Best posts made by BucknellJayhawk3

“Fully agree that this is best. Best for KU and best for Bragg.”

I respectfully disagree. I think what would be best is for him to get his head on straight, embrace his job like never before and prove that he can handle the adversity instead of running from it. If we believe that KU is the best at developing ball players, then it goes that his best shot is at KU. Sometimes starting over at the same place you’re at (aka the best basketball program in the nation) is better for both personal and athletic growth.

Unfortunately, we don’t know what conversations transpired during the season and what exactly led him to this point. At what point did he do irreversible damage to his athletic tenure at KU?

Basketball players are allowed to make mistakes, and we all know Bill Self is interested in mentoring these youngins through them. The players have to uphold their end of the bargain by working hard and being a good teammate. Will Bragg have solved all of his problems just by transferring? Will he start working harder and being a better teammate (staying out of trouble) at the next stop? We’ll see. Either way, best of luck. Wish you had made different decisions that would have made it easier for you to stay at KU.

Possible that Billy and De Souza were cleared but Self is strategic about not announcing it until 5 minutes before the game? That’s what I would do! Any advantage counts.

Mo Bamba with 4 blocks per game! Yeeesh, what Bill Self would do to get a shot blocker like that on his team.

The uber elite shot blocker is one of my fav types of players to watch, it was so exciting when Withey was getting 5+ blocks during some games, rooting for him to get the KU record was a fun year.

This thread keeps coming to the top of the feed. I understand that the comments were meant to be said lightheartedly, and I believe they were, so this isn’t to point fingers. In fact, it’s only because I enjoy the KuBuckets community so much that I even bother sharing my opinion. With that being said, in general, if you have had to align yourselves at some point in your career or personal life against the “old boys club” mentality, you become sensitive to even lighthearted comments related to objectivism. Being in a field in academia where women are not empowered, and having a wife in medicine, I see how our perceptions of women shape how they are treated. I’m only super sensitive to these things because I don’t have the privilege not to be. My apologies for bringing us away from the delightful conversations about basketball by those who know much more than I do. What I want to add to the conversation, is that it’s OK to talk about these things, and the discourse (if constructive) is what makes us all better. Perhaps I can use a change of viewpoint to help me out of my sensitive views.

Woah, was hoping for a satisfying win to get me pumped. Game left a bad taste in my mouth. Our offense turns into lets just pass it around the perimeter for a while then someone gets the gumption to run into their bigs and throw up a prayer that gets blocked or rattles hard off the hoop. I know we play the high-low, but man we go through stretches where it doesn’t seem like it’s a strength of ours.

Was very pleased we got the dubya, of course, Hopefully these guys can get some rest over the next 10 days before the next game, I would imagine we’re pretty beat up. In a way, it’s probably not a bad thing that we had to win ugly with this big break, keep everybody on their toes at practice.

I’m not entirely fluent in basketball speak but I think when we had strong inside post players our style of play is the safest bet. Bill Self wants the team to take a high percentage of shots at the rim where the shots are supposedly easiest to make, and additionally, you generally have a better chance of getting to the foul line if you drive it inside. So hi/lo is just basically a safe bet offense? Combine this with stellar defense and you’ve got a recipe for consistent success. However, as per the Newell article, if our 2pt shooting % is abysmal, then something needs tweaking!

Agree! Really pleased with Hunter for his game today. His hands are better than Lucas’. I thought he would be in the rotation given he had all last year to sit out and learn the system and is now a junior. Hope he gets the chance to develop more. Oubre of course looked like a kid in a candy store getting his touches tonight. Fav play of his was the steal he took down for a dunk. Should have given Cliff more of Ellis’ minutes. Now if only we knew how to defend the perimeter.

I don’t quite frequent the boards enough to know the state of the K-Union regarding playing time philosophy, but a couple questions come to mind as we get through the meat and potato’s of conference season.

Is big Cliff not ready yet for playing time? He’s putting up pretty good per minute numbers right (stats a la JNewell), but still only getting 20 mpg. Is he not passing the eye test yet? Will we see him break into 30mpg anytime soon- perhaps lingering back problems?

