🏀 KuBuckets Archive

I turned off Dicky V, he was really annoying me early. Doke goes out with his 2nd foul and he doesn't even mention it. Then he starts talking about DG having subpar games this year, like averaging 10 dimes a game isn't important.

So after I turned off Dicky, then I started to enjoy the game more.

And then DG started to act like he heard Dicky V talk smack on his game. He showed Syracuse he could throw the alley.

And then we discovered Clay Young after our bigs were officiated out of the first half. He held his own.

And DG started making threes, he started Mcnamaring Syracuse. Ball game. One of the more electrifying performances by a KU player in recent years.

Except the refs tried to keep them in it by not calling fouls on Syracuse. They called their 3rd foul on Syracuse in the 2nd half with 3:30 left on the clock. They called the 4th foul on us with 3:30 off the clock. Syracuse made a little run aided by a dude carrying the ball so bad I took a picture of it. (if I can get it off my phone onto here I will!) He got an +1 out of it to cut the lead. Contact was being made by them every trip down the floor without a whistle being blown. Unbelievable what they'll do to try to keep an east coast privileged team in the game.

Malik, not sure what to think about him. Had lots of hope, but it's just not there. His shot is ugly and it doesn't go in. He did contribute 5 boards and 5 dimes.

Finally another satisfying win since the long weeks of subpar opponents since the Kentucky game.

@wissox I agree, I think Newman is just pressing trying a little too hard with how well Vick, Svi and DTG have played so far this year. I think his shot will get there at some point, one play in particular he missed a open 3 but busted butt to save the board to Vick.

Holy cow I knew Vick played well, but he was in triple double territory! 20, 8 and 7. What a game!

@wissox and he should have had thirty with how wide open he was in the middle. He'll learn for next time.

@HawkChamp Except about 5 of those turned into assists back to DG for 3's!

This game was great practice for Baylors zone and Texas's length, same with the Kentucky game. With Arizona State and Texas A&M looking good, our non con is looking like good prep for March.

With Malik, I just think we're seeing the classically inconsistent player. What we need him to be is streaky. Times where he'll take over a game vs a tough opponent. He'll have his chance.

That said, in watching Malik so far, I don't see an NBA player there. Tearing up the Israeli league? Sure. Maybe I'm missing something.

Dick Vitale gets tired of good players being a little bit cocky, but he's okay with Trippy tripping and Consonants complaining. Okay, whatever.
DG's the man.

I think Malik just doesn’t have a role yet. He’s not going to be a go to scorer. He’s probably our 5th best offensive player right now. Maybe he needs to work on PG skills and become more of a facilitator, even though it’s really not his game.

@wissox I agree about Vick as well, some were claiming he wasn’t aggressive with that shot, but to me it’s better to move the ball to open teammates sometimes because we all know that shot is there 90% of the time vs a zone.

@HighEliteMajor I agree. We can't expect him to be great every game offensively. But he will come up big in some games this year. We'll need him in the tournament too. I'm not going to give up on him.

@kjayhawks eh not necessarily. Not when he's standing there with the ball wide open at the free throw line looking for someone open. He needs to shoot that.

@HawkChamp agree to disagree, I think that’s a shot they bait you into and yes a guy needs to hit it from time to time but I like how he drove and kicked it quite a bit.

@kjayhawks you gotta make them guard him there, that's Vicks sweet spot. That's inside the free throw line, unguarded. 💰

@Crimsonorblue22 exactly. Vick is a good shooter and can knock that down all day. Self thinks so as well

But Vick caught most of those passes with his back to the basket. Their length would close quickly on him. Looks like it should be an easy shot but I think you want to shoot in rhythm and I don't think he had rhythm there.

Bothersome to me.... I'm not upset that Newman had a subpar offensive game. It's that it seemed to get in his head maybe a lil. Several possessions of lackadaisical defense on the perimeter. Must play thru it when the shots don't fall and excel in other areas of the game.

@wissox ones I saw, vick was squared up.

@Crimsonorblue22 Then you think he was told not to shoot? Could be.

@wissox no, that's why he started shooting it.

@Crimsonorblue22 @wissox He was tied with DTG with most shot attempts with 17. Dude scored 20 and near had a triple double in a 16 point win against a power five team at a neutral site. I'm good with all the above.

Self made a comment about Vick, something to the effect that “when he facedthe basket”, he was a better scorer. Good point regarding ‘Cuse closing on him, @wissox !

