@ralster Sorry about that!
You are right about Self coming out of some of his old tendencies. By what theyve done lately, it looks like he might have learned from the losses to Northern Iowa and VCU.
This year, like you said, we have more guys that are able to score driving the ball than maybe ever in KU history. There is no reason why during a tournament when the shots arent falling to have quick ball movment around the perimeter, make the defense work, then penetrate the gaps in the defense.
@JayHawkFanToo Exactly.
And here is the point that WSU fans need to understand: do they really think that their big guys can stop Embiid, Traylor, Black, and Ellis? Did they see what they did to Texas?
I hope that KU and WSU get in the same bracket as the top two seeds and play in the Elite Eight. I think that WSU fans dont realize how good this KU team is when they play focused and run. If they came to play, the game might be over at half time like against Texas.
@ralster You must learn from your mistakes that you made in order to not make them again. For example, if there is a game when the team is not shooting well and you are behind by double digits (VCU game), do you keep shooting or do you drive the ball?
I remember that game and they did not drive the ball and pound it inside from the beginning like you claim. Reed should not have been 1-7 for the game. He should have been like 1-4.
It was in the second half that the team decided to finally go to their strength, which is going inside. Unfortunately, they had dug themselves too deep of a hole in the first half.
The point I was trying to make was that Self needs to learn that when the shots arent falling you tell the team to drive the ball and get inside to the big guys. It is VERY risky to bank on guys like Reed and Morningstar shooting their way out a slump, especially in an Elite Eight game.
And yes, that is what Bill Self could have done.
I have only one concern about the tournament. And it isnt guard play, three point shooting, or who we match up with.
What concerns me is their intensity. We have seen them this year at certain times with the full intensity and energy that it takes to get to the final four.
In the tournament, Self is going to have to get them ready to play and not come out with no energy. I know that some on here think that Self amps them for one game but doesnt for the next. If he indeed does that, it is a risky strategy, and one that is not reliable enough. Despite what some might say, it is possible to bring your full intensity for two games in a row.
What happened to the '10 and '11 teams, which were arguably the best teams that year, was that they didnt bring the necessary intensity to win. And, like dominos, that lead to them chucking up outside shots that wouldnt fall.
That is what happened to KU last night. For a minute there I was a little concerned about if they were going to win or not. Fortunately, they decided to start driving the ball and being aggressive.
I just wish that the two aforementioned teams would have been aggressive like that when the shots werent falling. Hopefully, Self has learned something from those games and will tell his team to not shoot jumpers, but rather attack the rim.
The '12 team proved to all of us that you do not need good outside shooting to go to the championship game. The only thing that this KU team needs to get to Dallas is intensity. And Im talking about the intensity they played with against Texas. They looked like they wanted to win more than Texas.
I guarantee that there will be a game this year, possibly the second round or Sweet Sixteen, where the shots arent falling and the other team takes the lead in the second half. What are they going to do? Will they do what they did against VCU and try to shoot their way out of a slump? Or will they do what they did last night and attack the paint, get out in transition, and force the other team to bad shots?
I am hopeful, after last night, that Self will instruct them to attack the rim and get out in transition. Going inside is the key on offense for this team and is what they will have to do A LOT in the tournament.
A common misconception in the KU sports community is that it takes long athletic guards to get to the Final Four. Bloggers also suggest that it takes these LSA guards in order to play better defense and disrupt the other team's offense. However, a commonly overlooked fundamental of excellent defense is something called "intensity". What is intensity? Intensity is a combination of focus, alertness, and energy. Intensity is using 100% of a person's mental energy on a specific task.
Interestingly enough, others argue that a guard who is an LSA by definition does not require intensity to play good defense. They think that just because he his long he does not need to play with intensity.
Unfortunately, most do not understand the basic aspects of why teams play good defense. To put it another way, long teams can play bad defense. That seems to contradict what many bloggers are saying. How can this be. Allow me to explain.
Back when I was playing in high school, there were numerous times that I did not play with intensity. I did not bring my full amount of energy into the basic and fundamental aspects of basketball. I was a longer player, though not the fastest. During those times when I didn't bring any intensity, I got MAYBE a rebound or two a game. Pretty bad, right? However, I gradually taught myself what it means to play with intensity and what I had to do. When I decided to play harder, I was getting about 10 rebounds a game! Quite a difference, right?
