Rock Chalk Talk Roundtable 10.20.10

Well the weekly roundtable has certainly taken a turn for the worse.  Things should look up with the start of basketball but for today we're still kicking the tires football style for the most part.

Today's roundtable topics:

1. Football...WTF?
2. Texas A&M...argue why Kansas has a shot?
3. Give me your #1 "hope" for the remainder of the season.
4. Which of the late night visitors would you be most excited to land?
5. Bill Self as Vanilla Ice...good or bad?
6. Last week we had to bring up a reason that Kansas shouldn't be picked as the favorite to win the Big 12 in hoops.  Now give me a reason they should be picked without using the "we've won it the last 6 years".

Give us your take or just critique ours and if you'd be interested in participating as a guest in the future, send me an email, Penguin did!  denverjhawk@hotmail.com

1.  Football...WTF?

Owen:

Exactly.  I think there were plenty in the 4 win camp.  Plenty believing Kansas would struggle this season after the turnover, but no...or at least not many would have predicted the disaster at hand.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's not losing, it's how we are losing and that's concerning.  I sure hope there are dramatic improvements next year in terms of focus and intensity or the verdict will be in on Gill.

Warden:  

Great question and no idea.  Reading through the Dr. Saturday link I put up last week was pretty eye opening.  There's a decent case to be made that Kansas was the worst BCS team the last two weeks.  And now Sims has been demoted?

Owen:

I've heard that Quigley's "promotion" is more due to the fact that A&M is a blitz heavy defense out of a 3-4 scheme.  Quigley provides better pass blocking and awareness in that aspect and that's why the switch might be happening.

Warden:  

Heard Chuck Long on 810 this morning on the drive to work and he admitted that was part of it.  The other part was that Quigley earned his time by playing well last week.  

Owen:

Quigley played well when the game was already out of hand. That doesn't earn a start in my book, but hey I'm not the O-coordinator.

Warden:  

Agreed.  I really don't know how anyone earned anything for the Jayhawks last week.

2.  Texas A&M...argue why Kansas has a shot?

Fetch:

I can only assume this question is some sort of joke, but in the event that you are serious, maybe MAYBE Kansas can control the ball with the running game enough, give Sims a ton of carries, Beshears runs one back and Jerrod Johnson throws a couple killer picks.

Owen:

Somehow get a fast start and put Jerrod Johnson in a spot where he has to make plays.  Then you hope you force him into a few mistakes, get a couple turnovers and maybe just maybe equalize things on your home field.  It's going to be tough though.

Warden:

Have to find a way to get a couple of easy touchdowns either through special teams or turnovers.  Short fields, fumble recoveries, or returns...doesn't matter.  This offense isn't going to put up enough points to beat anyone.  

As an aside, how bad is it that A&M is having a "disappointing season" and just got handled by Mizzou, yet they are coming to Lawrence as 14 point favorites?  The worst part is I'd take that bet (for A&M) in a heartbeat.

3.  Give me your #1 "hope" for the remainder of the season.

Fetch:

Beating Missouri. I realize the chance of this is very slim but hey, why not.

Owen:

I'm not even caring who we beat or if we lose every single game, I just don't want to see what I'm seeing right now and that's a program in disarray.  I'm ready to see the youth movement and I'm ready to see those players step into a leadership role.

Warden:

 I'd like to see more of Kale Pick.  Is anyone sold on Webb at all?

Owen:

I think I'm with Grad on this. I had the feeling even when the switch was made and Webb looked good against Tech that Pick never really got a fair chance.  Webb has had more than a fair chance at this point and while I'm not saying he has lost the job...I'm just not convinced he's our best option. It seems to me that the quarterback position will likely be wide open again this offseason and that being the case, I'd like to see more Kale Pick as well.  

As long as we're getting throttled let's use the opportunity to find out what we have on this team, top to bottom, in a game situation.  This goes back to HipHop's point in response to the "Go Young" thread.  It doesn't seem Gill or any of the staff knows or feels comfortable with what they have so let's figure it out.

4.  Which of the late night visitors would you be most excited to land?

Owen:

Ben McLemore from the 2011 class because it means we held off Missouri.  2013, give me Julius Randle and the Harrison twins.  That's not too much to ask is it?

Warden:

 Not sure.  I'm going to go with LeBryan Nash.  Love watching a 6'7'' slasher.

Fetch:

I certainly don't get terribly into the recruiting stuff, but I'll say Julius Randle. I've heard tons of good things.

5.  Bill Self as Vanilla Ice...good or bad?

Fetch:

Considering it is now both my twitter and facebook picture, I would say very good.

Owen:

I've said before that Bill Self comes off as "cool" in almost any situation.  This one was borderline, but I think he still pulled it off.  And based on the comments from recruits about the staff being fun and it seeming like a family environment I don't see how it can be bad.

Warden:  

Corny?  Yes.  I'm not a huge fan of the whole late night skits and everything...call me old.  But a coach has to do what he has to do.  He starts pulling that in season and I'll be worried.

6.  Last week we had to bring up a reason that Kansas shouldn't be picked as the favorite to win the Big 12 in hoops.  Now give me a reason they should be picked without using the "we've won it the last 6 years".

Owen:

The Morris twins appear to be re-defining the term leadership and work ethic for this team.  We all know Sherron was one of the great on the court leaders, but it almost came naturally to him.  The Morris twins came in a little clumsy, a little over their head and rather immature.  They've grown up, worked their butts off and it's impressive to see.  They will push everyone else on this team to achieve and perform.

Warden:  

Bill Self.  It's what he does.  Our team will be as tough as anyone in the conference.  Defense will be as good as any defense in the conference.  Our reserves are better than the rest of the conference.

Fetch:

Well, we have the best coach and the best player in the conference. Id say that's a good start. We also consistently have the best defense in the conference which can cover up a lot of mistakes on offense. In general I prefer teams who are good at offense to those who are good at defense, but I suppose it could be argued that in the regular season that should be the opposite.