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

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

@hawkmoon2020 After the 2007 debacle where we were a #1 seed and UCLA a #2 seed in SAN FREAKING JOSE, I dont ever want to hear a complaint about a “home game” if ou are the LOWER seed!

We were a 1 seed and got screwed!

Refs were not great but they didnt cause the guys to have such a bad shooting night.

STOP HAVING GAMES IN FOOTBALL STADIUMS!!!

The shooting atmosphere is horrible.

He’s a junior and he is the type of player Self rides HARD. He has all the athletic tools and lacks on the one that doesn’t take talent, effort.

BeddieKU23 said:

Newman made every FT down the stretch, he was clutch.

I loved how Malik wanted the ball in his hands in the last seconds. Not scared to shoot those FTs.

I’m calling it now, Lightfoot will help on defense this game.

You really have to celebrate the four-year contributors!!! Who knows how many more there will be.

@Kcmatt7 Speaking of Case. I just recently learned that his dad was a teammate of Self at OSU.

Why is the staff not picking up/researching personalities/backgrounds that would be a tell for not willing to work hard? Grimes and now Thompson fall into this.

LOL…Langford routinely hit clutch shots for Kansas. Ochai cant shoot and is really limited creating going to the hole. ZERO comparisons here.

@justanotherfan HAHAHAH I watch more NBA than college. They draft talent and that’s it. They will work talent into their team. They are not looking to slot 2nd rounders into a system. The NBA could drop the 2nd round and not a single team would care.

Go back and look at the drafts from 8 to 5 years ago and tell me how many guys are still in the NBA.

I don’t care that these kids do this, I’m just sick of college basketball recruiting kids who all think they are better than they are. Hell I’m starting to believe coaches are pushes kids out and saying “the scouts said he was a second-rounder, I don’t know what happened.”.

I wish it would go back to local kids who actually care about school and an early entry was few and far between.

There is a reason Roy brought up Kirk and Nick in his retirement press conferencee.

Jalen Wilson averages against big 12 11.7ppg 8rbpg 33% from 3

At absolute best he’s a 3 and D guy in nba. Not much d and slow 33% from 3

But go have a conversation with agents and scouts and feel like an NBA player for a few weeks.

College basketball sucks now

Someone fill me in. The stock explanation is “get feed back from nba scouts on what to work on”.

For years and years college coaches would get reports and feedback about players. What did this have to change? Do players not trust their college coach? Or is this actually more about feedback from agents?

Michigan game hurts way more than VCU to me.

@BShark You honestly think you can win a national championship with Reed and Morningstar starting? The Selby suspension and lack of development killed any hopes.

This could just be Old Man Yelling at Cloud…

It isn’t just Self that’s starting to get to me. It is the state of modern basketball. Everyone’s offense now is 2 guys standing in a corner and the ball receiving a high screen from one of the other two guys. There is no longer much screening away from the ball. Nobody gets each other open anymore with off-ball screens and movement, it’s all just spread out and watch one guy try to break down the defense. Or Self’s version of a modern offense…the weave with guards until someone has an advantage.

Somehow coaches have all bought into the idea that spacing > movement. The biggest issue I have with it is that a very low percent of college teams have more than 2 good shooters. Again because nobody gets each other open anymore with off-ball screens and movement, slower catch and shoot kids don’t have a place. So we get stuck with Agbaji and Braun types who can “athletically hang”, but lack basketball skill.

If anyone watched the UCLA and Michigan game and thought that was good basketball then there is no point in having this discussion with me.