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From now on, let's only recruit players that do this! No one is going to convince me this is staged and the guys are only here for a paycheck!
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite all-time Jayhawk teams, and that is regardless of their March performance!
Our athleticism completely dominated this game. It's been years since I've said that! Merry Christmas, everyone!
I'm okay if we go ahead and win out from here on out... with a different guy having a career night each game. Hmmm.... let's see... who is next? lol
This will be a good test. Are we ready to start a new trend of winning on the road? It's one thing to win on a neutral court... and something completely different on their court.
We will have had several days rest and prep for this game, including the mixing of DP in the lineup. Just from the little bits of DP we've seen... he isn't going to be our quarterback. That position clearly goes to Melvin, who creates plenty of action to build his assist numbers. We need DP to score. There is a good article about Mel on kusports and how he has been the mvp of this team so far. I think DP will become that title eventually if he stays healthy because he'll get more pt and will get properly integrated in this team. Still... it will be close between these guys, while Tre does Tre. I said this weeks ago... he is our "silent assassin!" Melvin barks like a dog.. Tre bites! lol
@Jayhawk_69 said in Kansas Jayhawks @ NC State Wolfpack Game Chat Sat. 12/13 4:30 CT:
Reportedly, Bill Self has said that Melvin Council has been "hands down" the MVP of the team so far. Thoughts?
Personally, I like Melvin a lot but I would give the nod to Tre.
I think Tre likes to be the silent assassin. Teams aren't focusing on him with double teams and their prime defender, so he can go get his almost at will. He's the best rebounding guard I think Kansas has ever had. And he's one of the few Jayhawks who understands how to draw fouls in our entire history. I acknowledge Frank and Devonte as being good at this, too... but not like Tre.
Mel is an energy/emotion guy! He turns it up most when receiving praise. And he does deserve plenty of praise!
I still can't get over Fran Fraschilla criticizing this group Self recruited from the portal. He always has to find something wrong with KU.
Come on, guys... there is nothing similar to these guys playing ball and being paid and any form of a regular job. How many of you guys started your career with million dollar annual guarantee?
If you want to connect the dots to all of us and our mundane jobs, you will quickly resent all these players and the first time they screw up you'll go ballistic.
Don't take out your job dissatisfaction on players. I'm saying that as much for you as them. None of us are competing with these players and their jobs.
I'm not saying we shouldn't expect players to be responsible while drawing a check. They should be. And if they fake an injury and don't play... well... maybe that's on the university for not putting in a performance clause.
What I'm talking about in my initial post has nothing to do with players being paid. The pressure at UK basketball... and Alabama football... has been there for decades. Just ask Calipari. I never liked that guy and his revolving door teams... just because I saw this is the direction D1 was headed. If I had to grade Cal as a human being, I think of him differently. I followed him at Kentucky and I seriously doubt there is another coach in college basketball who got more involved in his community and was very generous giving to charities. That's the Cal we never talk about. I typically don't.... because I never liked his basketball style.
We are all living in some type of dystopian universe. We all worked hard and made normal money. These kids come along and it just looks like fun play, and many get paid more in one year of college basketball than most of us make in a long career. Dystopia! But no amount of complaining is going to change that. Or hating on players. Or throwing a fit because a kid missed a free throw while 4 million people watch.
2026 is approaching... and I hope all of you have an arse-kicking year! Make tons of cashola! Heck... hit the friggin' lottery! I'll continue to be an old man slaving away, but I'm happy and happy for others who make 100-times more money than me! Good for them!
I'm pretty much happy for any kids today making big cake because I don't see a great job horizon ahead. College basketball may be something immuned to AI, unless we change the rules and let robots play and operate on AI.
I'm back! Made it through the gauntlet. Can't get rid of me that easily!
This is a pretty accurate look at Hurley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me8cMqSvpEQ
I do see him as a savant, a lunatic, and often, a dickhead.
He shows us all... that we need to have more in our life than basketball. Dan does not. Someday he will be recognized as one of the basketball coaching greats... from his mental ward.
Two years ago, I made an absolute fortune picking UCONN winning the nattie... so I can't say even worse things about him. 
I could be wrong... but I'm thinking Elmarko is the only one on our team (and maybe on both teams) that understands this rivalry and what it means to both schools.
After seeing him become a one-man wrecking crew against Tenn I know he has it in him to go f some teams up if he is inspired to. (actually, he got Melvin going, too)
Elmarko is my Hawk to rock. By a landslide.
We just can't escape the elephant in the room... This young man is a walking Fort Knox. It is likely he will make over $100 million in his career.
I don't care if he sprained a toe nail. The guy should sit as long as needed. And he will basically have to walk out on the court to earn his old job back.
And if it's me being replaced for some minutes, I'm cool with it. If I want to keep my minutes, I better go out there and outplay him.
Just my opinion, and everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Yes! He's gone all over the sports media on this topic. And he's right about this.
And now we have Baylor!
