@stoptheflop said in Other Football Games of Interest:
Really glad college football is back-even though we all know the problems. Most of the games this weekend are like our Wagner game, but Texas v. Ohio St Saturday 11am on FOX, WOW. And Sunday 6:30 on ABC Notre Dame v. Miami. I can’t wait.
There’s several great games on paper this weekend aside from what you mentioned. LSU vs. Clemson is a top 10 match up, Alabama vs. Florida St., Tennessee vs. Syracuse.
They’re making this look easy right now.
@stoptheflop Looked close to a sellout. I’d guess somewhere close to 40,000
Should be an easy game. Don’t expect to see the playbook opened up too much. Just get out of this game healthy and get ready for war next weekend.
@AsadZ said in FRESNO STATE BULLDOGS:
I’m impressed by DL and DE
WRs looked good
Got to clean up penalties
Penalties have pretty much always been an issue with Leipold. That’s just going to be a reality with this team.
Offense looked good, defense was great after the first drive, and KU needs to cut down on penalties, but too many penalties seems to be life with Leipold.
KU Volleyball takes down Vanderbilt in 5 sets. This was Vanderbilt’s return to volleyball after 40 years.
If anyone needs something to hold them over until the football game starts, KU volleyball is currently on FS1 against Vanderbilt. KU dropped the 1st set, but has a big lead in the 2nd set.
In an alternate reality, KU’s 2012-13 starting line up could’ve been Elijah Johnson, Bradley Beal, Ben McLemore, Otto Porter, and Jeff Withey. Still a little weak at PG with EJ, but KU was runner up for both Beal and Porter and had KU landed both, that’s a hell of a starting 5.
@Jhawk69 said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@rockchalkjayhawk But Zuby gives you stats that are almost as good, plus is a better defender, plus would have cost us less NIL money that we could have spent elsewhere.
During the 2023-24 season, Zuby averaged 4 and 3 while oy playing 11 minutes per game. Udeh averaged 4 and 5 while playing 17 mpg his first year at TCU in 2023-24. Neither player was ready to step up and contribute that year. KU still needed an impact big for that season. Even if those 2 stayed and KU never lands Hunter, it doesn’t do anything to address KU’s biggest offensive issue the last two years, KJ Adams and the 4 spot. Neither Zuby, nor Udeh are 3 point threats so they don’t do anything to address the spacing issues KJ created at the 4 spot.
The arguing about Hunter vs. Zuby/Udeh doesn’t really matter to KU’s success those two years because of the 4 spot. On the court, Hunter was never the biggest issue the past 2 years. His offensive game was tailor made for Self’s system. Self unfortunately couldn’t put a group on the court around Hunter that complimented his skill set. Hunter needed guys that could move without the ball to create driving lanes and open 3’s, but the only two players that could do that were McCullar and Harris. We also know Harris didn’t have a quick shot to take those open looks from 3 he consistently had which was frustrating as Harris was a 37% 3 point shooter for his career.
@wissox Grimm and Arnold were good possession/slot receivers, but neither had great high end speed. Skinner was the best home run threat, but he wasn’t a great route runner and his hands were below average.
@Jhawk69 I really like this team on paper. The last 2 years, I warned multiple times that the season could be a disaster because the rosters weren’t well constructed and the transfers Self brought in didn’t compliment who was already here.
The biggest concern for me this season on paper is the offense. This isn’t necessarily a bad shooting team, but nobody that’s expected to play big minutes is elite either. Rosario is probably the best shooter on the team, but it remains to be seen how well his shooting will adapt to the college game. Outside of him, we have a bunch of wings and guards who all in the 32%-35% range which isn’t elite, but not bad enough to where you can ignore them either
I know some are concerned that Self didn’t hit on a high scoring wing in the portal and there is some validity to that, but I’m not too concerned about KU’s ability to score. Peterson is going to be big time and there’s very little evidence to suggest he won’t be as good as advertised at KU. If KU has 4 or 5 other players in 9-13 ppg range, they’ll be in good shape. Flory is still pretty raw offensively so I don’t see this season being a breakout year for him, but I still think he’ll average a double-double or be very near it. The man is a rebounding machine with good instincts so I think he’ll be fine.
