, our expectations are quite limited.
###Mar 4: Is Undefeated Possible? - @justanotherfan###
That’s the last time a men’s D1 team went undefeated and claimed the title.
###Mar 4: Virginia??? - @JRyman###
With the blue bloods of the ACC UNC and Duke along with the newcomer and perennial winner Syracuse it is hard to imagine that Virginia, yes Virginia won the ACC.
Especially when you look at how UNC surged after a rough start how 'Cuse was undefeated for so long all season and well Duke has the Coach Consonants along with freshman headliner Parker.
###Mar 4: Embiid to sit for two games - @REHawk###
Gary Bedore just announced on BLEACHER REPORT that JoJo will sit out the next two games, be re-evaluated Sunday.
###Mar 3: FLOOR BURN AWARD: KU @ OSU - March 1 - @drgnslayr###
Well… it is March, and we know what comes in March… March Madness! I’d say I’ve started my month of March in total madness!
Joel Embiid is the clear winner of the FLOOR BURN AWARD in this one. His stat line was impressive, especially knowing he did it all in 29 minutes of play, and some of those minutes of play were in pain. JoJo was good for 13 points off of 4-of-6 from the floor. He accomplished yet another double-double by adding 13 rebounds. And he rounded out his performance with one assist, 3 steals and a block. JoJo was a big part of the defensive force in the first half that limited the Cowboys to only 25 points.
###Mar 3: A must read re: Coach Cal - @REHawk###
Yahoo Sports just published a scathing Pat Forde article regarding Kentucky’s 5.2 million dollar mentor. Cal must not be sleeping well tonight.
###Mar 3: Something to prove - @JRyman###
OSU played like they had something to prove.
Marcus Smart played like he had something to prove.
###Mar 3: Its March and Sans Embiid KU Is Still Too Young -@jaybate###
Getting punked by a jerk, like Smart, hurts, but as great a player as Smart also is, Smart isn’t why we lost.
TOs, numerous as they were, didn’t kill us.
###Mar 2: Tharpe’s Performance Inexplicable - @HighEliteMajor###
A number of weeks ago, I posted some thoughts on wanting more from Naadir Tharpe. Against Oklahoma St., in what may unfortunately be a preview of our NCAA tournament exit, Naadir Tharpe played a horrific game. Inexplicable, really. I’m not really left wanting more. What I am wanting is some intestinal fortitude.
Much worse than Tharpe’s actual performance vs. OSU was his whipped puppy demeanor. Definitively for me, this game proved that Naadir Tharpe is no leader. I have never seen a true leader act the part of the victim. I have never seen a true leader present such defeated body language. I have never seen a true leader bring his team down to this degree. And I’ve never seen a true leader appear so utterly unprepared for such a big stage.
###Mar 2: Things to Do in Stillwater After the KU Beat Down of OSU - @jaybate###
Drive by a title insurance company and ask them about clouded title on 1889 land run lands.
Quote from Washington Irving’s A Tour of the Prairies" describing the area of present day Stillwater saying, “The deep and frequent traces of buffalo, showed it to be one of their frequent grazing grounds;” then ask if Irviing were referring to buffalo pies?
###Mar 2: Disclaimer: Two Items NOT Related to KU Basketball That Are Bugging the Heck Out of Me - @nuleafjhawk###
In order of bug-ness to me:
- I was meditating on the couch last night (OK, I fell asleep) and woke up around 10:15 pm or so. I glanced at the TV and thought I had accidentally turned to the Sci-Fi Network or FearTv. Here’s this hideous, greasy, shiny foreheaded little troll that looked just like Gregg Marshall scowling at me telling me about something that Carlos O’Kelly’s is putting on and the Wichita State team, blah blah blah, but he wouldn’t be able to attend because he was going to be busy. (smirk, smirk, har har har)
###Mar 2: Getting ready for spring football - @eastcoasthawk ###
Here’s the latest from LJWorld sports team
http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/double-chin-music/2014/feb/28/in-defense-of-kansas-football/
###Mar 2: It’s been too long - @eastcoasthawk###
This thread is for any Jayhawk fan that hasn’t been to a game in a long time for whatever reason. Last weekend, 33 years after I packed up my drumset after beating OSU to finish the Big 8 season in 1981, I was back in Allen Fieldhouse for the game against Texas. Just walking in and seeing the hallways (minus the track) started rushing many memories back. All the time spent trying to register. And mostly all the great games we had. The great crowds. Hardly lost at home.
Saturday was amazing to see the crowds, old and new traditions. Being there brought such a huge comfort level. I couldn’t stop smiling.
###Mar 1: I want to cry! - @drgnslayr###
There are only 3 more regular season games left.
I am looking forward to March Madness… but it goes by so quickly!
Why does it always feel this way? Why does the season end when it just starts to feel like we are getting into the groove?
Life just isn’t fair!
Mar 1: Keys to beat OSU - @jaybate###
Break the press away from Smart.
Route the half court offense away from Smart.
Also see today’s News Digest, March 13, and News Digest for Yesterday, March 12, as well as Daily Threads for Yesterday, March 12
