Best posts made by Jyhwk_InTigrtwn

@wrwlumpy said:

no I in TEAM

Actually there is, it’s just hard to spot! :)…

So many good comments here that echo my own feelings, just felt the need to say so in one last 2014 post…

wrw - thanks for the gator link, thankfully we did not have a play like that one!

rehawk - I think your wager is fairly sound about the 1-4 wins against Tejas and IS, although we do have the power of the Phog for maybe 2-4

kusteve - Spot on with nearly all comments. Not sure I saw much chest hair on Ellis, and interesting take on Greene not being around next year…a couple more no-show games and I think you’re right. And while we soooo need Graham back, I have a funny feeling that even when we do, he’ll be too rusty and still hurting to be that effective.

beddie - two great posts, sad observations but true I think. I thought they’d get better over the xmess break too, but totally agree, since Lafayette I’ve had that same awful feeling. And Seldon’s shooting “slump” is more than that.

zig - yep, I’d say UK is a lock this year, maybe even go undefeated. Sure hope I’m wrong on those though

hem - first have to say thanks for all the great posts this year, you’re one of the main reasons I keep coming back for more here. And I’m struggling too and, unbelievably after a win, while I would not have had the cajones to say it, it might have been worse than the Temple game, as Temple is a serious team with those two new additions and Kent State is, well Kent State.

blown - I really really really hope you are wrong about Bill being on the back nine and us becoming more of a 24-8 team… but I have this little nagging voice that says you’re not.

nuleaf - Yes, team makes me crazy! Yes, we are spoiled rotten cry babies! And yes the Doll House in the late 80’s in Austin was a spectacular display of P, even eclipsing last night!

and last but not least, the prolific preacher of the jayhawk gospel himself, jb - it was the best of posts, it was the worst of posts. The best in that, as you usually are, you were humorous and insightful and fun to read. It was also the worst of posts for me, in that you intelligently and glibly popped so many of my hopeful bubbles about our team this year that I kept getting sadder with each one. The bullets to my two favorites - Oubre (getting his first OAD highlight reel game against lesser opponents) and Self (over playing Mason and being a nostalgia game) were especially deadly.

I can’t remember ever feeling this way after a WIN. I feel silly about it, but it’s still the way I feel…

But, being an eternal optimist, I’ll look for something bright to end the year with… things can change quickly in sports and people can surprise us, catch on fire (who would have guessed Embiid’s trajectory?) A couple of toughly fought, tooth and nail wins, a couple of boys growing into men and leading this team - and maybe a few antacids - will get rid of this feeling in my stomach.

Happy Gnu Year to all the board rats. Here’s hoping we look back in April and all go “Man, who would have thought back in late December that this team would go so far in the big dance?”

First off, I take full responsibility for this loss… I was going to wear my traditional KU hoody to watch the game but it was in the wash. I told myself it was just a stupid superstition, but boy was I wrong! I think it caused a force field around the basket repelling our shots.

And second, it’s actually a good thing to get shellacked like this as I was starting to obsess on this team and spend inordinate amounts of time looking for things to read about them. But with a spanking worse than the UK one, out of self-preservation I have to curb my enthusiasm. Which is a good thing because I had totally blown off editing my book in the little spare time I have.

I knew there was a silver lining somewhere. Ack.

Sigh… I still haven’t gotten over that major spanking UK just gave us. It’s not that we lost, I know that losing is part of the game, and that UK is just silly good this year. It’s just all their new McD kids made our new McD kids look they should have stayed in high school for another year.

It took awhile, but I got over the Stanford loss over the summer, and my fears that we still didn’t have a superior PG and/or a replacement 7footer and/or 3pt deadeye. But I read all the glowing reports on these boards and slowly got psyched again at the start of the season… such a plethora of new talent coming in.

But outside of Alexander, I’ve been pretty underwhelmed so far. Pretty hopeful for Svi -he seems to have the goods and just needs the shots to start falling in. Ellis is solid and gets his points, but seems to fold a bit when the going gets tough. A number of others show me flashes while some others make me wonder how they are still getting playing time.

