With one eye tied behind his back.

13 3's. Damn.

He should have banked it

NEXT!

lmao

Well fellas, if you'd have told me 3 weeks ago we'd go thru that stretch 5-0 I'd have probably called you a fibber

Good win. Next.

They still have to take care of the basketball - WAY too many turnovers

Yup. Once I saw the schedule I would have thought 3-2.

No kidding. Bill Self is amazing.

That game reminded me of a Miami Heat regular season game. They know they're much better than you so they'll coast for a portion of the game toying with you. Then try just enough to pull away with the win when it could've been over way before it was lol. Self said in his post game PC that they're a little fatigued. Five games in 12 days vs. tough competition.

He's a top coach but when you have the next great NBA center and the next LeBron in the starting line up, it gets a little easier.ROFL

Frank Mason was great tonight. 4-5 with 6 assists off the bench. Perry probably played his best game of the year as well, very physical down low against a damn good frontline.

Kansas is the new No. 1: Despite four losses, Kansas jumped Arizona and Wisconsin after wins at Iowa State (+.92) and vs. Oklahoma State (+.56). Kansas has the No. 1 #KPI SOS (.184) by a margin of .077 over Florida. That is the same margin that exists between Florida (No. 2) and San Francisco (No. 96). Their SOS could finish at a historic high. Kansas has as many top-5o wins (7) as any other teams does games played against the top-50. Staggering.

http://kpisports.wordpress.com/2014/...l-as-of-12014/

I think we should do game threads. That was 250 game posts. We'll constipate the server again.

That being said, heck of a game. Baylor was hungry. We weathered the storm. 80% from 3 for a half and we went into the locker room with a lead? That's toughness. We showed toughness, aggressiveness and hustle. This is not the same team as a month ago. Self is God.

So are you going to man up and finish the conversation? or just duck out and hide?

Why did they over turn the no contact call in the TN/KY game? You seem to know the rules better than anyone else.. Enlighten us with your knowledge.

Over the back.

Wtf are you even talking about?

Don't whine about Marcus Smart anymore. You just look like a little bitch when you do.

TCU up next. Kind of a let down after this schedule. Should be nice to get some revenge from last year. That game gave the wildcats a share of the title.

Good win for KU last night, especially with the hot-ass 3's by Baylor. This team will be/is intimidating as we get close to March. Oh yeah!!:thumb:

And there it is folks... a complete lack of BBIQ...

Nice deflection.. You ****ing suck as a fan of Kansas sports and truly embarrass all of us on this message board.

go back to blow saul off in the Conference realignment thread...

****ing loser.

Do you need a box of tissues to get over Marcus Smart? Go to a shrink if this is bothering you so much, dumbass

Says the little bitch that cried about the incident with his rule book and HBBIQ...

You need to stop talking sports, its really not your thing...

And what is even worse, we are talking TN and KY, not Marcus Smart. JFC, reading is not fundamental to you that is for damn sure.

It's almost to the point of feeling sorry for you. LMAO

Is PB SG?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Seems the media is now calling out Smart for his flopping
 

Marcus Smart is developing a reputation in the Big 12 and not a good one



http://msn.foxsports.com/southwest/s...ood-one-012014

You need to get over marcus smart /pb

Dick in the butt foul called on PB. That's a flagrant 2. HE'S OUTTA HERE!

Panoramic from the OSU game this past weekend.

http://gigapixel.panoramas.com/kansa...ball/20140118/

Here's a funny one from you all's second favorite forum.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V...8-no/69gzy.gif

Exactly what I was thinking LMAO

http://www.nba.com/video/channels/or...nba/index.html

Chalmers got a flopping warning from the NBA. His technique is not nearly as good as Smart's.

Was that by luck or did Self have anything to do with getting them to come to Kansas ?

Shade is one of the coolest dudes you'll ever meet. Retired IBMer. Intellectual badass. Sharon Vitter, the Provost's wife, is right next to him. She's a sweet gal.

2 game lead now.

