🏀 KuBuckets Archive

!Sad, so sad ↗

Jesse Newell: KU falls to Villanova 63-59 ↗

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — Kansas coach Bill Self likes to call these games “muddy.” And if he’s honest with you, it’s the games he really likes.

Ellis says Kansas needs to move past loss ↗

*KU Sports - * “The first thing is, there’s nothing we can do about that game now. It’s over,” KU sophomore Perry Ellis said. “We have to tell these younger guys we have to move onto the next game. We have to get better as a team, just go into the game tomorrow and play more competitive than we have been.”

KU, and its legion of 3,500 (or more) fans, will square off against UTEP (4-3) in a 6 p.m., Central time, contest in Imperial Arena at the Atlantis resort.

Post-game interview with Coach Self and team ↗ - mp3

Box Score ↗

Oh well. Our guys battled back in the second half, but weren't able to seal the deal. Frank Mason was fantastic, while Naadir really seemed out of sorts, and I didn't really understand why we went with a two PG set for most of the second half. Bright spots were Mason's play, capped by a full speed spin move that absolutely torched their rim protector, Greene's play (he finally got the call when we were down badly and responded by helping to ignite our offense with a few key plays), Embiid playing tough on both ends with 4 fouls before fouling out, and Wiggins getting some run at the low post... Lots of teaching moments here, including how to overcome circumstances when the calls don't go your way. This was a great game for us.

(If anyone sees post game stories come out, please throw them on this thread)

Kansas coach Bill Self likes to call these games “muddy.” And if he’s honest with you, it’s the games he really likes.

I like to call them "crappy". And if I'm honest with you, it's the games I frickin HATE.

I had recorded the game to watch when I got back from the Rockets game tonight. I arrived home and watched the last 5 minutes of the game live.

Was tonight's game another one of those brain dead efforts last TCU last year, where nobody decided to be the team leader? Or, was it a game where the freshmen finally played like freshman. since we lost, I won't bother to watch the game I recorded.

(Lots to catch up on the site.. Hope everyone here had a great Thanksgiving.)

I got back from a thanksgiving trip -- landed in time to see the score two min before halftime was 28-19.

My new media guide and "Rock Chalk" t-shirt, freshly purchased from the fieldhouse store, were in the luggage and needed to be freed -- for good luck.

Got home in time for the final 12 min. I saw the comeback; it was intense, a bit ugly. I think Nova looked a bit more poised down the stretch, which makes sense, since they are deeper with upperclassmen.

Really liked the energy that Embiid plays with. Wiggins' defense almost won the game with a key steal. It turned out to be a jump ball and the possession went to Nova and the rest is history. He won't get the accolades in the stats, but he is out there making a difference in many different ways.

I found myself yelling about ill-advised 'low percentage' jump shots.. and Mason's final three was not necessary. Would have preferred a pass into the paint and see what happens.

But, oh well. Kudos to Nova for hitting a three when they needed it most with Ellis flying by. All in all, this was a steely team to play against early in the season.

Good game for November for a young team to reveal the warts in our game. Both teams will be well positioned in the tourney in March.

1. Three Point Shooting: My first thought during and after this game was -- what a waste. We have three guys that are supposed to be major outside shooters. Three point threats. And we desperately needed outside shooting in this game. But Greene, Frankamp, and White barely got time to get in the flow. Greene shot an open three and was barked at by Self. This is the exact type of game where we needed outside shooting, but it wasn't in the game. In hindsight, White or Greene would have been better in the game, down the stretch, than Wiggins. We have a strength that is now a weakness. Self has to commit -- pick one, and play him. Let him take some threes each half. White, Greene, and Frankamp played a combined 15 minutes. Just give all those minutes to one guy -- let him gun a bit.

2. Press: I was perplexed as to why we didn't attack that half-court press harder. We were content to just get the ball across. Multiple options on attacking and trying to get easy buckets, but nothing. I was very disappointed with Self there. Hard middle flash, corner pass, long lob, three flat, x screen. Something. Please.

3. Officiating: Again, both ways. But it is nearly criminal how the officials are controlling and screwing up games. From incompetency, to inconsistency. It is just horrible. One obvious example was the phantom call to foul out Embiid. But the officials go unpunished and are never accountable. The worst of this new "approach" is when an offensive player is driving and the the defender is to his side chasing. The offensive player invades the defenders space, bumps him, and gets a foul. Every time. It goes both ways.

4. Hedging: Self is going to have to rethink this. We are exposing our big men to cheap fouls. Just cannot do it with Embiid. He is too valuable.

5. Mason: The only real alpha dog on the team, so far. Oddly, I sensed that Brannen Greene has a little of that in him. Loved his body language when he got in the game.

6. Post Play: Again, Tarik Black is a footnote. Actually played ok, but it was Self's call. 8 minutes of game-time. If you don't play Black in a dogfight like this, when do you play him? And Traylor got just 8 minutes. Would you trade Traylor and Black for Kevin Young? I would. But we need one of these guys to be a player.

