I watched some of the 08 game a couple of months ago and then watched the WUG’s. I noticed in the 08 title game there were times our defense was so good the opposing team had no one to throw the ball to because the KU guys were smothering their man to keep them from getting the pass. I noticed this in the WUG’s game as well. I think this team has been together long enough and has the defensive experience to be as good as the 08 team. I do think we need to work on offensive ball handling but if our wing man plays his true position all year like he did in WUG’s we will get to the final four. We did not play well in the title game: missed several bunnies and had some foul trouble but came out on top but it was not a perfect game by any means. Rush played an excellent game as a wing so I say we have about the same experience and talent just need some health and then create some much needed luck. We play a lot of basketball between now and March so anything can happen. This sure looks like the year but the NCAA may have other plans.

It is both and your not alone. Everything BS does is in preparation for the team to peak at the right time. He used the Big 12 tournament to prepare for the NCAA tournament. If he won some games so be it but his goal was to get back the 3 ball now that he had the inside game as good as it can be without his Easter Sunday recruit from Texas and Cliff. He played Green too much too often and lost the game because he was giving him a chance to get his 3 back. He thought that was better than winning the game. We are as ready now as we have been all year to have a chance at winning some games forward. Bring on WSU, we need this game to going forward to satisfy the critics that we are not afraid to play anyone anytime (gut check). I can’t believe the Clones punked us at KC, they must have bought those tickets in mass on the forward rows.

Snacks played for Self, he makes a place for him as long as he is productive regardless of his issues unless the higher ups put on the pressure. If Cliff would have played we would not be having this conversation and I don’t blame the NCAA. How else are they supposed to discourage this kind of thing from happening. There had to be some kind of consequence. Cliff’s family made a bad decision and if Snacks was like a “DAD” to Cliff they should have consulted him before talking to a dumb axx agent. Snacks may have been preoccupied with other things and lost his close ties with the family.

I’m more concerned about the players and coaches as a whole after watching the tournament. To me, and I’m definitely not as up on these things as the rest of your but I think we have a week bench of coaches kids to practice with. If we had some hungry recruits from local Junior colleges or on the edge high school standouts, walk on we would be better off. I also think we have traded out very fundamental assistant coaches for recruiter types because we are trying to land the OAD’s. BS has a hard job trying to juggle coaches and players that will give us a winning program but I will say this again, we lack a degree of fundamentals that these players should already know before coming to college.

Believe it or not, I coached women’s industrial league basketball many years ago and the simple basics were to bend your knees and get in a stance, see how fast you can slide across the floor, Stay between the other player and the basket, and use that big but to block out under the basket. I saw other players using these skills against us very successfully in the tournament. We don’t seem to even learn from playing games with well coached teams. We got whipped by a very hard nosed fundamentally sound team and so did UK. I thought the championship game was a great display of fundamental basket ball, but Bo lost track of what brought him thus far and got beat by a lesser team with a tournament seasoned coach. My point is that if Snacks is not going to teach fundamentals and hard nosed basketball and not come up with a recruit that understands the fundamentals before he gets here then we don’t need him. We don’t need a suit we need a roll up your sleeves hard nosed in your face beast. Someone Self has to keep on a leash. Someone who can coach even Perry into the NBA.

I, like others on this board have a tendency to rant and rave a little to get my frustrations out. As I comment more I see that it is therapeutic to say the least, but I am actually at work so I can’t put a lot of thought into these comments so don’t take me too serious. I ain’t too deep.

When one of you has time please tell how to address you individually and how to create my own icon as I have not been able to figure out how to do either. Is there a help page?

Obviously I did not communicate well. I assumed all assistant coaches can do both, recruit and coach. It just seems in the last couple of years we have lost something. So if I look to what has changed it would be coaches and the type of player we have. Morningstar, Releford, and the kid from Burlington (by the way I’m going to retire next year as you can see memory is the second thing to go). These were local prospects that seemed to have good fundamentals from day one. After 3 years in the system each could handle anyone on any on any given day. When they made a mistake they did not slip back into a comma they went after the next play. These are the type of kids that could teach by example what the OAD’s needed to know before Christmas.

By the way thank all of you for your comments about EASTER, I also feel we serve a Risen Savior. I’m not sure how I make it through the day without the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and his help.

We have spent a century trying to communicate to one another with something other than the mail and telegraph when we finally got land lines . My Aunt was the operator in our small town in Kansas back in the fifties and even the early sixties on our party line. We had to talk to her to make a long distance call. To me texting is a kin to the telegraph. It set us back a century. I was at the neighbors house over the EASTER weekend with 12 kids and 4 pair of young adults with no TV. No one was communicating to each other but were all on their own phone on the internet or texting about what was on the internet or taking pitchers and posting them or or or or or or … In a few years we will not play on the hardwood we’ll just play the game on the computer, but maybe it will be with a peach basket.

