This team...

[Mjl]

Dok might play at ASU.

That's what they said about Carlton...

[Mjl]

We are not a better team without Big Dok in the lineup.

Is anyone saying we're better off without Doke?

I was only trying to provide a statement that Dedric wasn’t a disaster without him. I want Doke out there tossing bitches every minute he can.

Depends on the opposition. Against top teams (MSU and UT) we were extremely noticeably better defensively with Dok.

Against mid majors it doesn't matter.

Dedric keeps screening his own teammates when guarding the pick and roll. It's really frustrating. Dok I think actually moves his feet better.

[CrimsonNBlue]

This team is 7-0 so far against a pretty good schedule. Sometimes we look ugly. Sometimes we look pretty. To be expected 4 weeks into the season. Especially considering we turned over a good chunk of the roster.

So far so good.

Just wait for our annual Sprint Center suckfest this weekend. Against New Mexico State, it’s already a done deal.

Sprint should be a better crowd this year with it being moved back to a Saturday.

It's a catch-22 because a better opponent would provide a better atmosphere and we always play a shitty opponent there. But, they don't want to take a good game out of Allen. I'd be fine nixing the Sprint Center game but it just ain't going to happen.

[PhDhawk]

College Basketball Power Rankings:

5. Kansas (7-0)

Kansas is either the best bad team in the country or the worst good team, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to figure out which. The only thing I’m certain of is that the Jayhawks are incredibly lucky to be one of the 11 remaining undefeated teams in America. It’s kind of Bill Self’s thing to win just enough throughout the regular season, so that when the Jayhawks lose in the Elite Eight people can debate whether their 30-win season should be considered a success. It could be much worse this season. The Jayhawks could conceivably be 3-4 or 2-5 if not for Lagerald Vick morphing into Kobe Bryant seemingly overnight, or Grant Williams fouling out during Kansas’s win against Tennessee.

I guess the what-if game could lead to a lot of crazy hypotheticals and all that ultimately matters is the reality that plays out in front of us. Still, there seems to be so many ways that things could go horribly wrong for the Jayhawks. Udoka Azubuike is already going to miss the next month or so with a sprained ankle, while Quentin Grimes apparently used up every ounce of his talent in the season-opener against Michigan State. Dedric Lawson has been as good as advertised and I love what I’ve seen from Devon Dotson, but there’s no getting around the fact that Kansas’s entire season to this point has been almost single-handedly saved by Vick, who Self was trying to run out of Lawrence six months ago. And yet, the Jayhawks are ranked no. 2 in the country and have two big-time wins over Michigan State and Tennessee. The bottom line is that no matter how rocky things have looked for Kansas thus far, you’d have to be out of your skull to expect anything other than Kansas winning 30-something games as they steamroll through a Big 12 that’s not quite as great as it has been in recent seasons. As is tradition.

[twocoach]

With the game on a Saturday instead of mid week, you'll get more young, drunk people who will go back out to the bars after the game. A mid week game gets more blue hairs that are happy to eat dinner at 4:30 but then are struggling to stay awake at the end of a 7pm start.

I will drive down from Omaha to Lawrence on a Saturday to watch a game at AFH. I won't drive down to KC to watch a game at Sprint Center. If the wife and I ever cancel our annual holiday party then maybe we'll make a weekend of it but until then, no thanks!

[MICHHAWK]

College Basketball Power Rankings:

5. Kansas (7-0)

Kansas is either the best bad team in the country or the worst good team, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to figure out which. The only thing I’m certain of is that the Jayhawks are incredibly lucky to be one of the 11 remaining undefeated teams in America. It’s kind of Bill Self’s thing to win just enough throughout the regular season, so that when the Jayhawks lose in the Elite Eight people can debate whether their 30-win season should be considered a success. It could be much worse this season. The Jayhawks could conceivably be 3-4 or 2-5 if not for Lagerald Vick morphing into Kobe Bryant seemingly overnight, or Grant Williams fouling out during Kansas’s win against Tennessee.

