"Smooth but not casual" and three other things from this week
I finally watched Late Night, new info on the Silvio de Sousa story and more. Here comes the round-up:
The de Sousa situation looks bad
Info is still coming in, but Silvio de Sousa’s opt-out is undeniably related to his alleged assault in January.
Some big questions remain—why did it take almost ten months for Lawrence police to question de Sousa about it? The timing is strange, and makes you wonder how much the program knew before de Sousa was contacted by the police. Aggravated battery is a level-5 felony in Kansas, and de Sousa could face jail time. At any rate, a bad situation all around, and yet another controversy involving de Sousa that will overshadow his career as a Jayhawk.
Tristan Enaruna! and other Late Night thoughts
“What do you want to take away from this?” asked Greg Gurley, talking to Bill Self on the pre-recorded Late Night broadcast. “Well… nothing,” Self responded, deadpanning. An iconic exchange.
That all being said… Tristan Enaruna looked great! He got to the corner a couple times, setting up the perfect target for driving wings, knocking down two corner threes. He also got fouled inside and earned trips to the stripe, a good sign for a player that shied away from contact last year.
“What makes a good NBA player” is increasingly different than “what makes a good college player,” to the point where that divide is becoming an unspoken problem in making the sport appealing to casual fans. If Enaruna can hit shots and execute in the half court, he’ll move the needle this season. Here’s hoping Self moves Enaruna toward his pro ceiling in a way that most benefits the 20-21 Jayhawks. Self is good at this, but Enaruna is a prospect I can’t stop being intrigued by, especially now that he’s listed as a guard—was this always the case? I love guards!!
Self said he needed Enaruna to be “Smooth, but not casual,” and man, what a line! As a resident of Tristan Enaruna island, I’m doubling down.
Arizona got hit with a notice of violations. Are there KU implications?
Arizona is the latest NCAA hoops program to receive notifications about Level I violations in the sport. While eight programs have received similar broadsides, only Oklahoma State has been punished so far; they received a one-year postseason ban. That seems to set a harrowing precedent for Kansas.
However, none of this stuff is getting resolved anytime soon. The NCAA’s new infractions board, the IARP, has not met recently, and no one really knows when they might resume hearings. Something Arizona has going against it is that they didn’t supply the NCAA with an independent report they had commissioned in the Book Richardson fall-out; KU has a federal ruling on its side. It’s hard to say if that will matter to the board, but it might make KU’s case stronger than the others. Who knows.
Luckily, handing out basketball infractions is roughly priority #10,728 for the NCAA as college football games are getting re-scheduled and outright canceled due to COVID. I fantasize about a scenario where the NCAA folds before a decision is handed down, which seems more possible than ever.
So much for the bubble… but Gonzaga?! That’s tight
Schedule:
Nov. 25: Gonzaga vs. Kansas | Auburn vs. Saint Joe’s.
Nov. 27: Gonzaga vs. Auburn | Kansas vs. Saint Joe's
It would appear that ESPN’s idea to launch the CBB season in a bubble was divorced from reality; my guess is that a thorough (and pricey!) testing program made sense for the NBA Playoffs, but probably not for a college basketball preseason tournament. It’s too bad, but a pretty sweet alternative came through a day or so later: an early-season matchup with Gonzaga.
While the blue-blood Champions Classic tourney was a sweet marketing vehicle—the games meant nothing, but having UK/KU/Mich St in a pod every year is a purist’s dream. The exclusion of UNC in particular was, well, :chefs-kiss:
But, in recent years, the games have been sloppy and particularly stakes-less, even with some crunch time heroics (see above). Opening up that early-season slot for a program like Gonzaga is exciting, even with a home-and-home series coming up in 2022. Both programs made the most out of nothing, and without the attendant politicking, which is cool. This could never happen with a program like Duke.
I know some WCC die-hards read the newsletter, which has inspired me to become a big Portland Pilots fan. If you’ve made it to the bottom of this post, you’re likely a“WCC diehard” type of personality; go Pilots, go Zags and I hope that the San Francisco program is wiped off the floor by both teams this season.