I can't lie this is probably the least excited I've been for a Duke Matchup in my life.

No Darryn (unless some hamstring miracle happens). That means we are short our best player and best offensive weapon. Why does it matter? Well, for one, the supporting cast looks offensively challenged without him. Currently Kenpom/Torvik have this as somewhere near #50th best offense. If that trend continues this will mark the 3rd consecutive season finishing outside the Top 50 on offense which is very alarming. Scoring the ball has been the main issue in my eyes the past few seasons and so far it doesn't look like we'll break that trend with or without Peterson.

Duke is rated #2 on both sites mentioned above and Top 10 in both Offense/Defense. Vegas has Duke as a 10pt favorite (maybe more by tip) and that kind of feels low considering KU is down a 20+ pt scorer and its most important player. This a bad matchup for KU in just about every way possible. Boozer & Ngongba will really test the front court in similar ways UNC did, maybe more. We have undersized Tre White and a freshman Tiller to guard Boozer and that shouldn't excite anyone.

It is an opportunity for the team to step up on a neutral court with all the eyes on them and being the underdog. KU has a 5-game win streak in this classic (9-5 overall record) so Self tends to have a prepared bunch so we'll see if they can hang tonight. It seems unlikely but all we can do is hope for the team to come together and prove a point.

@BeddieKU23 predictions: Flory will find himself in early foul trouble if he forces it, and we will get beaten on the boards. More importantly we need his rebounding. I believe this is a large task for Flory and I dont think he will be able to stay out of foul trouble without looking passive. We will struggle to get shots off inside the arc in sets. They will dare us to shoot initially. Hopefully Kohl comes out hot, and an unconscious Tiller from 3 could mitigate the lack of his big body in the paint. Maybe White and Kohl grab a few long boards and keeps our rebounding respectable.

If we can lock down the defensive end and get out on the break, we can get some transition buckets. I dont see us getting to “the third side” on offensive sets. This would be a nice game for Elmarko to show off his athleticism and strength in transition.

This would also be a nice game to fight through ball screens on the perimeter, dare some of their guys to shoot. Mbiya cant play in this game if we switch everything.

Without DP we have almost 0% chance of winning this game. We just need to use this matchup for our other players to get some quality practice in. We just have to hope DP comes back eventually and that his handlers stop insisting that he is hurt.

What are the odds that DP doesn’t play another game for Kansas? Hes got his NIL cash now and can just hang until the draft in theory

I haven’t seen Duke play this year, so I don’t have that built in worry.

They are young, right? If so that could be to our benefit. And don’t they have one or two guys we were after? Sarr?

Hoping we’re at least competitive without DP on national TV!

I do think we’ll see some Mbiya tonight.

Duke is young but from what I have seen they are disciplined beyond their years on defense. Boozer is also a freakishly talented player.

@rockchalkjayhawk

Based on his recent usage it would seem Mbiya is an emergency use only. I expect foul trouble and his size to matchup as potentially using him for his 5 fouls. It is what it is there.

They are young just like we are. They have 5 stars as young's though and a few returning 5 star guys that are now much improved.

Size wise they don't have anyone under 6'4.

@kjayhawks said in Duke Game:

What are the odds that DP doesn’t play another game for Kansas? Hes got his NIL cash now and can just hang until the draft in theory

Zero percent chance he willingly sits out until the draft. This is one of the strongest draft classes in recent history and plenty of players that would leapfrog Peterson if he sat out. Dybansta, Boozer, Koa Peat, Nate Ament, Caleb Wilson, and Mikel Brown would all likely jump Peterson in the draft costing him millions of dollars.

Current NBA players, scouts and execs have compared his game and work ethic to Kobe. Kobe was not a player who load managed, he wanted to be on the floor no matter what. That was a factor in him tearing his achilles because he came back too early from a calf strain.

Peterson would play if the decision was left to him because he is a competitor. He's being held out by Self and the training staff to protect him from himself in the long term because as much as we all love KU, playing for a specific college isn't the end goal or dream of 99% of basketball players, it's to play professionally in the NBA.

@Jhawk69

Yeah Boozer so far is looking like an exceptional leader for a freshman. Not missing a beat from last years freshman leader.

@BeddieKU23 said in Duke Game:

@rockchalkjayhawk

Based on his recent usage it would seem Mbiya is an emergency use only. I expect foul trouble and his size to matchup as potentially using him for his 5 fouls. It is what it is there.

They are young just like we are. They have 5 stars as young's though and a few returning 5 star guys that are now much improved.

Size wise they don't have anyone under 6'4.

Exactly on Mbiya. Seems we're all expecting Flory to be in foul trouble pretty quickly. Guessing the break glass in case of emergency for Mbiya will be in the first half. I guess we could see come Calderon as well.

Also, we don't really play anybody under 6'4 either, except for the unplayable Elmarko. I think we match up reasonably well with size. Except of course if Duke plays 2 big bigs!

