News and Notes, December 21

by Warden11 on Dec 21, 2011 6:21 AM CST in Kansas Jayhawk News and Notes

Recap: KU's second-half defense made comeback nearly impossible against Davidson | The Newell Post | KUsports.com
Newell Post

Cole Aldrich comes to play (and more from Tuesday preseason games) | 'Hawks in the NBA | KUsports.com
Cole Aldrich might beat out Nazr Mohammed at some point in the rotation. He looks 100 percent better. He doesn’t have near the offensive game Mohammed has, but defensively Aldrich is active everywhere. He never stops challenging shots and tries to rebound everything. And he even showed off a legit sky hook (and made it!) late in the fourth.

Bill Self: After Davidson, KU is all-business on road | KUsports.com
"I’d like to see a lot of things," Self said of improvement for Thursday. "To see us actually attempt to guard, to get in (defensive) stance, to win 70 percent of the 50/50 balls, to not give up layups, to have enough discipline to guard the entire clock and not break down. For us to not play tired, to have more energy and passion, to run our stuff and try to execute what we do instead of being out there on our own."

Snyder won’t let K-State’s success change recruiting approach - KansasCity.com
Some information from the west. They're still playing football over there.

Miami player cleared, but Haith remains in limbo - KansasCity.com
Some information on the school to the east. Player reinstated, no word on whether Haith is in trouble yet.

Much criticized Miles is AP coach of year | CJOnline.com
Tricky call with coach of the year, LSU had a great season and dealt with a lot of distractions this season. However, do you get credit for dealing with distractions that result from the kids you recruited being undisciplined?

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Les Miles...

I’m sorry but, this is a joke. I personally feel Mike Gundy and Bill Snyder had a better coaching year then Les Miles. Snyder would be my pick for coach of the year. LSU was preseason #4. Did they really exceed expectations for this year? My opinion no. They did exactly what was expected. Yes, they were the only team to go undefeated, but I don’t think he stood out from other coaches. Snyder, KState was picked 8th in the Big 12 and he took them to a 10-2 record and #8 in the BCS. All this was done with “less talented players.” (Talent compared to teams like LSU) Now, I believe Gundy has a strong case to be over Miles too. Everyone knew that OSU would have a strong team, but no one expected them to have the season they had.

Ok, I’ve got a question. If the SEC is all that matters in football, why do the other conferences even play? I mean hell, the title game is a slap in the face to every other conference, now this. I don’t fallow many conferences, but I’m sure that are many other coaches that deserve this award more then Les Miles. I’m sick of the media getting on it’s knees for the SEC. Yes, they are a great conference, but they are everything that’s college football. This season is a joke.

End rant.

by hawkinwichita on Dec 21, 2011 6:43 AM CST via mobile reply actions 4 recs

Impressive rant on a mobile device.

Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.
Rock Chalk Talk

by Warden11 on Dec 21, 2011 7:25 AM CST up reply actions

I was

AMAZED Trent Richardson didn’t win the Heisman. Don’t get me wrong, RGIII absolutely deserved it and he is who I wanted to get it, but he doesn’t play in the SEC. All the talk about removing the BCS auto-qualifying titles from conferences to help slow realignment just makes me worry that we’ll get 5 SEC teams in the BCS instead of more of the non-AQ teams. It’s like the Big East in bball, 11 teams in the tournament? really? Oh, but #9 won the whole thing so they all were definitely deserving, right? Like wichita said, sometimes I’m not sure why anybody else plays.

Pay heed...

by pj_hawk4life on Dec 21, 2011 8:34 AM CST up reply actions

What's the answer then?

No more than 2 teams from one conference in the BCS? What if, in a few seasons, Texas, Oklahoma and OSU all finish the year with one loss each (round robin). Wouldn’t they all three be deserving of the top bowls? I agree with the sentiments, but I think that it’s tough to limit the number of teams from one conference in the BCS (a playoff, however, is totally different and makes a WORLD OF SENSE. Hence, it will never get done.)

Same goes with the tournament. You can’t really say that a team must finish in the top half of its conference to qualify for the tournament, can you? Maybe you can (with the caveat that an alternate route is to win your conference tournament).

