🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Tonight's game is tougher than Monday's that's for sure.

Seton Hall- Kenpom #57, #91 Offense, #36 defense

Led in scoring by transfers Dre Davis (Louisville) & Al-Amir Dawes (Clemson) they are 4-3 on the year coming into Allen Fieldhouse off back-to-back defeats to Oklahoma & Siena. First year coach Shaheen Holloway who led Saint Peters to their magical 2022 NCAA tournament run seems to be employing a similar style so far at Seton Hall with 9 guys playing 17-28 minutes per game.

The player to be afraid of on both sides of the ball especially at the rim is KC Ndefo, the Saint Peters transfer who was a star in the NCAA tournament with his athleticism & ability to block shots at the rim. These are the guys that give KU major problems every year. Ndefo has 318 career blocks and counting and is the matchup I'm most worried about tonight.

Leading scorer Al-Amir Dawes has hit 50% of his 3's on the season so far on 34 attempts so Harris should draw this assignment and hopefully keep him in check.

Seton Hall has plenty of positional size, besides their guards Dawes & Harris they have several 6'6 type wing/hybrid forwards & have three 6'9-6'10 bigs to play alongside Ndefo.

Despite SH's struggles so far I wouldn't be surprised with a close game, Vegas has KU favored by 8.5 pts. The two games SH played P5 competition they lost by double digits & gave up season high in points so if KU plays a smart game on its home floor they might be able to break this open at some point in the 2nd half. It would be good to get some momentum going into December

Rock Chalk

@benshawks08

I thought Udeh reminded me of young Dave the last 2 weeks. They are completely different players but the immaturity they show on the court is/was similar at this stage. Udeh likes to take himself out of every play by jumping for blocks he can't make or misjudging offensive rebounds/putbacks which then has him out of position for basically everything. He needs a ton of practice working on screens as well.

I can't lie I've been really disappointed with Ernest but I had some higher expectations coming in then I probably should have. He's sped up and being asked to play before he's ready so it's not his fault per say. I knew he was raw coming in but had the right tools to mold. If we had an experienced post player like we are used to having he probably only sees mop up minutes so having him out there before he's seasoned enough is what we are currently seeing. He just looks so wild out there and not in a good way. I know in due time he'll be fine.

@Crimsonorblue22

Texas has looked sharp, athletic at every position and outside shooting hasn't hurt them, yet. They play Creighton & Illinois back to back. The game they beat Gonzaga stands out & if they play at that level it will be difficult to match them.

Convenient in the Big-12 schedule, KU travels to Texas for the last regular season game which could also have championship implications on the line.

@BShark

My days of doubting Self winning the league are long gone. I don't think we are in any position to win the league currently, but we'll see how this month goes. League play is where Self always finds a way to get the upper hand.

@BShark

We should have no issue putting up 90 on them.

@BShark

Dusted this one out, Kenpom comps in the Self Era. Look how similar this years team is to a few others. This might be our ceiling (hopefully not) but it is an early warning of what might be. This is a bottom 4 squad since Self has been here so far.

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@BShark said in Other games:

Watched a fair bit of Missouri WSU last night since we play Missouri. Missouri can shoot it a bit but is horrible defensively. Wichita had a lot of unforced turnovers. In general Wichita has really fallen off.

Kenpom #37, 13th ranked O (20 slots higher then KU), 95th ranked D. Sounds spot on to what you said. They have given up 80+ to 4 teams so far & have played what has to be one of the worst schedules to date.

Southern Indiana, Penn, Lindenwood, SIUE, Miss Valley St, Coastal Carolina, Hou Christian, Wichita St has been their slate so far. Talk about murderer's row.

Right now on Kenpom the Big-12 has 8 of the top 30 defenses in the country.

Only Baylor #75 is outside the Top 40. Baylor has the #2 ranked Offense so Jekyll/Hyde going on.

On Offense only 2 Big-12 teams are in the Top 30 not including KU. Expanding out to the Top 50, only 6 teams.