Along a similar line, how much of Perry’s funk is just a funk? Self is very high on him and he still gets his 30mpg good or bad. Does Self limit his playing time ever until we see super aggressive Perry? Also, as an aside, I’m not as big of a fan of describing Perry’s play as lacking energy. Although I do recall a few games when he did look a little sluggish, that’s not quite my beef with his play when he’s slumping. Super aggressive Perry may be better at rebounding, but also seems to throw up a lot of spin move shots that don’t really… have a shot. Would love me some more intuitive/high IQ Perry for the rest of conference ball! Obviously, energy is still a big part of playing well, I’m just making the point that I don’t want it to translate to poor shot selection for the sake of being aggressive.

Self was very high on Wayne before the year started, touting him as one of the best in practice, and Wayne is playing very well. Is the ceiling a lot higher for him? We haven’t seen too many break out games from him this year and we are 16 games into the season. Does he have potential to go off for 30+ points? I think he does! Just haven’t seen it yet though.

This will be a tough game at ISU, at the start of a tough 3 game stretch. Hoping we can go 2 for 3 and end up 5-1 or better. RC.

Someone pointed this out, well probably put up a better fight playing away than we did on home court. Maybe they just need a little venom thrown their way to get that extra edge.

I’ve been a Kansas fan since childhood but have lived in Charlottesville for the past 5 years. If I ever have posted about Virginia basketball I usually get the same old “But its so boring to watch!” As basketball fans I think we can all appreciate excellence where we see it, and now that UVA has won the 'ship it’s good to see their style of play on the pedestal for at least a brief moment. Some say that the game doesn’t have as much flow, but I always thought that Virginia’s games go by quicker, there are less fouls and turnovers to make the game feel so staccato or interrupted. Virginia was ranked #1 in fewest turnovers this year (Kansas at #225), and #6 in personal fouls committed (Kansas at #110). I’m sure these scale with possessions, and there are probably other stats to look up, but I don’t think there’s a need to write an essay here. It’s incredibly pleasing to watch clean basketball. It’s pretty cool when UVA will get 3-4 stops in a row; the crowd at JPJ goes nuts. When I watch Kansas I often think (at times!) about how sloppy our passes are or how ineffective our defense is; not every game, but there are stretches. If boring basketball can win championships without one and dones, it can’t be that bad I’m hoping we get some of those long term 4 star players. RCJH.

Woohoo! KU recruits all over the world, but we’ve gotta recruit in our backyard too. He may be a 3 star but now he’s OUR 3 star. Looking forward to seeing him develop.

Anyone else think the starters lacked some energy at the opening of last nights game? Good thing Self has a full bench to unload when we get like that. It was really hard to watch the hawks on defense for parts of last night with Iona getting open on the perimeter or just hustling more for the rebound. Also, there were a couple of Iona’s big guys that seemed to just drive into the lane at will- close the holes guys!

Wiggins reminds me a little bit of B-Mac in terms of his passive play sometimes. He just doesn’t get the ball enough! Could it be that he needs to do more to get himself into position, off the ball? Seems like he’s not always in the right spot at the right time, a couple of times I was hoping Mason would kick out to Wiggins but he had a man on him. Or perhaps we have too many other options on the team… We clearly were putting up enough points last night, but I can’t help think we can still squeeze more out of the big wig.

LOVED that Tharpe was so patient and didn’t chuck up threes ad nauseum! Last year he seemed a little trigger happy but that dude has control this year! The first play of the game was beautiful, they must have passed it 10 times before Perry shot it.

Random- I’d rather us hold Towson to 39 points than to score 100 in the upcoming game.

While Embiid isn’t starting, he’s still getting pretty good minutes. Maybe this helps take the pressure off the big guy. Pyschologically I imagine it’s very different to start then to come off the bench. Maybe it’s part of the grooming process for a few more games. I bet Tarik starts for the upcoming away games and Embiid starts once we get back to Allen Fieldhouse in December.

