🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@HighEliteMajor

After Tuesday's game I don't know. I've tussled back and forth over who should play and what minutes should be given to some a million times and it seems each game is proving harder and harder to distinguish the best rotation, for the immediate future and for March.

Was Tuesday just an outlier, playing such an unique team with the size they had. And the sets they ran which included a lot of high picks to draw the defenders out of the lane. Were the defensive struggles for our young bigs in the 1st half from inexperience or not following the scouting report. Was Landon's surprisingly good game just one of those days, I mean he made a shot over someone close range and had 2-3 dunks, more than he's had all year. What do we take from that?

I think that Hunter has clearly earned his spot starting and I couldn't be happier for him. Nothing he is doing is flashy but he's brought stability and effort when he's out there.

His chemistry with our guards is better than Diallo's and Bragg's.

I think that's probably a big sign for Self when looking at the whole picture. I made the comment about Diallo being selfish with the ball because he has been. I've loved how aggressive Diallo has been when given the chance but I think Self wants him to worry about his defense and court awareness more than jacking up jump shots and regardless of whether they go in or not its not Self Ball. Right now I can see why Diallo is sitting and the only cure for that is the opposite. This kid needs considerable playing time, not the sporadic 10-12 minutes a game. He will not be able to impact the game the way we want a Top 10 HS kid to do if he's going to be taken out of the game after every mistake.

Diamond Stone has been playing 20+ minutes a game since the season started. A game like he had last night was 13 games in the works. Bragg or Diallo could have a similar game if they had been getting consistent minutes from the beginning as well but that's not the case here.

Right now I'd just stick with rotating everyone, keeping everybody fresh and demanding maximum effort from the guys when their number is called. We will wear teams out if we continue to use the C-5 how its been used so far. It's potentially a negative to cut minutes, maybe the net positive is everyone getting the 3-4 minutes. You adjust if someone is having a good game like Traylor did against SDSU or Lucas did against Irvine and so on..

I don't agree with our coach that he should begin to tighten the rotation down. We've gotten where we are with the long bench and there is no reason to disrupt that if we are winning games.

Anybody believe we are going to lose games because of playing everyone?

This team goes as its back-court goes.

Mason, Graham, Selden, Svi, Greene. Ellis is the rock in the post. It all starts and ends with that core.

No one in the C-5 has separated themselves. Everyone saw the defensive blunders by our freshman in the 1st half of the Irvine game. Bragg responded in the 2nd half with a nice defensive rotation, Diallo didn't have a good defensive 1st half. Those are the things that unfortunately will keep him on the bench.
He also has to learn how to play with-in the offense. The quick shots even if they go in, are probably not what Self wants to see. He wants to see Diallo playing in the team-game. And sometimes Diallo looks like he's trying to do too much for himself, to impress his coach or himself whatever it is he's shown he's the most "selfish" player when he gets the ball. It's a big adjustment for him from going from the High School All-Star to just a piece of the pie here at KU.

Anyways, I don't think after these 12 games you can make a pecking order and stick with it. The C-5 all has different skills that can be used in any given game.

@jayballer54

If you saw the Virginia/West Virginia game that was the recipe for beating them. Just survive the early punches and wear them down. They are a terrible shooting team and they foul like crazy still. The game in Morgantown will be difficult, even worse if we are #1 when we go there.

What a tale of 2 half's last night.

1st half-

Not aggressive against the zone. Missed shots galore, the tall one's made shots to make it muddy. The pace of the 1st half was lethargic. The crowd was even worse, zero energy from them until the 2nd half. Graham made some 3's to keep it close. Self clearly mad at Diallo for defense.

Bill Self firing squad at halftime.

2nd half-

By the 1st media time-out it was clear that Self had lit them up during the break. Perry, Wayne and co made it 16 pt lead by the 15 minute mark. Better execution against the zone. Some unexpected dunks from Lucas (he must have had his wheaties). Bragg & Diallo sitting with the red warm-ups on. Sending a message to them. Post game comments said as much, step up boys!!

