Best posts made by drgnslayr

The only way to travel…

First… congratulations to Coach Self, our team, our school, and our fans! This was so needed for many reasons, not the least being the shaft we received 2 years ago for canceling our deserved run in March.

How did this happen?

Were we just lucky? Obviously no! Last night’s comeback shows just how good this team can be and had to be to bring home the trophy. But we can’t deny the luck we had along the way and I scratch my head wondering if the basketball Gods in AFH, or Bill Self Sr., pulled some strings from up above. Not only did we avoid injury throughout our March run, but we also benefited from other players going down and big upsets along our path. We even benefited in our final seconds as Bacot went down, turning the ball over and being done when his team needed him most. So many things happened in our path to this championship it is hard not to think someone upstairs didn’t pull a switch or two. I wonder if we might expect a new NCAA investigation into this one, draped in conspiracy theory and stretch out for another 20 years or so.

Self vindication? Hell yes! Gone are those critics saying Self can’t bring home another trophy. Gone are those critics saying Self can’t coach the big game. Personally, I’m giving the MVP award on this championship to Bill Self. He was a different man in this tournament than from the previous March tours. He was a lot more positive and had pure gratefulness for just being in the tourney. His poise was off-the-charts and it had to be the main ingredient for how our team stayed poised, including capping off the evening with the biggest halftime comeback in NCAA tournament history. I’ve never seen Bill smile more in March than he did this year. Listen to what he said to his troops at halftime last night, after being down by 15, another NCAA record lopsided score. He stayed poised. Listen to Big Dave’s comments after the game… he stayed poised. Bill is a different man after losing his father. I lost my father last year, too, and I know how different I am. Bill is, too. And it played out last night.

Comparing championships? I’m not sure I like comparing our championships at the threat that we minimalize any of them. But heck… we are sports fans and everything gets analyzed and compared. I wasn’t around for our 1952 championship so maybe others can comment. I did experience 1988, 2008, and now 2022. All three of these games are colossal storylines deserving special recognition. Even Self brought history into his locker room last night by asking his players… would they rather be down by 15 at half, or 9 with two minutes left in the game! I have to give credit for 2008 being the game where we had the biggest burst move to take the championship! I have to give the 1988 game kudos for creating “the legend” Danny Manning and how he carried his team on his shoulders to a championship over a heavily-favored OU team. But this team… this team’s storyline is only beginning to be told. Each player stepped up in their individual way to be a part of this! Never was the load so well distributed. Break down the game last night and you can point to so many plays by differing players that were “life or death.” Bill mentioned togetherness was their strength.

We may not own the record for most National Championships but no other school can claim as much March Magic as we possess! What stands out now… our book is yet to be written because we have so many chapters left to experience!

Love to everyone, and after more celebration lets start our next chapter of magic!

I’m still on a buzz after yesterday’s game. Why shouldn’t I buzz like a beehive? We scored a big win against a stable of lottery picks and the tallest team in the country!

DUKE CALLS: YES. The phenomenon lives on! We can no longer say it’s favoritism towards K. I will start with the obvious… no punishment for undercutting Hunter! Anyone who has ever dribbled a basketball knows that was a complete cheap shot and warranted a severe call. Hunter retaliated… and I know everyone will jump on Hunter for doing what he did. I thought that way, too, at the time. Having a night to sleep on it… Hunter did the right thing! Only Hunter can stick up for his protection on the court because big guys are always targeted for cheap shots that can put them out of commission. I wish he had blooded his face. Might as well since he received the death penalty.

Now for the Duke call no one is talking about. “The game is won by inches and tenths of seconds!” This is what I was taught playing ball in my youth. Duke advanced the ball to half-court only using .1 second. That is absolutely impossible! It is not possible to catch a ball and call time out using .1 second. Usually, the standard of minimum time to run off a clock on an inbounds play is .3 seconds. This is the minimum. Having one player both catch the ball and call timeout should be a good .5 seconds. This had me screaming every bit as much as the Hunter call!

BILL SELF IS ALIVE AND WELL! Am I the only one who noticed how good Bill looks this season (concerning his health)? He was running the sidelines and coaching throughout the game but especially down the stretch. I recall entire seasons where he sat on the bench and whispered to an assistant during games.

KJ’s BEST GAME AS A JAYHAWK! I’m going along with that! He made many key plays and baskets, and mostly, he shutdown Cooper for most of the game. But he did have help, and I had mentioned before Self might pull something out of his bag… and he did… with constant double-teams and it worked very well!

JUAN LOOKING TO SCORE! Finally! I said earlier that we can’t go too far if Juan leads us in scoring. I’m not so sure now. For one reason, we have balanced scoring coming from everyone on the team! They are all a threat and contribute and it happens often when not expected… but appreciated! Juan has turned his game up a notch and we will be hard to beat in March if we stay healthy and Juan keeps his pedal to the metal!

HUMILITY AND PERSPECTIVE HAVE TO BE MAINTAINED! Okay, we’ve beaten some good teams early on and remain undefeated and #1, but come on, this team has a long way to go before we proclaim their greatness. We were lucky on Duke’s second-to-last play that Kon didn’t see a wide-open Cooper on the trey line! That would have done wonders for the kid’s short college stint legacy!

DUKE REMAINS AMERICA’S TEAM TO HATE! They have become a recruiting monster that gets about all the players they want. That Kon kid is almost as good as Cooper. All I can say is the pressure is on Scheyer to turn lottery picks into titles. If he can’t soon, he’ll end up another Calipari… selling dreams and bragging rights for a big goose egg in March! I hope he fails miserably!

SUDDENLY WE LEARNED TO SHOOT FTS?! 91.7% from the line? Look how important that was in this game! Had we shot 70% we probably would have lost this game! Can we expect this every game? Of course not! But we shouldn’t be a mediocre FT shooting team. We have a team full of shooters and we should maintain one of the higher percentages in the country! Come on, fellas, take pride in this stat and focus on it!

LOVING OUR DEPTH! I still have PTSD from last year! But I will get over it… and quickly… because we now have a bench capable of keeping up with our starters and sometimes sparking a fire in our play!

RCJH!

I know many of you will be blasting out of here at any moment.

I just want to acknowledge KUBuckets ( @approxinfinity ) and all the awesome Jayhawk posters that made this a great season for talking up basketball!

I’ve had a great time and learned more about the game this year than any other year of my life!

You guys killed it this year!

Thanks to everyone!

This is it!

This is the “stir up” I’ve been waiting for, and I even feel like we got a bonus!

So… what am I talking about? Udunka stuffing at ease? Earning a starting spot to help lift his game? 4-guard x-axis basketball starting the game?

All good… but what I am talking about is the roles of Frank and Devonte. I have been pushing for Devonte as our PG for more than a year now. Technically speaking… hard to say if he was a PG last night or our SG. Turns out not to matter. Frank is probably our best ball handler to be responsible for getting the ball to half court. But once he crosses half court and is positioned in the middle atop the key, that is where traditional concepts are thrown out the window and the chemistry of Frank and Devonte take over.

Look at the stat book. Frank, our PG by name, scores 21 pts and had 5 assists. Devonte, our SG by name, scores 6 pts and had 11 assists. Who ran the show? Who was our real PG? I guess we will say BOTH just to avoid a senseless argument. Months ago, it was difficult for me to convince fans just how incredible Frank is at scoring… a true volume scorer. He has the aggression of a driving volume scorer and has a dead-on shot from trey when it is wide open.

I don’t think fans have thought much about how hard it is to score 21 points in a game while being the floor general. Frank can’t take full credit for this because he does have the help of Devonte. Devonte is growing as the team “play maker”… a role he needs to take and conquer. Devonte exploited the over-match last night by continuing to pound the ball to Udunka for slam after slam. That is what play makers do… something works, they keep going to it.

Now I will discuss the “bonus” I mentioned above. Coach Self is truly the “Riverboat Gambler.” In my past vision, I thought we should move Devonte into the traditional role of PG. But the guy with the cards has decided to not show his hand anytime soon. Perhaps Bill will keep it a shared role. How will teams prepare for that? Who do they put their best guard defender on? Coach’s “ace in the hole” turns out to be Devonte’s ability to step up for big offensive games. We can flip the roles and succeed, too… especially on those rare nights that we face a team with a gifted guard defender.

We are just at the beginning with this team. They are just now coming around to executing a few plays and twists, and perhaps more importantly, they are filling in their roles and starting to be held accountable. The removal of Landen and Carlton from the starting lineup was more about a message to the team. Everyone will be held accountable, even 5th-year seniors.

Udunka is now plugged in! He still has a long ways to go… but it was amazing to see him take advantage of his size, and largely do it without fouling. You can see the game is starting to slow down for him and he is just beginning to execute. Bravo! He certainly has picked up the pick and roll! Amazing how just one weapon can be utilized over and over! Imagine when he has several big weapons?!

There is always some drama on teams. And our current drama is about Landen and Carlton. Teams actually need a bit of drama. This drama should be a good thing as both players adjust to step up their games, and Christmas break is right around the corner. I expect both of these guys to really put their hard hats on during that developmental period.

Last. We have to realize who we played. It isn’t going to go this easy moving forward but at least we got a little taste of what these guys are capable of. And they got it, too! This should help them focus on a goal to play at such a dominant level on all our opponents and also away from home. We got a long ways to go, but one step at a time, and last night was a great step in our desire to climb to the top.

I just can’t stop being a mother… er… father!

