Tough to lose when we make the F4. But as Self said yrs ago, once you’re in the F4, anything can happen, good opponents, any weaknesses may show themselves, or an off shooting night can send you home as it did for Frank Mason’s final 2 KU teams (Nova in ‘16, Oregon in ‘17).

KU was playing well since Big12 Tourney, Malik had certainly turned a corner, and Silvio became serviceable, actually surpassing Ltfoot. But to me, what showed up vs Villanova was 2 glaring problems: Poor D/inability to consistently get stops, which the defensive stats of this season easily reveal. And secondly, that bothersome ability of opposing Ds to guard beyond the perimeter & shut down our 3 shooting. Put it this way, somebody was going to scout the KU losses to WashSt and ASU, & try to disrupt our O. How many 3s did we shoot the first half vs Nova?

Credit Jay Wright, his team BLITZED KU and werent afraid on a big stage. The only way to claw back from 22-4 deficit is to , uh, get stops, which is the biggest glaring statistical weakness for this team, compared to other Bill Self products.

Of course I feel the worst for Devonte & Svi, as they gave everything, just as Frank did.

To me, the Tourney hopes seemed to come down to if someone could knock off Villanova for us…. Dont like the sound of that? Neither do I, but that’s the reality of the fragility of this team’s statistical evidence. My fellow diehard KU alum brother-in-law says “you want to beat the best”, but I reminded him that NC banners and trophies do NOT come with asterisks, no one is going to remember years from now, nor really care, that KU got an easy path victory…

But, alas, that didn’t happen. Villanova was right there, waiting for us, and marched right thru WVU, TxTech, then blitzed right thru us. They looked like a NC team, and ended up getting Michigan as well. So, credit Jay Wright for upping his game, as I joked a few yrs ago (pre-Ochefu) that he was cant-recruit-a-big-Jay Wright, but he has clearly turned that around with Ochefu, Paschall, and Spellman…a guy who plays not like Marcus or TRob, but more like Andre Drummond of GSWarriors (NBA-Drummond).

I would slightly disagree with the above comment about Nova being more “athletic” than us. Its more about how that athleticism was deployed. Our athletes couldnt guard their athletes: story of the season (which is nothing new this season). Brunson was described by studio analysts as “slower” than Devonté, but his unorthodox turn-around, surprise shot/pass reminded ne of DJAugustin’s similar tendencies…catch people off guard, literally.

Final thought on our defensive ineptitude: if we could have turned up the D, 22-4 hole likely never happens. Self said by the time it was 22-4, we’d have to “play perfectly”, which includes D…

So, while I loved this team’s battle for #14, which truly does put them and KU in the books for a 30-40 yr record (like UCLA?), and their exhilarating Final 4 run, with a classic W over Duke, I realized as soon as Nova hoisted that NC trophy, that our countdown to ‘18-19’s has begun. I wonder how our team O and team D will look, considering Self’s past dominance in various key, telling categories.

I wish Devonte,Svi, and whoever else wants the NBA, gets their dream, we will love them always! RCJH. FOE. Our home is their home now.

Easy answer: #14 takes the record OUTRIGHT, this is different than NC. UCLAs record stood for 40yrs!! One of a kind record. Shows sustained success. Apples to oranges when talking about a NC.

As @HighEliteMajor said about small banners…but getting 14 would actually be its own pinnacle achievement. Does it morph into a big banner in its own right?

The easy part of this answer is that #14 is right in front of us. It comes first. They are not technically mutually exclusive. After the conf race is over, it becomes Tourney time.

You actually get to choose both. But #14 really means something, different that all the others. And 14 would make all of the other 13’s teams all bound together as one big KU family. Whereas Mario’s and Danny’s NC teams are their own exclusive club. Past players are rooting hard for 14 as it makes their own conf championships suddenly matter alot. Everybody couldn’t have done it without everybody else!

Best regards to him.

Saw highlights. Looked fun. Why arent there more games like that?

@HighEliteMajor Indeed, it is. Time to cuss/discuss the Jayhawks…well, mostly cuss the lack of D. Usual ‘soft’ comments from Self.

I must admit, my enthusiasm has definitely taken a hit the last 2 years. Watching 2 alpha dogs, Mason and Josh…lose to Oregon was an extremely bitter pill, especially after watching the 6-dvd set of the 6 game 2008 championship run. I keep waiting for a new ‘standard’ to be set, still hasnt happened. Current team has their work cut out for them.

Now that season is over, safe to say my favorite exTexTech player is…Patrick Mahomes.

I’ll go throw up behind the fieldhouse if Shaka can get those TX frosh to play better D/more ‘havoc’ than Self’s collection of basketball curiosities…

Personally, I think Lightfoot can play a little bit. He’s got a knack for blocking shots, he’s got range out to 3, although probably not encouraged in a tight contest. Obviously he is by no means a finished product. I’ve always referred to him as a Wisconsin-type 6’8 combo 3/4.

Im still learning to read Malik. So I’ll give him more time to show us what everybody was raving about in the practice gym…show us.

@JayHawkFanToo 100% agreed. I honestly thought this B- version of the CyClowns was going to get us in AFH. Svi looked lost on D, too often caught in no mans land. Opponents shed like sheep our defenders with simple ballscreens—another “fleecing” in AFH, no less. We hit key 3s only to allow the Clones to answer every KU run. This is ROYball (score 90s, pretty transition, not a lick or “shuck” of D, & get beat when shots not falling, & watch Self get beet). Self ball 101 for this team is that bball is played on both ends of the court, “make the other guy ugly on offense”, to quote Jankovich in about 2007, quoting Bill Self.

