🏀 KuBuckets Archive

So here we are kind of in some unsettled waters, who ever thought we would see a time where decisions of our Coach - -Bill Self would start getting questioned and now getting more frequent a lot of times ? I mean the success he has had over the years could this be ? makes you wonder a question comes into play Was some players we had before , was they just more talented with athletic ability to cover up playing time on the floor then these guys now?- - Were they more athletic ? -- Well read this article this morning and it brought out some pretty good points- some which ha already been mentioned here and while kind of harsh maybe but yet it's the truth & the truth can hurt sometimes. Some highlights that wasa said in the article:

They said KU Basketball suffered an embarrassing loss to Iowa St in a performance beyond a simple bad night.- -" True "- saying the Jayhawks just didn't simply lose , this wasn't just a loss - - - -it was a loud and should be a clear wake-up call. -- The Jayhawks just didn't lose -Listen good point # one : ( Fact ) - they were outplayed- - -they were OUT COACHED- - and they were exposed -now I say this certainly not the first time this year they have been exposed,

It needs to be time that Coach Self take a hard look at this rotation and make some serious changes , now they talk about those changes

KJ ADAMS : -GOD only knows I love KJ how can't you BUT ? - like they said KJ gives great effort but hurts the offense nobody questions KJ'S energy and heart BUT the offense looks stuck when he is on the floor. Here now Iowa St just like others once again packed the paint with KJ in and dared KU to shoot over them , knowing KJ doesn't stretch the floor.it needs to be time for Coach to refuce his minutes or use him more selectively in defensive situations.

Dickinson :Dickinson was suppose to dominate the Big 12, I've talked about this so certainly not just me and just like I've said they bring out in the Article :He looks slow- - he IS slow - -he looks slow and wore down he struggled to keep up with Iowa State pace main while Flory came off the bench and brought energy Dickinson could benefit more from shorter stints on the floor to stay fresh

Next - Juan -- they said Juan is the Heartbeat of the team , but something is off. He has been hesitant to shoot, maybe but thats always been the case. His turnovers are creeping up he just doesn't look himself , last night he had seven assists but he couldn't control the tempo or spark the team if they can give him a reduced role or at least share the playmaking load with Zeke might help him out of it.

They talk about Diggy & AJ not cutting it :Talking about AJ being inconsistent on both ends of the floor

They mention how Griffen & Shakeel need more minutes , Talking about how Rylan can hit the Big Shoots- -can't do that if he i sitting by Coach & Shak plays with the energy that KU needs , both players bring a spark whenever they are on the floor they have earned the right to play more.

Then they talk about Zeke : talking about if there is one guy that Ku can count on right now it's Zeke. His Scoring , playmaking and confidence it's Zeke, which is exactly what this team needs Self should think about building the offense more around Zeke while pairing him with Griffen , Moore , 7 Flory being able to maximize spacing and energy.- -They even talked about Rakease- talking about giving him a real look hasn't had much of a chance to prove himself but at this point what does KU have to lose ?- - you don't know until given an extended chance.- His athleticism & upside could inject life into this team.

Bottom line is , The pieces are therre for KU to be great, but the current rotation is just not working. Coach needs to shake things up-- and quick. - -If he can lean into the players that can bring energy & production they could turn things around ,BUT if he sticks with the same old lineup it could be a long Season in Lawrence That will bring my questions- - more frequently , and more seriously about Coach and his thinking.- -Pretty good points
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A line up that consisted of Shakeel - -Rylan - -Flory - -Zeke- - --then whoever for the other , they mentioned Rakease at least try might be refreshing to see at least get them on the floor for some time see how that combo works out

I think i need to process my thoughts a bit. The article you reference sounds like a summary of everyone here :) very much in favor of Shak, Mayo, and Flory being the big 3 to build around at this point.

@approxinfinity I for sure think it would be a vey interesting line up - -a change. Thought the article was a pretty level write, I think many , many people are feeling this, not just us here. Seeing similar articles elsewhere, seeing it in other KU sites. Don't get me wrong I have been and will always continue to be a huge KJ Adams fan - -he gives 125 % he is KU- - -gives all he has got -BUT like the article says he is limited and the offense stalls, -Add Griffin with those other three and run with it - -at least try and don't have that quick trigger I think it would benefit ALL involved make us a better team for everybody

Apart from all of the obvious issues on the offensive end, what happened to the defense??? More than 5 minutes into the 2nd half, we had held them to 2 pts and had closed the deficit to 3. They still had only 8 pts in the half almost 9 minutes in - although the gap was now 5 instead of 3 because we couldn't score. After that, they seemed to score at will - another 26 points in just over 10 minutes....

@approxinfinity

Perhaps that's due to fatigue from the obvious 3 guys. Many have seen enough of the same game after game, year after year. That also indirectly points a finger at Self for treating those 3 different even when things are going bad.

More often then not our HOF coach has been steps ahead of us even when we think we know better. With this roster and how certain games have gone I'm not so sure that's the case anymore. Kind of gone from invincible to seeing real weaknesses in the armor. I guess the level of excellence we have experienced here was due to come back to some kind of mean. No other program has experienced the sustained standard like us. The last few years since the title, perhaps the edge has worn some, perhaps the NIL and current climate has wiped his edge over the field. If we look at a lot of the greats that have left the game lately, maybe there's a correlation between them and what we are seeing. Who knows. Losses suck. Losing in such a way where the ceiling of the team looks a bit bleak makes it worse. Hopefully there's another regroup and new way coming and this is yet another test on the road to get there. Grasping some but trying to stay the course given our history of doing such. But it's getting harder with each data point that kind of reinforces some troubling signs

As I said on the game thread, over 32% of Selfs blow out loses have happened the last 3 years. I’ve always said Self is the best regular season coach in history but he isn’t anymore. We are tired of not winning the B12 and going home the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. It’s 2025 and we have one year since 2019 that we have played past the second round. Winning the conference was at least a silver lining in some of those years. I guarantee you right this second we don’t win this conference. Most legendary ball coaches hit the point where they can’t get thru to players and the philosophy they use don’t work anymore. It happened to Bob Knight and Dean Smith two greats in the sport. In short thanks Bill Self but please retire at years end. We don’t need Ted Owens 2.0

@DCHawker Hunter + kj happened. No rim protection and bad defensive rebounding