🏀 KuBuckets Archive

That was a good aggressive play by Carlton. He needs to attack off the dribble

@kjayhawks kind of embarrassing for upperclassmen to play like this under a coach that values defense

@BShark he's been lazy all year

Real focused start (sarcasm)

@wrwlumpy I agree with you. Baylor and West Virginia have beat Louisville and Virginia respectively, and WVU's win was on the road. Total hogwash that the east coast teams are better - there is just more of them.

Normally during the streak there has been one main challenger each year - Texas in '07 and '08, OU in '09 and '16 and K State in '13. Baylor and K State were both main challengers in '10, but other than that it has normally been just one team. This year will be the toughest year to win it in the Bill Self Era. Not only are we playing to win the conference, but we are also playing for the one seed and the regional in Kansas City.

In order to win, we have to get off to a solid start. Our first seven games are almost must win games with the hardest being at Ames which would give us a 7-0 start. The next is at West Virginia, the hardest place for us to win at. We have not handled their press very well in the last three years. This year has to be different, especially when we can put four guards on the floor with three of those having significant experience against the press. West Virginia is not a great offensive team, though they were making their shots against Okie State. In order to win, we have to score a lot of points off of the pressure. This will be the hardest game for us and I hope the guys are motivated to finally get an elusive W there.

@drgnslayr I'm not sure they will be better - that run last year was historical and I'm not sure they have the potential to improve on it. I think they will probably equal it in some fashion though, no doubt

@wissox yes they began the season #1

@drgnslayr thank you for making this thread. I will post my thoughts later today when I have more time.

@drgnslayr what I don't understand is why we haven't been running the Perry style pick and roll every other possession. The one time they ran it against TCU Carlton swisher a jumper - IIRC, we cleared out a side and ran a pick and roll with him and Frank. It is so hard to stop and was one of the reasons we had a 17 game win streak last year.

@drgnslayr you are right - the 1-2 punch we were all expecting has not been there at all and yet we are still winning. I honestly don't think Bill will change anything but you never know

@Hawk8086 nailed it

A few comments -

1. Misconception - you don't need a rim protector to get to the final four and be successful throughout the season. The problem is Self's teams, outside of '08, have been too weak defensively on the perimeter to negate not having a rim protector. The rebuttal that I hear is "Yeah, but the rules changed. We can't play defense like we used too." My response is - bollocks. West Virginia, Villanova, Michigan State (not this year of course) and a host of other teams play solid defense and don't give up straight line drives to the goal like what Frank and Devonte do. Need I remind everyone again that Villanova won the championship while playing only two 6'9 bigs? Look at what they have accomplished this year - won AT PURDUE who has 7'2 Isaac Haas and near footer Caleb Swannigan and just won at Creighton. Their post men, Reynolds and Paschall are not back to the basket scorers or shot block extraordinaires. So how are they winning? By first playing solid individual defense, which means not giving up blow bys and not commiting silly fouls, and solid team defense, which means that their rotation is solid also. Did Butler have a shot blocker in '10 and '11 when they went to back to back title games? No. Conclusion: It is not necessary.

2. Career games by opposing bigs - Last night, I never got the feeling watching the game with my dad that Landen was getting destroyed down low. Why? Because he wasn't really. One on one, I think he only got scored on a couple times. Outside of that, it was mostly off of poor rotations and getting fouled off of those poor rotations. In all actuality, our perimeter defense and rotations were the reason for his career game, same as Travis from Stanford. Our perimeter guys, mainly Frank and Devonte, continually get beat off the dribble causing our defense to collapse which creates opportunities for opposing bigs. I also wouldn't say that TCU is small - career night man is 6'11 so he has legit size.

3. JJ - just like early in the year, last night was something else that Josh will learn from and improve on. Not worried about him at all.

Carolina also lost today. I wish Indiana would have shot as poorly as they have been the last few games against us. We should not have lost to those guys.

@chriz he didn't look focused in the game? I have been one of the most critical of him but I didn't watch the game and come away thinking that.

@RockChalkinTexas probably didn't even watch the game. But still not surprising

Watching UCLA - Oregon State. Close game - OSU not the most talented of teams. Just the nature of conference games

@Crimsonorblue22 the layups yes, but I think he had ten boards

@Crimsonorblue22 I don't know about much more, but I think there are a couple more things he could do, such as running the Perry pick and pop about three or four times per game, not just once

I disagree - Carlton actually played pretty well. His rebounding numbers were great. Also ran a Perry style pick and pop perfectly.

Plenty of things to clean up, specifically defensively.

