@Jayballer54 I don't feel very confident. Going in to the season, I would have said this was one of the 4 toughest conference games we will play. A week ago, I would have said that losing this game shouldn't hurt our chances of winning the conference. The home loss changes that dynamic a bit, I think. I am hopeful, though!
Hawk8086
2456 posts
@Fightsongwriter I would say that he has good handles......but can be careless in terms of say, going up in the air with no where to go, making bad passes, etc. I don't think it is his ball handling that is bad....it is his decision making at times that causes the turnovers.
@Fightsongwriter I think Malik is a decent ball handler....better than Cunliffe IMO (although a small sample size), but he has made bad decisions at times....no question.
@Jayballer54 That's why this board was created.....and is the only KU board I go on.... To avoid that kind of stuff.
Crimsonorblue22 said:
@BigBad yeah I guess I am. Never saw Vick play that poorly.
Man........neither have I.
@BShark Even though our shooting % was similar to theirs......they seemed to make it harder for us to get good shots than they did........hence your comment on defense. They got easier shots than we did, for sure. Rebounding and points off turnovers ultimately did us in.
Kcmatt7 said:
@mayjay just at the worst points in the game too. We’d be down 6 and one score away from the Fieldhouse going crazy and then we would hand them the ball and let them get a layup to push it back to 8. Happened 3 or 4 times just like that.
Yes..........that was maddening. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot. Point off turnovers and lack of rebounding did us in. Even with Vick and Svi cold........we didn't really shoot worse than they did. They just got more attempts....and made a few more FTs.
@DCHawker I would think that Preston, given the time he has spent practicing with the team combined with his unique skill set should be able to contribute. If he does not contribute quite a bit...we are merely a good team and won't have a shot at a FF run. IMO
@wissox I don't hold the fact that he said he wanted to beat us against him......I thought the way he said it was cheap and unprofessional.........and as HEM pointed out....showed a little insecurity. It obviously didn't bother everyone....but I didn't like it. Makes me extra glad that we are 5-0 against him since.
Crimsonorblue22 said:
I STILL have faith in Malik.🤨
I do too....he will shake this off. Maybe not all league....but he will be better. I love his smooth drives to the basket.....he needs to do that more often.
@KUSTEVE I see that of the 3 guys at ASU that burned us....only Holder had a good game (at least based on total points). The other two didn't score that much. It took 3 guys to be hot to beat us in AFH.
@JayHawkFanToo I have always thought that comment was too snarky and a little unprofessional. It still irks me and I'm glad we have beaten his UT teams like a drum.
Now I feel like we really need to win at TCU..........
@HawkChamp Yes...terrible last shot. That's what they got after a TO? Geez.
@Jayballer54 Agree. The OU /TCU game is not over. I think we should root for TCU,, though. When contenders meet, I root for the home team to win. Otherwise, the contender that wins on the road has won a game that we must win to stay "even" with them. OU is good, but too much dependent on Young.
@HighEliteMajor I really enjoy your summaries. Keep it up, please. I was surprised by the DNP for Cunliffe. I thought he might get some time. You're right though, our issue is not in the back court. Offensively that is.......defense leaves a little to be desired. Doke did a great job against Bamba (who was unbelievable). Muscled in a couple of buckets on good moves against a superior defender. Bamba even intimidated the refs.........they surely blew that block on Svi...looked like a clear goal tend to me.
Great win on the road........some teams will lose at UT. I like your confidence heading into Morgantown.........I'm not as confident about TCU, though. They are tough to read due to the weak schedule. The OU game tonight will tell us something about them
KU wins 71-65. Texas is good defensively but doesn't shoot that well.
@wissox I agree that it is on Billy. But there are also a lot of older adults that were involved as well that should have known better (regardless of what exactly went down)
@justanotherfan I have been wondering about the Doke / Bamba matchup and I don't know what to think. Will Doke's strength even matter with Bamaba's length and quickness? I honestly don't know who has the advantage but I'm thinking Bamba.
@JayHawkFanToo No question. For this team to be a FF threat...........we have to have Preston. IMO.
I know that Travis gave us a huge problem last year. But, looking at their results so far........they don't look that good.
Given our history of poor performances before the break.........I am worried about this road game.
BShark said:
I think Self knows Silvio is coming.
I think so too....in the LJW article, he said they felt really good about Silvio.
