Best posts made by HoraceZontal

CB had 25 pts, 9 rebounds and 3 assists last night! Great game, but in a losing effort against the Pelicans.

@BeddieKU23 Really good observations all the way around. Two additions: 1. I was hoping Harris would have taken a step up (like McCullar), but I haven’t seen that so far; he’s still solid and I like him, but I find myself wanting/expecting more; and 2. El Marko looks like he belongs as a starter now, a far cry from even 5 games ago; I no longer cringe when he has the ball; his speed is apparent and I expect he’ll figure out how to use it as the season progresses.

87% from the foul line. That would be a nice change.

@HoraceZontal and Merry Christmas everyone!

@mayjay yes, Allen’s chapter in Coach K’s book of cheating is “How to Cheat While Lying Down on the Court”

@BeddieKU23 yes, that’s horrible. Really feeling bad for Duke today. And Kentucky, while I’m at it. And Missouri (very sad).

Check out Braun’s steal and dunk on a disinterested Durant from last night’s game. Great play!

If he were my kid, I’d be doing a lot of soul searching, but I’d want him to play for a disciplined tough coach like Self. Or at least like the coach I perceived Self to be prior to this decision—I’m still feeling my way around whether I need to alter my sense of Self. Also, I believe in growth and redemption, but a lack of contrition is a road block to that.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvvUawNaMAAk4HR.jpg

@jayballer67 one of my favorites from Rupp Rafters: “No other coach in the history of NCAA BB has wasted this much talent”

Marcus, Oubre and Embiid started last night for Sixers. I wonder if that’s happened before — 3 (or more) Jayhawks starting for an NBA team.

From ESPN’s Lunardi, a very optimistic take: It has not been a great few years for the consensus No. 1 team. A season ago, Kansas was banged up and made “only” the Sweet 16. A season before that, North Carolina didn’t even make the tournament. You get the idea. Being the hunted in a sport with so much parity is probably a disadvantage. Yet here again are the Jayhawks, with as much power and pedigree as any program in college basketball. For me, the road to San Antonio begins in Lawrence, Kansas.

@patoh3 finally, a policy at his reading level

And best not to talk about penises while on the air

Scary thought: I just realized that with the death of the PAC 10, Bill needs a new gig, and calling Big 12 games would be a natural, given the new teams. This tourney is his big audition!

@wissox some relationships just need the right setting. Here’s hoping Lawrence is it.

@BShark so actually you were who I wanted to hear from in my initial post. Thanks for chiming in! And for the good news, fingers crossed

Last night against the Bucks — 11 points but on 2-10 shooting

@kjayhawks thanks for posting that. HCBS at his very best.

Just read from Mike Vernon that we got Griffen! Fantastic

@Crimsonorblue22 I’m sure he’d like to be playing, but he’s making 12.1M this year. And if the analysis is correct, at least there’s a reason beyond Pop just not liking him. It’s the coaching opposite of something that folks often complain about with HCBS: that he doesn’t play the young guys enough early to the point of maybe losing some games now so that they and the team are better later.

Another comment indicated that Pop may be holding Devontae out with the idea of trading him soon. Hopefully he gets to a team that will give him some PT.

Thanks for that. Great to see Frank and Perry (and Wayne and …). That may be the only footage I’ve ever seen of Bragg playing.

I know we’ve already moved on, in life as well as this thread, but … wasn’t that the game we lost due to the Morii not being able to back up their pre-game shit talking and related antics?

The Ringer projects Furph as the 34th pick, noting basically the same strengths and weaknesses we experienced this season. Hopefully, he comes back to get stronger and address deficiencies. I like him, especially how hard he plays.

The Nos are stacking up. Very enjoyable.

At least Ben’s an “Ex-Blazer”. Sad to see the story, no matter what actually happened. He was a favorite. I’ll never forget the snoopy dance.

I imagine Self would “vigorously” coach someone who obtained a court injunction forcing the team to take him back. I’m a coach (not basketball and not at this level) and my inner sadist gets excited just thinking about the possibilities.

Returning? Really? I’d be shocked, but very happy.

Thanks for the link to the tourney site. Good to see the highlights. As a bittersweet bonus, I finally got to see Billy Preston go on a run.