Somebody posted the question about just how many quality wins do we have in the last few years outside of our conference besides Duke last year. Not many I’m afraid. And those early exits from the big dance smart and let these little doubts creep in.

Yes, I love winning the Conference tourneys every year, it’s amazing how much we dominate our pretty good conference. And yes I love how much we win all the friggin time year in and year out, and gotta like our Big Dance '08 win. And yes, got lots of love for our coach and our tradition too.

So as I sit here still stuffed from Thanksgiving, I need to remind myself I have lots to be thankful as a diehard KU fan.

It’s just… well sometimes I feel like if we were really as good as I think we are, we’d go a little further in the Dance each year, and we’d scratch a few more quality wins against non-big 12 teams during the season. I know greedy right?

Well, a nice win on Sunday vs Michigan State would really help continue that warm fuzzy thanksgiving feeling this year.

Oh and Santa, you could continue that warm fuzzy feeling with Oubre catching on fire and Greene shooting lights out from the three for the rest of the season…

@drgnslayr said:

Credit to Perry… He seemed to remove the mental barrier

Yea, I saw that too. I have voiced my unhappiness about his play on these boards earlier, maybe unfairly. But with the changes I’m seeing in his game play, a decent chunk of which are likely due to a change in the team dynamics, I am happy to see such a key piece of our team start to look like a stud and make me eat my earlier words.

Go get em Perry!!

Interesting thought and one I sure would love to see happen.

An obvious difference for me is that Withey was a big time volleyballer. So when he blocked shots, unlike most guys who bat the ball up and away, he tended to spike it back down into play. Plus being two inches taller, a longer wingspan and more vertical pop, he holds the advantage there too.

But Withey did take awhile to develop. And younger Lucas at 240 (compared to Withey’s current 235) has a bigger body and isn’t getting pushed around as much under the basket as Jeff used to be at this stage. I especially noticed this during the ISU game when McKay had been dominating us underneath and then Landen came in and really challenged him and for the most part succeeded. And both play for the best coach in modern basketball… so I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you’re right and we have another Withey in the making!

@JayHawkFanToo said:

I don’t believe for one second that Coach Self held them back; WVU defenders were glued to KU’s 3 point shooters

Yep, that’s exactly what I saw too. Good D from a good team that was desperate for a win at home after losing 3 straight and not wanting to be swept by a young team on short rest on the road.

I’ve complained here before (and have heard others say it too): "It’s not that we lost so much as the way we lost because of…fill in the blank with things like “no heart” “no energy” “bad this” “bad that”.

Well for me, this was *not *one of those games… Two good teams in the best conference in the US played a game with many late lead changes, dumb plays and great plays. Games like this is part of what makes basketball fun to watch - not just for the blueblood programs like ours but for everyone. Kids playing their hearts out - some rising to the occasion while others don’t. And it all coming down to a bottom of the ninth, goal line stand, game on the line last second shot. This is the beauty and excitement of sports.

There were no technicals, no indisputably multiple terrible calls favoring one team (nobody punched a guy in the head while he was down on the court… man, did you see that in the Seton Hall game??). Two good teams played their hearts out, the desperate home team won on a prayer. No, this is definitely not one of *those *games for me.

Are we the better team? Yes. Should we have won this game? Yes. From the comfort of our instant replay, did we make dozens of mistakes? Yes.

But… Are we still in sole possession of first place in the B12 lead? Yes. Did we all figure earlier in the year we’d lose this game? Yes. Is this team of young men not really dam fun to watch? Yes. Are we going to win the NC next year when this whole group (sans Kelly) returns next year battle tested and we look like Kensucky does this year? Looks pretty good from where I’m sitting

Please, please, please, no more surprises like these…

2014 No.10 Stanford def. No. 2 KU, 60-57 (Second round) KU’s 0.826 points per possession ranked as its lowest output of the season. The Jayhawks made just 19 of 58 field goals (33 percent) and also were just 9-for-22 (41 percent) on shots at the rim. Wiggins was held to four points on 1-for-6 shooting and took just three shots in the second half. Kansas had been 0 for 10 from 3-point range for the tournament, seven of the misses against Eastern Kentucky, before Frankamp connected with 3:34 to go in the half.

