🏀 KuBuckets Archive

In light of everything and this season. I think it's time to see more of Diallo and Bragg. They are the key to any real sustained success for this season. This game against WVU reminded me so much of last years team, and that is not a good thing.

Say what you want about Bragg and Diallo, but they can do things other players can't. The time is now. I'm not going to sit here and bash on other KU players. I just feel the time is now. Bragg and Diallo can do things on the court that can't be taught in practice. Sure they'll make some mistakes, but they will also wow us too.

I know I'm reaching on this but I feel if Coach would have played more of Bragg and Diallo the outcome of this game would have been different.

@DoubleDD It wouldn't have hurt to try.

@DoubleDD what about our guards?

@Crimsonorblue22

Well what can you really do? I believe in giving Svi and Greene more minutes, and resting Mason, Graham, Selden as much as you can. Tough I would think if Coach can get something going on in the paint with Bragg and Diallo it would help the guards and Ellis.

Something needs to give, because Ellis won't make it through the season playing the amount of double teams and even triple teams he's starting to see. He's not built to take that kind of punishment.

@DoubleDD guards killed us! TO's and letting their men in the paint that broke down our D. I'm not very happy, but I'm not happy w/our guards.

@Crimsonorblue22 Maybe @DoubleDD was suggesting playing Bragg and Diallo instead of Mason and Selden?

@DoubleDD look at svi's and BG's stats. They got minutes. I always thought it wouldn't be possible w/our depth to have so many guys cold! Crap was I wrong. Why not try Vick? Banked 3 better then none! Maybe he could have guarded somebody. One thing that pisses me off the most is 50-50 balls and I guess equally irritating is letting someone "take" the ball away from us. Value the ball! I've probably said that a million times in my life!

@Crimsonorblue22

Oh I know they played pretty bad basketball. It was almost like they weren't even trying. I don't know what it is about KU playing at WVU, but man every time KU stinks up the joint. It's kind of eerie.

@DoubleDD who was that KU played three 4 years ago right before Christmas in a snow storm on the East coast?

They stunk up te joint that game too.

Is it traveling to the East coast they don't like or can't handle or what?

@JRyman

You might be unto something there. KU has had played some stinkers on the east coast.

I mean they went West to Hawaii and didn't crumble like a flaky pie crust.

Hey, if your previously A-rated guards cannot handle the press, stick a fork in us in this game. Any talk of "inside game" with Ellis+ (whoever your KU fantasy "big" may be)...is all a moot point. Guards cant get them the ball anyway.

@ralster

I don't know? I think you put another big on the floor that WVU really does have to respect then the procedure of the game changes entirely. Besides it wasn't like WVU was lighting it up on the offense end.

@DanR ya, I think that's what he meant, wants to try Diallo at the point, handle ball pressure a lot better

@JRyman wasn' that Villanova maybe?

@jayballer54 it might have been. I know they got KU in Atlantis a few years ago too.

Again another game going East they didn't play well in.

@DoubleDD So you think If Diallo was in at this point that Huggins is going to repect him? he has shown nothing offensively other then ONE time against a very medicore mid level school when he had a good 2nd half and with that I think fans expectations of how he was going to turn out went RIGHT THROUGH THE ROOF when he has played in his limited minutes he has been either a turnover looking for a place to happen, or a black hole where if the ball goes to him, it's going up no matter doubles tripled, no matter he was going to find a way to shoot, and on the defensive end totally lost, no weakside help. He is not the answer to the ball handling problems teams will notrespect Diallo either at this point. ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

@jayballer54

I don't know what game you watched? Yet when Diallo and Bragg were in the game they played pretty good defense. Also when Diallo and Bragg where in the game WVU actually put a guy on them. When Lucas was in the game WVU didn't even bother to guard him. Meaning KU was playing 4 on five when Lucas was in the game.

