MONDAY MUSINGS PODCAST: Is it time to panic?

[AttakOfDaClones]

Coaching staff not accountable? With the Lard, Talley suspensions?

We ARE going to the tourney and we will finish in the top half of the league which I THINK overachieves from where the experts - sorry anonymous chart board posters - thought we'd be.

If this is what passes for sucks these days I have to adjust my expectations to the ludicrous level.

CSP’s commitment to off-the-court accountability is well documented. However, we don’t see much accountability for players who don’t box out, don’t close out, take plays off, etc. I like that CSP sees himself as a father figure to our players. Now he just needs to go all the way and chew some *** every once in awhile like my dad used to do to me when I wasn’t hustling/boxing out.

To the next part of your response, you sound like a guy who just woke up from a coma and the last thing you remember was Chris’s preseason basketball preview. We were the leading candidate to win the league 3 weeks ago and now you are happy to be middle of the pack?

Sure, from afar and without paying any attention to the details of the season, one could judge that we have had a decent bounce-back year. However, anyone who has watched this team each game has to be worried. The team we saw this past Saturday was disengaged and flat out stopped caring. Furthermore, we have been trending down for awhile, especially defensively.

 

[clone34]

I just think the team never gelled as intended and some jealousy set in. To me it showed up in the first few games that I saw and not much has changed from my perspective. Certain players are passing and assist giving limited. Just a black hole of the ball.

 

[jdoggivjc]

Nothing like sports teams to make people fret endlessly. Like all of their fretting and commentary is going to change something.

Exactly. I laugh at the endless “Coach must be held accountable” and/or “Coach should take a long look in the mirror” statements that come from the armchair ADs on this site. Are things bad right now? Yes. Can they be fixed? I don’t know, but it’s not as if Coach doesn’t realize there are problems and isn’t trying to fix it. And if these random armchair coaches and ADs were in charge would things suddenly be better? And that question is why I roll my eyes at so many posts on this site these days.

 

[Cycsk]

Seems like nobody remembers Hoiberg letting players work through their on-court deficiencies, such as Corey Lucious forcing shots and passes rather than just running the offensive set. And that was on arguably our best team of the 2000's.

 

[Cycsk]

Enjoy!

https://cyclonefanatic.com/podcasts...nt-feelings-on-the-cyclones-twitter-wbb-more/

Nice rant by @ChrisMWilliams about our failure to appreciate and stay focused on the success of the women's team. And this was no rant as part of his schtick with Ross on KXNO. I think he really means this one as he has become so passionate about the women's team.

P.S. It was great watching the celebration of the seniors last night. I was especially touched by Middleton's comments about our program as I thought about her having the Tennessee program as her point of comparison!

 

[madguy30]

Your passion for mediocrity makes me wish you were my boss.

64/300-some isn't mediocre just like it wasn't in 2012.

I'm not sure where people come up with this stuff.

 

[madguy30]

Seems like nobody remembers Hoiberg letting players work through their on-court deficiencies, such as Corey Lucious forcing shots and passes rather than just running the offensive set. And that was on arguably our best team of the 2000's.

You thought the 2012-13 team was the best team of the 2000s?

They weren't even the best team of a 4 year stretch.

 

[Cycsk]

You thought the 2012-13 team was the best team of the 2000s?

They weren't even the best team of a 4 year stretch.

Just acknowledging that they are the team that we refer to as having the best chance at a Final Four. But that wasn't the point of the post. Do you remember how Hoiberg let him play even though he made lots of bonehead plays? And he came through at the end of the season.

 

[cycloneML]

Props for calling things how they are @ChrisMWilliams

Dribble-drive defense has been terrible for some time and Lindell isn't draftable at this point in time.

I would be curious to hear your thoughts are re: why the downward slide? To me it seems to be lack of forcing accountability by our staff. It's interesting to hear your thoughts on the Lard situation regarding accountability, while our players repeatedly fail on defense and aren't pulled from the game or coached during the game.

How do u suppose CMC would be handling this? I imagine he’d be in peoples faces.

 

[cycloneML]

I've been panicking since Sam Mack was arrested. Why stop now?

HA! Iirc the girl behind the counter called Sam by name

 

[Walden4Prez]

It doesn't matter how you play the game, it's whether you win or lose. And even that doesn't make all that much difference.

 

[AuH2O]

Just acknowledging that they are the team that we refer to as having the best chance at a Final Four. But that wasn't the point of the post. Do you remember how Hoiberg let him play even though he made lots of bonehead plays? And he came through at the end of the season.

I think you are blending some years together. Prior to Royce declaring for the NBA draft I could see people thinking 2012-13 team might be a FF team, but that team seemed to be riding on the good side of the bubble all season. Not very good in the non-con, and about mid-conference season lost to that absolutely putrid Texas Tech team.