7. Wiggins/Selden: Was seriously waiting for Wiggins to try to take over. Still waiting. For a while there, forgot he was on the court. Selden kind of slipped into obscurity too. Mason is playing like I thought Selden would. Still, I would have rather had Selden in than Tharpe down the stretch. Just my gut feeling at the time.

8. Rotation: Pick one, Greene/White/Frankamp. Give him 15+ rotation minutes every game. Other two sit. Start Embiid. Start Mason. Four freshmen in the starting lineup -- Mason, Selden, Wiggins, Ellis, and Embiid. Pick Black or Traylor, first big off the bench. Only play the other one if necessary (like tonight, with foul issues). Add in Tharpe off the bench. And go with it. 8 guys, emergency big.

Sorry, but Villanova isn't that good. We allowed them to stay in the game. That's how it will be this year except with a few of the excellent teams. We will determine our fate.

• 1 HEM-Just do it or go ahead or use the off road commode. Bench strength may be the Achilles heel. What can you say; missed bunnies, FT's? I'll leave that up for further confirmation. Hey, take some knocks now & be better for it when conf rolls around. Big boys handed out some lumps on the glass tonite, but at least Mason has the cahonies for the big game stage. No one else demanded the ball down the stretch & I think he's overdue/ready for prime time. Na may be the incumbent, but he may also end up as the 2nd pony. That damn Bulldog is ready to snatch the bone, IMO Bill will give it a toss. but further as the 2013 season progresses. He;s still tweaking what should've been done long ago. This much talent has him experimenting much too late in the pre season. I wonder did this make Jay feel better after the Mario & Sherron show of a few years back? Our guys play tentative like they're trying not to lose instead of playing to win.

1. Three Point Shooting: My first thought during and after this game was -- what a waste. We have three guys that are supposed to be major outside shooters. Three point threats. And we desperately needed outside shooting in this game. But Greene, Frankamp, and White barely got time to get in the flow. Greene shot an open three and was barked at by Self. This is the exact type of game where we needed outside shooting, but it wasn't in the game. In hindsight, White or Greene would have been better in the game, down the stretch, than Wiggins. We have a strength that is now a weakness. Self has to commit -- pick one, and play him. Let him take some threes each half. White, Greene, and Frankamp played a combined 15 minutes. Just give all those minutes to one guy -- let him gun a bit.

2. Press: I was perplexed as to why we didn't attack that half-court press harder. We were content to just get the ball across. Multiple options on attacking and trying to get easy buckets, but nothing. I was very disappointed with Self there. Hard middle flash, corner pass, long lob, three flat, x screen. Something. Please.

3. Officiating: Again, both ways. But it is nearly criminal how the officials are controlling and screwing up games. From incompetency, to inconsistency. It is just horrible. One obvious example was the phantom call to foul out Embiid. But the officials go unpunished and are never accountable. The worst of this new "approach" is when an offensive player is driving and the the defender is to his side chasing. The offensive player invades the defenders space, bumps him, and gets a foul. Every time. It goes both ways.

4. Hedging: Self is going to have to rethink this. We are exposing our big men to cheap fouls. Just cannot do it with Embiid. He is too valuable.

5. Mason: The only real alpha dog on the team, so far. Oddly, I sensed that Brannen Greene has a little of that in him. Loved his body language when he got in the game.

6. Post Play: Again, Tarik Black is a footnote. Actually played ok, but it was Self's call. 8 minutes of game-time. If you don't play Black in a dogfight like this, when do you play him? And Traylor got just 8 minutes. Would you trade Traylor and Black for Kevin Young? I would. But we need one of these guys to be a player.

7. Wiggins/Selden: Was seriously waiting for Wiggins to try to take over. Still waiting. For a while there, forgot he was on the court. Selden kind of slipped into obscurity too. Mason is playing like I thought Selden would. Still, I would have rather had Selden in than Tharpe down the stretch. Just my gut feeling at the time.

8. Rotation: Pick one, Greene/White/Frankamp. Give him 15+ rotation minutes every game. Other two sit. Start Embiid. Start Mason. Four freshmen in the starting lineup -- Mason, Selden, Wiggins, Ellis, and Embiid. Pick Black or Traylor, first big off the bench. Only play the other one if necessary (like tonight, with foul issues). Add in Tharpe off the bench. And go with it. 8 guys, emergency big.

Sorry, but Villanova isn't that good. We allowed them to stay in the game. That's how it will be this year except with a few of the excellent teams. We will determine our fate.

For the most part, I agree HEM, though I'd point out a couple of things:

Villanova beating us wasn't that big of an upset. They were rated the #20 team in the nation at kenpom.com prior to the game. We were rated #5. This loss doesn't compare to TCU, VCU, etc. These guys were in our league, but yeah, we backed down when they got back up.

The lack of energy this week may be due to illness amongst the team. I certainly hope it is, anyway. We know Wigs was said to be dealing with flu. He and Ellis were sucking a lot of wind when they were clunking the front end of free throw attempts. It would certainly explain Selden's anemic performance, too. I will give Wiggins credit for showing up on D, though. He wasn't perfect by any means, but he did contest shots and was very nearly the hero of the game if he'd been able to corral that loose ball at the end. He wasn't aggressive on offense though, and that has to change fast.

