Anybody who thinks KU hasn’t moved on to basketball already has to be a sports agnostic…
Take Tuesday’s Lawrence Journal World, festooned with not one, but two giant front page pics of coveted KU freshman Andrew Wiggins. Talk about giddy, the entire town has gone ga-ga over a high school kid from Canada who’s all but guaranteed to be a one and done wonder.
“Wiggins era of KU basketball begins,” shouts the headline referencing last night’s meaningless game against lowly Pittsburg State.
Question: Since when does a freshman playing maybe five months tops of college basketball qualify as an era?
But leave us not let those whine and cheese Jayhawk fans off the hook too easily, says PR All-Star and MU fan Will Gregory.
Not with five more (count ’em) football games left to play for this year’s 2-7 team.
Gregory emailed me a couple weeks back to wish KU head football coach Charlie Weiss and the football team a “Happy Anniversary.”
That’s right.
“On October 10, 2009 – four years ago today – the Kansas Jayhawks rallied from a 30-27 deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat the Iowa State Cyclones 41-36 in what remains to this day their last victory over a current member of the Big 12,” Gregory advised.
And while KU fans were delighted by Missouri’s loss to South Carolina at home Saturday, they’ve little room to gloat, sports scribe Craig Glazer adds.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” sports scribe Glazer says. “They don’t have any room to talk. They have an ugly, embarrassing football program. So they may be loving Missouri’s loss, but they’re big losers, too…in an even bigger way.”
For the most part its always been, KU basketball and MU football. Though the KU basketball program far outshines MU’s two programs. So far. Hey its only been what 100 years, give it time. Yes KU had a handful of nice bowl games, we know, but very, very few. MU is more consistent with postseason involvement and teams in the top 20 even top 10 a few times more. This year has been unexpected and will end with MU playing a postseason game higher than most expected. KU as usual, is a dog.
All the talk is once again KU basketball where KU shines and MU is just a hopeful, as always. My guess is this will be the case for years to come. Next year KU will continue to be a noshow in football and top ten nationally in hoops, MU is on the move it seems with the football program and basketball is going just ok.
Look there is this huge ‘hate’ between the former and current students towards each others programs, that’s normal in a border war pushed by the media and all the radio talk from both sides. Just the way it is, I don’t think KU and MU people really hate or dislike each other in real life, just on the field. I guess thats the American way.
I see no changes coming in the near future. Do you? Charlie looks to be an expensive bust as Hearne basically is saying. There is in two years zero improvement and he has to this point brought nobody to the program worth jumping up and down about, there is not ‘good’ future team to look at here. Doesn’t seem that he will, just collected some good paychecks. Not the right guy. Who is?
About Andrew Wiggins: This again. The last one and dones at KU were not of ‘huge’ help. Where they? We all know KU has more NBA players in the league than any other big 12 program. However save, Chalmers and ‘nearing the end of great career’ Paul Pierce, the rest of the guys are no shows, maybes and on the bench for the most part. That does surprise me, given their talent in college. A few have been o.k. roster guys, but not even close to stars, as of the last decade plus. So is Wiggins the exception?
Again I agree with Hearne here, Wiggins no doubt is very talented and will help to a point, but a freshman, five month player, an era? I highly doubt it.
Seems like when you are tagged number one pick, one and done, etc….it usually means ‘fall short.’ The list of these players is a mile long. There are a couple exceptions, we know Cobey and James come to mind, but as I remember didn’t somebody just ‘skip’ college.
Look this guy might be the real deal, lets see him play and work well with others first. Bill Self is as good as it gets with coaching players to the NBA. Let me add this, ‘and making them seem more valuable to the NBA than they are’ again for the most part. I think that’s a reason he can sell these young guys and their family KU. WE WIN, WE GO TO FINAL FOURS, and most important, DID YOU SEE THE AMOUNT OF MONEY MY LAST TEN DRAFT PICKS GOT PAID? IMPRESSIVE.
Cobey? Holy shit, Glazer…
Yes, LULZ abound.
Sorry Kobe. I’ve done that before, dumb ass me.
It’s why I just can never take you seriously, CG. You may be the greatest sports bettor the world has ever known but your everyday stupidity blinds me from seeing it. I just can’t respect anyone’s opinions when the person spouting said opinions can’t spell or put together a coherent thought.
I’m sure you’re a lovely guy and I know we all make a mistake here or there on the internet but you really do come across as somebody with a remedial education. Did you actually graduate from Shawnee Mission East?
Hot stuff, you might read my stories then try and say that pal. When we write on the comments its faster and mistakes are made BY ALL, even you
“Lowly Pittsburg State”??? Really? For one, it’s an exhibition game that the University of Kansas helps the NCAA D2 schools in the state to give them a bit of exposure and the experience of playing in Allen Fieldhouse. In addition, KU pays these schools to play at AFH for these exhibitions to help fund some of their programs — much better these schools than something like “Livin’ The Dream” or some other glorified exhibition team.
Maybe Pitt State could play KU in football, then we’d see which school was “lowly”
The Pitt State Gorillas are a 7-1 team right now. Their only loss was to an 8-0 Northwest Missouri State Bearcats team. I doubt KU would want to schedule either of these teams.