1. JWil - You are the “X-factor” guy in this game that will not get the MVP trophy, but this championship goes through you! You have to glue on Manek on the trey line and shut him down while also fulfilling your role as dynamic rebounder! If you do these two things well, we will not be denied the title! On offense… drive to the paint with your calculated medium speed… knowing not to charge and needing only a crack to slip through and put your body on a defender and score at the rim! We need your double-double!

2. Chai - You’ve got this! Replicate your game on Saturday! Look for your shots and don’t hesitate! Defend hard, too. You called it right… you were built for this stage!

3. DMac - Just like Chai… bring your Saturday game! No reason to do anything else. Bring the contact to Bacot and force him to back down without dropping your shoulder! Get excited because you finally get to match up with a big who may be in more pain than you!

4. Juan - CONTROL THIS GAME! Play with poise, always be aware of tempo. You already know to push tempo. Our best tempo is sometimes a subtle shift. In the least, always push the ball up the court and make them run hard because they have no bench! When UNC runs and exerts energy on defense, they have less energy on their next offensive possession. So monitor UNC’s energy level and take advantage of it, and tweak our pace based on how well we score. It’s all inside you because you have the best court instincts we’ve had running point in a long, long time!

5. CB - Realize how much your second half burst counted in our win versus Nova! Your first half was less than stellar but you left that behind and always focused on the next play! Do the same in this game and you will have your shining moments that will really help us bring home the trophy!

6. Remy - No words necessary… You know how to support this team. Sometimes it means fitting into the flow, sometimes it means taking over. Trust your instincts and play to win!

7. Mitch - I doubt anyone will have more emotion than you because this is your last game in a Jayhawk uniform and you’ve been in Lawrence since the invention of the wheel! Don’t be hyped up! We need your steady play, be levelheaded, and you will put in many key plays that help us win because you know the game so well. Play the role of a veteran!

Team - Do what you did all year… maintain your poise! The brightest lights are on and YOU GOT THIS! All you have to do is play your hardest and leave all your game on the court, and stay poised! That is the winning formula!

I know I speak for all Jayhawk fans everywhere… WE ARE PROUD OF THIS TEAM, WIN OR LOSE!

Jo Jo made the historic step “out of bounds” that put black basketball players “in bounds” in college basketball.

In 1966, Kansas was in the Elite Eight game against Texas Western. In a key moment in the game, Jo Jo was called for stepping out of bounds. A crucial call leading to Kansas going down in defeat, 81-80.

As most of you know, Texas Western went on to win the National Championship. A historic game in more ways than one. Texas Western brought the first all-black starting five to the championship game and faced off against an all-white Kentucky team. In 1966, racial issues were tense in America. This game took on a different flavor than past championship games.

The Texas Western victory in the 1966 NCAA Championship game represented the final hurdle for college coaches all through America to come to an understanding that black players could be a huge benefit to their teams and worth the “risks” associated at that time for recruiting black players.

College basketball has never been the same since 1966, and Jo Jo White made the most-famous out-of-bounds play that changed the tint of college basketball all through America.

I remember that championship game. Not so much the game, but the firestorm that came afterwards. Racism was on full display during this period and there were many outlandish racial events occurring on a constant basis. Lynchings and police brutality were still common.

While our nation focused on these events and the uprising of black leaders, like Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., sports became the conduit for bringing black and white people together.

We shouldn’t forget our past. Jo Jo White was a true soldier for humanity. He represented himself with tremendous dignity and was rewarded with earned respect wherever he went, including his playing days in Boston, which was infamous for race intolerance at that time. Jo Jo has always been a part of my connection to the University of Kansas.

Rest In Peace, Jo Jo White. You will be missed by many and you will never be forgotten!

Calm down, people. If any non-KU people are reading this page their laughing… and rightly so. What this page really shows is we are spoiled rotten fans. We are crapping in our shorts because we are a 3-seed. Sure, we aren’t used to that. We also aren’t used to being in this position of being a team that has been beaten up by the NCAA for almost a decade with their b*llshit fake case where they somehow know more than the DOJ.

Self has vented frustration and it’s mostly where he shows relief because he’ll be able to recruit better again.

The idea of firing Self says everything. It’s starting to feel like Alabama football in here. I remember reading all those crying fans wanting Saban’s head on a stick because he only won 6 NCs. This is the type of crap that starts making a HOFr want to quit.

We have a team literally glued together based on only one idea; sign the best individual players we could get. Few top tier players want to play at a school in the cross-hairs of the NCAA.

Concerning this team… moving forward… anything is possible. We know we aren’t winning the league this year. What are our chances in March? Not so different than other years. The luck of drawing a good path in March will be crucial (as usual), and it’s all about us being healthy and playing good at the end. We could easily get knocked out in the first weekend, or go on a nice run. It’s the same for the rest of the D1 teams. Anyone can win and anyone can lose… just ask Purdue last year.

We never recovered from losing whats-his-name, the Texas guard who had off-court problems. Imagine if that didn’t happen and he had the year many of us felt he was capable of.

Everyone ragging on Juan. Seriously, people. You aren’t happy because he doesn’t just shift into a different player to meet our current needs. Had we kept the Texas guard Juan would be having a stellar year… doing what he’s good at… assists.

Let’s remember this entire season… not only the dud games like UCF. Has any other team won as many big team games as us? I guarantee you, no one wants to draw Kansas in March Madness.

The real problem we have is lack of consistency. This team can beat the best and lose to the worst. Yes, Hunter’s perimeter defense is awful. Yes, KJ has limited offense. Yes, Furph’s magic trey isn’t dropping right now. Yes, we get limited points out of Juan. Yes, Kevin’s trey isn’t falling. Yes, our bench is the weakest we’ve ever had under Self. I think it’s our weak bench that has hurt us the most, especially creating consistency issues.

This team is tired. Anyone can see that. So the same people who think Self needs to go probably also blame our guys for not being in shape. All I can say is we have more uneducated posters in here. How many of you guys played basketball that ran at this pace? It’s not something you can imagine until you’ve done it. I’ll prove my point by pointing to the world’s best basketball platform, the NBA. Our starters are playing more minutes than most top NBA players, and they play a 48-minute game spread out over more time. More timeouts, too. And we do not have all the benefits the NBA has with 365-day training, diets, etc. Plus, there is a reason why people say the NBA doesn’t play defense. These guys are pacing their seasons. That’s why I don’t watch NBA until June.

You have to start talking less and listening more. Watching games closer. BYU had the perfect game plan. They ran a grueling offense. Probably averaged 8 picks per possession. They beat us down. They knew we didn’t have a bench.

The smart move forward, as a fan base, is to support these guys and accept whatever happens this year. We are limited more than usual with this team. Push players to do better but be respectful. Don’t have typical insane expectations with this team. They may just surprise you in the tourney. Maybe.

I am probably like a lot of others in here concerning last night’s game. The first half gave me a stomach ache… thinking back to the last few years. Our guys not prepared for a dogfight, more like a cat grooming.

But I did feel better for part of the second half, mostly in the first minutes. Perry and Wayne took over. It was great to see both of these guys awaken from their first half naps. They really need to stop napping during games. Though they did wake up in the second half for a few minutes… enough for us to create the winning gap in the score.

I am amazed at Perry’s offensive tool set. I am amazed at the positive impact Wayne can have on our guys. One or two steals, assists or baskets from Wayne seems to liven up our entire team! This is his team!

I recall many times over the past couple of years where we came out flat and we stayed flat. I’m not saying that won’t happen again, but it is encouraging to see our veteran players step up and right a wrong, all within the 40 minutes of game time.

In as much as the first half gave us a “bad sign” for things to come, the inspired bursts in the second half gave us a “good sign” for possible great things to come in the season ahead!

Perry still hasn’t figured out enough to take it to bigger defenders… but he did show basketball IQ last night by taking what the defense gave him. He is as much a threat from the outside as any of our guys because he can hit that shot consistently and is often given the gift from defenses not wise enough to guard him out there.

Regardless what happens at the C5 this year… this is NOT the same team we had last year! For many, many reasons.

We’ve been short on depth all year.

Devonte plays almost 40 minutes per game.

Yet… we look a lot fresher than most of the teams we play.

How come?

A huge part of that surely must come from the efforts of Andrea Hudy. She is the training mom of all our guys and even travels with our team on the road.

Coach Self has mentioned a new strategy of carefully controlling our players’ legs both on the court (practice) and off the court.

I’m willing to place a bet that Andrea has teamed up with Bill to coordinate this strategy of saving our guys’ legs.

Can we really state that our Big 12 Conference Title #14 shouldn’t be credited largely to the efforts of Andrea?

I don’t think so!

So… here is a shout out to Andrea for everything she brings to our program! She deserves a ton of recognition (had to describe it in weight).

Who is responsible?

Who is responsible for bringing the team ready to play basketball?

Can’t we summarize everything into that single question? There were no areas of this game we played well in and there was no energy. How can that be?

I’ve always attacked this issue. I don’t mind losing games. I do mind when the team doesn’t show up. That was humiliating… and I believe it is games like this one that kill our recruiting. I know I wouldn’t send my son off to a school who decides sometimes not to show up. This is a character flaw. Plain and simple.

I wonder… how much fundraising does Bill Self do? It sort of feels like politics in Washington… where our elected officials spend most of their time fundraising instead of working.

When I see a team that appeared to be so disconnected to their coach, I wonder about this. When I see a team that can’t muster up energy for a screaming coach, there is a disconnect. Coaches that eat, breath and sleep with their players can’t help but be connected. Everyone is in one boat. I don’t see that.

