🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Yikes. This is real bad. Oats says, "wrong place, wrong time" and "tough to control what college kids do outside of practice." Anyone in this situation who is not a basketball star would be arrested for sure.

In general I'm for LESS people going to prison but there needs to be SOME consequence for getting a gun for your buddy when they ask you to bring it to a volatile situation that then ends in murder. Multiple players involved in this tragedy. Clearly some favorable treatment provided for the star player. What a mess. A person is DEAD. Wrong place wrong time and a prayer circle after practice sense the trial was today, ain't gonna cut it.

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@drgnslayr Curious if you equate any of the above pettiness with the development of a chip? I don't think it's exactly the same but seems at least chip adjacent. What do you think?

Definitely a victim of his own success with that award. He could win it pretty much every year but it’s hard to say he outperforms expectations when he’s so dang consistent.

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Starting to have some
Fun playing defense. Look out.

@kuballin10 said in Dajuan Harris Cooks Lizards In Fort Worth Game Thread:

@DanR he isn’t good and somehow worse offensively than Juan

Good Juan wins titles
Bad Juan bounced in the second round

We are laboring but good battle with a team jacked to sweep us

I do not want TCU in our bracket. We like to play fast and they like to play faster.

@kuballin10 said in Dajuan Harris Cooks Lizards In Fort Worth Game Thread:

We are laboring and go figure Juan has 2 points

Need him to get a bucket and we will win

He got his breather. He will be back to close this out.

@dylans said in Dajuan Harris Cooks Lizards In Fort Worth Game Thread:

Why is Harris out? Breather?

Tried to sneak him a break and use the under 12 to make it an extra break for him. Bet he’s back in after the break.

@BeddieKU23 said in Dajuan Harris Cooks Lizards In Fort Worth Game Thread:

RANT INCOMING

Now that Saturday is over and we have to turn the page so quickly I put all my rage on ESPN today.

They knew scheduling Baylor at home in mid-February on a Saturday would have some significance. Two best teams in the conference for a while now. Easy TV ratings.

They knew TCU was going to be good returning their entire team. That's why they got the Big Monday slot.

I believe they call this a "scheduled loss".

Hopefully the momentum this team is riding is enough.

Gotta say I’m nervous for the same reason. Just a BRUTAL turn around. Just keep trying to tell myself that TCU is on a quick turnaround too.

This team’s success is all about energy. They have the motivation for it after getting embarrassed at home but it is not an unlimited resource you can tap into whenever you want. Definitely expended a good amount of energy I. That second half on Saturday.

Winning this game would give me extreme confidence that this team will get to the second weekend. (I’m already pretty confident)

I think health is the kryptonite. We now have 7-8 pieces in place. If they can all be at 100% in the tourney, sweet 16 is the floor. We don’t have any bad losses. We can and will beat teams that are not on our level.

My concern would be if the starters get worn down significantly or straight up injured we could get mediocre real fast. That’s how we lose in the first weekend. Severe fatigue or injury.

Harris and Kev have me most worried because they’ve been “knicked up” and “getting treatment” fairly regularly this last month.

Anyone else noticing we finally have a team that breaks presses easily and turns it into points? Feel like we struggled with that for a few years. But I feel like pressing this team is like zoning the 08 team. Like, yes please. Give us a few buckets for free while you figure out that plan won’t work.

I’m just excited this team has found its top gear. They now know how truly great they can be. From here on out it’s just a matter of if they can find that again when they really need it. We know it’s not sustainable for 40 minutes for 6 straight games but really 10 minutes of it is clearly overwhelming. If they can pick their spots and catch some breaks we could be having some fun in March.

I do think there is something to self saving the mojo for the second half. His substitution pattern in the first half showed that was really his goal. We were playing with Baylor early and the at one point joe Bobby and Udeh were all on the court at the same time. I feel like it went from a tie game to like a 6-8 point game during that stretch and those Baylor guards got comfortable. The shot chart in the first half showed that a bunch of their buckets came from those guys just walking into threes one on one at the top of the key, driving for easy layups or getting threes off of offensive rebounds. We actually didn’t defend THAT bad the first half. They just made 3 or 4 REALLY tough threes over good d that most teams just don’t even shoot. In the second half our bench still played but not all at the same time. They were more blended with the starters keeping 3-4 of those guys on the court at all times.

