Best posts made by imajayhawk

The News board in Times Square, New York City. Great sight to see. Congratulations, Frank.

The site is now loading on AT&T . Thanks. Now I can visit when I am off my wi-fi.

The referees are under intense scrutiny by their supervisor. Each conference has a supervisor of referees, whose job is to determine the way games are called, as well as make the assignments. He also disciplines referees on his staff. the whole process has become very competitive. The staff of referees for each conference has gotten smaller, and there are hundreds of officials trying hard each year to earn a position on each staff.

The point is we will see standardization amongst officials within each conference staff. There is a strong push away from the extreme individuality that used to exist in the past. The conference supervisor breaks down tape from ever game. Officials can lose assignments by straying from the conference guidelines.

Unfortunately, there are still differences between conferences, based on the supervisor. The power conferences also have this process influenced by money, as you add the need to support a TV audience, and the personalities of multimillion dollar coaches ( yes, CS should have gotten a “T” in the second half of the ULM game).

So what can we conclude: we will soon see what to expect in the Big12 for the rest of the year. There will be differences between conferences, as there has always been. The way the games are called is less about the individual officials, and more about the conference supervisors (so don’t blame the officials).

To me the greatest proof that the vaccine saves lives is looking at the USA June 2021 numbers. There were 10,000 deaths last month from COVID. 500 deaths were in vaccinated people. 9,500 deaths were in unvaccinated people.

This is good news for those vaccinated, since COVID cases are climbing in the unvaccinated population due the the highly contagious delta variant (1,000 times more virus particles are found in the blood of infected delta variant persons versus the original strain). The way this is spreading, it is expected that near 100% of the un-vaccinated will catch COVID.

The sad news is that MOST of the deaths from COVID in June could have been avoided if people vaccinated!

I was born in New Jersey, and grew up there for 19 years, initially attending St. Joe’s for 2 years. Parents moved to KC (job). Went to visit them, and drove out to KU for an afternoon. Fell in love, and felt it was the right place for me.Finished last 2 yrs undergrad at KU, then attended medical school and residency in KC. Moved to PA in 1987, where I remain an avid fan. My son is a diehard KU fan, even though he graduated from Penn St. Also, my younger sister played ball for 1 year under Coach Washington. She was on the team with Lynette Woodward. She was the “11th player” for PT, and ultimately left to be a 3 yr starter for Liberty. She still loves KU.

AT&T. It has definitely been over a year. Again, this is the only website that doesn’t work for me when I am not on Wi-fi.

We have just seen a glimpse of what is to come. The beautiful game of basketball, which needed just a few tweaks due to excessive contact, has been perverted into a disjointed, ugly game that I can hardly recognize.

Players being allowed to drive out of control INTO the defense and get a call. Great drives to the rim taken away because someone brushes his shorts. Ugh!

Six fouls per player next?

Granted, we played little defense tonight, but basketball will be painful to watch.

I am so disappointed.

@Lulufulu

Hope you are adjusting well. Vermont is such a beautiful state. I live in Pa, so only get to see the team occasionally. Have tickets for the Temple game in Dec.

Anyway, ESPN 3 is showing the game on Friday. At least we on the East Coast won’t get blacked out.

RCJH

Fun game once we got into a rhythm. Kept looking at the score in the later minutes of the first half, not believing we were only up by 5. It is great to see the freshman developing with each game.

Defense still struggling, but I have I still think the new rules are having an effect. Bottom line-we must learn to stop the dribble drive outside of the lane, because once penetration gets deeper, nearly all contact will be a foul on the defense, however slight. We seemed to do better in the second half.

Ellis is our offensive rock. Our freshman will have up and down nights. We need Perry to be the offensive staple to put us in the position to win any game. Looking like he is ready. What a stud.

Love Mason’s aggressiveness. Now is the time to let him drive and drive and perfect his ability to finish or make the right pass. Will need this in conference play. His dunk from Tharpe had me fall off my seat.

Tharpe is the man. Real PG. Started off slow tonight, and seemed to need Mason to get him going (shouldn’t need that)

Embiid: OMG. What a performance. You can see him develop with each game. I know we will see off-nights from him, but you can see the potential. Unfortunately, I now agree he looks to be OAD.

Wiggins quietly puts up 13. Doesn’t seem to have the killer instinct against every opponent, but after watching him in the Duke game, we will be fine. I have no fear he will finish plays when we need him. Seems like a great teammate (almost to a fault).

Selden was solid. Seems more mature than than the other freshman.

Black is critical for our success. I think his game, as well as Traylor, has been impacted the most by the new rules. We still need him to provide leadership due to his age. We still need a big body for certain games. CS needs to get him in the flow.