I really hope Frankamp comes back next year with 20+ lbs of muscle, something like and Andrew White build! He looks so stickly out there compared to the other athletes. Greene does look more athletic out there. It’ll be interesting to see who gets more minutes because both have diff. strengths/weaknesses.

I think Perry Ellis is our go to man in halfcourt offense, but when our offense is running the court on transition his offensive load diminished a little bit, which is all good in Lobrence, KS.

Not enough games being played, I hate waiting more than 3 days for the next game! Just subscribed to Kenpom.com and he’s predicting the Jayhawks go 24-5 and OK state to beat us out by 1 game. This matchup is going to be amazing.

I hope he comes to KU, gets some good playing time, stays for his sophomore year then goes lottery.

Keep the centers/power forwards coming! glad to see Texas losing at home, if we don’t win the big 12 and Texas does, would hate to think we were a Myles turner away from winning. Come on self, get us one more big!

I remember Self saying Jamari gets playing time because of his intangibles not because of his box score. Something to do with everything he does away from the ball. I would guess Self likes him for his toughness and hustle, and expects Jamari to set the tone for other bigs when they come in. I would be Self starts Jamari for most of non-con before someone else with more offense gets the start. Doesn’t really matter who starts but who gets the most minutes right?

Was super super excited to watch Diallo. I love guys with that much energy, you just want to root for them. His box score was great in the second half, but more than that, just liked that he has a motor that no other big on the team has. He definitely looked bright eyed and bushy tailed. Go Cheick! Hoping he doesn’t just have this one season in Lawrence

Not too many questions about who will get their minutes. I don’t think anyone will say this team doesn’t have the potential to make a Final Four run.

Sometimes on this board we hype ourselves up quite a bit in the offseason, envisioning that everyone will have turned the corner and developed into their potential finally and at last.

As an exercise, what if the role players stay as role players without improvement, Devonte doesn’t fill the hole left by Frank, Malik hasn’t improved since Miss St, Doke can’t stay out of foul trouble and Preston still needs another year in the system? Well then I think we’ll have trouble getting past the sweet 16.

However, and thankfully, i think it’s unlikely that everyone will have plateaued. I personally don’t expect big gains from Svi, Devonte, or Preston. If Devonte stays as last years Devonte, that’s still pretty great. I’m thinking Vick, Malik and Doke have the biggest growth. Can’t wait to see what happens.

At what point do you get to your 7th three pointer, after already missing your first 6, and think, taking this shot is the best way to help our team? We’re going to need Svi big time this year, he’s gotta be more consistent. Svi usually ends up a lot of possessions when he’s in the game, so we need him to be on. He took the most shots on the team but played the third most minutes. RCJH

I think we come out a little eeked out, get some bad fouls, throw up a few bricks, and we’re down at the half. Second half we come out and everybody is calm collected and we play our game, get the easy buckets and cruise to an 11 point victory. I like being a second half team, I recall we won a lot of close games down the stretch last year. RCJH.

I don’t think Kansas gets the cool factor the same way a UNC or UCLA does. However, guard play at Kansas has gotten a MAJOR perceptual upgrade the last two years with our 4-1 and POY. We used to be a team of Cole Aldrich’s and Wayne Simiens but now we’re Frank Masons! RCJH

We score 98 points, and Graham plays 32 put only gets 8 points. Graham has the keys but isn’t revving the engine on the points front, and I don’t think he’ll be a prolific scorer for us this year (and that’s ok). I think he had even more of a scoring role with Frank by his side, not less, as it might have been presumed.

Remember how hard it was for Svi to not enter the draft last year? He was def. not even close to a predicted 1st rounder. Players will leave before their stock peaks. Who knows what they have being whispered in their ears. Sad! I hope Doke stays.

@JayHawkFanToo I went to the recent UVa Game Day in Charlottesville a few weeks ago and it was a 61-60 OT thriller! They won’t choose Game Day for a game vs Pitt which is winless in the conference. Although I will say, rooting for a defense when it is holding teams to low totals is exhilarating. If KU held a league opponent to 7 points in a half, it does energize the fan base. It reminds me of rooting for Withey to get blocks when he was going for the record, making the other team look like they just learned the game of basketball yesterday.

