Best posts made by Bosthawk

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!

…just read this old string today about Nick T , in anticipation for game 2 in Puerto Rico today.

Nick, in my humble opinion, is EXACTLY who we want as a transfer. He grew up in Braintree Ma, a few towns away for where I’ve lived for 30 years. His father Jeff is a huge basketball junkie, and played for BU and he got to play in the first round of the NCAA tourney in 1988 ( they lost to Duke). Nick was a standout hard working player at Braintree high school but when it came time for college, not a single D1 or D2 school was interested. Zero. He and his family knew he was D1 capable, certainly a D2 level player, So he went to Kimball Union Academy in NH for a year, and worked incredibly hard to improve every part of his game, especially his shooting, taking between 300 and 500 shots before games.

After that year, Towson was interested, and his hard work paid off. He got better every year, averaged 17.7 a game there, and because of Covid he had one extra year of eligibility. Rather that go overseas to make some money, he wanted to know what it was like to play for a higher ranked D1 program. The memory of no one wanting him out of high school still stung, and he felt he had something to prove. He knew he would draw some interest in the transfer portal, hoping for around 15 schools to contact him but was shocked when over 70 schools reached out, including some blue bloods. Self didn’t meet him face to face, just over zoom. He picked KU essentially because of a chance to play under HOF Coach Self. When he visited the campus he and his family knew instantly they had made the right choice. Obviously, NIL $ is a good incentive, but he most definitely is not here for the Money (Hunter is here for the $). He is here to play for Kansas.

This is the kind of grown-ass kid I will root hard for.

!!! 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)

@BShark Thanks for the details “… all 3 girls left screaming… “ wow. To me, that sounds off. so he is accused of raping one of these girls? All of them ? Love to know more details. This whole thing sounds just plain weird . Something not right here.

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.

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.

From a New York Times article about the game last night, focusing on KJ

“I think KJ showed a lot of people tonight that you can be an elite player at this level and not be a prolific scorer,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “Because he did it all.”

An Elite player who does not score all that much, and doesn’t really rebound… but does a lot of great, tough things that coaches adore. Going to be an interesting senior night March 8th. Self absolutely LOVES his KJ.

I have decided to stop worrying about why we’re not a dominant team… it has been well laid out by many posters here what is wrong the program when seen thru the lens of super high expectations. We are what we are. Let’s just hope that they can jell and play as tough as possible. They are my team win or lose.

@wrwlumpy awesome pic of Barbara ! Wow. Really brings me back … Many memories Of my 13 yr old self coming home from school, grabbing a big bowl of captain crunch, and watching the afternoon lineup of gilligans island, mchales navy, and i dream of jeannie, and screaming at larry hagman …" Jeannie just asked you yet AGAIN ‘if theres ANYTHING i can do for you master’ … !!! What in the %#+*#% HELL is WRONG with you!!! " Ginger, maryanne and jeannie were a potent mix for my young hormones…

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.

I honestly haven’t been able to sit thru most KU games for the last 15 years… I always watch the first part of the season, but come divisional games, I can’t watch, because I get too worked up… heart pounding, yelling at the tv… my wife (KU alum during the Danny years) actually told me to stop watching them live because she didn’t like seeing me get so wired up and I was ruining her expereince of watching (and she didn’t want to tell the kids “your dad had a heart attack watching KU basketball.”) so I tape them … I have a routine where I check the score 2 hours and 15 minutes after tip-off. Last nite, I checked the score at halftime (15 down??. Wtf?? Ahhhhh then I checked at 11:30 and they were up 3 and I ran to the tv room to watch the end

The team isn’t jelling. Storr is in desperation mode. Kinda sad to watch. I’m not sure this is Selfs fault. Hunter looks slow. Kj plays his heart out but can’t really score, and now this team is struggling. Mayo is a nice surprise.

I remember before the season, the consensus was that this team was going to suck on D. Actually their D is pretty damn good at times.

