🏀 KuBuckets Archive

The clock was running down to zero and it looked like Kansas' conference opening game winning streak was about to end.

My wife kept saying, "they're blowing it, they're blowing it!"

I commented, "yes, they are, but fortunately for us, Scott Drew will blow it last!"

And sure enough... sure as the sun always rises in the East, Drew blew it again. We can blame it on an errand in-bounds pass, but truth be told, they should have structured a safe in-bounds pass with that much time left on the clock because they had time to work the ball around for the right shot. That was another Drew debacle, and can be piled on his "choke pile" and filed under "knuckle-headed coaches."

And though we should have smacked down Baylor with some authority, there were some nice takeaways from this game.

Bam-Bam needs to refrain from some bad decisions, but you have to love his heart. And it was his heart teaming up with his motor, that turned Kansas onto the right path out of the second-half gate.

Frank continues his string of clutch baskets when we need them most.

Wayne.... do you always have to break out of a slump in such dramatic fashion? Well... we'll take it.

Kelly? This guy is proving he is a gamer... big time.

What really caught my eye was Brannen.

He not only came up with some key baskets in the clutch seconds of the shot clock, he also solidified his position as "clutch FT shooter" when we need it down the stretch. This is huge. He's 100% for the year, and I bet he hasn't even put up a FT that has grazed the rim yet.

How much of an impact will this have in the future? I'd say it is huge. And with Frank also being a good FT shooter, we have a definite advantage in close games down the wire. I'm thinking the fact that we have Brannen and Frank on the floor in the last seconds gave Self the initiative to foul Baylor and not let them have a shot at a 3. It worked. Even with Frank missing his front end of the 1-and-1. And it will work again... in conference and in March. Having two guards that the sum of their FT shooting averages (put together) is over 90% definitely should persuade a coach to give the foul in this situations.

I can easily see Brannen's FT shooting ability win us 3 or 4 ballgames this year. He's already won his first, and it was a big one in conference play!

Last night's game illustrates how this entire conference season should go.

Even though we were only firing on a few cylinders... if we just keep on fighting, we'll win it because no other team in this league knows how to win!

Theme for 2014-2015 Big 12 Conference season: "Kansas... because we know how to win!"

@drgnslayr

Great win any way you look a t it. KU did adjust at half time and finished strong.

KU and OU now have an early lead in the conference race. Who would have thought that with the #3 SOS KU would be 12-2...

Only 3 unbeaten teams left and 9 with 1 loss in all of Division I, and of those 12 teams the closest SOS is Gonzaga a #19. There are only 12more teams total with 2 losses; every other team has 3 or more losses. I don't believe many people really understand just how well KU is doing considering the schedule it has played; if not for the Temple game, KU is easily top 5.

@JayHawkFanToo

And we remain one of the youngest teams in college basketball.

Read this about how our defensive dominance has declined the past two years. The biggest reason has to be our youth. It may not take players 4 years to learn how to better defend as individuals... but to learn team defense, hedge defense based on scouting reports, etc... it takes time.

Column: Kansas defense hardly feared ↗

What I'm trying to say is look at how much upside this team has (even for the remaining season)?

We almost have to improve... and we should make gigantic improvements.

Look at our freshmen, Kelly and Cliff.

Kelly is starting to get it, and he made the key defensive play that helped us ice the game against Baylor. Cliff has a ways to go, but you know he'll make big improvements between now and April.

What we really need is Perry and Wayne to become more physical and be better plugged into games.

I really don't know how we've won so many games and we clearly haven't come together as a team yet.

We have individual pieces that aren't plugged in.

I give a lot of the credit to Frank. He's a bulldog that has ice in his veins and just keeps pushing.

Kelly... wow... 4 steals! When was the last time we had a Jayhawk get 4 steals?!

@drgnslayr

I agree.

As far as Keegan Story, he fails to mention that KU"S Opponents Offense is ranked #6 by KenPom, only VCU has the only other Opponents Offense ranked in single digits in the top 50; the next team team with Opponent Offense in single digits is Wofford at #93. Yes, our defense is ranked #43 but a lot of it has to do with playing teams with good offenses.

It does make a difference when you see the entire picture and not just the sliver the writer wants you to see to make his point.