All in All a 25 point win is great, but it wasn't nearly this teams best which is scary. Start conference play again with Baylor, they will test us with another zone. A chance for #1 vs #2 in Allen on Monday (that is dependent on Saturday's results).

We now have a giant target on our back..

We take care of business at home those road games against Texas Tech and West Virginia will put us on upset alert. Coach says the ranking is no big deal. Good for him, it motivates underdogs to achieve greater. This team will have to elevate its play over 2 half's and not just 1.

Guys playing a little too confident so far

@RockChalkinTexas

Huge loss for them. Ridley had been playing very well this year. I'm sure he will be back when we go to Austin in February.

@wissoxfan83

I think you pulled a Bill Self with the Morris throwing his towel at his coach.

It was Markieff but as Self would say back in the day,your both in trouble because I can't tell the difference!!!

@drgnslayr

Great point, that could possibly be best that they are just pieces of the pie.

Because I think Frank, Devonte, Wayne & Perry are all content in leading this team. Everyone else has a role and has fit into it. I don't think KU can win it all without both being involved in the outcome, they are extremely important to this teams ceiling.

I think both are content on letting the experienced guys do the heavy work, they don't have the pressure that others on the team have. It's a great problem to have, 2 uber talented bigs fighting for PT.

@drgnslayr

Buddy has had some big games against us so I expect to get his best. 20-25 points won't hurt us as usually KU is great in limiting the best player from beating us.

Its going to be Spangler's junkyard buckets off rebounds so we will need to rebound well.

Or its Cousins & Woodard going off from 3.. So we will need to play well out to shooters.

It would be great if we had one of those memorable defensive performances to let the rest of the league know that its not happening this year.

@drgnslayr

Great post. I couldn't find much to rebuttal with..

I do think Self is doing a great job. He's adapted the offense to play with this teams strengths.

And most importantly these guys are making shots.

I just have that proverbial dream that Bragg & Diallo will begin to seperate themselves from the pack and Self will trust them in pressure situations to get the job done.

@drgnslayr

The biggest improvement for OU in seeing some of their games has been the PG Woodard's shooting. He's not a liability from 3 land anymore which has given them the 3 headed perimeter nightmare. Good thing KU has the same talents in its perimeter.

I don't think Hield is a guy who can be limited. You just hope he misses shots, he's a gifted player. Maybe Selden or Graham can disrupt him but he's a guy who has looked match-up proof so far.

Next Monday is going to be fun, unless we don't play well..

@drgnslayr

I fully agree about the safety of our players in Ames. It's scary to think a fan-base can lose all sense of reality and do the things they have done in the past. It's actually sickening to be worried about your players safety going into another gym.

@RockChalkinTexas

Should be a good game. Texas has an advantage playing them at home. UCONN has been a little inconsistent so far, I thought they were going to be better. I would like to see the huskies pull out the win but I think its a tall order going into Austin.

@wrwlumpy

I'm not against Jamari, I have tremendous respect for the player he is and the man he has become. He has value on this team and I thought his play against San Diego St was one of his best games.

I guess what I didn't understand was that when the game got close Self choose to abandon the rotation of post minutes and stuck with 1 guy. We won the game so I have no problem in playing to win. But the "bigger picture" gives us a lot to talk about.

The post rotation he played in the 1st half built a 13 point lead. But they ride the bench 2nd half? That's my only gripe. As @HighEliteMajor has pointed out time and time again, if the goal is to win the National Championship and the SDSU game was a pawn on the chess board, then Diallo and Bragg should have at least been given the opportunity to play in the pressure moments.

I think they both played well enough to have earned minutes in the 2nd half. If they were ineffective then sit them, but that wasn't the case at all.

@justanotherfan

I'll start with your last comment about Valentine.

I don't believe KU would do as well without Frank Mason either. It's hard to compare KU to MSU because depth wise KU has it in spades. Michigan St's most important and best player is Valentine.

KU's best player is very debatable, you could go Mason, Ellis or even Selden at this point. But if you took Mason out of the offense I'm sure this team struggles. And because of his experience and leadership at the PG spot you can make a case that he's our most important player.

I watch a lot of College Basketball and I like to see what other teams have. I just don't think the blue-bloods in Kentucky and Duke have it this year.

Kentucky doesn't have a star and with Skal playing like a freshman the potential for that team is limited. They needed him to be like an Anthony Davis or Towns but they are not getting that. Maybe he turns it around playing middling SEC teams. They don't have a post scorer on a consistent basis. Poythress has done a nice job but he's a junkyard dog at best. Murray is that guy who could take games over but he's shown to be a volume shooter. Ulis has been solid but has been inconsistent shooting the ball. Briscoe is skilled but is another guy who's struggled shooting.

Probably the biggest drop off from last yr to this year is their defense. Against Louisville they actually did a pretty good job from letting them run their offense. Without Lee taking over that game could have been ugly. Kentucky could win a lot of games because the SEC is a dumpster fire this year again. So many mediocre teams.

Duke has 1 guy who gets it in Grayson Allen, he can score at any point. It looks like the light has come on for Ingram as well so they have 2 very good scorers.

They lack the point guard play that they had last year. Look how good KU is running Mason and Graham out there. Duke had that in Jones & Cook and its gone now. I think Thornton will be good in time but its a lot asking a guy who re-classified (he was just a Jr in High School last year) to step into the role he's been given.

Jefferson has been solid but he's no Okafor and is hurt. They have little depth and so far Jeter has not looked like a 5-star prospect. It's hard to look at them as serious contenders right now when they have serious questions about their depth and guys who were role players a year ago being asked to step up. No team can really expect to be better after losing Okafor, Winslow & Jones (all 1st round picks) and a senior in Cook.

I think this year is the year of veteran squads. Last year, youth was able to dominate but this years youth isn't as good. And when many of the best freshman decided to go to mediocre teams in my opinion that has made it easier to see what teams are true contenders. I'm even willing to bet that teams like Providence & Miami are better teams that UK & Duke. They have veterans that know what is expected of them. Kris Dunn is a NBA starting PG. Miami has a back-court of seniors in their 5th year that understand how to win. It's been exciting seeing how much experience has mattered so far. Maybe it won't matter come March but it's looking like you need deep experienced teams to have a chance.

@HighEliteMajor

Outstanding post as always. I really appreciate the out of box discussions

In the 2nd half when the game got chippy for a 6-8 minute stretch Self reverted to the "default" button and went with the guys or player- Traylor who's been through these situations before.

At least he played well enough to justify the minutes in the end but I was puzzled that he didn't sub guys in and out after regaining control of the game. He sent Diallo back out there with what 2-3 minutes left, and from all I could see Cartlon and Cheick played very well in their minutes.

I didn't see any concern where coach shouldn't have played them because of mistakes . So then why did he hit the default button and press snooze to the bench?

And that could potentially be the problem all season long. We could lose games because we have the same ol Mari out there. We could also lose if we leave inexperienced freshman out there. Coach so far has proven that he's scared to find out. He knew he had a superior team against SDSU but he went to Jamari anyway in the tight situation and then just left him out there. We won, but if the goal by March is to have Carlton & Cheick comfortable and playing at a high level then Coach failed them with that game. I have a feeling he'll repeat this with the games we have coming up.

@jayballer54

To answer your question its probably in our favor if Oklahoma loses to Iowa St.

But if we assume that OU loses and goes into Allen Fieldhouse 0-1 that could be a real challenge for our guys. I don't think OU is going to necessarily lose games it shouldn't but this current group of kids has given KU all it can handle in Allen the past few years. I highly doubt their experienced group wants to possibly go 0-2 to start league play so I could see a team that comes into our house with a chip on their shoulder (on top of always wanting to beat KU).

