Posts made by That Is All

“It hasn’t really tempted me because I haven’t had that many people talk to me about it. But at some point and time, sure I think it would. It would be great to be able to match wits with the best athletes in the world, but I’m certainly happy where I’m at.”

I don’t really see how the age of the article matters. Sure he’s happy at KU. But he does specificity say it does interest him. That’s all I’m saying.

By the way, I did read the entire article. I was just trying to share a different angle that does relate to the subject of this post.

You guys probably lambasted people who speculated that Williams might leave after he turned down UNC the first time and called KU his home and said he was here to stay.

http://www.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/bill-self-kansas-jayhawks-basketball-coach-nba-head-coaching-job-honest-080613

He said he’d entertain an offer if it was presented.

Let them play. When WSU is good, KU gets the SOS/RPI boost. When WSU is down, KU gets a cream puff. Every game for a blue blood is an everything to lose nothing to gain proposition. Unless it’s against another blue blood of course. HEM already pointed out the games that KU schedules that debunk the reasons not to play , especially regarding recruiting. A lot of those games are at Sprint also so the money goes too. Marshall just has to be realistic that a one for one is not equitable.

Red Pill anyone?

@konkeyDong I don’t feel attacked at all and didn’t mean to come across that way.

I don’t believe I would subscribe to the overachieving theory simply because of the recruiting talent and Self’s ability to “reload” year after year. I do understand your point that the system can be a set up to a false sense of security entering the NCAA Tournament or a seed that can cause an unfavorable matchup. I also agree that Bill Self is not the only coach to suffer embarrassing losses. Just look at Coach K in the last few Tournaments.

I do like your “leaning in” theory as well. I just think that when the problem is not taking care of the ball, whether its sloppy passing on the perimeter, tightening up when being pressured or not pulling up on a break when you don’t have numbers the point swings are just too much to overcome. Also those weakness are also the type that are most vulnerable to the high seed upset. The teams that usually don’t have the talent of a KU usually are the ones to press, scrap for loose balls and out hustle. Frustrate and take advantage of mentally unprepared teams. Mix that with a three point specialist and an upset is born. What is the data, turnover ratio is where I’d start. I will have to dig for that. But its not always the amount. Its the timing. Its the momentum killer. That falls into the basketball IQ category. Almost an intangible that you can only glean from watching the game. Something raw data cant tell the story. Understanding the possession and coveting the ball cant always be judged by stats. Taking a bad shot is also considered a turnover by some which is not in the stat book. To me that was the biggest deficiency of Collins, Taylor and EJ. Tharpe was so bad how can not having him mentally prepared by his junior year not be a hit on the staff. The thing about the other three PG’s I just mentioned was they could score, and singlehandedly win a game by scoring. So much that the momentum killing was either over looked or just plain forgiven. I can deal with that from any position except the PG. Personally, I wish Self would get a PG who cant score but has mad IQ, and facilitate the other 4 McDonalds all americans on the courts scoring. I realize that was just hyperbole but not far from really. I think that is the answer to your question of what do you fix. I think you devote more time in practice to teaching IQ. Situations. Understanding the “down and distance” if you will. Now, obviously I have no idea what Self coaches, how he coaches or how much time is devoted to what. This is just my assessment on watching the games year after year.

@konkeyDong

“Surely you aren’t suggesting that there’s no variance in basketball games, right? And surely you recognize that regardless of system, there’s going to be delta’s that you can’t cover, right?”

Variance and Delta is exactly what I am suggesting. That coaching and player preparedness is how to deal with the variance. I was just making a suggestion to answer the question you posed. If you take every single game in a vacuum you cant determine whether the player’s don’t execute the game plan or what the coach has instilled in to their basketball IQ. But when you back away and look at trends you look for the common denominator. I think one of Self’s coaching chinks in the armor does happen to be player preparedness. In my opinion it is exhibited by a trend of turnovers. Let me ask you a question. Do you feel I am off base by my turnover trend observation?

83% winning record is phenomenal. that 83% is also what makes the early outs so much more painful. I agree with @Crimsonorblue22 that this winning is a recurring theme that does reflect on the coach as well. Unfortunately its not the only recurring theme.

This isn’t a fire Bill Self rant. Or a Bill self is not a good coach rant. It is to me, a what can he do to get over the hump? Obviously he is on the cusp with such an outstanding win loss percentage. its about realizing his potential and becoming one of the greatest instead of a great.

@JayHawkFanToo

Okay. Cool. I would like to see WSU pursue the A-10. I think it would be a great fit considering their lack of football program.