1997 - No. 4 Arizona def. No. 1 Kansas, 85-82 (Sweet Sixteen) This will likely always remain the greatest Kansas team to not win it all. The Jayhawks didn’t lose to a slouch of an Arizona club, as the Wildcats ultimately won a surprising national title, KU had four starters — Paul Pierce, Scot Pollard, Jacque Vaughn and Raef LaFrentz — who played in the NBA for at least a decade, and they were nearly unbeatable that season. Ask any long-time Kansas fan about that game to this day, and it’s greeted either with a pained sigh or a shake of the head.

2005 - No. 14 Bucknell def. No. 3 Kansas, 64-63 (First Round) No Kansas postseason loss will ever be as shocking as this one, as it was the lowest-seeded team to ever knock the Jayhawks out of the dance. Self, in his second season, lead roughly the same group, that advanced to the Elite Eight just a year earlier.

Please, please, please don’t lose this first game on Friday…

@KUSTEVE said:

maybe coach put the 3 ball away on purpose to sneak it in the NCAA tourney

I would love for that to be true… but do these 3 attmpts/made in the last 3 weeks ring a bell?

Baylor- 3/12

TCU- 0/8

W Va- 0/15

Texas- 1/8

KSU- 2/13

Sure seems more slumpish than planned to me.

But dang, am I glad the slump is over - and what timing! Can’t wait to make it rain more on Sunday and show how we are going to… can’t help myself here… separate the wheat from the chaff!

Wish I could have watched the game. I saw this clip of Selden’s behind the back pass for

, a dunk even! This combo could be really fun to watch this year.

Thought it odd that Self had this to say about who the best player was: “Jamari was the best player in the game tonight and I don’t know if anybody even asked to interview him. He was the best player in the game because he totally changed the second half with his energy”

Traylor - 14 mins, 1-2 FG, 0-2 FT, 0 rebounds, 1 TO, 1 Steal. This is our best player? Huh?

But another big scoring win and a very fine start to a likely AllStar career for Diallo. I’ll take it! Now everybody please stay healthy until late April, okay?

I had to scroll to the bottom of the list on this Fox Sports takeaways from yesterday to find anything about the 'hawks, (and I did feel a bit nauseous over his long fawning over Kensucky) but I liked how he thinks it’s a given that we win the Big 12 again.

"Bill Self looks primed to continue the most impressive current streak in sports. It is not exactly a headline that Kansas whooped Montana at home by 42 points. It is a headline that the recently suspended Brannen Greene is back, and on Saturday shot 3-of-4 from three. Greene may be the nation’s best 3-point shooter.

Kansas has the third-best 3-point shooting percentage in all of college basketball, hitting threes at a 45.8 percent clip. Now that Cheick Diallo is eligible and Greene is back, this deep, balanced, experienced team doesn’t have a single weakness. Also, this is Self’s fastest-paced team in his Kansas career, which comes as college basketball as a whole is moving toward a speedier tempo. Self is going to win his 12th straight Big 12 title, which is ridiculous. He also might get his second national title, too."

Looking forward to many solid showings from him, he’ll probably need at least a few highlight games to get his NBA stock up, hope they come at opportune times and win games for us. It will be nice to have yet another weapon other teams will have to scout and plan for.

And sorry to go a bit off topic, but just saw this little clip of Curry sinking five in a row from half court during warm ups like he was dropping bunnies from five feet… the guy is a machine. How cool would that be to have a play where BG stops at the center court logo and drains one before the defense can even get down and set up?