This is what bothers me most about Kansas basketball. Games where we don’t show up. That doesn’t register with me. It’s not a part of my DNA. I’ve played in over 1000 organized games of basketball (at a far lower talent level) and I can honestly say that I have never played on a team that didn’t show up for a game. I would have been arrested last night if I was on that Jayhawk team because I would have physically assaulted some of those around me. I wouldn’t accept that kind of humiliation. Ever.

(Courtesy of KUSports.com)

We can examine shot forms, offensive sets and defensive toughness. But this is the engine that drives the train.

I’ve never seen Perry Ellis’ back molars before… until now.

As of Monday, Kansas will be uplifted in the National polls to #1. Usually, that is a curse. Players get over-confident, media chaos infects the focus of our team like a flu virus.

But this team is different. It has worked hard, including battling abroad in Korea, to find a true team identity.

What will carry this team forward has yet to be covered by sports media. Their focus is the allure of our perimeter shooting.

The secret sauce for Kansas in 2015-2016 is their “team focus” and to find “team happiness.”

Now that is something substantial, sustainable, and a REAL FORMULA for a destiny taking us all the way into April! (hint)

Carlton… Is That You?

Read some negative comments on various sites from KU fans blasting Carlton.

Disturbing to say the least. Carlton has been thrown under the bus, I hope he can hide under there until this is resolved after he gets to defend himself.

There used to be a valid statement “innocent until proven guilty”… but that appears irrelevant today with public opinion.

I just want Carlton to know that there are many of us who haven’t convicted him yet and believe he is innocent until proven guilty.

I’m a happy camper today.

There was some very nice signs we can take away from last night’s game.

D E V O N T E !

I noticed he stepped up big in the Baylor game, just had an off-night from the field. That same intensity he brought to Waco was back on display in AFH last night.

The THREE AMIGOS are getting it together for March!

C A R L T O N !

How great was he last night? Wasn’t this the Carlton we were expecting this year after his respectable freshman year? I loved his energy last night. His hands were good (meaning, his focus was there), and he had plenty of bounce in his game. Bravo!

I’m not worried about our depth in March. I have worried about “hitting on all cylinders.” As long as our top 7 guys all play to their capabilities, we will be just fine in March.

We really needed a game like this and it came at the right time. The game looked grim for a while. Josh went down with an ankle sprain while Landen was in foul trouble. There goes our depth! But wait a minute, not so fast…

Congrats, Frank! You deserve all the awards this year! You are truly a warrior!

USA TODAY Sports player of the year: Kansas’ Frank Mason III

KUBuckets feels like my safe oasis. I feel like I can come in here and say what I want to say, and will be treated fairly. I don’t get offended easily, or even at all. If people purposely attack me I realize they have a problem and I don’t take on their hatred/anger/frustration. I love humanity and am accepting of differences. It’s what makes the world go 'round!

Politically, I am firmly independent. I think for myself and agree/disagree with both parties… often sighting a different perspective than both. My friendships go from fascist rightwingers to communist-like lefties. The exposure to all confirms my belief in most answers “between the lines” of extremism.

Mixing health science with politics is frightening. Lives have been lost and more lives will be lost moving forward. I’m convinced if more people aren’t vaccinated soon we will see death counts probably worse than the past year. It can be rationalized as “karma” but I don’t feel any better when lives are lost that don’t agree with my perspective. This is tragic on so many levels. My heart goes out to anyone suffering with this disease or has lost family to it.

I only caught a little of the UNC/Duke game. Mostly the last 2 minutes.

Are we happy it’s UNC on Monday night?

I’m glad… and not only because of the joy of Duke losing.

I think we need Dave for another big performance and I think we matchup better with UNC. Thoughts?

I have to say I like Hubert Davis! And since UNC has always been like a sister school to us (sister… brother?) I’m glad to see Davis coaching them.

Can we stay hot? Yes! I’m so glad this wasn’t just another BAD BALL game! The rims are looking big for us and hopefully will continue to be big.

Aren’t we playing better every game now? Aren’t we peaking at the right time? I feel like this is the element we are usually short on in March but this team just gets better and it is always the team that peaks wins the championship. I will counter that by saying UNC is doing the same.

Any bets on Monday night? I’m keeping my mouth shut because I’m the jinxmaster!

As you read this… tell me when you knew we actually won this game:

1. No Coach Self
2. Duke had 21 offensive rebounds
3. Duke made 9 more FTs than us
4. Duke used 3 dominant 7-footers to none on our side
5. Halfway through the first half, we abandoned most of our aggressiveness… shutting down their offense and getting out on the break, settling for a half court game favored by Duke.
6. Kansas shot 3 of 19 from trey.

You know what your eyes told you. At times, Duke seemed to totally dominate us with their size, physicality, and NBA future talent.

Now forget what you thought you saw… and soak in the other stats and facts about the game:

1. Kansas blocked 13 shots… Duke 2.
2. Dajuan had 10 assists… Duke (as a team) had 8. KU had 21 assists.
3. Kansas still managed to get 12 offensive rebounds.
4. Duke had 3 more TOs than us.
5. Kansas shot 46.3% FG… Duke 35.8%
6. Duke shot 3 of 21 from trey.

In a game full of giants… JWil filled the stat sheet, including 11 boards. And our invisible Dajuan, with his tiny 6 points, was the difference in this game. By himself, he had more assists than the entire Duke team, which means he was able to create more scoring for his teammate than all the Duke players did for each other combined.

What sticks out with us is Gradey’s scoring threat. We need to create a TON of offense for this guy! One of the few Bilas comments not full of Duke love mentioned how Gradey plays like a senior. Can he do this all year? I doubt every single game, but if he can do it in this game, down the stretch when we really needed it, he can do it in March!

Imagine what would have happened with a healthy MJ in this game? He’s a guy that can easily make his scoring space on anyone, any size. He’s a guy who plays above the rim and surely would have impacted some of those rebounds.

Bill Self was missed in this game. I have absolutely no doubt that we would have spanked Duke had Bill been there to keep us from straying away from our early game strategy.

Though Bill was gone, his fingerprints were all over this game. JWil’s after-game interview showed that. He mentioned his leadership focusing on staying composed. We showed composure throughout this roughneck game. When Duke finally took the lead, you could sense their cockiness… and they weren’t prepared for us coming back strong at the end. They get their cockiness from Scheyer… who I’m beginning to dislike more than Coach K.

Anyone else watch this game?

Pretty amazing spectacle.

Lots of lessons to be learned here, if we didn’t learn them at Ames and Austin.

I know I’ve called the Cyclones a “gimmick team” in a previous post. I have to admit my own personal frustration because the Mayor is the only one in our conference that truly understands x-axis basketball. It definitely isn’t a gimmick… and I officially retract my statement.

I watched this entire game, and even my wife stayed glued to the tube on this one, even when ISU made it look like a blow out and done game in the second half. We both hung in there and felt it was going to tighten up because surely ISU was going to run out of steam. They did, and Texas finally started to even out the play and it turned out to be a close game. Had the game extended another 5 minutes or so, ISU would have been in real trouble.

There are some definite lessons to be taken from this game.

1. When playing ISU, your focus has to be coming in with enough energy. ISU plays x-axis basketball… which is the art of stretching out a game horizontally instead of vertically. It is the only really effective way for a smaller team to beat a taller team (with similar talent). Man, for most of this game Texas looked realllll slowwwww. Texas definitely lacks foot speed in the post, and I mean positions 3, 4 and 5. But part of them looking slow was the fact that ISU looked very fast.

2. If ISU wants to challenge for the B12 championship, they have to be able to export their speed on the road. Their guys are light and quick, but what gives them their speed advantage is their attitudes and their game plan to keep in motion. This is a completely mediocre team if they don’t play with a speed advantage.

3. There is a reason why Texas is playing a zone. Many of us in here have wondered why Texas is playing a zone. This exposes their true weakness… slow players at the 3, 4 and 5. They are tall, but they can’t play a M2M and not get exposed. Their big guys can’t cut sharply and run through screens. Players like Perry Ellis will crucify them in a M2M. He can easily pop out and be wide open on his shot. I know many of us have been on Perry’s case for several things… but I’m sure glad we have him now! He is our ultimate weapon against certain situations, like a Texas M2M. It’s vital we have his outside threat.

4. Myles Turner is extremely gifted. He still needs to build his legs and become more agile. He sort of lumbers around with his lower body movement. But the guy can flat out ball in the post and at mid range. I’m sure he will continue to improve from long range, too. He is unstoppable in the post when he receives the ball in the right spot.

5. Isaiah Taylor is unbelievable. What a talent. But he isn’t always geared towards production. He did almost nothing in this game until ISU started to wear down. At the end of the game, Taylor dominated and was the real reason Texas came back. Taylor also prevented Texas from getting blown out by Kansas in our game, as he kept them scoring baskets by himself.

I hope Self watched this game and studied it. There are all the answers we need to guarantee victories on both of these teams in AFH.

ISU:

There are two key factors involved in beating ISU. Energy (speed) and endurance. Kansas has a gigantic advantage here, especially in AFH because it should be easier for us to maintain high energy and harder for ISU. But even if they bring the same intensity as they bring in Hilton, we should beat them at their own game. Remember not too long ago… when we played an amped-up OSU in AFH? Remember the physical beat down Phil Forte took in that game? Here is a guy who prides himself on being the best conditioned athlete in the B12. We brought enough energy and played enough of a rotation to beat down the Cowboys. We had 8 guys get major minutes in that game. If we bring big energy and rotate enough guys, how can ISU bring enough energy to trump us? They needed their 21 easy run out points to beat us in Ames. Surely, they aren’t going to do that to us now in AFH. Scheduling benefits us. Both teams play a 1pm Saturday game before our Monday meeting meaning that both teams will have to consider the fatigue two days later, except ISU has to travel to Kansas, and our Saturday game is also at home. Guys rest better at home. The biggest advantage is our depth. We have more guys we can go to for quality minutes.

