From now on, let's only recruit players that do this! No one is going to convince me this is staged and the guys are only here for a paycheck!

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite all-time Jayhawk teams, and that is regardless of their March performance!

Our athleticism completely dominated this game. It's been years since I've said that! Merry Christmas, everyone!

I'm okay if we go ahead and win out from here on out... with a different guy having a career night each game. Hmmm.... let's see... who is next? lol

This will be a good test. Are we ready to start a new trend of winning on the road? It's one thing to win on a neutral court... and something completely different on their court.

We will have had several days rest and prep for this game, including the mixing of DP in the lineup. Just from the little bits of DP we've seen... he isn't going to be our quarterback. That position clearly goes to Melvin, who creates plenty of action to build his assist numbers. We need DP to score. There is a good article about Mel on kusports and how he has been the mvp of this team so far. I think DP will become that title eventually if he stays healthy because he'll get more pt and will get properly integrated in this team. Still... it will be close between these guys, while Tre does Tre. I said this weeks ago... he is our "silent assassin!" Melvin barks like a dog.. Tre bites! lol

@Jayhawk_69 said in Kansas Jayhawks @ NC State Wolfpack Game Chat Sat. 12/13 4:30 CT:

Reportedly, Bill Self has said that Melvin Council has been "hands down" the MVP of the team so far. Thoughts?

Personally, I like Melvin a lot but I would give the nod to Tre.

I think Tre likes to be the silent assassin. Teams aren't focusing on him with double teams and their prime defender, so he can go get his almost at will. He's the best rebounding guard I think Kansas has ever had. And he's one of the few Jayhawks who understands how to draw fouls in our entire history. I acknowledge Frank and Devonte as being good at this, too... but not like Tre.

Mel is an energy/emotion guy! He turns it up most when receiving praise. And he does deserve plenty of praise!

I still can't get over Fran Fraschilla criticizing this group Self recruited from the portal. He always has to find something wrong with KU.

I'm back! Made it through the gauntlet. Can't get rid of me that easily!

This is a pretty accurate look at Hurley:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me8cMqSvpEQ

I do see him as a savant, a lunatic, and often, a dickhead.

He shows us all... that we need to have more in our life than basketball. Dan does not. Someday he will be recognized as one of the basketball coaching greats... from his mental ward.

Two years ago, I made an absolute fortune picking UCONN winning the nattie... so I can't say even worse things about him.

I could be wrong... but I'm thinking Elmarko is the only one on our team (and maybe on both teams) that understands this rivalry and what it means to both schools.

After seeing him become a one-man wrecking crew against Tenn I know he has it in him to go f some teams up if he is inspired to. (actually, he got Melvin going, too)

Elmarko is my Hawk to rock. By a landslide.

@nuleafjhawk

We just can't escape the elephant in the room... This young man is a walking Fort Knox. It is likely he will make over $100 million in his career.

I don't care if he sprained a toe nail. The guy should sit as long as needed. And he will basically have to walk out on the court to earn his old job back.

And if it's me being replaced for some minutes, I'm cool with it. If I want to keep my minutes, I better go out there and outplay him.

Just my opinion, and everyone is entitled to their opinion.

There is some really dark ideas going around... like he has eligibility issues. Or others saying he won't return. This all needs to stop...and let this play out.

I still have confidence in his return and this is all a legitimate concern about his health.

@bskeet said in Kansas Jayhawks vs Missouri Tigers Game Chat 12/7 12:00 CT:

Pounding Missouri is occupying 100% of the space in my head for basketball right now.

As it should.... for all of us.

It's the suffering part of being a Jayhawk... with hopeful relief on Sunday afternoon, followed by ecstasy, followed by a year of not having to think of this again until it's back on the radar.

@BShark said in Kansas Jayhawks vs Missouri Tigers Game Chat 12/7 12:00 CT:

@drgnslayr It's kind of wild but I feel pretty good with Jamari being the 6th man.

I do, too. Jamari still has upside left in the tank, too. As his confidence grows, so will his game. I love his threat as a trey shooter. Teams will always give him that, thinking he can't make it. He can. I also think everytime he hits one of those the whole team gets excited about it.

People aren't really talking about this... but I see a team REALLY COMING TOGETHER as a team! These guys get excited for each other, and are unselfish. DP is expected to shoot often, but even he is unselfish.

If we can stay healthy and keep with this trajectory, we will be scary come March!

@ROCKCHALK2025 said in Kansas Jayhawks @ NC State Wolfpack Game Chat Sat. 12/13 4:30 CT:

Conclusion? -- - should be easy enough to remedy -- three keys : Take care of the ball , we have done pretty good with that only 10.9 per

I'm 99% certain that has to do with having Vaughn on the bench.

