Graham was a LOT better at the end of the season than even the middle. He wasn't ever bad, but if he can get even close to that level of improvement, he'll crush souls. Hopefully there is no sophomore slump.

Lucas was the only one bringing nastiness the last few games. I'm with you on the athleticism though. Depending on what is coming in, we need his size. To be fair, Aldrich wasn't some athletic freak. Now, Aldrich was far more technically sound, and at this point, there is no comparison between the two. But he doesn't need to be Aldrich to be good. In other news, I miss Darnell. I loved watching that guy play. He had so many reasons to quit, and ended up being a really good college player.

Disclaimer: I'm the biggest Releford homer there is. But to be fair, he had a different role offensively. He benefited from B-Mac and Withey drawing a ****asston of attention, and a lot of his points came on the break (I recognize he really stepped up that portion of his game). He wasn't asked to force a score very often. However, if Selden was 75% the defender Releford was this year would have went far differently. Dude was a man machine.

On the last Jayhawk radio show, Self told a story about a recruit he visited that was unimpressed with Releford and told Self he should start over him. Self told this cat that if he told Releford not to let him touch the ball, he won't touch the ball. Kid scoffed. On his visit, he told Releford to D him up and he didn't touch the ball. I laughed. Hard.

Silly argument. You could make the same one for Cliff Alexander or Kelly Oubre as they had the best win share rates on the team, but obviously nobody would do that.

Minutes are clearly a factor in how valuable a player is and there's a reason Frank played significantly more than anybody else.

Agreed. Duke was ****ing nails today.

Although, in theory, I put little credence in pure TO numbers. It depends on how the turnovers came about. If we are attacking and push too hard, that is far more acceptable than bonehead.

Needs to be more disciplined with the ball, limit his defensive mistakes, and just generally be more solid in every area of his game. More reps will do that. The raw talent is there, though.

Aldrich had a fire and physicality that few had (Darnell did too for that matter). Also had quite a good post game and obviously a great sense of timing on blocked shots. Other than the guy in the avatar, he might actually be my favorite KU player in the Self era now that I'm thinking about it.

And while I'd love to be positive about him, but Lucas is really lacking in a lot of those areas. The requisite skill and athleticism isn't there. For a guy of his height (6'10), he's a surprisingly poor rim protector as well. He's at least pretty good rebounder, though, so he may end up being a decent role player yet.


True enough, Releford had very little attention on those teams and was about to take/make a lot of easy shots as a result. He would not have been able to be as efficient on this 2015 team, that's for sure. But Selden honestly wasn't asked to do that much offensively either and he was still absolutely abysmal in what he did do.

Yeah and that's exactly it. Do you see that same kind of "want" in Selden? Based on these last 2 years, I don't think so.

**** no. Not close.

I did see some emotion from him a few times so maybe he can get there. Remember Releford sat for, I believe 2 years, then redshirted and came out a great player. Maybe he can get there, but with the reps he's had, I doubt it.

I really like Lucas. I love his fire. I love everything about him. Except his skill.

We aren't going to sniff a Final Four if he's our starter. Coming off the bench, sure. He'll grab some crucial boards and maybe D up a little bit. But he won't be scoring much and he won't block many shots and he'll foul a lot.

Hopefully I'm wrong. But I really hope he's not starting next year. I hope we have two guys MUCH more talented ahead of him. And by that, I mean Perry and 2 other guys and THEN Lucas.

I don't think he doesn't care. He yanks guys for silly turnovers all the time. The problem is that our team is so young that EVERYONE was committing those turnovers. He can only yank them so many times.

I think Self got really discouraged a few games into the conference season, because he seemed to change his demeanor a bit. I think he gave up a little bit.

He'll refocus in the offseason, get a couple of recruits and come back with a fire that translates to the entire team.

And then I'll wake up :(

Mason simply logged a ton of min. Silly is you suggesting he's superior to Ellis and not factoring the minute differential.

I'm not buying the youth argument. Nearly every team he's had (incl 2008) had bad turnover numbers.

people forget that Marty was a helluva coach

He believed in running a system and expecting his players to fit to his system.

No flash,trickery or much deception. He didn't think scheme or coaching tricks won or lost games. He thought you lined up and that players won by imposing their will upon the opponent. Every team knew that Marty was going to run on 1st down. They knew he was going to be conservative and play field position.

He took many a team during a 'down year' and made them into a very solid team through dedication to his scheme and sheer determination.

Marty won a ton of games with this basic approach.

A salt-of-the-earth type coach who was respected as a man as well as a coach.

consistency was his trademark

There was also a price to be paid for such scheme. He lost some top end potential to his teams to prevent any drastic lows. By fitting players to his scheme instead of the scheme to his player, you limited the highs as well as the lows. Great in the regular season but not nearly as effective against higher talent and coaching in the playoffs.

Now exchange the name Marty for Bill and the football reference for basketball and it fits almost perfectly. Yes, Self won a championship while Marty did not. Other than that they are very similar in they way they go about doing their jobs.

Myles Turner declares for the NBA draft. No shock.

“@EvanDaniels: Bill Self will meet with Mike Thorne's parents today, per a source. Charlotte transfer. One year of eligibility and can play right away.”

So we have 2 scholarships now and will likely have 1 or 2 more after people declare?

Use them all on bigs.

Rumors going around that Texas will make a phone call to Bill Self. Don't waste your time, Texas.

They just as well send the Brinks truck to Wichita.