It’s Learning, Not Losing

At least, that’s what John Calipari said in his pregame interview. We’ll see exactly what Coach Self learned about the team, and what they learned about one another, fairly quickly. Here’s what I learned from the loss: 1. @T_2ReleFOUR is going to have to be The Man. It never has crossed my mind yet that Travis is the most tenured Jayhawk. He’s been on campus the longest, he’s been on the roster the longest, he’s practiced the most, he’s been privy to Coach Self’s tutelage the most. This is big. This is important. That makes this, for all intents and purposes, his team. That translated to the most minutes on the floor on Tuesday. It translated to TRele being in charge of leading this team down the stretch. And, finally, it translated to him taking the final three for the tie. It seems to me, on all of those counts, he has a lot of work to do. #24 needs to step up his game; quick, fast, and in a hurry. 2. The Return of Mr. Big Shot. Elijah is not going to be the leader of this team. He is much more comfortable propping the young guys up, than breathing fire into a team spiraling out-of-control. Those are the facts. But the other fact is: when you need a cold-blooded shooter, he will knock them down. He hit some mammoth shots last night, and I imagine we will see some monumental, world-class, all-time shots from him throughout the season. 3. The introduction of @J_Mari31 . Woo. I don’t know what else to say. Jamari Traylor was relegated to coming off the bench, and limited to 25 minutes of playtime. But, boy, did he make the most of it. His alley-oop dunk in the first half blew the roof off of The Georgia Dome, and set twitter afire with tweets of admiration. His backboard stick of a Gary Harris breakaway layup in the second half was equally highlight-worthy. He may not break the starting lineup down the stretch, but he made every case to secure a spot for now. 4. On the other end of the spectrum, @PElliz was less impressive in his debut. Although he was the sole McDonald’s All-American in Crimson and Blue, and the most highly touted freshman on the floor, he was limited to 17 minutes and only four points. Worse, he had a bad turnover. Bad, in that, it looked awful. For everything that Jamari did to accentuate his stature, Perry did the opposite. I’m sure that by the time that the Big XII conference schedule is under way, Perry Ellis will be the superstar that we all expect him to be. But, as of Tuesday night, he has a long way to go. 5. The second half should have belonged to BMac. @Humb1e_Hungry23 was invisible to bad in the first half. But he also had some highlight reel moments in the early second half, helping to push the Hawks to their biggest lead. Unfortunately down the stretch, he could not maintain his heat, and, worse, his defense was awful. I’ve touted him as the phenomenal scorer that Coach Self has been missing at KU. He needs to do a lot more than he did at The Champions’ Classic. So, the resultant loss drops us to 1-1, and 0-2 at The Champions’ Classic. In the early years of Bill Self Basketball, those numbers would have been devastating to me. But, worry not, I saw very good things last night. We wasted a lot of possessions, that’s what we do. We had 16 turnovers and missed a third of our free throws. That is also what we do. But, we were in a trench war with Tom Izzo, and we looked in control for 38 minutes of the game. I hate to channel Coach Cal, but, for me, on Tuesday night we learned more than we lost.

Before we lift the curtain for America...

Basketball's version of College Gameday will kickoff Tuesday's 2nd Annual "Champion's Classic" event at Atlanta's Georgiadome. For those of us outside of the Kansas Jayhawk Television Network viewing area, which is most of America, this will be the introductory view of the 2012-13 KU Jayhawks Men's basketball team. This is what America should expect: 1. The team. Contrary to what I reported after the ESU exhibition, Bill Self seems to have already settled upon his eight-man rotation. Releford, Withey, BMac, Naadir, Perry Ellis, Elijah, and Jamari Traylor all played the bulk of the minutes in Friday's game against SEMO. I expect Kevin Young to clock a similar amount of minutes in The ATL, cutting into Perry and Jamari's minutes. This is the team that will be introduced to America, and the team that will become household names by January. 2. @PElliz and @Humb1e_Hungry23 - I truly expect that Tuesday will be the national coming out party for these two exciting freshmen. Perry Ellis has been so smooth, with 8 rebounds and 15 points in the season opener. He's a threat to score every time that he touches the ball. But, the Sportscenter highlight reels belong to Ben McLemore. His put back dunks and alley-oops will blow the roof off of The Dome. 3. Angry Jeff Withey. The gentle giant was invisible through the first two exhibition games, playing at times as if he were just troubled to be there. That changed on Friday night. Angry Withey was back in the lineup, and a double-double ensued. Expect Angry Withey to make the trip to Hotlanta. 4. Shooting Naadir Tharpe. Since his less than auspicious debut against Emporia State, point guard Naadir Tharpe has had several runs on offensive. When he heats up, he's as good of a shooter as you'll see in Atlanta. Here's hoping to America seeing that show. 5. Elijah Johnson = Tyshawn 2? Elijah fouled out of Friday's premiere, and was absent for great stretches of both exhibitions. Coach Self sat him out of the starting lineup of the ESU exhibition for missing class. So, we've seen this challenge of character with Jayhawks before. I am interested in nothing more than how EJ15 will respond. Nothing. Rock chalk, Jayhawks.