Kinda missing those reliable, bleed blue, 4-year guys…

@KUSTEVE said:

innercity mayhem

Off topic - Innercity - I live 7 miles south of Ferguson, that city is 20 minutes from downtown St Louis. Mayhem - most of the arrests made around this incident are from people that aren’t from here. The nights following the shooting and the grand jury were a bit crazy - camera crews everywhere just itching for something to report, they really fed the flames of tension (I went to some of the protests to see for myself). And the bad elements who used the tension here to loot was just sad.

On topic - glad it’s only one game suspension, we need all hands on deck, as we never know who is going to break out and carry us next!

@Crimsonorblue22 said:

http://kusports.net/boards/viewtopic.php?pid=263679#p263679

That was awesome! And one of the first times I’ve seen Smart hit the floor without flopping!

@MoonwalkMafia said:

I miss Tharpe

Nice posts! I agree with some of the others here though, Tharpe was a liability last year. But then again, who knows what he might have brought this year?

And this ‘who knows’ thing is what I’m holding on to right now. Things can change quickly in sports:

“He (Oubre) went from probably being the guy that looked the least ready a month ago to now he looks like he’s by far the most advanced,” Self said. “That’s the way it is with young kids. Sometimes the light comes on at different times. I’ve said, when the light comes on, I don’t see it coming off. "

Who knows what this team might be like if the light comes on, and stays on, for Alexander and/or others? We beat some pretty good teams on the road already this year in some scrappy games, so I think the potential is there for some serious balling in the next few months.

Likewise, there is the potential for the wheels to completely fall off the bus like they did with Temple and almost did with Kent State.

I wonder if it might partly be that there is a new landscape in college basketball (for the elite programs anyways) and Self is just doing what he can to stay competitive given these new changes? If you don’t try and recruit at least some of the best players at positions you’re weak at… who do you try and recruit?

I admit I agree with nearly all of your points (except for Tharpe), but to say with finality that we’ve lost what’s made us successful when we are 10-2 after a tough road schedule and not yet even started with conference play… might that not be a just a wee bit premature?

@lincase said:

How would we feel if the students in the opposing bleachers started chanting “butterfingers” at him

Excellent point… and on reflection a bad nickname idea, but I feel the frustration it was born from. It’s not easier, nor more fun to point out flaws (for me anyways)… I think it’s more that we have such a great set of kids year after year, we set unreasonable expectations for them if they don’t live up to them every game. I’ve said it many times… we are a spoiled bunch of fans (no malice, I like being spoiled

To add to JayhawkfanToo pointing out he had 8 boards, 3 steals and two blocks - he also made 5-6 free throws, some right at a time everyone else was throwing bricks from the line.

Here’s hoping Jaybate’s thoughts on Self’s toughening box for him works and he makes some B12 team(s) pay dearly in a game soon - I’ll be the first to point it out!

@jayhawk-007 said:

They are LEADERS and STUDS, both of them,

This seems almost silly for me to say in January about a team that could bring home another NC *this *year, but I’m going to anyways… I’m practically drooling over the thought of how good those two are going play for us next year.

In the meantime, the #11 trophy is looking pretty darn attainable right now. And with not just the high caliber of play, but completely different styles of play in B12, we should be ready for a nice long run in big dance.

Dang, its good to be jayhawk fan these days

(this is a great site too, hats off to whoever started it)

@icthawkfan316 said:

I’m concerned about how many teams the conference will get in come tournament time

I agree. It seems every year the B12 has teams that get in and and every March my bracket looks like crap because nearly none of them (beyond our hawks) make out of the first few rounds. I can even see how people can question how good KU is sometimes since we have teams loaded with NBA talent and still get taken out early too often.

In our last ten years of ruling the B12 we have got bumped out in the Dance’s first or second round four times. Our conference record for the last ten years is 72 wins and 54 losses (57%)

But I was surprised when I looked at the other conference’s Dance records (using a cool, interactive Dance history database here)

Our league compares quite favorably to the other power conferences total Dance wins in the last ten years: ACC - 55w 46L (54%) Big East - 75w 71L (53%) SEC - 59w 41L (59%)

We are behind in championships: b12- 1 ACC- 3 Big East- 2 SEC- 4

So let’s get a bunch of teams in the Dance this year and lets have them all raise hell capped with KU bringing home another NC… Viva la Midwest!

