some of the turnovers are crap calls by the officials... but we have not helped ourselves
bskeet
4171 posts
Ya know, it really helps to finish strong.
yeah. Officials have allowed for a pretty physical game.
Grimes hustle is very very good news.
how can we not get a ball to Vick at the end. He hits a high percentage of contested long shots..
fugly
we are our own worst enemy.
WTF
yes. We have a lot of long rebounds -- both offensive and defensive
yes. We have a lot of long rebounds -- both offensive and defensive
yes. We have a lot of long rebounds -- both offensive and defensive
Passing is not our strength.
sigh
stop the turnovers and we might have a decent chance.
The chop block on D Lawson that was called a travel showed me all I need to know about how this game will be called.
This is going to be a very frustrating game.
No ESPN+ for me. They lost a viewer. Had to follow the game through this fine channel.
@mayjay I don't think that's it because there are other very successful players who had parents that were professional athletes.
I don't know what the issue is with Wigs. He looks like he needs a new environment.
any update on DeSousa?
@approxinfinity RE halftime adjustment -- that's a really good theory.
He's conservative -- managing fouls and such -- in the first half.
Big Clyde52 said:
@ I just do not believe this team is as good as last years. We lost three terrific shooters, two of which were senior leaders. We have none of that kind of fire power now, except for Vick going off occasionally. DLawson is trying to fill the gap lately. Just my opinion.
I feel the urge to agree. However, I have to catch myself and try to consider how to make a fair assessment. Here are some things I think are influencing my evaluation:
1) Last year's team had Silvio and Doke. They are still on this team, but neither is playing. If they play, the team would be better. If/when they do, both have a year more experience than last year.
2) I am using current data against the team that finished strong with a conference and regional final championship. It's still just December. Trying to remember how the team was last year about this time. We were relying pretty heavily on Graham and Svi. Newman was a non-factor until conference, IIRC.
3) The vacancies were filled by less experienced players, but with ceilings as high or possibly higher. Dotson is not Graham, but seems to have found a groove already. His performance as a freshmen has been impressive, but no where near as potent offensively as Graham.
4) Vick is much more lethal than last year, shooting better than anyone I can recall since Terry Brown and Ron Kellogg. Not sure if he completely fill's Svi's shoes as a slasher, and certainly not as a defender, but there is room for improvement. Vick's athleticism continues to amaze. That bodes well for some moment in the future when he decides to play lock-down defense.
5) DLawson is unlike anyone we had last year.
6) Garrett and Lightfoot are a year older and both seem improved.
This team is less experienced as a group, less consistent and not as strong defensively as the team last year. And it's short-handed.
But the deficiencies are things that could be resolved through the season and, in almost every category, we could be better.
So we're not yet better, but this team could be better than a final four team, and that's encouraging to me.
Short version: glass is half full.
Crimsonorblue22 said:
@bskeet I've never been to a post season game.
Hmm.. this could explain some things!
Crimsonorblue22 said:
I’m undefeated in AFH
Let's put you on a bus in March, like the 88 team did with bus driver..
Add another game to the chart for Coach Self.
tundrahok said:
@SlickRockJayhawk He's apparently giving the post-season message now.
"I think the guys, if they can kind of play with more freedom mentally then we’ll play better."
http://www2.kusports.com/news/2018/dec/09/ku-coach-bill-self-seeking-mental-freedom-toughnes/ ↗
Perhaps he is preparing for Villanova the way he prepares for a tournament game..?
The chart shown here will captivate you for a long, long time.
But this is just another piece of evidence that reinforces what a HOFer Bill Self is.
He is world class.
wrwlumpy said:
@jayhawkcsg mn singular. Yes. I debated whether or not that was real. Like, 'Here they are, the Kansas Jayhawk."
History on that -- Stanford used to be the Indians. They changed the name in the early 70s primarily in deference to Native Americans.
They simply used their color -- Cardinal Red -- as the name. They don't have an official mascot, but they do have a person in a Tree suit, which is sort of a mascot.
My daughter has several classes in high school with the #1 ranked women's basketball recruit who committed to Stanford on Tuesday.
Barney said:
All are a total waste of taxpayer $$
As are the expenses on golf, political campaigning and self-serving extravagancies of Trump. I don’t think we’ve ever had a more self-indulgent president... and he has no hesitation to spend taxpayers’ money.
Would love to see the totals of the investigation next to the money he has burned through since taking office.
Parrish will say anything for clicks.
This was a high quality win. I think we'll look back on this in March and realize that it made a big difference in seeding.
@BShark are you referring to that crazy shot with ZERO arc he hit falling backward?
Both Grimes and Dotson are excellent freshmen. I think they may be the best true freshmen duo since Wiggins and Embiid... not as talented-- and not nearly as impactful as those two were because we don't need them to be given that Vick and D Lawson are seasoned and talented scoring machines. But there wasn't much around Wigs and Embiid. Tarik Black (sr) and Perry Ellis (so) were it.
So I like to think about these freshmen improving throughout the year and becoming more confident with the safety net of Vick, Lawson and Azubuki. It should be a team with a high ceiling as the season winds down.
Whew.. Great win. The team is still putting the pieces together. But good enough to win some big games on big stages. Dotson looked great tonight. Grimes will have his day. Awesome to see D Lawson show what he can do in this tourney. KJ also got some meaningful minutes. And props to Moore who was able to competently manage the game to give others a break. This squad is a work in progress, but what a great bunch of raw parts.
