🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@DoubleDD Definitely PHOF!!! Sad but true unfortunately.

Very frustrating to see the lack of effort yet again. It takes ZERO TALENT to go after a loose ball or to block out your man for a rebound. Absolutely no talent required.

During the UK game, getting out rebounded probably cost 10 to 15 points. Very disappointed that Self has not instilled in these guys who are McDonalds All Americans the effort required to simply get a rebound. My coaches in middle and high school would of had coronaries if we had given the same type of effort.

Again, its just disappointing when KU has the vastly superior team in terms of coaching and talent and yet gets outhustled by inferior teams like UNI and VCU (sorry to bring those up). I am fine if we are outmanned or outcoached in a game. I can live with that. What I get frustrated with is getting outhustled, out toughed, or repeatedly trying to lay the ball in instead of just dunking it. How many points are they leaving on the court by not dunking?

Why is Alexander being soft? I thought he was supposed to have a motor and outhustle everyone to rebounds? Havent really seen that this year at all.

Don't get me started either on the poor effort on defense.

There is something to be said about playing with a sense of urgency all game long.

Was definitely glad to see KO have his best game by far along with Hunter. The development of Kelly and Hunter will be a huge boost in March.

Yeah, Hunter played his best game of the season. Of course, knowing Self, he will only have him play sparingly the rest of the year then complain about how short the team is.

@BeddieKU23 Unless the big guys somehow figure out how to score against much taller players, then the need to shoot more threes like what they have in the past, like what HEM references.

Self does not have to change the whole offensive system - he just needs the right shooters to take more threes to open up the inside for the bigs and for Selden, Mason, and Oubre driving the ball.

@HighEliteMajor I guess I also wonder if Self has learned anything about how to deal with Kentucky's size. For example, there was not a noticeable difference in game plan between the two games against them in 11-12. Then a repeat of those games a month. I would have thought that he would have tried something different, unless he honestly thinks that pounding it inside against a taller and longer team is the answer.

@HighEliteMajor Yeah, I always have thought his theories on Self letting them labor was a bit far fetched, but I do think he's right that Self instructed them to pound it inside. I'm just not sure why he didn't have them go back to the outside - in game when going inside wasn't very effective.

Overall a pretty solid game last night on the road against a a pretty big team. The turnovers to me stand out the most, as 17 turnovers is a recipe for an early exit in March.

A few days ago I made a post about what this team needs to do to play for the national, which is to play high pressure defense and make the same number of threes they made last night. In essence, just what HEM has been saying to do - play outside in.

Like others have been discussing recently, the Texas game is going to be difficult. They actually played pretty well at Kentucky without their point guard. And now because of this, everyone thinks that because they played UK a lot better than we did that we will get destroyed by Texas as well. I could not disagree more. There can be a gigantic variance from game to game in every aspect. Just look at last year's game against Texas. There was almost a 50 point variance between the home and away games. When we played UK a month ago, the guys did not look ready, they appeared a little intimidated, UK had a months worth of additional practices, and they had something to prove.

The point that I am trying to make is that there is so much that the guys can learn from the UK game that I think will be improved upon enough that they we will end up winning the Big 12 and splitting the games with Texas. And maybe they will have another shot at Kentucky in the championship. If someone told me that that's how it would play out, I would take it for sure.

The way that this years team can be competitive against Duke, UK, and Arizona is to play high pressure defense and make 8 to 10 threes a game. It is possible to make it to the final four without a seven foot rim protector. The title team didn't have a dominant rim protector but played tremendous team defense, probably the best team defense of the last ten years.

@drgnslayr Defense and rebounding are the biggest keys for a win tonight. Unfortunately, most other posters are so focused on UK's height instead of finding ways to beat them. All off season we discussed how UConn utilized the x axis brilliantly. The game plan UConn had is the same one that KU needs to use tonight.

@HighEliteMajor Thanks for the analysis HEM. I think if KU is going to win they need to win the rebound battle, shoot at least 7/16 from three, and play aggressive pressure defense. If they excel in these three areas, I guarantee it will not be a blowout like what everyone on the "other site" thinks. Heck, they just might win!

Thank you for saying what I have thought this whole time. If Self game plans this right, they can certainly win.