The bottom line is that Nova wanted the win, and our guys didn't. I don't know why, but they clearly didn't. Nova worked the glass hard. Ellis was repeatedly caught just watching the ball as it came off the rim only to see it tipped by a Nova player when there was no block out. The rest of the bigs did the same thing. We aren't even in the top 100 for rebounding teams this season. Mason is the only won bringing consistent effort. I hope he replaces Tharpe as the point pretty soon. Frank still needs to be a better distributor, but Tharpe's decision making has been incredibly poor on this trip. And there should never be a single game in which he takes nearly as many shots as Wigs and Ellis (he took 7 to their 8 each) unless he's just red hot knocking everything down. The game turned as much on the 17 fter he missed in the final 2 minutes as anything else.

All of that said, no excuses. I know what Bill will be saying to these kids tonight, tomorrow, and for the rest of the year. He'll be on them to be as aggressive and engaged as Nova was tonight. Hopefully this game becomes lesson learned, or at very least a building block to a great season.

Bill Self's half court offense sucks. It always has. He has (at least) 4 future NBA players on the court and they can't even put 60 points on the board. At some points, they struggle to even get off a shot. And yet, in post game, he still puts it on the defense--"we didn't defend on that last shot"

They held them to 63 points Bill. What do you want? Your half court offense sucks.

I don't know what to make of this game. I felt that Villanova came out and out hustled us at first. They were very aggressive on offense and defense and I think it kind of threw us off. The nerve of them, not quivering in their sneakers at the sight of " Kansas " on our jerseys.

I agree with HEM, we have three outstanding 3 point shooters and all they did was build up callouses on their butts last night. Pathetic. If those three don't have the green light to shoot, we may as well never put up anything but a layup.

We're young, and hopefully will get smarter and better, but the past two games have shown me that we're going to have some big disappointments this year.

I'm sure I'll sound like the ultimate homer in trying to excuse ... er, defend what I witnessed last night, but I don't think a lot of the guys were functioning at 100% health-wise. Neither the team nor Self will so much as hint at the possibility and I have no empirical proof but their mostly sluggish play was eerily reminiscent of that TCU loss, a loss where close-up shots provided ample evidence of pallor and bullet-sized sweat beads flowing profusely down the brows of several players. I didn't see that in this game, but we were a step slow, sometimes two all night. Seems implausible with all the thoroughbreds in this stable that all could muster no better than "show" at the finish line without some underlying cause.

That said, I think we lost the game at the free throw stripe. As bad as we looked and played, the free throw line is the one place where you get a clean look every time - no defenders to alter the shot, no possibility of a turnover, no controversial calls to affect the outcome. You can't get out-hustled at the line; you can't get out-coached. But you do have to make them if you want a legitimate shot to win a nail-biter and we missed ten in all. Unacceptable. Ask Duke how it feels to lose by 11 and miss 12 "freebies". Aside from "chartiy stripe" being one of the biggest misnomers in the game of basketball and, despite all the missed threes, blockouts and opportunities, we win this game if we make our free throws.

I won't say this was a good loss, because I don't find much solace in getting beat, but the vomit-colored lining on this cloud is that if, as a team, you must suffer a flu bug epidemic, this time of year is certainly preferred over a March pestilence.

Some serious growing pains last night. Gotta have the fire and we certainly didn't. Was good to see them come back twice in the second. Mason's D on their point was fantastic in the second half. Hounded the hell out of him. It took a double screen to get Mason off him for the game winning shot. These boys need to toughen up. I don't like the look of the small lineup with only one big on the floor. And we wonder why we were being out rebounded? Also agree with HEM in that I kept saying this is a game for Greene but he wasn't given much of a chance. Did Frankamp even take a shot?? Liked what I saw of Landon. Brought some defense to the first half. After we leave the Island we have Colorado and Florida away. Need to grow some more fast or else we will all experience more of these growing pains.

I.....don't even know really what to say. 22 points in the first half!

I know Villanova was playing hard, tough D and I know the whistles were going against us there for awhile....but come on. Our offense is just too good to score that low.

Tharpe has looked out of sorts in the last 2 games and that maybe saying it to nice. Mason was great, tough on both ends, wanting to lead. But with a tough zone and the other team daring us to take an outside shot. I felt like we needed something. If White / Greene / Frankamp are not on the floor or can't get open then Selden and Tharpe have got to be able to make an unguarded / lightly guarded jumper.

I felt like Villanova executed what other teams having been trying but failed to do. Full court pressure, Play tough zone D, clog the lane against drives and double or triple team our post players if they get the ball.

1 the lack of energy/emotion was scary. We looked like billy bob Thornton in tombstone when Wyatt Earp was slapping him around daring him to draw.

2 I have no problem with mason driving the ball any time he wants

3 BUT mason had no business jacking up a 3 with the game on the line

4 agree with hem 1 of our 3 sharpshooters HAS to get more regular opportunities.

