Indie rock scouting report: Bon Iver
📷: Graham Tolbert Last week, Bon Iver — the recording alias of indie rocker Justin Vernon — released a new record, Sable, Fable. To celebrate the release of...
🗣️ bring back THE PEOPLE'S WALK-ON
via KU Libraries Pictured above is John Crider, a two-year walk-on for the Jayhawks in 98-99 and 99-00. Before enrolling at Kansas, Crider averaged 31 and 11...
Yeah I'm thinking I'm back
Hello again. Welcome back to Streak Talk, your favorite Jayhawks basketball email newsletter in the ‘vibes’ subcategory. We’ve finally migrated from Substack...
Free tix to Hanif's event in Lawrence tomorrow
Hanif Abdurraqib is one of my favorite writers, a rare and brilliant voice who finds space in pop culture narratives to build engrossing personal histories....
Lights will guide you home
Sorry for the wait y'all I know you get it
I don't hate it!!!!!!
swiped from the KUAD homepage sorry SEE SUBJECT LINE. If KU can find something—a huge if!—a this is a pretty nice draw. Here’s the whole bracket if you’re...
A chat with my smart and funny friend Patrick who makes his own tourney brackets
ilo by CG industries How ‘bout those Jayhawks? [THEATRICAL PAINED GROAN] We’ll get to a post mortem at some point—we always do. In the meantime, let’s talk...
THREES ARE DUMB!
pic by KUAD I’m not going to double check if this is true, but I try not to bring my own hoops baggage into the newsletter when I can help it. Today, I...
So here's the deal
Let’s start positive. Kansas absolutely dominated one of the best—especially defensively—teams in the country with a 75-68 shakedown of Houston. The 13-point...
Let's forget about our glaring flaws and fixate on Johnny Furphy!
photo via KUAD A star is born! Ever since his first bit of run at KU, our fanbase could tell Johnny Furphy had something. Against Cincy on Monday night, he...
"Who's our fifth guy?" power rankings!!!
via KUAD In conference season, I do not try to bank newsletter posts based on wins that have not yet happened. However, this week required me to get ahead...
Who is this team?
via KUAD Ah, that’s the good stuff!!! Mike Woodson has steered IU basketball to a place of relative stability after years of disaster, and they’ve rapidly...
The greatest building in the sport
via KUAD When I’m feeling sentimental, a piece I often go back to is Matt Norlander’s 2016 essay about Allen Fieldhouse. For a Jayhawk fan, it’s pure...
OK that was extremely fun and I'm still thinking about it
via KUAD I watched the first half of the UK-KU game at a sports/dog bar with a friend who was in town, blissfully unaware of Jay Bilas. Sure, UK simply could...
How many non-shooters is too many? And other notes from the exhibitions!
Two exhibitions down, two games of so-so ball. I was tempted not to acknowledge the charity scrimmage in Champaign at all—such was the Jayhawks’ general...
We're #1, Bill Self's Villain Era, Hunter Dickinson and oh yeah that other thing
photo via KUAD Yesterday, a friend/friend of the newsletter/esteemed former colleague texted me the following: published without permission At Big 12 media...
Streak Talk's annual "Late Night" vibes report
The most legendary “Late Night at the Phog” had almost nothing to do with basketball. That’s a good thought to start on for this year’s annual Late Night...
I need to calm down: Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift
Sunday was one of the craziest days of my life. I’ll back up, because context is necessary. I am a Swiftie. It goes back a long ways, and there are many...
Q&A: The Vintage Hawks on their killer "Let's Go Hawks" collection + GIVEAWAY
Courtesy of the Vintage Hawks The last time Streak Talk spoke with Tae-Vheon and Sae-Vheon Alcorn, they were juniors at KU, running track, going to school...
Let's Do This: KU PG "Mount Rushmore" rankings
The other day, KU basketball’s official account posted some content designed to ripple through all Jayhawk groupchats. It got swallowed up by all the new...
A message for my paid Streakers
The message is short—THANK YOU. A lot of y’all have renewed your subscriptions for the upcoming season, and it means the world to me. The newsletter exists...
The Good Ol' Days
Last week, the #1 center in the 2024 class, the Congo-native Flory Bidunga, committed to KU. Bidunga is the third-highest-ranked prospect ever to commit to...
Jayhawks of the Caribbean
Hey now, that was pretty fun! Even though the offense stalled out a little bit yesterday en route to a 87-81 loss to the Bahamian National Team, you can get...
Q&A: Rustin Dodd + Kingdom Quarterback DOUBLE giveaway!