Texas:

Texas will have to completely step up their game to really challenge us in AFH. Typically, we play with more energy at home than away, and Texas looked slow against us in Austin. Barnes is in trouble with the Texas defense. Teams are figuring out their Achilles heel with slow foot speed at the 3, 4 and 5. Their M2M is easy to shred and Self already knows how to attack the gaps on their zone. So what can Rick do to change his team between now and the end of February? That may be another month away, but he has a tough task ahead. Will his big guys have more foot speed by then? Doubtful. There is a good chance they will have already dropped a couple more games by then and their hopes will be completely shattered. You can see the frustration on this team, especially with star Turner.

Their salvation player is Taylor. That guy is a real stud and may be the best player in our league. We can really snip away all hope for Texas if we play them right in AFH. We need to control when and where he gets the ball. Lots of ball denial defense in the areas of the floor where he is most dangerous… around the FT line and on the right side, where he likes to drive. His tendencies are clearly to the right, including on his first step, so hedge right.

Previously, I felt good about our chances in AFH against both of these teams if for no other reason than playing in AFH. I feel even more confident after watching this game. Neither team has much of a chance at coming at us in a different way then they already have. We already beat Texas on their court and now we have the home court advantage and have experienced them before. We have more scoring weapons and we can come at a team with most of our guys stepping up for a dominant game. Texas has lots of talent that will continue to improve, but their bigs will still have slow footwork a month from now.

ISU is about offense, and they have lots of ways to attack us to score points… open court, motion offense, isolations… but in a key area they remain a one-trick pony; they must play with a lot more energy than their opponents to be effective. We don’t need a heavy strategy to beat ISU, we just need to come ready to run with big energy. That means we get back on defense. That means we play a sticky M2M. That means we run a lot of motion through our offense which will spread the small ISU defense thin so we can either punch it low or hit 3s.

Ladies And Gentlemen…

The time has come. Once again, we are at the start of another great year of Kansas basketball!

I’m proud to be a Jayhawk and proud to be associated with such a great group of knowledgeable KUBuckets Jayhawk fans!

Okay… someone has to do the dirty work here and take the other side…

No one wants another National Championship more than me. It is personal for me on many levels. I have family and friends at Duke, UNC, Wisconsin… and several other big schools. I’m sick of being poked at for early losses in March. I could have said “upset losses” but something fans need to understand… THERE ARE NO UPSETS IN MARCH!

Yes… you heard me. THERE ARE NO UPSETS IN MARCH!

Of course, certain teams have more talent and experience… more size… more depth… and they match up better with all their opponents. Throw it all out the window. THERE ARE NO UPSETS IN MARCH!

What matters in March is energy… attitude… effort… momentum… catching a few breaks, or being able to endure a spot of bad luck or a run from another team. It never hurts to get hot, especially from trey! Any group of guys can possess these attributes in March. They all have their own motivations for being there in the first place.

As bad as I want another National trophy back in Lawrence, I’m holding on tight to our conference streak. It isn’t something that comes around every year like a chance at a NC does. This is rare… and I am doubtful most fans understand how this streak has helped lift Kansas basketball to new heights. I believe, more than a NC does.

Our conference continues to build better teams to challenge us. We can use every edge we can get, and one of those is our ability to recruit players that will be coming into our conference, either with us or with one of our opposing conference teams. It doesn’t hurt to let all recruits know that if they want to win the conference, there is only one choice!

Further… I just can not stomach seeing a team like ISU, or UT (with their new, over-rated coach) winning our conference! Lon and OU are the only other team I would accept defeat from without puking all over the ceiling.

This question doesn’t frame up right. It is like telling a parent to choose which of their kids they want to be successful and which one to fail.

It has taken 11 consecutive B12 titles just to get the media to start picking us every year to win it. They finally got sick of looking like dumb jack arses for hating on Kansas.

@wissoxfan83

“I"ve never been overwhelmed by our streak.”

The second we LOSE the streak, those who didn’t care much for it will suddenly care. Watching a team like ISU collect the glory with us lowered below them is something Jayhawk fans SHOULD care about and never want to happen.

I know I care immensely about every game we play in.

@MoonwalkMafia

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I have started this basketball season supporting the idea of making Cheick and Carlton EARN their minutes instead of have them gifted to them because of potential. I still think that is the way to go and it does a lot to help keep the team focused so much on team, instead of every man for himself.

But… I also said there would come a time when our young guns earn more minutes. I think we are rapidly approaching that time. They can start getting more minutes and the upperclassmen they take minutes from shouldn’t really challenge that.

All of these games are important. Regardless what anyone in here says about our conference streak… when you go on any sports media today and they talk about Kansas basketball, they aren’t talking about our 2008 championship. They talk about the streak and what a milestone that is and then they start comparing Self and Kansas to Wooden and UCLA. You will never hear that discussion from them if we just win another national championship (or several).

I’m not against us winning another NC. I want both. But I definitely will not support a concept where we hand over the B12 championship on a lark that giving more experience to our freshmen will be the extra bit to win us a NC. Chances are… we would do that and end up with NEITHER! I can not support any concept that will potentially leave us with NOTHING this year!

I seriously doubt we would have won that OU game had we given plenty of minutes in the second half to Cheick and Carlton. The fire was just too hot for them to contribute what Landen and Jamari contributed.

I think Jamari bought himself some PT minutes by playing as well as he did. He participated in the kind of plays Self really loves… scrappy rebounds, blocks and going after loose balls.

OU doesn’t miss many FTs. They would have enjoyed a lot more free points had we kept our freshmen in there longer.

Really… none of us are in any position to decide if Cheick should be getting more minutes. We simply haven’t seen enough of him to know what he can bring to the game now. We know he is very capable of fouling at a rapid clip.

And as far as him sitting on the bench and killing our future chances at recruiting more OADs… is it worse that he sits, or gets out on the court and brings the team down while he makes terrible plays? I’m not sure if any of us can answer that without just guessing.

His time will come. We have a few softer games coming up and I can almost reassure you that him and Carlton will be getting some minutes. What they do with those minutes will determine how many minutes they get.

This is the only “Jayhawk Post Fiasco” I see in our future…

I know… I know… our current post play is pretty much giving us ZILCH!

Every player we have over 6’8" is in Self’s doghouse. Boo-hoo!

Do they belong there? Yes… they do. They do because this is one of those excellent situations where players battle through struggle. And when good players battle through struggle, they improve at a high rate. What is happening now isn’t going to hurt us later, it is going to help us.

Stop listening to people like Fran Fraschilla, who secretly has a problem with Kansas basketball anyways. He is basically declaring us now DEAD in March, our season results are already decided.

Thanks, Fran, for adding fuel to an arsonist’s fire. Keep piling on the firewood… you are helping build our chip.

For once… KU Basketball needs to take a page from KU Football; “Through the struggle, stay poised!”

There is a lot going on relating to this subject that needs to be brought to light.

Coach Self isn’t making life easy for our big men. Why should he accommodate mediocrity? That isn’t why he earns a 7-figure salary every year. Coach has all his bigs in his “toughening box” because he is doing everything in his power to turn our post play into one of our strengths by March. Believe it or not, and feel free to quote me on this 3 months from now… Coach is preparing for March RIGHT NOW, and a big part of our upcoming March success (hopefully) will be from the quality play of our post guys. Yes… they are going from ZERO to 200 mph between now and March. Wait and see.

This all starts with Landen Lucas. Our post play psyche is all on his shoulders. Our younger players look to Landen for guidance. And though it looks like Landen is preparing to give up, quite the opposite will be his reality. What is coming for Landen is RAZOR-SHARP FOCUS! That is all he needs. He needs to be in the game, and not overthink it while knowing what to do, when and where.

This has already started as a strange season. It feels like the “asterisk season” we all talked about a couple of years ago when refs blew their whistles (usually just for the heck of it) to establish the “Jay Bilas Game of ZERO Contact.” We know what happened that year. The NCAA came under fan pressure to let the game take place and be decided by the players, not the refs. We are back to square one again. This time, the marketing money wonks will not be denied their wishes. The game is going to be called “tighter” whether we like it or not, even if it means the NCAA Championship Game in April has 62 fouls called in it.

Landen, and all our bigs, are struggling to succeed against conflicting currents. On one side is Coach Self… the motivator pushing our guys to lose some skin in every game and on every loose ball. On the other side is the officiating, which has been given an agenda this year to call the game “tighter”… and from that we see outrageous contradictions and inconsistencies playing out in every game. All of those calls are tampering down our big men from hustling. Every time they move a finger, the whistle blasts them as guilty.

You can bet the ranch that over our big developmental period around Christmas, our bigs will be focusing on how to play full speed against a whistle that isn’t about fairness, but about an agenda to “improve the game” for marketing purposes.

I bet Landen feels like dog poop right now. He is in the doghouse at the start of his glory senior campaign. Not exactly what he was expecting a few months ago. Coach saw this coming. This is what is behind his comments about playing 4 guards.

I wonder just how many reps Landen has put in with Andrea Hudy throughout his 5 years at Kansas? Thousands? More like tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. He has gone from being a twinkie in the post to a man who can fight for position. He got punished for that last night on that ridiculous call where he was establishing position in the paint. If the game was under my control, I would FIRE that ref for making such a ridiculous “statement call.” So Landen worked his butt off for 5 years to build strength, and now has strength and he is being punished for it.