Would be hard to see this squad be a potential nat champion, but I’ve decided to chuck expectations and try to enjoy them as they are

@BShark Yep- love it !

In my 20 years of Jayhawk fandom, I discovered that these are the types of guys that make me a true passionate fan, come what may of our eventual outcomes. For example, Lightfoot and garret are growing on me like a weed becaus I know, barring unforeseen and unexpected developments, we get to watch them play many many games, absorb Self’s teaching, and (hopefully) grow significantly in skill and prowess before our very eyes.

And yes, if we get him, I will of course root for Romeo as much as I can muster. but I kind of know the script for OADs by now.

scene 1: bask in the preseason buzz and attention and press, and look awesome early in the season against lesser teams

Scene 2: play predictably inconsistent up into conference play and look at times great then look like a lost freshman

Scene 3: basically disappear in the harsh forge of brutal conference play despite Coach playing you your requisite mandated OSD minutes.

Scene 4: make a splash in the first weekend of the big tourney, then be more or less a non-factor in our sweet sixteen or elite 8 loss to a team we should on paper have beaten handily.

Scene 5: wait a week or two, then quietly announce your decision to go pro, and tweet out thanking everyone for the unforgettable experience of being a Jayhawk albeit briefly

I’m tired of this movie.

well said… this has been so far a wild wooly weird season!!.. in my 20 years of following KU basketball, I’ve never been more happy to win the B12… obviously, prior years we were expected to win easily, but this year is markedly unique and different… gone apparently are the days of first half light scheduling for Coach Self, so my nerves are shot watching this team this particular year… yikes… Self is going to kiil me I swear ( my kids now sort of understand that my screaming at the TV is not cause for calling 911)

ironically I’ve never been this non-interested in the B12 tournament - usually it’s an icing-on-the-cake thing for me, a love-hate thing (if we expend too much energy winning the tournament, are we compromising our Big Dance chances??.. if we lose in the B12 tourney, is that a bad sign of things to come?? etc)… kinda glad I just don’t care this year… although i am TIRED of playing WVU… lets hope UK or Dookie get them in their bracket and see how THEY like being relentlessly hounded like a pack of hyenas…

my prediction - I hope their toughness carries them to the 2nd weekend of the dance, then lets just hope for some good shooting and a bit of luck…
no one here will be surprised if our boys exit early or go to the final weekend… it’s that kind of unique season… I love em though…
( and the WORST part of losing in the dance… no hoops til next Nov :(… AHHHHHH!!! )

lucas and Jamari understand better how to play consistent d, box out, shift well off picks and reconize switches, and know better when to leave their man and help out right now than Bragg and Chieck. Those skills were more important in last night’s game apparently according to Self (and i agree completely).

obviously HCBS felt Lucas’s weight and strength were needed last night, and he must have seen something that made hivm keep Hunter on the bench. I’ve watched the game twice now and still not entirely sure why hunter was not used more.

But of course there are some on this site who feel that not playing Bragg and Cheick enough at this point in the season A) will come to theoretically hurt KU in march, and discourage Future OAD and TAD’s from signing with kansas because of lack of freshman playing time. I for one have no interest in OAD’s wanting to come here unless they are a perfect fit for what we need and are so talented and mature enough to contribute big time towards a NC run. Let Roy and Cal have em all. Also, we seem to be doing pretty well right now with our upperclassmen. And yes, winning games like this are what good coaches do. You find a way to win with your expereinced guys.

We just won perhaps the greatest regular season game at AFH. Awesome to behold!! (That would have been a good game to see live dontcha think? "Grandkids, gather round so i can you a story of a certain night i happend to part of… ")

Alas, it is the nature of sport sites like this to inevitably have posters who will ceaselessly find the negatives, or continue to hammer away at their percieved viewpoints. Whether they are right or wrong is ultimately besides the point . It’s just in their nature. Actually I’m kinda starting to feel sorry for them … Life is short.