That was a long tangent, RCJH.

@Buster-1926 I would also lose interest during exhibitions, but not during conference play. Excellence in any form is a joy.

Did you know that Jay is older than Self by a year?! That blew my mind; only because we know Self has the high ground. I thought the clash was between a wise old man in Self and less old wise man Jay. I should have known given that I’m a Bucknell grad…

So Jay’s playing in this Big East pseudo power conference; I imagine that irks him a little. Think he’ll ever leave Nova?

Asking the same question a different way; what will another year in the system get Garrett? Our bigs typically get much more efficient in their sophomore campaign, but I think our gaurds don’t tend to make a giant leap. Look at Svi/Devonte, in their sophomore campaigns they were awarded more minutes but stats per minute didn’t change much. Smart guard play seems to take a few years to develop.

@jaybate-1-0 well, I’ve never heard the philosophy of 3D printing sung to that tune before; good stuff!!

In my lab I’m mostly working with high end metals that have aerospace applications. With our CAD files we can run all sorts of finite element model testing to predict how our material will work. The modeling (it doesn’t have to be just FEM) is usually right on the money; mechanics has been around for a long time and material behavior in compression and tension are well described by the literature, even for porous/lattice structures. We have mass optimization parameters that we can use to keep the relative density of our parts low but the strength/fracture toughness high. It gets even more interesting if you can involve machine learning, but I’m only just learning how machine learning can be helpful. Your term technological baroque (“By this I mean proliferating product variation yielding little to no increase in function, but simply contributing to new versions with almost the same utility being endlessly rolled out to give sophisticated marketing new things to hype as frequently as possible”) seems to capture the textile and even plastics industry accurately. What are we creating that’s new? Anyone with a website can now sell customized gear from an inventory they bought for pennies from Chinese manufacturers off Alibaba.com (even I did this as a quick way to make some cash when I was feeling more entrepreneurial!). It’s clear neither of us think all of AM is technological baroque, but plastics (clothing are plastics too) can be made quick and inexpensively, so it’s not surprising that the market has gone in this direction.

The cost of an at home desktop 3D printer that will print metal is going down. However, not sure I would want to print out a replacement part for my bike and trust that it holds up while I’m riding down the mountain at 30+ MPH. I still prefer to have my metals produced by industry unless I have done a full micro structural characterization of my home made metal (which would require some serious equipment).

Where does AM have a competitive advantage on the bball court? Still working on that one!

RCJH

1. I think Billy Preston has the best shot to stay in the NBA.

@HighEliteMajor yes, you’re right about the mechanism of their susceptibility. It’s a good thing for the law of averages: if you’re are a top seed enough times you’re bound to have an early exit but also a deep run. Self knows that taking high percentage shots and great defense can help prevent early tournament exits, so it’s odd when you see a Self team thats not quite playing to the defensive standard. My favorite KU years were when we had a big ol’ shot blocker down low making every game a block party and matched with a potent offense makes for great basketball.

@wissox I don’t hear much about Bennett’s Wisco background so it’s always fun to hear the parallels. Virginia is gaining a lot of traction in the recruiting world, I have a feeling many McDonalds AA still won’t come to UVA, but maybe that’s a good thing. Shaka hasn’t done too hot with arguably better recruiting power at Texas, but maybe that’s not the best corollary. I think the best player Virginia recruited since 2015 has been ranked #30. Fun fact, last year Kehei clark, ranked #390, started and played 27 minutes a game his freshman year, and we thought Ogbaji was a diamond in the rough!

Having a female chancellor (I’m assuming that’s what you are referring to, but correct me if I’m wrong) does not mean that the old boys club mentality is dispelled, right? Cultural shifts can take a while, especially at institutions which offer tenured positions; think generationally. Hopefully there was progress made, I think we can both agree on that.

