🏀 KuBuckets Archive

I'm not going there. I'm not going to blast our guys. They need support and they need an identity.

Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Michigan State... what's going on? Why are blue bloods taking a bath?

In my opinion, it's Covid.

We don't have the impact of AFH. Same goes with the other blue bloods. Without those valuable packed home games, we have no identity. We have a situation where the identity is gone. This is the year for all the underdogs to get their revenge.

How do we fix this? Is there anything we can do to help our guys form their identity.

We are who? We are KANSAS!

RCJH

I agree on the covid piece. I also think the talent level is down as a whole, so teams that rely on bringing in OAD type guys every year will really struggle. Perfect example, we all wanted Caleb Love bad. And he’s been pretty awful all year. Shooting only about 30% from the floor. Between the zero off-season and downward trajectory of talent, it’s gonna be rough. What do Baylor and Gonzaga have in common? A lot of experience. Both are basically the same teams they were last year (obviously the Zags added Suggs and Nembhard). We lost our best two guys and didn’t really add much. It’s forced guys into new roles and there isn’t a lot we can do about it now.

@FarmerJayhawk

Exactly. I think experience levels just support my point. Teams with experience already have their identities from their veteran players. Maybe it's just me... but I don't see a Kansas team out there. I only see a team full of players. The big mistake is to come down on the guys. This isn't what they were expecting when coming to Kansas. There is a reason why we recruit well when players experience AFH. I think this isn't the highest talent team we've had... but we have a lot of good pieces, including a mix of experience in key positions. Take out Covid from this season and I don't think we are undefeated... but I also don't think we lose 3 in a row. I can see this bad streak continuing unless we figure out how to impress our guys with being Jayhawks.

Opportunity to nail Kansas > Kansas players' pride of being Jayhawks

Here is an idea. Hold a pep rally in Memorial Stadium. Outside and spread out. Everyone has to wear a mask and advised to keep some distance. Get our guys at the center of the field and fill the infield and stadium (with spacing) and let's get some mojo back!

I think Self is willing to experiment more this year. And sometimes that’s hard.

Watching post game, guessing coach will change starters. My guess is lightfoot instead of big dave and Juan instead of Braun. Doesn't mean they'll get more mins. Braun gave us zero. Wilson had no boards. Just a hunch.

@Crimsonorblue22 that seems pretty logical. :crossed_fingers:

@Crimsonorblue22 I was just thinking that day in day out Mitch was the better option as well. If Dave does not do something good in the first 4 minutes he is in for a bad night so perhaps start him and see if he's on, if not he's done.

How about Harris, Marcus, Ochai, Wilson, Lightfoot? seems scary but based on the season so far that appears to be the most consistant lineup. Unless Christian gets his shot back anyways.

@Kubie when Mitch is bad he is passively bad on offense. When Dave is bad he is actively bad on offense. Its addition by subtraction. No absurd usage rate with mitch.

@Kubie Braun was good being a 6 man last yr! Earn it!

I'm skeptical that just shifting minutes around is going to fix much of anything with this team. And I think it will be completely counterproductive to do some of the old methods of yanking minutes for guys not executing. The problems are systemic. We have to address the overall health of this team. We've seen moments this year when this team could beat anyone. It's there. I know getting hot from trey is part of that. But getting hot usually happens because of other things being present... guys moving feet, executing a plan, feeling optimistic, having leadership, etc...

Look back in other years.... when those teams had brief skids... what happened next? Someone on the team stepped up in leadership and announced a team meeting where they united with a purpose; to reclaim team identity as well as make changes to win. Turning around this season will not be like climbing Mount Everest. We have plenty of talent and mixed experience throughout the roster.

Yes... I wish we had Doke and Dotson... but we don't. I do very much like the pieces we have and I know we can win with this group and we can even surprise some people in March!

The first order of business.... is to shore up our fan base. If the fans can't get behind these guys... they will be climbing Everest.

RCJH!

I think you’ve got to get the personnel in the right spots. Garret is ok at pg, and is someone better on the team at pg then him probably not. But we do know garret is much better playing the 4 spot or at least off the ball then PG. Due to that, it’s time to move him and get him where he’s best at....Wilson needs to be unlocked. He’s struggled recently. I feel like it’s bc early in the year he did his most damage at the 5 spot but still we need to get him going more.... McCormick I would rather have us go 5 guards but if we don’t and do play him, then his job needs to be screens and rolls. No more featuring David as a consistent post up option. It doesn’t work against good teams and he’s not an elite scorer. If he plays more of the landen Lucas type roll then ok..... Harris to me helps to speed us up and improve our defensive stealing ability, so I’d start him.... Tristian has defensive mistakes but his offense is a nice spark of the bench. To me he’s the first guy off the bench...... we’ve got to increase our playing tempo. And run and gun more. This team has 3 great defenders and 2 elite shooters. Turn up defensive pressure and run more

@drgnslayr said in We are who?:

I'm skeptical that just shifting minutes around is going to fix much of anything with this team. And I think it will be completely counterproductive to do some of the old methods of yanking minutes for guys not executing. The problems are systemic. We have to address the overall health of this team. We've seen moments this year when this team could beat anyone. It's there. I know getting hot from trey is part of that. But getting hot usually happens because of other things being present... guys moving feet, executing a plan, feeling optimistic, having leadership, etc...

