Sounds about right. I’d say they are a top 10 team based on what I’ve seen so far at their best but it also depends if they continue playing McCormack to the extent they are.

And just FTR, I'm not whining, I'm just stating facts.

I wasn't impressed with this team vs Gonzaga nor UK and didn't have the expectations as some here.

We did play a few good games, fought thru with some gutty performances, caught a few teams while they were down.

I'm a life long Jayhawk, always happy when we win, always disappointed when we lose. But always realistic to know when we are excellent, good and when we are not very good. Plus the fact KU has not had a CBB team that has not been good for a very long time, many here are very spoiled to this, probably me included.

This years team is just good, not excellent and will not sniff the NCAA championship this year. Last years team had that chance due to the inability of any excellent teams. Not so much this year, this team is not loaded with the talent needed to compete with the parity plus the NCAA investigations it has kept that talent away.

He is awful. He ceiling was JAG to fill in for Az for short periods of rest. We had better PG play with better outside shooters.

Every year Self has been here (even that 08 team, which was absolutely amazing) has started off slow. They look like garbage early, figure a few things out by November and are rolling after Christmas Break. Every ****ing time. It took me a long time to figure that out, but if you look at the ball Selfs teams were playing in November, it's nothing like conference play.

Now, I don't know what we'll see this year with the abbreviated schedule and everything ****ed up because of COVID, but we'll see. I imagine it won't be good. Obviously Self has a program that he follows as opposed to a dude that just rolls dudes out there and disruption, I imagine, will affect programs like Self's more than say Calipari.

That being said, there are major deficiencies on this team just from a skill standpoint, but that's not to say Self can't work miracles *cough*Connor Teahan*cough cough*, but we'll see.

Look here, I won't fight against an 1 arm man just as I will not argue
basketball with you, it's pointless. We each have our opinion of what a BB team should look like. For every team built a certain way that you like, there is a team built to counter it. I like a team built on balance, a team that can do all things good, not 1 dimensional shooting a 100 3's per game. Sure you can reach 120 pts " if " you can shoot 40%. The other team can hit 120 pts too, " if " they can shoot 60% on 2's from those 100 processions. So who wins? It comes down to a complete game. Which team controls the glass, the turnovers, play team defense and usually a balanced scoring attack. Individual college players do have off nights more often than you think when you look at the overall play in how he helped the team with rebounding, turnovers, scoring and defense, not just scoring or any 1 of the 4 parts it takes from a player to compete in a team game.

Do you want a balanced team or a team with 15 players that only do 1 or 2 things out of 4 on a team sport.

Answer this question, of those 4 parts of a complete player, if you could only pick your team players, each playing being able to give you 100% effort and performance in 3 of the 4 parts listed, what 3 would you select?

True, but keep in mind, Self is selecting kids that were MDAA's, getting quality players that had better overall talent in the 4 areas needed to build solid championship teams. All he had to do was get them to buy into his teachings and supply the effort to beat the majority of the teams we faced.

This years team is not built like that. It's more along the lines of " getting
the leftovers " after the main coarse was already consumed by other programs.

To a certain extent, sure.

But one of the most productive players Self ever rolled out there was Travis Releford. He was a nothing recruit. He turned out to be probably the best overall defender Self has ever had and an insanely efficient player. He wasn't the guy that was expected to make a play at the end of a shotclock or whatever, but we have guys that can fill it up in Agbaji and Braun (both not highly recruited guys).

There is plenty of talent here to make some noise. I'm not sure there is enough to put together a championship, but probably more overall talent than that Robinson/Taylor team had and certainly better than they played today.

Releford, Taylor & Robinson as you listed were 100% effort guys, guys willing to learn and apply principals. Braun is just a spot up shooter, IMHO, I have never seen him play clamp down defense and rebound consistently. McCormack is the same way, he hasn't panned out the way where Self has taken a player and teach them up, coached them in a way to round them out to be better players.

IMHO, this team is lacking those players in the areas that are needed to be consistent players.

Today, Baylor ( has the talent ) played poorly offensively ( partly due to ISU ) got out shot by ISU but done enough good things and won against an inferior opponent on the road.

Those type of players are needed, we do not have them this year.

KU is currently #15 and the 5th best team in the Big 12 in KCConnections beloved Kenpom

I did not this team would struggle this much to score. I did not think McCormack would be a disaster though and expected him to take a big step this yr when Self said he thought he would be our leading scorer

CB is a great rebounder for a wing. He is OK defensively but hes not efficient trying to be a slasher but for some reason thinks he is one

25 point home blowouts in which your team gave up halfway through the 2nd half will do that. I expect they'll still finish in the top 10 by the end of the season barring something surprising.

Self recognizes how bad McCormack is for this team judging by his usage to start the 2nd half, but he's going to eventually have to do more than that.

He's not efficient trying to be a shooter either judging by some of these games so far this year. In two of the last three, he didn't even make a three. There's no excuse for these performances at this point.

I'd love if the team had Frank Mason and Joel Embiid so that they'd actually be able to score at the rim. They don't, though, they have a bunch of 3PT shooters instead. The only way this team is going to win games is jacking threes as much as possible and living with the results (results of which will usually be good because this team actually can shoot). They didn't do that today and much of that was because Texas was effective at running them off the line.

They had an off night shooting to say the least. ;)
I still dont get treating Garrett like he is a superstar. At crucial times, they spread everyone out and count on Garrett to beat everyone on the opposing teams.

I can understand McCormack playing. Self loves the Hi/Low game. Always had. But, the Garrett thing. Has Self lost him mind? What am I missing here?

Depends on how you define “completely fine.” I’m sure they’ll have a pretty good record and a 5 seed or better. Nothing more is guaranteed.

I’m as big of a KU fan as anyone, but let’s be honest...this is Self’s least talented team at KU. Not only are they fairly low on talent, but the pieces aren’t complementary. Coming into the year, it was hard to get very excited about a team that is/was forced to rely on Garrett and McCormack. And McCormack has been far worse than expected. The roster just isn’t up to KU’s standards.
Everyone railed on the talent level two years ago, but I think just about anyone wouid trade any two players from this team for Dotson and Lawson.

When KU’s raining threes, they look very good. When they’re cold, they look bad. If they’re going to go far this year, they’re going to need to win like a midmajor. Outside shooting, fundamentals and solid defense. Would be nice to flip the script for once.