🏀 KuBuckets Archive

At least the base line jumper that Perry missed looked good......

Right. Free throws are killing us.
Also, Greene's 3 attempt was not in rhythm....looked like he just felt like he needed to put one up....came out after that.

3 T's so far.....wow. Dumb. We've cost ourselves too many points.

Yes. Perry.....turnover machine.

@justanotherfan You said that this class has kind of filled out strangely. I think this is how it has been filling out and will continue to fill out as long as the OAD opportunity exists. The top guys have no reason to sign early (unless they just want to get it over with). They want to see who on (Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, etc.) goes pro and who stays. There will always be a place for these guys. The next tier have a little more incentive to sign early....they don't want to get locked out of some of the places they want to go due to scholarship limitations.

@jayballer54 Agree with everything, but I don't think the expectation that we should win every home game is unreasonable.
May not happen.....but I will be disappointed if we lose at home.

@HighEliteMajor That's what I had been hoping for a while back.....that Devonte would be ready against ISU.......looks like it could happen.

@JhawkAlum As Jayhawk Fan points out.....I purchased the ESPN full court pkg for $100 that gives me ESPNU and the Jayhawk Network games. I get an extra 5 games.......I would spend that much in a sports bar for the 5 games....

@icthawkfan316 Scrolling those comments on the other site for years always felt like driving by a car accident.....you know you shouldn't look and just keep driving.....but you can't help yourself.

Overall, though we won a road game at a place where some of the other contenders may not. Selden turning it on down the stretch after not showing much was almost hard to believe. I would point out, though, that he drove the lane a couple of times in the first half and was just short and had one roll off...if those 2 shots go in he might not have appeared to have such a bad first 35 mins. Sometimes it's a fine line.....

@BucknellJayhawk3 I don't think there is any question that Perry loses confidence at times out there. You could see if with his hands on his head posture as he headed to the sideline. It seems to affect his open looks also....he hesitates and then misses.

@HighEliteMajor The Keep Away comment struck me as funny because that thought occurred to me while I was watching.
I'm not enough of an X and O guy to comment about how to attack the zone. I have never thought that Self's strength was running a precise offense like Belien or even ol' Roy.
It was good to see Traylor operate effectively in that gap in the 2nd half. Baylor adjusted, which then appeared to open up more opportunities on the outside.....thus our scoring chances down the stretch.

I hadn't checked other sources.....the headline on the LJW site shocked me until I realized what it meant......

I say we win a reasonably tight game by 6 or 7.

TX, KU, ISU, OU, WVU, Baylor, OSU, TCU, KSU, Tech

@wrwlumpy I agree with you. That has to be the standard you shoot for. It might take 3 or it might take 5....but I think 4 is your starting point.
In theory, no harm in losing to the other contenders on the road....as long as you sweep the other teams and take care of business vs. the contenders at AFH.

@HighEliteMajor Well again, I guess it depends on whom we are playing and how they defend us. Wide open 3s are hard to turn down.
Agree that Greene needs to shoot 3s to be effective. Svi does bring much more to the table in terms of total game.

I'm going to say at least 4, maybe 5. The contenders have to win at OU, ISU, WVU, Texas (substitute KU for one of the 4. Not automatic that someone loses those 4, but there are other tough games as well.
Agree that Baylor is a big game. Lose that, and we could be 1 down vs. any contender that ends up winning in Waco.

Other than the last part of the 1st half where they outscored us 13-2, we played well. Frank continues to be our best player. Props to Baby Phog for making the call on Frank last year.
HEM, I think 25 3s may be too many, unless Greene and / or Svi play more.
But, I guess it also depends on the situation (packed in defense, etc.).
I'm not a big X and O guy, but certainly adjusting our inside approach based on our personnel, as well as the opposition, makes sense.

Well doesn't do any good to speculate....although that never stops us :)
Wherever he is going, he clearly prefers that place regardless of what the roster makeup will be. If he has been favoring us all along (???)....maybe that is good news that he is announcing.

@BeddieKU23 OK. Thanks for the info.

@BeddieKU23 What are you basing that on?

@Lulufulu I think you're a little harsh on Perry. Granted, he hasn't lived up to what are pretty lofty expectations. But, look at his line from the last game......not bench worthy. He can shoot.....he can shoot well enough to draw the other teams big guys out if that is what Self wants to do.

