Will Bill Self *actually* play a 10-man rotation?
The preseason is here, and with it comes the annual slate of team previews. A few days ago, The Star’s Gary Bedore ran a particularly splashy headline: A...
Drip or Drop: The new KU unis are here and I have *takes* for you
Image via KU hoops Twitter Hmmm. kuhoopsA post shared by Kansas Basketball (@kuhoops) Some background on the above gut judgment—a few years ago, KU tried a...
I wish I had a more exciting opinion about Run-DMC's Late Night appearance
kuhoopsA post shared by Kansas Basketball (@kuhoops) In the beforetimes, a group of friends and I were regulars at the Jordan Brand Classic in Brooklyn. I...
Let's read way too much into these Bill Self quotes
Last week, The Athletic’s Jayhawk beatwriter CJ Moore published his annual KU preseason preview. I regret to inform you that a subscription to Streak Talk...
Q&A: Haley O'Shaugnessy
What I love about Spinsters—the basketball pod from Jordan Ligons and Haley O’Shaugnessy—is that they remember that basketball is supposed to be fun. The...
How should we remember Paul Pierce's playing career?
Last weekend, Paul Pierce went into the Basketball Hall of Fame. His speech is definitely worth watching for several reasons—for one, he casually reveals...
Why Marcus Garrett's two-way should be celebrated
marcus0A post shared by @marcus0 In the context of pro basketball’s offseason transaction cycle, a two-way rookie deal is never going to be a headline,...
Coach K's retirement tour is my personal nightmare
and a perfect way to tee up my Q&A with WSJ's Ben Cohen!
It's Vegas Baby (This One's About Summer League)
Good morning Streakers. Now that the Olympics are over, we’re going to resume something resembling a normal posting schedule. I’ve got some cool stuff coming...
BIG 1👀??
art by me As you’re reading this, I am stationed in Stamford, CT, where I am writing a daily Olympics talk show called “Talkin Tokyo” with hosts LaChina...
Kansas Basketball: It's Coming Home ©
Last weekend, friend of the newsletter Rustin Dodd and I watched the Euro 2020 final at a bar in Brooklyn. We all know the result of that event now—and I...
Is there such a thing as being *TOO* loaded?
The Getty watermark is a sign of newsletter quality Ochai Agbaji is coming back. Remy Martin withdrew from consideration from the Draft, and will now fill a...
Q&A: Vintage Hawks, the gear-flipping gurus of Lawrence, KS
Streakers, meet Sae-Vheon and Tae-Vheon Alcorn. Not only are these Jayhawk twins running a bustling vintage business, The Vintage Hawks, but they are rising...
The Remy Martin Experience Will Be a Fun One
Also: Ochai Back?!
Q&A: Mike Vernon aka "KU Woj"
A few days ago, a KU groupchat I’m in touted a new scoop about KU’s head coaching search from “KU Woj”—a reference to NBA scoops maven Adrian Wojnarowski—and...
Wrote about alternate jerseys for GQ
Hello, Streakers. Thought I’d share my new piece on GQ.com, about the alternate jersey wave. It seemed relevant to share, as it’s one of those topics I...
Should we panic about the Bryce Thompson thing?
Photo via KU AD Bryce Thompson is in the portal. When I heard the news, I was immediately very surprised. My instincts steered me toward a dark thought—that...
Bill Self got the message
Before I get going, I am going to write about Roy, who announced earlier today that he is retiring. But I need some time to collect my thoughts, and maybe...
How to fix the Jayhawks in four steps
On Monday night, USC dropped a Stone Cold Stunner on the Jayhawks, handing KU their worst-ever NCAA tournament loss. It was the third-biggest defeat in the...
That went poorly lol 🏳️
Remember this?! I’m not sure I’ve ever seen KU throw up the 🏳️ like that, in what amounted to a 85-51 loss to six-seed USC, but it happened. A trend has...
We play Saturday at 12:15 CT
And other bracket reactions aka "brack reax"
Q&A: Mike Chalfant
Due to Jeff Long’s recent dismissal as KU AD, Jayhawk fans and program followers fired up the rumor mill regarding his replacement. A lot of familiar names...
Red jerseys from here on out
Photo by Nick Krug/LJWorld In the 1986 Final Four, the Jayhawks wore red. Though the ‘88 team will always be the most legendary Danny Manning-led team—that’s...
