@HighEliteMajor
I love that style of play, as you know.
But I am afraid that untl the rule enforcement changes, if KU had 9 OADs, as Duke has, BAD BALL would win 9 of 10 games. Really this a very difficult innovation and more global in principle than board rats yet appreciate.
This is about as far from traditional Self Ball as Self can get. Shrinking impact space is the opposite trying to increase it. Defending leads is the opposite of playing to create runs. Systematically muddying it up even when you have superior talent is the opposite of playing to optimize transition. Playing to win the protection stat and break even on the disruption stat is the opposite of playing to break even on the protection stat and win the disruption stat. Playing to keep it close is the opposite of trying to step on their necks. Playing Bad Ball every game is the opposite of playing it anyway they want. I could go on and on. Self has inverted Almost the entirety of his approach to the game that everyone has copied the last ten years. He has left his own program. And he started the season trying to leave it against UK. But he realized he had not changed radically enough.
This team now, even as crippled as it is with injuries and a suspension, has more ways to attack the basket than most teams it faces. It was a logical response for a global thinker like Self who has with few exceptions favored diversified attack. We favored a meat ax approach to change. Trey balling. Self said no that is not diversified enough. So he laid a tick tack toe grid on half court and set about devising as many ways to attack the basket from each of the nine cells as he could. It's brilliant. It gives up back 2 basket action and turns every cell on the half court into a potential drive point where impact space can be shrunk to a foul situation. AND he samples the trifecta every game to see if any one is hitting. It is BOTH. He has a lot of Trey shooters but even more drivers. Half court is the way to create the fouls. Get the opponents stationary, attack their space, shrink it, reduce it to FT shooting ASAP, defend the lead.
It is very hard to defend no matter how big and athletic an opponent is, and once our guys learned to help defend, we are in every game, even with everyone injured, no one able to hit threes, and our flipping star out.
Kelly Oubre gets it better than anyone right now. When our treys start falling again, look out. We only need to make 5 of 12 treys to win every game playing this way and that is sooooo easy for this team to do for six games after slumping for ten games.
Coach K's team has underperformed this season, given his talent. I reckon Self would be neck and neck with Cal, don't you?
And then he would beat Cal even with one less OAD/TAD. 😃
Seriously Cal has slowed tempo down against good teams just as Self has, at least when I have watched.
Coach K is to be applauded for trying the counter strategy you and I have advocated and I hope it works, but I doubt it will, until the rules enforcement changes. Why it might work for Coach K is the same reason any strategy Coach K adopts tends to work pretty well: he has more talent and the refs seem to give him a favorable whistle--especially in the Madness.