No team will go unbeaten. ESPN always wants to convince everyone that UK can, but in the end everyone loses at some point.

Again, I am still not convinced that Ku can't give them a good fight.

@KansasComet Exactly. Now I'm not saying that KU will win, but I'm not as sure as everyone that they will get blown out.

A very timely post as right now Kentucky is struggling with powerhouse (sarcasm) Buffalo.

Like you said, everyone believes the hype and no one thinks they can be beaten.

They can be beaten and they have weaknesses. UConn proved that last year. I hope KU can exploit those weaknesses on Tuesday.

As others have already pointed out, the second was vastly different from the first, though there were some good things that happened in the first half.

I am excited to see good perimeter defense. Ku had 11 steals last night. I don't think they got anywhere close to that last year. Graham so far is playing the type of pesky defense like Chalmers and Robinson.

Overall, there were more positives than negatives. Let's hope the team from the second half shows up on Friday and against Kentucky.

@nuleafjhawk Are you being sarcastic?

I was not able to see the game last night but from what you guys have said, Self has done a good job of teaching the x axis to the team, which certainly bodes well for the season. Definitely looking forward to watching the replay.

@drgnslayr I agree, there is probably not a team in the country that can be as physical as KU.

The most fundamental aspect of winning is simply playing more aggressively than the other team.

This is basically part of. how UConn won the title last year - they were tenacious and very intense.

I agree with the posts above - good outside shooting is the best way to allow the inside game to open up. Last years team would have benefited so much from outside shooting and probably lost at least three games because the lane was not open.

Fortunately, it appears as though Self is wanting to put his best shooters on the floor, but the shooters must first improve their all around game, and it sounds like CF and Greene have.

I know I have talked about this in many of my posts, but I feel as though it needs to be said again. After watching UConn's games against Florida and Kentucky, it is so obvious that their defense was at a different level than the other teams in the final four. They were aggressive and intense, got steals, but complimented all that with perimeter shooting. From what Self has said early on, defense and intensity will be much less of a problem this year, so I am not very worried about that. What has me concerned is shooting. Have CF and Greene improved enough to stay on the floor in order to find a rhthym to make those shots?

Making shots will definitely be the key to make it to Indianapolis this year, and we certainly have the guys to do it.

I think you may be right about what you said, but I also think it would be prudent to wait until about December to make any sort of conclusions about the points you brought up.

@drgnslayr I agree!

@drgnslayr Cal most definitely has a coaching challenge with how to manage two different teams. I personally would advise against that strategy.

@drgnslayr Excellent post regarding the things that Frank must do. I watched a little bit of the title game last night on YouTube and noticed how aggressively Napier and Boatright played on defense.

This all pertains to the weaknesses that Kentucky has, which is weak ball handling.

@KUSTEVE I think the shots you are referring to were some very fortunate three pointers at the end of the game. It was only during their run that they played decently. During the regular season, they played pretty poorly.

@KUSTEVE I like your theory on the starting lineup against Kentucky.

What is more important than size is the x axis, which we have been discussing a lot lately. I want to see how aggressively the guards play and if they have improved their lateral quickness and defending the dribble drive.

@drgnslayr Unfortunately, I was only able to watch the last five minutes of the scrimmage because I had to be at a concert last night.

Did he play soft like last year? How was his defense?

@drgnslayr Your explanation on how to beat Kentucky is exactly why I do not think that the game will be a blowout.

The reason that Kentucky went to the title game last year was because they were bigger than the teams they faced and utilized it well, while the teams they faced did not have an answer for it, except of course for UConn.

I know they have had this off season to improve and develop better chemistry as well as add some Mickey Ds all Americans, but we can't forget that it took several fortunate three pointers at the end of the Louisville, Wichita St., Michigan, and Wisconsin games for them to get that far. The only game that did not require any heroics was the K State game.

My gut feeling is that Self is starting to figure out how to advance in March, and he has a very good blueprint in how to do it because of UConn. He needs to sit the team down and show them every single UConn game from the tournament and instruct them on how to apply the x axis strategies that you enumerated in your post.

@KUSTEVE I think that it would be a good strategy for the Kentucky game, though I'm not sure if Self will actually do it.
I think that it would help to somewhat even the playing field in terms of height. Kentucky figured out how to utilize their size last year in the tournament, so this would definitely be a possible strategy to beat them.