The point of exhibitions

There is a lot of hand-wringing and consternation about the tepid performance against the Ichabods in Allen Fieldhouse on Monday night. In some ways there should be. The biggest concern of the evening was, foremost, the score. Absent Ben McLemore's 1st half coming out party, the score was basically a draw. And, regardless of how good Washburn will be in Division II, playing to a draw with a Division II school ain't good. No matter how you slice it. Secondly, KU looked bad. There were a ton of wasted possessions. 24 turnovers. 24. Two of our best ball-handling options: Elijah Johnson and Rio Adams, accounted for 7 of them. Our two anchors in the paint: Jeff Withey and Perry Ellis, accounted for another 8. That ain't good. And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, there appeared to be no one in charge. If this is Elijah and Withey's team, it sure didn't feel like it. From the best that I could tell, Elijah was playing by himself for great stretches, and, for the second game in a row, Jeff Withey seemed burdened to even show up. Those are not gleeming testimonies of leadership characteristics. And with a road trip to The ATL for a primetime national TV game versus an always-prepared Tom Izzo Michigan State team in The Champions Classic just around the corner, leadership deficiency is not optimal. The early season could get out of hand quickly. These are all feelings that I have heard expressed from the KU faithful since Monday night. But, I do not share their fears. Frankie says, "Relax". This is Bill Self Jayhawk Basketball. The leadership deficiency of November is a consistent issue. The horrendous free-throw shooting (16-27) is a consistent issue. The barrage of wasted possessions and ungodly turnovers is a consistent issue. All issues that Bill Self Jayhawk Basketball overcomes. As I have stated previously, the development of Tyshawn Taylor as a team leader was the highlight of the 2011-12 run to the National Title game for me. The development of Chicago football star Sherron Collins into one of college basketball's premier point guards was the highlight of the 2010-11 Elite Eight run. Whoever the leader of the 2012-13 crew will be - Bill Self will foster that. I have no doubts. But, that is a season-long process. I have come to believe, it is Bill Self's joie de vive. Also, know this: the scoring will come. Over the first two exhibitions, we have seen offensive spurts from Perry Ellis, Naadir Tharpe, Andrew White III, Ben McLemore, and Elijah Johnson. Once they develop synchronicity with one another, I honestly believe, special things are going to happen. Coach Self breaks the season into fourths: the non-conference schedule, the Big XII regular season, the conference tournament, and the NCAA tournament. Although the objective is to win each of the four seasons, the secondary goal is progression, and it has become clinical to watch it happen. I have no doubt that by March, this team looks strikingly like the other Bill Self Jayhawk teams: a fine-tuned High-Low Motion Machine. So, remember, it was just an exhibition.

History Awaits?