Sometimes they closed, numerous times they didn't. They were doubling Devonte out front which of course leaves no one on Vick. Several times Vick caught it and didn't even really face the hoop. When you have a wide open jumper at the foul line, you HAVE to make knocking it down a priority. He finally took advantage a few times in the second half and made Syracuse pay.

@wissox And when we brought in our walk on who possesses basketball fundamentals and actually knows how to play the game (unlike their chuckers), dicky v never said a word. Nor did the idiot announcers mention we went on a big run with our walk on on the floor, out scoring them by 9 while Clay was in the game outperforming their trees. We all know he was a guard right and he is playing out of position and killing it! How about you mention that dicky you ignoramous.

HawkChamp said:

@kjayhawks eh not necessarily. Not when he's standing there with the ball wide open at the free throw line looking for someone open. He needs to shoot that.

Yes and Amen.

If anything, him doing so would have opened up the dunks even more. Cuse left him open because was only looking to pass out. DG was having to shoot way outside (thankfully hitting ‘em) because the D was not sucking in from above or below like it normally would when you are in the soft belly of the zone

wissox said:

But Vick caught most of those passes with his back to the basket. Their length would close quickly on him. Looks like it should be an easy shot but I think you want to shoot in rhythm and I don't think he had rhythm there.

Because their length had him looking to pass first psychologically, wasn’t because they were physically reacting to him in that spot

@KirkIsMyHinrich I agree, Vitale wants a smiling Devonte to be more like Gracie.

I don't know, I'm not no expert (or grammar expert!) but that 10 footer is an awkward shot in my experience which is limited to pick up ball.

I'm just curious since I'd turned off the sound. Did DV sing DG's praises during his phenomenal run? Did he gush? Did he notice? He usually does with players performing like that.

Alley oops ought to be a stat. We had a bunch.

@wissox Dickie said he ought to play bb instead of celebrating!! Haha!! He's not his mom

@Crimsonorblue22 And when he said it Devonte’ wasn’t even going nuts. It was as if he had a rooting interest against Devonte’. First he wasn’t living up to expectations, then he needs to be stoic when he gets hot. But Grayson Allen can trip his way to the top and he’s just a competitor? I thought it was a crappy comment at the time. Dick can barely control his verbal diarrhea, but a kid can’t wave his arms after a made three?

@Fightsongwriter Clay Young was a post in his past years at KU when there was a full compliment of walk ons and previously at his JuCo as well. At 6-5, he would've been a post in HS as well.

Him being a solid, fundamental post shouldn't be a surprise because he's been a post most of his life.

Best part of watching the KU game at a sports bar with friends...no Dukie Vitale. 😊

Clay Young isn't your typical walk on. He had potential D1 offers to low majors out of HS. He has D1 ability.

I will grant that he isn't the type of guy that would ever start at KU, but being a rotation player isn't completely out of the question. He's very solid.

dylans said:

@Crimsonorblue22 And when he said it Devonte’ wasn’t even going nuts. It was as if he had a rooting interest against Devonte’. First he wasn’t living up to expectations, then he needs to be stoic when he gets hot. But Grayson Allen can trip his way to the top and he’s just a competitor? I thought it was a crappy comment at the time. Dick can barely control his verbal diarrhea, but a kid can’t wave his arms after a made three?

Dickie's loves it when a player slaps the floor when on defense but smiling is not allowed.

Crimsonorblue22 said:

@wissox Dickie said he ought to play bb instead of celebrating!! Haha!! He's not his mom

He said that about DG? Wow, that's unbelievable. Do you remember the moment he said that?

@wissox early

@wissox early first half after DG made a three. About the time he was getting hot.

wissox said:

And DG started making threes, he started Mcnamaring Syracuse. Ball game.

So... is the trey line the McNamara Line?

It has been a while since I've heard Vietnam jargon.

Don't know if anyone noticed, but Self said Clay Young was 6'3" -- "I actually thought he did great," said the KU coach. "Six-three guarding 7-2, I thought he did OK."

Could have just been exaggerating it low to make the point bigger than 6'5" would have, I guess.

@HighEliteMajor You have previously noted the consistency with which KU adds inches to our players--Jamari, Perry, etc. So, does this represent an incipient Clay Rule that does the opposite?

I think Malik just needs a bit more experience. Experience with D1 AND experience with this team. He did look lost out there. I wonder how many times he has faced a zone? Svi also looked lost out there against the zone and one time he threw the ball directly to a Syracuse player.

This was a good game to show us which players are ready for about anything on the court. Right now, it mostly looks like Devonte and Vick.

Doke looked frustrated most of the night. I think he was also adjusting to the officiating.... something young players have to adjust to and play through.

Lightfoot.... wow... what was that, 2 fouls in 13 seconds? He needs to play with a bit more basketball IQ in his game... just not to the point where he overthinks everything and slows down. The game needs to slow down for him just a bit. He hustles but often gets caught out of position or getting caught in the air off a shot fake. But hey... he's learning and he is hustling! Pretty hard to knock a player for doing that! He just needs more experience.

I agree with others... Young deserves to be praised! Bravo!

@wissox 2nd half about 18:00 mark. Gag!

@mayjay Kind of like "debounding" -- "deinching", perhaps? That makes every man nervous.

Actually, I kind of think it's like when coach Boone in Remember the Titans inspires the QB with a story about his "12 brothers and sisters", when he actually had eight -- just sounded better.

@Crimsonorblue22 Yeah, I just watched that. Interestingly as I wound towards that I caught DG's great block followed by an easy fast break layup and Dick Vitale sang his praises for the layup instead of showboating. Camera must not have caught what he did after the three because it was not really a showboating.

To see the referenced carry that wasn't called you'll have to watch the 16:34 mark of the 2nd half. I got the screen shot, but couldn't get it on here. As soon as the ball handler stopped his dribble Doke backed off but he kept dribbling. These moves drive me nuts because the offensive player gains such an edge on defenders. These need to be a point of emphasis for referees.

Crimsonorblue22 said:

@wissox 2nd half about 18:00 mark. Gag!

Later than I thought. Dick move. :)

I wrote this in the game chat. If someone can go back and notice Does Newman take a slight hop in the air before catching the ball and going up with it? I swear I noticed Malik taking what I think is a nerves type hop and then going through his shooting motion after. Seemed to affect his shot.

We know he's a better shooter then Saturday, he just couldn't make anything. His turnovers were worrisome and his defense left a lot to be desired again. Might be a player like Svi was earlier in his career where if his shot isn't falling he's going to struggle elsewhere as well.

@Crimsonorblue22 When he said that I thought " Talk about the pot calling the kettle black " - that's all DV does - celebrate running his own mouth. How about just announce the game and quit screaming like a 12 year old girl?

@nuleafjhawk I have this dream where Vin Scully, Curt Gowdy, and Keith Jackson show up during the broadcast of the Duke-UNC game, slap duct tape over his mouth, bind him, and take him away to the Horrid Broadcasters Dungeon to rot in abject SILENCE! for the rest of his days.

@Fightsongwriter Your post ticks me off - because I can't "like" it a bazillion times!!

@nuleafjhawk It ticks me off because he left off Al Mcguire. In his announcing prime he was a great one!

@BeddieKU23 Interesting .. I'll look at it this evening.

Also, Doke's free throw shooting - I had forgotten to point this out. Look at his chicken wing. He points his right elbow at a 45 degree angle or worse. I don't know who suggested this, or why, but it is fundamentally horrible. Ideally, as many here know, you'd like that shooting elbow point as straight down to the floor as possible. For a guy that can't make free throws, I can't imagine how this is good advice or why it's permitted.

@BeddieKU23 He was sped up. He was shooting too quick. He was firing off shots before his feet were set. He was thinking way too much during the game.

@KUSTEVE as the season goes along and he gets more game experience, he will settle in and his percentages will go up as a result.

It is kind of exciting that we haven't seen it from Newman yet though, right?

Between Preston, Newman, Doke and Garrett, this team has a ton of room for growth as the season progresses. And we already look like the best team in the country.

KUSTEVE said:

@BeddieKU23 He was sped up. He was shooting too quick. He was firing off shots before his feet were set. He was thinking way too much during the game.

He did look sped up. Really shouldn't be an excuse for him but apparently Malik is as new to situations as our freshman at this point.

I have to rewatch the tape but I really do think on multiple shots he had this nervous hop right before catching the ball. The shots didn't look good leaving his hands and I think his whole motion was off for some reason.

They all have off games and I applaud that he didn't give up despite the bad shooting night.

@Kcmatt7 As I've said before, there are no rewards for playing your best in November and December. Can that be a good thing? Absolutely, but when you have numerous players that are getting adjusted to new roles, you can't expect 100% court cohesion and stuff like that, even if it is a veteran team like we have. If Cunliffe, Newman, Marcus (and hopefully Billy) can learn their roles and how to succeed in the system, there isn't a team we can't play with or beat. Our spread the floor offense and inside presence is fantastic already and has the potential to be even better.

Newman played 29 games at Mississippi State and averaged close to 28 mpg (805 minutes) in a major conference; he has also practiced with KU for one year. This is more minutes than SVI or Lucas played in their first two years combined or Lucas in his Junior year and only slightly less than Lucas in his Senior year. Lacks of experience cannot be used in his case.

@JayHawkFanToo In all those minutes of "experience", how many times had he faced Syracuse? You're not giving any credit to either the best, most complex zone in college basketball, or the fact we were facing the tallest team in college basketball.

@KUSTEVE

The last time KU played Syracuse before Saturday was in November of 2008, so none of the current players have seen the Syracuse zone before. Newman also had a chance last year to watch KU play Baylor that uses a zone and I believe teams in the SEC use a zone defense as well.

I am sure practice at KU is more intense that most games and Newman is now the equivalent of a Junior. Again, experience should not be an excuse, he just had a poor game and he will get over, no big deal.

@JayHawkFanToo So, what was Devonte's excuse the first 10 minutes? He had played the Baylor zone numerous times- Cuse's zone is simply in another league. They have been in the NCAA tournament for over 30 years with it- they have built their whole program around it. This isn't some creampuff SEC zone team. Devonte talked about their 6'8" and 6'5" guards, and even said you can practice for it, but until you see it in action, it's a whole new world. The only people that played well against that zone were Devonte, Legerald, Svi and Clay, period. So, our 3 seniors and 1 junior led the team ...no surprise there. Malik didn't play well. To say he should've played better because he should've been "experienced"against the Cuse zone - we'll agree to disagree on that one, my friend.

@KUSTEVE

My reply was in response to posts that indicated that Malik needed more experience. He has plenty of experience; the other players adapted, he did not. He did have 5 assists and 5 rebounds so he did some things well; it was his shooting and defense that was off. He will learn and get better. It is really no big deal.

Newman is struggling with his rhythm right now. He's a quarter beat off. He can feel it. He knows it. He's trying to get back in sync, but the more he presses, the worse it gets.

It's like a jazz musician that loses the tempo for a moment. The correct adjustment, as experienced musicians know, is to take a quick break, skip a beat, and then pick it back up. A novice will chase the beat, going too slow, then too quick, stepping on the down beat and rushing the tempo in trying to get back in time. Right now, Newman is trying so hard to succeed that he is failing.

A great basketball mind once told me that the difference between a good PG and a great one is that the great ones know who needs a layup, and when. Malik Newman desperately needs a layup. He needs Devonte to manufacture him an easy bucket early in the next game. If that happens, I would predict a big game for Malik. If it doesn't, he will probably continue to chase the beat, likely with similar results.

Devonte can erupt for big games, but for this team to maximize its potential, a fully weaponized Malik Newman (remember, this is the guy that once went for 70+ in a high school game) is critical.

JayHawkFanToo said:

@KUSTEVE

it was his hooting

I think we were complaining about the announcers hooting, not Malik's!
"

@wissox @nuleafjhawk I hit a bit of a block on old great broadcasters after I was well into my post. I nearly said Cosell, but many found him annoying too (I liked him, pompous arrogance and all). Al is welcome to join the bind-the mouth mob.

@Fightsongwriter Oh I'm glad you left Howard off your list. He was the Brett Musberger of his day, to me at least. Story always seemed to be about himself.

I honestly wouldn’t read too much into Newmans struggles this early. Getting used to playing again will take sometime. I agree he is just pressing a bit to hard at this stage, that being said his numbers ain’t terrible. Averaging 12 ppg, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals while shooting 46% from the field, 40% from 3. That’s fairly decent for a off month friends.

@kjayhawks I agree. I wouldn't either. After the next 5 games, maybe. Newman's PER is now in the 17 range. That is a bit concerning only because we will be placing such a heavy reliance on our four perimeter guys. He's the lowest starter, and below Garrett by a touch. But it is early. I'm not worried at all yet based on his performances.

@wissox

OK, I have to admit that was funny...:smiley: