Copied here for your convenience, a Recent Landen Lucas letter to KU fans

Kinda sums it up doesn’t it ?

“Dear Jayhawk Nation,

It might be strange to say, but I never truly understood what being a Kansas Jayhawk meant until my days in a KU uniform were over. It’s something I have learned in the two years since I played my final game in the Crimson and Blue. This week, when I have seen so many former players, coaches and fans, I believe I can now express what it means to be a member of this incredible community and how important that is to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I valued my time in Lawrence and as a member of this program. The wins we fought together for, the trophies we lifted and the memories we made are still surreal for me to this day. The epic triple-overtime win over Oklahoma, and coming back from 14 down in the final three minutes to beat West Virginia my senior year are just a snapshot of my favorite memories that we made.

But when you’re at the ground level, so invested in practice, in class, in games and everything else that 18-22 year olds face on a daily basis, it’s easy to forget to stop and take a look around to get a true appreciation of all the great things Kansas is.

Eventually it has all sunk in for me and I have realized what I was and am still a part of. I gained perspective and I now have a greater appreciation for what it means to be a part of this program, this school and this community. Playing in the games I played in and playing in front of the greatest fans in the country was truly the honor of a lifetime.

The fans – you are the backbone of this program. If you take one thing from this message, it’s this: Everything you do, it is noticed. From packing the Fieldhouse hours before tip-off, traveling in the thousands to road arenas, even writing letters and giving us words of encouragement. It all mean so much to this team. We might not always be able to show how much all these gestures mean to us, but everyone I know who has been a part of the program really does notice all of it and appreciates it.

My professional career has taken me all over the world and everywhere I go, there are Kansas fans somewhere. It’s hard to go through a day where I don’t run into at least one Jayhawk. You’re always so proud of the school and so appreciative of my small contribution to Kansas basketball and I’ll be forever grateful for that.

Being a Jayhawk is truly being a part of this family forever. Even once you leave, the feelings of belonging and legacy are still there. The continued support is like no other, whether it’s from the fans, donors or alumni, everyone comes together to form this incredible support structure that I feel very privileged to be a part of.

As a part of this KU family, you are a part of something that’s so much bigger than yourself. Every time we stepped on the court and wore the “Kansas” across our chest, we were representing something way bigger than the team. Being a part of something like that makes you want to strive to be your best and that is what being a Jayhawk is all about.

Thank you for all you have done for me, Kansas basketball and the University. It will forever be an honor to be able to call myself a Jayhawk.

Rock Chalk!

Landen Lucas ('17)”

You can say all you want about Landen’s skills as a player, but he gets it to the core. And that core is why l LOVE KU basketball.

Gee I wonder what kind of note a guy like Quentin Grimes is going to write someday?

History my friends History … let’s hope we all live long fruitful lives and never see this record streak broken - ever

If the ncaa tourney format were a 2 of 3 game series, or 3 of 5, Virginia would bounce back and win. But now they will go down in history as the first 1 seed to lose to a 16. Hard to shake that moniker. Virginia will live with it forever.

sooooo Glad it wasn’t us - glad penn didn’t shoot the lights out while we went dead cold.

This is a great example of why college age kids winning 6 games in a row is so damn hard. Luck plays a huge part as with everything else. I love the tourney, but it is NERVE-RACKING, and the older I get, the more nerve-racking it gets for me. Because KU is perennially a top tier team, not making the final weekend is always seen (and feels Like) a big downer way to end what had been a fun, often glorious season (14 conference championships in a row etc, great KU players, the fun, the magic… the whole wonderful experience of being a fan of arguably the greatest college bball program in history.) wish I could find a way to just enjoy it more rather that be full of nerves… part of it is also the impending knowledge that come what may, November 2018 when our boys start playing again is a LONG way away - although being Nat. Champs would make that wait SO much more fun lol.

One game at a time I suppose, and take it for what it is… the big ups, and the big downs. Find a way to win and play hard, and hope a few bounces and shots go your way. Completely abandon any thinking like “…wait we should be beating these guys by 30!! …”

I am going to be super pumped and positive today and on to the final four!

!!! I thought this may happen… Kensucky losing!!! Makes this year less disappointing…

Man that was a TIGHT one. But the energy and enthusiasm and just plain volume in AFH was like nothing I’ve ever experienced - holy crap ! I’m drained

Since I have neither the basketball acumen nor the attention span to write a weighty analysis on KU’s play in the tournament or tonite’ game, I am left with random musings…

1. Frank , Devonte and Josh are never afraid to shoot no matter the situation - ever. Players like them with brass cahones are pure money in the tourney when the stakes get so high

2. swarming pestering help on D by our quick guards and josh neutralized purdues twin towers, even when it looked like they were going to take over. I am now not as afraid of whatever big men we now will face, because we seem to find a way.

3. josh does sooooo many things even when he is not shooting well and turning over the ball on offense. He is everywhere - I honestly don’t remember Wiggins throwing himself around like this- he finds a way to be a net positive. He has one speed - 11

4. one minute Purdue was hanging tough, keeping the score close, playing confidently and stoutly, and then in the seeming blink of an eye they were down by 15 and the wind knocked completely out of them. Commentators used the word "avalanche " to describe it - the Kansas Avalanche- I like it .

5. I’m a the-tournament-does-not-define-our-season guy. (I’m guessing I’m in the minority somewhat about this issue of how important the big dance is in defining success) 13 B12 titles in a row is a monumental Achievement, so I am already a happy camperino (Flanders ) But of course this team is certainly good enough to win a championship, (if only skill alone were the defining factor in winning the dance) so I stand by my statement a month ago that I of course would be disappointed by a first weekend loss, pretty disappointed by a 16 loss, and mildly disappointed by an 8 loss, and be happy for a final four. Anything past that is gravy for me, so let’s keep the gravy flowing !

6. West Virginia shot like 26% against 40-plus % shooting of Gonzaga and the game still came down to one possession. Gonzagas coach said it was the toughest most physical opponent his team has has in SEVERAL YEARS. Yes, folks the B12 is tough, and the west coast conference is not. I am not afraid of gonzaga at this point.

7. is it me, or is our defense waaaaay better in the past 3 games?

8 keep shooting the three ball boys… no time to stop fools gold avalanche now :

Speaking of re-watching the game, Garrett put on an absolute CLINIC defensively, and his boxing out should be shown to any team or player on how it’s done… spectacular.

Actually I think I may have discovered where he went…

a guy who writes just like him, apparently called BDevilbate, is on a Duke site writing voluminously long and zen-like meandering but crazy-brilliant posts… lovingly extolling the genius of krzyzewski and the glowing magnificent heritage of Duke basketball… and how he catfished us here for years simply to amuse himself.

It appears his “love” of KU was just nothing but a put-on… an abject sham. Hideous.

(Ok…Trying to piss him off enough to resurface just to rip me a new one in say 7 alliterative paragraphs…

Well, my wife does agree about better from behind… that way we can both watch the game …

(I’ll go away now)

Yes it could be easily argued that BD hit the two most important buckets of the game, plus great D in the clutch. Plus that CONFIDENCE he had to be the guy!! I SWORE he was gonna pass it out to the perimeter, instead he went up against two NC bigs and made the shot. MASSIVE.

And… we don’t win this tourney without Remy. Period. When he picked Kansas last year, this is exactly the Remy that we were all hoping he would bring. Fearless shooting.

Yep Best player in a finals game last night. D in the nba !! (Playoffs and finals is when the guys play hard D, not so much during the interminable schlepathon of the 82 game regular season) He’s going to get a championship ring this year. I have to imagine that he is thinking about Coach self a lot when he’s out there.

Also interesting to reflect on whichever team wins the National Boring Association title this year adding up all the losses just in the playoffs… Celtics have lost NINE GAMES so far, golden state EIGHT.

The team that wins the NCAA tourney Has to win SIX IN A ROW, no losses allowed. Hell, most teams who win the dance don’t lose eight or nine games all season long. Such a completely different game and league.

I was on a soapbox, writing here frequently, and willing to bet a large sum that Grimes was going to bomb in Houston like his freshman year here. Wrong. Still not sure exactly why Grimes didn’t play better here.

There is a Crypto ad currently running during the NBA playoffs, featuring Joel Embiid- I could swear the narrator is Bill Self

I certainly don’t have time to check out other “fan sites” ( what is a site like this officially called anyway? ), but I doubt nowhere else had a poster like Jaybate. The guy was almost from another planet… maybe part Vulcan? His intelligence, extensive and eclectic knowledge, imagination, inquisitiveness, passion, and the way he combined all these things was ming-boggling at times… so many examples, like writing an novella-length essay/post on subjects like comparing Self and the team to the legendary Merrill’s Marauder from WW2 for example… I used to think “what does this guy do every day? Is he a wealthy recluse with a lot of time on his hands? A frequent LSD user? A patient in a psych hospital? Dr. Emmett Brown from back to the future?” I tried to keep up with his more involved posts, but one had to be in the right frame of mind to tackle them, like studying for an exam. He was truly Unique, an odd duck but a highly likable one at least to me, and he clearly loved the program… and when the Adidas scandal broke, I remember he posted something about how let-down and saddened he was, and then he was gone.

I can credit HEM for one thing- my expanded knowledge of team basketball. there were KU players that apparently on his shit-list, and he would use a lot of stats and basketball data to doggedly bolster his lengthy analyses for why they shouldn’t be playing or even be on the team. He was persistent and never seemed to back down. Another very bright guy, albeit overly leftbrained perhaps.

Well, like many KU fans, I find that I would come to like certain players over other players throughout the years, no rational reason really, I just would begin to become a fan. I always was drawn to the role-player types, and Jamari Traylor was a prime example of a guy I really took a shine to. HEM REALLY disliked JT, and went after him a lot as I remember. So I re-watched a lot of games, but kept my eyes glued to JT every time he was in the game. That’s when I started to see the little things that he did… hustling to be in position, setting picks, working hard to run whatever offensive set that was called, keeping the ball moving with passes, working hard to hustle back on D, fighting thru screens, boxing out, rebounding…It was obvious to me why Self played him and liked him despite that fact that was was never going be a scorer or anything other than a role-player. I learned to watch games more carefully and better understand good team basketball.

@nuleafjhawk Yes hubie did

Who recruited the main NC players? hubie?

Whoops ! Guess I should have hunted for it

Roy Williams, mike K, now Jay wright … these were college HOF level guys who competed with HCBS for top recruits. Now they are gone and frankly Roy’s and Mike replacements haven’t proven themselves and could very likely not live up to the lofty expectations at those schools. hell Jay W MADE the Villanova program what it was, and won two titles. I believe his first two or three years were nit invites. The dude was a monster at building a top ten program.

This has got to be really good for Kansas. Who is better than Self now? Calamari? Boeheim? Yes there are the young new coaches that are turning programs around, the guys that will someday be potential HOF coaches, but we have arguably the BEST coach as of now in D1

This never gets old …. I’m wallowing in it all

Love the yellow shirt !

I’ve watchedthe Miami game twice, Villanova game twice and final game three times