🏀 KuBuckets Archive

I've been trying to think how this team can be better this year, and have come up with 3 things that could potentially make us a better team. Feel free to put your 3 things in, and we'll solve the world's problems in one fell swoop:

1- Stop letting Och inbound the ball. It. doesn't. work. well. He just doesn't anticipate the pass very well, many times it's a weak throw...it's just not his thing. Braun was a point guard, and is taller than OCH, and frankly we could use Och's athleticism on the court alot more during pressure situations.

2- Play Joe more- play Harris less. Look, I'm not anti-Juan. I think he has a significant role, and he is beneficial to our success in many ways. But that's way too many minutes (39). On the other hand, Joe got a whole 4 minutes for the whole game. Juan was completely gassed at the end of the game, and Joe never got a chance.

3- Get Zach into the game for at least 20 minutes every game from now on. No more Mitch. Dave is hurt- he is a shell of himself from last year. Give every second of time that Dave isn't out there to Zach. Zach is an Alpha. Maybe he's just too young to know any better, but he didn't flinch on that 3 attempt. The game was on the line, and he shot that ball like he didn't have a care in the world. I think there's something special about him. We need dudes that want to step up on this team badly. Plus, it was really nice having one of our Bigs hit a 3 for once.

It's so easy to coach from the peanut gallery...lol. What's your 3 things list?

1. practice free throws
2. get healthy
3. set better screens (and then actually use them)

@Jethro I’m not quite ready to jump on the 20 minutes a game for Zach yet. I’m not denying that he was a huge part of sealing that win for KU but he also came in with one very specific job to do and that was to not let his man shoot a three. That’s it. That was the assignment. He did that very well and as a bonus made a bucket and had a couple really good rebounds. But ou dude is also not the most athletic big around. He’s skilled but mostly slow and stuck to the ground. That ended up being a good match up for Zach. I still see him struggling playing bigger minutes where his assignment is to do more than just one thing. I still doubt his ability to hang with an athletic big. His fit did look a bit quicker than we’ve seen previously so maybe his slowness and defensive liability were a result of an injury but I’ll need more proof before I say he needs big minutes. But I will agree he did enough that he needs at least a look every game from here on out. At least see if he can hang at different game speeds etc. What other assignments can he handle? I’d love to find out.

@Jethro said in 3 THINGS:

I've been trying to think how this team can be better this year, and have come up with 3 things that could potentially make us a better team. Feel free to put your 3 things in, and we'll solve the world's problems in one fell swoop:

1- Stop letting Och inbound the ball. It. doesn't. work. well. He just doesn't anticipate the pass very well, many times it's a weak throw...it's just not his thing. Braun was a point guard, and is taller than OCH, and frankly we could use Och's athleticism on the court alot more during pressure situations.

2- Play Joe more- play Harris less. Look, I'm not anti-Juan. I think he has a significant role, and he is beneficial to our success in many ways. But that's way too many minutes (39). On the other hand, Joe got a whole 4 minutes for the whole game. Juan was completely gassed at the end of the game, and Joe never got a chance.

3- Get Zach into the game for at least 20 minutes every game from now on. No more Mitch. Dave is hurt- he is a shell of himself from last year. Give every second of time that Dave isn't out there to Zach. Zach is an Alpha. Maybe he's just too young to know any better, but he didn't flinch on that 3 attempt. The game was on the line, and he shot that ball like he didn't have a care in the world. I think there's something special about him. We need dudes that want to step up on this team badly. Plus, it was really nice having one of our Bigs hit a 3 for once.

It's so easy to coach from the peanut gallery...lol. What's your 3 things list?

1. I agree wholeheartedly with this one. Ochai has never been good at in bounding the ball in clutch situations.

2. Yesufu was awful in his minutes yesterday. He got beat badly on defense multiple times, committed an terrible reach in foul 30 feet from the basket. This is why I'm against playing Yesufu high volume minutes, especially in place of Harris, because he is too inconsistent to trust with big minutes at this point. If Yesufu plays, it needs to be next to Harris, not instead of Harris because Yesufu is not a lead guard, he is an undersized 2 guard.

