🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Wiggins because he has a much higher ceiling than Hield. I think Hield is a guy that can be a solid 12 year NBA guy, but Andrew Wiggins is a guy you build a franchise around.

@DoubleDD Players develop at different rates and Hield is a late bloomer. He played AAU ball with Ellis so KU's staff was very aware of him, but didn't recruit him until late and even then they didn't recruit him very heavily. Hield is a projected top 10 pick right now and there are plenty of very good NBA players who were late bloomers and 4 year college players.

Good ol' Lubbock. One of the most isolated college towns there is because there is nothing within about 2 hours of Lubbock.

The C5 isn't going to have a stand out player this year. It will be by committee and I would hesitate to include Bragg in the C5 because most of his minutes mostly come when he's spelling Ellis at this point. That said, KU's best option for the C5 this year is to play the hot hand or player that provides the need for KU at that time. Against OU, Traylor was the hot hand, but KU couldn't completely close the gap because of their lack of rebounding so enter KU's best rebounder, Landen Lucas and I will say that KU does not win that game without Landen's rebounding efforts. When scoring is most important out of the C5, Mickelson is currently answer.

Diallo and Bragg do need minutes to see if their progress in practice is starting to carry over to games (not yet), but situations like Monday night are not the time to throw them to the wolves. I don't think Saturday will be either as Texas Tech is not going to be an easy game for KU. Tech handled UT in Lubbock and was within 3 against ISU at Hilton tonight with about a minute left in the game before ISU pulled away at the very end. Bragg and Diallo are going to have their few minutes in the first half of games to justify any second half minutes the rest of the way.

There are 2 stats from the second half that are very telling about why KU's offense stagnated so much and neither are related to Traylor or Lucas. KU only took four 3 pointers in the second half (if Traylor or Lucas ever attempt one that isn't end half off a rebound, they need a seat next to Self). The second is KU only had 3 assists on 16 made FGs in the second half. There was just too much selfish play going on in the second half with Mason, Graham, Selden, and Ellis driving and not looking for the open man on a kick out.

KU abandoning what's worked for them all year on offense is what happened in the second half and that's not on Traylor or Lucas, that's on Self reverting to his old form and his butt puckering up in a pressure situation like it did against MSU and against Germany in the gold medal game in Korea.

@jayballer54 Buddy Hield averaged 2 point per shot against KU when his season average is 1.6 PPS. 46 points on 23 FGA is an above average performance no matter how you look at it.

Both teams played good defense in that game. Both teams average 1.2 points per possession and OU was right on that and KU was slightly below at 1.15. Both teams were below average on FG% and slightly above average on 3FG% and FT%. These are two elite teams that each played a very good game of basketball and may very well be the two best teams in the country and could potentially have 3 more games coming against each other.

@wissoxfan83 Iowa St. and Texas A&M also play that day so 3 big match ups. One of the games will host College Gameday and the others will be staggered throughout the day. Right bow, I would guess Kansas-Kentucky will be that game, although Buddy Hield and Ben Simmons could be very good as well if LSU can put together some wins between now and then.

@RockkChalkk Lucas is not a good offensive player and you and @sfbahawk are focusing on the wrong area of LL's contributions last night. LL's biggest offensive contributions were on the offensive glass tipping balls back out to the guards and giving KU second chances. LL's rebounding is what kept KU in the game and I will flat say KU does not win without Landen Lucas last night. Had Lattin made that FT, you would hear a lot of complaints about the non call on Mason, but also that KU would not have even been in that position without LL's rebounding efforts.

If Tidiane Drame really has Diallo's best interests in mind, he will advise Diallo to return next year.

@drgnslayr Because Lattin and Spangler made Hunter their B on the glass. That OU run was sparked because KU couldn't grab a rebound to save their lives. Traylor gave the spark in the second half and Lucas shut down their second half dominance on the glass. How many second chances did OU get during that 15 minute run at the end of the first half and start of the second half that kept KU from getting any rhythm? Landen Lucas slowed down their running game significantly in the second half.

For thise whining about the OTB call that put Lattin on the line, Lucas may have committed that OTB that gave OU a shot to win in regulation (ignoring the missed call right before that should've put Mason on the line for the win), but KU isn't even in a position to force OT without Lucas and his rebounding last night.

Self did bring in Greene for Graham on the final possession of the first OT. Clearly it was as a decoy as Self wanted Selden taking the final shot, but a stagger screen to get a fresh legged Greene an open look probably would've been the best option in that situation. As tired and ineffective as Isaiah Cousins was that game, I think a fresh legged Greene could've handled that assignment and given Graham and Selden a breather.