@drgnslayr The other positive sign for Brannen was the fact that he played as many minutes as he did with relatively few defensive breakdowns. I saw a couple of blow byes but not bad for that many minutes. One of the announcers mentioned his rebounding and defense. Who would have thought?

@sfbahawk

Right on! I was worried that Brannen was going to be thrown in the scrap pile for another season of watching KU basketball from the bench... but later we found Brannen had a tweaked neck. Obviously, he must be feeling better!

He hit some tough shots last night. He hit a 3 with a guy breathing down his neck and the shot clock expiring. And his runner off the backboard was insane. You just don't see those kinds of shots made in college basketball. Both of the shots I described are NBA all the way.

@drgnslayr WORD to yo mutha! Not meant as an insult, quite the opposite in fact. Killer post game summary dude. Man, Greene and Mason are end of the game studs! Selden's late flurry and Oubre's lightning quick hands were game changers as well. That game was bonkers! Both teams held to what, 30% from the field? KU wins yet another opener. Have since 1991. Did Kenpom predict a Baylor win in this one? Bet he did cuz vegas line was like -3 to BU.
You called it Slayr, Coach Self > Coach Drew on any given night.
RCJH!

@drgnslayr "Kelly... wow... 4 steals! When was the last time we had a Jayhawk get 4 steals?!"

Im betting not since the Brandon Rush/Mario Chalmers/RussRob era. Ive said it before. I think Oubre has the quickest hands since Russ and Rio. Ive seen someone else compare Oubre to Rush and his quick tenacious D.

@Lulufulu

Oubre has a freakish wingspan that helps with steals.

@Lulufulu did wigs have 4 steals against WV?

@JayHawkFanToo His rankings aren't only wrong; they are misleading. We are much better than last year on defense, but you wouldn't know it by kenpom's rankings.

@KUSTEVE

Amen Brother. I am surprised he did not penalized KU for a close win and rewarded Baylor for a close loss..:)

@JayHawkFanToo True that. When I hear Ken Pom speak on interviews, I'm thinking...put my hand on my wallet- we've got a used car salesman here....

@KUSTEVE

I agree. Ever since he left his day time job and went on his own, he seems to be all about making money. That is not to say that his numbers are bad, you simply have to be careful how you look at and interpret them. Caveat Emptor!

@drgnslayr

Oh, no, Self WANTS to throw Brannen in the cryogenic tank as a matter of principle regarding wild hairs, but Self is, you see a fully addicted street crack trifecta junkie. :-)

Look at Self's face each time anything involves Brannen.

His face is pained. He is irritable. He is sweating. Pacing.

No, he exclaims, don't do that, don't....ahhhhhhhhhhhh...and the 3pt speed ball rush sets in and he goes back to the bench narcotized for awhile.

Brannen is his trey pusher and in as long as he keeps making FTs and Treys.

Self is hooked. :-)

I love the mention of Oubre's play ... did anyone notice that Self subbed him in right before that throw in? Specifically to guard the in-bounds. Great move.

Also, Brannen did do well last night defensively. I noticed one hiccup, but he sure seemed solid. Big minutes for the guy. He's battling hard for P.T. right now.

Greene's the best shooter we've had here in years. I can't think of a better one. Just hope he can hold the rest of his game together. I like a 7 man rotation better than a 6 man rotation.

@jaybate-1.0 LOL you're post was hysterical, got a great laugh out of it because its so true. Haha.

@drgnslayr Great post to lead this off and the thread is just more of the great discourse from this community.. Entertaining and educational!

• I totally agree with the observations about Greene and the shots that reminded me of the NBA..

• The upside for this team is great because they will get better on defense as time goes by.. And we can see the improvement on the offensive side.

• Oubre is making the loss of Wiggins much easier. I didn't think it was possible. Obviously, they are different players, but I feel like Oubre's value to the team is becoming comparable. I'd love to see a stat that can assess more of the aggregate contributions of a player for both Wiggins and Oubre.

• KenPom and the "luck" stat started raging after last night's game. The game seemed to hinge on the defense that Oubre played on the inbounds. The call was close and reviewed for several minutes. In the end, we got the call. Apparently there was not enough evidence to overturn the call. Is that LUCK?