@BeddieKU23 Believe in hamstring miracles. 😇🙏

Prediction: Duke gets out to a 13-7 lead pretty quickly... like, around the under-16 TV timeout. That's as close as it gets.

@nuleafjhawk

Not tonight he was already ruled out as expected. I tried lol

@rockchalkjayhawk

We can hope Flory would try and keep himself on the floor but it's been an issue in every game pretty much so far. The key is the first half with him

@bskeet

Yikes, the defense is supposed to carry them.. ha

I think we will keep it close for the first few minutes, then Duke will go on a run and won't look back.

@BeddieKU23 Their fans travel well to the Garden , thats where this game is being played right ? I think that is where they play their conference tourney and their fans travel well there so really not neutral

I don't know.

@BeddieKU23 This is getting ridiculous. I think he should pay some NIL moolah to us fans.

How good will we look tonight? I hope that we don't get down and out. Let Bill find a lineup that clicks and plays every possession to win each battle over and over.

I think Bill calls a TO 15 seconds into the game.

I'll probably switch to the Blackhawks game even before our game starts.

Michigan State is handling Kentucky pretty well in the first half. They have a 6'6" Junior with a 51.5" vert that is listed in Guinness. Pro dunker Isaiah Rivera can get up to 50" and Jordan's jump was 47".

Ooooh im scared!

Will be about 10 minutes behind you guys but will catch up.

I’m trying to decide if I want to watch our game or not lol

@Zabudda

Yeah Carr has insane bounce to him, sometimes it doesn't even look real

I love watching Kentucky getting bounced so badly.

@wissox We're up next 🤣

Oops!
You guys are on Kansas time. Im not late! Woo

Well first rout of th night over- -second one on i's way could get real ugly really fsdt-- I am looking at probably the same 20 or over

@SlimShaddy54
One blueblood down.

Fwiw - Navy just 9 down to UNC with less than 2 minutes to go...

Someone Step up.

Still annoyed with another season with this stupid shit. Can’t we just have a season without some dumb drama?

Shoulda been foul called on Flory's basket

Loving this

we keep getting bodied on our shots without whistles.

Melviiiiiiin

Wow

This is fun

So far so good

Love the current game plan. Crazy fast pace of play rn

Tre White has stepped up so far

Pure 3 by Dawson

He looks like TE

Tre White cares.

Who looks like TE and who is TE?

Criminal that elmarko stops driving for a bad mid range every time.

I think I figured it out. Someone looks like Thomas Edison.

Defensive rotation no existent come on fellas

@BeddieKU23 said in Duke Game:

Criminal that elmarko stops driving for a bad mid range every time.

And like the guy can jump. Explosive athlete. I don’t get it

Kohl Cash

Stupid 3 pointers

Duke pooped

Yes!

Love that. Heck of a play by dawson

DAWSON YOU DONT SUCK! Huge development tbh

I hope we can keep this energy. It's our hustle that is winning us this game right now.

@Crimsonorblue22 Who is TE?

Council Jr needs to get it in the hole. Flory the man.

Duke got punched in the mouth. We’ll see how sustainable this is.

@approxinfinity I've always wanted to punch Duke in the mouth.

It is nice to see the refs not blowing the whistle too much.

Dang stop shooting can't make 3's. Flory's scoring the ball almost at will and we're not throwing it in there.

Hope I didn’t jinx it.

I like the aggressive White much better

Normally the bias doesn’t bother me but Jay extra Dukie tonight. Still don’t understand how they let him call games for his Alma mater.

Like clock work flory in foul trouble

2 on Flory of course.

That was BS foul

Yikes Council. Not good

Man Tiller getting abused in the lane there. Of course, we didn't hear a whistle as our big sits...

@patoh3 tight end boozer

@wissox Fouls look different for us vs them.

Council has missed the rim more than he’s hit it I think.

Council 1-7 not even close either,

Foul!

Boooo fair whistle! Boooo

So according to Haney, Scheyer could have appealed that? What's the new rule?

@wissox get 1

@DanR over here!

Melvin is costing us. I really like him, but he looks rough tonight.

Get council out of there. Well great Elmarko comes in.

Not sure we can keep doubling. But I don’t know if we can guard Boozer without fouling

Hook by Boozer

Fouls racking up they are getting tired

Smh these fliping zebras

Foul count was even a minute ago, but now they're in the bonus.

Commendable 15 minutes. Now we see if they have fight or quit in them

I’m sorry I f-ing jinxed it!

That long haired guy is just hacking at Tiller when he gets the ball and the zebras nothing to see there.

Nice job white

Duke coaches crying at the refs. Haven't seen our coaches whining at the refs.

At least Tre knows how to get a foul called with him driving.

Jesus fu**ing H Christ do we have to be bleeding on the floor for a foul call? Jump there asses Bill bullshit onesided crap

New game plan is just let Tre cook when Flory is out. Rest of the guards are useless on that end

I like this version of Tre White. Smart and aggressive.

