🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Simply the biggest factor why we could lose is that we are on the road. Last year was a debacle, 2 years ago we had to use a 2nd half comeback if I recall to win against a terrible UT team. 3 years ago they weren't that good and played us to the end. The point is they play above their usual level when KU comes to town no matter how good they are. We are used to it, we've earned that type of reputation.

We can't control what's going to happen in the paint. Many of us can predict that we will struggle and they are probably right. We know we have a huge disadvantage down low but we can make up for it with aggressive and smart play.

We can control our shooting %, our rebounding, and turnovers. We do all those well and we stand a good chance of getting a gigantic road victory. Last week we didn't play well under the pressure of the road, this week could be totally different after a big home win and meeting Obama. A lot changes in one week, we know Texas can struggle and hopefully our guys will play good enough to get a W.

@benshawks08

Length will bother us Saturday. Yes they are collectively the same team but we are collectively much smaller this year and have struggled against even 6'6, 6'7 type bigs. Any baskets we get inside will be earned unless we find new ways to exploit our bigs on the block.

Defense, rebounds, and a near 50% shooting effort are what its going to take to win down there.

I've been looking at the matchups for Saturday. It's clear that Alexander must start to match up with Ridley. Starting Traylor or Ellis on him just sounds painful. I'm almost certain Self will try and double in the post on Ridley's touches.

Holmes and Taylor are big matchups for Oubre & Mason. Taylor torched us last year in Austin and Holmes always plays well against KU.

It will take a superior defensive effort on the road to win this game. Texas is an equally good or better rebounding team than we are, and I'm certain they will block a good amount of our shots if we are not smart about things. Can these hawks make 3's and play d on the road??

@Hawk8086

Greene is probably our best FT shooter, Selden is our worst. Coupled with Greene's good game and he clearly earned the PT at the end. Neither has seemed to put 2 good games together so what do we expect from them on Saturday on the road?

If you look at the stats you will see that Greene has scored the same amount of points as Selden in the 4 road games this year 34. Greene's had 2 of his 3 best games of the year on the road. I think that has more to do with Greene being such a pure shooter that he can take his shot anywhere he goes. Selden has played way more minutes and produced little in terms of scoring. Now Selden was the one bright spot in last years debacle in Austin when he had 21 points. Maybe he will be the guy that has a similar game again with a little help from his teammates.

Of the 5 games listed I think the most important is the Texas game. Without knowing what our Conference record will be like going into the last game with Oklahoma I'm picking this game as the most crucial of the bunch. Think about it we lose to Texas we are now tied with everyone with 2 losses including them.

We give Texas it's 3rd loss and likely a 4th @ Iowa St on Monday pretty much eliminates them from contention unless they somehow win out in conference play.

Of the 5 I think Oklahoma St and West Virginia are the toughest road games remaining. Oklahoma St because they always want to beat Self because of his connection to the school, and West Virginia because the game is 2 days after playing Baylor @ home and flying to the east coast on Big Monday.

I think the K-St game is the easiest of the 5 because its our rival, we usually own them wherever its played and they are the least talented of the 5.

Oklahoma game could be for the title, but we won't know how that's going to shake out for a while.

@wrwlumpy

Lucas is definitely not the answer, but I'm guessing foul trouble will find him in the lineup saturday for some stretches. Hopefully last night's Cliff keeps him on the court.

@HighEliteMajor

Self prefer's Wayne's defense and probably a lot more things to Greene. Wayne had some unlucky bounces last night that would have gave him a better stat line but that's besides the point. He's probably the worst shooting % 2 guard in the NCAA right now for the amount of shots and minutes he gets. We've all hoped he'd get more consistent or string together better offensive games but clearly that doesn't seem to be what's happening. I thought his defense was pretty good for stretches and he had some good rebounds. I'm tired of being mad at him for what he's not doing so as long as KU is still getting that W, I'm just going to let him be who is.

@Crimsonorblue22

I agree, these days we are always trying to make PF's SF's if they show shooting skills and C's as Stretch Forwards for the same. I think he's a true PF that we will love for his ability to hit perimeter shots.

