🏀 KuBuckets Archive

This will not be an easy game. Kent St has 4 players in double figures, they don't score a ton a game so expect them to try and keep this a low scoring affair.
Manley has made only 7 2 point buckets, 36 3's so clearly guarding him like a blanket is the way to go.
Same for Jackson and Brewer, about half their made baskets have been 3's.

I don't expect to have seen any major improvements from last week to this week. I do think playing at home will bring some comfort to the guys. Can't believe this is only our 5th official home game of the season. 4 of our next 5 are at home so that will be good for them and the fans to help these kids get back on the right path.

An easy win will not tell us much, they aren't a big team that can bother our bigs. We can hope to see some individual improvements, maybe Ellis will have a dominate game or Alexander will show some post moves.
A close game will tell us how much more they need to work on in the next few weeks.

Coming into the season I thought Ellis would be the guy no matter the game would get 14-15. I thought his improved shooting and knowing he was the guy was going to make him come out of his shell and lead this team by his play. I thought the same thing from Selden, that we'd see a more athletic, improved shooter, and all around game that would give us a 1-2 punch that would be hard to stop. That pipe dream has come and gone.

Ellis has been more aggressive, although much of it has come at the expense of shots blocked, empty possessions. We know he has a shot fake, it has to be drilled into him at all costs when he's attacking the hoop. The season is still young and this is the perfect time of year for these kids to learn from what's already happened. Ellis can take over games and we need him to be at least consistent in all of them going forward.

The other thing with Ellis is he doesn't make others on our team better. And from our most experienced player and go to on offense, when he's not making shots we need him to help out with everything else. That is a part of his game that has to improve, just become an all around better player.

If Devonte is okay in a few weeks then he should play. If he's not able to play then its almost like last year losing Embiid. Devonte takes pressure off Mason, you can play both of them at the same time, slide Selden over and its a great dynamic to have. Without him we really are limited in rotations.

there's no need to jump to conclusions on starters. Ellis will start until the day he leaves here. Mason has taken the PG position on lock. Selden is default SG because nobody else can play the position. Oubre should stay starting, and I couldn't tell you who deserves to start at C after last game. I can tell you Lucas doesn't deserve to start but our options are really limited when Cliff and Hunter are just not ready to give us 30 solid minutes.

Ouch, no really that hurt. What a bad bad game.

You could sense it from the opening 3 minutes. Heck you knew with 15 minutes left the game was already over. Missed dunks, pansy attempts at the rim, dribble off the foot 3 times (maybe exaggerating a little but you get the point). In hindsight it wasn't very good game to schedule 2 days after a home game, but this is the same in Big 12 play. We'll have a home game and then Monday comes we are on the road in a hostile environment.

The game boiled down to 2 things. Missed shots and turnovers. You can't miss everything under the sun and turn the ball over what 10 times in the first 10 minutes of the game. Effort wasn't there, but to lose by nearly 30 points again is unfathomable. Will this happen again? It's likely because when things don't go well the guys just don't compete. At least we have the winter break to improve and learn from this debacle.

The one bright spot, Frank Mason. What a shooter he is becoming. He can't do it alone, Perry and Wayne need to get their head straight. Oubre was fine, I liked his effort for the most part.

Is #11 in trouble? We will see how we respond next week

The only thing that scares me about this game is the fact that Temple just got 2 transfers eligible who will make them better. And they rained 3's in their last game with these guys.

@drgnslayr

I agree with most of this post.

You can't take too much because this was a game we were never going to lose, although the early 2nd half shooting by Lafayette showed the same issue we've constantly had, we don't like to keep leads. But we responded well and put them away and almost hit 100. They were a horrible defensive team but you saw how good they can be on offense. They will be a force in their conference with the way they shoot it.

A few notes. I don't think Cliff is staying, he's doing enough to keep himself in the lottery discussion. His stock is never going to be higher than it is this year. If he continues to do what he's doing while improving on offense he's gone. Even if he stays there's no way you stop recruiting all the big guys we are after. With Zimmerman, Bragg, Diallo, possibly Maker, Rabb we really need to get 1 and 2 would be great.

We missed on Turner last year, we can't afford to miss out on all these guys. I'm sorry but I don't feel comfortable having the same front court next year. We need to get bigger, more athletic and longer. Diallo would be the rim protector we need. Bragg would bring offense. Rabb & Maker are NBA talents, Zimm is the most skilled right now.

Hunter gave us great minutes yesterday. I'd put him right in the rotation and drop Lucas. There is no excuse for missed dunks for a big man. He's just not played well on either end. Hunter played with Energy, rebounded, blocked shots and was active on Offense. Heck give the guy a chance to keep that kind of momentum up. Again the opponent might have aided his stat line but it was encouraging to see Hunter respond to the minutes.

@ralster

false

Looks like this guy will be starting going forward. What an awesome performance from him today. Great shooting performance, rebounded well, played active D. I'm sure most thought he would start at some point and it's clear the time has already happened in a short time.

Now, I assume Greene was in the doghouse for something and whenever he proves to coach he can be trusted again I'm sure he will get more minutes. But the fact of the matter is Oubre provides more than just the outside shot. Yes it was against Lafeyette but you can just see the talent Kelly has and that's hard to keep off the court.

I would have thought that Oubre may start as well but I have no problem with Self still easing him in to the lineup. Really sounds like Kelly has settled and is starting to really understand the game Self wants from him. That's a scary thought. We could be seeing a huge bump in his production going forward.

Cliff should have a good time against the white boys of Lafayette tomm. It would be nice to see some improved offense out of him going into Conference Play. We need to find ways to set him up for easy plays. Hopefully this week of practice has led to the start more than Lucas playing himself out of the starting lineup. Landon clearly needs some confidence.

@JayHawkFanToo

Well 3 of our next 4 games should give Mason time to rest in 2nd half's if needed. The only game I could see him being used a lot would be the Road game at Temple. While Temple isn't great, I'm sure they will be trying to knock off Goliath on their turf.

This would also give Selden a lot of time to get somewhat comfortable in the next month in case Graham can't come back in a month. I just don't think using Manning is an option. It's a major drop off in talent level if he's coming into the game. He's not going to score points for us, what is his going to do other than be a body out there. We lose so much by going to him, instead of sliding Selden over and bringing either Svi, Kelly & Greene in.

Hopefully Self finds the best way. And hopefully Graham is able to come back and assume his role with this team.

@JayHawkFanToo

It is definitely a concern but if he's your best option stick with it and play the game of getting him rest when needed. I don't think Manning is an option, it would be like reverting to a less talented Tharpe. Who wants that?

Plug Selden in to bring the ball up, bring an additional defender into the game say Svi and get through to the timeouts.

