Will update as people declare for the draft/transfer/commit
ROSTER:
Spoiler!
RETURNING PLAYERS
G Devonte Graham - Sr.
F Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk - Sr.
G Malik Newman - Jr.
G Legerald Vick - Jr.
F Udoka Azubuike - soph.
F Mitch Lightfoot - soph
INCOMING PLAYERS
F Billy Preston - Fr.
6'9" - 240 lb
G Sam Cunliffe - Soph (eligible after first semester)
6'6" - 200 lb
BONUS:
His sister:
G Marcus Garrett - Fr.
6'5" - 180lb
F Jack Whitman - SR.
6'9" - 220 lb
BYE BYE
Frank Mason, National player of the year
Landen Lucas, chased a rebound all the way to Europe
Josh Jackson, Can't wait to be a Boston Celtic Phoenix Sun.
Carlton Bragg, Crazy bitch antics
Dwight Coleby, Transfers gonna transfer, good luck.
UPDATE: Important new dates:
Kansas 2017 Summer Tour - Italy
Spoiler!
Originally Posted by : Wednesday, August 2, 6:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. Central)
Kansas vs. Stella Azzurra, HSC (Rome)
Thursday, August 3, 6:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. Central)
Kansas vs. Players Group, HSC (Rome)
Saturday, August 5, 7 p.m. (Noon Central)
Kansas vs. Players Group, PalaSport Enrico Somaschini
Sunday, August 6, 7 p.m. (Noon Central)
Kansas vs. Italy All Star A2, PalaSport Enrico Somaschini
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
15 missed devonte shots is like 10 wasted trips, assuming the standard 65-79 def rebounding %. Dok blew what, 4 possessions?
Devonte is an all league guy but wasn't his night.
Devonte playing the rare awful game can't be helped, Udoka missing FTs as is his custom can't be helped. What can be helped is the coach making a rational decision at the end of the game instead of what he chose to do instead. [Reply]
Originally Posted by KC_Connection:
Devonte playing the rare awful game can't be helped, Udoka missing FTs as is his custom can't be helped. What can be helped is the coach making a rational decision at the end of the game instead of what he chose to do instead.
exactly. Players have off nights. Doke has made it clear that he can't shoot free throws. [Reply]
Originally Posted by KC_Connection:
Admitting "defeat" in that instance means telling Lon Kruger and everyone else that it is a viable strategy to foul Udoka at the end of the game. Self apparently was willing to risk this game to show it wasn't, but it blew up completely in his face. He'll be faced with the same issue again in an upcoming game (almost certainly in a NCAA tournament game) and you'd hope the decision will be different. It's not like it's a particularly hard decision to make.
I was thinking about this on the way to work. Perhaps he should just let Dok play even when he's in foul trouble. If he fouls out, KU would be in better shape because no hak-a-Dok. [Reply]
Originally Posted by KC_Connection:
Devonte playing the rare awful game can't be helped, Udoka missing FTs as is his custom can't be helped. What can be helped is the coach making a rational decision at the end of the game instead of what he chose to do instead.
I agree. However, Devonte needs to stop shooting 3s from way outside when he his shot isn't on. He did that a couple of times late instead of driving it. That's poor awareness. Other than his shooting (and shot selection) he had a decent game. [Reply]
Originally Posted by cmh6476:
I woke up this morning still pissed off.
I think your not alone. On anyone's top 5 coaches in college BB list, we have one. A true Hall of Famer.
We are not use to seeing him be so stupidly arrogant. He's a master at changing his strategy and plans to the players talent he has on his team, the floor at any given time or year. That strength made him a Hall of Famer.
We played like shit in those two losses at home, deserved to lose. Players make boneheaded decisions that cost us a game. But, we dont expect and are shocked when our Hall of Fame coach blows a winnable game when 99.99% of us realized that Doke needed to be pulled for the good of the team. [Reply]
Police called on suspicious person offering ‘free-throw advice’ at KU men’s basketball dorm
Posted by Sara Shepherd
January 24, 2018 at 5:40 p.m.
University of Kansas police were called to the men’s basketball dorm Wednesday afternoon, where a man reportedly kept showing up to give a resident there some “free-throw advice.”
The call about the man "wanting to give free-throw advice" came in about 3:30 p.m., but when police got to McCarthy Hall, the man — who's not a KU student — had already left, KU police Deputy Chief James Anguiano said. For that reason, at least as of about an hour after the call, police didn’t plan to file a trespassing or other criminal report, Anguiano said. (Radio traffic indicated the man had been there multiple times that day before the police were called, and may have come back again just before 5 p.m. Note: Subject's clothing description included a blue and red windbreaker.)
Anguiano said the name of the intended recipient of the man’s advice was not relayed to him by the officer on scene.
However...
In the final 3:37 of the KU’s 85-80 loss to Oklahoma Tuesday night in Norman, Oklahoma decided to repeatedly foul Udoka Azubuike, sophomore center from Nigeria, in hopes he’d miss his free throws. And*the strategy played out just like Oklahoma wanted.
Azubuike — shooting an abnormally low .375 from the free-throw line — went 1 for 8 in free-throw shooting for the game. In the final 3:37 he went 0 for 6.
— Journal-World and*kusports.com*staff contributed to this report. [Reply]
Police called on suspicious person offering ‘free-throw advice’ at KU men’s basketball dorm
Posted by Sara Shepherd
January 24, 2018 at 5:40 p.m.
University of Kansas police were called to the men’s basketball dorm Wednesday afternoon, where a man reportedly kept showing up to give a resident there some “free-throw advice.”
The call about the man "wanting to give free-throw advice" came in about 3:30 p.m., but when police got to McCarthy Hall, the man — who's not a KU student — had already left, KU police Deputy Chief James Anguiano said. For that reason, at least as of about an hour after the call, police didn’t plan to file a trespassing or other criminal report, Anguiano said. (Radio traffic indicated the man had been there multiple times that day before the police were called, and may have come back again just before 5 p.m. Note: Subject's clothing description included a blue and red windbreaker.)
Anguiano said the name of the intended recipient of the man’s advice was not relayed to him by the officer on scene.
However...
In the final 3:37 of the KU’s 85-80 loss to Oklahoma Tuesday night in Norman, Oklahoma decided to repeatedly foul Udoka Azubuike, sophomore center from Nigeria, in hopes he’d miss his free throws. And*the strategy played out just like Oklahoma wanted.
Azubuike — shooting an abnormally low .375 from the free-throw line — went 1 for 8 in free-throw shooting for the game. In the final 3:37 he went 0 for 6.
— Journal-World and*kusports.com*staff contributed to this report.
Self left Azubuike in the game during a stretch in which Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger employed a “Hack-A-Doke” tactic in which the Sooners fouled 37.5 percent free-throw shooter Azubuike on purpose, assuming he’d miss at the line.
“He said, ‘No, no you didn’t at all.’ I said, ‘I put you out there. I apologize for that, but I think you and I should get together and we’ve got to correct this don’t we?’ ”
“He said, ‘Yes we will.’ He said all the right things,” Self continued.
Self reiterated on Hawk Talk that he wants all the blame for Azubuike’s 1-of-8 free-throw performance against the Sooners.
“By no means anybody should be down on him,” Self said. “That should be all on me. I told the guys afterward (in the locker room), ‘Don’t even think twice about this one. This one’s on me because we did play enough to win.’ I certainly feel like my decision (to leave him in game late during Hack-A-Doke) obviously kept us from having the best chance to win with hindsight.
“I do know this in moving forward, and fans know this too, for us to really have a chance to have a really good team, Doke’s got to make free throws. It’s not a situation where you can sub him every time the other team is going to foul.
“They are all going to try to foul him. You think one scouting report says when he’s got a layup make sure you foul him and don’t give him an and-one? That’s every scouting report. He’s got to be able to do it. So he’s going to feel pressure the next time he goes to the line and the next time he goes to the line and the next time he goes to the line. He has to work through that.”
Self had reasons for leaving Azubuike, who has made 5 of 19 free throws in the last two games, in the Oklahoma contest late.
“Certainly we came up empty on that,” Self said. “What’s funny is they started the Hack-A-Shaq when the score was (KU) 78-76. When they finished it was 80-79, our favor. They gained one point on it because we got a stop every time they did it.
“I know most fans probably think I’m an idiot for not subbing him. If you did (think that) you would probably be in the majority with many of my family members,” he joked. “I don’t fault you for that at all. But it was kind of set up the way we wanted to.
“When they put Freeman (Matt, who had five fouls in 2 minutes) in to foul him, they took out their only rim protection (6-10 Jamuni McNeace). We can’t take out Doke because all they were running were ball screens and he’s our best ball screen defender. Mitch (Lightfoot) had a really good game but Mitch struggled with McNeace. As soon as Doke comes out, McNeace comes in. I made a bad play. I went on a hunch instead of percentages and that turned out not to be the smart decision.”
Self said he would continue to work with Azubuike on free throws — “We’ve had some bad free-throw shooters here. Who is our free-throw coach anyway? I guess it’s me,” he joked — but would not revamp Azubuike’s form at this point of the season.
As far as Azubuike maybe switching to an underhand style … Self said that’s been discussed but probably will not happen.
“You’ve got to understand, I don’t consider it. That would be something Doke would have to consider. If you want to lose a player fast, make him do something he doesn’t want to do,” Self said. “We have thought about that and talked about it. I’ve had people text me or call and said they shot it back in the ’50s that way and would be more than happy to come to work with us and even teach our staff how to shoot it, which probably would be pretty good because none of us ever shot that,” Self explained.
Self has discussed the underhand technique with coaching buddies.
“I called Jank (former assistant Tim Jankovich, head coach at SMU). He said, ‘That (underhand free throws) sounds good in theory.’ He said, ‘If I shot 1 percent from the free-throw line there’s no way they could get me to shoot it underhanded.’ I think in players’ minds they feel that would be something they shouldn’t do. I don’t want to say never. Maybe when you talk to Doke about some things he may say, ‘Yeah I’ll be more than happy to try that.’ ” [Reply]