Thanks for PM. I thought our performance against the Shocks epitomized how unfocused Self's teams have become since our run in 2011.

(Yes, I know the 2012 team was great, but it was led by seniors and we had zero business blowing that lead against Michigan. I have always believed that a win there would have got us to the championship - though I think we would have dropped against Louisville).

In all honesty, I thought watching the Shox murder us was like watching the 2015 Hawks lose to an earlier version of Self's team. Hopefully this loss sparks Bill to make changes in his recruiting or tweaks in his coaching strategy. I don't know, I'm hoping for the best.

The entire program needs a re-boot, much like OU football does with Stoops who is Self's doppelganger. I suspect both will rebound fine.

I have very mixed feelings about rebooting KU basketball. I know we're expected to be in the top 5 each year by virtue of being KU, but North Carolina and even Kentucky's recent struggles show that there is something to be admired about Self's consistency.

There have been multiple occasions during the past two seasons where it felt like Self was on cruise control with his (elite) talent. The kids we have are young, I get it, but last year's roster (regardless of Embiid's injury) had absolutely zero business losing in the first weekend.

This year it was clear from the outset that this team could not and would not function as a traditional Self team. We had no real inside presence, and I thought expecting this team to function as an in and out team would be akin to positioning Salvador Perez at shortstop. Nonetheless, Self doubled down after embarrassing losses to Kentucky and Temple, and kept up that style of play until we were out of the tournament. There is a relatively solid train of thought that Self's refusal to position Wiggins at the 4 was a failure of equal consequence.

Personally, I'm behind Self as long as he continues netting us championships (about that whole stripped season - how likely do you think that is, btw?), but if he ends up bolting for the NBA, I won't be as torn up about it as I would have been two years ago.

Ku playes the toughest schedule in the country, won the toughest conference and are a fringe top 10 team in a down year.

So, um..

But when you have a chance to fire the coach of a top 3 basketball program in the country, you've gotta do it.

Last year's team without Embiid was even worse and arguably even softer than this year's team (worse Ellis, worse Selden, worse Mason and contained the defensive anchor that was Nadir Tharpe), so not quite understanding the thinking there. When Embiid went down, they had no real shot at anything.

We had Andrew Wiggins, a competent big in Tarik Black, and the athleticism to run Stanford out of the gym. I understand that the team was hurting without Embiid, but they were matched up against a legitimately bad basketball team and should have had little issue making it to the second weekend.

I'm done talking about either team. Self said this wasn't a good year on Sunday and he'd know best

Without Embiid, they literally had no way to stop anybody. They relied on him all year to clean up their defensive mistakes at the rim (and considering Tharpe/Ellis' presence, there were many) and with him gone Black could not fill that role (Tarik barely provided any rim protection at all). And of course nobody could adequately take on Joel's role offensively, which put an enormous amount of pressure on Wiggins to carry the offense (despite playing in a system that didn't fit his skill set). All sorts of holes developed that just could not be filled.

If it wasn't to Stanford (who they definitely played a bad game against), a loss would have followed soon after. That team without Embiid was simply even worse than this year's.

PB, I still think you're a jerkface! Just trying to make sure your ego doesn't get too big here. o:-)

ku fans are painfully dumb

MU fans are criminally stupid

Fair enough. I believe Self has earned a free pass to continue coaching here as long as he keeps netting us success in the conference. In no way, shape or form do I think he should be fired or pressured out because of our slightly diminished success over the last two years. All I am saying is that I do not think Self got the most out of his teams over the last couple of seasons. If this makes me an idiot of the highest order, so be it.

KU stats
 

Good read about the 2014/15 team...
Some just re-enforce what we already knew, but still
some interesting numbers from the year...

http://rockchalkblog.com/2015/03/23/100-facts-jayhawks/