I've been throwing around this idea for a few days. I keep seeing Self saying now with Graham out for a bit, maybe longer that he will have to watch how much Mason is playing. Today I saw he was thinking of letting off pressure in certain situations to "save" some of his workload.

To me Mason seems like a tireless worker who has thrived with playing a lot of minutes. He's been crucial with on-ball defense and hitting shots when he needs to. I'm not saying that this doesn't need to be monitored, and would be smart to buy him a minute here before timeout's but I've seen countless times over the years how PG's from other teams get used just as much as Mason is going to get over the next month or so. Shabazz avg 35 minutes a game and he was fine for Uconn last year.

What's everyone's thoughts?

@HighEliteMajor

I think the changes maybe I'm thinking of require more of a complete change then what your referring with set plays. We've always had the set plays for 3's but we rarely run them which I hate.

If we are to focus more on the outside shooting, a set play 3 should be basically the first option down the court, and run secondary play based on how the d responds to the play. Either that or just give everyone on the court a green light like Iowa St, spread the floor and pass it around until someone is open for a good shot.
I think we waste too much time dribbling, Mason is a big culprit of that but at least he's excellent handling the ball. We let the ball stick and lose 6-7 seconds a possession not knowing where we think our shot is going to come from.

I'm sure Self is already hitting the drawing board with a weeks rest and break coming soon. I hope he realizes that unless he finds a way to get Cliff more polished inside he has to change what he's doing. We at least do a pretty good job getting to the line most of the time. Our FT shooting has so far been an asset and saved our butt twice already at least.

He needs at least 1 more consistent offensive player and so far he doesn't have it.

Selden is hit or miss. His driving game isn't there. Not sure why he isn't posted up to take advantage of his physical gifts against 2 guards. He's been mostly a spot up 3 shooter, and a jump shooter shooting statistically the worst shot in BBall. I've said it enough, if he can't score more he's hurting the team no matter the defense, assists, leadership he provides.

Greene is 3 or famine. He earned the start last game, didn't produce enough to keep it. What's his ceiling? A few very good shooting games mixed with some off nights and 1 or 2 shots a game?

Graham is hurt, was pretty consistent off the bench. I was starting to get excited about him and Frank playing more together.

Lucas is non-existent on O.

Svi has mostly been 3 or famine but his minutes are diminishing of late. I like seeing when he drives it but he's trying at least. Still like his defense for the most part.

Oubre could really be the x-factor if he continues to play hard and get comfortable. I could see him getting his ppg avg to 8-9pts with the extended minutes he could see. I say Start him Saturday and see what he does. I don't think its worth wasting a game like we have Saturday if he can continue to get more reps.

Traylor responded off the 1 game sitting but he's also known to completely disappear. Which mari will see going forward?

It's clear it's either a Freshman steps up or Selden has to. If we don't I'm not sure what offensive improvement we truly make or what scheme change will make a difference. The true improvement for this team going forward is scoring more and turning the ball over less. Anything else is probably not going to happen.

As far as record goes, 8-1 is a good as we could have hoped at this point. With a schedule just a few pegs short of last years brutal stretch its amazing how we've gotten this far with just 1 loss.

Everyone else around the country has played their local YMCA club or the 1-9 club that's going to finish last in their conference. KU finally gets a breather Saturday but that's also a game we could take too lightly with Finals week.

I do have doubts, concerns. I'm sure theirs only a handful of teams in the country without a whole lot of doubt at this point. I'd say Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin, Arizona, & Gonzaga are the only programs not having to make major improvement before the end of the year to still make it far in March. I'll hold out on Louisville until they face UK at home before I say much on them because they have played nobody other than Ohio St. Virginia & Villanova are also very good teams but I'll wait til conference play to believe them.

In our own Conference I'd say we are in the discussion for top team so far. Texas & Iowa St. are the obvious true contenders. I haven't been as impressed with Oklahoma as I thought I would be. West Virginia, TCU, Oklahoma St have been aided by softer than marsh-mellow schedules.

Individually I'm really disappointed with Selden's offense. I'm concerned on just how Raw Cliff is offensively. His defense has also been less than stellar so far. I'm also concerned how slow it took Oubre to get adjusted to the system but his production is definitely on the up-swing from last 3 games. I have been impressed with how Mason has developed, he's the single reason why we are 8-1 . Without his consistent effort on both ends, we would not be where we are.

As a team we play much better D than last year. We are shooting better from the FT line, and lately our outside shooting has been much better. We know how to win close "muddy" "toughness" games which is a huge plus.

My biggest concerns are offensively we just aren't there yet. We have struggled mightily like no other KU team I have seen. We also turn the ball over too much and at an alarmingly consistent rate. And we don't know how to keep big leads against good teams. That could really bite us in the tush come Tourney Time.

Until Conf. play hits and I see how we respond in league play I'd say our ceiling for the Tournament is 2nd round or Sweet 16. I think the things we do wrong and could potentially still be doing wrong will hurt us the most like they do on most early exits. Remember this is the 11th youngest team in the country. We have players with experience but many that could be starting or playing big minutes without any.
I think if we were to make it to Sweet 16 and further, our lack of size or lack of established post presence to go with Ellis will hinder us the most. And of course if we are not able to establish a consistent offensive approach will just not cut it.

I hope for Self to keep making adjustments to maximize his teams talents. This isn't his normal big overpowering inside/out team. This is a tough, young squad with lots of pieces that need the right placement. Hopefully he can develop Kelly & Cliff to where he has to play them starter minutes and hopefully Graham is healthy and comes back playing the way he was.

In order for KU to become an outside/inside team would require a complete scheme change on offense. These kids would have to learn a whole new offense because it's just not set-up for 3 point shooting in waves.

I agree that we clearly need to become a more perimeter based team for the success of this season to last. A team like Texas is going to kill us trying to drive inside. And in the tournament the farther this team gets the bigger the teams we will face.

The problem with a switch to a more perimeter team is we only have so far 1 consistent player, Mason. Nobody else has put 2-3 games together of production. Selden's still trying to dunk the ball, Greene had 1 good game, Svi's minutes have decreased, and Oubre has taken only a few outside shots. Graham was showing good consistent minutes but he's wildcard to when he will be back playing.

The likely hood that Self changes anything is extremely unlikely. These kids are just going to have to get better over x-mas break and figure out how to score inside.
We might have to win a lot of "muddied games" because our consistent offensive production is so sporadic. Right now we have only 2 consisten offensive threats, Selden needs to be the third or road games in Big 12 season will be painful to watch. He's the key to the season. You could say Alexander and Oubre are just as important but when we need it, Selden plays as many minutes as anyone and if he's not consistent enough we will suffer.

@JayHawkFanToo

I guess I didn't notice the double teams as much as the big guys on Ellis. If that was the case then we should have taken better advantage of them when they did. But that would require KU to be a good passing team which we are anything but that.

