🏀 KuBuckets Archive

KU , Self and KU fans should feel enormously flattered, because Fred copied BAD BALL to a Tee.

Not a little but as completely as you can counterfeit something late in a season.

Clearly a counterfeit has flaws. Fred's boys went weak in the knees and lost their composure late and started hoisting treys a few possessions that nearly cost them the game.

What stood out like a sore thumb was that which ever team played the most BAD BALL won. When KU got away from Bad Ball, it lost its way. Same with the Clones! Bad ball just flat beats Trey balling. Bad Ball beats Fred's little NBA Lite offense. Fred and his clones are converts.

Fortunately for KU IT GOT A GOOD TEST OF PLAYING ITS OWN MEDICINE. It will invaluable as BAD BALL goes viral in the Madness.

@jaybate-1.0 I so hope you are right. We were limping along out there, hopefully we will be full strength and Perry can move better! ISU almost shot themselves back out. We had some chances, but no blocking out and poor decisions. I'm happy you have hope!

@Crimsonorblue22

Feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed. If we had any doubts about Bad Ball, Fred copying it means it's for real.

5 days will help Frank most of all.

Perry cannot get back to more than 80-90%.

The rest will help that knee of Kelly's.

Go Hawks!!!!

Brooks, Jaybate, every where I read fans are saying one more game, then we can get over this mess! Depressing to me. I still think we can win a few weekends, do u guys?

@Crimsonorblue22 Well it's all luck of the draw, but I feel confident we get past next weekend. Again it's kind of a wait and see what our bracket looks like.

@brooksmd sounds good! Thx!!

@jaybate-1.0 Here I go again with my manic opinions. KU is officially cooked. The whole team is injured and now every team will have tape of ISU beating KU at its own game. The whole team is injured. Landen, Perry, Oubre, Selden, Mason, Devonte, Greene, Traylor. They are all nicked up. I just dont see how they can win their first game. They have 5 days to prep and heal. Five. This is seriously bad. We dont have our trey guns, we dont have our legs, we cant beat a team playing us our own way, much the less their way.
Gloom and doom, gloom and doom. Time to cut losses and focus on being much much better next season.

@Lulufulu well the sb team is doing well. KU relays r coming up in April. We could use some help!

@jaybate-1.0 Well, I was wondering how someone would spin a positive out of this game and now I guess I've heard everything. Hey @jaybate-1.0 , Bill's proctologist called--he wants you to do a spot check for colorectal cancer while you're up there.

@Crimsonorblue22 That's because HEM posts exhibit basketball knowledge and he doesn't just pull ideas out of his rectum

@KUinLA enjoy!

EZ guys. What is the worst? That is we will lose one more game. That is still better than last year 10 Ls Team. And, we will tie with Mizzery on one thing, they have 9 Ws for this season and we will have 9 Ls for this season.

Of course, I wish for not tying with Mizzery.

@Crimsonorblue22 I have no doubt that we make the 2nd weekend. I also would like to see ISU, OU and maybe Baylor do the same. I believe that B12 this year is that good. It is not the the years past where usually only 1 or 2 teams make the 2nd weekend.

After the post game interview, we can tell that HCBS don't really care about amping the Team up for the W. Because, as he said, W or L, everyone will forget about this game by 6 p.m. on Sunday. He is right. So, there is no point to put everything in for a game that means little.

As for positive spins, I have 4:

I think we have now a solid 8 man rotation with the 9th (Hunter) coming along in a Team that has no Cliff. And, if you look at ISU, they were riding their 7 man rotation hard (that is comforting to know we have 8.75 guys readied for the Dance).

We came out with no new injuries (that is a plus).

We have another close game experience (every close game is priceless especially one with ranked team, which is the kind of team we will likely to face in S16).

We have Seldon primed for the Big Dance!

RCJH!

We can also tell that Freddy Hoiberg has demonstrated to Self that he doesn't belong in the NBA. Selfs coaching will not translate. At least we can thank Freddy for that.

@KUinLA you are right. It is good that @HighEliteMajor brings a different sentiment to the board and offers alternative opinions. You guys can never be accused of wearing crimson & blue glasses as you continue to cleverly reference. But all year long HEM was clamoring for Cliff to get more playing time, and now look....He cannot even play. All year long he has been clamoring for more three point shots, even though Self called it fools gold. The stat before last nights game was KU had netted 11 of 72 3 pt shots. After there anomaly last night, shooting 41%, they are now 16/84 from three over their last 7 games. That is 18%. Come up with any explanation in the world that you want, I'm sure you have some good ones. Self doesn't scheme for the three, blah blah blah. Excuses are monuments of nothingness. The numbers don't lie.

