More Random Thoughts

There are certain fundamentals that tend to hold true. Great coaching matters. Talent matters. Experience matters. Health/depth matters. Chemistry/attitude matters. I would break down a teams prospects into these 5 categories. The question is, how do you score these and how do you weight these? If you look at the top 10 teams over any period of time say the last 10 years you will find that these 5 categories dominate the results. I would submit that the most important of these is chemistry/attitude. I believe it trumps all the other 4. If you look at the top teams over the last 10-20-30 years you will see that chemistry/attitude is the most salient common factor. The attitrbute closest to this one is experience. Teams that are senior led or otherwise dominated by players that have played together for 2, 3 or 4 years tends to have disproportionately high success. If I were pressed weight each attribute I would probably give it the following.

Attitude/chemistry: 30%
Talent: 20%
Coaching: 20%
Experience: 20%
Health/depth: 10%

It would be nice to have the time and knowledge to rank every top 25 team in each of these categories. I don’t have that time or inclination, but I will do it for our beloved Jayhawks. Just for fun 1 will do it for both this years team and the 2008 team.

Attitude/Chemistry
2008 — 95
2019 — 70

The 2008 team had great chemistry. The team had clear roles and responsibilities with a great mix of experience and younger talent. This years team my be 100 or may be 50. I have no clue. Only time will tell. But I submit this is the key to success of this team.

Talent
2008 — 90
2019 — 90

At this point this years team has probably equal talent to the 2008 team. I am possibly being generous to this years team. Going player by player I would tend to give the edge to 2008, but by the end of this year I may change that tune.

Coaching
2008 — 75
2019 — 90

Here is where I think this team may have the edge. Self has improved as he should. I believe he is a better coach today than he was 10 years ago.

Experience
2008 — 95
2019 — 70

The 2008 team was very experienced. Very experienced. This team is less so. We do have good experience but not necessarily playing together. The three transfers have a year more than their level would indicate. We have a Vick and Dok.

Experience
2008 — 90
2019 — 80

I may be underscoring this years team. Dedric Lawson is actually a 4th year player. Charlie more is a 3rd year player.

Health/depth
2008 — 100
2019 — ?? Assume 95

Who knows how this season will turn out.

Total
2008 — 88.5
2019 — 79

The real key or this team is the chemistry/attitude. I think this team only has upside based on where I scored them, mostly due to the chemistry/attitude. That is the total key to this team. It is really the single greatest issue.