pbmd

April 11th, 2016 at 10:30 PM ^

I would be surprised, if a college basketball player would find a better place to spend a year .
No city, state or fan base would treat you better.
Personally, I would never question why a young player would go to Duke or KU to play basketball.
I have never been to UK.



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kevin holt

April 11th, 2016 at 9:48 PM ^

I work in LFK and it's actually really great. (LFK = Lawrence Fucking Kansas). Have you been there? Tons of great music venues, bars (I mean for an 18 year old that doesn't matter i guess), and beautiful campus. It's not Ann Arbor, sure. But it's better than Durham (boring as shit), E. Lansing (campus isn't nearly as inaccessible), and many other college towns I've been to. Drove around campus and had the smallest thought that I wish I knew about it when I was 17 (but still would've picked M)

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Mojave Gold

April 11th, 2016 at 9:07 PM ^

Nice job Michigan coaching staff. Losing the #1 player in your backyard to Dorothy and Toto in BFE.

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Space Coyote

April 11th, 2016 at 10:06 PM ^

KU was the highest bidder, as they often are. Michigan never had a shot at the going rate for this one. People talking about Lawrence, Kansas like the means anything. History, prestige, former players drafted high, those things may marginally register on the scale. But I'd bet my bottom dollar that at the end of the day the primary reason for choosing "Kansas University" (not the name of the school by the way) you can chalk this up to the immortal words of the Wu Tang Clan: C.R.E.A.M.

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Never

April 12th, 2016 at 9:15 AM ^

Self has quite the history, though.

Darnell Jackson, JR Giddens, Julian Wright, Mario Chalmers (hired his father until they won the championship, after which Ronnie Chalmers resigned), Brandon Rush, Sherron Collins, Darnell Jackson. In '06, probabion for LOIC (by electing NOT to maintain a compliance department they didn't detect/report violations in a timely manner, and were thus able to claim statute of limitations on many violations) for illegal payments to potential recruits, illegal payments given to recruits with approval of coaching staff, and illegal payments given to players after eligibility is exhausted. After that, Darrell Arthur (didn't pass high school), Xavier Henry...that's up to 2009. All instances where they were cited for payments, changing grades, payments AND changing grades, changing payments...lots of lovely improprieties.

 

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CLord

April 11th, 2016 at 9:10 PM ^

I'll never get why any kid would want to go to Kansas, their tradition be damned.  For those that would say the same about Michigan, Ann Arbor is consistently one of the top towns in the country not to mention the education.  Kansas is just not a place I'd like to lay roots.

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mischill

April 11th, 2016 at 9:15 PM ^

Something tells me that a kid of his talent level isn't so much worried about the education or laying down roots in a town. I'd bet he was more looking for a place to land for a year, have a legitimate opportunity at a championship while he's there, and then head to the nba.

But I get what you're saying. Kansas is a destination for no one.



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kevin holt

April 11th, 2016 at 9:52 PM ^

Man, are you guys serious? Have you ever been there? Eastern Kansas has beautiful rolling hills. It's not the flat boring place it's made out to be (that's farther west or if you go east into missouri, Illinois, indiana...). I won't go around defending it to EVERYONE in this thread but the most shocking thing when you come to Lawrence is how it looks nothing like you pictured. So how about we stop acting like he just chose to live in the DMZ for a year, hey?

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Erik_in_Dayton

April 11th, 2016 at 9:18 PM ^

Lawrence is a great college town - or at least it was not that long ago. As for basketball, it's difficult to give a sense of what a big deal it is. If you live in Kansas, your grandmother can probably tell you who KU's back-up point guard is and give an opinion on what the team needs from him. To be a KU player is to be a god in a small pond but also get national attention. And it's hard to beat the history. They've been to 14 Final Fours and won the second-most games ever. The only coach with a losing record at Kansas was James Naismith.

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Mojave Gold

April 12th, 2016 at 12:46 AM ^

I was there one day and I have never seen so many unhappy people.  Of course it was 100 degrees with stifling humidity.  It's much hillier than one would expect.  We were trying to find a lake to jump into.  Finally found a brown water resesvoir.  Not ripping on Kanas, but we couldn't figure out why people were so mean.

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MGoPoints: 1512

M-Dog

April 12th, 2016 at 12:36 AM ^

Bill Self gave us the gift of Elijah Johnson.
 
I loved this hilarious 2013 Kansas Sweet Sixteen prediction from Grantland .  Keep in mind, this prediction was before the Kansas - Michigan game where Elijah Johnson grabbed McGary’s privates, missed the free throw that led to "The Trey", and missed a runner that would have won it for Kansas: 
 
Bill Self will become so enraged with Elijah Johnson that his toupee will fall off.
 
Self and Johnson have an interesting relationship, and by “interesting,” I mean that before every game, I’m pretty sure Self pulls Johnson aside and gives him the following speech:
 
“I’ve worked my ass off to get to where I am today. I spent seven years coaching at small schools in Tulsa just to get the chance to coach at a big-time program. Now I’m here. I have multiple luxury automobiles, I own real estate all over the greater Lawrence area, and women throughout the Midwest want to lay with me. Look me in the eye, Elijah. I have it all, I tell you. IT. ALL. And I’m not about to let some shithead like you ruin it for me. God as my witness, if the other team’s point guard outplays you tonight, I will end you. Your corpse will spend eternity in the crawl space of my summer home, and when guests ask, ‘What’s that smell?” I’ll tell them it’s the scent of mediocrity. It’s the smell of a guy who wasn’t half the man that Tyshawn, Sherron, or Mario were. Look at me, Elijah. I’ll tell them it’s the smell of a man who fell short of success one too many times.
 
“Alright, good talk. Remember: Just go out there and play your hardest, and everything will take care of itself. Go get ’em, buckaroo.”
 

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UMinSF

April 11th, 2016 at 9:43 PM ^

Kansas is a blue-blood basketball program and a real destination.

They've had recent success, and one of the greatest histories and traditions in college sports.

We revere our history here, right?  Well, they have:

Fogg Allen

James Naismith

Wilt Chamberlain

Jo Jo White

Danny Manning

Paul Pierce

Andrew Wiggins

And dozens more.

They also have a fan base that's crazy about basketball and a great atmosphere at the Fogg.

Personally, I can't stand them, but in many ways their basketball program isn't too different from our football program. They're in the very top group of programs with NC, Duke, Ky, and UCLA (recent years notwithstanding).

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pbmd

April 11th, 2016 at 10:22 PM ^

I guess you have never been to Lawrence, KS.
If you like college basketball, you would be very impressed.
If you play college basketball at KU you approach being a Demi-God.
KU may be the best place to play for a year before going to the NBA.
Obviously, as an institution of higher learning M is vastly superior. In regards to basketball, M is not really comparable to KU.



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bronxblue

April 11th, 2016 at 9:37 PM ^

I assumed he was going out of state.  That last month or so was weird with him anyway, with talk about various people reaching out to others to gauge interest.

Good luck to him, but I'm assuming he wont by Lawrence too long.

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