5 did not like the lack of a timeout after the late 3. This team is too young to use the philosophy that the time out helps the defense more. Maybe in March I would agree not to use the time out, but right now the freshman could've used the instructions

Does anybody agree there was a huge non-call at the 21 second mark when #32 for Nova traveled? I didn't think one could jump off both feet and come back down after establishing the pivot. I guess I'm wrong, because the ref was standing right in front of him and didn't call it.

KU's game plan worked great the first 5 minutes of the game. Going inside had them up, but then the fouls started raining down on our bigs. The only thing I am going to say about fouls right now, is that refs are not calibrated across leagues and tourneys.

Self making no adjustment to the press is the biggest thing I'm struggling with right now. That 3/4 1/2 press clearly had our ball handlers and flow out of sorts on each possession they pressured on.

Good news is that this is the time for getting better, not going home.

Rock Chalk.

absolutely Blown, Even my amateur eye can see there is a HUGE discrepancy among the refs right now. Some fouls are called and some are not. It almost seemed like the refs at the Nova game were trying to help Nova win the game. It was crazy.

Since this site started up, everyone has been awesome about keeping things civil. I hope I'm not the one to blow that, because I'm having a really bad attitude about yesterday's game. The Wake Forest game wasn't much better either. I'll try to bite my tongue, but I do want to say this - if Wiggins had Frank Mason's attitude - O.M.G. He (Wiggins) has got to get more aggressive - soon.

Good points everyone. Welcome back skeet!

@Blown For sure, the officiating was horrible. We got mugged, and they traveled a lot, not just that play.

To me, the poor decisions regarding the wing, and not getting Greene or White back in the game, was Self trying to figure out Naadir's role on this team. This two PG lineup seemed odd to me before this game. It may make sense for small portions of a game when the situation demands it, but certainly not for the extended run we saw it yesterday in the midst of a dogfight. We give away inches on D, and the second PG isn't needed.

Is Self doing this because it is a more natural transition in moving Naadir to the bench? He's stated that he believes the offense runs better with Mason at the helm. Now he is showing everyone, team / fans / Naa / himself that he is exhausting all options trying to keep Naa on the floor but it just isn't working?

If Self had looked at what the game demanded, I have to believe that it would have been obvious that we needed Greene or White in there. It only makes sense that Self was squarely focused on the long play and not the situation at hand -- how do you determine whether the longest tenured Jayhawk needs to come off the pine? How do you make everyone else ok with that decision?

@approxinfinity - in my ignorant bliss, I'd say you make everyone else ok with that decision by putting up " W's " instead of " L's ". Worry about their feelings when they are in fourth grade, worry about winning at this level.

@approx--I assumed Self was running the 2 PG set to beat the pressure. Maybe he didn't trust Selden or White to be that second guy to be able to bring it up?

@Blown thats true. And Mason's passes over the top of the pressure were rainbows, because he was at a size disadvantage. I'm sure we'll get better at breaking the pressure going forward.

@nuleafjhawk I agree with you, but when you win as much as we do, L's make a much bigger statement than W's. Now that Self has his L to work with, the change has to come.

My summary is that we showed our youth. In the first half, we reacted to their half court pressure horribly. It does beg the question if our coaching staff could have reacted to it sooner. Selden was a non-factor. I agree with HEM in that I expected him to be as aggressive as Mason. Frank was great and was the only reason we had a chance at the end. I wish he would have driven the ball on that last play, though. The Villanova kid made a contested three.....what can you do? Except not put yourself in that position in the first place.
Also agree that we would be a lot better off if one of the shooters would be playing more. Mason's play has made it more difficult for Self to justify that, however.
As the season progresses, I don't think Villanova will prove to be that good of a team.
I expected a loss (or 2) like this with this young team.
We'll see how they respond.

A few things that stood out:

Have the players been taught how to box out? It seems that the shorter Villanova was getting an inordinate amount of offensive rebounds, including multiple rebounds per possession.

The refereeing. They were calling 2 fouls a minute at the beginning of the game, and most were going against KU. Villanova was in the double bonus situation with double digit minutes left in the first half. Villanova players were all over the KU players and no fouls were called, but as soon as a KU player touched a Villanova player a foul was immediately called, particularly in the first half. Wiggins was being mugged including several fouls while driving to the basket and most not called; even the announcers commented on a couple of them. It must be extremely frustrating for players see the other team playing physical defense and no fouls called and you team called for every ticky-tack foul.

All in all, a valuable lesson for the young players; it is not just about playing intense but more importantly, playing smart. Also, they have to learn to adapt to how the game is being called; with the new rules, this is going to become a bigger issue, particularly come March when they play against teams from other conferences with diferent refereeing styles.

Coach Self must have been extremely frustrated to let Greene out of the deep dog house he was in.

Best player for KU was probably Mason; however, I see a selfish streak in him. I am sure his last shot was not what Coach Self would have liked.

Mason plays at or closer to full-throttle than anyone on the team.