A big change I noticed in the 2nd half and the only good comment from Fran Frischilla all day was that Utah's whole team changed when they were playing offense where their bench was. Defensively they just capitalized on KU's missed shot after missed shot. I saw Newell's post on just how bad KU is right now as a 2pt scoring team. Currently something like 300th in the country, Last year we were 7th. Stat wise you have to wonder just how we have won these tight games. We've had 32 turnovers in 2 games, and our FG % isn't any good.

A win is a win and Self gets paid the big money to figure out what we can do better. Hopefully Oubre continues to see continued increase in minutes. He was very solid yesterday. I like his progression in the last 3.

Did anybody else look at themselves with the 20 point lead and go "this is too good to be true with this team". I was one of them that thought it would be easier to give up the big lead than sustain it. I wish I wasn't right, but the fight we showed after getting kicked in the teeth is something this team can hang it heads on for a big positive.

We basically had the opposite of the Florida game happen to us but the difference was that we actually had the toughness to make shots and FT's when we needed them most.

I'll start with the positives because the way the 2nd half went for 18 minutes was as bad as the Kentucky game or first half of Florida.

1. Great response by Mari. I remember him doing the same thing last year when he was suspended. Will he regress back to where he was or will this really keep him playing at the level we need him to. FT shooting was clutch at the end. He did miss some point blank shots but who didn't.

2. Ellis was on pace for what 60 early and then completely fell off the face of the earth until that huge bucket late. I saw they put their 7 footer's on him which completely neutralized his advantage he had over their smaller players. It continues to be his biggest weakness that he can't find a way to play against bigger guys. I will say this though, he had a couple rebounds where I was like wow Perry way to go up. Plays like that show you just how athletic he is sometimes.

3. Boy Mason sure was clutch. The biggest improvement to his game is his shooting. His %'s are way up from 3, FT's especially. We may never see him stop getting in the air, or make questionable drives/passes but he's so much better at both ends of the floor than Tharpe was. If Graham is unable to come back we are going to have to lean on him even more in games.

4.Toughness. We've found ways to win, ways I'm not even sure Self even believes. I heard we are the 11th youngest team in CB. To have a team that believes in itself in the close one's is a great thing to have. We could be 3-6 if it weren't for this teams will to win.

Now on the negative nancy's.

1. I'm starting with Selden again because he just continues to disappoint me when I know he's a much better play then he is being showing on the court. He made shots first half, looked like the 2nd coming of the Florida game was going to happen and then pooof disappeared. His D for the most part was solid on Delon Wright who is clearly an NBA talent. 2nd half he let Wright do a lot of things. He also missed yet another Dunk attempt. He may go his entire career missing dunks he made in HS. I have zero confidence when he takes off for those. The one positive I will say is if he continues to be this inconsistent we will have him for his Jr. season. He's not even 2nd round material right now and clearly will benefit from staying in school and figuring out how to be consistent game to game.

2. Self: I have a few comments for our offense. We clearly have no idea what we are doing when teams buckle down on Defense. We don't Iso Ellis, Oubre, Selden, all guys who could benefit from a 1 on 1 situation. We don't screen often for 3 point shots for Greene, Svi, Mason. The ball sticks more than any team I can recall. It's wasted dribble weaves, swinging the ball with questionable passes that lead to 1-2 easy buckets for opponents a game. He needs to go to the drawing board over the Christmas Break and figure out how to play to this teams strengths because this is clearly a different team especially offensively then he's ever had. We don't score easy enough over a whole game so he has to figure out how to correct it.

3. Cliff/Lucas. Combined 21 minutes 1 pt 6 rebounds (all cliff by the way.) I saw Cliff hit the other side of the backboard on a drive attempt against Pueltl. I saw Lucas completely lost on both ends, fumbled great post position went up soft against Pueltl on a great pass that should have been a dunk or 2 FT's. First game Cliff really didn't make an impact in some way. Both are just so raw, and have zero offensive go-to moves. Hopefully Cliff gets it together, I'm very disappointed in Lucas of late.

i more meant a good team

I see Jesse Newell predicting Utah wins. I see no problem with that as they are a very tuff team. The highlights from the Wichita St show a team that makes shots and gets to the lane and does a good job passing. The game was at home which has historically been a tuff place for teams to play in their stadium. I think a lot of their great shooting had more to do with Wichita being an average Defensive team this year and playing at home.

Kansas gets a home type crowd and has already played 4 neutral site games and one true road game. I'm worried their footer will block a lot of shots, but we usually find a way to exploit teams other ways. They don't have 6 tall tree's they have 1 and 1 off the bench who doesn't block anything. As I said in an earlier post we can win if we force missed shots and make shots at a higher rate than we have so far. Our Defense should keep us in the game.

@HighEliteMajor

1. That could be true, that the last 2 games we have seen Oubre "step up" and its only a matter of time until he starts. I think the one thing that could keep Greene starting is his shooting. If he continues to hit at a high rate, I think it would be tuff to take him out because that element of the team is exactly what we need on the court.

2. Interesting comments from Selden. You could say that those comments could be directed right at himself. We haven't seen a consistent Selden, we didn't see it his Freshman year and nothing has changed so far. Still a lot of basketball to be played but if you asked me which Selden are we getting today, I don't have the answer. We all hope its the aggressive one who is hitting shots like the Florida game. Not the one we saw in the G'Town game. I've certainly expected a more consistent, leader, and 2nd leading scorer and he's just not that so far.

I believe the long term success for this team this year absolutely depends on him scoring more than he is. Basically the one thing right now that this team is different from other Self teams is the ability for us to score easy. This team isn't shooting the ball well, usually a 47-50% shooting team. The UK game skews those numbers but we've yet to see the whole team score at a high rate.

Interesting to note that Utah is averaging as a team 9 more points, more assists, steals, blocks, fg % +10, better 3pt %. On numbers alone, that would say they have the edge. Factor in the location, has to give KU 4-5 pts. It will be up to KU defensively to limit Wright & Pueltl. Limit tucker and taylor from making too many 3's.

Both have played good teams, edge to KU there, but Wichita St and San Diego St are no slouches. A Win for KU probably means, shooting a higher FG% than average and holding Utah below their avg.

Poeltl will be a tuff matchup for us. He is a good shot blocker and solid player so far as a freshman. If we could get him some early fouls that would be a great advantage to us.

The rest of the Utah team isn't very big nor do they block shots at the rate Poeltl does. Their backup footer isn't the threat you'd think as a rim protector. They have guys sized like Perry Ellis who Ellis and Co can dominate.