Jaybate, we're 5-4 in the games since you started with your bad ball theorem. Are you saying we'd be 0-9 in those games if we weren't playing bad ball?

Or is it like I posted a few weeks ago when the 3 point shooting slump started, that we're in a shooting slump, and we've never broken out of it? A few more 3's drop yesterday, like they had been all season and we win that game. And you can say the same with any of our losses since then.

@Blown i think the speculation is that the comment itself may have created the current slump behind the arc. I mean. Will we ever know for sure? No. But to use the numbers since the "fools gold" comment. As proof that the comment is true. Is no different than to use it as reason for cause of the slump itself. Both are pure speculation. No question. But also very possible. We cant go back now and wipe that away. No one will ever really know if that in itself diminished the confidence in our shooters and caused the slump. But... Its certainly a very real possibility. Problem is. Theres no time to dwell on what might have been now. Its the dance. Survive and advance. By whatever means possible.

And i do think the change... The badball has at times improved our overall team defense. But has it diminished our offense moreso to the point that its not worth the defensive improvement?

@Blown Respectfully, I think you are looking at this too simplistically. Things happen for a reason. See me my post on Self Fulfilling Prophesy. Following up on @cragarhawk's comments, do you really think that this three point shooting slump just happened? Challenge your thought process here. Ask yourself why something happens, and why it happens so dramatically. And ask yourself why this slump was so perfectly timed to fit with the "bad ball" change in our offensive approach. Find another team in the nation that this has happened to.

You cannot ignore the edict from the boss. You cannot ignore the head games that were being played with our shooters. Brannen Greene went from shooting over 50% from three before the "fool's gold" garbage, to under 15% after. A death spiral. In fact, wasn't Brannen Greene the real target of the fool's gold comment? His game, more than any player, is premised upon shooting from three point range.

Fool's gold -- the actual fool's gold -- is worthless, right? It's fake. It's of no value. Tell that to Brannen Greene.

If folks want to simply chalk our shooting going in the tank to happenstance, I've got some property to sell you near the local dump.

You will see that you are correct, the numbers don't lie. We are 5-4 in the last 9 games since Self changed our offensive approach. Our conference game margin has gone from an impressive +9.33 ppg to a measly +2.55 ppg. That coincided with a precipitous drop in our three point attempts -- from nearly 17 per game to just about 12. During this 9 game stretch, we have never shot as many three pointers as our average had been in the prior 25 games. Further, a numbers don't lie item, go read Jesse Newell's article ↗on how our offensive efficiency has tanked during this 9 game stretch (it didn't include ISU, but that would only add to the narrative)..

By the way, wasn't it a beautiful thing when this team was shooting the ball from outside? Weren't we at our best offensively? And seriously, why did coach Self fight against that so much?

A good thing to remember -- there are other brilliant basketball coaches that disagree with coach Self offensively. Coach Self isn't the offensive gospel. He's just one guy, with a very narrow view of offensive basketball. Free your mind.

@HighEliteMajor I think you also have to take into account that Brannen hasn't gotten nearly as many open looks since the slump started. He really does need to be wide open to get his shot off. And since about midseason, opposing coaches have made it a priority to not let him get open. That's about the time we started to hear game announcers call him one of, if not the best shooter in the country. That wasn't lost on opposing coaches. He's been pretty well scouted by now.

But you also can certainly see that he just doesn't have the confidence he once had

According to Lunardi, KU is a #2 seed and in the Mid West bracket with Kentucky (Omaha) while ISU is a #3 seed in the South with Duke (Louisville). Other than the location, I would trade places with ISU since they seem to have the easier path to the Final Four. @Crimsonorblue22 had it right indicating that it was better to be the top #3 seed than the bottom #2 seed.

@JayHawkFanToo ya. The way the bracket is projected right now... Unfriendly indeed

@HighEliteMajor

I always think it is funny when people assume that my mind is closed because my opinion is different than theirs. Isn't that ironic?

I'll reply to your response over on your new thread.

@JayHawkFanToo Lunardi has no clue where the selection committee is actually going to place any of the seeds except MAYBE the One seeds. Its all just speculation.

Really, it doesnt matter which division KU gets placed as a 2 seed. Especially if they dont play well the first weekend in a semi home environment at Omaha. Im not really going to hold my breath for that. Im just going to enjoy these last few weeks of college basketball.

