🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Newell: Recap: KU basketball continues dominance in one defensive stat ↗

CJ Online - This KU team has a lot of ways it can beat you offensively. According to StatSheet.com, the Jayhawks managed to put up a healthy 1.21 points per possession even on a night when Iona’s sagging zone defense made it tough to get to the free-throw line...

Self still not a fan of altered anthem ↗

KU Sports - Bill Self, who, in his 11 years at Kansas University has occasionally provided pizza and donuts for students who camp out for seats at basketball games, never takes the Jayhawks’ loudest, most creative supporters for granted.

Towson is 3-0 beating Temple last night. What a great game for Kansas City and 90% of the State of Kansas not to be able to watch. What a diabolical business success. Do the Koch brothers, who are obviously WSU fans own Time Warner?

I'm a big fan of @Jesse_Newell 's technical analysis of the nuts and bolts of KU basketball. He makes a fine mechanic I'm sure. Was he made by the German engineering? Love it!

100% agree with @Wishawk . Glad to see @Jesse_Newell hoop math style of basketball reporting back. Keep up the good work and the good word Jesse.

I'd like to comment about Jesse's article.... which, btw, was another outstanding piece of journalism by Jesse. There is no one out there who brings it more than Jesse!

It is impressive that we aren't giving the ball away. Since when have we had a team that could take care of the rock like this team can? Limiting TOs is such a direct method for lifting effective offensive stats. However...

Is there a negative to taking care of the rock? I'm certain many of you are scratching your head on that question.

Right off the bat, let me clearly state that I'm glad we are not a careless team and that we don't squander the ball away often. However...

If you look at Wiggins and Selden's stats closely, they have just 3 TOs in 89 minutes. You would be hard pressed to find any freshmen anywhere who protect the rock that well. However...

Could this stat also represent something else? Could it represent a certain amount of tightness with these freshmen? Could it be that they are playing more 'not to mess up' instead of attacking the rim and going for it all?

We had plenty of great highlights from the Iona game. But let's face facts, Iona didn't have much of an interior. We showed how easy it was to lob it over their heads, even when they expected it. The alley-oops were awesome, but that's just cotton candy highlights.

We are still yet to see much from Wiggins or Selden taking it hard to the defense. We've only been privileged to a few nice moves...more of a teaser than anything else. Both of these players can dominate off the dribble. Also, both of these players can create their own assists by drawing defenses in then feeding an opportunity anywhere on the court.

I'm not hoping we increase our TOs. But I do see the limited TOs as a mixed blessing. I know I would be willing to see a few more mistakes as a trade for these guys opening up their game more and going for it.

I remain hopeful that will happen soon. Wiggins and Selden just need a few more games to loosen up and attack the rim.

That makes for a more exciting game, but with Perry's (Dig it, the MOJ) efficiency stats, we are converting at an unheard of % per possession. I just hope he can stay off the SI cover! Ya' hear me Jeff?! No pics! Tharpe may not have shown the energy & push that Frank is displaying, but how can anyone argue with a10-0 rate? This is what I dreamed of when I watched him play as a freshman out of Brewster, but that stat is way beyond my wildest imagination. 3 games in & these stats are sure to decline, but the pinnacle for this squad may just be a dome where the roof gets launched.

@drgnslayr : I think Selden is attacking the rim in the half-court offense more than Wiggins, but he picks his spots.

Maybe they're both letting Mason do it, since he has so much "want to". The problem is, only one player can handle the ball at a time.

I'd like to see Selden and Wiggins be more aggressive off the ball, but in Self Ball the inside guys fight for position and you feed the post. Lord knows it's working right now, but the result is Wiggins and Selden are doing Brady Morningstar imitations in the half court.

The PGs could penetrate and kick out better, but that sets up 3-point shooters, not slashers.

We just haven't needed those two to score much in the half court, except against Duke when they did.

And in transition, who's complaining?

I'd take what @ParisHawk and @drgnslayr said one step further.

Both Selden and Wiggins have stayed well within the confines of the offense so far this season. In a way, they are in a no win situation. If they aren't scoring 20+ points each on 75% shooting, they are huge busts, not aggressive, etc.

