🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Well I know I'm in the minority with Young, that's ok - -I don't care. We all have heard how he is the 2nd wonder, & hell ya really , really good -extremely good. I'm just not ready to sale the farm on him and Oklahoma being the team that breaks our streak of Conference championships

We have had our share of really good players/teams thinking THEY were going to be the one to end the streak , Trae thinks they will this year. Good for him , thats the way he should think , that's the way he better think , as a Coach I wouldn't want my player thinking any other way. I know several think that I'm missing 3 screws out of a 4 screw cover plate for thinking this with Trae, people say well Trae has a supporting cast , he makes them look better. - -Great Buddy had what I feel was a better supporting cast when he was there -they didn't take it from us, - people say well Buddy wasn't as good as Trae, quite possibly so, seems to me though is doing just fine thank you. His supporting cast was better.

Trae averages like 10.5 assists a game - -ungodly number. As a team they average 19 still not as good as assist average as KU as a team. That means amongst the remaining squad for Okla they only average 9 assists as a team. -KU'S - Devonte averages like 6.6 assists per game - -that means the rest of our squad is responsible for the remaining 14 a game - As a team were better sharing scoring the ball. Were better shooting the ball, KU is 4th in the Nation in Fg % - - -Okla is 18th - - KU is 3rd in the Nation in assists - - -Okla is 8th with Trae. - - KU is better in 3 pt % - -KU is 13th in the Nation - - Okla with Trae is 58th. - - Okla with Trae , turns the ball over more then KU. -- -I get it - - I get it - -I really , really , do. Trae is a stud - -no one denying that, I just feel as a team we still got this - -as a overall team - KU is the better team.

I have more concerns that IF we are to be dethroned this year it will be -- West Virginia , not Oklahoma. The Big 12 is going to be a blood bath for sure. Once again it's going to be all about protecting home court and stealing two three games on the road in conference. Who knows , maybe we have had our bad stretch earlier in the season this year instead of our typical March swoon. Gotta believe , with the addition of De Sousa and in the end which I think will happen - -Billy just got to help & help enough to brin another conference Championship.

Like the announcers said yesterday during the game going to be very very interesting how Trae holds up in the hostile enviroment of opposing Big 12 areana's - How Trae is going to hold up against that constant full court anytime anywhere pressure from West Virginia and Carter. - -Again I get it , just not ready to concede, and say Trae is taking over - he gonna face alot of big time quality players in the Big 12 and I just think we have face some prety dam good guards before - ( Tyler Ullis & De AAron Fox come to mind right off the top -we have turned away mny of really good teams that as teams we played and won. Na, I think I'll just stay put -- play it out, I'm good with who KU has - -we have better supporting players, as a team I'll take my five over Oklahoma's five 9-10 ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

@jayballer54

Trae Young is realyl, reallyy good and puts out great stats...so does Russell Westbrook and his team goes nowhere. The 3 main computer ratings, KenPom, Sagarin and Massey still have KU ahead of OU. Oklahoma has one really good win at Wichita State and one bad loss to a pedestrian Arkansas team; in a couple of weeks we will know better how good OU really is.

I am really REALLY high on Trae Young, and I am certain that he will give the Jayhawks absolute fits this season. That said, we saw what Bill Self was able to do with folk like Kevin Durant and Buddy Hield. Our maestro can work some fine magic, esp. on league opponents whom he seems to know, inside out. We SHOULD have a bit of time to work either Preston or DeSousa into the lineup before we play Oklahoma. A good thing. My bigger concern right now is that 3rd league contest, at TCU. If we can squeak thru these first 3 conference games without a loss, everyone will breathe easier, facing the likes of Young. My native pessimism declares that we will lose one of the first 3 contests. Big 12 race will be brutal for all top contenders. As I see it, no way this league is won outright with only 3 losses. Probably 4, with a tie.

I thought the boyz did a pretty good job on Travis.

I'm convinced in Trae Young. Wish he was at KU.

BShark said:

I'm convinced in Trae Young. Wish he was at KU.

Bingo!

@jayballer54 yah man, on the threat of upset scale for OU, I got them at a 5.5 of 10. Its pretty much just Trae and then everyone else. Lattin still there. He's good. Everyone else, ehhhh. Not enough to beat KU. That said, I'm psyched to see both games!!
Til anyone proves other wise, the Big 12 runs through Kansas!!
Rock Chalk!

BShark said:

I'm convinced in Trae Young. Wish he was at KU.