" one day a scorpion was trying to get across a stream but knew we would drown because he could’t swim. He spied a frog and asked if he could hitch a ride on the frog’s back across the stream. The frog said, if i let you, you will sting me because you are a scorpion. The scorpion said, no, if i did that then you would die and i would drown, and i dont want to die, so i promise i wont. The frog considered this and agreed to let the scorpion climb on his back and started swimming to the other side. Halfway across, the scorpion stung the frog, and as they both sank beneath the surface the frog cried out “why did you do that???!” “I cant hep it” the scorpion gurgled …" It’s in my nature"

@MoonwalkMafia I have a serious suggestion for you . This year for the first time ever, mostly in response to a lot of posters on the site for continually harping on this theme of not Playing Jamarii and Landon in favor of Diallo and Bragg due to some " statistics " and ( the most overused and meaningless word in sports -"potential ") I started re-playing all of ku’s games and “close-watching” them. Now I do happen to have more time on my hands these days to do this which is nice. For many plays in the game I would re-wind over and over so I could see what every KU player was doing in that play both on offense or defense. I have learned ten times more about basketball by doing This than by reading posts here for 3 years. It showed me what players were doing and more importantly, NOT doing, and I realized that there is far more to a good team and good team play that stats.

(Complete useless baiting headline to flush out the missing-in-action HEM )

Maybe a headline- "NEVER EVER QUESTION BILL SELF " might have been better actually …

Any other topic headline ideas that HEM just simply couldn’t resist answering ??

Some random un- leavened thoughts -

1. I wonder if Bragg is the new Seldon. There was talk of him being a OAD or TAD, but I guess I’m not seeing it. Which is all the better if he sticks around for another season. Great effort to try and not get pushed around last nite.

2. there will be the usual hot and cold shooting nights for our smalls- thank the hoop gods we have 4 of them to spread the odds. We will need them in a big big way. And when cold Frank can drive and draw fouls 80% of the time.

3. JJ has a serious motor and relentless desire, and doesn’t seem the be “protecting the NBA-bound goods” at all. He is fast becoming my favorite KU OAD of all time, but he will be harder pressed to make an impact as the D he will now face will be fierce going forward, and more bigs to stop his driving.

4. Landon. If he can come close to doing what he did last night in league play, we may be alright. Somehow I think he is going the be the key to our future success. If he could only learn to draw fouls underneath better!! - he is a good foul shooter. And weird not seeing coleby last nite…

5. a road win in league play is just plain always always good no matter how ugly time of the year to forget what one’s nation ranking is… useless.

I’m a glass half full guy myself. The season for me has 4 basic parts - pre conf games, conference games, B12 tourney, then the dance.

I love pre conf because A- the interminable 7 month wait for KU hoops to start again is finally over, and B- we get a mix of bunny games where my stress level is low, and we get to see our freshmen play and get a feel for things and C- some tough matchups with top flight teams so we can gauge how we are at this point…

And most of all I love conference play, because this really is the meat of the season, the “real” season for me, and where our team rotation gets set in stone, and oh by the way we have won 13 conf championships IN A ROW while still in a highly competing league. The two games that essentially sealed it this year, the just plain silly comeback vs WV and then at Baylor were magical, and I will never forget them - wow. Plus senior night… god I love it… the essence of what is great about college hoops right there (does Kentucky ever have any seniors ? Probably all bench players … sad)

I don’t know really how to feel about the conf tourney… Its the cherry on top of the big fat B12 championship cake… yes I hate seeing the boys lose, but stats show that teams who make the final NCAA game almost never win their respective conf tourney… plus maybe our team needs some added rest ??? I don’t know

The big dance I’m my humble opinion of watching it for 37 years, is a Weird mix of skill and crap shoot. Obviously the top level teams who have the skilled players are Usually the ones who get at least to the elite 8, but its a tough thing for college kids to sustain good to great play for 6 straight games. Even the best teams can have an off night, and a few missed shots here and there is all it takes to get ousted. Doesn’t mean you are not a great team, just means it wasn’t your night is all. It’s the Hunger games the strong don’t always win.