Our tuffest matchup Is Delon Wright. The guy does everything for them. We really don't have anyone to guard him, maybe Selden will bring his A game. Othewise we need to pay as much attention to him as we can. If we can limit him, the rest of their team won't know what hit them. This is the tuffest game so far other than the UK game. Hopefully the pro KU crowd will play a factor in what should be a very close game

Man what a great game, besides the Outcome in our favor this was really a true test of toughness. One that hopefully our kids can lean on when going into Iowa St. K-State, Oklahoma, & Texas.

There were many times a lead evaporated quicker than you could blink and somehow they found a way to respond. Perfect example was the 58-51 lead gets tied up in a matter of a minutes. Mason comes around a screen and dagger's a 3 home. I love his ability to make shots like that.

The Ref's were absolutely horrendous but what do you expect going on the road. I can't think of too many shots we had close to the rim where there wasn't a hack job involved.

Smith should have been penalized for the move on Lucas, and he had 3 other moments of throwing those elbows high that KU would have been called a flagrant for had it been the other way.

The blown call on the over the backboard play at the end of the game was just one of many ref blunders in the game. How do you not call something before going to the monitor. What if we had't had the possession arrow.

Greene got his 4th foul on a play called at least 1-2 seconds after it happened from the far-side ref. The ref underneath the basketball didn't call it, how can you?

I have to say I was impressed by Oubre and what he can bring to the team. It finally seemed like the light bulb is coming on.. He just has to keep getting comfortable with the offense and know where he can get his shots from. I hope he stay aggressive going to the hoop he will draw a lot of fouls as a lefty. He rebounded well.

The turnovers were killer. A lot of bad entry passes, too many of our turnovers seem to start at the top of the key with no help to get back on d. We were fortunate G'Town missed a bunch shots close.

I'm only going to call out Selden because I thought he looked lethargic out there. He's too hot and cold and exactly why I don't view him as a NBA prospect right now. Put 2 good games together fella. When he makes shots consistently and makes good decisions he's very good but we really need him to be consistent just as much as Ellis is.

@JayHawkFanToo

I remember when we were in the running to get him in transfer. I lobbied up and down for us to pass, and good thing we did because we got Black instead.

All Smith did was get suspended after first semester last year

@jaybate-1.0

When we've gone to our bench in the first half that hasn't seemed to work very well when we sub 3-4 starters out at a time. Depending on game flow, I've been waiting for Self to keep Selden and Ellis on the floor and then sub out a wing, or Cliff, or graham for Mason but not all at once.

I'm assuming if Lucas doesn't pick up 2 cheap fouls in the first 4 minutes that Cliff, Greene, and Graham will be the first 3 off the bench. Mason & Graham looked very good out there against Florida while pushing Selden to the 3. I believe if Selden shoots anywhere near the way he did against Florida we won't be beaten. When he's on we don't generally lose.

Josh Smith avg's over 3 Fouls a game. It's simple get him into early foul trouble. It feels like the 15th time we've played this Offensive Lineman. He's gotten in foul trouble previous tries against us. Attack him get his quick 2 and watch him sit on the sideline.

If he doesn't get in foul trouble then will need great effort from Lucas and Cliff. Lucas needs to hold off on the early fouls in this one so that Cliff isn't stuck by himself trying to guard him. Looks like we will need Hunter to step up with the opportunity.

We killed this same Georgetown team last year with basically the same team minus a few talented freshman. I understand that this is a true road game and Georgetown has played decent so far this year. If we play our game we should be able to grind out a win. 2 point teams rarely beat KU, and it will take all facets of the game for KU to collapse to not win.

Obviously a lot rides on Mason's ability with the ankle. If it was so serious, he wouldn't have grinded out the end of the Florida game. With 4 days of rehab should help him play at close to 100%. I liked the way Graham played in the last game staying aggressive.
Just like any game, controlling the boards, hitting your freebie's, limited dumb turnovers and of course making enough shots will win the game for us. It would give us even more confidence if we can get a road win so that Saturday's game in the Sprint Center isn't a bounce back game

Apparently when they watched the game film from last years Disaster in Florida, they took it as well we might as well have an "encore" disaster. Truly don't understand this team, could be worst loss at home in forever

Foul trouble or made baskets when he gets into the game are probably the only way 3. happens.

It would be nice if Oubre got some confidence seeing the ball go in the hoop, or being disruptive on Defense.

We will see tonight if we continue to show we are a better team than last year. Tourney win was very nice rebound from UK debacle. It's always nice to play back in Allen, lately it seems we have spent too much time away from home.

.com Said practice wasn't that good yesterday. Usually not a good recipe for game day although I've pointed out this Florida isn't the same as the last 3-4 years. Eli Carter a starting guard is unlikely to play tonight as well leaving them with 8 scholly players. We should wear them out in the 2nd half

Definitely agree about its hard for players to fight schools over LOI's. Our own Devonte Graham probably wouldn't be at Kansas if it wasn't for that case.

Others that come to my mind were Uthoff now at Iowa when he was at Wisconsin. Bo Ryan took a lot of heat over him.
Also Saint Joe's had an incident in not letting a kid play somewhere else.
The cases are endless but they have definitely drove up the cases of kids holding out because its the only way for them to hold the keys for themselves in case something goes wrong.

At KU, recruiting the best is the product of our environment. The top kids get the extended exposure by waiting to decide by getting their 5 minutes of fame on ESPN plus all the talk of them. Hopefully we have good fortune again this year on the recruiting front. We've been the kings of late 4th quarter (spring recruiting)

I'm not sure what has held back Chris Walker so far. I thought he would be better than he has shown. I didn't see all the hype last year with him in his limited time. He is a great athlete for his size but the criticism with him was that the rest of his game wasn't there yet.

If a player like Kurtz is starting over him then it's gotta be something Billy thinks he's not doing well enough. It bodes well for us if Walker doesn't play starter minutes and we get the undersized guys covering Cliff Perry and company. If we handle the ball well and dont turn it over we should control the game against them

Florida isn't a very good team right now. They have a lot of guys trying to figure out roles, and Chris Walker has gotten off to a very slow start, and hasn't played the minutes I thought he would coming back from suspension. I expected them to take a big step back losing so much experience and team chemistry and that has shown true so far.

They have exactly 2 guys as big as our front court. Walker as I mentioned hasn't been very effective so far, and Horford was a role player at Michigan being asked to do much more now. They have started 6-6 Kurtz, Finney-Smith, and Horford lately. If that holds true tomm. Advantage to KU.
Ellis will be fine he's shown much improved aggressiveness and its not likely Walker is going to be covering him in the game.

The key to the game is limiting Frazier for 3 point bombing. His shooting Avg's are lower so far because he's been asked to carry the team. Selden should be able to shadow him and hopefully limit his scoring.

It's probably not going to be a very high scoring game if Florida plays zone or some sort of press to zone like they did last year against us. Allen Fieldhouse will give us a good advantage I don't see how we don't pull this one out by about 10.

