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32 points, 12-14 fg, 8-8 3's. Discuss. He was the difference in the game last night. Can we bottle this performance until late March/early April?

Vick was great. I'm glad he showed up to play; otherwise, we would have been in trouble. Vick picked up the team and propelled us to a win. 8/8 from 3 and 12/14 from the field. Great game!

He tends to be better when he elevates on his jumper, and when KU is playing less athletic competition. He was definitely guarded on some of those looks though. He was, as the kids say, feeling it.

He played out of his mind.

Vick's mom was amazing and hilarious on twitter during this game.

stoptheflop said:

Vick was great. I'm glad he showed up to play; otherwise, we would have been in trouble. Vick picked up the team and propelled us to a win. 8/8 from 3 and 12/14 from the field. Great game!

Agree with you. The big thing with him is like I mentioned is - -keeping him engaged, game in - -game out. - -I think and feel LaGerald can be very huge for us this year , leading us with that SR leadership, if we can even get half of what he did for us tonight on a nightly basis will be a big help for us. - What we can't have is anymore 1-5 point 1-2 rebound nights. - it's all about being engaged with him - -very talented player just needs to bring it. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

It was hawt.

Postgame picture of Lagerald Vick

!alt text ↗

BShark said:

Vick's mom was amazing and hilarious on twitter during this game.

You follow his mom on twitter?

wissox said:

BShark said:

Vick's mom was amazing and hilarious on twitter during this game.

You follow his mom on twitter?

I actually don't, but lots of KU people I follow retweet or reply to her.

Dedric couldn't overcome his resting rest face last night.

Vick was almost 10 for 10 from three land. He took and made 2 with his foot on the line. Dude was on fire. Maybe the forced number change has got him fired up?

Vick returning is huge. Really felt that when it was announced. Nothing better than being humbled to increase focus and motivation.

@HighEliteMajor

Agrees, I posted when he came back that after looking at the real world, he would likely have a much better attitude and work ethic to get where he wants to end. He seems a lot more assertive and focused now.

8 for 8 was great but I was most impressed by his drive and dunk. He has never driven enough for my taste.

BigBad said:

8 for 8 was great but I was most impressed by his drive and dunk. He has never driven enough for my taste.

That was one nasty dunk. I was like OMG. smile.

@DoubleDD one thing that was great about it is that he expected a challenge and went up shielding the ball, then realized there would be no challenge, so in air he adjusted his grip and utilized his hang time to dunk it after all. I like quick reaction athleticism. LaGerald was WOKE!

@JayHawkFanToo I hope so. It's a marathon, both for our success this season and what scouts want to see from him.

I think Vick had solid game outside of shooting 3s as well, he seemed to force several turnovers and was engaged. I think he was cold against MSU but he also didn’t need to score I was more concerned with him not having any plays that I remember sticking out, good or bad. Maybe he can become the new Mr. March (I rewatched some of the tournament games man Malik was simply fantastic).

https://kuhoops.com/ku-basketball-news/221621035/ ↗

HighEliteMajor said:

Vick returning is huge. Really felt that when it was announced. Nothing better than being humbled to increase focus and motivation.

If franny was right during the game, Self told him he was "done with him", "had enough" I think he said on TV. It makes you wonder how much on and off the court issues Vick truly had that would make Bill Self give up on him. So it must be some real change that has occurred for him to be back here. 2nd chances given in the right circumstance has paid off so far. But my only caution is, we've seen this Vick before and we need to continue to see him play and act this way. Self put his neck on the line for him.

@Crimsonorblue22 the comments Self said about Dedric at the bottom of that article are eye opening.

Asked if he was concerned about Lawson, Self said: “I do worry a little bit. I thought he played very unathletically tonight. He got every shot blocked it seemed like. When they had him pushed off the spot, he shot some marginal shots. Then he had some decent looks that didn’t go in. He had a drive to a layup that he’s got to make. The biggest thing is that he wasn’t engaged tonight. We have got to have him engaged. He’s way too good of a player to have nights like that.

@approxinfinity Not good but this was known about Lawson for a while. Not sure what Self was expecting from him.

Self is right about Dedric not being engaged. He was pouting and not playing within the offense.

@approxinfinity I noticed in our half court sets, we never had good ball movement the whole game. The ball stuck on one side of the court ( the side Doke was on ), so Grimes and Dedric were pretty much stuck on the other side. They went from 32 shots combined against Sparty to a combined 14 shots against Vermont. I'm sure Dedric pouted. I think Coach's goal was to get Doke going, make him play over 30 minutes, and have him punish a smaller team. I think we'll see Dedric and Grimes both come out, and have big games against Louisiana. I don't fault Dedric for being sullen- he's probably harder on himself than anyone else. It takes time to learn to control your emotions, and he's still learning. If the ultimate pouter ( Vick ) can overcome it, so can Dedric.

Self is running the offense thru a superior physical specimen. The far away most skilled guy is upset. This is the exact thing that kept him out of the NBA - lack of athleticism or extreme size. I’d be pissed too it’s re-inforcing everything the NBA scouts said and a year off working out isn’t paying off in the ways he’d hoped.

Looks like Dedric goes for 30 on Friday. That's how this season's been going. Everyone on here bashes Doke, he dominates the next game. Vick gets bashed, puts up 30.

A surprising amount of 1 game overreactions from this board...

@Kcmatt7 He’ll be fine. The goose egg is surprising though.

I’m expecting Perry Ellis 2.0 Slightly bigger, but even less athletic. (I really liked Perry fwiw)

@Kcmatt7 lol

We are spoiled having experienced Mr Consistency in Devonte and Frank the last two years, respectively.

@approxinfinity It might be this year's theme to have new scoring leader in almost every game. That is why we're going to be so tough to beat - we have multiple ways to beat you.