If, on the other hand, they are taking 15 shots a night each, they are hogging the ball, auditioning for the NBA, etc.

Personally, I like how each of them has played. In each game, they have both made one or two plays that let you know they are engaged and can do it when necessary, but other than the Duke game, we didn't need either of them to take over, so they stayed within the flow and played a team game. That step back Wiggins hit against Duke - he can get that anytime he wants. It takes a lot of maturity to understand not to take that shot anytime. That baseline reverse that Selden got against Iona - again, he can get that shot quite a bit, but I like that he's just as focused on feeding the ball inside as he is on getting his own drives.

We don't need those guys to try and throw up big numbers just yet. That will come. I'm sure when we play at Florida they will answer the bell.

Liked @Jesse_Newell's article, but I'm struggling with the thought that we would want teams to shoot a higher percentage of 2 point shots. We certainly would want to contest 3's better than we have to date, but I don't know that we would want opponents to shoot less 3's. There's a kenpom article that came to mind from last year, so I tracked it down. I guess maybe he's gone back on his findings, as on the main page, the article summary is now stricken through, but here's the link. ↗ ... His synopsis is that 3 pointers are a lottery. I think maybe he struggled with the qualitative element of the 3. If its a good three, or if its a good shooter, it may not be a lottery. But if it is a lottery, do we try to take that away, or encourage it and contest it?

We're always ranked extremely high in 2 pt defense. But maybe theres something to the thought that we'd be better off baiting teams into 2s with a monster like Withey roaming the paint than letting them huck 3s on us. I would think more attempts in the paint would only come if the opposing coach/players believe they can score there better than from 3. If thats the case, improving our perimeter defense would cause the number of attempts to decrease, but that doesn't mean we would WANT it to decrease, necessarily. In my mind I'm picturing contested 3's clanking out.

Glad to see Jesse Newell on here.

Regarding Mason "attacking too much" (several people have posted), I simply think he was folllowing orders from SelfMan, just like his constant attacking put HEAVY pressure on Duke, and allowed Frank 12 FT attempts. I think he was told to attack Iona. Adding fouls to some opponent literally changes the game for that opposing player, as it can make him less aggressive on both ends, or if a 3rd or 4th foul, it literally can cause him to go out of the game to the bench.

Also notice Self never seemed upset with the Frankster--> So I think he was told to attack the paint. We'll keep hitting opponents with our new chunk of Masonry...

Just read the WORST posts ever on kusports after the article "self still not a fan of altered anthem." HEM & stupidmichael I admire your attempts to dialog but they don't get it. It certainly appears the Facebook validation has dumbed down the discussion...

I based my post on the issue of so few TOs from freshmen... but I was driven to ask that because of comments made by Self on both Wiggins and Selden. Self said Wiggins needs to put out solid effort each and every play and throughout the entirety of the play. Self also mentioned Selden playing tight.

Where I'm going with all of this creates a spark of optimism; that we still haven't seen what these guys can do... even without further improvement to their games, they have more to show with what they have right now. I read somewhere about how strong the play is in practice, and the games are yet to match the practices. Perhaps the Duke game is the exception.

I'm glad Mason is attacking. He'll receive some criticism when his layups miss... and he'll be praised when they fall. He's only shooting too much when the shots don't fall. You really can't judge a guy totally like that. The key is his effort and the potential to create offense through his penetration. We need to give him a break.... he's a freshman playing in only a few games. You won't find many freshman who can penetrate like Mason can, and in this year of refs calling everything, we are surely going to benefit in the long run from what he is doing. Self has been trying to get Tharpe to do more of what Mason is doing, but he just doesn't do it. Fact is... the player has to feel it before making the move and Mason does and Tharpe (for the most part) doesn't. That may change as the season progresses.

Regardless if Tharpe drives or not.... if the guy is producing 10 assists to 1 TO, and getting them all in one game.... how critical can you be of his play? Tharpe is the ultimate facilitator!

Sorry, they did lose to Nova.

@ralster "new chunk of Masonry" Nice turn of phrase!!