🏀 KuBuckets Archive

I've been laying back and reading all the great info being posted by KUBuckets finest. I have to say it's all great. Well except one thing. The UK loss.

It seems almost every topic has some mention of the UK loss. I don't know if this is a bad thing or just fans venting?

I'm not a great man by any means, however I know dwelling on the past brings nothing good. I get it I was shocked as any KU fan to see UK just dismantle a pretty good KU team. I was mad and upset as any. However replaying the game I was able to put some things in prospective.

Believe or not KU played some good defense in that game.

UK just killed KU on missed free throws. I mean killed them.

I wouldn't say HCBS was out coached but he didn't coach. UK bigs just stood around the rim.

KU was woefully unprepared as they had no rhyme or reason to their offense game plan. It was like they were all waiting for somebody to do something.

Sometimes in life we need everything to crash so we can reboot. Understand? The last few years I felt the KU teams lacked something. Though they were good, ranked high, and respected something seemed to be missing. I wish I could tell you what it was but I'm not sure what to call it. Chip on the shoulder? Some backbone? I don't know.

However watching KU play Michigan St I saw what was missing. I don't know what you call it, but I knew KU wasn't going to lose. Maybe somebody can help me with this? :)

Guys and Gals who knows maybe that UK loss is the very thing KU basketball and it's fans needed? Just saying.

@DoubleDD feel pretty strongly, this fan didn't need it!

One guy who couldn't forget the UK loss was Dick Vitale who mentioned it about a dozen times during the broadcast of the KU-MSU game.

@bskeet gag!!! Did I hear him say he was going to be at the Florida game?

Yes. A threat he repeatedly delivered during that game.

@Crimsonorblue22

Any chance that Zenger can black "Dukie Vitale" out? Probably not a chance since he seem to enjoy inflicting pain to KU fans and Vitale is like nails on a chalkboard.

@JayHawkFanToo black out both of them.

Two hours before our game with Florida,Texas will play at Kentucky. #5 vs. #1 all over again. We will have a greater understanding about our task in the big 12 after this game. Size vs. Size.

The UK loss revealed that this team can't depend on battering teams inside like we have been able to do more or less every year over the past several years. Alexander isn't a classic back to the basket scorer, and Perry is not very effective against size.

The worrisome thing is that we seem to be ignoring that rather than preparing for having to face at least 2 teams in conference (Oklahoma and Texas) that present the same type of match-up problems, and seeing that the national landscape presents at least three other teams (Wisconsin, Duke, Arizona) that will give us those interior problems.

That means that just to win number 11, we need to figure out a way to win when we can't bully a team inside, and to have any hope of advancing to a Final Four, we have to do the same.

The UK loss exposed a flaw. The question now is whether or not we will adapt.

@DoubleDD

"Guys and Gals who knows maybe that UK loss is the very thing KU basketball and it's fans needed? Just saying."

Right on!

Yeah.... we lack swagger. Real swagger... the kind you have to earn... the kind you can't inherit just because your jersey says "Kansas."

That's what we've been missing. And that swagger should tell opponents, "Yeah, we got it! Try to take it away from us! Go on, try!"

Last time we had some swagger was TRob. We made it to the championship game without a single McDs AA.

@justanotherfan

"Alexander isn't a classic back to the basket scorer"

I don't think we know what Cliff is yet. He hasn't showed us a lot of back to the basket moves yet. He's mostly been about taking lobs for slams, or muscling up a shot off a rebound.

I can't even recall seeing him make a basket off of having his back to the basket. Anyone remember if he has?

He needs to focus on using his strength, along with enough footwork so he can leverage his strength without fouling. Getting position by using his footwork and strength, then being able to finish strong at the rim. Swing his arms around with the ball and two-handed smack downs. He should watch old footage of NBA players, like Sir Charles Barkley.

4723B7CFE71150915670884646912_38b8754d532.1.1.3706350342388326106.mp4

The importance of a shot fake.

@drgnslayr said:

@justanotherfan

. He should watch old footage of NBA players, like Sir Charles Barkley.

The Round Mound of Rebound. Under sized, but was explosive and could get rebounds and loose balls. He could get back to the rim quickly and he even blocked Shaq in an all star game.

He worked hard to play the game, and if you watch any of the Dream Team, they talk to Jordan about the '84 Olympic team, when Barkely got cut by Bobby Knight, no one thought they were safe of making that team. Jordan had respect for Barkely because he worked so hard to be as good as he was.

Watch the shot fake of Svi!

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/24853800/cbssportscom-player-of-the-week-kansas-perry-ellis ↗

@JRyman

I idolized Sir Charles. I played that kind of game... undersized but own the boards. So I laugh when I read about us being undersized.

It truly is the size of the fight in the dog, not the size of the dog in the fight.

Frank is proving that out.