So, what does this have to do with Nadiir and Ellis? Everything. To me, the eye test says that Tharpe doesn't bring intensity to the defensive side of the ball. According to bloggers, it is because "he's not tall enough", or "he's not fast enough". They insist that a longer guard would make the difference. But there are plenty of examples where shorter guards have led their teams to the Final Four.
Peyton Siva and Russ Smith are both six feet or shorter yet were able to go to back to back final fours and win a championship. Trey Burke was not an LSA, but yet played with EXCELLENT intensity and energy and led his team to the championship. Same thing with Korie Lucious and Kalin Lucas leading their teams to back to back final fours.
My point is that it doesn't matter how big the person is. The only thing that matters is their intensity that they bring. That is Tharpe's issue. Not because he's short or not fast enough. Frankly, I am tired of that excuse. Same thing with Perry. Perry is not skinny and frail.
Again, it is all about attitude and energy. I rest my case.
BTW, I would much rather be in a slump now and work out the kinks than having problems in March. Remember, there is no award or trophy for playing well in January and February. The only hardware I care about is rewarded in March.
I mean, winning the conference is nice, but I would rather have lost the conference last year and got to the final four last year. I know that some will disagree with me on that, but what most people remember is whether or not a team advances far in the tournament.
@drgnslayr Right on! The hottest team in March is the one that wins it! Look at Michigan last year. They did not end the conference season well at all and lost in the Big Ten tournament yet still made it to the championship game.
You are right about this team being shackled and burdened. They are itching to be let loose. They are so much better than they have shown.
@Crimsonorblue22 I am not sure that they are ready just yet. Theyre extremely close, but not there yet. I would have more confidence in them if they could have won at K State, but HORRIBLE pick and roll defense kept them from winning. They could have won the San Diego State game, but got outrebounded by 13. 13!!!. What this team tends to do in a slow game is to not move the ball. They catch it, look around, maybe take a couple dribbles, then pass it out front again. Then the guy that catches it does the same thing. That is not nearly fast enough. Drgnslayr has it right about starting out in a press to get them in the correct mindset.
I hope that they will soon start to do what we all hoped they would do since last summer, which is run, run, run. They have the depth and the talent to do it. We already know what Wiggins can do in limited open court possessions. Imagine him getting 10 or 15 of those every game! Like I said earlier, once this team starts playing in the open court, there is almost nothing stopping them from getting to Dallas. However, they must first master the art of half court offense to be fully ready for the tournament.
@nuleafjhawk Correct. And drgnslayr and I are wondering if Self is not encouraging it because he wants them to learn how to execute in the half court. As everyone can see, they are not exactly dominant in a slow, half court game. Learning that would be huge going into the tournament, as there is always at least one game in March that is a slow, grind it out game. That is the game that this team has to be ready for.
@drgnslayr So true! In my opinion, Embiid is a better passer than both Cole and Jeff. He just hasn't had many opportunities to throw those passes because the rest of the team isn't making an attempt to run.
@drgnslayr Exactly right about them losing grind it out games. If they would have been in a running game with Villanova or San Diego State, those games wouldnt have been close. However, it is good for them to learn how to win those half court games. I agree with you that Self is teaching them how to win the half court games because those are the types of games that they dont yet fully realize how to win.
@nuleafjhawk I personally don't think that they have pushed the ball enough to know whether or not their ball handling is good enough. To me, Tharpe is up and down about turning the ball over, but he isnt that bad. The thing that bugs me about him is that he doesnt move the ball and push tempo. How many times have they actually done that? The answer is very few. It would be nice to see them really make an attempt to push the ball.
@741hawk That is a great question. Why doesn't Self have them push the pace? Could it be that he is going to try to surprise everyone in March?
@drgnslayr Great post drgnslayr! The way that underdog teams(like Northern Iowa) upset better teams is to slow the pace down. They want a half court game where there isnt much ball movement. That's what happened when we played San Diego State. There wasnt much ball movement and they didn't run.
It is a very simple concept really. There HAS to be ball movement. Once they start moving the ball and getting out in transition, Bill Self will be getting his third career final four.
I hope that the whole team comes out with more aggression and intensity than last night against TexasTech. They just can't let Texas out tough and out muscle them like what they did in Austin. If they play with the proper amount of intensity and play like we know they can, then it will be their first win against an LSA team this year.
