Bear Down Wildcats

salim'sheadband wrote:1. Since the start of 2011, in the very heart of Self's "Woodenesque" run, Kansas has won only eight more games than us and lost only six fewer. Most of those eight games can be explained by Kansas's typically lucky 2012 run where they beat a double digit seed, beat a double digit seed, beat a double digit seed (which, for Kansas, is actually pretty shocking), beat the one seed whose best player broke his wrist, and didn't have to play the other one seed on their half of the bracket because their center was academically ineligible. (Why not include 2010? Well Miller wasn't fortunate enough to inherit a team that returned 10/12 players from a title-game team, like Self was when he took over the Kansas job, so I figured that year could probably get cut off.)

2. Besides 2012 they've never advanced further in the tournament than us in that time. In those three years they've had two losses to double-digit seeds and an all-timer choke-job against Michigan (true story: Kansas's KenPom win probability in that game was, best as I can tell, as high as it could go without actually winning). And we will be going farther in the tournament. Again.

3. As far as personnel, Kansas's stud wing recruit is playing fewer minutes than Landen Lucas. Of course, this won't stop him from going pro, along with Alexander, one of Kansas's only two meaningful players over 6'7". Wayne Selden and Brannen Greene still have not decided that they want to be full-time basketball players but I'm sure they'll be around for a couple more years to frustrate and disappoint Kansas fans. As far as when Oubre and Alexander leave, hey, at least they'll be replaced by Kansas's 2015 recruiting class, which at the moment, um, looks like...

4. Meanwhile, Arizona's got three five-stars and a four-star locked up for 2015 even assuming we don't get Ivan Rabb

. Those players will go nicely next year with our returning sophomore center (didn't he play in Kansas?), our sophomore power forward, our senior shooting guard, our junior wing who might be our best returning player, and our sophomore point guard who is a star in the making.

But that's none of my business.

enfuego wrote:

salim'sheadband wrote:1. Since the start of 2011, in the very heart of Self's "Woodenesque" run, Kansas has won only eight more games than us and lost only six fewer. Most of those eight games can be explained by Kansas's typically lucky 2012 run where they beat a double digit seed, beat a double digit seed, beat a double digit seed (which, for Kansas, is actually pretty shocking), beat the one seed whose best player broke his wrist, and didn't have to play the other one seed on their half of the bracket because their center was academically ineligible. (Why not include 2010? Well Miller wasn't fortunate enough to inherit a team that returned 10/12 players from a title-game team, like Self was when he took over the Kansas job, so I figured that year could probably get cut off.)

2. Besides 2012 they've never advanced further in the tournament than us in that time. In those three years they've had two losses to double-digit seeds and an all-timer choke-job against Michigan (true story: Kansas's KenPom win probability in that game was, best as I can tell, as high as it could go without actually winning). And we will be going farther in the tournament. Again.

3. As far as personnel, Kansas's stud wing recruit is playing fewer minutes than Landen Lucas. Of course, this won't stop him from going pro, along with Alexander, one of Kansas's only two meaningful players over 6'7". Wayne Selden and Brannen Greene still have not decided that they want to be full-time basketball players but I'm sure they'll be around for a couple more years to frustrate and disappoint Kansas fans. As far as when Oubre and Alexander leave, hey, at least they'll be replaced by Kansas's 2015 recruiting class, which at the moment, um, looks like...

4. Meanwhile, Arizona's got three five-stars and a four-star locked up for 2015 even assuming we don't get Ivan Rabb

. Those players will go nicely next year with our returning sophomore center (didn't he play in Kansas?), our sophomore power forward, our senior shooting guard, our junior wing who might be our best returning player, and our sophomore point guard who is a star in the making.

But that's none of my business.

1. That is quite the arbitrary starting point.
2. Yeah, beside the year we played in the national title game, yeah besides that. When was the last time Arizona played in that game or a Final Four for that matter?
3. I'm not worried about our personnel. Our wings are young, but more talented and versatile than what Arizona tosses out there (Johnson being the exception).
4. Is recruiting done for 2015? We are targeting the cream of the crop. We are in the hunt for bigger fish that typically commit during the late period. I wouldn't be surprised to see a class of one of Dorsey or Newman to go with Jaylen Brown, Diallo and one of Bragg or Maker. We are an elite program and go after the big fish.

Not your best effort.

salim'sheadband wrote:Since the start of 2011, in the very heart of Self's "Woodenesque" run, Kansas has won only eight more games than us and lost only six fewer. Most of those eight games can be explained by Kansas's typically lucky 2012 run where they beat a double digit seed, beat a double digit seed, beat a double digit seed (which, for Kansas, is actually pretty shocking), beat the one seed whose best player broke his wrist, and didn't have to play the other one seed on their half of the bracket because their center was academically ineligible. (Why not include 2010? Well Miller wasn't fortunate enough to inherit a team that returned 10/12 players from a title-game team, like Self was when he took over the Kansas job, so I figured that year could probably get cut off.)

Besides 2012 they've never advanced further in the tournament than us in that time. In those three years they've had two losses to double-digit seeds and an all-timer choke-job against Michigan (true story: Kansas's KenPom win probability in that game was, best as I can tell, as high as it could go without actually winning). And we will be going farther in the tournament. Again.

As far as personnel, Kansas's stud wing recruit is playing fewer minutes than Landen Lucas. Of course, this won't stop him from going pro, along with Alexander, one of Kansas's only two meaningful players over 6'7". Wayne Selden and Brannen Greene still have not decided that they want to be full-time basketball players but I'm sure they'll be around for a couple more years to frustrate and disappoint Kansas fans. As far as when Oubre and Alexander leave, hey, at least they'll be replaced by Kansas's 2015 recruiting class, which at the moment, um, looks like...