Very good Analysis KonkeyDong.

Usually we at least have 1 recruit on board so this is unusual we've hit December with nobody on board and nobody a clear lock. The biggest issue I've seen with a lot of the players we've recruited is they are all looking at package deals. Jones & Okafor from Duke have made it the "cool things to do". You hear more and more about kids wanting to play together now than ever.

Kids have also realized they have the most leverage in holding out til Spring. With Roster turnover/transfers and Coaching changes unless you know for sure none of those are likely why would a top recruit sign early and risk having to do it all over if something happened. Heck they don't even need to sign,they can hold out on just signing financial aid papers. As a High Schooler I can see why, as a KU fan it drives us crazy on the waiting game.

The other issue is that basically everyone is waiting on UK's Platoon System and how much Roster turnover they will have at the end of the season. I say it's likely all of their 6 big men could go Pro. It would be a huge help to our recruiting chances with Diallo, Bragg, Zimmerman, Maker (if re-classifies) if at least 3 of them come back. Right now the most likely candidates to come back would be Lee, Lyles, Poythress. Towns is top 10 prospect, Stein and Johnson have played at a high level worthy of Lottery discussion. The hype left Poythress after his Freshman yr, Lyles is good but what position will he play in NBA, and Lee gets the least PT and would stand best to keep developing.

6 games in I can't see Kansas having major roster turnover and certainly not a coaching change. Transfers maybe, but I don't see anyone who would be a serious candidate for that right now.
We could get everyone back (unlikely)
We could lose just Alexander (likely)
We could lose Perry, Cliff, Wayne, Kelly (only if the later 2 improve exponentially).

Jaylen Brown: I'm thinking the only way we can get him is if Wayne or Kelly go pro. Definitely the best prospect left on the board.

Dorsey: I think ends up out West and it's a real possibility that him and Rabb could end up at Cal. If Wayne left its the only way I could see him coming east.

Rabb: Would be a great get but I'm just not sold on his interest. Maybe if Zimm. committed he could draw Rabb as well as they are HS teammates and AAU buddies.

Zimmerman: I think we are the leaders but UK and UCLA will fight us to the end.

Diallo: Basically between us, hometown St. Johns, and UK. His recruitment has been very quiet. Definitely would be the rim protector we need.

Bragg: As stated Kansas or Kentucky but UCLA has hung around as well. I will be pissed if we lose out on him because he would the perfect fit for Self.

Maker: Who knows until January what he will do.
Ingram won't be leaving North Carolina.
Swanigan: We didn't make his final list I believe.
Lovett: No reason to get a PG in this class not unless he was a certainty to RS.

I've wanted Bragg, Diallo, and Brown as the dream class. It's likely we will have 3-4 Scholly's to give. Brown would be the perfect Combo SG/SF. He can do everything. Likely losing Cliff and getting Diallo and Bragg would be the perfect 1-2 punch to infuse with Perry,Lucas and Hunter.

I think Wayne is 100% but he hasn't found his identity on Offense with this team yet. He can hit the 3 in streaks, can drive and pull up when needed, and get to the lane as well. Now his finishing and until yesterday FT shooting has always been an issue. When are we going to see him put down 1 dunk that he launches off for.
He's clearly expending a lot of energy locking down on Defense. And he's getting assists so he is helping. For this team to probably see its ceiling it needs Wayne above 10pts a game. He has been good with the ball for the most part and right now Self certainly doesn't trust him not being out there for long. I would say if someone was to take Svi's spot which looks unlikely Selden could be spelled for him, but right now we have to hope Wayne's O starts to come around like the rest of his game has.

What a game, one that at halftime I wasn't sure we could win because of the "little things". The out of bounds miscue's and lack of getting back on D after missed shots was killing us. Plus the ref's were not so kind to us on shots inside the paint. They clearly missed a half dozen hacks by sparty's.

After halftime though, we saw great team play. Sparty missed plenty of 3's to help us chip at the lead and build that 5-7 pt lead we had for a while.
Jamari after being as bad as you can be was great with those free throw's. We might have had different outcome had he missed.

Defense was tremendous, rebounding was great +8 in that regard. I thought we were vintage Self team in tight situation. Just a great, satisfying win that we needed against a marque program and Izzo.

I've been highly critical of our play but if we can bring this type of effort and team play every game we will be tuff to beat going forward. Is their any question that Mason can run this team, and we can settle on that subject

@HighEliteMajor said:

I will say that there is no way that we get back all of our perimeter players for next season. Six deserving players is one too many.

Someone will have to go.

I'll go a step further - I think two will end up going after this season. All six are of the skill level that deserves major minutes, and not scraps. It has to happen.

In the meantime, we can enjoy perhaps the deepest group of perimeter players KU has ever had.

The only way that holds true is if either situation happen:

Selden turns it on and becomes more of the offense, continues to play good d, keeps racking up the assists and keeps his 3pt shooting & FT #'s up. Right now I'd only say he's racking up the assists & playing good d. That won't get him the guaranteed 1st round pick. He's going to have to really pick it up to be back in the stock rising column.

Oubre really gets over the freshman wall and starts playing instead of thinking. Becomes a key part of the rotation and shows the Athleticism, shooting and Defense we all know he's got.

While there is plenty of time for both to do some of these things that will get scouts back on them, right now they haven't. Right now there is a good chance everyone on the perimeter is coming back. We aren't really recruiting guards, Dorsey seems likely going west, Jaylen Brown has seen other teams join the race since he singled out KU and UK this fall as "leaders".

Greene has shown he can play and will be apart of the rotation. Svi has been better than advertised in area's especially starting games this early. He will be back. Mason and Graham holding down the PG situation. We could in theory return everyone on the perimeter which would be great since our attrition at the guard spots has been horrid of late.

This is Izzo's least talented team we will have faced in at least the past 3-4 meetings. They don't have a dominate post player unless you consider Dawson to be one. He's more a tweener to me that Ellis or Traylor will have to try and limit.
Forbes, Trice, and Valentine and the freshman Clark have shown so far that they rely on the 3 ball for most their offense. Let's take a look at these stats so far:

Clark: 20 made FG's 11/20 from 3.
Trice: 37 made FG's 17/39 from 3.
Valentine 30 made FG's 16 of 37 from 3.
Forbes 18 made FG's 13 of 32 from 3.

Of the 105 made baskets these 4 have 54% have been 3 pointers. To say that this is the biggest way to winning this game is an understatement. If we can't force them to miss 3's or keep them from making 8-10 then we stand a very good chance of losing because its simple they rely on the 3 ball for a big part of their offense so far. Now KU has shot the 3 ball much better in Orlando so maybe we can match 3 for 3 but it's not how we usually win games.

