If he sticks around another yr it better be for a discounted price then what they shelled for him last offseason.
Heck of an athlete. Needs the rest of his game to mature and improve. One injury away from him playing some minutes this yr but seems like Self made the decision he didnt trust him enough for the meat of the conference.
Didn't realize Dawson Baker has been out for them which is good for us. If there's someone outside their big 3 that we can't let have a big game would be Davis. He's the AJ Storr of their team, super streaky, woke up in the Arizona game and had double his average.
That's on Self to not let that happen.
Defense is the biggest challenge in this game for KU and it's really going to come down to how well the guys communicate and react on switches and rotations. BYU's style of offense with Pope and now Smith has given KU absolute fits. We've had no answer for them. All the attention will be on Dybansta but I'd rather we focus it on Wright who absolutely killed us in Waco last year playing for Baylor. Have to make him uncomfortable running the show and keep him from having a big game.
On Offense, they have to make shots efficiently. I'd like to see us play inside/out. Our recent winning streak has shown that if we get Flory and Tiller going early, the adjustments defensively open up everything else for this offense. If they could get Keita into foul trouble that would really go a long ways.
I'm very sorry to hear of this with your wife. We are all here for you if you need a shoulder to lean on.
Prices for every position are going to be sky high again this season. The recent Football Portal window showed that it's out of hand. Council wasn't a cheap addition this offseason, but I'd wager a player like Council at the lower levels is going to cost 50% or more than the price they were last portal cycle.
Council, if he continues to play like he has would be in that top tier of players that can basically set his price and get it. I believe KU would do everything it could to retain him, but the war chest isn't unlimited, and we've seen a lot of teams are willing to throw stupid money at kids to get them. I do believe Council values being at KU and that could be a big factor if this situation comes about.
Nobody is safe on this current roster to return next season which is scary.
I wouldn't say it's probable that Council will be granted another year but it's a possibility if things go right. The wait and see on the Feb 10th case and then if any decision is made by the NCAA after that leaves a few dominos that need to fall in place perfectly.
I think the NCAA would basically have to say JUCO years don't count towards your D1 eligibility clock which for Council would give him a 4th year at D1 level. The Pavia lawsuit forced the NCAA's hands to give a 1-year waiver to all JUCO kids. Historically, it doesn't sound like the NCAA would grant a 2nd blanket waiver without changing rules, but the NCAA has backed down in a lot of situations recently.
If he does get eligibility & wants to return to College I think it's in KU's best interest to make sure he stays at KU.
No doubt there are a lot of similarities between the two. I think he might be an even better leader but still a lot of season to sort that out
Figured a thread on this possibility was worth starting as we hit the mid-point of the season.
Melvin Council imo has been my favorite transfer in the wild-west portal/NIL craze era. His leadership and charisma on the court, his exciting style of play and non-stop effort is everything we want to see in a Jayhawk player. His road to KU is a tale of rags to riches in a way. Even playing at Kansas this year was only possible by the Diego Pavia lawsuit in Football regarding Juco eligibility. Maybe all of us fans owe him some homage for making it possible for others to benefit like Council has.
Anyway, technically Council's eligibility was over last year but he got the 1-year waiver granted from the NCAA. February 10th is an important date to follow as the same judge that granted Pavia and others the 1-year waiver will hear new arguments from others that joined the Pavia lawsuit on their challenges to the JUCO eligibility rules. Council is currently not a plaintiff in this case I don't believe. He may not want to return to College another year although he'd likely make far more in NIL then a professional career next year. If the plaintiffs win their case, it doesn't give Council another year automatically as that exemption would have to come from the NCAA like it did for this year. There's precedent for it happening but it's wait and see.
As a big fan, I hope he gets another year, wants another year and stays at KU. Wouldn't that be grand for next year's plans?
Agree it's not a big deal. It was a poorly officiated game overall. That was a very unusual play.
It did change the momentum of the game in favor of KU. A 6-point swing in roughly 10 seconds of play (the block, layup, steal & layup) caused a timeout.
Being a nutjob is apart of the hiring criteria.
Hopefully he isn't calling the game Saturday, that would be embarrassing for national audience
Yeah he got the best of him in HS. Now let's see how this round goes.. DP isn't 100% so hopefully he doesn't try to do too much if he isn't physically able to.
