🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@jaybate-1.0 oh ok so no proof again. Carry on everyone.

@jaybate-1.0 any links to articles about Frank's "injury"?

@JayHawkFanToo bro, you are summarizing a game that I already watched! I'm well aware of what happened and I think they did a poor job of capitalizing on it.

So was the whole team hurt against Oregon, UNI, VCU and Nova?

You like to make excuses for poor play don't you?

@HighEliteMajor yes I believe so. Everyone, including Bill Self, dismisses it because "it doesn't help us". Sorry, but I think it absolutely does. WSU is the type of opponent that Self struggles with - a tough, smart and tenacious team with an attitude that matches their coach. Same thing with WVU and Nova. I don't know if its a mental block for Self but I think he needs more regular experience against those types of teams, and, in all actuality, I would like to see our future teams have that attitude instead of being soft.

@jaybate-1.0 was Devonte hurt on Saturday too? Lol I got a good chuckle out of that one.

You are right about Malik however. I see a lot of potential with him. His only problem is between his ears. He can figure it out IMO.

@JayHawkFanToo yes but Lagerald kept us close, so saying he had little effect on the game is pretty stupid. Yes he should of had fifty. No one is arguing that.

@Kcmatt7 you don't have to be an "alpha" to realize that you should take a wide open shot twelve feet from the hoop. Not taking advantage of those opportunities hurts the team. If the player doesn't realize it, then someone on the coaching staff needs to figure it out and HELP the player strategize. There also should have been others in the high post, as we have already discussed.

@jayballer54 yes he would have made a difference because we could have played two bigs and given Washington trouble by making them guard the perimeter and our two bigs.

@BeddieKU23 A guy with twenty eight points has zero impact on the game? Wow thats news to me!

@JayHawkFanToo I'll give him a pass for not being as aggressive as he could be against Syracuse (thought not much). Absolutely no excuse for being wimpy and wussy against Washington. Coach should have given him firm instructions on how to handle it when he gets the ball in there. This isn't nuclear physics fellas.

@wissox of course I am bigger and stronger, but to me that is no excuse for not being able to hit a ten foot jumper with 60 or 70% accuracy. Time in the gym is the remedy for inaccuracy.

@mayjay I'm not stressed. I find that as time goes on I'm less and less "involved" in the game and I focus more on the technical aspects. Last night, so many things jumped out at me that leaves me to file the Washington game into the same category as the other pathetic showings.

@Lulufulu No its not one game. This game will now belong in the same discussion as Nova, Oregon, UNI and VCU. It was pathetic in every single aspect.

@justanotherfan Washington, under normal circumstances and normal preparation, would have been screwed with their gamble of a gameplan. They would have been double screwed if Billy was in there. They wouldn't have stopped 6'10 coming down the lane with Dok.

@approxinfinity and in the first half. Garrett was not the one to make things happen there. Not a good plan.

@benshawks08 yep keep alternating who is at the high post. Makes sense to all of us.

@wissox I could do that in middle school so no it can't be that hard. If that's too hard, then there is a problem with player development. I just have a hard time with that one.

@JayHawkFanToo they should have told him to catch it, square up, take a power dribble and shoot. Rinse and repeat. Simple as that.

@JayHawkFanToo what am I not correct about? I agree with everything you posted.

@jaybate-1.0 nope. Rethink this entire post.

@JayHawkFanToo exactly. This one is on Self for not making Wahington pay for their gamble. Yes, they gambled. Hopkins must think Self is stupid or he wouldn't have done that.

@benshawks08 the problem, in games like this (VCU, UNI, NOVA, Oregon), they have never shown to be able to shoot their way out. Either they are hitting or they are not. Poor game planing to not recognize that trend by now. It's obvious to me.

I wish I could have played against zones that allowed me to shoot an uncontested 12 foot shhot every time.

@benshawks08 I was thinking the same thing during the game but, of course, Self did nothing.

We also could have tried to catch Washington off guard and flash a couple of our wings to the lane when Lagerald caught it there. Just trying anything else would have been smart but instead we allowed something stupidly simple to beat us, and therefore beat ourselves.

@Blown its not necessarily about matchup but rather if we have two other bigs and how are we shooting. Life is kind of a feast or famine. We have had struggles the past five tournaments but eventually we are going to have a good shooting game in the elite eight, just like OU did a couple years ago after scraping by the first weekend.

@Kcmatt7 yes very frustrating to watch as no adjustments were made.

Growing up playing basketball, the lane was the place my coaches told us to not allow the other team, let alone purposefully give to the opponent.