Score in the 60's is good for us.

Yo! I’m here!

Why is this the frigging Dukie alum convention?

Heyyyyyy you made it

@DanR Good to see you! How are you doing? I’m doing fine. 😂

Mbiya looks 18 feet tall

9-5 foul count

Mari is coming in.

Oof

I’m half convinced we are better off just holding the ball to a shot clock violation every possession the rest of the way to just limp into half

When you play that lineup that's what you get

JUST PLAY THE GOOD PLAYERS. If they foul out late we can just deal with it.

This lineup is garbage we may end up down 15 at the half

Nerdy ass girls love taking advantage of foul trouble!

I hope we don't see a repeat of the North Carolina game. Lead the whole first half, get punched in the mouth in the second half.

Come on guys. Don’t do the 2 minute FB breakdown.

My god we can’t shoot

Are our guards allergic to the rim?

@Kcmatt7 you would think so, if they start scratching or sneezing, we’ll know.

These refs are corrupt.

Rosario dumped 21 like a bag of garbage

Tre White is a warrior

Would've been nice to have FLory for half the game.

@wissox

We might never know. All he does is foul

Unfortunately folks, it’s going to get worse.

Was that last shot made by Cameron or Stadium?

@approxinfinity wasn’t cameron

Duke ain’t hitting either but three point shooting is comically bad

@approxinfinity Evans

It's a relatively unimportant game and without DP it really doesn't indicate what kind of team we have but it's still a bit irritating to have whistles and some other things that are our fault really turn this game around.

That last shot was a dagger not sure we can come back

Whoops

F F F F F

Whatever team can hit 33 percent from three in the second half will win. Not counting the 35 free throws Duke will get compared to Ku’s 12

Our offense will always be mid without Darryn but could be very good with him.

Just keep playing hard. The refs won't let us win but if we outplay them without Darryn that bodes well for us.

@Jhawk69 said in Duke Game:

Our offense will always be mid without Darryn but could be very good with him.

Just keep playing hard. The refs won't let us win but if we outplay them without Darryn that bodes well for us.

At this point I have no hope we see him suit up again

She did it!! The bowl bike lady is awesome.

@Jhawk69 we may as well give up on Peterson. He's going to be another Wiggins. If he ever gets healthy he won't play or play hard because he won't want to hurt his draft status.

When will we have a national KU announcer or basketball analyst? The current analysts have there nose so far up Duke’s ass, they are tickling its uvula.

@patoh3 Wow, are you a doctor or something? Is that anatomically possible? But it makes it just a little bit more pleasant to download the free varsity app and just listen to the KU feed.

Tre we will try to help you in this half. I promise.

LOL, Bilas has 'the next Kobe Bryant' (DP) as a 2nd team all american. I mean maybe if he played more he'd warrent 1st team attention.

26-20 when Flory went to the bench. Ugly math to do but I think that's outscored by 14 or something like that.

Yes, tell us how Boozer how is the best player, Jay.

Foul finally on NngGrf11

must be hard to tackle a big guy like Tiller

No foul with Tiller lying on the floor?

The refs can't help themselves. Tackle Tiller and then a nickle and dimer on the other end of the floor. They're so freaking corrupt in this game.

Council! Ref with the phantom foul in return

unbelievable

Good foul by Dawson but why is he out there

Council is fast but man he just struggles to defend or make any shots most the time

Is there some reason they do Duke graphics going into every break?

Apparently Tillers jersey has 3 LLLs on it.

Kohl with a ghostly effort that may push him
Out of the lineup if DP ever returns.

@DanR because ESPN loves Duke.

Hated boozer as a college player

Their shit pass ended up with a three of course

Silly foul Flory

@kjayhawks said in Duke Game:

Kohl with a ghostly effort that may push him
Out of the lineup if DP ever returns.

Was hoping to see Council go to the bench

@Kcmatt7 it’s debatable pending the game

Council showing some spark this half.

Way to go with the block Flory on Boozer.

MORE OF THAT COUNCIL. Get to the rim bro. Who can stay in front of you?

One on one against council?

Council gets decked. Of course there's not enough there to really warrent charges, I mean a foul.

We have to start hitting open threes good grief

Melvin the house!!!

Somebody else had to step up ffs

@kjayhawks said in Duke Game:

@Kcmatt7 it’s debatable pending the game

Okay it’s Rosario to the bench lol

Council, White and Flory gotta play every minute the rest of the way. And probably Tiller.

No idea who should be the 5th guy and I’m not sure it matters

Kohls game is not on the perimeter. I know he made a 3 like 3 weeks ago against central Zimbabwe state but goodness it's ugly.

Just imagine this game with Juando and KJ. Love those guys but I’ll take a guy with councils speed and Rosario’s nose for the ball any day

Hooo Rosario!!

Get Wario, Rosario!

