Kansas
- Thread starter Kentucky_SportsX
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I feel like Exhibition games really tell you nothing. All they serve to do is tell you if your team is ready for the season, if they win.. but if they lose or look "meh", then it could be telling you the team is far off the mark and might struggle.
I remember about 10 years ago Tennessee beat a team like 125 to 40 in exhibition, and people started to pump them. Turns out it didn't mean anything as Tennessee went on to do just about nothing of note.
I've been relentlessly a Tennessee hater for the past 3 years. I called them the most overrated team in the country last year and got dogged on my homeboard. Their offense last year was to give it to Julian Phillips, let him go out of control into the lane, and hope for an OR-putback or Vescovi kick-out three. There were stretches where if you just didn't beat yourself, you easily beat Tennessee.
This year I think they've finally put it all together. Aidoo is much better than Plavsic (I actually think he could be a lottery guy when all is said and done), Knecht as someone said above could be in the SEC POTY conversation given they'll have to run the offense mostly through him, JJJ looked pretty good from deep, and that doesn't include a 30 YO Vescovi who is going to average 15 ppg & a bulldog in Zeigler who is one of the best on-ball defenders in the country.
From an outside perspective...they have everything...
...but, Barnes runs a style that is conducive to close games (slow & methodical offense, high-pressure defense). Any team that can drive and kick for a high percentage 3 will always have a chance.
what he said. UT will win 12 of thier first 13 games then lose 3 in a row in the SEC and end up 4th place. 1st will be a battle between Arkansas and UK IMO . Texas A&M and UT will be 3rd and 4th. UF 5th.
Looked like Dickenson tried to choke slam an Illinois player.
He's fitting in at KU nicely.
He's fitting in at KU nicely.
Kentucky's freshmen have to play like they were ranked, and up to their potential (in college, that is) for UK to beat teams like Kansas this year. Wagner and Edwards looked like 4-star recruits in the exhibition game against experienced players from Gtown College.
Losing to a Div 1 in an exhibition is one thing.....losing to a Div 2 or lower? That's never a good sign.
I feel like Exhibition games really tell you nothing. All they serve to do is tell you if your team is ready for the season, if they win.. but if they lose or look "meh", then it could be telling you the team is far off the mark and might struggle.
I remember about 10 years ago Tennessee beat a team like 125 to 40 in exhibition, and people started to pump them. Turns out it didn't mean anything as Tennessee went on to do just about nothing of note.
All depends on the timeframe. Do a comparison of the last five yrs and things look drastically different. What have you done lately?!?!
There is no statute of limitations on titles, Final 4s, etc.
Bottom line, since Cal arrived UK leads Kansas for overall NCAAT success.
Except in probation driven vacated games.
Kansas isn't deep. They struggled from 3. Pick-and-roll HD to death and he's pretty much like Oscar.
UK can beat Kansas, but they'll have to play mature basketball and not make dumb mistakes.
UK can beat Kansas, but they'll have to play mature basketball and not make dumb mistakes.
KU couldn’t stop or even really contain dribble penetration at all. Terrence Shannon just drove at will the whole game. Our game plan is so obviously simple. Wagner and Dillingham put Dickenson in the pick and roll on every single play and just drive to the bucket relentlessly. Dillingham is going to be our best dribble penetrator so he is the key for me.
You're right that those guys are going to really need to play at a higher level. But I think Edwards and Wagner probably have played up to their potential (as freshmen). I like those guys a lot as young players. In fact, I think UK got a GREAT bunch of freshmen players. You tell me UK gets to keep those guys for 3 years and I’ll immediately start looking into booking rooms at Final Four sites in 2025 and definitely 2026 – and I don’t care what 5-star high school recruit replacements Duke, etc. brings in year-after-year. But we know it doesn’t work that way. And I don’t think we should expect any kind of consistent high-level play from freshmen regardless of recruiting rankings or anything else forecasting future potential – especially early.
Nevertheless, I believe those guys have a higher floor than many incoming 5-star freshmen; and while they’re never going to reach (or probably get all that close) to their actual potential in their first year in college, it’s possible they might improve enough (e.g., more efficient, fewer mistakes, better decisions, etc.) to help the other guys make UK a dark horse candidate by March, and have some good (although maybe inconsistent) showings in between.
That's the big takeaway. He's also their sixth man. I don't know how good Furphy will be, but they have no depth as of now.
Sounds odd, but I thought Kansas was the worst (by quite a bit) of the 4 teams on TV.
Outside of MSUs first 10 minutes, I would agree. MSU looked awful the first 10 min, but then they settled in. Had it not been for their awful start and TN starting about as well as possible, MSU would have likely won very comfortably. KU looked horrible defensively the whole game, and their offense wasn’t anything to write home about.
They might end up being really good, but it's the same every year. They get ranked in the Top 5 regardless of who they have. I don't know what Self has on them.
2018 we went to the Final Four actually. And it wasn’t due to a benchwarmer who played half the games and avg 4pts
Conveniently as always, 2020 is left out of the discussion. Also as if it never happened 😂
I just looked; Kansas's name is not listed as being in the Final 4. That ineligible guy scored 4 points and had 10 rebounds versus Duke in the OT win in the Elite 8. So yes, he was a major factor in that non-existent win.