They also have a tough stretch right after the 1st week of league play. @ Oklahoma St, West Virginia, @ Iowa St, @ Baylor.. They could find themselves in a big hole 7 games in. It's not unrealistic that they could have 4 league loses in the first half of conference play. Which would put them basically out of contention.

I do believe this is the best OU team they have had in many years so I could also see them surviving the early gauntlet with just 1 or 2 loses. They are better than Iowa St and the rest of the league not named KU.

@DanR

No I don't think either team is very good right now. Valiant effort by Louisville to come back but there wasn't much of a chance they were going to leave Rupp with a victory. Lee is a big-time player for them but they don't have much else. One of their freshman stepped up but watching them it just felt like they have 1 really good player and not enough other pieces to beat really good teams.

And did Kentucky ever get lucky hitting a bunch of open/contested 3's. Ulis had been struggling shooting then makes a couple 30 footers like clockwork. Hawkins the 12th man on their bench made 3 triples.. Murray also made a bunch of 3's on a team that was struggling mightily to make outside shots. It just reeked of a win that happened because they were at home and made some shots they probably don't on the road/neutral court.

Ken Pom actually says UK is okay in Adjusted D & O... Still early and they've only played a few teams with a pulse so far.

@justanotherfan

Interesting you think Zona, Duke, and UK are good enough right now. I think all 3 have showed they are not nearly as good as past years. Zona because they have seniors is a team that I could see getting good if the Freshman Trier takes over the team.

I think Xavier, Butler and Purdue have all played well enough so far to be final 4 type teams. I could see all 3 continuing their sucess, veteran squads.

I do think KU is the best in the nation. Right now I believe we have separated ourselves with Michigan St as the favorites so far. If we can best Oklahoma and Baylor coming up it will only strengthen that feeling.

@Hawk8086

He's a great talent there's no question of that.

But does he fit with Self's scheme, not likely. He's a 7 footer that likes to float on the perimeter where he's skilled but for his size he should be making his living inside out. Maybe that changes when a coach like Self challenges him to stay inside but it's an unknown.

With what we've dealt with in the past with Diallo and others I'd rather hope we get someone else and let Maker play his 1 yr somewhere else. Either amateur or academic he's a red flag.

@DinarHawk

He actually had a good game I thought. The 2 jump shots show he has skill and can hit jumpers. The B2B move was something he didn't have in HS. I thought he would have gotten a little more time but Traylor was playing out of his mind.

@jayballer54

If I had my choice its Bolden. B2B ability and would be the perfect compliment to Bragg. He can score and play immediately and has a chance to have similar a impact to Tyler Davis of A&M. The problem I have is I just don't view him as likely to land here. I think he's enamored by playing with other top freshman. That has been my stance from the beginning and I haven't seen a single bit of info that makes me want to change that view yet. I really hope he does join KU, as well as a transfer PG/combo guard. Jackson is a longshot..

@JayHawkFanToo

That's the million dollar question with Maker. It looks like they plan on submitting his info early so that the process can maybe be settled earlier. Anytime a camp is already preparing their stuff in advance is a red flag for me.

I get that being prepared because of the Diallo situation makes sense I still shake my head at the likelyhood the NCAA doesn't have a doosey of a time dragging this out. He's rumored to have an entourage unlike any seen on the prep/hs level. This has Diallo pt 2 written all over it.

@nuleafjhawk '

But didn't you expect a run from them? We weathered the storm and the lead became comfortable again. It was on a road against a team who needed that win and this team took them apart (for most of the game).

To me this is the best this team has looked in over 2 years. And as you pointed out, not everything is great right now which is the scary part.

I remember the announcers using this phrase during the game last night and I thought to myself, this team is performing like one.

How exciting was it to watch this team dismantle a rebuilding SDSU team in a tough environment.

I mean right now what is there to be critical on? We could go on about post minutes but that's going to be a on-going discussion this whole year. I'm enjoying the ride, this looks like the best KU team in years, the potential to be better than 2012 team or 2008.