The fact that KU has come back so many times this year and clawed and scratched and hustled and fought their way to win games is a BIG PLUS I feel. Remember we got beat soundly only once this year, the other two losses were overtime. I usually don’t have a set prediction for KU in the NCAA tourney because of the chaotic nature of how it unfolds, but this year I would be pretty disappointed if we didn’t make the 8, mildly disappointed if we didn’t make the 4.

Let’s hope our boys can get keep a consistent fire In The belly straight thru the NCAA… they will have a big target on their backs because on their top ranking.

Well, if one follows this line of logic, then KU is an underdog! We can’t recruit like the east coast gold standard programs do, so we have to rely on transfers, Midwest recruits, mining hidden gems (like the guy we got 4 years ago who originally signed with Appalachian state), and yes, superior coaching. our coach is … well let’s just say most off us wouldnt trade him for anyone in the game right now. We have to work harder to beat the east coast giants.!!!

So who doesn’t love rooting for an underdog?? This is what makes it sweeter when we do win a national championship ( and we will, odds are going to eventually fall in our favor)

Random musings:

A division win by 1 or 30 is a win, always will be. That’s the reality in our division and has been for years.

I’m rooting hard for them, love them, but having a reasonably hard time seeing the path to how this 3-hucking, sporadic D, reboundless, don’t-know-how-to-circle-the-wagons-yet-toughness lacking team is going to repeat as B12 champs. At least we can blame some stuff on no Preston or De Sousa.

And I never thought I’d see the day when Self would be basically nonchalant about the weaker shooters on the team hucking 3’s a few seconds into the shot clock - that used to be a guaranteed yank and yell. I know he is trying to adapt, and He is playing with what he has, but still don’t understand how Self is not at least going -shite with lackadaisical effort on d. Maybe he is and I’m missing it

Newman, despite his breakout game, still doesn’t feel like a good KU fit to me… can’t articulate why exactly I feel this way, certainly not well as some bucketeer heavies have recently.

When will teams start team-foul-distribution hacking Udoke the second he gets the ball? One of the biggest disparities between FGP and FTP in the league.

And this rumor just in - NCAA plans to clear Preston sometime in March - a day after KU gets eliminated from tourney.

And what a smooth natural free throw motion… if he can develop a pump fake, he can manufacture many points

Well … after some consideration, it may be … (gulp ). me!!!

I HAVE changed meds recently … and noticed my “blackouts” being longer with no memory of them… I come to with an empty KFC bucket in my lap, the Buckets site on My iPad, and I’m wearing a mizzou t-shit

Oh god

Injuries in the B12 have been CHRONIC… PERSISTENT… EXPLODING… now DIARRA

And another point… it feels to me like some here may take themselves a bit too seriously. Mr J -bate brought fun to this place more than anything else for me. He was decidedly original in many ways. Which is why I never understood why certain people felt the need to pick apart some of his more elaborate and inventive theorizations. Did it really matter if some of his Jenga- like thought streams may not completely hold up to logical scrutiny? Better to just enjoy, and at his best, he made you see things in a new light… even if the light was refracted.

and Feel free, especially people who don’t often comment or post, to add random thoughts…

• I cannot believe yet again we are at the end of another season. It just seems to absolutely fly by now… and the wait for a new season to begin always seems to be five times longer than it has in the past.

• As often discussed here,being an Adidas school always seems to leave us at an apparent disadvantage over Nike schools as far as recruiting. Yet here we are again, number one in the country, another amazing point guard in a string of amazing point guards, a big man senior who may be the best in college basketball right now, and poised to do very well in the tournament. Something is being done right by our staff.

• I have a real strong feeling we are going to need Isaiah Moss to get hot in one or two games in the tournament. One for six will not cut it in a close game. We need him to pull a Malik Newman.