Over the back on the rebound, but let’s reward Duke.

Nice Flory

6 pushes our guys all over the place.

Big boy game for bidunga

Nice Tiller. Lets get a stop.

Where was the foul?

PHantom foul on Flory, like what the heck?

Did Flory get his 4th?

I love our 6 10 guard tiller

We refuse to get a stop whenever the defeceit is 5

Game is too close for Vegas. Have to foul out Flory in order to give the over crowd the win.

We have got a team that will scrap.

Wasn’t a foul, Duke jay

Really never thought I'd pay attention to this game this far into it. Really proud of our guys.

Giving up points at the stripe now.

We are reposessing your first name, Bilas.

And 1

Where was the foul for Flory on the dunk?

Bs

@patoh3 Flory fouled the rim!

Flory will foul out with style

ANyone see boozer just shove flory in the back?

White with a little flare on the layup!

duke is all nba 2 man game

Not a gt

Never mind hit the backboard

Tiller flattened that guy he was trying not to show it but coughing. LMAO Bilas even cringed. And the refs suck.

I do hate a moral victory but have to love the fight from these guys. I thought I would have turned the game off already. Some grit

Well I am thrilled we are in a position to bitch about our boys getting Duked out of a win. Now lets steal this 5v8!

@Kcmatt7 We have a team after all.

Elmarko play at all this half?

@Kcmatt7 dont think so

Melvinnnn

M3lvin!!!

The refs pissed our whole team off.

I hope in the handshake line someone fouls the ref.

I like this team, even without hamstring guy

He just might be the best Melvin in KU history.

2nd half Melvin so much better than 1st half Melvin.

Hmm, champions classic in Chicago next year. I'll be retired. Maybe?

Are you kidding me???

Two big men valiently fighting for a rebound but the ref thinks one of them is cheating.

Tiller you did alright.

Late whistle

Council does not need to take those shots

@approxinfinity He forgot that it was his turn to blow it.

Welp thats gonna do it. We don’t get DP back and it will be a very, very long season.

Bill Self thinks our guys should have won. I like it.

I’m proud of the effort tonight, we looks much better than we have without DP. We really need him back so we can learn to play together

Still winnable…

@DanR if we start raining and draining 3’s.

Nope

I’ll show you what a REAL FOUL looks like!

Work to do

We have sucked so bad at ball screen defense since Bog David left. Everyone blamed Hunter but flory is the same tho is light years more athletic

!alt text ↗

Notre Dame is next on Monday at 2:30.

Marko comes back in with 41 sec to go.

Poor Dukies need to be protected.

Melvin was a stud 2nd half. Marko can appreciate that

Positives:

• Self didn’t play Elmarko much even without DP. So he sees he sucks the same way we all do.

• McDowell same

• Council and White had some really nice stretches

• Flory is a stud when he isn’t in foul trouble

I don’t get why Dawson played so much. Kind of a weak link. I know elmarko is a total bust

@DanR hes a shooter. We need shooters

Thats why Ngala should play

@DanR Elmarko dribbles and runs in a circle quite nice.

That's alright Jayhawks you played tough and hard. Thanks.

@Jhawk69 said in Duke Game:

Thats why Ngala should play

Would have been unplayable tonight against this size. But generally speaking moving forward I agree he should get some run

@Jhawk69 too small against Duke

Expedition Unknown was very good tonight. Josh found a 150 year old mine and a little bit of gold. But not the giant stash that the bad guy hid in 1863. Entertaining nonetheless.

@patoh3 said in Duke Game:

@DanR Elmarko dribbles and runs in a circle quite nice.

Juan did for years and everyone loved it. Probably works better with 3 nba guys around you.

@nuleafjhawk He actually found something?

After watching the second half, I’ll say again Kohl should come off the bench once DP returns

I was expecting much worse

I don't think DP returns. We've seen this story before. But, I actually think this squad--without him-- has a chance to be in the top 10 by seasons end without him. A lot of youth, but with Tre and Council we could make a good run. IMO. Obviously a better team with him (as a diversion) the longer his poor hammy hurts.

There were some positives tonight. Flory and Tiller did a really nice job on Boozer making him work tonight. 18 points in 17 shot attempts is good defense.

Without Peterson, this team does struggle to make shots which was a concern heading into this season. There's been a lot of good looks that haven't fallen so hopefully they have a game at some point where the shots fall and build up tge confidence.

I still think this group has Elite 8/Final 4 potential this season, but getting Peterson back healthy is a big part of that along with Tiller becoming more consistent with his shots as well.

@DanR said in Duke Game:

I don't think DP returns. We've seen this story before. But, I actually think this squad--without him-- has a chance to be in the top 10 by seasons end without him. A lot of youth, but with Tre and Council we could make a good run. IMO. Obviously a better team with him (as a diversion) the longer his poor hammy hurts.

