At least not in the past couple of months... late January, they were another soft early-exit type of team. Considering the 20 point loss @OSU and falling apart at Iowa State, they've perhaps made the biggest turnaround in terms of toughness and getting their shit together post non-conference than any other Self team.

Rating them against a team like 2011-12 is TBD, but there's definitely a lot more confidence they can pull games out of their ass if they aren't playing well or if they're down late... the transformation has been awesome to watch, that's for sure.

yeah, it's probably hyperbole...but in terms of guys knowing their roles and buying in completely, this is one of the best...which makes it so fun to watch

and they shoot 3s like maybe no self team ever has, not just percentages but as a focus of the offense

mason, graham, selden is the best backcourt we've had in ages

I think it is funny people still want to talk shit on perry ellis getting garbage points and being soft. All he does is post people up and drop acid on them then backs up and makes it rain jumpers all day in clutch situations.

Yeah, I've been tough on him, but he's developed toughness. And he's been better defensively. I don't care what anybody says.

man those look like great seats.:clap:

11-12 is possibly my favorite KU team I've ever watched. I like them even more than the 08 team just in terms of watching them work together.

That being said, I think this current KU team is better. They are stacked and deep as hell. The 11-12 team had better starters who played better defense, but they had to be really careful with fouls. Kevin Young was great off the bench, and Justin Wesley could be worked with. After them, you had a freshman Naadir Tharpe, who definitely improved around the tournament, and then... Connor Teahan.

Their bench was basically two deep, and didn't give you much option of going small without using Teahan, which defeats the purpose of going small on offense.

Even if the 15-16 Jayhawks lose in the next round, they need to be considered as one of Self's top 3 teams, at least until he fields a better team that knocks them out.

His offense has really solidified the consistency he needed to be leaned on. Early on I'd just want to pull my damn hair out because we'd be needing a basket and throw him the ball in good position, he'd make a good move, embarrass fools and then doink the bunny shot. JFC that was maddening. Another good thing he's doing offensively is taking what dudes give him. He doesn't force shots or force drives. If they play off he pops it in their eye. If they cover out he puts it on the deck and embarrasses fools. If the double comes hard he hits the open guy. If the double is soft he can go opposite or split them. He's always been talented but he's seeing the floor well and making outstanding decisions.

His defense is better too. I remember the Baylor game when Gaethers would score on him every time and Scott Drew inexplicably abandoned that game plan to try to isolate his guards against Perry, which he had good enough feet to defend. It doesn't seem like he's been taken to the woodshed like Rico did recently. Maybe he hasn't played any monsters like him, but his defense is better.

His rebounding instincts are better too. I don't think you can expect him to climb the ladder and get the tough physical rebounds that Lucas does (thank Christ he started doing that) but seeing the shot and anticipating the bounce is working well.

All in all Perry is seeing the game damn masterfully now and has been one of our most consistent players. While he has eliminated some of the softness in his game, a good bit of it is technique and not necessarily using his superior strength and athletic ability like say a Gaethers would.

I also have to give him credit for playing through some pain. It was obvious at the end of the Big 12 that coaches had coached up their players to take the gloves off with Perry and he sustained some abuse. He played through it all and continued to embarrass fools.

Really proud of Ellis. I'm still disappointed he didn't develop some toughness like a TRob, but that's not in some guys' makeup. He's probably a good enough offensive player to overcome that though and still be leaned on to lead a pretty BAMF team.

Id probably rank in this order

08 national champ team
09 10 team that lost to northern Iowa
This year's team
The Morris twins final season
The national champ runner up team

Perry always needed a big opposite him to do yhe dirty work. Once Lucas emerged as that, perry has been awesome.

The 08 team was head and shoulders the best team Self had. They were the best college team I've ever seen until the UK team that beat TRob. I'm not sure which team is better but they're close.

Then I think the 10 team that NIU knocked out was probably next. Collins Aldrich Morisses were pretty ****ing nasty.

Then TRob and Tyshawn weren't very talented outside of those two, but mother****er that was a good team. They'd beat anyone any time any place. **** everybody. Those guys won. Until they hit that UK team.

I imagine the 07 team with the same guys less Sherron is somewhere in the top 4. Maybe you can mix them in with the 08 team but they probably would have won the whole thing if UCLA didn't get a home game with refs that allowed rugby.

Then I think you can look at this team. Maybe we're underrating these guys because they won the best conference in the nation by 2 games and have been playing damn fine basketball for a long time now. I think some of it is that guys like Selden, Greene, and Graham will blow the **** up one night and then disappear for a few games. It's hard to say they're as good as TRob and TT because those guys did it every game. Mostly because that's all KU had to work with. This team has enough pieces that can beat you at any time. If they were all clicking all the time they may have never lost but this is a good team. Just not the same as the others, he'll not necessarily the same game to game.

This is a very good assessment of Self's teams. This current team being so deep is going to give the 08 team a good run for their money. But 08, current, then so on.

FWIW, I mentioned after the OU 3 OT game that I felt this team was going to win it all.

This team is the best team statistically since 2010. I'd take 2010 (Aldrich, Collins, Morrises, Taylor, Henry, EJ, TRob) against any Self team other than 2008...they were a ridiculously good team.

FWIW you've said this about fifty ****ing times. We get it

Don't take it personal, so many of our Jayhawk brethren seems to of lost faith during the long regular season, it's a brutal season with many ups and downs. This embraced the challenges when the going got rough, they are a confident bunch now when the season is on the line.

You are correct, I inadvertently left off the 2010 team, they are between the 08 and this current team.