• it seems to me over the years that Bill self is getting better and better at adjusting his coaching acumen to best suit his players now. And he seems more relaxed in letting some players play through bad shots and mistakes rather than yank them immediately like he did in the past. this builds more team chemistry and confidence in my opinion.

• I haven’t checked the stats, but this team, Besides playing great defense of course, seems like we are rebounding much better than in the recent past. Rebounding and boxing out are HUGE.

This is what the biggest transfer of this season was supposed to look like.

I tried to watch it live, but my heart was racing too much, so had to tape it and do something else…

It appears that Remy came thru again.

Still hasn’t quite sunk in yet

Holy Shiiiite ! We WON

I’ve half a mind to do a search in this site about all the posts that went like “Self is stuck in hi-lo mode, Can’t adapt, is stubborn, can’t recruit, can’t coach in later tourney rounds, etc, etc…” “McCormack isn’t good enough, he is limited, Self plays him way too much, etc etc…”. “Mitch is a favorite and plays too much for his limited skills, Dejuan also a fav and should play less over other players etc etc.”

This is why we aren’t coaches in D1.

What a gol-damned year!! WHOOOOOOOOHOOOOO

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

Lay off Timberlake guys… Yeesh - give him a chance for god sakes. There will be games where he will pour in 3’s, hit clutch shots, make big time pressure free throws… you wait and see.

Obviously, HCBS stressed defense in the past couple of practices. The team responded… That was one of the more maniacal defensive efforts I have seen from KU in a good while. Makes you think… Can they do this all the time? Maybe the fact that it was a huge home game amped them up so that they were able to sustain that high intensity effort for a long stretch of the game. It takes an enormous amount of energy to do that, so it might not be feasible to ask this team to come up with that kind of defensive effort every game.

The game would have been a lot less close if not for Newton. Bilas was right… He hit at least 3 end-of-the-shot-clock crazy threes that would have been career college highlights Had he done that just once or twice per season.

Both Timberlake and Braun I think got pulled because they both were slow on a defensive switch. The Nick situation reminds me a bit of Remy Martin. Bill wasn’t too high on Remy for a lot of the season that he was here, but we have a NC banner in the rafters and we don’t have that without Remy Martin, So let’s hope Nick works hard on his defensive effort, which, as we know, will earn him playing time. I still foresee a critical game in which Nick is the difference.

Love it that Juando was trying to drive and score… he did everything right except for adjusting his touch at the very end to lay that ball softly in the hoop. We all know that looking to score is just not in his comfort zone, but of course he does everything else so well that we don’t get very far of course, without him. He should throw up shots each and every time teams back off him at the three-point line, and hopefully over time he will just become more comfortable with doing it and not worry so much about missing.

I’m surprised the commentators did not talk more about what a magical environment that was at Allen Fieldhouse last night. Easily the best home arena in sports in my opinion. Two years ago, I went to my first home KU game (senior night) and I was blown away… The volume is absolutely indescribable. You intuitively realize that something very special is happening all around you, and the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. And last night was probably 50% louder! WOW

Kevin is apparently trying to be the new alpha dog Jalen Wilson. I imagine Coach self has told him essentially that. “You go be the guy when we need it the most.” Those three treys he hit in the second half were beyond massive- he won us the game. It takes large stones to step up and hit those., especially after the last game where he flailed offensively.

And I will take KJ doing those running floater shots in open space all day. It seems to be the most comfortable shot for him, other than layups and dunks.

@BShark Thanks… so Romeo is a presumed OAD then huh… sigh

I’m trying, but my enthusiasm for on-paper OADs picking Kansas is at an all-time LOW.

Devonte, Frank mason, sherron, (put name of your favorite 3 or 4 year KU player here)…
guys who were mid to low ranked to no-ranked in high school who then turned out to be jayhawk-for-life STUDS is what gets me pumped these days. Let’s hope Self and staff keep on finding these “program” player types on a continual conveyor belt basis !!

