Yessssss!
jaybate 1.0
10346 posts
AFH has been called the Monarch of the Midlands.
Well, Malik Newman monstered all over the Monarch!!!
He was all over Naismith Court doing great things amidst a low amp performance by his Teammates and coach seemingly saving themselves for a maximum effort versus Trae Young and the Seven Dwarves in Okie Land.
His line score is gaudy but actually understates how omnipresent and and active he truly was.
24 points, 7 glassvacs, 7-7 from the FT line, 3-4 from treville.
Malik even dished TWO ASSISTS!!
Other Jayhawks came through at different moments, but Malik went off like a TOP GUN fighter pilot, when the chips were down.
The guy literally lit the afterburners for some plays down the stretch.
It was the kind of day I have been awaiting for from this big talent increasingly findind and fulfilling a role that fits both him AND Bill Self.
This guy is a finisher! Hell, copy this. His new handle is: THE FINISHER.
It took awhile to find the role that both Malik and Bill could both âsee.â
But WOW!!! Does this new suit ever fit!
Look out, Big 12 Conference.
The Finisher is here.
He monstered at the Monarch.
He is coming to an arena near you very soon.
He did the mash...he did the monster mash!!!
Itâs possible he is too bad, but Hunter Mickelson and now Sam Cunlffe have gone into Cryo-ice for reasons that seem elusive.
Besides, I thought everyone needed a distraction from Billy spec. đ
Frankly, Iâm Ready for Some Sosinski the Last 2 Minutes.
Doke can take the banging but canât make FTs.
Silvio is 6-9 245, but is, as expected, mostly a tentative deer in headlights for awhile. Give him his minutes before crunch time.
Mitch has some good moments, but at 210 banging length down the stretch may not be his best, most timely use either.
Sosinski can make FTs and stay on a spot. Any guy that can register 19/12 in juco can zone one end and stay on spot the other for two minutes.
Free Sosinski!
mayjay said:
@BShark My mother, when stuck in her wheelchair, could have been better at shooting FTs than Dok.
PHOF
Texas Hawk 10 said:
@HighEliteMajor It's a booster trying to get in close with the family. That's as much detail as I can give.
I can also tell you for a fact that even if high ranking alumns don't post here, or at acknowledge they are, they do monitor all major KU sites, including this one.
Here is the impression your post leaves: this situation is a powder keg that a bomb squad may have been working long and hard to try to defuse. And the danger has not yet passed.
Mums the word from me.
IN DREW WE TRUST
ALL OTHERS MUST BE OUTPLAYED.
Haiku for KU v. Failor
Great out of the gate.
Let them hang around too long.
Stole it at the end
Dunks by Svi!
A truly weird turn of events. I doubted ASU was as good as they showed against KU, I figured Stanford was worse.
Thx on fire cider. Will investigate.
Culture your own kefir and blend it with berries into a smoothly and drink for a week or two after antibiotics, or any immune system decline.
Be good to your biome!!
The one in your intestines!!!
Eating right does no good if you are not digesting right.
My horse got sick (horse tuberculosis, 40% mortality) and they are simple eaters. Hay and grain in. Processed fertilizer brickettes out!
Add ABs and instant pies, then spewed flakes.
Add some stool gardening paste and kefir (strait, no berries) and, voila, okay again. Donât try it without a vetâs approval however. I am still a horse yahoo. Just had to try something new and to old to go down a third time on a motorcycle.
Love this horse. I can talk to him almost as much as my dog. Both are superb listeners!!
You have gone to the heart of the only orginal philosophical principle I have developed in my life.And I am sure someone else has come to the same insight, but I at least came to it on my own.
EVERYTHING IS PROBLEMATIC, SO CONSTANTLY IMPROVE AT PROBLEM SOLVING.
Lack of depth is one problem.
Too much is another.
Just the right amount is another, because soon too many injuries and bad life choices will leave you unprepared for too little talent.
And so on.
Problems are ubiquitous.
As Roseanne Rosannadanna said, âIf itâs not one thing, itâs another.
All one can do is steer toward solvable problems.
My old mentor said: a good life is an endless stream of solvable problems.
