🏀 KuBuckets Archive

The USA team is destroying Puerto Rico, 87-52 at the end of the third period. The USA team beat Venezuela comfortably last night although the team did not play well. BTW, Pitino is coaching Puerto Rico and Kevin Young Started for Puerto Rico, Game is on ESPN2 live.

Lots of positive comments and references to KU; I don't believe I have heard other schools cited nearly as much as KU.

Game switched to ESPN3 so they can show the Cuba-Puerto Rico Volley Ball game on ESPN2,,,

Keith Lankford scoring well vs. Puerto Rico. Ron Baker started, and is playing well.

I was fortunate enough to be in Toronto on business this week and went to Tuesday and Wednesday games. Justin Wesley was at the Tuesday game and last night I spoke to Keith's dad. He said Keith continues to get love from Jayhawk Alums when he runs into them. Once a Jayhawk always a Jayhawk.
Keith looked good. It was great to see that left handed shot again!

@JayHawkFanToo Kevin didn't start the game, but he was his usual self. Played team ball. Got some garbage points.

@Hawk8086

I forgot the 1 hr time difference and when I switched to ESPN2 the game had already started and Kevin was playing. I notice that Keith has a new hairdo, not the short hair of old but a longer in the middle and swept back look...is how I would describe it. KY still sports the 'fro.

@JayHawkFanToo

It's called a "frohawk."

USA loses to Brazil 93-83. Langford had 17 points in 29 minutes and shot 4 of 6 and 3 of 4 from 3 and 8 of 8 from the FT line; he also drew 7 fouls. He was the best player for the US team. The team advanced to the final four and plays Canada tomorrow and if the win, they will get another shot with Brazil who plays and will likely beat the Dominican Republic.

Maybe Coach Few should call Coach Self and ask on how you beat the Canadians...:D

@JayHawkFanToo zero chemistry or coaching from this team. A strange combo of players.

@JayHawkFanToo I find the player rotation by Few to be unlike anything I have seen in college or the NBA. Normally the best players start. Sometimes a player is better off of the bench or the coach wants to bring in an energy guy or a great shooter to take advantage of the normal substitution pattern or he wants someone to steady the less talented bench. This is usually limited to one player. The starters with some exceptions finish the game when it is close.

In these games Few starts the college kids and but it is the pros with sometimes one college kid who finish and who play the most important minutes. What is he trying to accomplish with this rotation?

Team USA showed it's Achilles heel yesterday.... bad PG play. Bobby Brown is a joke. His focus is on seeing if he can top the 50-some points he made in a game in the China pro league. He couldn't run a lemonade stand and he dang sure can't run a team. Trimble is such green wood I swear he has sprouted a branch on top of his head.

This is the perfect example of "cut the head off" the giant, and stand back to experience the fall. I can't believe they cut VanVleet. Or too bad Frank couldn't just catch a flight direct from Korea to Toronto.

What a disgrace.

@Crimsonorblue22

It is very difficult to take a group of essentially disparate players, regardless of how good they are, and expect them to develop chemistry in two weeks. I would have liked to see a VanVleet-Baker back court since those players know each other very well; I don't believe the team even played an exhibition game prior to the games. Even the Senior USA team with all the top pros gets together for extended periods of time and play many exhibition games prior to competitions. The teams from the other countries are a comprised of athletes that know each other well and have been playing together for many years.

This is not a new occurrence; it has happened before even to the senior USA team when it did not practice together enough and it has happened often to the many junior teams that were put together by throwing a bunch or top ranked players for a couple of weeks and then sending them to compete against real "teams."

This is the reason why the organization in charge of selecting teams for the WUG chose to base the basketball team on one school, KU, and it worked out well. Hopefully the USA team can get it together and beat Canada and get a second shot at Brazil.

@drgnslayr Agreed. Bobby Brown is terrible. And what he did with Whitney Houston is despicable (god rest her soul).

Tells you how clueless Few is (outside of his own system) by cutting Van Vleet. What a doofus! Could have had INSTANT chemistry with VanVleet + Baker (which is a top10 tandem).

The fact his "system" is to have the pros close the game, means he doesnt really know his players--> because any armchair coach could say: Yeah, I think I'll let the pro players play during crunch time....duh.

Few aint learned nuthin from watching Coach K or Coach Self.

Maybe the University of KS ought to schedule a basketball game vs. Gonzaga, where Self will prove to Few that 'my upperclassmen beat your upperclassmen'. That's when Selfball is at its most dangerous, is with experienced players. But they are also higher ranked athletes, who have also been Huditioned. I'd "Frankly" warn college basketball: this season's Jayhawks are for real, the best team we've fielded since the MorrisHawks. Cannot count us out until the "Wayne-ing" moments have played out! There's something golden about this squad...

@ralster

Right on! I'm still shocked that we won WUG! Gosh... I know we lose Nic from that team... but imagine what we are going to be like with Devonte, Cheick, BG and Svi? Add one more guy to that group and we left a Top 20 team at home!

The timing should be there this year for us. Perry is "ripe" to finally be that consistent force we need from him. I'm not expecting to see another Perry this year, just a Perry that doesn't go absent when his game isn't going great.

If Wayne maintains consistent alpha ball like he had in Korea.... it is very hard to imagine a team out there that can put the brakes on us.

I'm hopeful Cheick will adapt quickly to the speed of D1. Almost can't imagine that he won't. He already plays at a fast speed. If he clicks big by the end of the year, we will have our inside force capable of being the shot blocker we like to have and rebounder, too.

I could write for an hour about all our guys...

We just have to stay healthy. Self needs to do his best job ever at substituting. Guys need a blow. Fresher legs typically mean less injuries.

Yep... Few really missed the boat cutting VanVleet. Just imagine removing most of the TOs from our games? That alone would have made the Brazil game tight... and I'm not even considering the difference in chemistry when having a top notch PG out there versus a volume scorer pretending to be a PG. Few has no concept of what Int'l ball is all about, because if he had some knowledge he would have made sure to pick quality depth at PG.

Got to hand it to Self... especially after Devonte went down. He knew he had to bring in a guy who could handle the rock and was a solid PG.

Brazil and Dominican Re[public on a tight game and tied 45-45 in the third quarter...

@ralster

Spot on on VanVleet as I mentioned it my previous post.

Few is a good coach and I would be interested to know how much control he has over who is invited and who makes the final cut. Unlike KU where Coach Self has complete authority, the Pan American team is run by a committee and I would not be surprise if the committee has the final say in who makes the team and who gets playing time.

@JayHawkFanToo That's an important point you make, for if the "committee" decides the roster and also the mpg, then its a poor chemistry, poorly structured concept before the first game ever got played. Never seen a "committee" coach a game of basketball, in D1 or the pros.

If that's the case, then Few was put in a bad position.

USA playing now.14-16, Canada

Heslip, smh! Can we make any comparison to him and BG? Other than height. Valentine has hit 3, 3's in a row. Hasn't even played much til now.

@Crimsonorblue22

11-2 run by Canada to start the 4th quarter.

@JayHawkFanToo no Langford 2nd half, yet.

Murray kid is good, pretty tall for a pt.

@Crimsonorblue22

Baker is playing well...I would have Langford in, he is the type of player you want at the end.

I am glad Tarczewski did not come to KU; can't score, can't rebound, can't guard even shorter players...

@JayHawkFanToo brown is a ball hog

@JayHawkFanToo baker tuff at the end

@JayHawkFanToo keep me posted on score, gotta go. Dang! No Keith at all 2 nd half! Bummer

Overtime...and I am posting to myself... :(

No rebounding whatsoever for team USA, I am surprised they are even in this game.

Murray is got to be the luckiest player, he just made to highly improbably baskets in the last few seconds to put Canada up by 4 with 1 minute left...