I joked around that Selden has a mixtape of missed dunks but the reality is that is not far off from the truth. Had he or Oubre thrown down those 2 slams Allen Fieldhouse would have shaken to death.

@drgnslayr

I agree that we got some benefit of calls but the question with consistency in the calls is another matter. Also ref's seem to have biases against certain players, or certain situations. And then factor where the game is and its a night and day different crew every game. No universal rule book to follow even though the rules are the same for everyone.

ESPN has him as a stock riser after his performances. They said a possible "3"man with added ball-handling skills. Hopefully we can get him to bang inside as well as his jump shot that he likes to show off.

I'm stunned at the no calls that Mason gets when driving to the hoop. I saw Ou initiate contact all game and get calls for the slightest contact. Then little Mason goes in does the same thing and its nothing. Either he makes it look more dramatic than it is or these ref's really are blind.

I also think on the road, Mason gets called for that charge on the assist to Cliff for his big slam. Obviously Spangler was still moving but that's a call in Iowa St. we get called for. Obviously we benefited from the no call, but in other's gyms the ref's are so biased.

I'm going to point out something big for this game. Texas has all the size in the world and depth to match ours. We don't have anyone other than Cliff who has a chance of sizing up one of their posts. They are not a good outside shooting team, which is usually our Achilles heel on defense.

We saw Self switch his offense late to utilize his personnel and it worked. Do you think he could switch up his defense to negate some of the advantage they will have inside. A Zone, a Zone press, a junk switch defense to try and negate Taylor's quickness? Will we play with the same intensity as we did last night on the road against a good opponent? Duke has all of a sudden switched to zone and it's silenced both Louisville & Pitt. Why couldn't we throw a huge wrinkle into this game to try and get some advantage.

@KUSTEVE

But is it better for him to not be in there the first 5-6 minutes when Texas is sure to come out swinging to save him from quick fouls? Either way I'm sure he's going to have his share of them.
We are over-matched inside, we will have to hit jumpers consistently to stay in this one. Cliff is our lone hope of a post rebounding well against these tree's, so his importance is surely needed in a game like this.

Jekyll & Hyde type game. 20 minutes your jumping up and down because you haven't seen this kind of scoring barage in a long time.
Then halftime happens and OU's basket becomes 10 feet while our's is closed for shop. Then the battle for toughness ensures and Allen Fieldhouse helps these guys recover their mojo.

Great game, I'm sure most would have wished it had stayed a 15-20 point lead but these Jayhawks sure know how to keep the fans on edge.

Forgot Ibeh, he'll be playing and we will know it when he's swatting shots.

7 losses will do it. Don't worry their pretty league record starts its decline tomm

@Jesse-Newell great stats Jesse. Should we shoot more corner 3's then? Inside #'s are atrocious

@ajvan

Monte Morris. Assist to Turnover ratio is a hard to believe 5.53. Not sure anyone has played the amount of minutes he does and has turned it over less. It was nice to get that travel on him and he complained about it too.

Guard play will win this game. They have 3 excellent guards. Hield is the bomber, Cousins is a little both drive and shoot. Woodard is not a shooter but gets to the line a lot. We need Mason to neutralize Woodard, we need Selden to do his best guarding Hield or Cousins and whoever guards Hield must have a hand in his face at all times.

Spangler and Thomas are efficient bigs and will give us problems.

We will have to play a lot better than Saturday to hold serve. Can't afford to let this team come in here and make shots, our defense must be better.

Last year I believe they played us as tuff as anyone in Allen and I'm expecting they will play us tuff again.

@icthawkfan316

He did respond very well, he's actually had some of his better games against Iowa St. I think the announcers said he had 30 and 23 in the previous games. I thought we should have let him play through his 2 fouls in the first half because without him on the court probably was the single reason why we struggled for big parts of that half. We were lucky to be down just 3 with the way our offense was playing. That shows you his importance to this team when things aren't going so well, he has had his struggles but we all know what he's capable of.

Will he bring the same aggressiveness tonight against Spangler & Thomas. We should know early because usually we like to play right to him early from the top of the key. I've been waiting for KU to use ball screens for Perry from there, maybe free him up more than just letting him drive which a lot of the time brings that help defender over to try and block the shot.

