@wrwlumpy Great clip from that CBS Sports article. Perfect. Cast that in bronze and send it to people, including several people on this board, who say that Bill Self is not such a good coach. Bill Self is a great coach.

It is disappointing when we lose in the first weekend of the NCAA tournament–yet it happens and I can deal with that because it is part of playing the game. The memory of losing during the first weekend creates the drama of ‘survive and advance’ which makes advancing to the round of 16 Sweet. KU basketball has excelled at being Sweet for the past 25 years. I feel fairly Sweet just thinking about that success so each Sweet 16 team is a great success for me.

Making it to the Final Four is amazing. I’m thankful that I follow a team that has given us the steady joy of Final Fours in our life. If you are over 40 years old and have been a KU fan for life then you have enjoyed fantastic, elite, sweetness as a college basketball fan that should last you for this life, yet Kansas basketball just keeps giving.

The regular conference championships have a special place in my heart. I enjoy Big XII basketball and I was a Big 8 fan too. I grew up in the suburbs of Kansas City, I was generally a sports junky, yet college basketball was well respected, well covered in the media, and there were lots of people around me who were enthusiastic about the college game. I played a lot of ball in leagues, in pickup, and I have a 1 hour academic credit from the University of Kansas in the subject “Basketball”. Growing up with the Missouri rivalry and the tournament being played downtown, I get juiced for Big XII conference play each year. Following the team in non-conference as we prepare for conference play is the main way I follow the game for the first few months. Then in January the serious business begins. The fact that Bill Self is on the brink of guiding Kansas to our 11th straight conference crown is incredible. I love it. It is an outstanding achievement. I agree with all that is being said in that CBS article so thanks for posting it.

Both tournaments are bonus games. Bonus trophies are handed out. Yes, I do indeed get a wild juiced euphoria for a Final Four run and NCAA Championships are simply another kind of sports viewing experience that is a special kind of wonderful.

The test of a team for me is still the conference slate. It is so good that we play a true home and home series against each team in the conference. The Big XII conference season is not over. I want KU to keep winning. I’ve enjoyed this conference season for all of its story lines and the cliff hangers. The Streak seems like it just might go to 11. To even write that last line with two games left seems like a surprise considering the outlook after the road loss at West Virginia. Perry has elevated his game, other teams have had there tough go of it in the Big XII too, and this young team is 40 minutes away from celebrating a great team accomplishment.

I enjoy this site. I drop in to read comments by the good folks here during the season because it is the best conversation going concerning our beloved KU baskteball team. Folks here are all in for KU hoops and I appreciate reading the perspectives.

I was at a sports bar in Minnesota, no one is rooting for KU hoops except for me, all around me people are playing bingo, and I’m off of my seat for this game. I am cheering out loud like it is an NCAA game. I am cheering out load because both teams are playing D with energy each possession and each bucket is like a nugget of gold for our scores and a kick in the guts when they hit a bucket . I know that KU is young, really young, and the conference is loaded. Each road win is key. The next road game is at Ames on ESPN Game Day. Self is 1-3 on the road on Game Day and playing at Ames is already a tough chore. Then the third road game is at Texas. Our first three road games are stacked hard against a young KU team learning to play on the road. Our two losses this year shows how badly this team needs to show serious fight for 40 minutes away from the Fieldhouse.

Baylor was going strong for the win tonight for Isaiah Austin. Multiply that with it being the home opener for Baylor plus it is KU. On the bench is a man with NBA skills that never saw the NBA because he had to retire due to Marfan Syndrome. The stakes for Baylor was center in my perception while watching this game. Are you scrutinizing the details to lay judgment on Jayhawk players because KU is not up by 10? I’ve watched a lot of games with KU fans and that seems to be a way of watching. Being up by 10 on the road against a ranked opponent gets me stoked, don’t get me wrong, though I don’t go into a road game during conference play expecting a waltz.

We should appreciate that the opponent was ranked, wants to crush us because we are KU on their home court, plus they are playing for one of their brothers on his night. As fans do we honor the opponent or are we spoiled rotten like other fans say we are? I’m asking that as a serious point of conversation this season because the road to a ring looks tough. This win was big because of what our opponent was playing for and how well they played. We beat them anyway. We beat them on the road. We beat them on their night. We did it tough as a team. Personally, I’m stoked by this win because of the way this young team fought for the win.