@jaybate 1.0 It is true that most of the team played horribly. However, I disagree with your assessment of the game that Wiggins had. Tonight was probably the most aggressive I have seen him this year in attacking the paint. Typically, he takes too many jumpers and threes, but tonight he was playing to his real strength and that is driving into the paint.
I really don't know what is going on with Tharpe, but he played about as poorly as he could possibly play. I do not agree at all with the assessment that we can not get to the Final Four with Tharpe as the point guard. He can play good enough defense. He can make good decisions. He can take care of the ball. The problem is that he does not do this on a consistent basis. A common characteristic of his bad games is that he does not move the ball. For some reason, he is content to dribble around the perimeter and then throw up a shot. Inconsistency is unfortunately a characteristic of this team. That of course was the case tonight.
However, haven't most of Bill Self's teams in the past 7 or 8 years been at least somewhat inconsistent? For example, think back to the '10 team that was arguably the best team that year along with Kentucky. They were capable of playing at such a high level, yet frequently played with low energy and a lack of focus. Same thing with the '11 team. I have heard all sorts of reasons as to why they lost but no one seems to acknowledge the real reason they lost: they didn't want to win more than VCU. It was blatantly obvious on the defensive end, especially when VCU was left on the perimeter wide open.
To me, the problem with this team is not talent, or skill, or lack of knowledge of how to play basketball at the Division 1 level. It is simply a lack of energy that has been consistently displayed by the Bill Self teams of the past several years. Here is what I mean: Tharpe is a better ball handler than what he showed tonight. Texas Tech is not that good of team to force that many turnovers. There is also no excuse for giving up that many offensive rebounds. I am not sure what Self is telling them, but it obviously isn't doing the job because Tech should never outrebound them. Ever. I was hoping to see them play with good energy on defense for two halves, but that didn't happen. I am still excited that they played with so much passion and effort defensively on Saturday, even though it was just against TCU. To me, it proves that they are indeed capable of playing Bill Self defense, despite what others have thought.
I am hoping that eventually they will understand the importance of playing good defense and rebounding the ball because I can almost guarantee that there will be a game like the one tonight where it is a slow, grind it out game where every play is vital to winning. Hopefully they will begin to understand that effort problems, not skill problems, are what is keeping them from Dallas.
@HighEliteMajor It seems to be a common misconception that Ellis does not have the ability to win a matchup against long power forwards. The problem for Ellis is that he makes the mistake of trying to go inside against them, and in doing so gets his shot blocked.
What he needs to do is play outside in. He needs to be in pick and roll situations where he can shoot mid range jumpers and be out on the perimeter. As we all saw during the TCU game, Ellis can knock down perimeter shots with decent consistency, so that should be his primary attack against LSAs. He needs to leave the muscle ball to Black, Traylor, and Lucas while he plays his perimeter game.
@HighEliteMajor No problem! I would like to touch on a couple of points that you made.
You say that because of Wiggins, you expect a national title. That is the type of expectation that I am talking about. Every season we expect so much and many times do not get it. I expected a Final Four in '10, '11, and '13. Each of those teams was in a position to get there and win the title. What I am saying is that disappointments almost always accompany expectations, though there are exceptions.
I am glad that you are not one of the doom and gloom people that says that the Sweet Sixteen is this team's ceiling. That is wrong. The championship is this team's ceiling. It is really just a matter of this team getting hot and understanding how to play better defense. Like joeloveshawks said above, Syracuse and Michigan got hot at the right time. No one thought that Wichita State would go to Atlanta last year either.
It is not a bad thing to expect a national title. I agree with you on that. But you have to know that titles are extremely tough to come by. For me, it just seems like whenever I lower my expectations for the tournament, there is less disappointment.
As everyone has said, this loss is disappointing. However, I think that some need to lower their expectations of this team due to the fact that it is such a young team. Remember, it took several years worth of chemistry and experience for the national championship team to develop. That was definitely a hungry team. They were tough, battle tested, and had seen everything. They had experienced disappointing losses, such as the one last night, and used them as motivation.
The point that I have been trying to make is that this current team is not hungry like the '08 team was and not as tough and gritty as the '12 team was. Both of those teams had much more experience than this team does. Sometimes you have to have these losses to motivate you. Contrary to what many on here say, you can get to the Final Four and be a 3 or 4 seed. I cite last year as a perfect example. Wichita State, Michigan, and Syracuse were all lower seeded teams but yet made the Final Four.
