Yesterday, I ran into Home Depot in Santa Clara. It’s not the closest one to my house, but it’s nearby and it was the closest to the previous errand.

KU had a big sports weekend, so I was sporting my classic, gray, KANSAS sweatshirt.

I was near the front checkout area looking at a display and I hear a voice softly say “hey Jayhawk” and then a pause. I wasn’t sure where it was coming from but he then said “you from Lawrence or go there?” I found the source of the voice sitting about 10 feet away on a phone call, trying to get my attention while he worked.

I said “Both. I’m from outside of lawrence and went to KU.” He said, “I’m 55.” I said “I’m 58”.

I said “Did you go to KU?”

“Yeah.” He finished his call and said, “You would have been a senior when I was there.” And then he stood up, and said, “Lincoln Minor.”

I was completely gobsmacked! I immediately knew who he was but was quickly trying to remember which teams and which teammates. I was a senior in 88… I stumbled my way to realizing he was one of the members of the legendary Danny and the Miracles team.

Which led me to take in this surreal scene: I’m standing in this random Home Depot in Santa Clara, California, chatting with a KU basketball player who I had watched as a frenzied fan in AFH many, many times, all those years ago. Meanwhile, the checkout folks were nonchalant and blasé going about their work. To them, he was just the Pro Account Sales Associate, helping the next customer.

He took some time to chat with me a bit about basketball and reminisce about the teams. I got a photo with him and we traded contact info. He said they sometimes watch the KU games at the Home Depot and told me to come by (which I absolutely will.)

When I got home, I realized he played for both Larry Brown and Roy Williams – two hall of fame coaches. That’s pretty amazing.

Reminded me that you never know who the person is behind the counter or in the line next to you, etc. At our age, he looks like a tall gentleman in a Home Depot uniform, unassuming and ready to serve the next customer.

If I hadn’t had my sweatshirt on and he hadn’t connected, I’d have been standing next to a KU champion and never have known it.

My son will be attending KU as a freshmen next year. He’ll be a fourth generation Jayhawk. He’s accepted in the aerospace engineering program. He’s been fascinated with planes – especially military aircraft – almost since he was able to hold a crayon. He’s also looking at AF ROTC at KU.

If there are any engineering or ROTC alumni here who have tips or suggestions, please let me know! (No one else in the family are eng or ROTC alumni).

Looked like that user was responsible for the chinese spam. Not sure whether it was intentional or not, but i felt I had to put a lid on it.

bskeet 1 Cancer 0

Thinking back across the season, and the tournament, I’d love to hear your reflections.

Big 12 Officiating

I will start my reflections with penance for my criticism of the Big 12 officials. I declared, right here in this community, that the physical style of game that B12 officiating allowed was going to hurt us in the tournament.

I was wrong.

That crazy crew created a crucible that forged two National Champions (Baylor and Kansas) in two years.

The officiating this year was a mess for everyone. It was not limited to the B12. I have no idea what is a block and a what is a charge… I had friends over for the NC with kids and I lost it with some f-bombs in the second half. Not proud of that.

But, it appears to have made the B12 strong and prepared KU well for the epic run. Even Iowa State, who was really not at the level they’ve been in the past, was well prepared to play incredible defense which allowed them to make a run.

If It Weren’t For Bad Luck, I’d Have No Luck at All

After all the years of bad luck in the tourney, this year was different. Things broke our way. And this is not to take away from the team and their amazing efforts… but sometimes thing just work out.

Our regional was the best setup I think I’ve ever seen. The matchups were, for the most part, favorable. Injuries made competitive teams (Creighton and Villanova) weaker and upsets removed a few challengers (Iowa LOL, Wisconsin and Auburn) out of our path. But no Kentucky, no Gonzaga, no Duke, no Purdue, no Illinois, no UCLA and no UNC.

