🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Game Tip: 12:15 Central, 1:15 Eastern, Coffee Time if your PT.

Network: TBS. Guess I'll have to look to see if I have this channel anymore. What's on TBS these days?

Mascot- Eagles. Nothing to add here other then the "EW" is embroidered in the logo. Clever.

Conference- Big Sky. Wiki says they joined in 1982.

Tournament History- EW has made the tournament twice, losing to Oklahoma St in 2004 & Georgetown in 2015 in the opening round.

Coach- Shantay Legans. Legans played at Cal & Fresno St with a Euro career before getting into coaching. Young coach, not even 40. Legans was the assistant at EW for 8 seasons before taking over. Last year Legans was COY finishing 23-8. He's 75-48 as a coach with an impressive 53-20 record in conference play in 4 seasons. His .610 win % is tied for 4th highest in school history & highest since the mid 1960's

Who they've played: Lost to Washington by 3, Lost to Arizona by 3, Lost to Oregon by 17, Lost to St Mary's by 5. Some really close games against P5 competition. 10 cancelled/postponed games as well.

Winners of 13 of their past 14 games, they finished 12-3 in conference play & won their Conference Tourney by 10 over Montana State.

Kenpom: For the analytics peeps- #110 overall, #86 offense, #152 Defense. As a #14 seed they were the 3rd worse behind Morehead St (#128) who plays West Virginia. Colgate #84 (Top 50 offense) & Abilene Christian (Top 30 defense). #14 seeds only have 21 victories in Tournament History. They are #28 in Tempo which means they like to get up and down and take shots.

Team Statistics:

Avg 78 ppg as a team (41st best in country)

Opponents score 69.4 ppg (193rd in country).

Average shooting team- 46% FG , 35% 3PT, but great here 78% FT (#10 in country).

Poor Offensive Rebounding team (#315), assists (#61), poor in steals (#312), blocks (#208), low turnover rate (#61), fouls per game (#197).

Players: Leading scorer Tanner Graves won Big Sky POY & Kim Aiken was Defensive POY. Tyler Robertson was also Top Reserve of the Year.

Player Stats- 5 guys average double figures.

Tanner Groves, leading scorer at 6'9, has a big beard with a headband (I laughed watching highlights). Tanner averages 16ppg & 8 boards. 55% FG, 32% 3PT on 17 makes on the year.

Kim Aiken 6'7- 11.7 ppg, 8.5 boards, 45% FG, 31% 3PT, 34 made 3's (tied with Robertson for most made 3's on team)

Tyler Robertson 6'6- 11 ppg, 46% FG, 37% 3PT.

Michael Meadows 6'2- 10ppg, 46% FG, 37% 3PT.

Jacob Davison 6'4- 10ppg, 38% FG, 36% 3PT.

Jacob Groves 6'7- 8ppg, 53% FG, 30% 3PT. Brother of Tanner.

Jack Perry 6'2 4ppg, 50% FG, 50% 3PT. Primary ball handler.

Style of Play:

Watching their championship game High Ball Screen action with Graves (one set) or Aiken for a 2 big HBS action (another set). The two big set seems to be all about getting Meadows an open side from the wing or setting up a backdoor. Perry is the primary ballhandler but Meadows will also run the show as well. Tanner can beat you off the dribble at 6'9 so if Dave is guarding him from the perimeter that's a tough matchup. Meadows seems to have some craftiness/slashing 6-10 feet ability as he's got above average athleticism for his size & quickness and can rise up. They pass it well, seem to be a team with good chemistry. Montana St is really bad which makes them look better. EW was up almost 20 at half. Groves is relentless trying to establish post position. I can see Dave in foul trouble battling him just the way he plays with a high motor. I think Self may have to use Garrett on him at times although Groves has significant weight advantage. The other Groves brother is skilled, can score off the bounce and from 3 and looks bigger then his 6'7 listed height. Robertson doesn't look like much, thick wing body. Montana St made a game of it in the 2nd half but foul calls and a T seemed to end that run.

Interesting game. KU should win if we have Dave available. Hard to say much more at this point until we know for sure

@BeddieKU23 said in 1st round know your foe Eastern Washington:

Game Tip: 12:15 Central, 1:15 Eastern, Coffee Time if your PT.

Network: TBS. Guess I'll have to look to see if I have this channel anymore. What's on TBS these days?

Mascot- Eagles. Nothing to add here other then the "EW" is embroidered in the logo. Clever.

Conference- Big Sky. Wiki says they joined in 1982.

Tournament History- EW has made the tournament twice, losing to Oklahoma St in 2004 & Georgetown in 2015 in the opening round.

Coach- Shantay Legans. Legans played at Cal & Fresno St with a Euro career before getting into coaching. Young coach, not even 40. Legans was the assistant at EW for 8 seasons before taking over. Last year Legans was COY finishing 23-8. He's 75-48 as a coach with an impressive 53-20 record in conference play in 4 seasons. His .610 win % is tied for 4th highest in school history & highest since the mid 1960's

Who they've played: Lost to Washington by 3, Lost to Arizona by 3, Lost to Oregon by 17, Lost to St Mary's by 5. Some really close games against P5 competition. 10 cancelled/postponed games as well.