Ya my inside sources say he never plays again for Kansas again. Hes much more worried about the draft. Makes sense to me if it was a hamstring issue that was serious they announce it so he doesn’t look bad. That and if was a grade 1 sprain they shut him down for a month not have him come back and forth while showing no signs of discomfort.

@kjayhawks Have to agree , I think it's time to Start J Dawson and let Kohl come off the bench for at least awhile.

Don't have anything against Kohl I mean he is still suppose to playing HS Ball, and think he is overthinking some and pressing, he is just not bringing us anything offensive we- -need more.

@SlimShaddy54 kohl will be great in a few years for sure, just hope he’s still here in that time frame.

🐦 View Tweet

@kjayhawks ya him leaving early as of right now anyways is zelch , zero , nada unless he just ain't happy with hid playing time for some reason . He is not doing anything on the floor right now for much interest from other schools.

Kansas 59-57 while Flory was on the floor. In other words, the 21-7 Duke run in the last 8 minutes of the first half was all those a holes needed to beat us.

Well I apologize to our boys and for the most part busted their butts off and kept this game from being a complete blow out. Just get some key time buckets to fall, or get that rebound when really needed

Tre busted his butt off -- -huge game from him , Council was a day/night performance bad first half-- much better 2nd half.-- We just HAVE to get more from Kohl, like I said I think would be goo to swap Kohl for Dawson for awhile , let him come off the bench

I myslf don't care what anyone else thinks I think they gave Duke all they wanted for the most part without our Stud , sure wish we could get him back BUT I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.

@wissox this team is missing a back true 5 and a consistent shooter imo but we’ll have to see how guys grow into their role.

I still hate Coach K if anyone was wondering

Hey, Trey White. Nice to meet you!

Kudos to those that watched til the end. Sounds like they gave what they got but couldn't execute in the last 5 minutes. Foul Trouble in the front court is a major issue. The refs sucked but this is not a disciplined team when it comes to fouls.

Tiller has fouled out in both games against P4 competition. Flory has 3 or more fouls in all but 1 game so far and makes a lot of careless fouls that take him out of the game.

It sure looks like we only have 7 players if we ever get Peterson back. Elmarko and Mari are unplayable imo. Neither has developed a lick here.

@BeddieKU23 said in Duke Game:

Kudos to those that watched til the end. Sounds like they gave what they got but couldn't execute in the last 5 minutes. Foul Trouble in the front court is a major issue. The refs sucked but this is not a disciplined team when it comes to fouls.

Tiller has fouled out in both games against P4 competition. Flory has 3 or more fouls in all but 1 game so far and makes a lot of careless fouls that take him out of the game.

It sure looks like we only have 7 players if we ever get Peterson back. Elmarko and Mari are unplayable imo. Neither has developed a lick here.

Peter Danyliv was better for our guys than we thought... Big mistake from the program letting him get away from Lawrence.

@Kcmatt7 for reference: https://amp.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article257778133.html ↗

Well, we lost.

But, I have to say that I haven’t seen that kind of energy or effort all year. That part was impressive. They now have a standard to live up to every game. We can win games playing like that.

We can’t, however, win games by shooting 4-21 from deep. That’s pathetic in every way.

I think we may win or lose on the shoulders of Kohl or Jayden’s shooting. Both need to get comfortable and start making some shots. Council cannot be trusted to shoot anything other than a layup.

Nor can we win with only 5 bench points. Also pathetic.

But, all in all a positive game last night.

@kjayhawks said in Duke Game:

@wissox this team is missing a back true 5 and a consistent shooter imo but we’ll have to see how guys grow into their role.

I don't get this at all. Missing a center? Flory plays next to the rim the whole game. He scores almost at will, just punished Dukes bigs, plays nice defense, rebounds could improve a bit, but I have no clue why you think we're missing a true center.

Focus on the next. Beating ND would be our first win of the season against a P5 type team. They should beat them I believe, but without DP (?) we'll need to play well with energy like we did last night.

@BeddieKU23 Seriously? People watched to the end? Like, more than one People? Wow.

My son insisted we watch the whole game lol so we did. I was ready to call it in but with about 5 minutes to go once they pulled back away.

@wissox said in Duke Game:

@kjayhawks said in Duke Game:

@wissox this team is missing a back true 5 and a consistent shooter imo but we’ll have to see how guys grow into their role.

I don't get this at all. Missing a center? Flory plays next to the rim the whole game. He scores almost at will, just punished Dukes bigs, plays nice defense, rebounds could improve a bit, but I have no clue why you think we're missing a true center.

Focus on the next. Beating ND would be our first win of the season against a P5 type team. They should beat them I believe, but without DP (?) we'll need to play well with energy like we did last night.

Flory is fine but we need another one to back him up, see the game when he left the floor. Flory is good but has a lot to learn, see UNC game of him getting destroyed defensively. We needed to get a Tarik Black type guy in the portal IMO.

