Next up, Seton Hall. Gotta say, i'm real nervous about this one. They looked good today and KU looked off. They are a senior laden team, can shoot, have size, and can drive the ball hard. Just have that pit in my stomach that we're going to lose, seems like a bad matchup.
Anyone else see it differently??
Unfortunately I see it the same way. SHU wins comfortably.
@RockkChalkk I see us winning the game. It will be tough, but we'll win a close one.
BShark said:
Unfortunately I see it the same way. SHU wins comfortably.
More lackadaisical and dumb basketball will result in a ku loss. Now IF, and that's a big if, our guys play smart and rebound, I like our chances.
Unfortunately I don’t think we will win this one, I’d be glad to be wrong tho. I honestly thought we were super lucky today, Penn shot 5-14 from the line and 6-16 on layups according to ESPN. I still think we would’ve most likely won but they hurt themselves for a team that struggles to score. We need Doke to be ready to play a good chunk of minutes. The good thing is Doke only averages 24 minutes a game so if continues to progress he maybe able to come close to that come Saturday. We will need Mitch to repeat his preformance from today or Silvio even if Doke can play. One things forsure regardless wether it was nerves or whatever else, we flatout can not play the way we did for the first 13 minutes, especially offensively. 11 flipping points, we were lucky to not be down 15 or more to that point. The good news is DG playing pretty well and will hopefully rally the troops. Does anyone know when they will release the game time?
I think the guys will be on fire, and we'll win by 20+
(Don't worry, I'll avoid the game chat so my optimism won't ruin the downer party.)
This site has become a pessimistic pit. Good Lord. It’s the NCAA tournament, the games are supposed to be tough. But they’re an 8 and we’re a 1 for a reason. Have a little faith. Jeez!
We could sure use doke or the big 12 Silvio.
Crimsonorblue22 said:
We could sure use doke or the big 12 Silvio.
Even 80% of Doke would be good enough I think. Just not sure if he is there yet.
I do think this will be more of a Silvio game. He was too confused defensively to be effective against Penn. Hope Self trusts him.
Seton Hall is tough. Lots of talent and size.
Hawks get it together. Focus. Hit shots. Defend. Win by 10.
@DanR @ZIG I not sure what’s with this new my opinion is right and yours is wrong stuff that I see so much around this site and in this country. Some people myself included call it as they see it. Did you think we played good today? I will be watching the game Saturday, hell I may go and I’ll be cheering like crazy. But I’m still not gonna sugar coat it, we can’t play the way we did today and win. Bill Self has struggled the most in this game and EE games since he’s been here, that’s a fact. As stated the tournament is hard, it’s really hard if you don’t have a starter on the floor or know how much he can play. 9 losses in those rounds compared to 4 in all other rounds. I don’t think anyone is insinuating that we have no chance of winning, some are just predicting a loss and I don’t blame them with how we played not only today but several other games this season where it looked like the whole team had a date with Kate Upton 30 minutes after after the game.
@kjayhawks If we had Doke at 100% I would feel quite different about this game.
We’ll be fine. Seton Hall is A LOT like A&M, who we beat fairly comfortably. If we shoot it and guard ok, we’ll win by 10+.
KU was Lucky? Penn was lucky to hang with KU as long as it did. KU played a crappy 13 minutes in the first half and finished the half on a 22-5 run including a 19-2 stretch. It dominated the second half except for a short stretch where it let up and then coasted to a 16 point win beating the 14 point spread.
KU got the bad game out of its system and will play much better tomorrow and win again.
FWIW, KenPom has KU a 2:1 favorite.
I kind of feel KU is going to cut down the nets that matter. I'm looking at each game as a confirmation that KU is indeed the team to beat. KU got a number 1 seed. Yet the committee did KU no favors. Penn was no 16 seed, Yet KU did their thing, while playing bad. KU only gets stronger with each game. Love that chip on the shoulder thought. Yet not sure this KU team cares? They have blinders on. One game at a time.
I like our chances in every single game. Why? Because we have the magician, Devonte Graham!