Winners of 13 of their past 14 games, they finished 12-3 in conference play & won their Conference Tourney by 10 over Montana State.

Kenpom: For the analytics peeps- #110 overall, #86 offense, #152 Defense. As a #14 seed they were the 3rd worse behind Morehead St (#128) who plays West Virginia. Colgate #84 (Top 50 offense) & Abilene Christian (Top 30 defense). #14 seeds only have 21 victories in Tournament History. They are #28 in Tempo which means they like to get up and down and take shots.

Team Statistics:

Avg 78 ppg as a team (41st best in country)

Opponents score 69.4 ppg (193rd in country).

Average shooting team- 46% FG , 35% 3PT, but great here 78% FT (#10 in country).

Poor Offensive Rebounding team (#315), assists (#61), poor in steals (#312), blocks (#208), low turnover rate (#61), fouls per game (#197).

Players: Leading scorer Tanner Graves won Big Sky POY & Kim Aiken was Defensive POY. Tyler Robertson was also Top Reserve of the Year.

Player Stats- 5 guys average double figures.

Tanner Groves, leading scorer at 6'9, has a big beard with a headband (I laughed watching highlights). Tanner averages 16ppg & 8 boards. 55% FG, 32% 3PT on 17 makes on the year.

Kim Aiken 6'7- 11.7 ppg, 8.5 boards, 45% FG, 31% 3PT, 34 made 3's (tied with Robertson for most made 3's on team)

Tyler Robertson 6'6- 11 ppg, 46% FG, 37% 3PT.

Michael Meadows 6'2- 10ppg, 46% FG, 37% 3PT.

Jacob Davison 6'4- 10ppg, 38% FG, 36% 3PT.

Jacob Groves 6'7- 8ppg, 53% FG, 30% 3PT. Brother of Tanner.

Jack Perry 6'2 4ppg, 50% FG, 50% 3PT. Primary ball handler.

Style of Play:

Watching their championship game High Ball Screen action with Graves (one set) or Aiken for a 2 big HBS action (another set). The two big set seems to be all about getting Meadows an open side from the wing or setting up a backdoor. Perry is the primary ballhandler but Meadows will also run the show as well. Tanner can beat you off the dribble at 6'9 so if Dave is guarding him from the perimeter that's a tough matchup. Meadows seems to have some craftiness/slashing 6-10 feet ability as he's got above average athleticism for his size & quickness and can rise up. They pass it well, seem to be a team with good chemistry. Montana St is really bad which makes them look better. EW was up almost 20 at half. Groves is relentless trying to establish post position. I can see Dave in foul trouble battling him just the way he plays with a high motor. I think Self may have to use Garrett on him at times although Groves has significant weight advantage. The other Groves brother is skilled, can score off the bounce and from 3 and looks bigger then his 6'7 listed height. Robertson doesn't look like much, thick wing body. Montana St made a game of it in the 2nd half but foul calls and a T seemed to end that run.

Interesting game. KU should win if we have Dave available. Hard to say much more at this point until we know for sure

He will be able to play

Mercy BeddieKU - you put in a lot of work for this info - - Thank you so much for that Great Job. - Just hope things turn out good this weekend for us, I think anything past these 1st two games would be gravy. - -If we get a KU/USC match up could be interesting Mobly pretty dam good - -hope we as a team could whup some Trojan butt. - - Thanks again my friend appreciated

@jayballer67

Mobley is a Top 3 pick in the NBA Draft. Had 17 or 19 in the first half against Colorado. Really skilled big, big time shot blocker. Can shoot the 3. Really bad matchup for Dave. The worst kind of matchup honestly

@BeddieKU23 said in 1st round know your foe Eastern Washington:

@jayballer67

Mobley is a Top 3 pick in the NBA Draft. Had 17 or 19 in the first half against Colorado. Really skilled big, big time shot blocker. Can shoot the 3. Really bad matchup for Dave. The worst kind of matchup honestly

ya , he is the one that scares me

@BeddieKU23 Pretty sure tbs just plays Shawshank redemption on repeat until basketball season. At least that’s what they did 15 years ago...(god I’m old)

@benshawks08

Good Movie but I can't remember watching TBS since the last tournament, nearly two years ago. Good times

This team has 99 problems but John Higgins Ain't One? https://watchstadium.com/six-ncaa-tournament-referees-ruled-out-due-to-covid-19-protocols-03-15-2021/ ↗

Good stuff man

What day? Is this Saturday morning PT?

Believe it or not, my son's first football game of the season is this Saturday.

BTW- Watching 3 former Jayhawks on the floor right now in the Lakers vs Warriors game.

@bskeet 12:15

10:15 am Pacific, right?

@bskeet TV guide says 12-2:50, central. I thought game time was 12:15.

I am seeing a lot people picking EWU for the upset.

