🏀 KuBuckets Archive

I love to see others in here scream about fundamentals. I sometimes feel alone doing that and like I'm pestering the readers with my stickler behavior.

My two biggest pet peeves are:

1. Sealing off the boards

2. Properly hedging (on the ball, off the ball... all of it)

Both of my peeves are about positioning. Nothing about athleticism. It's all about being mentally involved in the game.

I still watch NBA, especially the playoffs, because sometimes I get to see a little bit of the fundamentals at work, though less all the time.

@mayjay

I hear you.

I didn't mention the fans' superstitions. Then we talk politics. If a coach doesn't adjust to "hotness" the fans will bark. I can poke fun at all this... including myself and my lucky KU t-shirt I save only for Final Fours...

HEM has his math down. He's right in logic. I just don't believe we face teams coached up well enough to stay totally disciplined to a logical strategy. If Big Mac pops 2 or 3 mid range shots with ease, I'm pretty sure some (or most) of his defenders will start guarding him tighter out there.

The game of basketball is largely a game of superstition. We all know teams get hot and they get cold. Why? I think it is largely because teams play into their own superstitions. When they come out in a blaze, they tend to think they will stay hot. Confidence tends to help them play better. When cold... usually, deep down, they will question their ability to warm up and we all know players tend to continue to play bad if they are down in the dumps.

That "superstition" translates on the defensive end, too. Defenders start buying in that a guy is hot when he nails a couple or three shots.

Part of my intrigue with this game is the superstition. Guys 'believing' and then playing to their very immediate beliefs. I can't think of any other sport with so much superstition. And it is superstition.

Coaches totally buy in to superstitions, too. We can all recall coaches who watch a guy nail a shot or two that he shouldn't have taken, then the coach will sometimes even encourage him to keep taking the same shot.

@BigBad

Well... imagine being a fan of UCLA when they were winning all those titles. I bet they became spoiled rotten!

No chance of that happening here! ha...

But seriously, winning a National Championship takes so many things going right at the same time, including good fortune.

I dream about titles... but I just try to enjoy every season, every game. Maybe I'm just old! But I have learned to enjoy the moment because eventually there won't be moments left.

I'm sending you some good holiday energy! It's up there in the clouds now awaiting for you to grab it! Take good care, my friend!

@BigBad

I always appreciate your posts.

I think anytime Self can score points in the paint with a guy shooting 70whatever % like Doke, he is going to take advantage of it.

At this stage, it's like football. Early in the season it's best to just establish whatever part of the offense that you can. The opposing defense starts feeding off that and it opens up other opportunities. In our case, for now pound the ball low, especially on small teams.

It's best we don't push the trey ball until our offense is established as a low post offense. Give our guards time to feel comfortable in the system and ease their way into a solid shooting % from trey.

You can't expect this team to bomb the trey like some of our other past teams.. where we were stocked with deep ball gunners and didn't have a post presence.

For now, it is best we pound the ball in the paint (as long as we can be successful) and sprinkle in some treys... hopefully at a respectable success %.

What I do know about this team... Self wants them to feed the post, but he hasn't restricted his guards from taking open trey shots. That's not going to happen.

@stoptheflop

One of our biggest chip carriers this year is Self himself!

Self wants to challenge these guys. Letting Dayton play it their way was the way we were going to get their best shot. We need to be challenged or we will be mediocre at best. We witnessed "the chip" in this one... on display.

I think our guys grew up just a bit in one night. A couple of them may have even sprouted whiskers! (ha)

What no one can argue is the fact that we grew more in this game than in any previous game this year, including the Duke disaster.

I could see us lose to Colorado at home on the 7th. Having all this time and after riding such a high from a game that was more like war than basketball... How we gonna be up for the Buffs? Well you can believe Self thought of that already, probably before departing the island.

Will this team be a "Jekyll / Hyde" team? Time will tell. I'm outta here to go watch the Dayton game again. #4!

I mentioned weeks ago that all three of our massive bigs were like locomotion engines. Slow to start, but eventually will pick up speed. Doke and DMac are starting to pickup momentum. Silvio is behind, but he has the least experience.

I know we all think the 4 guard offense is the inevitable. But I'm not so sure Self thinks it is over (running two bigs). I think he just thinks it will take some time to build something that works. And Silvio has to bring his game along to speed up. I'm like everyone else and am skeptical if these guys will learn how to guard the perimeter. But then... all our bigs are improving at a fast clip. Maybe we shouldn't be so skeptical and should just let Self do his thing!