Doesn’t everybody give us their “amped up, this is our superbowl, this is our big chance, our only full house, leave it all on the floor” game?

And, barring injuries, at 20 years old and in peak physical condition, I’m with wissoxfan83, shouldn’t they be able to pony up the energy and ignore the bruises to play 30 minutes (or less) of game they love and have been playing since they were kids?

@FarSideHawk

another good illustration… we get to the FF hawks merchandise could get hot!

and just for the record… looking back at the seasons… I like Oubre’s performance as a Jayhawk over Wiggins

@HighEliteMajor

Man, I hope you’re right. The last two years I kept thinking the light was going to go on for him and he would live up to his incredible talent, but all we’ve really gotten are flashes. I’d be ecstatic if he play up to his potential for the whole year.

And not get injured - I hate these injuries late in the season that rob of us our best players and player performances. Jesse N had a column not long ago on how he wonders if it might not be a bad idea if Self took his foot off the accelerator in practice sometimes, as well as during the season. I’m all for toughening up the players, and like to see them leave it all on the floor, but…

I look at the injuries and how worn out we often look near the end of the year (maybe that’s every team tho?). I look at how Wigs seem to hold back on us (which I wasn’t a fan of) but then turned it on and won Rookie of the Year. I watch games where we are 15 points ahead with 2 or 3 minutes left and Mason is still in there grinding away.

Not sure I’m drawing the right conclusion, and don’t know the solution, but dang, I get tired of having our guys so banged up when it comes tournament time. Hopefully being so deep this year will be the difference. Can’t wait for the season to start!

I learned that in spite of my attempts to have empathy for everyone, I really, really relished Kensucky getting bashed by a team we pounded on recently. Even went to their websites to read about their misery a bit more (but didn’t find many commenters).

Gave me a warm fuzzy feeling and am wishing them many more crushing defeats in the days ahead, one day in late January in particular.

@JRyman said:

Self falling on the grenade technical so Frank wouldn’t get one.

That’s an awesome observation! He said it was his first one 3 years.

@jaybate-1.0 So glad somebody over on the kusports site told me where some of the old posters there went to. I never got much out of the actual articles, but really enjoyed reading passionate people pontificate profusely about my jayhawks.

Using terms like cognitive dissonance and C-axis to describe a game about putting a ball thru a peach basket… obsessive overthinking? Yea, maybe, but… bring it on!

@Hawk8086 said:

Obviously, we won the game at the FT line.

I can’t remember how many times over the last several decades of watching that I’ve shaken my head at how many key free throws our teams have given up. Drives me crazy, the one shot you know you’re likely going to take, and one that is often of vital importance at the end of a game. (Interesting article here on why after 50 years, the FT rate has stayed constant while every other aspect of the game has changed ( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/sports/basketball/04freethrow.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 )

This game? Big Red Dog goes 8 for 8 and Golden Graham goes 9 for 10 and we go 84.4% as a team! That just warms my heart.

As does another ‘stay tough and get the job done after taking a huge punch to the face’ win.

As does Selden’s 21 pt answering of the new team call of ‘which one of us is going to step up, explode in prime time, and start the fire tonight?’

As does playing in the Phog. More so for us than any other place in college hoops… there’s no place like home. Since it was built back in '55 we win here 87% of the time. Yea, we’re spoiled. Spoiled is good.

Whatever they’re doing… I sure hope they keep doing it cuz we rawk at the line this year!

And at least we’re not like Shaq…

"O’Neal’s primary weakness was his free-throw shooting, with a career average of 52.7%. He once missed all 11 of his free throw attempts in a game against the Seattle SuperSonics on December 8, 2000, a record. O’Neal believes his free throw woes were a mental issue, as he often shot 80 percent in practice. In hope of exploiting O’Neal’s poor foul shooting, opponents often committed intentional fouls against him, a tactic known as “Hack-a-Shaq”. O’Neal was the third-ranked player all-time in free throws taken, having attempted 11,252 free-throws in 1,207 games up to and including the 2010–11 season. On December 25, 2008, O’Neal missed his 5,000th free throw, becoming the second player in NBA history to do so, along with Chamberlain.

