Perry Ellis: Quiet Revolutionary

I started researching this post with the intent of proving a hypothesis: #kubball has changed precipitously, for the better, since their January 20^th players-only meeting and the infamous January 22^nd meeting between Coach Self and 4/5 of his then starting five (Perry Ellis, Wayne Selden, Jr., Frank Mason III and Devonte’ Graham).  I expected the statistics to bear out my supposition:   that the team was shooting better, scoring better, and creating better (rebounds, turnovers, assists, FT%, etc.)  In fact, the statistics did bear those things out.  But, as it turns out, when you look more closely, what they actually show is this.  The team isn’t necessarily doing anything better; Perry Ellis is.

Since the 2 meetings, The Jayhawks’ FG% has improved from 44.4% to 50.4%.  That number is even more impressive when you couple it with the fact that, in the 10 games after those meetings, the team is actually making 2 less FG’s per game.  They are just taking 8 less shots.  So they are not only shooting at a better percentage, the team is choosing much better shots to take.  This is compounded by the fact that Frank, Devonte’ and Wayne are actually shooting at a lower percentage than they did in the first 6 games of the conference season, prior to the 2 meetings.  The lone driver of the 12^th straight conference title run is actually Perry Ellis.  Perry missed 50 shots in the 6 conference games prior to the meetings (and road losses at WVU and Ok State).  In the 10 games since (including the non-conference game vs. UK), Perry has only missed 46.  He’s improved his FG% from 44% prior (mirroring the team’s overall FG%), to a mind-blowing 58% after.  To reiterate:  In the last 10 games, Perry Ellis is making 6 out of every 10 shots that he takes.  Amazing.  

 

Another factor in the successful turnaround to the 12^th straight conference title run has been the team’s propensity for 3PG, what coach has previously termed: “Fool’s Gold”.  At 42.3%, Kansas’ Three-Point Field Goal Percentage ranks 4^th in NCAA Division I basketball.  Most Jayhawks’ fans would attribute the turnaround, following the team meetings, to Self s embrace of the long ball, and the team’s improved propensity for making it rain.  That, however, at the team level, is not really true.  Since the team meetings, KU is shooting 39% from 3PG, and taking (and making) 1 less 3PG per game.  To further clarify the data:  since the team meetings, Devonte’ is shooting 9% worse from downtown, (although he’s shot a lot more often).  Wayne Selden is shooting 10% worse from the three since the team meetings.  Svi and BG have made a positive impact from three-point land as of late, but the real driver is once again Perry.  He is 11 of 22 from 3PG in the 10 games since Coach Self pulled in his Fantastic 4.  He’s made 6 more 3’s in the last 10 games than he did in the first 6, on only 10 additional attempts.   That’s no fool’s gold, my friends.

                Thus, the statistics led me to this conclusion: since KU’s players-only meeting and Coach's meeting with his Fantastic 4, in league play, @PElliz has played like the Big 12 POY and carried the team to #12Big12.  It’s as simple as that.

                What’s fascinating about that to me is that very few people are cheerleading for him.  Yes, Bruce Weber noted, after Perry’s heroic and legendary performance in The Dillon’s Sunflower Showdown, that the best player on the best team in the conference should be the POY.  But, that’s really more of a semantic argument.  The player in that assertion is anonymous.  To his credit, after the January 23^rd game, Coach Shaka Smart of #HookEm said, "I don't know why he doesn't get more attention nationally."  It is a great question.  I think that I know the answer.

I recently read the audio version of @susancain “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking” (https://itunes.apple.com/us/audiobook/quiet-power-introverts-in/id493666327).  In it, Dr. Cain analyzes introversion as a personality trait.  She posits the power of introverts as leaders.  For her argument I would suggest that there can be no better case study in the realm of intercollegiate athletic competition than 2015-16 Perry Ellis.  In the best conference in college basketball, Perry has compiled a season where he is Top 10 statistically in scoring, field goal percentage, and rebounds, and 13^th in free throw percentage.  He is the definition of an elite player.  Yet he gets very little national publicity.  Why?  In a world built around alpha males at every level, Perry is quiet.  However unnatural it may be for Perry to be a team leader in an environment demanding of chest bumpers, and floor slappers, he’s done it.  He is the best player on the best team in the best conference.  His school is soon to be #1 in the polls, and, if the winning streak continues, the #1 overall seed in the post-season tournament.  The job that Coach Self has done to foster this introvert, and, in fact, what the young man has done to himself, will largely be overlooked after April of 2016.  It truly should not be.

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk.