Psssssssssssssssssssssssssst - - -guess what. - - -He is not lmao. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

Lulufulu said:

@jayballer54 yah man, on the threat of upset scale for OU, I got them at a 5.5 of 10. Its pretty much just Trae and then everyone else. Lattin still there. He's good. Everyone else, ehhhh. Not enough to beat KU. That said, I'm psyched to see both games!!
Til anyone proves other wise, the Big 12 runs through Kansas!!
Rock Chalk!
Runs long - - runs deep - - not impressed with Mcneese - -Not impressed with Renik - -like you said - then the OTHERS - -ROCK CHALK

BShark said:

I'm convinced in Trae Young. Wish he was at KU.

Looks like to me actually we would of been his 3rd choice in the end run which I had seen earlier in the recruiting of him. - -He made the statement that early in his recruitment he really liked Kentucky, Trae said he thought he was going to go to Kentucky - but they wanted him to sign but he wasn't ready to sign. - - They went their way Trae went another.

So then after that it came down to KU and Oklahoma and well - - - we see how that worked out - -it's ok so in reality it would of went Kentucky - -Oklahoma and THEN KU - -so be it - -just like any other big time prize recruit - -just like Williamson same with Young - - If for some reason Williamson comes - -Great - if not - - Great - We were fine before Zion - -We will be fine after Zion - -Same with Trae --We were fine before Trae - -We will be fine after Trae - MERRY CHRISTMAS - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

If Trae Young was in a jayhawk uniform, we would be undefeated and No.1 in the land. But he’s not and we need remind him that it was a bad decision lol.

@jayballer54

I am with you on this.

I am not concerned about Dump Truck Trae Young.

I am concerned about whether our guys are ready to help, and mask, and switch in and out of our M2M and our junk zones to beat Texas, while Dump Truck Trae gets his 28.

If ever there were a coach that would not sign a Trae Young without a Dump Truck contract, it’s Shaka.

Hang’em. Hang ‘em high!

@jaybate-1.0 I have total confidence that I'm sure Coach will have something for Trae. - -He Is a hell of a player for sure. - - Again the key is fine let him get his points - the key is and I think we will is not to lets others go off for a career night against us.

For one I don't give a rats ass, no matter, wanting to see how he matches up against WV all over the court trap/press and Carter and Co - hows he handles the high pressure hostile - -I mean really loud vocal hostile crowds say like 120. - - something decibal loud - hmmm where that comes from

He has YET to face a true road game with a very vocal I guess if you want you could call Wichita State vocal -- -maybe only 10,000 and some - -but high intensity vocal true road conference games - just gonna wait and see how he handles. - -Some want to anoint him as the 2nd coming already - me? -I think I'll hold off a bit to break my bottle and Crissen him. - -I know people chomping at the bit to respond & wet them selves call me crazy- -you got your opinion - -I got mine , that's all it is an opinion. Let's play it out see how it turns out. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

@whipperboy73 That Okie kid is gonna swoop into Lawrence and first thing we know you're gonna be chompin' on an old bath towel like that colorful dude who used ta sit on the UNLV bench! Oops! But hang on a minute. Looks as though our first meeting that kid will transpire in Norman the eve of Tuesday, 23 January. Prior to that grand event, there's lotsa hours for you to shake off your nerves by overeating or dropping to yer knees to mumble some ave marias!
Whatever you best choose to do, PLEASE DO NOT JINX OUR JAYHAWKS! (Likely, we will need that win.)

Jayballer why you gotta go and change your name like that? :wink: @whipperboy73

REHawk said:

@whipperboy73 That Okie kid is gonna swoop into Lawrence and first thing we know you're gonna be chompin' on an old bath towel like that colorful dude who used ta sit on the UNLV bench! Oops! But hang on a minute. Looks as though our first meeting that kid will transpire in Norman the eve of Tuesday, 23 January. Prior to that grand event, there's lotsa hours for you to shake off your nerves by overeating or dropping to yer knees to mumble some ave marias!
Whatever you best choose to do, PLEASE DO NOT JINX OUR JAYHAWKS! (Likely, we will need that win.)

LMAO, just remember to breath deep inhale - - -exhale - - -inhale - - - exhale - - inhale. - -everything gonna be all right. - -OH YE OF LITTLE FAITH, ol wise man once say - -man who has little faith - -wets himself to much, - -you don't wet yourself to much do ya?lol - ew gonna be ok - you got the win coming in Allen. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

BShark said:

Jayballer why you gotta go and change your name like that? :wink: @whipperboy73
Well you see, it seems in here I rile people, hurt their feelings, take things personal - -So a lot of times they want to come back at me and try to use me as a whippin post. - So I just thought " WELL JAYBALLER" - -it this is what it takes for people in here not to get their panties all twisted up in a knot I'll change my profile to make it appropriate and let them have a yee-haw time and whip away. roflmao - ain't changing anything though I'm still gonna come right back at them they wanna talk smack with me, not any name gonna change - -I'm coming right back at them - Oodles of fun - -it's a tough business but somebody got to rile people up - -no room in here for a bunch of powder puffs lmao. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

@REHawk

Trae has not played against blue meanies yet.

