Question to everyone: when you have stoic players, like Hunter, who donāt know how to express enthusiasm, does that make our entire team more stiff and less confident on their shots?
I believe the answer is yes.
I donāt know what is in Hunterās heart. I suspect he feels enthusiasm but has a hard time expressing it. Maybe some of his teammates can help him with that. Could be a very fun thing to practice and I feel sure would help lift the team and promote confidence!
It goes without sayingā¦ having players like Juan and KJ restrict recruiting because players know those two chew up PT. So it makes them just that more important to this team to play to their potential. Juan continues to tick up his ppg. But his play looks more inconsistent because Self is using him different. We often now run what Self calls āpositionlessā offense. I donāt really understand what heās doing. Our spacing in recent games looks atrocious. Part of that is KJ and his threatless presence to score even as the defense gives him wide open 12 footers. We had a better offense when he consistently hit 3 or 4 of those midrange floaters. Now he canāt make them if his life depends on it. Itās like the rest of our pathetic Trey ball shooting. For whatever reason, our guys feel no shooting confidence any longer ( except ZEKE) !
If suddenly our guys felt confident and start shooting 35+% from trey our offense will flow again. It would help if we could get Hunter to play more effective in the paint to help sink in defenses. Heās just putting along hoping KJ will start hitting midrange shots again.
Our offense is very specific and rigid. No one drives except Zeke so no FTs or other benefits like drive and kicks. Seems like everyone is afraid to make a mistake!
I like Hunter's skill set better than Udeh but feel like Udeh is more enthusiastic and enthusiasm is sometimes a problem with this team.
Iāll say it againā¦ KJ is the guy who holds the keys to this team! If he can keep trending up to near 10 rpg, defends and helps weak side, then regains confidence in that midrange floaterā¦. Heās an enigma when heās on his game because heās so unconventional. But when heās not on his game heās a liability and a big ineffective donut hole on this team.
Yeahā¦ hard to imagine having the Zuby/Udeh tandem in the paint now! Maybe Self could have run his original hi/lo with those two!
Our running days were with Roy! Had he decided to recruit from the entire country he might have left a bigger legacy in Lawrence!
Just watched Udeh and TCU take down Baylor at Baylor. Udeh went for 18. Canāt believe we let him slip away.
What speaks volumes is the fact that I couldnāt stay awake watching this game. It was as flat as a Dutch pancake.
What happened? I couldnāt stay awake to watch it. BORING!
Guess we won. Doesnāt feel like it and that performance should knock us down a couple notches in the rankings.
ZEKE remains our only alpha player.
Iāve always had my issues with Self, but ultimately, his overall body of work speaks for itself. And Iām not a D1 coach and I donāt attend team practices. Stillā¦ Iāll always be a backseat Jayhawk driver. What bugs me:
Why donāt we come ready to play? We donāt focus on inspiration. This has always been my biggest complaint.
We donāt change up strategies for who we play. Itās our way or we lose. I do think we are finally adapting slightly. Why donāt we learn a real press? Why donāt we learn better fast break offense?
We donāt develop players enough. Our guys usually maintain about the same level of basketball IQ during their stay. Skill levels donāt drastically change either. Strengthening modest, too.
Our guys are soft. Our teams usually are.
I say all of this stuff then 2022 happened and we looked like the best teams in March and we proved it!
HUNT - I read other KU stuff, too. I liked the idea where the rest of Huntās NIL money is based on a performance contract. Heās making his big money in life now. Makes sense. He is way too laid back!
JUAN - Self is playing him off the ball now (2 guard). Seems like heās less focused. I like Shaq and his defense but we need more offense out of the 1-2. If itās not him then Juan needs to score more.
SHAQ - heās still not 100%. Most of it now is psychological. Getting him to feel like he can do more and not get hurt. Iām still hopeful to see more improvements from him.
KJ - heās playing with more intensity and itās a huge help. Now if he can regain his shooting touch from mid range!
Rylan/AJ - essentially we play both a few minutes and hope they add a couple buckets. Not big production and itās a pity because many of us expected more.
Diggy - a smaller version of Rylan/AJ.