Another thing I’ll never forget reading about…and what my dad told me

When American troops during World War II went through France (including my father) on their way to defeating Germany, they had very mixed relations with the French… while some were grateful to be liberated, some are angry and resentful. There didn’t seem to be a lot effort by the French to rebuild parts of thier country that had been destroyed by war. My father actually didn’t respect the French people he met. Of all the people they encountered, including the dutch and the Belgians, the nicest people they met were actually the Germans their enemy . Polite, clean, hard-working, respectful and fastidiously working hard to clean up and repair their completely flattened cities. Mentally prepared for a long time to want to hate all Germans because of the Nazis, A lot of American GIs felt A respect and almost kinship with them. My father tried to describe this dichotomy to me but I was too young to understand

Well… I for one can relate to this thread. I’m guessing a lot of people can relate to what jryman is saying. I do not go to other sports sites that fans post to, so i dont have anything to compare this to other that the old kusports site that many here got started on. There seems to be a definite hierarchy here of posters who come across very knowledgeable and informed, and those (like me) who are less so. As much as i learn from posters, here, i also feel that that my opinions are less valuable because I cant whip off a long post of stats and percentages to make an argument for or against someones else’s opinion. And yes, i have also often asked myself “has anybody played D1 ball or coached basketball at a high level here?” Maybe they have… This is defintely a quality site for sure, and funny, thought provoking, and entertaining to boot !

So i will continue to try and learn, try and not get too worked up over some posts that in my gut i disagree with, and continue to be a huge fan of our team (and yes my favotite current player is Jamari ) Because for me it is NOT all about winning and pecentages and how far we get in the ncaa tournament.
(What was is like for kentucky fans last year?? Their historic stack of oads and tads made anything less that winning it all a LETDOWN) Really is that what we want to aspire to?

@wrwlumpy

You’re exactly right about #31 being the difference- And I am going now to spell out why using a series of carefully prepared power points, JamPom statistics, probability tables, astronomical solar wind charts, and basketball actuarial data compiled over the last 20 years…

Oh crap… I don’t have the time for all of this (wife is screaming for me to go out and shoot a possum for dinner - she hates to miss her TV stories and cook late) so I’ll just say in my heart you are (hopefully ) right Who knows ?

Cletus

@Lulufulu

Watch the game again. Traylor has been boxing out very well in the last 4 games. People have talked in the past abount his poor rebounding and not boxing out, but he is consistently doing it now. When he does that, it clears a space for frank to swoop in. Its a start for jamari

@HighEliteMajor and asadZ

I do get what you are saying. And yes if bragg gets more minutes it will be definitely good thing.

What your posts about traylor have caused me to do is now watch each game again very closely and rewind a lot duing certain plays. I was even tempted (a LOT of work! ) is to post here a play-by-play of the vandy game making notes about what key kansas players were doing away from ball.

Some things that i saw when yesterday i re-watched the vandy game- traylor played defense quite well - a few times he didn’t recognize a switch (other players started covering his guy) quick enough and got burned by the guy he should have been covering, he did have some mistakes on d, but i would venture to say he played the best consistent defense of any kansas player. He ran out of gas near the end of the game, and got burned twice i believe, and was pulled. Perry played lackadasical d at times and did not box out his big man, and the team got burned. I saw this at least three times. Also carlton bragg switched of his man to double team on d and thus his man got open for a quick pass and bucket. He is young though.

Also traylor set some key picks during our second half run where kansas started building a lead. These dont show up in stats. The play where perry got the ball in the corner, drove past his man and jammed the ball was greatly assisted by traylor who screened of his man to allow perry an unobstructed run to the hoop. The announcers even praised traylors quick action. Another interesting play- Jamari got inside posistion on his man and graham fed him down low, Jamari made a quck move to under the hoop for a reverse layup. Vandy’s 7 footer, who was covering lucas, leaped toward jamari and got a partial block on the shot, but lucas, now not covered, took the blocked ball and jammed it home. Lucas also had some good moments and some typically bad ones and a few lapses on d.