Cheating has its consequences.
Refresh me, how many NCAAT games did Kansas win in 2020?
Lol at bringing up 2020. It’s becoming a fish story at this point for a handful of teams. Every team was unstoppable in 2020 before the tournament nowadays.
Hell, even Cal tries to bring up 2020 when anyone questions his lack of success lately. The tournament never happened, it’s lame for anyone to try and claim it.
As I said, convenient. We’ll just Ignore 28-3 #1 in every poll and metric, and the top overall seed and say, they would’ve lost early.
Kansas will struggle in a lot of games this year until they find a knockdown outside shooter. McCullar is not that guy. Relying on the big oaf Dickinson to carry them offensively will not bode well for them. I predict this to be a rather mediocre season for the Jayhawks.
Which games did Kansas have to vacate? Because SDS played in all those tournament games, didn't he? I figured those were all vacated.
No telling how 2020 would have gone. Who knows, maybe you run into Ali Farokmanesh's little brother or something. Either way, the tournament never happened and Kansas fans, more than any other college team, know how fickle the tournament can be.
You can mark this very post.. but Kansas will once again have a lot of help at Allen field house. Every year they get bailed out by bad officiating for a game or two, and then another game or two, the opponent totally craps itself (in large part, thanks to the atmosphere there).
Kansas' record gets a nice shot in the arm by playing in the big12 and having a ton of help at home. And that's exactly why they have been one of the biggest tournament let downs in modern day basketball: when they aren't getting the calls that team we thought is a 1-seed juggernaut, might be more like a 3-seed, can lose to almost anyone on a given night, type of team.
Points better than average team (SRS)
2020 Kansas +24.92
2012 Kentucky +24.77
2020 Kansas +24.92
2012 Kentucky +24.77
Nobody has amnesia. Calipari’s best seasons here were extremely front loaded. Bottom line is the last 8 seasons have been very disappointing & below historical standards, with the exception of 2020 when the NCAAT was canceled. 2017 was the only team in that span that didn’t underachieve.
On the surface E8s & S16s look fine. But, the 2018 S16 loss was a massive failure. We choked to an average, at best, KSU team, with nowhere near our talent & playing without their 2 best players, after the bracket had opened up a red carpet path to the FF. The 2019 E8 looks nice in a vacuum, but, was still disappointing bc we lost to a team that we had destroyed by 27 points a month prior & who was missing their best player. Here is how the last 8 NCAATs have gone.
2016: lost in 2nd rd
2017: lost in E8
2018: lost in S16
2019: lost in E8
2020: No NCAAT
2021: 9-16, not invited
2022: lost in 1st rd to St Peter’s
2023: lost in 2nd rd
7 NCAATs in 8 years & over half of them ended in the 1st or 2nd rd, at best. Including missing one NCAAT, entirely, with the worst record in UKBB history. Which was Calipari’s 2nd missed NCAAT in 8 years, btw. The most recent 3 year stretch, in particular, has been an abject failure, full of humiliation & shadiness.
Nobody questions Calipari’s first 6 seasons. He was incredible, then, aside from 2013. But, that was almost a decade ago & the above list is far from impressive by UK standards. It’s quite pedestrian, actually. And, 8 years of it constitutes a trend, not a blip. Going on 9 years since our last FF, now, & 6 years since we won an SECT. But, yeah, amnesia.
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God this is pathetic. And what's sadder is that you've already pushed this point before, and no one bought into it.
2012 Kentucky has an elite 8, final 4, and a title. 2020 KU does not. End of story.
Also, alabama had the highest SRS last year.. only got a sweet 16.
The SRS is hardly a predictor of the NCAA title winner. It's no different than any other metric: it can tell you who the better teams are, but that's it.
I think Villanova was the only #1 team in SRS to also win the title. Louisville didn't in 2014, Kentucky didn't in 2015, Gonzaga was #1 two or three teams, they didn't win.
Kansas could have had a 30 in SRS.. doesn't matter. They don't make titles for being the regular season SRS champ.
Again this is pathetic and it really confirms just how far off Kansas is from Kentucky as a whole. They claim helms titles, and now SRS titles. You'd be better off letting this go. We all agree that Kansas looked like a great team in 2020 that had a decent chance of winning a Final4 that year.. same as other 1-seeds. Just stick with that.
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Don't try and pretend that there's no precedent under Self....
If titles were awarded off data, there would be no point to have a tournament. Would you all like another Helms banner to hang up or something?
Your “data” also highlights that you guys only went 4-3 against ranked opponents in 2019-2020. That’s hardly indicative of a championship!
Kansas 2020 played the toughest schedule in the country and won the best league. SOS points above avg team: +11.63 (1st of 353 teams)
Won its last 16 too when Covid hit. But yeah that season never happened, nah
Pretty accurate description…..tbh they looked a lot like some of our recent teams when Cal forces them to play through the post with a lack of shooters and everything clogged up.