@wissoxfan83 I hope he doesn't figure that out also, though I get the feeling that he might have.

I have no doubt that Kentucky is the team to beat and, barring a collapse or a phenomenal performance by some team, will be in the final four and will probably win the championship. Is it possible that they could go undefeated using the methods that you yourself utilized and what The Squid is planning on doing? Yes, it is possible. I do not think it is probable, just possible. There have been other teams in the past, such as Florida in 07, UNC in 09, and Kentucky in 12, that were arguably just as good if not better than Kentucky this year and didn't go undefeated.

As for this year's KU team, I feel as though going to the final four is definitely a strong possibility. They will probably lose to Kentucky next month, but I highly doubt that it will be by 30. A few weeks later they play Florida at home, which is a major advantage, and they should win that one.

I feel as though everyone is putting too much emphasis on not having a shot blocker extraordinaire on the team this year. I should point out that the 08 team did not have someone like Joel or Jeff. I have been going through YouTube and watching some of their games and noticed that the way they played team defense negated the fact that they did not have a premier shot blocker. Now that is not to say that Kaun, Arthur, and Jackson were incapable of being good rim protectors, because that would not be the case.

If you think back to the teams that have made the final four the past five years, how many of them had a great shot blocker? Not very many of them.

The point of all this is to point out that a great shot blocker is nice to have and makes defense much easier, but is not required to succeed in the post season. For Pete's sake UConn was able to beat Villanova, Iowa State, Michigan State, Florida, and Kentucky all without much height in the post. As we have discussed ad nauseam, guard play and the x axis are the key to post season success.

I believe your analysis is very logical except for the Kentucky game. Even with Joel, the defense last year was pretty awful at times. I still think it is possible that Mickelson could be a good rim protector, though not to the level of Jeff or Joel. Again, I am going to wait until the season starts to make any determinations about this.

I guess I am not ready to throw in the towel yet on the year just because there may not be 3 muas. I think the best thing to do is to wait to see the team play and how far they have progressed, especially on the defensive end.

@brooksmd LOL

@jaybate-1.0 Why do you think it will be a ten loss season?

@drgnslayr You are absolutely right. Small ball gets teams to final fours and to rings. And as of his recent comments, Bill Self knows it also. He didn't make his comments about ball handling and of past success with smaller guards. He has to know that that is how UConn has won its past two championships.

Wouldn't that be great if KU and Kentucky met again in the finals! The difference between this time and in 2012 is that, while this Kentucky time is very talented and tall, it doesn't have the once in a decade talent that UK had with Davis and Kidd Gilchrist.

I can't help but think that Self has really spent some time this summer to contemplate what he needs to have more success in March. He also has had plenty of time to think about what the strategy is for beating Kentucky, because lets face it: that game is the most important game this season besides the tournament. It will show if the team has improved upon its weaknesses from this past year.

@HighEliteMajor I fully agree HEM. Last years team was soft, and HCBS has addressed that in recent remarks. He knows that in order to really, really have a good chance at being in the final four and winning another title he has to get them tougher. That's why he made sure he wasn't going to make the same mistake of a one week boot camp. That coupled with the players going through The Program almost ensure that things will be different this year.

@HighEliteMajor Like you, I will be cautiously optimistic regarding what he can do. That said, I think he will be more productive than what most predict. It would be a great benefit to have a decent rim protector and solid rebounder. His overall game should be improved immensely from his Arkansas days since he has improved his vertical by six inches. He may not be Jeff or Cole, but I predict he will have a very good year.

@drgnslayr Don't forget about Mickelson. He was one of the best shot blockers in the country at Arkansas and is considered one of the top centers in the country. Now I'm not saying that he will as good as Jeff or Joel, but I think the combination of him, Jamari, Perry, and Big Cliff will be enough to get the job done. JMHO

Hey everyone! Its been a while since I've posted but I've nonetheless been keeping up with all of the latest news developments.

In regards to a small guard lineup, I would much rather have that than the poor ball handling teams we've had the last two years.