Because of that, sometimes good things happen (the drive to take the lead late in the game) and sometimes bad things happen (charges and taking some shots that are not the best for the team).

Self is probably going to try to give him positive reinforcement right now for nearly everything he does because he is an example to the others to play hard.

He'll quietly coach Mason and the rest on better shot selection. And hopefully, soon, we'll have an assassin PG (or two)... and an aggressive team surrounding him.

@Blown - Wow. I missed that travel. Just went back and looked at it. Unreal.

Did anyone notice that Self said after the game that he should have "maybe" called a timeout after the 3 pointer, presumably to set something up? My first thought was, yea, like spreading out and letting EJ drive to the basket? He's demonstrated in the past that he won't call an actual play in that situation, even with the season on the line. Why would he call something now? But he did take the timeout, down 4, with 2 seconds left.

Trap and Tempo:

He allowed Nova to dictate tempo, did not attack the trap. I was ready to jump through my TV set. But maybe coach Self can look back at this game and reassess our approach to the trap.

Go look at the video and you can see two distinct half court traps by Villanova. First, they used a 1-2-2. That's a more conservative trap. You've got two guys nearer to the basket. Then, at appx. the 12:25 mark of the first half, Wright switched to a 1-2-1-1. More aggressive.

The trap is basically players in a diamond, with one guy back. The back guy on the diamond is the interceptor (Nova's #5 in this sequence). On their first try at this, Mason attempted a lob to Traylor at the rim. Traylor didn't finish. But watch the rest of the game. We were passive. Didn't attack it.

Now go to the 10:50 mark, first half. Still 1-2-1-1. You can see how when Mason dribbled over half court, it was death. Mason knows better than that. That's the trap area. So what to do?

1. Pass to ball side corner: If you want to see what we were missing last night, go here. Stop the tape at 10:50. What you can't see at the 10:50 mark is Ellis in the near baseline corner. That's a trap area too. But a pass to Ellis there then allows cutters and other opportunities as Nova would move to trap. Mason could make that easy pass, and press is broken. Ellis could also attack the basket. The back player won't be moving to trap. It's the interceptor and the edge defender. An easy press break is that pass to the corner, then as they chase to the corner, a quick pass back to the guard (Mason), or to White who can move right to the elbow. Cross court would be open if the backside edge defender slid to White.

2. Back Screen: Again, same sequence, watch Traylor come from the far baseline corner, he is kind of flashing .. kind of. But imagine if he sets a backscreen behind Villanova player #3 before Mason crosses? Tharpe then flashes to that sideline spot near the official The back defender has to decide whether to shade Tharpe, or shade Ellis in the near corner. If he splits the difference, both are open. Either way, the press is broken. If the back defender is shading Ellis, you might have an easy bucket.

3. X cross: Take Ellis and Traylor from their respective spots, cross them, and screen against the outer defenders (the "2" in the 1-2-1-1). As with many screens, it isn't always the screen that beats you, it's the screener opening to the basket. Ellis, who would be opposite the ball, is the pass to be made if open. But sometimes those screens will allow the dribbler to slice the zone.

4. Flash: The post players (Traylor and Ellis), or the 3 (White on this sequence), Flash directly to the middle of the diamond. Most of the time, this pass isn't open. Let's say White flashed. The interceptor flows with him. Then Ellis moves up into the vacated space .. likely won't get a trap at the wing. But if interceptor doesn't flow with White, pass to White, White turns, faces and goes with Traylor and Ellis attacking for the dish. If the back edge defender picks up White on the flash, then Tharpe crosses half court hard for the cross court pass, and he attacks.

5. Three Flat: Bring Ellis, White (middle), and Traylor up, run them three flat across the diamond, with White square in the middle. You now have a numbers advantage. It requires two crisp passes. Mason would have all other offensive players as an option. Once that choice is made, the second pass is immediate and you can go aggressively at the rim or pull it out. Multiple options. But here's one scenario. We line up three flat. Nova's back side edge defender (far side of the "2" ), flattens down to Traylor. That leaves Tharpe open. Mason laces one across to Tharpe. Traylor then shoots to the middle, White from the middle to the sideline at the free throw line extended. Tharpe takes a dribble or two then shoots pass to White. White receives and the press is broken; but Tharpe attacks in what is a give and go set up. White may have an open three. Ellis can flash to the elbow.

6. Lob: As mentioned above, Mason tried this with Traylor at the 12:25 mark. Beautiful. Didn't work. But it can. And you don't have to lob to the rim. You can simply make that pass to the far corner, then rotate it out, or to a post up at the box, or flash to the elbow. Long pass, so a bit risky.

Go to 9:40 .. we come up against the press and Selden makes the exact same mistake that Mason made at 10:50. He does the same thing and dribbles right into the trap, but he escapes it. This was immediately following a timeout. I would have assumed Self would have said, "Hey, don't dribble into that trap spot." Puzzling.

At 9:40, though, you'll see a Nova wrinkle. They matched up in the ballside corner with Ellis. At 10:40, that didn't happen. Takes away the pass to the baseline corner option.