BTW: Did anyone notice that the second half seemed to feature mini-runs by different Jayhawks? It started with Traylor who scored our first 7 points of the half to help us take the lead -- all in 2min 15sec span. Mason then scored the next 5 points in a 1 min span. Next, Alexander sandwiched a Traylor layup with two dunks within a 2min span. Greene hit his big shots -- a three and a jumper -- back to back in less than 2 minutes. Frank Mason came back with two buckets in 46 seconds to keep us in the game. At the end it was Selden's heroics: 7 points on three consecutive shots between 3:02 and 1:18 left in the game.

With the exception of one layup by Ellis and Greene's clutch free throws at the end, that was all of the scoring in the second half... Very streaky.

@jaybate-1.0

Hahaha the Self crack trifeca comparison is GOLD!

Self hates the idea of abandoning his high low he has relied on for years, but as KU fans have we not all relished a team that could shoot the trey. Come on Self give the boys a green light!

@bskeet

Very interesting about the mini runs.

Planned or coincidence?

It's nice to pull out a win when the 4 Mickey Ds on KU shoots 9-27 FGs and 3 non Mickey Ds shoots 15-23 FGs. When was the last time KU attempted only 6 free throws? and won?

Great point drgslyr on Pomeroy's rankings and our defense. Self has said that this could be a great defensive team and I believe that. Just look at the past several games and what we have held teams to-good teams at that. We hold UNLV to 40% and Baylor to 35%-both are good offensive teams.

The Big 12 race will have a lot of games across the board played in the 50s. Games in the 80s will be rare in conference play. KU knows how to win these games and if we can continue to pressure and run, we can score enough to win. Add in the toughness factor of this team and the improvement of key players-it will be another entertaining year.

It has been a great week for KU fans. We win at Baylor holding the home team to 35% FG, have 19 assists against 8 TOs against a team ranked very high in the steal/TO category nationally. We then add Bragg and get news that Graham may be back soon.

Does anyone know if Bragg and other recruits will get to play with the team next summer?

@bskeet

"Oubre is making the loss of Wiggins much easier."

I have to admit... I'm relieved we have Oubre this year instead of Wiggins.

The media circus is gone.

Kelly is just another option in our offense, not our entire offense.

All the guys still realize they must contribute. When Andrew received the ball, all our guys munched popcorn and watched the show from the best view in the arenas.

Kelly's numbers are rising. And, most likely, they will continue to rise. I bet he'll end up with a higher FG% than Andrew had because Kelly isn't forcing his shots.

Kelly has better instincts, especially on steals. The guy has a knack for getting to the ball.

I said three weeks ago that this would be the player that would improve most from the extra practices at Christmas... and, luckily, he is proving me right!

On the bad side... for the first time I'm starting to feel like he could be OAD. I hope we can keep him for one more year!

@JayHawkFanToo said:

@drgnslayr

I agree.

As far as Keegan Story, he fails to mention that KU"S Opponents Offense is ranked #6 by KenPom, only VCU has the Opponents Offense ranked in single digits in the top 50; the next team team with Opponent Offense in single digits is Wofford at #93. Yes, our defense is ranked #43 but a lot of it has to do with playing teams with good offenses.

It does make a difference when you see the entire picture and not just the sliver the writer wants you to see to make his point.

Excellent point. I have been stating all year that a large part of why KU's stats are "down" are because they have had zero games against cream puffs to pad stats. ISU crows about their #2 in the nation assist rate but played five games against RPI 200+. KU had 20+ assists in each of their two games against lesser teams so I can only assume they would have a much higher rate if given the opportunity to throttle five cream puffs.

And even though both Michigan State and Florida are "down" you cannot discount going up against two of the Top 10 coaches in the nation. Izzo and Donovan can take a group of kids from the stands and give you a battle. They are the anti-Scott Drew, who seems to manage to do less with more better than anyone in the nation.

@drgnslayr

Frank Mason actually had four steals in our last game against UNLV

@twocoach

I looked back at the stats... you are right. Go, Frank!

We only had 8 TOs in the away game to Baylor. That's huge!