Plus, we benefited from the Coach K drama combined with the typical march madness upset drama that overshadowed KU and allow us to stay “under the radar” all the way to the NC game. For a team that always has a target on its back, that target was a bit smaller and a bit more faded than normal.

Remy and the Immaculate Vibe

Let me start by saying the Championship was a Team Effort with a capitol T.

That said, WTF. The dude doesn’t really play for the conference regular season. When he’s in, it looks like he is out of sync with everyone else. Even as recently as the B12 tournament, there seemed to be confusion when he was on the floor. I recall more than once him looking for direction to the bench or Och pointing to where he’s supposed to be.

We are left to wonder: Does he know the system? Is there friction with the other players? Can he, WILL he, ever play defense? What about that injury?

And then, suddenly, he began to fit with our offense or vice versa. Suddenly, our team had two gears. Two very different, distinct styles to the offense. This gave KU a unique advantage: teams trying to scout would look at most of the season and see a monster car. But then they would see the most recent games and see that we could mutate into a race car.

On a dime Remy could flip the switch. I’ll be darned if that isn’t a reflection of how this team flipped the switch in the second half against Miami and again against UNC.

We don’t get past Creighton or Providence without Remy. And we don’t beat UNC without Remy. He took the shots – and MADE the shots – that others were either unable to because the defense was keying on them or they deferred (afraid). Remy personified confidence and courage.

I have always hated hearing Rafferty say “ONIONS” when someone makes a clutch shot, but Remy delivered the quintessential example of that phrase. He forced tough, contested shots at absolutely crucial moments… and nailed them.

This is not to take away from Ochai who is THE MAN and did this multiple times in multiple games throughout the season.

But, consider this as context on Monday’s performance: Remy shot 4/6 from 3; Mario shot 3/7 from 3 in the 08 NC. The drama of Mario’s one shot is undeniable, but the stats should help us appreciate Remy’s performance in this NC. Self — who so values blood, sweat and tears — seemed flummoxed and hesitant to shower adoration on Remy because he defied the formula; Remy still, absolutely crushed it even though he was coming off more than a month of lost practice and playing time.

Come to think of it, back to the luck theme… let’s put Remy choosing to come to KU last summer in that category. This is the conclusion we all dreamed was possible when he said he was transferring here. But I don’t think anyone could have imagined Remy’s journey.

Team, Toughness and Treasures

I heard one talking head on Tuesday credit the 2nd half comeback to “the law firm of McCormack, Martin and Braun.” That sounds about right. Big Dave (Good Dave) finally gets the spotlight he deserves. Jalen Wilson was a rock throughout the tournament. Dave and Jalen are a perfect reflection of this team: under the radar all year. Part of that was their own doing. But midway through the B12 season, there was no reason for anyone to sleep on Jalen or Dave. They both did all the dirty work.

And speaking of dirty work, Dejuan: how I underestimated thee. (I’m so glad we don’t need to talk about the final 4 seconds). The team credited his defense as the spark for the 2nd half run. And why not? Runs can’t happen without stops, and his steals and energy triggered the comeback.

Finally, what a treasure to have kids that grew up wanting to be Jayhawks. Christian Braun, hailing from a small town in Kansas is the classic Jayhawk. Toughness incarnate. Mitch and Ochai fall in this category.

Again, how lucky are we that we had so much experience and so much love on this team? And how lucky are we to have this forum (thx @approxinfinity) and this community to share our love of the team and the program throughout the year.

Rock Chalk.

---

Ok, TLDR:

I apologize to the B12 officials. Remy delivered in the most heroic way. Jalen and Big Dave (Good Dave), flying under the radar, overshadowed, delivered again and again. I underestimated Dejuan. And FINALLY… KU had the stars align just a bit. Nice way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of our first championship.

PS:

Why couldn’t the national announcers get the names of our players right (Braun, pronounced: Brown, Ochai Agbaji, pronounced Oh-chi Ah-bah-gee.) They had 3 weeks and 67 games.