This argument that Diallo and Bragg aren't ready is getting quite weak. Both played pretty good games against WVU in their limited minutes. It's time let them play or at the very least get more minutes.

@DoubleDD We both have 2 different points: I totally agree with you about Diallo/Bragg being just plain more talented kids, who eventually will easily surpass the Lucas/Traylor output, likely on both ends of the floor.

My point is going to the root reasons we lost the game: turnovers, non-aggressive, mentally not prepared for 40min of HuggyHell. This means guards.

Also, blame every bigman KU put in there for soft D, soft positioning, and thus giving up layups, rebounds, stickbacks. The guards couldn't keep anybody in front of them either. WVU would drive to score, or drive to dish. They succeeded with BOTH. WVU was clearly the aggressor.

WVU is the type of team you have to get your hands dirty when you fight em. Some pretty prep-boy Duke/UNC/KU-finesse isn't going to cut it. Clue: last year WVU beat us in their gym, and almost beat us in our gym. This year they are better...

How many 50-50 balls did they get? Most of em. How many strips did they get? Lots.

So, to me, WIDER issues than who-is-our-center. This was a total team & system fail, a nice lesson for a supposed "#1" team, at just the right time. Also good for our psyche to get nicely reset back to reality by getting court-rushed. Let's see if this lights our fire...

(and just to touch more on the Diallo/Bragg issue: even as a KU fan/alum, I personally don't have much faith in them yet. Why would Huggy or Kruger? Or Self?)

@ralster well said!!

I almost threw my remote last night in the first half when WV was shooting. Ft and Diallo came into the game. He barely boxed out reached for the ball then had it knocked away by a guard.
Then as KU broke the press he gets clocked out behind the back board by the same guard as Svi clanked an open three allowing WV to get the reb and run past our guards flat feet.

Now I did stand up for him when he went high and stood his ground when Paige tried to oosterize the whole team. Was even more shocked there was no whistle. But I regress.

Yes the young ones are raw. The elders are there. Coach needs to find a way to take advantage of both old and young instead of being taken advantage of.

Didn't matter what component of C5 KU played last night on D, Williams pushed them around and made them all look bad. Heck his D looked really good against them all too. Geesh!!!

@Crimsonorblue22

" I always thought it wouldn’t be possible w/our depth to have so many guys cold! Crap was I wrong."

I hear ya.

This was a team melt down. So... no one off the bench was going to pull the pants up on the team.

@ralster

Hey it happens. Even the great ones have bad nights. KU has really been living off their guard play, this season. It's was going to happen sooner or later. KU guards were going to have a bad game. You know what? They're going to even have more bad games if coach doesn't do something in his scheme.

Coach wants to run his offense through the paint and he wants to give the majority of the minutes to Traylor and Lucas. Lon exposed a truth about coach and KU. When Lucas is in, no need to guard him. Huggins picked up on the truth and ran with it.

Don't get me wrong the guards played a terrible game, but lets face it they are being ran to death and expected to cover up the short comings of an inside game.

As for Bragg and Diallo? I rather row the dice and see what I get with them. I already know what we'll get with Traylor and Lucas. A lot of close games, maybe a conference championship and then bow out in the second round of the tourney. I'll pass lets see what Bragg and Diallo can do. Besides when they where in the game Huggs actually guarded them.

@DoubleDD Great points. In Self's system over the years, we have seen multiple bigmen who were eventual lotto picks, be barely functional as frosh...(except for Embiid, but even he could have been better & healthier in Yr2). Shady, Cole, Twins, Thomas Robinson, Cliff. And we see Bragg and Diallo now, same thing. Robinson was nothing his freshman season other than a finely-chiseled foul machine.

I have great expectations for Bragg/Diallo, and if they both are here next season, we'll see the best post-game KU has had since Withey+Thomas Robinson ('12).

@DoubleDD I'd play better in Hawaii too!

Guards aren't the problem with this team, not even last night. Does anyone think two guys (Mason and Selden) just magically turn into turnover machines?