What Bill Self learned from Andrew Wiggins

Over the course of the next 6 months, a lot of criticism will be poured upon both Bill Self and Andrew Wiggins. One will be criticized for being beaten, again, by a double-digit lower seed in the NCAA Championship Tournament. The other for ending his amateur career with a tentative performance, shooting only 6 field goals in a game where his teammates (and Coach Self) desperately pleaded for him to take the reins. With the introduction of Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre at October’s Late Night in The Phog, all sins will be forgiven, and Jayhawk Nation will fall at the feet of Coach Self, en route to his 11th consecutive Big 12 Conference Championship. Even before that, on June 26th, the young phenom from Ontario will grace the stage in New York, introduced as one of the very first men chosen to fulfill his dreams and become a millionaire playing a game. Yet, while the criticisms will subside, lessons will have been learned by these two men, and the greater lesson may have been taught by Wiggs, to Coach.

The hang-up with being a National Championship-winning college coach at a blueblood program is that the expectations never lessen. After 11 seasons, no one needs to explain this to Coach Self. No one needs to explain that this is not a curse, but a blessing. With all of the criticisms, with all of the expectations, come great, great rewards, not the least of which is that there isn’t a recruited athlete out there who might not choose Kansas. Walking into the home of a high school athlete as the head coach at KU puts you on a plane enjoyed by very few of your peers. Having said all of that, I don’t believe that anyone was more surprised that Andrew chose to come to Kansas than Bill Self. On May 14th, 2013, the number 1 recruit of his class, announced with zero media presence, that he was going to take his talents high above the golden valley. Young Wiggs had kept this choice completely to himself and the decision to go to Lawrence was a big shock. "There hasn't been a ton of communication between the college coaches and Andrew," his high school coach said. "I think they'd all probably tell you they don't really know where they stand." Interviews with Self on May 14th confirmed that Self had no idea.

Even more, Self had to not expect that such a thing would happen. Glitzy, celebrity recruits don’t come to KU. He had missed on Julius Randle, he had missed on Aaron Gordon, and he had missed on Jabari Parker. Yes, he had secured Wayne Selden, Jr., but Wayne fit the Self-era mold better; an understated hungry kid, if a McDonald’s All-American can be such a thing. B.Rush, Selby, and B-Mac were big-time recruits, big-time gets for Coach Self and his staff. But all of them had eligibility issues, and the fanfare and hoopla associated with them was never in the same universe as that of Maple freaking Jordan.

When Andrew descended upon Mount Oread, so did the national sports media, and the celebrity paparazzi, as well. No sooner was Andrew under Self’s tutelage then Gentlemen’s Quarterly showed up to do a spread, and before the kid have even played in his 1st college game, SI put him on the cover. There’s fanfare, and then there is 21st Century star-fucking, and America was gonzo over Andrew Wiggins. It became pretty clear, pretty quickly, that the teenage Wiggins was not prepared for, not comfortable with, and not feeling the celebrity attention poured upon him. The young man did his best, but, this was not something that he was prepared to do.

Coordinately, this was a new experience for Self. The sports media has always found a 2nd home at Allen Fieldhouse. College Gameday and Sports Illustrated covers were nothing new for Coach. But, Wiggs was the product of the biggest hype machine since LeBron James. In the Twitter age, this hype transcends sports and the sports media. Self’s aw shucks Okie mannerisms can translate well to Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale, because basketball is basketball, but schmoozing with GQ photogs was far out of his comfort zone. Coach Self discovered quickly that this was not helpful for the team or the young man. Very early in the process, Coach squashed the myth-building of Maple Jordan. This is where the learning began. For both men.

“He’s a terrific talent, but an even better kid.” This is the statement that Coach Self made, introducing young Wiggins to the University of Kansas. For those of us who have been around Coach, this was a throw away statement. Classic Bill. And, on the surface, there really is nothing special about the statement, at all. In reality, this sentiment is exactly why the kid chose the coach. Wiggins stated that the relationship that he developed with Coach Self in the recruiting process was the best of all. And that was exactly why. The understanding that the development of Andrew from a teenager into a man is a large part of the learning process that Andrew was looking for. Wiggs came to Lawrence for sanctuary from the media storm, and for Coach to show him, not only how to be a man, but to be The Man. I don’t think, at that moment, in that situation, Bill understood the depth of what that task would involve. On March 23, 2014, he understands.

Maybe more important than that, Coach Self learned that he could handle the shit show that comes from housing these prima donna, one-and-done, constructs of the high school recruiting/365-day college basketball reporting complex. Along with Calipari and Krzyzewski, Bill was now in a different stratosphere of the college coaching ranks. For a coach who stresses loyalty, and commitment, and champions the family mentality within his team, so much so that “Family Over Everything” is his mantra, this is a strange dichotomy. And yet, amongst his team, amongst his booster base, amongst the sports media, and amongst his peers, the two seem to have married up just fine. And don’t fool yourself: in spite of the 1st weekend dismissal, that status is cemented for him.