Im so sick & tired of this circus sideshow of bigs who cant play for whatever reason. Its like we only get to window shop them, don’t actually get them. Even Embiid was a test drive only.

We are also reminded tha true alphas just arent dime-a-dozen. Rebounding by committee can very easily degenerate into “oops, I thought he was going for that rbd”. Eventhough we lost to Oregon, Frank & Josh battling for same rebound shows the mentality they were wired with. I love Garrett but he’s just a baby yet. Adding DeSousa and Preston completely changes this team, the rotations, the energy level, and both onball, offball, & rim defense. More height by natural post players could help quick, as its more natural for them in the post play game.

Umm…topic change regarding IowaSt game: Franny Frashrilla is the BIGGEST Cyclone cheerleader there is, jesus…! He cant help spewing that stuff, basically whole 2nd half…

Look, yall, USE the IowaSt game to explore what each of us various KU people see, when talking analytically. We arent all the same, we graduated with different majors from KU (or are just KU fans, its all ok!), and we may even think very differently politically. Thats simply what America is.

Me personally, I’m having trouble seeing the current lineup get as far as we could if we got the 2 bigs eligible, although we all know it will take 3-4 weeks for them to become real contributors. Im the maddest at the NCAA, giving KU the shaft again!!

Again, differring views ARE what make this board tick. We should be ok with that. Many of us have played or coached at whatever level, so we are going to have basketball opinions, right? And why be just cheerleaders, when the actual KU cheerleaders are far, far better looking, I’d guess…

At the end of the day, we all want a KU WIN…

Is this really on espn? For fans of past KU BB, seeing these guys play together is THE biggest treat of the summer bar none.

Definitely will support, even Naads. But make no mistake, EJ + TT were that every so often dual-combo-guard tandem that fed off each other (RussRob&Mario, Frank&Devontae). EJ alone in 2013 proved it. He needed his buddy Tyshawn, both together = NC title game, and 3 missed dunks were not on them. TT was unguardable. Curious to see if that 2012 magical chemistry returns (goodTT + EJ).

Now that season is over, safe to say my favorite exTexTech player is…Patrick Mahomes.

Brewtal transfer rumors, gutted roster potentially…a dizzying time to even begin to contemplate next season. Getting completely outclassed in NCAA tournament only mitigated by fact we were up/down all season, lineup changes degraded from preseason#1 down to starting 4 frosh. At least McCormack got developmental experience. Dedric plateaued talent, might as well earn Euros or fringeNBA money. Good luck to Moore in some mid major conf, he can start rt away at D2 level. KJ passing on a chance to be a versatile wing at 6’7.

Hope Silvio’s appeal after time-served will allow some eligibility this coming season, can only hope. Garrett, Dotson, Mitch all better shoot 600 3s/day in practice. Learn to play D from Self like TxTech and Va. proved you can with current rules.

So far Bruce Pearl has proved he can beat a veteran KU roster with 4 walkons, or he can cut & paste a non-veteran KU roster into the Tourney-discard-heap with equal gusto complete with made-for-camera-replay coach poses. He has definitely figured out the biz-corp approach to college bball, and is surprisingly good at it. Not sure I’d go so far as to say I’m personally entertained though. The fact he gutted 3 royalty programs in succession is a remarkable occurrence, though. We just cant seem to get 3ball defense consistently. Sigh…

@Kcmatt7 Yep, agreed. More transparent id the journalist’s bias against Self/KU: he goes after a program that Mizzerians known to hate, while this program MAYBE lands an OAD, but not yearly…while KY and Duke bring in OADs 2-3 PER YEAR. So that makes Self the worst thing in Mizzoo…writer’s standoff distance hate cant stand up to the details & logic as kmatt so perfectly put it!

@jaybate-1.0 But how would you define “stack” for Nike-Nova? Thay have some top 100 type guys, but not McDAAs. They seem to be system guys. I think bigs are getting more versatile in 3ability coming out of h.s., with a growing % that can trifectate, more to choose from, even at sub-MickeyD level.

I would even postulate that Jay Wright is wreaking havoc with this anti-stack, craftily looking like a “traditional” roster w/2 bigs, but look at Spellman, effectively allowing Jay to still play as 4+1. Spellman hitting 3x3s in 2nd half just murdered KU literally, and they got Self conceptually, as we had no answer defensively. Udoka totally negated.

@JayHawkFanToo Very well said. Hmm, lets plot the trajectory of Shaka Smart: his peak was…*wait for it…wait…*way back in 2011…(but UTex is still waiting…). Meanwhile I’m liking Rick Barnes more. Shaka’s record speaks for itself, requires no translation.

@HighEliteMajor :”remember the YMCA defense”, ha…you just reminded some of us about the 2013 season…its ok…

Love this thread…my bro in law texted me during KSUs Tourney run that “this is Weber stickin it to his haters”. Personally this year I thought they were a scrappy tough B12 team, that was only an injured Dean Wade away from making a Final 4. They could disrupt a gang of kids like KY, but more polished teams can outshoot and outexecute them. And they can be absolute bricksters offensively.

@dylans Yep, imply that Brad Stevens is so far better than any other ncaa coach in the land, including coaches that have won multiple NCs? And he’s tearing up the nba too, he’s so good.

After his Celtics chpt, lets see if UNC or Duke goes after Stevens when K or Roy retire, if he’s such a fashionable pick. Throw in Mark Few and Gregg Marshall too, since we’re incl midmajor guys now…