I will also say George for Baylor was the biggest example of your mojo throughout the whole game. He was terrible early. He took a seat, refocused and asserted his will for a good portion of the late first half. Once he missed a couple of the ill advised shots that went down for him in the first half but not in the second, he was done. A lot of our easy buckets at the rim came at his expense on the defensive end. Self would have yanked him so fast but Drew left him out there to get beat over and over again hoping his hero shots would come back at some point. They didn’t. He wasn’t even the dude we really turned up the defense on. That was the other two guards. We just let George wilt when his big bros weren’t allowed to carry him.

And lastly, of course TCU is finding their mojo right as we are about head to their place. Let’s hope we can carry some of our own mojo over to the next game but I’m nervous about the short turn around and on the road against a suddenly whole TCU team.

@BeddieKU23 said in Thoughts on the Baylor Game:

@Jethro

Think I saw 9 for Tejas, 3 for TCU and Goose eggs for everyone else

And Texas just because they don’t sell tickets to the upper portion of the arena for basketball games. They block it off. And it’s a much smaller brand new arena. They won’t sell out next year.

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https://www2.kusports.com/sports/college/basketball-men/2023/feb/16/thanks-mom-kansas-starters-kj-adams-gradey-dick-and-jalen-wilson-learned-a-lot-about-the-game-from-their-talented-basketball-playing-mothers/ ↗

Another good story but according to KJs mom. Apparently he does NOT have a three ball in his game. My bad everyone. I officially retract my prediction that he will shoot more threes next year.

@rockchalkjayhawk said in Thoughts on the Baylor Game:

A little worried about mobility and ankles on our squad. Hoping Kevin and Dejuan are fit enough to not get worked on D. Both were limping pretty good.

Not sure why Juan went back out. He was moving so poorly.

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What's everyone thinking and feeling?

For me I'm pretty confident we win.

A. It's at home
B. We've already lost one home conference game and how often does Bill lose two in a season?
C. Baylor already beat us and how often does Bill get swept?

My concerns are that those baylor guards are really good and with our current defensive philosophy, they can get pretty much any match up they want. Also, the guards are good enough to play one on one which is a style that doesn't necessarily lend itself to us turning them over a ton. Harris and Kev are both questionable in how effective they are going to be though I know both have said they will be ready. Baylor has one of the best offenses in the country so I could see this turning into a shoot out.

Overall, I think we win one of those classic saturday afternoon gameday games 89-82 with that 7 point margin being as big of a lead as anyone has all game.

Pretty good! Can't seem to find them on my podcast app though. Is this their only episode?

@drgnslayr I’d add that we still haven’t seen a ton of defensive wrinkles this year as we often have in the past. How many times have we switched to a zone? Any box and 1? Or my favorite Bill self special, the triangle and two?

He’s certainly done some innovation and reinventing on the defensive side of the ball as well. We switch 5 (a thing I don’t see many other coaches doing). It seems like as you pointed out there are certain games where there’s a bigger emphasis on getting into the passing lanes. He’s also really mixed it up with bringing doubles or not against post feeds. Some determined by personnel. But when those doubles come and where they come from have also been interesting to watch. I’ve also like some small adjustments this team seems to be making within the switch five system. The communication is getting a little better to prevent the worst type of match ups with say Juan or Joe buried behind a 6-10 monster. They’ve been switching on the screen and then switching away from the ball to get one of our bigger guards into the post. Doesn’t happen all the time but something to watch. I think these situations could be contributing to the players playing on the gaps as you mentioned. Guys like Kevin and Jalen are being asked to really anticipate what’s happening and help the helpers helper type stuff. As this progresses I can see our defense really turning it up to end the year as those guys get into the passing lanes and really get a good scout on opposing teams down the stretch.

In my never coached anything more than 7th grade girls basketball mind wonder if there isn’t some box and 1 type defense that could highlight Kevin’s ridiculous anticipation ability. Like he’d be the one outside of the box but his job is just to figure out what the other teams plan is and blow it up. I know it’s not really feasible but I’d love to see what he could do in a freelance type situation.

@jayballer67 I'd love to get an Arizona/Kansas basketball rivalry going. They've been consistently pretty good for quite some time now and we've had some clashes in the tournament. I think both fanbases could get pumped for those games.

@Kcmatt7 Deion would be fun.