Just like Danny and the Miracles, losing can have a powerful motivating effect on a team, to the point where they just dont want to lose anymore. And all of a sudden, they play with more energy defensively. They rebound better. They attack the basket more. Wiggins is starting to show this more and more. I cant remember if there was even a time in the second half and overtime when K State kept him out of the lane. After the last two games, he has solidified himself, at least to me, as this teams Kemba Walker. Im just not sure why it took him over half the season to figure this out.
Overall, everyone just needs to enjoy the ride and lower the expectations for this team, like in 2012. Even if this team gets a 2 or 3 seed, there is no doubt that they still can make a deep run. But in order to do that, they must be motivated to win every game and bring maximum energy and effort. There can be no sense of entitlement. Hopefully, the K State fans rushing the court will push them to not let this happen again.
@drgnslayr I agree with you slayr about how Tharpe should be planning on how to defend an elite point guard like Staten, and the coaching staff should be giving him suggestions as well. If they are, you really cant tell.
I know that a lot of you talk about Tharpe's shortcomings and what he doesn't do well. But I think that an equal amount of attention should be paid to the things that he does well - he might be our best shooter and is capable of getting 12 assists in a game. Could he push more in transition? Yes. But I will blame Self on that one for not instructing him to do so. Now, is his defense suspect? Yes. Is it correctable? Yes. It is not something that we should worry about too much. There are very few point guards out there that are equal to Staten and we probably would not face one until the Final Four, if they do make it that far.
There have been games where Tharpe has shown the ability to play above average defense. If he can somehow do that with more consistency, the team becomes better.
The only criticism that I will ever provide for Tharpe is that he doesn't move the ball enough, and it was very apparent yesterday. The best way to beat a zone is by ball movement. There have also been times where Perry will catch the ball in the corner and holds it and waits. When he catches it there, he has to pass it out fairly quickly.
I have noticed that this team not only needs more ball movement, but also lacks guys that attack the lane and then pass out. They need to put pressure on the defense and collapse it, thereby providing open outside shots. I feel like not much improvement has been made in this area, but I am hoping that Self can figure this out before the tournament.
I also want to add that playing the way K State is today is a choice. Other posters have discussed on here about whether or not you can play this way if you naturally do not. It isnt that complicated: either want to, or you don't. I know this from personal experience. BIll Self is going to have to explain this to his players and show them the K State game, because K State simply wants to win more. Against San Diego St., the ball stuck, they didnt handle the double team, and they didnt rebound. They let San Diego St. control the game. They need to have the mindset that K State has right now in order to beat LSAs. If they can turn on that switch, there are very few obstacles standing in the way of Dallas.
@JayHawkFanToo I was watching the game and noticed that K State is flat out dominating Texas. KU got blown out at Texas yet dominated K State. Why is that? Simple: effort and energy. K State doesn't look intimidate at all going against Texas in the paint, as Texas is an LSA team. They look like they do not want to lose and will scrap and fight to win. That is the type of effort that KU has to play with in order to beat LSA teams. They cannot play scared. They need to move the ball and make cuts through the paint and fight to get every rebound. K State all of a sudden has not become some tremendous team. They are just doing what it takes, as we have discussed, to beat a team such as Texas, Villanova, or San Diego State. You have to out tough them. You have to outrebound them. You have to be aggressive.
Its not rocket science.
This may perhaps be a little off topic, but I was reading the comments section on the story that Jeff Goodman did on Embiid possibly staying for his sophomore year and was reminded again about how uneducated those casual sports fans are. They simply cannot mentally comprehend the advantages that Embiid would have of staying another year and physically getting his body ready for the long NBA seasons. There is a reason that it is referred to as the No Boys Allowed league. While there are a couple possible disadvantages to staying, an intelligent analyst of NBA prospects would tell you that it would not be a bad idea to stay another year and get physically and mentally ready. As Jimmy Dykes said last night, its OK to not be ready for the NBA. Just come back another year, and hone your skills and build more muscle.
@HighEliteMajor Spot on regarding Black. When we play LSA teams, Black and Traylor are our most important players because of their strength. I am excited about the opportunity to play Texas again. I want to see if the players, and maybe even Self, will make the necessary adjustments to beat LSAs. They are the only team that is capable of stopping this KU team from reaching Dallas.