But that’s not the lesson that Wiggs taught Self. That may, or may not, have been an exercise of self-understanding for Coach Self going into the process, but it seems that a whole different lesson unfolded before him. By hook or crook, the usual approach that Coach has used to shape these young men was not appropriate for this young phenom. Sure, the hopes of the Wiggins family were that Bill would impart the toughness upon young Andrew that he had done with so many of the program’s protégés before him. And Bill took up that mantle, right from the beginning. But this is not a normal kid. And the toughness, nee the manhood, that needed to be taught to young Andrew was not the only lesson that this student-athlete needed. Yes, more so than Brandon, than Josh Selby, than Xavier and CJ and Carl and Barbara, than Maclemore or Joel, Andrew was upper middle class suburban; entitled, but not dismissive, heralded, but not gratuitous, antsy, but not sheepish. In spite of the entire world of differences, this celebrity superstar was a very identifiable teenager to him, not unlike his own son Tyler, but completely different. This was going to be a test for Self that was unlike any other he’d had in coaching, and Wiggs celebrity status had very little to do with it.

For those who are familiar with Coach Self, and his Selfisms, it is common knowledge that the most insulting thing that he can call a player is “soft”. The nastiest of four letter words in the Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball program. He has, on many previous occasions, gotten the best out of his young and impressionable players by challenging their manhood. For many, this would be the reason that Wiggs chose Self, and this was going to be the lesson that Wiggs needed to learn to get to the next level. For a long time, Self himself believed this, and was unrelenting in this approach. But that’s not the nature of this athlete. The thing that makes him that terrific kid, even more terrific than his talent, and the thing that identifies him most of all, is his kindness and goodness as a young man. This temperament and approach were of no relation to the fictional construct of the celebrity hype machine, the character: Wiggins. Self came to learn that these attributes that distinguished Andrew Wiggins, the young student athlete, were inseparable from Wiggs, his sensational freshman small forward. Not only were they inseparable, they were noble and worthy. In a revolution of Self’s technique, he began to foster these character traits, to coddle and elevate the nature of the man, even in front of his teammates. In doing so, Andrew Wiggins got what he needed from Coach Self. He was assured of his security from the media onslaught, he learned how to be a man, both on the court and in the locker room, and, most importantly, he learned that it was ok to be himself: gracious, deferential, and accommodating, in spite of his otherworldly gifts. This is when Andrew flourished, down the stretch, posting games of 29 and 41 points against Texas and WVU. In spite of the hay that will be made about his 1-for-6 swan song versus Stanford, Wiggins got what he needed from Self.

In doing so, Coach Self learned the biggest lessons that he’s learned yet in coaching. That he can do it. He can shape his message to accommodate the needs of the athlete. No matter the need, no matter the level of athlete. He can make them better.

Prior to Andrew Wiggins, no basketball player that came to Kansas was bigger than Coach Bill Self. But Andrew was. That is a situation that Coach Self had never been in, and never had to respond to. In doing so, I believe that he has convinced himself that it is a situation that he can excel in. That is the situation present in nearly every NBA organization. And, if it has been as eye-opening as I think it has, I would imagine that the urge to test those waters is more prevalent than ever for Bill. He can take these young celebrities blessed with the gifts of gods, and make them better. There may be no better reward than that.

That is what Wiggs taught Bill.

Requiem

It’s over.  Just like that, it’s all over.  For Jayhawk Nation, these “Day Afters” are always rough.  For so many of us, our blood, sweat, and tears are committed to 18-22 year old young men (or in Travis’ case 25 year old men), and millionaire coaches.  Their recovery is quicker than ours.  This is especially true today, after a loss like this, where we snatched defeat from the jaws of clear victory.  The haters, who have to revel in our misery for they have no success of their own to appreciate, think that it’s witty to shout “Rock Choke”, but such comments recognize that merely being one of the best 16 schools in America is far short of the expectations placed upon us.  That’s a good problem to have.  But, even the realization of persistent superiority isn’t what we need today.  What Jayhawk Nation needs today is catharsis.  Thus, I offer you this:  in your bewilderment and disappointment, don’t lose sight of what your school accomplished this year.

1. We were all witness to Elijah’s 39.  Mr. Big Shot on Big Monday.  As hostile of an environment as you’ll find in any sport.  Not just because the Idiots Out Wandering Around have nothing better to do, but because it’s Kansas.  Every farmer east of Des Moines, along with Mel Weatherwax, will turn off Duck Dynasty and make their way to Hilton for a shot at The Champs.  In that environment, a man has to take over.  And he did.  Coach Bill Self said it was the greatest offensive performance he’s witnessed at Kansas.  Mine, too.  And I’ve been here longer.  I’m so, so thankful to have witnessed that.
   
2. #Flight23.  @Humb1e_Hungry23.  The kid’s a one-and-done.  Our other experiences with one-and-dones (Xavier and Selby) have not generated the kind of love that Jayhawk Nation feels for this kid.  Why?  Simple: results.  The bank shot heard round the world was one of the Top 5 moments of KU basketball history for me.  We watched Ben follow up EJ’s 39 with 37 of his own to break Danny Manning’s freshman single-game scoring record.  Ben will leave Lawrence as the all-time highest scoring freshman in Kansas basketball history He could become the highest drafted Jayhawk in the NBA amateur draft this summer.  He could become the best pro since The Truth.  And somehow we’re all okay with that.  I’d say a lot of this is the character of the man, where he came from, how he’s handled himself.  It’s the only way that I can explain how we’re okay with putting a kid who played less than 40 games in a KU uniform in the same breath as Manning and Pierce.  And I’m so, so thankful to have witnessed it.
   
3. We were all witness to a new all-time Big 12 shot blocking record.  I wouldn’t have bet a buffalo nickel that this floppy-haired skinny volleyball player from California would become the most prolific shot-blocker in conference history.  I mean, 2011-12 was magical for us, and, because of T-Rob and Tyshawn, we lose sight of Jeff’s records – 31 blocked shots in NCAA tourney, and 140 blocks on the year.  He finished off 2012-13 with 265 blocks and was, for the second straight season, the Big 12 Defensive Player of The Year.  And, I’m so, so thankful to have witnessed that.
   
4. We all witnessed Coach Self’s 500^th win as a head coach (at Iowa Stae) and 300^th as head coach at Kansas (vs UNC).  That would be 30 wins a year for 10 years, except, to put it in more perspective he didn’t win 30 games here until season 4.  He is unequivocally the best in the business today, but receives very little pub, which is good for us.  We have been to 24 straight NCAA tournaments.  We have played 38 games as a Number 1 seed, an NCAA record.  We will have one of the top 2 incoming freshman classes in America for 2013-14.  All because of Bill Self.  I’m so, so thankful to have witnessed that.
   
5. 9 Straight.  Every college hoops “expert” came out of the woodwork in a lathered fury to pile on the three straight conference losses.  Oklahoma State was in the driver’s seat.  Kansas State was in the driver’s seat.  We still had to go to Gallagher-Iba and Hilton.  The streak was over.  Guess what?  Nine.  Motherfucking.  Straight.  Try again next year, bitches.  I’m just thankful to have witnessed that.

So, find your catharsis in this Jayhawk Nation:  Rosters change, expectations don’t. 

Up next: Ten Straight.

Rock Chalk, Jayhawks.   

Contrary to reports, the sky is not falling...

Look: we are a number one seed.  We are the second overall seed.  We are coming off of a Big 12 Tournament in which Tyler Self got on the floor in all three games played.  In the last 30 days we have seen a 39 point masterpiece by Elijah, followed up by a 37 point masterpiece by Ben.  We witnessed the emergence of Perry Ellis as an offensive contributor.  So, the expectations are high.  However, all of those things:  A.) Followed a much-publicized 3-game losing streak, and B.) Occurred on the national scene.  All of these things, in conjuction with a season-ending dismantling at Baylor, and 2011’s South Regional final loss to VCU, 2010’s loss to UNI, 2006’s loss to Bradley, and 2005’s loss to Bucknell have ESPN's College Hoops bloggers ready to discount the Jayhawks.  But the truth is this:  KU won both games this weekend, and they won both of them very much the way that they have won games all year long.  And, if The Hawks are going to win at Jerryworld, I’m afraid to inform you, that the games at The Sprint Center are very reflective of what lies ahead.  Furthermore, you shouldn’t be afraid of that.  So, the sooner that you disregard the “experts” and get your asshole unpuckered, the more fun that this thing is going to be.

                Every single college basketball analyst at ESPN, other than Jason King, has not typed the word Kansas this week, without following that with “TCU”.  These guys (and gal), who have seen little of KU during the regular season; continue to harken back to that fateful night in early February in Fort Worth.  For them, the season begins and ends with that awful loss.  You cannot possibly take KU serious, because when is that team that lost to TCU going to reemerge?  But the simple answer to that is: Likely never.  The truth is, on February 6^th, Kansas shot 30% from the field.  It has only shot below 40% since then once, the loss at Baylor.  But, in that loss at Baylor, the 38% FG% from KU was not the reason for their loss.  They allowed The Bears to shoot 58% from the field, which is 13% higher than they let anyone else shoot in conference play, and 17% higher than anyone since then.  It is 26% higher than they let anyone shoot in the opening weekend of March Madness.  But, to my original point, the comparisons to our TCU loss have no bearing on where the team is now.  They shot 44% from the field against UNC, and 48% against WKU.  Removing the TCU loss, where we shot 30%, the team shot between 38% and 57% throughout conference play.  The 48% that the team shot against WKU, where the ESPN crew began their TCU tirade, was merely 1% lower than we shot in the Big 12 Championship game.  A Tyler Self game.  Thus, the cries of “the sky is falling” in regards to our offense are both unfounded, and not supported by the data.