Defense is where we’ll all see drastic improvements and I think this will be Self’s best defensive team post-Covid. Everyone expected to be in the is above average to elite defensively and everybody is good enough to switch. Rosario is the I don’t know much about his defensive abilities, but if the effort isn’t there, he’s gonna be sitting his butt on the bench. I think Flory and Council will be in the mix for B12 DPOY and potentially NDPOY.
We’ve got a good schedule and should know pretty quickly what this team is capable of. I like that most have KU in the 15-20 range because the weight of preseason expectations won’t be there. Obviously, Darryn Peterson is tge most important player and NPOY candidate, but as far as determining how deep KU can go this year, I think the two most important players are Elmarko Jackson and Bryson Tiller. We all know Elmarko was considered a OAD candidate out of high school, he hung around and stay through adversity both adversity both on and off the court which speaks volumes to his character (same with Jamari McDowell) and if Elmarko can play anywhere near that level, that’s going to make KU an incredibly dangerous team to have a backcourt of Peterson and Jackson tearing teams apart.
The other player that’s key to me is Bryson Tiller. He’s healthy and he’s another guy already on NBA radars so if he can be a serviceable back up to Flory and develop enough range to play the 4, then KU would move into legit national title contender territory.
As of right now, I’d say the Elite 8 is tge ceiling for this team, but if Elmarko and Tiller can play near their ability levels consistently, then I’ll call KU a title contender.
Dejuan Harris signed a contract to play in Belgium this season.
8pm and the heat index is still over 100° here in Houston.
@BShark said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@rockchalkjayhawk said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@BShark said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@AsadZ said in KU Roster for 25-26:
@BShark He is 26 years old.
Right, it’s pretty crazy that he has eligbility left. Modern times I suppose.
@rockchalkjayhawk I would be rather surprised if that spot was filled. Only so much $ and playing time.
Yea on that roster spot? Seems weird for a major program like Kansas to not have a full roster of players. Times are changing i suppose.
It is also more than it used to be now. 15 instead of 13. Admittedly it was always a big bigger with walk-ons. The last spots now are essentially walk-ons. Finding cheap players in this era will be important.
It’s sort of more than it used to be. Before it was 13 scholarships with unlimited walk-ons, now it’s 15 players with the scholarships divided up however the school want to divide the scholarships. Current walk-ons are grandfathered in for the remainder of their eligibility and are allowed to transfer if they choose to and still retain that eligibility.
I know Jaden Nickens wanted to play basketball as well and still could since KU has one roster spot open, but he’s not currently listed on KU’s roster so I’m wondering if Self is waiting to see how Nickens feels at the end of football season before adding him to the roster because I believe Self is now done with the 2025-26 roster.
@rockchalkjayhawk said in KU Roster for 25-26:
Anybody have the scoop on Jaden Nickens? Will he play both football and basketball?
Right now, it sounds like he won’t be playing basketball this upcoming season based on what the KC Star wrote in their article on Ngala committing.
@rockchalkjayhawk said in KU Roster for 25-26:
Hard pass on soon to be 27 year olds!
What the hell is happening with college sports?!
He’s a 1 year rental that’s essentially going to be doing scout team stuff. He’s not someone being brought in to play a big role on the court. I’m fine with players like this because he’s not going to do anything to embarrass the university.
@Kcmatt7 said in Bill Self back in the hospital 
:
I wouldn’t expect the next coach at KU to be without a GM who does a lot of the recruiting negotiating on his behalf.
Recruiting is not the role of a GM at the college level. GM’s handle the business side of NIL for programs that have them, they aren’t out on the road scouting and identifying talent.
This is Rachel Baker’s (Duke GM) job description: In this exclusive position, Baker will specialize in helping players enhance their personal and professional skill sets, capitalize on strategic partnerships, including NIL opportunities, and work to support players in navigating the opportunities and challenges that come with being a student-athlete at the highest level.
