🏀 KuBuckets Archive

I like Mason & Graham combo on the floor and both are playing about 30 mpg. While Mason's numbers are lower than last year, with the importance of PACE for success how crucial it is to have another reliable PG, provide some relief to Mason & Graham and also have an insurance against injury.

Could Vick be that guy this year. With this in mind should he be getting more PT in the upcoming games for development & production down the road?

@AsadZ

Glad you brought this point up. From the moment this two guard offense with Frank and Devonte surfaced, I thought it was a bad idea, because we didn't appear to have a third point guard to rotate for them.

Self apparently decided that the team would have to change character after the 5 minute substitution regardless, because of the wide variety of big men he has to play, so he apparently decided it was okay to start Frank and Devonte and shift gears with Svi/Greene/Vick and become a one guard offense for periods of time.

The problem of course is what if an injury hits Frank, or Devonte? If a team is schemed to rely on the separation that playing Frank AND Devonte can give it, then what does it do, if one of those two go down?

I don't recall Self taking this big of a gamble at two positions before. Its a big one and says volumes about just how limited he thinks Wayne, Svi, Greene and Vick are in the ball handling and defending department at the 2, and about how unready he thinks Svi, Greene and Vick would be for the 3. Self has essentially decided 30 minutes per game of Frank and Jamari is more important to hanging Ws than holding down wear and tear on the two guys over 40 games.

So, the answer to your question of whether there is another point guard is: no, unless Vick is hiding something from us with a role scoped in a way that obscures his point guard potential.

Svi was the only other option. But when they decided to beef Svi up, that was the end of Svi the point guard.

If I were a coach like Greg Marshall, which I mercifully am not, I would definitely be looking at Fred Van Vleet having some XTReme Accidental Contact with Frank, or Devonte that refs would not call, and that would lead one or the other to the locker room, and to being woozy for the rest of the game.

@jaybate-1.0 Jaybate, how do you feel about Self giving Vick more minutes, say 8-10 per game without a quick hook, to increase his confidence and lowering the load a bit from Mason and Devonte.

@AsadZ

If Vick has PG potential, yes. I like long point guards. But I have had the impression that he is not a great ball handler and distributor.

I think the plan was Svi at 3 backing up Wayne, and Brannen at 2 backing up which ever one of Frank/Devonte needed a blow.

Probably Self viewed the time that Brannen and Svi came in as times for them to be on the wings with a single point guard out front running the high low passing offense.

But Self suspended Brannen and Svi has been volatile shooting--way hot, or way cold, so Self has had to ride it out with Frank and Devonte playing extra minutes.

My guess is things will settle down with Brannen back. Probably what happened was that when Self suspended Brannen, Svi began to have to learn two positions and got a little overloaded. It doesn't seem like much, because it is just one wing, or the other on offense. But on defense, it IS a big deal having to prepare for two positions. It meant Svi had to prepare to guard four guys, instead of two, which would be normal. Normally you prepare for the starter and his backup. Svi had to start preparing for two starters and two back ups. Its a lot more game video to watch and a lot more to remember.

Also, preparing for two wing positions in Self defense means learning two different menus of help rules. One wing tends to help with with one post man and the other wing tends to help with the other post man.

Further, it means remembering to funnel to the center in opposite directions on defense.

It may not seem like much to an experienced player, but to a guy still finding his way, like Svi, it could be a jump. And when you start having to think a lot out on the floor, all the things you do best without thinking, like shooting, and reacting on rebounds, and getting the jump on funneling someone, well, those things can suffer.

The point of this digression is also that not only might things settle down for Brannen and Svi, but because everyone will be back to learning one position for each game, it may mean that Vick only has to be asked to learn one position, and so Self can more confidently slip him into some minutes without Vick thinking too much.

@AsadZ While a third, good point guard would be great, very few teams could say they have that.
If one of them is injured, clearly it would hurt. But we would be OK. Vick would get some PT in that case. But I don't expect Self to play him much this year in tight games. Maybe a little the remainder of December....but once the conference season starts....he won't play much. Not Self's M.O.

As an aside, I noticed Francamp was on the bench for WSU to begin their game today. So, he went from the Ku bench to the Wsu bench. At least his parents don't have to drive as far to watch him sit.

@KUSTEVE Today is CF's second game that he's eligible to play in for WSU.

@KUSTEVE
Hey O!... Nice KUSteve. Lol

@KUSTEVE

14 minutes, 2-6 from the filed, 1-4 from the 3 and 0-2 FT. Not quite the shooting I would expect but it is only his second game.