Lots of weapons on this team. They can win playing a variety of styles.
What would Jaybate say?
I think he would say that Self has them playing things they aren't comfortable with.. Bad Ball or something like that. He's running a system that the new guys aren't familiar with and they are all getting used to.. so it looks ugly. Except for the two guys who know the system well-- Dok and Vick. Self uses these games to practice sets and teach, not for points in a beauty contest.
He plays it a bit differently based on the competition. But he usually finds the right combination to win.
Self uses the early season games as a crucible to mold the skills and mindset necessary later in the year.
.
.
Actually, @jaybate-1-0 would write a lot more than that... with some conspiracy theory and metaphysical thoughts thrown in for good measure... But it's a start.
Where art thou Jaybate?
I am going to give some respect to this year's coaching staff for taking a large, smoking heap of ash four years ago and getting it to this point. That is not easy.
Sure, we need a new staff to build on this and take it to a championship level. But Beaty, Bowen and co. did something positive for the program after several predecessors left it in ruins.
Also-- the way they have handled this situation is respectable. They have been professional and continued to do their job. They haven't quit and they haven't let the team quit.
It's tragic that the folks who rejected the traditional republican and democrat candidates because of their alleged corruption chose to support a candidate every bit as corrupt. Hard to believe we can't find a decent person who can compete against the dregs for the presidency. How dysfunctional is our election process that the scum rises to the top?
@Lulufulu I lived there for a couple years. I have fond memories of Nectars and their fries and gravy -- poutine -- not exactly a midwestern dish.
I'll back you up on the music scene: I saw Blues Traveler play in a small bar in downtown Burlington in about 1990.
justanotherfan said:
Vick is a streaky shooter as opposed to a pure shooter. Vick can definitely hit 4 or 5 in a game, but he also may go 0-7. He can go through long hot or cold stretches. That makes it tough to rely on him as a floor spacer because he can go cold for a while.
That has nothing to do with his concentration. He just isn't a pure shooter like Svi. Pure shooters (the Reggie Miller's, Ray Allen's of the world) don't really go hot and cold. They can get hot, but they don't really go cold and missed tons of shots in a row.
Streak shooters run hot and cold. These are guys like JR Smith. They can really get going and hit a bunch of shots in a row, but they can also struggle and go on a long slump.
Svi is one of the former. Vick is one of the later. In high school I had a teammate that was a pure shooter. He could get hot, but he was consistent. I was more of a streak shooter. I could get going and knock in a few in a row, but wasn't going to knock down shots like that every single night.
Maybe Vick read your comment and got some motivation from it.
Vick is way better than the scouts gave him credit... but this extra year is a gift because he can use it to get his head into the game properly. Tonight he showed what he is capable of.
I don't think we would have won this game had Vick not returned.
As for the big guys -- my take is that Self wanted to send a message with Doke playing more than 30 min. This is my complete conjecture, but I think he was sending a message to some member(s) of the officiating team who may be in the circulation for refs in post season. They nailed Doke for traveling twice early, so they were watching him closely. Self gave them plenty of opportunities to see him do his thing. I think it was a 'game within the game' move.
Given the paucity of championship teams that are willing to meet with the president, it's interesting that any team got through the door.
Maybe a little curious that the team that did was WSU...
Trump may have some severe incompetencies, but he's brilliant in other categories.
Critics and followers often try to boil him down to something simple; I think he's actually a pretty complex person.
BeddieKU23 said:
Grimes shot around 40% from 3 last year in HS and through all the extra's he played in. Vitale labeling him as streaky really wasn't the smartest of words to use. He's a scorer. He will score and struggle at times, all players do, nobody is perfect every game and very few are not streaky. Mechanically his shot looks good and as long as he gets his feet set he'll make a good amount of shots for this team. A few of his misses looked good, a few of his misses he wasn't set and was off. I was happy he was aggressive looking for his shot. We haven't even seen his midrange or his ability to get to the hoop and make floaters and those 6-8 footers. He's got it all in his arsenal
Good point.
Clay Thompson is streaky.
If Q is streaky like that, I'll take it.
BShark said:
bskeet said:
If Grimes and D Lawson turn out to be our top two scorers, who will be #3 for the season?
My money would be on Doke but this will be very interesting to watch unfold.
Yeah, he was my first thought too. If so, he will have to get even better from the FT line.
At the end of the game, a team that's down single digits will happily trade 1 point for another possession where they can get 2 or 3.
Last night's ending was too familiar and reminded me why Silvio was so valuable to the team.
If Grimes and D Lawson turn out to be our top two scorers, who will be #3 for the season?
Best thing I saw all night was rebounding.
Second best thing I saw was confidence.
Worst thing I saw was taking the foot off the throat.
@KUSTEVE Fair point!
@mayjay Very well stated.
And Kavanaugh's tenure begins with some eerie parallelism.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/us/politics/supreme-court-death-penalty-kavanaugh.html ↗
“Are you saying,” he asked a lawyer for the state, “even if the method creates gruesome and brutal pain you can still do it because there’s no alternative?”
The lawyer, D. John Sauer, did not immediately give a direct response, and Justice Kavanaugh pressed him. “Is that a yes?” Justice Kavanaugh asked.
“Yes, it is, Your Honor,” Mr. Sauer said.
While we are on the subject of east coast bias (which extends far beyond ESPN), my prediction is that Duke will be #1 in the next poll, despite the fact that we won as well.