I have always admired Bill Self and I consider him a great
college basketball coach. We all know he
is a terrific recruiter and one of the best coaches roaming the sidelines. Coach Self though, did suffer through one of
his worst recruiting seasons of his career last year. He got caught in late May waiting on a
handful of young studs to make their decisions on which college they would
attend and Self missed on most of them.
Self was forced to scrape together some leftovers and scraps just out
fill out his roster. Of the guys that
chose KU, three were eventually deemed ineligible by the NCAA and one
subsequently left the program. Self was
left with his most shallow bench, by far, for this team.
Self seems to have learned his lesson when it comes to waiting
for young, flighty, self-absorbed children to make up their minds about where
they want to play their one year of college ball. Self has locked up most of his recruits for
next season already and he won’t be relying on any late signers to make or break
next year’s roster. Most, if not all of
the signed players, are good students and should not have any NCAA academic
issues.
Now, let’s return to the thought about Self being a great
coach. This version of the Jayhawks
features one big, super-stud in Thomas Robinson. T-Rob is a beast, a match-up problem for
almost any college teams. KU also relies
on a flighty, inconsistent, often times, brilliant guard in Tyshawn
Taylor. Many fans have been quite harsh
with Taylor, and sometimes he has
earned this, but KU would not be anywhere near as good as they are without
him. While his uneven play will
undoubtedly cost the Jayhawks a win or two, his athleticism and skills with
certainly win the Jayhawks many more games than he will lose. He has already done so. I think fans need to accept Taylor
for what he is and be glad he plays for us and not someone else.
Jeff Withey has been better than I ever thought he would
be. While he is not a perfect player, he
offers so much that is positive to this team.
I think he has been the biggest key to the success of his team thus far,
more than any other single player. The
starting line up is rounded out by a couple of players in Elijah Johnson and
Travis Releford who have developed into decent role players. While I think both are underachievers on the
offensive end, both have been playing terrific defense and in Self’s system,
this is as important as scoring points.
EJ especially needs to gain offensive confidence if the Jayhawks hope to
go very deep into the NCAA tournament.
The bench is where Self’s recruiting shortcomings really
rears its ugly head. Self is basically
stealing minutes of rest with just three players, none of which are really good
enough to be playing regularly in a conference as good as the Big XII. Conner Teahan is the most disappointing
because he is supposed to be a three point specialist and he has struggled
mightily most of the season. Let’s face
facts here – if Teahan isn’t hitting 3’s, he isn’t contributing much. His defense is barely adequate and he often
looks overmatched on both ends of the court.
He does hustle and rebound but most times, it is not enough. Kevin Young and Justin Wesley are both just
foul fodder. There have been few seasons
when either of these guys would have been good enough to see any court time at
KU. Again, they work hard but just fall
short of being skilled enough to make much more than an occasional positive
contribution.
This team reminds me a little of the 1987-1988
champions. Each features one incredible
player of the year candidate and not a whole lot else. Each team had some big ups and downs
throughout the season. This biggest
difference is that this squad has overachieved most of the season. They have been a ranked team all year. They still have a great chance to win another
league championship. I can not predict
at this time how I think they will do in the NCAA tournament. I can easily see this team losing in one of the
first two rounds. When a team is as
shallow as this one is, a single game can easily be influenced heavily and
negatively, by foul trouble or a slight injury.
If KU would lose early in the tourney this season, I would be
disappointed but not overly surprised. Self’s
teams do have a history of early exits in the tournament.
On the other hand, we all know perfectly well that a single
player can throw a team over his shoulder and carry them to the promise
land. We have seen it firsthand. T-Rob could be this kind of player. Robinson also has a very talented caddy in
Taylor, who could easily go on a six-game hot streak and propel KU right into
the Final Four and maybe even to a championship. Coach Bill Self has a history here too. We all know he has a championship under his
belt as well as some of those early exits.
I think if this turns out to be KU’s down year and Coach
Self learns from his past mistakes in recruiting, as it appears he has, we as
KU fans should feel very fortunate.
There are a lot of schools out there who love to be ranked in the top
ten and be tied for first in their conference in a down season. This may very well be Self’s greatest
coaching job. He has worked miracles
with a team with very few BCS-type players.
As KU fans, we are definitively spoiled rotten. I, for one, don’t mind. I am looking forward to the last few weeks
of the regular season and the tourney season.
I will cheer the Jayhawks on for however long they last in the post
season and I will probably be disappointed and a little mad if, or when, we
lose. Yet, I wouldn’t want to follow any
other team or coach. Rock Chalk!
Get my latest movie and tv reviews at
jawsrecliner.blogspot.com and get twitter updates @jawsrecliner
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