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I was watching some videos of scrimmages from this past summer and noticed that Carlton has some really nice moves - like next level moves. Here is a link to one of the videos

At 1:35, UA has a nice hook shot over Landon.
At 1:53, Carlton has a really nice step back jumper.

Yes, I know - these are not official games. But, it shows the higher level potential is there. To me, the most important aspect for success this year is Carlton. There is a big hole left by Perry and we need someone to fill it. Yes, he needs to do more inside, but, IMO, being able to spread the floor out to the three point line is more important. That opens up the lane for everyone else.
That step back move is something that Wiggins did and it is very hard to guard. I'm hoping he has also worked more on his handles to drive the lane like Perry, something that I have mentioned before. Perry was so difficult to guard because he could make threes and blow by defenders. I don't think Carlton has the same speed as Perry, but that doesn't mean he can't be effective in a similar manner. I hope coach encourages him to take open jumpers and doesn't insist on pounding the ball inside.

For UA to have meaningful minutes, he just needs to not do anything he is not capable of. Keep his hands up, don't reach and gamble for steals, get rebounds and make a few post moves. I have noticed he is prone to shuffling his feet when he gets the ball down low. He is so big that he doesn't need to try to do extra maneuvers - just collect the ball and go up with it. I'm sure Landon and the coaching staff are helping him with this.

Are my eyes lying to me again or did I really see EJ and TRele? What a fun clip.

It seems like they are playing on a Biddy Basketball goal.

@drgnslayr Yes that is EJ and Releford! UA will make about anything look small lol

@HawkChamp Enjoyed that immensely. Hope to see a bunch of that Tuesday.

Great thread. UA + Bragg will MORE than fill the hole by Ellis. We will see UA get 3 quick fouls, as big frosh are prone to do. Even McDAA frosh like Shady and top50 guys like TRob had to work thru that issue. You know opposing coaches are going to try "Shaq-effect" flops by people that UA may be trying to back down in the post...

Bragg IS a McDAA. He came to KU already with a skill set, so his potential to add next-level stuff is definitely there. He plays a team game. He has a knack and eye for making cool assists.

Ive posted this before, but Bragg will have a coming out party like sophmore year Marcus Morris. He's had a year of Huditioning, but he also came with toughness, playing in the WUG even with a broken nose. I recall a pix of him setting THE stiffest screen against a guard that Ive seen a KU frosh big set, maybe ever. (Kind of what KYo did to Marcus Smart...). This McDAA from Cleveland is a lot tougher than his smile or easy-going demeanor would suggest, and he is a lot tougher than Perry Ellis's personality allowed him to ever be...

Cliff Notes version: You can bet the farm, the wife, the 1st-born, and the barn-find musclecar...on Carlton Bragg's productivity THIS year. Because he is gone after this year. Lotto, that is...

@ralster I wonder how quickly our guys will adjust to the less physical play that is supposed to happen in the post next year. I suppose it depends upon the evenness of the reffing. If some let it go and others call it tight it'll cause so much confusion. Similiar to when Embiid was body slammed without a foul being called confused.

@drgnslayr Yep, EJ, T Rele and Kev Young!!

@HawkChamp

What I saw is how summer grab does not compare to D1.

Almost no contested shots. All 3/4 speed. No help. No trapping. No need to recognize opposing defense. No bigs chasing out to 20 feet. No hedging decisions. No one being put on the floor. Not one stiff screen or forearm smash. Noone punched in the face. No one "playing operable." No long finger nail slices on the shoulders. No fingers in the eye. Not one XTReme Cheapshot. No referees favoring your opponent everytime down the floor. Not much trash sproiken. No players crossing mid court listening to coaches screaming at them for the last mistake. No on ball defenders looking like perps in a dark alley waiting to punk the guy on the bounce. And the above all happens in the first three minutes of most serious D1 games.

This video shows basketball how it was meant to be played...not how it is played.

Thx for posting this feed. It's like a time capsule back to footage I have seen from the 1930s.

I love seeing the game played the way it was intended.

