🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Another week of deciphering Self's comments in regards to Preston and Silvio will certainly leave your brain hurting. He can make paragraphs about saying absolutely nothing a work of art. Gotta hand it to him, he knows how to play the game.

Maybe we hear some good news regarding Silvio today. Let's hope he ate his Wheaties the morning of the test. We need to some good news.

So Self seems confident Newman plays. We have Cunliffe finally eligible to play.

Regarding Newman, does he start? How effective is he really going to be? 75, 85%? Will he miss a majority of his shot attempts? Or will he bounce right back like nothing happened. I don't know, Concussions in Basketball are certainly not a common injury it seems and of course every Concussion with each individual can be different. Hoping for the best I guess

Regarding Cunliffe, we have more guard depth to cut some of the minutes our starters have been playing. Self mentioned that this week that 5-10 minutes from Sam could be key in keeping guys fresh. Self downplayed any immediate impact Sam might have. Some of that could simply be on Bill as it seems his minutes will be in that 5-10 range unless he's playing well. I'm actually hoping Sam comes out swinging right off the bat. We could certainly use his athleticism out there and if he can make shots when open its more then we are currently getting from Marcus.

The team is in a funk, who knows exactly why but we've certainly been hit with hay-makers and this group needs to find a way to overcome them. Washington was a Self Era Top 10 bad loss. ASU while good should not have beaten KU at home. I tip my cap to them for making shots and exposing a porous defensive effort.

So we have our first road test in Nebraska. Nebraska already has upset Minnesota at home, its likely to be a full house given its KU and its a night game giving it that "Super Bowl" effect for them. Nebraska has also been blown out by similar caliber teams to KU in Michigan St by 29 recently and 10 by Creighton. Nebraska isn't very good but they don't need to be, they are at home and we are on the road.

We should "handle business" but I admit I'm not confident given what's happened recently. It's hard to think the defense will show up on the road so the key to the game for me is foul trouble. The almighty whistle on the road can be extremely aggravating. If Doke can make it to the 1st TV timeout without fouling that would be a miracle. I think every game recently that has been the case. I look for Devonte to assert himself more feeling the pressure of the last 2 games. This will be a close game, I certainly hope we prevail.

What's everyone thinking for this game?

I hope we can get out of this funk. - -I feel though we might just come out be a little more focused then what it seems to have been the case these last two games.

We have had a week off , no games. Maybe a little rest I know people not looking for much out of Sam , I'm not either at this point. He can't hurt though , even to spell some guys sometimes. I think as time goes on you might see more minutes of relief for him. - I think just having him - -a little more depth another body can't hurt.

Was there some talk of him possibly spelling front line players a bit also? - Thought I had heard/seen that some where. - -You think there is a possibility that he might spell LaGerald for a bit? Play that spot a little at times? - Got some pretty good hops. - They have said him and Vick are probably the two most athletic on the team, maybe he can help there a little.

I mentioned this somewhere else on here, can't remember on which thread but I am just curious. - -I'm wondering maybe and I am not a Mitch basher -I'm a Mitch believer BUT - -I am just wondering though if it might not work better for spot minutes if Doke well when Doke gets that 1st foul - -2nd foul - -why couldn't we bring in the walk on in place of Mitch? - Solinski? - -I mean again Mitch tries but the walk on close to the same height listed anyways Mitch is listed at 6'8 - -the walk on is suppose to be 6'7 - -but a lot more bulk. - -Poor ol Mitch just has a hard holding his ground, getting pushed around - -just need to bulk up, that is where I feel we might just be better with our Walk on.

I mean Sure he isn't going to Score much probably but Neither does Mitch. I think he would probably hit the boards better then Mitch - stats and yes I know they were juco stats but he did a pretty good job 12 + boards - -so no worse off there and again his bulk would probably help better in that regard too. - -That would also let Mitch play outside - -more of his position instead of having to try and play the 5. Mitch could spell SVI or something for spot like that. - -Just a thought.

As for the game it's self - I think in the end we do enough to break the 2 game streak and end up winning by 7-8 points, not writing in concrete but just feel we get the W tomorrow. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

@jayballer54

At 6'6 and athletic I'm sure Cunliffe will be forced to guard the "4" position when he's in the game if he's subbing for Vick.

It would be interesting to see him on the floor at the same time as Vick to see what that added athletic ability could do to the lineup. I'm sure our coach has a pretty good read of his current abilities but it will be very interesting to see if he's a bit different when he's actually out there. I can imagine Sam wants to please his coach and do well for himself having sat the past year. Now we just have to see him do it instead of talking about it

I feel sorry for Nebraska. Our guys will come out motivated. A solid week of Bill Self screaming in their ears is just what the doctor ordered.

I am excited to see a lineup of DG, Garrett, Vick, Cunliffe, and Doke. I think that group might be able to really play some D and rebound as well as playing 2 posts. Honestly, that might be our best lineup if the can play tight D. Then you have Svi and Newman ready to provide an offensive spark whenever we look to be going cold offensively.

@BeddieKU23

We may just have PERFECT TIMING this year!

Yes... we are in a funk. A defensive funk. I'm so glad it is happening now, before our big Christmas development period, and before our Big 12 conference season. Contrary to what many people think, I believe we will be challenged for the Big 12 Conf Title this year!

I recall other years when we had our "funk" right in the middle of Big 12 play.

We have so many fluid things happening with this team, all at the same time. We don't even know who is going to be eligible for conference play. But my biggest concern is about Devonte learning how to bring a consistent level of play every game. This is the biggest factor to success for us this year, IMHO.

Devonte needs to put on his thinking cap. He needs to be able to assess games during play. Expose our oppositions' weaknesses and attack those weaknesses! THAT is one of the keys for Devonte bringing consistency. Without that, we have what we experienced in the last two games where Devonte became, largely, a no-factor.

Of the three players that we all hope become eligible, Sam may end up being the most important. I know.... but we need depth in the post! That depth is vital! So is cutting down the minutes for our guards. We can do some of that by flipping to a 3-guard offense... potentially giving our ability to control pace away. I said "potentially" because it could work the other way if we play a post player who has speed, good rebounding, hustles and has the ability to make fast outlet passes!

Sam is 6'6" and athletic on the level of Vick. He's our utility player who can go at positions 2 through 4!

Cunliffe can play, correct? If so, what does he play, shooting guard? Will be interesting to see how/if he contributes.

@wissox

I think he'll primarily be a wing or fill that 4th guard role as long as we are rolling the 4-1 look.

@Kcmatt7 @drgnslayr

Nice optimism. I hope this is a classic kick-in-the-butt week that has re-charged some of these guys. I can imagine Self has their attention after a home loss. Normally 1 loss gets that focus so I'm still guarding my optimism with our current roster issues. Newman banged up, Cunliffe expectedly will be rusty? Defensive issues that look more of a long range fix then a quick fix. I'm certainly not trying to be negative, just voicing an opinion as I see it currently. We'll see what happens

Maybe Cunliffe AND Sosinski tomorrow? A Brave New World! And if KU gets good news on the ACT or Billy fronts, an early Christmas! Call me a dreamer....

BeddieKU23 said:

Regarding Cunliffe, we have more guard depth to cut some of the minutes our starters have been playing. Self mentioned that this week that 5-10 minutes from Sam could be key in keeping guys fresh. Self downplayed any immediate impact Sam might have. Some of that could simply be on Bill as it seems his minutes will be in that 5-10 range unless he's playing well. I'm actually hoping Sam comes out swinging right off the bat. We could certainly use his athleticism out there and if he can make shots when open its more then we are currently getting from Marcus.

Even Self knows Cunliffe isn't good so at least there is that.

BeddieKU23 said:

What's everyone thinking for this game?

Probably a win but nothing is certain anymore. I really thought the Wash game would be easy. ASU is really good and in hindsight I'm not as annoyed by that one but obviously losing two in a row and one in Allen is unpleasant.

@wissox

Sam will probably get most of his minutes at the 2 and 3. Maybe more 2 right now if Malik needs more recovery time. As Malik gets back into the main rotation, I expect to see Sam mostly at the 3. And if we keep a 4-guard offense, he will get minutes at the 4.

With our 4-guard, motion offense, kind of hard to separate our 2 and 3 positions. Recall back when we had several 5-star players at the 3. They had a very specific set of expectations... largely driving the ball. That strategy worked pretty well and even won us a National Championship with BRush!

@jayballer54 "its likely to be a full house given its KU and its a night game giving it that “Super Bowl” effect for them."

Sorry to nitpick, but isn't it a 1:00 pm tip-off tomorrow?

@nuleafjhawk 7 pm I think, chiefs or chorfs, 7:30

@nuleafjhawk

I know I saw on the Schedule at one time tip off being at 1:00 pm but now it shows 7:00 pm on Fox Sports.

@Crimsonorblue22 and @JayHawkFanToo - thanks for the heads up! Last i saw it was 1:00 pm and i was going to DVR it - too much Christmas stuff to get done to waste 2 1/2 hours in front of the tube - especially the way they've been playing.

@nuleafjhawk whoa there Grinch!

@nuleafjhawk

Since I cut the cable I don't have all the sports channels I used to have.With Sling orange I get the ESPNs but not Fox Sports. I will switch to YouTube TV once they make it available using the Roku stick and and I will have all of them' I don't care for Chrome cast and having to use my phone, iPad or computer to control it.

BeddieKU23 said:

@Kcmatt7 @drgnslayr

Nice optimism. I hope this is a classic kick-in-the-butt week that has re-charged some of these guys. I can imagine Self has their attention after a home loss. Normally 1 loss gets that focus so I'm still guarding my optimism with our current roster issues. Newman banged up, Cunliffe expectedly will be rusty? Defensive issues that look more of a long range fix then a quick fix. I'm certainly not trying to be negative, just voicing an opinion as I see it currently. We'll see what happens

After reading @big12basketblog 's breakdown, I was surprised at just how bad the D was. I mean I know I was watching it and thinking, "damn, we can't guard anyone." I just didn't realize that they scored about an extra 15 points from terrible close-outs and bad rotations. Those things can be fixed in a week.

Rebounding can also improve dramatically in a week, providing it becomes a mindset. I would have loved to hear that we busted out that Kelvin Sampson rim bubble for one practice and just literally just practiced rebounding for 3 hours. But either way, I'm sure that Bill cranked that up a notch this week.

These guys are physically able to guard as well. I mean all of them are top 100 guys. They are athletic enough to guard the man in front of them as long as they are giving the effort to do such a thing.

I also think Bill has now been given enough time to review the tape himself. Once is a fluke, twice means there is something wrong. And part of our problem has been schematically we were beaten twice. Bill has only lost 3 games in a row once in his KU career. It means the man knows how to make adjustments and correct things that have been exploited. I have full confidence he will do the same thing.

Finally, I also think that we didn't consider guard depth to be a problem. Not like post play at least, so we didn't think about it. The addition of Cunliffe will allow us to do one thing I noticed Nova do, and I feel that it REALLY helps them succeed at small ball. They press the ball up the court and they try to make the first pass the offense makes, hell. Ultimately, their goal is to not allow the opponents to start their offense until 20 seconds. With about 10 seconds left on a shot clock, players start to press and take bad shots. So they really only play 10 seconds of D where they have to rotate and help. But the only way you can do that is by having enough depth to do it.

Bill doesn't lose 3 in a row. I definitely don't expect it to happen tomorrow.

nuleafjhawk said:

@jayballer54 "its likely to be a full house given its KU and its a night game giving it that “Super Bowl” effect for them."

Sorry to nitpick, but isn't it a 1:00 pm tip-off tomorrow?

Het thanks for answering - it's just hard to tell what will take place. - I'm afraid to even guess the way things have gone with the team these last two games.

As Far as the time of the game I double checked no, it is at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. - I checked on my TV guide and looked up on the Ku athletics . om site and yes it is at 7:00 p.m. - - -At 1:00 Northwestern is playing DePaul. -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

Pounding Nebr into submission, if that's what happens, is still hard to call a "get-healthy" game. Defensively this team has a ton of ground to cover. Getting some of the bigs eligible will help. Cunliffe to give a few mpg of rest for the guards will help.

These guys let no-namers from ASU blow by them, pick their pocket, and also let those 6ft guards shoot over them. Repeatedly. Almost dropped a 100 on us in AFH, no less. We score 80+ and still lose. Shades of RoyBall. Certainly not SelfBall. A perfect example of why the trackmeet philosophy is flawed, imho.

Look at UNC's NC last year, they actually won the NC by playing a grinder, and with defense. I didnt know they had that in them.

Dont bail out these guys by going zone. Put scrubs in for 5min, and then put the starters in to labor on D all game long to come back from 10pts down. That's one entertaining way to teach 'em...

Hell yes we end the losing streak. IF not, that will just about drop KU completely out of the top 25 and once again vault another team into the top 25. What a horrible nightmare. This KU nightmare will give KU critics so much gratification. So, hell yes, it ends NOW.

ASU is a top 5 team. Not really "no names". Wash loss felt a lot worse to me.

Anyway, Nebraska will be tough. They play solid d and don't turn it over...

@JayHawkFanToo I've got to figure out how to watch this one too. Same reasons. And I was still under illusion it was at 1 until this morning. Hmmmm

Bwag said:

@JayHawkFanToo I've got to figure out how to watch this one too.

Do you care if it's legal or not?

ASU loss wouldn’t felt as bad had we beat Washington, who after beating us lost to Gonzaga bye 30. ASU doesn’t have a ton of size but their guards are highly athletic and have played very well to this point. Nebraska should be a 15 point win for us on the road, I bet it’s close early and we pull away late. I hope our guys are ready, I bet Self has had a few tough practices this week. We need a few wins here before Christmas. We have Omaha Monday and Stanford Thursday. Get these 3 wins and everyone can settle down a bit. Lose a couple of these and the fan base will become very restless heading into conference play.

Washington is really bad at basketball. That loss will sting all year.

@Bwag

Until recently the schedule at tar KU Athletic website listed it as 1:00 pm...

@JayHawkFanToo Check out Hulu Live, it has a better sports package than Sling and so far it is working nicely for me as it includes ESPN3 access.

@BeddieKU23

Terrific game day take in the face of two straight stink up the field house games.

Gotta think we will go get a W in corn town, but I understand your doubts

My winning percent is down a little bit so far this year. I am 7-2 in picking the winner of KU games so far. I'm going to predict we will win tonight, thus pushing my record to 8-2 ( 80% ). A little bit lower than normal, but I feel like I will make it up in conference.

KUSTEVE said:

My winning percent is down a little bit so far this year. I am 7-2 in picking the winner of KU games so far. I'm going to predict we will win tonight, thus pushing my record to 8-2 ( 80% ). A little bit lower than normal, but I feel like I will make it up in conference.

PHOF!

I take it everyone saw that Gonzaga destroyed Washington.?

HighEliteMajor said:

I take it everyone saw that Gonzaga destroyed Washington.?

Don't worry it wasn't as close as the score indicates

jaybate 1.0 said:

@BeddieKU23

Terrific game day take in the face of two straight stink up the field house games.

Gotta think we will go get a W in corn town, but I understand your doubts

I hope so. Road woe's can make things worse. I think we are in a too close for comfort game. At AF I could see this an easy win in front of a friendly crowd. On the road we have no idea how these guys will respond

@BeddieKU23

I am hoping the kids are eager to atone and put the hurt on the Huskers.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article189881314.html ↗

Interesting stuff in here on Doke.

@kjayhawks I knew Washington would go down. No way that lightening strikes twice. The KU game will be their best game all year. I'll go further, they don't make the tourney. But because they beat KU, they'll sneak into the tourney.

I'll say the same about ASU. They are good, but doubt they do much better for the rest of the year. I hope they enjoy their very early ranking. It won't last.

@BShark And again, because they beat us, they will have a strong argument come committee time. They may be a very low seed, but because they beat KU, there will be an argument. I guarantee you ASU gets in because they love Bobby Hurley for obvious reasons.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm sick of giving mediocre programs arguments for early talks of being in the tourney. I definitely don't want to punch anymore tickets. The guys need to start that up hill climb, because WVU and OU are looking to dethrone. Young Trae will love to win the B12 with OU. Let's hope the guys are back in form as they cruise into conference play. I've got a feeling Young will have a KD type game against us, and we still sweep OU.

truehawk93 said:

@BShark And again, because they beat us, they will have a strong argument come committee time. They may be a very low seed, but because they beat KU, there will be an argument. I guarantee you ASU gets in because they love Bobby Hurley for obvious reasons.

Asu was ranked when we lost to them. They will have to fall off the earth to not make it

Washington won't be in unless they win the pac-12, which won't happen

@BeddieKU23

You beat me to it. Barring a total collapse, ASU will be in the Tournament with a high seed and probably battle Arizona for the PAC 12 title.