Sounds like we agree basically, Jayhawk Tony…
The fact that KU is being charitable by allowing Pittsburg State to play the Christians to Bill Self’s Lions may appear noble, but cannon fodder is cannon fodder.
Yes, Pittsburg State has been mopping the floor with opponents like Northeastern State (whoever they are), Central Oklahoma and Southwest Baptist (ditto and ditto), but they barely nosed past Abilene Christian for the team’s homecoming game.
Nope, bad as KU may be in Division One of the Big 12, they’d annihilate the Gorillas, sorry.
As far as KU scheduling Pittsburg in football, why not demonstrate that same generosity they do in basketball and let them have a taste of Memorial Stadium?
“As far as KU scheduling Pittsburg in football, why not demonstrate that same generosity they do in basketball and let them have a taste of Memorial Stadium?”
Because DII schools don’t count towards bowl eligibility.
Here’s what you don’t quite understand, Hearne. Words have meaning. You should take great care in choosing them.
Had you said “Division II Pittsburg State” you would have made your point just as well that Pitt State is no match in basketball for KU, and that this was just an exhibition test drive.
But no, you had to insult the entire university.
let me explain it to the jocks and geniuses.
KU could win the Olympics/ncaa/nba title /world title etc. but it won’t
fill thoseempty coffers with cash.
Football is the cash cow…it breeds the money….its the lifeblood of any
college.
theres only 16,000 seats in allen field house….no more…and that’s
it…they can go to their alumni a million times for cash but
because of the forces in Kansas ku and k state are going to be hurting
for money big time.
The a.d. and self and weisss need to go under every couch in
Lawrence because moneys getting tight. Ku can land all the
talent they want….they aint got the cash.
and its affecting them right here in Johnson county.
more and more families are sending their kids across the border
to mu because of its superior education.
glaze can shoot his mouth off about what is usually wrong info
on ku/mu/chiefs/royals all day long…ku is still going to be
starving for cash…while mu is bringing it in like a slot machine.
Moneyis everything in these deals…forget wins/coaches….its
moola boys and those that have it and those that don’t
will be separated soon.
that suit against ncaa will kill amateurism and then you’ll
see the cash flowing to the players like never before…….
get ready….its the schools with all the cash that will
survive…..
and you can’t do it with just basketball on a small Midwest
campus.
love ku…wish they win it all…but the numbers aint cutting it.
Spot on harlinator, bassetball means nada, bupkiss.
De fooseball is everything.
Harley has a point, maybe a bit over the top, BUT NOBODY WANTED KU to come to their conference. They wanted MU, much because of their football team’s decent record. KU being in a small market hurts and even with one the nations top 3 NCAA basketball programs, not a hottie. Guess it is the dough like Harley says here to some extent. Sadly.
Columbia is a big market?
I think CG was more talking about the statewide tv market. Missouri has what 6 million residents? Kansas has less than half that I think.
You’ve either got brass balls or you’re just a complete idiot to even mention these two entities in the same sentence. One of the most storied programs in all of college basketball history paired with a mediocre program that has all of ONE win in the all-time series with the “ugly, embarrassing football program” that is KU football. Even Don Faurot would laugh at that ridiculous analogy. Memo to Mizzou fans, historically speaking, across the board, your sports programs epitomize the term ‘average’. On the plus side, you can now add the doinked FG against S.Carolina to your revisionist sports folklore where brutal losses are the historical highlights.
No PB, although harlinator is wrong most of the time he is right about this one.
Nobody really cares about bassetball except for one month out of the year.
Otherwise it is poorly played bush league ball. Only tards in awrence, Chapel Hill and wherever the hell Duke is care about bassetball the other months out of the year. Most people could care less.
That’s the thing, if it’s true that football is all that matters, then where the hell does Missouri fit in? I’m an alum and fan, not an AD, I can give two shits about dollars rolling in from football, I care about how my teams do and the pride that comes with that and for Mizzou fan over the last, oh , I don’t, 100 years, they have none unless chants of ‘SEC, SEC’ counts for something. I leave it to Tiger Fan to debate the economics of college sports since their playing field achievements are so lacking.
basketball doesn’t pay bills in lawrrence…
get that understood hawk fans.
you better get that football program up and running
because the athletic department is running on
empty til it does.
don’t fool yourself….16,000 tickets at those prices
won’t pay the bills…
brownback and company are coming after ku and
their “liberal” admins.
ku bbbal can’t pay the bills.
Harley is always right.
might be above average…
but we got tons of cash rolling in!!!!!!
250 million for athletic facilities…seen the ones in Lawrence…????
100 million in capital improvements…
pb…better your priorties straight…bball don’t pay the bills and
Lawrence /ku is sliding down the hill very very fast.
Didn’t Hearne declare that sports don’t really matter anyway?
Abiline Christian is a DI AA school that Pitt beat but as far as playing a DI school, no way. The DI schools just have more size and depth as far as back-ups. That said, I bet the worst DIII mens basketball team in the country could beat the WNBA champs, whoever the hell that is.
That would be a game I would pay good money to watch.
Who the hell is Will Gregory and why does his opinion matter? Fan or actual alum of Mu? LoL.