I guess the what-if game could lead to a lot of crazy hypotheticals and all that ultimately matters is the reality that plays out in front of us. Still, there seems to be so many ways that things could go horribly wrong for the Jayhawks. Udoka Azubuike is already going to miss the next month or so with a sprained ankle, while Quentin Grimes apparently used up every ounce of his talent in the season-opener against Michigan State. Dedric Lawson has been as good as advertised and I love what I’ve seen from Devon Dotson, but there’s no getting around the fact that Kansas’s entire season to this point has been almost single-handedly saved by Vick, who Self was trying to run out of Lawrence six months ago. And yet, the Jayhawks are ranked no. 2 in the country and have two big-time wins over Michigan State and Tennessee. The bottom line is that no matter how rocky things have looked for Kansas thus far, you’d have to be out of your skull to expect anything other than Kansas winning 30-something games as they steamroll through a Big 12 that’s not quite as great as it has been in recent seasons. As is tradition.

Whatever. I'd rather be 7-0 with some warts, than 6-1 or 5-2 with the same warts. Every team not named duke has warts. Meh.

[PhDhawk]

College Basketball Power Rankings:

5. Kansas (7-0)

Kansas is either the best bad team in the country or the worst good team, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to figure out which. The only thing I’m certain of is that the Jayhawks are incredibly lucky to be one of the 11 remaining undefeated teams in America. It’s kind of Bill Self’s thing to win just enough throughout the regular season, so that when the Jayhawks lose in the Elite Eight people can debate whether their 30-win season should be considered a success. It could be much worse this season. The Jayhawks could conceivably be 3-4 or 2-5 if not for Lagerald Vick morphing into Kobe Bryant seemingly overnight, or Grant Williams fouling out during Kansas’s win against Tennessee.

I guess the what-if game could lead to a lot of crazy hypotheticals and all that ultimately matters is the reality that plays out in front of us. Still, there seems to be so many ways that things could go horribly wrong for the Jayhawks. Udoka Azubuike is already going to miss the next month or so with a sprained ankle, while Quentin Grimes apparently used up every ounce of his talent in the season-opener against Michigan State. Dedric Lawson has been as good as advertised and I love what I’ve seen from Devon Dotson, but there’s no getting around the fact that Kansas’s entire season to this point has been almost single-handedly saved by Vick, who Self was trying to run out of Lawrence six months ago. And yet, the Jayhawks are ranked no. 2 in the country and have two big-time wins over Michigan State and Tennessee. The bottom line is that no matter how rocky things have looked for Kansas thus far, you’d have to be out of your skull to expect anything other than Kansas winning 30-something games as they steamroll through a Big 12 that’s not quite as great as it has been in recent seasons. As is tradition.

Whatever. I'd rather be 7-0 with some warts, than 6-1 or 5-2 with the same warts. Every team not named duke has warts. Meh.

Duke doesn't have a good big man, lacks experience at the point, and lacks depth.

Everyone has warts.

There's certainly a scenario where we could be 6-1 and feel more confident about the team overall. I mean, say we lost to Tenn by 2, but Dok was still healthy, Grimes was more consistently assertive, and we had beaten the shit out of Vermont, Louisiana, and Stanford...but those arguments are silly because we're where we are right now.

It seems dumb to be nit-picky about a team that's 7-0, but this team was preseason #1, and a real national championship contender (even more so than in a typical season - we're spoiled that we seem to always have a real chance at the final four, but this year we are a favorite, if not THE favorite).

Hopefully the people pointing out the warts are doing it from the standpoint of viewing this team as a national title frontrunner. I'm a pretty big homer and I recognize that this team hasn't always played like a final four team, great teams beat up on mediocre teams and we haven't really done that yet.

We have a ton of new pieces so I'm confident it gets much better and some of this is just the standard learning curve of a mostly new team, but there's certainly nothing wrong with acknowledging that this team has some things to work on. It gives us something to talk about.

[NDballer13]

If you are are concerned about Lawson’s play without Doke, perhaps it’s you who needs to be questioned about watching.

Azubuikes 141 minutes this season come out to be exactly 1 half of basketball per game. It’s also where we have been most efficient, gotten stops and won the majority of contests.

That's got to be the most contradicting 2 sentence post yet to happen on the new site.