Withey is having a breakout game! 23 minutes played. 14 pts and 4 boards. Good for him.

Kelly Oubre is currently playing on ESPNU.

Embiid not on the mid season Wooden list. lol. Like I said 3 months ago, he's the most athletic 7 footer I've ever seen.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...rd-list-cut-25

Players can be added to the Wooden list.

That's not the final list.

Still hilarious, though. Embiid is one of the most impactful players in the country.

I agree.

But, I don't put much stock into preseason or midseason awards and lists.

It still doesn't make any sense. Embid has been playing very well for several weeks now. It's not like this has just happened recently.

Cliff Alexander is on after that. They're just re-runs but I'll be tuning in to see Alexander.

They both beasted. Each was the player of the game and completely led his team.

Both dudes are so physical and so aggressive.

Alexander's follow up, left handed dunk was filthy. Oh my.

Oubre gives a very good interview if that counts for anything.

Said he chose KU over UK because Self is a genuinely good guy, liked the intensity KU shows in practice, and wants to be part of the winning tradition HCBS has built. Also said he wants to improve leadership and defense before he get to Kansas.

I wonder if it isn't the technicals he's gotten. They're not wanting to reward the "dirty players ". But yeah, I'm not sure their is a big man I'd rather have.

In other news, I've been busy and didn't realize the no talent hack master Aaron Craft and the suckeyes lost their FOURTH SYRAIGHT game culminating in the hard fought loss to powerhouse NEBRASKA. And still manage to stay on the top 25. LOL

Well, they lost on Monday night, so I'd imagine when the rankings come out next Monday, they'll drop the **** out.

Nebraska.

LMAO

The hacks (as in techs) didn't keep Embiid out the hacks (as in writers who don't watch the games) did.

How many seasons has KU hit the #1 spot in the regular season since 2002?

2002
2004
2005
2010
2011


Hit #2 in 2003, 2007, 2008, 2013. Hit #3 in 2012.
http://www.collegepollarchive.com/mb...2#.UuBrpNLnYsY

Damn. Wow. Thanks that's amazing.

jojo doesn't wanna go to the nba
http://barstoolu.barstoolsports.com/...o-eat-healthy/

Mind = Blown.

Didn't realize Tyshawn got traded to the Pelicans and then waived immediately last weekend.

Believe it when I see it.

That dude is going to the NBA.

No sense in getting excited otherwise.

LMFAO

Joel-Hans Embiid
@jojo_embiid
I think I m getting an Instagram account tomorrow����

Joel-Hans Embiid
@jojo_embiid
And I m only posting pics of lions that I killed

Embiid is the only KU player Twitter account I've ever followed. And it's because of tweets like that.

I will admit. I laughed pretty hard.

Funny

Remember too, I just posted the AP. Not sure on the coaches. Or the computers/RPI. Probably would be even more amazing.

Embiid Sporting News article

Joel Embiid's pursuit of hoops greatness not just a Dream

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Everyone wants a timetable, because nothing in our current sports culture is as important as what’s next, but there isn’t one. This game, next game? This week, next week? This year, next year? “I don’t think it’s about time,” Kansas center Joel Embiid says. “It’s just about me.”

He understands now this is not about "if" but "when." Although he now is 7 feet tall, graceful as an Olympic skater and unreasonably skilled, it wasn’t always that certain. When Embiid began seriously playing the game of basketball — seriously meaning moving to the United States, leaving his home and family 6,300 miles behind — he found the physical demands so challenging “I couldn’t even breathe. I almost threw up.”

On an AAU team where future Florida Gators Chris Walker and Kasey Hill consumed all the attention and most of the action with the ball, Embiid was praised by Scout.com for having, unlike many who come to the game in their late teens, “some idea of how to play.”

When Embiid arrived at Kansas, not long after a performance in the Nike Hoop Summit that suggested there might be more to it, coach Bill Self began whispering that forward Andrew Wiggins was not the only freshman in his class with the potential to be a No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft. Which means that in the space of a year, in Self’s words, Embiid had advanced from a player he thought had a chance to be “pretty good,” to one he thought might be “real good” to the player who now stands before you with the potential to completely overturn every expectation about how the current college basketball season will develop and what might occur in the game in the months beyond.

