@benshawks08 100% agree and see what you are saying but doesn’t mean that them leaving can still be a positive for KU. Those are 2 programs that we would have a hard time beating out for B12 champions, so we now have a much better change of winning the B12 and making college playoffs which would have been otherwise unlikely.

I think people are getting a little too caught up in valuing how much money your program is making vs how much you are winning. I know more money means better player but I firmly believe the fan experience is better with a slightly worse quality team that competes for B12 titles than a better overall team playing to be middle of the pack/bottom feeders in the SEC.

Now if in 5-10 years down the line and KU is king of the B12 and then getting walloped in the playoffs every time we make it there (gonzaga type situation in basketball) I may change my mind, but this team has a long way to go before getting there and I doubt anyone is seriously complaining if that is were the program is at.

I will never really fault coach for not giving a player a guarantee they will start. Sell in a role for them, yes. Say we have a spot that is theirs for the taking, sure. But if a someone thinks that they don’t need to perform day in and out to get minutes, than they are going to cause problems for the program eventually.

To go one further, KU was also the better team in the OSU game. This team was a few plays away from being 11-1 and sitting one game away from playoff football. That hurts a bit but also goes to show this is one of the greatest program turnarounds in football history.

You raise a good point with UT/OU leaving there is going to be a power vacuum in football. If Lance hangs around long enough, we have as good of a chance as any to fill that void.

@rockchalkjayhawk Griffen was already a better defender last year than Furph under an offensive minded coach, so would be a surprise if he ends up worse.

McCullar is a big loss on defense no doubt and that probably makes us worse, but I feel like the defense we all remember from last year was when he was injured. Slotting timbies in for the SG comparison and I find it hard to believe Storr will be a downgrade. Add that to hopefully the rest of the bench giving better defensive contributions and I think a top 10 defensive even isn’t a pipe dream.

I’ll back up my optimistic thinking by sharing that barttorvik 2025 prediction has us as the #4 defense (not that I put too much stock into that).

https://barttorvik.com/trankpre.php?sort=AdjDE&conlimit=

An update to @Texas-Hawk-10 old post on the history of the matchup:

Kansas and Duke have played 14 times all time. Duke leads the all time series with Kansas 8-6 with 12 of the 14 games being played on a neutral and each time only visiting the other once apiece. Kansas and Duke are tied 3-3 against each other in the NCAA Tournament and Kansas leads Duke 3-1 in the Champions Classic. Self is 4-2 vs Duke while at Kansas.

Dec. 1, 1985- Preseason NIT in New York: (3)Duke 92, (5)Kansas 86 (1-0 Duke)

Mar. 29, 1986- Final Four in Dallas: (1) Duke 71, (2) Kansas 67 (2-0 Duke)

Feb. 20, 1988- Allen Fieldhouse: (6) Duke 74, Kansas 70 OT (3-0 Duke)

Apr. 2, 1988- Final Four in Kansas City: Kansas 66, (5) Duke 59 (3-1 Duke)

Feb. 18, 1989- Cameron Indoor: (11) Duke 102, Kansas 77 (4-1 Duke)

Apr. 1, 1991- National Championship in Indianapolis: (6) Duke 72, (12) Kansas 65 (5-1 Duke)

Mar. 19, 2000- NCAA Tournament 2nd Round in Winston-Salem: (1) Duke 69, Kansas 64 (6-1 Duke)

Mar. 27, 2003- NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in Anaheim: (6) Kansas 69, (7)Duke 65 (6-2 Duke)

Nov. 23, 2011- Maui Invitational Finals: (6)Duke 68, (14) Kansas 61 (7-2 Duke)

Nov. 12, 2013- Champions Classic in Chicago: (5)Kansas 94, (4)Duke 83 (7-3 Duke)

Nov. 15, 2016- Champions Classic in New York: (7)Kansas 77, (1) Duke 75 (7-4 Duke)

Mar. 25, 2018- NCAA Tournament Elite 8 in Omaha: (4)Kansas 85, (9)Duke 81 OT (7-5 Duke)

Nov. 6, 2019- Champions Classic in New York: (4)Duke 68, (3) Kansas 66 (8-5 Duke)

Nov. 15, 2022- Champions Classic in Indianapolis: (6) Kansas 69, (7) Duke 64 (8-6 Duke)

Based on predictive sites, the line for the game should be around Duke -2/-3. Will be KU’s first game of the season where they aren’t favored, so excited to see how the team reacts.

@BShark too many regular season NBA games to be a good product is the main problem. Players take off games since playoff seeding can be a crap shoot, so really just playing for home court advantage which isn’t as important as players being healthy.