We easily can match our rebounding edge that we usually have, even with this short team. I can see Frank averaging 5+ rebounds a game, far more than the typical Kansas PG. Cliff is going to become a very good rebounder. Perry is starting to play more aggressive basketball and has the potential to become a good rebounder. Bam-Bam is a scrappy guy, capable of rebounds. Landen and Hunter.... yes and yes.

And then what about our other guards? What about Wayne, Kelly and Brannen? Those guys should be snagging several rebounds.

I really think this team could develop into one of our better rebounding teams, even comparing with years of having bigs like Withey, TRob and Embiid.

Hard to believe that little Sir Charles used to win NBA rebounding titles!

@drgnslayr taped to the back of my locker was a poster of Chuck squeezing the ball and it read, "The Meek shall in inherit the Earth. But they will not get the Ball!!"

I loved mixing it up with the bigs, I usually guarded guys bigger than me and out rebounded them, got in their minds I could block their shots or steal the ball from them. I also like to post them up and out maneuver them. I loved Charles Barkley's game. Learned a few post moves from Kevin Mchale too, per my dad. But I was never afraid of going down low or taking right at them.

@drgnslayr ((((Swagger)))) Thank you. That's it. That's what has been missing. KU didn't win all those conference championships because they were the best team. Besides the last two years. KU had a swagger. They were almost mean.

It's like the old saying, "What you believe you are therefore you are". If you believe you're a champion then you will play like a champion. You will overcome adversity because you believe you're the best.

Thank you for clearing my jumbled mind.

@justanotherfan At first I would agree, however with a second thought I'm not so sure. After rewatching the game. I come to the conclusion that KU just wasn't prepared. I blame the game blame and the coaches.

When things go bad sometimes it snowballs. The one thing that stuck out to me was this current KU team never stopped going to the rack even though it was futile. Why is that? I also noticed that UK just killed KU on missed free throws.

They're are more than a few ways to win a basketball game, than playing big. Correct me if I'm wrong but you were more willing to trade recent success of KU for UConn's success. Um UConn didn't beat UK last in the championship game by playing into the UK strength. Just saying. HCBS needs to adjust, because this current KU team does have potential of being a champion.

@DoubleDD

You wrote:

The one thing that stuck out to me was this current KU team never stopped going to the rack even though it was futile. Why is that?

If you saw the ;press conference, Coach Self pretty much said that game plan was to penetrate and create for other players and the guards did not do a good job as they tried to score.

Here ↗ is a link to the press conference; there was question that specifically addressed this issue.

@DoubleDD

" I come to the conclusion that KU just wasn't prepared."

I agree, that we weren't prepared properly for that game. A big part of it was this game coming too soon in the year. The guys weren't ready to be a team. They still aren't. But we all see the way they are improving. Kentucky had something like 16 more days of practice than us. That is huge.

I kind of wonder if Self played an Izzo.... play a tough schedule early, get your butts kicked, then the players listen to coaches, come together as a team, and by March they play well and still have a chip.

We are all here to remind these guys how bad they stunk against UK. The media mentions it in every breath they talk about Kansas. I hope they keep saying that all year!

"Yeah, the Jayhawks looked good today. They sure have something to prove after getting their bells rung by Kentucky in the slaughter of the year!"

Really nice thread. Lots of really good stuff. We are going to be reminded of the UK loss for decades. It will be referenced ad nauseum forever. My take is - so what? It's pretty obvious to me that loss is serving as motivation for this team.This past weekend, I saw a very good KU defense smother their opponents - the likes of which I haven't seen since 2011/2012. No, we don't have the monster in the middle, but we didn't have that in our title run, either. Now, I get it when people say we weren't prepared for Kentucky, that we should blame the coaches, etc. As fans, we feel like we should win every game we play. I've said it before - the last time I thought KU was going to lose a game was when Ted was coach, and Kentucky came into the Phog with Sam Bowie. We almost won that game, btw. If a loss helps us win in the future, even if our players and our coaches stunk it up, a negative can be turned into a positive.

Kentucky had the "once every four years" luxury of playing summer basketball with ten practices before a week of playing against the Dominican Republic's Nation team. They prepared for KU. Their first two game were games they could have won without a coach so KU was far behind in preparation. The Paris trip gave us a jump on team chemistry and so many things other teams could not do.

@wrwlumpy

Next year KU will have a gigantic jump on everybody, since it will be practicing for and playing in the World University games representing the US. I wonder if they will recruit some former players as allowed by rules; McLemore might be eligible since he is two years out and still taking classes at KU.

@JayHawkFanToo interesting that nobody has mentioned this in regards to recruiting? Thinking it has, but not public knowledge.

@Crimsonorblue22

I imagine the volume is going to urn up quite a bit about KU in the World University Games after the NCAA Tournament; too many other news during the season.

I must admit I cringed at the thought of the world games after the Indy Massacre. I welcome any recruit who comes here next year that has no fear stepping onto the National and World stage. Svi needs to help the team adjust to the different rules, like blocks in the cylinder, not having the ref touch the ball before out of bounds etc...