@Gorilla72

Yes. You are losing your mind.... along with all of us. We are all crazy after watching that Dayton game. Dot was nuts in his finishes at the rim. Doke was nuts with his 5-foot finishes, break away slams, and 3 smooth FTs. Marcus was nuts with his game of "lotta bit of everything." DMac was nuts doing everything he isn't supposed to know how to do. All our new guys... nuts... for pitching in their part.

We beat a talented team that came in jacked up and hot. All that and it wasn't enough. I can't think of many games like this where we left with the win. I'm nuts. Or giddy.

@HighEliteMajor

I'm thinking in the abstract... How do we make room for Silvio? Once he gets up to speed and can contribute significantly... how do we use him?

I think of it like how we used the zone last night. That zone is what saved us from probably losing the game. It allowed us to get back in the game and it set Dayton back on their heels until they beat it with the long ball in the corners. It's great to see Self is willing to use some zone.

Sometimes we run something that won't be the ultimate answer but will throw teams off for awhile. I think Silvio will give us that option when he speeds up. He also offers us depth in the post. Teams are going to attack Doke all year, trying to get him in foul trouble.

Doke impressed me in this game in several ways. He executed his best game as a Jayhawk. And except for when he wagged his finger at the Flyer and his 5th foul, he showed solid poise in this game. His effectiveness is all about him maintaining emotional control. And after his early foul trouble, he settled down. Even hit FTs. What we saw from him on the line should be more common in the future because his FT shooting is the product of where he is concerning emotional control.

Happy Gobble Gobble to all of you!

I'm starting to see it. Self is tweaking down this offense with plays and teaching his guys what to do with the rock.

We don't have the guns from trey like we've had with other teams, but we should end up a respectable trey shooting team.

What we do have is several players that can drive and finish at the rim.

The Dayton game showed me what I think will be part of the Riverboat Gambler's hand for this season; it's a hybrid hi/lo - dribble drive motion offense! Brilliant!

I see some elements that remind me of Memphis in 2008, with Rose at the point. Except we've got Doke.

I'm very excited to see how this team is coming around and thinking this may be the most-entertaining team to watch in a long, long time!

Marcus was spectacular, and no way we win this game without him. Loved that late basket he made by reversing under the goal. It didn't look like there was room.

We are starting to value his experience.

HEM is right concerning always keeping a 3-pt threat on the floor. The difference between a National Champion Kansas team and one that goes home early could easily be a 2% change from trey on Marcus' success rate.

A big help with Marcus is his ability to drive. That can't be over-stressed, and we need drivers almost as bad as we need trey shooting. What we saw in the Dayton game was that we don't need so much space in the paint to score at the rim. Dot is quickly learning how skilled he is at the rim. Marcus is a solid finisher, too. Och is not too far behind these two. Tristan... coming soon!

Even the best teams from trey go cold. You can pray that you don't go cold in March but it's common for that to happen. The fact that we can drive the ball gives us one more area where we can exploit and adjust to when needed.

I'll be keeping that Dayton game on my dvr and will probably watch it a dozen times between now and March. We've gone years where we didn't have games the entire season to match that one. And Dayton... wow! Very gifted and I'll enjoy watching Toppin in the No Boys Allowed league next year! That guy might still grow a couple more inches and wait until he puts on another 20 or 30 lbs of muscle.

I think the Dayton game really showed where Silvio is right now and why he isn't getting more minutes. We played that game at a higher level, and part of that was our "frequency" has turned up. Notice how quick the game moved. This isn't a frequency Silvio is ready to contribute at. That doesn't mean he won't be able to speed up and execute this year. I'm willing to bet he will get "up to speed" eventually. Texas Hawk 10 has been right on when mentioning the lack of experience on this team.

Silvio is gifted and he is gifted in a different way than our other bigs, but it isn't going to show until he can come in and execute at this frequency.

@HighEliteMajor

My fears about Och being distracted actually seemed to be the opposite. He's probably been overthinking the game and needed the break to have a fresh start.

At least, I hope this pans out throughout the tourney. And Dot needs to keep establishing himself as the leader of this team.

I hope Och is ready for action. He seems a bit overwhelmed with Hawaii and I wonder if he will be able to focus on basketball. We've had that issue before with players.

This is a good test for Dot. Can he keep his troops focused on basketball?

I'd love to see the match up with Izzo, but we all know the rest has to fall in place first. And there are no automatics in the enchanted land of Hawaii.