This is a really young KU team. They took that game away from Baylor. KU fought all night against a Baylor team that fought all night.

Wayne Selden drops 7 when you need him to. You need KU wins like a coffee junky needs java to be awake. Selden is there for you. I needed those 7. No java then kubuckets.com gets real cranky. Wayne Selden was key in dosing us tonight with a W roast.

Bill Self is the man. Scott Drew is not the man. In the last two minutes the players left Scott Drew hanging with his huddle break high five. Scott Drew is not the center of gravity in a huddle like Head Coach Bill Self. With fouls to give and seconds to play Bill Self draws up two out of bound plays in one huddle while the refs reviewed Oubre’s D play that Cherry knocked out of bounds with less than 10 seconds to play. The first play draws one second off the clock though it gets the ball into Mason’s hands for the 6th foul. The next set play gets the ball into Greene’s hands then he gets fouled and heads to the stripe. Greene makes both of them to go 17-17 for charities on the season. Then the head bender: fouling Cherry after killing a second or two off of the clock well before half court. Cherry makes two. Then the foul on Mason. Mason misses the front end and the nerves sky rocket for me since we are only up 1. No time left. Baylor is left looking at 0.0 by the time they get a guy shoulders squared to the basket. Bill Self navigated this young team through tough waters for the W. It’s Bill Self that makes KU the team to beat in Big XII play.

This was a crazy great game to win on the road, at least for me, and my confidence is boosted as we go for 11 rings in a row. Tough conference to win. I’m not going into this season expecting a conference championship. Expectations like that would be spoiled rotten. I’m hanging on every game and cheering for these guys. They deserve it tonight.

@Gunman “I don’t enjoying watching/listening to critical dialogue from Gurley or Piper.” That line just made miss the voice of Max Falkenstein. 60 years and 1,750 men’s basketball games is part of the legend–that is one serious career! He was consistently kind, warm, and enthusiastic about Jayhawks. Max was excellent color to the call of Bob Davis. They made a great pair.

This reminds me of the TCU game where KU shoots great in the first half against a home team that is not playing well in the first half. The good shooting by the Hawks covers up blemishes where KU could have opened up an even larger lead because the home team was not playing that well. Then the home team plays a much stronger second half and KU struggles ugly. This time KU gets beat.

OSU is better than TCU so that is part of the lesson. The other part is that you have to play strong and smart in the first 5 minutes of the second half in each and every game of the season. A great team must own those minutes each night coming out of the half time break. Own those minutes in all of the games, all of them. Win the first and last 5 minutes of each half.

KU was so dead in the first five minutes of the second half they looked like kids. The KU players have to know that 7-9 in the first half from three against a home team that went 0-9 needs to be protected with solid D and smart play on the offensive end. KU had their best shooting half behind them so you have to play smart on offense and tough on defense when you are playing on the road. These young KU players gave another lead away with zero fight. Poof: all their good work given away. OSU was going to go into the second half tough, hard, defending their home court and KU did nothing to match the effort.

In response to Pete Grathoff’s KCStar post “Kansas lands on list of most obnoxious in college basketball” http://kuhoops.com/ku-basketball-news/205491129/

West Virginia’s booo bird’s are obnoxiously the worst in the Big XII. While watching a large sample of games and hearing their fans react to officials, collectively West Virginia fans simply do not understand what is actually happening in the game of basketball.

Oklahoma is second worst because they generate great teams from time to time and their season ticket holders won’t generate enough support to show up for conference home games if it isn’t on a Saturday against an interesting opponent. It’s a poor venue during week days. It isn’t football and football is what they do. They can have a top 20 team they could support and simply won’t show up. They seem unable to give their tickets away to any one in the community who might care. Oklahoma fans are worse than KU fans because they lack the passion, support and effort when the team could use it, deserves it.

Texas has the third worst fans. First, they thought they were so special that they deserved their own ESPN channel while diminishing the collective power of Big XII schools. Then, they created a toxic environment where they got rid of Rick Barnes and in replacement they now get to endure the diminished reign of Shaka Smart.

