That's fair and I agree.

But we have seen it before. He can steer the ship.

Yes, but I think the real story of 2022 turned out to be that we had 3 NBA wings around Harris.

We used to talk about that team not having much NBA talent, but it turned out that we massively underrated Agbaji, Braun, and Wilson.

I still haven't figured out how we lost. Was watching it at the casino and we were up 6 with 19 seconds left. Went to get a drink. Come back and it's tied.

I'm going to be real with you. I watched it and still haven't figured it out.

And shooting 2 free throws that Harris missed.

AJ Storr is just so bad. As I've been saying all year. Guy does nothing when he isn't scoring and he isn't even good at that.

Give Passmore all of his minutes. Maybe Passmore can at least improve.

KJ playing 30+ minutes a game instead of a guy who is clearly ending up in the draft lottery in June feels like a problem to me

Zeke Mayo happened (again)

I can't really hate on the guy. Really the only guy that does anything. Makes tough shots. This team would be even more ****ed than it is without him.

But when he struggles, which he did last night - he's just ... not good.

Doesn't defend well, super lazy with the ball, etc.

Not yesterday

That was an all-timer EJ vs Michigan type of game (and even worse if we’re being honest; I’ve never seen anybody choke that bad)

Yeah those announcers are saying hes going to be a all-American next year. He's shown enough to get drafted.

He’s the best prospect we’ve had since Embiid and the scouts will have recognized that by now; there’s not even a remote chance he returns imo

Missed 2 FT's
2 Turnovers
Not guarding against 2 3's in the closing seconds!

5 stupid, lack of focus and irresponsible play!

Equals a Loss!

That was KU in the last 16 seconds of regulation.

Time to rebound.

Better have a lead bigger than 6 points with 10 seconds to go today

Dejuan out and kj not starting seems like a good start

KJ is back, doomed

UCF 3 pt shooting is unsustainable.

KU playing very sloppy right now.

Dickinson can't buy a basket.

KJ literally does nothing on the floor, amazing how this just continues

Looks more like volleyball when KU has the ball.

They can’t even make basic passes without Harris on the floor apparently (although they often can’t do it with him either)

Layups are too far a distance for KJ

He’s playing KJ at the 3 and he promptly gives up a 4 point play LMAO

43 is a lot to give up to anyone much less Florida Man University at home.

We were all worried KJ would play over Flory but we should have apparently been worried if KJ would play over Griffen or anyone else at the 3.

KJ's return today has led to less minutes for both so far, one guy who looks every game more like a NBA lottery pick and another guy who was a starter on a final four team (and just played his best game of the season)

Self will go down with the KJ ship

KJ starting at the 3 now to start the 2nd half

We shoot short shots and miss, they jack 3s and drain em.

We are playing a lineup with one shooter on it so that checks out yeah

KJ doing a good job clogging the paint for Dickinson, bricking 2 footers and not rebounding on the defensive end this half so far

15 more minutes for him

KJ -11 this game so far

That's a soft NBA foul call.

I don't think KJ could tie his shoes successfully at this point.

lol last back to back home losses I was in kindergarten and I'll be 42 this year

Roy Williams first year

The shooting percentages are mind boggling. Watching this game it feels like UCF is making half their shots and KU 1/3.

KU is 45.7 and UCF is 38.3

UCF is also 39.4 from 3 and KU is 50.

Time for Flory to go back to the bench to close this game, KJ needs time

Yep there is KJ to come in for the final 2 minutes

gave up 3 rebounds on layups

I wonder if Flory would have been good to have on the defensive boards there with 40 seconds to go

We’ll never know

Pure luck there

I wonder if Flory would have made the 2 footer there

We’ll never know

Dude was dribbling and wants 3 free throws

That's game, too close tbh

Never in doubt, KJ was the difference

I watched zero seconds of tonight's game.

Sounds like HCBS is stoked to forced KJ into the lineup and at the most crucial scenarios.

So that's neat.