Their front court isn't talented enough to punish us and that's our advantage in this game. If Ellis can go off for 20 or so and we have solid contributions from others we will be ok. Izzo's squad this year seems to be ahead offensively then defensively so that can be something we exploit if we run our stuff.

I do believe KU has come to this tourney playing much better, more together, and a much more hungry team that wants to prove something and a win against Michigan St would be a huge confidence boost. I said 3 point shooting would be the biggest key but if we can control the boards, make our FT's and limit the stupid turnovers I can see us pulling out a 6-8 point victory. It should be a great game and I'm excited to see how we react on the big stage again.

I thought the guys showed some great grit from that 6 minute mark to pull out the win. Signs of a team that is on a mission finally. There definitely was some head scratching moments that just drive us fans nuts including blowing multiple double digit leads in a matter of minutes. But I was really impressed with the fight today and even when it seemed Tenn. has us on the ropes we found ways with clutch shots and stops.

I think we have seen some seperation in the rotation. Ellis, Mason, Svi, and Selden are clearly ahead. I think its wise to Keep Lucas with his size in there because he buys Cliff 4-5 minutes of non-fouls. Cliff is going to start at some point, having his lob ability and rebounding are so important.

Greene has come to play, he's earned his time. Traylor and Oubre clearly need some help getting things together. Boy are they turnovers waiting to happen in there. I'm holding out on Graham, he was great yesterday and ehh today.

Some individual thoughts..

Hats off to Mason, he has played very well in this tourney. I thought today he really looked to get others involved and those monster lobs really helped keep us on top. Even some of his drives I expected him to shoot, but he has some great decision making. Now he did have a few bonehead plays including that 6 point swing in the first half but our PG isn't going to be great all the time and he's still learning this position. I thought his d was good until Richardson decided to be aggressive. His 3 point shot is so much improved and I thought the kid was as important to the win today as any.

Ellis has showed his swag so far these past 3 games. Love his quickness and willingness to take shots. I'm glad he gets he needs to score and be that consistent scoring threat. This is the Perry we need no matter the competition. I do think he's shown more on defense and he looked like Self has got on him about rebounds 13 today.

Selden has showed he can't be replaced in the lineup. His passing, defense and occasional offense are not replaceable in the lineup. Hopefully his offense continues to come to him because it would be great if he was averaging 12-13 pts a game. When he came out, our game suffered a lot.

Cliff has started to show us what we all expected from him. Now he's basically a Jeff Whithey without the height right now. He needs his offense to be set up for him but he has delivered and right now is the perfect offensive option off the bench. It limits his foul tendency and buys him more minutes when we really need it. I say keep him there for a while until he makes it impossible not to start him. His alley-oops are the perfect way for him to get going. What a beast he is.

I'm believing more in Greene by the game. His ability to hit the 3 is well noted. He rebounds now and his passing is much better. Keep it up.

Svi finally showed a new dimension on offense with that drive and finish. Still misses too many open 3's. He could make us even more lethal hitting more. Defense is great and moving the ball around. He has earned his spot so far just wish his offense would click more.

What can you say about Oubre and Traylor. This week hasn't been kind to them at all. It seemed whenever they entered the game negative plays happened. We know both can help this team but right now they haven't helped in this tourney. Such good kids, hopefully they can put it behind them.

Looking forward to sunday against most likely Izzo. It would be nice to get one against him as he has dominated us lately.

they are not a good team but will play Zone D so our shooting from outside must be good again or they will try and grind us into a low scoring game. If we can force them to M2M somehow that would be ideal.

@JayHawkFanToo said:

@BeddieKU23

I disagree with your statement that as a team KU did not get better. From reading reports of the game looks like KU played the best half of basketball so far in this season. Yes, the second half was not equally good and I am still not sure what changed; I posed that question earlier but I did not get an answer. Maybe Coach Self did not want it to become a blow out and get the players overconfident. BTW, the Vegas line for this game was 20 points so KU easily exceed the project spread.

I also disagree with Rhode Island being an over matched game. They are 3-0 having won their first two games easily and then beating #21 Nebraska, a team that is expected to contend in the Big 10; nothing over matched about that game. Just my opinion and I could be wrong.

Remember this game? ↗

Remind you we played Rider. We didn't improve enough to believe that the ship has been fixed in one week. It's probably asking too much for that to happen in such short fashion. KU will have to start playing at a much higher rate to win the better games still left on the non-conference slate.

Individually it was nice to see Svi and Greene make some baskets. Perry was solid against guys his size, Alexander was fantastic the first half and awful the 2nd. We played spirited D the first and let up the 2nd. I liked Lucas starting but it sounded like that was more to Self making a point with either Traylor or Cliff or both.

We certainly don't have a lineup or rotation set and hopefully those things start to play out soon so that by conference play we have an identity. We need a spirited, improved team in Orlando!

Well the way I see this game is, as a team we didn't get any better. And after the week this team had I would have thought that maybe we would come out and utterly dominated. We did the first half but the 2nd half wasn't good.
Good teams can put away an over-matched team both halves and right now we aren't that.

Maybe I'm expecting too much, but its Kansas and success is all we know in the Self Era.

I've expected more from this team, not an unrealistic thing to expect and I've been pretty upset with individual play so far. I do think that with more games things will start to even out and Self will be able to get these guys to buy into what he's selling.

It starts Thursday. We play basically 2 over-matched games before a possible Michigan St team. In order to win we need Selden to score and become that 2nd consistent scoring threat. He's not shown much improvement so far. I loved his 9 dimes last night but he needs to score no matter what. When the minutes thin out and he's getting 30, we can't have him with zero points no matter the other ways he may impact the game.

Let's hope practice goes well the next few days..

To begin the season I didn't think Rider would be anything other than watching a 30 point win with the walk-ons getting in late during Rock Chalk song.

Today I'm wondering if we even win (sigh). I haven't seen anything so far in either game that says this KU team will hang #11.

Now the season is young, hopefully the UK game is a great tool for improvement the rest of the season, although practice didn't initially get better until Self lit a fire in them at 6am.

We should win by 30 at least, but will we?

How much better are we really going to get over the season. With a game like we just had, is our ceiling really that much higher for the rest of the season?

We've seen plenty of good teams already who are playing at a high level. That is something we are not doing to begin the season. I think its troubling to already be seeing this.

We can clearly say that in the first 2 games, KU has not played at any level that is expected. And that's so uncharacteristic of the program. We have guys that have experience, and years of playing and yet they all looked like 2nd game freshman. I'm not saying we should be playing like we would expect to be playing in March or even Conference play, but to be so far away from what we would expect to be at is what is bothering me the most.