Kansas State fans wished they were on the list ahead of Kansas fans. Unfortunately for Kansas State fans, their team does not win enough, thus no one cares about how obnoxious Kansas State fans are.

If interested, here is the most obnoxious list: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/worst-college-basketball-fans

Tonight’s 7 against the Rhode Island Rams: Mason, Selden, Svi, Ellis, Lucas start and Alexander, Greene are first off bench.

15:35: Lucas sits for Alexander. KU 4 - RI 4.

15:32 Ellis takes it strong to the rim, draws a foul on RI’s Martin to put one of their starting big men on the bench with two fouls.

15:00 Svi with the steal resulting from good KU team defense then Mason with the finish on the break: KU 8-4.

Rhode Island returns 4 starters from the 2014 team, they beat a top 25 team this year, yet a young KU team establishes their presence, their pace, their game in the first 5 minutes by applying good pressure D in the half court. There is a poise among these first KU 5 to take on the initial confidence of Rhode Island and turn them away. KU establishes a 20 point lead over the next 7 minutes of game time.

14:46 Greene for Svi. This accounts for 1/3 of Svi’s minutes in the game. Do not underestimate his current role as a steady influence on a young, developing team. Svi is the pace man, the example for the other two super wings behind him (Greene and then Oubre).

14:46: Mason, Selden, Greene, Ellis, Alexander. 8-6

14:46 - 14:03 . Selden knocks down his second three which is followed by a Mason steal that results in a Greene three and a RI time out. 14-6

13:10 After Alexander stuffs a shot onto the defensive glass, Selden’s baseline drive under the basket on the offensive end finds Mason for an open 3 to open up a 17-6 margin. This felt like KU taking the game and they never let go of it. In the second half they rode their first half effort into the next round of this tournament-which is not a bad path to take.

I really like that Self made winning this tournament a goal, publicly, creating a focus to accomplish. KU took a great step forward in their first 7 minutes of this tournament. Rhode Island never cuts the lead to single digits.

@joeloveshawks Lucas with his big body has good skill to seal his man up the lane and then catch the ball going towards the rim. He’s got the rhythm to finish it too. I like feeding Lucas and he provides a presence to play some classic Self angle offense though not to the extent that his predecessors have shown. Though I don’t think of his role on the team as being the same as most of his predecessors . Last night with our foul trouble shows he is a good talent to keep developing so that we have big man depth which includes feeding him in the post during his game minutes. That’s my feeling and I can see that you feel exactly the opposite. Lucas has a lot of fight too, he makes effort plays, though I don’t see a ton of upside yet other than he is reliable off the bench to give us depth to bang on the glass.

Attacking is aggressive. In the Texas game Kelly Oubre was quoted that the coaches kept telling them to keep attacking. Do not back down, attack the paint, take it to their body, draw fouls, find the right windows to shoot it where shot blockers cannot get to it, and be ready for scramble scrums in close contact when a shot blocker does get to it or the shot comes off the glass. Be relentless, do not settle for jump shots, keep going on the attack possession after possession. Attack!

Why would Bill Self change his ways? Bill Self attacks the paint, shoots close to the rim. Why would he make his team give up and become jump shooters all of the time? This years team has been inconsistent in imposing their attitude of attack on the opponent. This years team needed to find a consistent way of attacking the paint and I really like @jaybate-1.0 story to kick this thread off in how that was such a struggle this year. This group needs to become more consistent through 40 minutes of competing in attack mode. All that they wanted out of Perry this year was to be more aggressive and to attack.

Bill Self told the press in preseason that he asked Conner Frankamp if he wanted to be a shooter or a player. That says a lot about Coach Bill Self. Conner is a terrific shooter though it seems there were too many around him who were working on becoming complete players. I particularly think of Frank Mason. Wayne Selden could get more credit for his all around game too yet with Conner I think of how much Frank improved over the summer. Bill Self needed Conner to be less of a jump shooter because Bill Self wants players who have an attitude and determination to attack the paint. Don’t let the ball stick, pass it to the bigs at an optimal angle, or put it on the floor to get to the paint for a shot or pass.

You’ve got to be able to shoot it to be recruited by Kansas but you’ve got to be a much more complete player to play ball for Self. Jump shooting all of the time is passive. That is why they call it ‘settling for jump shots’. Jump shooting doesn’t put the defense in scramble mode to defend an attack on the rim. An offense must crack a defense. Cracking a defense puts pressure on the other team while jump shooting over a defense allows the other team to remain relatively comfortable.