3. It's one game and the first time in any appearance Clemence has played any defense. He also wasn't that heavily involved in the offense during his minutes which when you play 9 minutes and don't touch the ball much as a 5 in a Bill Self system, you're not ready for 20 minutes a game yet. I will agree with getting him more minutes though amd seeing if his defense yesterday was an anomaly or genuine improvement and if it was genuine improvement then get him more consistent minutes because unlike KJ, Clemence can actually get a reboud (Adams has 0 defensive rebounds in his last 5 games).

@benshawks08 It was nice to see Zach get fired up yesterday too, like on that one-handed rebound he tried to rip away. Passion and energy help a ton.

@Texas-Hawk-10 it’s abundantly clear to any who watch which player has the higher floor and which has the higher ceiling. Unfortunately they are not the same guy. Makes it a real tough call game to game. I actually like playing Harris with the higher floor and getting joe minutes to see if he can change a game. If he can’t or changes it the wrong direction, go with what you know will be consistent.

@Texas-Hawk-10 I agree with Yes playing along side Harris, but that's when our 3 wings end up biting us. We can't bench OCH, Braun, or Wilson. I hope after this year we can get back to playing two guards, two wings, and a big.

@Jethro

Like the CB being the trigger man for inbounds. Yep.
Like Yesfu on the court more in place of Harris and in tandem with Harris. In tandem puts pressure on the opposing teams guards on both ends.
Playing Zach more might help more than it hurts. He could unclog the lane if he can trey and mid range enough to make it happen.
Both Yesfu and Zach seem to be fearless enough to act freely.

@Jethro

Yes when JWill, Braun and Och need a blow or in foul trouble. But why not Zach on the wing to spell the trio?

@Jethro

You have stirred up a storm. Woo hoo!

This is as of February 12, 2022:

!2.12.22.JPG ↗

The one stat that really leaps out is that our opponents have significantly more steals than we do. Also disconcerting is the almost equal number of TOs as our opponents, especially given how that has trended. In our first dozen games or so, we had fewer than 10 TOs in a game on multiple occasions, and I think we had more TOs than our opponents in just a couple of games. Over the past dozen, we've turned the ball over more in just about every game.

The difference is that we had two capable ball-handling guards on the floor during most of the time during the first half of the season. Say what you will about Remy and Juan, but they are both more capable ball-handlers and passers than anyone else on the team, and that is certainly including Joe, is who decidedly not a lead guard. We had fewer TOs and consistently had better spacing.

I agree with @Texas-Hawk-10 on each point. Folks are awfully quick to extrapolate success based on very limited positive contributions, whether for Zach, Joe of KJ. Like most everyone else, I would like to have seen more minutes for all earlier in the year, particularly in the relatively few games which were comfortable wins. But, at this juncture, I'm not sure anyone has amply demonstrated that they should be in for more than spot duty. I particularly don't get the clamoring for Joe to get Juan's minutes. While Joe has some strengths, he is not a lead guard and has given no indication that he is actually capable of running the offense (fwiw - he averaged 1.8 apg last year in 23 mpg last year at Drake). Notwithstanding the fact that Juan is not a threat to score and his presence allows teams to ignore him on the offensive end for the most part, I would argue that he is actually our most indispensable player right now - at least until Remy can get back on the court. There is a reason Self is playing him 38-39 mpgs, notwithstanding the wear and tear.

Only two stats suggest dominance those being assists per basket and points per game.
A negative thought would be we don't create our own shot or when we do we're not successful?

Here's my one thing: What happened to KU's mentality where teams refused to lose home games? This team doesn't seem to get that. I see KU is favored by 10.5 tonight. Lately, that's the kiss of death.

@stoptheflop What do you define as "refuse to lose?"

They got smoked by UK. Other than that they've found a way to win at home. Double OT on a refuse to lose shot by Och. Last second refuse to lose Harris shot against ISU. KJ locks down Goldwire to close out OU. Beat the life out of Baylor. Beat the soul out of Mizzou.

Not sure how this season is any different than previous ones.