@BShark

Believe me, I'm as giddy for Tristan as you are. Seeing him finish those drives to his left... wow... they are so fluid you have to hit the slo mo button just to see them! The kid is a phenom, but we also know what happens to freshman phenoms; sometimes the phenom shows up for games, other times it is the freshman. He's a guy we can almost be sure of him making a major contribution this year, but we will just have to wait and see when it comes to crunch time and I hope we are counting on other players with more experience to carry most of that weight.

I think we all worry a bit too much about this team. It's still November. Breakthroughs tend to come over the Christmas break when the guys get to put extended practice runs in. And then consider that we don't have a real powerful conference this year. Our guys should have plenty of time to get their act together before March.

I hope someone on our coaching staff realizes how to deal with Doke and his FT shooting. It's all in his head. He's been shown form, and he's been given reps using better form. Then he goes to the line and it looks like he's throwing a greasy fish at the goal. It's all about him maintaining emotional control. On the positive... I think someone is addressing this with him now. I still have hopes he will awaken his soul into the present and become a real monster this year including shooting better at the line! Doke has scary potential if he learns to play and live mindfully.

For this team I just hope they learn to play like their starving. It's hard for kids to keep a chip going all year. So hard to say what is best for them at this stage... maybe losing! Izzo sure knows how to play that card!

@BShark

Scary.... hope their phone calls aren't being taped by the feds.... :)

BShark said:

@Kcmatt7 yeah I was just trying to further your point.

Two of our best guards this year in Moss and Agbaji were not RSCI top 100. Another issue to me is KU recruits esp when really lowly rates get a post commitment bump. Hell sometimes the services even scramble to watch and evaluate a kid after KU or another big school even shows interest or offers. I try to factor that in ie Agbaji being sub 300 when KU came sniffing. Garrett being almost unranked etc

Yep. Reminds me of some of the unscrupulous stock market activity.

So suddenly we have one of the best recruiting classes in America... after all our commits get their post KU commitment bounce. Just doesn't play right, now does it?

@Fightsongwriter

It has taken me a few decades to figure this out and actually practice it. And I still have moments of weakness. If you can put it into practice even just a bit, you will see the rewards and it will help you stick with it. Life is too short to get stuck in all the drama. Keep drama in a theater, where it belongs!

Have a great day!

@Fightsongwriter

I just don't let anyone get my goat. I deal with quite a few people who by anyone's standards would be judged as rude. I'm at the point where I don't even sense rudeness.

I think by floating above the fray you become invincible and you remove power away from those who intentionally use rudeness to gain power.

I have humility. I know I've been rude plenty of times in my life. Usually it was situational; felt bad or whatever. So I forgive those who are rude, even if they qualify as being "general schmucks."

The biggest teflon you can have is a sense of humor. Karma is a biatch and for those with intent it always backfires. I merge sadness (why anyone intentionally lives in misery) with joy (seeing karma play out) and I stay balanced through it all. After all, it's someone else's flawed energy, let them keep it!

Soar high, my friend!

@jayballer73

I'm pointing this at you because you need to be recruited in as a comedian in order to even think about free speech! You shouldn't be disliked for speaking freely. But heck, might as well be liked, so make someone smile and then try to borrow as much money as you can from them!

Comedian's Daily Oath

1. Say "Richard Pryor" 100 times every morning before you start your illustrious day!

2. Pay homage to Jaybate for blessing us with his wit and ability to sneak out of here like he was sneaking out of town.

3. At least once a year, travel to Manhattan and Columbia and clog a public toilet with crimson and blue anything.

4. Realize that no one is ever going to give you that ultimate respect you thought you deserved, so furgettaboutit and be satisfied making them smile once in a while. Anyways, it will go further with people... being respected is now officially BORING! (ask my kids)

5. Wear a pink speedo at your next pool party. Thankfully, that probably won't happen for another half a year so feel free to work on your physique for 6 months. Physique? I meant psyche...

6. Make up anything you like here and do it... you are now FREE for the first time in your life!

But seriously... or not... it's best to keep natives of Wisconsin happy. After all, their mascot name is "Badgers" and I don't think you want to be badgered for the rest of your life! Or deal with the infamous Wisconsin "Karma Kurse"..... choking to death on a chunk of cheese! Where do you think the franchise "Chuck E Cheese" came from?

Teflon... I'm wearing teflon!

BShark said:

You can block people. Makes their posts complete invisible.

Hey! It works! I just blocked Washington DC! No more asinine politics until after the election! ...or better, EVER!

