🏀 KuBuckets Archive

So the Jayhawks sit at 4-1 after a brisk start to the season with 5 games in 9 days. Guys are tired as we saw on Saturday and the lack of practice after games has been noticeable. KU hasn't been able to correct or improve upon some of their early season struggles just yet. Tuesday, a huge matchup looms for the Jayhawks with Top 10 Creighton coming to town. Important to note up to 2500 fans are allowed for games this week at Allen Fieldhouse. It's potentially a big lift for KU having some crowd noise and some normalcy.

Let's recap some things.

After 5 games it's crystal clear David McCormack in the starting lineup is not helping this team. Not a lot to add that wasn't discussed prior already regarding his offense and defense. This team is not playing well together with David on the floor. His usage is still extremely high (33.6%) of possessions when in the game which is unfathomable to think of from a 40% FG shooter. I know I'm tired of watching a fadeaway hook and jumper.

Near loss to North Dakota State

Let that sink in. NDSU led for 33 minutes on Saturday and did everything it could to beat KU. To KU's credit guys stepped up in crunch time and won the game but this was a very ugly game to watch for most of it. Several Hawks looked gassed in the 2nd half (product of scheduling). Hopefully that game was an eye opener.

Going small to the 5 guards works...

When this team makes shots. The last 2 games against D1 opponents have seen awful offense. Kenpom ranks them #24 on O right now but imagine some 2019 numbers are still influencing that. The good thing is I think some of this is correctable. Guys are missing way too many layups & free throws. Self said they haven't practiced a ton with the 5 guards and we saw on Saturday the plays KU is running right now are not difficult to guard. Still the 5 guard lineup has given KU its most dependable scheme so far and the best chance of winning. The St Joes, Kentucky & NDSU outcomes could be different otherwise. In order for this team to win games though it has to shoot well otherwise everything else gets magnified. 44% from the field as a team just isn't going to cut it..

Get Marcus Garrett healthy and comfortable

So far the version of Marcus we've seen hasn't been what we expected from the Senior. His transition to PG hasn't been smooth and his offensive output has dwindled since getting sick. He looks uncomfortable running point right now and hopefully a lot of this is due to his health. We need our leader to play better

Tyon Grant Foster steps up

The JUCO product has started the season slow but Saturday was by far his best effort saving the game with a go-ahead layup and game saving block in the final minutes. For his efforts he played a season high 22 minutes and showed good activity on both ends of the floor. He gave a glimpse of what attracted the coaches to him from the Juco ranks showing off his immense athletic ability on two blocks and pulling down 8 rebounds. Going forward if Tyon can impact the game like that he's going to see his minutes climb.

Jalen Wilson is the MVP through 5 games

Agbaji, Braun & Harris have all shown consistent effort as well but the rise of Jalen Wilson from injury redshirt to 2nd leading scorer & leading rebounder is the biggest surprise of the season so far. If you had placed a Vegas wager that he'd be starting and having the game to game impact he's had so far you're probably rich. The last time a redshirt freshman had this big of an impact was Ben McLemore, if memory serves correct. He's been able to switch to the 5 and make up for the poor play by KU's frontcourt.

Creighton

Top 10 offense with a lot of experience and offensive firepower. They are the typical Creighton team that shoots the 3 well and struggles to defend (Kenpom #50 D). They have 7 guys averaging over 8 points a game including former KU target Mitch Ballock. KU will have to play its best game of the season to have any chance in this one.

Allen Fieldhouse

Ending with this one. How weird was it to watch two home games that counted with zero fans in the stands. It wasn't just weird but felt unrecognizable and unfathomable to not hear 16 thousand screaming fans. Imagine how loud that place would have been in the closing minutes Saturday of the comeback victory. Hopefully 2500 can do its best this week to lift this team up.

At this point in the season, who are the best players on this team?

Wilson has been the top player. Agbaji and Braun have probably been the best two after him. Harris makes this team work with his distribution skills. Garrett is still the top defensive player on a variety of guys even with his health issues.

And then... Thompson has had some flashes, but almost needs to play exclusively with Harris on the floor to get him comfortable. TGF is starting to get his explosiveness back. He may have passed Enaruna and McCormack.

Either way, this team is best with 5 perimeter players on the floor. McCormack is probably only good for about 15 mpg. KU may have to stagger Harris and Garrett's minutes quite a bit, or play Garrett as a nominal 4 man on offense, running the baseline. Right now, the pieces to this puzzle just don't fit very well.

@justanotherfan

Yeah the pieces don't fit right now. This team is very likely a year away.

It has been at least encouraging to see the 5 guard lineup of Harris, Garrett, Agbaji, Braun & Wilson do some good things. However I think we saw when they don't make shots that it's not KU's best 5.