There is only ONE MESSAGE going forward. And that message comes from KU Football:

“Hang in there, guys! Put your nose to the grindstone and continue the hard work and be unphased by the negative frenzy circus around you now. This will pass, along with the poor game results. Everything is looking up, STAY FOCUSED AND CONQUER!”

Hey… we WON at Ames! First time in 2 or 3 years!

I estimate that we had maybe 200 fans in attendance.

If I was one of them I would have organized a court storming!

What a scream… a couple hundred KU fans storm the ISU court…

@Bwag

He went from POY to POS… and he has outright WON that title!

Devonte Graham is our Magic Man!

It seems like every National Champion team has a Magic Man. Someone who comes up with the magic when needed most to propel his team to victory.

That is Devonte Graham. We could see this coming a mile away. Devonte rarely received the same level of credit as his other two amigos were blessed with. But Kansas fans have always known Devonte has a skill set unmatched by anyone in college basketball. Devonte has “the magic!”

Remember back to the 2008 National Championship game. Kansas down and almost out, until the magic arrived, just in time to bring Kansas back in the game.

Devonte possesses the same “sleight of hand” skills that we had on our 2008 team. He’s already shown these skills in the two tournament games. And look what Devonte did, single-handed, to Michigan State at the end. He dismantled MSU’s hopes of mounting any kind of comeback after he nailed 3 consecutive threes.

Devonte’s magic is our secret weapon, and no other team has a weapon like Devonte. Let’s hope Devonte not only pulls a rabbit out of his hat, but also uses his magic wand to bring back another National Championship to Lawrence!

Rock Chalk, Devonte, and to all our gutsy men!

@BeddieKU23

If we continue to bring the high energy… we are unstoppable!

That run last night in the second half reminded me of the first half of our UNC game in 2008. Blitzkreig!

Oregon can’t run with us when we have that energy.

My only concern is a letdown. But I think it all rides on our three amigos bringing energy and pace.

We flipped the pace on Purdue last night and left them in the dust. When that happened the game created a stark contrast to what had already been played. It was like watching two different games.

I carefully watched the expressions and body language of Purdue last night. When we turned the game into a race, they showed FEAR in their faces!

You know you have a pretty friggin’ scary team when you make a Big 10 team FEARFUL!

I also saw a “deer in the headlights” look from them, too. They didn’t know what hit them. They just knew that a game they were competitive in just became non-competitive.

Kevin Pritchard will replace Larry Bird as Indiana’s President of Basketball Operations.

Congrats, Kevin!

Larry Bird resigns as Pacers president, Kevin Pritchard to take over

Thousands of words have been written in here about Bill Self’s relationship with the 3-point shot. There has always been something about the trey that has turned off Self. We’ve heard him complain that our guys go soft on defense because they are focusing too much on living (and dying) by the trey.

Jesse Newell posted a fascinating article that exposes how fortunate Kansas has been in Big 12 play because our opponents are not hitting wide open treys at the same rate they do against other Big 12 opponents. Some like to call this “luck” and therefore Kansas has been “lucky.”

Jesse mentions that we shouldn’t take our opponent’s “trey coldness” for granted moving forward. The warning flags are out. But I’m not sure this trend will change during Big 12 play, though I easily see us losing another game or two by facing a “hot team” in conference play.

I believe, what is carrying Kansas through another challenging Big 12 season on top is our reputation. Go back and watch the early part of our victory at the “Sherronagon.” We got out fast and the Wildcats seemed to get called out by Fran Fraschilla. He commented that KSU actually “wanted it too badly.” Fran called this one right. And WHY would KSU want it too badly? Is it just because we are rivals? I don’t think so. I think our record-breaking conference streak not only impacts the way Kansas plays, but also the way our opponents play. Let’s face it… Bruce Weber has a bit of an inferiority complex against Kansas and Bill Self. He has followed in Bill’s shadows for a big part of his career and his results against Bill is not good. When seeing it throughout the history of KU vs KSU during the Self-era it appears that our reputation precedes us. Not only do the Wildcats feel like they are going to lose to us in every game, they bring an added stress to their games, especially their home games, because they fear defeat and looking bad, especially in Manhattan.

When I think of the Big 12 in this light, I feel like certain teams seem to help us stretch our conference streak to the point where they should be recognized for all the help they give us. Top of this list are two teams; KSU and Baylor… while other teams are close behind… ISU and Texas. We do pretty well against other Texas teams, but I just don’t see our relationship being as tight with these other schools. Oklahoma has Lon Kruger. He’s stomached many losses to us, going back to his days as a player at KSU, but he’s crossed over this hurdle. OSU seems to get a bump from it being Bill’s old alma mater.

Even though Jesse has the warning flags out, I’m not sure we will see a big difference moving forward in Big 12 play. What worries me is March. In March, we play teams that simply don’t know us. Some may get caught up in the “Kansas is so great” history of our program, while other teams have a mindset focused on playing the kind of basketball that got them into the tournament in the first place. These teams pose the biggest threat of sending us home too early by an upset loss.

Kenpom writes about trey efficiency… and his conclusion is that most of the time, defense is not the driving factor on “trey hotness” as much as the offense just executing a high percentage. There are a few teams that seem to have an impact on their opponent’s trey results. Teams like Kentucky, Arizona and Baylor.

I see college basketball as being driven almost entirely by the “trey hotness” of each team. Look at the Shockers last overtime loss at Temple. The Shocks missed 14 of their last 15 trey shots. Look at how we pulled away from KSU on Monday. We pulled away with our trey heat in the beginning and created enough buffer that KSU couldn’t put long enough streaks together to really come back. And we did this while turning the ball over at a high percentage.

So moving forward, most of our development is based around the idea of making us execute better on defense and offense. Both help our overall chances of winning games. But this developmental strategy doesn’t address possible games where we face a hot trey team and are fighting to keep up with them on the scoreboard. Shouldn’t we put some focus strictly on how we can better prevent that from happening?

Even though Kenpom implies that defenses don’t impact trey hotness like we think they do, I’m not buying into the idea that we can’t develop strategies to deal with teams that get hot behind the line against us.

All of this better helps me understand Self’s frustration with the trey shot (in general). The trey puts a factor in games which is hard to control, regardless how good our team is and how we are playing.

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article197965879.html

https://kenpom.com/blog/offense-vs-defense-3point-percentage/

We can’t fall for their shot fakes or we put them on the line.

This is a tempo game. And that tempo may be only a slight difference… but it still counts. We can’t walk the ball up on offense. We push tempo. We build a lead and we get them out of the flow. We guard for 30 seconds of the clock. We don’t leave our man… we leave our man, they burn the trey!

We take care of the ball… low TOs, and we rebound so we control possession count.

We push pace and they get tired with less depth.

This is a game that will be won with basketball IQ… both on the bench, and players.

The talking is over. Time to go get us another title!

I think a big motivator is looking at the banners in AFH and only seeing 3 NCs! This team will be immortalized! And they should be!

We are playing for a title while teams like Duke, who has their entire starting 5 in NBA draft lists is sitting at home, should say enough!

I still think we are an underdog. I still read and listen how Kansas can’t do it!

We don’t need to step up any more than we did on Saturday. We just come out and take care of business! The rims are big… we already know that…

Happy viewing brothers and sisters in here… enjoy the game! Wear your favorite attire… do all your superstitious pregame things… and surround yourself with people that count because you’ll always remember tonight!

I feel blessed to be back in Kansas and with loved ones watching the game! In 2008, I was in my video studio in Holland, alone, watching it in the early morning. Not this time!

Thank you, Kentucky! You seem to always give us what we need.

Last year, you gave us a beat down in AFH that got the attention of our guys who then realized they needed to step up and go on a roll.

Tonight, you helped us by losing and giving our fellas a needed uplift and confidence builder!

While we are at it… talking about self-confidence… I’ve been talking often about our body language not being there, especially for Kevin.

How’s that for body language?

Kevin’s game may not always be as “pretty” as others, but he gets the job done. We don’t come anywhere near winning this game without his effort. He was often the shadow defender in the post on Tshiebwe. “Double-double” Kevin was the difference on the boards, particularly limiting Kentucky to only 4 offensive boards. Nothing short of a miraculous effort by Kevin and all our guys!

This was not one of our prettiest games, didn’t need to be. Somewhere in the first half we figured out how to defend Kentucky and Tshiebwe enough to pull slightly ahead and keep it that way until it was over.

And I’m glad ratface was in attendance to see them lose again!

This game with OSU was just what we needed.

The Cowboys aren’t big dogs in a fight. They are small dogs bringing a big fight. The pushing, scratching, barking, running… all scrappy effort by the little dogs with big fight. This game gave us the most we could hope for just before we go play three tough conference games where we need to show some results. We need to find a way to win 2 of the next 3 games. The only way that is going to happen is if we toughen up.

This game with OSU was just what we needed.

Self has plenty of ammo to shoot at this team between now and Saturday. In order to win at least 2 of the next 3 games, the best strategy we have is to put everything we have into a victory in Ames. Win this game, and it becomes easier to go 1 out of 2 in the next two games.

This game with OSU was just what we needed.

Look at the areas that were exposed in this game. Our guys got sucked in to the emotion from Nash, and we let it impact the rest of our game. Players like BamBam collapsed into a chaotic swill of adrenaline. Perry, once again, proved to us that he will not lead his team of youth with his leadership. Wayne… Wayne. Brannen… rust already?

This game with OSU was just what we needed.

Self mentioned our lack of poise at halftime. What players maintained poise in this game? Frank, Kelly, and a bit from Devonte. 2 of the 3 are freshmen. We might as well be considered the youngest team in college basketball.

Now we have to go to Ames. Where the fans lack class and will scream nasty names at our guys and probably throw trash on the court. Now we go play the Cyclones… that bring a different philosophy to basketball. They make you think about what you are doing, and the only way to beat them is to make adjustments. Our only chance of victory is to maintain poise. Poise we are lacking from most of our guys, especially our veteran players.

Our only hope in this game is that we get a solid performance from Perry and Wayne. Two guys that don’t have a grip on their games yet.

Someone needs to buy Perry a pair of boxing gloves. Before each game, Perry needs to put the gloves on, and smack himself in the head and face about 50 or 100 times with a lot of intensity. This is what boxers do before entering the ring. The term “smack some sense into your head” comes from this preparation. It works. It builds adrenaline and the survival instincts kick in. Perry needs to come ready to play “man ball” and leave “theoretical ball” back in the locker room.

Wayne… the thinker… the next EJ… needs to give EJ a call on the phone. I’m betting EJ could help Wayne out right now more than anyone. He’s had time to “think” about what he did wrong… how he over-thought the game and his mind gave him paralysis during games. Wayne is on target to be the next EJ. And I feel for him, just like I felt for EJ. But the facts are the facts.

Self needs to spend these coming days chewing out some big time arse. Beat these guys, make them realize how they lack toughness… mental toughness. How they lost composure playing the Cowboys. How they let adrenaline rule their game, so when the clock stopped, and their hearts were stroking out, they couldn’t hit FTs. How they let adrenaline remove the flow from their perimeter shots. How they let adrenaline create chaos in the game so they couldn’t follow Self’s plan. There was a reason why Self’s face turned purple.

Suck it up, boys. It’s time to become men. Perry… go get your boxing gloves.

@VailHawk

It is a fun thought… thinking that the Kansas coaching brain trust comes to KUbuckets for advice.

But in reality…

I don’t have a clue what motivates Self or what attracts his attention, especially around his recent changes in strategy. But I have some ideas.

I believe the Mayor has had the biggest influence on Self recently. ISU has stepped up and challenged Kansas and is definitely a formidable opponent and is able to do it without recruiting a stable of 5-star recruits.

I think Coach Pop at SA is also someone Self focuses on.

Self is realizing that the game has changed since he started coaching. He has always definitely fit into the typical college coach definition… teach rigid structure… teach your philosophy.

The Mayor has a different approach. It is directly out of the NBA playbook. Do what you have to do to win! It is as simple (and complex) as that.

Self is no slouch on winning. He has been one of the most successful coaches in college basketball. But the game is changing, and Kansas basketball is changing in a big way. We are no longer focused on the four to five year players. We are focused more on the one to two year players. It is hard to get a return on teaching philosophy to players for only one or two years.

I hope what we are seeing is a permanent change in Kansas basketball. I’m not saying we should never again focus on post scoring. But to have the mindset that we will play to our strengths (whatever they are) is a completely different philosophy than what Self has had. This gives us a chameleon identity instead of just one identity.

I’m curious what could be next? Might we finally start focusing just a little bit less energy on team defense and offense and start pushing players to be individually responsible (like the NBA)? This is at the base of the Mayor’s strategy. That’s why you see every one of his players capable of taking someone in a one-on-one play to the hole or to a spot on the floor. His strategy is to open up the offense, spread the defense, isolate players so they can attack. We are still a long ways away from this kind of game. Our strategy last night was to spread the defense, but we still relied on mostly hitting the set shot. Every one of Fred’s guys can drive to the hole with success.

The Mayor is one heck of a coach. He has made a bigger impact over anyone else in recent history. He has been able to translate the pro game to college. No one else has been able to really do it. Fred has. It is hard to imagine what he could do if he starts landing a few OADs and TADs. He should be able to do it eventually. At some point he is going to get some of these kids to realize that he has the right step between HS and the NBA. And he does!

Now imagine an open-minded Self?! Imagine a guy who is able to adopt more of a NBA strategy at an elite program? Imagine what we can do with that?

So we are taking the positive recruiting techniques from Calipari (build luxury living suites, top tier talent practicing every day against top tier talent), then apply the Mayor’s game (teach individual responsibilities within a team concept, spread the floor, create isolations and scoring space, no rigidity).

And do all of this at a blue blood like Kansas!

Here is our monstrous edge over Calipari and his dribble drive. The Mayor’s offense is light years ahead of the dribble drive… it is more like a supercharged version of the Princeton offense. Another real positive… this is effective offense that new players can adopt and execute in little time!

There is a huge flaw in Self’s recent strategy. He’s going after OAD talent and then trying to force them into rigid, philosophical college basketball. It just doesn’t maximize the use of those players. Look at Wigs. He was pinned into a rigid structure that trapped him into double teams and collapsed defenses. Look at Wigs now! Imagine if we could have had this Wigs at Kansas? Truth is, we could have! He hasn’t improved so much in this short time, he is actually battling against tougher competition. But he has been set free! He is in the league, and the league is just about winning. Individual players have individual responsibilities. You either step up or you are out. A player can’t hide behind a team concept. The game is opened up and you are expected to score in your match up!

It’s time we be the real next step for these kids and give them some NBA-style game now. I’m sick and tired of babysitting players. Letting them float in a team concept. Reminds me of communism.

I’ve always been a huge John Lucas fan.

Pretty impressive NBA stat sheet:

Points 9,951 (10.7 ppg) / Assists 6,454 (7.0 apg) / Steals 1,273 (1.4 spg)

This is the guy that helped Tyshawn Taylor put his game together in just a short period before TTs senior season.

This is the guy I want Kansas to hire as an assistant coach.

This is the opportunity for Kansas to leapfrog right over Kentucky. We’ve matched their luxury suites now… It’s time to take the next step in college basketball. Pay the big bucks for an assistant coach that can really make a difference.

Every 5-star HS guard recruit in the country would line-up to sign for Kansas. We wouldn’t even have to recruit, just answer the phone.

Entice Lucas with his own gym and business to train young players during the summer.

Late Season Dissection

I’ll dissect the later part of our conference season and point to key factors.

Let’s start it when our season really started to matter. The OU game at home. We were up by 19 at half, and fell behind in the second half, only to come on late and win 85-78 in a gun fest. Self hates these kinds of games because you just can’t ever seem to score enough to win safely. It always comes down to getting a stop on defense at some point. But we survived.

Next game was at Texas. Self had plenty of ammo to get his guys pumped up for this game, and he brought a team ready for Texas. In my opinion, this was the high point of our season. We won that game with plenty of control and poise. We shot 18 3s and only hit 6, and we still won and never seemed really threatened. The key to this game was ball possession. We only turned the ball over 3 times. And we only gave up 2 extra boards to a tall Texas team. Self seemed happy. And the guys didn’t face his angst from only shooting 33% from 3. Our post shot only 43%.

Then we went to TCU for our trap game, and held on. We only shot 8 3s that game, but hit 3 of them. This was a vital game for Self. We didn’t count on the 3 and we won on the road by playing tough defense. Or you could look at it through more realistic eyes and just admit that TCU stunk.

Next, a home game with the Purple Kitties. This game was decided by our superiority in the paint over the Kitties post play, even though the stats say we should have just hoisted up more 3s.

Next, the revenge match with ISU at home. We torched the nets from 3… 47% and earned ourselves 30 points from beyond the arc. That was the biggest difference in the game.

Then came our heartbreak loss at OSU. This was the game that broke the camel’s back. Not really the camel, but Self’s allowance for us to finally declare our identity as a perimeter shooting team. We shot 50% from 3 and we lost. How can that happen? Maybe because we had 18 TOs, many leading to easy baskets. Or the fact that we shot only 52% from the line and gave up too much charity. This is when Self mentally started changing his mind on the season concerning his focus AWAY from the 3.

From here we went to TT. We smoked the nets from 3 at 55%. Self disapproved and labeled our success from the perimeter as “fool’s gold.”

Ever since that declaration of “fool’s gold” this team has started their descent.

Next game was Baylor at home. We were back to shooting 33% from 3. And we shot 46% from 2. Baylor played pretty good d.

Then the loss at WVU. We shot 54% from 3 but only put up 11. We were already undergoing Self’s push away from the 3. There were plenty of open look 3s this team didn’t take.

Next… our alarming win at home against TCU. A game that shouldn’t have been close. We only shot 10 3s and hit 4. We relied on our post, and we did shoot 58% from 2. This home win was a struggle, We gave up 72 points from an inferior TCU team on our home court. I became nervous after this game because I could see the wheels coming off.

Last, the Kitties yesterday. We only shot 13 3s, and really, we only took about 3 or 4 good look 3s. The rest were forced after running ineffective offense trying to force the hi/lo. I’m afraid this just further pushes Self into his delusion that 3s are “fool’s gold.” It was clear that he forced our guys into complete hi/lo basketball. Perry had a monster game and we lost. Do we all believe the “fool’s gold” that Perry can always bring 20+ points to a game? And even if he can, we can still lose to a sub-500 team.

He really sacrificed this team out to prove his point.

I look at it like he was the trainer of Carl Lewis a year before the Olympics and he spent this year training Carl to run backwards. Even if he figured out a month before the games that was wrong and started training him to run forwards, it is too late. I feel like we are in that position now.

There is no way to go backwards (I mean forwards) and reset the identity of this team to it’s natural being (a perimeter shooting team). It’s too late.