                Here is where our efforts must be focused in Arlington:  Opponents’ FG%.  It has been our bread and butter all season, and must continue to be.  Over the course of the entire season, only 5 opponents have shot 42% from the field or greater: Michigan State (52%), at Texas (45%), Okie State in The Phog (43%), at OU (45%), and at Baylor (58%).  All of those are losses except for at Texas, which would have/should have been a loss, had The Horns not shot 25% from the charity stripe.  So, that is your marker for Friday night.  The Hawks must limit Michigan to 42% from the field or lower.  If we do that, we should win.

                Keep in mind, we’re likely to shoot somewhere between 38% and 57% from the field ourselves, so, if it happens to be on the low end of that, we’ll be biting our nails.  If it’s closer to 57%, we’ll be drinking Ad Astras and screaming “We want Tyler”.  Either way, if we limit The Wolverines to 42% FG%, we’ll be playing on Sunday for the South Region title.

                The sweet justice in that is that we’ll be doing it mere miles from Fort Worth.  Perhaps one of those “experts” could actually make a trip to TCU for the first time.

Big 12 Tournament Primer

            This weekend is a true contradiction for me.  As an institution: I loath the conference tournament.  The weekend discredits all of the hard-fought victories of the conference season, which, as a throwback guy, I put so much emphasis upon.  As a KU fan, the wins at The Octagon of Doom, Hilton, and Gallagher-Iba Arena were as difficult and as meaningful victories as you’re going come by.  In any sport.  So, to make them relatively meaningless is a philosophical chasm for me.  Plus, Jayhawk fans have had to deal with the catcalls of the loss to Topeka YMCA, and the cries about the missed foul call on Elijah.  I don’t want all of that caterwauling to have been for naught.  And the 9 Straight.  That’s an important thing to Jayhawk fans.  Like, gutturally important.

            So, now I’ll offer you this:  I love the Big 12 Tournament.  Like, it’s my favorite sporting event of the year.  The culmination of those aforementioned games is metastasized at The Sprint Center.  All in one weekend.  We will potentially have a Friday evening primetime double feature that will include KU/ISU3 and KState/OkState3.  How could you possibly want more than that?  With TCU and WVU out of the field, we have a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of traditional Big 12 opponents who really, really dislike one another.  And, by the way, have had some of the most closely contested conference games in all of college basketball for 2012-13.  I’m all geeked up over it.

            The Big 12 Tournament does offer us a picture of what to expect over the next month, though.  NCAA Tournament is really a collection of 3 consecutive 2-game tournaments.  The rounds of 64 and 32 will very much resemble Thursday’s contest; half-empty arena, heavy with KU fans, against a team with very little chance of scratching The Hawks.  The Sweet 16 and Elite 8 will very closely resemble Friday’s atmosphere; impassioned fans and lots of TV timeouts.  So if we’re trying to measure what’s in store for this version of Self’s Jayhawks, there’s no better measuring stick than this weekend.

            But let’s be real.  All we really care about is this:  who can beat Kansas?  It is, as usual for the Big 12 Tournament, Kansas versus The Field.  And, based upon trends, Kansas is a safer bet than The Field.  But maybe not this year.  Every sports writer in America seems to be jumping on Marcus Smart and Oklahoma State.  We’ll see…

            We start on Thursday with Texas Tech, so that’s where I’ll start:

            How the Red Raiders beat KU: They don’t.  I mean, if KU comes out like they did on Senior Night, a game which ended 79-42, this is going to be Tyler’s first Big 12 Tournament action.  Even in that game, the Red Raiders held KU to 13-10 for 10 minutes.  But 4 Jayhawks went for double-digits, Elijah had 12 assists, and KU out-rebounded Tech by 22.  At one point KU led by forty.  So, if that iteration of the 2012-13 Hawks appears, the limited number of Tech fans (and the vast number of KU haters) will have a very, very short day. 

            However, if they can simulate the game in Lubbock, it won’t be as ugly.  There the Red Raiders held KU scoreless for over 11 minutes in the first half, and only allowed 27 total first half KU points.  Unfortunately for them, Tech only scored 25 points of their own, and Jaye Crockett only accounted for 3 points, for the night.  In order for this team to test Kansas, they have to work the perimeter, create transition baskets and limit second chance opportunities.  Coordinately, they have to not allow Kansas to control the paint or the tempo.  Either of those scenarios will be fatal for Tech.  And, with the team that they field, they aren’t up to that task.  Sorry. 

