🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Except for the Colorado victory over the Wiggin's led Jayhawks, I can remember very few times when we have lost a game in the last possession while being on defense. With Seldon not letting this team lose and the emergence of Hunter as an adept scorer, the improbable happened. No Mason at the end, no scoring from Perry, Lucas imploding at the end of the half yet somehow we won.

I don't think we will play against better guards than what we saw tonight from Serbia. I just hope when the world adopts International ball that we leave out the soccer type Academy Award flops. Marcus Smart would have been proud.

Totally agree about the flops and whining to the officials at every opportunity. Seems to be part of the international culture. Maybe that's why coach K has success internationally.

I don't think we played our best game collectively. Although, Selden and Mickelson were near the top of their games and it was a joy to watch them. But Ellis has disappeared inexplicably. And our guards had a tough day, although Mason is clearly one of the most valuable cogs in the Jayhawk engine. We just can't afford to have him on the bench.

We won a big game, but I think this team has a higher ceiling. I'm looking forward to watching them improve each game!

@bskeet said:

Totally agree about the flops and whining to the officials at every opportunity. Seems to be part of the international culture. Maybe that's why coach K has success internationally.

Love it.

I was high on Mickelson last year before we started the season and I am similarly optimistic again this year! With Traylor not preforming and Lucas's un-sportsman like conduct last night I bet Mickelson gets the start moving forward! With a few more good games and some confidence Mickelson could have a Withey like impact next season given the opportunity.

He does remind me of Withy At the start of his Junior season.

I thought I'd toss in here ... Traylor got put in the game late. Self said he had his best switching defense team in. That's why (if anyone wondered). I saw Self's quote this morning. Traylor is certainly quicker in a late game situation than Lucas or Mickelson, and mentally ahead of Bragg given Bragg has had very little practice under Self at this point. Self would pull Embiid in similar situations. Another school of thought is to have more of a rim protector on the floor, and to slack off his man who presumably would not be an outside threat. It is really all personnel based. Interesting.

Wayne's volleyball slam with 3.3 seconds left had the Serbian coach screaming for a technical. It wasn't in anger or celebration, it was a basketball play to take time off the clock and keep it away from the Serbs. !image.jpg ↗

@wrwlumpy

As I mentioned on another thread, the Serbian players are not only good but also familiar with FIBA rules and know how to take advantage of them. We need to stop complaining and adapt to the way the game is played elsewhere; we would not be complaining if foreign teams came to play here and we take advantage of the quirks of NCAA rules that they are not familiar, we would tell them to learn our rules. In many ways it is not different than playing here where the refereeing can be quite different from game to game and players that adapt to the refereeing at hat hand do better than those that complain. Look at the refereeing in the NBA post -season, it was called extremely inconsistent from game to game and from series to series but the better players adapted and did fine.

BTW, flopping in soccer has decreased considerably from the glory days when Argentinian players mastered the act; now, if you are caught flopping you get a yellow card and two of them result in one game suspension which is extremely costly in terms of damage to your team and financial penalties. Much like flopping in the NBA where it will cost of you an increasing penalty, even it it is found long after the game is over and while the League reviews the video of the game. In both sports, there is little reward anymore to flop...I am not saying that it does not happen, I am saying that it does not happen the way it used to and that became the stereotype many people have.

@JayHawkFanToo

You are right... flopping in soccer has been reduced. At least... the flopping that was extreme and killing the game because of the loss of continuity. Soccer is a game designed around continuity of play.

What hasn't stopped happening in soccer is all the fake injuries. Those are used to convince refs of fouls and does a much better job than players whining. It is also a big part of Int'l basketball... and I'm grateful Serbia didn't use it much in this game, though for the most part, we played exceptionally clean basketball (but still got the foul calls against us).

Int'l ball is full of flops... though they are less exaggerated than the way we flop over here. So they tend to be more convincing. There were several flops in this game that helped Serbia draw fouls.

Marcus Smart could get a lesson in how to flop from these guys. They flop every bit as much as Marcus did (does) but they still maintain their credibility by not being so exaggerated.