Lucas was the right player in that situation because KU needed rebounding more than anything else from the 5 spot because Spangler and Latten were killing KU on the glass in the second half. I think we also saw that the C5 will be a C2 or C1 in crunch time and will be the hot hand and/or biggest need will be the one playing.

We also saw that despite Bragg and Diallo having the highest ceilings of the C5, their current ability levels are not above the upper classmen yet. Diallo is just lost out there whenever he's on the floor and is currently a net negative as he doesn't pass and regularly pucks up two quick fouls when he's in. I hope for Diallo's sake that he comes back next year because he will be an NBA washout if he goes now. Bragg is improving, but he's still not physical enough to play in the paint and his mist effective role going forward should be spelling Ellis for a few minutes at a time. Cite whatever stats anyone wants to, but basketball is played on basketball courts and not on paper. There basketball games say KU is flat out a better team right now with Mickelson, Traylor, and Lucas anchoring the middle.

A popular debate here has become does KU win if Bragg and Diallo play over whoever among the upperclassmen bigs played that given night. So, does anybody think KU wins last night with Bragg and Diallo playing over Lucas down the stretch and the OT periods?

My top 5 all time are tonight, the 7OT Syracuse-UConn game, the 2008 title game, the 2012 Missouri game in AFH, and the 2010 KU-KSU game in AFH because that was my final KU game as a student.

@JayHawkFanToo Not even just AFH. He reffed the MSU game this year, and at least 80% of KU's losses the past 2+ years. Whenever I hear Higgins is doing a KU game, I assume KU is going to have several really bad calls against them that game and today was no different.

Suns management and Markieff are both in the wrong. Management is in the wrong for lying about keeping them together, but Markieff has not handled the situation very well either. Both twins are still very immature (see Marcus shoving Paul George a few days ago) and that's been the case since they were freshmen with the BB gun incident. At some point, they each need to grow up and start acting like men instead of boys.

@KUSTEVE Take a couple of shots of something.

@Bwag I was 2 for the 88 game and the 2008 game was great, but there was no drama in OT.

Greatest college basketball game I have ever seen! The Syracuse-UConn Big East tournament 7OT game has been supplanted

Frank Fn Mason!

@bskeet Doubtful

Everyone on both sides is gassed at this point. I wouldn't be opposed to Graham fouling out just to get Greene's fresh legs in. Mickelson would be a good sub now too.

@Bwag Self tightened the rotation, but Ellis and Selden were making shots in the second half.

You gotta dunk that with authority Landen! That was weak as hell!

How the hell do you get called for screening yourself!?!?

At least that horribly officiated sequence didn't cost KU the game. Higgins and Co. doing everything they can to screw KU over. Higgins has been involved in a very disproportionate number of KU's losses the past few years.

Graham is killing KU tonight.

John Higgins can go and suck a donkey's fat...

@jaybate-1.0 1992 UMass, a 2 that couldn't make 3's, and a front line that was 6-3 and 6-7 and he made the Sweet 16 with that group.

And who did Cal have besides Camby on that FF team? Camby was that team and his supporting cast was average at best that year. And Marcus Camby was not a McDonald's All American.

@jaybate-1.0 Coach Cal did have a lot of success at UMass with teams that had nowhere near the talent any of Self's KU teams or Cal's UK teams. In 1992, Cal took UMass to the Sweet 16 with a 2 guard that made one 3 pointer all year, a 6-3 PF, and a 6-7 C. UMass also only had 1 really good player in 1996. I'm pretty sure Cal could take this group on a deep run because he's won big with much less talent in the past.

@wrwlumpy You forgot a couple of famous Okies. How can you leave out Bill Self and Xavier Henry, the first OAD in KU history.

The game is in Lawrence, even OU fans I know are conceding this one because OU hasn't won in Lawrence in a very long time

@Bwag Gathers is someone that the NFL is looking at as a potential TE prospect so he is way more athletic than Ndiaye is.

The C5 position should be by committee the way it has been. None of the players have separated themselves and unless someone does, play them according to who's the best match up or what KU needs the most between offense (Mickelson), defense (Traylor), or rebounding (Lucas) with a sprinkling of Bragg and Diallo when Ellis is out. That's going to be the most effective strategy for KU this year and give them the best chance to win in March/April.

@wissoxfan83 Unlike college football that are mostly done 2-3 weeks in advance, broadcast rights for the vast majority of college basketball games are done before the season even starts. I think Tenn-Auburn was appealing because of Bruce Pearl coaching against his former school.