            Prediction:  Chants of “We want Tyler”, and a much extended version of The Rock Chalk Chant around 4pm CDT.

            Where to watch:  I would say, ideally, in The Sprint Center.  It is a very nice arena.  But, I’m not a huge live sporting event guy.  It will be $15 for a CAN of mass-produced beer.  The wifi is sketchy, and there will be a ton of empty seats for the early Thursday session.  It will not be the best environment.

            The next best bet is Power & Light across the street.  The Alumni Association watch party and pep rallies will be at Z-Strike, formerly Lucky Strike.  I went last year, and the seating is really limited.  A bunch of JoCo codgers from the 70’s drinking Chardonnay.  Meh.  But, the pep rallies are fun, and there is a nice KU Bookstore remote kiosk set up for buying gear.  Just down the street is Johnny’s, which is a favorite for Lawrence transplants.  Great place to watch a game, and great KU crowd.  Plus, the pizza is damned good.  But, it’ll be full, early.  So good luck.  Another great option is The Cashew, down past The Crossroads at 19^th and Grand.  Good KU crowd, good environment, and good drinks.  But, for me, the Power & Light experience begins, and ends, at The Flying Saucer.  Get there early enough and you can sit on the couch.  The food is good, they have hundreds of beers on tap, and the Beer Knerd staff is dressed as Catholic schoolgirls.  ‘Nuff said.  Plus, on Friday, when it is 70 degrees, they’ll roll up the garage doors.  Do it.

            Of course, many of us won’t want to leave Johnson County.  If that’s the case, I’d recommend the Johnny’s in Olathe.  For all of the reasons that I recommended it at P&L, plus it’s neither in the congestion of P&L nor in North Lawrence.  Really a great place.  Or you could just do what I’ll do: a Casey’s pizza, a 6 of Shiner, Centurylink wifi and DirecTV HD on a Samsung HDTV.  The beer is cheaper, the picture is perfect, and the company is great!!!  Rock Chalk, Jayhawks. 