“He’s very, very, very bright, but I don’t think he’s caught up with what the world says,” Self said after Embiid wrecked Oklahoma State last Saturday with a near triple-double. “I told Joel as soon as he stepped foot on campus: You’re going to be the No. 1 pick. Now, I’m not saying it will be this year. I don’t think it should be a surprise to him, because he’s been told all along he is capable of doing this."

But you want it all now, do you?

“It’s experience,” Embiid told Sporting News. “Even in high school, I wasn’t consistent. I would have games where I’d have 20 and 15, and the next game I’d have 5 and 5. I need to get that consistency. I think I’ll be good after that. I’m working. I think over the past couple games, I’ve been good overall, but some good halves of basketball and other ones that are bad. “I think it’s just me. When I come to the game, I have to have the mindset: I want to do this. I’ve got to block that many shots, get that many steals. In my mind, I’ve got to be like, ‘No one can stop me.’ ”

JOEL'S EVOLUTION

The process began with a simple DVD. No, that’s not right. It began with all the basketball hoops that lined the walls of the gymnasium in Cameroon where Embiid regularly practiced volleyball. OK, that’s not really it, either. It began with him standing 6-foot-9 — and growing — by the age of 15, with remarkable athleticism and coordination for a young man so tall.

At that size, it was no surprise basketball would call to him. He would grab one of the volleyballs he was supposed to be spiking over the net and carry it over to the side, then toss it at the basketball goals that all but taunted him while he was polishing his volleyball skills. He was serious about that sport. He’d played for five or six years and expected he’d leave home at some point, with his father’s endorsement, to eventually move to Europe to play professionally. Basketball killed those plans.

“When I was 15, that’s when I had the thought that I wanted to play basketball,” Embiid said, sitting on an end zone bleacher at Allen Fieldhouse. “My dad wasn’t really — he was against it. But I had my uncle talk to him, and he finally convinced him to let me play basketball. And then I started playing.

“When I started playing basketball, my coach back in Cameroon the first day he gave me a video of Hakeem Olajuwon. He told me to watch it every day. After practice, after every practice, I’d watch every move he did — and I’d just keep doing that. I just fell in love with his game, his footwork, how he moves. I was so proud — I wanted to be like him, because he’s African, moved from Nigeria to the U.S. I just felt if I had the chance to come here, I would try to do the same thing.”

He attended a basketball camp and was spotted by Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, a starter for UCLA’s Final Four teams under Ben Howland, a regular in the NBA and also a native of Embiid’s hometown, Yaounde, the second-largest city in Cameroon. He told Embiid he had the chance to become a special player if he committed to basketball. That meant, most logically, moving to the United States and immersing himself in a culture that embraced the game.

Only 16, Embiid left his home and moved to Florida, where he enrolled at Montverde Academy. His coach was high school legend Kevin Boyle and his teammates included center Dakari Johnson, now at Kentucky, and Florida guard Michael Frazier.

“At the beginning it was kind of difficult for me, because it was so physical,” Embiid said. “Back home, it wasn’t the same. At Montverde, we had really good players like Dakari Johnson, we had so many guys. I think we had more than five pros on the team. I think that’s how I got better, playing against them every day. But it was hard at the beginning.

“When I got here, I wasn’t known, so I didn’t have any offers. I was just like, ‘If anybody recruits me, I’m just going to go there and try to get my degree.’ And then in summer I played AAU, and I think I did pretty good. So I started having offers. I had a chance to have my mentor Luc, he was helping me a lot. I started watching NCAA games, and I liked Kansas. And even Luc liked it, because he played against them when he was at UCLA. He was like, ‘Man, that school is for bigs,’ that I’m going to develop over there, they get bigs to the NBA.”