Call me impressed so far. Last night was a big win, a perfect lead in to the holidays...

@DCHawker

My comments about Svi were on the assumption that wayne will go pro. If he does then Svi has a golden chance to take his minutes or at least share more with Greene. Which would give him the great opportunity to show off his game. I can imagine Svi being even better next year because at this point he's just a draft and stash type right now. We could lose arguably our best wing player in selden and actually still be okay

If the answer NBA isn't thrilled with Wayne by the end of the year then it's our gain. It would be amazing to see him finish his career here. He'd make us a title contender again

@ralster

I think your right about the marketable young talent aspect. If Selden jumps to the league he is old by draft standards so his stock is hard to improve. He needs to continue to put up numbers and have some games where he looks like a Poy. Valentine of MSU is doing this and his stock has risen considerably.

There will be plenty of scouts at KU games going forward especially the kentucky game. It would be wise for Selden to ball out in that game

@wissoxfan83

To Oubre's defense he did start for Washington recently but otherwise he's had mostly a forgettable rookie season so far.

I'd be shocked if Svi left at this point he would be in line for Selden's minutes next year where a true breakout season would have him potentially drafted high. He's just not going to get the minutes this year to support a top 25 spot. A national championship could change everyone's stock though including Bragg and Svi.

@JayHawkFanToo

I would agree right now that Diallo isn't a lottery pick. When I think of Lottery picks I think of players who are ready to play immediately and he's not one of them. I just think with his situation (where he's come from and what he's had to deal with to get here) if a big payday is waiting, he's going..

The good thing is there is still a lot of season left for him to progress and with all his faults he's still doing okay. 7pts 3bs 1 blk in limited minutes is all he can do unless he gets more time.

Pueltl is a good player, very smooth. Much improved from his freshman year.

@JayHawkFanToo

That's what 5-star freshman do to people's heads. They take a mediocre team a year ago and surprisingly make them 100 times better overnight. Cal is better this year but they way they were ranked early was just for TV.

@ralster

Chol has done nothing since bouncing from Arizona to SDSU.. It's a case where we are fortunate to have missed on him. He didn't develop as some scouts had predicted he could.

@Crimsonorblue22

the next game against UC Irvine is what your thinking of. SDSU just has a bunch of 6-7 to 6'9 types

@JayHawkFanToo

Do you consider Florida to be a good team? I've seen some of them and they lack the star power of the past. Some good young players but they have looked like they will be a bubble team come March.

I'm really shocked KSU is playing this well after losing a majority of the team. Maybe that is what was needed to right the ship. Still I think they come down to earth in conference play especially against KU, they will get a rude awakening this year.

@Bwag

Baylor looked lethargic out there. Just not as good a team as past years but they will still be a threat in Big 12 play. That can happen on the road, hopefully KU plays as good as A&M did

@drgnslayr

Awesome post, Wayne has become the player we have ranted about for 2+ years. Enjoy the ride.

@DoubleDD

LSU gets the #1 player because the Associate Head Coach David Patrick is his Godfather. Patrick is from Australia (like Ben) and has established a pipeline for getting Australian kids. They happened to land the biggest fish of them all. Sounds like an obvious reason why LSU was able to get him?

Now if you want to talk his teammate Antonio Blakeney 5-star SG, who became one of the most open cases of a player de-committing to a school (Louisville-Adidas) to LSU-Nike) over the shoe war. He signed with LSU to play with Simmons and (Nike). I have no doubt he was swayed by the shoe company war.

@Makeshift

Your right Withey didn't have a lot of competition unlike this years squad.

Hunter has been a guy who's thrived when his number has been called at KU multiple times. Maybe he's not this great practice player or maybe he doesn't stand out in some ways that Self wants his starting 5 to do. Whatever it is, Hunter gets in the game and "plays up" to the occasion. I think he's earned the right to start until further notice, especially until we all see Diallo start to develop any kind of familiarity with his teammates. But a 1-2 combo of Hunter & Diallo can be deadly, as well as the 1-2 punch of Ellis/Bragg sprinkled in with Mari & Lucas. It's a great problem to have but you can tell Self has had a tough time deciding what's the best chess move.