@wrwlumpy Wow. I can't see 8 losses. I say 6 is possible. Not 8

@HighEliteMajor A fair question. My best guess is that Self is more loyal to guys that have proven themselves in the past, even if they may be experiencing a slump or are inconsistent. The EJ comparison is a good one. While Selden is only in his 2nd year......who has logged the most minutes on the court the last 2 years? Selden and Ellis. The other options are very young (Greene, Svi). Now, it would have been interesting, and might still be if Selden does not step it up when Graham is ready to go.
We also don't know what goes on in practice. I can imagine that Selden is probably the most consistent wing performer in practice....maybe by a wide margin.

@joeloveshawks The only thing about the VCU game is that I never thought we were going to win that game.
The Michigan game hurts me worse as we outplayed them for 37 1/2 minutes only to implode the last 2 1/2.

@JayHawkFanToo I have referenced that article in the past and people have disputed the facts. I could not find the article.
I recall that the conclusion was that we were not beaten by missed free throws....we were beaten by 3 pt shooting.

@Crimsonorblue22 Ahhh. I'm not sure about the pre-season games. I did not watch them, but I can't remember if I subscribed in time for those or not.

@tundrahok I remember my first night in Canada when a game was on. I thought I would watch the KU vs. MSU game. (I had been told that College Basketball was covered in Canada) Big game. Part of the Champions Classic. Turned on the TV and got Junior Hockey. Silly me. Now if I'm there, I find a sports bar that carries the packages.

@Crimsonorblue22 Yes. I can get ESPN3 on the laptop. But all of those games are covered on the full court package.

I felt like Perry had a good game. After reading the posts, I had to go back to the box score to see if I was imaging something.
7-14 for 15 pts. and 8 rebs. OK. His FT's sucked. Isn't that pretty good? Clearly he was better in the 2nd half.....not uncommon for a player to have 1 good half and 1 mediocre half. He got some shots blocked. I have to believe that Self wants to keep going inside to him regardless. Some may get blocked. Have the preseason expectations maybe been set too high?
I know we might expect something a little more against Kent State.
Can't we be successful if Perry has a similar performance in the Big 12 games? Yes.....I know the competition is stiffer than Kent State......but Perry has done it before against Big 12 competition. He can't go 20 and 12 every game.
Am I setting the bar too low?

@JayhawkRock78 Every market is different, but in my state I subscribe to ESPN full court for about $100 for the season. For that I get 4-5 KU games that I would not normally get to see.....I figure I'll spend that much on gas, food, and drink per game if I go somewhere to watch....plus I get to see other games on ESPNU and other PPV channels.

@REHawk I understand your concern....Texas and ISU are playing better than we are. But, we should get better and I like our chances against just about anyone at home. "Amazed" if we win more than 1 of the 4 seems a bit extreme to me as I would never be amazed if we beat anyone at AFH (well, maybe this year's UK team)

I share a lot of the same concerns, but I am a little more optimistic than the general tone of the posts.
I thought, even though he got some shots blocked, Ellis played a good game.
No surprise that Traylor started given Self's comments about him being the only one that brings energy. But I agree with HEM's statements in the past that he should be an energy guy off the bench. 15-20 mins spelling Ellis and Traylor.
I wish he had given Cliff more time in the first half. He made mistakes, but so did Oubre in the first few minutes. Agreed he should just start Cliff. The juggling of the big guys has me confused. Why Lucas so early instead of Mickelson? Could be practice performance. We'll never know. Lucas did seem to do some fundamental things right Our defensive intensity in the 2nd half was more what we should show the whole game. Once again, a tale of two halves.
No way are they where we would like them to be at this point in the season. I believe we will continue to evolve over the Big 12 season and get better.....hopefully more so than the other conference teams.

I think that 4-5 losses for the winner is reasonable. If anyone can do better than that it would be Texas.......or us.
I always feel that if you lose a road game to one of the contenders....that doesn't hurt you. I would say UT, ISU, OU, and probably WVU would be those contenders. Baylor, KSU, OSU, I believe, are games that if you lose, you may need to make one up on the road against the contenders.
It seems year after year, though, we always win one or two on the road against the contenders. Hopefully, that will be the case this year also.

@HighEliteMajor I also fear that your comments on Traylor are more accurate than I'd like. A lot of us debated his upside last year. I was more in the camp that he would continue to improve and be more consistent by now than what we have seen. You summed it up very well.....peaks and valleys.

