KU's Future.

 I suspect X will leave…and the rumor is CJ will follow him.

I don’t see Tyshawn transferring

I’d say no redshirts. Maybe Wooldridge but I’d say no to Withey

Cole has to go in my opinion, it’s been great…but that would be one hell of an unselfish act to stick around. I can’t see him gaining much by staying.

Short answer to the last one is no. Kansas will be minus Sherron, Cole and Xavier…it won’t be easy next year and I don’t think we have ANY leaders on this team as it stands now.

7) I think Xavier is gone. He’ll be a first rounder and won’t want to pass that up. I don’t think there’s any question he could improve his draft stock by staying another year, just don’t see it happening.

6) Neither will see the court much next year. I’d be surprised if CJ is here at all and Teahan isn’t going to get time ahead of Reed or Morningstar.

5) I don’t see Taylor transferring. It has been a rough year for him but he has to recognize the opportunity ahead of him for the next couple of years. This will be his team and that’s going to make quite a few people uncomfortable around here but I’m excited for it. Maybe I’m being crazy but I’m hoping he stays because I can see great things for him the next two years.

4) Can’t give a good answer here without knowing who stays and who goes but I don’t see Withey doing it.

3) One of the few complaints I’ve had about this season was not getting much of a chance to see EJ play, no clue if he’ll be ready next year. He had times where he looked great and times where looked lost. I’d guess you’ll see a lot of Taylor, Morningstar, Reed, and Releford next year. Little and a Morris could eat up a lot of minutes at the 3.

2) Aldrich has to go. Another year in college will only hurt him in the draft.

1) I don’t think they’ll play better without Sherron Collins. Tyshawn Taylor will have to blossom into a hell of a player to make this happen and I’m not really counting on that.

To make a similar transition to Cole in 08-09. That would be nice. All I feel I can do is pray X and Cole return.

KU’s starting quarterback next year so we can pencil him off the roster…

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/mar/20/teahan-flirts-football-future/?sports

7) Yes

6) No.

5) No. We all keep forgetting that Taylor is only a sophomore. The kid is young, he has a lot of raw ability and time to develop into a very quality player. I still think we all need to give him more time.

4) I think Rolls-Royce will read shirt. He has a lot of potential but is very raw and likely would see the minutes Elijah saw this year at best. Can’t see anyone else redshirting.

3) Certainly will have a crowded backcourt. Right now this is how I see our starting lineup next season:

Taylor
Morningstar (spelled often by Reed, almost a 50-50 here to me)
Little (spelled often by Releford. Releford more athletic, Little the better shooter)
Morris
Morris
(TRob and JDubs mixed in heavily).

Now I think Wooly Mammoth will redshirt like I mentioned earlier. So a big debate could be how does Elijah Johnson fit in? Morningstar will get a lot of PT due to his intangibles and all that and Reed will be literally the only consistent three point shooter on the floor at times (apart from the Morri and Little to a degree). Do we get a big-toime recruit who can do the damn thing? At least we got options. CJ won’t be here so no need to factor him in (which is sad because he could have developed into a pretty solid player)

2) Yes. As Steve Miller and his band once sang: gon take the money and run. Hoo hoo hoo.

1)Now THIS is a brutally good question. I’ve considered posting an entire post about it (that was a redundant sentence). Collins’ toughness, leadership, etc were all huge. However his on-the-court play this past half of the season at times was a hindrance to the offense. He shot very poorly from outside, wasn’t as effective driving to the rim as he was in the past and turned the ball over too often. We will miss him for sure, but I think our play could benefit from NOT having him to rely on. Remember in 2004 when Simien was hurt for some games and we played better overall? Beat GTech and Kentucka. Our team came together and played better. Maybe that happens next year. Who knows.

Here’s what I see for next year, similar to what KUGrad put together:

Taylor → Elijah Johnson
Morningstar → Reed (or vice versa)
Little → Releford
McMorris →Thomas Robinson
MkMorris → Withey

If we land Selby, he’ll probably share time and not have an outright starting position at the beginning of the season. McMorris will probably play some time at the 3 in a McMorris-MkMorris-Withey/ThRob lineup. Releford might be the odd man out when it comes to playing time. And at times we’ll see TT and EJ in the lineup together, which will push this team into ludicrous speed. /Spaceballs

I want Tyshawn gone. There, I said it.

Taylor has one discernible basketball skill: he’s good at finishing at the basket. He can’t shoot. He gets beat more off the dribble than any guard I can remember in the Bill Self era. He’s been an embarrassment to the program off the court more than once this year. Instead of taking that opportunity to reform and refocus on basketball, he openly loafed through a great deal of the season.

Frankly, I think a lot of the whole “just do enough to get by” attitude this year’s team had came from him. If that’s true, he better not be a team leader next year, or it’ll be a clusterf*ck.

Coming out of high school, Tyshawn knew he had the opportunity to come to a place like Kansas and compete for championships. Instead, he chose Marquette. Marquette has a good program and all, but lets be honest- if you face that choice, you choose going to MU over KU because something besides winning is your top priority. Once Crean skipped town, Taylor made the safe pick and chose a stable program like Kansas. That doesn’t mean he has the right mentality that Self wants in his program, however.

I’m not saying that Tyshawn Taylor is a team cancer, or that he’s a terrible player. But I will say that what he gives the Jayhawks on the court just isn’t enough to deal with the headaches he creates off the court. And there’s way too much guard talent on this team for him to be clogging everything up.

7/2. I think Cole and X will both go pro— even if they don’t necessarily want to. Why? Because there is a very strong possibility that there will be a strike or lockout after the next NBA season, and from everything I’ve heard and read, the owners WILL win. Quite simply, they will lose earning power if they don’t go now.

6. I think CJ will stay, and I think he will get more playing time. I don’t understand the assumption that he’s going to immediately jump when Xavier leaves. He’s got the rest of his life to be X’s wingman. Why even come back to college hoops at all if you aren’t going to give it a real shot? He was one of the best 3-point shooters on the team this year, and I could see him sliding into Reed’s role (with Reed replacing Sherron in the starting lineup). Teahan is a nice local walk-on. That’s all I’ll say about that.

5. As noted before, I think he’s gone. I think Self wants him gone, and will do everything he can to help Taylor get on a team back east. He just isn’t worth the BS.

4. Withey can’t redshirt because he was a transfer. Same with CJ. Brady has already done it. Reed won’t be doing it. I think Taylor will be gone. So your candidates are EJ, Woolridge, and any other freshman we bring on. It worries me that we’re starting to look like a program where freshmen don’t get to play, because that will kill us in recruiting.

3. Knowing Bill Self, there is a zero percent chance that nine guards will play. There’s a zero percent chance of 7 guards playing in the final rotation. Self’s biggest weakness, IMO, is his stubborness. I imagine we end up next year with another 5 guard/ 3 big rotation:

Guards:
Reed
Brady
Little
Releford
EJ or CJ (but not both)

Bigs:
Morris
Morris
Withey or T-Rob (but not both)

1. Look at that lineup I just posted. If you think a team that starts two local Kansas kids and no one over 6’8 wins the Big 12 or only has two losses all season, you have got to be high. No way in hell they play as well next year, unless Self does some serious reorganization of his lineups/strategy.