A bit annoying to see tweets and ESPN headlines treating Dukes win as a coronation to the title of greatest team ever because they beat us without our best player.

@kjayhawks I think if we can stagger the Tiller and Flory mins and get Tre playing the 4 ~10 mins a game, we are fine. Booser was a terrible matchup for Tre though as he excels at bulling smaller players and had no issues passing out of the double, so we needed both Tiller and Flory on the court the full game to have a chance. Not many teams have a 4 man of that level, so I don't think this is a flaw that will sink the team.

@wissox greatest assembly of talent not to win a title since Duke 2024-2025?

@approxinfinity Yea I feel like that was what won us the '22 championship tbh...

They fought without the best guard in America. I can’t ask for much more tbh

This team has a lot that they can build on will be interesting to see how we fair against the BYUs and Houstons of the conference once we get more time playing together.

I was pretty happy with our guys play. We had a definite chance in this game. A few guys struggled... Bryson, Kohl, Elmarko. Bryson and Kohl are still growing into D1 ball and I'm sure they never quite experienced anything like this game before. I love the Champions Classic because it gives almost a sort of Final Four feel to it. So far this season, Elmarko has been my guy I expected more out of. He didn't play much in this game and I know why; he was basically invisible out there. Huge game from Tre... and Melvin started off cold but improved. These two guys give us energy on the floor. They don't become invisible.

Flory, of course, is high energy and his box score will never tell his story of his value to this team. That became obvious when he went out in the first half and we went straight down. His energy is so high it's like he's 1 1/2 players for us out there. He'll learn a lot throughout this year, and we will benefit from him maturing on the court. I know he'll probably enter the draft after this year. And, as usual, it will piss me off to see guys go too early. I don't want to have that argument with others again. He won't be ready to leave, but he'll go. Just imagine Year #3 with Flory?! This is a strange year, though.. so much talent! And next year will be less (unless something changes, and can). Would be smart for Flory to stick around (he won't)!

Melvin played nervous. I think he is trying a little too hard sometimes and just needs to let the game come to him. He's the speedster... he needs to find more creative ways to play downhill and get past defender's shoulders.

I guarantee you that Duke hopes they don't see us again this year, especially with a healthy DP! To be honest, I was more impressed with UNC than Duke.

Great game for a lesson and we'll grow from this. I have lost ZERO optimism for this team! If we can get healthy and stay healthy... then learn to play together. Our defense has huge potential. Self called it right. Our defense was pretty good but when we screwed up they burned us every time!

Melvin is a bit of puzzle. There are times he takes wild, horribly forced shots and I wonder why he's out there. Other time he just flies by defenders and is the best player on the court. He'd be really good with more consistency, I think.

If we had made just four more treys we would end at a 38% clip and likely changed the game.

Headline in NYT DP's having his hamstring re-evaluated after missing the Duke game. Self said he will have it re-evaluated later this week. I guess he visits a doctor? He has tightness from a slight strain which is causing the tightness. The cramping issues from earlier have subsided. We will wait and see if he can make the ND game Monday afternoon. I'm guessing he is being treated daily so does slight strain equal a slight chance. The RICE method of Rest, Ice, Compression and elevation that leads to gentle stretching leading to easy exercising. It can take from a few days to several months to heal. Running and leaping are strong stressors. DP will have to follow a full rehab to get strong enough to be in practice or game shape so being very careful with him will lead to what? Early 2026? IDK.

Melvin had some LaGerald Vick looking plays in him last night. The surprise dunk on a semi fastbreak was the play that I thought of that comparison.

KU is one of only 2 B12 teams to have two losses. 10 are undefeated. Arizona already has wins against 3 ranked teams, two in the top 5. It could be a long year, esp. if DP's grade 1 strain somehow persists all year...

We were better than I expected. I don't think I'm alone given the way the sports pundits are talking.

TBH, the MSU / UK game had the score I feared would be ours.

@wissox said in Duke Game:

Melvin had some LaGerald Vick looking plays in him last night. The surprise dunk on a semi fastbreak was the play that I thought of that comparison.

Council is Tyshawn before the second half of 2012. He can be the best player on tge court for both teams at the same time.

@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Duke Game:

Council is Tyshawn before the second half of 2012. He can be the best player on tge court for both teams at the same time.

Ha i forgot when people used to say that about Tyshawn. Good times.

Melvin and Kinney and hopefully an improved Elmarko should be some depth at point next year

Melvin will not be back next year

@Jhawk69 For those wondering, he legitimately can't be. He had two years of JUCO before two years in D1 so this is already his fifth year. He only got that due to the Pavia ruling.

@Texas-Hawk-10 Yeah Tyshawn is maybe a better comp. If it leads to a near national championship then great!

@BShark @Jhawk69 oh ok i thought he had a 5th after this one. Got it

Yeah, Melvin doesn’t get the JuCo waiver. It was given for a very narrow set of players (e.g. Diggy) whose eligibility would’ve been up last year.