Thought I would share a bit of personal news here.

My son’s football team, Archbishop Mitty High School, won Friday night and will play in the Div 1 Northern California Championship this coming Friday against Serra HS (Tom Brady’s alma mater and powerhouse with a dozen or more D1 commits). Mitty was seeded #6 in the 8 team playoffs and won the quarterfinals and semifinals, both in OT. Even more incredible, Mitty was 1-9 last season and 0-9 the season before that (covid). They flipped the script this year, all the way to the Championship game.

Now you might think that the winner will go to SoCal to play the California State Championship (televised) against the winner of Mater Dei v St. John Bosco (also this Friday, nationally televised, I believe). And you would be sort of correct. If Serra wins, they will play in SoCal for the championship, but not the same for Mitty. California has some sort of committee that picks the team to represent NorCal. Because Mitty was an underdog (lost to Serra earlier in the season), the committee would pick another team from NorCal such as De La Salle, which is another powerhouse up here (but was beat by Serra earlier in the season). It’s not as simple as when I was in a 2A Kansas HS and when you won regionals you went to semi-state. And when you won semi-state, you went to state.

There are a lot of D1 commits on the teams that Mitty plays. Hardly any of Mitty’s players are getting looks. Sacramento State is interested in a couple guys. No disrespect to SacState, but that is ridiculous. The Mitty QB and RB should be on the radar of P5 schools. The RB is small, but so was Sproles and Deuce Vaughn. He is strong and fast.

Anyway. I’m thrilled that my son gets to experience playing HS football after Thanksgiving. He’s the center (junior) and will be in the thick of it Friday night at 7 Pacific.

It’s a David vs Goliath story, so appreciate any good juju you can send.

Oh, and the coach’s first name is Danny, which led one reporter to call the team “Danny and the Miracles” after the second OT win.

Silvio is quite the lightning rod. All the talk in the press seems to be about him rather than the K-State players. This is not fair.

It is definitely his fault for taunting after the block. The technical foul was fair. But the physical altercation was instigated and escalated by K-State players-- multiple individuals.

In the video, what I see is KState players running to confront Silvio. One of them pushes him. I see Silvio brush that push away and another player pushes him and he begins to push away and back at the same time (look closely-- his hands are not clenched; they are open to deflect the aggressors.)

There are at least two pushing him, maybe three. Meanwhile, everyone around Silvio is telling him to stop because they are all KU fans. It looks to me like he’s trying to not over-react for a couple of seconds while the K-State players have no one holding them back. Then the third guy lunges and pushes Silvio down and he comes up swinging.

I think it’s important to look at Silvio’s body language in those early moments. He is not trying to fight at first. He gets provoked and then all hell breaks loose. The stool incident I see as an instinctive act… and one that he fortunately is able to overcome with help of those around him.

Silvio is justifiably being called out. But he should not be singled out. The players from K-State who were responsible for the escalation and the first physical acts should be equally called out.

As is often the case when there is great disparity between two forces, the smaller power can’t win with the traditional rules, so they resort to guerrilla tactics to get the bigger power to do something uncharacteristic. Silvio bit on the bait.

OU. Good bye. Losers!

Suck it Sooners.

No one who is here is a fair-weather fan. I appreciate that.

Everyone on this site during the season has followed the team with its incredible comebacks and it’s painful letdown losses.

Today was very disappointing, and we fans are going to have to endure a lot of grief from giddy, over-zealous WSU fans for a long long time.

I appreciate being a part of a community of fellow fans who appreciate the team and carve time out of their schedule to share thoughts and emotions with each other.

Have a great off-season, and Rock Chalk.

Dejuan with the quietest most overshadowed 20 points ever

@approxinfinity said in You know it's a big day:

@dylans the team sucked and furphy was a bright spot. Your criticism could be said about wiggins and embiid as well, had they not gone on to nba success. Maybe his success contributed in part to the guys we pulled this offseason, as he is proof that a player can come in and in one season improve their stock dramatically.

