The Rodney meltdown has me over here as well. I have been a member here for a bit but have not utilized this site until now. Enough is enough from both the .com and the .net. Ridiculous.

Great pickup for KU to add some depth in the bigs. I agree that this may signal the end of the Mickelson era at KU. It also seems pretty apparent that Perry Ellis is only going to have success against smaller, less athletic players and that we need more size and aggressiveness to counter against bigger, stronger opponents. Not sure how Ellis ended up at this point. He really doesn’t seem to have progressed past where he was last year.

I would love to see KU pick up Zimmerman as well but I just don’t see us being ahead of either UK or UNLV. I do keep trying to remind myself that Bragg has made numerous statements fawning about the UK platoon system and still chose Kansas but Zimmerman and his mother especially seem to spend a lot of time raving about UK and Cal.

With Selden’s struggles I wouldn’t mind seeing a player like Brown or Newman sign. A guy that can flat out fill it up from outside would be a perfect complement to this team. Greene has shown signs of it but cannot keep his mind right off the court and on defense to keep him on the floor for significant minutes.

Bottom line, there seem to be several good options out there that KU is in on and has a good shot at. Looks like KU will once again be in good shape heading into next season. Now let’s see if they can muster up the aggression needed to have success this year! So far, so good all in all.

@JayHawkFanToo said:

@drgnslayr

Baylor had a bunch of offensive rebounds but not many points to show for them; Rico Suave’s huge body inside definitely had an effect. In one possession they had 3 or4 offensive rebounds and failed to get a single point, a credit to the KU defense that played them tough and did not give them good looks.

Gathers shoving numerous KU players out of the way to grab some of those offensive boards probably helped as well. News flash Mr. Ref. Cliff Alexander doesn’t just bow to the crowd in the middle of a fight for a rebound. That was Gathers giving him a shove in the back. And while Perry Ellis has a nice spin move, he typically doesn’t attempt them when he is hitting the defensive boards. That was also Gathers shoving him out of the way. A 280 pound man doesn’t just split between two KU players. He displaced one of them to get between them. Gathers got away with murder under the rim.

@BeddieKU23 said:

It was a great 24 hrs to be a Jayhawk fan. Tuff win at Baylor, 5 star recruit signs the next day. Maybe more to come in the next few months. Self said his #1 priority was signing a Big and he got it.

I have said since the summer Bragg and Diallo would be the perfect 2 bigs for KU. Both unfinished athletic freaks who bring vastly different skill sets. We’ve got 1 and I’m still hoping that we get the other. I think its important that we get 2 because next year we have Ellis, Traylor, & Hunter all Seniors. We will need to sign at least 2 this year to have enough already in the program to get more in the next class. The 16 class has some good bigs available as well.

The other thing that is important in getting Diallo is to keep him away from Iowa State. I definitely don’t want KU to have to play AGAINST him 2-3 times next year. Iowa State will have a tough team next year with or without Diallo. I’d rather us have him instead of play him.

@JhawkAlum I think basketball is more than a year by year thing and that if we want to have experienced players two seasons from now it would be wise if Self continues to bring in as many good players as possible. If they are good enough to push our starters to the bench then so be it. Maybe those guys stay another year after that and are awesome seniors. If they aren’t then maybe those recruits stay another year and are experienced sophs. You can never have too much talent. We are short on it right now to compete at the highest level.

@Blown said:

@jaybate-1.0 Do you know if there is software existing today that can monitor body movement on a basketball court and translate it into useful data?

http://www.mavs.com/nba-introduces-next-level-analytics-with-sportvu/

@REHawk said:

@jaybate-1.0 jb, I have nothing to add, other than to give a thumbs up to JayHawkFan and ictfan…who both posted some wise stuff. I’d say that Tarik’s choosing to stay at home in Memphis might eventually have led to distractions from his optimal development; but that is just a wild assumption. Along the way he appeared to determine that Pastner’s program was not going to get him where he hoped to go; so he was wise enough to work the 3-year grad rule, then choose between Coach K or Self for his last shot at prime development. We owe Tarik a bundle…esp. does Embiid. If Black bombs and disappears from the League, Joel should probably buy him a topoftheline Mercedes as a thankful tribute to the 2013-14 help. As for all of us, I cannot recall any other KU one-and-doner who deserves more accolades than Tarik Black.

If Black doesn’t stick in the NBA then he needs to call up Aaron Rodgers and take him up on his offer to be the next great basketball player turned NFL tight end.

@JhawkAlum said:

Great insight fellas. I stand corrected. I just hate having players like Greene who have been patient, payed their dues, and worked hard but are left on the outside looking in.

Greene has been given AMPLE rope to earn that spot and has largely hung himself with it. If he’s the best player available then he’ll play. I love that players have to earn their time versus having it gifted to them for nothing more than time served.

@JayHawkFanToo said:

@drgnslayr

I agree.

As far as Keegan Story, he fails to mention that KU"S Opponents Offense is ranked #6 by KenPom, only VCU has the Opponents Offense ranked in single digits in the top 50; the next team team with Opponent Offense in single digits is Wofford at #93. Yes, our defense is ranked #43 but a lot of it has to do with playing teams with good offenses.

It does make a difference when you see the entire picture and not just the sliver the writer wants you to see to make his point.

Excellent point. I have been stating all year that a large part of why KU’s stats are “down” are because they have had zero games against cream puffs to pad stats. ISU crows about their #2 in the nation assist rate but played five games against RPI 200+. KU had 20+ assists in each of their two games against lesser teams so I can only assume they would have a much higher rate if given the opportunity to throttle five cream puffs.

And even though both Michigan State and Florida are “down” you cannot discount going up against two of the Top 10 coaches in the nation. Izzo and Donovan can take a group of kids from the stands and give you a battle. They are the anti-Scott Drew, who seems to manage to do less with more better than anyone in the nation.

@drgnslayr

Frank Mason actually had four steals in our last game against UNLV

@DanR said:

There must be some really BAD players in college right now if Oubre is the #9 projection. Holy sh_.

I guess I need to watch some other teams play in order to appreciate how awesome our “best player on the floor” Oubre has been in his last four games. Did the guy who ranked him even watch those games or just look at stats and a few highlights against those two powerhouses Lafayette and Kent State? Maybe I need to force myself to watch an NBA game too, so I can figure out what kind of talent it takes to be a Pro these days.

Love Cliff, but he’s barely making 50% of his dunk attempts. OAD? Seriously?

Embiid and Wiggins. No doubt those guys were ready for the league. Selby is fulfilling his lifetime dream playing ball in Israel and he was more prepared for pro ball than Kelly and Cliff. I give up.

Think about how much Oubre has improved in the last two months. Now remember that we are still almost three months from the end of the college basketball season and more than five months from the actual NBA Draft. Oubre is going to continue to fill into his role and will have numerous excellent performances between now and then.

@JhawkAlum said:

Great insight fellas. I stand corrected. I just hate having players like Greene who have been patient, payed their dues, and worked hard but are left on the outside looking in.

Greene has been given AMPLE rope to earn that spot and has largely hung himself with it. If he’s the best player available then he’ll play. I love that players have to earn their time versus having it gifted to them for nothing more than time served.

@bskeet said:

So, this week, @Jesse-Newell tweeted some links and pics of Christian with his mom who I gather is the sister of Lenny Kravitz… Am I the last person in the world to know this?

Apparently Christian is Lenny’s nephew. Who knew?

HUH?!? Apparently you weren’t the last to know because I had no idea until just now.

@Blown said:

@twocoach said:

http://www.mavs.com/nba-introduces-next-level-analytics-with-sportvu/

Thanks, as it were, I’m decades behind an invention. One of these days I’ll be on the front end of one!!

I only know of it because I happened to catch a recap of an interview with Mark Cuban on the radio driving to the KU game yesterday. XM Radio is a glorious thing when it’s a three hour drive to the game!

@REHawk said:

@jaybate-1.0 jb, I have nothing to add, other than to give a thumbs up to JayHawkFan and ictfan…who both posted some wise stuff. I’d say that Tarik’s choosing to stay at home in Memphis might eventually have led to distractions from his optimal development; but that is just a wild assumption. Along the way he appeared to determine that Pastner’s program was not going to get him where he hoped to go; so he was wise enough to work the 3-year grad rule, then choose between Coach K or Self for his last shot at prime development. We owe Tarik a bundle…esp. does Embiid. If Black bombs and disappears from the League, Joel should probably buy him a topoftheline Mercedes as a thankful tribute to the 2013-14 help. As for all of us, I cannot recall any other KU one-and-doner who deserves more accolades than Tarik Black.

If Black doesn’t stick in the NBA then he needs to call up Aaron Rodgers and take him up on his offer to be the next great basketball player turned NFL tight end.

@Blown said:

@jaybate-1.0 Do you know if there is software existing today that can monitor body movement on a basketball court and translate it into useful data?

http://www.mavs.com/nba-introduces-next-level-analytics-with-sportvu/

@drgnslayr said:

I hope we recruit CAREFULLY!

More is not always better. If we oversign at one position and have weaknesses at another, we are bound to reduce our chances in March.

I really want Zim!

If we just land him, I’d say we had a great recruiting year… and that is regardless who we lose early.

That doesn’t mean I would have a problem landing a couple more players. I’d just be careful not to lose some of the talent we have.

It isn’t always a great thing to recruit potential at the loss of experience.

I’m kind of tired of being one of the youngest teams in America, AGAIN!

We need a balance. Some OAD-quality players mixed in with experienced quality players.

I am starting to see the possibility of losing Kelly. If that is the case, we have guys that can slip into the 3… but we won’t have that star swing 3. I wouldn’t mind landing one of those!

Part of it is about who will be available. I know Self wants Thon Maker. Does anyone know if he got his reclassification?

Where does that guy play? 7-foot PG? I can’t really see him pinned into the low post. The guy has freakish talent, but does landing him just mean another media circus and everyone having to placate their own ambitions for the star recruit?

Texas has a 7 foot star that isn’t pinned to the post and their offense is a mish mosh mess right now with everyone out of sync. Nice to have as a “hey, look at that guy” but not sure it really makes for good team basketball overall. KU does well to have a nice balance at all points in the game; a good post big, a big that can hit mid- to deep, solid wings that can balance between the deep ball and slashing to the rim to draw fouls, a lethal SG and a PG that can drive the bus.

@justanotherfan said:

@twocoach

I agree. There is always the risk that you will be recruited over at an elite school like KU. KU could potentially bring in freshmen that, because they have NBA talent, are better than any of the returning players. We are seeing that this year with Oubre’s emergence and could also see Alexander do that this year. If Cliff stays next year, there’s a possibility that either Cliff or Perry could be pushed to the bench in favor of a new player, depending on how talented that guy is.

Selden is in the same boat. If he does not step up, there’s no guarantee that he won’t get passed up by a newcomer, or by someone like Brannen Greene if he improves defensively.

And I can 100% guarantee that if Newman or Brown were to commit that Selden would be spending his offseason putting up a ton of shots every day. He is a gamer and doesn’t strike me as a guy that would shrink from the competition for minutes. It would be a win-win for KU.

@JhawkAlum I think basketball is more than a year by year thing and that if we want to have experienced players two seasons from now it would be wise if Self continues to bring in as many good players as possible. If they are good enough to push our starters to the bench then so be it. Maybe those guys stay another year after that and are awesome seniors. If they aren’t then maybe those recruits stay another year and are experienced sophs. You can never have too much talent. We are short on it right now to compete at the highest level.

@BeddieKU23 said:

The situation with Newman won’t be settled for a while. Everyone thinks he ends up at Kentucky but the fact is nobody knows what their roster will look like. They have signed Briscoe 5star, and Matthews 4star guards. The twins aren’t on any first round or even top 10 at their position. Why would they leave for non-guarenteed deals. Booker and Ulis are on the NBA radar but its not like they are projected lottery or anything. Kentucky could have a very crowded situation.

To me KU has a much better shot than UK does at this point. I also think that he will go where the playing time is so unless Selden suddenly gets 100% better its not likely his spot will be open. The kid is a scoring machine and the other schools he likes are probably likelier to get him than crowded back-courts.

I like our chances with Jaylen Brown more. I think he will see how much better Kelly is playing now and want to become the latest 1 and done wing to hit KU.

Ingram to me still doesn’t leave the state of North Carolina. He wants to go to UNC, he could go to Duke with Winslow a top 10 pick. Maybe I’m wrong and underestimating this package deal but we’ve seen them fall apart before.

I see Selden’s spot as potentially open because if Selden doesn’t get 100% better then he risks getting passed up by an elite shooting guard if one was brought in. I wouldn’t consider him a major hurdle if I was an elite shooter looking for a college team. Obviously Self is a bit hesitant to just shove a frosh out there and let him take his lumps so it might take a while but if Newman ends up being an elite sniper then Selden may find himself being the experienced leader off the bench a la UK’s Darius Miller in '12. Who knows…

@BeddieKU23 said:

It was a great 24 hrs to be a Jayhawk fan. Tuff win at Baylor, 5 star recruit signs the next day. Maybe more to come in the next few months. Self said his #1 priority was signing a Big and he got it.

I have said since the summer Bragg and Diallo would be the perfect 2 bigs for KU. Both unfinished athletic freaks who bring vastly different skill sets. We’ve got 1 and I’m still hoping that we get the other. I think its important that we get 2 because next year we have Ellis, Traylor, & Hunter all Seniors. We will need to sign at least 2 this year to have enough already in the program to get more in the next class. The 16 class has some good bigs available as well.

The other thing that is important in getting Diallo is to keep him away from Iowa State. I definitely don’t want KU to have to play AGAINST him 2-3 times next year. Iowa State will have a tough team next year with or without Diallo. I’d rather us have him instead of play him.