Yes, but it was out of that debate that emerged a new standard of civil discourse that has distinguished our online community from all others and stands still as a lonely lighthouse in the stormy internet of our time. I have been so enriched by getting to read your thoughts in the years since and so grateful for your intuitive efforts to work together to make this a more and more special sanctuary of thought and camaraderie over the ensuing years. Really, I track some of the origins of the intelligence and civility of our community to your and my reaching out to each other across our conflict and saying the neighborhood and the legacy matters more than one of us being right. I began to understand what I hoped could happen between us, and so for our beloved little community, when I was coincidentally reading about the initially stormy relationship of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. We are not weighty figures like them, but I figured if we could find peace as they did over time, it could yield the great benefit of a model for the community. I feel it has in some small way. It is not enough to agree to disagree. The trick is to agree to disagree with genuine affection and respect. No one can do it with everyone, but everyone can do it with someone, and before you know it, lots ARE doing it with many. I genuinely believe this is the key to functional republics and online communities.
I genuinely like and respect you and enjoy both the times we agree and the times we donât.
Rock Chalk!
nuleafjhawk said:
@wrwlumpy
From the article you posted -"I will say that my four years at Kansas was, perhaps, the greatest experience in my young life. I wouldnât trade those years for anything in the world. Even now, with the rule changes and players able to come out early, I think our young athletes are really missing the most important growth period in their life by not staying in college all four years." JoJo White
Pure White and pure gold. He was one of those rare persons that could and did speak deep truths clearly and succinctly. This is why persons say he was not only a great player but a great person.
He was like Joe DiMaggio and John Wooden. He oozed dignity, and charisma, when you stood near him.
And I was by chance lucky to have stood near all three, if only briefly and having only spoken to Wooden.
Greatness, like stunning beauty, if felt in person is palpable and far more impressive than records; this much I know.
P.S.: I also think about who would dominate who if they played each other heads up? Mario and Jo Jo would be very tough for Frank and Sherron to stop. Mario and Jo Jo could contain Frank and Sheron.
At least when I try to imagine it.
Itâs very tough for me on all time teams.
Presently, if I picked, the guards would have to be White and Chalmers.
To me, all time teams have to include every thing about a player.
Ability.
College accomplishment.
Pro accomplishment.
Frank and Sherron and Mario and Darnell Valentine and Jo Jo White were the most dominant in college.
Frank, or Tyshawn Taylor, probably had the greatest starting KU season at guard of them all. BOTH WERE ONES FOR THE AGES. Frankâs was probably better quantitatively and award wise (POY), but Tyshawn lead his team to the NCAA finals and to a near miraculous come from behind against one of the greatest teams ever assembled.
But Mario hung a banner in AFH and two in the NBA and has had a genuine NBA career. Mario was a GREAT PLAYER IN COLLEGE AND VERY GOOD IN TH NBA UNTIL INJURY SCOPED HIM DOWN.
And White took his one talented KU Team as far as Frank did, then played in the Olympics, then had a long all pro NBA career and won two rings. He was unquestionably the greatest NBA starting guard KU ever produced. This HAS to count in an all time KU Team.
What I am hoping is that Frank has a long NBA career and wins 2-3 NBA rings and added to his great accomplishments at KU we can pass the torch to him for the best ever.
But for now, itâs Mario and Jo Jo starting.
You make many solid points.
I have long been a Brady advocate.
HEM has long found him lacking.
Selby?
Selby started late, briefly played explosively early, then spent much of his time playing in a boot, then came back some. Selby played a wing to get all our best players on the floor at the same time. He was a good, green, slightly TO prone college player, when healthy who would have developed into an all conference, and maybe an all American had he opted for 2-3 year career. But his mother and Carmelo-related mentor were determined to cash in early. Self had to marginalize him once the injury limited him and he would not commit to another season. He just did not bring enough value to the program to give him the keys and keep other player development for that and the following season from happening. And, in the end, Selfâs judgement was vindicated, because Selby never did excel at the next level. Like so many guys with a lot of athleticism at 6-3 and under, he just wasnât the perfectionist floor gamer and lock down defender, or the high percentage 3pt shooter he would have had to be to become either another Jason Kidd (his only viable path) or another Vinnie Microwave Johnson. Selby had superstar hype with 5 star athleticism and 3-4 star skills. Selby committed to Bruce at UTenn, before Bruce was exposed and imploded. Thatâs really all you need to know about Selby. The mentor appArrently knew the hype game and got him his 5 stars and 1 rank; then fed him to schlocky, hustling Bruce. He and Mom let the mentor take them for a ride from the start. They apparently ran to Self and KU for PR cover, when Bruce and his gun happy, joy riding program couldnât deliver the incentives.
I used to think: Josh coulda been uh contenduh!