I’m glad we had Furphy and he made the season much more watchable for me.

Amen. The kid hit critical 3s and ran the floor like a gazelle. He had some pretty explosive dunks.

I shudder to think of last season without Furphy, considering how things played out: Morris out, Elmarko struggles, Kevin gets hurt, etc.

Seriously, I’m not sure we make the tournament last year without Furphy.

Moral of the story: Don’t sleep on Kansas.

Bean deserves credit for this win. But so do all the guys around him. Total team win!

Paul Pierce in a post-game interview sounding like a coach…

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12055979/paul-pierce-says-washington-wizards-improve-defensive-habits

“You can learn a lot of lessons from losses, but you also learn lessons from winning,” Pierce said. “Hopefully we have better urgency on defense as this stretch comes up. We got Phoenix, Chicago, and of course New York and then our [Western Conference] trip. So we got to build better habits before this trip.”

For just a moment, I wondered what if Pierce was an assistant to Self in a few years… hmmmm.

When will this team be properly referenced as:

KUSA

This was the most impressed I’ve been by an opponent since Durant.

Congratulations B. Hield! The dude totally earned my respect with a special performance in a game for the ages.

Just imagine if Duke had secured their 13th straight conference title…

The 30minute preview show leading up to the game would have been a retrospective…

We would be watching the 5 part series tonight – it would already be in the can, ready for broadcast – built from the materials they started developing 8 years ago when the streak was 5 games long and they already deemed it the single greatest accomplishment in sports history. Interviews with the players over the years… and interviews with coaches…

Think I’m exaggerating? If Grayson Allen had tripped someone tonight, there would be a special report tomorrow and a special piece on Duke’s struggles ready for the weekend games.

https://twitter.com/hoopvision68/status/1072161035400986624

The chart shown here will captivate you for a long, long time.

But this is just another piece of evidence that reinforces what a HOFer Bill Self is.

He is world class.

Yeah, reminds me of two more ‘fortuitous’ aspects of our run that are easy to overlook:

1. We played Thursday / Saturday and then got the extra day rest when we needed it most for the regional semis on Friday / Saturday. It really helped Mitch, but Dave also benefitted. That one day was huge.

2. When we needed to comeback, we happened to face a guy that we had extensive knowledge. For Miami, it was Charlie Moore, and we turned him over several times to start the second half. For UNC, it was Manek. Dave and Mitch had faced Manek many times before. They knew they could post up against him. And when all the marbles were up for grabs, Dave had confidence that he could take on Manek.

These games are tough to watch — I don’t enjoy drifting behind opponents by double digits. But the comebacks are works of art and a sight to behold.

The only silver lining is that these experiences are super valuable later in the season and speak volumes for the heart of this team.

Masterful work down the stretch by both Coach and the seniors.

This team very well may get knocked out in the first or second round. But they also may make a run. There is enough talent to carry them to April and I still think the HOF head coach knows a helluva lot more about basketball than most. Matchups in March matter more than is often given credit.

Also the B12 is a death gauntlet this year. Will that work to our advantage (battle-hardened) or disadvantage (injuries, tired) I don’t know. But it is a fact that the average quality of the teams is outstanding. I hope this is demonstrable in the tournament (3-4 of the elite 8 from the B12?)

I’m bummed about the outcomes (We lost the B12 race this year) and sometimes the performance (use your short- or long-term memory) but, at the end of the day they are still My Jayhawks. I hope they clean up the details and get healthy in the next 10 days.

My son was in the Color Guard for the game today!

Just a reminder that Self used to be a master of getting more than was expected with players who had glaring holes.

He was a magician at hiding the flaws in the team and covering the weaknesses.