Flory - heās inconsistentā¦ but heās a freshman. What is clear is we donāt coach up our bigs.
TEAM - we are capable of killing the best teams or losing to the worst. It all depends on the mindset we bring into games. Hope we peak in Marchā¦ could be exciting. I can just as easy see us go home the first weekend. As far as conference crownā¦ forget it. No way! ISU or Houston. I expect us to finish 3 or 4.
"Itās always the same equation for us in Amesā¦. Can we take care of the ball? Hilton is a tough venue and if we start this game with turnovers and fall behind the temperature in Hilton rises from screaming fans and becomes easy for them to roll us! If we keep it to around 10 total turnovers in the game, we stand a chance. We need to keep Hunter in the low post and space properly."
Hunter was pure awful... very anemic. It's so hard to win when he plays outside the paint. His high ball screens do nothing. He hasn't hit a three in centuries, he has no chance at a rebound, and his strength is in low post scoring, but he allowed himself to get pushed around in this game. Didn't help the refs had some bad calls. His "arm bar" foul was ridiculous. Self should have thrown a fit and drew a technical to see if his guys would wake up.
Our guys came in here feeling sure they were going to lose. It's that kind of game we get from several foes in AFH. I bet we go 10 in a row losses in Ames now. It's already been 3 in a row. The mental conditioning has begun.
KJ didn't have a great game but I give him kudos for bringing effort above the rest... except for Zeke, who was his normal greatness!
Ox knows how to play this. They will be even a tougher out without Momci.
Maybe Moore! He seems to want to cheerlead these guys!
Itās always the same equation for us in Amesā¦. Can we take care of the ball? Hilton is a tough venue and if we start this game with turnovers and fall behind the temperature in Hilton rises from screaming fans and becomes easy for them to roll us! If we keep it to around 10 total turnovers in the game, we stand a chance. We need to keep Hunter in the low post and space properly.
Suddenly Self mentions how KJ is rebounding better and still has the most room for improvement.
It seems like, to me, the ACC has taken the biggest hit from a growing SEC.
REALITY CHECK: ISU awaits us! This is a team built to give us a real challenge. We better bring defense and we damn sure better bring offense. If we dilly-dally through the first half of this game we will be down 20+! I heavily suggest we finally make Hunter stay in the post and score! You want high ball screens, thatās what KJās for!
So were we so desperate we told him he just has to score here? Doesnāt sound like Selfā¦.
I have no clue with this team. Could win all or lose allā¦. Iād hate to bet on their games!
The only thing I go on KUsports for is the box score and they always hide those so I give up.
By chance, is AJ homesick?
We stepped up second half and shut them down. KJ was instrumental in that turnaround. Wish he was an on/off switch and just turned on at the start of every game! ZEKE remains our volume scorer. Itās so nice to have a guy who always looks to score when his fingers touch the ball. Also a great rebounder! He has a future in basketball! May not be NBA but definitely abroad!
"āWe know we dropped West Virginia, first game of conference, and we know we canāt let that happen in front of our fans, and weāre super ready to go,ā Moore said."
I love this statement! Let's see if it's true!
Think about it for a second... Moore brought defensive intensity as a guard. Most, or all, of our guys defending behind him. They caught on to his intensity and it helped them play with intensity. Same for Flory... both these guys are sparks.
It starts with defense! Always does. You can start off hot on offense, but if you turn around and give it right back on the defensive end you have no benefit and eventually that catches up with you.
Good defense gives us the potential to convert baskets while our foe does not. It's how we build a lead and it is exactly what we did against UCF for most of 40 minutes!
What is really impressive with the UCF victory was our CONTINUOUS EFFORT! That is very rare in college basketball!
This team has the potential to bring home a trophy in April. It's convincing them to listen to Self... but also come ready to play. This is Self's Achille's heal... cheerleading the team! I guess he just yells at them, hoping that works, and if we've played bad and lost several games it works. What happens when we start winning again, like now... do we come ready to play?