I realize that some are concerned with how well a small guard lineup of Mason and Frankamp will do against tall guards, especially with the Kentucky game looming. However, all you have to do is look at the game plan UConn had in championship game, which proves that short guards can match up against taller guards.

I have always felt that Mickelson would be the starter at the 5, at least for the first part of the season. One sports magazine (I don't remember which one) has him as one the top 5 centers in country. He was also one of the best shot blockers in the country at Arkansas and has improved his vertical by six inches. I would say based on that he is the starter.

In order for the team to have success in tournament, defense and turnovers must be improved upon. I think all of us were pulling our hair out because of the many stupid passes and terrible defense that we so often witnessed the last two years. If those can be improved upon, along with steady guard play, the chances that they will still be playing in April going up dramatically from the last two years.

There is one thing and one thing only that I absolutely loathe about the tournament: the team not coming out mentally focused.

We've witnessed it so many times, and each time we've watched the game while pulling our hair out.

Why can't Self focus them? The team takes on the attitude of the coach, and if he isn't focused, then the team sure isn't going to be.

I never mind losing. I hate losing when I don't give my best effort.

@ralster Great question ralster.

In my opinion, a coach would be making a terrible mistake for trying to amp or not amp a team. It is WAY to risky.

If a team doesn't give full effort during ANY game, like the UNI or VCU games, then they don't deserve to win.

If Self does do this, which I highly doubt he does, then he should have learned a long time ago not to do it, as it has cost him several tournament wins, and most likely Final Fours.

We have to remember that these guys are in terrific shape and don't get "tired legs" IMO. If Self would have to amp based on the energy budget, then they need to rethink how they get the players in shape.

Watching Michigan blow out Texas. Michigan strikes me as a team that is very jump shot happy that relies on them to win. Their defense is pretty good as well. However, I think they rely on jump shots too much and don't have anyone to drive the lane. Its why they lost to Michigan St. in the Big 10 tournament. Michigan St. guarded the perimeter extremely well and they couldn't score.

@drgnslayr That sour taste of the Missagain loss still lingers. Another chance at a Final Four gone again.

Self can't let the same thing happen again. He needs to let Frankamp size up the other team and bring him off the bench and play the majority of the minutes.

While some argue that Tharpe is more explosive than Frankamp, which is true, that is not the problem. The problem is decision making and not committing turnovers, and Frankamp has shown that he can excel at both.

As for the confidence issue, I personally think that Tharpe right now is hurting the team's confidence. Having Frankamp come off the bench and run the offense and not turn the ball over would boost the team's confidence, not someone who is a turnover machine.

Frankamp getting more minutes also gives him more opportunities to shoot the ball and get comfortable.

Just imagine if he can get his trey gun going. If they are fortunate enough to beat Stanford and play Syracuse, that would be so beneficial.

Yes, Bill needs to start Frankamp. I know he falls in love with playing upperclassmen, but it will cost him if he doesn't. Tharpe looks like this is the first time he's ever stepped onto a basketball court. Frankamp has not turned the ball over in 122 minutes. Tharpe cant go a minute without turning it over.

This game should show Self to only play Tharpe a few minutes but have Frankamp and Mason take the majority of the minutes.

Another thing that annoys me about Tharpe that not many others have said is his inability to attack a defense. All he does is stand around and dribble. He needs to put pressure on the defense and attack.

Today really showed the world that Kansas has issues at point guard. But it also showed everyone that they have a very good reserve that can step in and be solid and not make mistakes.

Even if Self doesn't start Frankamp, he should still have him play the majority of the minutes, like in the second half.

Frankamp at the point could be enough to get us farther in the tournament.

@Crimsonorblue22 Don't mean to brag but yes I picked Dayton to win. The only problem with my picks is Colorado getting blown out by Pittsburg.

@drgnslayr I don't think that its too late to work on some of the stuff we've talked about. If Self took the time to work on pick and pops with Greene, then he can take the time to work on fakes and hedging. Maybe calling in would help him realize that he should teach them those things.

@drgnslayr Gotcha.

@drgnslayr Like you said above, if they just worked on a few basic aspects of basketball, there would be no one standing between them and Dallas.

I'm definitiely going to try to call in to Self's talk show and ask about the fakes and the hedges.

@drgnslayr WHERE WAS THAT THE WHOLE YEAR!