We don’t have the defensive quality to salvage subpar offense. Our only choice this year was to play to our strengths and get every ounce of offense out of this team and turn them into overachievers. You know… like the Mayor is doing over at ISU. Be willing to accept some high scoring races to the finish line. Even though we all about stroked out in that OU game… it was the beginning of a 5-game winning streak!

I really feel like this season’s tone changed after Self started talking about “fool’s gold.” It seems to be supported when analyzing what has happened since that time. This isn’t the same team that won 5 in a row and won at Texas. That comment started our trajectory downwards. Our natural identity was shattered.

I’m not expecting any more break out games from Brannen Greene this year. Might as well put him on ice for next year. And from the way we are playing now, that won’t be very much longer.

I want to give a pat on the back to all our guys for fighting hard last night. They brought effort and they tried to execute Self’s plan, and they almost won a game they had almost no chance of winning. Perry… tremendous game!

I thought I would break the game down into match ups. I’ve watched every KU game this year, and probably half of the Shocker games. If anyone feels they have a better angle on this, please post it.

MATCH UPS:

Head coaches:

KU Bill Self: He’s been around the block before, especially in March. He’s made it to the pinnacle in 2008 and returned knocking on the door in 2012. He always maintains poise and projects that onto his players. He always tries to run his stuff on both sides of the ball, long into the game, and if things don’t go his way he (perhaps) waits too long to make drastic changes (play zone or junk defense). His weakness is motivating players for just one game, or a half, or for even a short spurt.

WSU Gregg Marshall: He is a relative newcomer to March. His March resume is recent, but aggressive and on the upward tick. A big part of his coaching tactics are based around attitude. He brings “scrappy” to his teams and a sense of always playing with an underdog chip on their shoulders. His biggest weakness is March inexperience.

Advantage: Bill Self, based mostly on his vast March experience.

PG Frank Mason (5’11" ): Has come one to be a solid PG. Strengths include his ability to drive to the hole and finish, and his overall toughness and willingness to take over games in the closing minutes. Weaknesses include his ability to see the floor and attack with a high level of basketball IQ. His background was as a volume-scoring SG, so he still has a lot to learn. Also, needs to be more vocal and take on the role of leading his team.

PG Fred VanVliet (6’ ): One of the premiere PGs in America. His only weakness is his height. He has a very high basketball IQ and is very capable of either driving and scoring himself, or setting up someone else to score.

Advantage: Fred VanVliet

SG Wayne Selden (6’5" ): Is a very capable player on both sides of the ball. Strengths include his ability to hit the 3 or use his body strength and drive the ball. Can play good defense. Is on a recent uptick. Weaknesses include he sometimes plays out of control and can turn the ball over. If his head isn’t in the game, he will lose his man on defense.

SG Ron Baker (6’3" ): Is a natural scorer, both from the perimeter and driving in the paint. Strengths include his overall toughness and his poise. Plays under control. Very capable of getting hot and taking over a game. Weaknesses include his size. He often has to play against bigger guards. This year he has often fallen into minor slumps. He didn’t play exceptionally well against Indiana so he may still be on the downward slide.

Advantage: Draw

SF Kelly Oubre (6’7" ): Is currently playing his best ball. Strengths include he is very capable from 3 and very capable of driving the ball and either scoring, getting fouled, or both. He brings in very good energy and has a knack for stealing balls and generating extra possessions. Very capable rebounder. Weaknesses include his youth and inexperience. Sometimes he misses a defensive assignment. Sometimes he disappears in games where he should push harder.

SF Tekele Cotton (6’3" ): Very experienced March player. Strengths include his athleticism and playing very tough defense. Has a reasonable ability to hit the long ball, and can drive and finish at the rim. Weaknesses include sometimes he disappears in games for long stretches. He should be playing with a chip on his shoulder because this is his last March dance.

Advantage: Slight for Tekele Cotton

PF Perry Ellis (6’8" ): Has played extremely aggressive ever since his missed layup in Morgantown. Strengths include his deep toolbox for scoring anywhere from the perimeter to the rim. His recent aggressiveness has lifted his game considerably. Weaknesses include that he is still playing injured. Can he bring enough game to be the dominant player he will need to be? Perry will carry a chip on his shoulders because he is from Wichita.

PF Evan Wessel (6’4" ): He is the “glue man” for the Shockers. Strengths include he plays scrappy basketball and brings inspiration to his team. He is a very capable defender even though he lacks athleticism. On offense, he can score from 3 and mid range, but tends to not emphasize scoring. Weakness is his athleticism. Very vulnerable defending post players with capable footwork (Perry).

Advantage: Huge for Perry Ellis

C Landen Lucas (6’10" ): He has had to come on recently in a step in roll. Strengths include his height and fundamentals in the low post. Seems to be playing better every game now. Weaknesses include his lack of strength and sometimes lack of aggressive play. Propensity to foul. Very little March experience. Capable of scoring in the post under the right conditions, like playing against a smaller foe.

C Darius Carter (6’7" ): He’s a PF who plays C. Strengths include his ability to score from the low post. He is often given an isolation to score in the post. Weaknesses include his size and ability to defend the post. He also has a propensity to foul.

Advantage: Slight for Darius Carter

Jayhawk Bench: Very deep but inexperienced in March, except for Jamari Traylor. Brannen Greene and Devonte Graham have the potential to come in and make an immediate positive impact. To some degree, so does Jamari Traylor with his hustle. Further depth includes Hunter Mickelson and Svee. Hunter is a very capable defender and has an offensive toolbox but also a propensity to foul.

Shocker Bench: Very deep but inexperienced in March. Zach Brown is the Shocker’s lesser version of Brannen Greene, capable of getting hot from 3. Shaq Morris is their answer to Jamari Traylor. He has more size and more offensive weapons, but also can play out of control like Jamari can. Rashard Kelly is an energy guy that might see some minutes. He is capable of making either a negative or positive impact. Bush Wamukota is their one big 5. He is a capable shot blocker, but more a guy who can impact post shots. Not a very capable scorer, hence the reason why he sees few minutes.

Advantage: Slight for Kansas

All the match ups in this game look interesting. It is sort of amazing how well these teams match up to each other. Two areas stick out the most. For WSU it is Fred VanVliet. Can he take control of the game? Can he score at will? Can he break down the tough Kansas M2M with his penetration? For KU it is all about Perry Ellis. Will he bring a big chip into this game and play with great intensity? We already know we will play our offense through Perry. Can he impact our offense enough positively to help us break down the sticky Shocker defense?

And how about the coaches… Will Bill Self bring a more proactive attitude to try and prevent Shocker runs? Will Gregg Marshall be able to motivate his troops to play at the higher level of ball typically played by Kansas?

And how about the teams… Will Kansas bring high-energy basketball for 40 minutes? Will they take care of the ball when playing against a scrappy Shocker defense that extends into the passing lanes? Will the Shocker’s lack of size and athleticism be exposed in this game by the bigger, more athletic Jayhawks?

I look at a game so evenly matched and think the difference in this game will center around possessions. Who owns the most possessions? WSU, typically, does not turn the ball over. Kansas… you never know! Kansas will be tested because the Shockers like to extend their defense into the passing lanes. One nice counter move for Kansas will be the back door. They already showed that often in their cakewalk victory against the Aggies. Rebounds are crucial, especially if one team gives up offensive rebounds. On paper, neither team owns an advantage in this area and it will come down to who wants it more and who follows rebounding fundamentals the most. 50/50 balls… very important in this game. Who wants the ball most?

Comparing starting teams, Kansas has 12" more height on the floor. This gets into my previous thoughts on X and Y axis basketball. Kansas should own the Y. But it will only be possible if they play equal (or better) on the X. The team that plays the best horizontal basketball will win this game.

With both teams having so much at stake in this one, it is hard to imagine anything except a hard-fought close game going down to the wire.

The Montana game, once again, showed us all how important Wayne Selden is to this team.

This is Wayne Selden’s team.

Whether or not that was the intent, Wayne has emerged as the key force in swaying our outcomes.

Wayne’s previous reputation often labeled him as “streaky” and I doubt many in here would challenge that. Well, that was then and this is now. There are still areas of the game Wayne needs to improve upon, but he seems to have made big leaps in his outside jumper and also with his ability to maintain a positive aggression even if the game is not going his way. The Montana game showed us that. His trey wasn’t clicking, so he found other ways to impact the game positively. This is what needs to be Wayne’s “calling card” from here on out, even more so than being a “dead eye” from treysville. Shooting %s tend to be streaky, but there is no reason why Wayne can’t make a huge positive impact on the game, every game, regardless if he is torching our opponents from trey.

I know I am very happy that Wayne has been bringing his best game night in and night out. He seems to realize how important his play is to this team. And it is. This is the Wayne we’ve been waiting for.

But there is a lot more basketball to be played this year and I don’t think we are seeing near the capabilities Wayne still has to offer. His biggest hurdle left is defeating his own mind. He seems to have made gains in staying positive even when he misses some shots. But he still needs to let go some ideas on his unselfishness. When he starts to take over a game he eventually backs off a bit because he desires so much to be unselfish. What he has to learn is that when he is dominating a game, backing off is actually the selfish move. The goal of the team is to win, not to equally distribute shots.

When any of our guys are having a hot hand, they need to want the ball and keep going after their shot. Sometimes guys just get hot. Other times, they just match up well with the guy guarding them, or the opposition defense (as a whole) just can’t stop him. In these situations, we have to take advantage of our biggest opportunities. We need to put the challenge to the defense and make them adjust to a hot player, instead of just giving up on a big advantage.

Wayne is a man, playing a basketball game with boys. His physicality is extreme, and he should be taking advantage of his football-like body.

