First - I have frequented this site all season and have enjoyed the banter immensely.

Finally broke down and registered so I could participate…go easy on me!

Just wondering why the national media hasn’t dog-piled on Barnes when Myles Turner (his team’s leading rebounder, leading shot blocker, second leading scorer and an 83% FT shooter) comes off the bench and only gets minutes that are comparable to Ridley at this stage of the season.

And yet, the national media openly questions HCBS’s roster management… You would think and 82.5% win percentage, 10 straight conference titles and a national championship would earn the benefit of the doubt from the national media if they are going to give Barnes a free pass- especially when Turner has a bigger impact on the Longhorn’s success than Alexander has had on ours.

It’s fun watching them just play basketball.

No AP ranking or Big 12 streak on the line. Just playing basketball and it’s fun to see.

Been a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of playing in this event.

After seeing two games, the only downside I can see is the risk of serious injury.

Otherwise this is a major advantage.

Been some discussion as to how the rest of the team will integrate, but I think Diallo is the only one who will be left out…and a high energy game should fit in just fine. Effort and a prolific shot blocker always find a home in Self’s line-up, even if they make miscues.

Graham and Svi already have built chemistry and Colesby sits out this year anyway.

Bragg and Vick walked in to the perfect storm…a full month of practice and games with their college team and college coach before they even start the fall term. They’ll hit the ground running and be light years ahead of the typical freshman in the Self system.

I am glad we are playing and proud we are doing USA proud!

Style points don’t matter to Self. Never have.

He would prefer to make the team execute his game plan and win by 5 than a free for all display of athleticism that wins by 30. AAU style doesn’t appeal to him.

Forcing them to execute the lesson plan for the day - and when necessary breaking the stallions to lead - does.matter to him.

Do it until you get it right and can retain it …and then we’ll move to the next page of the playbook.

And if that approach creates adversity and tough in game situations , all the better. It keeps the team humble and gives them experience in contested games that undoubtedly will pay benefits later.

But at the end of the day once he is in that tough in game situation he is going to shorten his bench and go with the people he thinks will give him the best chance to win.

In those situations the youngsters who have yet to earn his trust or who have shown a propensity to turn it over, take ill advised shots or play bad defense aren’t going to be on the court…he is playing to win.

If you are after style points, Coach Self will never be your guy.

He prefers teaching moments and keeping their feet in the fire. Right or wrong, that’s just him.

I am not a big X and O guy, but on Saturday it appeared to me as though Hunter’s and Cheick’s tendency to contest every shot - even when on help defense - left their men open for entry passes and back side rebounds. Bragg tends to play matador defense anyway and is slow to react on help side D.

And none of them are especially good at being able to guard when they are drawn to the perimeter and have to switch on ball screens.

Harvard was eating us up on those weaknesses.

Like Jamari or not, is our best big at defending the perimeter and on switching ball screens.

Like Landen or not on Saturday is was our best option to defend in the paint and to get rebounds.

So they were on the floor.

To me, the biggest problem we had on Saturday was Wayne’s foul trouble.

When he was on the bench it caused Frank and D’tae to carry more of the perimeter load (which apparently tired then) and allowed Harvard to have one fewer true scoring threat to deal with. I thought we were just out of sorts with Wayne out of the game.

Of all games for BG to have missed, I think Harvard was a big one. They weren’t especially good at guarding the perimeter without dedicating additional resources to doing so and they lacked the athletes to guard both the perimeter and the post.

Had they elected to guard BG, we would have feasted in the post and had they sagged off of BG, he would have had great looks.

@HighEliteMajor

I stand by my comments. Saw too many times even during the stretch you reference in which Diallo and Bragg did not do their job. Harvard just didn’t capitalize. And we were making shots so we made a run while they were turning it over and missing shots.

I am sorry we see things through different eyes.

In regard to Lucas . Had he been unable to play at all, sure we would have never missed him. The game flow would have taken a different path and adjustments would have been made.

But I FIRMLY believe, based on what did happen in the game that had Bragg or Diallo been on the court instead of Lucas during crunch time that we would have lost.