Self nailed it with his statements on playing with intensity. I just don't think players get fired up very often based on talking about intensity. Maybe Self should start chewing off chicken heads before games! lol
I think we should be mimicking what a few coaches do that are famous for cheerleading... like Shaka. If Self isn't the animated one to fire them up then it should come from an assistant. I'm not sure we have an assistant with that talent. We should hire one. Let him be the fire breather before every game!
GOOD NEWS / BAD NEWS
Good -
Hunt went hunting. Great to see him play aggressively and it paid huge dividends.
KJ showed effort. I almost passed out when seeing him seal off the boards. Who does he think he is? Charles Barkley? 9 rebounds! As I mentioned beforeā¦ we wonāt lose many games where he grabs around 10 boards.
Juan was Juan. He went with the flow and was the glue guy. Great!
Moore defended. It helped lift our guys up and they all showed more energy! Offense starts with defense! A+
Flory owns everyone. I thought he had 10 blocks because he was so dominant! This guy needs more minutes!
AJ fit a bit better. Didnāt look so lost out there and found ways to contribute. Positive sign!
Rylan brought offense! This is what he can do! BAM!
Zeke was human after all. Not big scoring numbers but huge assists and aiding team basketball.
Diggy helped more than the stat sheet. Cold from outside but he gave us great energy off the bench.
This was an example of how we can play when we come prepared for a game! Energy was great and played team basketball!
THE BAD -
UCF played horribly. We deserve some of the cred for making that happen but not all. Their body language was horrible and they didnāt put up any kind of fight. My takeaway is they made us look better than we are. We will run into tougher dog fights that will better test where we areā¦
FINAL ASSESSMENT -
It starts with defense! Moore and Flory are big sparks! KJ can be, too, when he hustles! Having those guys focus on D makes us a tough bunch to beat and it translates to everyone playing tougher D. Offense comes naturally when playing good D.
The conversation about Self and his quick hook has been around for years. Your posts on this makes me think more about specifics and impact. Iāve always questioned PT with various players. I think this yearās issues over the last couple weeks has taken an optimistic fan base to an angry, pessimistic group quickly. The real season has just started and few fans feel any sort of optimism, including myself. I feel like this is probably the least-prepared team Iāve experienced under Self while we are touted as the most-experienced team in America.
How do we have so many seasoned players unable to play basic offense or defense? Why does our 5-yr PG look lost? What exactly is KJ doing out there for 30+ mpg and hardly even gain a single stat on the stat sheet? Why isnāt HD setting up in the low post and averaging 20 ppg?
I am quickly confused. I see some of your points then I wonder how we won in 2022? I coached kids for probably 20 years and I played for 20. If I taught a kid to do something then asked him to do it in a gameā¦ he did it. This isnāt rocket science. My son is 11 and I guarantee you his team plays better set offense than this team.
Something stinks in Denmark. I donāt know what it is yet but I feel very negative news is coming our way soon.
Zeke plays with poise.... he assesses the situation and finds ways to help his team. This is not just because he knows spacing. AJ/Rylan are thinking too much, hence they play slow until they commit on a move. Zeke is completely untethered from thought. It is a joy watching him play, and a pity other guys can't pick up on his poise and apply it, too.
Self should ask Hunter and Flory the same question... "Are you willing to stay in the low block and fight it out for positioning, rebounds, and shot selection?" Hunter is more gifted at low post scoring, but if he doesn't apply himself it doesn't translate to the stat sheet. Flory brings energy. It's the energy many people thought KJ used to have. KJ was never much of an energy guy. People thought that because he has monster slams. Energy guys get rebounds, even if they are small guys (Zeke).
Hunter needs to always have a foot in the paint. He offers nothing when he's not there. Flory... just needs to play from half-court to under the basket... the guy has a motor, speed, and enthusiasm!
I would now bring KJ off the bench. See if we can get him inspired to fight for minutes.
We should run more scoring plays for our guards not named Harris. This will help Harris' esteem because he'll go back to doing what he knows... being the assist leader.
This team has bad body language right now. Self has to find a way to get these guys jacked up. He's never been that type of coach and I've been amazed how many wins he has without playing the role of cheerleader.