I didn't think we would beat UK but a 32 point defeat is deflating. Can Self really get them to forget it just like that, and focus on the improvement needed for the next game.
I saw such non-effort in the game that I started wondering if we will even beat Rider Monday? Rider of all teams. I thought the upcoming games against Florida and the tournament in Orlando would be fairly easy games to win but you can't feel confident that is the case with the way we played.

I don't believe we are that bad, but at the same time we aren't that good either. I'm sure we we will get better but by how much. We just don't have the size to match up with teams who have legit post players. Texas will provide the same problem we had last night.

The most alarming problem I saw from the players standpoint was rebounding. 2nd chance points were killer, I saw Poythress get a rebound with one hand off a missed FT, just unacceptable effort was on display. It's a great teaching moment for Self to show just how important rebounding the ball is.

Now I also thought from a coaching standpoint that it was about as poor as could be. Re-invent the wheel Self. The book is out on how to Guard you, and how to attack you.

@HighEliteMajor said:

@jaybate-1.0 I'm not saying we'll beat UK. Obviously, right now, that is not expected. Self said after the game that he'd prefer to play UK in the 60s or the 70s, not the 80s or 90s. Wrong! As wrong as @Crimsonorblue22 praising Oubre's hair. Maybe worse. We need to attack, play fast, challenge UK with our overplays and double teams, increase the pace, take advantage of our lack of size. Play to our strength. I love your military analogies .. don't you liken this more to a blitzkrieg attack through the Ardennes forest? It may be conventional wisdom to plod through central Belgium, or try to play in the 60s. But I would be surprised if this succeeds. If we lose, we lose,but we should play to our identity. Self talks about a team having an identity. This is our identity. Create mistakes. Capitalize on turnovers. Overplay. Trap. I love this stuff. I really liked when Self got on Svi for mishandling that steal last night -- because he tried to one-hand it vs. securing it. Those will be our life blood.

@Hawk8086 I think your Oubre mention is interesting. The political pressure you refer to will increase. Self was a little short in his press conference. A reporter asked "What about Oubre." Self responded with, "What do you mean" -- a little irritated it sounded like. Self knew what he meant, and then after the reporter was specific, Self simply said it was a coach's decision, of course noting that Oubre was "young." Of course, Svi is young. So is Alexander. So was Wiggins. So was Selden. The Oubre dilemma is really a Brannen Greene dilemma, right? Greene starts but is not trusted enough to play in the 2nd half vs. UCSB in a non-con at home? An insight into Self's mind, in my opinion. Oubre will become the 5th perimeter guy. Greene goes to 6th with Svi's emergence. The 6th perimeter guy sits. Why Oubre? Self said post game that some of our most talented players weren't playing -- clear reference to Oubre. And the political pressure. One guy gets left out. Svi is the X-factor. Greene has to change the dynamic and make himself needed. In the OAD world, you're right, the "political" pressure to not leave the possible OAD out will be real. But I really have to hand it to Self in playing the guys to win the game last night. Big win ... or big non-loss.

@KUSTEVE -- You suggest a starting lineup of Graham, Svi, Selden, Ellis, and Alexander. I ask everyone, why is he wrong? Really, it is hard to argue with with @KUSTEVE's starting lineup as being our best five. Are these our best five? @BeddieKU23 suggests that Graham and Cliff shouldn't start "yet." His post indicates it's likely a matter of time. So the question is, do we start our "best five?

Here's what I'd do. Start Mason, Graham, Selden, Ellis, and Traylor against UK. Move Cliff into the starting lineup against Rider (I know I said "now" above, changing my mind slightly). If Mason and Graham are functioning fine, and that dynamic works, leave it alone for a while. There are worse things than Svi off the bench. But my tipping point would be once Svi starts hitting from outside. Once he has some games in a row where he is shooting well, then consider making the move -- simply trade out the second best of the Mason/Graham battle.

One last thing. @beddieku23 mentioned how bad our zone offense was. What's new? It is just a stagnant scheme, but that's another post. Been there before. What was the bright spot though? Svi -- he was the best passer against the zone. Got the ball to the middle of the zone effectively, rotated the ball effectively. Self has to love that.

Svi seemed to get the light bulb after making those 2 free throws. The pass to Cliff, and the offensive rebound/put back were things we hadn't seen in a game from him yet.
We know he's a good shooter so hopefully its just the nerves that's holding back his shot and now that he's had a shot go in will make him more comfortable.

I do think Graham and Cliff starting is a matter of time. Especially if they are scoring more points off the bench then the starters in front of them. Right now with the Kentucky game if Graham and Cliff are the spark plugs when they go 5 in 5 out could be negating any advantage UK is supposed to have over us in depth. If we bring in Svi, Graham, and Cliff and all can contribute like starters then I say keep them coming off the bench until they all prove without a doubt they belong to start.

Jamari is maybe the most valuable player on the team. Right now he has earned his chance to start and has played fine. Active on the boards, scores when needed, great pressure D. All the little things he does are what Self loves and until Cliff picks up some of those I think Jamari starts and helps Cliff avoid early fouls.

As for the Zone O, Kentucky could play it and Florida coming up loves to play zone as well. We will need to really get some serious reps in because I don't think we will see as much man to man D as we would like.

My thoughts from the game.

First, I don't think that Graham and Cliff should start yet. I thought both played very well but I liked how we could go to our bench and get 2-3 quality type starters. I think the depth we have or could have is amazing. Now I think as the season goes it might work better to start Graham and Cliff especially if offensively they are more consistent than Greene or Traylor.

Foul trouble is going to plague Cliff, his first foul was a bad call and already a sign of how ref's are going to view him. He was better 2nd half. I liked how he wasn't afraid to shoot the 15 footer but if those don't go in, he could do better by driving to the hoop. The greatest asset with him is you know he's going to rebound everything. Could be a key in the Kentucky game.

Graham was great, hit some tuff shots and played well within the game. I think he will be a good end of game FT shooter which is important in close games. His D has looked good and he looks poised with the ball.

I was a bit disappointed in Selden. I don't think he should take many 3's because he wasn't even close. I understand that he's changed his shot but it's not his strength. He does enough of everything else to keep him on the floor but I'm left expecting much more from him. It's early and I'm sure he will get better at affecting the game.

I thought Ellis looked quicker and more bounce. I liked his aggressiveness and he showed signs he could take games over if we need him too. Not a bad start with a double/double from what probably was an off game for him overall.

I'm impressed with Mason's improvement. Besides the 2 fouls that limited him in the 1st half, his 3 ball looks better, his FT shooting is much improved and he's a jet with the ball. He's still going to drive the ball, that's who he is and the charge call was just another example of how the charge call can't ever be called consistent.

Jamari is the glue, we need him on the court, his energy is amazing and he was very good on the boards. So impressed with his improvement from yr to yr.