Not sure I recall a better player we've had in a Kansas uniform in March. The guy brings game to the big games. This team is starting to remind me of some of those championship UCONN teams... lead by a point guard who doesn't accept losses. Kemba Walker... Shabazz Napier.
Devonte keeps bringing magic when we really need it!
Silvio will match up better sat.🙏
We're a number 1 seed for a reason. Vegas doesn't like to lose and guess what... we beat the spread today. We're favored by 4.5 against Seeya Hall. Hope all of you who bet against our guys enjoy another hole in your bracket.
We got the jitters out of the way. This game will be similar to many we've had this year. We'll stink up the floor sometime in the first half. Then go on a run in the second (or maybe lose a big lead) and yet somehow win. Everybody will complain about how ugly it was, but we leave Wichita a winner.
We match up a lot better with Seton Hall. Rodriguez is playing on one leg.
I think we'll come out and play better in the first half. Perfect coaching moment for Self after seeing that SOFT play against Penn. Play them the tape, tell them how many screens they went under and how they left a bunch of ivy league kids scare them away from the rim.
Can't see us losing Saturday unless we bottled Thursday's 1st half effort and plan on drinking it before the game
Seton hall played really well yesterday with arguably their best offensive performance of the year. The key for tomorrow is defense - getting out to shooters, containing dribble penetration and rebounding. If we lose, it won't be because we don't have Dok at 100%. Never has and won't be on Saturday.
HawkChamp said:
Seton hall played really well yesterday with arguably their best offensive performance of the year. The key for tomorrow is defense - getting out to shooters, containing dribble penetration and rebounding. If we lose, it won't be because we don't have Dok at 100%. Never has and won't be on Saturday.
Our defense and our offense, particularly Svi and Newman will be major factors. Both guards yesterday were downright awful on both sides of the ball
Are we better than Seton Hall? Yes.
Should we win? Yes.
Do we win all the games we should win? No.
Let’s just remember that we need a full team effort to win. That includes coach Self being at the top of his game.
This game comes with a significant risk of losing. I would say that SH is better relatively speaking than UNi was to our 2010 squad by quite a ways. And better than VCU to our 2011 team, relatively speaking. SH beat Texas Tech in non-con and is a team that would probably slot in ahead of KSU in the Big 12 overall.
We played a very conservative game vs Penn. We only shot 17 3s. That was clearly by design. Our guys could win off the dribble ( is the asssumed theory). We’ll should shoot more 3s vs SH. We shot 40+% from 3 so we did just fine vs Penn. I am assuming the low rate of 3s was game specific ... I hope so. And by design from the coach.
I personally don’t sense an upset here. But would any of us be surprised? Would it be shocking? No.
If someone predicts a KU loss, are they crazy? Absolutely not. After watching SH and KU play yesterday, who played better? Not KU.
I think we come out and take care of business.
Some random thoughts...
We were jittery yesterday - shouldn't be the case Saturday.
When Graham warms up, he's got moves and shots that affect everyone on the court - uplifting to the good guys, demoralizing for opponents when those crazy long threes start dropping.
Seeya Hall played good yesterday - maybe they're due for a cold shooting day.
I was surprised by just how incredibly relieved I was when we took over yesterday - we would have been the laughingstock of Div 1 for years to come had we choked. But we kept that streak of unbeaten 1s going.
Vegas says has the #1 seed winning by 4.5 in this game - seems reasonable, they tend to be pretty good at that kind of thing.
Like HEM says above, if you predict a loss are you crazy? No, just don't expect too much love from all here at this fan website - realism is good but sometimes hope is a better choice.
To those that chose the SH to beat the good guys - hope you enjoy a nice big hole in your bracket.
SH HAD to play better yesterday because of a closer match up. We typically play to the level of our competition. And we came out tight and cold. We did warm up some and this is all about trey shooting, isn't it?
The team that shoots the highest percentage usually wins. Penn... actually played fairly well perimeter defense.