Thompson & TGF are the key to this team taking the next step. Thompson is playing like a freshman. TGF if he gets healthy could really start to ramp up his production. Dave is so far away from being reliable but if he was the 8th guy that takes pressure off.

Self has lots of work to do, maybe more work to do then any previous year. It's only 10 days until Big-12 play starts and this team isn't anywhere close to ready.

@BeddieKU23 Year away is where I'm at with it as well. I'm not expecting anything with this team, I'll just enjoy watching them play.

This team is probably better offensively, defensively and on the glass with Wilson, Braun, TGF, Agbaji and Garrett on the floor than with McCormack or another traditional big. If I am Self, that's the lineup I am hoping can eventually be my main 5 to close games with. Switch everything defensively, swarm and trap, whoever rebounds pushes and everyone else run and spot up, with Garrett acting as a cutter or working from the dunker's spot on the baseline.

I would probably be shooting for a starting 5 of Harris-Agbaji-Garrett-Braun-Wilson. This team needs Harris' steady hand to start the game. Probably finish with that group, but switch TGF for Garrett eventually for shooting purposes.

Watched the Villanova-Texas game recently... the announcer said a very interesting thing about villanova... he remarked that in the past several years their big men probably have led the nation on shot fakes and FOULS DRAWN on shot fakes.
So... this can’t just be Villanova recruiting guys who can shot fake, clearly this has to be an emphasis with jay wright and taught by the coaches at villanova. So if it is teachable, why can’t we teach our big men???? Biggus Davus in particular. He is a good foul shooter. He is not all that great at anything else.
I suppose Maybe learning how to effectively shot fake is quite difficult, and not worth the time of self and co to spend with BD?

One thing I found encouraging was a brief moment in the Washburn game of all things. With the five guard line up, self ran a 1-2-1-1 full court press. It provided a bit of pressure, but didn’t quite bait the offense into the right spot to trap. I secretly wonder if he’s been working the guys on a more full court pressure kind of system to try and exploit the length of the 5 guards he puts out there. I’m trying to remember another time self tried any type of full court press other than man to man and I’m struggling. Maybe I’ve made all this up. It could also help explain the tired legs if they are going up and down at every practice and trying to get conditioned for that type of style long term.

I'd love to see them press just to shorten the shot clock a bit. I don't want to say a soft press necessarily. But not WVU either. Somewhere in the middle.

We really need Bryce and TGF to get it rolling though. I think that gives Bill more confidence in being able to press if he can open the bench up to 8 or 9.

@justanotherfan I'd like to see Braun be the ball handler at the end... We saw Garrett against NDSU and it was not pretty. Was hard watching him get blocked like that over and over and over.

@Kcmatt7 said in After 5 games- Discussion:

@justanotherfan I'd like to see Braun be the ball handler at the end... We saw Garrett against NDSU and it was not pretty. Was hard watching him get blocked like that over and over and over.

I keep wondering if Garrett is 100%. I still don't think so, despite what tests and coaches are saying.

@Kcmatt7

Love the soft press idea. However I would bet every dollar I own Self hasn't practiced it much if at all. Really do think our wings plus Harris, Marcus could cause some issues for teams.

@BeddieKU23 said in After 5 games- Discussion:

@Kcmatt7

Love the soft press idea. However I would bet every dollar I own Self hasn't practiced it much if at all. Really do think our wings plus Harris, Marcus could cause some issues for teams.

This is most likely the truth. I just thought I saw a quick glimpse of it and wondered if he's maybe trying to think outside the box since it's pretty clear he's going to have to go 5 guards most of the time.

@benshawks08

Maybe its something they tried on Washburn as a test. Once they get a chance to practice more then 1 day a week before a game maybe we see something switch up. Probably going to be a believe when you see it thing like Self going Zone

@justanotherfan

He isn't healthy, his athleticism right now is stymied

@BeddieKU23 Definitely fair. But if you told me he'd be buying into a 5 out offense approach by game 5 I'd have been skeptical too.

@benshawks08

Yeah he's been adaptable. He wants to win more then massage ego's so he's done some good things there. He was aware in preseason that playing small was something they might have to go with but I don't think he realized how much or how soon it would happen. I just get the sense he felt Dave was going to be much better then he is playing

@justanotherfan said in After 5 games- Discussion:

@Kcmatt7 said in After 5 games- Discussion:

@justanotherfan I'd like to see Braun be the ball handler at the end... We saw Garrett against NDSU and it was not pretty. Was hard watching him get blocked like that over and over and over.

I keep wondering if Garrett is 100%. I still don't think so, despite what tests and coaches are saying.

Doesn't pass the eye test at all. Hopefully he looks better today.