@konkeyDong

" How, when you watch a game, do you know that a coach failed to give his players the proper preparation vs the players failing to stick to game plan?"

Because when its a recurring problem that spans teams comprised of different plyers it leads back to the coach who is the common denominator.

I also agree that KU is Short about two maybe three. Were not going to win them all of course.

@nuleafjhawk I believe they stay relevant as long as Marshall is HC. Does he stay? Who the heck knows. Money can be a big motivator.

I think they have missed the boat on joining another conference any time soon. I thought they should have pursued the A-10 but I believe they have signed on some new schools lately and the widow has shut.

@konkeyDong

That point of sharing the graphic was my feeling about KU’s elite status over all. Roy is very much a part of that. Right now Self is running the ship so he gets to be under the microscope for now. I think Self should absolutely get the get the glory for 08. We needed that. He made it happen. His recruits, his coaching. In my opinion he “overachieved” in 12. Ironically, going into that season I had told myself I was not going to judge for any lack of accomplishment because the talent didn’t appear to be stellar and I didn’t have faith it T Taylor. That was a great year and I was “satisfied” when it was all said and done.

Like I originally stated though. It’s about underachievement, and disappointment. 08 and 12 can’t make me forget 06, 07, 09, 10, 11, 13, and 14. I didn’t include 05 because they were Roy’s guys, but NC talent and experience none the less. Not necessarily, embarrassment, like @KULA suggests (even though I identify with almost every point he made in the post prior to mine). As far as my criticism of self. They seem to be the same year to year. Starting with turnovers. Unforced especially. I kept hearing a lot of excuses this year about the young team. But I saw the same issues I have seen when EJ, TT, or SC were running the team. Common thread seems to be the lack of a true PG. I don’t think its coincidence that we won the NC in 08 when we had 2 outstanding PG’s sharing duties in RR and MC. Sure those guys were vets at that point in time but all of Self’s PG’s since 08 had made it to their senior year and Tharpe is a junior. I am excited about the potential of CF and FM running the show together.

My first post here, I have been reading threads since about October. I love the red pill/blue pill analogy. Here’s why I am a red pill guy: I expect championships. Why? Because of the exact reason people say I shouldn’t. 30 win seasons and 10 consecutive conference championships are the building block of a championship team. Not the reason to be satisfied. Why do I keep reading that those are reasons I should be satisfied or find consolation? Those “accolades” are the precursor to underachieving when a program has this kind of sustained regular season success and disappointing early outs in the only tournament that matters in college basketball. When “blue pill” folks use UK, UNC’s and UConn’s down years as a point that regular season failure is somehow the tradeoff we’d rather not have I say, exactly. KU doesn’t have down years, in the regular season. We don’t miss the tournament. We always win our conference. We should have more than one championship in the last 25 years. If I was fan of a school that did not have “blue blood” recruiting power and be considered an elite coaching destination job I would absolutely be excited about a conference championship or an Elite Eight run. I don’t have these expectations simply because I am a passionate fan. I wouldn’t have the same expectations if I lived in Iowa and Iowa State was my school. Most of these Tournament loses have been extremely disappointing to me. Not just because at the end of the game we had the lower score, it’s because we had the ability to make it to the end. Every year (besides 08 obviously) I feel like I have this prodigal child that aces his tests all year and then fails the final exam. Am I not supposed to be upset? Do I pat him on the head and say well you failed the big one but you did great on all the quizzes. You did enough to get a B but the final prevented you from that A. When Wiggins signed with KU I wasn’t excited because we were going to possibly win another BIG XII championship. My expectations shot up to National championship level. Not out in the round of 32. Same with Xavier, same with Julian.

During the tournament I saw a graphic that was sobering and made me rethink KU’s “elite” status(for the first time in my life). This elite status I believe was the biggest point to the red or blue question. I had always considered KU elite until I saw this: Since 1990 KU was one of five schools with 10 or more Elite Eight appearances. The other four schools are definitely on my “elite” program list. UK- 13 with 3 NC’s, UNC- 12 with 3 NC’s, Duke- 10 with 4 NC’s UConn- 10 with 3 now 4 NC’s and KU- 10 with 1 NC. All four other schools had at least 3.

Now, I haven’t made any “basketball” points in this post. That will come later. I’m merely addressing my feelings about why I feel like a red pill guy. One word, “underachieving”. This underachievement is exactly why it’s okay to call out Bill Self too. Our regular season success is also exactly why I judge our over all success and national program status on National Championships.

That Is All