I want OU to win because I want to see 1 vs. 2 on Monday and I want KU to end OU's undefeated season.

@brooksmd My gametracker is probably slow then.

@wissoxfan83 When Is started typing, ESPN had Baylor around +11 in rebounds and has Baylor +6 now.

@DCHawker KU is shooting well enough today where getting destroyed in rebounding doesn't look like it's going to hurt them, but there's still a lot of time left.

There will be games where that's not the case and KU will need to rebound to prevent teams from getting additional possessions and Lucas will have to be that guy even if KU has to play a little slower.

KU needs to start rebounding. Baylor is killing them on the glass. This is going to be KU's achilles heel all year and what they'll have to overcome to be successful in March and April. This is also why Lucas is valuable to KU. He may not be the most skilled guy, but he is far and away KU's best rebounder and where his value is to this team.

It has to be a combination of the two. With recent Kentucky teams, they were absolutely the most talented teams, but the Harrison twins were chemistry killers for them. Wisconsin had great chemistry, but they had a lot of talent as well with Kaminsky and Dekker. Frank Kaminsky was NPOY last year so they weren't hurting for talent. That 2012 Kentucky team had great chemistry as well so they didn't do it on talent alone. 2008 KU set a record at the time with 6 players drafted off that team.

This year's KU team has a lot of chemistry with one another, as do OU and ISU, none of the three have the elite level talent that Kentucky or Duke have. Kentucky and Duke have "A" level talent, I would consider KU, OU, and ISU to have "B" level talent. Kentucky and Duke also have average at best team chemistry at this point while the 3 Big 12 teams have all been together for multiple seasons now and that chemistry balances out the talent deficit the Big 12 teams have in regards to Kentucky and Duke.

Chemistry is absolutely import and can mask talent deficiencies, but only to a certain extent. We're not going to see some Southland Conference team with inferior talent play together for 4 years and ve a national title contender. SFA for example is a Southland team that's been good for awhile bow abd they're chemistry is a big part of that. You stick them in a major conference as is and they're middle of the pack at best.

The extreme would be the Kentucky team that lost in the 1st round of the NIT. That team was ridiculously talented, even after Noel got injured, but their team chemistry was absolutely non existent that year.

If you force me to pick one over the other, I will take chemistry all day every day because chemistry masks a lack talent better than talent masks a lack of chemistry. At the end of the day, you have to have a combination of the two to be able to win a title.

Thanks for informing me that expressing an opinion and not agreeing with others was against the rules of this site.

@KUSTEVE You don't know what smartest guy in the room syndrome is do you? If you couldn't tell by my name, I am from Texas and have lived in Texas for the vast majority of my life. I have spent a lot of time in Central Texas and am familiar with quite of the history of some the cities in the region. When I see pictures of people associated with a place that don't apear to belong, I will question it's relevancy.

@KUSTEVE Obviously I don't because why else would someone ask about the revelancy of people to a place when there is no obvious connection.

I'll make sure I never question anything ever again because nobody has ever made a mistake in the history or ever have they?

Development happens during practice. If a player can't grasp what they're supposed to do during practice, why would they be expected to know what to do during games. Practice is where players start to understand concepts and once they start showing that understanding in practice, then they start applying it in games. There's not some magic wand that instantly makes a player know what to do.

Kelly Oubre gets brought up quite a bit in regards to this. It took him until Christmas time for the light to come on and for him to start showing that he understood what was expected of him in the system and to be able to execute within the system.

Playing a player who does not know what he's doing on either end of the floor doesn't change just because he gets thrown to the wolves. That can actually be quite detrimental to the development of a player because it can destroy their confidence.

Right now, Cheick Diallo us clueless on the court. He just doesn't kniw how to operate within Bill Self's system on either end of the floor yet. Playing out of control and being out of position doesn't help KU win games or help Diallo's development. We can all see the talent Diallo has, but that talent is not very developed yet and until he starts showing in practice that he understands where he needs to be on offense, can play at a slower pace (he rushes way too much when he has the ball now), knows how to rotate on defense, and can guard his man without fouling, his minutes are going to continue to be limited. Once he shows the ability to do thise things in a low pressure situation like practice, Self will start giving him more opportunities in the high pressure situations of games. Missing out on those early practices definitely set his development back several weeks and when the season is only 14 or so weeks, losing that time was huge blow to Diallo. The upside is that it could very well be a big enough blow to keep Diallo around a second year.

