🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Lucas will have to do his best on Haas. Haas is tall obviously but is not an extremely talented big, but is competent. He won't have faced anyone bigger all year. I think he'll hold his own on the big Bama kid.

That leaves JJ for Swanigan. I don't always pay attention to matchups, but I'm guessing this is the biggest body he'll have to guard all year. Swanigan gives up athleticism to Josh, while Josh gives up bulk and strength to Swanigan. The height difference is minimal. I think it's a wash between the two. Both will get their points, rebounds, etc. But Josh's ball handling, speed, passing, will help him to overcome Swanigan and give us the victory.

A little discussed stat regarding JJ is his improvement on getting T-d up. He had 3 in the first 14 games and hasn't been T-d up since. This indicates focus, control of emotions, thinking more, all the little intangibles that led him to his dominating performance Sunday. He acted like a freshman Sunday when he touched the ball for the first time and tried a difficult shot over his friend Bridges. Nightmare scenarios raced through my head thinking he was going to turn this into a one upping type of contest. Then he missed the dunk and another shot, and then he began to play ball.

And boy oh boy did he play ball Sunday!

@wissox

I'm doubtful that Purdue will risk putting Swanigan on Jackson. Way too risky. But... who knows? It makes me think about what defense Purdue will throw at us.

Imagine Josh jacking wide open treys all game? Or having Swanigan defend out away from the basket? How will they rebound?

I know one thing... when you have a player do something very different from what he is used to, there is a great chance he screws up and gets in foul trouble.

I know we have problems to deal with concerning matchups. But how would you like to have Purdue's problems?

The question in this game is who has to change to match up with who?

Does KU have to put a second big on the floor to match up with Haas/Swanigan, or does Purdue have to go smaller to match up with the four out look?

Who has to bend to who's will?

The answer to that question will probably tell you who will win this game.

Jackson can't guard Swanigan all night. Swanigan is too big and physical. He's got nearly 50 pounds on Josh. Swanigan can't guard Josh all night. Josh is too quick. That match up may materialize occasionally, but it won't be there all night. Neither coach can afford for their guy to pick up fouls in a bad matchup.

@justanotherfan if they play 2 bigs we win!

@wissox

Yes, but I don't know if JJ can stop him, from scoring or offensive rebounding.

On the other end, I don't know if Swanigan can stop JJ outside and driving, unless JJ can't hit the Trey.

Inference: whichever player avoids getting fouled up is going to have a huge game.

Both coaches will be trying to foul up these players.

Over the season, the refs seem to favor Swanigan over Josh.

But I never bet against Josh.

Going to be a GREAT game. I think Purdue will be our toughest matchup of the tournament outside North Carolina.

Fascinating matchup if it happens. The only way they will be matched up will be if Haas subs in and slides Swanigan to the 4.

Otherwise Vince Edwards will have the bulk of the assignment on Jackson and vice versa. If Purdue does go to the double big set I'm sure it's going to look difficult to defend but its no different then Motley & Acuil Jr at Baylor and KU found ways to win both times.

Foul trouble on both sides is going to be something to watch. Do both teams go at each others bigs?

It would be wise if KU was aggressive and drove at Swanigan as he had 13 games in the season of 4 or more fouls. He's not a consistent rim protector, either is Haas so KU should absolutely try and play to that weakness as much as it can. I'm sure Purdue is thinking the same thing about attacking and kicking out to its shooters. Both teams have a similar way of scoring.

I can't imagine Purdue wanting to match up Swanigan with Jackson. They are almost the same height but Swanigan has very long arms and a big girth and has a 7" advantage in standing reach; however, the maximum jump for Swanigan is only 29" and I will guess Jackson is at least 12"-15" higher, so net advantage to Jackson and he is much faster as well. JJ can probably front him and deny entry passes to him.

I bet the match up Purdue wants is Swanigan with Lucas where he can use his outside shooting to draw Lucas out; however, to do this, Purdue would have to play a 4-1 like KU and KU would have a big advantage because of the superior guards. I am curious to see how it works out.

The way we stop Swanigan should involve multiple tactics -- 1) flash double teams at him randomly -- on the catch, then on the first bounce, then on the first step backward on back to the basket situations, on the turn, and then no double. Keep him thinking. 2) sag at angles on the entry pass to try to deflect and disrupt, and 3) work hard to force the entry to 7-8 feet (which can help the effectiveness of the doubles). The guy is a horse. I think Landen can be fairly effective and Coleby can offer some resistance. That might be all we need.