@drgnslayr

You said it all at the bottom, I know this is a young team.

This is how young teams play on the road. This is how young teams play in the tournament.

Hoiberg does a great job of exploiting advantages, and it doesn't hurt when in any given lineup he had at least 4 shooters on the floor. Niang is a hard matchup, Jones is a grizzled big guard. Hogue bangs inside but also has good touch outside. Long shoots from halfcourt. The list goes on and on. Did we react well to the pace of the game, no we were sped up and pushed around a good bit. Their best game was barely better than our worst game at home. Roles reversed in 4 games I say we win easy because we will have our own home court magic on our side.

We got outcoached last night, we played like crap for big chunks and lost because of it.

All we can do is regroup and get ready to hold serve against an equally good team tomm. If we can't hold our own court, we have serious issues. Which Jayhawks show up??

Great he benched a freshman for poor play but stuck with a sophomore and junior for just as poor of play. Self you make NO SENSE. NOBODY played defense last night. Those defensive plays by Cliff are bad but your gonna tell me he was the only one responsible is incorrect. You can put the tape on Selden all night and watch how many times a 3 pointer was made on him or a blow by for points at the hoop. Great you single out one player, instead of everyone.
You did nothing as a coach to switch up a defense that wasn't doing much. We had some good steals for runs out and our press looked effective for the minute we used it.

I always support our coach but last night he was wrong and he took a loss because of it.

I think Self did get out coached because a five point loss can be broken down into a few flaws in the game. You get 34 minutes from 2 posts players and get 0 points. That's a complete waste.

You sit your best post option for 26 minutes trying to send a message but yet you fail to understand Lucas having 3 turnovers and 3 blown transition baskets for dunks is even worse.

You say that your point guard at halftime is not running sets but yet their defense was the reason with the downing ball screens and jumping passing lanes on swing passes.

Coach K played zone it worked, Notre Dame played 5 guards to compete with Miami's ball screen action. Get the point, both these teams did something different and won because of it. What did we do, watched isu torch us and get basket after basket in transition.

I wasn't complaining about the refs as much as pointing out how bad they treat teams. Some blatant plays that just contributed to the loss. It was clear that for ku to win it wasnt going to get much help. The technical was a bad call but mason didn't help by missing a ft. It was severe homerism at its best.

I don't agree that this team has a higer ceiling that it will show in march. This is who we are, we play with energy at home and struggle away. Its clear that our older guys don't have the leadership yet. We just need to regroup for monday because that game will be just as hard as last night

@joeloveshawks

The biggest miss from his statline, 3 transition dunks by McKay while being guarded by Lucas. Absolute killers

@HighEliteMajor @joeloveshawks @KUinLA

Alexander didn't play because he couldn't play defense. I believe a 3 pointer was made 3 times on him for not playing out on the perimiter. Hogue twice, Niang once, I believe Replay will confirm this. At this point I'm sick of Self sending him a message to him because of his "motor". I'll get more to Self in a minute.

To start from the top, @HighEliteMajor said it best, most expected to lose this game because in the end Iowa St. has this game penciled in every year now as their Super Bowl. It would have been huge to pull it out and we tried like heck in spurts to do that, but in the end the things that beat us will continue to beat us.

Defense:
What can you say this was the poorest effort on D on all year. 50% shooting allowed, unlimited transition points. Perfect examples as ESPN showed, Oubre cuts the lead to 2 points with a monster dunk under the hoop, not even 3 seconds later McKay is dunking on the other end. You can rinse and repeat this statement at least 6-7 times. Selden totally blew his defensive assignments all night. It's not like he's an offensive rebound threat, for him to be beat consistently on D and giving up 3's to Long that were daggers was just deflating to watch. Just another game in which you wonder what is going on with him. We had 4 days to prepare for this game and it was clear nobody payed any attention to Film assignments.

Coach Self:
I'm putting a lot of this loss on him. I don't care what anyone has to say but he was out coached tonight. I understand that when a starter gets 2 fouls, its hard to play him in the first half with risk of another. He should have played Ellis because our offense just puttered without him out there. He was in a rhythm with 7 points before getting yanked. Ellis was aggressive and besides the deficiencies he's had all year played well enough for this team to win, but he didn't have enough help.