I'm wrong for being concerned about Dedric guarding the 5, while you agree the team is better defensively with Dok in the game??

[Deleted User 75]

I don't feel like we are THE favorite to win it all...but we're 1 of the 5-10 most likely to win it for sure.

Tbh, I don't think we will win it all because we don't shoot it well enough and might be vulnerable to an upset if someone gets hot from 3 (but that's the same for everyone)....we also don't have much tournament experience other than Vick and Dok....but let's face it, the favorite usually doesn't win it...that's why the play the games.

I think some media members are being overly critical of our struggles because they're trying to justify dropping us in the rankings even though we haven't lost and have 2 high quality wins.

They say we could have 4 losses, but do they point out Duke was only up 5 on Hartford in the 2nd half of their last game? Doubtful. They're too busy soaking up the Duke hype and showing Zion dunks, while conveniently leaving out that he missed multiple dunks in that game that would be "not top 10" plays if it was a different player.

[Deleted User 75]

Also, fuck rankings and power rankings. None of that shit should matter at KU. Maybe for lesser schools they should get excited/upset at rankings....but we should only be concerned with collecting another conference title, final four, and national title.

I honestly used to check every Monday to see where we were ranked and all that stuff, but I probably haven't looked at rankings for 2 or 3 years now. Ever since it became blatantly obvious that many of the people who do the voting aren't even paying close attention.

[PhDhawk]

Also, fuck rankings and power rankings. None of that shit should matter at KU. Maybe for lesser schools they should get excited/upset at rankings....but we should only be concerned with collecting another conference title, final four, and national title.

I honestly used to check every Monday to see where we were ranked and all that stuff, but I probably haven't looked at rankings for 2 or 3 years now. Ever since it became blatantly obvious that many of the people who do the voting aren't even paying close attention.

Titus is a good analyst, and pays attention. Sometimes it's nice to get a more objective opinion of what people think. It's hard to find those because most people don't really pay attention.

Not that I agree with everything he writes, but it's worth a read.

[Deleted User 75]

Titus is a good analyst, and pays attention. Sometimes it's nice to get a more objective opinion of what people think. It's hard to find those because most people don't really pay attention.

Not that I agree with everything he writes, but it's worth a read.

I wasn't speaking directly about the rankings you shared. Sorry if that's how that came across.

[Soklous]

If you are are concerned about Lawson’s play without Doke, perhaps it’s you who needs to be questioned about watching.

Azubuikes 141 minutes this season come out to be exactly 1 half of basketball per game. It’s also where we have been most efficient, gotten stops and won the majority of contests.

That's got to be the most contradicting 2 sentence post yet to happen on the new site.

I'm wrong for being concerned about Dedric guarding the 5, while you agree the team is better defensively with Dok in the game??

Let me know when I can pick up my most contradictory award. I’ll be “watching”

[Cascadia]

College Basketball Power Rankings:

5. Kansas (7-0)

The Jayhawks could conceivably be 3-4 or 2-5.

GTFO

[Geezer]

We've been behind by at least 8 in 5 straight games.

[Deleted User 75]

We've been behind by at least 8 in 5 straight games.

But always ahead when the clock strikes zero....which is the entire point of the sport.

[Lonestarjayhawk]

We've been behind by at least 8 in 5 straight games.

But always ahead when the clock strikes zero....which is the entire point of the sport.

This could be illy's post of the year...I agree 100%

[ousdahl]

Yeah illy has a point, sure, but let’s not let that diminish geezer’s point.

Good teams don’t let themselves consistently be down multiple possessions.

We should be gameplanning to step on throats, not dig ourselves out of holes.

[Deleted User 89]

but, to echo illy a bit...

it's nice to know that these guys can comeback, and win ugly

[ousdahl]

Okay okay. Yeah yeah. Winning is winning. Coming back and winning ugly is still a win.

But geez, we’re coming back and winning ugly against mid majors at home. What happens when we’re against a good team, on the road, or in the tourney?

Let’s not get complacent. This team has been on cruise control for most of the season. We’re too deep and talented to not expect better. Let’s blow some fuckers out before we act like we’re performing to expectations.