These Are Dark Times There Is No Denying

Okay. It is so bad that I have quoted Rufus Scrimgeour. Please kill me. So, now let me bring you all back. There has been, and will continue to be, comparisons to the '04-'05 season. That was the last time that KU lost 3 games in a row. How spoiled are we that that is the case? But I digress... All of the haters are ready to assign a first round loss to Bradley for the '12-'13 unit. Guess what: this ain't that team. That team was Bill Self's first recruiting class + Roy's old boys. Wayne Simien, God love him, was the anchor of that crew, and he was never, ever healthy. Keith Langford was hurt in the UK game - I know, I was there. Alex Galindo got a lot of minutes, the next season he was lost to transfer and oblivion. Giddens was our shooter, and then he got in a knife fight at The Moon Bar, and wound up in New Mexico and oblivion. CJ Giles was an anchor in the paint, then he dragged his girl down the steps of her apartment and wound up in Oregon and then oblivion. The lone professional on that team was Wayne, who was damaged goods from his sophomore season on. To summarize, there is no comparison. Our current team has 2 lottery picks: Withey and McLemore. In all likelihood, Perry Ellis will eventually be a high draft choice. I believe Elijah Johnson will be paid to play. The '07-'08 National Championship team had 7 NBA selections on the roster. It's unlikely that this squad will match that, but the whole semantics of college basketball has changed. So, you can dispense of that nonsense, haters. Nonetheless, as the title suggests: these are the dark times. Maybe moreso, because this is not the '04-'05 team. Let's look at our 4 losses: First,our loss at The Champions Classic in Atlanta to Tom Izzo's Michigan State. For starters, there are very few guys who have an edge on Coach Self, but this was the 3rd consecutive loss to Izzo for Self. The Spartans outshot the Hawks 52%-50%, which was high for both squads, and KU actually outshot Sparty from beyond the 3. Down the stretch, the Spartans made their FT's, and The Jayhawks did not. KU seemed to control most of regulation, but the Spartans had alligator blood, they kept hanging around. In the end it was a circus shot from Keith Appling that won the game, a contest that came down to one possession. Certainly no cause for alarm. Now, we have the 3-game losing streak. The cause for alarm is great. However, the losses are so individually different. The Oklahoma State loss stings. It broke the 2nd longest consecutive home winning streak. We outshot the Pokes from beyond the 3, and from the charity stripe. The FG% was 41/43, in their favor. As stated in my previous post - we just got beaten by a NBA lottery pick and 4 solid role players supporting him. It's happened to us so seldomly, but with a recurring theme, in the Bill Self era. It happens. Then, there was the trip to Fort Worth. I couldn't describe their offensive futility in the 1st half any more eloquently than Coach did, so I will not try. Our 14% from 3 was only bested by our 10% in the opener against SEMO. However, we limited SEMO to 29%/25% from the field and 3, respectively. It is shocking how badly we played in the SEMO game, yet we forced them to play worse. We were outshot by 9% from the floor and 17% from the 3 against Texas Christian, which is amazing, because they shot so poorly. To reiterate the line that I have been saying all week: my mother coached JV girls. I have seen really, really bad basketball. This was the worst basketball that I've ever seen. There has not been a loss like that in The Bill Self era. Hell, there has not been a loss like that in Kansas Basketball history. So, then the question was: how will they respond now? A lot of ado will be given to the third consecutive loss. But truly, it was much more reflective of the first loss, against Izzo. Lon Kruger has not been to The Dance with 4 different schools by accident. He decided to force KU out of the paint, to equalize the superiority KU held down low, especially in light of Kansas' struggles to score. It was a brilliant manuever. Self was slow to adjust to the triangle-and-2, and when the bigs started hitting from deep again, he was slow to adjust out of it. OU improved their FG% from 36% at AFH, to 45% in Norman. They also improved 25% to 35% their 3-point percentage. Having said that, KU outshot them from the floor, and nearly matched them from beyond the arc. The difference on Saturday was at the free throw line. KU had its worst performance there since the Tennessee-Chattanooga game, where they shot a measly 53% from the line. The team meeting seemed to have pulled them out of their doldrums from the floor, but they could not overcome their free throw ineptitude. Needless to say, I believe that the suggestion may have been made on the flight home, that on their mandatory day off, the team may be shooting some free throws. So, that brings us to Monday night. KU will likely, and unbelievably be the lower ranked school in the contest. They will for the first time, in a long time, not be leading the Big XII Conference. They will unexplicably likely be home underdogs at The Phog. How will they deal with that? I'd answer with the numbers. In game one, at The Octagon of significantly-less-than-Doom, the Hawks were outshot at the line by 24%. If that happens, EMAW will steal one in The Sunflower Showdown. KU shot 62% from the stripe at home versus OU. Then dropped to 55% in Lloyd Noble. If they see the same drop-off on Big Monday, they will lose their fourth in a row. From a defensive perspective, the Jayhawks allowed OU to shoot 36% from the field in their victory at Allen. On Saturday, the Sooners improved to a FG% of 45%. In OOD, EMAW shot a weak 35%. If they improve the 9% that OU did, it will be tough for Kansas to overcome. So, as much time is being spent on Kansas' offensive woes, what restoration comes down to is something that Coach Bill Self is the very best at teaching. If they tighten up on the defensive end and make their free throws, they will be right back to form, and the sun will break through the clouds on Mount Oread. I promise.

Actually... it is Elijah's fault.