@BShark I love your excitement about him. It’s infectious. I look forward to finding some film.

@rockchalkjayhawk yes, I agree, Diggy’s impact is felt also with Dejuan being able to go harder at the end of games because he’s had some rest.

@approxinfinity that sounds great. I’m on board for that!

Check out the clip on ESPN. Great block! https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401469044

@BeddieKU23 that’s encouraging. Looks like a he’s be a great pick up for us.

I like that idea, @approxinfinity. Re the salary hit, he’s still making 3.2M according to ESPN.

Re Devontae and the bench, I was curious as well. I did some poking around and found this thoughtful analysis from a Reddit thread:

“Samlet 5 days ago IMO Spurs know they’d be a better team with Graham getting all the non-Tre minutes at point guard. But the Spurs are prioritizing winning in the long term. So they believe getting Branham reps at point guard (after the Sochan experiment was uh… interesting) is more important than having Graham be the 30-40th ranked point guard he is, and getting guys some easier looks and us a few more wins, but then our guys aren’t getting as many creation reps.

I personally would rather have 48 minutes of real point guard play so our guys can play in a functional offense, but I understand why PATFO is prioritizing Branham with our upcoming roster crunch.

Next year we likely have two top-10 draft picks coming in. So we have Wemby, Devin, Keldon, Sochan, Collins, Tre Jones, our top-5 pick, and the Raptors pick who likely have 8 rotation spots pretty secure.

There are only so many minutes and reps to go around. So it’ll be important to know as much as we can about Branham by the end of this season, so going forward we know whether to keep prioritizing his development (~25 min a game) or if he’s looking more like a 15 min./game bench player.

The Spurs feel like that’s more important than giving Graham 20 minutes/game and getting a better offense/a few more wins, but then not giving Branham (along with our other young players) as many reps and then as a result not knowing as much about their capabilities.“

@Crimsonorblue22 love the vision of him and Furphy in opposite corners shooting 3s

@wissox for me, many reasons, but most of all: while at Duke, he intentionally stomped on a fallen defender’s chest under the basket

@dylans ha! Good one!

@BShark agree completely, he’s so far out there. But I’ve never heard him give us love like he did last night — the program, the ethos, Self, the players. It’s as though someone spoke to him after the last PAC 10 v KU game he called. He even learned some of our player’s names (or he’s been practicing using a cheatsheet).

Given our remaining targets, would it possibly be to our advantage if Kugel did not arrive?

I agree with the above two takes on Nick — he played pretty well (better than he has been) and given more time might have played even better. My concern is that he’s not going to be able to replicate that against top teams and they will target him on D. But we’ll see. I’d love for my worry to prove unfounded.

@wissox there are a few places. Here’s one: https://247sports.com/season/2024-basketball/transferportal/

I don’t disagree. Like you, I wish he were more mobile and a dominant defender. But his passing is excellent, he’s improved his rebounding (with a few off games recently), and he really does shoot the ball with nice touch. And he’s a tough competitor, I think. I can’t imagine where we’d be without him, even if we still had the two bigs who left.

I’m not sure what thread this should be in, perhaps a Cal-specific thread. I was sickened by it so of course wanted to share my nausea with all of you. From ESPN: ““You may think I’m crazy, but I told my staff I only want to have eight or nine guys,” Calipari told Robinson, who is now executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. "They’re leaving anyway, and why would I develop a kid for someone else? Why would I do that?””

@Jayblaze great re-frame! I wish it wasn’t necessary, but since it is … I’m on board. I just hope we can field a team of solid players who actually will be playing next year — on our team.

@bskeet I agree completely and would add that Harris’s presence on the team allowed Self to slow walk Remy and in essence force him to play better D before getting significant PT. And dollars to donuts Harris helped Remy with how to do that. Harris is a solid team player. But, as you point out, he has limitations and needs to be paired with complementary players to be at his best. And this year, sadly, he wasn’t.

Sally Jenkins proposed Dawn Staley in a piece published in the Post today. That would be an inspired choice, and a living hell for Staley, I suspect.

@approxinfinity I’m looking forward to checking out the new New Kid in Town

@kjayhawks. Good point — optimistic and revisionist. Lunardi also predicts we win the championship, Self is COY and Hunter is POY.