X - Funny

X - Not Funny

I gotsta know!

wissox said:

See you KUBuckets, it's been real. One person here wrecks it for me. I'll check back in 6 months see if it's any better. I'll miss ya'll, but.....It's just not worth it.

You better not leave. I might have to come up there to Wisconsin with my hunting dog and sniff you out! It doesn't get pretty after that!

I'm a comedian now so I can say whatever I want! Damn! Never felt this free before! Maybe someday I can actually say something hilarious and earn my badge!

Seriously... for my sanity, stick around and just be you!

@wissox

I hear you on the "etiquette" in sports... which translates to "political correctness" in the rest of our lives.

What I find a real "head scratcher" is the PC crowd throws fits about things that aren't politically correct, when it isn't politically correct to throw fits about political correctness.

The politically correct way to acknowledge when someone isn't following political correctness is to "raise your eyebrows up and down, either one or two times."

It seems like the only time we are allowed to discuss political correctness is through comedians, since they have a free pass on what they can say or do.

With the powers invested in me (from myself), and through the powers granted by this forum (cough cough), I hereby ordain each and every participant in this form as official comedians! You are all free to smack anyone else on side the verbal helmet as thy shall wish!

!officialcomedian.jpg ↗

Wear this badge with honor. Or not!

"If you get one chance in your life to dunk and talk shit at Allen Fieldhouse, you gotta just go for it. You only live once."

It's all such nothingness. We need to stay away from the PC etiquette stuff. In this case, P ost C arnage! We gutted this team like a walleye.

It's hard to judge a player by just looking at a few highlight tapes. But from what I see in those Latrell has all the right components to be a great PG for us. The question will be if he can translate his game to D1, and more, to elite D1? I like how Latrell looks on his drives.... under control. That's something that takes basketball IQ and self confidence. We've had many guards that never figured this out or it took until their senior season. I'm thinking right away of Tyshawn. Latrell will be challenged on his current drives if he stays at this level in D1. I hope he can then step up his game to conquer in D1 while still maintaining his composure. We shall see. Meanwhile.... Welcome to Jayhawk land, Latrell!

Does anyone know if it's legal to dropkick FTs? ;)

High talent and moving up quickly, class guy and family.... Bryce is a major catch! Welcome to Jayhawk land, Bryce!

Doke has focusing issues. His mind is all over the place while on the court. I recently mentioned how his emotions go wild. He knows better than to shoot those woofballs but he doesn't execute. Doke should always have a teammate tell him a trigger word right before he shoots a FT. Doke should receive hypnotism to trigger off that word. From that day forward, Doke will shoot in the high 60s or so.

Strictly having him focus, shooting decent form, and not be full of anxiety.... I will guarantee he shoots high 60s or better!

This is friggin' nuts!

@kjayhawks

I always dream of us playing somewhere between Self ball and Roy ball.

Yeah, Roy likes to run and that will bring a lot of points, but it cost us a bunch of points, too. Our guys would get so used to running they wouldn't even secure the boards or think to defend all the way through the possession. Those were some sloppy years. And I'm glad they are over.

And with Bill, we focus so much on stopping scoring and securing rebounds we never send our guys out on a run out. We've got some bigs that can outlet real quick now and it would be crazy if we don't take advantage of it! Just make sure they are coached to not throw TOs!

I think Sam is with a team that is a better fit for him. Also, maybe coach, too. I'm not slamming anything about our team and coach, but just making point that every player is unique and will perform better in a situation that better suits him.

We never know how players are going to work out until they are here. Look at how many players transfer these days. Maybe that partially relates to players looking for a better fit.

I'm pumped to see Sam do what he did and he did it against a bunch of high ranked players in Lexington. The word on him while he was in Lawrence was that he was a better player than we experienced on the court.

Still focusing on trash talk. Nothing about the fact that Kansas will be appealing whatever the NCAA decides and might even litigate their current threat.

I live in a neighborhood shaded with huge oak trees. I wait it out on raking until other neighbors get started because otherwise I'm the guy who has to rake up most of the leaves in the neighborhood because of the wind.

I'm anxious to go into Morgantown, Ames and Manhattan this year. It's payback time! Guess it will be that at most of the Big 12 venues...

Doke needs better control of his mind. That is the way to solve his FT shooting. He has trouble with his focus because he hasn't harnessed his mind.

He should work on focusing skills. Meditation. Staring at a candle. Learn to strip out everything but one idea. Then that one idea masters his FT shooting.