 

[AttakOfDaClones]

64/300-some isn't mediocre just like it wasn't in 2012.

I'm not sure where people come up with this stuff.

So you think a Big 12 program is judged on the same plane as a team from the MVC? You are really judging our program against the 300 others even though we are a power 5 school? Wow. Nevermind, I wish you were my boss. Middle of the conference when you were in the best position to win it is mediocre AF. Expectations are and should always be relative. Do you think KU should just be happy to make the tourney?

 

[AuH2O]

Exactly. I laugh at the endless “Coach must be held accountable” and/or “Coach should take a long look in the mirror” statements that come from the armchair ADs on this site. Are things bad right now? Yes. Can they be fixed? I don’t know, but it’s not as if Coach doesn’t realize there are problems and isn’t trying to fix it. And if these random armchair coaches and ADs were in charge would things suddenly be better? And that question is why I roll my eyes at so many posts on this site these days.

The rich part in all this is that many of the same people throwing a fit about lack of accountability would lose their minds if certain players that are some of the biggest culprits of making effort/mental mistakes sat on the bench for long stretches.

What makes it hard is that some of the guys are so inconsistent. One moment THT is driving into 4 guys, then a couple possessions later he passes up a good shot to make the extra pass to set up a teammate for a great shot. One minute LW is getting beat off the dribble or not closing out on a shooter, the next he's diving on the floor for a loose ball or ripping down a tough rebound. As fans we see the bad plays and think it's just guys being lazy or unfocused. The fact is, learning and being able to play with the high level of consistent focus and effort it takes to be a great team is a huge adjustment for most of these guys. For most of them in HS they could be on cruise control a lot and win. Last year LW and Lard could play hard, but maybe take some possessions off or miss some details of the game plan and they're still playing because we had 6-7 guys available.

 

[AuH2O]

So you think a Big 12 program is judged on the same plane as a team from the MVC? You are really judging our program against the 300 others even though we are a power 5 school? Wow. Nevermind, I wish you were my boss. Middle of the conference when you were in the best position to win it is mediocre AF. Expectations are and should always be relative. Do you think KU should just be happy to make the tourney?

KU not being a top 5 team makes people think winning the conference is a lot easier this year than it really is or ever was. Reality is that 14-4 may not be good enough to win outright. That's two full games better than any team in the Hoiberg and Prohm eras, and league SOS is similar to or better than those other years. I'm interested to hear which of the previous Hoiberg or Prohm teams that went 12-6, 11-7 or 10-8 in the conference in seasons where the SOS was very similar to this year would've won the conference.

 

[awd4cy]

Just acknowledging that they are the team that we refer to as having the best chance at a Final Four. But that wasn't the point of the post. Do you remember how Hoiberg let him play even though he made lots of bonehead plays? And he came through at the end of the season.

The team the following year had a much greater chance at the final four.

 

[Beernuts]

This team just needs to have some fun again. They can't go back and replay the games they lost. They can't go back and improve their standings.

But they can just have fun again and play reckless. If they do that..then maybe some wins will follow...and even if they lose at least it will be fun for us as fans to watch again.

 

[madguy30]

So you think a Big 12 program is judged on the same plane as a team from the MVC? You are really judging our program against the 300 others even though we are a power 5 school? Wow. Nevermind, I wish you were my boss. Middle of the conference when you were in the best position to win it is mediocre AF. Expectations are and should always be relative. Do you think KU should just be happy to make the tourney?

Here we go with relating real life to college basketball again. Are people really this pathetic in their view of life, like those two things are related?

And where did I put a Big 12 team on the same plane as the MVC? Now you're just making things up to be angry about. That's hilarious. And again, with just thinking ISU was somehow just supposed to win the conference because of a couple of nice wins. They have limitations, much more than people are even remotely attempting to acknowledge.

And do you think KU and ISU are on some sort of similar level of expectations? That's also funny.

Anyway, mediocre is average. At times, this team has been average, at times a decent team, not much more. So, they're above average overall, and they'll make the NCAA tournament as a result.

Getting into the NCAA tournament is not average. If you can't enjoy it, don't watch.

 

[madguy30]

Just acknowledging that they are the team that we refer to as having the best chance at a Final Four. But that wasn't the point of the post. Do you remember how Hoiberg let him play even though he made lots of bonehead plays? And he came through at the end of the season.

The best team with a chance at the FF was the 13-14 team but that still would have taken some breaks even with Niang and also was because the field was wide open that year.

And yes, Hoiberg let him play through some things. I'd imagine CF was outraged.

 

[SolarGarlic]

If we're being honest, getting to the 2nd round of the tournament is the base goal for this program on a season-by-season basis.