That’s her job description straight from Duke’s website
The summarized version is essentially to oversee the non-basketball aspects of the program, primarily focusing on player development, NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) opportunities, and strategic partnerships. This allows the head coach and assistant coaches to concentrate on coaching and game strategy.
Lexi Price does handle some of those responsibilities for KU as the Director of Basketball Ops for KU. Here’s her job description as listed on KU’s website: In her role, Price will continue her current responsibilities with the day-to-day operations of the KU program, in addition to managing student-athlete enrollment, housing, team travel, and coordinating camps and clinics. What’s missing from her role is the NIL/business side of the job which we’ll see what happens as the year progresses if she takes on those responsibilities or not. If not, then the next coach will absolutely need to hire a business manager to for the program that’s responsible for the NIL side of the job.
Recruiting still needs to be the responsibility of the coaching staff and not a “faceless” individual.
@bskeet KT is Self’s right hand man, but he’s not a good enough head coach to take over this program. If he was viewed in that light, he would’ve been the one running things in 2022-23 instead of Norm.
Bringing in Vaughn is very much a head coach in waiting type move because he could absolutely go get an NBA assistant position if he wanted. He doesn’t come back to KU as an assistant coaches unless there’s basically a handshake agreement that he’s going to be KU’s 9th head coach. I’m sure if this is the case, this word will be going around recruiting circles as well to help minimize the chances of KU’s 2026 class bombing because we are in one some very good players with a real chance to land a couple of them.
KU is going to have a lot of roster turnover again next year. Best case scenario, KU loses 4 to graduation and the NBA. Potentially, KU could lose up to 7 to graduation and the NBA. I think the number may well end up being 5.
@drgnslayr The more stents you have, the higher the risk of more complicated health risks occurring becomes and Self is up 3 now I believe.
Bringing in Vaughn now could be a program saving move because there is an increased chance Self doesn’t make through the season now and having a coach of Vaughn’s level on staff is going to be a big help for the program of that situation plays out.
Glad we have Vaughn now. Fully expecting him to coach at least one game this season.
JHX lost to Heartfire tonight. Not surprising since Heartfire was runner up last year and won in 2023 and is one of the favorites this year.
Anybody else see Furphy’s dunk today? Also had 15 points today.
@approxinfinity This is why I say rats are lower maintenance than some cats. Yes, rats need social time to be out of their cages which for me was about 1-2 hours per day where I’d lay some blankets on my bed and let them run around while I did homework. I did have a pen for them to run around on the ground, but they were both absolutely terrified of being on the ground so they played on either my bed or I had them with me on the couch watching TV.
When I was little, we had two cats. One was social and always wanting attention and to play which I was more than happy to accommodate. Cats with that personality are absolutely higher maintenance than rats and I will agree with you on that. The other cat was very antisocial and was pretty much only ever seen at meal time. Cats with personalities like that I would say are lower maintenance than because they don’t want or need attention for the most part other than feeding or cleaning their litter box.
That’s why I say rats are lower maintenance than some cats because a lot of that depends on the personality of the cat.
@rockchalkjayhawk Domesticated rats are great pets. I had a couple of male rats while I was going to community college at home.
They are very social animals, very intelligent animals. Both of mine also died of cancer which unfortunately is not uncommon with rats.
The pros are they are relatively low maintenance compared to dogs and some cats. Cleaning their cage and replacing the bedding a couple times per week was extent of maintenance required which took about 30 minutes total. Another pro is they are relatively cheap animals compared to cats or dogs. The rats themselves were $20 each and the cage, food, bedding, enrichment toys were probably about $250 total with the bedding and food being the consistent recurring costs which is much cheaper than dog and cat food and cat litter.
The biggest con is the life expectancy. Domesticated rats have a life expectancy of up to about 3 years. The other big con is if they develop severe health issues, such as cancer or tumors, it’s generally not worth it financially to treat because they’re cheap animals with a pretty short life expectancy.
I would absolutely recommend something like a rat to people with younger kids that aren’t sure if the kid is ready for the responsibility of a dog or other higher maintenance animals. It’s a much lower and financial commitment if a kid shows they aren’t ready.