Good progress, though. O-State looked good crushing Memphis. Good thing we have time. We are not yet ready for them. RCJH

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Appreciate the post @wissoxfan83

I want to add special thanks to Coach Larry Brown. I graduated undergrad at KU in 1980, and remained in KC area until 1987. Never missed a game. The decline in the program under Coach Ted Owens was obvious. Coach Brown brought KU back into national relevance. The media attention provided by Coach Brown, and ultimately Danny Manning, began to open doors for recruiting. Thanks for righting the ship.

I also thank technology. It is sad to think that those in close proximity to Lawrence are missing TV games that I get to see in Pennsylvania. I feel blessed that I have not missed a game on TV for the past 6 years. I will be feasting on turkey and KU hoops later today.

I am looking forward to the Wake Forest game. They have a sophomore, Devon Thomas, who went to school right down the road from me. He is a big, who averaging a double double this year. I have watched him, and his sister-who is an All American at Maryland and a certain 1st round draft pick in the WNBA, grow up and play. This will be a game where I am not routing for him. I feel confident we will win, but we need to be ready to play.

I also want to thank KUSports. It has been my staple for basketball news over the years. Unfortunately, it is time to move on. Many thanks to @approxinfinity to making this new site happen.

Thanks to all the great KU fans. Let’s have fun this holiday weekend and bring home the tourney championship (as a prelude to great things to come).

RCJH

Slow start, but the second half showed us glimpses of this teams potential. Almost fell off my chair seeing pressure in the backcourt with traps. So happy to see improved ball pressure and steals. Individually, our perimeter players played much better “d”. They struggled on switching with the weave. This should improve with time. I was impressed with Lucas. Looked so much better than Mickelson. Mason and Graham looked great at the point in the 2nd half. At one point, we had 12 assists on 14 field goals in the second half. This group looks more like a team, than the last couple of years. Can’t wait until Friday. RCJH.

Jaybate, you are right on with the Composite 5. Bill Self is a master at choosing the right big for the moment (not perfect, but a Hall of Fame master). The worst we could do is settle on 1 or 2 bigs right now. The composite is an important strength.

Many people get down on Lucas, but Lucas did not slow the pace in the second half. The lack of efficiency from Selden, Svi, and Ellis in the last 10 minutes of the first half, and early in the 2nd half allowed Harvard in the game and crystallized a grind it out game. Frank and Devonte could not keep up the early energy alone and turnovers went away. A grind it out game with a strong opposing big meant Lucas was our ideal answer from the composite 5. Zena was held below his average (and below his 50% shooting percentage). He struggled more against Lucas.

Strength in numbers. The composite 5 will get much better as Diallo and Bragg improve, but I think we would have lost with them in there.

Also, if we had made free throws, this would have been a double digit win.

@Crimsonorblue22 A “spot” throw-in, is actually a box 3 feet wide with unlimited depth. The player is allowed to move within the box, holding the ball. In fact, the “edge” of the box extends to the ceiling. So a player could go to the right side of the box, and have nearly his entire body outside the box, but as long as one toe was within the space, even if it was up in the air, he is legal. He could then run to the left side and do the same. So if he has long legs, he could cover quite a distance and still be legal.

So great to see the team play. No blackouts in PA. What I saw:

1. Wiggins is the real deal. You saw flashes of what he can do. He is trying to be “part of the team” and is respecting his teammates. The new hand check rule will play to his game. Coach Self will push him to step up.

2. Selden seemed affected the most with the hype, but he should also benefit from the new rules. I expect considerable growth over the season.

3. Embiid is fast for his size, but his hands are not up to speed with his feet. Think he will be a 2and done. It will be interesting to see the speed of his progression through the season.

4. AWIII: wow. He is ready to play this year. Should compete for real minutes, and will push others to compete for PT.

5. Tharpe has locked The PG spot. I was impressed. good decisions. finding players. Should do well not that he knows he doesn’t have to score. I don’t think we will see the forced shots like last year.

6. Mason is fast, and should backup Tharpe. I do not think he will pass Tharpe at PG this season. I think we are in good shape for the next few years at PG spot. I think the skill difference will be obvious when he starts as PG in the first game with Tharpe suspended.

7. Greene really impressed me. Nice shooting strong. Still needs to learn the system better. Should get minutes.

8. Perry continues to improve. Excited about his progress.

9. Black is critical for the development of the bigs. Watched him teaching his teammates on the court. This role can be underestimated. Perry just doesn’t have the personality to do it. We need him on the court. Hopefully he can manage fouls.