I wonder if there is some active dissent within the players. This is not a group of guys who seem like best friends, and friends with their coaches. There is ZERO team playing shining through.
My expectations for this team are quite low now. I see a middle-of-the-pack team in B12 standings. If a few things went wrong even worse, we could miss March Madness.
There are so many things wrong... but as Self said... all those things are magnified when you play with no energy. He has to take responsibility for this... it is part of the responsibilities of the coaches. Right now I'd like to trade 20% of Self for 20% of Shaka Smart.
Meanwhile... ISU is looking legit! Coach Ox seems to know how to make the transfer portal work for him.
TEMPO - Whatās that? We donāt know because we arenāt aware of it. I was so optimistic for a couple early games when we ranā¦ we literally got our shots up within about 5 seconds. Everyone was in full sprint. We even started games in a press. Use all those bodies!
STRENGTH vs WEAKNESS - Quit trying to force a style of play that clearly isnāt working. All those transfers had good numbers before arriving. Watch their past games and feed to their strengths. Create conditions they already know and make them feel comfortable.
JUAN - his strength is running an offense with structure, spacing, and timing. Handing him the ball and telling him to make magic doesnāt work.
KJ - he needs a male mentor to kick his ass. He doesnāt have a dad in his lifeā¦ right? Someone has to make him into an alpha or he has ruined any professional ball ambitions he might have.
HUNTER - didnāt think we could find a big with worse feet than McCormickā¦ but we did. He shouldnāt be allowed to step outside the paint on either side of the ball.
ZEKE - make him into a volume scorer. Set picks for him and run clear outs. Give him the ball and let him know none of his shots are bad shots. Get him up around 30 per game. Then start feeding others as he draws double teams.
Excuse me... any new believers?
/topic/13581
Here is his stats for the game:
28 minutes... 2 points on 1 of 5 fg attempts. 1 rebound (def rebound). 1 TO. 3 PF.
"Iām expecting a low scoring drag-out fight to the finish. Seems like we always look bad after no games and heavy practice. Itās like a complete start over to the season. I have a feeling it will come down to Hunt and Zeke scoring half or more of our points. I always jinx us on predictions so Iāll predict a loss."
This was too easy to predict.
I know playing bad happens to the best of teams. But this showed way more than playing bad. This loss clearly goes to our coaching.
I only caught the last 10 minutes of the game. That told me everything I needed to know. In just that period we must have been beat 5 times on the high ball screen with Hunter stepping out and their big on a pick and roll destroying us every time. You all saw the whole game. How many times did they crush us with that? We all know Hunter is slow... why would we have him step out on a high ball screen? What happened to teaching our guards how to fight through screens?
When the same thing beats us over and over in a game and we don't adjust, who takes the fault for the loss?
Beyond that... it looks like some of our old team habits from many years... not showing up ready to play a game. I was so hopeful this year in our early games where we came out with enthusiasm and ran.
This is way beyond ridiculous. It feels like someone should call it in to the feds for intentionally blowing a game for gambling reasons.
Iām expecting a low scoring drag-out fight to the finish. Seems like we always look bad after no games and heavy practice. Itās like a complete start over to the season. I have a feeling it will come down to Hunt and Zeke scoring half or more of our points. I always jinx us on predictions so Iāll predict a loss. š
Iāve never fully understood the term āanimal husbandryā and that doesnāt bother me.
It appears the purple kitties have a severe case of blue balls. They are both impotent and have been kicked in the balls. Tangās approach of bringing spirituality to a farm school may not have panned out. They need more than prayer nowā¦ more like an exorcism. Looking like they may remain a revolving door school for coaches.
How many years away are we from another game?
I've done twiddled my thumbs down to stubbs.
I'm sick of watching trivial bowl games and Formula 1 is on break...
One man doesn't make a champ in the NBA... not even Jordan. But I am surprised he didn't get one in Philly.
I get that he'll never be a Barkley, especially with Barkley's offensive capabilities. He doesn't need to be Barkley. I'd take half-Barkley.