Yes, Jimmy Dykes is a very good analyst and commentator. He typically has very good analysis and insight about the game. He and Jay Bilas are probably my favorite ones.
@jaybate 1.0 Black should definitely have played more. I am not sure how is ankle is doing, so that could be a reason why Self didn't have him play as much.
As has been discussed already ad nauseam, KU was owned in the paint and basically every aspect of the game. Texas was tougher, stronger, and the aggressor. For some reason, Perry and Wiggins, who are of course Mr. and Mrs. Finesse, do not want to play xtreme muscle ball. Perry is not that small and skinny where he is not capable of banging inside. I know this from personal experience. Back when I was playing, a high metabolism kept my body about 40 to 50 pounds underweight. Sure, it was much harder to bang with guys in the post, but after a while, I learned to quit complaining about it and just do it. Most of the time, I went against guys that were 20 to 60 pounds heavier then me. But I never let that stop me.
All I know is that if I could do it, in spite of my size, Perry and the Finesse family can certainly do it. It just takes a mental switch to decide to never let an opponent physically abuse you. They have what it takes. I decided to not be bothered.
This team has to get tougher in order to beat the teams that play xtreme muscle ball with them. If they can learn how to do that, they will have few obstructions in getting to Dallas this year.
Good post Jaybate. This team does not compete on the level that it should. Today, it was painfully obvious. Does this mean that they can't reach the Final Four? Absolutely not. In my opinion, losses like this are good for a team's development, especially KU's teams of the past decade. The '10 and '11 teams had a strong sense of entitlement. On the other hand, the championship team and the '12 teams did not. They were tough and resilient teams. Most times, tough lessons have to be learned with a tough loss. Perhaps that is why there were few, if any, halftime adjustments by Self. He knew that they needed another lesson in competing 100% every single game. Even when the shots are not falling and the refs turn a blind eye to a player that throws one of your guys to the floor, you still have to give it your all.
Personally, I don't give a flip about this game. All I care about is reaching Dallas. If it takes this team having a few more losses where they get their butts kicked to learn to compete every second of every game, then I am all for it. I do not think that that would necessarily hurt their confidence. Instead, it would motivate them to never let it happen again. Texas looked like they were motivated and wanted to win. It didnt matter that their coach was Rick Barnes or that they didnt have nearly as much talent as KU. They wanted to win more and it showed.
@Lulufulu85 I totally agree with your point about this KU team being akin to Roy's teams, specifically the '09 team. I have watched replays of that team in the 2009 final four and championship game multiple times and each time coming away thinking that their defense was potentially underrated. The difference between Roy's teams and this KU team is that KU still has so much room for improvement. They still seem to be about a step too slow on defense which allows the other team to blow by them. In order to prevent this, they have to be on their toes, not heels, and really focus on staying in front of their man.
That said, they are doing a lot of things well and can certainly reach Dallas if they really focus and play with energy.
@drgnslayr I agree with you about how teams like Syracuse and Arizona are peaking early. Both of those teams are certainly not guaranteed to make it to the Final Four, despite what some sports pundits might say. Often times, the teams that suffer some losses and stay off the radar but make a surge late in the season are the ones that make it to the final four. Take last year for example. Syracuse and Michigan were both ranked very high early in the season but had several losses in conference play that kept them out of the spotlight. It was the same thing in '12 when KU was not widely talked about and yet went to the championship game with a team that had zero depth. That was probably my favorite team since following KU basketball.
@jaybate 1.0 I personally think that Self should go with a developed team that may not get a #1 seed but has a Kemba type player in Andrew Wiggins. To me, that type of team is one that I think has the best chance to earn Self's third final four appearance.
@Crimsonorblue22 Very true. Alot of San Diego State fans talk about their win at KU, but I think that if they played in March, KU would win the rematch.
@approxinfinity Of the two, I would rather play San Diego State. In that game, they did not handle the double team in the post very well at all, and then got beat on the rebounds by I think 13. That is not a recipe for a win.