Lastly I thought our Zone offense was horrendous. We haven't shown to be good at playing against zone's in a while. I know its the first game but we will see Zone from a lot of teams and we flat out stunk!!! Teams can scout against us and clearly see how much of an advantage Self has running his offense as opposed to Zone Offense. 3 point shots have to fall!

I think the way we are recruiting is the way we will recruit as long as we have Self at the helm. Kansas is a top 5 program, with all the accolades and reputation of an elite program.

The Elite high school kids these days barely make it to Sophomore year of high school before they are being hailed as potential 1 and done's. The exposure has created hype and a belief in these kids that they are bigger than College before they even arrive. Very few like an Embiid blow up so late in the process that it takes the media and scouts to catch on.

Self knows his program has a strong brand, Wiggins and others have lifted it even further. We are in with most of the top remaining kids left in the 15 class because KU is a darn good place to play. We are in with many of the top kids in the 2016, 2017 classes because Self knows that he can develop talent no matter the skill level they come in with.

Self gets paid millions to mold a team his way, no matter if its a 3 star or 5 star player. He knows the risks either way on how both can or don't pan out. It's his job to figure out how to consistently put Kansas in a position for championships.

The development method can be more satisfying to him and to the fans because both get to witness progression over the years. 1 and done's leave an unfinished business feeling if those star players don't bring home championships. We are always left wondering "what if they came back another year".

We might gain more brand recognition with the 1 and done method but it might not always be what's best for the long term of the program.
That's why Self is still one of the best because he gets a Landon Lucas, a Frank Mason, a Jamari Traylor to mold around the All American's. Graham could be one of the best point guards Self has ever had. Who would have thought from a kid who was once signed to Appalachian St. Svi is a 2-3 year player who could be an All Big 12 kid in a few years. It's his talent evaluation on the less heralded players that we should scrutinize just as much as the stars because those might be the foundations for years to come in this program.

Now if the NBA 1 and done rule gets changed, maybe a shift in the recruiting of top kids changes slightly to where kids buy into a school more.. Kids might be more likely to stay for a 3rd year where if they are academically gifted can get a degree and still hit the league at a young age.
Self has changed with the times. The 1 and done created this ongoing trend, only a rule change can swing it a different way. We know whatever happens Kansas will always be near the top.

@drgnslayr said:

@BeddieKU23

"I will point this out again though, we don't have a good chance if Ellis and Selden don't take the Alpha dog roles in this game and put up big numbers."

I totally agree with that. I know it was just an exhibition game, but Perry didn't exactly impress the crowd with his first impression for the coming season. I thought Wayne intentionally backed off the throttle a bit to focus on getting our new guys involved.

I'm sure you are right that their height will bother us at every position. It shouldn't be that way unless they can keep their foot speed up with ours. I loved to have bigger guys guarding me in M2M back in my days because of my foot speed. I could always create scoring space and I'd become more alpha dog because I knew I had them beat. I hated the little guys that were fast and sticking to me like glue.

We should have lateral speed over Kentucky. Right, nothing is proven until the game is played... but little guys should be have quicker lateral movement over bigger guys. Granted, Kentucky is stuffed with McDs AAs... we also have highly ranked players. I can't really see either of the twins being able to match foot speed with Frank.

We should have an speed edge, Mason & Graham should hopefully disrupt the Harrison twins. From all accounts it looks like 1 of the 2 has gotten significantly better at running the team. What I saw from both of them last year was streaky shooting, and bailed out bad offense by ref's on straight line drives. Their length gives them an advantage driving to the hoop. Their backup Ulis is a jet who may see extended minutes if KU is able to disrupt the twins flow. That would be the best hope is that we can show a little Chalmers & Russ Rob action on perimeter D.

We hope that an improved Mason & freshman Graham will be up for the challenge. We don't know how Graham will react in the spotlight, will he be a Ennis type who can be that calm, poised leader or will he be easily rattled. It might even be worthwhile to play Svi or Kelly on them and match big guard for big guard. We have plenty to throw at them in the backcourt, but the 3 spot on is where an advantage for UK starts to show.

I'm also not worried about Wayne and Perry. I did expect more from Perry but I believe when he's playing 30+ minutes, his ability to affect the game will come through. Same with Selden, I believe if he focuses on getting to the hoop consistently that he has a chance to be special this year.
Tuesday should show us a little more where guys are as we get ready for the opener. Ideally I would like to see both of them get 15-16 points tomm.

And friday should give us an idea of realistic chances for the Kentucky game. Williams will be a tuff customer and hopefully Self has them cranked up not thinking ahead.

@drgnslayr said:

@BeddieKU23

"all those things are a great "if" we can."

So true. But that will be left to us, and Kentucky won't be able to stop us if we execute this.

"We are clearly the underdog is almost every situation in this game."

We are clearly the faster team. We clearly have better lateral movement. That is an advantage, and that is our major advantage. That is the advantage necessary in accomplishing my list above. I already give Kentucky the 10% around the rim. We won't be able to challenge them on that and their advantage is mostly owning the 10%. This idea that all you need is height to win doesn't hold water. We've lost many games to teams much shorter than us. Most of the players on Kentucky are ranked high because of their height, and they have a relative amount of skill for their height. None of these guys would be Top 50 players without their height.

If you need motivation for grasping this, replay last year's championship game. And though most of Kentucky's team is back, I think they will have even bigger challenges this year because their true alpha dogs (Young and Randle) are gone.

The first thing we have to do is develop a strategy to win. The second thing is we practice in order to be able to execute it. The third thing is we execute during the game.

If we don't follow that path, we have already lost. We aren't just going to get lucky and be hot from the perimeter.

We cannot say we are a faster team. If anything with Kentucky's Platoon style it allows their players to play with reckless energy because they know they are getting a break soon.
We may have smaller guys who are quick but we haven't proven a thing in a real game yet that gives us a deciding edge.

Their length at every position will bother us, maybe the biggest factor that could hold us back.
Cliff, Ellis, Lucas, Jamari will all have to find ways to get good looks against them.

I thought defensively we looked better in the first exhibition then we did most of last year. I would like to see the same Tuesday and obviously Friday in the opener against real D-1 teams. If we can count on our D to hold us in the Kentucky game then I think Self can work on the small things that win games like tempo, fouls, turnovers, rebounding.

I will point this out again though, we don't have a good chance if Ellis and Selden don't take the Alpha dog roles in this game and put up big numbers.

all those things are a great "if" we can.

We need to do all those things better than them to win. It's not the other way around like most teams face when they play KU. We are clearly the underdog is almost every situation in this game.

The only thing that helps us is that they will be no better then us this early then we will be. We can win if we simply play above the normal.

Turnovers, rebounding, 3 point shooting are the keys, as in most games those 3 factors decide games.

We will need Ellis and Selden to have stepped up in a big way to win