2025 KU Shooting stats so far

Team 3 pt shooting: 33% -- What did Self say we'd need to shoot to be successful? 37% or something?

Individual 3pt shooting

Ngala -- 66.7%

DP -- 50%

Tiller -- 50%

Tre -- 35.7%

Jamari -- 33%

Kohl -- 29%

Dawson -- 26%

Elmarko -- 16.7%

Council -- a whopping 7.7%

@wissox That goes along with my comment last night about them having their noses so far up … hmhmmmm, you know. You can refer back to the original comment if needed.

@ImmunoHawk wasn’t Tyshawn kinda like that?

Tiller is a big man... but how old is he? Is he the guy that came half way through last year but was injured? He sure smells like NBA talent. Hope we actually get some real play out of him before he jumps to the league. I guess he'll be streaky for a while, maybe all year, as he gets used to this level of bball. I just don't see him jumping after this year. Surely he'll stick around at least one more year, especially since this coming year's draft is probably the best draft for a dozen years or so.

Weird seeing Traylor on the bench. I'll probably piss some people off... but I wish he was healthy and had eligibility left... at least until we get more consistency out of our bigs. lol

Mbiya... wow... he's like a huge pile of clay, thrown against the wall! haha.. someone came at me, all hyped up, claiming he's the next Udoka. I haven't seen that potential yet, but I sure would like to. Let's start by putting 30 lbs of muscle on him in this next off season!

@patoh3 yes, but over the years his good/bad ratio went from 50/50 to more like 90/10.

@drgnslayr

Mbiya already is jacked city. He's just supremely raw with skill at this point. Certainly, seems like a good mold of clay. Not sure we'll ever see the fruits of the labor from him. Doesn't sound like he plans on staying around for years.

Tiller is 20 years old and yes he enrolled early last year to get ahead on rehab. Certainly seemed like KU lucked out there with how talented he is and how high his ceiling is. Can you get him back for a 2nd year is the big question already. I would not assume anyone on this current roster is coming back because that's the reality we are dealing with now.

One of my favorite quotes from Self is on Tyshawn “He’ll make some plays that you can’t coach and then he’ll make some plays that will make you wonder if he has ever been coached” . I like the Council comparison the problem is, does he have time in his one year here to finish the way Tyshawn did. I’d compare him to sophomore or Junior Tyshawn at his best.

Got a chance to rewatch the game and the 2nd half finally.

I'm not as optimistic as others are which is okay. I hope that changes but so far I'm seeing a lot of overall similarities to the past few years.

Foul trouble really forced Self's hand with subs late in that first half and seemed to completely disrupt the momentum they had going. Some individuals are going to have to figure out how to defend without fouling. We saw first hand we very little depth once again. Not having a 3rd big that is trusted is definitely a big one. Elmarko and Mari do not seem capable of playing any kind of extended minutes.

We very well could have won this one with Peterson. He changes everything and without him right now we are seeing a lot of weaknesses. Until he returns we have a clear cap on our ceiling.

Defensively I thought they competed hard when defending regularly but the double teams on Boozer were exploited and they made us pay just about every time. A lot of the double teams just seemed unnecessary, and they weren't working and there weren't adjustments. Felt like we made plays easier for Boozer and others by constantly being in chase mode on the rotations.

It's clear this bunch is not an efficient shooting group outside the paint. Way too many missed opportunities from the perimeter from guys we expect to produce. Council's shooting has to to improve as every team we've played has already identified him as the weak point on the perimeter. You can see the lack of confidence when he shoots as well.

Hopefully this game was beneficial for next weeks continued ACC tour.

@Texas-Hawk-10

He has that Tyshawn wide right layup bank in shot. Hard as hell to defend.

Our conference is a freaking bulldozer OMG. Zona slapped Hurley and UConn plus Florida and UCLA.

@BeddieKU23 I'm not optimistic about the team if DP doesn't come back, but I have a hard time believing he shuts it down for the full season. This draft class is pretty stacked so he needs to play to be the top pick and dropping from 1st to 3rd alone gives him $12 million reasons to play. It will also help his draft stock to show that the hamstring isn't going to be a recurring issue for the team that drafts him.

Also don't know about his handlers, but scouting on DP leading up to this year make it seem like he is pretty competitive, so leads me to believe he isn't sitting without actually being injured. A hamstring isn't keeping him out the full year unless it keeps flaring up, so taking the recovery slow isn't a bad thing. The one area of concern I do have with this though is that it isn't a great sign for if him playing through a minor injury should one flare up near the tournament.

I can't help but think of our guys and Self himself being encouraged by how they came together and played well. Can you see the high upside of young Bryson becoming a real force who can dominate and score with his soft touch and get the eff out of my way drives to the basket. The radio guys said the team was re-measured last week and Tiller is a legit 6'11 now. Oppo coaches telling a guard that you can draw an offensive foul by getting set in front of Tiller as he drives down hill okay? How much was my NIL coach? Yeah well I need a raise. And a sassy teammate adding "you need a raise and an ambulance."