@HighEliteMajor I was thinking the same thing. Seemed awfully early for Malik to be playing. Although it probably won t
happen, it would probably be good to hold him out vs Omaha
.
@nuleafjhawk Yes....We are spoiled. (And really lucky)
FarmerJayhawk said:
@Crimsonorblue22 Billy almost certainly will play, just a question of when.
Well you made me feel better.........
Billy. that is.
This has gone on so long.......I am assuming he does not play for us.
@JayHawkFanToo Plus they played Friday!
@JayHawkFanToo It looked like they had a fire lit under them when they ran up the 15-2 lead. Didn't it? I was impressed with their hustle and fire for a couple of minutes.....then they just let up.
@Crimsonorblue22 Amen.
@jayballer54 Well, the last 2 games would say we are not as good as we thought we were. But to say we suck? I don't think so. ASU is good and they played very well. Some of the shots they hit? Come on.
No question the team has some issues....at this point we are not a final 4 team.
We don't suck.
@HawkChamp Because it appears that some of those comments suggest they have already given up on this year.
Two losses and we're already thinking about next year? Can we let this season play out?
@BShark In AFH?
@HighEliteMajor Is that because you think UW is not that bad? Or you think there is some rough sailing going forward?
@KUSTEVE But is that a good shot? (Yes...I know Devonte was hitting them against Cuse)
Does anyone else think that part of the reason we were missing shots is that those shots were contested and not as clean as in previous games? There were a couple of in and outs that I remember that were pretty open looks and on another day might go in. But some of the others, I thought, were missed because they were not necessarily good shots..........but they were all we were able to get given our execution against their zone defense. I'm talking mainly about the 3 pointers.
@dylans I was thinking that too....Billy being taller could have potentially been more effective in the middle......although we don't really know given his in experience.
@Blown It did remind me of Oregon (shudder)
@KUSTEVE You make a good point. At the very least, we have another guy in the rotation that can compete for playing time. As it stands now, if someone isn't bringing it, there is no "punishment" in terms of replacing them with someone else.
A lot of us were saying that it was good that we could get used to the zone prior to playing Wash.....appeared to be just the opposite. Hopkins did a good job of watching what we did against Syracuse and limiting the 3s and the lobs to Doke. He gave us one shot, in the middle and forced Vick to beat us. Have to give Hopkins credit for the strategy and his team for carrying it out.
@nuleafjhawk I agree and I was saying that all game long. it seemed he had an open shot every time in the lane. That is what they were giving us. Maybe I am making it too simple, but we should have immediately gone to him EVERY time and have him put up the shot and make them adjust. Of course we didn't defend very well either. Too many times they seemed to get what they wanted on offense. Part of that was us being thin up front, part from lack of energy.
@HawkChamp Yes.....Vick looked so good in the middle against Cuse..........now he looks bad....just shoot it. Garrett doesn't even look at the basket in the middle.......why put him there?
@justanotherfan But...didn't we force the ball out of his hands with our defense?
@HighEliteMajor Nope. Not offended in the least. I was forgetting about Bragg completely.......sheesh. Sure it is ultimately on Self. I was recognizing that in my last sentence regarding Whitman......his transfer, ultimately, put us in the place we are at more than anything else. Doke, Preston, Whitman, Lightfoot......doable. But no margin for error........for sure.
@HighEliteMajor As you say, ultimately everything falls on the coach. But...who could have predicted that Whitman would leave and Billy would have eligibility issues? Should we have one more big guy on the bench? Yes, one more reserve big guy would have been nice. The fact that the Lawsons are sitting there ready for next year probably didn't help. It would be good to know what happened with Whitman. But to your point.....recruiting a Whitman, who ultimately didn't stay for whatever reason..........yes that is on Self.
@KUSTEVE That is a good observation. I thought Marcus looked tentative and confused. When you think about it.....makes sense against one of the best zone defenses you will see. Only played 8 minutes. He did make some good defensive plays though.........as usual.
A very good win........no question. I was surprised Self praised our defense as much as he did. I thought, particularly in the 1st half, our best defense was Cuse missing open shots. But they are not a great scoring team.
@kjayhawks Yes. Clay seems to make the right plays when he gets in. Appears to have a good BB IQ. When he made the quick bounce pass out of the middle.......very nice.