I do believe Wayne is holding himself accountable for our success moving forward. I believe he is ready to wear the leader badge on this team. He surely knows his play is vital to this team, more so than in past years.

@DoubleDD

“Can KU win another conference championship with Traylor and Lucas playing the most minutes?”

We have a long ways to go in conference. I am hopeful both Cheick and Carlton are earning more minutes as some point in conference play.

But every game is important in conference.

Our victory against OU at home may easily end up being the winning margin we need in conference. We simply couldn’t waste that game away thinking ahead about the future.

Both Jamari and Landen made very nice contributions in our win against OU.

Will that continue? No one knows the future. Self is looking at conference play one game at a time, and that has proven to be successful for the past 11 seasons.

As of right now, I’m still glad Jamari and Landen are giving us good minutes.

I seriously doubt Self fought so hard to get Cheick and get him legalized only to ice him in the deep freeze all season. Just doesn’t make sense. Cheick is in charge of his minutes, not Self. Obviously, Bill set a bar that Cheick has to get over to get more minutes. I don’t believe that bar is unreasonable and I do believe that Cheick is flying up on that bar quickly.

This is about the time when Kelly started getting real minutes last year. Kelly was a lot more polished than Cheick at this time.

No question by anyone… everyone admits Cheick wasn’t D1 ready from Day 1 at Kansas. I think just about everyone on this planet would be surprised at how quickly he is progressing.

Many of you in here played (or play) lots of basketball. How long would it take to you from being rough to being D1 capable of contributing at a blue blood like Kansas? Well… in my case… I never reached that level of play and I’m guessing most of you didn’t either. And if all of us could sit in practices, we would be blown away by how fast he is progressing.

It won’t be long now…

"Does anyone know where I can find a Jayhawk?

Any of you pussycats know where I can find a Jayhawk?

Let me explain what a Jayhawk is so if you see one you can let me know.

A Jayhawk is someone who has never heard the word “quit.”

A Jayhawk is someone who has never thrown the towel in like towel boys doing the laundry.

A Jayhawk knows his/her identity… a winner… head pointed up… always going 200%… dignified… assured of themselves.

From now on, I only want to spend what valuable hours I have left on this planet with real Jayhawks. If any of you pussycats wants to continue this relationship, you will have to become Jayhawks. And if you don’t want to strive to become a Jayhawk, there is the door. Don’t let it hit you in the arse on the way out, it might crush your pussycat tail. Or if you think you want to challenge me on who you think you are right now, I’ll go out the door with you and we can settle this in the yard. Any takers?

So I need to know how many of you want to be Jayhawks, and how many of you want to stay pussycats? Who is in, and who is out? Decide. Just be sure… this will be one of the most important decisions you ever make with your life."

(this is for our players…)

@AsadZ

Enjoyed the read… but didn’t like “Allen-Self Fieldhouse” mention. I’d rather see us pay tribute to Bill in another way… perhaps labeling the museum in AFH after Bill? I’m sure we will find something… and he DOES DESERVE IT!

Changing landmark names, even though well-intended, is the beginning phase of going way off target. So in 2036 AFH will be called, “The Doritos Picante Chip Bowl Arena.” Why? Because sponsorship will be allowed and we already changed the name to Allen-Self not long ago…

We need to BUILD UPON our heritage, not dilute it by mixing labels in a blender.

I feel very strongly about this!

Shout out to SVI!

Did anyone else notice Svi in part of the game where he really lifted his defense? I believe it was in the second half, and the camera was isolated on him. That was some tremendous defensive footwork from Svi. Really… hats off for his effort!

I hope he keeps that up. We really need him to play solid defense.

This year we lost a valuable player in Perry Ellis. A big positive with Perry was his consistency. The talk around camp over the past half year or so was, “how are we going to replace Perry’s consistent points?” A legitimate question.

Josh Jackson appears to be the answer, and more.

As the season progresses Josh has been lifting his point totals while squashing his point total off-nights. The season is still young, but looking back over the last 4 games, Josh has earned the title of “Mr. Consistency” with 19, 17, 18 and 21 points. Am I ready to place Josh’s consistency near the consistency of Perry Ellis? No. Perry scratched and clawed for 4 years to earn his title. Josh is still a newcomer.

There are other statistics going in Josh’s favor that may change my mind very soon. He may not have to spend 4 years earning his consistency title. That’s good, because there is no chance he will remain in a Jayhawk uniform beyond this season.

Perry was a power forward. Josh, a swing guard. So how do they compare in the post stats? Perry actually had fewer rebounds in his senior year, averaging just 5.8 rpg. Not very high numbers for a power forward, especially when considering he didn’t have to fight many of his teammate post players for rebounds. In Josh’s last four games he has averaged just under 9 rpg. And he is rebounding from the swing guard position, often finding himself further away from the basket on rebounds over where Perry might have been positioned. Josh also is averaging just over 2 bpg in recent games, compared to Perry’s consistent stat around .5 bpg over all 4 seasons as a Jayhawk.

Statistics by themselves only give a glimpse into the reality of what is happening. Looking closer at Josh’s consistent scoring numbers it becomes apparent that he remains inconsistent on HOW he gets his points. He is yet to find his groove at the 3-pt line. That doesn’t stop Josh from getting his points. Josh remains inconsistent from the charity stripe, shooting a low percentage, especially when comparing to Mr. Consistency Ellis. But for every free throw Josh misses, he seems to compensate for his miss by scoring off the offensive glass.

We have to keep reminding ourselves that Josh is still a freshman. And sometimes he will remind us he is a freshman by making freshman mistakes. All we have to do is look past his youthful mistakes and focus on the one area of consistency that Josh scores higher marks than Perry and most players that have worn the Jayhawk uniform; competitive tenacity!

I just took a big drink from a glass of water half full.

Jayhawk critics are all busy pointing to our tough conference schedule ahead. Good for them. They had to take the conversation to a different topic after OU took down WVU at Morgantown. Even many of the computers suddenly have it in for us. Maybe they can now process sour milk?

I’m just sitting here. Looking off into distant space. Suddenly a warm fuzzy entered my consciousness.

All we have to do to win #13 is remain poised. Don’t listen to the critics. Don’t listen to anyone spouting bad energy, hyper drama, or just plain bull snit.

This is NOT one of those posts proclaiming, “WE ARE KANSAS!” I’ve never followed that line of thinking and see it as just asking for it. It is a pompous gesture worthy of diddly squat.

Even though we have a tough schedule ahead, WHY does it feel like we are skiing downhill?

Let’s start with the new guy on the block; Josh Jackson. By now even the biggest haters and cynics of OAD basketball have come around to Josh. He is the real deal and though he still makes some freshman mistakes he clearly can be labeled as an “old soul” of the game.

When we lose a game it usually relates to most of our guys having an off-night. Josh had an off-night on Monday. He only shot 3-of-11 from the field and only had 6 points and fouled out down the stretch. Boo hoo! Now take the time to read the rest of his stats… he lead the team in rebounds with 8, he had 5 assists and 2 blocks. And what doesn’t show in the stat sheet is his hustle after loose balls, often down on the hardwoods.

When a guy puts up those numbers on the road, in a hostile environment, he can continue to have more bad nights the rest of the year! I wonder what he will do when he breaks out of this horrible slump!? ha

I know ISU doesn’t have a real post. That still didn’t guarantee we would see production out of our post. Carlton and Landen only posted 43 minutes together, but they were responsible for 24 pts, 12 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block. The stats don’t tell the story here. Many times, those points came at the end of the shot clock and they bailed us out.

Frank was a little hobbled. Nothing serious. Just a banged knee. He still racked up 16 pts. But it is good to see that he didn’t have to completely carry his team on his back. Others provided assistance. It was a GROUP LIFT!

On any given night, any one of our first 7 players can rule the stat sheet. Every opponent scouts us. But how do they prepare to defeat 7 players equally? It is one thing to list a players’ tendencies… and it is another thing to mimic their play in practice to actually work on stopping them. And it isn’t just about our individual player’s skills… it is about team ball. Running 7 players creates many different possibilities. We can go big with both Landen and Carlton together, we can go with just one big, or we can go without a single big! We actually did that at ISU for a brief time.

No coach in our league is more screwed up with our possibilities than Huggybear Huggins. His highly-flammable full court pressure is all about scouting ahead. Knowing how much space is the right space around every Jayhawk. And knowing we will always have at least 2 paperweights (bigs) on the court at the same time. Those days are over! Our 4-guard lineup cuts the tether string from the WVU pressure. We’ve gone from our typical 3-on-5 lineup to 4-on-5 and the possibility of going 5-0n-5 with an ALL GUARD lineup!

Yes, you heard me. I’m all smiles because I do believe we could see a 5-guard lineup in Morgantown at some point. Look back at the ISU game. Josh and Svi actually out-rebounded Landen and Carlton.

What matters most is that Huggybear doesn’t know what we will bring. He doesn’t know if we will still be a victim to a sped up tempo or actually thrive on it. For once, our cards have not been exposed. We should all smile about the possibilities that our very own “Riverboat Gambler” is in a game (finally) where his hand isn’t exposed, even partially!

@wrwlumpy

I’ll tell you… so far I really like Beard. He seems solid and a class act.

This is just one more thing to hang in the positive column. He knew it was coming and told his guy not to flop. Had he flopped, this game (most likely) would have had a different conclusion.

He’s okay…

After experiencing 4 excellent years with Frank… I’m looking for a PG who has a background as a Navy SEAL or Elite Marine. It wouldn’t hurt if he was in the French Foreign Legion either.