“Don’t let the ball stick” is another way of saying that the ball must move aggressively to break the defense so that the rim can be attacked in open space. Athletic bigs with superior touch close to the rim attacking in open space is always the most optimal option. When you do not have multiple optimal bigs and your back court are Freshmen and Sophomore’s then you watch your team struggle at making the game look beautiful for you. Still, Bill Self still found a way to get his players to find their way to win outright a highly competitive Big XII.

Bill Self is always about freeing the mind and making plays with confidence though you have got to include an attitude of determined attack. As Bill Self said, if you have the best players then you should win. Then the coaches job is to get 5 to attack wisely, together as a team on offense and defense, relentlessly and sustained, aggressively and confidently. The attitude of attack is not found in an analytic. Attack is an attitude that imposes as much of your talent, skill, and tenacity into breaking down the opponents shape, composure, and confidence.

I have always thought that the 1998 team had bum wheels that day (as if there were a flu bug going around), they were they just terribly flat, and got beat by a good Rhode Island team that shot a hot 50%.

@joeloveshawks You inspired some KU memories on this holiday eve. You can have the 1997 Jayhawk team as the best ever, and you are not alone, though I think there are other teams that are in the conversation that make it difficult to say, flatly, that 1997 was the best KU ever had. 2008 makes a great case-and I don’t think I have to type anything to make a case for 2008 in comparison to 1997.

When looking only at the first 7, and a rotation of 7 is really all you need with a few glue guys in the 8 and 9 spot, I take the 2002 team over 1997: Miles, Boschee, Hinrich, Gooden and Collison starting with Langford and Simien off the bench. If you look at 8 deep then I think 1997 Ryan Robertson is a better option than 2002 Michael Lee, Brett Ballard, or Bryant Nash though I don’t think any are going to play many minutes in a big time game. The 2002 team goes 33-4 overall, 16-0 in Big 12 play, and makes it to the Final Four.

• 2002 had superior big man depth. T.J Pugh is the big man off the bench for 1997 as compared to Simien off the bench in 2002. Never underestimate the power of having a future All-American coming off the bench for you to dominate the other teams front court depth. It is the difference in many games, especially when a starter gets those early first half fouls.

• Do you want a Senior Billy Thomas or a Freshman Keith Langford? Both were offensive threats on the wing coming off the bench. Billy stretched defenses with his three bombs while Langford, even as a Freshman, carved his way through defenses with the dribble drive and finished strong at the rim.

• Boschee and Haase seem like they could be wash except for this-when Boschee during his Senior year was hot behind the arc he would simply take over entire games in ways that Haase never could his Senior year.

• It is easy to concede that a Senior Vaughn, who had a Second Team All-American season in 1997, would be the more favorable guard at the point as opposed to the Freshman Miles. Still, Aaron Miles as a Freshman averaged 7.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 6.8 assists while leading the Jayhawks to an undefeated season in Big XII play. How many teams have gone undefeated in conference play, in major conferences, over the last 20 years?

• Drew Gooden’s 2002 All-American year was better than Raef’s 1997 All-American year. Raef LaFrentz was a great All-American though Drew Gooden was a contender for National Player of the Year over Jay Williams in 2002. On the glass, both sides of the court, particularly on the offensive boards, Drew was crazy unstoppable good. Raef did his crafty post skills to finish is so many wonderful ways though Collison had that same kind of low post craft that was truly elite. Collison and LaFrentz are a wash to me. Gooden in 2002 is more explosive and much more difficult to deal with in terms of creating schemes to slow him down than what Pollard offered his Senior year. Pollard is a solid though he just could not impact the game the same way as Gooden.