Boy, do KU fans not like to be reminded of that unfortunate marketing campaign. But, truly, the 2012-13 Men's Basketball team has all the makings of a very special team. Although the 2013 recruiting class has been given the overall #2 ranking, with a shot at #1, and has eased a lot of the criticism placed upon Coach Bill Self going into the 2011-12 campaign, this may be the class that ultimately turns out to be the benchmark. I listen, as many fans do, to Self's weekly "Hawk Talk" program on KLZR, broadcast from The Salty Iguana in Lawrence. It is a dumb show, as they always, inevitably are, orchestrated so that half-smart bloggers in their pajamas can call up The Coach, and teach him something. It's silly, really. Yet, I believe that it was on a show last season when Bob Davis asked Coach about his ideal rotation of players, and Self gave a very insightful response. He said, and I'm paraphrasing here, that ideally he has an eight player rotation: 3 "Littles", 3 "Bigs", a hybrid little/big - a la Brandon Rush, and a hybrid PF/C. For the first time, well, maybe since he left Illinois, he really has the pieces in place for his ideal lineup. Think about the impact of that sentiment: the guy who has won eight straight conference titles in the best conference in college basketball, has, just now, finally gotten a roster that matches the style of play that he prescribes. Let that settle in. So, when I say, "History Awaits", I really believe that. However, the history is contingent upon a couple of serious parameters. Firstly, who plays? In the exhibition with Emporia State, 11 players clocked in 10 minutes or more of playing time. Kevin Young and Zach Peters did not even dress. This means, for Coach Self to get to his ideal eight-man rotation, he's going to have to pare three players out of the rotation (or five if we're counting KY and Peters, which we are). Who are those five? Elijah and Releford seem to have earned job security, even though EJ did not start in the ESU game. Tharpe did get the start, but has his play earned him a spot? That would leave Rio Adams, possibly the best ball handler, and Andrew White III, possibly the best pure shooter, out in the cold. I have no question that Ben McLemore fills the role of the hybrid SG/SF that Self's High-Low Motion Offense is begging for. If you guarantee the Center spot to Withey, that leaves three additional rotation spots for Justin Wesley, Jamari Traylor, Perry Ellis, Landen Lucas, as well as Kevin Young and Zach Peters. I'd hate to be the guy having to figure who's in and who's out. But do we really have to? It seems very unlikely that Self will condense his rotation down to his ideal eight. But can he find the chemistry and manage the egos enough to make an 11-13 player rotation work? That will be stretching it, even for the best coach in college basketball. But does he have to? Transfers into and out of the KU hoops program has become a way of life with the Self regime. I believe that the results justify the method. So, that is my anticipation for this season. Magic. It won't come quick, there will be, like every other Self-coached Jayhawk squad, a team-building period in the non-con "season". And, likely, the result will be, in the short-term some unexpected red-shirting, and in the long-term, some unfortunate transfers. But, the end result, I believe, will be one of the most electrifying seasons of college basketball to behold. How's that for expectations...

Life After Danny?

CJ Giles, D-Block, Sasha, Kleinmann, Julian, Darrell, Cole, Marcus, Markieff, Quintrell Thomas, TRob, Withey. This is the list. These are the big men who have come to Lawrence for the tutelage of former NCAA POY, Tourney MOP, and NBA All-Star Danny Manning. Remove the transfers (Giles and Thomas) and the walk-on (Kleinmann), and the rest have all been NBA draft picks or undrafted free agents, or soon will be (TRob and Withey). Every one of them. They came to Kansas to be groomed for the NBA by a guy who had a lengthy career there, and the NBA responded. Most of them have not panned out in the league, but the league respected Danny’s grooming and he made millionaires out of them all. So, while all of my Jayhawk brethren are tripping all over themselves to congratulate our fellow alumni, Mr. Miracle, my question is this: what now?
I don’t want to be the guy that always looks at the glass half empty, but we may be a little less than half empty. TRob is gone. With Coach Manning leaving, does Withey help his cause by staying another year? He just had an NCAA tournament run where it was highly publicized that he had the second most blocks of all-time. Can his stock get that much higher? Does staying at Kansas another year, without the instruction of Danny really help him? Jeff claims he’s coming back, but I am unconvinced that he will or that he should. And, guess what: the cupboard is pretty bare. Kansas has not recruited a big man for the last two seasons. Yes, we have KY and Justin Wesley, and yes, we’ll have Jamari Traylor, all having been coached up by Danny for a half-season or more. But, is that sufficient? Young has shown definite signs of development, but he is still very raw. Justin Wesley cannot get off the bench without drawing a foul, or being posterized, or both. Traylor has yet to suit up. And what of the incoming class for 2012-13? Landen Lucas, Zach Peters, Andrew White – these young men signed on expecting to enjoy the results of the aforementioned NBA’ers. Do they have second thoughts? Shouldn’t they? Lastly, what about moving forward? Word today is that McDonald’s All-American Tony Parker is still interested in coming to KU. I truly believe that what he decides will be an omen of what’s to come. Now, to be fair, Kansas may not have been his choice anyway. Nevertheless, I’m very interested to see how it plays out.
Don’t get me wrong. I am happy for Danny, and think that it’s important that the most likely heir to Self’s chair gets some head coaching experience. And, as I’ve previously documented, I think that our coach is the best in the business. Furthermore, I love Danny’s probable replacement, Norm Roberts. He is a proven commodity on the bench and the recruiting trail. But Norm Roberts ain’t Danny Manning. And because of that, I can only (selfishly) look at today as a sad, sad day for my beloved University of Kansas.

Why I prefer Batman to Superman...

…or, my Ode to Tyshawn Taylor.

