🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@JayHawkFanToo it seems like a lot of folks on ku sites don't think he is a point guard, yet he played point guard in high school lol.

Anyone watching Utah valley and puke?

A lot of folks on rupp rafters are in meltdown mode already.

I watched portions of their game and read what happened and it sounds like they scored a lot in transition. Just like last year, we have to keep them in the half court.

@KUSTEVE cal would only do it if we shred their man 2 man. Something tells me UK is going to be hyped for this game. Throw the Utah valley game out the window.

@KUSTEVE yep. I don't think there is a game where we won't be favored.

@KUSTEVE that would be sweet to wipe the floor with Cal like he did to us but I doubt it happens. If our shooters have solid games and we rebound well I could see a double digit win. 15+ if our shooters are hot.

Alright boys and girls the showdown versus Kentucky is finally here.

How does everyone feel? What are your predictions?

@BShark I'm not saying he's going to be a starter, only that he has a chance to be a solid contributor if he plays defense and makes some threes. That's all

@jaybate-1.0 and that's what makes this team a tough out in March - they can beat you so many different ways.

I think we will play predominately small sprinkled with traditional.

Agree, our guards are a nightmare for most teams. One of Kentucky's problems is trouble staying in front of their man, which is why cal switched to a zone, or else they might have lost last night. It would be interesting to see their length in a zone vs our zone busters. You'd have to think our guys will fare a little better against it than Utah valley.

@BShark I honestly don't know what to expect. Given that other such info on other players did not correlate with the eye test, I think Sam deserves a chance.

We played really good defense in the first half. Guys were moving their feet and showing the type of effort required to play Bill Self style defense. It was refreshing after the fiasco on tuesday.

I don't know why everyone is making these judgements about Sam before he has even played a game in a ku uniform. He has been in the system for a year now, so there's no telling how he will play. I also heard that Dok doesn't have any post moves, he will be a constant foul machine, that billy's motor is terrible and that he doesn't have any post skill. All of those appear to be incorrect through three exhibitions and last night, so i will wait to form any opinion until he plays.

Slayer - completely agree about depth. With Sam and hopefully Silvio, we go from being the thinnest elite team to arguable the deepest. That would be a whole lot of talent and we wouldn't get outmanned against Duke or Arizona like we did against UK in 2012. With the way our guys can shoot and play defense, those additions would make us super tough to beat. Almost no weaknesses.

With the big 12 being down, it's hard to see us losing more than three games, especially with the extra talent. Kentucky is almost a must win for us due to the schedule otherwise being really weak. I mean, Stanford and Syracuse aren't exactly elite teams this year and are expected wins. I will revisit after tuesday, which will give us much more insight.

I see folks elsewhere comparing Silvio to Diallo in terms of IQ and learning the sets and Bill Self's system. To me, while Silvio needs polishing of course, it appears as though he is much farther along from a basketball skill standpoint than what Diallo ever was. Maybe I'm wrong, but if the NCAA allows him to play in the spring, I would guess that we will see someone who has more awareness and more versatility than Cheick did and therefore be much more beneficial.

@dylans yeah, it could go from minimal depth to some of the best depth in recent years.

Sounds like his guardian is pretty confident. Is anyone aware of past cases like this? Cheick was a little different. Maybe bagley?

@BShark I feel the same way. Man this would be monumental for this season. Stoked about the possiblity!

Sounds like he has done a good job of keeping up in school, which is always a question mark for some of these athletes. Would love to have him. So the main hold up is regarding his core classes right?

It makes me wonder how much Self would play him. He would have some catch up to do but we really need his size and ability this year. He's not going to be around three or four years so no worries with starting early. This would allow us to play traditional, which is really more along the lines of this team's makeup.

Man this does sound positive from his guardian. He would be the missing piece. Love his size and rebounding

@jaybate-1.0 which basically means that they are inconsistent, which Piper touched on during the game. When they're hot, we will be almost impossible to beat because of the amount of talent and shooters on the floor. When they have an off game, that means we have to employ our diversity, i.e. inside game. Yes I know it's not where it needs to be yet, but who really expected it to be? It will be there later in the season as our young forwards get used to what is expected.