Flory made a bone headed play and got pulled but other than that I think Flory was used more but we'll see how it goes as kj gets healthier

But, KJ

It’s obvious how it is going to go and that is less time for the only NBA player on the team

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">KU fans on the timeline rn.<a href="https://t.co/Qpyq9SSkV8">pic.twitter.com/Qpyq9SSkV8</a></p>&mdash; Mike Vernon (@M_Vernon) <a href="https://twitter.com/M_Vernon/status/1884440144356213194?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Didn't see any of the game. Let's see, we beat them down there 99-48, but up here at home it was 91-87. Sounds about right. What's wrong with Harris? (Or, what's right with Harris?)

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Self said tonight was all about survival and getting through it with whatever lineups would work. He said the 3-big lineup was all about defense and he emphasized the importance of Dajuan Harris Jr. &amp; praised KJ Adams for delivering in his first game back. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KUbball?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KUbball</a></p>&mdash; Matt Tait (@mctait) <a href="https://twitter.com/mctait/status/1884450172731809848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2...UdqM/giphy.gif

That really had to of pissed him off when we scored 26 or whatever points in the first six and a half minutes with no KJ and Harris. Then Moore got his 2nd foul and we had no ball handler and shit hit the fan. But it was cool when it lasted.

Amazing how having offensive talent/shooters around Dickinson works for scoring points.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Self said he thought KJ played great tonight and added that the 4 or 5 push shots in the paint that he missed were probably just a product of rhythm/rust. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KUbball?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KUbball</a></p>&mdash; Matt Tait (@mctait) <a href="https://twitter.com/mctait/status/1884451553614176536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


This is what a coach trolling the fans/media looks like

It has to be Alzheimer's, no?

KJ was clutch with the FTs, but he should never ever be the offensive option at the end of a game. As per usual he forced up a bad shot that gave UCF a shot.

He's lucky to have gotten the chance to redeem his terrible decision.

Team is so much better with Bidunga on the floor instead of KJ.

I'm a terrible KU basketball fan this year. Other than Flory, I'm struggling to find any interest in watching this team. I've watched most of the games, but I'm tuned out through a large portion of them. Last night I completely forgot that they played. Turned on the game with about 6 minutes left in the half & then at halftime just decided to watch something else. Ended up watching the last 2 minutes of the game.

I think it's a combination of NIL, KJ, and then random kids I don't really care about jacking up shots for no reason whatsoever. Think Griffin thought he was Michael Jordan for a short stretch in the 2nd half.

Anyway, no other reason to post this other than to call myself out.

Now tied 2-2

Yeah, just haven't been into it the past couple seasons and know other KU fans who are in the same boat... I have about as much interest and enthusiasm as Hunter Dickinson getting back on defense.

I'll have games on that quickly become background noise and didn't even think about it last night.. and to that point, I'd add conference expansion to your list.

I can get excited about playing long time conference rivals even if they aren't great in any given season, but really give no ****s about UCF, Cincy, etc; especially when they're bottom feeders that would be some ignorable warmup of a mid-December noncon game if they weren't in the Big 12.

I feel the same. I'm a diehard fan bur my fandom just has decreased lately. I feel bad. But it is what it is. And if a diehard like me has soured what about the avg fan?

I’d bet the average fan stays about the same.

The diehard fan feels a connection to the individual players who stayed with and grew in the program.

Self has had some great 3-4 year players: Mario, Rush, Sherron, Aldrich, Morris Twins, Tyshawn, T Rob, Withey, Mason, Graham, Agbaji, Braun, Wilson, etc.

Seeing guys develop over the years is always more satisfying than any transfers, especially when it’s an under-recruited guy.

I don’t think the average fan follows it all that close. They just want the team to win.

I'll echo the sentiments. I still watch the games, I still post in here (for most of them). I still care.

I don't feel the same sense of panic or nerves during close games as I used to. I don't have the same big reactions to great runs or awesome plays.

It's interesting. KU sustained my sports itch from the early 90s until 2019. The Royals had a brief moment from 13-16, but KU was still king, the Chiefs made playoffs here and there, but KU was still king.

Now it is fading. The Good Old Days are over. I feel about KU now like I did the Chiefs and Royals for all of those years. I still watched, I still cared, but my defense mechanism was to expect the worst so that I wasn't crushed when it happened.

Now I feel about the Chiefs the way I did KU. Way over invested in the minute details. Way too emotional during games. Way too excited or upset after a game.

Another thing too.

