The night is dark and full of sophomores. We were due a down year, but it's back to hunting banners.
Thread to be updated as new developments emerge.
RETURNING PLAYERS:
Spoiler!
#35 Udoka Azubuike - Sr.
#44 Mitch Lightfoot - Sr.
#0 Marcus Garrett - Jr.
#22 Silvio De Sousa - Jr. (!!!!!)
#11 Devon Dotson - Soph.
#30 Ochai Agbaji - Soph.
#33 David McCormack - Soph.
#12 Chris Teahan - Jr.
#20 Garrett Luinstra - Soph.
#10 Elijah Elliott - Soph.
LEAVING PLAYERS:
Spoiler!
#1 Dedric Lawson - DRAFT
#13 K.J. Lawson - TRANSFER
#2 Charlie Moore - CRUSHED BY A DWARF
#5 Quentin Grimes - TRANSFER
INCOMING PLAYERS:
Spoiler!
SF Jalen Wilson****
6'8" 215 lbs
47 NATIONAL
9 POSITION
SF Christian Braun ****
6'6" 180lb
90 NATIONAL
24 POSITION
SF Tristan Enaruna ****
6'9" 205lb
44 NATIONAL
25 POSITION
TRANSFER Isaiah Moss
SENIOR
6'5" 208lb
IMPORTANT GAMES:
Spoiler!
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University of Kansas Athletics
2019-20 Men's Basketball Schedule
Subject to change. All times Central.
NOV 5 (TUE) TBA VS DUKE STATE FARM CHAMPIONS CLASSIC
NEW YORK, N.Y. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
MAUI INVITATIONAL
ESPN
NOV 25 (MON) - NOV 27 (WED) vs TBD MAUI INVITATIONAL
LAHAINA, HAWAII LAHAINA CIVIC CENTER
DEC 21 (SAT) AT VILLANOVA
VILLANOVA, PA. WELLS FARGO ARENA
DEC 29 (SUN) AT STANFORD
STANFORD, CALIF. MAPLES PAVILION
PHILLIPS 66 BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
MAR 11 (WED) VS TBA
BIG 12 FIRST ROUND
KANSAS CITY, MO. SPRINT CENTER
MAR 12 (THU) VS TBA
BIG 12 QUARTERFINAL
KANSAS CITY, MO. SPRINT CENTER
MAR 13 (FRI) VS TBA
BIG 12 SEMIFINAL
KANSAS CITY, MO. SPRINT CENTER
MAR 14 (SAT) VS TBA
BIG 12 FINAL
KANSAS CITY, MO. SPRINT CENTER
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
MAR 19 (THU)
MAR 20 (FRI)
NCAA FIRST ROUND
ALBANY, N.Y. / SPOKANE, WASH. / ST. LOUIS, MO. / TAMPA, FLA. / GREENSBORO, N.C. / OMAHA, NEB. / SACRAMENTO, CALIF. / CLEVELAND, OHIO
MAR 21 (SAT) MAR 22 (SUN)
CBS / TURNER
NCAA SECOND ROUND
ALBANY, N.Y. / SPOKANE, WASH. / ST. LOUIS, MO. / TAMPA, FLA. / GREENSBORO, N.C. / OMAHA, NEB. / SACRAMENTO, CALIF. / CLEVELAND, OHIO
MAR 26 (THU) MAR 27 (FRI)
NCAA SWEET SIXTEEN
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. / LOS ANGELES, CALIF. / HOUSTON, TEXAS / NEW YORK, N.Y.
MAR 28 (SAT) MAR 29 (SUN)
NCAA ELITE EIGHT
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. / LOS ANGELES, CALIF. / HOUSTON, TEXAS / NEW YORK, N.Y.
APR 4 (SAT)
NCAA FINAL FOUR
ATLANTA, GA. MERCEDES-BENZ STADIUM
Originally Posted by smithandrew051:
My all time Kansas lineup of my favorite players (only from my lifetime-born in 1989).
PG-Frank Mason: tough as hell. Competitor. Smart. Fearless.
SG-Kirk Hinrich: such a smooth player. Seemed to be good at everything. Gritty competitor.
SF-Paul Pierce: my first favorite player.
PF-Nick Collison: probably my favorite player ever. Dude deserved a title. Named my son Collison.
C-Joel Embiid: most gifted player I’ve ever seen at Kansas. Go watch the game at Iowa State. Niang looked completely helpless when trying to defend Embiid.
Originally Posted by RealSNR:
Nobody from the 2008 Title team?
Hell, nobody from ANY title team?
To be fair those 07 and 08 teams were really really deep teams. But nobody was super elite talent. Rush was supposed to be. Charmers did a lot of remarkable things. Collins was a spark plug. The beautiful thing about that team was that anybody could carry a load. Compared to the next year if Aldrich or Collins had a bad game it was going to be an L.
I don’t think there is any way Robinson’s not my 4. There is a ton of hard decisions to get it to 5. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RealSNR:
Nobody from the 2008 Title team?
Hell, nobody from ANY title team?
Buehler said it best. That 2008 team was all about the team. Not as much about the individual talent, and probably because there was so much talent on that one. [Reply]
Originally Posted by smithandrew051:
Buehler said it best. That 2008 team was all about the team. Not as much about the individual talent, and probably because there was so much talent on that one.
Reminded me of those Billy Donovan Florida teams [Reply]
Originally Posted by smithandrew051:
My all time Kansas lineup of my favorite players (only from my lifetime-born in 1989).
PG-Frank Mason: tough as hell. Competitor. Smart. Fearless.
SG-Kirk Hinrich: such a smooth player. Seemed to be good at everything. Gritty competitor.
SF-Paul Pierce: my first favorite player.
PF-Nick Collison: probably my favorite player ever. Dude deserved a title. Named my son Collison.
C-Joel Embiid: most gifted player I’ve ever seen at Kansas. Go watch the game at Iowa State. Niang looked completely helpless when trying to defend Embiid.
I like this, but as much as i love mason, i probably would swap him out for jacque vaughn.
Vaughn, at least how i remember it, was a lock-down defender. Similar styles with getting to the rim....mason probably had a better 3 ball, but vaughn could carry the team, or drop 10 assists.....with the stellar d.
Originally Posted by DJJasonp:
I like this, but as much as i love mason, i probably would swap him out for jacque vaughn.
Vaughn, at least how i remember it, was a lock-down defender. Similar styles with getting to the rim....mason probably had a better 3 ball, but vaughn could carry the team, or drop 10 assists.....with the stellar d.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Milt Newton and Danny Manning would have to be on my list as well as one of my alltime favorites Julian Wright! [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJJasonp:
I like this, but as much as i love mason, i probably would swap him out for jacque vaughn.
Vaughn, at least how i remember it, was a lock-down defender. Similar styles with getting to the rim....mason probably had a better 3 ball, but vaughn could carry the team, or drop 10 assists.....with the stellar d.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
I'm sorry, but #BIFM was a better defender than Vaughn, because he was stronger and more aggressive. His on the ball defense was outstanding. And Mason was a better shooter and driver. Vaughn was a very good pass-first-pass-second-in-fact-just-pass-point guard, but overall Mason was just better.
In his senior year Mason averaged 5 assists a game, and he played 3 years with a second point guard playing the 2. If he had played with a true SG for 3 years instead of Graham, his career assists total would be much higher.
Originally Posted by smithandrew051:
My all time Kansas lineup of my favorite players (only from my lifetime-born in 1989).
PG-Frank Mason: tough as hell. Competitor. Smart. Fearless.
SG-Kirk Hinrich: such a smooth player. Seemed to be good at everything. Gritty competitor.
SF-Paul Pierce: my first favorite player.
PF-Nick Collison: probably my favorite player ever. Dude deserved a title. Named my son Collison.
C-Joel Embiid: most gifted player I’ve ever seen at Kansas. Go watch the game at Iowa State. Niang looked completely helpless when trying to defend Embiid.
That's a strong lineup. I have been a KU fan since I was 15, or the year 1986. I have seen nearly every game broadcast on television, either live or recorded, since 1986, and many, many games in AFH. I missed about 4 non-con exhibition games, and I could have watched all of them after the fact, but I just didn't feel the need to watch us beat Washburn by 30. And of course there were games in the late 80s that just weren't on TV.
Here is my favorite player lineup, and I will put honorable mentions in parenthesis. These are my favorites, not necessarily the best. Some players may be listed at 2 positions. Like Mario, Devonte', and Kirk. Kirk was the SG to Miles' PG, Devonte' was the SG to Mason's PG, etc.
PG: My favorite is none other than #BIFM. He is also my all time favorite Jayhawk, because of how hard he worked, the player he made himself into, and his passion for the game and for the Jayhawks. Just imagine, he was in a recruiting class with Selden, Embiid, and Wiggins. If you had a gun to your head at the beginning of their Freshman year, and you had to pick the player out of those 4 who would be the consensus POTY during their career, it would have never been Frank Mason (Kirk, D'Tae, TT, Collins, Reed)
SG: Devonte' Graham. I know that this choice may appear to be suffer from recency bias, but D'Tae was just so damn likeable, had so much fun playing the game, and was a part of some of the best KU games in history. (Mario, EJ, Kirk, Collins, Haase, T-Rele)
SF: Paul Pierce. Some may say he was a SG, but I think his game was clearly that of a wing player. He wasn't the fastest, the highest jumper, or even an athletic leaper, but he was always just enough of those things when he had to be. He was one of just a handful of players that were truly held back by Roy Williams' system. Many players that Roy had could have scored more in a different offensive system, but PP was the kind of player that could have led the nation in scoring if given the right opportunity and system. (T-Rele, Newton, The Moori, The Fro Kevin Young, Wright and Keith Langford, who was a very close #2 for this position. In all my years of watching KU, there have only been 2-3 players who could get rim with anywhere close to the ease with which K-Freeze could.)
PF: Danny Manning. This one is an absolute no-brainer. (The only other plausible candidate for this position is Nick Collison, and the only other plausible candidate for the position of the only other plausible candidate is T-Rob. You follow me?) Danny could do everything on the court. He had skills that were nearly 2 decades ahead of their time. His defense improved every year he was here, he was a tremendously instinctual rebounder, and the man could flat out score. And then score some more. At one time he was 10th on the NCAA D-1 all time scoring list. He led KU to two Final Fours, and dominated the 88 National Championship game. Until Frank Mason, Danny was my all time favorite Jayhawk. (LaFrentz, The Moori, Perry, Alonzo Jamison, and of course Collison. T-Rob holds a place in my heart for the way he battled through losing his Grandparents and Mother. And he worked so hard to make himself a great player. He was absolutely EFFING ROBBED for POTY in his Junior season. He averaged 18 and 12, and was the best player in the nation, but the Unibrow stole the awards because of his NBA potential, and the fact that he played for Kentucky. If he had the exact same year for any other team, T-Rob is National Player of the Year in 2012. Nick Collison was just relentless in everything he did on the court, if we needed him to score, he would lead the team in scoring. Same with rebounding, or defending the opponent's best big, etc.)
C: My heart says Jeff Withey, because of his rim protection, the fact that he inspired one of the greatest selfie trends, and inspired one of the greatest fake Twitter accounts of all time. But.......... This is a tough one for me. If Embiid had played more than one year, or played in the NCAA Tournament, he would probably be my favorite Center. He is absolutely the most talented Center in my lifetime. But he just didn't play enough games in a KU uniform. Then there is The Big O, who was goofy, and likeable, and an incredible rim protector. And there is Cole, who had one of the single greatest performances as a Freshman when he outplayed the college POTY in whiny Tyler Hansbrough. And then there is Withey, who could dominate a game defensively at the rim in a way that maybe, maybe no one outside of Wilt has ever done at KU. He helped lead KU to the National Championship game, and was robbed of the single game, and Tournament record for blocks by a piss-poor official scorer. I don't think I can pick a favorite center.
I am sure that there are some players that I am just not remembering at the moment, but I feel very good about this list of favorite Jayhawks by position.
Originally Posted by DJJasonp:
I like this, but as much as i love mason, i probably would swap him out for jacque vaughn.
Vaughn, at least how i remember it, was a lock-down defender. Similar styles with getting to the rim....mason probably had a better 3 ball, but vaughn could carry the team, or drop 10 assists.....with the stellar d.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Vaughn benefitted from having elite talent around him most his time at KU. He wasnt a good shooter.
Frank got better as he got older. Vaughn pretty much stayed the same.
Yes he was a good defender but at pg you need someone who can score and that's Frank [Reply]
Withey I don’t think belongs on that list. His rim protection was probably all time best but offensively he was painful. Aldrich is the better player despite being seemingly half as long.
I think people understate TROB. That team he was on had nothing. He was triple teamed a LOT. Many players through KUs history have put up points because the opponent had to worry about other scorers. That team was Taylor (who’s be in the running if Mason and Graham didn’t exist). And TROB. And TROB had no bad games (that I can remember). He just abused double teams all night long. In the history CF has posted he’s probably not above Manning but is close IMO. He was a man machine and really all we had. And I’m convinced that the block of that Mizzouche punk broke them and then they lost to Norfolk State. :-)
Small plug for Releford. He doesn’t belong on the list, he just couldn’t score well enough. But god damn I love that dude. His on the ball defense might be the best that’s ever played here. I’m a sucker for good hard nosed defense and he brought it every week. He would just destroy better athletes. And when we got fouls in the post Self put him down there and he shut down dudes that had 6” on him. One of the favorite stories I’ve heard Self tell was they had some recruit in for practice that was running his mouth about how he’d get minutes right now and blah blah blah. Self said “listen, if I tell Travis not to let you get the ball you won’t.” He didn’t. I was in the tractor laughing my ass off. [Reply]