What about playing Lucas 19 minutes. Please anyone but him, he's not a KU caliber player. Not a single rebound for a post player get out of here. Greene 5 minutes, Alexander 14, Mickelson 5. What is he doing??

Now to the Cliff saga. I pointed out that Cliff blew defensive assignments and I believe that was why he didn't play. I was unhappy with his effort guarding the perimeter but I would have lived with it for his production he was getting. He would have easily had a double double had he been in there. 6pts 6 rebounds, he could have stopped Dejean-Jones from getting 3 huge offensive rebounds.

Whatever point Self is making to Cliff at this point is negatively impacting this team. We rely on Cliff for Energy plays, the lobs, the putbacks, rebounds & blocks. When he is sitting he cant do any of that and his replacement (Lucas) is a turnover waiting to happen. This is where the stubborn Self comes out and its his biggest negative trait.

Individuals:

Mason was awesome, without him it would have been a blowout. What more can we say about our general.
Ellis was aggressive, next game he will disappear. We should be used to this by now,
Oubre was largely ineffective. He was basically their 6th man for a while as he clanked shot after shot. 10 misses and some were bunnies or shots he usually hits.
Traylor, man when he plays bad he really helps us lose quick. He clanked a jumper (Why does he have the green light for jumpers) then on the other end they score.
Then he got perfect position for a layup/dunk, whiffed air-balled from point blank, 3 seconds later Naz Long is making a 30 footer in transition. That 5 point swing was deflating.
I'm not even going there with Selden. When he made shots he was fine, then he just disapears.....
Lucas, I'd rather play our walkons then watch him waste our time.

REFS:
It was clear early that the "CHECK CLEARED". Was it ESPN, was it the Mayor, was it the

I understand getting calls on the road is a tuff thing to get but man the unbalance in the first half calls and 2nd half calls left me baffled.
Lucas was called for an offensive foul for getting held, great call ref.
Lucas was called for a foul on the Mckay lob Dunk for what standing their while he jumped over him. Ellis got his 4th foul without touching Morris, then on the other end we get hacked by 2 players.
Ellis was body slammed to the ground ala Ridley to Embiid with no call then Iowa St got a layup on the other end.
Selden's Charge was bogus. Niang would have fell had you thrown a penny at him. Obvious charge/ shouldn't have been called in the situation because it was game over. How is an offensive player supposed to stop running to the hoop, Wayne is 230 pounds. Oubre was called for a charge and the player just ran in front of him while still moving, another baffler.
The bald head ref called a travel on Cliff is the first half, he blew his whistle before he even moved. I could go on and on.

Time to regroup and hold serve against Oklahoma. They played us to a scrappy game last year and they only got better. Cousins and Hield will be fun to guard.

I'm not going to predict a score because I really have no idea what will happen. Half of me thinks we will struggle with the crowd and being on the road, the other half of me thinks that we will do enough to stay in the game and scrap out a win. Will our vets step up or will we rely on the young guys?

Defensively we should know after the first half what kind of shape we are in. If Naz Long is making open 3's I don't see how we respond to that. Against Baylor he was 5-5. Expect Niang and Jones to get theirs. Hogue is a huge matchup for us, he can step outside and has shot a high %. Either Traylor or Ellis will guard him most of the game and neither is a defensive stopper.

Offensively we will have to shoot 45% and up to win. Besides the Oklahoma St game we had shot the ball okay the last 4 games. I'd say 8 3's will be a key stat for KU to make outside shots. Iowa St isn't a good defensive team and never has been. We should get plenty of offensive possessions because Iowa St doesn't waste time. I'm looking for Frank Mason to have 20 points if we are to win. I can't trust Selden or Ellis for production in any given game so I'm not even going to bother asking them to shoulder the scoring. Hopefully Oubre has his game, Traylor does what he's been doing. Alexander comes in and is active on rebounds and Defense and we are able to get momentum plays with lobs.