Terrible call by the zebras

@Bwag the man guarding the driver has to play great D by himself ala Chalmers and Robinson. So far, our guys have given up ground quickly while the driver goes by them - have to be quicker and cut him off

@BeddieKU23 but when they drive there is already one or two defenders on him. No need for more help - make them shoot a tough shot over the top

@Bwag our offense and rebounding has been solid. Defense - not so much

@stoptheflop Svi and Lagerald have got to stay out on the shooters and stop leaving them open

@tundrahok definitely

Bragg and Landen playing tough tonight

Please Self, don't press on the road

Here we go!!

Frustrating to watch our guys leaving their man open by overhelping. Why in the world does Bill not do something about this? Those are warm up jumpers.

Over helping in the lane again and TCU getting wide open threes

Bragg doing a good job of rebounding

@kjayhawks yep - jump shot, shot fake and pass it out

Same team from the UNLV game - sluggish D and can't make shots

@KansasComet good thing this isn't West Virginia

Great start tonight (sarcasm)

This will be the hardest earned conference title in years. We have to play our A game starting tonight in order to win.

@BeddieKU23 agreed - Morris is very good but I'll take Frank all day

@KUSTEVE that's what happens when teams don't handle the press very well

@drgnslayr I have been saying it for the last two months, as you said, wins at Morgantown and Stillwater, as well as Ames, will be the tell tale sign of our post season success.

@drgnslayr you are absolutely right. Of anybody on our roster, I feel as though Josh could be that guy. He has the passion and great exuberance necessary for that type of play.

@mayjay If my memory is correct, yes Alford almost cost them the game. With him making it to nationals at the Elks hoop shoot, you'd think he would do just fine hitting a couple at the end of a game.

With the start of conference season around the country, the beginning of competition with conference foes is the time that separates the men from the boys, the contenders from the pretenders. This proved to be true yesterday with Indiana losing at home to Nebraska, Villanova barely holding on at home to a lowly DePaul (sub 200 rpi, IIRC), Virginia systematically dismantling Louisville on the road and UCLA losing its first game of the season.

As we all know, a team's conference opponents know them the best. Every set, player and coaching tendency and road game rims are all quite familiar. Our first road game is at TCU, a team that is definitely better under Jamie Dixon and has terrific balance. However, they do not have the talent that KU does, so there is nothing wrong about expecting a W. What I really want to see is defensive improvement. After watching games from around the country over the past month and a half, it is evident that the strongest defensive that can compliment their game with a bit of offense will have the most success this year, just like every year. UCLA, for example, relies on offense. Jay Williams mentioned this on the halftime show of the UCLA-Oregon game - even described it as horrific. Sooner or later, they will have to develop a defensive identity to win games when they aren't shooting their average.

So far, except for the Davidson game, I haven't really seen that from our guys. I feel as though commitment to individual defense is not where it needs to be, which makes team defense difficult to improve. I said on another thread that our players really need to sit down and watch teams that play with 110% effort on the defensive end of the floor. Virginia and some of Self's past teams would be great examples. Our offense will be fine (still waiting for Carlton to commit to a role which is really the missing piece) - it is the other end that needs attention. Simple things like calling ICE, hedging, not falling asleep watching the ball (Devonte has done this numerous times) and not over helping on drives need improvement.

To me, there isn't any reason that we can't be one of the premier defensive teams in the country like Virginia and Villanova. This team has a great combo of talent and experience and if they focus on making improvements and maintain the same focus every defensive possession, then the conference schedule won't stand in the way of a one seed. I saw some predicting 14-4 and 13-5 - sorry but that will not get a one seed in any way, shape or form. There is simply way too much competition to have five or six losses and expect a top seed - Villanova, UNC, UCLA, Duke , Baylor, Gonzaga, Kentucky and Virginia are all very good. Even when the top teams in the conferences beat each other up, the best thing to do is stand out among the crowd by only having three or four losses total. I don't care if some say Morgantown is hard to win at or that Ames is tough. Sorry, but we have the talent and experience to get those wins. Like slayer's slogan says - NO EXCUSES!

@jayballer54 yep he was disappointed

And UCLA goes down. What a shot by Dillon Brooks

Oregon trying to give UCLA the win.

Oregon looking very good so far against UCLA. Definitely the best they have played this year.

@jayballer54 we should never have lost to those yahoos. But when we played them, Josh was not yet comfortable in the system, Landen had a sore foot and Devonte didn't have his cramping under control and dealt with it the whole game.

Virginia is putting on a clinic on the road against Louisville up 15. Our guys need to watch and study how disciplined Virginia is defensively. They are always thinking, alert, down in their stance, and don't make stupid mistakes or fouls.