Some generic comments from someone who doesn’t often post.

First, I am a huge Bragg fan. I truly believe that he could be one of our best players ever. His passing skills, court awareness, footwork, etc all make for a very special player. But putting him in for more minutes in the OU game would have cost us.

Second, Lucas is absolutely no threat to score and Kruger, knowing that, left him alone. I am not a big fan of Lucas as a player. Having said that, we do not go toa third OT without him. He scored 5 straight points, because he was left so alone, made a couple solid defensive plays and carried a major portion of the second OT.

Third, Diallo in the game is growing. He passed better and was more in the flow, than he has been in the past. Eventually he will be a stud for KU. Just not right now. But you can see it coming with both he and Bragg and oh boy, when it does!

Finally, this placing anyone who supports Self into a mythical group that must believe he can do no wrong, is a crock off semi heated poop. you can support someone and still see where they have made mistakes.

Two things stood out during the Kentucky game.

The first was our apparent inability to drive and dish. We drove and we drove and we drove but nearly every one of those drives ended with an attempted shot against a taller, more athletic defense that had collapsed down upon them.

The second was the lack of mid range shots. We saw attempted layups swatted out routinely and we saw pressured threes from time to time.

Did anyone else feel that a game such as that was set up to be a mid range shooting clinic. Drive the ball and hit the open guy at the elbow or diagonal for a shot off the box. Is it that people don’t teach those shots anymore due to the hype surrounding dunks and raining threes? Is it that coaches feel that the percentages are more favorable for a set three or a dunk than the old diagonal mid range shot?

First time poster is curious what others think about the lack of mid range shooting in the game and whether it would have been effective in this game in particular.

Another general comment about playing Bragg and Diallo more.

This gets to a concept that is lost in this one and done era. Talent is great, but experience can be better. Self runs a pretty basic offense. He has wrinkles that he adds in as the team is more experienced. I forget the number of plays/variations but it is around 100 for his full offense. It takes experienced players to run the various nuances. That is part of the reason this team has been so effective. They have the experience. This makes it tougher to defend KU.

When he inserts Bragg and Diallo, he has to shorten the playbook. and subsequently, even though they are more talented, the team is a slight bit easier to defend.

Just a thought

@HighEliteMajor

It isn’t often that I disagree with a post on so many different levels. Let’s see if I can get through this.

“My position on this is the same as with MU … play them.”

Mine is the samefor both as well… Don’t

"But WSU is different. Self’s position on MU isn’t based on alleged logic. It’s based on emotion. So it’s hard to argue against the emotional decision not to play MU. It’s easy to argue against the WSU avoidance.

Self has said that we have to play games that benefit Kansas. He uses two points there – money and exposure.

However, both are poor arguments."

Disagree here as well. KU gains nothing by playing either school. We only fill their coffers with money, we are not going to sell any more tickets, gain any more revenue or profit from the games any more than we do for anyone else. Playing them is not going to garner any more ground in those areas with respect to recruiting. We are strong In KC and we are strong in KS with respect to our recruiting base. We also aren’t going to gain a lot with respect to pride. We will be expected (in most years) to beat them so the only thin there can be from a game against either is a down side.

“A great example of a similar team that plays an in-state basketball school is North Carolina. A program on the same elite plane as KU, yet UNC played Davidson at a neutral site. Davidson is comparable to WSU. WSU is not a perennial power. Davidson isn’t either. Both have had their good runs, here and there. If North Carolina can play Davidson at a neutral site, Kansas can play WSU.”

Sorry this just reminds me of that saying that I am sure everybody’s father has said when we kids were thinking of doing something silly and made the comment, “Well Billy is going…” The correct response is, “If Billy was going to jump off a cliff…” I don’t care what other schools choose to do, I am only interested in what is best for KU and I don’t see regularly schedule games against either of those two schools as being good for KU.

“Each year we play game at the Sprint Center. One year it happened to be Davidson, then Oregon St., another New Mexico, this season Utah. Perhaps I’m missing something, but it would seem to me that none of those schools give us exposure to any particular recruiting hotbed, nor do they give us a national exposure game. They are pedestrian games. Even if one of the teams is ranked, they are not exceptional national games.”

ON this we agree, but there also is no downside to playing them. The only positive for those games, imo, is that it keeps KU’s name in the forefront in the KC recruiting and maintains control of the city (to a degree) for KU keeping Moo at bay there.

“Further, none of the games generated one ounce of increased fan interest. It is just another game. WSU would certainly be different. Such a match-up could generate more national interest, particularly in the first few seasons of the games.”

I beg to differ. It would create more regional interest, but the truth of the matter is that most of the country doesn’t care about two Kansas schools playing each other yearly. This year there might be some interest due to the rankings, but for the most part, not so much. KU has a national presence, all that playing tWSU would do is increase their exposure. No real benefit to KU.

“We played a home and home with Colorado?”

I wasn’t particularly happy about that, but at least it helped a former KU player, so that is how I justified it. I guess it did also keep our fanbase in CO happy as well as keep our recruiting open there. Mostly just rationalizing it there though.

“Look, I’m sure someone can make the case not to play WSU. But you’d have to work at it. Sometimes, though, when someone is kicking sand in your face you just have to pound them into the sand. Life is not without risk. Sure, we could lose. But the build-up and the anxiety of a game that has subjective repercussions is why we play the games. It’s the beauty of sports.”

I don’t think it takes much work at all. I see absolutely no benefit from playing WSU at all. I see how it helps WSU, but absolutely nothing to gain for KU. Nothing

@Crimsonorblue22

ha ha ha … jaybate without an essay… you guys crack me up. I have only been here a short while and even I know that is impossible!!!

all in fun folks

@sfbahawk To be honest, I would rather not take a critical eye to this particular game from either side. I do, because I am human. But honestly, it is one of those games that you really want to sit back and take a deep breath and just say “Wow, this is why I like college basketball.”