We don't have the rebounding edge this year. We were 10 fewer than Baylor. We can't afford to have a bunch of TOs and give up the rebound margin.

Imagine had we rebounded better in this game?

@drgnslayr

Baylor had a bunch of offensive rebounds but not many points to show for them; Rico Suave's huge body inside definitely had an effect. In one possession they had 3 or4 offensive rebounds and failed to get a single point, a credit to the KU defense that played them tough and did not give them good looks.

@JayHawkFanToo said:

@drgnslayr

Baylor had a bunch of offensive rebounds but not many points to show for them; Rico Suave's huge body inside definitely had an effect. In one possession they had 3 or4 offensive rebounds and failed to get a single point, a credit to the KU defense that played them tough and did not give them good looks.

Gathers shoving numerous KU players out of the way to grab some of those offensive boards probably helped as well. News flash Mr. Ref. Cliff Alexander doesn't just bow to the crowd in the middle of a fight for a rebound. That was Gathers giving him a shove in the back. And while Perry Ellis has a nice spin move, he typically doesn't attempt them when he is hitting the defensive boards. That was also Gathers shoving him out of the way. A 280 pound man doesn't just split between two KU players. He displaced one of them to get between them. Gathers got away with murder under the rim.

@HighEliteMajor

Having super athletic 6'-7" Oubre with a huge wingspan guard 5'-11" Chery was a masterful call and it indeed resulted in a turnover for Baylor.

Greene has the best shooting form of any player at KU or anywhere that I can think of. Remember that he was one of 8 players selected for the 2013 3-point contest that Frankamp won? Frankamp is the more methodical/mechanical player but Greene has the better form and thus the more upside...plus, he is 8" taller. I would love to see a 3-point contest between these two players now.

@colojhawk I'm not the analyst so many on this site are, but I have been wondering for quite some time why scoring in cbb seems to be trending down. There have been several times that rated teams have scored fewer than 20 at the half.

If i remember correctly, when Self first came to KU, the Hawks averaged scoring in the 80s. Roy's teams were consistently in the 80s. This year, it's just over 70.

Although, it probably results in more upsets, it seems to me that it makes for a more boring game to watch.

@JayHawkFanToo Heck, I'd like to see a three point shooting contest between Greene and Mason for that matter ...

@Wigs2 Do you really think anything is broke with CBB? I don't. Just because the ball doesn't go in the hole isn't a big deal for me. However, My enjoyment of the game is decreased significantly by incessant whistles and inconsistent whistles. That gets my blood boiling more than anything. And that's how the powers that be would have to try and increase scoring. I want no part of that.

@drgnslayr - You said, "Last night's game illustrates how this entire conference season should go." ------ it will be a slugfest. But it looks like we have a team that wins those sort of games, to be sure.

...

@Wigs2 said:

@colojhawk I'm not the analyst so many on this site are, but I have been wondering for quite some time why scoring in cbb seems to be trending down. There have been several times that rated teams have scored fewer than 20 at the half.

If i remember correctly, when Self first came to KU, the Hawks averaged scoring in the 80s. Roy's teams were consistently in the 80s. This year, it's just over 70.

Although, it probably results in more upsets, it seems to me that it makes for a more boring game to watch.

When Self first got here, scouting a team was sitting and watching film and taking notes. Now teams have all sorts of crazy technologies and services that are providing them with 1000% more details than they ever had before. Teams have much better game plans going into every game than what they used to have and this has resulted in much tougher defenses tailored to the opponent versus just "we're just going to do what we do and see if it beats what you do" like it used to be.

@JayHawkFanToo As I recall, Longhorn Ridley got away with some of that same Rico Gathers stuff last year, esp. evidenced by his throwing Embiid to the floor.

@REHawk Was that not the game where jaybate coined the phrase, "Butcher Barnes?"

@REHawk

If I remember right, the refs did no even call a foul. I always wondered how much off-the-record communication exists between ADs/Coaches and conference officials in reference to refereeing. I know all games are reviewed by conferences refereeing supervisors, and other than a handful of public reprimands, refs seem to get away with calling games any way they see fit. I understand that by and large refs do a great job and seem to get most calls correctly...but sometimes I really, really, really wonder...

