🏀 KuBuckets Archive

!usa_today_9838078.jpg ↗

No question. Baylor is GOOD!

They took us down to the wire last night and we tried several things to slow them down but had little success.

We seemed to be fortunate that the tide had shifted our way at the end and we were able to keep our home court win streak intact.

It seems logical to think that we have almost an impossible task of winning in Waco this year. But on further examination, last night's game might have been the tougher test.

SHIFT IN PRESSURE -

This is huge. Last night, the pressure was all on US to "hold court" and defend our hopes of extending our conference streak to 13. When we go down to Waco on February 18, we might be sitting in the driver's seat. If that is the case, ALL the pressure is on Baylor to beat us.

WHAT HOME COURT ADVANTAGE? -

Guess how many times Baylor has beat us on their home court? Would you be shocked to know that they have won exactly ZERO games against us since joining the Big 12? Baylor is 0-10 against us in Waco.

KEEPING THE STREAK ALIVE -

You might think I'm talking about our 12 consecutive conference championships. No. I'm talking about our 22 game consecutive winning streak over Baylor in conference play!

IMPROVING DEPTH -

There is a very good chance our post depth will improve by the time we meet Baylor again. There is a good chance we have Carlton back. And whether we regain Carlton's services by then or not, our other backup post players, Dwight and Mitch, are bound to show considerable improvement from here on out anyways. When we add depth in our post, we give Landen a green light to play aggressive again.

BETTER TEMPO -

We proved last night that we can beat Baylor even if we let them establish the tempo. If we go down to Waco and establish a faster pace, we can easily pull away from them.

EXECUTING OVER HEIGHT -

Notice how much better our second half was last night over the first half. It seemed to take that long for our guys to get accustomed to playing against Baylor's size. Okay, we figured them out. Next time we don't have to wait until halftime to start playing aggressive against their size.

Think about what Baylor must accomplish to execute over our height?! We have the height of a mountain; a 22-game winning streak over Baylor. You could see Baylor struggle last night at the end. They had reached close to the summit, but didn't quite have what it takes to cross over it. These streaks create tough psychological barriers for teams.

Baylor has been our #1 helper over the years, helping us to our current 12 consecutive conference titles. Without their help, it is unlikely we would have made it. We've always taken two from them every year while they helped us by knocking off other opponents that challenged us for the crown.

Last.... a shout out to Ishmail Wainright! He is a great human being and we are all lucky to have him in the Big 12!

Nice post, but I'm predicting Baylor beats 'em handily down in Wacko. Not gonna be +21 from the line down there.

But they can afford a loss there. I think 15-3 is the record needed for big 12 championship outright, this year.

@drgnslayr self loves that guy!

@Blown no way! you are still dreaming, wake up!

@Crimsonorblue22

Wainright would have been a Jayhawk had we recruited him. After his college days... expect to see him at some KU games.

And let's recognize what he did last night....

Baylor's Wainright honors late grandfather, Kansas' first African-American starter ↗

!C3oA-nqUMAIjLZj.jpg ↗

Ishmail Wainright honoring his late grandfather, Maurice King, the first African-American starter in @KUHoops history.

Ishmail is one class act!

@drgnslayr I wish we had recruited him. He would have been a fan favorite. Kind of a mixture of T-Rel and Selden.

Actually, we lost there in 2013, but I agree with you. We played at their pace much of the game and barely won. The 13-0 run was because we got out in transition.

To me, this was reminiscent of the OU game last year - so much talk about Buddy (this year Scott Drew) never having left The Fieldhouse with a W.

I think Bill should consider pressing at Baylor and using the zone, which by the way has stymied the consecutive top ten opponents we just beat.

Baylor is a legit final four contender, just like OU last year, and we can not count on them losing in order to win the conference. 16-2 wins it outright.

I think we win at Faylor too, Self just has Drew's number, like some voodoo doll curse. But I don't see them losing again in conference play besides us.

And I could see KU possibly losing one more somewhere else that we shouldn't. Either way, pretty sure we get at least a piece of the trophy this year.

@drgnslayr I agree that we could win there........our track record in Waco is good. Perhaps the pressure on them that you suggested is part of the reason.
I think if we don't beat them, someone else will. They still have to go to OSU, Tech, ISU, and UT. They'll slip up on e of those places. Or perhaps WVU at home. I'm not sure Waco is that great of a home court advantage.
I think 15-3 gets us a share. But any more than that and we might be in trouble.

@Hawk8086 15-3?

@Hawk8086 If we get 16 victories with 3 conference losses, we will definitely be in trouble--for hacking the standings!

@mayjay Corrected. Thanks.

Oh they're good, they're so good they make good teams look, not good

Ok, they're good. But we're undefeated against them...so what's that make KU? We make good teams look better? Maybe?
(

@HawkChamp

I researched the 2013 season and you are correct. Baylor beat us on their court.

My claim is wrong. I had based it off wikipedia -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baylor_Bears_basketball ↗

@drgnslayr I was seeing if it could be edited but I don't know how. But I did find something sort of interesting--the last edit to the Baylor record against Big 12 opponents entry was 2 months ago, deleting "is gay" that someone added after "Iowa State" and inserting "Cyclones" instead. Internet vandals!

Wikipedia has the correct info in the KU entry. Our overall record vs Baylor is 27-4 (25-4 Big 12), with no losses in 14 games at AFH, 2-2 in neutral sites (Big 12 tourney, I assume), and 11-2 in Waco.

Last year we played that epic game in AFH with OU and I remember thinking if it was this tough to beat OU at home how tough will it be to go to their place to win? And we went there, and it was easier, a little bit anyways. I was thinking the same last night. We traditionally haven't had too much problem in Waco against some of the more talented teams in the league.

@wissox

Plus Waco isn't Morgantown, Ames or Manhattan.

@drgnslayr Aren't we just glad Gathers isn't on the Bears any more?

@mayjay

Especially with our current post lacking the ability to muscle in the paint.

Landen has come on and performed admirably. But he is too much of a gentleman. Wish he had a little more "street" in his play.... just like I wished that of Perry.

@mayjay I did like him though. Remember he hit that 3 at the half last year in Waco?

@drgnslayr We have to be careful for what we wish for...too much "street" in a guy, & he may be watching from the bench...in street clothes...

Was just on a Faylor site, man I thought we whined about announcers and refs. Here's a sample...

"Vitale is so hard to listen to, I had to turn the sound all the way down. Probably pretty cool if it's your team, but intolerable if its not. He had some nice things to say about our players but nothing like the slobbery love fest going on for KU.

ESPN put that graphic up there that the Drew was 0-9 at Phog about 20 times like it was some kind of big revelation. How many B12 coaches have a win there? It just seemed like they were piling on."

Fun stuff. But we are also getting lots of terrible press on the major sports sites over all the charges and accusations lately too. Makes our program look pretty bad :disappointed:

@StLJhawk

Dickie V definitely gives lots of slobbery love to blue blood teams. He finally expanded past the ACC to help build his own brand. And he is a BRAND, not just a commentator. I'm sure he has an agent with all the needed staff around... spokesman, marketeers, lawyers, publicist, personal assistant.

His style... people either love it or hate it. I have always found him annoying, but I became softer on him once I realized how involved he is raising money for the battle on cancer.

I bet it does seem one-sided and over-the-top to Baylor fans watching that game.

@drgnslayr

Here is some trivia that not too many people know about Vitale. I believe he is the only individual to coach HS, Division I college and the NBA.