Archive for the Feature Category

Justin McCay commits to KU

Posted on: December 28th, 2011 by jayhawktalk 2 Comments
Justin McCay

Justin McCay - Photo courtesy of MaxPreps

January 6 Update:

Jayhawk Slant is reporting that McCay has committed to Charlie Weis and Kansas. KU will be getting a 6’2’’ athlete with great speed and a physically imposing frame. McCay ranked among the best wide receivers in the 2010 class – #10 WR by Scout and #6 by Rivals – and was honored as a U.S. Army All-American his senior year.

December 28:

It has been confirmed by multiple sources that former Bishop Miege standout, Justin McCay, plans to transfer from Oklahoma. Reports say he is looking at one of the three local schools – KU, K-State, or Missouri as a possible landing spot.

Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops granted his release complete with a special waiver that will allow McCay to avoid the inter-conference transfer rule that would have forced him to lose one year of eligibility. Should he transfer to KU, he would still be required to sit one year and then will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Kansas is rumored to be the leading school for McCay, who could reunite with his former high school coach, Tim Grunhard.

If McCay chooses to become a Jayhawk, Charlie Weis will be getting a 6’2’’ athlete with good speed and a physically imposing frame. He ranked among the best wide receivers in the 2010 class – #10 WR by Scout and #6 by Rivals – and was honored as a U.S. Army All-American his senior year. Check out his bio at Sooner Sports for more info.

Stay tuned for more info should McCay make a decision in the coming days.

Still waiting for ‘Good Tyshawn’ to step up

Posted on: December 27th, 2011 by jayhawktalk No Comments
Taylor tries a circus shot

Taylor attempts another circus shot

I predicted before the season that the duo of Tyshawn Taylor and Thomas Robinson was going to comparable to Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, if not better.  I, like most people, saw such promise in Taylor’s game. A quick first step, good vision, and athleticism matched by very few in the college game.

And we all knew what Robinson could bring to the table. In my mind, both had ceilings that were higher than Cole and Sherron, and both were in a position to need good seasons for future basketball employment.

Of course, Robinson has been terrific. What’s more, he’s been incredibly consistent. He is a force down low and has been good at keeping himself on the court and relevant late in games. He has, thus far, produced a season better than Cole ever did.

But Taylor has not held up his end of the bargain.

He hasn’t been bad. In fact, he’s probably been the most productive guard in our lineup this year. Not that he’s had much competition.

But he hasn’t been great. And he definitely hasn’t been consistent.

It’s been said before, but the thing that’s so frustrating about watching Taylor is that you know he has the skills to be phenomenal. You’ve seen it in spurts.

He can get by his man whenever he wants to. It truly does not matter who is guarding him. He has an incredible first step and has built the strength to surge to the rim off the dribble. The problem for Taylor has always been what comes next. He tends to leave his feet at inopportune times, leaving him with the option to attempt a pass or a shot mid-air (often with no real commitment to either before take-off). The good news is that he’s often fouled. The bad news is he turns the ball over a lot.

His best asset is his speed, but it can also be his worst asset at times. He plays the game sped up, which gives him a super power most don’t have on the court. Except sometimes uses his power for bad instead of good.

I think this is what KU fans mean when we say “We need ‘Good Tyshawn’ today, not ‘Bad Tyshawn.’” You see Good Tyshawn when he uses all of his incredible talents for good — active on defense, smart distributor, getting to the basket under control.

And you know what happens when he uses them for bad. You see the one-handed passes off the dribble (the one thing I LOATHE from our guards), the circus shots that fail to draw rim, and the bullet passes to Withey that he couldn’t catch in a million years. You also see the obligatory swing pass that falls into the lap of Danny Manning on the bench. The common denominator to all of these errors usually starts and ends with playing sped up.

The funny part is, Tyshawn could be just as effective in the college game if he slowed down just a tiny bit. He doesn’t need to go 100% to get by most college guards. 80% would do just fine most of the time. And when he gets by the first guy, he need only trust his instincts just a little bit more. And I think his instincts need to come down to three options, in this order:

(1) Score the basketball as if you’re not going to get the foul call. If you do get the foul call, even better.

(2) Find the Post. If you see the post defenders drawing away from Robinson or Withey to contend your shot, find Robinson or Withey for an easy basket.

(3) Kick to the wing. This hasn’t been quite as effective this year, mostly because we don’t have that corner 3 threat that we’ve had in recent years. But it should still be open nearly every time Tyshawn gets to the rim.

At times, this KU team struggles to score. If teams are doing everything they can to shut down Robinson (good strategy), it should really be Tyshawn’s show. He is the only one on this team that has shown the ability to get the rim whenever he wants to, no matter what defense he is facing. And when Tyshawn is getting to the rim with ease, good things should happen (see above options).

Think back to the second half of the Kentucky game this year. Most people ridiculed Taylor for his 3-13 shooting performance, but without his penetration in the second half, KU might have lost that game by 25. He hit 15 of 17 free throws and did not have a turnover. He was our only offense at the time. It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective.

Certainly I understand the counterpoint that when Tyshawn drives the lane, throws up a prayer, and doesn’t draw a foul, it might as well go in the box score as a turnover. My response to that is when you have a 7-footer in Withey and Thomas Robinson (arguably the best rebounder in the NCAA), throwing a prayer off the backboard should get a put-back from time to time.

I still think this KU team is pretty good. In order to be great, though, it needs Good Tyshawn on a more consistent basis. Hopefully he can find it.

 

 

KU, Davidson by the numbers

Posted on: December 21st, 2011 by jayhawktalk No Comments

Some numbers that mattered for each player in Monday’s loss to Davidson. More bad than good this time around.

Thomas Robinson: 21 and 18
I just made up a new rule for this piece. If you get 20+ points and 15+ rebounds, you get two key stats. At this point I’m really starting to believe that Robinson is the best player in the country, and that Anthony Davis and the Kentucky frontline holding him to 12 and 11 (note: “holding” him to a double-double) is one of the more impressive defensive performances of the season. Obviously I watch more KU hoops than any other school, but no one has impressed as much as Robinson.

Tyshawn Taylor: 8 days
Taylor had a torn meniscus, played on it nine days ago, had surgery eight days ago, then decided he could play Monday. Let’s just straighten out two things here. First, this means that anything Kansas got from him was a bonus. By most medical logic, he’s out for that game and maybe one or two more. So getting 15 points and seven assists was great. If Elijah Johnson knocks down a couple more threes, we’re looking at a double-double. Solid performance from Taylor. If at this point you’re still upset with the five turnovers, I don’t know what to tell you. You should know what you’re getting from TT by now. Second thing this tells us is that Taylor is an absolute warrior, and has developed into the leader that Self needs him to be. It was pretty clear that Taylor wasn’t at full speed, but Self obviously has no faith in Naadir Tharpe (more on this later). Taylor at 70 percent, like I tweeted pregame, is still the team’s best lead guard. Apparently by a pretty wide margin.

Elijah Johnson: 3-10 3P FG
Johnson’s got a beautiful stroke. He’s got great rhythm as a catch-and-shoot guy, and when he’s off the dribble he’s got a nice, quick release. But for a guy who is as good at shooting as he is, Johnson goes cold an awful lot. I feel like EJ’s one of those irrational confidence shooters. If he hits one, he starts to think he’s going to hit everything, and he usually does. But if he misses a couple, it goes the exact opposite way. He starts to think too much about his shot, tries to correct mid-game, and it completely throws him off. He’s got worlds of talent. He’s just got to get out of his own way.

Travis Releford: 8 points
I like Releford. A lot. He’s pretty obviously the team’s go-to lockdown perimeter defender, and he’s athletic enough that in the break that he’s an offensive weapon. But for me he has to do more. Kansas can’t rely on Robinson and Taylor – and Johnson to a lesser degree – for all of the scoring, and Releford’s the next guy up. He can shoot (granted his shot is ungainly compared to Teahan or Johnson, but the numbers are there to back him up), and he’s able to get to the rack pretty consistently. If this team is going to succeed, it needs either Releford or the next guy on this list to develop into a double-figure scorer.

Jeff Withey: 16 minutes
Watched the game a couple times now, stared at the boxscore for a good long while, and I can’t figure out why Withey didn’t get more minutes. The only thing I can come up with is that Davidson is laden with guards and keeping Withey in the game meant Robinson had to guard the perimeter and when Robinson is in the process of going for 21 and 18, you just can’t risk him getting into foul trouble. That’s fair. But he’s still the best defender on the team, and if you extrapolate his numbers out to a 24-minute game, he’s looking at a 14-point, 6-board day, which is considerably more than Kansas got from Conner Teahan, who played the lion’s share of Withey’s minutes. I think I just unconsciously complimented Withey’s offense. I’m moving on.

Conner Teahan: 2-8 3P FG
If Teahan’s not hitting from outside, he cannot play 26 minutes. Plain and simple. This sounds like the argument people used to make against Brady Morningstar, but I was actually pro-Morningstar for most of his career. Morningstar brought a lot of other things to the table: great court vision, quality defense. He was like the guy who outworks everyone else on the rec center courts, that everyone else inevitably hates because hey, man, we’re just here to have some fun and jack up some shots and you’re standing really close to me. Teahan doesn’t have that. He’s too slow-footed on defense to guard a three, let alone an athletic one or two, and is more of a liability because of that then Robinson-outside-because-of-Withey ever would be. All that said, Bill Self is considerably smarter about basketball than I am.

Kevin Young: 0-1 FG
“What is this consistency you speak of?” – Kevin Young.
Young didn’t really say that. If you weren’t sure. But he might as well have. After a brilliant performance off the bench against Ohio State in 24 minutes, Young got 10 minutes against Davidson and didn’t do a damn thing with one of them. I believe it was the man who’s blog I’m borrowing who said he hoped Young would be a homeless-man’s Thomas Robinson. I concurred with that assessment. But he brought little energy and no offensive spark to the Jayhawks in his time on the floor Monday. Bad day for him.

