Dead Dog Alley

As a senior Evan Taylor was 8 for 10 from three in November, 5 for 13 in December, and 3 for 13 in January/February/March.

Hopefully we can make him cry first.

I had to check the thread title and make sure this wasn't about the Shim Shams...

That's not surprising, you've taken the overs every year for the last 15 years. (And possibly longer than that, but I don't remember reading any of your opinions before that point.) Anyway, I hope you're right. And just curious, where would you set the O/U line?

This year's roster and the 2009 roster have a lot of similarities, so it will be interesting to see how it works. Every once in a while that year Doc would have Sek at the 5 for a few minutes, with Velander at the 4, Richardson at the 3, Harley at the 2 and Cookie at point. Yes, that specific lineup averaged less than 6'0" tall. There was a time where the small lineup was giving Kansas fits, so KU rolled out a 5 guard lineup and went on a big run. It turns out their 5 guards were better than our 5 guards. Yvan Ouedraogo 6-9 260 Fr. Chris Balham 6-8 235 Jr. Kevin Cross 6-8 240 Fr. Alonzo Edwards 6-7 225 Fr. Matej Kavas 6-8 200 Sr. Toney McCray 6-6 205 Fr. Shamiel Stevenson 6-6 245 Jr. Cole Saloman 6-5 220 Jr. Thorir Thorbjarnarson 6-6 205 Jr. Ade Dagunduro 6-5 200 Sr. Akol Arop 6-6 190 Fr Ryan Anderson 6-4 195 Jr. Haanif Cheatham 6-6 195 Sr. Sek Henry 6-3 195 Jr. Samari Curtis 6-4 190 Fr. Paul Velander 6-2 200 Sr. Dachon Burke 6-4 180 Jr. Brandon Richardson 6-0 190 Fr. Jervay Green 6-3 210 Jr. Steve Harley 5-11 180 Sr. Cam Mack 6-2 175 So. Cookie Miller 5-7 165 So.

They've added Oudraogo, Stevenson, and Cross since then, now I'd guess the over/under at 17.5. 15 or less = disappointment, 16 to 18 = kind of expected, 19 to 21 = pleasant surprise, 22 or more = coach of the year.

The problem is, it's be easier to ride a small ball team to a tournament win than it is to get to the tournament with such a lineup, when you are in a conference that is full of legitimate post players. For example, that Loyola team that made the Final Four would have probably finished 8th in the Big Ten that year, because they would have had matchup problems inside every game. For another example, if last year's Nebraska team had been in the Big East it would have won the conference and also a couple tournament games. The good thing about next year is, the staff will get a good idea as to how well this is going to work - will the mismatches on offense be greater than the mismatches on defense - and be able to adjust their recruiting strategies if necessary.

The last guy we got from Little Rock didn't shoot it as well, didn't handle the ball as well, was around an inch shorter, and about 60 pounds lighter in high school. And that guy started at the 4 for us on an NCAA Tournament team.

Cheatham got an exemption to play right away last year, just like Copeland did. But - he was a senior in eligibility last year. He did not get to claim his third year of 5 games played at Marquette as a redshirt year (unlike Copeland, who got a medical redshirt at Georgetown his junior year.) Last year was what counted as his redshirt year, getting a medical redshirt after playing in 10 games. So if Stevenson is treated similarly - and it gets complicated because he transferred to Nevada in between, and Cheatham might have gotten immediate eligibility since he was going to a school two hours from where he was from in Fort Lauderdale - then Stevenson would be eligible immediately, but as a junior.

He's currently, technically, an end of the year transfer from Nevada who used up his sophomore year of eligibility by playing in 4 games last year. With no waivers, he's ineligible next year and have two years left. There's a good chance he will get a waiver to be eligible at semester, which would give him a year and a half of eligibility. There is not as good a chance that he'll get a waiver so that last year counted as a redshirt year. There's even less of a chance that he'll be eligible at the start of the season.

Duke, Schmook. Why on Earth would he go play for an old has-been who's way past his prime.

Sounds la little like DaPreis Owens.

I've been watching games for far too long and I'm too used to watching games with halves now; it's too late to change.

Normally the rule is if you play in the first semester and transfer, unless you can claim a medical redshirt that year of eligibility is gone. If you were a sophomore and transfer at semester, you are eligible at the end of the first semester the next year and you would be a junior. It would take one waiver to claim that as a redshirt year, and another waiver to be eligible for the first semester. Also, since he is technically a end of the year transfer from Nevada, he would need another waiver just to be eligible at the semester, otherwise he wouldn't be eligible until the next year when he'd be a junior. So it's not cut and dried.