Totally agree- life ain’t fair and oversensitivity is a problem affecting our society. We need people like you who are passionate about their freedom of speech! You implied I am one of those trying to “eliminate” your freedom speech but I’ve already mentioned I encourage the discourse. We should also all have awareness of what we share to our communities and what privileges we have. By privilege I am not just talking about sex or race. Even if we have the privilege not to concern ourselves with certain issues facing society, it doesn’t mean those issues in society don’t exist, right? Community leaders (even of small online message boards) can only lead when they understand the society they act in, otherwise they are just members without any meaningful influence.

Not too sure about the picture of the PhD costume, but perhaps it provided some people the joy you intended it to?

KenPom has some comparisons of players who have similar stats to Embiid, they are:

Similar: '12 Tony Mitchell (767), '08 Kevin Love (756), '11 Gorgui Dieng (744), '14 Noah Vonleh (737), '10 DeMarcus Cousins (734)

Interesting to note that Wiggins best match was '08 Kyle Singler

I haven’t kept as up to date as I’d like on these boards, but with our freshman problems, I can’t help but be VERY excited for the upcoming years. While we may not have Wiggins or Embiid, having Greene/White/Frankamp/Ellis as upperclassmen is going to be the mix of talent + senior leadership that we need. Self squeezes so much out of his players. Last year Withey/EJ/Releford/Young were very experienced and almost made the final four. Can’t wait to have that experience with more talent to boot and a few OAD’s in the mix!

Also, while it’s not a democracy, regarding the White/Greene/Frankamp dilemmma, my votes for Greene! I think he’s got the greatest upside for us this year.

It’s been a good 22 hours now since this loss. I just hope the loss has the desired effect of humbling this team and centering them. I worry that a young team like this has a bit more of a juvenile outlook, and rightfully so, they’re only 19 years old! We lost to a good SDSU and ended up still in the top 20 in many of the polls, and haven’t been blown out by anyone yet. Could this loss at home, losing a historical winning streak, be enough to “break” these guys a little bit and get them more focused heading into conference play? I hope so.

It was truly a relief to win these past two games. Going into ISU/OKst/Baylor next week, we really needed to get out to 2-0. I’m pretty excited about this ISU game, the crowd is going to be NUTS.

Also, slightly off topic but UNC and Ol’ Roy are having a heck of a time this past year. Haven’t they been getting some pretty great recruits over there?

Can’t help but feel that was just a big relief win for us at Ok St. I think we all had this game circled on our calendar this year. I’m just trying to forget the second half, move on with the win, and hope we can get another few wins in us before we hit any type of mini-slump. While running the board all the way to the tournament would be nice, I think think that can also put pressure on a team. Is it ideal to lose a game just before the conference tournament, but after the team clinches the league? I would think so, but winning them all is always good, too! Didn’t the '08 team attribute their renewed focus to a late loss in conference play?

How is it that Embiid’s biggest point total is only 18? Jaybate mentioned when will Wiggins get 40, but I think the stars could align for Embiid to get 30+ by working the paint and getting a ton of free throws and a few J’s.

I love the Frankamp stat where he had like 100+ minutes played without a turnover at the end of the season. I will be excited if he gets more playing time just so that we don’t see as many turnovers. Not sure if this is a good way to thing about it, but if a player makes 2-3 less turnovers per game, and assuming the other teams scores 1 PPP, you should give them a +3 for the game and should help make up for defensive deficiencies on their end.

I agree with several posters that Tharpe will have a great year. Why? Because he’s gotta! Play your tail off next year or sit the bench. Team has more intrasquad competition than last year.

Darn! Always thought AW3 could have filled in OK if he was given the minutes. I’m sure he’ll make some team really happy. It’s too bad we’ll lose a guy with tremendous work ethic. I think he’ll do just fine, and hopefully can put himself on a tournament team that needs a good wing.

@HighEliteMajor good post!

I would love to be a fly in the wall for those conversations Self might have had with AW3 or BG, or even Oubre (ok, with EVERYBODY, ha).