I generally agree with your sentiment but we have to check our biases with this. A neutral observer could watch a random NBA game vs a random college basketball game and I bet most would say the NBA game is more entertaining. College ball just has better intangibles and better tourney format which puts it over the top for me, but we are also usually watching a top 10 team play. I don’t know that I would say the same thing if I grew up in Boston a Celtics fan who went to a non basketball power college.

Kind of a leap to get that from what I said, we already dropped a home game and Houston doesn’t have to play at ISU, so winning the regular season B12 is not likely no. But I also don’t think it would be a massive upset if they did (~10% chance based on betting odds does seem about right).

I didn’t even say they will for sure be good enough to compete for a F4, just that is won’t take miracle for this team to improve to that level. They have shown they can hit that level of play in spurts, but do need some improvements in execution/consistency.

Honestly the main thing I worry about with this team is facing a team that can exploit Hunter on defense, because that is always going to be there.

@dylans man Greene definitely on my top 5 what could have been KU players list. Had the stroke and height to be one of the greatest spot up 3pt shooters of all time but couldn’t do anything else even to an average level to stay on the court.

Feel like with a Jaun/Shak/KJ/FB/HD lineup no one scores on either end

Yeah unless there are major rumblings about a player being unhappy, I’m not going to put too much stock in speculation of who is gone and who is back. Every comment here over the offseason was that Jamari was going to be gone and he is still with the team.

Yeah DP would scare off PG transfers but we aren’t really going for any and if you are an off ball player you should want to play with him as he will draw a lot of defensive attention.

Can definitely can see our NIL looking a lot healthier once we are a good deal past the football stadium funding drive. Honestly, football doing well indirectly hurts the basketball team too as they are pulling NIL funding from the same sources. I don’t think the impact is that notable though if we hadn’t had 3 seasons in a row of underperformance especially with regards to transfers.

@Texas-Hawk-10 Agreed, safe money is still on Houston as the more proven commodity to win the league, but add Williams and the potential is there for this KU team to be better.

Seems like a real shot but definitely going to be competition for him. Missing Sarr might end up a blessing if this frees up budget and lets us land Williams.

Agreed that interconference transfers aren’t my favorite but with conferences so large now, you are ignoring a large portion of the transfer pool by not looking at them.

@TYOHawk Any reason for thinking that? I’ve seen loose reporting that he wants to stay in the draft honestly nothing that would make me believe it is a sure thing.

He is being mocked as a late 2nd round pick so unless he splashes at the combine or a bunch of prospects ahead of him drop out, he is slated to be making more money next year coming back to college. Maybe he is just ready to be done with college and bet on himself, but he has entertained offers to transfers which makes me think that isn’t the case.

@Kcmatt7 End of season rotation, I would agree with you. Early in the season, I would put Sarr in the 2nd group for competing for the 2 open starting spots.

@drgnslayr said in Norm Roberts Retires:

Oops. No, not now! I meant a phase out. 1 or 2 years. We probably learn more about his timed exit with Roberts’ replacement. I keep hearing Chris Beard’s name as a replacement for Self. Is this real? I like his abilities as a coach, but this is KU! Are we going to be able to keep our reputation for long coaching runs? I wonder if that will be possible moving forward!

Agreed, we aren’t the SEC. Honestly is embarrassing to me that there is even speculation that KU would go with Beard and I’m hopeful it is just fan chatter.

Sarr sounds like another great options for a starting level wing piece. Have to think he will be the cheaper than Williams and could get a decision form him sooner, but he does seem like he need a bit more weight to be playing the 4 at 6-7, 180 lbs. Maybe the goal is White at the 4? But still need someone to round out 10-15 min there.

IMO Williams still seems like the better fit on top of being a proven player, but is a risk waiting on him and missing on both.

Feels very much like a Frank Mason signing. I don’t expect near that level of play from Council but the recruitment vibes feel similar, i.e. found him while scouting someone else, general public down on signing but staff leaks are all super positive

Get Darrion and KU might be preseason #1 again lol, but sounded like BYU money is on the table for him so I’m not holding my breath

Edit: reread your post and may have missed what you are saying. KU is involved or signs pointing to him heading back to Tech now over BYU?

Always a little hesitant about expecting much from a reclass prospect in 1 year, but just saw it work out for Flagg and Stokes is rated just a small tier below that as a recruit.

Definitely sounds like a ceiling raiser though and makes this a pretty complete team with top tier talent/athleticism at the each of the G/W/C positions. Not going to say no to riding with that.