Meanwhile, Arizona's got three five-stars and a four-star locked up for 2015 even assuming we don't get Ivan Rabb. Those players will go nicely next year with our returning sophomore center (didn't he play in Kansas?), our sophomore power forward, our senior shooting guard, our junior wing who might be our best returning player, and our sophomore point guard who is a star in the making.

But that's none of my business.

azcat49 wrote:That 5 point road win was better than your 5 point win over Michigan St

azcat49 wrote:Road wins far greater than neutral court wins over teams as vastly overhyped as MSU.

Your best win is probably over Santa Barbara or Utah. You were lucky that you caught all your marquee teams in a down cycle and the one you caught in an up cycle (like with Gonzaga) destroyed you

azgreg wrote:UTEP's Hunter would start for Kansas.

enfuego wrote:Sweet 16 is beginning to look like the ceiling for this squad.

enfuego wrote:

azcat49 wrote:Road wins far greater than neutral court wins over teams as vastly overhyped as MSU.

Your best win is probably over Santa Barbara or Utah. You were lucky that you caught all your marquee teams in a down cycle and the one you caught in an up cycle (like with Gonzaga) destroyed you

Kenpom #21 Georgetown says, "Your tears taste delicious."

Fyi - Second game of the season, Kentucky would have beat Arizona by 40. Look to see Arizona slip in Monday's polls.

enfuego wrote:

azgreg wrote:UTEP's Hunter would start for Kansas.

Conjecture. However, we do know that UTEP's Hunter would start for Arizona, based on yesterday's performance. Probably Cooper too.

enfuego wrote:

azcat49 wrote:Road wins far greater than neutral court wins over teams as vastly overhyped as MSU.

Your best win is probably over Santa Barbara or Utah. You were lucky that you caught all your marquee teams in a down cycle and the one you caught in an up cycle (like with Gonzaga) destroyed you

Kenpom #21 Georgetown says, "Your tears taste delicious."

Fyi - Second game of the season, Kentucky would have beat Arizona by 40. Look to see Arizona slip in Monday's polls.

cats101 wrote:

enfuego wrote:

azcat49 wrote:Road wins far greater than neutral court wins over teams as vastly overhyped as MSU.

Your best win is probably over Santa Barbara or Utah. You were lucky that you caught all your marquee teams in a down cycle and the one you caught in an up cycle (like with Gonzaga) destroyed you

Kenpom #21 Georgetown says, "Your tears taste delicious."

Fyi - Second game of the season, Kentucky would have beat Arizona by 40. Look to see Arizona slip in Monday's polls.

Slip to...#3?

enfuego wrote:

cats101 wrote:

enfuego wrote:

azcat49 wrote:Road wins far greater than neutral court wins over teams as vastly overhyped as MSU.

Your best win is probably over Santa Barbara or Utah. You were lucky that you caught all your marquee teams in a down cycle and the one you caught in an up cycle (like with Gonzaga) destroyed you

Kenpom #21 Georgetown says, "Your tears taste delicious."

Fyi - Second game of the season, Kentucky would have beat Arizona by 40. Look to see Arizona slip in Monday's polls.

Slip to...#3?

Fair question. I cold see the rankings drop you to 7 or 8 based on performance against strength of schedule.

enfuego wrote:
Fair question. I cold see the rankings drop you to 7 or 8 based on performance against strength of schedule.

salim'sheadband wrote:Well at least Kentucky finally made SOMEONE look worse than Kansas. Although Kansas should definitely still be way more embarrassed about that loss.

salim'sheadband wrote:Maybe UCLA and Kansas should combine their teams. The resulting team would only lose to Kentucky by 15.

Other characteristics of this "super" team:

Make one Sweet Sixteen every 5 years. Lose to a double digit seed when you get there.

salim'sheadband wrote:

enfuego wrote:

salim'sheadband wrote:Maybe UCLA and Kansas should combine their teams. The resulting team would only lose to Kentucky by 15.

Other characteristics of this "super" team:

Make one Sweet Sixteen every 5 years. Lose to a double digit seed when you get there.

Hilarious. UCLA is a scoring machine compared to Arizona. I'd be curious to see if Arizona could drop double digits on Kentucky in 40 minutes.

Longhorned wrote:I've seen them play three times this season and I won't lie, Kansas is good when they're not playing one of the best teams in the country. They'll have a solid season and a Sweet 16 finish, bumps in the road aside.

enfuego wrote:

Longhorned wrote:I've seen them play three times this season and I won't lie, Kansas is good when they're not playing one of the best teams in the country. They'll have a solid season and a Sweet 16 finish, bumps in the road aside.

Kansas #9 SOS (thanks MSU)
Arizona #224 SOS

That's a huge amount of trash talk for a team who is barely beating mid majors.

salim'sheadband wrote:If Kansas and Georgetown ever combined teams the committee would have to invent new double-digit seeds for them to lose to.

enfuego wrote:

Longhorned wrote:I've seen them play three times this season and I won't lie, Kansas is good when they're not playing one of the best teams in the country. They'll have a solid season and a Sweet 16 finish, bumps in the road aside.

Kansas #9 SOS (thanks MSU)
Arizona #224 SOS

That's a huge amount of trash talk for a team who is barely beating mid majors.

enfuego wrote:

azcat49 wrote:That 5 point road win was better than your 5 point win over Michigan St

Kenpom disagrees with you. It's okay to admit that Arizona is overrated and Kansas is underrated.