I agree it does appear as though Self is going the #1 seed way. However, I have always felt that people put too much emphasis on getting a #1 seed. It's not as though a top seed is unimportant, but what this team needs right now until the tournament begins is development. Remember, the '12 team was a #2 seed and made it all the way to the championship, but lost because Kentucky just had more talent. Personally, it doesn't matter if this team gets a one or two seed. Getting a two seed will not prevent them from getting to Dallas and bringing home some hardware. Not rebounding will cost them a title. Having over 15 turnovers will cost them a title. Poor defense will cost them a title. If you look at their losses this year, the former are the reasons why they lost, save maybe the Florida game.
If you think back to the last handful of years where KU has been a #1 seed('07, '10, '11, and '13), having a #1 seed has not helped them to get to the final four. The three elements that I listed have prevented them from doing better in the tournament. The one year out of the past decade besides the championship team where I felt like they were prepared was '12 when they had some disappointing losses in the non con. It's the same thing this year. Their schedule has prepared them for the rocky road in March and potentially April.
@HighEliteMajor I think that konkeyDong is right about it being a lack of execution rather than preparation. In the post game press conference, Self clearly states that they knew that OSU was going to press. They simply did not execute.
My take on the game:
Firstly, I thought that the first half was the best that this KU team has played all season. They played with great energy, they disrupted OSU's offense, got out in transition, and limited their turnovers. The problem was that they came out absolutely flat in the second half. No energy and no aggressiveness. Fortunately, they were able to survive despite OSU getting hot.
As I have been saying for quite awhile, when Tarik Black is playing well and not fouling, it greatly increases our odds to go to the Final Four. Black did not have trouble with fouls today, and gave us great minutes off the bench. As usual, the combination of him and Traylor were tremendous.
Despite him getting into an occasional slump throughout his career, I have never understood why everyone is so hard on Tharpe. You have to give him a chance. He has looked like an all conference player the past four games. Yes, he can have an issue with turnovers. But I think that the good he provides is much more than the negatives.
Now onto Wiggins. I really don't know what is going on with him. It is possible that all the hype is really getting to him and therefore affecting his play. However, I do not think that that is the case. For some reason, he just does not attack nearly as much as he should do. He keeps trying to hit jumpers and seems to ignore his biggest strength which is dribble penetration. I am still waiting for him to have a game where he is really looking to attack and isn't so passive.
Overall, this was a great game even though much of the second half was difficult to watch. If they can play like what they did in the first half on a consistent basis, there is no team that they can not beat. I hope that Gottlieb doesn't do anymore of our games. He was really annoying me during his halftime analysis.
BTW I loved that dunk that Embiid had over Smart and the huge block that he got on him. Absolutely priceless.
I am somewhat relieved that Gottlieb is not calling the game. While he does bring constructive critcism to the game, I do not like his overall attitude. I would much rather listen to Greg Anthony any day of the week compared to Gottlieb.
In all of KUs losses this year, there have been at least two of the following three categories in which they have done poorly in: team defense, rebounding, and turnovers. For KU to make it to Dallas, they must do better than the opposition in these categories. The good thing about it, they have shown this year, although inconsistently, that they can dominate on a given in these categories. The challenge is to dominate all of them on a consistent basis. As for the OSU game, they do not have a post presence whatsoever. This is an advantage that they have to take care of. Last year, Smart routinely schooled them on the offensive glass. We have to have four guys box out their man and get the rebound. That is only one of two reasons why we lost to San Diego State.
This is a game that we NEED Wiggins to show up for. The best strategy to get involved in a game when you are not shooting well and the driving lanes are blocked off is to go rebound. He needs to get 10+ rebounds against OSU, as they are going to be crashing the offensive rebounds hard just like last year.
I typically don't like to make predictions, but I say that KU wins this one, but not by a huge margin unless they play to their full potential in the aforementioned three categories. If they happen to do that, they would probably win by 20, no matter the night OSU was having.
@justanotherfan You are absolutely right about the matchups and how that affected our fouling and turnover situations. KU really helped them stay in the game where they should not have been. Even just 5 fewer turnovers and 5 fewer fouls and they win by maybe twenty.
I know that everyone says that if Iowa State would have shot better that the outcome would have been different. While this is certainly true, if KU is smarter with the ball and commits under 15 turnovers, then that would have negated them even having an average shooting night(they average 9 per game). KU did the exact same thing at Florida with being careless with the ball. Self has to work on this with them, as they are going to eventually run into a hot shooting team. I actually thought that their defense wasn't that bad. I know that they don't force as many turnovers as what previous teams have, but I am not so sure if it is a true indicator of how good their defense is. Turnovers are the reason why they did not win by twenty. It's that simple.