And talking about treys, let’s not forget our two big 3pt assassins who shot an amazing 100% in their four years at KU

“I wanted to shoot one. I think the fans wanted me to. I got a lot of Tweets from fans about shooting a three. My friends back home said, ‘Go ahead and shoot it. You’ll make it,’’’ said Withey, who swished a straight-on three with 5:18 left in the first half of Monday’s 79-42 rout of Texas Tech.

He flashed a three-point sign to the fans after hitting the bucket that gave KU a commanding 32-12 lead.

“I knew it was going in. I was ready,” Withey said of being prepared to celebrate. “Before the game, Elijah (Johnson) said he’d get me open to shoot one. I asked him, ‘How should I celebrate?’ It was brought up that’s the way I should do it,” Withey added.

“He had no choice,” Johnson said of Withey trying a three. “I told him that I was going to drag his man, and as soon as he bit I pitched it back to him. As soon as I turned around I saw Jeff celebrating already.”

Withey can’t wait to joke about his three with a former KU big man, also known for hitting the only three-point try of his career on his own Senior Night. Zany Scot Pollard, who like Withey is from California, hit a three in the Jayhawks’ Senior Night victory over Kansas State on Feb. 22, 1997, in Allen.

“I heard Scot bragging about that. Not any more,” Withey said with a smile. “I might have to go for the all-time percentage record,” Withey added. “Me and Scot are tied at 100 percent. If I go 2-for-2, I beat him.”

@DoubleDD

Just posted some Perry thoughts in another topic… and I too like him and want him to overcome (don’t see him being near as good or valuable as Rele though). But yea, Butterfingers is about right. Maybe some kind of stickem for his hands??

@drgnslayr said:

How they let adrenaline rule

Good post. But adrenaline can be a very good thing… you just have to find that sweet spot between too much where you’re getting T’s and gassed too early, and using it for smashing down dunks and getting some swagger back that gets everyone pumped.

And how about Duke losing big to… Miami? At home? Two double digit losses in a row? Methinks we might be moving up in the polls soon…

@icthawkfan316 said:

Lucas gets a lot of flak

I for one have cringed all year when he walks into a game. That started to change the last two games, but after this game… my cringes are gone. No, he’s still not a star, or a scorer, but he was solid and made few if any mistakes… and for that I was really really happy.

He’s become another weapon that has been sharpened to a dangerous edge this year. What I particularly liked was how frustrated McKay looked being guarded by him. McKay was used to dominating and hacking and scoring underneath against anybody earlier in the game, and then Landen came in, held his own, even drew a foul from him and really threw him off his game (and that guy can game too). You could see the “how dare he” look he gave Lucas a few times.

While Greene and Selden’s game made me ecstatic, Landen’s “I Refuse to Look Like I Don’t Belong Any More” party last night, made me smile evilly with the quality extra minutes he should bring going forward.

And yes, Frank is looking a bit tired lately. We will need him badly for the WV game, but then he needs to start getting a bit less work so he’s ready to lead us in the Dance.

Dang, this team is why I like college ball so much better than pro - the change and growth we’ve seen in just a few months has been remarkable.

RCJH

@nuleafjhawk said:

Really? Ames, Iowa. WHY? Why didn’t he play at KU?

I can totally understand (and completely agree) with the question if it means why did he choose the ISU program over KUs awesome and history-rich program.

But, and I say this as a KU alumni who loves Lawrence, if you’re wondering why any elite high school athlete from the coast would factor one small midwestern town over another small midwestern town in his decision… well you need to get out of the midwest a bit more! I’ll bet half those kids don’t even know all the states in the midwest, moreless the cities in them!

(no malice intended)

For me it’s not about the glass being half full or half empty, it’s about who is paying for the next round!

And speaking of the next round, I see us winning the B12, but not doing so great at the Dance.