Not sure ISU needs the win more than we do because if things go well with the other games in conference play we could have a 2 game advantage on everyone. That would be huge even 4 games in. The most likely reason KU loses is because of playing on the road in a hostile crowd.

We played one dud road game at Temple, played well in spurts at Georgetown and grinded out a physical game against Baylor while shooting terribly. What Jayhawks will we see tomm? Will we see an aggressive team that understands what it needs to do, or will we let them make everything and go home with our heads down?

I should be able to say we will need to ride our vet's or the guys who have played their before but I'm not sure our vets are the ones we can rely on. Selden and Ellis will need to step up and come to play. We know Mason will be doing his thing and Mari has played much better since starting lately. Can we ride Mason for a W?

@drgnslayr

I like Bilas and at least he can step up and say a lot of things most don't want to really talk about. He may have spoken too soon to praise the touch fouls, not realizing that in half of a season it would be forgotten anyway. Defenders are definitely back to checking and such, because if they weren't Lester Medford of Baylor would foul out in the first 10 minutes of each game. One of the worst offenders of the rule I've seen.

The charge rule is like passing interference in football. It will never be an exact science every ref can learn and follow the rules consistently.

IMO, the charge rule should be taken away completely. Players shouldn't be allowed to just stand in front of someone without making any attempt on an offensive player to block or steal and get rewarded for it. That to me is nonsense and players safety are in jeopardy.

Offensive fouls should be still called like hooking a player in the post, creating separation with your off hand for a shot, or simply running someone over. Those calls should still be monitored but now we have a serious problem with Flopping and a rule that takes away from the game.

As far as the real question, I think Vitale is more annoying to listen to because of his allegiance to Duke and UNC. Half of his segment is spent talking about anything but basketball. Give me Gus Johnson anyday from fox.

West Virginia does look scary but Texas could easily beat them at home. I don't think they are anywhere as bad as they have played recently. Remember WVU is full of freshman and first year players, at some point these road games have to affect them.

If WVU wins and goes to 4-1 and we lose now we are back to tied. If Kansas St holds serve at home they are 4-1 as well.

5 games on tap. As important as it is for KU to win in Iowa St, the rest of the league can effectively help us out as well. Here are matchups.

Baylor- K-St
TCU-Texas Tech
WVU- Texas
Oklahoma St- Oklahoma
Kansas- Iowa St

If Baylor and Texas win, and KU wins, we will have a +2 game advantage already. You would have a logjam of 3-2 teams. While we never will really root for others in the conference this is a best case scenario that both Kansas St and West Virginia lose. If West Virginia does win, its still beneficial that it gives Texas its 3rd loss.

Thoughts?

I think Iowa St will come out on fire. This will be our most hostile environment we will play in all year. Other than the Georgetown game, we haven't been good on the road. It will probably take the best game of the year from KU to pull it out. Since Fred has made this series relevant again its taken a whole new life as evidence by the Gameday crew in town.

I thought before conference play started that we would lose. The 3-0 start has changed my view some and Baylor pulling it out against them last night has given me more optimism but I won't be devastated if we drop this game.

Conference stats seem to show we have a good chance. I'm thinking we need Mason, or Oubre to hit for 20 pts and Selden & Ellis to do better than 3-15.

The key to winning this game is scoring more than they will. I know cliche but its true in this game.

They score 80 points a game, KU scores 71. Although competition in their last 4 games has brought down their avg's considerably we will have to score. We cannot have a bad night offensively and expect to walk away with their fans crying again.

If I had to pick one guy we need to shutdown to win its Naz Long. He has become a key part of their offense and with 43 of his 63 made baskets 3's yeah we need to be on him like we are trying to steal his wallet. They make 10 3's at home they will win, unless we have some heroism effort from someone.

Hopefully we come out early hitting shots and find a way to stop their spread offense.

I don't believe Cliff is being saved by Self.
The only thing he's saving by not starting him is the possibility of the 2 quick early fouls. Defensively he's still behind. Offensively he gives us the biggest momentum boosts with his lobs and dunks. He's still learning the game and that's okay

@drgnslayr

Agreed, on Thon and I understand he wants to get to the NBA as quickly as he can but I think he should wait til 2016 to go to college. His body is definitely one that will be years away from being what he needs it to be to fully reach his potential. That is something Hudy could always help him with especially if he signed and got right in the summer. The other aspect we have to consider is I'm sure his brother will go wherever he does.