From both teams we saw great defensive play, fantastic effort by individuals, tremendous gut checks, critical high impact shots, wonderful team play and ball movement, etc.

It was just a joy to watch. I think both teams are looking at it like they could have done some things here or there differently, but overall that was about as good as they could play it.

Just don’t get me started on the officiating!

@DoubleDD I agree that when Lucas is in it doesn’t run as smooth, but with Hunter in it does. Sometimes with Traylor it does, but certainly better, at this point, than when Diallo is in. But I didn’t say it ran smoother. I said it was a bit easier to defend as there are less options for the offense to run.

I actually like it when Bragg is in the game as his passing skills and court awareness tend to make up for many other things.

I am not for playing Moo at any time.

While I am glad that the money goes to charity, we could have raised the same if we played Wichita State. Playing Moo does nothing for us. Currently KU has a firm grip on the KC area and playing Moo only gives Moo credibility where there has been none in recent years. I used to love the rivalry and hated their abandoning it for football revenue. But since they left, they have become irrelevant to me, KU, the Big 12, and even the SEC as they have fallen further and further into the hole they dug. With this act, KU is throwing them a rope to climb out of the hole and that is just silly to me.

Glad the money is going to charity. Hope the players improve because of it. Hope nobody from either team gets hurt. Hope both sets of fans behave themselves. I have a feeling the Moosters are going to be intolerable, I just hope the KU folks rise above it all.

@nuleafjhawk

I am not certain why you take a relevant criticism of the man off the table. Yes he wins a lot of games. Many of which have been vacated. Yes he is a great recruiter who has left two programs on probation.

I don’t particularly think he is that great of a coach. Many of his teams rely solely on the recruiting advantage he attains. See his loss to Robert Morris a couple years ago with a team full of all stars as an example of his coaching ability. That team never looked to have been coached.

In my opinion, he is slimy, he is two faced, and he isn’t anyone I would want as the coach of KU.

@DanR your wife must like you. that was kind of her

I am not for playing Moo at any time.

While I am glad that the money goes to charity, we could have raised the same if we played Wichita State. Playing Moo does nothing for us. Currently KU has a firm grip on the KC area and playing Moo only gives Moo credibility where there has been none in recent years. I used to love the rivalry and hated their abandoning it for football revenue. But since they left, they have become irrelevant to me, KU, the Big 12, and even the SEC as they have fallen further and further into the hole they dug. With this act, KU is throwing them a rope to climb out of the hole and that is just silly to me.

Glad the money is going to charity. Hope the players improve because of it. Hope nobody from either team gets hurt. Hope both sets of fans behave themselves. I have a feeling the Moosters are going to be intolerable, I just hope the KU folks rise above it all.

@drgnslayr Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that they aren’t paid what the market will bring, just that for me, personally, they don’t provide any value.

I find the entertainment industry and the sports industry to be way over the top for what they do. Are they elite athletes? Absolutely. I just don’t place as great a value on that that others do/might. Clearly enough people do, so they can get that kind of money.

As for CEOs, you will get no argument from me on that point either. I think they are grossly overpaid as well. But taht doesn’t mean that I want to limit their salaries or anything else. If they can get that kind of money, good on them. Same with professional athletes. I find the pay silly, but good for them.

If I had that kind of talent, I would take it too, silly or not.

@Fightsongwriter While I, on principle, agree with you, I completely disagree with the premise.

I think athletes and entertainers are absurdly overpaid and provide very little benefit to society in general. But so what. If there is someone out there willing to pay that kind of money for what they do, then more power to them for getting it. I don’t understand it, but I don’t begrudge them for attaining that kind of money.

I don’t particularly like the product, so I don’t watch the NBA at all. Same for most sports. I stopped watching all professional sports during all the strikes and lockouts of the past when it was clear to me that neither the players nor the owners really cared about the fans. I figured if they didn’t care about me, why should I support them.

But if there is somebody willing to pay that kind of money for that kind of product, good on them for grabbing it.

What I noticed from Svi on defense last year was the time it took to get his feet settled. When he came out to defend he had a bunch of shuffling to get his feet set. If they waited to long and Svi got everything set, he was solid on the ball defender. If they made their move while Svi was getting set up, then it was often a blow by.

@JRyman said: I’m getting off!

What you do in the privacy of your own home is not something we need to know about!

@jaybate-1.0 that’s an awful lot of writing to just get to center by committee. Do you publish a Reader’s Digest version of your posts?

@nuleafjhawk

Why do I have this conversation in my mind now?

nuleafjhawk: (to Crimsonblue22) Really? Rock Chalk too?

jaballer54: who are you talking to?

nuleafjhawk: um… its Crimsonblue22… from… KUBuckets

jaballer54: give me that phone… Hello Crimsonblue22… what are you wearing?

Crimsonblue22: Uh… crimson and blue khakis

jaballer54: (to nuleafjhawk) he sounds hideous

nuleafjhawk: Well he’s a she

Before I started typing that it sounded funnier in my head. But if I have to suffer with my thoughts. So do you folks!

@Crimsonorblue22 Thanks

Multiple references to C5. As I have not been on this site in a while, what is this referring to? Is it because we don’t have one center but will be playing center by committee? Thanks in advance

@drgnslayr - Agreed

A lot of his great play was in ball denial. Several times he kept Hield from getting the ball at all and other times he forced him to get it at a time when he had fewer options.

It is different when as a playmaker you get the ball with 15 seconds left in the shot clock, than when you get it with only 7 seconds.

Frank did a fantastic job. So did Wayne early on.