Justin Wesley: 0-1 FG
I was never high on Wesley, so seeing him play at an uninspiring level hasn’t really floored me. I’d hoped he’d be a spark off the bench, and his athleticism that he showed off at Late Night the last couple seasons has been reason enough for some excitement, but this is still a guy who averaged one point and one rebound at Lamar University. There had to be a reason for it. I think it’s pretty clear now what it is. For all his limitless athleticism, Wesley isn’t a great basketball player. It’s like the difference between Kobe and LeBron. LeBron is a world-class athlete, maybe the best in the world right now. I honestly believe he could pick up pretty much any sport and be a star at it. He’s that good. Kobe is a basketball player. Not the biggest, strongest or fastest guy on the floor (don’t get me wrong, he’s still a great athlete), but he’s just got more basketball talent than anyone in the game. Wesley is like LeBron, in that he’s a phenomenal athlete. If he signed up to be a wide receiver, Charlie Weis would be able to do some serious damage with him. He’s just not much of a basketball player, unfortunately.

Naadir Tharpe: 3 minutes
Monday was pretty much a worst-case scenario for the Jayhawks. Going down early meant that Tyshawn Taylor wasn’t coming out of that game unless his knee flat-out quit on him. That said, I’m still surprised Tharpe only got three minutes. It’s been evident that Self doesn’t have a whole lot of faith in Tharpe over the last couple games, but you had to expect Taylor to be limited to about 25 minutes max – Self said pregame he didn’t want him going over 30, he wound up playing 33 – which would have meant Tharpe getting at least 10 minutes. Three, though? He never even got a chance to show what he could do. It wasn’t necessarily a bad day for Tharpe, just disappointing.

To follow or not to follow – a look at social media and recruiting

Posted on: December 15th, 2011 by jayhawktalk No Comments

The NCAA has always grappled with technology and how it affects recruitment.  As the world becomes smaller with every technological advance, antiquated NCAA bylaws become a joke to try to enforce as written.

I should explain up front that I personally follow a number of Kansas basketball and football recruits on my twitter account, @JayhawkTalk. I even interact with them from time to time. The substance of this interaction can be anything from a “retweet” of what they say (E.g., if a potential recruit tweets something like “I am going to have my in-home visit with Kansas Coach Bill Self this Monday. Can’t wait,” it would get retweeted by a ton of KU fans) to a simple suggestion or nudge that KU is a great place to be.

There has been quite a bit of discussion of late as to what kind of interaction I am allowed to have with recruits, if any. Is “following” them violative of NCAA bylaws? What about mentioning and interacting with them? What if they reach out to you first asking for feedback?

I wanted to spend some time researching these issues so that I could become more knowledgeable about what is allowed, not allowed, and everything in between. I wanted to share this with you because I don’t think many understand it very well. I certainly did not.

I should also add that while I am an attorney, I am not writing this to provide any sort of legal advice. This is my own opinion and analysis of what I have found, both in the actual bylaws and how those bylaws are enforced. In other words, should you get a cease and desist letter from a compliance official, take it seriously.  Don’t rely solely on this review as the word.

With that out of the way, leggo.

 

Coach Self Laughing at Dooley commentary

Coach Self laughs at Dooley's commentary

Texting while recruiting

When text messaging became popular around 2005, parents of recruits began to complain to NCAA officials that their mobile phone bills were rising with every text a coach sent. The NCAA made a blanket response by banning texts to recruits completely in 2007.

When asked to comment about the texting ban (which had just gone into force), Anna Chappel, then head of the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee said, “If you don’t stop it now, what roads are you going to have to cross later on?”

She could not have expected at that time that the rise of social media networks would force regulators back to the drawing board only a few short years later.

 

What to do with Facebook, Twitter

Like texting, it took the NCAA a while to figure out what to do with Twitter and Facebook. When the NCAA became convinced that Facebook private messaging and Twitter direct messages were, for all intents and purposes, just like emails, they decided not to regulate them any different than email (email, like regular mail, is unlimited after a recruit’s junior year, subject to certain restrictions).

To the NCAA, it was much easier to try to mold the ever-changing social media world to its existing rulebooks. Square peg, round hole comes to mind.

After likening direct messages to emails, the NCAA deemed that posting on the Facebook Wall of a recruit or sending a Twitter reply or mention was just like publicizing a player’s recruitment in the media, which isn’t allowed. Regulators again chose to mold new Internet networking into rules already on the books.

Cole talking to recruits

Cole Aldrich stops by to talk to recruits

But this strategy would only get the NCAA so far.

Not surprisingly, technology continued to advance. It became apparent that recruits were receiving Facebook and Twitter messages from coaches directly to their phones and mobile devices.  Regulators were once again faced with a technological dilemma. Is receiving a Facebook message too much like a text message? Or is it more like an email? Or, worse yet, is it some new blend that would force the NCAA to create new legislation?

Not surprisingly, the NCAA still remained steadfast in adapting technology to its own rules.

It issued bulletins stating that once a coach discovers that a recruit is receiving messages to his or her phone, that coach must cease contact through that medium. Certainly not the easiest rule to police.

As coaches became further disenchanted with texting, phone, and social media rules as written, the NCAA did what the NCAA does best: it threw the issue to a committee. Luckily for coaches, it does finally seem that the NCAA is willing to deregulate some forms of electronic communication, including text messaging. For more info, check this out from the NCAA.

But what does this all mean for fans?

Nearly all decrees and rule changes made by the NCAA regarding electronic communication revolve around the recruitment relationship between coach and player. Very little has been said about what kind of interactions fans and recruits can have through social media. That is probably because to the NCAA, this issue is much more black and white.