19nine's KU collection drops today at 11AM EST
Today at 11 AM EST, retro sportswear company 19nine’s Kansas collection drops. I talked to co-founder Josh Barnett in December on the day the company’s...
Let's watch KU-Tech together... again
It’s been a minute since a live chat, so let’s ride out once more, Streakers. Tech-Kansas play at Allen at 1 PM CT on Saturday. Beard vs Self in a timeline...
Q&A: Hanif Abdurraqib
Photo by Marcus Jackson Hanif Abdurraqib is not only one of my favorite writers—you *have* to read his essay collection They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us...
Is it as bad as it looks?
Photo by Nick Krug // LJ World My short answer: No. I don’t think so. Before you swiftly delete this e-mail, hear me out. My rationale is based off a couple...
Does KU need a full-blown rotation shakeup?
And other thoughts from two road Ls
What do we make of the UT game?
Also some stuff about Marcus Garrett's role
Let's watch Texas-KU
In a few hours, #3 Kansas takes on #7 Texas at Allen. After offseason conjecture about whether Shaka Smart would keep the Texas gig, he’s responded with his...
The Best Sneakers of 2020
Nike’s Chunky Dunky which people went nuts for this year Right now, the Jayhawks are off until Jan 2, another weird development in the worst year in our...
Q&A: Josh Swade
If you’re a KU fan, there’s a 99.9% chance you’ve seen Josh Swade’s work. He’s the director of the Jayhawk basketball-centered “30 for 30” documentary...
Let's watch KU-Tech together
KU plays Texas Tech tonight in Lubbock. According to KenPom, Tech is the best defensive team in the country—KU is the sixth-best. Beard v Self in any...
Q&A: 19nine's Josh Barnett
In the landscape of contemporary college basketball, the big apparel providers see on-court uniform layouts as a logistics problem, not a design problem. The...
KU *must* play small-ball (and other observations)
Last night’s game against Kentucky in Indianapolis—loving the logic of a neutral site game during a pandemic! good work everyone—was hard to watch. Like,...
What's so fascinating about KU vs. UK
Assuming tonight’s game gets played—gulp!—I’m going to do a short post tomorrow in addition to this one, sizing up where KU stands after the Kentucky game....
There's basketball today!
At 1:30ET/12:30CT, KU opens their season against the top-ranked team in the country, Gonzaga. With KU’s original preseason schedule wiped off the map by...
it's almost that time, Streak Talk subscribers
If you’re getting this e-mail, you are currently a free subscriber to my newsletter. Thank you for reading and sharing Streak Talk! Jayhawk basketball opens...
Dok got drafted 🤩 and Dot didn't 😡
kuhoopsA post shared by Kansas Basketball (@kuhoops) At about midnight EST last night, I was glancing up at the NBA Draft broadcast in between pages of...
Will there be a season?
kuhoopsA post shared by Kansas Basketball (@kuhoops) Mitch might get a seventh year of eligibility out of this, at least The subject of today’s letter is not...
The NBA Draft is one week from tonight
This year’s NBA Draft is like no other, and after the first three prospects (Ball, Edwards and Wiseman in some order) there’s little consensus. Because of...
"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...
Late Night is tonight!! Basketball!
Last year’s Late Night cannot—and will not—ever be topped. And, to be fair, no one would have that expectation for the 2020 edition, as it is taking place...
The Silvio de Sousa era is over
Silvio de Sousa is opting out of the 2020-21 basketball season, and my thoughts are with him and as family as he deals with the issues alluded to in Friday’s...
Some thoughts on the new jerseys
Waiting for the coupon codes to hit like :DALE-COOPER-WAITING-GIF:
Q&A: Stephen Graham Jones on 'The Only Good Indians' and writing hoops into horror
2020 is a nightmare, and the horror genre has become something I’ve sought refuge in—I don’t think I’m alone in this. When it comes to literary horror, the...
Why boot camp is different this year
kuhoopsGotta go to 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞 💪September 28, 2020 I love the pageantry of KU’s boot camp week. I love how it’s covered, and the power of its symbolism. But this...
What LeBron needs
ESPN @espn"I don't know how much we are really watching the game of basketball or are we just in ... the narrative." LeBron explained why he thinks the NBA...
Some bold predictions based on basically nothing
Read this if you love dunks
Devonte' Graham, forever the MIP in our hearts
Of all the major sports awards, the NBA’s end-of-year awards can be the most difficult to understand. Whether this is by design, or not, they tend to bottle...