🏀 KuBuckets Archive

**Keegan: **

Wiggins’ preseason no cause for alarm ↗

Black sweatsuit, red headphones, the long, tall college student walked slowly across the Wagnon-Parrott Athletic Center parking lot in the cover of darkness Tuesday, destination Jayhawker Towers.

On the same day the Wall Street Journal in featuring Kansas University freshman Andrew Wiggins noted...

Jamari Traylor finds improvement through watching video of high-energy hustlers ↗

Kurtis Townsend, assistant coach to Bill Self since 2004, is such a nice guy it’s difficult for recruits to tell him no, which makes him very good at that part of his job.

The former Western Kentucky point guard...

Keeg's article on Wiggins points out the obvious, but doesn't give possible explanations to 'why.'

At this early point in the season, Wiggins is pretty much like all the other freshmen on offense... they don't know "Self ball" yet so they can't execute a real team offense. What we have seen from Wiggins so far is him forcing some offense. It isn't always pretty (but sometimes it is) and it isn't always successful. But like good wine, we have to show some patience and wait for the aging process to take hold.

One issue concerning Wiggins is his need to create more drive moves to the hole, or to the spot on the court he wants to take his shot. He is (by far) the best spin-pivot player to ever play the game! His spin move is the move he used all through HS and no one could stop it. That may not have been a good thing, because it looks like Andrew counted on that move too often, and should have been developing other moves.

One thing is for sure.... the KU offense needs to create several 'go to' plays where Wiggins will take the ball and use his spin move to either go to the rim or setup in the paint for an easy shot. This involves making sure other KU players get out of his driving lane.

Yea, but when the season is on the line, just clear out and let EJ drive to the basket.

It will take a long time to get over that one.

I like EJ and always will... but I just urped in my mouth.

I still have no answer for the inept lack of strategy at the end vs Mich. Or the reason Self continued to try & rely on the guy after the officials made him a marked man so early in the game. They would've likely been better off if EJ had been injured so as not to return at all-he was never in the flow of the game. Self couldn't have paid enough money to get them to give Johnson a call. How this lack of leadership both by coach & senior could ever happen? I am still just absolutely befuddled.

I am still not over the end of that game ... I have spoken with a few folks, and debated with some posters, who seem to think "give it to EJ and let him drive" was acceptable. Will never understand it.

HEM and Global,
I know what you are saying. Given the way he had played, especially, it made no sense. I think where that sentiment is coming from is the "dance with who brung ya" philosophy.
As for me.....the last play should never have had to be made. The previous mistakes by EJ (and others!) caused the loss long before the last play.

@hawk8086 exactly. The turnovers by ej and defensive breakdowns by withey in the paint were maddening. We let down our guard and trey Burke and mitch Mcgary punched us in the face repeatedly.

After EJ's cheap shot to McGary's kahonies, they were fortunate to only get punched in the face. I still think that loss is squarely on Self. He should've regrouped & refocused them far earlier than the final possession, then failed trying to pull it out with playground ball.

I have to admit I place a large part of the blame on CS, too.

I think we should have fouled when up by 3 to prevent a single shot creating OT.

That's one strategy CS needs to adopt from pro ball.

I'm curious what he'll do the next time we are up by 3 and on defense in the final seconds?

I hate being the one who claims to know the answers in retrospect... anyone can be me and say this. However... I'll state it here, right now, that in the future it would be the right thing to do.

Live and learn.... which reminds me of the line told us by our coach while in HS:

"Live and learn is better than drink and drive!"

He was always throwing in responsibilities that should be on our minds and now I understand why.

Maybe we had to pay off some 3-ball karma for going to OT against Memphis on a trey.

@drgnslayr. Harvard University School of Business did a study based on thousands of games on whether to foul or not when ahead by 3 point with the clock winding down, and found that there is not statistical difference between the two approaches.
Coaches like Self that rely on strong defense will opt to defend and might actually have a small edge.

Statistically, KU had a 99.4% chance of winning the game against Michigan when leading by 10 with 2:30 left in the game*.

I love statistics... and sometimes improbability reigns.

** KenPom is sited as the source of this statistic ↗*

@drgnslayr - Never was a huge EJ fan, but just wanted to thank you for the word " urped ". I hadn't seen/heard that in maybe 30 years!! Lol.

"Tis better to urp a burp & bear the shame, than squelch a belch & die in pain."

Although the strategy & situation were slightly different when up 10 at misery during our final game at the Walmart Arena with Trob & TT, the loss then & the Mich loss are both eerily comparable in my mind. How can you lose a game when up that much with less than 2 minutes on the clock? Maybe a pure point guard could be the answer, but that's another one I hang in Selfs' haberdashery closet. Seems to me they had one or two to's remaining then also. And at times other losses have seemed to indicate a similar pattern in late game strategies, or the distinct absence of such. JMHO.

Also I must make the comment that there have been so few losses in Bill's tenure that I really am not trying to sound as I'm complaining. It's just that the ones when we've appeared in such control & have disintegrated so quickly, really sting & still do. One of the most devastating to me was the loss to VCU, & still very vividly so, even though everything they tossed up seemed to go in & we were soundly out gunned. Maybe it just seems so horrid because of the pregame trash from the Jayhawk players, & they were spanked PDG. JMO, but I'm quite old school & don't like "swag" & hot-dogging by athletes in any venue, or one blowing their own horn so to speak, to simply elevate their own self esteem. I'm old fashioned for sure, but I believe you let your performance be your voice & leave it at that.

Thanks, nuleaf... funny... it's a word that makes you partially urp just saying it!

Is that right, JayHawkFanToo? I'd like to read the study and see how that works. Why would Harvard Business be interested in how basketball games finish? Very interesting post and if you have a link to this, please post it!

Personally... I can't recall a game where it went the other way when a team fouled while up by 3. I know a truck load of games that were lost by not fouling... we did it in '08! But I don't want to continually harp about it because anyone can go backwards and fix events and be a genius. I'm not a genius and having plenty of challenges just keeping up with fixing current events!

Global... quote of the day!

Another of Mother's favorite anecdotes was her down pat excuse, "There's many a slip, twixt the cup of the lip." Also of honorable mention would be her Irish influenced "German salute" with the always guarded thumb to the nose gesture. Sorry for the political incorrectness, but she could be quite humorous without being (very) off color. No malice JB old friend, just jest.