Perhaps we didn't work on press break options as much as other things.

Disappointed they did not make any points the last 7 plus minutes in the first half. Why not drive to the hoop to create plays/ fouls on Villanova? Tharpe's shots were not what we needed when he clanked those 3s. Need to come out today and run run run right at UTEP down the lane. Hopefully everyone is feeling better and comes out to show their fight.

Duke has 2 losses. We should not drop below them in the polls. Maybe down to 5 or 6? Or do you think we will go lower?

FT stripe indeed, did anyone else see the red LED light machine flashing at our players on the line.
Not that the led or lazer light is why we miss the free shots, and the result is likely better for us as a learning lesson.
Now that the tourney championship pressure is off for tonight, gotta feeling we shoot hot and have a very good night.

You guys make me want to be a better poster. This analysis was heartfelt, brain felt solid gold! Hope to review the tape and see the specific callouts.

Lots of excellent comments in here.

HEM... you need to be coaching basketball somewhere. You nailed so many dead on points.

Konkey... you broke the entire game down to one sentence, that put it all into perspective - "Nova wanted the win, and our guys didn't." I don't know if I'd go that far.. but clearly, our guys were not prepared for this game and didn't want it as much as Villanova wanted it. Let's face it.. this was a home game. 3000 Hawk fans sitting in a 3600 seat venue makes it a home game. We had no energy. It picked up a bit at times in the second half. But it got so bad that I started hoping we would lose... because we didn't deserve that win. Gary Bedore missed the mark with his sub-headline "Late Villanova three shocks Jayhawks"... The 3-pt basket they hit was a karma shot. It would have been a crime if we would have won that game.

A game is 40-minutes long. We only won a few minutes in that game. We only played with the same energy as Villanova in those few minutes. The rest of the time we were standing flat footed, looking around like deer in the headlights. Perry... I couldn't believe his deer-like stare. At times I thought he was counting ceiling tiles. He played like he did last year early on and was why he couldn't earn a starting spot.

The day after a loss is when everyone looks to point fingers. You can point fingers all around. I think it is best (and easiest) to first look at what doesn't deserve the finger. Frank Mason.... and JoJo Embiid. Those guys are on a different planet. Those guys could care less if the rest of the team takes the night off, they come ready to compete. Those guys don't follow the group drumbeat. I just said it a few days ago... that these two guys are the difference makers this year. I still haven't seen all of Thursday's game... but from the minutes I watched it was Mason who kept us alive and earning the win.

I wish Jaybate was around now. No one else can describe some of Self's strategy better... or at least, give a plausible answer to questions that leave the rest of us scratching our heads. Jaybate would say that Self intentionally throttled-down the troops for this tournament. It's like he does his "dirty business" as far away from AFH as possible. Seems like we never fair well in these island tourneys. You can bet we will be a much better team come conference play because of this loss (and the possibility we lose again today). Self wants his guys tested. Self wants his guys to start listening more and working harder. He'll now have a reference point for what happens when we don't hustle.

I nailed it yesterday... before the game when I said we better be ready for Villanova... and Self better want it more than Wright. Konkey nailed it by saying they wanted it more. And when I look at a team of freshmen, being led by a junior who didn't start until a few games ago... the leader is the coach, not Tharpe. Wright beat Self. His team isn't overly talented and they didn't even have a good game. But it was enough because the team that won was the one who brought energy to the game. And Wright had his guys ready to play.

Everyone knows I'm a huge Bill Self fan. But I have one valid criticism about his coaching... it is his lack of getting his troops psyched up to play every game. The only way to do that is to develop a chip on their shoulders. He's never grasped that reality and I feel comfortable saying that it has cost us at least one National Championship. The closest we came to playing with a chip took our lowest talent team under Self (2012) to the brink of a title and into the championship game against a stacked Kentucky team. Imagine if he could learn to develop a chip with his teams... There is no way to always guarantee you'll have a player who carries a big chip. That's why if you want to stand a chance at winning a National Championship year in and year out, the coach will carry a big chip and will be able to communicate it to the team and have them jump on board. If you want to see what I'm talking about, watch the clip 60 Minutes ran on Alabama football a while back. Saban carries a big chip. It is the reason behind Alabama football being brought back to the top of prominence again. If we want to have a serious chance of taking home National Championships on a regular basis then Self will have to become more like Saban. There is a caveat to becoming like Saban... it isn't always a pretty process. It requires outrageous dedication! Sometimes borders on requiring unhealthy mental processes!

I know a bunch of guys out there who understand what I'm talking about... these guys played on a team that lost 11 games during the year. It turned out to be the most losses ever by an eventual National Champion. I'm talking about "Danny and the Miracles" and it was only a miracle to people who don't understand human nature. Manning had a chip on his shoulder walking in to that National Championship game. He wasn't going to lose. He remembered losing to Oklahoma in AFH earlier that year.... he remembered the other 10 losses they had that year. He was not going to be denied.