Saturday's loss to The Pokes felt familiar. I mean it shouldn't have felt familiar, this team has only lost 2 games. The Michigan State loss was nothing like what happened Saturday. In that game, the Hawks shot 50% from the field and got good contributions at the guard position. Elijah led the team had a team-high 16, plus 27 more points from the other guards. Kansas led for most of the way, up until Keith Appling hit a circus layup with 13.5 seconds left. No, there was nothing similar in the loss in Atlanta in November to the heartbreaker in Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday. Yet, it did feel strikingly reminiscent of Bill Self Kansas losses. And that's because it was. Although this was a conference game in Allen Fieldhouse, it really shook out just like those brutal non-conference games to mid-major squads that always seem to bite us. Northern Iowa, VCU, Davidson in the Sprint Center last year, that's what this felt like. Because that's what it was like. Many of our critics will say, they've been flirting with this inevitability for a while now. That their dry spells on the offensive end of the court was destined to catch up with them. But the woes that have afflicted Kansas in conference play, were not what hurt us on Saturday. This team scored 80 points in regulation. It had not done that since the American game. What happened against The Pokes was inevitable, but not because of their offensive stagnations as of late. No, what transpired on Saturday reflects the loses that have been a trend of the Self-era, and they fulfill the same failings. In the 2010 NCAA tourney, KU lost its round of 32 match-up against 9-seed UNI. The cavalcade of critics went unhinged. But, there's a correlation between that loss, and Saturday. In the 2011 Southwest Region final, #1 Kansas was upset by 11-seed VCU. Once again, the haters rejoiced. And what happened in the Alamodome that March, was reminiscent of what transpired on Saturday. In KU's home-away-from-home The Sprint Center, in December of 2011, the heralded Jayhawks dumped a sure victory to a very average Davidson team. They have yet to live down that loss. In all of those losses, there is a recurring theme: a career performance from an opposing guard, and an all-time abysmal appearance by one of our guards. Against the Panthers, Ali Farokhmanesh made the cover of SI, scoring 16 historic points, including 4 of 10 from 3-pt range. On the other side, Sherron and Tyshawn went a combined 4 of 21 from the field, and 0 for 11 from 3. More specifically, Tyshawn went 0 for 11 from the field himself, including 0 for 5 from 3. I was there, and in 2010 all of the scoring went through Sherron and Cole, but numbers tell us that Tyshawn lost us that game. The VCU game was so frighteningly similar to the UNI loss, it was chilling. The numbers were much more skewed in this one, but the bottom line was the same. The Jayhawks shot only 10% from 3, and the Rams' bench outscored us 22 to 3. But, the underlying theme was this: one of their players, PF Jamie Skeen scored a career-high 26 points, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range. By contrast, our shooting guards, Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed combined for 2 of 16 from the field. Morningstar finished with 2 points. He was brutal. Then there was last year's Davidson loss. In it, G Nik Cochran went for 21, and 4 of 5 from 3. He averaged less than 11 P/G for the season and made an average of 1 3-pointer. It's the kind of thing that only happens in these games. Conversely, Self, early in the season, leaned on Conner Teahan, in a shooter's role. He attempted 9 in this game, making 2. If blames rests anywhere, it was squarely with Con-ner. Tea-han. That brings is to Saturday. Markel Brown blew up for 28 points, and 7 3's. Seven. And, contrary to what Coach Self wants us to believe, it was Elijah who killed us, going 3 of 14 from the field. He was awful, and he cost us the game. Of course, I'm being facetious. What these losses truly have in common is Coach Self, himself. Now, I am the first one to laud praise upon Bill, he is the best active coach in America. But in these circumstances, he is too slow to react to a hot hand on the opponent, and too slow to make a move to find a hot hand on his own team. He made great defensive adjustments to shut down Brown in the 2nd half, and he did. Those adjustments needed to be made before he scores 22 points in the 1st half. Also, Andrew White was terrific down the stretch. Coach cannot wait so long to pull the trigger on that. There is too much talent on this bench to allow someone to go 3 for 14, or let us go down 14 points. Bottom line: I'm not one for criticizing National Champion Head Coach Bill Self, but I've seen enough of these exact same losses to recognize his weakness. For 6 wins in March to happen, he has to recognize it, also.

A Star is Born.

Okay. Real quick. I watched KU come back from a 19-point deficit against our departing rivals, Missouri, in the fieldhouse last season. I watched on a house monitor during a Missouri Mavericks hockey game at The Independence Event Center on January 30, 2010, as a fiesty senior Sherron Collins transcended to one of the all-time great Jayhawks. He willed an overtime layup into the rim, and into Jayhawk lore. From an apartment room on 14th and Tennessee packed with undergrads and alumni, I watched Mario's Miracle. I listened on CBS Radio, through static and disinterested companions, coming back from a family trip to Orlando, as Keith Langford outbattled Jarrett Jack to overcome Ga Tech on New Year's of '05. I sat on my oversized chair at our apartment in Davenport, Iowa, and watched Dick Vitale give Nick Collison a standing ovation for his 24 & 23 performance against UT in '03. The first-ever game I attended at Allen Fieldhouse, before I was ever a member of the student body, was the "Jacque Vaughn layup" game of 1995. Still the loudest game I will ever believe could ever occur. These are the greatest memories of great victories of my ultimate passion, my alma mater. They were joined on Wednesday night, and quite unexpectedly. It was thirty-nine and a half minutes of very pedestrian play by my beloved Hawks. Well, that is, if an individual performance of 33 points, including 6 3-pointers could ever be termed "pedestrian". Which, of course, it couldn't. In his 13 game regular season tenure at KU, Ben McLemore (@Humb1e_Hungry23) has led the team in scoring 5 times. He has clocked 20 or more minutes in every game and scored 9 or more points, including 22 in 36 minutes against their sole road game in Columbus, OH. He was, before Wednesday night, highly heralded by the sports media, and climbing the draft boards of NBA prognosticators. All of that being said... his legend was born Wednesday, January 9, 2013. It wasn't the 33 points. It wasn't the 6 huge buckets from 3-point land. It wasn't the showtime dunk off of the Withey steal to put KU up after trailing most of the 2nd set. Nope. It was the shot. The bank shot tres to send the game into OT not only pushed B-Mac to the very top of every NBA draft board. More importantly, it put him on my list of greatest Jayhawk victories of all-time. That's the stuff that legends are made of. Stay humble. Stay hungry.

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.