Like HEM said over the summer, this team may not be as good as the teams from the last couple years, but it has a better chance at advancing farther in March due to the balance potential it has. Not having Dok hurt real bad against Oregon and a bad shooting night turned into a loss. You can see from the three exhibition games the talent that Dok and Billy have and the presence they will have once they get settled in later in the season.

Also remember the poor shooting start they had last year. I think it turned out ok then and maybe it will this year too.

Bill also said in the postgame what we talk about a bit - if Svi and Malik aren't scoring, why are they out there?

They aren't little kids - they have to find a way to contribute besides just shooting. This isn't rocket science.

@BShark good way to send a message. Malik was bad and Svi was ever worse, if that is possible.

What didnt help was we didn't run any offense all night. Self probably wanted them to free style it, drive and kick and get the ball inside. Don't want Kentucky to see too much of what we are doing at this point. Poor shooting made this look a lot worse. I actually like that this was a half court execution game where the little things are important rather than a track meet with just layups or a super hot shooting night and we win by 60.

Dok getting to the level he needs to will take a little longer due to the injury, but we all knew that would be the case. Billy is oozing with talent and potential. I like his aggressiveness, shot and he has some nice moves too. Needs to improve his decision making and rebound better, but other than that he has been pretty good. He and Dok have the potential to be a great duo come March.

Not sure what was going on with Svi and Newman. The postgame commentator (Jeff Gueldner) said it could be a respect thing as far as the effort they put in to tonight. Whether their shots are falling or not has nothing to do with how they defend, rebound or play with energy that makes the team better, or at least it shouldn't.

@BShark oh that's right - he broke his hand. Forgot about that

@BShark wow! We're they without berry?

BeddieKU23 said:

Meanwhile UNC lost an exhibition by 8!~

Who did they play?

Not really surprising actually. Isn't WVU down a couple players? I know Ahmad is out right now but isn't there someone else?

@jayballer54 it's true, I remember that. And it makes sense, but you have to get the two points, even if it means more energy. We've left way too many points on the court by just laying it up.

@Crimsonorblue22 yikes

@Lulufulu agree about the free throws for Dok but actually it hasn't been as bad as some feared. I think he's shot like 3/6 against both Missouri and Pitt state. For him that's not bad and better than 30 or 40%.

I think a lot of KU fans have lower expectations for this year because there is little depth. There is no question we have talent - our first five are just as good as anyone in the nation. Sure, we don't have Josh Jackson and Frank Mason. But we return some really good players and we have what could be Self's best post presence. Billy can do things like Junior Morrii and Darrel Arthur could do. And not to mention Dok. I mean, how in the world can one conclude that Landon and Dwight Coleby last year were better than Dok and Billy this year? I know which I would choose without any hesitation. And, in case anyone missed it, Newman is pretty good at scoring, so its not like our points production is going to go way down this year.

Here is the thing about the tournament - it takes a few factors to have success: defense, rebounding, low turnover, making shots. Those four dictate how far you advance. It has absolutely zero to do with luck. That argument is complete bollocks and just an excuse for bad or inconsistent play. Against Nova, turnovers were a killer for us (six more than them in an even or one possession game) and there were several issues with the Oregon game, mainly shotmaking, which I have discussed in depth in the past. Everyone is so concerned with "no depth" and "what if" scenarios. Look, depth is not very important in March. Just look at Nova in 2016 as a team built very similar to ours - no post depth and five guards (actually six but five got most of the minutes). But what did they do? They dominated every factor I just listed.

That is the key for our present team. Will they defend and rebound? Will they play smart and not stupid? Can they make open threes?

Man, I'm with you on dreaming of a title. I remember the night against Memphis sitting on the sofa with my family as we witnessed such an improbable comeback. It was truly surreal. But its hard. Its hard to do all the right things to win six straight. Saying that this team won't do it or their ceiling is sweet sixteen is just idiotic and dumb. I mean, the real games haven't even started yet and some are throwing the possibility of a March run out the window!!

Are they special? I think only a March run will dictate that.

Yes, the talent is absolutely there, the most we have had since Wiggins and Embiid. There are weaknesses, but every team has them.