One other thing .. I might suggest NOT trying to block his shot on the ball. Straight up. Let the blocks come from the off ball defenders if there are any. Otherwise, fouls are a sure thing against this guy.

Any other thoughts challenging Swanigan?

@HighEliteMajor

Ball pressure on their guards might be another effective method of limiting a good entry pass into the post.

If Swanigan is slow, SVI IS THE KEY!

Ball pressure is priority #1. As usual, the outcome will be determined by guard play. Rotations on doubling are important to not mess up.

HEM - Great points. We have to make Biggie uncomfortable and get him to constantly think about where the double teams are coming from. However, we can't focus too much on Biggie and forget about their guards who are more than capable of scoring and cutting to the paint for easy points (ISU game). I'm not sure if Bill would do it, but switching occasionally between zone and man would add a little wrinkle to the game and make Purdue stand around a bit, just like our game at Kentucky.

I hope our guards continue to push the ball after rebounds - Purdue is not fast enough to stay in front of the POY. Period. My concern is Bill will want to play at Purdue's pace which will limit our opportunities for easy baskets.

@HighEliteMajor

I think we can disrupt his flow considerably with quick double-teams once he has the ball in the post. Our guards are quick and have quick hands. They need to poke at the ball while he has the ball down low.

We only have to think back 12 months ago. When Perry was shut out in the Nova game. When he got the ball in the post the help showed up.... mostly to disrupt his flow.

Clearly, Wright watched a lot of tape on Perry and his post moves. We should be doing the same thing with Swanigan right now. Study his moves and then have our guards hit him with peskiness. Step into his path and close off his post move. Etc, etc etc.

Like you said, don't try to block his shot wildly... or we will have instant foul trouble. Go straight up and hope he rams in for the charge.

I still like making him a target for fouls. As soon as we get him in foul trouble, Purdue is toast. Just look at our game with MSU. Big man gets in foul trouble, we go on a roll! The plus-minus stats on Ward told the entire story of this game. That game would have gone down to a nail-bitter had Ward stayed out of foul trouble. Heck... they were a big plus on stats when he was on the floor!

I would be surprised if Purdue plays Swanigan and Haas at the same time much; indeed, I'm not sure if Haas will see that much floor time. If you look at the recent Purdue games against teams that aren't big but which can spread the floor - that is, narrow wins against Iowa State and Northwestern and 2 losses to Michigan, Hass hasn't played more than 15 minutes - some of that is subbing for Swanigan rather than 2 bigs at once.

So, I think that means LL on Swanigan most of the time; the challenge there for us is pulling LL away from the basket as Swanigan can score from the perimeter and drive.

While I think @HighEliteMajor has well identified some of the tactics that can help slow down Swanigan, my own view is that we should make him work hard, but not really be that concerned if he goes for 30 and 15. The key to beating Purdue is to take away or limit their 3s. They are one of the top 3 pt shooting teams in the country percentage wise - just over 40%. That's better than 60% effective FG %. If we make Swanigan work, I don't think he matches that. And, even if he gets 30, if we can limit their 3s, which admittedly has been an achilles heel until now, I don't think they can score enough to match us assuming we are anywhere near our averages.

Their 3 guards are really solid, but they aren't as good or as quick as ours are - they can't create shots as well as BIFM, JJ or DG.

The bottom line is that while Swanigan MIGHT be the best player in the game - JJ and Frank may take exception - we are better at every other position. We just need to play the best Kansas basketball and if we do that, we should come out with a W. If we play the entire game like we did much of the first half against MSU, all bets are off...

@drgnslayr great example of Nova. Their post denial defense in the tournament was maybe the best I've ever seen and on par with the 08 team defensively. I'm not sure if our guys can be like those teams, but it's possible they can be effective in disrupting Purdue's offense, something that Iowa State did not do in the first half. They seemed to be too concerned about jump shots and offense instead of defending.

I would like to see us press a little to push pace and take them away from there half court offense.

Wow, these are some great answers! It's going to be a fascinating matchup.

