Since this is the Big 12 thread, I’d like to pass on this word about my niece, who lives in Austin and has been battling leukemia: “Think about her when you see Texas in the tournament. The players have visited her many times and really boosted her mood.”
Here’s an article with Self’s comments after the first practice:
Self: KU’s first practice ‘not great’
I thought Self made some revealing comments, so here’s another attempt to translate SelfSpeak into English:
“You know, you can look at teams and say, well, they look really deep, and then as you get into the season, they may only play seven or eight and you’re really not quite as deep as what you thought originally you would be.”
Translation: depth is overrated. True depth is how good are the guys you actually play.
“It’s going to be hard this year figuring out who to play, and that’s what I tried to explain to our players yesterday”
Translation: I don’t want to figure out who to play, I want you to show me. I want 8 guys to stand out.
“if somebody is not doing what they can do to help our team win, it’s not going to be that difficult to try to give somebody else an opportunity to do that.”
Translation: the guys who stand out better keep on standing out. The other “OK” guys better stay ready to play.
(Wishful thinking: it will take more than “energy” to stay in the lineup.)
“it’s OK to put Brannen in. It’s OK to put Svi in. It’s OK to put Hunter in or Jamari in or Landen in. That’s OK to do that. Those are good players that’s proven that they can do good things when they’re in there.”
Translation: we have 4 returning players (Ellis, Selden, Graham, Mason) who are not “OK”: they are the foundation. They are 30+ minute core starters around whom I will build my team. Then we have 5 “OK” returning players who will compete for spots in the rotation.
Interpretation: Graham starts, it’s decided. If Diallo is cleared, he must get good enough to start sooner or later. That leaves 3 rotation spots open for 5 “OK” veterans (not to mention the 2 freshmen).
Self Story: “Depth means never having to leave the bench.”
(apologies to Erich Segal)
In my opinion, there were astonishing optimism and surprisingly high expectations for this team before the season started. Anything but 5-0 and clicking on all cylinders would be considered a disappointment.
I read that Mason and Graham would improve significantly, despite the fact they were already darn good last year.
I read that JJ would impact more than Wiggins.
I read that Lucas, a fifth year senior with limited talent and athleticism, would improve over his unexpected surge late last season.
I read that Bragg would make a big sophomore leap.
I read that Vick and / or Svi would make big leaps and start to contribute mightily.
Leaving aside Coleby and Lightfoot, we have 3 bigs and 5 guards who were all expected to either impact right away or improve by leaps and bounds.
The fact is we don’t have enough bigs to play 3+2, and we don’t really have enough guards to play 4+1 if any one of our 5 guards is in foul trouble, injured or playing poorly.
We are thin and need every wish to come true in order to go all the way.
I am hoping that happens. Hope is not expectation. Hope means encouraging effort and not giving up when things don’t go as well as “expected”.
How about more hope and fewer expectations?
Right now I am just awed and happy for the guards who are killing it, and wondering who this new coach is who plays outside in on offense and zone on defense. Fascinating season!!!
I don’t upvote every post, but these opponent threads with campus shots, etc. are killers! They alone are worth the price of admission to this site!
He brings that he has a loyal head coach.
Other than that, he’s our main recruiter with Bolden so we should be building him up. You know Bolden reads us daily, right? I think his pseudo is red rooster…
“Pittsburgh freshman Damon Wilson has been academically cleared, sources told ESPN. Spent the past two years at Our Savior New American.” Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN)
Everyone is saying that’s good news for Cheick, including Jesse Newell.
I don’t see Josh or Devonte backing down.
Lucas has forgotten what “backing down” means. Frank never knew.
Coleby needs to bring his mean pills.
drgnslayr, let’s not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Gary, Jesse and Matt deserve their salaries. LJW is owned by a real tuckus and it’s not easy working for that guy.
@KUSTEVE While I generally respect Gary Bedore as a hard worker, I remember he was a vocal opponent of anonymous posting. Hey, Gary, the posters have become much more civilized now that they are on Facebook, right?
@Crimsonorblue22 Details on deaths 8 and 9 are not yet public. Ages of the first 7 dead: 81, 60, 89, 92, 73, 63, 79.
What we are being told is mortality will be higher for the elderly and / or those with diabetes or cardiovascular diseases. Men are a bit more at risk than women. Children can have the virus and be contagious without symptoms. In infected areas children are not allowed to visit the elderly in retirement homes.
Sneeze / cough into your elbows. Don’t shake hands. Wash your hands thoroughly and often. Works for flu too.
@drgnslayr I logged back in after months just to say how surprised I am at your take on the Coronovirus.
“the reality is that the death rate will lower maybe even below Type A and B influenza.” Where do you get that?!? The flu kills at a 0.1%. France now has over 600 sick and 9 deaths: that is 1.5% already, and we know of those 600 not everyone will recover.
“why don’t we do something about flu A and B?” You mean like vaccines, that we develop and ask everybody to take every autumn?!?
If anyone wants some more objective takes on what is in store for the USA, and if you don’t trust China, try looking at what is happening in Europe. There is no way things will go better for you than in countries with universal health care. The people who are uninsured or underinsured and cannot afford treatment will infect more people than if they were taken care of.
@ParisHawk I mean he’s a Stanford grad
I beg to differ: on this one,
Larry Keating BITB
Keating has been a non-conference RPI wizard all the time Self has been our coach. I remember a journalist writing about KU “feasting on decent mid-majors”.
Keating was Senior Associate Athletics Director until July, 2011 and basically retired, but was asked to keep scheduling basketball and football games.
I don’t see any updates out there on her travel travails. The only Air France flight out of Abuja left very late last night and got into Paris at 8:30 this morning Paris time.
The Air France strike is today, Friday. I imagine her being on the flight to Atlanta leaving at 10:30. That flight is still scheduled. It may even be operated by Delta, in which case the strike is irrelevant. Assuming that flight, she would arrive in San Antonio at 5:30 P.M.
DoubleDD said:
Why not? Are we just to pretend the FBI is always on the up and up. It’s not political. Just a fact.
So no rebuttal, I get it. Just “a fact”.
JayHawkFanToo said:
… the FBI has recently gotten itself in deep trouble and we don’t even know the full extent of all aspect that were involved acting uniquely based on political considerations, with text book cases of conflict of interest and with complete disregard for the laws it is tasked to protect.
I really do not want to stray into politics …
In other words, you want to accuse the FBI without any rebuttal?
@Fightsongwriter Coach Wooden did not win 13 conference titles in a row. He won something like 9 in a row, then his successors continued the streak.
@HighEliteMajor You’ve already responded positively to my ideas, so thanks. I do think we need to distinguish between fouling Doke and sending in a designated fouler. We should no longer tolerate an end of bench player coming in just to foul Doke. If that happens, either send in Mitch or have Doke avoid the fouler so that any foul becomes blatantly intentional.
Now, if “real” players foul Doke, that is part of the game and Self needs to make the tough decision. You are addressing that situation I believe, not the designated fouler.