We will see how he holds up against WVU.

He also has never had to think about a defense yet. Ku will make him think.

Blue meanies and their forearm smashes, plus thinking about where defensive help will come from and are they in man or a junk zone are the test of young big men.

I never bet on a young big coping well the first time in a big game. A few do, but not most.

The probability is both Huggins AND Self will reduce Trae to Deuce the first meetings.

@jaybate-1.0 Maybe. Maybe.

Thing is, the kid is quicker than any of our guards and has a killer handle. KU better not let him in the lane and like you said, but a body on the kid, put some hurt on him, make him hesitant, scared. Get in his head. See if they can rattle him. Cuz, i don't think any of our guards can stay in front of this kid.
I may be waaaaay off base, totally wrong and I hope I am. I just know what I saw from that kid in one game against a basically a mid major team in North Western.

@REHawk Durant and Hield each scorched KU in the games you're likely referring to. It was the rest of their teams that KU stopped just enough to barely win those games.

Young, time to meet Doke!😳🤣 he'll be waiting for you!

@jaybate-1.0 Nah, nah, nah, not THIS kid. He might be born and bred an Okie, thru and true, but he eats Texas beef for breakfast. I'm tellin' ya now, and I don't plan to tell ya again, THIS KID IS THE REAL DEAL! LOOK OUT!

@Crimsonorblue22 Nope. The KID is too quick for Doke. Don't be for buyin' in to any of that jaybate skepticism. Yer gonna eat crow!

@Texas-Hawk-10 I'm just sayin'...

@Lulufulu Don't be givin' even one inch on this situation, Lulu. You and I both know precisely what we've seed. No stoppin' this kid.

And High Elite Major, you needn't jump onto the shoulders of this kid neither. Just wait....

@REHawk I know that, silly! But if he gets to close, could be deadly for the small kid.

BShark and beddie know. Lon knows. Cindy is jabbin' Bill in the ribs, tellin' him, Listen up! On the 23rd of January Norm Roberts and that Hudy lady are gonna be gnawin' their Doublemint. This Okie kid was BORN READY!

@Crimsonorblue22 Yer stayin up kinda late, eh Crimson?

@REHawk I'm always up late. Watched the ksu game.

@Crimsonorblue22 Mr. Weber pace the sideline tonight, conduct himself with customary restraint and dignity?

@REHawk yes! Probably writing letters as we speak. A weird looking bobcat on the side line. Wasn't paying that much attention. Definite strong comeback in the 2nd half. I switched before the end.

@REHawk Snyder!

@Crimsonorblue22 You are, indeed, an extraordinary Jayhawk woman. You watch K State FOOTBALL?

@REHawk 2nd and 3rd quarter. Nothing else on. Big 12 needs to win, hard for me to ever root for ksu. Ever!

@REHawk So you're saying that Trae Young is going to go off for 40 points and 15 assists and KU wins by a point?

@Texas-Hawk-10 There you go again, attempting to denigrate Lon Kruger's very probable and real path to 2018 Sooner GLORY! And even after I made it very clear that his KID was dining on TEXAS BEEF.

REHawk said:

BShark and beddie know. Lon knows. Cindy is jabbin' Bill in the ribs, tellin' him, Listen up! On the 23rd of January Norm Roberts and that Hudy lady are gonna be gnawin' their Doublemint. This Okie kid was BORN READY!

Young won't beat KU alone, he'll need plenty of help from Manek, James etc. The key is if Young is getting everything his own way his mates will feed off that energy. If we find ways to force him into misses or get a few turnovers off his passes then we stand a good chance. Young is the real deal, not dismissing what I've seen of him. I think he's the one kid in the Big-12 we don't have an answer for because he's responsible for so many points, not just his own. KU has won plenty of games before where a team had a featured hyped player. Doesn't mean we can't be beaten. Our coach usually game plans well for these type of situations. That and the guy guarding him will probably be pretty jacked up to try and stop him (I'm looking at you Devonte).

Crimsonorblue22 said:

@REHawk Snyder!

LOL . - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

@BeddieKU23 History says Trae Young will have monster games against KU. Bill Self's strategy against these types of players that he doesn't have an answer for is to let them get theirs and focus on trying to stop the other 4 players on the floor.

