After all the crap the team has received about being soft and Self’s worst, that was 2012 level tough. Very impressive.

1. Teams that have a crazy shooting night from three - check

2. Double digit seed in the elite eight - check

3. Jay Wright and Villanova in the final four - check

4. North Carolina in the championship game - check

Tournament run for the ages.

From kusports.com - “We’re not gonna back down from anybody or let anybody punk us.”

I love the attitude by our guys. The upperclassmen have had hard losses in the tourney by teams that have been tougher. Wichita State in 2015 absolutely punked them and was a tougher team. Nova was not quite as bad but Ochefu owned all the bigs, including Landen, and Jenkins, Hart and Arccidiacano had the upper hand against the guards. Even if they lose, it won’t be because they softened up or anything like that. It’s actually a good thing that we played Izzo early, as it tested the mental and physical toughness of our team.

Winning in the tournament is all about toughness and I am glad that our guys have developed that mentality which will allow them to be in a good position moving forward.

Can’t believe this thread title made it past the censors.

I think it’s a possibility. Long ways to go but he is playing at Sherron+ levels.

Just thinking about this but since Self has been here at Kansas, every year we have played Davidson we eventually made it to the final four.

2008 - National champions

2012 - National runner up

2017 - ?

Me with Silvio at the game tonight.

@approxinfinity Udoka is going to be dominant and a player of the year candidate next year. Contrary to my earlier feelings, we will have a really good team next year.

Most likely, Carlton is still trying to figure out how to do what Self and the staff are expecting of him. That coupled with a different style of play than last year and we have the confusion that Carlton is experiencing. I do think it is entirely within the realm of possibility that he figures out how he is going to go about his role. Like slayer has been saying, he is having a lot thrown at him and he needs time to digest all of it. I do not think that he is incapable of performing better nor is he inept.

Back when I was playing, I had a situation where I switched schools and played for two different teams in as many years. With all new players, coaches, personnel and philosophies, it was hard through the first few months to get adjusted to everything. But I always played my best at the end of season in February and March and in one tournament I was co MVP.

In short, there is no reward for starting the season well. You don’t get a bye game in the tournament or any bonus points because you didn’t lose a game in November. We saw the same thing last year with Landen. Everyone was upset with Self and called for his benching, yet he started to figure out his role in the post and made his bunnies. I will be patient with Carlton.

I have been saying over the course of the past three months that the 2018 team will have as good of a shot at a title as any in the past six years, if the players contribute in expected ways. The balance should be as good as it was in 2011 and 2008. We have speed, length, shot blocking and post presence.

But some people just have hurdles placed in their lives, for whatever reason, that are a major factor in preventing success. I’m sure we all know of someone that has such challenges, as we all most likely have those as well. For one William Self, the elite eight is the bane of his existence. He even admitted as such this past year prior to the Oregon game that it is the hardest round of the tournament.

The truth is, that statement proves everything I have thought for years - Bill Self gets a little tight. You might not be able to see it from your sofa hundreds of miles away, but the team in shootaround, the locker room and the pre game meal is feeling it. Bill thinks it is the hardest round, therefore it is.

I don’t know how much longer Bill is going to be around at KU. Will he coach till he is 65? 70? I wouldn’t bet on it. Squandered isn’t the right word, but three or four really good chances at bringing home the university’s fourth or even fifth title have been squandered. Coincidentally, with exception of 2010 (hard to count 2013), every one of those teams has fallen in the “hardest round”. And its always the same reason, right? “We just shot poorly” is the reason given, almost without a second thought.

But the analytical watcher and one who has given time to reflect on all this will pose the question: is there a correlation amongst all these elite eight losses? Is it possible that there really is pressure on Bill and he, perhaps unwittingly, passes it on to the team? How do teams with multiple great shooters all of a sudden become terrible? And no, despite opinions that shooting comes and goes in short periods of time in rather dramatic fashion (don’t want to mention names but his profile reads Jaybate), I have a very hard time believing it. As a shooter in high school myself, who, not to brag but I was regarded as perhaps the best at my 4A school by an assistant coach, did not experience such a phenomenon as described by some, I whole heartedly dismiss such flimsy conjectures on the point. A sample size of various teams over the course of ten years, coupled with those teams also experiencing the lowest scoring output of their respective years, proves that these occurrences all have one thing in common - Bill Self. The only year where I would say it was more than nerves or it was some other cause would be against Villanova, as in a one possession we had, IIRC, six more turnovers than them, which is a significant amount.

I love having Bill here and I don’t want to see him leave. BUT, he has to figure this out. He needs to figure out what went well in the 2012 elite eight game and try to improve things this next year.

From the looks of things, KU will be at the top for the third year in a row. I believe Arizona, WSU, KU, Michigan State and maybe some other team will prove to be the best teams this coming year. I like our chances once again and I think that Bill will eventually sort this out. He is too smart and cunning to let this go on forever. But if he doesnt, maybe its time a player, like a Devonte Graham who has plenty of moxy, puts the team on his back and says “I’m tired of losing in the elite eight and we’re going to make it this year to the final four.” Devonte has the Ryan Boatwright/Kemba Walker/Shabazz Napier court attitude. I’ve been saying this for a while now. People around on other boards have said that Devonte is just a good senior player, nothing more. But like dragonslayer pointed out a few months ago, Devonte is the real key to March. We saw how good he was leading up to the Oregon game, and how brilliant he was against Purdue.

This year’s team has all the pieces, if it can put them together. We have senior leadership, capable scorers, shooters, decent depth in the post and a seven footer that isn’t going to let someone like Jordan Bell own the paint. Because of Dok, I think our team defense should also reflect his shot blocking prowess and rim protection, but we still need better perimeter defense. Last year, Svi and Devonte were probably the worst we had and they will be counted on to perform. If they don’t guard well, it doesn’t matter who is back waiting at the rim. It puts the team in a bad decision when there are breakdowns one on one and can lead to foul trouble for both forwards and guards. Hopefully someone on the team noticed this glaring problem from last year and they have been working on it all summer. We’ll see in a few months.

Also the missed rebound down 1 when Council missed the free throw. That’s another huge self inflicted blunder

Do I think we win with Bill there? Yes. Could we and should we have won without him? Hell yes. I hope at some point his teams start shooting free throws better.

@Kcmatt7 and they still should have won that game

@AsadZ don’t forget Self!

@cragarhawk said in Hog Wild Game Thread:

@Texas-Hawk-10 once again we’ll have to disagree. That was definitely not the inspired defense we saw in the first 10-15 min of the game in my opinion

Correct it was not at all, yet we’re still good enough to win it

Yeah missed three front ends of 1-and-1. That’s a lot of points on the floor

@kuballin10 yeah not going for the three is baffling

Also, what the hell were they doing goin for two?

Just a complete choke job. Missed free throws were the main culprit

@kjayhawks I don’t think anyone on any KU site is stating we’ll blow them out