We need him to become "Barkley Lite!" lol
I wasn't sure on overall game averages on rebounds... I just remember several games where Zeke doubled him up. We have to remember that Zeke is often on the outside of the trey line on offense while KJ, if not setting a pick, is much closer to the basket. There is no good excuse for his rebounding... none... Barkley treats the ball like it is a baby tossed out of the window of a burning building. That is the difference between him and KJ.
No way KJ is as gifted at scoring as Barkley... but he would increase his point totals if he rebounded 10+ boards a game... either on offensive putbacks, or trips to the charity stripe.
My thoughts exactly... but this is a criticism that should be leveled at all our coaching staff. None of our guys know how to box out on a consistent basis. I think Dan Hurley is about the only D1 coach that still teaches fundamentals. Pathetic.
I will miss KJ when he's gone. Not because I enjoy criticizing him. He is a crowd favorite for a reason. I'm going to miss his super slam dunks and his huge smile and enthusiasm after a big play. I'm just not going to miss having a 4 averaging only 4 rpg. Especially one built like Adonis who gets pushed around by skinny, small guys.
A+!
I know this is a broken record. I apologize. I just hate to see this team not reach anywhere near their potential and in my book, KJ is the key piece that could not only add huge stats (and victories) but also ignite this team! An alpha KJ would put this team in the drivers seat for another April trophy!
I love KJ. But it's hard love. He brings so much to the game, but he doesn't bring enough.
I'm hard on KJ, the nice guy, because I feel sure he is the player that will determine what we do in March this year. Why is that? Because he is a guy who leaves most of what he could do in every game in the locker room.
I know I'll probably get hit with some negative reactions... but tell me why he's being outrebounded by Zeke? I'm not sure but I bet Zeke has twice his rebound average.
KJ is our athletic freak on this team. There are few athletes in college basketball with his physique and tone. Who shouldn't he own in college basketball? He showed potential when he battled Cooper head-to-head.
He should be a double-double machine, every friggin' game.
I'm not going to let him off the hook for being such a nice guy and he has a great spirit, shown by him catching up to his team after losing his mother. KJ is a great soul and teammate. But I'm talking about something else.
So I'm sending KJ a Christmas gift. Just for him. A clip he needs to watch every morning, right when he wakes up, before every game, and the last thing he looks at before bedtime so he can dream about his conversion to become the next Charles Barkley.
Pay attention to the Shaq interview. Barkley was only 6'4" and size didn't mean anything.
Merry Christmas to everyone... and especially to you, KJ, because I'm sick of you leaving your game in your head instead of on the court.
I've been enjoying this year of college basketball... even with all the weird changes in the game. It seemed like the transfer portal would destroy the competitiveness of the game but there are plenty of upsets. I know a lot of people are still miffed over Jayhawk basketball dropping a couple against unranked opponents. Then I look at our sister school, UNC... 6-5 and still hasn't beat a ranked team.
Sounds awesome! Maybe heās trying to maximize his KU experience and wants to make more of a contribution right out of the blocks!
I'll do that later today
@SlimShaddy54 said in Guys in casae you hadn't heard ,- -we got us a absolute STUD coming:
@kuballin10 Watch , Iād be willing to bet that come next year your going to see Coach Self have tendencies to just turn Darry n loose more times then not.
Which makes me think... maybe the most-positive angle on recruiting OADs is that it forces Self to change his ways. He does seem to bend his own rules when it comes to OADs.
On the other hand... I always think I know how Self must change to be more successful. Ghezus... I'm such a ridiculous couch potato! lol
Itās evil to keep shoving us in at preseason #1 every year. First, we donāt deserve it and just builds the hate against us because we get judged as privileged. Iāve heard us mentioned in the same foul wind as Puke! Second, I believe it thwarts our development.
I'm as excited as I can be for landing an OAD again... a one-year disruption from building a more complete team concept from multiple-year players. But now with the portal, guess I might as well throw my hat in the ring because most of college basketball is now a revolving door.
One thing I noticed in our current two-game skid... from Self's own words. We do not have an identity yet. I get where he is coming from, but what about the overwhelming identity of being a Jayhawk? Playing at Kansas is an identity by itself... I know when we go into another school they are always jacked up to play the Jayhawks, regardless of the quality of our team that year.