• The Small Forward position may be the spot that makes 1997 better in many peoples minds due to the presence of the great Paul Pierce. Though it’s hard to argue against Kirk Hinrich since his jersey is hanging in the rafters of Allen Fieldhouse. I would never say that Kirk is better than Paul at the Small Forward, simply because Kirk was playing out of position yet that is what makes Kirk so great in my mind-a point guard playing small forward. Playing head to head in college Kirk would be able to defend Paul one on one though Paul does have the ability to impact a game and take it over. I do think that Kirk had a kind of game that was highly under appreciated by most fans and I think it could also be said that Kirk had the ability to shut someone like Paul down (case in point is Kirk shutting down Dwayne Wade in the 2003 Final Four). Paul wins this round for the 1997 crew though Kirk was a great team player who had loads of athletic ability, exceptional basketball savvy, and as much ‘want to’ as any player on the 1997 had.

Simply, I think it is tricky in picking one KU basketball team as ‘the best’.

Happy Thanksgiving Jayhawk Fans!

When you can’t cut it at the elite school and you burn eligibility does Ojeleye end up down grading his pool of choices like AWIII did going to Nebraska?

Since you are talking Frankamp you are talking Point Guard too. I would like to add the Graham medical redshirt to this speculation scenario. I’m training my brain to think of KU as being point guard depleted this year. I watched KU vs Utah again tonight to think of ways Self will pace Mason’s stamina. For instance, in the first half during our run to close the half, I looked at how we guarded the ball on the inbounds after a make:

• Mason pressured the ball a few times
• KU did not pressure the ball at all a few times
• Selden picked up soft pressure
• Oubre picked up pressure
• The team picked up full court pressure several times too

Bill Self paced Sherron Collins as the mega-minutes man at the point for a couple of years and he did the same with Tyshawn his Senior year.

I’m also thinking about the upside of a Graham redshirt. This puts two years between Mason and Graham. From what I’ve seen from Graham this year I like the upside of him having a redshirt. Please sit a Freshman point guard who can not practice over winter break. Re-orientating Graham to the rotation as we enter Big XII play seems less optimal than extending Graham out to be a 5th year senior.

I think missing Graham will become less of a headache if Oubre emerges as a good Big XII guard. My guess is that Oubre emerges even more after finals with Lafayette and Kent State being ripe. I’m not saying that Oubre would be a primary ball handler or be responsible for getting the offense started, though he can emerge as a wing threat that distorts defenses. At this point I’m also thinking about how to make Selden’s job less complicated, more space, simpler options when he is running the point. Svi has some handles too though I wouldn’t want to put this kind of pressure on him at this time of his career; I don’t trust Greene to take on anymore than what he’s trying to accomplish now.

In response to Pete Grathoff’s KCStar post “Kansas lands on list of most obnoxious in college basketball” http://kuhoops.com/ku-basketball-news/205491129/

West Virginia’s booo bird’s are obnoxiously the worst in the Big XII. While watching a large sample of games and hearing their fans react to officials, collectively West Virginia fans simply do not understand what is actually happening in the game of basketball.

Oklahoma is second worst because they generate great teams from time to time and their season ticket holders won’t generate enough support to show up for conference home games if it isn’t on a Saturday against an interesting opponent. It’s a poor venue during week days. It isn’t football and football is what they do. They can have a top 20 team they could support and simply won’t show up. They seem unable to give their tickets away to any one in the community who might care. Oklahoma fans are worse than KU fans because they lack the passion, support and effort when the team could use it, deserves it.

Texas has the third worst fans. First, they thought they were so special that they deserved their own ESPN channel while diminishing the collective power of Big XII schools. Then, they created a toxic environment where they got rid of Rick Barnes and in replacement they now get to endure the diminished reign of Shaka Smart.

Kansas State fans wished they were on the list ahead of Kansas fans. Unfortunately for Kansas State fans, their team does not win enough, thus no one cares about how obnoxious Kansas State fans are.

If interested, here is the most obnoxious list: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/worst-college-basketball-fans

@HighEliteMajor Michigan State has gone to multiple Final Fours. If I had to guess, Bill Self at one point had a massive man crush on Tom Izzo and he may still harbor those feelings. Last year I detected a serious Bill Self man crush on The Mayor and I think we see some of that influence with what @jaybate-1.0 is talking about here in this thread about the journey to Ellis and the stretch 4.