I would love Zim but with him being a OAD likely we are already losing so after next year in the frontcourt that I prefer players who will stay more than 1 year. The talent level for bigs in the 16 class is thin compared to this one.

I know Self was pretty pissed with how we played. I thought for the most part we showed great energy and aggressiveness which he's always preaching. Of course he found plenty of other things to get on them about but that's coach being coach. The game was muddied with fouls, those same fouls 2 games ago in Waco don't get called. It shows you just how different Ref's are from game to game. There was zero rhythm to the game and it dragged on forever because of it.

I was disappointed in the 2 called Tech's on us. We did nothing to get either. Oklahoma St. is still proving they are a bunch of punks that try to come to Allen and show us out. The same situation with Mari happened last year. Cliff had a freshman moment and the refs picked on him for it. Now they will use that situation to fuel their fire when we return the visit in a few weeks.

@Wigs2

Pre-season hype has outweighed the true facts. Selden was expected to be the leader of this team as a top 15 All American. He has been inconsistent scoring the ball. His stock has gone down the drain. He will be back in a KU Jersey and will continue to work on his game.

Ellis doesn't have a position in the league. With average athleticism and a finesse game he''s destined to play in Europe without the consistency in his game.

The good thing is we will have a deep experienced team next year with legit title hopes.

For the 2nd time already I'm chalking this game up to "A win is a win".

37% shooting and we will win by 10. +17 in boards, 14 missed FT's, 16 Turnovers. Usually that's going to be a loss but at Allen Fieldhouse its a win.

What I thought was the game could have easily been +10 in their favor. A lot of missed shots from O. State. We lose this game in Stillwater if we play the same way. They won't miss 35 shots at home.

Selden & Ellis shot a combined 3-15. What the frick is that??? Mason, Oubre, & Graham making 21 FT's was huge for this win.

We continue to see just how important Graham is to this team. Can handle the ball so it saves Mason's wheels. Can bench Greene to send a message without losing any high level play. His importance as the 1st or 2nd guard off the bench is noticeable. I'm honestly surprised how well he's played but maybe we shouldn't be, he was a supposed to be a College Freshman last year so maturity wise he's got an edge.

Now let's get ready for Saturday. Will need much better shooting to pull it off.

A lot is at stake Saturday. A win has us in the drivers seat before another hard week with OU & Texas.
Depending on tomm's game with Baylor, a win would keep them the only unbeaten team in conference play. 3 of their next 4 are at home against KSU TT & TCU. We really need to find a way to get the W.

Shooting will be key. We make shots I think we can win, but if we struggle to score I'm sure their 3's will be falling. I'm saying right now that Mason or Oubre will have to go for 20+ if we win.

Their place will be amped up and it will be very important that our young players don't get bothered with the atmosphere. We shouldn't seems how we play in front of it at home, but its never the same on the road.

@justanotherfan

I don't think we have really been recruiting Kapita. I know his list shows us but there has been little word that we are actually after him. I have him pegged for Missouri if my money is on a program for him.

With Bigs I think we will get 1 more HS kid, Diallo would be the most ideal for his skills and that he's a few years away from being a serious NBA prospect. He wouldn't be a traditional 5 but his shot blocking is 2nd to none in the class regardless of height. We should look into the transfer pool for a big as well either to sit or play next year. We won't know the extent of the needs til the end of the season.

At Center we are either boom or bust, we get Maker or Zimmerman or neither this year. Both are OAD's so what are we missing by getting them for one year. Just another player to add to the list of posts leaving this program next year, its why I favor Diallo over anyone.

UNC has Joel Berry and Britt who are PG's. They are fine if Paige leaves.

Duke also has a C sitting this year who had a good year at Rice.

Zona- I don't see Zeus going pro as he's not really being thought of as a draft pick. Things could change but he looks likely to stick it out and get his degree. If he does go that could really hurt our chances with Zimmerman.

Michigan St in great shape for Swanigan

Ohio St- Newman could wind up there if Russell leaves

@justanotherfan

Nice breakdown of the roster.

If Alexander really does stay I say we pursue another big. Mickelson & Lucas are not starters. I don't believe we can rely on them to ever become what we may have hoped from them. The other reason for signing at least 1 more big is that next year Ellis, Traylor, and Mickelson are gone anyway. If cliff stays and has a great season he's bound for the NBA. You never know the impact Bragg may have. He's not generally regarded as a OAD but you never know with a top 20 kid. You could potentially have just Lucas left after next year. So while we look deep in the front-court a serious hole opens up in 16-17.
My perfect Scenario is sign Diallo and use one of the remaining slots on a PF/C transfer who can sit out the year. If we get lucky and either Dorsey/Newman/Brown comes to KU our perimeter is absolutely loaded regardless of Selden's decision. Best case is he comes back again and tries to become a Junior monster. Lovett is still considering us and would be PG insurance possibly a redshirt candidate to stash away.

True this will happen at the end. The only serious discussions will be had with his freshman I believe. Perry hasn't played well enough to make the nba this year. Selden has had far and few between good games that hes completely off the radar now, those are the facts with them. Mason has by far outplayed them and is getting no attention because of his size. He has played like he could have a good future somewhere.

@JayHawkFanToo

How many top 10 picks come back? The list is slim. That is the facts with Oubre.
This is all while starting less than 10 games and averaging 7pts per game. His ceiling only goes higher from here for the rest of the season. With recruiting we should act like he's gone and try like heck to sign Jaylen Brown. But we are only 15 games in so we should really try and enjoy him while we have him.

With Cliff its less profound. At the beginning of the year he was as good as gone, then the season started. He hasn't started and his post skills have been exposed. So he's slid to the back end of the first round. Now with 20+ games left he has a chance to improve on his weaknesses. If he doesn't I think he may come back although having Bragg signed just further pushes him towards the draft. Self isn't going to tell any 1st round picks to stay, its not how he does things.

@HighEliteMajor

I like that idea, but again I'm worried about how fast Oubre can get over screens. Forte is pretty crafty at hiding behind screens. I do like the fact that he could bother some shots with his long arms, but Oubre has yet to block one shot this year. If I'm truly that worried then Mason it is because he's been pretty consistent fighting screens all year.

@wissoxfan83Game
The game is at home BTW. We don't play in Gallagher Iba till Feb 7th.

@Kip_McSmithers

Big advantage for Nash if Ellis is guarding him. He lives off of FT's and mid range jumpers. I would like Oubre to guard him but I'm afraid he'd get in foul trouble. Same with Traylor, he owned Mari last year in their meetings especially in Stillwater. We don't have anyone to really guard him. Nash hasn't played well in Allen Fieldhouse over the years so hopefully he remembers that.

In General to win this game we just have to limit Nash & Forte from doing too much damage. If they score over 40 combined we are probably in a dogfight. Nash has been turnover prone this year so it would have been nice if Oubre could guard him and get a bunch of steals but I'm worried Nash would bait him into some freshman fouls.

Forte has also had a penchant for making 30 footers in Allen. He's added to his game this year and we have to be very worried who's going to limit him. Will we put Selden on him and have him chase him or will it be Mason's job? Clearly from my perspective the biggest question mark in this game.

We haven't played a team with more than 1 go to player so it will be important to see in the first 10 minutes how our defense is playing to these guys.

Hickey has been pretty good at getting into the lane for shots or kickouts which we will have to worry about. They love to penetrate and dish for 3's. It's basically their whole offense other than Iso Nash. It's a big advantage to have Graham back and already a game behind his belt because we are going to need his Defense.
Shine & Newberry don't do anything but shoot 3's so it will be key to limit them as well from outside shots.

I think we will win this game but I'm expecting it to be very close til the end. Forte has been an absolute thorn in our side in every meeting. It's like we smacked up his mother or something and he's coming for revenge. Nash & him average almost 36 pts a game and matchup wise it favors them in both cases. Will Mason cover Forte or will we put Selden on him and have him chase all night. Nash has either Ellis or Traylor to start and that's a mismatch. We will need Cliff a lot in this game.
For KU, having Graham back is huge. Mason will have his game, hopefully the real Perry Ellis is back again. Just continue doing what we are doing.