There is going to be a lot of 52-48 type games in the Big-12 if these trends continue

@benshawks08

Guessing he wanted a mulligan on that 3 attempt

@wissox said in Other games:

Chucky Hepburn just hit a 60 footer to end the half. He made a similar one last season. Badgers down 3 to Wake.

Dang ended down 3 as well. No 2nd 60 footer..

@rockchalkjayhawk

Probably would have played some by now. Could he really play worse then Zach or Udeh has? The bar has been set so low right now.. Those two need the gym and practice badly.

Personally I don't think Cam can help us and unless Self has been an expert at keeping secrets we should have very low expectations if he does play.

Some injury updates

Cam Martin could play within a week to 10 days. Possible for Methzu.

Kevin is doubtful for Seton Hall

Bobby is doubtful for Methzu

Kentucky and Bellarmine tied at halftime at 21 a piece. Oh boyyy

Updated post Tejas Southern beatdown

Points

Jalen getting close to 1,000 real fast. Going to be very interesting to start tracking how high he can climb up the list. Zach has yet to score this season in 37 minutes, major disappointment there.

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PER's

Big jump for MJ Rice after the 19 point outburst. We'd all love to see that unleashed more going forward. Udeh is trending hard in the wrong direction.

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Kenpom

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Sagarin, Bracket Matrix & Massey added to trend as the season progresses.

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MJ had 19, good to see him score even if it was overmatched competition. It feels important to get him to where he could potentially be the off-the-bench scorer with Yesufu. Joe with his 2nd positive game in a row as well. Perhaps these two will be trending up now.

MJ had 1 hustle play in the game winning a 50/50 ball. Not much else, I focused on his D and ball movement because it's not just scoring that will get you minutes here. It looks like he's really behind on the details and hasn't had a ton of practice time due to injury/etc. The next step for MJ is seeing what he can do against P5 competition. I hope he gets some burn Thursday.

@Gorilla72 said in Other games:

I see Houston is #1 on CBS Sports. They’ve played an easy early schedule and only have two ranked teams to play this year, at this point.

I’m going to watch tomorrow’s game. Has anyone watched them? Give me some hints as to what to watch for?

Really good backcourt. Sasser is their best player. Walker and Arceneaux are exciting freshman with both on NBA radars. They defend and rebound. Kind of the staple of Sampson..

Jalen had 6 assists. I think this is an area of his game he will have to use as the season goes on. He has a complete game when he wants to

@benshawks08 said in Texas Southern Game Thread:

@BeddieKU23 said in Texas Southern Game Thread:

MJ had 19 in the 2nd half..

Is that good?

Promising. Need him healthy and ready

Thanks Dave

MJ had 19 in the 2nd half..

Jank just tanked his PER

Yesufu with back to back double figure games. Perhaps he is ready to give us a serious role off the bench

No reason for Jalen to be out there

I would like to see Rice do more then shoot but it's nice to see he can do that tonight.

Yeaahh

You can see Rice is talented. Get this one going

Woo

4 guys in double figures.

Damn that Mortle kid has hops

kj that was nice

Harris with 7 dimes

Good stuff running them ragged

12 assists on 15 buckets so good stuff

Lol that's a sure shot

Yeah was thinking this effort won't win Thursday. They need the next two days to go well

Nice d

Ridiculous with these moving screens as soon as they check in. So lazy

There gonna have to do something to get him shooting better at the line. Too many attempts coming his way

I just figured KJ would improve on his FTs at least which he wasn't this bad at last year

@BShark said in Texas Southern Game Thread:

@BeddieKU23 said in Texas Southern Game Thread:

Great effort by zuby

This will NEVER be an issue with him from what I've heard.

Tracked down that rebound.

Great effort by zuby

@approxinfinity said in Texas Southern Game Thread:

Has anyone ever seen KJ shoot a jumpshot?

It's not flattering

Wow make something

Oh my Lanta udeh what are you doing. Your the tallest guy playing like the smallest

Udeh didn't fight over that screen and then gets called for another foul

@BShark said in Texas Southern Game Thread:

Udeh lost on both ends already.

Redic

Awful

And MJ

See what happens when you pass

Wow Jalen share the ball