We have the best group of perimeter players in the country. We weren't schematically ready for their press and defensive pressure, and Self admittedly doesn't know who to play at the post spot opposite of Ellis, so he falls back on the two worst players on team.

Of course, post game, Self again makes the flat out stupid "Fool's Gold" comment. We were 10/20 for the game on threes. However, until the last 2:30, we were 6/15. And Self is talking about Fool's Gold. Is foolish not playing to the team's strength? You're down 14 when Mason makes a three at the 2:30 mark, and before that, you had just shot 15 three pointers?

Again, what is foolish?

Regarding the post players, the reality is that coaches need to look in the crystal ball and see what they need before they need. Thus why I've been on the Bragg/Diallo bandwagon. Are they a panacea? No.

But their upward arc, with some regular minutes, will quickly surpass the neutral arc of our two worst players.

Mick was the one that got the shaft last night. Had a real nice stretch. Got yanked for Traylor. Mick has the highest PER on the team now (24,1) yet he sits for Traylor (13.8 ). Unreal.

We are a better team now, and in March, if Lucas and Traylor simply stay home from now on. But then again, I said that in October. Win, lose, or draw. It doesn't matter. We're better without either of them. So nothing new here.

Diallo 4 minutes, Mick 5 minutes, Bragg 6 minutes. Traylor and Lucas combine for 26 minutes. Good grief.

I did notice last night, that Cal found a way to play Skal 16 minutes in a win on the road. Just information.

@HighEliteMajor I wondered that too about Mickelson. We got it down to four then Self took him out. I also thought Diallo was decent in his time out there.

Have you noticed the look that Self has a lot of times on the sidelines during games like this and against WSU? Looks like he is sitting there mad about what is happening instead of scheming to get back in the game. Maybe we expect too much, but I will never believe that the players are that inept and unable to make simple in-game adjustments. I am not in the huddle or in the locker room to hear what he tells them, but I just have a hard time envisioning that the players are not talented or skilled enough to at least calm down and make smart passes and also strategically scheme against pressure defense. I am really at a loss for how this happens repeatedly and yet nothing is done differently.

Yes, I know, we have a good record and we will get a high seed in the tourney.

But does any of that even matter if Self and co. can not figure out this problem that has plagued us the last few years as well as in 2010 and 2011? How is it that the team, in the biggest game of the year, can not bring 110% focus and determination? Why? How much more talent do we need to get to the final four? Sorry for the rant - I am just confused why this is happening time after time.

Mickelson seems back on the slow train to the deep freeze. The only thing that masks that is he is starting.

Someone please tell me where ever a starter with 0 fouls plays 5 minutes in a game?

The logic is...well, let's face it, there is NO logic that explains that. It's not just about individual stats, it's about the overall efficiency of the team. That has always been Bill Self's approach (again, Brady Morningstar case in point). It is clear that we are more efficient with Mickelson in the line up (if you want some level of experience). I can go the route of Bragg/Dialo as well.

I missed much of the first half and was able to watch rest with one eye and will re-watch some of it tonight. I will be watching to see not just the turnover, but what was going on with the other folks on the court that may have contributed to the situation that led to it.

@Bwag If you missed much of the first half then you miss the two plays in a row where Williams went around Hunter as if his shoe was nailed to the floor. That was the point where he joined Tyler and Evan.

@sfbahawk Just started watching and saw the first 2 baskets and 2/3 while Hunter was in. I wouldn't say he went around Hunter as shot effectively over him. Looked like wv player went out of the game at the same time Lucas came in. At first break, I noticed one rebound by Lucas.

Coming out of the first time out...9 players went high speed down the court (Ku on offense) and Lucas never made it into the front court before the play was over.

@HighEliteMajor Just to clarify, didnt mean it to sound like our guardplay was a problem this year--only was saying guard play in this 1 game (Frank + Wayne) cost us. And poor positioning by bigs.