Fans and boosters should have no interaction with recruits at all.

Not that it’s stopped anyone. Take Taylor Moseley, for instance. In 2009, Moseley, a North Carolina State freshman, created a Facebook group called “John Wall PLEASE come to NC STATE!!!!”  After more than 700 people joined the group, Moseley received a cease and desist letter from the N.C. State compliance department. It became a national story as First Amendment rights activists went to bat for Moseley by speaking out in the media on his behalf.

Moseley eventually changed the name of the group.

It’s important to note that multiple other people created Facebook groups encouraging John Wall to come to their respective school, including students at Baylor, Duke, and at least four groups for Kentucky.  There is no indication that the compliance departments at Baylor, Duke, and Kentucky made any such effort to reach out to those students.

 

Self argues with a ref

Coach Self argues with a ref

What are the schools saying?

We learned two important things from the Moseley fiasco:

First, the NCAA did not ask Moseley to take down the Facebook group or change the name – North Carolina State did. There are very few, if any, reports of the NCAA actually policing individual people from interacting with recruits via social media. That job is tasked to the individual universities, which generally consists of a handful of overworked compliance officers.

Second, compliance departments are not uniform in the way they police interaction among fans and recruits. N.C. State was obviously more proactive in its supervision of students and boosters online. But for every N.C. State department, there are 100 Kentucky departments, which, for one reason or another, do not (or choose not) to police such activity.

Most university compliance departments have a blanket policy on social media on the department website. For instance, North Carolina states the following in one of its bulletins to boosters:

“The use of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace can very easily be used by individuals in an attempt to influence prospective student-athletes to attend a specific institution. The NCAA prohibits any involvement by boosters in the recruitment of prospects, and individuals who might initiate these attempts to contact prospects could jeopardize the institution’s ability to continue the recruitment of such prospects.”

Other departments are trying to get more interactive by starting their own Twitter and Facebook accounts. You might see @JayhawkComply on twitter, which recently authored this tweet: “All faculty, staff, students and boosters of KU cannot promote KU in any way or encourage a prospect to attend KU, Leave this to coaches.”

If you continue to look around at other departments, you’ll see more and more of these vague, blanket, overarching statements loosely referencing the NCAA and it Bylaws. All will have the same basic message: Don’t do it.

 

Now for the real world

The reality is that university compliance departments have a lot on their hands. They’re understaffed, they’re overworked, and they simply do not have the resources to track everything on the Internet. They must track athletes already at the university as well as prospective ones. It’s an incredibly difficult task.

Consider this scenario: I create an account called “MUTigerBooster” and start tweeting to potential Missouri recruits to come to Missouri to achieve all the riches in their wildest dreams. All MU could do is tell me to stop. There is no subpoena power. There is no name associated with the account. And it is incredibly unlikely that Twitter would disclose IP addresses or contact information. It is a nightmare for compliance folks.

But what can they do?

**Sidenote: Some university departments are turning to computer programs and outside firms to help police online content from their athletes. One such company is UDiligence, which uses custom keyword lists to catch problems before they occur. For a good time, check out the UDiligence website page where they show images that they have caught. Pretty funny stuff.

I contend that over 99% of the online interaction between fans and recruits will not receive any response from the university the fan represents. Don’t confuse this as tacit approval of the action from the university. It’s not. But policing online content on social media websites would take 100 employees, not 5. That being said, most of the time if a violation is reported to compliance officials, they will look into it and issue a request to stop the behavior if it is found to be violative.

**Another sidenote: I’m sure by writing this piece I will be getting a message the next time I reply to a tweet from Chris Walker or Dayne Crist.

 

My take

The most interesting part of this whole thing? The recruits want you to tweet them. They want as many followers as they can possibly get, and the attention from a particular school’s fan base does have an effect on what school that guy chooses. To say otherwise is ignorant.

Obviously that also means that coaches secretly want fans tweeting to prospects too. It hammers home the recruiting pitch that if you come to Kansas, you’ll be beloved by all of KU nation – and you can see that’s already happening on your twitter feed. Coaches may come out and say that they don’t need the extra help, but I would argue that they are not being truthful. It doesn’t hurt to have some extra help, especially when every other school is doing it too.

I think there is a competitive advantage in the recruiting game to have a fan base on social networks that follow and interact with recruits. Even though the NCAA and the university compliance department tells me not to, I will continue to follow, retweet, and interact with recruits.  And I actually encourage you all to do the same.

Obviously you have to be smart and tactful about it. When tweeting, do so in a classy and respectful manner. And if a player doesn’t choose KU, wish him well and call it a day.

But until I see equal policing across the board from other Division I compliance departments that KU competes with, I will maintain my position on this.

Happy tweeting.

 

The Definitive Kevin Young Post

Posted on: December 13th, 2011 by jayhawktalk No Comments

“The Energizer Bunny”

His Community College coach, Reggie Howard, called him the “Quiet Assassin.” Loyola Marymount Head Coach Max Good called him the “Energizer Bunny.” Self called him “bouncy” and compared his skill set to Julian Wright.

So who exactly is Kevin Young?

You might remember him from the first game of the year. Against Towson, Young played 14 efficient minutes going 6-7 from the field with 13 points and 7 rebounds. A pretty impressive output for a guy playing his first official game in Allen Fieldhouse.