@drgnslayr Yeah, that's something isn't it? How Purdue is gonna have to try and stop KU. Can their bigs move and shift their feet quick enough to avoid all the fouls?

Can Lucas stay out of foul trouble himself and can Coleby have another career night if needed?

KU needs to use the crowd as their 6th man in this one.

I think it'll be a tight game. I'm kinda nervous but Coach Self will have our boys ready.

Given how big Purdue's big men are, they only average 38 RPG as a team vs KU's 40.5 RPG.

Trying to stop Swanigan will get KU beat. Doubling him leaves a 40%+ 3 point shooter open which equals a KU loss. Best way to defend Swanigan is to let Landen and Coleby guard him one on one and prevent their 3 point shooters from getting good looks.

The other way is to see if they switch on screens and force Swanigan to guard Mason or Jackson while they drive on Swanigan and try and get Swanigan into foul trouble

@Texas-Hawk-10 Their 3 point shooting worries me. They're as good as we are at shooting them, and well, generally we don't guard the line very well this year.

Well he's gonna have to, I actually think JJ is the only guy that we have to match up with his inside outside game. My biggest issue is with this match up is JJ keeping Swanigan off the glass, he must box out very well. Lando wont be able to guard Swanigan outside of the post, that's a bad match up for us and has foul trouble written all over it. Lando on Haas I think is a decent match up, I haven't seen much that makes me think that Haas is anything special but will Lando struggle to score against pretty much the only guy he has faced that is 4 inches taller. We can not double team any of these guys because of how well they shoot the 3 ball, we have to play hard nose defense, maybe try to sprinkle in some triangle and 2 from time to time. Offensively we must push the ball as much as possible, I know with a short bench it could tire us out but that's the best way to beat their size, to beat down the floor and make them play our game. Purdue isn't a great defensive team we should be able to score on them.

@kjayhawks if haas isn't in who's ll guarding?

@Crimsonorblue22 That's the interesting part, I don't think he has a favorable match up against anyone else that plays, I'm just willing to bet that he gets fouls often on Swanigan, he's much faster and can go off the bounce. We could run a FM, DG, Svi, Vick and JJ match up without giving up a whole lot size when Haas is out. Sadly if Bragg had gotten as strong as we all hoped in the offseason, he would be a good player to guard Swanigan but he's too weak and will be bullied to the hoop.

Haas has only played 15 minutes last 2 games. I think the Hawks can run em ragged if they control the pace.

Purdue leads league in interior touches -per Doug Gottlieb

Caleb fouled out 5 times and had 4 fouls 7 times. So he is a little foul prone. I don't know how that compares to other players.

Maybe we could hire Grayson Allen for this game..... send Swanny on a little trip.

@nuleafjhawk Evil!!

@kjayhawks

The Baylor front line is very tall and a lot more athletic sand much faster than Haas, for that matter, TCU also has a tall front line. Lucas has been successful against both and I don't see why he would not be able to handle opposing big players.

@JayHawkFanToo Do you know the tallest player we've faced this season? I could take the time to look it up. I think you're right about height doesn't intimidate us, but when you add girth to height it becomes more concerning to me, but I worry a lot,

Honestly, I think we don't double Swanigan. He's a good passer and Purdue has plenty of shooters. Not sure we gain an advantage from sending bodies at him. I would rather not distort the shape of our defense trying to take the ball out of his hands because Purdue has the shooters to punish us for that.

I would rather double Haas. He's a lesser player, not as good a passer and could be forced into some turnovers. Swanigan has 112 turnovers in over 1100 minutes this season. For comparison, Frank, a top PG, has 83 in over 1200 minutes. But Swanigan is a big man that also has 103 assists on the season (third on their team). Haas has 76 turnovers in 663 minutes this year, and just 20 assists. Simply put, Swanigan will find the shooters. Chances are, Haas will not (and he's much more likely to cough the basketball up).

The danger is when Swanigan and Haas are on the floor together because we don't really have a good matchup. I would actually put Vick on Swanigan. Vick is quick, long and athletic, plus it would mess with Swanigan a little bit to have to try and seal off such a wiry guy. I guarantee he's never had a guy like Vick on him. He's going to get his points. Why not disrupt his rhythm by switching from a guy like Lucas to a guy like Vick? See if you can confuse him every now and then.

Either way, KU should push the pace at every opportunity. Purdue likes to play fast, but they don't have the horses to run with this KU team.

@wissox

Acuil is 7' and thin and does not have the bulk of Haas so he is faster and a lot more athletic and a very good shot blocker. Last season UC Irvine had 7'-6" Mamadou N'Diaye and 7'-2" Ioannis Dimakopoulos...KU won by 25. Duke has 7 Players between 6-'9" and 7'-0" and several likely a lot more talented than Haas. Texas has Allen at 6'-11 and Banks at 6'-10". UK has 4 players 6'-10" or taller.

I would say that most teams KU has faced had at least one 6'9" player or taller and many had much taller players. Haas, at 7'-2" is probably the tallest/bigggest player KU will see this year but by no means the more athletic or better jumper or blocker or faster big. I see Swanigan as the bigger concern.

@JayHawkFanToo Thanks. Haas averages 12 and 5 so he's not the stiff that some think he is. You've got to have some big games to average 12 points.

@wissox

No question he is a competent player but at that size he might be fast but likely not quick. By this I mean that in the open court he covers a lot of ground with that huge stride and can move pretty fast but in the first 3-5 steps most players would be faster. Against Vermont he played 16 minutes and had 8 points and the tallest player for Vermont is 6'8", against ISU he played 15 minutes and had 14 points and 6'8" Young and Bowie are their primary bigs.

Few things:

1) you know how we switch screens defensively on the perimeter? How about doing that vertically on Swanigan-- he goes out on perimeter, our guard takes him, LL or Coleby stays down low for rbds. If Swanigan goes down low, LL/Coleby take him, and guards stay perimeter or freelance stripartists, as they do.

2) Josh could play Swanigan, but risks foul count. Plan 1 above spreads fouls around, but continually keeps pressure on Swag'agin.

3) KU is a matchup puzzle extraordinaire for any opponent.

4) Self vs Matt Painter.

@JayHawkFanToo I agree LL will have to find a way to guard someone. Most of the bigs that he has guarded have not come close to the talent or range of Swanigan. We have given up career nights all season to average bigs. We have to guard better, no question about it.

This photo says a lot about Svi's defense!

!64.jpg ↗

After reading this thread I predict no one can stop anyone. KU 105 - Purdue 100.

@JayHawkFanToo I don't know that much about him, but I do remember the Wisconsin game, and UW is smallish, he and Swanigan just tore them up. I think Haas went for over 20 that night.

@Ralster I'm wondering if Self is going to use Coleby more? We've all speculated that, but has anyone heard the coach say that? I haven't but I don't pay that close attention. Point 3 Thanks for saying that. We/I've worried a bit about some matchup problems we might have with them, but I'm sure they're worried SICK about matchup problems with us! Point 4 Brilliant! Painter's been an inconsistent coach. He's had some talent, but he's never really put it together. I think he was better at SIU.

@wissox Man, off topic, but how about that Koenig kid for Wisc?!

@ralster I'm thinking no one on Florida can guard him. I know KU had some interest in him, but I think he was always committed to UW.

There are three amazing players, 2 at UW, him and Nigel (not an amazing basketball player but an amazing human being) and Frank at KU that I am really going to miss watching play next year. Guys like them are the reason why I hate OAD so much.

This will tell you what I'll miss about Nigel. http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2017/3/22/14990536/nigel-hayes-wisconsin-ncaa-tournament-2017-greatest-hits ↗ Pay special attention to the GIF of the kadeem Latin flop and his reaction.

And yes, BK is just amazing. Watching the last five minutes of that Villanova game where he just killed them with 3 bombs was something else. He took over the game like Frank has so many times this year. It's not out of the realm of possibility that we see him back at the FF with KU this year. I'd be in hoops heaven!

@JayHawkFanToo thanks for bringing up recent opponents. Purdue's two bigs arent the problem in this game - its their guards that we must neutralize in order to win.

I heard on JNew's preview tonight that Swanigan and Haas had the two most post ups in the entire country.

@wissox who did he pick?

@Crimsonorblue22 I didn't finish, but the way he was talking he was sounding pretty positive. Interestingly the way he started his podcast you'd think I'd listened to it and started this thread because he started with basically the same question. Maybe he read my question and turned it into a podcast!