The Big 12 champs steak ending really hurt. Since then, conference play doesn’t seem to mean as much.

You could feel an incredible amount of pressure on each team to win the conference. Once it ended, it seems like “it’s okay” not to win it. You’d hear each player say they couldn’t be on the team that broke the streak.

I’m not saying the players don’t care about winning the conference now, but they definitely don’t care AS MUCH.

100%.

Think this is how I feel now. Like we're going to be in the tourney each year. This whole non conference/conference schedule is just a warm up for that because ultimately, that's all that matters. So I'll vaguely pay attention to the season, but I'm waiting for post season to really pay attention.

Not to harp on KJ but....... this is like Reid playing Remigio instead of Worthy.

KJ is the Clyde Edwards of KU basketball. What is peoples thoughts on Coit. Seems like he had some good minutes.

I'm probably a bigger Coit fan than most, but he gets picked on because of his size.

He probably also faces some minutes limitations because of defensive inflexibility (size).

Yeah, and those players have so much more of a connection to KU... there wasn't ever any question Self's first recruits and that 2008 team wanted a NC more than anything.

And you know any one-and-done has both eyes on NBA draft position, which I've always been fine with, but with it comes expectations of still putting the team first and of course... I don't want to watch Trae Young be a 30% 3 point shooter and give no ****s about the team as long as he gets his stats.

And now you add the transfer portal and NIL... meh. Now you're here for a paycheck, and if you are here to win a NC, are you going to get sad if you get bounced early and go elsewhere. :shrug:

It's just a lot of shouting at clouds for saying this team is just very uninspired, which doesn't mean that's how it'll always be forever, but it's not longer that far removed from the NBA, except the NBA has a ton more talent.

Question for me about college basketball is will kids ever get to the point of college football where they go "I'm going to sit out the tourney to not hurt my draft position"? Or will that not be a thing with NIL?

I was just thinking about that while watching the game last night. ESPN plus, B12 expansion, NIL, all of those factor into how this is just not the same.

Plus, we have some players that are just limited and/or soft. It feels a lot like the Dedric Lawson team(s). I don't expect this team to do much in March. Of course, it was about this time of year in 2022 that I said the exact same thing. So, I guess the positive thing is that it is possible to change for the better. I just have a really hard time envisioning that right now for this team.

Hopefully NIL contracts would specify tournament play, but no idea if that's a thing.

Let's not beat around the bush, many aren't watching as closely because the team isn't as good as it used to be under Self in this era. It's really as simple as that. If they were playing great and up to their talent level, the NIL/transfer portal stuff wouldn't matter. But they're not. Self himself also appears to be mailing it in (there's literally no justification for an NBA player in Flory getting benched for someone as limited as KJ and on some level he must know that).

That's just normal, it's not like we all don't detach ourselves somewhat from our struggling teams. It's abundantly clear how the season is ending for this group despite having a significant amount of talent, so I'm not as emotionally invested myself. I do believe there are different roster iterations among this group of players that could work to contend, but I have no expectation that we'll see those at this point.

There's no beating around the bush, of course that's what it is and what everyone is saying... if the team hadn't looked like they were mailing it in for long stretches the past couple seasons, people wouldn't be asking if it's related to NIL, transfer portal, etc.

There's potentially also some carryover of the Chiefs' success here when it comes to not caring so much about the regular season, too (and of course the recent Natty), plus conference expansion and playing dumb UCF on a Tuesday night... but yeah it's obvious if they were worth watching most nights, everyone here would be doing so.

Ultimately yes, but I think all those other things listed are why the team isn’t as good.

The conference streak kept pressure on the team to perform through what would otherwise be meaningless games.

One and dones make it harder to keep high level talent.

NIL attracts talent away constantly and obscures why a player chose a program.

Transfer portal eliminates any required commitment from a player to work through their issues.

Then, keep in mind, Self was “raised” as a coach during a completely different era. It’s hard to imagine a coach being elite then and now.

The next great coaches are going to be “raised” during this era. The older ones likely won’t be able to completely reinvent everything that made them successful. I’d wager most won’t even want to.

Flory is ****ing good. He might be the difference between a second round exit and sweet 16

I didn't watch a second of last night's game