I love the smiles on the players faces--the lack of menace and lack of pain and fear. That is true sport to me.

It's innocent and beautiful the way the game was and could be again.

It is not Vegas jai alai on petrotreads played like Kirk Douglas and Woody Strode stalking each other in the gladiatorial combat scene of Spartacus.

But otherwise it reveals nothing (at least to me) about moves, or skills, or survival instincts among the untested at the D1 level, much less in NO BOYS ALLOWED.

This is not even Paris Island, much less combat in TURKEY, the Stans and Russian in winter.

It is neither 115F nor 20 below. There are no swarms of MAVS, no loitering killer drones overhead, no live rounds, no satellite pattern recognition software reading at 1cm resolution and matching your uniform's camo pattern to its library of known patterns and picking you out amongst your enemy and pulsing you into human pemmican. No wounded. No screaming "Corps man!" No radiation sickness. No nonfunctioning but still living soldiers in the grips of designer viruses earmarked to attack the very immune inoculations your military gives its soldiers and having their mortal illnesses designed to drag on as long as possible, because as Ho Chi Minh taught: wound rather kill for one injured or sick American requires 2 more to carry him back to safety. The wounded and sick of our enemies multiply our force. The dead not so much.

To continue the dreadful metaphor (being used because many fools profess war today with even less insight about war's implications than similar fools before WWI) this footage from summer grab is about equivalent to weekend leave in Honolulu a few weeks before a war for control of Eurasian super corridors commences.

Self and staff probably call it Baby Ball.

Not saying Bragg and Azuibuke aren't going to be good. Self said Bragg could become a great one last season, if he stuck around.

Saying these feeds don't show me much about Bragg and Doke.

Just how I wish the game could one day again be played.

Rock Chalk and thanks for posting it.

@jaybate-1.0 like I said, I know it was just a scrimmage - not much defense being played. My point was more about potential in that 1. Udoka can make a back to the basket move and 2. Carlton has the ability to make a step back jumper - an NBA level move and I want to start seeing that in games. Glad you enjoyed it!

@ralster I believe if Bragg can play well offensively, this team can play and beat anybody. Of the numerous factors for this next year, he is the X factor. I was rewatching last years Big 12 tournament games against KSU and Baylor. If he has an open shoot, he is probably going to nail it.

@ralster

Udoka is still pretty raw and also a lot younger than the average first year player. He is still growing and it will take some time before he mentally "grows" into his physical body. Also, his skills are pretty basic and from reading about practice, he still has a long ways to go before he has a working knowldege of both defensive and offensive schemes so he is productive. I really do not expect him to play that much early, perhaps 5-10 minutes fill-in time.

@HawkChamp

It's fascinating how differently this sort of footage can be interpreted. Your interpretation makes good sense.

But when I look at a starting 4 going against a backup in summer grab and stepping back to shoot a little jumper I think, man, if he won't go to iron on a backup, what's he gonna do against a good D1 prison body with hops willing to go out and stick a finger in Bragg's eye on that little fade away?

You see an NBA move.

I see a guy avoiding contact in grab.

You see potato.

I see potahto.

This is why we are all jazzed for the season to start: time to see what these newbies can do along side the combat hardened vets!

@jaybate-1.0 you're right - it can be taken as looking soft. But we know he is tough because of what he did at the WUG and he has tussled with Rico Gathers on a few occasions and Ridley and Ibeh at Texas. And he has gained muscle and improved his conditioning. He should be fine from a physical aspect.

@HawkChamp

We shall soon see for sure.

It was good to see Rel, EJ, and Young.

@ralster

Our coach would seem to disagree that our post play is going to make up for Ellis. It's why this 4 guard lineup has become a "thing" that may actually be used.

I do think Bragg has a big year and unless he's in big foul trouble in games he'll play because there's nothing behind him ready to play over him. Not saying someone should, but the drop off is going to be significant if Self went to a post instead of a big guard in substitution situations. I guess we'll start to find out tomorrow what our unknown post players can contribute to the team.