@DoubleDD

I know that they control a lot of the recruiting. We are seeing it more and more today. Why do you think a lot of fans want KU to get out of the Adidas contract.

But to say that Wiggins was swayed to Adidas from Nike or that the shoe company was involved with him is in my mind an inaccurate statement.

Self has said this kid was the easiest he's ever recruited because he literally shut everyone out until he decided to come to Lawrence. Show me evidence to the contrary if you want my mind to change..

@Second-Prize

I assume Bragg will be back, but Diallo is as good as gone if the teams in the lottery are still high on him.

So if that happens we need Marquees Bolden. He's Tyler Davis 2.0, can score with his back to the basket and he's got ability on defense

Let's put it this way you have Lucas & Coleby here for sure and then most likely Bragg. Lightfoot coming in, just can't see him being ready physically to play any more minutes than Legerald Vick is gettting this year.

Lucas couldn't make a layup with a 8 foot basket, but he can rebound and brings experience.

Coleby will be coming off ACL surgery and will have missed an entire year of working on his game and learning the offense and defensive assignments. Not many people besides me are that excited about his chances of being a key rotation player. Maybe he will be able to get back to speed by summer but its clear that KU needs another starter to go with Bragg.

@DoubleDD

Nobody led Wiggins to KU, Andrew choose his own path.

Coach texted him routinely for months and didn't get a response and then one day he announces for KU. Self had no clue he even had a chance until it was already over.

He was a throwback to the whole recruiting circus, he only let 1 news reporter from his High School's town release his announcement. No grand ESPN announcement with 7 hats, nobody knew where he was going until he decided.

@HighEliteMajor

As always top notch discussion starter. I would like to see how Hunter does over say a 10 game sample where he gets consistent minutes in that 15-20+ range and see if his numbers still stack up well. I say that because Hunter really hasn't been put in that situation.

Withey was a formidable rim protector, probably the best KU has ever had. Everyone knew going into the lane against him that you weren't getting a shot off. He also was so good at not fouling, he averaged almost a 2/1 Block to Foul ratio his senior year all while playing 30 minutes a game. Hunter has a below 1 ratio because he does foul.

I look at Hunter as a silent rim protector because I don't think anyone is scared going into the lane against him, but his long arms and instincts take over and he's blocked your shot. Which can be an advantage for KU, the scouting report might reflect he can block your shot but he kind of falls under the radar in that area.

Seems how I don't follow ku football it's an easy choice for me. And because my whole sports season revolves around the basketball team it would never get old cutting down the Nets in april

@JayHawkFanToo

It really is the perfect way to determine a champion and it can develop rivalry games easier. I don't think our games with Iowa St would be as interesting as they have been recently if we played them every other year in their gym. Knowing you get a home and home every year is a great thing for conferences.

Duke for instance at this moment won't play a ranked team for 10 games or until January 25th.

UNC after playing UCLA will play 10 games before playing a ranked team or February 1st.

Virginia's schedule has less cake walks, but plays only ranked Miami twice all year.

Louisville will play 2 ranked ACC teams twice, Duke & Virginia and gets favorable matchups at home against UNC, Miami.

Either the ACC knows what they are doing, or the size of the conference isn't really helping these teams out.

@JayHawkFanToo

And Iowa St and too a large degree Oklahoma's..

@drgnslayr

"We better be 3-0 when we play away at WVU… which is always a tough game. Then we will have at least a one-game lead on Baylor and OU."

Don't forget ISU, they play Oklahoma first game in Norman. Still trying to figure out what's better, ISU winning in Norman or OU holding serve and losing in Allen. OU could start 0-2 with losses to the 2 best teams in the league.