@approxinfinity Hurley is more likely to fire himself. š
SLOW DOWN... people! Is it the end of our season already?
I stayed up last night and watched the game on tape. It was bad... no question. Is it the end? Hell no?
Is it possible we were too optimistic about our incoming transfers' play in the fall? Hell yes! I'm not going to flip out yet. I know we all have some PTSD from last year, but this is not that team and give it time.
It is normal for players to come in and start cold on a new team. They are unsettled. Doesn't matter that they are experienced D1 players. I am definitely willing to take some bad losses now instead of later. I keep flashing back to 2022 and how bad Kentucky smoked us in AFH. We played like p*sses in that game... just like now.
The KUSports article calls it right in that this team has no identity yet. But also, individual players have no identity, too.
All I care about is how we are trending later in the year. Sure worked in 2022!
Right now we need only ONE PLAYER to step up and fight like it's Meso ball! I still say the #1 underachiever on this team is the guy who is also famous on this team for hustling... KJ! With a body like his and athleticism to go with it, to see him averaging 3 or 4 rebounds a game is pathetic. And it gives the entire team an excuse to slack off on some duties. If he would just focus on what it takes to own the boards... he should be averaging near double-digit numbers in rebounds, even playing beside a guy like Hunter.
I think the trey shooting will come around. I'm really not worried about it. The guys will go work their butts off over Christmas to develop some flow and watch those numbers climb.
Our confidence has been punched in the gut. But we will come off the canvas and fight back. These guys will find they have enough pride to get up and fight. Even Hunter will take on the challenge once the team trends in the right direction. He's a unique guy, not really a leader, yet he will fight when the team fights.
Self will figure this out. He'll review tape and see how the guys got out of their rhythm then will address it with them to right the ship.
So glad we are no longer #1. That never bodes well for us to be ranked at the top!
I never saw the game today. Had to work.
But let me guess... not enough hustle... played slow and deliberate and predictable. Dug a deep hole we couldn't quite get out of.
I see TOs were an issue. So if we played slow, we were probably overthinking. Our guys need to just come mentally prepared where they don't have to think much while playing... just perform at full speed.
Does my comment fit the game, or not?
The hatred is still there in the fan bases... probably not the players unless there are a few local players on the team. Maybe Zeke feels it. Juan is from mizzery. I'm not sure how he feels about it. But fans like to inject the emotions into the players. Guess we will see. You can bet the crowd will be going nuts.
I'm not feeling optimistic... but I do think Self will sell the importance to the team!
I think Juan was very frustrated in this game. I'm certain of that.
He's used to there being more options. Hunter in the paint? Didn't happen. KJ pick and roll? Nope. Juan drive and feed? They did a good job of clogging the passing lanes.
So Harris would make the drive, do what he always does (commit in the air to doing something but not sure until the last second), then not having a good option except shoot it. They dared him to shoot it. He did! His cold shooting was because he was outside of his process for getting to that point of hitting a shot.
McDermott is a great coach. I've always respected this guy.
Still... there are all kinds of lessons to be learned from this game. I'm glad we lost. Best we face some of these things now on xmas break instead of later, like in Feb/March!
Now that's over... we better thrash Mizzou! Send those hillbillies back to the woods in shame! lol I don't even think there are hills in Mizz... lol
Not completely like that... but did you notice he wasn't on the sidelines being all animated like he was in past games?
This was a game where the fellas really needed a charge from the sidelines. He seemed absent to me.
I have a lot of faith in Self. If he did this... they needed it. I've seen other teams we've had that barely lose any games all year then flop in the tournament. I don't think our guys are so big headed... but maybe they just aren't progressing as quick as he would like them to. Maybe.
We are coming up to XMas break... lots of extra practice... and the coaches need plenty of things to hammer these guys on!
This is my theory... Ask me what is the best bait to catch alligators. It's chicken! lol
My backseat coaching is pretty comfortable. Big huge ol' lazyboy recliner without a single person questioning my ideas while I spew them during games. lol