My expectations for this team were like they are every year. Big 12 regular season champion and Final 4! Then came the Billy Preston “issue”. Then the home loss to ASU. Then the home losses to Texas Tech and OSU! Suddenly I found myself “lowering” my expectation to a share of the Big 12 regular season title and a Sweet 16! Which is crazy as most schools would consider this kind of season and HUGE success. I’m happy. They’ve accomplished what i had hoped for. No pressure to live up to unfair expectations. Just play to win. I"m just going to set back and enjoy the games!

No fancy or educated game, team or player analysis here. I’m just plain giddy about this game against Villanova and can hardly wait for Saturday night!

Diallo needs to start now. Traylor needs to play just enough to keep him interested. The only way this team makes a deep run in the tourney is if Diallo develops into a legitimate threat to score 15-20 points on any given night, grab 12 rebounds and block 5 shots. The only way that happens is if Coach Self lets him play through his mistakes and gives him the minutes. I like Traylor a lot. At one time I thought he would be our next TRob. Unfortunately, I was WRONG in that assessment. He can and will play an important role for this team but his minutes have got to drop and he should not be our starter anymore. DIALLO SHOULD START FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON!

I’m hoping for a 2 seed. A little less pressure. I fear the idea of being the first 1 seed to lose to a 16 seed.

@KUSTEVE Particularly when it is to “us”!

@justanotherfan It almost sounds as if you’re defending Calipari…and on a KU fan board! Just giving you a hard time. As you noted, my initial response was due to the word “always”. I never meant to imply that Calipari isn’t a really good coach. He assembles superior talent year after year. His teams “usually” do very well in the tournament. I cant deny those facts no matter how much i dislike him or UK. However, i will point out that he has lost a few times in the NCAA when he was the higher seed. It doesn’t matter if that was as a 1 seed or a 7 seed. It also doesn’t matter if he lost in the 1st round of the NIT (i still smile when i think about it) or the Elite 8. A loss to a lower seed implies his team wasn’t ready. In 2016 as a 4 seed he lost to a 5 seed (R32). In 2009 as a 2 seed he lost to a 3 seed (S16). In 2006 as a 1 seed he lost to a 2 seed (E8). Go back to his UMass days and he lost 3 times as a higher seed. And lets not forget that for all the superior talent and 5 star guys he has recruited to Kentucky, he only has the 1 championship. NOTE: No malice intended or implied in this response!

@HighEliteMajor You are ABSOLUTELY correct! Final Fours matter. However, in my opinion, so do Sweet 16’s and Elite 8’s. When we win Friday night, it will be our 3rd straight Elite 8 appearance. That’s STRONG. Will i be crushed if they lose in the Elite 8 again? ABSOLUTELY! I’ll mourn for a week or more! But for me, and for this team, it wont be a failure. Just my opinion.

On another note and maybe this should be a separate thread: Which year do y’all think was the biggest failure or disappointment? For me it was the Embiid/Wiggins year when Embiid was injured and couldn’t play in the tournament. I keep thinking about how good they were with him and how dominant a player he was.

Never ever would i have thought it possible that i would give a “fist-pump” at a made KSU basket…jeez! KU MUST WIN or i will hear nothing but “k-state made it further in the dance than your Jayhawks!” over and over and over and over…

@jaybate-1.0 You are absolutely correct. TEAM win! Everyone contributed. Every contribution was critical to the win. Malik’s 32 points. Silvio’s hustle. Vick’s timely shots. Devonte’s poise and calming influence. However, my MVP for this game is Svi. 10 boards!? And that defense against a bigger and more athletic Bagley!? Tremendous effort. Svi played a man’s game yesterday and it was a pleasure to watch.

Greatest games in the Self era: 1) 2008 Championship over Memphis. 2) 2008 Final 4 victory over UNC. 3) 2012 Final 4 victory over Ohio State. 4) 2012 final Border War victory over Mizzery. 5) Final 4 victory over Duke. #1 is an obvious choice. I believer any Final 4 victory trumps an Elite 8 victory. And i still get chills watching the AMAZING comeback at home against Mizzery. T-Rob’s block…OMG! Just my opinion.

@HighEliteMajor I agree. Fans are entitled to their opinion, but is say RELAX. Remember last year? We lost to Washington in the Sprint Center and to Arizona State at home in back to back games. It would have been 3 straight losses but Svi made a last second 3pointer for the win in Nebraska. We beat a not so good Texas team by 6 points at their place to open conference play and on Jan 2, 2018, we lost to Texas Tech at home! So by this date last year we had 3 losses! 2 of them at Allen Field House and the other in our home away from home in KC. Malik Newman was doing nothing for us yet. No way were we going to win the BIG 12 and i’m sure a lot of fans were convinced we wouldn’t make it out of the first weekend of the tournament. I’m pretty sure we are all ok with the way the rest of the season went. RELAX! This team has one loss to a ranked and decent ASU team on their court. We beat Villanova! and they will be ranked. We beat a ranked OU team! We beat a ranked Michigan State, a ranked Tennessee and a ranked Marquette. This team has flaws, but this team is still really good and like HighEliteMajor said, this team can play with and beat anybody! RELAX!!

@HighEliteMajor 82-72 and Monday belongs to us.

@wissox And i’m sure you were staring deep into my eyes as you read my mind…

@wissox “Suddenly the fan base is edgy. Some are whispering ‘could this be the year they don’t win the league’? Some are even thinking worse, like maybe this team doesn’t even make the dance.”

I’ll admit to thinking that this could be the year we dont win the Big12 regular season title. With home losses to TT and OSU…it seemed at the very least a possibility. But i NEVER EVER doubted that this team would make the dance!! Never Ever once thought that could happen. Did others post on this page they were worried about that?! I’ll say it now…WE WILL NEVER MISS THE DANCE SO LONG AS BILL SELF IS OUT COACH! WONT HAPPEN!!

No fancy or educated game, team or player analysis here. I’m just plain giddy about this game against Villanova and can hardly wait for Saturday night!

@Ziggyhawk Watching that does not get old!

@BeddieKU23 Self has a WHOLE week to prepare his team. I like our chances!

@BShark having both would have been a luxury!

KU shoots 47% from 3 and holds them to a season low 20% shooting! We win by 10!

@StLJhawk As a Dallas Cowboy fan it would be like watching Dwight Clark’s “The Catch” over and over and over…every year the NFL playoffs came around…over and over and over and over…Makes me want to puke! I still hate watching that replay!