🏀 KuBuckets Archive

TCU is riding a Big 12 winning streak for the first time as members of this league. It's only two straight, but they are feeling very confident in their ability to out rebound us again. We almost lost the last game in the Fort Worth High School Gym. The Bucket-Half-Empty_Brigade ranted until happiness came back with a win over KSU. The Frogs are feeling good. It is time for a Phog Slap Down.

http://www.frogsowar.com/2015/2/20/8077313/second-chance-points-kansas-jayhawks ↗ ↗

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@wrwlumpy Nice read on the game by the TCU guy. Especially the part about KU success in the PHOG. I would welcome him on kubuckets.

@wrwlumpy Good luck with their "recipe" tomorrow. They're going to get their ass kicked, as Coach will have our team smokin' tomorrow.

All of you know I have agreed with Self holding out Cliff because of lack of Defense. Just to show you how eclectic I can be, I hereby present this article where CBS Sports say that Bill Self is wrong and that KU will win more by leaving Cliff in the game. For some of you, this will make you feel like HEM when Coach came out and agreed with him about changing his ways on offense.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25075105/cliff-alexander-needs-to-play-more-minutes-for-kansas-to-be-successful ↗ ↗

@wrwlumpy

This is a Pomeroy-like article. I would venture to say that the writer has not seen KU play a single time and his entire premise is based on numbers. Number do not tell the entire story. I trust Coach Self's judgment over that of any writer that solely relies on numbers. Just my personal view, no bashing please.

@wrwlumpy Cliff could be a lottery pick in the draft if he would stick around another year. He probably won't.

Who's it gonna be?

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Who is KU's Best Player.

http://www.rockchalktalk.com/2015/2/20/8066223/who-is-kansass-best-player ↗ ↗

In my book, it's very close between Frank Mason and Perry Ellis. I'd probably give the edge to FM though, because of the amount of ball handling that he does.

@wrwlumpy

Best player Perry Ellis, Most Valuable Player Frank Mason.

This will be a tough game. They bit OSU the same way OSU bit us. Shepard is a beast on the boards. Although Monday night is an away game, there won't be the cross country exhaustion that has hurt us in a quick turn around. How long of a drive is it from Lawrence to Manhattan? Also, K-State will have a tougher game than we will. I will admire Weber more if he has the guts to keep Foster out of the Nationally Televised Big Monday. There will be a big crowd in the Octagon of Dumb.

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@wrwlumpy Well, it it might be a tough game, but I hope not. I realize they have played most everyone tough. But we are better and we are playing a home. If we don't pull away from them at some point, we haven't played to the level that we should.
Now, I am worried about the KSU game. Could be pivotal to winning #11.....

Texas is a two point favorite at home vs ISU?
I would love to see Texas win that game.

@wrwlumpy

I go back and forth on which i like better:

1. Octagon of Dumb
2. Hawktagon

@VailHawk

Octagon of Glum...

@KUSTEVE I hope he is smart enough to realize he needs to stick around.

@VailHawk I loved it when we called it AFH west

@wrwlumpy Ok, here's my problem with not playing Cliff in favor of Jamari. Before I get into it, I will acknowledge that Cliff has had his problems on defense especially this year.

I have some startling statistics for you though. What absolutely killed us against WV? Rebounds, right? You wanna know who's rebounding statistics Jamari Traylor is closest to in the entire conference? Baylor's Kenny Cherry and Phil Forte. Woof. Those are two guards under 6-feet. That's appalling. He's a terrible rebounder. I'm getting extremely tired of Self's favoritism. Why does Traylor have such a long leash and other players don't? What has Traylor done to earn that trust? He understands they system better, I'm sure. But he's terrible at executing it. So what does it matter? Our two most recent losses have been hard to watch, and I think poor coaching decisions have had a lot to do with them.

@MoonwalkMafia

Mari has earned more trust than Cliff has. He's trying to make Cliff a better player with these lessons. When he did it in the Iowa St game he responded with 2 very good games. But it was a short lived response and that's going to happen with freshman no matter the talent.

My only criticism is that when Self benches him for a whole half, he never gives him the opportunity to react to the coaching he just got. Who knows if he would have responded, defended WIlliams better or rebounded better than what we had in but the point is he never gave him the opportunity to show it. We are at the point now where hoping Cliff is going to magically "get it" is over. It's either he improves in practice and in games to help us or the enigma that he is will follow him to his Sophomore year or an NBA bench.

I don't think today will be a close game. Being at home and having 5 days to think about Monday's loss will give us a edge to today's game. A team who's got 1 road game in league play and have been beaten by 17, 20 ,23 points last 3 against good teams shows me they will struggle with the Crowd and we will play with enough energy to win by 15-20 points. It would be nice to go into Monday's key game with some confidence

@Lulufulu

...isn't that the "official" name? :)

@MoonwalkMafia I hear where you are coming from. However, rebounding is only part of the issue. Yes, we were poor at it on Monday, and better rebounding could have made the difference. But, Cliff looked shaky on handling the pressure and on defense. Also, Jamari did work the ball around and found the open man several times during the stretch when we moved into our lead. So...maybe playing Cliff more would have won us the game......but we don't know that at all.

@BeddieKU23 yes it would!! Anxious to see if ksu puts a full team on the court today??

@BeddieKU23 I still think that Cliff comes back next season, until proven otherwise of course. If Cliff has seen film of TRob and other bigs at KU, he has had a chance to compare himself to those players that are now in the NBA. He has had more than a moment to realize he is not NBA ready. If the kid has a brain in his head and is not pressured by family to go get the big bucks, or having any sense of self greed to do the same, he will come back to KU next season and be a better player and draft pick for it next year.

@Hawk8086 @BeddieKU23 I hear you guys, but my point is not as much of a Cliff vs. Jamari argument. It's that Traylor just isn't a good option. The quick hook argument against Cliff is so weak though. You mean to tell you haven't seen Selden get blown by? Same with Jamari? And as far as West Virginia's pressure, they didn't use it as much in the second half. It's just a weak argument altogether in my opinion, and when you're getting killed on the boards the way we were, it would've been nice to have seen a more strategic approach from Self.

@MoonwalkMafia

Self is doing what he thinks is best for the team. Mari isn't the option but we don't have anyone else if its not cliff. Hunter must really be that far down the pecking order for him to not get any looks when the going is tough. We all know Mari's #'s suck, I'm sure that Self has seen them and he understands that he's got his deficiencies.

Selden has been blown by plenty but again when its a starter and his backup isn't ready to play the minutes Self is going to roll with him no mater what. A lot of the rebounds we missed were long rebounds which is debatable whether our bigs could have gotten many of them. Those fall on our guards who have done a poor job rebounding. I'm thinking today the emphasis on boards gets addressed and we will be fine at home

@Lulufulu

It would be great if he does come back and gets a full chance in the off-season to work on individual skill and get those extra games this summer. But he's in a position where he can get paid first round money and that is usually enough to take. There's no guarantee that next year he has a starting spot with Ellis back & Bragg coming in. Not to mention Traylor will be a 5th year senior who is going to play. What we really need is a quality center because the likelihood Lucas takes a major leap isn't a wise thing to predict. Cliff could still be our Center because he's got a skill level that could dominate once he figures it out.