@Woodrow worried about our Covid victims, some think we didn’t play at all in the big 12 tourney

@Woodrow said in 1st round know your foe Eastern Washington:

I am seeing a lot people picking EWU for the upset.

Not surprised tbh, Dave has to play Saturday. You can't expect to be down 2 starters, both of your "bigs" and still be expected to win handily

@Crimsonorblue22 said in 1st round know your foe Eastern Washington:

@bskeet TV guide says 12-2:50, central. I thought game time was 12:15.

it is 12:15 according to the NCAA Schedule & also saw it in the CBS schedule

not so worried about the 1st game BUT USC ? - - -watch out. - -A lot of the so called experts talking about USC making a run to the sweet 16. - A 7 footer that is predicted to be the # 2 pick in the NBA draft - Bilas saying Mobley will destroy lightfoot which he probably would 7 footer that can take it out on the floor - -not feeling real confident on our chances in this game - Mc Cormack has to play for us to have a chance. Hearing lots of talk about Mobley really good - but hey we have already played against the # 1 player to be drafted in the NBA so why not the # 2 lol - -I know totally different players, BUT still GIVE ME A SOLID team EFFORT and why not KU ?

@jayballer67

Mobley is as good as people say he is. Watched him in the Pac-12 tourney and he's very good. But the rest of USC is average. They are big, have a lot of 6'6, 6'7 types. Self is one of the best coaches at eliminating a single player from beating him. I think the key is actually letting Mobley get his but not letting Tahj Eaddy have a big game. He was non-existent against Colorado and then had 9 points in about a 3 minute span, completely took the game over and gave them a chance to win. He's the kind of guard that KU can struggle to contain (58 made 3's on the season).

We'll see, not having Jalen is going to be a very challenging thing which is why I think people are all aboard an upset

If we get past Eastern Washington and USC is the opponent here's an early look

Kenpom - #14 (8 spots ahead of KU). #30 offense (29 spots above KU), #19 defense (13 spots below KU).

The troubling part of facing USC is they are #2 in the country in blocked shots. Always a concern for KU in the tourney

@BeddieKU23 said in 1st round know your foe Eastern Washington:

@jayballer67

Mobley is as good as people say he is. Watched him in the Pac-12 tourney and he's very good. But the rest of USC is average. They are big, have a lot of 6'6, 6'7 types. Self is one of the best coaches at eliminating a single player from beating him. I think the key is actually letting Mobley get his but not letting Tahj Eaddy have a big game. He was non-existent against Colorado and then had 9 points in about a 3 minute span, completely took the game over and gave them a chance to win. He's the kind of guard that KU can struggle to contain (58 made 3's on the season).

We'll see, not having Jalen is going to be a very challenging thing which is why I think people are all aboard an upset

ya that's true about Eaddy -have always heard that when your going against a team with that Stud. - -let me get his , just don't let's others go off for Career games. - - that was like us in 1988 - -Danny got his BUT yet EVERYONE contributed maybe even more then normal - - -those kinds of things can't happen.

Dave is going to have to be a man against USC and we will have to make a few threes.

I think Bill will have a plan to defend Mobley similarly to how he had one to defend Bagley a few years ago. But the reality is this bunch needs to shoot the damn ball as well as they are capable of. CB needs to get his head out of his ass. Ochai needs to play aggressively like he did against OU. And Bryce needs to play like he is a 5* at least until we can get Jalen back.

I'd really like to avoid the upset on Saturday. And then pretty much anything this team does is gravy after that considering the circumstances.

@BeddieKU23 said in 1st round know your foe Eastern Washington:

The troubling part of facing USC is they are #2 in the country in blocked shots. Always a concern for KU in the tourney

The games against UCLA (KU couldn't make layups) and Oregon (blocked shot, repeat ad nauseam) come to mind. If we were to also have issues with blocked shots against USC, I wonder if our 21st century tourney shooting percentage on 3 ft shots against Pac10/12 teams might be a Div 1 low.

@jayballer67

I just hope if we do play them the game plan isn't to double Mobley and then we get caught napping in rotations because they have guys capable of hitting 3's. That's it for thinking ahead because we really can't afford given what's happened the past week to overlook anyone. This isn't a team built for that

@BeddieKU23 I would think the game plan will be to front him and force the lob over the top. Then have help come double team on the catch. Force the passer to make a good play instead of letting Mobley just abuse Dave.

@Kcmatt7

Makes a lot of sense with that gameplan. He's a tough cover, has really good touch from 6-10 feet. He's an advanced Dave on scoring, doesn't waste any motion to do what he wants to do. On offense Self should absolutely try and get him in foul trouble if that's even possible. He only had 2 games all year where he got 4 fouls, speaks to his defensive ability as a rim protector

Eastern Washington U is about 20 minutes from Gonzaga, but I don't think they played. They are actually west of Washington State, by longitude, which is weird, and lost to them their first game.

@BeddieKU23

Excellent post! Thank you! I plan to watch this game... been a long time since I've watched us play.