Rustin Dodd—friends call him Russ, I’m gonna call him Russ from here on out—and I went to KU around the same time but we became very good friends after...
Gradey's glitter suit won the Draft
Gradey—we’re gonna get way more into Everything Gradey, don’t you worry one little bit!—went 13 to Toronto. Jalen Wilson went 51 to Brooklyn. Jay Bilas made...
When will Gradey Dick be MVP?
It's noodle time
Give Christian Braun the max
I actually started writing this post *before* last night's Braunsanity
Banner time
The big news—Kevin McCullar is returning to KU. The portal has undeniably improved this roster, and Lunardi had KU on the topline even before the McC news...
Can the Remy magic ever be recaptured?
We got our guy. The new Dickman seems like a great fit for Self’s system—Jayhawk-expert Athletic writer C.J. Moore says he can be a “monster” at KU. I’ve...
Signing Arterio Morris was a mistake
I’ll spend the first part of this post with the usual caveats. Arterio Morris, Kansas’s new guard via the transfer portal, is yet to have his day in...
Ranking my abandoned newsletter drafts
It’s getting warmer outside but it’s still the cold offseason. My man Mike Vernon has got you covered with scoops about the portal—head to his new non-...
What's going on with the portal?
Only four players—KJ Adams, Dajuan Harris, Zuby Ejiofor and Ernest Udeh Jr.—are guaranteed to return to the Jayhawks. The list of players in the portal is...
Well that's a huge bummer
Jalen in happier times (pre Howard game) via KUAD I really don’t know where to start. The ten-second call? The endless-seeming missed front ends? A bad...
How 'bout that bracket?
photo via KUAD Maybe unsurprisingly, the Saturday shellacking at the hands of Texas did our beloved Jayhawks no favors on Selection Sunday, as KU got bumped...
Let's fix the Fieldhouse
via KUAD Basketball is happening today! We’ll talk ball soon. Let’s make a shot! Yesterday, KU sent out a press blast about forthcoming improvements to Allen...
The Jalen Wilson Post
Tonight, Jalen Wilson will have a senior speech. Though nominally a Junior, Wilson made up his mind before the season, during an offseason period where he...
It's time to put together the biggest NIL bag in history
That was an excessively pro win last night. Like I said recently, these are the good ol’ days. The Chiefs won the Super Bowl and Bill Self is the greatest...
Dajuan Harris needs to dominate
photo via KUAD That’s more like it! Even though I don’t love the thought of Bill Self stashing the data point of “we made two threes1 and scored 88!” the...
Taking Out Wildcats
photo via KUAD As Saturday’s Blue Blood Battle approached, KU was starting down a possible four-game losing streak, the first-ever in Self’s tenure at...
This is fine.
photo via KU SPORTS I actually feel… OK? That this three game skid is going to make this team better in the long run? That a few things that have happened in...
I NEED MORE OF THE 125 CONTENT
photo via KUAD On Saturday, KU celebrated the 125th anniversary of their basketball program, and so many legends were in the building. Roy Williams was back....
Bill Self's greatest punchline
INCREDIBLE KJ photo via Associated Press Bill Self has run the play since the very beginning. If you’ve been chatting with us during games, you know we love...
Best unis in a minute!
First of all… should tonight’s game even be played? Probably not. I can’t really see how it’s a good idea at any level—it’s an unnecessary game that means...
Mizzou is still hilariously pathetic
courtesy of KUAD What an absolute smashdown. The Jayhawks executed the first ten minutes of the game nearly perfectly, with almost zero resistance, earning...
Mike Vernon Free Beer Net Worth
Mike “KU Woj” just launched his new newsletter and the hearings are already flowing. We’ve talked to Mike before—a few times—and he is one of this...
Is MJ Rice that dude?
The Dajuan Harris pass that led to this dunk was sick For a moment in time, I was very worried about MJ Rice, and not only because he had kidney stones and...
IS THAT BILL SELF'S MUSIC?
via KUAD If you’re new to Streak Talk, welcome. As soon as Mike “KU Woj” Vernon’s great new newsletter, The Hearings, went live, it was a free subscriber...
New nightmare son just dropped
via KUAD Our new nightmare son1 is here, and he’s perfect. The stroke is so pretty, that’s it’s beyond me to even put into words. It’s the slightest flick,...
STREAK TALK CHAT
we play BASKETBALL tonight
The Christian Braun experience is BLOWING my MIND
After we won the natty, Christian Braun did what he had to do and leapt to the NBA draft from the platform of an excellent NCAA tournament. Braun went #21 to...