This team doesn't play like any other team we've ever had, and part of that is how they are learning how to take care of the ball. Self always focused on aggressive defense and never really specifically focused on taking care of the rock. The reduction in TOs is because of Vaughn. He's teaching them how to pass... like... how to pass out of a double-team.

I think Hunter was the problem from the last two years. He was hated by so many other schools because he fed into the hate. I don't think he was a positive for our team. Sports is spiritual based. We talk alot about "team play" and that requires the group of guys coming together. Self praises this team for their cohesion... they have girlfriends but would rather hang with the fellas. Melvin has been a fuse for an explosion of good for this team!

We can't rate DP as a Mesoball player where Jaybate and I used to rate players for their ability to "give it all on the court, or die."

And, come on, really... this teenager is months away from signing his first contract, leading to other contracts worth lotto-amounts. It would be dumb if he went flying for a ball on the court and came out injured and lowered his future value. I know it isn't what any of us want to hear... but we have to settle for his potential to give maybe up to 90% effort, and the extra 10% is for caution's sake.

90% of DP is better than 99.9% of the players currently in D1.

My own opinion... up until now, we haven't seen more than a 70% effort because he's not at full strength.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed we eventually get a 90% DP!

To be honest, I'm relieved he isn't going to play tonight. I believe it would risk too much on a game that really won't turn out to be so important in March or any impact on league play.

This puts more pressure on UCONN to win in AFH. To lose to a team missing their star player is not a positive narrative for them.

This will be HUGE if we win! And it will do nothing but propel our guys into a great attitude to carry forward!

The risk with DP playing tonight is not only for him to aggrevate his health situation and likely risk being out for the rest of the year, but it also looks bad for us if he comes back and we get smoked. There is as much risk bringing him back in a game where he would have to produce big for us to win... and if he didn't, he would most likely slow down the rhythm we are on!

I'd like to see him come back for Towson or Davidson... games probably not necessarily played at the highest level, and with less pressure.

I read on another post somewhere the concerns of a Jayhawk fan, who stated, "what bothers me is our homecourt advantage seems to be slipping away. Teams come into AFH now and have confidence they can leave with a win." I concur, totally.

What has changed? Is it Self? Has he become softer since facing illnesses? Is it the crowds? Becoming more passive and quiet? Or is it opposing teams are just tougher? Maybe we are playing more competitive teams now at home? What about our own team... are we as competitive as we used to be?

I put most of the blame on our own teams. Since we've started losing more at home, we are also losing more often away, too.

If you went back a few years ago... I feel like any of those teams would have won this UCONN game. Being close down the stretch used to always spell victory in the old days.

Why was that? My perspective is that we had more players that were true Jayhawks. They bought in to the legendary status of Kansas basketball. They walked the halls and they read the history and why it is so important to maintain tradition. And Kansas tradition was to WIN IN AFH!

Maybe I'm spouting nonsense... too much caffeine this morning! lol

I sure didn't mind watching "DP lite" go off for 17 points. Wow... just coming back, battling a bug, and still offered us an upgrade!

I think our bigs, Tiller and Bodooongo (sarcasm), need to give us a lot more punch, especially on offense. Tiller needs to drive the paint, and Baduunga should run more pick and roll, and less back-to-the-basket stuff.

Tre was back in beast form... and then Fran criticized him like he wasn't a big catch for us in the portal. What a schmuck.

#1 stat... sticking out big time... Tre 13 rebounds! And man can he draw fouls!

Melvin... still learning how to be most effective, but getting there.

Kohl... not many minutes left for Kohl. He'll have to battle for those minutes on and off the court to get them back. That's a good thing!

Elmarko... stay positive, dude, and bring the mojo!

Overall - we started slow but that's usually when we play our best games. I'm a happy Jayhawk!

I'm excited to see us play NC-State. I do business with a lot of Wolfpack grads... so we better win! It will come down to perimeter defense, and with the speed we have we just need to put in a solid effort to limit their 3 percentage.

Tiller - I'm not expecting him to heat up from 3 soon, unless some things change. As I'm thinking back to the Duke game where he got hot, I think that was from the top of the key, where he usually isn't taking 3s now. He has an issue on his shot. When he catches the ball from a side, he makes it one motion with his shot. Even though it will take just an extra split-second... he needs to gather a bit. Bring the ball into his body, align on the basket, then go up and shoot. If he learns that, he will become a solid 3 shooter. I just don't see it right now with his current method.

Thinking back... didn't the JoJo back injury at KU continue to nag him in the NBA and slow down his revenue stream, and maybe still part of his health issues?