So, I don’t know what to make of this team where he had a bag o’ money to cherry-pick players with the attributes he needed — knowing that if someone didn’t quite work out, he still had his old magic tricks…

I mean, that was the old trope for like 10-15 years, right??? He had Perry Ellis, Brady Morningstar, Tyshawn Taylor, Kevin Young, Travis Releford, etc. etc. These were good players, but they had limitations… And yet their teams had a lot of success as I recall.

@kjayhawks I agree it would be asinine to fire Self and others. They did their investigation. They knew they were playing with fire. And we’ve discussed the fact that Self has a penchant for trying to give kids a second chance. Sometimes this works out; sometimes not.

The administrators were probably not trying to sweep anything under the rug. I don’t think they have a legal responsibility to make this (allegations) info public (until the justice process is completed and a conviction is made.)

However, most of us have a sense that wrong-doing by certain individuals or institutions needs to be made available to the public sooner, even before the justice system has engaged (and throughout the process). That work is typically done by journalists. It’s a double-edged sword, of course because not all the facts are available early and that can lead to speculation. Responsible journalists will work the leads for a while and gather facts before they publish, which is probably why the delay (Aug 26 to Sept 15) on this story.

Anyway: I’m sad and angry at Morris all at once.

It would be interesting to get Self’s perspective if he will ever take another risk like this on a kid. The stakes are very high for the program. But, of course, if he ever takes a risk that pays off, a kids’ life is changed forever, and one could argue, those are the highest stakes.

We witnessed a historic year in Kansas Basketball. It didn’t end exactly the way we wanted, but we’ll look back on this year as a watershed moment – HC Bill Self named to the HOF, Frank Mason III named POY (first in KU history), tying the NCAA record for consecutive conference championships (13) and setting the NCAA record for consecutive appearances in the Tournament (28), among other things.

I believe next year will be tough for us because expectations have been set at an extremely high level - without achieving the FF/NC goals.

In particular, our PG next year (and for many years to come) will be compared to Frank. Whoever takes over the PG role next year will be in a tough position. We now know great PG play when we see it. Anything less will be disappointing but less is almost certain.

So this is just a precautionary note to manage those ‘sky-is-falling’ feelings next year when they come. It will feel natural to pick apart the guard play and backcourt, but that’s because 2016-17 was the new benchmark for excellence.

I will just put out there this reminder – and, yes it might be rose-tinted a bit… But, just remember that this year’s much maligned team beat Duke and, barring an unimaginable collapse, would have beaten Houston as well (two Final Four teams and possibly the National Champion).

I’m convinced that what happened to this team wasn’t about talent and skill. And we may be over-rotating on roster construction as well. What happened was intangible stuff in the heads of players/staff and in the locker room. Whatever the bug-a-boo was needs to be eliminated.

If the rebuilding is proceeding the way it sounds, I’m loving it.

I still think Bill Self is the Man and has a great feel for players and can coach with the best of them. If he can get his guys to fix the phantom issue, this program WILL perform well again. That’s my 2 cents.

Just a thought… Maybe a way to properly honor the B12 championships is to give it a banner all to itself.

FROM THIS:

TO THIS:

The issue, IMHO is that Trump is consistently proposing people with relatively little experience for these very high positions.

Some are douche bags like Gaetz, most are mixed bags – they have some ideas that make good sense and other ideas that are pretty fringe/kooky to outright dangerous.

But the common theme is the lack of experience.

Now why would someone do that? Why fill all the top positions with people with little experience of the area they are going to be in charge of?

Because if you are planning to tell people exactly what to do (aka micromanage), it’s much easier if they have no depth of knowledge about what they are told to do.

IF you want to build a team of rubber-stampers and executioners, the best qualification is ignorance in the domain. The second best qualification is pledged loyalty.

Bad: People who have knowledge and experience to cloud their conscience.
Good: who have no knowledge and experience that will compete with his instructions or color their decisions.

This is so dangerous. If people don’t see this, then we are truly lost.

This country isn’t perfect. There are things that need to be addressed. But there’s a lot that isn’t broken. The way Trump is approaching this, there is HIGH likelihood that the baby will be thrown out with the bathwater because he and all his deputies don’t know which is which.