Wouldn't take his game last night to heart, he's a beast. He's Tre White on steroids when it comes to drawing contact and getting to the line. He forces refs to make a decision whether beneficial or not. DP has shot under 40% from the field in 3 of his last 4 games for perspective.
Dybansta will be jazzed up for Saturday just like Peterson. Those two are competing for the #1 pick in the draft so it's going to be a show between the two of them.
It's certainly an uphill battle to have a shot at the league title currently. 3 losses would keep them in it imo but that's a crazy slim margin for error given the upcoming schedule. Self has this team in a good place and hopefully Peterson can continue to raise the ceiling of their play. Need him healthy in order to do so. It sounds like this BYU game is pretty important to him given he'll be facing Dybansta again but for the team I think Monday is equally important in Lubbock.
Despite Arizona's 8-0 start, 6 of their last 10 games are against ranked opponents (4 in a row). The downside is 4 of those 6 games are at home for them. But a stretch of 4 straight games against Top 15 teams makes it likely they trip up a few times. 2 of their last 3 games are against ranked opponents as well. It's hard to see them going 18-0 but if they do, they are legends.
Houston, schedule wise might be the favorite. Their last 3 games are cakewalks compared to the rest of the contenders. Houston only has 4 games left that could be even considered 50/50 outcomes. Tech's schedule gives them a shot as well, but they have some tough road games ahead.
Hawks coming into this pivotal stretch on a 4-game win streak which has pushed them to #14 on Kenpom (#32 Offense, #12 Defense). What a brutal stretch this is, the most difficult one IMO of the season facing four Top 20 teams in the nation. If this bunch has really found is stride, they have a perfect opportunity to prove it in the next 2 1/2 weeks.
On the docket is:
vs BYU (Gameday) this Saturday- Kenpom #15 overall, #12 O, #25 D. That's going to be an electric game and KU must hold serve at home.
@ Texas Tech on Big Monday- Kenpom #18 overall, #9 O, #40 D less then 48 hours after a big game is another big game, on the road in a hostile environment This one is what they call a scheduled loss, unless Melvin and the miracles show up.
vs Utah. Kenpom #112 overall #71 O, #224 D. Easiest remaining game on paper in conference play. They have a mid-major defense.
vs Arizona Kenpom #1, #4 O, #3 D on Big Monday, Can't overlook Utah to get what could be a home game vs the #1 team in the nation. We'll see Zona has to beat BYU on the road and their rival A-St on the road before.
@ Iowa St. Kenpom #6 overall, #14 O, #6 D. I can imagine they will be out for blood and revenge after the thumping we gave them in Allen Fieldhouse.
Self wanted them to care about the rivalry and they went out and did that.
If you get a chance check out AJ Dybansta's response to a question about the BYU/Utah rivalry. I'll take what Melvin and Tre did all day compared to that response, while honest is today's reality. Rivalries and traditions and player buy-in to those is dying.
Here's latest scout on KU signee Davion Adkins. Sounds like he's going to be a bit of a project here after dropping from High 30's to #68 now.
"He's a player who was identified very early because of his athletic gifts and consequent upside. He was very inconsistent this spring, so he dropped a bit. Then upon reaching Prolifc this year he had a very slow start to the season, so at this point there's a pattern of him not being as productive or impactful as he should be. Beyond that, his skill set hasn't progressed much either, so he's tracking as an undersized five."
I bet you can find a majority of those "we own this state" signs broken in half in the garbage outside the stadium. I'm glad they finally found where they belong
Some good things came out of this game.
Elmarko Jackson with a season high 19 pts and had a pair of big 3's. His play has been improved lately, last five games averaging 9.4 pts, has 8 steals in this stretch. He has really settled in that 6th man role and it seems like he's finally starting to develop. Big game for his confidence.
Self stuck to the 7 man rotation. Mari had an off game where I thought Kohl might get some burn but that didnt happen. Dawson played 15 minutes and had 1 rebound.
Tiller had 16 and 7, his 2nd highest scoring game of the year. He made shots early and was very active all game. The Matchup helped him as he was much bigger but still this was a positive step for him after some struggles in recent games.
Council, White, Bidunga. Studs.