I really thought Texas would fall apart with everything going on and they just haven't. I imagine tournament results might be the deciding factor in whether he gets the nod. Gotta at least win 1 or two games.

@wissox the one they threw right to joe as he and his man were running down the sideline was the biggest head scratcher.

@wissox From the article, "Since the final week of the 2019-20 season, Kentucky is 35-31 against other power-conference foes (and is 35-32 if you want to include Gonzaga among the high-major opponents). From the start of the 2020-21 season until now, UK is 5-15 in its last 20 games against teams ranked in the AP Top 25."

Yikes. I think we'd be in meltdown mode as well if places were reversed.

@Jethro It’s been made pretty clear that Joe’s job is to score. That’s what his role off the bench is supposed to be. I’d also hoped he’d had something click I. The last few games where he was aggressive in driving the ball and then taking the open shots as they come. (That’s what Gradey is doing right now).

I think self trusts that joe will pressure the ball on d. But with Bobby out I wonder how joes role and expectations have been shifting. There have been a few times where he is in and Juan is out. But I think in those situations, Kevin is playing more of the point guard role than joe. He’s initiated the offense a bit. But I’d be interested to see more of Joe/Udeh pick n rolls. Maybe that’s still coming.

@BeddieKU23 Totally agree. If we are making comparisons to last year's team, Udeh is the Remy of this year. The guy that comes in off the bench and forces a defense to play differently.

We've all seen, especially with our freshmen, the difference between how players play when they are thinking vs reacting. Having a game changer like Udeh come off the bench forces the defense of the other team to THINK and then they are slow to react.

With Remy/Juan last year, teams would game plan to sag off of Harris and try to force him to be a playmaker/shot maker (something he's definitely improved on this year, especially lately). When Remy subbed in, all of the sudden instead of a guy who was never going to pull up from deep, we have a gunner who isn't afraid to shoot from anywhere. We saw in the tournament (can't remember which game) where a team continued to play Remy the same way they played Harris and got burned.

Adams/Udeh present a similar defensive game plan situation. Adams is fast, athletic and pretty good in space. He love a short roll where he can either pull up for a short jumper, attack space off the dribble, or dish to a cutting wing. Teams have to game plan to stop that or he will go for 15-20 points and get the opposing big into foul trouble and just exude confidence as he bounces all over the court. When Udeh subs in, all of the sudden that short roll is gone. Udeh is going directly to the rim in a hurry and if the defense is slow, off balance, or just too small, someone will throw it up to him and he WILL dunk it on you. Teams can adjust to this but that takes mental effort. We are likely to get easy buckets in that adjustment period (the margin @BeddieKU23 mentioned). Adjust to one guy, ope, here comes the other. How well do you know the scouting report? How fast can you adapt your Pick and Roll Coverages? Do you even have one guy capable of guarding both or do you now have to sub? This team is fun. They may not win it all because that takes a lot of luck if we are all honest. But I do think they can make some noise here and March and if they get lucky, still be playing in April.

Thanks again to the February Surpise.

@BShark said in Chef Dick vs Conference Traitors Game Thread:

Feels like the game has really slowed down for Udeh lately. Hoping he has turned a corner there. The fact that we really didn't change anything defensively from the stuff we run with KJ is remarkable for a guy Udeh's size. Did a great job moving his feet.

I’d argue the stuff is just enough different to be dangerous. The roll off the pnr is just enough different with kj running short rolls to give him space to make a play and Udeh rim running that it has to be tough for opposing defenders to manage the different coverages they need to run to stop each KU bigs strengths. Add Harris really attacking those things to score right now and JWill and Gradey both being reliable outside shooters and we get real tough to guard for a full 40 minutes.

I’m liking that we don’t have interchangeable pieces but rather players with a variety of strengths that make scouting an issue. With Joe, Udeh, and maybe Rice, off the bench, we have guys that CHANGE the game when they come in, not just keep it going.

@BShark said in Triage Hawks vs Fightin Rodney Terrys Game Thread:

@Eric-san said in Triage Hawks vs Fightin Rodney Terrys Game Thread:

Didn't get to watch the game so I'm watching highlights and I can't stop watching that Gradey Dick juke, step back 3. Breaking ankles not once but twice. All made possible by his aggressive driving to the basket on previous possessions.

If you'd like to.