@HighEliteMajor Great Points, HEM. Especially regarding Ellis struggling due to, most of the time, there being no other inside scoring threat.
I don't know if it will start tomorrow or not, but I have said all along that, one way or the other, Self will have Oubre and Alexander in the starting lineup and playing most of the time. 1) They are talented and will rise to the top and 2) It is hard not to let McDonald's All Americans play through their mistakes.

@drgnslayr You just listed 13 things that needed to be done to beat Kentucky. I think that says it all.
They may slip up and lose once this season. Who knows if it will be in the tournament or not........but I don't remember anyone being such a prohibitive favorite as they are now.

@Lulufulu 2 bad games does not mean Perry does not deserve to start. He is our most effective scorer. He and Selden will continue to start even if they have several bad games. Over the course of the last 2 years they have had many good games and are more experienced than the others.
You can't go jerking proven players out of the starting lineup over a few bad games.

@Blown Even though Cliff is one that is shooting above 60%, he should get better, play more minutes and take more shots. Will Oubre improve in that area when he drives? Maybe Perry takes better shots.
I would hope that we do improve over the course of the year.
However.......as many have pointed out, we do have good shooters and will probably take more 3 pt shots than most years.....

I think the comment about selective memory is appropriate here.
Are we really questioning Self's track record here?
Look at Texas Southern over Michigan State at home......and that team is coached by "Mr. Toughness" Tom Izzo. It happens folks.
The only thing that you can question Self on, in the big picture...in my opinion is the history of early exits to inferior opponents in the tournament.
Although I can't think of any specific examples of lack of effort (long time ago)....Roy's teams lost plenty of games they shouldn't have. And I get all the points about being able to handle losses, but not losses that involve lack of effort.
This is a young team. Their minds were probably more on going home than they should have been. Temple was playing AT HOME. It is much easier to get pumped at home than on the road.
The sky is not falling. We've got a great coach. We will have a very successful season. Conference title? Who knows, but we'll be in the hunt.
But if we don't win ANOTHER conference title.....please no pitchforks. :)

@HighEliteMajor 12 of 23 and 2 of the misses were from Manning and Self.

You guys are better at the Xs and Os than I am. But Mickelson sure seems to bring some additional low post scoring. He's taller than Cliff and Perry and more mobile and better offensively than Lucas.
It's like suddenly we now have ANOTHER weapon.
Although......Lafayette ain't Texas.

@HighEliteMajor I think the lineup that Self (and alot of us.....well, me anyway) envisioned from the start was Mason, Selden, Oubre, Ellis, Alexander. The most overall talented guys on the team. Ok..Svi should be in that conversation, but he is young.

@HighEliteMajor I would say Greene also. At some point, Oubre will probably earn it. Interesting that you said the UNLV game.
I assume you believe that Self wants to have the starters settled when the conference games start?
It is weird that Lucas has started and then not played again. Unusual.
I have to believe that Self will start Cliff soon....maybe Saturday.
Whenever it happens, if he picks up 2 fairly quick fouls in a game, it will be interesting to see what happens the next game.

Fellow Jayhawks: I have lived in another state for many years. I come back to the area about once a year to see family (not nearly enough). It took me a long time, but I finally made it back to see a game a few years back when we played USC (Selby's first game) and the Michigan game (I forget which one was first). I missed a couple of years, but made it to the Georgetown game last year and I will be at the Lafayette game on Saturday. I can't wait.
I can't explain the feeling I had while doing the Rock Chalk Chant. Unbelievable. Tears did not come to my eyes.......but it was close.
I feel so lucky that our basketball tradition is so rich and our program is so great. To be a part of the atmosphere at Allen Field House is hard to describe. I am lucky to have the life that I have with my family and I don't regret moving away. But I am jealous of my old college friends who get to attend every game (or most anyway). So.....don't take what we have for granted. We're all very lucky.
RCJH!

@jaybate-1.0 Perfect length! Great post!

@Blown Agree about the track record, but I think he would like to play Mason the 32-33 minutes instead of 36. May not sound like much, but it could make a difference at the end of the game. Also, over time, even young athletes can break down.

@JayHawkFanToo I think that sums it up perfectly.

@jaybate-1.0 JB, I love your material, but I just don't have the energy to read through that post..........I'm sure its great, though. :)