Now look at the game last night and tell me which Jayhawk player was close to matching Danny Manning's mindset in that National Championship game?

Our team will improve. They will learn to play better together and as individuals. It doesn't really matter. They won't be championship material unless they understand what I'm talking about and find a way to generate that kind of passion. I'd trade that passion for all the experience and practice moving forward to improve this team. They already have the talent and capability to be a National Champion... but what it takes to win it all is something generated in your gut. There have been several champions decided by only having one or two players carrying the chip. The rest of the team follows. That's what happened in '89....

In the coming days I'll be looking for a player who speaks out about how much he hates to lose. Chips don't happen over night....

The entire game of basketball can be summarized into one statement: the team that wants it more will win! If you don't believe me, Google North Carolina State and how they became giant killers all the way to a National Championship against an NBA all-star team!

@HighEliteMajor ... Enjoyed your comments, especially about the trap. Wish I had a dvr to go back and look at the points in time you referenced. It was a frustrating game to watch. Don't like to harp on fouls, but I believe all the early calls, especially on our bigs had some effect on the team and maybe caused them to be more tentative. And as you mentioned the trap. I give the team credit, especially Mason, for the comeback, and am looking for a good ol' smackdown of UTEP tonight.

BTW, not too much civility over on the other site in the comments section.

I have no problem with the refereeing calling a close game as long as they call it consistently.

In the first half Villanova was allowed to play the kind of in-your-face defense KU used to play (before the new rules) but KU was not. This resulted not only on KU players in foul trouble and Villanova in the double bonus very early in the half, but also KU playing a lot more tentative. The refs were wildly inconsistent and the highlight of their night was asking Villanova players to remove their two-color elbow braces.

Sure there are some major things to fix this season but if his half court offense sucks then why is he amongst the top of the coaching hierarchy and why does KU have more wins in the last 10 years than most if not all of div1?

Im guessing we drop out of the top 5.

@drgnslayr - "Everyone knows I'm a huge Bill Self fan. But I have one valid criticism about his coaching... it is his lack of getting his troops psyched up to play every game."

I love your points. I take it you (like myself) do not subscribe to jaybate's selective "amping" theory? Self is responsible for leading this team, and for motivating it.

You mentioned looking for the player that speaks out. Agreed. But I saw something last night that may or may not be a turning point with this team -- I saw Frank Mason say "This is my team." Not literally, but by his actions on the court. I might be a bit premature there - not the first time in my life. And Self, of course, will have the final word on that. But I'm not sure he can ignore it.

HEM - I had a hard time agreeing with everything Jaybate said about it. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy reading it! Very creative concepts that Jaybate brought forward. It was just a bit too much conspiracy-style for me to buy into 100%... though... he always gave me something to think about further. I always like reading the guys who write it on out to the fringe!

I think there is a reason why Mason and Embiid stick out. Maybe Mason is carrying forward a bit of "Napoleon complex"... My bet is he always had to prove himself in basketball up and beyond the rest because of his size. He's always carried a chip.

With Embiid... his entire upbringing carried a chip, perhaps even for survival. He's a fast learner because it is an inherent quality built into him, most likely from the world he grew up in.

I'm not ready to throw this team under a bus. But I'm bringing forward something I see in this team that I've seen in most of Self's teams. I'd like to see this team reach some level of their potential... and that will only come with emotional passion!

It is hard to argue with Self's overall record. In fact, he's at the top in winning percentage over the last 10 years or so.... but I'm talking about an area where I always feel like is something we can't count on. An area that always puts us at risk of losing. The area I am talking about is whether or not the Jayhawks show up to a game. You know.. if Villanova had come out and blazed the nets with 3-pt shots that were guarded, I'd be satisfied to say it just wasn't our night because we got nailed by a team that had one of those fluke hot shooting nights. That wasn't the case. Villanova really didn't even play that well. The way we played last night, we would lose probably 8 out of 10 times to Villanova. That is the part I have a hard time accepting and why I bring question to something flowing (or not flowing) behind this team.

Why don't we show up for every game pumped and ready to play? Personally, I always came ready to play because I loved to play ball... whether it was lunch ball at the Y or something bigger. And I never walked away from a game where I had anything left in the tank. So I don't get it. I always came ready to fight! And sometimes it led to that.

Self has a history of losing big games to huge underdogs. So I'd like to know why so maybe it can be solved, because I know I absolutely hate losing games like what happened yesterday. I would have much rather lost a nail biter to Duke where both teams played well and fought for a win!

How many 50/50 balls did we win yesterday?

The answer to that question says it all...

Villanova does not belong on the same court and Kansas. However, Villanova attacked Kansas yesterday. The referees swallowed their whistles and Villanova gained confidence. The score was 11-2 KU, and it appeared KU thought they could go through the motions. We were attacked and the only players that had fight in them were Frank Mason, Landen Lucas, and Embiid. We are more than capable. The game reminded me of several losses in the NCAA Tournament. Hopefully, we will be in attack mode from this game forward. This team is much too talented to sit back and let someone hand it to them like that. We beat Duke on a big stage, and then we come out and lay an egg. We are much better than that. No offense to Villanova fans, talent wise it's not even close. Heart wise, it appears they currently have an advantage.