Kansas’ interest in Embiid deepened when he transferred to The Rock, a Christian school in Gainesville where he’d have a better chance to play. KU assistant coach Norm Roberts had sent his son, Niko, to The Rock while serving on the staff at Florida, and he brought Self to see Embiid. It didn’t take long for him to be convinced stardom was possible.

His belief only grew once Embiid arrived on campus this summer and began working out with the Jayhawks. Self saw flashes of intermittent brilliance mixed with moments when Embiid would drift through practices almost spectating.

“He’s got it,” Self told SN in July. “He just doesn’t know how to do it yet.”

Embiid is getting closer every day.

THE CHALLENGE

You could hear the groans when he took the shot. Some came from the Kansas fans who filled a few sections at the United Center in Chicago. Some came from right there on press row, behind the basket.

With 5:29 on the clock and Kansas leading Duke by a single point, Embiid found himself alone on the right wing. Nobody even in position to challenge the shot. There was a reason for this — who would think he’d shoot from there? But Embiid did, and some who saw it cringed.

He didn’t make the shot. He didn’t come close. And though it defied convention for a 7-0 freshman center to be shooting 3-pointers in a game that close, and maybe defied his coach’s wishes as well, it was as important as any moment this season for the Kansas Jayhawks. It declared that Embiid was here to be a basketball player.

Was it so crazy that Embiid would shoot an open 3-pointer? He makes them in practice all the time, and hit one in a home game against Kansas State just a couple weeks back. This is what makes Embiid extraordinary: Though playing the game for only four years, he is comfortable shooting from the perimeter, playing with his back to the basket, putting the ball on the floor to create room to shoot and defending the rim like the most polished shot-blocker.

He had nine blocks in his first six games combined; he had eight on Saturday alone, including one ridiculous rejection that developed when Oklahoma State All-American Marcus Smart, noting Embiid’s presence on the right side of the lane, switched his drive to a left-size reverse. That way, the rim would get in the way of a block attempt. But Embiid surged across the lane, reached to the Allen ceiling and got a piece of the ball, anyway.

“It wasn’t always just him sitting there waiting on us,” Cowboys coach Travis Ford said. “He came from nowhere a couple of times, which was impressive. Very impressive. Goodness, he’s so talented.”

Defense has come more rapidly for Embiid, but his promise as an offensive player is even greater. So many of the NBA’s most prominent centers are relatively unpolished, even the Houston Rockets’ Dwight Howard, but the lessons Embiid learned watching that Olajuwon video are hidden in the many aspects of his offensive skill set.

Only on occasion does he share them with us. For instance, the second half of KU’s road game at Iowa State. The game was tied at the break, and Embiid had contributed only four points. Self challenged him during the intermission to play with passion, with power, with confidence.

“He challenged me because I didn’t have a good first half. He challenged me, and in the second half I just had a different mindset,” Embiid said. He scored 12 points as Kansas broke open the game in the final 20 minutes, and he finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and five blocks.

He’s had some trouble with understanding how to control his emotions against opponents attempting to unnerve him by roughing him up in the post. They have little choice; it’s either that, or surrender. Embiid was charged with flagrant fouls in three consecutive games.

“I would say during the game, there’s a lot of things that happen. If I did something, it means he probably did something,” Embiid said. “But I just don’t want people to see me as — I don’t do that on purpose, but I don’t want people to see me as like I’m weak or something like that. I just don’t take anything from anybody.”

This, too, is another sign Embiid is becoming the player Self needs him to be. Perhaps a bit too much of that player, but it’s easier to convince a player to do a little less than a lot more.

It is so easy to forget that when Olajuwon was a freshman at Houston, in much the same situation Embiid is now, he averaged 18 minutes and 8.3 points per game. He had to learn the game, but more so to embrace what his physical gifts made possible in this sport.

“I think I’m so much better. I don’t think — I don’t even understand it,” Embiid said. “When I came here, my coach back at Montverde was giving me advice: Just keep working, just work, just work. I did what he said. I kept working, kept getting better.”