10. Traylor looked solid off the bench. Should be more of a factor this year.

11. Lucas: still not sure what to think or how he will fit in the rotation. Will be clearer in the next few games.

12. Connor needs to redshirt. Not ready.

The new rule seems all about trying to increase the scores to more closely resemble the minimal defense NBA, hoping that higher scores will increase TV viewership, which drives the money machine. The NCAA will say it is a response to the increasing physicality, taunting, and fights. But I think not. They are betting on more drives to the rim, and crowd pleasing finishes with dunks.

While I love a good dunk, I also love to see tough on-ball defense. This will be a tough year. My hope is that the strategy will backfire. Fouls will increase so much that the games will lose flow and beauty. Viewership might drop, and smarter heads will prevail and the pendulum will swing back to more sanity.

That said, CS has recruited well for this rule change. Players like Selden, Wiggins, Mason, and Tharpe should thrive. Ellis will benefit by catching the ball in the high post or a few feet off the low block, and using his quickness to drive and score (with many and 1’s)

Great story. So ironic. Ever since I was a student at KU in the 70’s, Misery has prided itself on its fan behavior being rude, obnoxious, and disrespectful. This was their version of home court intimidation. Now they are developing a case of “cultural sensivity” and respect? What a joke?

I wonder if the schools increased media exposure due to the football teams success in the SEC is prompting this sudden change?

I have been lucky out here in PA. We get AXS TV, and all games on ESPN3 are not blacked out. Turkey and KU hoops. Heaven on earth.

@JayDocMD Great post. I felt that the recruitment of Tarik Black was to provide the “senior” leadership, even though he was new to the program. He has the age and size to command attention. Early on, you could see him in that role. He was clearly coaching on the floor. The problem became the new interpretation of the rules. Now that Black can’t stay in the game for more than 3 minutes, the team has lost the best quality he brought to us. I can see the frustration in his demeanor.

Wiggins is so talented he will be the “go-to”, but his personality has shown he is not, nor will be, the leader, the extension of CS on the floor.

I love to watch the players during dead balls for signs of this “leadership” skill. A player must know he has the support of the coaches, and they must cultivate the right personality, and allow this skill to take hold and grow. Watching the team, Mason seems to be the “leader-in-training”. How long this takes is not known.

It would be great if Traylor or Ellis could pull the load until Mason is ready. Until then, we will see our Jayhawks remain wildly inconsistent despite their awesome talent.

Marcus “Smart”, NOT.

He will not fair well in the league with this behavior. Very talented PG who is in freefall. He should be suspended.

We do not know if the fan has done anything wrong, more than lacking class. I did not see the fan stand over Marcus and taunt him. He did not throw anything at Marcus. He did not strike him. There is a video of him wagging his tongue at a Texas A&M player. So what. Not classy, or an image I would want of myself on YouTube, but how is that deserving of suspension.

Compare his action to those of any of the Antlers. Compare his actions to many of the students in many arenas. granted, at his age, maturity would be nice, but you shouldn’t suspend someone for that.

Compare his action to the Iowa St alum who charged Bill self last year-he crossed the line by coming out of the stands.

Marcus Smart has the chance to make millions of dollars. Part of the price to earn that, is to put up with fans. He crossed the line. suspension needed (and serious counseling-and a real coach)

I, for one, have been thrilled having Wiggins as part of the family. He appears to be a team player, represent Kansas with integrity. We all have to remember he is only 18 and should still be in high school.

I think Wiggins is unfairly getting a rep on this board for “never” passing. Looking at the players on this team, once the decision is made to drive into the lane, who has the best potential to score. Wiggins. He is so athletic, he is just trying to perfect his finishes at this level. He will go through this again in the League. But, I feel that the ONLY person who can stop Wiggins from finishing the play on a drive is Wiggins. We need him to continue to perfect his craft quickly for us to go deep in the tournament.

There are many time Wiggins gets the ball on the wing, and he passes. I think he really tries to involve his teammates. But once he drives, I want him to finish, not pass.

Wiggins turned 19 last Sunday, and yes, he left high school 1 year early. While Wiggins is off the chart in athleticism and potential, he is probably 3-4 years a way in physical maturity. Another year in high school would have helped, but then, selfishly, we might not have had a really great kid to cheer for and be ambassador for the Jayhawks.

Lack of pace falls on the shoulders of our bigs. When our 2 guards have to be the leading scorers AND play 36 minutes AND our bigs can’t rebound, we are at the mercy of whatever pace our opponent dictates. Selena getting fouled up didn’t help, especially with Svi struggling. (Another opportunity lost by BG with his suspension). Coach Self had to go with Lucas.

Our bigs, including Ellis, forced us to grind this one out. Hopefully a good learning experience.