Losing Frank to graduation still hitting me hard, even slightly more than losing in the Elite8. Yes KU ball will soldier on. But without one of the best warriors to ever put on the Crimson&Blue.
KU bball gets a yearly decent chance at a Final Four. But finds like Frank, regardless of ranking, just dont come along every year. Devonte has some SHOES to fill.
Hold on to your seat cushions, dentures, and wigs/toupees, when you see Newman play this coming season…His natural position is slashing-2, but has added improved 3pt shooting. McDonaldsAllAmerican alert, and a pent-up one, to boot…
@mayjay Great points on UConn. But what’s your gut feel on UConn now? Are they a destination job? Are they a top-recruit mentioned pick? They seem to me, at least, to be B-tier.
What, no Witherspoon?
No “Spoonie”??
In other news, Frank Mason is busy with his 13 NBA teams’ invited workouts…
Bluebloods: KU, KY, UCLA, UNC, Duke.
@drgnslayr Too cynical about Danny’s leaving, while not giving enough credit to Self’s concepts and teaching. Wake Forrest doesnt even look like an ACC-caliber team. Could it be that various kids simply havent panned out, for very different reasons? Lucas no hops, no hands, no fast twitch, not an alpha. Bragg showed promise Yr 1, even in the WUG, then flops in all areas despite KU-level coaching. Watch that Udoka kid. Find some faith.
@Kcmatt7 Well, the older generations most definitely were more racist. Not just deep South. Even in KS. Especially rural KS.
Somewhat tangential, but this is also why the progressives on both coasts look down on the Midwest/rural areas, as they consider us the slowest to change attitudes, beliefs, values. (For better or worse, of course, hotly debated across several issues, politically speaking).
Newman Mickey-D avg 13ppg as a freshman at MissState, playing out of position as PG instead of SG. Kind of like EJ forced to do. But 13ppg alone as a Div1 freshman, even in the Bill Self structure would be called a starter. But, Newman gets to learn system, get stronger by Hudy, and comes in at his comfortable position, and now with that chip on his shoulder, something to prove. All good for '17-18…
Daddy Ball a perfect example of cheap attempt at pot-stirring, to simply cause hype. What he has no feel for, is when all the attention starts to turn into bad PR. Yes, daddy, everybody is talking about your son, but now some are even starting to go counter-grain, simply because of daddy’s absurdly positive grandiosity about his son–now they looking harder for Lonzo’s bad qualities. Human nature for people to try to shoot down a chest puffer. Cut him down to size.
This guy managed to insult MJ and LeBron both, said something about LeBron’s kids.
Do you like demolition derbys? Sit ringside for this one. A family affair.
@jaybate-1.0 Perhaps the recruiting times have changed since the early 2000s, and even the mid-2000s–maybe that has impacted Self some. Also, BRush, RussRob, Chalmers, Shady…all those guys were recruited at the tail end of KU-Nike era. Maybe the shoe thing helped us, sort of, then. Self has also had bad luck with some recruits, like #1 PG Selby, who arrived snake bit by fate, & then didnt help his cause with his own decision making. Same for Cliff Alexander. Burns Illini with the hat-fake, then burns KU with the “yeah, I’m eligible” fake.
Self also maybe made a few mistakes with 5star recruits, such as EJ. The whole Brady-vs-EJ debates raged. Ever since then, Self seems very eager to play his frosh, even low-ranked frosh, to develop them quicker. See Mason and Devonte.
Also, cannot deny that the level of skill in highschoolers has improved, and again I’ll point to Mason and Devonte. As frosh, they were playable, whereas 10-12 yrs ago a kid in the 60s-70s would have best redshirted and developed for a year or two. Tyshawn also was play-able, out of necessity, so he’s an imperfect frosh example, but he arrived in 2009.
Tyshawn, Mason, Buddy Hield are great examples of 4yr players. Certain players do better with certain types of coaches.
I do think Self has evolved for the better compared to his much more rigid pre-2014 version. In everything. Maybe this is all good, as it keeps the professional challenge for him from going stale.
Added 3 D-linemen this week, 2 x 3stars, 1 2 star. 2 of them are juco.
What I like is 1 5star WR, 2 4star WRs, a 4star RB, a 3-4star dual threat TX QB on the roster. Not sure if aTm’s Quiv Gonzalez was a 4 or 5 star, so I counted him as a 4.
KU currently with the 12th ranked football recruiting class… (may change, of course).
Agree with the various takes above, thanks to all who commented. This season, for KC, seems to be a crossroads or even a last hurrah for many of the veterans. Maclin already cut…
@Kcmatt7 But would you say the Pats O-line is better than KC’s O-line? That was my only comparison. I happen to really like Alex Smith. Is he KC’s only 1st round QB, number 1 in the draft, if I’m not mistaken. So we got him. But what the “heck” have we put around him? Alex was a gunslinger QB at Utah under Urban Meyer.