BTW, I think that the San Diego St. game was, if there can be, a good loss for them. In the past, some of our better teams never had enough losses to really focus them in the tournament. The '10 and '11 teams come to mind because the both did not meet their expectations of at least a Final Four. A certain exception would be the '08 team, as they had multiple seasons worth of painful losses to instill that aggressiveness they showed in the tournament. I think that this team has had some of the losses that will be good teaching tools for Self to use to get them to play with energy AND be smart.
Great comments and analysis everyone! Based off of last year's games with Iowa State, we were able to score at least 90 points in each one. The reason why Iowa State scored so much is because they were a terrible matchup and took advantage of it. I have not really watched Iowa State play this year, but from what I hear, their defense is not much different than last year. If EVERYONE is aggressive and brings energy on offense, defense and rebounding, there is no reason why they shouldn't be in a great position to win. Just like last year, guarding the three point line will be critical and will be one of the aspects of the game that will determine who wins. Let's see if KU comes out with the right mindset in possibly the second toughest atmosphere in the nation.
As has been previously posted, defense is this team's weakness. The good thing about it, defense is an attitude. It takes absolutely no talent to be able to do well. Once the guys realize how important defense is to making it to Dallas, I guarantee things will change. Unfortunately, it might take a blowout to Iowa State or Baylor to understand this. However, there is still plenty of time for them to understand the concept of not only individual defense, but also team defense. I am sure that HCBS is really drilling it into them at practice about how bad their defense is.
For sure, this team may have more defensive potential than the 08 team. I am by no means saying that they will get to that level, but they have all the speed, athleticism, and height to be better. It is just a matter of them realizing that they MUST defend and disrupt in order to get to the Final Four and bring home some hardware.
Thoughts about tonight's game:
I would like to see Andrew have more offensive production tonight. We all know that he is capable of putting up 20 - 25 a night, but he just hasn't been doing it. To me, it seems like he is starting to settle for the outside shot a little too much, which is what Josh Selby and Xavier Henry did too much. He is not a good enough shooter to be a consistent outside threat. He needs to drive and look to score or dish it off. With the new rules, he is the one that should benefit the most out of our perimeter players, except for maybe Mason. It think that he has been thinking too much because of all the expectations and pressure that media organizations such as ESPN are putting on him. While he doesn't need to be averaging 35 ppg, I do feel that he needs to step it up a little bit. I agree with the analysis that has been done regarding his entry passes into the post. Guys such as Morningstar were adept in regards to their post entry passing technique. Andrew is a guy that has the ability to be Mr. Automatic in his post passing, and is something we are going to need this year with all of the defensive pressure that our outstanding post men are going to be facing.
In regards to Frank Mason, I think it was stated best that he is best against man to man. Unfortunately, a lot of teams are playing zone, which means fewer opportunities for him to shine. However, I feel that Tharpe has been running the point pretty well, which is really all he needs to do. I also like that he has shown the ability to knock down the occasional 15 foot shot, which is something that he has to do in order to spread out the defense. I personally think that the difference between him and Tharpe on the defensive end is not that much, although one of them could prove me wrong during the course of the next couple games. As of right now, I agree with Self that Tharpe is the better option at point when we are facing zones, as they have shown improvement about how to attack zones and the vulnerable areas of said defense.
As I have said before, Black is probably the second biggest key for us to get to Dallas. We MUST have his rebounding, especially when we face big teams such as Michigan State, Kentucky, and Syracuse. I remember Duke's national championship team in 2010 and the good rebounders they had in Brian Zoubeck and Lance Thomas. If I am not mistaken, both of them graduated, and the following year they were defeated in the Sweet Sixteen with much of the same team. Same thing with Louisville this year. They lost Dieng and therefore have practically no inside presence and shot blocker to speak of. This year, we have so much size and ability down low that they should dominate every opponent in the paint.
I mentioned in my post earlier that a crucial area that KU needs to improve on in order to be able to beat any team this year is their transition game. It is by far the easiest way to score points, and we have all the necessary athletes to do so. However, in order to get transition points, they must hunker down on the defensive end to get run outs on the other. The good thing about it is, this team has so much potential and room to grow on defense, and by March, I think that they will be maybe the best defensive team in the country. They have the size, speed, talent, and athleticism to do it. All they have to do is want to do it.