Meanwhile Shaka gets to play the 3 creampuffs in our league to start out.

A side-note I'm glad the Big-12 went to round robin. I've looked at other conferences especially the ACC. All the good ACC teams barely play the top teams ONCE. Some teams in the ACC will go 6-7 games playing bottom dwellers. Meanwhile KU will barely get a few games all conference to breathe. How can a conference work that way..

@drgnslayr

It could be a trap game but only if the players take it that way. A good team will blow out Montana and we are a good team so I expect the effort to be there and reflect in the final score.

I'm hoping Diallo gets some good minutes against their Sr forward, he's a good one. SDSU has a bunch of Bragg/Diallo type athletes so I'm also thinking they could be important in that game if they can handle the road environment.

Sucks for the kid and Iowa St's depth.

But I'm not going to shed a tear for him because I have little respect for Iowa St. Long is the guy that makes 6 3's when we play them in Ames or in the Big 12 tourney. So I'm okay with him being out, it makes our road game in Ames a little bit easier. Burton the transfer they get back is not a shooter.

@drgnslayr

Awesome point about these 2 games. If we see a focused team Saturday against an over-matched team then I think it projects well going into Tuesday's big game. I want to see a 30 point win, we are 30 points better than Montana no doubt.

If we take care of business and do it well, I will switch my pick for Tuesday which I've felt since the schedule came out was a likely loss.

Most of this team was around for that home loss 2 years ago. We are clearly a superior team but the road digs a lot of graves in college basketball. It's a major step for this team to win on the road.

@Statmachine

Agreed those 3's he made in the first half where he just lined up and launched were things of beauty. So much confidence in his shot this year. It's like what Self says of Greene where he has no conscience of his last shot. Selden has shown that same trait so far..

@jaybate-1.0

It's called losing too many games. If his team was winning he'd still be coaching but he clearly see's that this years team is in rebuild mode. I applaud him coming back mainly for Hayes & Koenig but leaving not even mid season on them has to suck for those guys.

Steve Spurrier did this in College Football at South Carolina, another guy that had been rumored to be retiring at end of season.

@JRyman

First half- Out-played, Out-hustled, zero urgency. Tres Trinkle a freshman for Oregon St made 5 first half 3's and a few of them he wasn't open. Subs were not playing well besides Bragg. Hunter has played very well at the 5 starting. Frank & Devonte missed a bunch of 1st half FT's and Wayne made a few 3's to keep the game from really getting out of hand that first half.

2nd half- Immediately it was noticeable that the halftime talk worked, our starters came out roaring cut the 11 point lead in a matter of minutes. Played with energy, pressured on D, made shots and things just got better as the half went on. Bragg had some key rebounds especially on offense that kept drives alive. I believe he assisted on 3 consecutive baskets at one point? Wayne made more shots along with Frank & Devonte. The back-court really overwhelmed them the 2nd half. Devonte is a straight thief on defense, kind of reminds you of Chalmers instincts.

@jaybate-1.0

Great post..

With Elijah Thomas, its funny because I thought he only signed with A&M because of who else they signed. He didn't seem to know where he really wanted to go and just followed the local crowd. Tyler Davis also a Center was a better prospect than him and has outplayed him.

Generally looking at his transfer it looks to be a tale of a kid who didn't get his way and now he's crying to mommy to leave. Reminds me of Frankamp. I wouldn't be surprised if he looks at Illinois & LSU 2 of his finalists in his recruiting that were probably better fits in hindsight. He actually considered playing for Travis Ford as well, PASS.

I think Monmouth is the team most likely to be a bracket buster the way they are beating top teams. the sideline antics are awesome as well, that has media darling written all over it. I saw a tweet last night that the NCAA tourney would miss Monmouth more than Ben Simmons, so true.

I dont believe Duke will suffer much, Ingram is really starting to come around with his game, albeit against YMCA clubs

@JayHawkFanToo

Yes, and he started his career at Washington but transferred after a season I believe. He will at least test our post players.