Kevin Young about to snag a rebound

Kevin Young goes for a rebound

More likely, you might remember him from the Ohio State game where he had a similar stat line (6-8 from the field, 14 points, and 4 rebounds) in 24 minutes of play. He also took two impressive charges and made the best assist of the game – faking a three pointer and delivering a bullet pass to Robinson for a timely dunk that “energized” the crowd to the loudest it was all game.

Sandwiched in between the Towson and Ohio State games were seven modest performances, where Young averaged only five minutes of playing time and had no significant statistical impact on the game.

Through nine games, Young has shown that with additional minutes comes additional output. So why hasn’t Self played him more?

When a player is beyond the seventh spot on Self’s depth chart, he’ll often come in for a few minutes, and on the first mistake, get pulled not to play much again the rest of the game. Young only has five turnovers on the entire season. His defense has been solid. His energy has been a spark off the bench. And he looks like a guy KU fans will quickly get behind for doing all the little things.

You have to think Young proved to Self that he deserves a longer leash after Saturday’s game. As Self put it, “I haven’t seen that, or if I have seen it, then certainly we’ve made a mistake by not playing him…But that was something today like his coming-out game.”

Perris High, Loyola-Marymount, Barstow C.C.

When Young was a senior at Perris High School (Calif.), he logged three triple-doubles. He averaged a double-double for the season. He grabbed 31 rebounds in a game – twice. At Loyola-Marymount, Young broke the freshman record for rebounds (224) and rebounds per game (7.2). He also broke LMU freshman records for blocked shots and steals.

After his sophomore season at LMU, Young enrolled at Barstow Community College to focus on academics. Once he got those back in line, he signed a grant-in-aid agreement to play for San Diego State. Before he was able to get on the Aztecs campus, the opportunity to play for Kansas arose and Young decommitted to Bill Self.

Steve Fisher vs. Bill Self

Young’s decision to break his grant-in-aid with SDSU in favor of Kansas became somewhat of a national story when Aztecs Head Coach, Steve Fisher, went straight to the media to complain. He told the San Diego Union-Tribune:

I’m disappointed that a young man who I am very fond of would not feel an obligation to honor an eight-month commitment. And I’m equally disappointed in a program and coach I’m very fond of to pursue a player who made an eight-month commitment.

Young had every right to decommit from SDSU as the grant-in-aid he signed did not bind him to the school the way a national letter of intent does. A player is only allowed to sign one letter of intent during his career, and Young had already exhausted that signature with Loyola-Marymount.

Fisher continued, “Unfortunately, the only people who suffer in this situation is us because we passed over three or four very talented players because we did honor our commitment (to Young).”

Interestingly, Self responded to Fisher by telling the Lawrence Journal World:

“I don’t blame coach Fisher for being disappointed at all because Kevin did commit to them…but Kevin also told them he wasn’t going to San Diego State before we recruited him, so we didn’t steal him from San Diego State by any stretch.”

Whether Self and Co. contacted Young while he was “committed” to SDSU is up for debate. Young states that he spoke with Assistant Coach Kurtis Townsend and expressed interest in coming to Kansas in May. Young said that Townsend told him to talk to Fisher before he took a visit to KU.  Once Young spoke with Fisher, he visited Kansas and committed. Whether Townsend contacted Young or Young contacted Townsend is unknown.

Kevin Young Dunking

Kevin Young throws down a dunk against Towson

It also doesn’t matter.

The coaching fraternity is a tight knit group. Self certainly doesn’t want to make a habit of pissing off his brethren. At the same time, Fisher came off as desperate with his comments. The letter of intent is a powerful tool for small schools in small conferences. In this instance, he could not rely on it.

I’d also be remiss not to mention that Fisher was of course fired from Michigan in 1997 when he was the at the helm of one of the biggest college basketball scandals in history. Under his watch, booster Ed Martin allegedly paid Michigan players hundreds of thousands of dollars. In short, Fisher has very little room to be telling off other coaches.

Quiet Assassin

Kevin Young has not said much this year. Perhaps he has made the effort to let his play do the talking. If that’s the case, his play was yelling as loud as the Allen Fieldhouse crowd was on Saturday. Self perhaps put it best when he said, “That’s the Kevin Young we thought we recruited. Maybe this will give him the confidence moving forward. We could use another weapon.”

Another weapon.

Or an assassin.

KU, tOSU by the numbers

Posted on: December 12th, 2011 by jayhawktalk No Comments

By @HailToOldKU

The more I write about hoops, the more you’ll come to know that I’m a numbers geek. Now that I’ve had a little time to comb through the box score and watch the game again, I’ve put together a few numbers that, at least for me, went a long way to define why they succeeded, and why they didn’t. What follows is my key numbers for all the Jayhawks who played.

Robinson:  7-8 FT. There’s plenty of numbers that stand out about Robinson, not the least of which is his 21 points. But that seemed like a gimme, so I’m going with the incredible improvement in his free throw shooting. He hit 39.5% as a freshman, 51% last year, and is now hitting at 71% this year. Credit Dooleybear for technique, but that much improvement is just a matter of repetition and Robinson is a gym rat.