Look back in other years.... when those teams had brief skids... what happened next? Someone on the team stepped up in leadership and announced a team meeting where they united with a purpose; to reclaim team identity as well as make changes to win. Turning around this season will not be like climbing Mount Everest. We have plenty of talent and mixed experience throughout the roster.

Yes... I wish we had Doke and Dotson... but we don't. I do very much like the pieces we have and I know we can win with this group and we can even surprise some people in March!

The first order of business.... is to shore up our fan base. If the fans can't get behind these guys... they will be climbing Everest.

RCJH!

Valid skepticism right now about shifting minutes.

It's crazy to think a team that has played 2 games in 11 days would look the way they have. The problems are systemic on both ends. He doesn't seem to have 5 guys that have bought in together on either end. Blame that on covid- lack of an offseason etc. Some of it may simply be, this group just doesn't have it. We've been so spoiled with consistent excellence.

The offense is very limited, shooting 44% as a team. I've been preaching for weeks that this is the bigger problem of the two ends. Guys will play better when they score. After a hot start on Saturday, KU went about 5 minutes without a bucket. OU went on a 14-0 run.

On Defense, Quick guards are eating the D alive because Self doesn't have the same personnel. The loss of Bryce has been as big of a factor as any.

I'd have though returning as much experience as we did that Covid would have been an advantage for this team. Not a hinderance.

We just don't have the horses this year. It is that simple. Someone will have to have a Malik Newman type of midseason turnaround for this team to get any better. And the guy it would maybe come from is hurt.

It is really disappointing, but I do think this team has a lot of promise and talent if they can just get a capable guard in this offseason.

@Kcmatt7

I thought coming in this was a rebuild year but even being prepared for one I haven't been able to grasp how poor the play has been in the last month. The offense has really been the biggest shock to me. We just lack guys that can get buckets consistently. I underestimated how limited some of the guys were.

@BeddieKU23 I just feel like outside of Wilson, nobody really made a major leap this offseason. You could say maybe Ochai did with his 3pt shot, but when you don't have anyone who can drive to get him open it isn't as valuable as it should be.

A note - Maybe Hudy was even better than we all thought. Look at what UT has been able to do this season. Sure they are experienced, but they have made a major stride since last season. Just something to monitor going forward...

@Kcmatt7

Yeah Wilson made a big jump but he's a freshman being asked to carry a big role. He should be playing the 5 almost exclusively to exploit the matchup he has. His defense has a ways to go. He's got a bright future, to average 13 and 7 as a freshman at KU means he's got something, just needs further development and maturity.

Ochai, much improved shot. He's the quintessential 3 & D guy. Would be a perfect 2nd or 3rd option on offense.

I thought the new S&D guy had a big impact in year 1 here. Udoka was a changed man physically. Dotson was a beast as well. Ochai has changed his body here significantly. These guys had an nonexistent offseason with the S&D coach on campus. Sucks.

Perspective is all based on expectations. I remember paying $12 to go see Shrek in the theater...thought 'What did I just do?'...and then laughed hard for 90 minutes and thought it was awesome. I also remember paying $12 to see Men in Black...certain it would be awesome...and then it was just okay and thought is was just okay.

For me...expectations versus reality looks like this for KU:

GUYS WHO'VE EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS:
Wilson (at least until recently) has been far better than we all thought he'd be.

GUYS WHO'VE MET EXPECTATIONS:
Garrett (solid but unspectacular...been said many times that he's being played out of position)
Agbaji (expected to be 1 or 2 in scoring and is...expected mostly good shooting nights and has...expected him to disappear at times and has)
Lightfoot (is who he is...although some who thought he'd be 3-ball Mitch might think he belongs below)
Braun (in spots has been good and others a total no-show...need more from him)
Harris (didn't know a lot other than he was a good defender and true PG...has proven that to be true...still can't shoot)
Jossell/Jankovich/Teahan/Gethro (because we all expected nothing and have gotten nothing)

GUYS WHO HAVEN'T MET EXPECTATIONS:
TGF (He's killed us. If he was half of what Self said he'd be...this would be a far different team)
Thompson (Even when healthy he was billed as a great offensive player and that hasn't happened. Some on this site warned us here)
McCormack (It's all been said. He's just a guy...which isn't good for the perceived #1 option at Kansas)
Enaruna (maybe this is unfair...thought he'd make more of a jump)

So four rotation players (including 3 potential starters) have all under-performed and not met what I expected. It's no wonder then that the team hasn't either.

Remember enaruna couldn't even get in a gym and was lucky to get back at all w/travel ban. Not an excuse. Just he is behind.