@HighEliteMajor Not saying there's anything broken. Just saying that I think games are not as exciting when the scoring is low. I always thought Self was a better coach than Roy, but always liked watching Roy's teams more than Self's.

I would like to see the shot clock reduced to 30 seconds and see if that would help. The extra 5 seconds may give the defense to much time to set up.

I think the NBA several years ago was toying with the idea of reducing the shoot clock to 18 seconds.

@REHawk !image.jpg ↗

All players stopped-waiting on the whistle.

I noticed the much improved D from Brannen Greene.

Regarding Scott Drew, did anyone else notice that late in the game, during a CRUCIAL time-out, that one of the asst. coaches for Baylor was giving the Baylor players some detailed, intense instructions...while Scott Drew was right there watching! He is more like a football coach, letting his "offensive coordinator" call the shots, and that is the nicest spin I can put on it. Non-coach. And to hear him get interviewed, it sounds like a salesman who only gets a 5min shot to make his rushed pitch. So pitiful. Just for comparison's sake, Ive never heard Mike Kryzyewski or Bill Self, or Roy Williams ever sound like that.

And honestly, John Calipari doesnt sound that way either. His halftime sideline interviews lately have been spot on. Its actually very entertaining. He sort of has an embarrassment of riches smugness, but he also knows they still have to go out and play the games, as anyone could beat them, despite what people think. I actually think, that with as long as Calipari has been working his system, he will truly have his team ready for March.

@ralster I saw Isaiah Austin giving his...teammates? the what for during a time out also.

@ralster

I posted the same observation before. At one point it was Isaiah Austin directing the team...and he is only a student-assistant!!!

@HighEliteMajor

"You said, "Last night's game illustrates how this entire conference season should go." ------ it will be a slugfest."

No doubt... it will be a slugfest. But we KNOW HOW TO WIN! Essentially, that is what matters. We just have to bring fight to games and we'll do fine.

@Lulufulu

Isaiah is the motivational leader of Baylor. He was definitely giving them a shot in the arm. And Baylor did hang in there. I recall other games where they just collapse at the end. They didn't seem to have the esteem to finish on a high note. Kudos to Isaiah for trying. The guy is a definite inspiration for anyone who knows his story.

@ralster

Scott Drew is a mystery. How can a guy coach that bad? I really think he must have a mental tick... something is obviously wrong. You see his eyes and mannerisms at the end, and he seems nervous and pacing. His eyes look like "deer in the headlights." He is giddy like a freshman coach... but he is far from being a freshman now. Something is up with that.

I really don't get it why he didn't draw up a safe in-bounds with 10 seconds left on the clock? In the least you work a safety outlet.

@drgnslayr You see that same "eye of the tiger" brand I see in Greene. Coach Self brings tough, gritty teams to play, and this year's edition is no different. I see shades of 2012, along with glimpses of 2008 at times. i don't think we were mentally tough last year- this year's edition seems to be a lot grittier crew.

@twocoach The scouting around the league has been spot on against Perry. People know his spin move and that he keeps the ball low at the beginning of it. He has had more swats and steals on it before he gets started. They also know that he has an easy handle when he gets the ball and consequently easy tips have the ball flying out of his hands. Jamari might not have the moves of Perry, but no one steals the ball from his grip.

Im wondering thoughts on what a game like this does for our team defense moving forward. Another poster suggested that the defensive rebounding as bad as it was still didnt allow many second chance points. I cant say im completely in agreement. I think we win by 10 plus if we rebound better. And personally 2 second chance points is 2 too many in my book. That said, I like the fact that we had to grind this game out ugly. Play defense late late into the shot clock on multiple occasions, and then not get the rebound and have to do it all over again. When the players see film on this, do they see that they can in fact expend tons of energy on defense for just about as long as they want?? This could be good moving forward. We all want to see this team lockdown. Im hoping this was a huge step in that direction. It may just be me, but ive always felt the longer coach Self is here, the more he becomes the master of coaching today in a manner that gets him what he wants. Not tommorow, or maybe the next day, or even next week, but weeks down the line when it matters more. I think he has found ways to adjust how he coaches in early season in order to get the team closer to their ceiling at the end. And... He seems to do it his way and still keeps the team winning.