Just because Young ran his mouth about ending the streak, perhaps we invoke the opposite strategy. Stop Young, and make the supporting case beat us. In fact, sometimes, depending on the athlete and cast, it might be the better option. Here, though, he's a very effective passer. I'd be most interested in disrupting the passing lanes first and foremost.

@REHawk

Not sayin’ he won’t go off.

Sayin’ he will probably not be experienced enough to keep from being fooled some.

Regardless, if Self can’t get Preston and De Sousa in play, Lon could probably beat us without Trae!

Young is both a shooter and passer. Forcing the ball out of his hands means he can likely find the open man - he's averaging over 10 assists a game! He is averaging almost 29 points a game, but on only 18 shots. Young doesn't monopolize the ball, and OU has other capable guys if you make Young give the ball up.

This isn't like Durant or Beasley, where they were scorers first and foremost. Young is a PG with natural passing instincts. He's only had 2 games all season with fewer than 8 assists. He's only had three games all year where he has more than 18 shots, but he's efficient enough from three (41%) that you can't just let him shoot.

This OU team is different than anything we have seen at KU in the Self era. Young is similar in some ways to Curry, but the overall talent around him at OU is far superior to what Davidson had with Curry. Young is a better scorer than guys like Marcus Smart or Jacob Pullen, and also a better passer than guys like Hield.

It's a tough matchup for KU because OU isn't just Young, and Young, as a PG, knows how to get his other teammates involved. There's also the chance he could hit 5 or 6 threes. OU isn't the best team KU has faced during the streak, but they are one of the more difficult matchups because they could win in Morgantown and hold serve at home. That's the start of the recipe for knocking off KU in the conference.

Any way you slice it, this will be a tough conference slate. KU could go 14-4 and win going away, or they could slog to a 12-6 and have to sweat it.

@justanotherfan

Great shooting point guards have tended to be the toughest challenge for KU’s help defense during Self’s tenure. Great shooting point guards TEND to beat KU, whereas great bigs and wings tend to lose to KU.

Why?

Self can use everyone to surprise bigs with endless variations of help and that reduces their efficiency. On the back end of a two in three set that is very tough to prepare a team to offend against.

Great wings you just push out three feet farther and their 3pta percentage declines proportionally, while you take more short treys.

But a good shooting point guard, as Sherron and Frank have proved, and as Devonte has shown a few times already, can make u pay big time with drive’n’dish and fouls if you force them out. Leave a great shooter alone and they kill you. Remember the Michigan PG? Ugh!!! Thus fine PGs on a good night are probably Self’s toughest out and so he blows smoke about stretch fours that go off but that he finds ways to beat just the same.

You can put a Trae Young any where, point, wing point, even base line (for quick come out and initiate, something Jack Hartman did a little with Walt Frazier at SIU), and he hurts you and makes stops almost impossible.

But remember how all Great point guards look the first time they see something new? Human. Stopping a PG is a recognition game.

Remember what Izzy did to Sherron one game? It was beautifully simple. He brought his high post out to force Sherron to his weak hand. Self never adjusted. Sherron was stopped cold for a full half. Sweet.

Lon knows Self so well, because they are both Okie Ballers, that Lon will be able to prep Trae for most of what Self will try defensively. Thus, Self WILL have to come up with a wrinkle for Trae.

At the same time, Self has the perfect weapon to preoccupy Trae on defense: Devonte and the weave.

KU should attack Trey Young for stretches of 3-4 straight possessions, then look inside for Doke the 5th possession and drive Svi, then back to attack Trae 4 possessions on the weave.

Why on the weave? The point of the weave is to force Trae to switch onto Vick or Newman and then overpower Trae on the drive. PG’s feel persecuted after guarding guys with 3-4 inches on them. They love attacking big guys, but only the most strong willed don’t hate guarding bigger guys. And Trae will likely never have experienced this at D1 levels of speed, strength and skill.

Weave for size edge and drive Trae to iron again and again and he WILL crack. Then let Devonte finish him off with Treys.

In turn Trae’s offense will suffer for sure. Put him down hard a time or two as well. Anyone can be cracked. ANYONE!

But can Self still come up with a new defensive wrinkle at Self’s age? Marlon Brando said we all only have so many faces in our pockets to pull out for the Audience. At some point you’ve got nothing new to use.

Go, Bill, go!!!!

@jaybate-1.0 Sweet dude! I like your takes on how to beat Trae.

p.s. I just watched a WWII movie... Dunkirk. Pretty awesome. Made me wonder when we might see you post a war history lesson in relation to KU basketball again? I love that stuff.

@Lulufulu

Thx for the Dunkirk rec. I have wondered about it.

I expect things will get rolling shortly and heroism by players and circumstance will inspire one!