And while he's at it, he can better keep his emotions in the right place during a game.

@HighEliteMajor

I totally agree. It's an easy solution and one where we have the right personnel to accomplish it.

I'm thinking Self is just trying to prove to himself (first) that he tried gallantly to keep the M2M. We will see how many games we have to be burned on the perimeter before the change takes place.

I want to see if our coaches can actually "coach up" our guys to fix this. There is no reason why we can't quickly be respectable on defense guarding the trey even from the 4 spot using a M2M.

I can see us using the zone and M2M. And it is good to be able to mix things up. Then there will be some opponents with small, fast 4s who can drain the nets from trey. With those teams we might just start with the zone and keep it all game.

It does feel like we are maybe placing too much energy in this area where we could make fast gains in a zone and then spend that extra time working on an offense that is in shambles. Losing to Duke by 2 is not the end of the world but our first home game, only winning by 12 against a team far below us was the real "eye opener."

@kjayhawks

Yep. But there are some structural issues with this team at the 4. Remember when the Morris twins arrived, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize we would be counting on their perimeter game more than anything else. We don't have that luxury here. We have 3 low posts guys. I do see some hope for David. And who knows, maybe Silvio. The guys have to practice the perimeter and then we will see how it goes.

@Texas-Hawk-10

You did get ridiculed for mentioning the lack of experience.

Yes, we have two 4s that have a similar game with neither developing much range. I'm more focused on them learning to guard the perimeter. They can learn to do plenty besides developing an outside shot.

Because of their limitations and I know Self will want to utilize them, I see this team having to run a more rigid offense, counting often on plays and variants.

I'm a big fan of Tristan. I see possibilities for him to gobble up quite a few minutes this year, and rightly so. Just wish he was stronger.

The game has changed since Self arrived at Kansas. Size has been traded for mobility, diversity and shooting. And because everyone else has gone this route, Self is forced to, too... or we pay the consequences. Notice how we aren't really dominating the boards. It really isn't necessary to have size if players seal off the boards.

@Texas-Hawk-10

Yes, showing lots of inexperience.

I think Silvio will show a lot more as the season progresses. He's playing extremely soft right now and his game is strength.

David has shown more so far because he is hustling more. And he is showing a bit more range.

We don't run anything through a 2 post offense yet. These games closer resemble a YMCA lunch ball game than a D1 game.

I'm curious if Self goes back to early Self ball... hi lo where he often split the post, left and right.

I expect him to develop some form of hybrid, taking a bit of everything from his past to combine and create offense.

So far we sure look better with just one big. Neither of our 4s are true 4s and then they don't know what to do out there because we haven't plugged in an offense.

Resolving the 4 may be our biggest hurdle this year.

Lots of second guessing done by all, but I think those who questioned if Marcus belongs on the floor have now gone silent. He's a solid defender, overall scraper, and, for now, is the only player that seems to know how to take it to the rack. Devon will penetrate more as things are resolved and he is running at full strength.

Tony is the master of BAD BALL!

His defense sparkles even when taking the air out of the ball. Most teams focusing on defense push some tempo to try to speed up the other teams' offense. Doesn't matter for Tony. His guys are individually coached on how to defend and then also on how to defend as a team. No gimmicks necessary, just good ol' technique!

I would take him all day long if he wanted to come to Kansas.

I'm humble. I just hope we win. I'm not looking past anyone this year.

I find it unlikely we lose, but I find it probable we show signs of struggle because we are still completely lost out there (as a team).

I know many will point to Devon. He is our PG and definitely one of our leaders, if not at the top. But he isn't going to really shine until he is completely healed up and the team is learning how to space and screen and coordinate timing. Devon needs help to shine!

It seems nuts to me. Isn't Memphis risking their season X'd from the books? I see Penny and Memphis being a short relationship and then we will be back in Memphis snagging talent again.

I'm pretty sure he'll go for the medical RS. Hard to see a plus in this except that he'll age a year in our system. He should keep all 4 years intact. He should heal up well from this. Tough break. Wish the best for him...

@BeddieKU23

Forgot about the Agbaji foul. I was thinking he drew an offensive foul on Devon, too.

Devon just needed a few plays where he changed driving direction suddenly and go right into Tre without lowering his shoulder or swinging his arms. Then "sell the call" too.

I put more blame on everyone else not reacting to the pressure. Devon didn't exactly have anyone open to pass it to while he was being pestered by Tre.

What ever happened to Jaybate? Did he get offended and leave? I miss his artful wit.