Their defensive lapses that would have given up points and the lost offensive possessions because of miscues that naturally come from developing freshman would have resulted in more than we could have overcome.

I suppose the one benefit that may have resulted is that had they been on the court Harvard might have been scoring 2s while exploiting them…instead of spending 20-25 seconds trying to get it in the paint to no avail before having to launch long range threes late in the shot clock…many of which scored.

I felt that way before the final horn sounded, before I heard Self’s comments and even after my third viewing of the game.

Lucas, no matter how low the bar he set, provided just enough defense, rebounding and deterance to hold the tide until we made some shots to extend the lead enough to hold on.

Again, sorry I don’t see things the same way you did.

But I disagree with you on this subject.

I know that pulling Harvey would have won the game for the Mets is the prevailing school of thought…but the Royals had lit Familia up like a Christmas tree in his two prior outings (even without Murphy’s error in game 4 they still strung together a lot of hits) and did so again when he did come in for Harvey in game 5…

The Royals just didn’t seem like a good match up for Familia…so I don’t know that it is a given that they wouldn’t have gotten to him too if he had started the 9th inning in game 5…despite what the east coast experts and media who always have to have a goat to pin it on have to say.

The thing I love about KC fans is exactly what we saw last year after we lost game 7 and this year after we won game 5…we love our team in good and bad.

While it is nothing new, I thought the way the NY media vilanized Murphy, Harvey, Cespedes…after they carried the Mets to the World Series …was in poor taste.

@Statmachine

Just want to say it is a razor’s edge you are walking and that I appreciate the integrity in which you are doing it.

Love the insight you provide and respect that you aren’t disclosing anything that could get you, the players or the program in trouble.

In the words of Ron Burgundy…“stay classy!”

@Texas-Hawk-10

Ok. Then to clarify, the recent TEAMS haven’t met your expectation?.

Because you took exception to my post that stated our recent RECRUITING CLASSES have been solid.

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We have had a fair number of highly touted recruits in recent years.

Unfortunately, due to some bad luck and more predominately, because the OAD mindset doesn’t work well in our system, the teams that had those recruits on it did not meet your expectations.

The OAD movement has not been good to us.

unfortunately it will be difficult to wean ourself off the OAD train without creating air pockets in the pipeline that will lead to average seasons (average for most teams…but horrible seasons for us …like only 18 or 20 win season horrible).

To bleed out those air pockets we will have to go back to having a core group of 50-100 ranked kids that are augmented with the occasional 20-40 ranked guys and suffer through some rough seasons until those freshman and sophomores become juniors and start to get it…and until the pipeline provides a recurring annual supply of battle tested juniors who have paid their dues during the past two seasons.

Self hates to lose at all so I don’t think he has been able to go go cold turkey and entirely quit the OAD approach. So he gets who can and comes up short of meeting expectations…so says many of us.

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To me it is funny. Not funny ha ha, but funny in a sad, painful way

But if you go way back before Self started landing OADs our success wasn’t all that different than it is now… And fans were bashing him because we weren’t keeping up with the Joneses by landing the Tyreke Evans of the world.

So in comes Xavier, Selby BMac, Wiggs…And to this day we still fret everytime Kentucky and Duke repeatedly load up with presumed OADs that we missed on like Jabari Parker, Okafor, Julius Randle,

now when we do land a Wiggins or an Alexander we complain because they didn’t take us to the promised land and because they leave too early.

But now when we sign a decent middle of the road 3-4 star prospect who will likely be a four year player our message boards light up people questioning why on earth we would sign a Lightfoot or a Mason or a Graham. And how are we supposed to compete with Duke, Kentucky, Memohis with guys like that.

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Comical really.

The winningest program in America between 2000-2009 and third or fourth winningest if you stretch it from 2000-2015. 11 straight conference titles, 26 straight invites to the big dance. And on and on.

But it’s been three seasons since we made a final four and seven seasons since we won a title.