After the Syracuse game, Vick and the staff should have had a better idea of what he needs to do in the zone and tell him to not be passive. Once the game started, it was clear that a 13 foot jumper or closer was going to be open all game. My coaches, when I was playing the high post against a zone, would have told my team to shoot that wide open shot every time and punish the other team for allowing it. Instead, we saw forced three point attempts, horrible passes or Vick going way too far towards the hoop and putting up a guarded shot.

No reason that the team was this I'll prepared. It makes me wonder what else is going on that determined this outcome.

Preston and Desousa would provide big time relief for this current bunch in all facets. They don't have what it takes to win a grind out half court game while playing small.

What hurts outside shooting is playing tight, which often occurs when you are favored. That is why I think this team would be better served as a two or three seed this year. Lower expectations and less pressure will help some of those shots to fall. Oklahoma was a primarily offensive team yet they got hot in the S16 and E8 after getting a two seed, losing seven games during the year including a loss in the big 12 tourney semifinal. Basically, ended the year on a dry spell but had two good shooting games late in the tourney.

With a jump shot reliant team, that is all you can hope for.

@truehawk93 recruiting and the fundamentals have been pretty poor the last four years. The type of players, not the rankings, has been off too. We need beefy, tough, defensive minded players who aren't going to get bullied and won't take crap. The last few years we have had mostly soft offensive minded players, and each year lost to the tough, defensive oriented groups. This years team won't make the final four because they have little defensive ability and only want to shoot. As history has shown, that doesn't work well in March.

@jaybate-1.0 no you aren't proven right every year. You are excusing crappy play (plus poor game planning) for injuries. Its just flat out silly and is not a logical explanation for losses except where someone does not play. Ku beat themselves today.

@Crimsonorblue22 Dok has to play smarter. That is the only solution right now. There is no other option.

Dumb shot after dumb shot. Why are they so timid in the middle of the zone? Good grief

Boy oh boy got to play without fouling. Can't put the refs in a position to blow the whistle, which is what I always kept in mind as a player.

And there's Malik playing stupid on the break. Coaching staff really needs to have a chat with him about playing smart.

has an oregon game feel. Team just doesn't have much energy or smarts right now.

@KUSTEVE I'll have a glass or two with you bro. I see very few downsides to having Sam on the team. We really needed a sixth guard last year.

@KUSTEVE they always do. I would be surprised if they didnt.

@HighEliteMajor amen to that brother

@KUSTEVE just against Purdue last year, our speed will be the deciding factor. That Purdue game was perfect execution on how to beat a taller team.

@KUSTEVE but you know they will play their best coming into Allen Fieldhouse. Pigs will fly before a team doesn't come amped up to play us.
But overall I saw what you saw last night - a team that can be pretty good defensively but not exactly dynamic offensively like Duke or Michigan State or our guys.

@dylans true but we dont need a bunch of scoring from him. He will probably be in a Brennan Greene situation where he will be expected to defend, rebound and make threes, not try to drive the lane all the time or be a go to scorer. We will see in a week.

@BeddieKU23 Arizona's defense was solid. A&m is no offensive juggernaut

@BShark averaged 10 and 5 and 40% from 3 as a frosh. Doesn't sound bad to me.

Not really sure about any of these coaches being Selfs successor.

@jaybate-1.0 which five?

@BShark why?

justanotherfan said:

Considering D. Lawson and B. Preston likely will play at least some in the NBA, that's a fair statement. How many teams in the country have two future NBA players on the roster? Maybe 7 or 8?

Moore started and played 29 mpg at Cal. Cunliffe started and played 25 mpg at ASU. The Lawson brothers averaged 12 and 8 (KJ) and 19 and 10 (Dedric) at Memphis. Preston was a McDs AA. There are 300+ teams out there that can't find that type of talent anywhere on their roster. That lineup and an average bench would finish 3rd or 4th in every major conference, and would win just about every mid major and definitely every low major.

Every single one of those guys would be the best player on over 100 D1 rosters right now. Today. All of them could start at 90% of the D1 schools in the country.

So what you're saying is they aren't very good?

@KUSTEVE the D is also better than last year. We are sitting at third in defense field goal %.

@Kcmatt7 As I've said before, there are no rewards for playing your best in November and December. Can that be a good thing? Absolutely, but when you have numerous players that are getting adjusted to new roles, you can't expect 100% court cohesion and stuff like that, even if it is a veteran team like we have. If Cunliffe, Newman, Marcus (and hopefully Billy) can learn their roles and how to succeed in the system, there isn't a team we can't play with or beat. Our spread the floor offense and inside presence is fantastic already and has the potential to be even better.