Great win, great to see Garrett get his first points and the reaction on the bench was priceless. Now its time to get ready for a real game which should be a good test for us to get to 3-0.

A few notes from the game yesterday.

Graham is the missing link. I didn't think we would see him do that well in his first game but I think most of us have to be pleased how well he did. He makes this team that much better having him available. Just totally changed the dynamic of this team. I'm excited to see what he can do going forward.

Ellis Ellis Ellis. What are you doing near the hoop. Remember the play in the first half wide open slip to the basket off a screen, what does he do panic go up half halfheartedly and missed badly. No foul drawn, no points, nothing. At the least, he should have gone up strong and gotten 2 FT's. He's scared in their its almost like a 6'4 guard the way he is shying away from even trying to play tuff down low. If he's going to hit perimeter shots that's fine, but he's proven to be inconsistent this year in doing that. It also has him 15-20 feet away from the basket with no offensive rebounder so its feast or famine. I'll believe this "fools gold" outside shooting from him if he does this against Oklahoma St.

Great games from Cliff, Jamari, & Oubre. Mason as well, without Frank this would be a bad season.

Hard to believe Lucas was starting for us earlier in the year. At the end of the first half he gave some of the worst minutes I've seen from a KU player in years. Man I expected him to be better than he is. That missed dunk/layup I couldn't help but laugh a little bit.

@jayballer54

I agree with you we have no idea what either might do next year. Self has had pretty good success with bringing in OAD wings so you would have to think Brown has a shot to dominate from day 1. The only reason he isn't the #1 recruit is because Simmons is a beast and dominated HS kids. Brown isn't a finished product but he's in the same mold as other elite wings. Other than shooting to me, he's an upgrade over Greene.

Ranking the players still available by need:
1)Diallo
2)Zimmerman
3)Brown
4) Upperclassmen Transfer
5)Dorsey
6) Maker/Rabb
7)Ingram

Diallo to me is the biggest need, developmental big with shotblocking/rebounding skills. I see him as a 3 year player with his offense needing a lot of work.

Zimmerman is combo of everything and likely OAD.

Brown is a OAD wing with Wiggins like Athleticism.

I have Transfer at 4, nobody seems to be talking about taking a 1 year graduate transfer like Tarik Black or someone who has to sit a year and develop and play in 2016. Especially the bigs as we will have 3 Senior's.

Dorsey would be a great pickup to get a top 30 guard that can learn from Mason/Graham and Selden next year. Would be a great backup or potential starter down the road to replace Selden.

I have Maker/Rabb at 6 because 1 we don't know yet if Maker will reclassify. We are one of the 3-4 schools recruiting him the hardest but with UK right there what confidence can you have we could get him. Rabb has said he will visit for a game but everything I've seen with him is he will stay on west coast. Maybe I'm wrong, Rabb & Zimmerman have played together for years if we landed 1 we could get both?

Not really worried about if he plays today but its really nice to know that going forward we could have him in the lineup. Mason can finally get a little rest plus we can use a 2 PG lineup and matchup better against teams.

@JayHawkFanToo

That kid for some reason seems to have it out for us every time we play them. It's not like we didn't recruit him and Smart. He choose to go to Oklahoma St so I've been perplexed everytime we play them that Forte gets pass half court and chucks shots at the rim that go in. This year he has added more to his game than just 3 point shooting so he's not as easy to guard. Hopefully we stop him from making everything again

@twocoach

I do too, but you know how Self is with players that he trusts. He would be a JR and you can bet money that he would work on his game again to try and become the man on this team. I thought this year he would make the jump but at some point all his talent has to come together doesn't it?

I'd take Newman in a heart beat, he's a potential 18 pt a game scorer he's simply that dominate at making baskets. I do think it takes Selden leaving for him to come here because he's going to want a spot open for him to showcase his talent. I don't see him as a player who wants to compete for PT. I could be wrong that's the mentality I've seen watching some of his games.