That’s not how you make America great again. That’s how you damage the hell out of America and probably make it more vulnerable than it has been in 50 years and leave wreckage that will take generations to repair… if ever.

In Trump’s words: SAD.

Best thing I saw all night was rebounding. Second best thing I saw was confidence.

Worst thing I saw was taking the foot off the throat.

@jayballer67 said in So- with all these players coming and going, what is next years team gonna look like?:

See I think this was part of fans problem, we got so spoiled because of the player Doke turned out to be, and SOME again SOME just thought that would automatically carry over to Dave. - Totally different type player.

Yes, and embellishing on two points:

1. we were spoiled and we never got our payout for the product. Doke + Dotson et. al was spectacular and then covid fizzled everything and the let down was immense. Without the tournament, the fanbase neither experienced the ultimate satisfaction (via a NC), nor had to come to grips with any limitations on our expectations (from a heart-breaking loss).

2. Dave is a completely different 5. He is built different and moves different and has totally different strengths (and weaknesses). Almost unfortunate to have such different types of bigs in succession. In fact, that was another reason why last years team was so good – having Dave back up Doke is a big transition for the defense in the middle of games. This year, when Dave came out, the replacement was not stylistically different and required little to no adjustment for the defense.

That was a charge 19/20 times.

@joeloveshawks1 said in Let the slobberfest begin:

@mayjay I think Bill might retire in a slightly less self congratulatory manner than Coach K. I suspect a quiet “What a great season this was. I’m retiring.” Sort of the way Roy Williams retired. With class and very little fan fare. Coach Ks insufferable ego forced this one year circus where the entire basketball world had to kiss his ass repeatedly. Thank god he will never coach again!

Coach K’s approach invited the circus and ESPN was more than happy to oblige. The sports media enabled this slobberfest. I’ve been disappointed with CBS in the past week and especially the last 24 hours getting so sucked in. And when they weren’t tied in knots about the Duke-UNC game, they were gushing about Villanova — even after the loss. It was embarrassing how Big East-centric their perspective was.

This game will be much easier to evaluate at the end of the season.

My personal opinion: Hindsight will show that our turnovers are as much a credit to TCU’s defense as to our sloppy play. Good defenses cause TOs. And TCU is well coached, so they have an edge on anticipating actions and lanes.

I think this will look like a good win in March.

Also, this was a 50-50 game throughout and we won. Neither team got or gave up a big lead. Winning that kind of game is always good!

I think we all can agree that, for a pick up late in the offseason, he was a pretty vital addition.

As much as I wonder where would we be with Morris, I also wonder where would we be without Furphy.

Our identity is mostly throw the ball inside to Hunter. That’s not altogether bad, but, with that strategy we cannot give up lots of 3s to a team because the math isn’t in our favor.

The 2 identities that I’d most like to see change starting immediately are 1) the ability to withstand a push by a team and come back from a deficit in the game, take the lead and hold it to the end, and 2) finish the halves – that is, execute flawlessly in the final 1-2 minutes and come out even or ahead of where we were at the under 4 timeout.

Tempting to get juiced for all these new toys in the toybox… but don’t forget that history shows many fail to pick up the system quickly. It’s not uncommon to have a shiny new toy sitting on the bench for extended periods in Nov, Dec and even Jan.

Sometimes, it takes a full year and the production only comes in the second year.

Not trying to be a downer… But trying to stay realistic.

With that in mind, don’t sleep on the incumbents who know the system and have grown another year.

The whole thing is disappointing on so many levels. Appreciate folks sharing the info. It remains relevant, even though it is bad news.

Time to get our MOJO back! I’ve re-instated the RED theme for the weekend.

Let me know if something has been broken or looks weird on your browser.