@BeddieKU23

Nice reference to Nova. That should help you and others (and me) with perspective.

I think we can safely say that very few of our teams ever could really handle big defensive pressure.

In a perfect world where teams are coached up to some degree these teams prefer to be hit with pressure because it creates an abundance of opportunities to exploit.

Here is the most-basic exploit. Devon had lots of trouble with Tre's defense including when he got nailed for an offensive foul that was almost converted to a flagrant. Tre is well-coached and he leads with his face. Simple solution here. Devon works on drawing fouls. Devon learns how to create situations where Tre overplays him then he drives right into him to draw fouls. He could have done that at least a dozen times in this game. Do this twice in a game and usually the defender gets it and backs off or foul trouble is coming.

None of our guys know the first thing about drawing fouls nor the advantage it creates by demanding spatial respect. Gosh... this is really basic basketball. This should be covered a few times during one week of practice then the guys should be reminded in heavy pressure games to apply it. So so basic. In this game, we would have quickly ended Duke's heavy pressure. We could have done the same thing in that Nova loss.

What we don't do is counter tactics used by other teams. We will call time outs and then come back out and do the same thing. We did have a brief moment in the second half where we played more of our ball and we created our lead.

From my own experience, I was coached on things like drawing fouls and sometimes a coach would tell me to draw fouls, so I drew fouls and the games changed. It's like playing chess and countering an attack. We should have these things coached into our players so we can counter off this. Most of the readers in here remember some of my old posts on all the different fakes. Without this very basic education in basketball we will always be vulnerable to teams who can bring big time pressure.

@BeddieKU23

Gosh, imagine if we had a 4 who could bomb the trey? Sure would help out Doke!

I think we can build plenty of offense and have a chunk of it work through Doke, even if we play two bigs. Simple.... use Silvio and David to set screens for our guards. Then have them cut to the basket and crash the offensive glass! Just being effective at that suddenly makes our big 4s a real plus instead of how they are used now, just clogging up space. We should never stick one of our big 4s on the perimeter unless he is setting screens because that allows our opponent to play us 5 on 4 since neither of our bigs is a threat from the outside.

This really isn't rocket science and I get frustrated watching our guys play like this is complicated. Teach them the basics... that's all we need. But this gets to my one big complaint; development. Focus coaching a bit more on coaching and perhaps less on recruiting. It's frustrating to watch all the talent we get playing out there without being coached up enough. I'd rather watch a little less personal talent who is coached more.

@nuleafjhawk

I think last year sums it up. Weren't we undefeated until he went down? Granted, we had some powder puff games in there... but.

I'm sure you and I could sit down and write out a long list of Doke's faults and we would totally agree. But what we can't take away from him is his presence. He has a big presence and he makes other teams adjust their game. That is huge.

This game wasn't exactly any kind of barometer for the season because it was our first real game. I can't believe they push this series up to being first. Back when they were a bit later so teams played a few real games first really made a big difference in the quality of the games. By making it the first game of the season they sort of make a mockery out of the top 4 teams who play.

BeddieKU23 said:

Enaruna should become a big time player for us, hopefully we will see some of that this year. It's about keeping him aggressive because he has the skill set. I think we will see a much improved player after the new year.

And we can use him in spot detail at the 4 if we can't get our bigs to guard the perimeter but he really doesn't have the strength. This is a better assignment a year or two from now after he puts on some muscle.

I'm going to be shocked if Silvio and David can't learn to guard the perimeter. It's easy peasy. Just get out there and stick a hand in their face and go straight up. Don't get caught having to make up space as they are going up or you are going to foul. If they drive the ball get out of the way and let someone close on him, preferably Doke. What we want to see is 4's driving to the lane. This is where we teach some guys how to take a charge. Just watch how Tre Jones did it. He's been very well coached on it. You stick your face into the ball handler. Face/head are completely off limits for contact and even though you may be out of position and coming in late, any time a defender gets clocked the foul goes on the ball handler. None of our guys knows this or practices this. This is where coaching comes in.

And then there is the high ball screen. Come on. We were taught to defend that in junior high. There are two good clips on KUSports showing how we got beat on the perimeter. One on a ball screen, the other where Hurt faked the drive on David and he immediately went backwards, like he had to stop the drive. Really poorly played on both plays. Shouldn't be like that in D1. Players should know better already. Actually, it was Dotson who screwed up on the ball screen by going over the top and then continued to fail by following the ball handler, leaving Hurt wide open.