@Lulufulu

I agree, I mentioned that Lunardi is at best a middle of the pack bracketologist, but his projections are readily reachable on the ESPN web site. Most bracketologists tend to get the seeding right, it is the location that usually trip them...and a few hard to explain NCAA Committee choices.

@wissoxfan83

It is both.

If the team were schemed around Trey balling without a strong inside game and strong big man rebounding, it would be 0-9 because of this statistically probable shooting slump to .37. It would have no recourse, as it were, to the slumped Trey shooting.

But by having adopted Bad Ball, it can keep testing the Trey balling and then have a winning scheme to ride out the slump.

Had we not been slumping we would be 9-0.

The reason Self is like the Cheshire Cat right now is he knows the slump is starting to break at the perfect moment.

And he knows the guys have learned to ball without the Trey, when some one takes it away.

And his team is playing the best defense all season now.

What the team is doing defensively is brilliant, not just good.

If Perry's knee keeps healing, I agree with Coach Self: I like our chances.

@jaybate-1.0 Man O Man, don't you KNOW that opposing coaches are going to be studying that Iowa State game film in fine detail. Every move that Perry made or did not make will be highlighted and rehashed til the cows come home.

@REHawk Maybe we get more than the Marines' help. CIA may have come together with the President and taught the team how to mis informed during interviews. RCJH!

The thing I like about this forum is the knowledge, different perspectives and passion the posters bring.

The other thing I really like is the civility here, so I was a little surprised to see the personal attack and rectum comments above. That stuff seems more suited for the other site I left to come here for. I'd like to think that everyone on this site is intelligent enough to disagree with each without insulting, even if it takes a little restraint and a little extra literary and fact finding effort. Hope I'm not alone on this.

@Blown No, no .. I don't think you have a closed mind at all. And I didn't say that.

I said "Free your mind". Much different. A closed mind to me is someone who simply refuses to consider other alternatives. I have not suggested that is you. When I say "free your mind", I simply mean to expand it.

Think about things in a way that is outside of one's comfort level, and to consider that there is a world out there that may be beyond what one has already experienced. We seem to get caught up here in "Bill Self knows" -- well, yes he does. But his approach to the game is just a small sliver of the basketball universe. It is why I love watching basketball. I can learn something every time I watch a game.

Free Your Mind ↗

@Jyhwk_InTigrtwn
100% agree, and would like to request the man in charge of this site to REMOVE KUinLA. He's unprofessional. He must be a teenager with temper tantrums who spouts "I'm spoiled and can't deal anyone who disagrees with me". Have 13 yo nephew who doesn't speak or express his disagreements the way this one does. He needs to go to the other KU site where offensive language is encouraged and practiced widely.

@KUinLA
Why not take your unprofessional and vile expressions to another KU site where it welcomes & promotes it?

@HighEliteMajor
Help me understand HEM, if we don't have a footer to block or rebound, wouldn't it be too risky to be dropping 3s? Thought I heard Self say this is not a good rebounding team - I mean Mason is the 2nd rebounder we have, right? So at 40% (before the slump), are we giving away 60% without a footer to rebound? I get what you're saying, let our boys drop 3s, and make plays for 3s - there's nothing more I'd like to see than those beautiful 3s drop. BUT, without the ability to rebound the missed 3s, wouldn't it be too risky to bomb away 3s? The conservative side in me is thinking this way, hence the question.

It is both and your not alone.
Everything BS does is in preparation for the team to peak at the right time. He used the Big 12 tournament to prepare for the NCAA tournament. If he won some games so be it but his goal was to get back the 3 ball now that he had the inside game as good as it can be without his Easter Sunday recruit from Texas and Cliff. He played Green too much too often and lost the game because he was giving him a chance to get his 3 back. He thought that was better than winning the game. We are as ready now as we have been all year to have a chance at winning some games forward. Bring on WSU, we need this game to going forward to satisfy the critics that we are not afraid to play anyone anytime (gut check). I can't believe the Clones punked us at KC, they must have bought those tickets in mass on the forward rows.

@HawksWin KUinLA is no teenager. He posted his identical extreme dislike for Bill Self for years on the "other" site.

@KU-Flyer

PHOF

@HighEliteMajor I appreciate you taking the time to revisit this and clarify. I interpreted free your mind/open your mind/closed mind all the same. I can understand what you mean by expanding your mind, which is what I try my hardest to do daily, and is a reason I come here. A majority of the posters here know more about the x/o part of the game than I do, and I like to read it. Although, most of this has become commentary and less technical but I still enjoy it. For example, when there is indication that Self could scheme better to get more open 3's, I enjoy the elaboration on what that scheme could look like from a technical standpoint.