Why shouldn't Conner be our starting PG? Seriously, he looked really good tonite. Made good decisions. Was quick with his decisions. At the end of the first half he was decisive and the game did not look too big for him. I start him saturday against the Mildcats.
@VailHawk, I believe Self will not start him precisely because he might add some consistency to this team. Self has created a team that almost no one can defend or attack, because they cannot forecast what they will be weakest at next. Defense? Offense? Rebounding? FG shooting? FT shooting? TOs? Penetration? You never know what they might be bad at one night and good at the next. Scheming against this team is like scheming against a random number generator. You never can tell what combination of things they will do poorly and well in order to keep a game close. :-)
@jaybate you may be right! Self's Hi Lo strategy could be supplanted by Self's disorder strategy. Love to be a fly on the wall when Scott Drew is trying to game plan for us! He'll be like "Does anyone have @iowajayhawk2005 's digits? I hear he's the best poster on kubuckets bar none!!!"
all in jest no malice
@VailHawk As mush as I would love to see Conner succeed, OU doesn't play defense. One thing that bothers me about Conner is he seems to pass first before even thinking about a shot. I would like to see him more aggressive in taking a few shots. The guy can obviously shoot as he showed tonight when he was open and when he created his own shot at the end of the 1st half.
Very funny analysis.
The kids in my neighborhood like to play football on the street on the weekends. They range in age from 8-15 or so. Lately they've had a favorite play to call in the huddle called "chaos". It means roughly, go out and run around and I'll try to hit you.
Has Self really adopted such a juvenile and simple strategy? Nah... it couldn't be... could it?
I'd like to see Connor out there more frequently. I'm really baffled that he's having so much trouble knocking down the three's because I KNOW he can flat out shoot. But if he could knock down 3 or 4 in a row, watch out. I like what I see when he's on the court. He looks determined, he's a hard worker and a smart kid and when he gets a little playing time I think he'll be a big factor for us.
Conner throws crisp passes. I noticed that. I also noticed his shot has a really cool backspin, which makes me think he probably could throw a curve in baseball. I didn't think he looked overmatched against OU. Of course, OU doesn't play a shed of defense, either. There is no way Naadir is 100%. He is moving much slower on that ankle. we could see more and more of Mr. Francamp, which is a-ok with me.
I thought Conner looked good in the minutes he had, but let's not forget that Tharpe had a pretty good game last night. 17 points on 5/7 shooting, 2/3 from distance, 5/6 from the line, 3 dimes, and only 1 turnover. Tharpe is the starting point guard.
It is really amazing that a sub like CF was able to play important minutes in lieu of one of the four perimeter rotation players, and the world did not come to an end.
Coach Self had said we played such a tough schedule it was hard to play the subs -- right. A road game, in conference, against a team coming of its own road win against Texas, is a better situation?
Self made the point that no one remembers the non-conference. And has made in clear that that the non-con is not as important the as conference season.
His own logic doesn't wash here.
The fact is as we have surmised ... playing these guys regularly, even if it is just one of them (for consistency sake) ... will not cause an implosion.
Naadir Tharpe said he suggested to Self that CF stay in after half to "give him some confidence." Exactly.
I will say, if Tharpe and Mason are two of the other four perimeter rotation players, it will be awful hard to make CF the fifth. We would just be lacking so much in size and length.
@HighEliteMajor Here we are, a dozen games into the season, and Bill Self is till swept up as much as any of his players in what bskeet so properly labeled CHAOS! Perhaps he has just recruited himself into a torrential sandstorm.
Conner's minutes may have happened initially from Self rubbing Mason's nose in that botched fast-break where he threw it to Oklahoma's bench instead of a cutting Selden. I suspect he didn't intend for Conner to be in as long as he was, but he performed really well out there, and Naadir was in foul trouble, so he stuck with him.
It was nice to see an inexperienced freshman look so under control in a conference road game. I won't hold my breath for him to play big minutes going forward this year, but I do think he will be a special player by the time he's a junior, and could provide some key minutes for us this year when his number is called.
It wasn't always pretty last night, but with this team in this conference with this schedule, a win is a win is a win.
Vail, one good game doesn't make someone a starter. Lots of players can have a nice game. Remember Tarik against Georgetown. What has he done since? While I like your posts I think this one is kind of a knee jerk reaction, especially the Kirk line! But let's hope he has figured something out.
BTW, I defended him over on KUSports before their demise. People were saying he's not athletic enough, won't be able to make it. I said often that someone who is ranked 30th in the country by people who supposedly know about such things should be able to come in here and play consistently good against top competition. I hope I'm right because I think we've got a four year player in Connor.
@wissoxfan83 I totally agree. It was definitely knee jerk which was why I chose "Hyperbole." I guess I just want some stability at point. We don't need all B12 PG just someone who won't turn it over, get it to the playmakers and score occasionally.
I knew Conner would come in at some point during this season and have an impact. However, let's not get carried away. Conner played well, but he's still our third best option at the point. He will probably have another couple games like the one he had last night, but that doesn't make him a starter. In limited exposure, he can be quite successful. If he plays too much, opponents can key on his weaknesses.
For as well as he played (and he did play quite well), his line of 5 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist in 13 minutes isn't a spectacular one. I like the 0 turnovers and the efficiency (2-3 from the field). But he also had 4 fouls and pretty clearly was being keyed on as the guy to attack on the defensive end in the second half when he was in. Good game, but let's not just hand him 25 mpg on last night's performance.
@justanotherfan agree! I was really surprised how well he did.
I'll go with 3
CF plays 2 or so minutes and gets yanked for turnover or mistake.
@jaybate 1.0 Hey, I have a way to get Perry to go to the 3. Let's talk Embiid into returning next year. That way, we'd have Embiid at the 5, Cliffie at the 4, Perry at the 3, Oubre at the 2, and Frankentharpe at the point. That way, when Perry gets beat by quicker 3s, we'd have Embiid and Alexander waiting for them in the paint. I'm beginning to think this year is a repeat of 2007, which was actually a prelude year to the national championship year. I just knew we were the best team in nation that year, and that bitter loss to Ben Hooligan and the UCLAs still burns a bee in my butt. Little did I know the payoff would be the next year.
@HighEliteMajor 3. But I hope I'm wrong!
Conner needed a game like that to lift his confidence and reward him for the effort he has been putting out in the gym. He easily had the toughest road from HS to college in making the transition to D1 basketball. He still has a ways to go, but the progress is clearly there.
If the OU game was any indication of the level of play we can start receiving from Wayne, the minutes at the 2 will be limited for others, Conner included. He may just develop more minutes at the 1, and from what we have seen so far this year, we could still use another option at PG!
All Conner can do is keep punching it out in practice, lifting his game so he becomes a better option in the future. At least now he can smell the carrot at the end of the string. After the OU game we can see he'll some day earn some valuable PT at KU!
@HighEliteMajor Not at all. I just don't think he's quite ready for that match-up just yet. His day will come and he'll be the player everyone wants and expects.