I never was really sure if the NCAA kept Cliff from playing or was it Coach Self because he felt there would be 8 games vacated if Cliff played in them. There was just two much riding on the chances that this would turn bad at the time. Conference wins and NCAA tournament wins could have been vacated. I do feel Cliff was improving and that he would have played much more in those 8 games than he did at the first of the year. We needed him and that is what made it so frustrating. We needed those other 5 fouls and rebounding and he needed those last 8 games to show he belong in the NBA, but we will never know how it would have turned out just like the year before without Embed.

Coach Self is a master at team development and his teams don’t usually shine until the end of the season because he is always teaching and training and developing his players for improvement. Sometimes people get injured or just ware out. but sometimes they step it (TT) up and decide this is the time, it’s either now or never and sometimes they just don’t understand it is up to them not their momma or anyone else. Some people figure it out early because they have parents that help them along the way and some people don’t figure it out till later in life because they just don’t have the mentors or they think they don’t have to listen to mentors because they did not have the positive parenting that enables success. The world is full of achievers and non-achievers, extroverts and introverts, inherited traits and learned behavior. I’m not sure we can spend our time trying to figure out what actually transpired with Cliff because there may be too many variables in his life that any Coach or mentor can have a positive affect on.

Frank has a passion, and a toughness that inspires even me at 65 years old. I hope it translates into the league someday.

I do agree, as some of the best post I’ve read were health based and about what you guys ate and what affect it had on your body. Then how it would apply to the diets of these kids on the court. I’m sure there is some type of nutrition system for these kids if they actually follow it. Another post I remember was Jaybate’s post about Duke hand checking. I to enjoy reading these post but may not be qualified to comment although I did play some basketball years ago and love the game. I especially love the development of the Kids and the way Bill Self makes a difference in their lives.

I neglected to comment on this back when this first came up about coach Howard. But jabate makes a good point. Coach Howard has been gone and it does make a difference with 18 and 19 year old kids when things like this happen.

I spent some years in the mental health industry. Most of these organizations work through the judicial system. when someone gets arrested for illegal substance they usually get the same sentence that Coach Howard received, 6 months of probation which is usually monitored. When I say monitored I mean he has to go in at least once a week for a blood test to see if he is maintaining. My question then and now is how was he going back for his checkups without BS knowing and was he actually having to spend that time out of state. Has he actually been here all that time physically and mentally. Don’t get wrong I don’t think it is worth getting canned over if it has not had a negative affect on the Kids. Most of these kids have seen so much of this they probably do not see what the big issue is.

I can remember when Manning left I had some degree of apprehension because kids listen to a Star. When Dooley left I was concerned because I think I remember the kids talking about his relentless practice toughness.

Posting is not what I do best either but I do read most of the blogs here and at the other sight. This sight is obviously more in depth and I am very grateful as my mind has to reason out the losses and this sight actually add insight as to why things may happen without the #itching and I just hate to answer stupid questions for use.

I have faith in BS regardless of the losses. I think he has a better understanding of the talents of the other teams and respective coaches. He has to play all the angles and has been doing a good job for over 10 years. Again I can’t think of another person that I would rather have as a coach at this winning program.

I’m so stupid, I thought Bush was a Texas term because of the Bush’s that live down there and the thread was about Texas “shorthorns”, then after reading Mohawk I decided it was a comment about Kansas State, then I find out its about Beer. The kicker here is that I used to live in St Louis as well and everything is beer there. The Landing.

One reason I can see that would pull him to KU is that his Dad would consider KU as a very good transition from college ball to the next level. Being away from home for a year under Self’s guarantee of taking care of their son would be a much better situation than staying close to home. I say with Bragg and Self we win.

We have been hearing for years that the US is falling behind in basic high school skills. Could it be that there was no documentation of his Algebra grade in high school because they actually do Algebra in junior high in his country.

Moonwalk: Dooley for sure could give these kids some direction in how to think like a gorilla instead of Jay hawk weaving all over the place because they don’t have anyone to pass the ball to. Obviously Self has no confidence in the bigs because he did very little hi-low. We had them on the ropes in foul trouble but did not run the hi-low to finish them off. This may very well have been a game he wanted to loose to get these players attention.

This was my first game to watch which seemed weird with all the blackouts and ESPN 3 bull Sht. I was just not into it and don’t feel the passion like I have in the past. I guess if they don’t want us to watch the games without buying a ticket then my passion meter will go down like the team itself. I’m sure Zinger and Self think that the KU basketball experience is wonderful for everyone because everybody is making a lot of money. Maybe that’s where their passion lies. Bureaucrats! Have they become the very thing that we hate about the NCAA Clearinghouse? Passion can be coached but not by a bureaucrat. You think Izzo & Dooley are Bureaucrats?

