same for scheme

When you spend all year doing nothing but run the basics, by the end of the year other teams have polished more than just the basics. We came out strong but have a lower ceiling. Other teams may struggle early but end up with more options by the end.

sacrificing upside for consistency is a Bill Self standard

Diallo and Bragg are both very flawed basketball players right now who don't have much of a clue what they're doing, so from the strict standpoint of just winning this game, you can justify sitting them down. The only way that changes in the future, though, is if you play them and they work out their issues on the court. Otherwise, you're just going be stuck with the same soft, weak low ceiling front court in Ellis, Lucas, and Traylor that they had last year at the end.

I absolutely do not disagree with you or BigRedChief. I'm just saying it's been a trend over the years. Bill isn't oblivious to the fact that Bragg and Diallo are much more talented than the fodder that is Lucas and Traylor. I just think Bill uses the early season as a learning process for the young guys. I've noticed, when the freshmen are on the bench, they are on their feet and cheering and supporting the team no matter what. They all have tremendous attitudes thus far. Their time is coming. And it will make this team better. One of the best in the country.

In Self's defense, he has been pretty consistent about not getting complicated with schemes until conference season. He'd rather have the players get better by working on the basics than letting scheme cover up flaws early in the year.

Pretty sure that's a message to Diallo to get to ****ing work. He does that a lot. I wouldn't worry about shit he says before Christmas.

As far as Lucas, he made some nice plays and played good D. Granted those guys weren't all that good but he was getting stops when Diallo Bragg weren't. So by measure of worth, Lucas deserved the minutes. I can't really say the same for Traylor.

Speaking of Traylor, someone said Cliff should have got his minutes because he was more efficient. The reason he was so efficient is because Traylor could get him the ball. Cliff could absolutely under no circumstance score with his back to the basket. That's insane. Traylor had some moves down there. They weren't good but he could at least make dudes work. Then he would look for Cliff. Cliff deserves respect for finding the spot but his numbers were due in large part to Traylor.

Someone mentioned how can self get talent if lesser dudes get the minutes. Self's position is that you have to work to get the minutes. He won't reward a dude for loafing. Which I can appreciate because defense is about effort. And it is pretty infrequent that teams win championships without getting stops.

All that being said, I would prefer to see Bragg and Diallo. I'm not sure how I'd feel if we would have dumped the game (we probably would have without Lucas' D and rebounding.

But to out and out bash Self is pretty crazy. I don't want to go back to in disciplined ball.

Did you watch the game?

I agree that Bragg and Diallo have flaws in their game. But, they are some of the top talent in the country. You must allow them to develop into their tremendous upside. They are both probably one and done. We can't wait till next year. Thats just from a KU BB fan perspective. From a top 10 high school talent prespective, why would I come to KU and ride the bench?

I love Self. No one can dispute he is one of the top 3 coaches in college BB. Every coach has flaws. This pattern of making our top 10 talent in the country ride the bench is his.

This is my first year watching KU basketball.

You'll love it, they win all of their conference games and the conference tournament -- so there's no reason to ever freak out -- which all starts with stellar 3 point defense and taking a lot of outside shots. In the rare event they are down at halftime though, just turn it off and go do something else.

ROFL

That's good. As long as we have great 3 point defense we'll be good. But, it's nice to know that I can simply turn the game off if we have a bad first half, I got things to do right after I demand that bill self be fired immediately.

Sounds like they always win the national championship.

All true, 95% of the teams in the country would kill for the consistency Self provides.


at what cost to upside though?

OK, how do I watch this tonight ?

WED, DECEMBER 9 7 P.M.
HOLY CROSS
LAWRENCE, KAN. ALLEN FIELDHOUSE
TV: JAYHAWK TV/ESPN3

I do not see it listed on ESPN3 tonight !

Why do they blackout KU BB games when they sell out every game and have a long waiting list for season tickets?

It's not a blackout, it's an exclusive deal with TWC, just like putting TNF games on NFLN or playoff baseball on MLBN.

Now, why you want some extra money at the expense of local fans... :shrug: