Jamari's best performance in ages

Really solid. Need more of this!

Nice foul by Jamari at 7:36. I'm tired of piddly fouls that allow the basket.

Foul like you mean it.

Definitely Jamari's best game of the year for sure, probably longer? I'll leave that to the analysts.

If today was your only data point you would think Jamari is a bona fide championship caliber player.

Yep. But as you noted, yesterday's performance was a complete anomaly for Jamari this year. As I've made clear on here, I believe he's been our biggest liability all year among Self's "go-to" rotation of bigs (Ellis, Lucas, Jamari). Lucas is horrible on O, but he knows it and just plays to his role in other areas--which seems to satisfy Self. Jamari, on the other hand, violates the "do no harm" principle multiple times each game, while offering very little (other than the occasional energy play) to offset it.

Yesterday was the clear outlier. But man, what an outlier. Yes, I know it was only TCU, but anyone who has watched every KU game this year knows full well that this was a very different looking Traylor yesterday. It was as if Self took him aside for several hours this past week, had a come-to-Bejeebus moment with him, broke down every flaw in his game on film, and laid out a path and plan to help him correct said flaws. Not only that, but it's also almost as if Self got through to him that, in the absence of Bragg and Diallo getting to the point where Self can trust them (putting aside any fans' desire to see them developed better for the March-April run), Jamari is going to HAVE to step up and be more of a force when it comes to a) executing the fundamentals soundly and consistently; b) becoming more of an offensive rebounding force; c) effectively hitting the bunnies he's been missing for 3 seasons now; d) discarding the notion that he's a competent ball handler, and getting rid of the ball quickly when he's left alone outside; e) avoiding the recurring illegal screens and possession-killing mistakes he's so prone to; and f) amping up his already great energy and channeling it more effectively toward positive outcomes.

Because it's a one-game sample and a stark outlier, I'm not going to personally read a lot into it. We need to see this same level of play in multiple games ahead before it will signify any turning of the corner. And if he reverts back to "Bad Jamari," hopefully Self will immediately pick that up rather than thinking he has to ride Traylor all the way in the post-season, come hell or high water.

I know this. If Jamari can bottle, harness, and channel the elixir he found yesterday, I will praise him to the high heavens (rather than critique him ad nauseum) and this team will become much more of a threat to make some noise in coming weeks. I'm not holding my breath on that, but I am crossing my fingers!

Let's see how he plays this week against West Virginia and Oklahoma.

Exactly my point in my last post. Yesterday was the outlier, we need to see this "good Jamari" over a lot bigger body of work.

What I don't want to see is a "middling" outcome, because that will just compel Self to stick with Jamari. I'd rather see Jamari soar or continue to be erratic as all get-out. Reason: If we get scenario A (soaring), our front court suddenly becomes less of a liability than it is now. And if we get scenario B (erratic), we can all help that Self will go for broke with the upside talent (Bragg, Diallo) and give them more playing time heading into the tourney, because he'll know we can't go far with the status quo.

We'll know a lot more on this within 7 days.

Color me quite skeptical (about "good Jamari")...yet hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

Jamari was the only one mentioned in this article.
www2.kusports.com/news/2016/feb/06/jamar...fs-call-more-energy/

Even though the results yesterday were against lesser competition, playing just as focused against better competition will still translate into much better basketball than he has been playing this year. Hopefully now that Self has gotten through to him, Self and the staff can keep Jamari fully engaged.

The sad thing is that this is a year in which the national crown is very much there for the taking. There are no--zero--great teams out there. All have clear weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

If it were October and an oracle revealed to me the performances to date of all the non-KU teams in the top 20, and then I looked at what personnel KU had coming back and coming in, I factored in the success in the WUG, and I accounted for the likely progression of our returning players and the coaching up of our highly touted PF from Cleveland and our C from Africa, I would have been salivating at the thought of what the future held. Salivating.

Instead, for all of the reasons you cite, Senex, and those that I've covered and many others on here have added, I just feel like this is an exceptionally fitful, odd team. And I can't escape the sense that it's been one of Self's most questionable years. One need only look at his approach to rotations. We are now only 8 games away from the post-season, and Self still hasn't settled on a solid 8 to 9-man rotation. He appears to be rolling the dice and throwing darts on a game by game basis (when it comes to the players outside of the "core," plus his upperclassmen in the paint). Svi's latest run of decent minutes--coming on the heels of him literally being glued to the pine for games on end--is just the latest incarnation of this. And deep in his basketball gut, I think Self knows we likely can't win a championship relying on Traylor and Lucas as key cogs in the paint. But I think he's so committed to winning "now" (as in, each game in the race for the league crown) that he just can't give those guys (or Greene, for that matter) any rope when it comes to making a mistake when they do go in the games.

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Despite the above sentiment, I will say this, however. I saw something in the TCU game. Something that might be a bit intangible and/or lodged in my hoops-filter subconscious, but it was something. I saw Coach Self coaching his $%& off from the opening whistle. He was super engaged, he was standing on the sideline far more than usual, he was patting kids on the butt, he was screaming (as usual), but in a way that underscored his passion and desire to win. His pride in KU and pride in self was very much on display. So any notion that Self is checking out, less caring than in the past, etc., doesn't seem to pass the eye test for this fan.

The other thing I saw (in the first half) was great body language and energy by all members of the team, and from those on the bench. Selden was dragging from the flu, but other than that, they were flying up and down the court, moving the ball crisply to one another, picking each other up when one fell on the ground, and showing emotion on made shots and big plays. This stressed to me that there is a beating heart inside of this enigma of a team. It might be feint at times, and it shows too-frequent signs of arrhythmia. But it's there.

On one hand, based on what I saw, part of me wants to believe--extrapolating from past KU teams during this 11-year conference run--that this team might have (might have) just found another gear...or flipped the switch where they just know that it's now "go time." It's been a long and fitful season, but it's go time.

That gut feeling is certainly tempered by the voice in my other ear, saying "nope, this team just doesn't have it, and it's very unlikely to find it in time."

Back to the uncertainty question again. As you rightly said, this team could seemingly win against anybody (especially "anybody" in this year's less-than-elite national lineup), but just as easily could seemingly lose against anybody.

All we can do is hope. And maybe pray. We'll find out soon enough. Hang in there!

Rock Chalk...