KU continued its conference opener win streak, now (33 years) and hopefully counting with a gutty 2-point win over TCU in Allen Fieldhouse. It was a very good game that ended in KU's favor Saturday.
I've seen A LOT of national media reacting to the game, whether it be social media etc. I've seen both sides of the story regarding the Flagrant 1 call and whether that was the right call and the subsequent impact it had on the outcome of the game. There was still over a minute left in the game so it's difficult to say TCU wins the game definitively if that flagrant isn't called. So much can happen in the last minute of a tight game, and we've seen too many improbable comebacks in Allen Fieldhouse to say otherwise at this point. Would TCU have scored on the potential fast break opportunity to make it a 2-possession game? Probable but we don't know and the same for the outcome. They might have had a 70+% chance to win at that point but we don't know. It was a fortunate turn of events in KU's favor (More on that later).
It was the right call by the rule and I'm surprised at the controversy. Why did Udeh whip his arm back after the steal instead of carrying his momentum forward? To me that was intent to clear space with intent to create contact which just so happened to be Hunter's face. I don't think Udeh hitting Hunter in the face was intentional at all but it's certainly something that cost his team in the end.
Now getting to the meat and potatoes of the discussion. KU sits 13-1 and #2 in the nation on paper. Besides being undefeated there isn't much more this KU team could be doing better on paper. Despite that, there is a narrative out there that this KU team might not be as good as their record indicates. That KU is lucky to be 13-1 and the TCU game certainly fuels that discussion. I watched one video where they said KU is the most unimpressive 13-1 team they can remember in a long time. How can that be when KU has 2 All-American candidates on the same team with the best coach in all of College Basketball leading them. I don't understand that talk.
Another said they look like a 2nd round exit in the Tournament type team. Perhaps they are onto something there as far as ceiling of this team, perhaps they are full of crap. Nobody knows what this team will do until it gets to that point which frankly is still to early to be fussing about. I guess winning games isn't enough if you're not dominating every opponent or looking sexy enough in the analytics. There are only 6 Power-5 teams left with 1 loss or less (1 unbeaten). A dozen P5 teams with 2 or less losses so it's not like this year's College Basketball landscape is full of elite level teams because that's not the case at all.
On the Analytics side, KU isn't even close to a Top 5 team right now and you wonder how that's possible with their record and who they've played. Kenpom has them #16, Torvik #18, NET #11 overall right now. How can these be so off from what's actually happening when the game gets played? Can the numbers be trusted? KU has beaten #4, #6 & #17 according to Kenpom. Kenpom also has a "luck" rating where it has KU #18. The definition of this rating is as follows:
Luck rating (Luck): KenPom defines this as a measure of the deviation between a team’s actual winning percentage and what one would expect from its game-by-game efficiencies. Essentially, a team involved in a lot of close games should not win (or lose) all of them. Those that do will be viewed as lucky (or unlucky).
Interested to hear what y'all have to say about this team in light of Saturday's game. Are they lucky to be 13-1 or is this just the media trying to create a narrative?