When Bill Self was talking about putting Selden at the point he wasn’t simply saying that Selden will play a traditional point guard like previous point guards at Kansas; Bill Self said that Selden could play the point like DeAndre Kane played the point last year for Hoiberg Ball. Instead of Selden playing much point he gave that role to Mason, a smaller scoring 2 with more skill that Selden in the painted area. Selden is still a strong facilitator on offense. Hoiberg’s team’s shoot a lot of threes though they know how to balance that with attacking the rim. Kansas has had trouble attacking the rim this year. I think jaybate is right that if KU can sustain this way of attacking the rim, which they will, Self can be much happier about spells of long range artillery barrages to open up lanes to attack the paint–when the shots from three start going down then this team will start looking more complete.

One of the great tournament games that this brings to mind is a game that Kansas lost though it was a wonderful college game of basketball: Michigan State defeats Kansas in the 2008-09 Sweet 16. What won out at the end? Michigan State was more aggressive, more confident, and most important they finished plays in the paint. Michigan State loves to have their guards put the rock on the floor and drive it to the paint and attack. Michigan State loves to pound you in the paint with their physicality. Michigan State loves to pry you open with three bombs by great shooters. Michigan State loves to play attacking, tenacious D which creates fast break offense. And all of that love sounds a whole lot like Kansas and Bill Self Ball.

Attacking is aggressive. In the Texas game Kelly Oubre was quoted that the coaches kept telling them to keep attacking. Do not back down, attack the paint, take it to their body, draw fouls, find the right windows to shoot it where shot blockers cannot get to it, and be ready for scramble scrums in close contact when a shot blocker does get to it or the shot comes off the glass. Be relentless, do not settle for jump shots, keep going on the attack possession after possession. Attack!

Why would Bill Self change his ways? Bill Self attacks the paint, shoots close to the rim. Why would he make his team give up and become jump shooters all of the time? This years team has been inconsistent in imposing their attitude of attack on the opponent. This years team needed to find a consistent way of attacking the paint and I really like @jaybate-1.0 story to kick this thread off in how that was such a struggle this year. This group needs to become more consistent through 40 minutes of competing in attack mode. All that they wanted out of Perry this year was to be more aggressive and to attack.

Bill Self told the press in preseason that he asked Conner Frankamp if he wanted to be a shooter or a player. That says a lot about Coach Bill Self. Conner is a terrific shooter though it seems there were too many around him who were working on becoming complete players. I particularly think of Frank Mason. Wayne Selden could get more credit for his all around game too yet with Conner I think of how much Frank improved over the summer. Bill Self needed Conner to be less of a jump shooter because Bill Self wants players who have an attitude and determination to attack the paint. Don’t let the ball stick, pass it to the bigs at an optimal angle, or put it on the floor to get to the paint for a shot or pass.

You’ve got to be able to shoot it to be recruited by Kansas but you’ve got to be a much more complete player to play ball for Self. Jump shooting all of the time is passive. That is why they call it ‘settling for jump shots’. Jump shooting doesn’t put the defense in scramble mode to defend an attack on the rim. An offense must crack a defense. Cracking a defense puts pressure on the other team while jump shooting over a defense allows the other team to remain relatively comfortable.

“Don’t let the ball stick” is another way of saying that the ball must move aggressively to break the defense so that the rim can be attacked in open space. Athletic bigs with superior touch close to the rim attacking in open space is always the most optimal option. When you do not have multiple optimal bigs and your back court are Freshmen and Sophomore’s then you watch your team struggle at making the game look beautiful for you. Still, Bill Self still found a way to get his players to find their way to win outright a highly competitive Big XII.

Bill Self is always about freeing the mind and making plays with confidence though you have got to include an attitude of determined attack. As Bill Self said, if you have the best players then you should win. Then the coaches job is to get 5 to attack wisely, together as a team on offense and defense, relentlessly and sustained, aggressively and confidently. The attitude of attack is not found in an analytic. Attack is an attitude that imposes as much of your talent, skill, and tenacity into breaking down the opponents shape, composure, and confidence.

2015 is filled with young guards and wings, Freshmen and Sophomores. This has impacted the way KU plays ball. Whenever I feel the pain of watching this team it is often with the thought “this team is young”. No Seniors nor Juniors play in the backcourt and that will produce some painful viewing.

Self said that he held Mason (Soph) back last year and could have given him more opportunities at the point. Graham (Fresh) hurt his toe in December and missed too much of winter break. Selden (Soph) emerges from the shadow of Wiggins his Sophomore year and gets is first crack at being Alpha Male. Greene (Soph) learns over the course of the year that he needs to play better defense, which has improved, and he has had several moments to shine for the deepening of his confidence to shoot it. Svi (Fresh) may be the best prospect on the team, he got minutes early in the season to give him a taste and now he has had the time to settle into living in America while playing big time ball. Oubre (Fresh) has played his way onto the the final 10 for National Freshman of the Year–thanks for playing at Kansas Kelly!

Next year Kansas will NOT be young. For our rotation of Five in the backcourt we most likely get Four back from our 2015 Big XII Championship team and Oubre’s replacement is an elite prospect who has had a year of practicing and playing with the team. It would be fascinating to know what skills they will be having each player focus on over the summer.

This year Bill Self could not give in. Bill Self had to keep the course. Coach had to hammer into his players that the closer to the rim a shot leaves your hands the higher the percentage you will make it. Three bombs create long rebounds offering breaks the other direction are reduced. Attacking the glass on offense means you have to be aggressive and attack with your attitude, your body, your skill. Attacking is not about analytics and numbers and higher probabilities which tell you what your strengths are. No, your attitude is not a number. Putting the other team on their heels through attacking the defense in the paint is not an analytic. If you are looking too much at the box score you are missing the game on the court. It’s not just being a psychologist either. You have to believe in heart, and you must try to impose your will onto the game, and, letting it go with confidence to make wise, winning plays may be the most crucial of it all.

Next year we will have a wiser group. They will have had time to develop more skill. They will have had time to contemplate what they accomplished and be able to focus on what will make them even better. Next year we return a group that will reprise their roles and they will have an opportunity to rise, as a team, be a more mature brand of Bill Self Ball. Bill Self Ball is always a relationship with his players and always a work in progress.

@Wigs2 @HighEliteMajor There have definitely been comments on this board this year questioning the ability of Coach Self as a coach. I never said HEM or Jesse Newell so there was a big assumption in Wigs2 comment that I was specifically calling out those two individuals which I left alone earlier. Frankly, I don’t read Jesse so much these days because I like the coverage here–I like the fan flavor. I feel like writing some more to clarify and develop this conversation since HEM jumped in with his comment too.

If coach Self is great, which I think he is, I’m much more interested in considering his decision making process and analyzing what the motivations may be, contemplating how they are playing out now and over the course of a long season. Since HEM’s posts are a conversation point here I’ll use him as example: I do not read all that is written by HEM, though I do enjoy going through many of his posts, and my less than full understanding of HEM is that he has his opinion of what he would like to see out of the team so he goes to great lengths in articulating his viewpoint of what he would like to see happen. From my way of watching the game and following KU I see HEM’s commentary as a kind of insight from what he is seeing in the team and I like reading about what other people are seeing. Nothing against HEM, I’m just way more interested in Bill Self’s actual approach to the game and what happens in games. Seems like HEM likes that too and regularly makes lists of observations. (I also enjoy the humor on this site a great deal too and the general enthusiasm for Jayhawks).

I do remember a theme on this board back in January taking Bill Self to task for being less than innovative. There has been serious speculation and accusation that Bill Self is not innovative which debilitates the potential of the team: he falls back on old habits, won’t play zone, has destroyed the quality of the team play due to too many 1 and done’s being recruited, Bill Self’s high/low is too complicated for 1 and done’s to thrive, we don’t have the talent to run the high/low this year so run something else (like more action for the three which seems to be a big demand this year)…sometimes those comments, from a variety of people, verge on questioning his basic ability to guide this team at the the highest level: basically questioning his coaching choices at a very fundamental level. I’m all for questions and speculation. It’s interesting. Sometimes though the questioning has verged into an area where I wonder if people recognize that they are following the work of one of the great coaches roaming the sidelines today. Coach Self has a real opportunity to be considered one of the greatest coaches of all time and he is doing it his way–and I love that I get to follow my favorite team being coached through Bill Self’s way of coaching.

@Wigs2 There is plenty of way that KU can reach the Final Four without the 5 spot giving a whole lot more than they are giving right now. You say ‘lucky’ to get through the second round. Why even talk about luck at this point when you don’t even know the bracket and the match ups? It is plenty about the match-ups in the NCAA tournament. Grinding out some fortunate match-ups in the first weekend --as in no one in our first weekend having the length and depth that Stanford had up front–and some hot shooting in the second weekend could get KU to the Final Four without the help of Lady Luck.

