College Basketball Thread

And Forte is out for the season so Ford can get a jump start on cloning their next ginger 3-point annoyance. Bad times for OSU all around.

I knew we'd lose eventually but fuck that was a miserable game to watch. A terrible shooting team hits lights out the entire time while a pretty good shooting team makes MAYBE 25% of its shots?! A sometimes starter who averages 6 pts a game get 28+ and nails 3s like they're nothing?! just...ugh

It's only halftime, but so far this ISU-OU game is every bit as terrific as KU-OU was. Iowa State looks scary good - not "good considering their record" good - "one of the top teams in the nation" good.

I'm rooting for the Cyclones to knock off Oklahoma since it would help KU in the conference standings just a bit, but I'm also terrified of heading to Hilton if it turns out ISU is finally waking up. . .

Nice victory indeed Superb Owl 🦉, but I would be remiss if I didn't admit to smdh at ISU fans storming the court after a win in which they were a two point favorite.

I'd have stronger objections but we're about to get deservedly court rushed after an unmitigated disaster tonight. This team is an absolute train wreck right now.

Eh, I wouldn't count on it - it's not just one game, we've been looking rudderless for a while now. Obviously dropped the game to WVU, but we BARELY beat TCU (at home!) and we were lackluster against Texas Tech as well. An impressive accumulation of talent that is clearly still in search of identity and real leadership.

Also, you should trek down to KC for the B12 tournament. If it's anything like previous years, 1) KU & ISU will face off at some point in an epic game, and 2) Iowa State fans will be out in such strong force that you won't feel outnumbered here. If ya come down, I'll buy you a beer - if ya come down and KU wins, I'll buy you three beers.

Familiar sense of dread. Jawun Evans is a stud, and this team may improve enough to be consistently entertaining. While this would normally be a good thing, they also may play just well enough to save Travis Ford's job. In fact, Ford is an incredibly decent guy by all accounts in every area aside from coaching basketball, so this group may actually work their asses off to save his job. Sigh.

Yeah, I think we all breathed a sigh of relief after the Texas win, but that's all it was - we certainly didn't look very sharp for most of the game, and limping to a nine point win against a below-average TX team in Lawrence didn't exactly light the fans on fire.

But tonight of course should be an amazing atmosphere. ISU is playing great ball right now, and Hilton is always incredibly intense from start to finish. If we can eke out a win by even the slimmest of margins, I'll be very, very pleasantly surprised.

You never know. A little over a week ago we had just dropped games against Baylor and @texas and people were all but writing off the season. Things can change quickly in the Big 12.

I must admit to taking a certain amount of pleasure in leaning into my stereotype as Kansas fan by playing the self-appointed Court Storming Police.

Wallet Inspector not to pile on or troll, but I was wondering today: How much longer do you think Self is going to be able to pull in 5-star big men if the Cliff Alexanders, Carlton Braggs, and Cheick Diallos of the world can't get onto the court at KU? I get that they are raw freshman and there is probably a low trust factor there but come one, these are not Thomas Robinson/Jeff Withey/Cole Aldrich caliber upper classmen that are eating up all the minutes. Traylor and Lucas have always been serviceable at best and the absence of that typical Jayhawk big man down low seems to be one of your biggest issues this year. Are Bragg and Diallo that confused on where they are supposed to be out there that Self isn't even trying to roll them out?

It's a concern. The problem as I see it is the categorical difference between the first group (Alexander, Diallo, etc) and the second (TRob, Withey,) - they look similar on paper, but the REAL strength of Self as a coach of Big Men has always been as a developer - he can make guys much, much, MUCH better and stronger than they would have been elsewhere if he's given enough time. But with one-and-dones, I think it's clear he's just not always as capable of getting the best of those type of players over a single season (Embiid is an exception but he was never intended to be a one-and-done - he just developed much quicker than expected).

The thing is, when you watch Diallo and Bragg it's very clear they ARE still that raw, even though both are capable of flashes of brilliance. Traylor/Lucas have so much less natural skill though, so it just becomes a question of whether you want to go with guys with a low ceiling but relative stability vs guys with a high ceiling but who might commit three TOs or PFs in five minutes. Perhaps the thought was that the Jayhawks could afford to have lackluster upperclassmen in the middle since they have a seasoned backcourt capable of scoring in bunches, and for a while that was the case, but give the disappearing act of Selden, Graham and Mason of late, we're unfortunately seeing the downside of the gambit.

I'm not sure where that will leave us on future recruiting of big men, though I think it would take a few more years of this to really establish a pattern. I'm not feeling great about our conference chances after this loss given we still have to go on the road at Oklahoma and KSU (plus wear ourselves with a meaningless game against Kentucky this weekend), but man, there are definitely so KU fans in full-on freak out mode - my twitter TL had an embarrassingly large amount of people saying we need to fire Bill Self. Cool it just a bit, guys. . .

Nice to see the Jayhawks get a win in what's ostensibly a rivalry game in the Sunflower State Showdown last night (even if to be quite honest given how lopsided that series has become, most KU fans probably view ISU or OU as much bigger conference games).

Not happy with what the ending of that game will mean for Brannen Greene, however:



We're going to need his long distance range in the games ahead, but Bill Self did NOT sound happy discussing Greene's actions, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him suspended for the next game or more.

Well hopefully Jameel McKay seeing his teammates pull off a road win without him Saturday was enough to pull his head out of his ass and end this suspension saga. What a disappointment this season is turning into