stoptheflop said:

Newman, not Graham has become the leader of this team. on a

Totally disagree with this. I have been hard on Devonte this year on this board. I called him out for not being a leader and chucking up dumb shots and making horrible decisions at times.

He has actually learned that there is more to being a leader than leading the team in scoring. Yesterday he settled the guys down, didn’t force stuff against the zone too much, and made great decisions, including finding the hot hand Newman.

He’s become a better leader than I thought he could and it’s been great to see.

So far this trip is UNBELIEVABLE. Visited the Fieldhouse this morning and did a walk up tour so got some good pictures by the floor. While My son and I were looking at the Naismith rules an older gentleman and his wife approached us.
He then told my son “that’s my granddaddy”. It was in fact Jim Naismith, James’ grandson. Crazy! Then before we left the Fieldhouse we actually ran into Dok(e) and my son got a picture! We still have the game to look forward to!

After this weekend, if one of these two men win the title, that man will be labeled the best coach in college basketball. If its Jay Wright it’s because he is perceived to have ushered in “small ball” to college basketball and won 2 championships in 3 years. If its coach Self then a second championship validates his insane regular season record over the last 15 years at Kansas.

The are both in their mid 50s and will probably reign another 10 years. Izzo has had his media darling image tainted with all the MSU issues and he hasn’t succeeded lately in the tournament. K and Roy are both in their twilight years.

All of this is just media fodder, but it can define the perception to casual college basketball fans. However I would suspect that just like us, Villanova, Kentucky, Duke, UNC, and Michigan St, wouldn’t trade their coach for any of the others regardless of perception.

Bosthawk said:

I’m worried about all the self-can’t-get-past-elite-8 posts coming if we do lose. Should be a tough tough game. And yep if we hit our shots, we should be

But So far, This has been a great season, let’s face it! Win or lose, been a great ride for me at least.

This is what REALLY REALLY pisses me off. In coach Ks 34 years has he once developed a 3 star player? Has he ever not had the most talent? He has NEVER had a season where he didn’t land a McDonald’s All American. He is now the biggest one and done guy. In the past 16 seasons Duke has been either a 1 or 2 seed 12 times yet only made it past the sweet sixteen FOUR times. Despite all this talent EVERY year he never gets called out for “choking”.

Bill Self has just developed back to back 3/4 star high school guys into first team all Americans. He ROUTINELY does more with less. The fact that he completely maximizes the talent almost always means a tournament “upset” will happen because Kansas earns seed beyond their talent. VIrginia did the same thing this year. Yes the accomplished things to be a 1 seed but at the end of the day their talent(not a single nba guy) isnt really 1 seed quality.

I know most here hate Kentucky the most. I don’t have enough hate left for anyone after Duke.

Rock Chalk

I want to exorcise all the demons…

• Beat an 11 seed in Elite 8… avenge VCU

• Beat Nova in Final Four… Stick it to Jay Wright

• Beat Duke in the Final… avenge 1991 and send K out a loser

@nuleafjhawk My 11-year-old son was on the verge of tears and acting like a punk at halftime. I told him to stop or he was headed to bed. Man that would suck to have gone to bed at halftime!!!

• Coach K’s first final four-game in 1986 beat Kansas
• Coach K’s first championship in 1991 beat Kansas
• Coach K’s last game LOSES championship to Kansas!!!

This is a MASSIVE low point for me with this transfer/NIL stuff. If it is like this yearly I’m going to have a real hard time watching this.

In politics people demonize “the 1%”, in basketball people want entire systems changed to accommodate the 1%.

https://twitter.com/kutweetsandnews/status/1511760027878666246?s=20&t=oQyhLSbedHgHZrKSgYE1rA

This is a MASSIVE low point for me with this transfer/NIL stuff. If it is like this yearly I’m going to have a real hard time watching this.

I think NBA will have to start looking at this. It could be long term tampering if you think about it. If when a free agent Cuban would have an edge.

Indiana Fans are hoping Mark Cuban made a deal…wild times in “college” basketball

@madmax said in Bye Bye Ernest:

We act like a lot of these athletes couldn’t get an academic scholarship if sports wasn’t in the picture.

I’d be willing to bet 90% of D1 basketball players couldnt.

@Jethro

So its a theory that Self is hard on new guys? It’s a theory that most first year guys struggle under him? Again most gloss over some of this because there is always a vet who steps in and fills the void. This year there won’t be any of those so it’s going to be REALLY interesting.

@Jethro Did you not see the 75% number I listed?

@madmax said in Bye Bye Ernest:

The plus I see is Kansas won’t have down years anymore. No more wondering and waiting for a window to have a great team. Each coming year will be National Champions or bust. How painful has it been going into a year knowing the team has a glaring weakness that inevitably will result in an early tourney ouster.

What proof do we have that Coach Self can navigate this many new guys? The key to his success has always been guys who have been in his system a few years. Self is EXTREMELY difficult to deal with for first year guys. Look how many freshman can’t deal with him. Look how Remi had issues for a lot of his one year. It’s always worked because it was a weeding out process that led to every year having a mentally strong team filled with guys who withstood it all.

People are looking at all the incoming guys and assuming they will all be great. Self’s history proves that about 75% of newcomers will either struggle with his demands and/or won’t earn his trust enough to garner playing time. On top of that we now have only TWO guys left to help the new guys navigate it.

Of course it’s possible Self truly has softened. I just don’t believe it.

It’s tough enough to cheer for obvious one and dones. Going to be tougher to cheer for 25 year old men who will only be in a Kansas uniform for a year over a 19 year old who WANTS to be there for 4 years.

It is what it is, I get it but I dont have to like it

Graduated High School in 2017…this covid and transfer stuff is dumb