@wissoxfan83 Texas Tech's football stadium. The TT logo scoreboard is the giveaway along with the fences.

@wissoxfan83 That would be Jones AT&T Stadium's scoreboard in the bottom of the picture.

@wrwlumpy I don't think you can really say someone is from a place if they weren't born there or lived a significant portion of their lives there or have some othere significant attachment to a place. Just my opinion.

@wrwlumpy You might want to fact check some of your famous people from Waco. Jessica Simpson isn't from Waco, she was born in Abilene and raised in Dallas. I don't know if the picture next is supposed to be focused on Ted Nugent or Sarah Palin, but neither are from Waco.

@kansas-oats Waco is not the home of Dr. Pepper, but the Dr. Pepper museum is in Waco. Dr. Pepper is originally from Dublin, Texas and any Dr. Pepper made with cane sugar is known as Dublin Dr. Pepper.

@nuleafjhawk I live Houston and have friends in Dallas which eliminates approximately $1,000 for flying 2 people to Miami and 3 nights in a hotel, and eating out expenses. That's a pretty significant price difference without factoring in tickets which I would not have been paying full price for in Dallas unlike Miami. All in all, the Cotton Bowl would've been about $12-1,300 cheaper for me to attend than the Orange Bowl.

@nuleafjhawk My dad is the OU fan, not an alum as he graduated HS in '71 and was promptly shipped off to Vietnam. My personal feelings on OU are that I hope they go 36-4 at this point with their 4 losses all coming against KU in Lawrence, Norman, KC, and then Houston. I was also planning on going to their playoff game against Clemson has it been in Dallas, but since it's in Miami, I'm not shelling out for airline tickets and hotel for that.

@drgnslayr Transition defense and rebounding are the keys for KU and there is no stopping Hield.

In Lawrence last year, he didn't shoot particularly well (7-19 fg, 4-13 3fg), but still scored 26 because he can get to the FT line almost at will. Nobody shot well in the game in Norman last year on either side, but Hield still had 18 and both teams were in the 70's despite each team shooting below 40% for the game.

The biggest match up for KU isn't Hield, it's Spnagler and keeping him off the glass which goes back to KU needing to control the glass. I fully expect both teams to eclipse 70 points and if both teams are shooting well, we could see the score get into the 90's for each side.

Transition defense and rebounding are the keys.

@HighEliteMajor Just drop the holier than thou, I'm smarter than you crap. That's why people call you disingenuous. You make your points in ways that you come across as a smug, arrogant, a-hole who assumes he's the smartest man in the room. Try showing some humility instead being a condescending jackass to people.

Whether or not the way I'm characterizing you right now is truly your intent or not, that is the tone that comes across on here and it doesn't accomplish anything productive to try and prove you know more than Self.

For someone who claims to agree with 90% of what Self does, you sure as hell critize him for anything that doesn't line up with your opinion and appears to be way more than 10% of the decisions Self majes you take issue with. I haven't read your macri/micro thing yet, but I can make a pretty reasonable guess what's in it. I might be reaching here, but I would guess you didn't talk your opinion vs. Self's.

We all know you live in the macroverse of player development at the expense of a few more losses throughout the season. We also know Bill Self lives in the microverse of trying to win every game at the expense of player development at times. Your criticism of Self for having a different view and approach to coaching philosophy is like a Christian expecting a Hindu to live by Christian teachings and then critizing the Hindu for not living up to Christian standards.

@drgnslayr Points per game are not always the best indicator of defensive prowess. OU plays a faster tempo which means there are more possessions in a game which means scores are generally going to be higher. OU is in the top 10 nationally in points per possession defense this year which isn't a fluke 1/3 of the way into the season. Most people didn't consider KU a good defensive team last year and it's still mostly the same team this year so why would people assume KU is any better this year if the Harvard game was the only KU game people saw of KU this year?

KU didn't play particularly well against Harvard in Allen Fieldhouse, but people still consider KU one of the title favorites this year. KU is also considered an above average defensive team this year despite mostly the same pieces from last year's subpar defense so why wouldn’t OU's group be able to improve by a similar margin as well? You're right OU probably isn't going to win many games played in the 50s because that's not in line with their offensive philosophy of playing up tempo ball.

My posts aren't intended to imply KU is a bad team, but just that KU isn't head and shoulders better than OU like seemingly everyone here thinks. Of the 6 games these teams have played the past 3 years, KU is 4-2 and none of the games have been decided by more than 8 points so why should anybody expect the 2 regular season match ups to go any differently this season.