It's just a part of being young and inexperienced. I wouldn't worry about it as a long-term thing that will affect him in the NBA (where the effect is limited anyway by the 6th foul).

Also remember how the Morrises and TRob couldn't play more than a minute without picking up a bad foul during their freshman years. Embiid is at least far better off than that and he's honestly gotten better at it since the beginning of the season.

Morris.
Morris.
Robinson.

All of them went on to play lots of minutes.

The one that surprises me is Black. There are lots of times the dude puts his arms straight up in the air, doesn't jump and still gets it called. I'm not bitching because Black has had enough dumbass fouls that he's fairly useless anyway, it's just surprising what he gets called for sometimes.

Beat me to it. He has gotten a lot better. He's not swinging nearly as much towards the offensive player, he's going at it towards the basket more and more, like Withey did. And his positioning has been significantly improved. He's getting better.

Yeah...I was talking within the context of a single season. I don't see him returning when he looks a hell of a lot like the top pick in the draft from where I'm sitting.

It seems like its going to be up to Self to "protect" him" via scheme rather than teach him how to avoid fouling. Obviously, you can do both, but the former is likely to be more effective than the latter when you only have 2+ months left with the guy.

Fair enough. You could argue the Morrises got better their junior seasons, but your point is valid. However, he has improved a LOT. He did finish the day with 5 blocks and logged 26 minutes. Only Wiggins and Tharpe logged more minutes. I'd say that is a significant improvement over where he was at the start. I don't think you'll ever see the Withey type performances where he'd end the game with <2 fouls, but he is getting better.

As far as your edit, Self isn't one to make sweeping changes, particularly defensively.

If Self doesn't reign in Tharpe, Mason, Wiggins and Selden firing up threes then he will continue to get stung in these close losses. KU has a very good low post offense and probably the best transition offense. If he continues to allow bad shooters to continue firing bricks, he will continue to lose games he shouldn't.

It will be interesting to see how this year affects Self's recruiting strategy going forward. I think he's nuts for going after a bunch of one and done kids simply because his strength as a coach is player development, particularly over the course of several seasons. Whereas Calipari basically puts in a simplified scheme and rolls the ball out on the court relying on talent to overwhelm teams, Self earns his stripes during practices.

When you've got a bunch of one year players, you don't have have time to build them from the ground up, and that neutralizes Self's biggest strength. If Cal is my coach, give me a bunch of five star freshmen over four star seniors. If Self is my coach, give me the seniors every day of the week.

It really makes me wonder if Self enjoys this team the way he obviously loved coaching some of his more veteran-laden teams of the past. I don't get the sense that many college coaches have the stomach for the mercenary approach. So much of coaching is about the relationships with the kids and watching them grow as people and players. Calipari doesn't care about senior night. He cares about the draft...but he's not a college coach at heart. He's an NBA guy. All the rumors over the years notwithstanding, I think Self is a college lifer.

If this team loses in the sweet sixteen or something, do you think he tries to focus on three and four year players for 2016 and beyond?

He's already signed #3 and #10 in the upcoming class and is a finalist for #2 so that probably answers your question on what his recruiting strategy is.

What part of "2016 and beyond" confused you?

Your posts are normally so stupid I only skim them. So don't blame me for not reading their entirety. Given Self has always recruited the best players he could knowing they'd leave early (even back to his days at IL), your whole thesis is dumb from the beginning.

Yes, PB. Your stupidity is somehow my shortcoming...

I think, like any other coach, Bill Self will take the best talent he can get and let the pieces fall where they may.

I think Tharpe is a pretty good player, he just does such dumb shit. Why do you walk the ball up court and take a three with ****ing 30 seconds on the shot clock and not even one pass. How as a Junior do you keep doing these things. If he would just play like he did against Toledo, take the open shots, facilitate the offense, make clean crisp passes he would be a very good player for us.

Self's strategy has always been to recruit the best players. He doesn't care if they're one and done or not. Just get the best players you can get. It helps recruiting when you get the players he and Cal gets so continue doing it. Where the coaching shows up (not saying it hasn't or won't with the one and done guys) is with the guys that end up staying three or four years. That's why he's a better coach than Cal. He is the best of both worlds whereas Cal can only do it with a fab five and luck into a couple juniors or seniors staying on.