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Cliff Alexander vs Karl Towns

Cats192

All-American
Apr 22, 2011
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I don't remember ALL of the specifics. But while they were in HS, they came up against each other. Alexander got the better of Towns. When asked about it--Towns was impressed with Alexander's explosiveness. He said he needed to work on his own.

Alexander wound up 4th in Rivals final rankings. KAT was 5th.

Tonight, Towns goes 1st overall. Alexander undrafted.
 
Cliff proved to be a one trick pony in his semester at Kansas. Karl developed into a fully rounded player with face up/ post up skills. Towns also made huge strides defensively throughout the season. Towns seemed to embrace the hard work and challenges presented by cal and the staff. As for Alexander he always came off as a bit unfocused and lazy. Imho
 
I don't remember ALL of the specifics. But while they were in HS, they came up against each other. Alexander got the better of Towns. When asked about it--Towns was impressed with Alexander's explosiveness. He said he needed to work on his own.

Alexander wound up 4th in Rivals final rankings. KAT was 5th.

Tonight, Towns goes 1st overall. Alexander undrafted.
Lets call it the Self Effect!
 
I don't remember ALL of the specifics. But while they were in HS, they came up against each other. Alexander got the better of Towns. When asked about it--Towns was impressed with Alexander's explosiveness. He said he needed to work on his own.

Alexander wound up 4th in Rivals final rankings. KAT was 5th.

Tonight, Towns goes 1st overall. Alexander undrafted.


Alexander vs Towns ??? When will this happen? Karl going to play in Cliff's church league or something? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
 
Kansas fans are twisting Cal's words to say he'd rather put kids in the NBA than win championships.

I guess Self would rather lose early to Wichita State, Bucknell, Bradley, Stanford, Virginia Commonwealth, Northern Iowa, etc. etc. than put kids in the NBA.

It's hard to imagine if he'd put more time into developing his players and making KU a players-first program that he'd have had even more embarrassing flame outs than he's already rolled up. So maybe he should try it.
 
Alexander is like a lot of highly ranked players coming out of HS. They are 6'9", strong, and dunk over a bunch of weaker kids, making them look great. Then they get to college, only have a "back to the basket" game, and at 6'9", their game just doesn't equate to the NBA. Some can work and become skilled enough to become a PF, and others, like Alexander, try to get by with what they brought from HS. Doesn't look like Self ever tried to develop him for future success, and you can't fool NBA scouts.
 
Cliff proved to be a one trick pony in his semester at Kansas. Karl developed into a fully rounded player with face up/ post up skills. Towns also made huge strides defensively throughout the season. Towns seemed to embrace the hard work and challenges presented by cal and the staff. As for Alexander he always came off as a bit unfocused and lazy. Imho


^^^Right there.

KAT is an actions-speak-louder-than-words type, with a great attitude and work ethic. He seemed that way from the start. What a great kid!
 
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It's not just Cliff Alexander, it's also Xavier Henry & Josh Shelby. The question now is whose career will Bill Self take his wrecking ball to next. Will it be Carlton Bragg or Cheick Diallo? Or maybe both.
 
So far Markieff Morris is the only non-Wiggins player from the Self era you can say has come anywhere close to meeting or exceeding what they should have been as an NBA player, and he is nothing close to special by any means at all.

Wiggins is basically the only elite guy Self has gotten at Kansas that has amounted to anything in the league.
 
Don't forget all those folks who were raving about Devin Booker as an NBA prospect coming out of high school. It's not like he was some under the radar guy like Kelly Oubre.

Oubre was far from under the radar. He was rated higher than Booker by most people.
 
Like i said in another thread..If you have an offer from both UK and
ku..why in the world would you pick Self over Cal ..that's beyond me..Noway would i pick Ku if i was a 5* recruit....Same for UL ..The amount of top 10 recruits that are busts at KU is insane
 
Oubre and Booker both got drafted around the same position. Now, Oubre didn't look great and his stock dropped a slight bit, but he's not a good example here.
 
can't wait to hear the excuses when Bragg is a second round pick in 2018.
 
In all my years (and I'm OLD), I can't remember UK kids giving credit to their coach like this class has done to Cal. Not Coach Rupp or Joe B or Rick.
 
First off I am glad there was already a post on this topic, and more importantly I am glad I saw it before I created a new, redundant one.

I don't want to get into Cliff's situation because I feel bad for him, but I want to use his example to make my point. You hear all the time when people discuss recruiting that "if X goes to (insert non-blue blood school) he will still be a top 10 draft pick because he is a top 5 recruit." Cliff Alexander is living proof that claim is not true. Cliff even got the privilege of going to a top program, and still didn't get the benefit of his prep career successes when NBA GMs were making their picks.

The majority of the media and rival fans will never admit that Cal, and his staff, do a great job of player development. For those who very closely follow recruiting and college basketball you see numerous players each year that are "sure fire one and done's" who become multiple year players and in some cases never make it the next level.

I live in Jacksonville, FL where Patric Young is from. He was for sure going to be a one-and-done. He ended up playing 4 years at UF, didn't get drafted and played last season in Turkey.

J.P. Tokoto, to my knowledge he was also supposed to be one-and-done, just finished his Junior year and UNC was among the last 5 picks of this years draft.

It amazes me how Cal can turn under the one-and-done radar into first round picks, and in many cases lottery picks. The NBA doesn't really care all that much about what you did in high school, if you don't at least somewhat back it up in college. UK has done a good job of not "ruining" recruits reputation, and I feel that the recruits that truly understand that will continue to attend UK (or Duke).
 
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