Statman: I have to agree but I will add that Perry is our leader and however he performs is the way the rest of the team performs. As long as he is our team leader this team will have problems. To me the big difference between the two teams last night was the emotion of MS in the last 8 minutes. This happens to us even in our league. The stoic Perry does not play with emotion and neither does his followers. I noticed that when Perry was elbowed in the nose last year during the Wichita game and had to leave the stadium the rest of the team stepped up and and actually made some progress. They rely too much on Perry who is not going to be a chest thumping emotional Thomas type player. We may win the Big 12 again this year but with Perry running the ship we will not be a national team because other teams have learned that all they have to do is put pressure on Perry and he will wilt which carries over into the rest of the team. Bill is committed to Perry and holds him up as an example of greatness so if he is the greatest the other guys have to emulate him.

We have been hearing for years that the US is falling behind in basic high school skills. Could it be that there was no documentation of his Algebra grade in high school because they actually do Algebra in junior high in his country.

I thought we hired a black football coach a few years back. I think we all want to win games and if we could hire a Chinese midget to do that I would not care. I don’t care who coaches these kids if they are of good character and develop their potential. If we need better housing for the basketball players (black) we spend millions and they live better than the other 25000 paying students. I don’t see that as a quota system as it is a way to attracted players and coaches. We are helping kids live up to the potential they didn’t even know they had. (Bam Bam). There are some players and coaches that would not consider coming to the mid west to do anything. That’s why coach Self recruits specific types of kids more than others as he has prejudices. He does not do well with Marcus Smart types of kids what ever color they are. We hired the best coach we could find for our ladies basketball program and hopefully we will mirror our men’s program in a few years. It’s not his fault he stands to pee. He has worked hard and has been successful wherever he has been. I used to work in a business that had a sandwich truck come in everyday at noon and the guys just loved it because the woman was dressed in skimpy outfits with platinum blond hair and heels. When she came to our facility she always used our office restroom for a pit stop. The girls in the office got to noticing that when she left, the lid was always up on the stool, which was not to ordinary so they got to listening and could hear her left the lid when she started her business. Maybe our new ladies coach is a woman. Who knows and who really cares if we are successful.

I watched some of the 08 game a couple of months ago and then watched the WUG’s. I noticed in the 08 title game there were times our defense was so good the opposing team had no one to throw the ball to because the KU guys were smothering their man to keep them from getting the pass. I noticed this in the WUG’s game as well. I think this team has been together long enough and has the defensive experience to be as good as the 08 team. I do think we need to work on offensive ball handling but if our wing man plays his true position all year like he did in WUG’s we will get to the final four. We did not play well in the title game: missed several bunnies and had some foul trouble but came out on top but it was not a perfect game by any means. Rush played an excellent game as a wing so I say we have about the same experience and talent just need some health and then create some much needed luck. We play a lot of basketball between now and March so anything can happen. This sure looks like the year but the NCAA may have other plans.

It just makes my off season longer so there is no interest in buying hats or shirts for the grand kids on line. Don’t get interested till along in November. Can usually watch other big 12 teams so that helps. If its all about the money it looks like the folks in western Kansas could watch Colorado and just thumb their noses at Zenger’s follies and quit buying tickets or paraphernalia . Folks could get interested in Wichita. Kansas City folks could get interested in Missouri. I’ll bet this was all taken into consideration and the risk mitigated and we got flushed down the toilet and the powers to be are waiting for a consequence but that just isn’t happening.

What happened to his ACT test? There are a lot of home school kids in the US today that are doing fine going on to college but they do have to take some type of high school equivalency test. I’m not sure I understand why this is an issue. Unless he has failed his ACT test or equivalency test. Maybe he is being tested and tutored some for retaking these tests.

Wow! take another look at the 08 final 4 game with NC and then tell me which one of these new recruits can play defense like those studs. I forgot how we won in 08 and it was about defense and experienced players on the court.

BS will play the new kids on the block sparingly and we will win the conference and then he will plug them in like he has tried to do the last two years after a season of experience injury permitting. The bigs will have to learn how to block and position without fouling as Cliff was trying to master. The guards will have to learn how to guard their man to keep them from getting the ball. If you watch the NC game there were times when NC had no one to pass the ball to because they were covered up with blue. We have not had that type of defense for a long time and I’m not sure we will have it this year as our upper class does not seem to understand it and therefore it may not transfer to the new kids on the block.

The one thing that could break this cycle would be two months of practices and several games that we would not normally get. This is a game changer. This team has the potential to be better than the 08 team barring any maturity, injury, or parental problems. Issues we cannot control. Self has done a tremendous job of recruiting and will have two months of extra practice and games. If he does not kill them in the process the basketball world will see what a real platoon looks like. Roooock Chaaaaalk!

Is Michelson related to the pro golfer?

We could actually put 5 guards on the floor.