Here’s something I’ve been puzzling over for awhile.

The OU thriller certainly wasn’t the first time “Pitbull” Frank Mason has been hurt by the refs. Against OU, Higgins was the main offender, but the phantom fouls and eye-popping non-calls came early and often. I’d argue Frank was the player most consistently screwed by the reffing in that game.

Furthermore…I don’t think this is a rare occurrence with Frank. In the season’s early-going, it’s been common for him to drive to the rim and take hits under the goal while the refs swallow their whistles and stare like they’re watching early-round love taps in a UFC bout.

What does Frank have to do to get a whistle? And why aren’t his drives into the trees more frequently rewarded?

My only answers are pure speculation. All the more so because Frank’s often the shortest player on the court, and you’d think that help him get to the line more often, but it’s clearly not the case.

Is it because he doesn’t have a big rep nationally and refs haven’t heard of him? Or because he’s built like a mini-tank even at his height? Or because he doesn’t chat up the refs like a more outgoing player might do?

Frank doesn’t get his share of calls and I don’t get it. Anyone have a hypothesis?

Sounds like you’re backing off your boy a little, @jayballer54. Can’t say I blame you. I’m getting tired of the back and forth as well.

His family’s been pretty transparent about the recruiting process…more so than any other recruit in my recent memory. Unfortunately, the transparency isn’t winning them any points.

1. Dotson (or his parents or both) want a situation without another serious point guard/2 guard to compete with, in other words, nonnegotiable, guaranteed minutes. Not the make-up of a championship caliber team.

2. Lately we’re hearing he’s reluctant to go to KU bc he doesn’t have any friends on the current roster.

Are you kidding? So now schools are expected to provide not just minutes but built-in relational security blankets. This whole recruitment is starting to spell INSECURITY.

In an article on The Other Site, Self has this to say about WUG & recruiting.

The Jayhawks have played their games on national TV on ESPNU, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re getting an edge in recruiting.

“I don’t know if it helps a lot because all the recruits are somewhere else playing,” Self said. “You’ve got all the kids in the under-19 games that we’re recruiting and you have different camps going on. But I do think this: If we’re fortunate enough to advance, I think it’ll start gathering some attention and a lot of eyes will be on what we’re doing.

“Winning a medal in these games would really, I think, help our recruiting quite a bit.” <<<

Notice how he’s already way more forthright than Coach K. I wonder if he’s thinking primarily about international recruits or whether he thinks it’ll translate into stateside hype.

Don’t care much about Precious but want the Wilson/Hampton combo bad.

Self was incensed after Garrett passed up an open three–yelling, slamming the scorer’s table. He may have reacted this way more than once and the camera didn’t catch it. Pretty sure Marcus passed up more than one.

Never thought I’d write these words, but…Garrett may have gotten the hook for not shooting enough low-percentage threes.

@Crimsonorblue22 RJ in Lawrence and Rod in Australia sounds good.

At the beginning of the season, Grimes was the player I was most excited to see in a jersey. Now he’s the probable departure I feel most ambivalent about. If he’s gone, meh. I’ll regret all the time I spent screaming at him to move his butt on D and go get a rebound.

Don’t you love it when we preemptively ID an ideal recruit & then Bill Self agrees with us and acts on it immediately?

Bill Self is hard to read. On the one hand, he plays everything off with casual panache. On the other, he’s a gritty competitor greedy for wins. I’m starting to realize his ultra laid back persona is just an ingenious ruse to make his driven ambition for Ws more palatable.

Same song and dance with the WUG.

Now that I’m onto him, I’m ok with that.

Gotta love back to back Blue Octobers. I thought they were done for yesterday…their miracle 8th inning was inspiring.

@justanotherfan Great summary, thanks.

@Marco said in Self Has Covid:

I mean, I just do not understand why roughly 43% of America has chosen to not get vaccined? “Well, it wasn’t fully studied, was rushed!” Man, what is ever “fully” studied? And the craziest part? Of that 43%, many - and putting it out there, I am not a so-called liberal - are among those that complained the loudest about our economy being shutdown.

A few reasons off the top of my head:

1. They’ve already had covid.
2. They realize they could get the vaccine and still get covid.
3. They realize they could get the vaccine and still transmit covid.
4. They realize they could get the vaccine and still be told to mask up.
5. Therefore, 1-4), they don’t see the point.
6. They have unanswered questions about the vaccine that aren’t publicly discussed.
7. They see people who raise questions about the vaccine being censored.
8. 6-7) They don’t like being told what to think or what to do.
9. They’re young and/or healthy and statistically not at risk.
10. They don’t have at-risk folks in their lives they worry about.
11. The older folks they care about aren’t worried about covid.
12. They don’t like being shamed into decisions.
13. They don’t trust big Pharm.
14. They view the vaccine as a real-time experiment without a proven track record.
15. They’re anti-vaxxers across the board.

…and so on. People usually don’t do things for no reason—often many reasons. You may not like their reasons but that doesn’t mean reasons don’t exist.

@RockkChalkk Copy and paste.

@Crimsonorblue22 I’ve got some beachfront KS property…

I just took my kid to a 2-day Adidas tournament with even stricter protocols than NCAA ball. Constant spraying with disinfectant (even though the virus is airborne). Players “socially distanced” and masked on the bench. All coach communications delivered from 6’ away.

Everyone on the sidelines was rolling their eyes—even the refs in charge of enforcing the charade. Because on the court, the kids are breathing in each other’s faces, diving into loose ball scrums, swapping sweat and (yeah, gross) saliva every possession.

Good thing they’re statistically invulnerable to covid.

But yeah, by all means let’s sit 6’ apart on the sidelines.

Wilson reminds me of D. Lawson in his non-jumping, but his game has a lot more junkyard dog.

They’re SoCiAlLy DiStAncCiNg from the guys they’re around constantly every day. #virtuesignaling

What I find absurd is the players sitting 6’ feet apart on the sideline. What exactly is that accomplishing?

The influx of the elderly into hospitals seems to indicate that we’re not doing a great job protecting our senior citizens. This isn’t a new problem and dates way back to when the virus first arrived and was allowed to run rampant in nursing homes.

Or, conversely, it indicates that they are sick of the preventive measures and prefer to take risks in order to see people they care about (like most of my neighbors and my own parents).

One thing it doesn’t do is make is a compelling case for shutting down schools, the economy, etc.

Hey all, I never know whether to weigh in on non-bball topics because…politics on the internet (sigh) But it feels good to talk about it so here goes. The latest & biggest-to-date study out of Denmark, a couple days ago, concluded what many of us already know: wearing a mask will not keep you from getting covid, and may/may not keep you from spreading it.

Personally, I got the vid while taking safety precautions from someone else who was doing the same. My assumption is that we’ll all be exposed eventually because the virus is in no hurry. It will wait. Statistically, the chances of dying from covid are 1/5000, with the great majority of those deaths folks 80 and older with comorbidities. To me, it makes sense to protect the senior citizens (those who want to be protected) while the rest of us take basic precautions and go on with our lives. Senior citizens deserve to choose whether they want to isolate and keep their families at bay. So do kids re: school. Kids 14 and under are impervious to this thing (under 100 deaths nationally). Shutting down schools “for the kids” is insane and won’t stop the virus anyway.

My small business was hit hard in the first round of lockdowns, so of course I have a vested interest. Round 2 may be the end, since I don’t have the luxury of staying home and drawing a paycheck. Asking—let’s be real, compelling—millions of small business owners to take a hit on behalf of those who can work remotely is crazy.

“If everyone masks up for a few weeks”…the virus will still be here. It’s not leaving.