Regarding our penultimate possession in this game, I don't have any problems with the way it played out. Some criticize Mason for taking that 3 as he's not an especially good distance shooter, but to them I'd point out two things: 1) he's been the best 3 pt shooting Jayhawk in this tournament (not that that's saying much) and 2) he was certainly the best player on the floor last night, so if it's not him taking the shot, then who?

As for Self's comment that maybe he should have taken a time out, he's right. Maybe, but maybe not. The question is what does that get you that you didn't already have? If you take a timeout there, it's to set up a play and get an open look for your best player. The way the offense ran, they got an open look for the best player anyway. If Mason rose up and hit that shot, we'd all be on here talking about how awesome it was that he had the guts and the talent to get it done. But he missed, so obviously that was the wrong thing to do, right? No! At least, not necessarily. You can tell when a man doesn't play poker (or at least he isn't any good at it), because he falls prey to that type of linear thinking. You can make the right choice given what you've got and still lose. It's all about understanding the odds and when you're at an advantage or a disadvantage with them.

Having that TO left when the ball left Mason's hands is better than not having it. No inbounds play was going to get him more open than that unless Nova just completely cocked up. If we'd got the offensive board on the ground after he missed (and we almost did), having that TO lets you set up one more shot. I'm not suggesting that there aren't reasons to use the TO to set up a play (for instance if you wanted a different shooter, but I would take Mason over Frankamp, White, or Greene in that position), but simply pointing out that there's nothing inherently better in making that choice versus not. It's not a simple case of, 'if they'd only called time out there XYZ would have happened.' Calling time also allows the other team to make adjustments and get their defense set. None of us is really in any kind of position to say exactly what would happen, but I haven't seen or heard anything to suggest that running something else put us in any better a position to win.

We have to take the long view, though. Was this a good loss? No. But it can be. This is the sort of game that can turn a team around and really galvanize them. It can also be the sort of thing that deflates them. We'll find out how they respond in the next few hours, and in the week to come. Let's hope the result is KU's first ever win over UTEP (as strange but true as that is). RCJH!

I was on the treadmill the whole game last night trying to work all the turkey out of my belly. But I think it was a mistake. The treadmill probably belonged to Wiggins and Selden. I think Coach should give them the Rush treatment from now on. I firmly believe Coach wants to win every game, but he clearly didn't help his team to win this one. He probably didn't want the young team to coast to victory and get the bulls eye of No. 1 ranking with the No. 1 recruit. He wanted the team to labor and he wanted to see who would show the mentality of an alpha dog. He wanted to see toughness, fighting spirit, and the want to from his star players, Wiggins, Selden, Ellis. But other than Mason, none showed much of a fight in them. The Nova players clearly had more energy, and showed more desire in winning the 50/50 balls. They were more active on the defensive end.

Nova played the half course trap for a long time. And I don't believe Coach didn't recognize it and have the several plays in his sleeves to beat it. But he let them labor. Greene was open and the ball was swung to him, so he launched a three, but he got yelled at. Why? Greene showed in the past that he was quite capable hitting this type of shots. And it wasn't his first touch in that offensive sequence, so it couldn't be considered an early three. So Coach must have dictated that the ball must go through one of the bigs, or the star freshmen, Wiggins and Selden. And he was pushing all of them to show the willingness to drive. Neither Wiggins nor Selden showed enough of that. I think our star players have too much of the similar qualities and personalities. They are too nice and too quiet. They must come out of their shells, otherwise whey won't be very successful on the college level much less in the League.

If last night was within Coach Self's master plan, he successfully demonstrated to his players that their ranking meant nothing. Their physical abilities meant less than they mental strength. The players must come together and become a tough team mentally.

We should have attacked all the perimeter trapping...

We could have drawn up a play to continually run so when our guards got trapped on the sides, they feed Mason out on top (or in motion) and he penetrates and either finishes or feeds off to a big or open trey. Maybe the guys just couldn't execute anything and freaked out. The pressure on the ball was reasonable but not that heavy.

I can't believe we didn't adjust early on and punish them for that. If this team had executed a plan, or just executed as a reaction to the on-ball pressure, we would have crushed 'Nova.

Wishawk... I agree with you concerning Greene. I was glad he launched the 3. I was hoping this game was his (or Connor's) big chance to be a hero! Even the lousy announcers constantly ranted about our inability to hit treys. It was painful to hear them go on and on about how Kansas doesn't have quality perimeter shooting.

We really didn't run any kind of game plan whatsoever. It looked like what you would expect in the first week of practice.

It looks like you guys mighthave your own chat going on as well, but the live blog is also up on our site ↗ if you're interested.

I'm on your blog... still waiting for CJ to approve my account... but will keep an eye on the blog during the game.

Thanks, Jesse!

Hey drgn- Don't need an account ... just go to the bottom where it says "Send questions or comments" and you can post immediately.