@JayHawkFanToo thx

@JayHawkFanToo and?

@Crimsonorblue22

Murray played great, Canada won, and the USA team plays for the Bronze tomorrow. :( :( :(

Dubious USA coaching. Shoulda let Baker run PG, put SuperK in da game, man!

@ralster 17 pts sitting the bench!

@JayHawkFanToo Murray for real, make him go right!

@Crimsonorblue22

Murray is the real deal and the US had no answer for him. I believe he had 22 points, all of them in the 4th quarter...I bet the squid was drooling...

Hard to believe that a "money" player like Langford played only 7 minutes at the start of the game and sat the rest. I like Few and he would be in my short list of coaches to replace Self someday, but the coaching decisions today were...to be kind...questionable???

@JayHawkFanToo x that choice right now!!!

Evidently, Langford injured an ankle early in this Canadian contest. That might explain his no show after halftime. Interesting that with all the experienced talent, Baker looked so good for USA going down the stretch. If VanFleet would have been available for final 5 minutes, I warrant that USA would have pulled out a victory. If Bill Self watched the closing minutes of this contest, he must have ground his molars to chalkdust!

@REHawk agree about self, not sure about Fred. He's so small.

A few post game comments:

I don't know who had the final decision on the player selection but this team did not have the right players and no chemistry.. It has been proven time and time again that teams composed of players that do not play together regularly do not develop a a cohesive team; VanVleet should have been left in the team with Baker as they were the closest thing to having a back court that could play together. I wonder how much of a role "sports politics" played in the player selection.

Brown is ball hog and volume shooter. Yes he had 25 point but that was from shooting 8 of 20 and 2 of 9 form 3; in comparison Baker was a very efficient 5 of 7 and 1 of 2 from 3 for 15 points. Whoever thinks that Melo Trimble makes Maryland a contender is dreaming; he did not do a think to prove that he is anything other than an average player.

Rebounding was non existent. Team USA was outrebounded 50 to 29 and had only 9 offensive rebound compared to Canada's 17; Randolph (who played well) had 6 rebounds and no other player had more than 3. As I posted before, I am glad Tarczewski did not come to KU; can’t score, can’t rebound, can’t guard even shorter players…and had measly 2 rebounds and 7 point in 25 minutes of play Obviously we had no inside game and one has to wonder why Rico Suave was left of the team; he would have helped big time.

Obviously I have no information on who selected the 20 players that were invited to the initial camp and who made the decision on the final 12; if Few was the primary person in charge, the he bears the brunt of the responsibility, if not then the entire process needs to be reviewed and maybe like the the WUG team, the Pan Am team should be based on one school...we know it worked well in the WUG.

On a related note and since it will affect KU down the road, Jamal Murray is the real deal and I bet the squid has a smile from ear to ear today. Even the announcers kept saying that he mostly drives to his left and yet no attempt was made to force him to go to his right (as @Crimsonorblue22 mentioned)...either bad scouting, bad coaching or both.

@JayHawkFanToo

Yes... it was so bad I almost started rooting for Canada. Imagine the fool that cut VanVleet and kept Brown? Guess they thought, "wow... all those points in China league!"

Someone read players' stats and thought they could build a "team" like that.

I thought Baker's play was interesting. He barely took a shot before the end of yesterday's game (through the entire tournament), because he is used to playing on a team that ran offense... versus what they ran in the tournament... every man for himself, if you want to shoot then create your own shot.

It looked like our guys weren't even coached. We could have had these results without coaching. Just throw 5 guys out there and when one gets tired he could signal to the bench for someone to come in and take his spot.

Even had we won, their play was embarrassing. I'm thinking guys like Baker and Langford are thinking right now... "what did I get myself into?" This wasn't an experience where anyone developed. This wasn't a resume builder. A complete waste of time.

