🏀 KuBuckets Archive

** KU Sports: Shooting just one of KU’s struggles ↗**

Self, who stressed that “Villanova deserved to win,” was asked by a fan on his radio show if he thought about giving significant minutes to one of the bench players known for three-point shooting — Andrew White III, Conner Frankamp or Brannen Greene. White was 0-for-5 from three; Frankamp and Greene each 0-for-1 in the Bahamas. Frank Mason was the only non-starter to hit a three, knocking down two in 11 tries to go with Naadir Tharpe’s four and two apiece from Wayne Selden and Andrew Wiggins.

“We thought about that a lot. No question our four best perimeter players have been Frank, Naadir, Andrew (Wiggins) and Wayne. They’ve been the four best since start of practice for the most part. Others have had good days and things like that,” Self said.

Well done, @HighEliteMajor , well done. Check out the original thread at KUBuckets:* *

!KUbuckets ↗
Follow-up: Self answers rotation question

Keegan: Wiggins' growing pains worth it ↗

Andrew Wiggins played one lousy basketball game in the Bahamas. During the three-game Battle 4 Atlantis, he was no better than Kansas University’s third-best freshman, ranking behind Joel Embiid and Frank Mason. I have two words to say about that: So what?

I just read the article on KUsports about Wiggins early struggles. There are a number of comments about how Self can't coach OAD players and that Cal and Coach K get more out of these superior talents. I can't disagree as Self does not have a great history with OAD players but we just need to be patient. Wiggins struggles in Atlantis were not issues caused by Self...he missed layups, travelled multiple times, was in the wrong place on the floor multiple times and was not solid from the line. These are not things you can blame on CS. These are simply early season jitters/flu. Wiggins is going to be huge this year

I'm clearly biased when it comes to defending HCBS. But I think his perceived struggles have more to do with the OAD players he's gotten, not his system. I hope Andrew brakes the stereotype.

Bravo, HEM!

I don't buy into the idea that CS can't coach OADs. Henry and Selby left when they should have stayed in school. Neither of those guys would have done any better if they played for Cal or Coach K. They were just two guys that should have stayed in school longer... especially Selby. Imagine Selby played for Kentucky and sat out mid season with an injury... the kid wasn't ready for the NBA. He would have had to hustle hard to be ready to come back to KU for a second season.

BMac went high in the draft, and he wasn't projected anywhere near the lottery when he signed with Kansas. Okay... he wasn't a OAD... but close to it.

I'm all in on the bet that Andrew shows a lot more game come March than he does now. We've seen him for several games now and he's got freakish athleticism but limited moves. We'll see him pick up more moves this year. He won't want to be a bust.

The hyper-state that ran amuck on Andrew before he dribbled a ball, is now doing the same thing once he has dribbled a ball. We just can't buy into the level of frenzy.

We always talk about teams being "sped up" during games... and how they screw up when they do. This is a case where the fan base is being sped up. Look at the season and consider it one game. The first 10 minutes are in the book and we aren't pulling away yet. Give it time.

Once we nail down real offensive sets and plays, look out!

Not only will Wiggins show more stuff but our 3-pt shooting will come around, too.

It's too early in the year and our freshmen are thinking too much on the court. It's slowing them down, giving them more stage fright, and bringing on confidence issues.

They'll settle down.

This tough period is good for them. I'm growing more optimistic because we are going through it now. It would have been a real tragedy to go undefeated all the way through February. They would have been way too high on themselves and wouldn't develop at such a high rate. Then they would get smoked by someone and they wouldn't know how to respond, and it would be too late in the season to make big gains.

Right now we should be focusing on learning defense and making sure we are hustling for 50/50 balls. Once we show enough improvement on defense, we work harder on offense. We need to learn better d before focusing on o or we'll never go back to focusing on d.

In the meantime... all of these guys need to shoot 200 FTs a day, every day, all the way through our last game of the season!

Read the article about Embiid... and smile! Everyone is talking about Wiggins and Parker now... ha... they'll be talking about Embiid come March!

I think we should give Embiid a nickname. How about "Ace?" Why Ace? Because he is our "Ace in the Hole!"

I like our chances in March more today, than before going to the Bahamas.

We're not the only ones that think he could well be the hole card slayr.

I read how shooting was a problem in Atlantis. The only problem was the other teams didn't really seem to have the same shooting problems. I haven't looked at the stats, but I'd say KU may have the worst 3pt shooting stat of that tourney. I could be wrong. Whatever the problem was, every shooter on the team fell victim to the mental shooting block. I don't think it was the ballroom. I just think it was a lousy showing all around. I just hope the guys learned to overcome their personal mental block to have a better season.
Self keeps discussing the schedule of this tourney. Again, why didn't the other teams have the same problem with the schedule? Why didn't the schedule bother the other teams' energy? It just appears what could go wrong, went wrong for KU, especially the Nova game.

@truehawk93 It's much easier to get up to play KU than to play UTEP. That's a bad attitude, but a fact of life. If the consolation game was against UNC or Duke the energy level probably would've been greater.

Nail on the head, drgnslayr! Good points by everyone elso also. Fun to see how this team handles playing FL, CO, NM...

Have not seen much from this team to be concerned about. With the exception of the 10 and 1/2 minute stretch in the Villanova game where the refs obviously swallowed their whistles on one end, allowing Villanova to grab, pull, and push. This enabled Villanova to gain the advantage on those 50/50 balls that Coach Self talks about. Other than that, it is an easy KU victory, and most of these conversations are not had. Winning is a great deodorant. The only real issue with this team is allowing the 3 point shooters to shoot. 3 point shooters need to have confidence that the shot is going in, and that their coach has confidence in them. All of these young men can play basketball. We have at least 10 quality starters on this team. I read a comment that Frankamp can't handle the ball. Nothing could be further from the truth. He can flat out ball. He may not be used to the ball not being in his hand all the time, but he can definitely play and handle the ball. These young men were not only starters on their previous teams, they were also "The Man" on their teams. There has to be an adjustment period to becoming a role player and learning a new system. I think they will all be fine, and since Coach Self could not find a player to red-shirt, then he needs to figure out a way to use them all.

@kansascomet thanks for the level-headed comment to help settle me down. I like your idea that the challenge for this year is for Coach Self to adapt to 10 starters. It's a new perspective for me. I'll bet Coach Self will meet and exceed the goal!!

Speaking of Wiggins, this article doesn't:

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/90856/brennans-wooden-watch-week-3 ↗ ↗

Not even honorable mention.

For a change of pace, how about this twit from JoJo...

funny post from JoJo

The dude is funny...

Lucas reply is even funnier.

Thanks, there really isn't a need to kill the confidence of these obviously talented young men. We have a chance to be one of the fresher teams entering March.

I think this the short version of JoJo before he slayed the lion. :)

!JoJo, the lion slayer ↗

And nor should you. HCBS is too smart to recruit players he cannot coach. I think he has had the most success from players like Greene and White but w/Wiggins, Selden & Embiid, HCBS will have us back in the Final 4

I'm amazed (I shouldn't be anymore) by how many fans seem ready to flee because of an early season loss to a team we should've beaten.

• Coastie, KU grad, MSeD FIU

@jhawk7782 - I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I sure as heck ain't ready to flee. I just hate to lose !