This is the most unlikely of blog posts. Throughout his first three years of eligibility, I was, without a doubt, one of Ty’s most ardent critics; one of those alumni that the national sports media talk about, who harped upon the young undergraduate for all of his many flaws. Understand that I crucified this young man for every off-court peccadillo: from his involvement in “the fight” between Coach Self’s basketball players and Coach Mangino’s football players in September of 2009 to his facebook transfer posts in 2010, to his suspension at the beginning of the 2011-12 season. I was utterly consumed by the off-court, “sports-as-life” narrative that was being written of the character, Tyshawn Taylor. And I ain’t that guy.

More importantly, I loathed his game. Having been privy to Kansas’ great court generals: the cerebral astuteness of Jacque Vaughn, the amazing vision and distributive prowess of Aaron Miles, the tenacity and assertiveness of Sherron Collins, the mantle passed to Taylor was admittedly, and perhaps unfairly, set at a very lofty level. Nonetheless, I was, let’s just say, less than impressed by Ty’s ball-handling, his decision-making, and, most importantly, his leadership skills. I was a forerunner of the guys who chanted “Turnover Taylor” and I basked in the decision by Coach Self to replace Ty with Elijah Johnson as a starter for several games in the 2010-11 campaign. I was, in fact, stumped as to the reasoning behind Coach Self not running the ungrateful and undisciplined Taylor out of Lawrence when he got chippy on The Book.

So having said all of that… let me now say this: I love Tyshawn Taylor.

Tyshawn Taylor has certainly, easily made his way into my Top 5 all-time Jayhawks list – and I’m old and sentimental enough where that list is composed of a stellar group of student athletes drawn from a few decades worth of top-flight talent. And let me take it a step further: 

For me, the growth and development of Tyshawn Taylor was the highlight of the  2011-12 season.

That’s right; not our 8th straight Big XII title, not our epic 172nd victory over Missouri, not even our story-book run to the NCAA Tournament Championship game. I’m serious.

See, I’m that guy. I’m the guy that loves Batman and abhors Superman. For a Kansan, that’s a dangerous statement. But it’s true, and here’s why: when your alien physiology is dropped into a solar system with a Yellow Sun, battling mere mortals seems kind of trivial. Being faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, or able to leap tall buildings in a single bound always excites Dickie V and the masses, but, for me, it’s just not as impressive as the average Joe who has to overcome adversity with batarang alone. That takes sheer will. The will to vanquish your enemies. And as the year progressed, Taylor and his batarang will slayed enemy after enemy. And I am not ashamed to say that Ty’s humanity - not just his twitter rants and his vapid insecurities - but his one-for-two dozen struggles from beyond the arc, endeared him to me on such a guttural level.

In so many ways, the media and the Kansas Athletic Department exploited the Thomas Robinson tragedy and turned him into a hero. And he is a hero. And his rise from tragedy is Shakespearean. But the physical skills and talents that the gods blessed T-Rob with are, for purposes of analogy, Kryptonian. By comparison, Ty is very human, very flawed. In Hollywood’s most recent incarnation of Batman, Commissioner Gordon states: “He's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.” I can’t think of a more apt description of what Ty endured at KU, and, yet, I am so thankful to have benefitted from it.

Thanks, Ty. Rock Chalk, Jayhawk.

Pay Heed: Beware... The Slog!!!

