Marcus Smart and OSU are high or full of shit (or both), Embiid is likely to miss some time and Tharpe's thumb is no big deal...


Oklahoma State sophomore guard Marcus Smart caused quite a stir on Saturday night by saying one of the reasons he played so well against Kansas the second half was his desire to keep the Jayhawks from cutting down the nets in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

“Before the game, the coaches showed us a quote of Bill Self saying he was coming here cutting down our nets, and he was gonna win it outright in Stillwater,” Smart said of the Big 12 regular-season title.

“We couldn’t let that happen in our house, so I just knew I had to keep pushing until the end,” added Smart, who had 21 points (20 the second half) in OSU’s 72-65 victory.

KU coach Self provided the Journal-World a rebuttal to Smart’s accusation on Sunday night.

“I heard and saw the postgame interview (with ESPN’s Shannon Spake) after the game,” Self said. “I don’t know where Marcus got his information, but it was totally inaccurate. I’ve never said anything about cutting down nets or anything like that. I never said anything about cutting down nets in their building.

“Strange ... we’ve won the league 10 years in a row. I don’t know if we’ve even cut down nets at home. I’d never disrespect another program, especially my alma mater, by doing anything like that. It’s disappointing that was said. Certainly he obviously had some bad information however he received it.”

KU still clinched the undisputed league title courtesy of losses by Iowa State and Texas.

“Sure it would have been nice to have an ‘in-locker room celebration’ had we won the game. That’s something hopefully we’ll be able to do next time we play, hopefully, if we’re successful.”

Kansas will host Texas Tech at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Embiid might sit a bit: KU freshman center Joel Embiid, who tweaked his aching back with five minutes left in Saturday’s game, might miss some time. Previously, he was held out of the TCU game Feb. 15 because of the bad back and in the last four games has played 32, 21, 30 and 29 minutes.

“He was really sore today,” Self said Sunday.

KU, which now is playing for NCAA Tournament seeding, has two regular-season games left: Wednesday vs. Tech and Saturday at West Virginia.

“We haven’t made a decision (about sitting Embiid). We’ll probably make a decision (today) after visiting with doctors,” Self said.

Embiid was in obvious discomfort as he left Gallagher-Iba on Saturday night. He shed a few tears as he visited with a parent of a KU player before heading to the team bus.

Other bruises, illnesses: Junior guard Naadir Tharpe dislocated his left thumb in the loss.

“I know Naadir’s thumb was sore (Sunday),” Self said. “It shouldn’t be anything to keep him out of play, though.”

Senior Justin Wesley didn’t make the trip to OSU because of a stomach virus. His Senior Night game is Wednesday.

http://m.kusports.com/news/2014/mar/...mplates=mobile

Marcus Smart has issues with reality.

Tech has been especially bad at AFH in recent years, and I think this is their 3rd KU Senior night going back to the NC team's 109-51 (or whatever) win.

I'd almost feel sorry for them if it wasn't for spending two hours watching that thing they called basketball a couple of weeks ago.... hope they hang another 110 on them so they can celebrate #10 at home.

Even more reason to dislike Smart.

I was almost positive Self would never say anything about cutting down the nets at an opponent's court.

WOW....Smart is quite the scumbag....
First lied about a Racial slur to justify his pathetic behavior...
And now lies about a quote from Self that we all know was never said....

What a POS....

It's what he heard from the crowd.

Marcus Smart is either entirely disconnected from reality; or his coaches' used a pretty nice ploy to get him amped up for one half of basketball.

If OSU finishes 8th in the conference (which will happen if OSU, BU, and WVU all end 1-1), we'll have a chance at revenge on history's greatest evil before he leaves to the NBA. That would be a fun game in KC.

Embiid also needs to sit out for this entire week as far as I'm concerned. Maybe even the conference tournament games too as I don't particularly want him playing 3 in 3 days.

Yes. Embiid can most definitely ride the pine for a couple of weeks. Nobody gives a shit about Tourney Championships. Well, MU fans did the last year they were in the B12, but that's the only thing they could get.

