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I have watched loads of Malik videos and hadn't seen this one until this morning. Dude is an alpha dog.

Rumoured to be unguardable in KU practice.

I saw watched him a little when he was at Mississippi State on television. I realize this is all hi-light video BUT man to me, seems like he has a pretty sweet stroke. Think he could get on a roll and really light it up if he gets hot. Going to be interesting to watch, ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

It's weird really. I wanted so badly for him to commit to KU and now he is actually ours. Can't believe it. I think he is going to be live up to the high school hype now that he has had a year in Bill's system.

@DonLentile

The year off to just work on his game is huge.

@BShark my manager friend said he's just incredible. I just hope he can bring it into games. If he would have shot a better percentage last year, I think he would have been drafted. But just watching that highlight tape I can see why his percentage was so low. He was always getting the ball at least split second late and instead of having a wide open look he has to make a move to get his own shot.

MSU's offense was terrible. The ball movement was slow and the ball stuck. It was nice to see Malik able to make shots off of a screen though.

@Kcmatt7

Yeah he was trying to generate his own tough looks from three. With the players KU has, if he just lets the game come to him, he should be great.

The last time I can remember this much positive talk from around the program about a player sitting it was BMac.

A lot of impressive moves in that video. What I really like is the fact that it is D1 video, not high school stuff. So he is running at D1 speed.

Positive notes: lots of steals, spot up shooter as well as off the dribble, lots of energy/movement. basketball IQ using off-ball screens, great open court skills and finishes, good handles, good court vision, good passing.

Malik is a physically-built athlete. But he hasn't reached near his physicality peak. Just look at Frank Mason. It did take all 4 years until he stepped up to that top-notch player of physicality. Frank was unstoppable this year, mostly because he raised his physicality and his ability to use it. Malik should develop in a similar way, I just hope he stays in school longer than one more year!

@drgnslayr next year will be his 3rd year of school

@Crimsonorblue22

I think Malik will only be a sophomore this next year. So he has 3 years of eligibility left.

@drgnslayr yes, thought you said just a year.

(

MNew is a quiet assassin

He reminds me a little of Oubre and Ty Taylor hybrid

@jayballer54 His shot reminds me of Kellog's rainbows. Of course, Ron was a lefty, but he shot the ball really high, and Newman shoots some beautiful rainbows,too.

Frank just had the highest scoring season for a Bill Self player here at Kansas, barely edging Wayne Simien @ 20.9 PPG. That number could very well be broken by Newman next year. I really like his ability to take over a game when he needs to. I think we can get a better feel for him watching this rather than highschool tapes with this being made from his Mississippi state time.

@drgnslayr let's say he sticks around longer than this upcoming year. Then we would have Garrett at the point, Newman at the 2, Vick?/ KJ Lawson at the 3, Dedric at the 4, and whoever at the 5. That's some real fire power.

@KUSTEVE Boy that sure brings back some memories. You remember him and Pony Thompson - -Boy could they light it up. Pony was a big boy lol. Some memorable Saturdays. - -Wonder what happened to Ronnie - - haven't heard NOTHING about him just POOF. - -He had a sweet soft feather shot. - - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

@kjayhawks

Might be a tall order with Graham and Preston around.

@KUSTEVE

Newman stay more than one year with KU? Not if he has the season we are hoping for.

I don't see any way Newman tops Mason's scoring average next season. Nextbseason could be a year where nobody is over 15 because of a fairly balanced scoring attack.

I know Svi declared, I still don't think he leaves so a line up with Graham, Newman, Svi/Vick, Preston, and Azubuike could be an effective zone team in doses. We all know Self will never abandon man defense which he shouldn't, but a well timed zone defense can wreck all kinds of havoc and create offensive runs like we saw a few times last season.

@Texas-Hawk-10

I agree. And yes, it could be one heck of a zone team.

I'm on board with Bill to mostly run M2M... but I like to see us mix in a little zone just to disrupt our opponents' offense.

Bill HATES zone and basically thinks it is a cop out.

He told me this to my face... "Eventually, you gotta guard someone!"

That was out of frustration when I asked him why not use a zone sometimes just to disrupt the flow.

@drgnslayr I liked that match up zone that the Dux used. I wish we had that in our arsenal.

Malik is similar to Mason in the fact that he knows how to score, that's what he's wired to do. He was the #1 HS player for a while and it makes sense if you watch highlights how easily he can get where he wants and score

I'm not worried about him scoring because it comes so natural to him. I can only imagine the year off to get stronger, learn the offense and work on his game has refined his game significantly.

Malik will have to prove himself defensively, he gave up on a lot of plays after being beaten off the dribble at Miss St. He has good lateral quickness so hopefully he's been coached to use that ability. I expect his motor will be completely different here so I'm interested in seeing how he transitions from just a scorer to a more complete player.

@KUSTEVE I loved Kellogg's high arc, the net would come back up through the top of the rim after one of his swishes. Mr. Saturday. Too bad no 3 point shot Ron & Pony.

@BeddieKU23 I'm excited to see Malik in the defensive end. Guarding Frank, Devonte and Josh in practice for a year should have him as ready to go as possible. I'm expecting him to be an impact guy on both ends of the floor.

@BeddieKU23

Hopefully Newman is willing to put the effort and work in defensively. It's not like he left a situation where he had a rummy for a coach, it was Ben friggin Howland.

@BShark

Which is why I'm really interested in seeing how his defense improves. I think there is plenty of evidence to support Malik's new situation providing him an opportunity to be a completely different player then he was in Mississippi.

Whatever ale'd him, from injuries, pressure to produce in his home state, a poor offensive system, not surrounded by enough play-makers, he's getting the best of everything at KU (provided he's healthy). I do think Malik is motivated to prove himself, he was always a competitive player in HS and his situation to date must be very humbling. I expect he'll be the top transfer in America this season

@BeddieKU23

Agree. And being injured was definitely a factor for him. Hopefully he stays healthy this year.

@joeloveshawks

Didn't Coach self saiy...it is easier to teach defense to an offense oriented player than to teach offense to a defense oriented player...or word to that effect?

@JayHawkFanToo That sounds pretty close to correct to me. I am still in tears over the fact that we have lost Frank but having a guy like Malik waiting in the wings is a wonderful thing.

@JayHawkFanToo

I heard a coach once say that offense is about skill, defense is about effort.

That seems about right to me. The things you do on offense - shooting, passing, dribbling - are all about having certain abilities.

The things you do on defense have some skill elements, but chances are if you have the physical talent to be good on offense, you can carry those same things to the defensive end, and if you work hard, can be a solid defender.

Trying harder will make you a better defender. It won't necessarily make you a better shooter/passer/dribbler.

Long arms help on D, but yeah it's mostly effort.

@justanotherfan

Spot on.

Effort is needed but just as important for defense is intelligence. Knowing the scouting defense and where to be positionally is why average 4 yr athletes can be better defensive players than the majority of one and dones (i.e. the Brady Morningstar Effect). Effort gets you 90% of the way there, but a good offense/coach will recognize when a team is overextending and out of position because they are trying to do too much.

@MR11

This is absolutely true in college where knowing the game plan/ plays of the opponent helps you out tremendously during the regular season. The downside of that is that in the tournament, you don't have as much scouting time, so having more talented defenders helps when there is less preparation time to drill the game plan in.

Take our loss to Oregon for example. Knowing our tendencies would have helped the Ducks, but having Bell on the back line swatting every shot made a much bigger difference than just knowing the scouting report and positioning.

@justanotherfan said in Malik Newman Offensive Highlights:

@JayHawkFanToo

I heard a coach once say that offense is about skill, defense is about effort.

That seems about right to me. The things you do on offense - shooting, passing, dribbling - are all about having certain abilities.

The things you do on defense have some skill elements, but chances are if you have the physical talent to be good on offense, you can carry those same things to the defensive end, and if you work hard, can be a solid defender.

Trying harder will make you a better defender. It won't necessarily make you a better shooter/passer/dribbler.

And THIS is why guys ball hog in AAU and summer camps.