No, I never temper my expectations. I want success in March EVERY SINGLE YEAR without exception. Of course we all want a Big 12 title, even if some don't admit it. But we also want the thing that everyone remembers and cherishes the most, which goes way beyond the conference.

Bout time to close this thread.

@jayballer54 yeah thats what I'm preaching about lol. But its so preventable! Very rarely can you score in transition against three guys. He won't ever be able to do that against real teams, maybe one on one or two but never on three.

@Crimsonorblue22 last night wasn't enough for you?

You know, its interesting what teams have succeeded in the tournament (final four or further) and which ones haven't. You can have all the pieces, depth and experience possible and yet still lose. We had great teams the last two years and yet fizzled out to the same style of team. 2010 and 2011 teams only lost two games going into March and had loads of talent and depth and yet still lost. Izzo's teams with all the pieces still lose early sometimes. Arizona, even with all the talent and experience last year, still fizzled out in the sweet sixteen to Xavier, an 11, and yet everyone is talking about how they have a much better chance than we do. Sorry, I disagree. Arizona and Michigan State don't have any better chance to get to San Antonio than we do - thats just not how the tournament works.

I say this because I'm reading what others are saying elsewhere on other KU sites and many think the elite eight is this team's ceiling. I'm sure they thought the sweet sixteen was the 2012 team's ceiling. Its important to not predict stuff like that because it is impossible to predict what will happen over the course of the season.

For those questioning our big man depth, which may or may not be a problem, how many bigs did Nova ACTUALLY play on their way to the title? That's right - only one. And yet they still beat a team with four legit 6'10, 6'11 bigs in the title game. Need I mention UConn again? Its all about guard play, and I am stoked after seeing our guards these last few exhibition games, especially Marcus Garrett.

Ive been saying it a lot lately - play smart, not stupid. Given that there are no injuries, if our bigs play SMART, such as not committing stupid fouls and stuff like that, we will be fine. Dok trying to poke an entry pass away is stupid play - no reason to be risking fouls like that. We can play traditional, or we can play four out (probably for the majority). We saw how effective the guard oriented offense was last year and how we completely dominated a much larger Purdue team. Btw, have I mentioned how I love Billy's skill? His fadeaway is money.

My only concern is with injuries, everything else I am less concerned with.

@KUSTEVE I actually think they are ahead of last year's team at the same point. Boy, the beginning of last year was bad, bad, bad - iirc they committed around 25 turnovers against washburn. That ain't good at all, boys and girls.

The passing and movement was
excellent, as Bill said, for twenty minutes. I think what happened was we got up so quickly - up thirty in ten minutes, and then relaxed, along with some bonehead fouls.

To me, Billy appears to be oour most versatile and may be most talented guy. Our ceiling goes way up when he stays out of foul trouble.

It will take a bit, but I see Dok and Billy having the potential to be this year's version of Meeks and Hicks from Carolina last year. I think if they can stay on the floor would be a matchup nightmare. Arizona, Duke and Michigan State will get all the hype this year, but our potential is just as good and we'll be underrated all year. And that's fine. I prefer to not have all the media attention.

The main thing for Dok is not to go one on three or four. He has to pass it out quicker when he gets swarmed. Now, real teams like Kentucky probably aren't going to swarm him and will start out one on one so he will have opportunities to make some moves, but he has to be ready to look for the open man.

@HighEliteMajor yeah but he was laughing and looked fine on the bench. I doubt there is anything wrong with him.

@mayjay better question is, how did we go from talking about Kentucky's guards to water situations?

Yep. I think he pulled a more convincing Julian wright.

1000% correct. Dude is smart, has good handles, doesn't force it, unselfish and great defender. He shut down Jackson and after that PSU couldn't do anything. Love it

@BShark He not bad

Billy looked ok

What a move by svi

Billy back on sidelines

Newman ok? Maybe turned his ankle on that rebound?

@approxinfinity personally, I'm fine on here. You can if you want, but this is much easier for me.

@BShark so preventable. Thats what I'm talking about - play smart not stupid.

@Crimsonorblue22 I wondered about that. Remember when Julian Wright did that on a missed windmill dunk?

Concussion for Billy?