What do you all think about it? What if we brought in one of these guys right now?
At what price are we willing to pay in pursuit of a trophy?
I like how Cal said he is sticking to his approach of going after high school kids.
Come on, guys... there is nothing similar to these guys playing ball and being paid and any form of a regular job. How many of you guys started your career with million dollar annual guarantee?
If you want to connect the dots to all of us and our mundane jobs, you will quickly resent all these players and the first time they screw up you'll go ballistic.
Don't take out your job dissatisfaction on players. I'm saying that as much for you as them. None of us are competing with these players and their jobs.
I'm not saying we shouldn't expect players to be responsible while drawing a check. They should be. And if they fake an injury and don't play... well... maybe that's on the university for not putting in a performance clause.
What I'm talking about in my initial post has nothing to do with players being paid. The pressure at UK basketball... and Alabama football... has been there for decades. Just ask Calipari. I never liked that guy and his revolving door teams... just because I saw this is the direction D1 was headed. If I had to grade Cal as a human being, I think of him differently. I followed him at Kentucky and I seriously doubt there is another coach in college basketball who got more involved in his community and was very generous giving to charities. That's the Cal we never talk about. I typically don't.... because I never liked his basketball style.
We are all living in some type of dystopian universe. We all worked hard and made normal money. These kids come along and it just looks like fun play, and many get paid more in one year of college basketball than most of us make in a long career. Dystopia! But no amount of complaining is going to change that. Or hating on players. Or throwing a fit because a kid missed a free throw while 4 million people watch.
2026 is approaching... and I hope all of you have an arse-kicking year! Make tons of cashola! Heck... hit the friggin' lottery! I'll continue to be an old man slaving away, but I'm happy and happy for others who make 100-times more money than me! Good for them!
I'm pretty much happy for any kids today making big cake because I don't see a great job horizon ahead. College basketball may be something immuned to AI, unless we change the rules and let robots play and operate on AI.
I know that since players are getting paid, the attitude has changed from their fanbases and has become much harsher. Is it fair? I don't know... but while we complain about everything they do that doesn't meet our expectations, we also think they don't care about the schools they play for like they did when not played. We can't have it both ways. If we are going to nag on them constantly, it seems natural they will care less about the school and fans.
I blog on other D1 teams' pages, too... One of them is Kentucky... ha... mostly because I'm a Mark Pope fan. His job is impossible because the fanbase expects a Top 5 (or even Top 1) recruit class every year, and that just isn't going to happen. I've been a fan of his since he played at UK and then later with the Bucks, and then into coaching. I hope we never turn into a fanbase similar to Kentucky basketball, or Alabama football. It's a horrible world those programs live in. The pressure is way past anything healthy or constructive.
Thinking back... didn't the JoJo back injury at KU continue to nag him in the NBA and slow down his revenue stream, and maybe still part of his health issues?
We can't rate DP as a Mesoball player where Jaybate and I used to rate players for their ability to "give it all on the court, or die."
And, come on, really... this teenager is months away from signing his first contract, leading to other contracts worth lotto-amounts. It would be dumb if he went flying for a ball on the court and came out injured and lowered his future value. I know it isn't what any of us want to hear... but we have to settle for his potential to give maybe up to 90% effort, and the extra 10% is for caution's sake.
90% of DP is better than 99.9% of the players currently in D1.
My own opinion... up until now, we haven't seen more than a 70% effort because he's not at full strength.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed we eventually get a 90% DP!
@Tallturd1 said in Kansas Jayhawks vs Davidson Wildcats Game Chat Mon. 12/22 7:00 CT:
Reports are that Darryn's family want him to be near 100% and so do we.
Yes.. I heard that. I think everyone around him wants him to be safe first.
I keep saying this... few Jayhawk fans really know what we have here. If you've seen him play at full tilt you realize just how off he has been this entire season.
I know he's scored around 17 points or so... but when he's on, he'll cruise to 30 and he'll make it look so easy, regardless of who we are playing. There are only a few players in college today that can impact a game like he can.
Our athleticism completely dominated this game. It's been years since I've said that! Merry Christmas, everyone!
I hope Self learned a big lesson. Recruiting is more than considering a guy's numbers. Yes... maybe others played a role in that, but Hunter goes back a couple years and both of those years sucked.
Self should realize... a chunk of his legacy is being determined right now and moving forward. Taking risks on players with funky attitudes is not worth it. Literally.. it only takes one guy to crush a team's spirit.
I think Hunter was the problem from the last two years. He was hated by so many other schools because he fed into the hate. I don't think he was a positive for our team. Sports is spiritual based. We talk alot about "team play" and that requires the group of guys coming together. Self praises this team for their cohesion... they have girlfriends but would rather hang with the fellas. Melvin has been a fuse for an explosion of good for this team!
From now on, let's only recruit players that do this! No one is going to convince me this is staged and the guys are only here for a paycheck!
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite all-time Jayhawk teams, and that is regardless of their March performance!