There was a play where a vandy player drove by wayne, and should have been stopped by perry. He cut right and passed perry right near the basket. Jamari was near and kept boxing out his guy to prevent a pass to him, and at the last second tried to block the shot - too late. Cheik would have more than likely blocked that shot. We all know we need a real rim protector.

Hunter played well and seriously HUSTLED during his brief minutes. He boxed out well and rebounded. Why he is not getting more playing time i dont quite get. However he was covering a big who got the ball down low, carlton came over to double team and blanket the player, and the vandy big got past hunter to reverse layup the ball. Bad play definitely by hunter. The announcers said that should have never happened.

Both wayne frank and devonte were late at times on fighting thru screens to get to their man, and it resulted on open shots for vandy guards who hit their shots. But overall good consistent d was played, and of course wayne had a big time shooting game. Closely Re-watching games has really helped me to see what kansas players do away from the ball both on offense and defense and thus better understand players strengths and weaknesses and lapses.

With all the things out there to potentially worry about, I personally would put KU’s recruiting prowess with 5-stars pretty far down on the list…

To borrow from a 60’s movie title " Dr Strangeself, or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb" Er, stop worrying about who didn’t sigh with us and love the guys that self and staff manage to sign. Trust in the system, because we have a hell of a system !!

And yes, perhaps the most often brought up topic on this site - would you rather win another conf championship or a national title- I will give my stock answer - of course you have to have the right guys (usually a fair amount of guys ranked in the top 50 ) and the right program and coach, but it is still so much fortune and chance to win the NCAA - I absolutely Love the regular season and coming out on top in the conference - love it!! The NCAA tourney is icing on my big fat delicious cake.

When league play starts, My 2 rules in 22 years of following KU B-ball:

1. forget about national rankings. Period. They are essentially meaningless.

2. any league win, no matter how ugly, is a win. This is the nature of high level college basketball. Don’t assign too much emphasis on what your expectations and perceptions are of how “good” you are in relation to your league rivals.

AT any rate, yes it is going to be an interesting next few months. I wish our D was a lot better, and that’s personally my biggest concern. Let’s hope we can continue to shoot our way out of trouble (gulp!)

It is its own unique animal - and it is kind of outside the normal season.

The goal of any team is to win games, and win its “division” and to qualify for some sort of post season play. But there are 68 frigging teams that qualify for the big dance and it is of course a SINGLE GAME ELIMINATION affair, so yes you are correct, does the “best” college team win the NCAA ? Not really…

if KU gets by Oregon (and I’m guessing say 7 times out of 10 playing them they would beat them) do they beat NC? Who knows? Does gonzaga beat NC in a 3 out of 5? I like their odds to do that. Bill Walton, a veteran of many NCAA tourneys, when asked repeatedly who he liked to win the tourney this year refused to pick anybody and just said over and over "it comes down to how you play that given night " damn straight.

They are college kids, not seasoned pros, and there really isn’t a magic formula.

Years ago I made my peace with the tourney. For me It does not define the whole season or the whole achievement of any given KU squad… it is fun, painful, a carnival ride and a combination of skill, luck, and timing, but not representative of the big amalgam of the identity of a given team.

the season has 4 sections basically - pre-conference, conference play, the b12 tourney then the big crazy NCAA roulette wheel. I LOVE the conference play - it is intense and we get to play teams twice over the course of 2 months, so we really get a sense of our teams strengths and weaknesses, then senior night !! Seeing 4 year players tear up on senior night is what I love about KU b-ball … seriously. I feel connected to them and the whole program and the specialness of it all.

Or we could load up with a revolving door of OADS and TADS and maybe win some more NCAA championships … you pick what you would rather have.

I think this should work