:handshake:

Think this account will post the OU game? Missed it and don’t know a good way to get a CBS replay.

@Kcmatt7 That's my thought as well. I do think KJ might be able to play some bully ball similar to Wilson on drives just without the shot to back it up. My secret hope is that KJ has a serviceable jumper that he just hasn't shown yet. I know it's a long shot.

Anyone know why West Virginia is so high on KenPom? I know its computers and formulas and what not, but like how does that happen? 15????

Also, @Kcmatt7 I see them at #9 right now and WE are 12th.

@AsadZ I thought it was 12:00.

@rockchalkjayhawk said in Triage Hawks vs Fightin Rodney Terrys Game Thread:

Well, the big question:

Is this the rotation we can expect moving forward? Will Joe and MJ continue to get minutes where they can show results?

I'd be fine with most of that. We still need a guy who can get us into our offense when Dajuan is out. Joe had a good game, but he's not that guy. Glad to see him have success on the offensive side of things for sure though. Is that a good trade off? we do need a guy who can make things happen with individual effort at times.

I think the thought was that Kevin could be that guy with Bobby out. While joe is definitely not that guy, he can at least get buy his man and get to the hoop WITHOUT running offense so there’s that.

I made a comment in the game thread about someone being missing when we had back to back possessions where it got late in the shot clock with nothing going on offense. Those were the few minutes Juan was on the bench.

@BShark Totally agree. Both were clearly READY.

@BShark The production isn't necessarily stable but the energy should be.

@wissox said in Triage Hawks vs Fightin Rodney Terrys Game Thread:

@BShark What does "paint touch off the bounce" mean? He mentions it in that article.

Someone got at least one foot into the paint by driving the ball.

@drgnslayr Gradey was certainly a more effective driver than we've seen from him up to this point. He was getting his shoulders passed guys and then attacking the rim. If he can develop that quick rip and go, it can only free up even more open threes for him.

@Texas-Hawk-10 While you are technically right about Kansas not controlling its own destiny, I do feel like many have said that essentially we do. It’s a fairly solid bet that if KU wins out or even drops one more game (as long as it’s not at Texas) this team will either win or share the big 12 title.

Beating the first place team to keep them from going two games up was huge. It also showed that when this team plays with energy, they can beat a high level team. They didn’t have to shoot the ball well from three. They didn’t need jalen to go for 25.

So I think the injuries might have actually helped us this game. Everyone who played knew going into the game they’d have an important role to play and had to be ready to step up. Udeh, Yesefu, and MJ, all had very good games compared to how they’d been playing (Udeh less so as he’s had some earlier breakouts). If this team figures out that these guys are the 8 we are going to run with that could be huge for confidence down the stretch. Sucks for the guys dealing with injuries but it’s February. March is around the corner and we are a game back in the big 12 race. Now is when it doesn’t matter if your feelings get hurt. It’s what’s best for the team. I still don’t think MJ is better than Bobby when Bobby is healthy but Bobby just can’t trust his legs not to give out on him. And for the first time in a LONG time, MJ made himself playable. He was engaged and energetic. Hopefully there’s enough good tape out there to show him what it takes now. I know a lot of folks are hoping he’s our March surprise but I think it’s really Udeh that will have the big impact if we end up making a run. He’s so long and athletic that he changes the game off the bench. That’s what can make a team so hard to play against when they play one way and that can be successful and then all of the sudden as you start to adjust, boom, the game changes. Udeh is the boom.

And joe has a little boom in him too. He was finally more than a chucker tonight (though he still chucked). Great to see.

Lol. He didn’t touch him.

@BShark said in Triage Hawks vs Fightin Rodney Terrys Game Thread:

Regular foul imo, just looked bad.

Sounded bad.

Put MJ back on Timmy. That’ll shut him up.

Give that guy a t. Good lord.

@wissox said in Triage Hawks vs Fightin Rodney Terrys Game Thread:

Kev got pushed in the back on that play, the guy even tapped him on the back saying sorry Kevin. But alas, no call

I thought they called the foul.

I do think I heard self poking joe on hawk talk saying he didn’t like contact.

@Zabudda said in Triage Hawks vs Fightin Rodney Terrys Game Thread:

Two circus hoops by TU

Garbage.

@Kcmatt7 he has a burst.

I feel like someone is missing on the floor right now.

What a move to keep Gradey and MJ on Allen all game.