@drgnslayr said in Revshare:
I found this read interesting. It centers around B12 football but surely has implications for basketball, too. It seems that schools like TT have adopted quickly using their big dollars on front loading. Also interesting how HS NIL is growing.
Texas Tech doesn’t think the revenue limits are going to hold up under scrutiny and are going to overspend chasing a football national title.
@approxinfinity said in Ben McLemore Charged with Rape in Portland:
100 months. Wow.
8 years and 4 months which was the minimum sentence he could receive.
McLemore has been sentenced to 100 months (the minimum) in an Oregon state prison.
@dylans Don’t reply if you aren’t going to bother reading the reply and making a response based on that instead of the stuff you commented.
lol. Let’s see UConn’s budget before thinking that’s real.
It’s a projected average per school and unlike the rest of the conference, UConn has an FBS football program and they still have to fund as well from their revenue sharing.
Also, this money gets distributed among all athletic programs, not just football and basketball. Several of those schools also participate at a high level in hockey and have to share money with those programs as well.
@dylans Not a significant advantage. The Big East is only expected to allocate about $5.7 million for basketball per school. The Big 12 is expected to be at about $4.3 million per school for basketball. It’s not a game changing difference.
This is an event I’m kind of losing interest in because there’s so many players playing for alumni teams who aren’t alumni. Frank Mason isn’t playing for the KU team, he’s actually playing for the Syracuse alumni team because they essentially bought him.
Noah Shelby has entered the transfer portal.
https://www.on3.com/college/kansas-jayhawks/news/kansas-sg-noah-shelby-enters-ncaa-transfer-portal/
@nuleafjhawk said in Ben McLemore Charged with Rape in Portland:
@SlimShaddy54 besides that - why forcibly? I remember thinking he’s a pretty good looking guy, got a little fame and money. I have to believe thar the ladies would have been attracted to him. He’s a dumbass. A criminal dumbass.
Alcohol makes people do stupid stuff. I also don’t have a hard time believing both he and the girl were too drunk to consent to anything since this happened at a house party of a teammate.
Ben McLemore was found guilty on 3 of the 4 charges against him. Guilty of 1st degree rape, 1st degree unlawful sexual penetration, and 2nd degree sexual abuse and not guilty of another 2nd degree sexual abuse charge.
According to Google, the punishments are between 8 year and 4 months (100 months) to 20 years each for the 1st degree rape and 1st degree sexual penetration convictions and the 2nd degree sexual abuse conviction carries a maximum 5 year sentence.
Unfortunately, it looks like Ben is in deep shit right now looking at anywhere between 8+ years to 45 years in prison.
We’ll see what happens with the appeals here because Ben’s defense was centered around both him and the girl being too drunk to consent to anything.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45660822/jury-finds-ex-nba-guard-ben-mclemore-guilty-rape
@approxinfinity said in 2025-26 Schedule:
This schedule was already loaded. At least tbese are 2 historically good teams
These two programs are trash now. Notre Dame has made one NCAA Tournament appearance since 2017 and Syracuse only has one tournament appearance post Covid. KU should make the championship game of this as there will probably be several 2-0 teams and margin of victory, points scored, and points allowed are the tie breakers and KU has probably the weakest schedule of any team there.
The first two games of the Player’s Era Tournament for KU was announced today and I’m very disappointed with KU’s draw. With all the great teams in the field, KU is getting Notre Dame on Nov. 24 and Syracuse on Nov. 25. There’s no reason KU shouldn’t beat the breaks off of both teams and hopefully get a top level team in their third game.
Biggest game I’ve been too was one where KU unfortunately got their asses handed to them, unless you ask the NCAA who will say the game didn’t happen. The 2018 Final Four game against Villanova. That Villanova was so freaking good and among the best college teams I’ve ever seen.
I’ve also had the good fortune to see KU in two top 5 match ups including my senior night game in 2010 against KSU that was not on TV. KU stomped KSU by 17 in that one. Sherron didn’t have his game game, but still led KU that afternoon.