How many assists did we have in this game? Yeah, right... every man for himself! A few times I almost turned the TV off when Brown brought the ball up and instantly gunned a 35-ft brick, not even a single pass, and 16 seconds left on the shot clock and no one in position for a rebound. Why our rebounding stunk? Yeah... that was a big reason why. Brown wouldn't get selected for a team at the Y during lunch ball. How did they find that guy?

This was, and is, a disaster.

So did anyone at all in the media say "hm, looks like we sent better coaching to the WUG"? Thought not...

By the way...team USA comes back from way behind in the fourth quarter and outscores Dominican Republic 28-14 to win 87-82 for the Bronze Medal. Look like they stunk up the place for 3 quarters. Langford and Randolph, perhaps the best two players on the team, did not play at all...they both play professionally in Russia.

@ParisHawk

Few has some 'splainin to do and this stint will not enhance his reputation. Fortunately for him, our society seem to have a very short memory.

Few got EXPOSED!

@ralster

Interesting comments from Fran Fraschilla about WSU's Ron Baker...

“If he’s not first- or second-team All-American, I don’t know basketball,” Fraschilla said Sunday after providing analysis in Toronto for ESPN’s broadcasts. “He was impressive. The competition level is higher than the NCAA. It’s a very physical brand of basketball. That Brazil team would have beaten our NCAA champion by 30 points.”

As far as the competition being so much better that Brazil would have beaten the NCAA Champion by 30 points....it is just plain BS. Brazil looked good because the US team sucked. Let's faced, an 18 tear old Canadian beat the the US team and Canada out rebounded the US team by an almost a 2-1 margin; the US team had to outscore Dominican Republic 28-14 in the fourth quarter to barely win by 5...we are talking the Dominican Republic Team...embarrassing. Didn't Fraschilla post a couple of week ago the WUG was inferior competition? What is it with him lately and his dislike for KU?

@JayHawkFanToo Fran sucks, he's a butt-kisser. He only says good things about KU when he's called out. I dread him and mushberger calling our games!

@Crimsonorblue22 Fran was pretty unbiased before his kid went to Oklahoma. He's still good at talking about international prospects as well. I'd still rather listen to Fraschilla today than Bobby Knight any day at this point. Musberger needs to stay with Big 10 football because his announce style sucks for basketball. Jay Bias and Dan Schulman is their best combo.

@JayHawkFanToo I partially disagree with the WUG having the better competition. Canada and Brazil both had professional players and American based college players on their Pan-American rosters unlike their WUG rosters. Outside of the Canada, Brazil, and maybe the US, the WUG competition looked better than the Pan-American competition.

@Texas-Hawk-10

I agree, Fraschilla used to be pretty good about KU but he has changed. I do like Knight though :(

Until 4 or 5 years ago I enjoyed Fran's work in announcing Kansas games. He seems to have changed disposition toward Bill Self and KU Hoops recently. Does he feel, perhaps, that our coaches gave his kid short shrift on the recruiting trail?

@Texas-Hawk-10

I did not see the part about the competition before. My point was that Fraschilla went out of his way to downplay the competition at the WUG and I believe he called inferior and yet he went on to heap praise on Baker from WSU (not that he did nor deserve the praise) and the Pan American teams...kind of makes you go hmmmm .

Yes, couple of teams at the Pan American games were good, but they looked better because the others were so mediocre. I watched just about every game that was broadcasted for both tournaments and they were only 8 teams at the Pan American Games with Brazil, Canada and USA clearly on different level than the other 5 who were at best at the level of Chile or Switzerland at the WUG. At the WUG , there were 23 teams and at least 10 were quality teams and the top 5-6 teams would certainly top 20 in the NCAA. Would Brazil beat the NCAA Champion by 30 points? I don't think so, I am not sure they would even beat them let alone by 30 points.

I don't get why Fraschilla was so intent on dismissing the WUGg and building up the Pan American Games...of course, he worked as an analyst for ESPN at the Pan American games.

P.S. Fraschilla, worked at Curry's camp in his role as the director of summer basketball for Under Armour...a veiled low blow to Adidas?