Taylor: 13 assists, 1 torn meniscus. The fact that Taylor played, and played well, on a torn up knee is remarkable, especially considering how much of his game is predicated on his quickness and speed. Without him Kansas doesn’t win that game. Huge performance. What being a leader is all about.

Johnson: 5-7 3P. This one’s easy. Johnson’s been in a brutal slump, but he never stopped gunning. I like that. Really I think it’s the quickest way out when you’re struggling like that. Kansas needed him to play well to counter the Buckeyes’ superb guards, and he really stepped up.

Withey: 2 pts. Withey’s leap this year can pretty easily be likened to Aldrich’s jump between his freshman and sophomore year. The fact that he can be compared to Aldrich at all besides being a tall, thin white guy is a huge step in the right direction. Withey doesn’t need to score to be a force for Kansas, and while you’d hardly call him a force against tOSU, he gave KU 21 good minutes despite only hitting once from the field.

Releford: 2 steals. Nothing about the stat line really pops for Releford, but I’m going with steals because he was very solid defensively. He spent a lot of time on tOSU’s William Buford, who led them with 21, but needed 23 shots to do it. Compare that to Robinson’s 21, which came off of nine shots.

Teahan: 1-5 3P. The only Jayhawk who was off on Saturday. Him going cold from outside could have meant serious trouble if Johnson hadn’t stepped up and started raining.

Young: 14 points. What happened here? Young’s most notable stat over the last few games has been his remarkable foul-per-minute rate. (3 in 6 against the Beach). Saturday he played like someone who should average 15 minutes off the bench. And not foul out.

Wesley/Tharpe: 3 minutes combined. Self usually doesn’t go with anything less than an 8-man rotation, but he’s usually got the bench to go 10- or 11-deep easily.  Seems like he’s losing faith in Wesley (nine minutes Tuesday, two  Saturday) and has lost faith in Tharpe, who didn’t play at all Tuesday and posted a trillion (one minute, no stats) against the Buckeyes. Tharpe will have a chance to prove himself with Taylor going out, though.

More numbers are sure to follow. Rock chalk!

Robinson vs. Sullinger

Posted on: December 10th, 2011 by jayhawktalk No Comments

The following post is brought to you by @HailToOldKU, a guest blogger to Jayhawk-Talk. Follow him on twitter for more great KU basketball and football content.

The highlight of Saturday’s Ohio State-Kansas matchup – for me even beyond the fact that the No. 2 team is coming into the Fieldhouse in non-con in December – is that we’ll get to watch Thomas Robinson and Jared Sullinger go at it. Sullinger was upgraded to probable Friday, so all the reports that he was possibly going to miss time are now rendered irrelevant. It would’ve been tough to believe anyways, since you can be sure that Robinson and Sullinger both, for all the one-game-at-a-time clichés they’ll spit out in a press room, have been looking forward to this date.

These are, in my mind, the two best post players in America. Robinson has blown away pretty much all expectations in the early going, putting up 17.4 points and pulling down 12 rebounds per, and doing it – maybe most impressively – at a ridiculously efficient rate. He’s got an offensive rating of 110.8 for the year, which is actually better than what he posted last year playing less than half the minutes. So much for concerns of whether he could handle a higher workload. He’s a top-5 pick in the draft right now. ESPN’s Chad Ford has said he could, if he keeps going big the rest of the year, slip into the No. 1 spot if no one else blows them away.

All those nice things said, though, and he’s still got the biggest test of his career Saturday. Sullinger is a beast, a freak, a monster, a whatever-adjective-you-like-to-describe-a-player-that-is-super-human. While Robinson has exceeded expectations to post his numbers, Sullinger is putting up 19.1 points per (while using fewer possessions) and hauling down a little more than 10 rebounds. The matchup, on paper, is pretty even, with maybe a slight nod to Sullinger because of his insane 130.5 offensive rating.

Along with the similar bodies of work, they’ve got one elite opponent in common, Duke’s Mason Plumlee. I had a little time today, so I put together this simple table, comparing the stats of Robinson, Plumlee and Sullinger from their head-to-head meetings. Obviously, Saturday hasn’t happened yet.

 

Thomas Robinson

Mason Plumlee

Jared Sullinger
11/23 v Duke 12/10 v OSU 11/23 v KU 11/29 @ OSU 11/29 v Duke 12/10 v KU
Points

16

 -

17

16

21

 -
Boards

15

 -

12

8

8

 -
FG %

40

 -

50

58.3

57.1

 -
Off Rtg

108.8

 -

109.4

89.3

115.8

 -
Oreb%

11.9

 -

15

3.4

4

 -
Dreb%

37

 -

27

29.6

22.9

 -
Usage%

24.3

 -

27

28.1

26.6

 -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quick briefing on the advanced stats I used:

  • Offensive Rating is the points per possession a player scores multiplied by 100. So Robinson, against Duke, scored 1.088 PPP, which is very good. As a ballpark figure 95 is about average, 100 is pretty good, and if you get above 105-107, you’re doing well. Sullinger’s 130 is just stupid good.
  • Offensive Rebound Percentage is simple. How many of the available offensive rebounds does he get when he’s on the floor.
  • Defensive Rebound Percentage: take Oreb and make it defensive boards.
  • Usage percentage is a really interesting stat to me. It measures, basically, how many of a teams possessions end in that players hands, be it a turnover or a shot, and gives credit back for offensive boards, which adds a possession.