But next year… dang, watch out, because this team is going to kick some serious booty when we get these guys (sans Oubre) back. I just may have to take a out a nice fat pre-season Vegas bet on our Hawks winning the NC next year, and I’m not much of a betting man either.

But I would love to be surprised this year… I love good surprises

@drgnslayr Nice call! So you takin us all out for drinks with your winnings now?

I like how jesse has changed his mind and now likes the good guys tonight. So do I. The mountaineers just seem a bit worn down of late and we seem to be hitting our stride.

@Lulufulu

I heard it was: Raaah Raaah Reee, kickem in the knee! Raaah Raaah Ruts, kickem in the… other knee!

and

Rickem Rickem, Rackem Ruckem, get that ball and really Fff…ight!

Love this team, but have to admit, it’s the oddest team I can ever recall - we could get bounced in the first round or we might just possibly, somehow, someway, find a way to revenge that ugly beating Kensucky gave us and win the whole shebang. If that happened, it would likely surpass any sporting memory I’ve had in my 50+ years:

• watching my normally super quiet dad go completely bonkers while his Steelers pulled off the Immaculate Reception to beat the much hated Raiders

• seeing George Brett carry the Royals on his back all the way in '85 against a stacked Cards team. (still love that people here in St Louis still get pissed off when I wear my World Series shirt, though I never do at a Cardinals games now that I like both teams. Yea, yea it was a bad call in 6 I say, but then reply with what about that 11-0 game 7? where was your grit?)

• seeing Manning do the same thing for the hawks in '88 (an 11 loss season!) against a stacked OU team. (Watched that game in Kelly’s in Westport, what night that was.)

• following the Greatest Show on Turf after I moved to St Louis in '99 when a stockboy carried his team to a Super Bowl win. (I remember my dad saying during a reg season game, Wow they just scored 20 points in the first quarter, and I said they do that all the time - they have to because their defense is so bad!)

• the '08 hawks, first beating Roy, then Mario Chalmers 3 pointer against Calipari. Ha!

• the many ‘oh crap, all seems lost games’ the Comeback Cardinals of '11 had all post season to win the world series

Yep, these kids could shoot to the top of my list. Heck, just making it out of the first city (coupled of course with our conference ring #11) makes this a banner year.

Regardless of whether they win a single game the rest of the season, these are some good kids, tough kids and a helluva coach that have given me some real enjoyment this year.

Rawk on hawks, rawk on.

@drgnslayr

Just what I was going to say. Love them both, but it sometimes seemed wigs was holding something back as a hawk. He’s probably the better baller, and holding his own with the big boys, but as a jayhawk, I like oubre better.

The thing I like about this forum is the knowledge, different perspectives and passion the posters bring.

The other thing I really like is the civility here, so I was a little surprised to see the personal attack and rectum comments above. That stuff seems more suited for the other site I left to come here for. I’d like to think that everyone on this site is intelligent enough to disagree with each without insulting, even if it takes a little restraint and a little extra literary and fact finding effort. Hope I’m not alone on this.

@DoubleDD said:

venture to say look for the winds of change to start chirping if HCBS and next years team don’t make a deep run in the tournament.

Hmmm. Yes,… and while maybe I’ll feel different if we are the only blue blood program not to make it out of the first weekend again next year, right now I feel as if I might start losing a bit of passion myself if we suck in the tourney yet again.

@jaybate-1.0 Your initial post in this thread is likely my favorite out of all the ones I’ve read by you. A fine example of what happens when passion, intelligence and good writing meet. Nice work!

What a great article, thanks for sharing. I liked one of the comments at the bottom of the article…

"Any other of the local fan bases from around here care to sign up for a Kansas type of season of, “Suffering through a 25-10 season…?”

Not many teams would call winning 25 games playing a tough schedule, in a tough conference (and winning said conference again), “suffering”. It is good to be a Jayhawk basketball fan Can’t wait for another home win tomorrow night and relish #1 for a while.