Trent Green can tell us KC fans what happens in successive seasons when you start to lose your ProBowl O-line, 1 by 1, or 2 at a time. The RBs suffer also, ask LJohnson. He didnt quite have the line that Priest Holmes did. Why exactly did TGonzalez leave KC? He wanted a chance at a SuperBowl. Player personnel decisions…
Trump? Hope he can make good and simply give us all a better deal. Fix some things, actually. And give our enemies the rawest deal possible. I think he can.
Dems? Current far-Left types simply need to stop being butthurt. Hilary cant throw in the towel. What and awful campaign. Go ahead and attack Trumps extended family, and see if those attempts make such Dems “look” better. Trying to take the low road to get to a higher place? Ha, what logic. And I had little issue with old school Dems of a generation or two ago, like JFK or even Carter.
Republicans? Trump is different than them, so some of them find it hard to venture out of their box. Well, the American public spoke. And note to the Dems: You cannot get any more electoral votes from winning CA even if you got 99% of all Calif votes, duh. What a pointless fact that Hilary won the popular vote–of course, but Calif and NY dont speak for every other state now, DO THEY? Find someone in the DemParty strategy committee who decided to have Hilary not set foot even in some key states. Was that a public “snub” by her, before votes got cast? Wow, talk about accidentally falling on yer own sword…what a lesson. And they spent 4x the $ the Repubs did. And they had all major media, except for 1 network. But lets find some way to blame the Russians. Because Russian Red Army barricades kept Hilary’s motorcade out of those key states all thru the campaign, ya…And the Red AirForce kept her plane from landing in those states, ya…
@Texas-Hawk-10 Awesome rundown on the Louisiana guys, thank you! There isnt this type of excitement or recruiting going on at Purple, is there? Snyder doesnt have an audience with LSU/Bama/SEC type recruits, does he?
If Beaty’s shrewdness with his asst coaching hires carries over into his playcalling, this whole enchilada just started to grow some wheels…the jimmys and joes to run those x’s and o’s, so they say.
@jaybate-1.0 Fox News mentioned Dday several times during the day and night. Showed pictures of that day on the beaches.
I played Call of Duty, World at War (old game that never gets old, you get to shoot all the guns, but I dont like the de-tuned Springfield rifle. A .3006 is a .3006 regardless of what gun shot it!). I ordered some dvds about Panthers and Tigers and Shermans.
I absolutely bludgeoned myself by reading of the meatgrinder of the Eastern Front.
War and remembrance. Those who forget, simply must brace themselves for mankind’s limitations, as we’ll keep repeating our usual blunders.
@justanotherfan Hmm, so you think the Texas freshman PG can just come in and run that team, in addition to making the transition to D1 speed and opposition and the big lights? Ok, maybe Shaka found himself some kind of Frank Mason or Devonte…we shall see.
What, no Witherspoon?
No “Spoonie”??
In other news, Frank Mason is busy with his 13 NBA teams’ invited workouts…
@elpoyo I’m sure Hudy tried everything with Lucas. But some kids are fast-twitch athletes, and some are not. At this point, simply judge 6’10 Lucas like any pro-scout would judge him, and thats the point I’m making. Cant make someone explosive if they werent to begin with.
Lucas’ job in Self’s scheme was to box out, set screens, seal off his man, and get garbage put-backs, lob dunks, and hit FTs. He can be productive (in college), but in a blue collar way. Everytime he tried to push the offensive scoring envelope, he became very unreliable. Yet another description would be that he had the offensive mentality, but not the physical ability or scoring touch.
@elpoyo Oregon proved exactly this:
Lucas was a pedestrian, non-athlete, manning our post. Nothing Hudy could do.
Big guards can shoot over little guards.
Lady luck needed to advance in the Madness. We didnt get it with our 3%, nor with Ducks’ timeclock beating 3s.
Frank Mason and Josh Jackson needed help, which they didnt get. (in that game)
No matter who your team is, pivotal ref calls can indeed affect a game. Either for or against.
Hudy affects conditioning and physique, molding a player with specifics for his position in Self’s system. Guards get different workouts than bigs. But what can Hudy do about mindset and nature of a player? Very little.
Basically you are right OR wrong, depending on what aspect of KU basketball you are referring, based on if Hudy can impact that aspect or not.
But this is silly exercise, since a whole national organization decided she gets this award, not you or me or Bill Self. Hmm, why did they reach that consensus? Just because she’s a girl? Doubt it.