The poster formerly known as DCJayhawk0208

by PDXJayhawk on Dec 21, 2011 8:48 AM CST up reply actions

I hear you

I don’t know the answer, I just know it all seems a little slanted to me. Maybe the SEC & Big East really are just better than everybody else; they probably are to some extent. I just think that the media sensationalizes everything to the point where that gap gets artificially inflated & it’s almost just assumed that nobody else can come close. I think a football playoff is a must, and I think that the coaches poll should play no part in it after having a few coaches go on the record saying they mess with their ballots to their team or conference’s benefit. I think the media should be more balanced with their analysis & coverage, but realize that by sensationalizing certain teams/conferences & then covering them more they’re only looking out for their best interests, which are ratings. I’m just a little sour on the whole deal because OSU doesn’t even get a shot, and we’ll never know if they’re as good as or better than Alabama.

Pay heed...

by pj_hawk4life on Dec 21, 2011 9:38 AM CST up reply actions

I thought Snyder deserved COY as well

But don’t have a vote. Miles played a tough schedule and was really only challenged once. Gotta give him props for that.

by jayhawk1996 on Dec 21, 2011 9:29 AM CST up reply actions

Click Clack

Shit happens when you win championships

by Andrew Clark on Dec 21, 2011 9:42 AM CST up reply actions

I don't disagree with your SEC sentiments...

But to say Les Miles doesn’t deserve this seems pretty misguided. Them being #4 preseason should have no bearing on anything – in fact, preseason rankings in general should have no bearing on anything. But even if you factor that in, they were only #4 because everyone thought he put together a great team that would perform well.

I’m in no way arguing against Snyder, who did arguably his best job ever, but Miles went undefeated against a ridiculously tough schedule – MUCH tougher than the one Kansas State faced. I’d have no problem with Snyder winning it, but it’s tough to deny Miles his due either. And Mike Gundy lost to Iowa State in a game his team had a 24-7 lead. Whether or not they exceeded expectations, that’s enough to exclude him when there are other worthy candidates.

by hiphopopotamus on Dec 21, 2011 9:56 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs

My problem with Miles comes from the "distractions" angle.

There was a preseason bar fight that led to starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson’s early season suspension. There was preseason coaching shuffle brought on by former offensive coordinator Steve Kragthorpe’s Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. Starting receiver Russell Shepard was suspended three games because he talked out of turn about an NCAA probe of a scouting service.

Then there were the midseason, one-game suspensions of three key players — star cornerback Tyrann Mathieu, starting running back Spencer Ware and nickel back Tharold Simon — for failing school administered drug tests.

One of those I have sympathy for, the others seem like issues Miles brought on himself. Credit him for going undefeated but not because they dealt with adversity.

Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.
Rock Chalk Talk

by Warden11 on Dec 21, 2011 10:52 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs

No article link on the Brannen Greene signing???

I thought that was pretty good news (and good news is at a premium)!

by Westyhawk on Dec 21, 2011 11:47 AM CST reply actions

It's fanshotted on the side, I figured discussion about it would be there.

Great news for sure.

Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.
Rock Chalk Talk

by Warden11 on Dec 21, 2011 11:49 AM CST up reply actions

Found that. Thank you!

Hard not to be excited for the next two classes.

by Westyhawk on Dec 21, 2011 11:58 AM CST up reply actions

An encouraging quote from Dayne Crist

“He’s been supportive of me the last four years whether he was here or not,” Crist told WNDU in South Bend. "Always staying involved in my life. Always helped me along and gave me advice even before he was at Kansas.

“I have a high comfort level with the offense he runs—know it very well. It would be a pretty good advantage walking in the door.”
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2011/12/notre-dame-dayne-crist-transfer-wisconsin-kansas/1

Less encouraging:

“I honestly do not know at this point,” Dayne said. “I visited Wisconsin this weekend. It was a really good visit, but at this point, I have to weigh the pros and cons and go from there.”

Kila's slash for Apr 20 to May 4, 2011, right before he was sent down: .276 / .344 / .448

by SagehenMacGyver47 on Dec 21, 2011 4:16 PM CST reply actions