Let that dude heal.

Could be both, but it definitely sounds like a traditional coach's motivation tactic to me.

LMAO

I know Embiid will want to come back as soon as possible but the big picture is another national title. I agree with the sentiment, rest him until 68.

Looks like Smart is dumb...Ford didn't say that about cutting down the nets


Lower back strain might force KU's Embiid to miss some playing time this week

Self said 7-footer should be OK for postseason; OSU coach Ford weighs in on Smart's statements

Story by Gary Bedore
Monday, March 3, 2014
Kansas University freshman center Joel Embiid has a lower back strain and likely will miss some time this week — the final week of the regular season — coach Bill Self said on Monday’s Big 12 teleconference.

He said Embiid’s back injury would not affect the 7-footer’s availability for the postseason.

“I think he’s OK for the long term, don’t get me wrong on that,” Self said. “I’m not really sure if in fact how long or if we’re going to need to rest him. It’s a similar thing as before, a lower back strain basically,” Self added of the injury that kept Embiid from playing in a Feb. 15 game against TCU.

“He certainly benefited from the five days before that we gave him off (in mid February). Still obviously he’s not close to being 100 percent because he reaggravated it (back) in the Oklahoma State game (Saturday). Hopefully if we do give him some time off — which I would probably right now think that’s what we’ll go to is to give him a little bit of time — I don’t know how long. Certainly I don’t think it’ll be anything that would affect the postseason.”

He said Naadir Tharpe (dislocated left thumb) should not miss any time.

•

More on net cutting: Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart said after Saturday’s win over KU that one of the reasons he played so well was his desire to keep the Jayhawks from cutting down the nets in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

“Before the game, the coaches showed us a quote of Bill Self saying he was coming here cutting down our nets, and he was gonna win it outright in Stillwater,” Smart said of the Big 12 regular-season title. “We couldn’t let that happen in our house, so I just knew I had to keep pushing until the end,” added Smart, who had 21 points versus the Jayhawks.

Self told the Journal-World Sunday he never said anything about cutting down nets in Stillwater. And on Monday’s teleconference, OSU coach Travis Ford said he never presented such a quote to Smart or other Cowboy players.

“I never heard Bill Self say they were going to cut down the nets. I never saw that. I think Marcus was probably equating if they (Jayhawks) win in Stillwater they would celebrate then and he probably just equated something along that line. There was nothing ever said, we never showed any quote of that at all, absolutely not,” Ford said.

Ford also said: “There was no quote we showed them (players), none whatsoever. We did talk about what they (Jayhawks) were playing for ... we know what they had at stake (undisputed league title) but we never mentioned anything about cutting down any nets or anything like that. I think Marcus equated them celebrating to maybe cutting down the nets. He might have felt that. We never talked once about how they would celebrate.

“You try to motivate your team,” Ford added. “We told them what was at stake for Kansas, how hard they were going to play. They’ve got a great team, great kids, they are playing hard and they deserve when they win it outright to celebrate. They deserve that.”

Self again was asked about the issue on the teleconference.

“That was disturbing seeing that,” Self said of Smart’s quote about KU planning on cutting down nets in OSU’s arena. “I don’t know where he (Smart) got that information. That’s not for me to answer. (It’s) certainly 100 percent false. There was never one thing uttered out of my mouth to talk about doing anything on somebody else’s floor. We’ve won it a few years in a row and I don’t even know if we’ve cut down nets at home, maybe once. Certainly all celebratory things that would take place with anything like that especially on the road would take place in the confines of the locker room. I don’t know where that came from, but certainly that’s not for me to answer.”

Smart: "Well....uh-ummm....uhhhh...." [Flops]

Self was pretty scathing regarding Smart. That surprises me. He's normally pretty dismissive about shit slinging, but he didn't **** around with that comment.

So my dad tried to tell me that this years KU team isn't as good as last years team. I called BS. You can argue semantics about defense player vs player experience, whatever. But the bottom line is this team locked up the best conference in the nation with three games left. Last years team had to share the title with a good not great KSU team.

Am I off base here?