I wonder if BS played BG over AW3 last season because he already made up his mind that one of them had to stay and BG had more upside, or if he just thought BG was playing better and wasn’t thinking of the off-season consequences of his actions. So for Bill Self was it an ugly necessary choice consciously made in the middle of the season, or did it happen just at the end of the season here?

Kind of related- isn’t it Bill Self’s way to just fill the roster instead of saving scholarships for more talented players in future seasons? Haven’t we picked up a few 3 star players here and there because we had open spots after potential recruits decided against KU?

I wonder if there’s wisdom here? Given how often Self will lose 2-5 rotation players a year, is it better to have the bodies NOW than to have non-guaranteed bodies in the next year? This type of philosophy may not be especially relevant to this years team given our depth, but then again we did just lose Tharpe and AW3 to transfer in what was a crazy week. Who could have ever thought at the beginning of last season that Tharpe was going to transfer at the end of the year?? The KU roster is very fluid! For all we know, we could see a Devonte or Lucas or <gasp> CF transfer if their playing time never meets their expectations.

Curious- why was this kid not on the recruiting radar before? Did he not open himself to be recruited or did we just not know about him? Such a sudden move, Bill!

Robert Carter Jr. 11 pts/ 8 rebounds in 27 mpg. Sounds like a guy who will be able to contribute, especially with another year of growth. I say sign him up! My thought would be he would outperform most freshman we could recruit by the time he gets to play in the 2015-2016 season anyway, so don’t see anything but a positive!

@DanR ah good catch. Whatever they’ve been doing to practice free throws over the last 2 weeks they should do for general offense- ha.

Was pleased that Self was loose enough to try different lineups tonight. No doubt he’ll tighten it way up for tougher games. Were so deep at the wing, was fun seeing svi, oubre and Selden all out there together. That’s some length!

So this is a little off topic but I was at the UVA vs Harvard game today and saw a team play brilliantly both on offense and defense. Virginia has four juniors that get the bulk of the playing time and touches, and it was very clear that they knew where they were supposed to be all the time. The best part is, they keep playing defense even with a big lead.

As we head into our last bit of non-conference schedule, my wishes for the next few games are to close out Temple, UNLV and Kent State with 6 solid halves of high IQ bball, sharp defense and low turnover rate. I remember the first half of the Utah game where the Jayhawks played aggressive defense- they stuck to their man’s bodies like glue, they were very active and up in their bitnit. The second half of that game it was like they got bored of defense and were complacent to give them space. The second half of the Lafayette game seemed the same way, and they let them take perimeter shot after shot. Of course, Utah and Lafayette had their moments, and KU’s defense is by no means terrible, but I think they’ve got it in them to do it better! It could be too hard to say if this team has made some strides playing <<here comes the buzzword>> outside/in ball, but I think we’ve probably got even more to gain on the defense side.

RCJH

Traylor played like the man we thought he could be! Frank mason is my MVP of this team- he’s always doing something good. Gonna be huge if we get Devonte back. I think a loss in this game might have elicited probably unreasonable doom and gloom for this young team, or maybe just for the fan base. Good thing we won!

We don’t normally talk about a players confidence- you guys really think Perry confidence could be hurting? Some of these guys are getting pretty seasoned you would hope.

Return of the lob! Love that Self is adapting. I mean, if the strategy he had working was doing him wonders for 10 years +, I understand why it would be hard to change his game plan. We have some pretty darn athletic dudes with great basketball instincts, but the first half of the season they didn’t show that basketball IQ. Guys are looking more comfortable, you could see it when they starting running the ball more. Why is it KU looks so uncomfortable in half court offense sometimes (and has for years, not just this year).

Was great to see us give another team a thomping, going to appreciate these games so much more now that they’re not as regular.

PS- Maybe we should try pack line defense a la UVA? (Shameless, but I live in Charlottesville…)

How do people forget how to play basketball? I understand offensive slumps, but rebounds and defense are hustle and willpower right?

I’m not saying I’m not impressed by him but this video looks like he’s just so much bigger than everyone that he makes it look too easy! I suppose making it look easy is hard to do though