Sure we could lose.. but if we are warm or hot from trey, forgetaboutit!
Here is another perspective from yesterday's game...
Who stepped up besides Devonte? Our old friend, Mr. Vick! So now we know that Vick may be bringing more game moving forward. Can it get any better than that? He's been our flat tire on this bunch for a while now. And Mitch put in a good performance. Always great to have him step up.
Imagine SH practice today... "Okay... listen up... we just have to be able to shut down Devonte... I mean Malik... I mean Vick... I mean Doke... I mean Svi...."
I don't expect a blowout because both teams preferred style of play would indicate this should be a fairly high scoring game tomorrow. If KU holds Seton Hall under 80, KU should win. This won't be a defensive gem, these are two offensive minded teams that will run.
@kjayhawks
No one said you didn’t have a right to your opinion. You most certainly do. It’s just a pessimism vs. optimism thing. The chances that KU plays EXACTLY like they did yesterday, are slim. But if they do, they’ll probably get beat. Oh well. I choose to believe that they’ll rise to the challenge and play like the better team that they are. That’s not to say I won’t need a roll of TUMS next to me during the game though!
After we beat K St, the thought of the day was " we have to play better than"... and I understand that. It's only natural to assume if we struggle one game that we better not struggle the next game. I'll make no bones about it- Seton Hall brings an elite offense to the table. the only reason they are in the 8th spot, and not a 3 seed is they lost their best scorer, Desi Rodriguez, for a big chunk of the season, and piled up some losses. And they played, and lost to 2 number 1 seeds 4 times. Still, they seem to have large mental lapses where they go on big runs, and then give it all back, so it's not like they're unbeatable. I think the game will be close, but we will win this game.
I don't think we will shoot as poorly. I expect a win.
I hear analyst saying KU has the toughest game for a #1 seed in SHU...and so was the first game. I don’t get why some posters are assuming SHU will play a perfect game and KU will not. KU has to play a perfect game to win only if SHU does as well and there are no assurances it will. FiveThirtyEight gives KU a 78% chance of winning ↗, SHU should be a lot more worried than KU.
I keep reading about the size SHU has and I just don’t see it. Yes, they have 6’10” Delgado that is a load and averages 30 mpg, but after that they have Nzei and Sanogo at at 6’8” that play double digit minutes; their other big, MamukenashvillI at 6’10” averages less than 10 minutes. Rodriguez will be the toughest one to guard and at 6’5” can be a load but is playing with one questionable wheel; maybe a job for Garret?
And Delgado doesn't block shots either at his size.
Powell and Rodriguez are brick house guards.
This game will favor De Sousa and hopefully Doke can play a few minutes here and there.
@JayHawkFanToo You make good points. SH played a very good game yesterday. I know I feel uneasy because we know Doke will not be 100%.........we don't even know if he will be 80%.
8 seeds are 8 seeds for one of two reasons - either they have lots of talent, but are very inconsistent, or they aren't very talented, but are very steady.
Seton Hall is the former. They certainly have some talent, but they don't always play up to that level. Because of that, KU should have a good chance of winning this game. Now obviously, a team like SHU can win this game. Unlike Penn, they have the talent to close out a game like this if they get a lead. But, much like Arizona last night, they also may never get going, and KU certainly has the talent to close out SHU if they get a lead.
KU needs to be better than they were yesterday to advance. They don't have to be perfect, but the teams from here on out will be good, so KU needs to be good as well.
@RockkChalkk One thing about it is - -they are another team with troubles shooting free throws - -69% for the season. - Yesterday they shot better but odds always catch up - -Going to be a hard game we just got to bring it -- I think a lot of yesterday was the typical 1st game nerves for a good portion anyways we shall see.
Let's run this team out of the gym.
It's the second game of a weekend... we need to bring our track shoes and leave it all on the court.
We wore out Penn and we can wear down SH.
So apparently Desi Rodriguez grew up a Kansas fan because of course he did...
UMBC's tiny PG is amazing.
2 Virginia starters have yet to score, that is a pretty pathetic offense.