For reference’s sake, Plumlee’s season numbers are significantly lower than Sullinger and Robinson’s. Plumlee averages 12 points and a shade under 10 rebounds, but he also uses significantly fewer possessions in Duke’s guard-heavy offense.

From the basic stats in that table, we don’t really glean anything that we can’t from the season figures. Robinson, of the three, is the best on the glass. Sullinger is the best offensive threat. That has played out so far.

The most notable statistic in the chart is Plumlee’s Offensive Rating against Ohio State. There’s a few factors that I’d bet played into that. First and foremost, Ohio State’s a better team than Duke. That much was obvious when they played. When you get your ass kicked like that, it’s just about impossible to put up great numbers. Second, Duke was six days off playing Kansas, and Plumlee had had a war with Robinson in the paint in that game, and had played two games in the two days before it as well. He probably wasn’t on the freshest of legs, even with almost a full week lay-off. Third, Sullinger’s style of play would, and did, abuse a guy like Plumlee, who’s more of a finesse post then either Robinson or Sullinger. Sullinger is built more like an offensive lineman than a basketball player, and despite losing some 20 pounds in the offseason, he’s still got another 25 on Plumlee and Robinson, who both weigh in at about 235. Playing against a load like that will beat you down, and it obviously did to Plumlee.

But there’s reason for encouragement, despite Sullinger beating up on Plumlee, whereas Plumlee and Robinson were pretty square. First, Robinson is stronger than Plumlee. You don’t need much more than the eye-test for this one. Are Robinson’s shoulders roughly the size of a 16-pound bowling ball?* Yes! He’s stronger than most, then. Also, most importantly, when Robinson and Sullinger squared off at summer camps, according to the people who were there, Robinson was as good or better.

*Pos-terisk! Yes, I know all bowling balls are the same size, but I felt like 16-pound made a better qualifier than the 8- or 9-pound balls that are always really embarrassing colors for cosmic bowling.

Here’s the rub, though. Even if Robinson wins the battle in the paint, say he holds Sullinger to 12 points and 8 rebounds with the help of WITHEY!!! That still doesn’t mean Kansas is going to win the game. Ohio State has the better supporting cast. It starts with Robinson winning inside, which is entirely possible, especially with Sullinger’s lingering back issues.

Bottom line: If I had to bet, it’s not on Kansas, not with the way Ohio State dismantled Duke. But if Robinson can eliminate the advantage Sullinger gives the Buckeyes, that’s a hell of a start.

 

Why Charlie Weis?

Posted on: December 9th, 2011 by jayhawktalk 1 Comment

So now that the honeymoon period is in full force, I think it’s a good time to step back and ask a few questions. We have a new coach that has a pedigree unmatched by most coaches in football.  We also have a guy that has been rumored to be arrogant, stubborn, and difficult to work with.

While I am coming around on the hire, I am certainly mindful of the knocks against Weis. He will have my support because I think it is important to give a new coach everything he needs to succeed at the start of a new tenure.  I have already done my small part by pledging an additional Williams Fund donation. I also have every intent to renew my football tickets next year.

But I’m still a little wary, and I guess it all revolves around one question:

“Why?”

Kansas Head Coach Charlie Weis

Kansas Head Coach Charlie Weis

The national media hated the hire. I disagree with their reasoning for the most part, but a lot of them know more about football than I do. I gauged the general tenor of their argument to be this: (1) Four jobs in four years; (2) Fell off at Notre Dame when he got his own talent in there; (3) Difficult to work with; (4) Even at Florida he found a way to screw up the offense; (5) [Insert personal story about Weis being a jerk]; and (6) …the same question I have…”Why?”

More personally, I have heard local people in the know tell me that hey sure hope Zenger did his due diligence on Weis before guaranteeing any kind of big money.  His reputation, while good on paper, is not so hot in the coaching and, more especially, the college world. The booster response I have heard is generally intrigued by the hire, so that is something.

My response to most of those concerns is this: We are Kansas. This is not Notre Dame or Florida. We haven’t exactly been a powerhouse and have low expectations in general. To win here is difficult but not impossible. We have lived through a mean coach and a nice coach and are back to a mean coach. None of those issues are incredibly important to me.

As for the worries about bringing in “his” players and installing “his” offense, the only thing I will say is this: Weis is absolutely 100% guaranteed to get a good quarterback. And a good quarterback will take you a long, long way. Look at what Robert Griffin III did at Baylor this year. Baylor is not a powerhouse. But a good quarterback put them on the map. If Weis misses on everything but QB, we are going to be just fine.

As for some of the other worries, I believe most will be negated if he gets a great staff in here. And by all accounts, Weis will get a great staff in here.

So we’re back to the original question, the only one that leaves me somewhere between concerned and intrigued…why? Why Weis?

Kansas Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger

Sheahon Zenger made a ballsy hire in Weis

The only thing I can think of is there is still another shoe to drop in this thing. Maybe Weis told Zenger he could secure a Defensive Coordinator like Jim Leavitt or Vic Koening (although it sounds like Leavitt might be in the mix at ASU). Maybe he told Zenger he’d be able to secure an incredible Offensive Coordinator like Paul Chryst. Maybe he told Zenger he already had a blue chip quarterback in his pocket like Dayne Crist.