I’m using the code that we had debugged last time so it should be stable… but ya never know…

@Texas-Hawk-10 said in 2024 Portal Madness Thread:

@rockchalkjayhawk said in 2024 Portal Madness Thread:

Ugh.

The NCAA will no longer limit the amount of times that athletes can transfer schools. Previously, athletes were allowed to transfer one time and play immediately, but they had to sit out a full year if they transferred schools a second time without a waiver. The two transfer windows are still in place with the new ruling, and players can’t transfer schools in the middle of the year and play for their new school in the same season.

The caveat to the unlimited transfer rule is players must be in good academic standing in order to not sit out after that first transfer.

Actually, that’s a reasonable rule because it treats the student-athlete like their peer students. A student in good standing can transfer to another school without any penalty. If the athlete is taking their student status seriously, they should have the ability to move from school to school like other students.

It certainly has implications for the game. But I have a feeling that the frenzy we are going through currently will settle down a bit in the coming years as the basketball community comes to better understand the positives and negatives that come with transferring.

Right now, it’s a big unknown so there’s unbridled experimentation.

I’m disappointed but I don’t begrudge Kevin. He did a lot for this team and for the program the past two years.

The hardest part of this for me is the lingering “what if?” What if he was still playing? What would our record have been with him?

If Kevin wasn’t so good and so important, it simply wouldn’t hurt so much.

We would have missed Kevin at the conclusion of the season no matter what. But, the fact that he played his last game early is where the extra pain comes from.

Personally, I thank him for coming to KU and giving us some big wins and amazing memories.

@HighEliteMajor said:

this season died on that date. It is over.

If this is true, at least when we die, we do it like royalty – Challenging for the crown and threatening to take the gold and jewels into the afterlife.

There are, after all, so many ways to die.

I like the Crimson and Blue colors in that picture… That’s the view of Hawaii though Jayhawk glasses.

@KUSTEVE Love your perspective. Right on.

Good luck to Duke when Coach K retires. We’ll see if you can keep it going without skipping a beat.

North Carolina had the dip after Dean. Kentucky has had it’s misfires after Rupp and will likely be challenged after Calipari leaves (probably in a smoldering pile of ashes from an NCAA nuclear blast).

Our most recent 3 coaches have had a level of excellence that is not seen by other programs. It’s really remarkable and something to be treasured.

We may or may not win #12 this year… but regardless of this year’s outcome, the team has been graced with amazing talent and good character for a long time. It’s a joy to be a fan!

Great thread.

JMO: I believe we have had three teams playing as close to their ceiling as is possible – maybe above their ceiling. They’ve easily each played their best game of the season against us. We have withstood that and I think it’s more about how good our opponents have played than about our deficiencies. We haven’t played at the top of our game, and fortunately, haven’t needed to.

Maybe I’m out of touch with what ‘excellence’ looks like these days, but I feel like the athleticism of this team (7 rotation) is top 5. Our guards and outside shooting is top 5. We have more playmakers on the floor at the same time than I can ever recall.

Defense is a question, but it is a Bill Self team and that portends well in the long run.

Ok, here’s for my completely fan-boy comment. (i.e. I may regret this and have to eat my words):

Josh Jackson is the best freshman we’ve had since Wilt (who didn’t play varsity.) Better-- more impactful – than even Manning. He isn’t scoring as much as Wiggins or Manning, but he impacts the game more through all aspects of the game. It reminds me a bit of young Jordan. I know… I’m a homer, but the kid is solid gold – a winner. The combination of him with Mason, and company is dreamy. And improving.

Can they be beat? Of course. The ceiling of the best teams like Villanova, West Virginia, UNC, Kentucky, Baylor, Creighton etc is not far from our ceiling.

But I think they can go toe-to-toe with any team even when that team is at the top of their game. We have to play close to our ceiling against teams playing at the top of their game… But this team is capable of taking any team’s best shot.

Football.

It has been at the top of the mountain. Financially, it has been the driving force behind conference re-alignment. It’s been the main engine for fund-raising for many universities… The NFL is a huge business.