While Toledo is a solid mid major and is unbeaten, they have played no one similar to the opponents that we have. For this game to be a blowout win, they must guard with full energy and not take possessions off. If anything, they can relax on offense. The national championship did not win it all because of its offense, even though their O was tremendous. The '12 team certainly didn't go to the championship game because of its offense. Defense wins championships. Even with the new rules, they can still play Bill Self style defense that is in your face, lock down defense.
@HighEliteMajor I like your rankings except for Kentucky and Villanova. I know that Louisville has no inside presence, but there defense looked really good. Villanova I think should also be in the top ten. Even though the final score indicates a blowout, it was a close game in the final minutes. After watching the other elite teams this past weekend, I noticed a few things that KU has to work on in order to compete with them and consequently beat them. First, while their defense has steadily improved over the course of the season so far, it is not at the level of Syracuse or Arizona. Secondly, transition points. They have the speed, athleticism and talent to run better than anyone in the country except for Kentucky, and they have not utilized that every game. If they have a cold night shooting, this is the easiest way to get points, especially in a slow, half court game like what the Northern Iowa and VCU games were like.
Other than those two things, they stack up very well against the best teams this year, and have a solid chance(as long as they continue to improve) to make the Final Four.
The two most disappointing losses for me were Michigan and VCU. In the Michigan game, all they had to do was not turn the ball over and make free throws, both of which they didn't do. I know that EJ did a lot of good things for us, but Tharpe should have been in the game. If he would have been in the game, I am convinced that they would have made it to the final four. The Syracuse game was disappointing because of all the missed free throws, but they were ahead of Michigan for a long period of time and were very careless at the end when Michigan was making a comeback, which to me makes it all the more disappointing.
@wrwlumpy I agree. ESPN and others concentrate so much on Wiggins and compare him to Randle and Parker and it is getting old. KU does not rely on one individual. We need to keep getting the ball inside and let the bigs do their thing. Its basically Self ball 101.
@jaybate 1.0 LOL Nice one! Great to have you back Jaybate!
While I agree that 3 point shooting is definitely a priority in reaching the Final Four and winning the championship, and that it is an aspect that we are lacking in, I think that it is something that we will see take care of itself within a couple weeks. This team will be better from three once Self decides on who gets the most minutes(White, Greene, or Frankamp). Those three have not had enough chances to show how good they are. Once he chooses, we will be destroying zones because there is too much to try to guard.
That said, I believe that we will see the emergence of the last perimeter player and therefore the three point gunner we need to get to the Final Four. A good outside shooter opens up driving lanes and the inside for the bigs, which means that they would be virtually unguardable. Remember, no one thought that the 2012 Jayhawks had a chance at going to the Title Game, and yet they did, and this team has so much more than that team and any other team besides the 08 team ever had.
@HighEliteMajor I do agree that we need to be somewhat skeptical about whether or not this is a permanent trend for Black, or if this was a one game anomaly similar to the Towson. For the rest of the year, Black's effectiveness will be determined by how much he fouls. We need Black to be consistently solid. In order for us to have the best frontcourt in the nation, he must bring solid defense and rebounding every game and be out there longer than two minutes. With his size, he can be an extremely good rebounder, which is something that is a tremendous asset for the team. Without question, his two best games were against Towson and Georgetown, and in both he was able to either moderately stay out of foul trouble or completely stay out of it.
It will be vital to the team's success for him to stay out of foul trouble going forward, with tough conference games coming up, as well as the tournament. If Black is able to not pick up fouls at an alarming rate like what he was before the Georgetown game, then this team will have(if it doesn't already) the best frontcourt in the nation hands down. I was able to watch much of Michigan State and Texas on Saturday and analyze how they match up with KU, specifically in regards to the frontcourt. While Adrian Payne is a very solid post player and Dawson is also good, KU's frontcourt in addition to Black (when he stays out of foul trouble) has far more weapons and depth. KU may even have more depth and talent than Kentucky.
If Black can learn to do this and focus on keeping his hands away from his man, then I think he has the chance to be a very solid player off the bench and produce 8 and 7 or 10 and 7 per game. If KU is going to go to the Final Four this year and have a chance to win the championship, Black has to give them solid minutes. Lets hope that he is able to find more confidence after his performance on Saturday.