(though I can easily envision the current warm and fuzzy feelings evaporating for the “sky is falling” crowd at the other site coming back out in a hurry if we lose)

What a battle! So proud of those young men last night. Neither team deserved to lose. And we’ll definitely have our work cut out for us when we go to Norman next month.

@BeddieKU23 said:

I get it, Self let them play but when you go 11 deep and can go 11 deep without losing what makes you good, why wouldn’t you give guys a breather.

Hard to knock anyone in this incredible game (well except the refs which I usually don’t do, but dang that was a clean Mason steal), but I sure was scratching my head about that in the OTs myself. Isn’t that what having a deep bench is all about? Having some fresh legs when the other team doesn’t? I guess I’m missing something?.

And I’m probably missing something else here too, but I know that there was person who I really liked starting last night, who also first got us on the board after OU hung a few on us to begin the game, altered some shots and made some nice passes… then got yanked never to be seen again. I know Hunter had some rough plays as well, but what if we had yanked Graham or Mason after some struggles? Yes, yes, that would have been stupid of course, but the point is maybe Hunter might have stayed in a bit longer and positively effected the game more? Maybe he got hurt?

@joeloveshawks I am typically very opposed to Landen playing at all and in favor of Jamari only getting limited minutes but last night certainly made me eat crow. We don’t win without the performance of these two veterans last night.

And again, hard to knock the efforts of those two last night… they both played like men! But I have to admit to thinking that, given a few more of their minutes in the crucible that was cooking last night, would Svi had found more of his 3s (so good to see one go in for him), would Hunter’s nice little shot to get us on board have happened even more and perhaps his height got in peoples face more, would Bragg and Diallo have had more net positives than negatives, would this game even have gone to OT? Not whining at all, just wondering if better basketball minds than me can point out finer points that I likely missed.

But what the heck, nitpicking at stuff like that in a game like that is like saying cotton candy needs a little more sugar… it was pretty dam sweet already!

It is good to be Jayhawk

@BeddieKU23

I would love to see Wayne go into beast mode, break his career high of 24pts and hang 30 on some unsuspecting team in the coming weeks! Doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination to envision that scenario either.

It is fun to be a jayhawk this year.

@Crimsonorblue22 yea, Bill keeps things hoppin with his new recruits each year - always fun to watch. And a real sense of pride that we just win so dang much year after year. I guess I’m just selfish and want to watch and follow our players for more than a year

Wish it was on a more neutral court, but I like all the pressure being on the Kensucky youngins… KU sneaks in a win at the end with some big threes.

@drgnslayr I’m with you on having a better chance of performing better at the dance this year with players that better fit the Self system.

But not sure I can go with the losing our best player for the tournament as being a cop out… it was a pretty huge loss. I think we at least get by Stanford with him, maybe further… the guy was a beast.

@globaljaybird Yeah, I laughed at that Self/water line too… and thought of another great quote “All I can say is I hope this isn’t a real emergency because I only brought one bottle of vodka”

It was hard to watch the big UK loss, but I don’t see them losing many (if any) games this year. How we fare against everybody else, that will be more of a true measure of this team.

Lastly, I sure hope we get a good chunk of these kids back next year. On one hand if we do really well, which is what we all want, we may not. If we don’t do well, which is no fun at all, then some of their draft stock may go down and they may stay… to go up against another stacked UK team next year.

Ah well, as long as they play hard and don’t give up, I won’t either. RCJH

@drgnslayr Totally agree with most of your post: I was scratching my head why Jamari gets so many minutes and was in at the end (even tho he iced both FTs), Frank blew my socks off today and sure hope he keeps it up, mixing up the offense was a sight for sore eyes, and finally yes, yes, yes on Svi! A joy to watch him play and I keep flashing forward and imagining him lighting up the NBA.

I have to part ways with you on Landen not getting more minutes tho, yes he has height, but I’ve been pretty disappointed about all aspects of his game beyond giving some good breather minutes to others.

What a great game to watch with so many things gelling.

@wrwlumpy loved watching the bench go off like that for the monster dunk.