My point is that judging any team through a Final Four lens if February and early March, an obsession for some, takes away from the conference campaign that is in my opinion a much more important test for each team each year. Actually I find people projecting tournament out comes in the middle of February to be cool and dull commentary because the conference race itself is so hot and exciting–not that the people themselves are dull, it just isn’t so interesting to me.

@wrwlumpy Great clip from that CBS Sports article. Perfect. Cast that in bronze and send it to people, including several people on this board, who say that Bill Self is not such a good coach. Bill Self is a great coach.

It is disappointing when we lose in the first weekend of the NCAA tournament–yet it happens and I can deal with that because it is part of playing the game. The memory of losing during the first weekend creates the drama of ‘survive and advance’ which makes advancing to the round of 16 Sweet. KU basketball has excelled at being Sweet for the past 25 years. I feel fairly Sweet just thinking about that success so each Sweet 16 team is a great success for me.

Making it to the Final Four is amazing. I’m thankful that I follow a team that has given us the steady joy of Final Fours in our life. If you are over 40 years old and have been a KU fan for life then you have enjoyed fantastic, elite, sweetness as a college basketball fan that should last you for this life, yet Kansas basketball just keeps giving.

The regular conference championships have a special place in my heart. I enjoy Big XII basketball and I was a Big 8 fan too. I grew up in the suburbs of Kansas City, I was generally a sports junky, yet college basketball was well respected, well covered in the media, and there were lots of people around me who were enthusiastic about the college game. I played a lot of ball in leagues, in pickup, and I have a 1 hour academic credit from the University of Kansas in the subject “Basketball”. Growing up with the Missouri rivalry and the tournament being played downtown, I get juiced for Big XII conference play each year. Following the team in non-conference as we prepare for conference play is the main way I follow the game for the first few months. Then in January the serious business begins. The fact that Bill Self is on the brink of guiding Kansas to our 11th straight conference crown is incredible. I love it. It is an outstanding achievement. I agree with all that is being said in that CBS article so thanks for posting it.

Both tournaments are bonus games. Bonus trophies are handed out. Yes, I do indeed get a wild juiced euphoria for a Final Four run and NCAA Championships are simply another kind of sports viewing experience that is a special kind of wonderful.

The test of a team for me is still the conference slate. It is so good that we play a true home and home series against each team in the conference. The Big XII conference season is not over. I want KU to keep winning. I’ve enjoyed this conference season for all of its story lines and the cliff hangers. The Streak seems like it just might go to 11. To even write that last line with two games left seems like a surprise considering the outlook after the road loss at West Virginia. Perry has elevated his game, other teams have had there tough go of it in the Big XII too, and this young team is 40 minutes away from celebrating a great team accomplishment.

@lincase The top 6 teams do get byes.

@benshawks08 Texas size upfront is a concern though our KU team plays much better in the fieldhouse this year when feeding off of that energy. The Longhorns lost @Oklahoma last week by only 2 points and OU is not particularly big upfront either. Another way to look at that game is OU may be beatable at home though the Sooner fans will most likely turn out to pack the house against KU. The finish to this conference season will certainly be entertaining.

Current standings

Kansas 11-4

West Virginia 10-5

Iowa State 10-5

Oklahoma 10-5

Baylor 9-6

The “Big XII is Awsome” scenario is where KU losses two of the last three games and claims a share of the Big XII title to continue the Streak:

Kansas: Tex W – WV L – @OU L

West Virginia: @Baylor L – @KU W – OSU W

Iowa State: @KSU W – OK W – @TCU L

Oklahoma: TCU W – @ISU L – KU W

Baylor: WV W – @Tex W – TTU W

Final Standings

Kansas 12-6

West Virginia 12-6

Iowa State 12-6

Oklahoma 12-6

Baylor 12-6

**The 2015 Phillips 66 Big 12 Blood Bath **will conclude the season at the Sprint Center in downtown Kansas City. In the “Big XII is Awesome” scenario two Co-Champions play each other in the 4 seed vs 5 seed game.