I hope we come back from this tournament with some basketball IQ education. Some of our guys are a bit slow to catch on to it... Jamari and Landen need to pay attention more to how this game is played and just try to be effective. Hunter is a sponge and is starting to really play it right, hence his excellent results.

This is all about basketball IQ. Wayne... if we minus out his spike, has figured it out well. He has slowed down his drives enough to maintain control and has figured out he is more physical and athletic than anyone he has gone up against. So he is taking advantage... great for Wayne... great for us!

@drgnslayr

'When in Rome, do as the Romans do"

The rest of the world is not going to change the way they play or how games are called just to accommodate us any more than the NCAA or the NBA would accommodate foreign teams that come to play here, In fact, they will use them against us because in BBall we are consider the dominant power and as Wilt famously said...nobody likes to root for Goliath. We are playing under international/FIBA rules and might as well learn how to take advantage of them...don't you think?

@JayHawkFanToo

Totally agree. The problem is we have only a short time to prepare and we typically have players that have never played Int'l ball. All things considered, I think we are doing pretty well at this for being so green to their ways.

I think we are starting to figure out how Int'l teams like to play and how they like to feed their 3-pt shooters. What we need to do is learn how to conduct our contact. Slapping and poking at balls will usually draw a foul,, especially if the offensive player puts in a tiny "mini flop" to express that contact was there. This is where we get caught the most... half of which there may not even be any contact.

Most Int'l players aren't quick enough to poke balls away... so most Int'l refs... when they see someone poking or slapping they consider it an intentional attempt to foul. Notice how many intentional fouls are committed by our opponents? Anytime we get the chance at running a break, they know how to grab and have it be considered a plain foul.

Some of the calls last night were just plain awful... like the call against Frank... think it was his 4th foul. Where the guy with the ball totally instigated contact with Frank. and the foul went against Frank. That was sickening.

I think in the medal rounds, Self needs to step it up a bit and start working the refs. He hasn't even shown a presence in this and he needs to do it. He needs to work the refs. It will also be a good sign for his team, that just because we are foreign to foreign ball, that doesn't mean we have to take a backseat to anyone.

@JayHawkFanToo We know all the college rules too, and that doesn't stop us from complaining about the refs. That's like death and taxes. After watching the Turkey mugging, I have no clue what is a foul. It looked like for awhile in the Turkey game, the only way you get fouled is if you're knocked to the ground.

@KUSTEVE

A big reason why we don't get more fouls called against our opponents is because we don't know how to "mini flop."

Int'l ball has a bit of a feel like soccer. Continuity of play is very important. So... for the most part... "no harm, no foul." We need to express that there was harm. And it can't be over-exaggerated.

I think Self needs to offer a scholarship to the Serbian Guard. "POT." He is a fantastic 6'6" point guard. He was able to draw 5 fouls on Mason and 4 on Moore. Svi will be much better playing with the short clock he is use to. No wonder there were so many three's shot on the breaks in his highlight videos.

FC371953891230406583947857920_3b25d8ca440.4.1.2409074765768984023.mp4

Sorry. Vine to big of Wayne's driving dunk.!ku_bkc_serbia_145_t423x500.jpg ↗

@drgnslayr I think frank has been working on the fake move of getting fouled, most of the time he is being fouled!

@wrwlumpy

While Pot is only 20, he has played professionally for 3 Serbian teams and is currently playing in the pro league in Romania. Definitely not eligible to play NCAA ball but probably half of the players at the WUG are not in college and likely ringers.

@wrwlumpy he's a great kid!

“This has been the Hunter Mickelson coming out party over here,” Self said. “Wayne has obviously been our best player, but Hunter has been our most pleasant surprise. I’ve said all along, he probably needed this as much as our freshmen did because he hadn’t had a chance to play in two years. God, he’s playing great.”

@Crimsonorblue22 The Red Fury....

@KUSTEVE

We know all the college rules too, and that doesn’t stop us from complaining about the refs.

...and this is how we do it here and that is how they do it there; nothing new, really.

@drgnslayr I do think Self is getting a "feel" for the refs so he can work them without repercussions. Wouldn't be surprised if some of them really are related to coaches & players alike.