@drgnslayr
Be patient. The press will be unfurled intermittently in due time.
Self could not very well run the press against friendly D-II programs in state, when we were already pounding them like Number 2 nails into balsa wood. :-)
Self is doing the Full Nimitz here with Alexander and Oubre. Unless Oubre is seriously knee hobbled, Self is laying down a big, long, two game smoke screen here.
Self was determined not to give UCSB any tape to study.
Svi, however, was a huge failure in his tactics. It was the right thing to do to get him out on the floor and shooting a bunch of treys. The team basically has no three point shooting without him. Greene is punchy. All that talk about him being okay is hooey. Greene is better, but no one fully gets over a dinger that forces them to sit out in the first place, in this short of time. And, of course, our other trey shooter is down at the Round House, because cooler heads did not prevail, as they most assuredly should have. Letting CF go is going to go down as one of the few serious goofs in Self KU tenure, unless Svi and Greene become anything less than excellent protectors and stellar shooters after a month into the regular season. Svi and Greene are pop tart machines currently. So: overtime Self brings them in, whether they are hitting, or not, they cost you two possessions at least in Pillsburys. CF could have gotten a trey or two down, as he did down the stretch last season, without the gift pastries. But such was not to be, because apparently CF wanted to play PG and Self wanted him to play anywhere but there.
But back to pressing.
KU will have to press. They have no offensive rebounding. They have no inside presence. They have no trey game. Against big teams, they will run a defensive rebounding deficit.
Only pressing can give them untraceable bailouts. I hereby declare that their press be named the Federal Reserve Press.
Wooden understood that zone pressing and long balling is the ONLY way for a short team to stay on the floor as the competition gets good.
But Self had to withhold showing press before the UCSB game. He didn't dare tip off anything to UCSB. UCSB is probably the most important game of the pre-conference season. A loss to UCSB would start them off 0-2 and by the third game the opposing coaches will have enough tape to scheme against Mason and Selden and Ellis. And when the scheming starts, those three will have 2-3 straight sub par performances trying to adapt to the scheming. That 2-3 game stretch will coincide with opponents realizing KU is a 35% trey shooting team; that realization will mean the opponents will be packing the paint, and standing on the trey stripe. They will not guard one foot beyond the trey stripe unless KU makes 2-3 in a row. This situation means that KU could easily get upset by a cupcake or two and enter mid December .500. The team's confidence might never recover from that.
So: Self has to bank everything on beating UCSB in Lawrence. I don't know if he will amp the team or not, but he will surely send them out with every wrinkle he thinks they will need to survive UCSB's big man. They will be attacking him every possession to try to get him fouled up ASAP. If the UCSB big man avoids getting fouled up, then it will be a very long game. And it would be at that point that the press would be implemented.
Best case scenario for UCSB, is Svi comes back and shoots 4-6 from trey and UCSB's center gets fouled up early. Anything less and I expect Self really exhorting and prowling the sidelines working the refs as hard as if it were a Madness game.
KU M-U-S-T B-E-A-T U-C-S-B!!!!!!
A moral victory is not enough.
All hands have to go to battle stations now.
No matter how many injuries have to be taken, no matter how much damage is suffered, this is the decisive battle before the big show down in Indy.
This is Coral Sea.
Lose this, and there is no chance in Indy.
Lose this and it could take two months just to recover.
Win it and whatever happens at Indy can be taken in our stride and turned to our advantage.
This team is shortly to find out what it is like to fight at a disadvantage.
Out of such circumstances come the turning points of history in any organization in any field of any activity. When you are out gunned from the beginning, and the weapons you need to even fight even up are being developed, and you are buying time for your that development, it all comes down to the character of the guys that have already been there. Ellis, Selden, Mason are the bulwarks of the next few weeks, but almost certainly either Lucas, or Mickelson, will have to rise to the occasion, because Alexander will have us and downs. At times like this, character is all you have to get an edge. This is when the Marine Corp training comes into play. No plan will survive initial engagement. KU isn't better than anyone right now. KU has to want it more, and be harder, and tougher, until they can be better.
This is when you want guys that want to survive more than the ordinary person.
And whatever axis you play on, it is character alone that counts.
