@HighEliteMajor
First, I love it when you take our humble citizen journalism into the arena and get first hand responses from the horse's mouth.
Second, Self is very persistent once he finds a desirable action that fits resources (some call it stubborn, but I don't since I am that way, too :-)) once he works it through and decides what will work best, and so what is worth working hard to achieve. He appears a very hard worker and hard workers don't like to waste their hard work on suboptimal, or questionable strategies. They like a good plan, assume there are a couple that would be almost as good, settle on one the relies most on the most reliable players, and then they like to pursue it doggedly. This is why so many can come up with plausible alternatives to what Self does at any time, but Self keeps grinding onward with what he already has sunk costs built up in. He assumed at the start that there were a couple good ways to do it, but the way he picked is based on which approach made the most use of the most reliable players. It makes hard work purposeful and tolerable and easy to focus on. You don't get distracted with second guessing about other reasonable alternatives. You are getting better while others are shifting gears. But Self recognizes a need to change quickly and decisively and effectively once the parameters that dictated the old plan change irreversibly. I really believe he invited the Marines in as much for himself, as he did for his players. The Marine Corp way is systematizing improvisation. It is making tactics themselves at decisive moments the new strategy. So: with Conner on the team, there was a certain kind of team that was strategically and tactically feasible, a kind of team that was well-suited to highly flexible tactics within a rather rigid strategy. The intent clearly was that tactics were to become strategy as the team went game to game. But that all hinged on the fact that Conner could be one of two low turnover ball handlers with him stretching defenses. This was crucial for obvious traditional high-low offensive reasons. But Conner's critical importance to the scheme Self was articulating was Conner's particular combination of low turnovers and defense stretching meant Self could move Selden anywhere from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 and add some combination of Graham, Mason, Greene, or Svi and achieve low turnover ball handling (Graham and Mason low TOs with Graham on the trey) and two 3pt threats (Svi and Greene trey balling, but not Greene ball handling); this is always the underlying requirement of Self Ball played through the high-low formation regardless of what kind of stuff they run. The moment Conner departed, Self could no longer achieve BOTH two low turnover ball handlers AND two three point threats out of the starting gate of the season, and with an ability to continue it during substitutions. It would take 2/3s of a season to get to that point, so Self quickly and decisively and soundly decided that the original strategy of moving Selden all over the floor, i.e., sculpting a small ball team with highly flexible tactics was no longer feasible. Now what makes sense is to limit Selden's role to the 2 and 3 and see if Graham and Svi can get comfortable as a sub committee at the 2, and Greene can "get it" as a sub at the 3 yet.
Oubre's role is dramatically effected by Conner's departure. Until at least two of Graham, Svi, and Greene prove they can protect AND shoot 40%, Oubre for all his reputedly great athleticism is a luxury at the 3 this high-low team cannot afford, and if Self is forced out of a high flexible tactic strategy into a traditional use of Selden at the 2 and 3, the team cannot really afford Oubre at the 4, except as a backup to Perry Ellis? Why? Because without a big, dominant, good scoring, rim protecting 5, the guy at the 4 has to be able to stretch the defense by stepping out credibly to trey ville. Oubre apparently cannot do that. Oubre is apparently kind of a very high profile, OAD equivalent of Kevin Young but without a Jeff Withey, or a Thomas Robinson to pair with, unless of course Cliff Alexander, who is going to be tremendous eventually, becomes tremendous suddenly, which there really is no reason to gamble on. Alexander will do best brought along slow to be ready to rock for the start of the conference season. This means that Oubre, who was likely to be instrumental in the high flex tactics strategy, when Conner was on the team, could ironically become odd man out until January, when by then Alexander is both dominant and not foul prone, so that KU can afford to really benefit from playing Alexander and Oubre together some at the 4 and 5, or 3 and 4.
Of course, where I really think this is all headed is entirely away from small ball by late January.
By then, I expect Mason/Graham at point guard, Selden/Graham at the two, Svi/Oubre/Greene at 3, Ellis/Traylor at 4, Alexander/Lucas at 5.
And I think we will see Alexander increasingly at the 4 with Lucas/Mickelson at the 5.
In short, Self is playing small ball to bridge into big ball.
