I’ll cast my vote for an annual home-an-home with WSU as well. I’ve never heard a valid reason for not playing them. Or even Mizzou. Sure beats playing San Diego State or Temple. Makes KU sound like spoiled brats.

And, now that KU is out of it, I hope the Shockers win from here on out.

I liked the Big 8 Holiday tournament better.

HEM

Your philosophy is good if you can assume that Coach Self will always be able to get the top-50 players he wants or needs to plug into his system. But that certainly is not a guarantee. If he decides to not go after the best, and he doesn’t get that top-50 player, then he is faced with going after a still-lower (and maybe much lower) ranked player. That’s why Tharpe is here.

One of the problems Self has–and he has mentioned this a number of times–is the outrageously high expectations every year from KU supporters and fans. “We lost all five starters, but we are still expected to win the conference title and compete for the NC.”

You mentioned the mid-majors: VCU, George Mason, Butler, Wichita State. I’m sure there are others. They all did well for 2-3 years. If KU would miss the NCAA tourney once, fans around here would be calling for Self to be fired.

Fans aren’t patient enough to wait for players to develop. Case in point is David Padgett. Posters on these boards didn’t allow him any time to develop. Constantly criticized him. Merciless. He may have turned out to be quite valuable if he had been given time to develop.

I remind you again that OADs Wiggins and Embiid were not the ones responsible for the loss in the 3rd round of the tournament. As EKY said, KU didn’t have a decent point guard. That’s not a OAD drama issue.

I have always enjoyed reading your posts. Almost always insightful and thought-provoking. But I just don’t know how–considering the play throughout the season–you could have expected a better showing in the postseason.

@drgnslayr "Here is something to think about…

If Wilt did sleep with that many women, even if he used a condom, he would definitely have some accidents and he’d have a minimum of 20 or so kids out there… probably a lot more.

Surely some of those women were tall, too.

Wouldn’t there be an increase of footers in college now playing ball?"

It runs in my mind that I heard a story many years ago–maybe from Max Falkenstein–that neither of Wilt’s parents was tall.

According to. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0150219/bio neither was taller than 5’9".

Probably my favorite player of all time. Always had the impression that he never wanted to be considered a special person and wasn’t enamored with all the hoopla about him. Wish I could have come to that game in 1998.

@wissoxfan83 What can the NCAA do to stop it? Salary cap?

@KJD I don’t think HEM, Jesse Newell, or anyone else is saying Self is not a good–or even great–coach. But, unless you think that Traylor, Lucas, Alexander (?), and Mickelson can perform adequately for four straight games, there’s no way the Hawks make it to the FF. Unless they play outside in, i think they’ll have to be lucky to make it past the second round.

Don’t forget that Tyler will be back from his redshirt year.

That’s too bad Tyler’s leaving. I was hoping for big things out of him next year.

@wrwlumpy I agree with you. Jesse has done a great job. I really enjoyed his blog during the basketball season. And reading his comments on here.

Jesse, you’re a class act. Congratulations.

@HighEliteMajor Maybe it should be said that HCBS is the key.

I watched the game D2 championship game yesterday between Northwest Missouri State and Point Loma. Congratulations to the Bearcats. But I thought one player–Daulton Hommes of Point Loma–was impressive. Would like to see him transfer to KU for his senior season.

@HighEliteMajor Before I looked into all the history of the program, I was kinda hopeful that a new coach could come in and turn it around. But I didn’t realize that, in the last 60 years, every coach except Mangino had a losing record. His was only 50 wins and 48 losses over 8 years. I’m just not real confident that another new coach can make this a respectable program. I have been a fan since I was a kid in the 1950s, so I hope I’m wrong. Also I hope it doesn’t take so long that I won’t be around to see it.

@Woodrow Wrong on all counts. Although I will say it has come to the point that I don’t really care what they do.

@HighEliteMajor As I said previously, I’m not saying Beaty’s the guy. I just think way too much of the blame has been put on him. And people who think a Miles or Doeren, or anyone else is going to all of a sudden make KU a consistent winner–or even a.500 team–is probably going to be disappointed.

I may be wrong but I just don’t think it will happen.

@HighEliteMajor I’m not a fan of Beaty, but neither do I think firing him is a magic fix for KU football. And I don’t know how anyone can believe “Success is on the horizon.”

Prior to this season, I did a review of Kansas football over the past 60 years. Beginning with Jack Mitchell, overall record since 1958 was 268 wins, 393 losses, 14 ties. The winning percentage over that time is .405. With a 12-game schedule that would be 4-5 wins a year. Only nine bowl games, averaging one every 6-7 years. Not what most people would call “success.”

Of the 14 coaches over that timeframe, only Mangino had a winning record (50-48). Regarding Mangino’s team in 2007, the overall record of opponents was 65-87, with only four having a winning record. The record of all Big 12 opponents KU played was 26-38.

They didn’t have to play Texas, Texas Tech, or Oklahoma that year. Generally, three guaranteed losses every year. So I’m not sure that’s the year everyone should be hoping to duplicate.

I don’t think Beaty’s the answer, but neither do I think he’s the reason for continual losing football at KU.

I remember a KU - K State game that went four OTs. In a Big 8 holiday tournament

Our only depth is freshmen and Self doesn’t want them.

@drgnslayr I thought some of our Big 12 championships were flukes too. Like the year when we were playing Texas and Kevin Durant got hurt and couldn’t play in the second half. As I recall, Texas had a huge lead when he left the game. Or the game we won against Oklahoma and Blake Griffin had to sit out the entire game. I don’t think we could have won those games had those two players not been injured. And, without looking it up, I think if we had lost those games, we wouldn’t have won the championship.

I also thought the way we won in 2013 was kinda fluky. We got the benefit of a very questionable call at the end of the Iowa State game. A loss there would have given K-State (I think) the championship.

@HighEliteMajor Maybe it should be said that HCBS is the key.

I think all these players transferring from one school to another is rather disgusting. And commitments and decommitments. I can understand those from VCU or Florida St. that ask for a release of the LOI. But i don’t like it when there are so many decommitments.

I wasn’t aware until this morning that Caleb Swanigan had decommitted from Michigan State. It couldn’t have been more than 30 days ago that he committed to the Spartans. I wonder what he knows now that he didn’t know then. I just read that he has now committed to Purdue.