But since Selby washed out in the L so quickly, I have come to believe his mentor saw the same holes in Joshâs game Self did and decided it was better to take an early score, at 49th in the draft, rather than wait for a 6-2 NBA long-career, long shot to develop under Self.
After all the hype, here is who Josh Selby really was.
2011â2013 Memphis Grizzlies
2012 âReno Bighorns
2013 Canton Charge
2013 Maine Red Claws
2013 Qingdao Eagles
2014 Cedevita Zagreb
2014â2015 Bnei Herzliya
2015â2016 Socar Petkim
2017 Maccabi Kiryat Gat
2017âpresent Incheon Elephants
He was like many 4-5 year KU players that went on to 10 year careers overseas. Thatâs who Josh Selby really was behind the hype. There was no Long career NBA player there ever.
This is NOT meant as a criticism of him. I like Selby and thought he played through courageously at KU. He probably would have lasted a few years longer in L, if he had stayed 2 more years at KU, but someone apparently ran the numbers and said the present worth of three years now getting paid, is greater than what you would get 3 years later with only a slightly longer shelf life in the L. Selby, like Keith Langford, has done just fine.
But KU sure could have used him another couple years!!!
HighEliteMajor said:
@AsadZ I am big Garrett fan. But Iâm a bit discouraged by his timidity on offense. I get that heâs not a great shooter, but heâs had good opportunities to drive and yet he defers. Also, he seemed strangely a bit hesitant to attack the boards. I think Self sees the defense thing as a necessary element, but I would strongly consider playing Sam over Marcus if Marcus doesnât show some improvement offensively. Marcus does move the ball well and is a nice post feeder, channeling some inner B-star. Right now Iâd stick with Garrett. Tough call. What do you think?
Garrett for Malik. (Let our other guys shoot)
Garrett with Malik. (Let Malik create)
Garret for Svi. (Let Garrett rebound)
Cunliffe isnât that versatile.
Cunliffe sits.
PHOF
PHOF
I often wonder: did KU alums anonymously fund the hiring of The Squeakster?
Winning is about not having to say you scored less.
wissox said:
@jaybate-1.0 You're wrong, I'm right, discussion over!
No harm, some malice.
We will have to both agree the other is wrong with some malice!!!
Rock Chalk!
wissox said:
But to think it singles out KU is my beef. Last year 1 seed Villanova had to play 8 seed Wisconsin. Wisconsin was horribly underseeded, and proved by knocking them out in their customary 2nd round exit. Time doesn't permit me to go back and see who else has had a tough 2nd round even though they're a top seed, but it happens to a lot of teams.
The beef is: the system appears to discriminate too much against any schools it is profitable âsingles outâ and that appears to change some year to year.
IMHO, the point is: watching a tournament is more interesting than watching a Carney.
If I were given a choice between a D1 tourney and a D1 Carney, I would choose the D1 Tourney.
SIU Head Coach, and former KU Staffer, Barry Hinson, and others, if I recall correctly, have already indicated the Carney seeding is significantly entertainment driven.
The train has apparently already left the station on this issue. Oneâs choice appears to be does one want to advocate for the current apparently significantly entertainment-driven Carney, or for one that is more merit-based.
In some ways, this situation appears not so different from the DNC rigging the California primary to make Hilary the winner over Bernie. A court reputedly found this alleged rigging to have occurred, but then also reputedly indicated the law did not require the DNC to run a primary where the DNC did not bias the outcome to Hilary.
Private not for profits reputedly have more leeway to stage their events, as they wish, than does the public apparently grasp.
For example, the Red Cross was apparently not legally bound to use all donations apparently made to help Haiti to recover, in fact, to help fund Haitian recovery. Similarly, contributions to the Clinton Foundation apparently did not have to be entirely, or perhaps even mostly, spent on charitable activities the foundation prided itself to be about.
Iâm only a layman and a fan, but I suspect the NCAA likely has some legal right to pick the winner of its reputed tournament largely as it wishes, so long as it violates no laws doing so.
The question of course is do the laws set ANY limits on how entertainment driven it can become?
Even the traditional seeding of tournaments is an act of biasing outcomes explicitly. Itâs apparently legal. Thus, this seems one of those grey areas where a lot can happen.
I am so glad to hear board rats beginning to talk realistically about the March Carney. It appears to have been reduced to a joke, but itâs the only joke we have, till TPTB see the value of a legitimate tournament; one instituted, seeded, located, refereed, AND enforced as one.
Winning is about winning.
There are so many things tha could be said.
I will limit it to this.