@Zabudda I have yet to see anything from different reporters analysts and such have ANYTHING to say negative about KU every single one of them was impressed and talking about Darryn's supporting cast talking about when we get Darryn back how they think KU will be a serios contender-- talking about different players like Tiller , Kohl-- talking about how much Flory has improved.

Was watching a Duke podcast and they were talking about how Flory just gave their Bigs fits all night long. I was very encouraged about how the guys stepped up

@MR11

Yeah, there's a lot of uncertainty with the Peterson situation until we see him out there again. Self has created that with the lack of transparency & honesty. We get vague updates that lead to all the speculation.

The scouting report on him is he is extremely competitive, so I agree he wants to be out there but it's a delicate situation due to many factors having nothing to do with KU. He's got a brand and career ahead of him and this kind of injury could derail the path they are on. In a stacked draft class he certainly has incentive to get back out there. I'm not sure how much his stock would truly be hurt by sitting the rest of the season. He's been heavily scouted already but certainly there would be questions. Certainly the only real thing that he can lose is $ in the short term. Hypothetically if he sat the season to get healthy and prepared for the draft I still believe he'd be in the Top 6 picks.

Hopefully he's out there again soon. There isn't much to say until there's a definitive timeline for his return.

This is a bubble team at best without him for an extended period of time and even that might be pushing it. We are not going to see KU play like they did against Duke most nights. People can cling to moral victory all they want, it was still a 12-point defeat and for the final 25 minutes of the game KU was not in a real serious position to win the game. They kept it close as much as they could but Duke was always in control (as were the refs).

We all hope the biggest benefit right now without Peterson is forcing guys to step up. White certainly has, Bidunga has when he's actually on the court. Tiller and Council show flashes. The rest have a ways to go. We have clearly seen who's ready and who's not. I really hope this adversity helps them become the team they want to be, but we need Peterson in order to get there.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/47014993/mens-basketball-freshman-year-contenders-ranking-top-10-cameron-boozer-aj-dybantsa-darryn-peterson ↗
Draft stock already seems to be dipping and I agree with this list, very small sample size on everyone especially DP but I don’t believe him to be anywhere near the best freshman in CBB this season.

@BeddieKU23 the main thing is getting Darryn back. This team isn't going anywhere without him. I'm encouraged by Tre and Flory especially.

@BeddieKU23 unfortunately Self has always been that way about injuries. The Duke game was all about Flory. KU won the Flory minutes but was -14 when he sat.

Flory's athleticism is always what gets talked about but to me his footwork has been really good. His ability to get to the other side of the rim with an array of pivots makes him really hard to guard.

@benshawks08 said in Duke Game:

Flory's athleticism is always what gets talked about but to me his footwork has been really good. His ability to get to the other side of the rim with an array of pivots makes him really hard to guard.

His handling has impressed me as well

We are now seeing why Flory was a 5* recruit. He's not just another lanky athletic 6'9" guy.

Small sample but his FT % is up too and that will be a few PPG added if he can keep it up when we aren't playing duke and he gets calls

@benshawks08

Agreed, his footwork and handling has improved a ton.

@BShark

They have proven they are the #2 and #3 options, they just need their batman back

DP needs game reps. He isn't going to showcase much by going in and out of the lineup. We all know he can score while faceplated. He earns his value by how he makes the team better. That takes reps!

But I'm onboard with Self. Let him heal. I wonder if we have seen him at full 100% tilt yet? Doubtful. I've rewatched his play on the court with us and he always moved with caution. I noticed it back then, too, but thought maybe he's a guy trying to protect the investment. I'm certain some of that is at play, but I think it was more because he's been nursing this for quite a while.

I don't think we are hearing the entire story. I think Darryn's handlers and of Agents have tgeir hands all up in thing-- -my how things have changed, ////////////////ya Darryn wants to play BUT = = = = = = =

I will just say as a non college athlete who played basketball once a week up until the last couple years the longest injury I’ve ever had to recover from was a slight hamstring strain. Every time I tried to go back out I either cramped or pulled a calf or reaggrivated the hamstring. As long as we make it to the tourney and he plays there, that’s all that matters right? Haven’t folks been arguing that the big 12 championships don’t matter for decades?

@benshawks08 your right to many worry about the Season -like I've said before what is the goal is it more regular season or tourney. sure it's important for regular season but ya were making he tourney for sure

He will need to play some to fnd a rhythm before the tournament. Otherwise I agree @benshawks08 . This roster has lots of guys that can benefit from absorbing his minutes and it will be a fun ride regardless. Not rooting for a 7 foot ferret wading through molasses and playing dead on defense. This is actually basketball. Im a pig in shit, tbh.

@benshawks08 I’d trade B12 championships for natties no question but losing first weekend after not winning the conference sucks very much