The other top 5 match up was in February of 2020 at Baylor in Waco. It was an 11 am tip and College Day was there. Ochai had his absolute worst game of his Kansas career that day going scoreless in 39 minutes, but Doke made up for it with the biggest game of his KU career going for 23 and 19 and leading KU to a 3 point win that cemented KU as the title favorites that season.
Also, the first 4 times I went to watch KU play Texas in Austin were all losses including one of KU’s 3 losses during the 2008 title run.
The Brooklyn Nets picked up their team option for Jalen Wilson next season.
Ian Premer to Notre Dame, that’s gotta sting for the Kitties who many thought would land him.
Reading Matt Tait’s site earlier and a few days ago he posted an article about Elmarko Jackson stepping up as a leader for the team next season. This is huge because he is a different style of leader from Harris and if the team takes on his attitude and personality.
Zeke Mayo has signed a deal with the Washington Wizards to be part of their Summer League team and Dajuan Harris will be playing with the Charlotte Hornets during Summer League.
@DCHawker KU has more than two potential NBA players in 2026. Tre White and Bryson Tiller have also shown up in different mocks and Elmarko Jackson was thought of as a OAD when he committed so he could play his way into that realm as well.
KU has the talent, the last two signings have been the needed depth for next season.
@BShark The NBA has had 7 different champs in the 7 seasons. They’ve done a better job at creating parity than the NFL has.
@approxinfinity Don’t know enough about the Pelicans roster construction to know their needs. A two-way contract doesn’t guarantee Hunter will spend any time in the NBA. He could spend up to 50 games in the NBA though.
Hunter Dickinson has signed a two way contract with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Should be hearing about Dejuan Harris and Zeke Mayo in the next few days as well as each should at least be playing in Summer League.
@dylans Yes, unless there’s been an unknown setback in the past couple of weeks, Tiller should good to go full speed next week.
@rockchalkjayhawk said in KU Roster for 25-26:
Waddya all think? Adding one or two more guys?
The Noah Shelby redshirt/DSA situation still unclear?
One, Shelby is on scholarship this season.
@rockchalkjayhawk said in KU Roster for 25-26:
****** With the recent House v NCAA settlement, things are complicated with roster size. It’s hard to say if KU has three more spots to fill, or less. Also, apparently there’s a new fule for “designated student athletes.” These are players who would have been removed given the new roster rules, but now may stick around until they run out of eligibility, but may not count against roster size. This could easily be ALL the KU walkons. ******
May as well look ahead to see what’s in store for next season.
I’ll try to keep track of the offseason drama here. I’ll keep this mostly official, so no portal projections here.
But the portal window is: March 24 to April 22
Roster size: 14 (includes ALL but DSA players. Normally it’s 15, but we lost one to NCAA sanctions)
Roster size at the moment: 11 (a bit sketchy given the DSA rules)
RETURNEES (4)
G Elmarko Jackson
G/F Jamari McDowell
PF Bryson Tiller
C Flory Bidunga
RETURNING WALK ONS? (4 – and potential “designated student athletes”)
G Noah Shelby
G Wilder Evers
G Will Thengvall
F Justin Cross
IMCOMING FRESHMEN (4)
G Darryn Peterson
F Samis Calderon
G Corbin Allen – Oak Park High School
SG Kohl Rosario
PORTAL ADDITIONS (3)
G Jayden Dawson via Loyola Chicago. One year of eligibility left.
G/F Tre White via Illinois – previous stops at Louisville, USC. One year of eligibility left.
G Melvin Council Jr. via St. Bonaventure – previous stop at Wagner. One year of eligibility left.
BIG QUESTION MARK (1)
SF Jaden Nickens – A football player who may play hoops. May have to count against the roster before the season begins.
HAVE ENTERED PORTAL (6 initially – Bidunga entered, but will return)
G/F AJ Storr – signed with Ole Miss
G/F Rylan Griffen — signed with Texas AM
G/F Rakease Passmore — signed with Maryland
PF/C Zach Clemence – signed with Texas A&M
G David Coit – signed with Maryland
Nickens can still basketball play and would count against the 15 player roster limit, but KU would still be in compliance with the scholarship reduction they still owe the NCAA because his scholarship is coming from football and not basketball.