But the demise of football is imminent. This week’s news that autopsies of 111 NFL players’ brains revealed CTE in 110 of them is the death knell for football.

Not today. Not next year. But it’s coming.

The demise of football is certain. With the medical evidence mounting, it is undeniable that playing football is hazardous to your health.

Universities cannot continue to sanction a sport that is assured to cause a brain injury. If I was an NFL owner, I’d be looking to sell sell sell. The product that you sell is killing the people who create it. How do you manage the workman’s comp liability for this?

So what does this have to do with Basketball?

Everything.

As football declines, the #2 sport will rise to take its place. Basketball is not only the #2 sport, but it is played by both sexes and it has global popularity. In short, the ceiling is much higher for basketball than football.

It’s only a matter of time before the reality sinks in for the power 5 conferences. Once they get it, there will be a scramble for the schools with basketball pedigree.

My guess is that as early as 2020, the tide will be turning… (apologies to Alabama) and by 2030, basketball will be the dominate athletic enterprise in universities and the NBA will eclipse the NFL in revenue and popularity.

This is good news for KU and the great basketball tradition we all love. It will be even more valuable and more coveted in the future.

Not In Kansas Enymore.

“Hopefully it doesn’t hurt him moving forward,” Self said of Azubuike, who finished the game with nine points and six rebounds.

“I’ve always been a big believer that you send a bad message to somebody when you don’t have confidence in him. Especially when you know he’s going to have to play every big minute late in the season against good competition.”

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On this bright bright stage – all eyes on the hyped up KU/OU match up – Self knew the scouts would be watching. So this was Azubuike’s opportunity to show he was ready for the NBA.

Make the FT down the stretch, go to the next level. Miss, and stay another year.

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Well, we all know how the story ended. And for that reason, I think we just witnessed Self get Udoka back for his junior year.

I don’t think Self will trust Doke in close games late the rest of the regular season at least. That will limit his opportunity to be a hero – with either a game-winning block, dunk or free-throw. This will sink his stock with scouts.

Oh and one more silver lining given the recent turn of events:

Now that Doke can’t be trusted in the game the final 5 minutes, he can be turned loose to play more aggressively the first 35. If he gets foul #5 any time after the 3min mark, it’s not the end of the world. And likely he’s created more havoc defensively blocking shots and scrapping for rebounds. This alone could change the games. Not that I think he’s been timid up to this point, but I do think Self has worked to protect him and his minutes. Once that becomes less of a priority, Doke should adjust his game accordingly.

Let me start by saying that Vick is one of my favorite players and I have been watching his career with great anticipation since he was a freshmen. He has amazing leaping ability and must be one of the most athletically gifted Jayhawks in the past 10 years. His shooting stroke is beautiful.

But then he’s had off nights and lost consistency. He’s disappeared and looked less interested. There are long stretches where the offense doesn’t move through him or even include him, except for the occasional lob and jam (which are almost always spectacular).

But more of a concern than the recent inconsistency is the body language.

Body language sounds subjective, so I will provide Exhibit A and Exhibit B for your consideration:

EXHIBIT A: Lagerald distant and disconnected

EXHIBIT B: Watch the team entering TT locker room – each player celebrating as they high-five Hudy. And then watch how Vick walks down the hall and greets Hudy…

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article202007479.html

C’mon Lagerald!! We need you! If you are at the top of your game, there isn’t a team that can beat us!

I like Vick. Always have. He’s had his ups and downs and haven’t we all. Coming back and finishing school will be the best decision of his life when he looks back in 15 years.

In the short term, his athleticism has been underestimated consistently. I think he is the kind of guy that can propel the team to a deep run — again.

For reasons I can’t explain, I have always liked this kid and I wish him all the best this year. It will be a life changer, I think. He should in the NBA after this season.

This KU team is deeper than we’ve had in quite a while.