The final piece might be the most difficult, but it is the line between proficient and dominant. Kansas can accomplish wonderful things this season, and Embiid eventually can become quite wealthy if he settles for being productive. That is not his horizon, nor is it his desire.

“In my mind, I’ve just got to be like: No one can stop me,” Embiid said. “That’s what I did against Iowa State when he challenged me: No one can stop me, I’m going to go out there, get fouled, score the ball. “

When will we see this on a regular basis? When Joel Embiid believes it is his time, and not a moment before.

Embiid WSJ artcle


The 7-Footer Who Snuck Up on College Basketball

Joel Embiid started playing organized basketball only in late 2011. Before that, he played volleyball and soccer in Cameroon, his native land.

Now he's projected to be the NBA draft's No. 1 pick come June.

In a sport that anoints superstars before they leave middle school, the 7-foot-tall Embiid is an outlier, a superstar college freshman who was virtually unknown until his senior year in high school.

Even after signing with the Kansas Jayhawks, Embiid received little attention compared with that program's higher-profile recruit, Andrew Wiggins, by many estimates the top recruit of his class. In fact, Embiid started this season on the bench. But he came off it with such promise and explosiveness that his performance has overshadowed that of Wiggins—and arguably everyone else in college basketball.

In his last four games—all against ranked opponents—Embiid has averaged 19.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 6 blocks per 40 minutes, prompting many NBA scouts to declare him the likely No. 1 pick in the June draft. Some observers already are comparing him with Hakeem Olajuwon, the retired Hall of Fame 7-footer whose Dream Shake shimmy Embiid has studied on film.

Last week, after the No. 8 Jayhawks beat No. 16 Iowa State, Cyclones coach Fred Hoiberg called Embiid "the best player in the country." Asked why, Hoiberg, a former NBA player, coach and executive, said, "Did you see him play tonight? That's why."

What distinguishes Embiid is his height and dexterity but also his lack of experience.

Like Olajuwon, who grew up in Nigeria playing soccer, Embiid came late to basketball. As a 17-year-old in Cameroon, Embiid was invited to a basketball camp there because of his height.

Coaching at that camp was Cameroon native Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, the Minnesota Timberwolves forward, who was immediately smitten with Embiid's natural repertoire of moves. "Those were moves that guys who had been playing for years were making," said Mbah a Moute.

Mbah a Moute brought Embiid to another camp in Johannesburg, South Africa and later convinced Thomas Embiid, the boy's father, to let Embiid come to the U.S. to play high-school basketball.

Basketball was still a foreign sport to the elder Embiid, a handball player himself, but its stars were known to him.

"Here in Cameroon, we see NBA players like Kobe Bryant and LeBron—he wants to be like that," Embiid's father said in an interview this week. "When he plays four or five years, he'll get better and better."

Embiid moved to Florida to play his junior year of high school for Montverde Academy. But he sat on the bench for Montverde, stuck behind better, more seasoned centers.

In search of more playing time, Embiid switched his senior year to The Rock School in Gainesville, Fla. So little had Embiid played as a junior that The Rock coach Justin Harden hadn't heard of him until Mbah a Moute called on Embiid's behalf.

Embiid gained national attention as a senior. But if his potential was suddenly clear, so was his lack of experience, as evidenced by a grading system that Harden employed each game.

According to last year's report cards, which Harden shared with The Wall Street Journal, Embiid received an A or A+ in 19 of 37 games. But in 12 games, his grade was a C+ or worse, and in only three games did he score more than 20 points, a small number of games for an elite recruit.

At moments, however, Embiid showed glimpses of the player many are seeing now. In a high-school matchup with Wiggins, his future teammate, Embiid dropped 18 points, including an Olajuwon-like hook shot that takes most big men years to refine.

Norm Roberts, a new assistant coach at Kansas, had come to the Jayhawks from Florida, where Embiid had come to his attention. Early last season, Roberts persuaded Kansas head coach Bill Self to come to Florida to watch Embiid practice. At that time, Embiid hadn't played enough organized basketball to produce a sizable bunch of statistics. But Kansas has a tradition of great big men, dating back to Danny Manning and Wilt Chamberlain, and has had four drafted in the last three years.