Whatever it is, I guess I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop to give this thing some logic. Otherwise, I’m not sure why Zenger chose Weis over some other candidates that were rumored to have legitimate interest.

Maybe there isn’t another shoe. But I’d be surprised. Without it, I’m going to continue scratching my head on this one.

Right alongside most outside of Lawrence, KS.

Welcome to KU, Coach Weis

Posted on: December 8th, 2011 by jayhawktalk 1 Comment

The University of Kansas has a new football coach. And his name is Charles Joseph Weis. Known as an incredible offensive mind, he also brings with him an aura of legitimacy not seen in a KU coaching hire since Larry Brown made the move from the NBA bench to the Allen Fieldhouse bench. Weis has four Super Bowl rings, has worked with some of the best quarterbacks in the game, and brings an exciting name to a program devoid of much excitement. He’s also worked for guys with names like Parcells and Belichick. His curriculum vitae is pretty impressive.

Weis also brings with him a fair bit of risk. His tenure at Notre Dame is concerning. His short stop at Florida has not exactly been a success either. Some are concerned with his desire to do all the ancillary things a college coach has to do. Recruiting, glad-handing, taking care of off-field issues, graduation rates, NCAA limitations, etc. do not seem to really be his thing. As Hammond posted earlier in his blog, KU would be wise to pay heed to the old warning, “Caveat Emptor” (‘buyer beware’ of what you’re getting yourself into).

I have argued that Kansas needs a grinder for a football coach. Someone who will put in the work and maintain the attention to detail it takes to compete with teams that are always going to be more talented than yours. I’m not sure Weis is necessarily a grinder. But Weis may not need to be a grinder to win here. He may be able to level the playing field just by being a better coach than his competition. It might just be good enough.

While the move has plenty of risk, it also has incredible upside. Sandwiched in between his stops in South Bend and Gainesville was his time in Kansas City where he turned a bad quarterback and poor offensive line into a pro bowler and top rushing unit in the NFL. He also helped Jamaal Charles reach his true potential. If he finds that magic he had in Kansas City brings it with him to Lawrence, he will be worth every penny Zenger has promised him.

Speaking of Zenger, this hire is also an enormous moment for him too. I think it demonstrates that not only is he serious about righting this ship, but that he’s willing to take big risks to do so. Right or wrong, he is also hitching his name to the Weis Wagon, so you have to think Zenger will do whatever it takes to give him an opportunity to succeed here. This will likely include budget increases, potential stadium and facility upgrades, and money for assistant coaches. Not to mention a long leash to let Weis do it his way.

Weis was not my first choice. I am willing to admit it. But I do recognize that he also has a real opportunity to have the biggest upside. Maybe even higher than my first choice, Mike Leach. Having been to the Orange Bowl and witnessed how fun it is to have a good football team, I hope Zenger, the Athletics Department, boosters, and fans give the man every chance to win. I’m on board. Time for you to be too.

Rock Chalk, Chuck Weis.

Zenger needs to find KU’s Bill Snyder

Posted on: December 6th, 2011 by jayhawktalk No Comments

Not that this will come as a shock to anyone, but it is growing more and more evident that KU is not a premier football job.  Not right now anyway. Sure, KU boasts a football complex and facilities that rank among the top 30-40 or so in the country. Fan support is there when the product on the field is competitive, but has also proven to be quite fickle when it is not.  Lawrence is not the best place to recruit to, but it certainly isn’t the worst.

What KU has going for it is an Athletics Director that seems to understand football and thus has a good idea what it will take to compete and win at the University of Kansas.  It takes someone with attention to detail, someone who has a competitive drive that makes him outwork and outcoach his peers, and someone who has a plan and is committed to it for the long haul. Yes, the Jayhawks need their own Bill Snyder.

All jokes aside about the beloved old man to the West, he just wins. He doesn’t recruit “athletes.” He recruits “football players.” He finds the guys that will work their butts off for him and molds them into winners. Mangino had many of those qualities, and while he certainly could compete with anyone in the country with Xs and Os, he could not keep up on the recruiting front.  He failed to capitalize on Orange Bowl success while further struggling to maintain the faith of his assistant coaches.

KU needs a hardass, but also a teacher. KU needs a disciplinarian, but also a guy that commands the respect of his players. More than anything, though, KU needs a guy that understands KU. Someone that understands the kind of work it takes to turn around a program and legitimize it in a league that has its lot of proven winners.

 

So…who?

 

I wish I had that answer. So many of the names floated – guys like Mike Leach, Gus Malzahn, and Larry Fedora – don’t necessarily meet this standard. I do not have faith that these guys would stick around at KU if they achieve early success. Then you get down the list to retreads like Phillip Fulmer, Glen Mason, or Houston Nutt. While I’m not worried about age of the coach, I just don’t know if these guys have much left in the tank.

The guys that seem most likely to live up to this standard include names like Dave Christensen, Sonny Dykes, and Mark Stoops. While I will support anyone Zenger brings in, I believe one of these names has the best chance of being the real grinder KU needs.

I do believe Zenger knows what kind of man it takes to run this program. I just hope like hell he finds our Bill Snyder (except without the cane….and the old man glasses…I kid, I kid). I guess we’ll find out.

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