@Kcmatt7 Surprising? Ha!!! Have you not been reading this board for years? It could be renamed "Buckets of Overreactions"!

@mayjay oodles of passionate noodles

@mayjay I didn’t overreact on Vick, I may have on Dedric a bit because I haven’t been impressed with him outside of rebounding to this point lol. It’s takes time as well, the dude did sit out a season.

@mayjay Exactly. Its like folks think you get "bonus points" for having the most thirty point blowouts or for looking the best in November and December.

@HawkChamp We had lots of those for years, IIRC. And I remember none of them. Games that are closer, and even losses, can be frustrating but they also draw you in and are more memorable.

@mayjay Not even a certain Kentucky blowout? Makes me smile.

@dylans Well, yes, but the big one, in 1989, wasn't televised where I was, so not much memory for me there! There were a couple blowouts since then, on both sides. I don't have much recall of those.

I preferred the OT game in 2016 myself! Of course, that was January....

Here is a nice list (a UK site, so results are W/L from their viewpoint) (edit: pic won't load, so here is the site):

http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/Kansas.html ↗

KU is 7-0 in the last 7 games against teams in the Champions Classic and also 3-0 against UNC.

3 straight wins against UK, Duke, and UNC and 2 straight over Sparty is pretty nice! Another chance to pick up a win on Kentucky this season too, but the game I want to see is KU - Duke for the ‘ship.

@dylans I would take that without a second thought. I actually think of all teams we have the best chance to beat them at the end of the year.

@BeddieKU23 I wouldn’t go so far as to say “Self put his neck on the line”.

All up side when he had an open spot available because Self can always dismiss.

@BeddieKU23

Fran likely making himself look more important and like he has an inside line with Coach Self. The comments he made when Vick left were nowhere near what Fran is saying; I would seriously doubt Coach Self...or any other Coach... would say anything even close to that to a reporter/analyst. Even if true, this is something that would no be shared other than with the close inner circle and definitely not with the press since it is the stuff other program can use to sway prospects away from KU.

@JayHawkFanToo Maybe Fran read the rampant speculations we had here on this Board where people imagined what was said. Then, unable to separate fact from fiction or to control which one had control of his voicebox, his head finally imploded.

Fran is friends with Bill.

@BShark thank heaven Coach doesn't have to listen to fran crap on us. Sorry, language! Fran knows when to butter his bread.

@BShark

Even if he is friends with Coach Self I would find it difficult to think that Coach Self would be happy with Fran publicly discussing what would have been private conversations.

I don't think anyone but coach, la la, and Vick knew what was said, period. And, especially Fran!

Hard to say, but surely Bill knows what Fran said at this pt.

So, um, yeah.

yep, count me on the official vick bandwagon now

@StLJhawk it's crowded

I'll take a fourth year four star guy over any first year 5 star guy

DanR said:

I'll take a fourth year four star guy over any first year 5 star guy

I get what you are saying but Zion, Durant, Anthony Davis etc...

In general though, yes player development is important.

🐦 View Tweet

Oh...

Apparently Vick's shooting hand is still the hottest thing on the planet.

Thank you, thank you and thanks again to Lagerald and Coach Self for finding a way for our senior to return this year and save this team. Where would this year's team be without LaGerald? He's our only 3 point threat. LaGerald saved the Jayhawks from an embarrassing loss to Stanford. Overall stats don't lie: 20.8 pts. per game on 57.5% FG shooting. LaGerald is 28/47 from 3 for 59.6%. WOW!
Going forward, KU must find a second 3 point shooter. Right now, that's got to be Dotson. Dedric is only 1/7 from 3, so his outside shooting is more of a distraction than a true threat. When Devon has the offense started with a drive and dish, he needs to get out front on the arc and look for his 3. What about having Garrett get the offense started on some possessions with a drive and dish, and let Dotson take over the shooting guard role? Just don't let Marcus "Nothing But Backboard" Garrett shoot, ever. Dok and Dedric are solid in the paint and Dotson's drives to the rim help, but we need another 3 point shooter.

I was disappointed when Vick declares he was leaving. I was more disappointed that he felt he had to and the talk that was in the press from both him, his mother and Self. I was glad he wanted to come back, but disgusted at the cold shoulder that Self and the program gave him and all the press statements about what Vick had to do to be taken back in.

Here we are and where would Self and the Jayhawks be without Vick at least so far this early season?

Guess I understand there was lots of backstory but the way it all played out was disheartening.

But that’s all history now. Here’s to an awesome rest of the year and huge success for both Bick and the team.

@stoptheflop Charlie and grimes can shoot it as well.

@HawkChamp Dotson is 5/10 from 3 in 195 minutes, while Grimes is 9/22 in 155 minutes and Chuck Moore is 2/12 in 115 minutes. But, 6 of Grimes 9 makes came against Mich. St. So, Grimes has only made three 3s in the last 5 games and has seen his playing time drastically reduced. Dotson just isn't shooting enough 3s. He was 3/5 from 3 against Mich. St. KU needs a second 3 point threat on the court because all the perimeter D is going to be on Vick going forward.

Dotson has airballed a couple tbf. If Dotson is wiiiide open it's fine, otherwise meh.

The guards can't shoot. Self is letting Vick shoot whatever he feels like. But, nobody else. That is a tell.

We need to ramp it up on the defensive end to make up for it at this point.

@Bwag I think Vick has been treated wonderfully, in spite of his many transgressions, from attitude to assault. I'm glad he changed his attitude, because it has had a tremendous impact on his productivity.

I'd like to see Vick watch old Laker games with Michael Cooper. There is a lot he could quickly pick up on from another thin player who was athletic.

I'm in on the Vick fan club!