As is a custom for the Final Four matchups, CBS placed a camera in the locker room with Coach Bill Self for his pregame speech. These things are meant to showcase a coach’s motivational speaking capabilities, and send fans off to the tip with thrills going up their legs. Unfortunately, they generally come across as these canned, predictable rip-offs of Vince Lombardi quotations. Of course, Coach Self is a very different kind of guy than Vince Lombardi – his “aw, shucks” 21st Century Oklahoma sensibilities and charm run counter to the gruff 1950’s Brooklyn demeanor of Lombardi – and, thus, naturally his speech was decidedly different. Self challenged his players to “have more fun playing than I’m going to have coaching” for the game’s 40-minute duration. It’s the kind of thing that endears Coach Self to 21st Century recruits, and CBS’ viewing audience, and Coach is an old pro at it. However, what actually ensued for the game’s 40 minutes was the exact opposite. His players had very little fun, unless in some masochistic way these guys actually enjoy the ugly, smash-mouth slogging that they’ve encountered for the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament, and nee the 2011-12 season itself. And, indeed they may. I would submit to you that Coach Self was having very little fun, but his dance routine with his team in the locker room after the victory may make a liar out of me.
You see, I think this is fun for Coach Self. Not just the thrill of victory, even though since joining the Jayhawks no other coach in America has known victory as often as Coach Self. No, I think that for Bill Self, the thrill actually lies in the slog. He thrived in the world of the slog, known as the B1G Conference. And since coming to the Birthplace of Basketball, he has utilized the slog to win 8 straight titles amidst a conference full of runners and gunners. But he has thrived little more than during the 2012 NCAA Tournament, though most of America may have missed it. Fate, geography, and fan base have put Jayhawk start times at the fringes of the nocturnal schedule. Most of the East Coast sports viewers packed up and headed to bed before Kansas tipped off in its first three tournament games. Thus, they were not privy to some impressive displays of Coach Self’s under-appreciated genius.
After going down early, and allowing Ray McCallum to showcase his McDonald’s All-American skills (and Doug Anderson to showcase his Sportscenter dunks), Self made several key adjustments and substitutions that led to a quiet Kansas 15-point victory. Those of us who stayed up to watch, and pay attention, knew what many of the experts had said going in to the matchup: Detroit was no normal 15 seed. Of course, that narrative never materialized because Self coached the senior McCallum out of the Qwest Center. Next up was the B1G’s middle-of-the pack school, Purdue, and, more importantly, their 5th year stud senior, Robbie Hummel. This game was the definition of slog. To say that the officials, “let them play”, would be the grossest understatement of the tournament. And in the 1st half, Hummel won honorable mention in the State Farm 3-point shooting contest along with 22 points. What followed in the 2nd half was a Bill Self coaching clinic. His now-famous implementation of the Triangle-and-Two Zone defense not only stymied Hummel, and his free-shooting teammate Ryan Smith, it embarrassed Self’s counterpart Matt Painter. Or, at least, it should have. Although the Jayhawks trailed for 39 ½ minutes of the contest, for those of us who have watched the progression of Coach Self, there was never a doubt that they had a chance.
The Omaha victory led to a Sweet 16 showdown with Matt Gottfried’s upstart NC State Wolfpack. Because of their late season surge, and Gottfried’s boisterous, non-Self-like personality, the so-called experts were enamored with The Pack, and forgetful of the best coach in the business. In true slog-like fashion, the Jayhawks were down early and often. But, once again, Coach Self’s timely substitutions and effective adjustments sent Kansas to the Elite Eight, and Gottfried back to his fan club in the studio. Yet still, the doubters remained.
When the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee finished putting together the brackets, anyone could see that they envisioned a second weekend storyline which placed the affable Roy Williams against his estranged University of Kansas team. Although Self had dispensed of Williams’ Tarheels in epic fashion in the 2008 tournament - and should have dispensed of Williams’ ghosts in Allen Fieldhouse - the stigma remained. In what should have been a celebration of three games that exhibited Self’s coaching prowess, the narrative instead turned into a three-ring circus headlined by the stale Williams vs. Kansas narrative. Blech. Coach was his usual humble and accommodating self, but he was visibly annoyed, commenting on the way to his press conference, “time to go answer questions about Roy Williams.” And although Self was very complimentary to Williams on the podium, on the court Self was ruthless; he not only out-coached Roy, he emasculated him. Williams was not only unable to answer Self’s Triangle-and-Two, he didn’t even recognize it. And, once again, the doubters never knew what hit them.
That victory led Kansas to its 14th Final Four, and Self ‘s second in his nine-year tenure with the Jayhawks. And although Self had, thus far, demonstrated more coaching prowess than any of his peers in the field, the story was still how KU didn’t have the dogs to compete. While the pundits spent most of the week focusing on a Thomas Robinson/Jared Sullinger match-up that was never going to happen, they failed to focus on the complete dominance Coach Self has enjoyed against his B1G coaching counterparts. And, in the end, although the score was tight, and the result was always in question – Self once again coached Thad Matta into obscurity.
So, as we look to the Championship game, the narrative from the sports journalists will once again be predictable. The focus will be on the “once-and-doners”, the dominance of this UK squad, and the meeting of Player-of-the-Year competitors, Robinson and Anthony Davis. They will, as they have from the start, miss the biggest factor of Monday’s game. These journalists, the so-called experts, will go on endlessly, as they have all tournament long, telling us how great Kentucky’s players are, how they are unstoppable. And the Wildcats players are very, very good. These “experts” will also say that Kansas doesn’t have a chance. For those of us who have followed Coach Self, we’ve come to take this the way that he does. We don’t let the disrespectful nature of such statements rub us wrong. We don’t do what many of our East Coast counterparts do, and get indignant or chippy. Nope. We just get behind the guy who quietly proves them all wrong. And because of that, my money is on Billy Self. Always.