Watching the young man practice, Self was unusually quiet. When Roberts asked for his impressions, Self responded that he thought Embiid could be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft someday.

"We never thought Joel was a project," Roberts said. "From a skills standpoint, he was farther along than most big guys."

Embiid's coaches say his soccer and volleyball experiences left him more flexible than most basketball players, not to mention big ones. Kansas conditioning coaches have also added 12 pounds of muscle to him, even if Embiid prefers feasting on ice cream and brownies.

Despite his inexperience, Embiid's game already compares favorably to other big men. As a college freshman, he has attempted shots on 57 possessions after posting up near the basket and is averaging 1.3 points on those trips, according to Synergy Sports Technology. The last eight college centers taken as NBA draft lottery picks averaged only .91 points per possession on their post-ups.

Large players often require time to develop. Olajuwon, for example, spent four years in college. Embiid hasn't even played the game for three full years. But he might not need that long.

"I think he could play in the NBA right now," Mbah a Moute said.

Latest bracketology -

Posted this in the Shockers thread, but I would honestly prefer if KU were the 2 seed and WSU were the #1. I want the Jayhawks to go into that game feeling like they've been disrespected, not the other way around.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

Great read. Thanks for posting.

That would be awesome.

Some pretty good basketball being played in the state of Kansas this year.

Kansas will always be on the #1 line.

There's only one.

Most saying Myles Turner a lock for KU

http://247sports.com/PlayerInstituti...49/Predictions

Self is on a recruiting hot streak. Hope it continues.

I don't even know what to think any more about the recruiting. If Selden actually comes back, then who knows how the minutes shake out.

Let's - just for a moment - imagine a world where Selden wants to go in the lottery and Embiid wants another year of adjusting to life in America before he's a pro...

Tharpe/Mason/Frankamp
Selden/Greene/Frankamp (RS?)
Oubre/Green
Ellis/Cliff/Traylor
Embiid/Lucas/Mickelson

White (transfer? RS?)

Can you imagine a lineup of

SELDEN - GREENE - OUBRE - CLIFF - EMBIID

Self is trying to sign another Guard as well... Vaughn or Lyle... if that happens, who knows how things shape up in the off-season.

Get those "Embiid coming back thoughts" out of your head....

he needs to go pro... It's not about the 1 or 2 mil you make that first year. It's about getting that FA clock started... Once you hit the market, that's where you make your money... And he's gonna make a LOT of money.

Tharpe \ Mason \ Frankamp
Selden \ Greene \ Lyle
Oubre \ White \ Lyle
Ellis \ Alexander
Traylor \ Lucas \ Mickelson

That's a scary lineup, as in a Turnover every time down the court type of scary.

I'm sorry, it's hard to take you seriously when you have Jamari Traylor playing starting center.

And just so you know, the reason anyone is entertaining the notion of Embiid coming back is because both he and Self have talked about it in the last two weeks. Also, many would argue that the free agency clock doesn't matter nearly as much as being a max contract player. That's the real goal.

I still am anticipating Embiid leaving, but he has said there are multiple reasons to stay, and frankly I won't be shocked.

Colorado really fell off the map since the once in a decade upset of Kansas

Losing Dimwiki (lol) really hurt.

Also, like Wichita State, Arizona might not play a single ranked team for the rest of the year.

Zona is hard to figure out but not. Miller is an excellent recruiter (he owns the west coast in recruiting which is a slap in the face to UCLA) but average coach. He proves that every year. Started last year 16-1, ended 8-5. Also, Zona's less than stellar conference and Miller's frequent Scott Drew impersonations will hurt them again in the big dance. They might prove me wrong but it looks and feels like the same old Zona.

Vaughn is a Cyclone.

Myles Turner is your starting center next year.

damn...

Not if Embiid stays. ;)

If Embiid stays this team could beat the Milwaukee Bucks.

Has something to do with the loss of their best player to injury.