And now that the rest of the Big 12 has elevated their game to keep up with us - plus now that we play every team on the road every season- we’re complaining that Self’ s recent road record is sub .600…too bad we don’t get to pound teams like the lower tier of the SEC, ACC or Pac 10 and pad those records, huh?

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Pretty rough stretch, huh?

This must be what it feels like at Mizzou, or Iowa State or UCLA or Indiana or any other team that’s never done it or that has and since fallen off the map and is now working their way back…not! Our rough stretch is beater than 99% of DI team’s glory days!

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I’ll still cheer for KU…even if all the chicken little prognosticators on here are right and the sky is indeed falling.

I’ve been a die-hard Royals fan since my Dad and I started listening to games on the radio in 1976 when I was five years old.

Now that 29 years was a rough stretch…but the last two years made it entirely worth it.

I will be surprised if the winner of the big 12 regular season title has less than 5 losses.

The top 5 teams are all top 25 caliber teams…3 in the top 10.

And the lower 5 are all improving and capable of beating anyone at home on any given nite.

18 game double round robin schedule is brutal. Never a cupcake game.

14-4 or 13-5 will be a very solid conference mark.

“…quick exit from the tournament as usual…”

So two recent early exits override the five elite 8 appearances (w/ two finals appearances) in the previous 10 seasons and to make early exits “usual”?!?!?!

Lol.

@blackmild33

Yes, it looks like one guy switched his pick from KU to Duke…I believe that he had originally picked Alabama for Bolden before switching to KU a couple of weeks ago.

Hopefully it is just an isolated hunch and not inside info.

Hope Payne comes out swinging hard in the third set, she’s been tentative in the first two.

Not playing great, but have USC flustered.

Proud of them girls!

One more set to go for a date w/ the Cornhuskers in the Final Four in Omaha!

Hawks take the first set over #1 overall seed Southern Cal 25-18

@Texas-Hawk-10 I

True, it is common, but not at all atypical relative to the performance of other elite programs… If you measure since 2003 we are tied for first with the most championship appearances

@HighEliteMajor I am more than happy to keep and capable of keeping an open mind. In fact that is why I partake in this board…I enjoy hearing and considering the opinions of others. Sometimes my perspective changes, sometimes they don’t. And my profession requires it of me every day to boot.

But one could very easil ask you whether you are you capable of keeping an open mind when you encounter opinions that are contrarian to your own?

please know I intend no disrespect in that question. I offer it solely because you are widely known as one of the most rigidly opinionated posters on this site.

And your opinion rarely is swayed by the opinions or the data provided by others.

And BTW I LOL every time I read a post from you that calls Coach Self stubborn.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t respect your viewpoint and carefully consider your opinions.

.i am however saying that should you choose to point a finger just take notice that several of your own fingers are pointing right back at you everytime you do.

Just because it is your opinion and in your opinion is incapable of being refuted…doesn’t mean every one has to agree with you

So with that said, in my opinion, the fallacy with your point is that our seed is always high because of our consistently strong regular season performance. We are given a 3rd or higher seed almost automatically every year simply because we were the regular season champions of a power 5 conference. …and regardless of whether we are a team built for a tournament run or not.

Because of that, unless we are a final four or elite 8 team EVERY SINGLE YEAR (highly unrealistic)…we will under achieve in your metric more than we could ever hope to over achieve.

“…quick exit from the tournament as usual…”

So two recent early exits override the five elite 8 appearances (w/ two finals appearances) in the previous 10 seasons and to make early exits “usual”?!?!?!

Lol.

@DoubleDD said:

Could it be that coach opening up and letting the boys play might be swaying some of these numbers?

I would think low post and/or back 2 basket guys like Bolden and Allen would be more interested in Self’s hi lo game.

@Crimsonorblue22

Looked like a decent sized KU contingent in San Diego to cheer them on!

@Crimsonorblue22 if he continues like he has, he sure could be gone. Needs to avoid the roller coaster up and downs he is accustomed to. Even if it means a fresh haircut every game day!

Frank D’Tae and Jackson on the perimeter along with Bragg and Bolden down low could be fun!