Remember he became eligible at mid season. Many thought he would not live up to his hype. Most thought it would take him awhile to adjust and mesh with the team.
Delvy Lewis was the PG and stayed the PG.
Jo Jo White dominated every game at KU from the moment he stepped on the floor at mid term, as a 2 guard. From the start he was better than everyone. Better than the black players. Better than the white players. Better than ours. Better than theirs. Better than any one before him at KU. Better than anyone after. Better than everyone.
He routinely made plays no other player would EVER make.
I wonât say he was the best guard who ever lived, because he wasnât.
But he WAS the quickest guard with quickest hands who ever lived.
No. Doubt. In. My. Mind.
None. Zero. Zip.
You will hear old timers say he had the quickest hands of any player who ever lived. That way of saying it is hard to prove quantitatively because the testing was never done.
Here is the way to say it.
Anytime KU needed the ball back, Ted Owens would order him to press. He needed no help. Help got in the way. Jo Jo got in front of the man with the ball about 5-8 feet away. He never crowded offenders. He even back peddled and watched the guy dribble a bit before striking. And he struck like cat before the crossover, or after. It was like watching a cat play with a mouse. He did it so many times at Kansas that everyone knew we would win the one possession games, because he would steal the ball and lay it in. No more theatrics than a cat. So fast you almost couldnât see it on TV.
He was great in all phases of the game, but he was the greatest strip artist who ever lived. Bar none. Period. His hands were as fast as Ali. Ali was said to be able to snap a jab the moment you blinked and hit you before you blinked open. Ali was measured by Sports Illustrated with a high speed camera and actually could do it. I believe Jo Joâs right hand reach was faster. He was so fast on the strip that other players could not react at all.
He was an all time great. If he had played on the 2008 team they would have gone undefeated. He was a better stripper by himself than RR and Chalmers put together and doubling someone. He never needed a double. He was Sir Charles Lytton on wood.
No press could touch him.
Itâs scary what he could have done for Self.
He was lightening in shoe laces.
RIP.
I had actually grown to think he could play through ANYTHING!
Get well Frank!
Negatory. đ
Totally agree and I am pretty confident he would not have played dasousa If he had not had to.
Also Self is a cook seasoning a stew. He can at any moment decide the stew needs something else, even if only for a few minutes each game, and give someone else a shot at being the new herb. He also doesnât hesitate to change his mind back, if it doesnât improve the taste.
Self has a long history of sitting guys several games, even half a season, and then giving them unexpected tries.
The chances are high we will see Cunliffe again unexpectedly when everyone is certain he will never play again.
I will add though that Self has cryo-iced guys, after he has either signed a better player for next year, or decided some one he thought was leaving is coming back.
So: maybe Malik has decided to come back, or Self has not announced some new transfer or decommit.
Itâs precarious at the bottom of Selfâs scholarship depth chart, for sure.
Self holds players out of games without explanation, because of 1 or more of the following:
1.) undisclosed injury;
2.) bad match-up;
3.) desire to minimize turnovers;
4.) undisclosed disciplinary issue;
5.) a change in rotation players.
Self told us minutes for perimeter players would decline, if either, or both, Da Sousa and Preston started playing.
Cunliffe could be nursing an injury, but I doubt Cunliffe is being punished for bad play, or disciplinary issues. He was just lowest on the depth chart, and so Self sat him when Da Sousa showed up. Da Sousa playing meant no minutes when Self had to play 5 perimeter players. And He could even play Mitch at 4 some. This takes away the need for Cunliffe to give breathers to 4 or 5 small small positions.
I forgot the accordion affect of Da Sousa arriving, when I indicated Cunliffe might get 8 minutes.
Cunliffe could see some action vs Baylor if leads permit, so Self can keep his starters fresh for OU.
Few realize that the Greeks produced the first recorded sports commentator. His name was Keeganistes and he is known from a precious few fragments of commentary that have survived...
Bright uniforms are easy to see.
Feasts are for overeating too much.
Even the hemlock society thought the coach should become a member, because he couldnât win.
Forgive me, oracle, for I have helped run two Athenian coaches and supported the hiring of a third as a favor to a pagan religious order. But on the plus side, I have sheltered no pedophile shamans.
At the basket gameâs genesis, Naismithitus fathered itâs conception and invention at the Young Athenians club. He wrote the first set of rules that became recognized, as the first set of rules.
Drinks are on me after the games.
Never mind. Itâs like love and marriage. They go together like a horse and carriage!
Could be fun to watch Zone vs. zone
Hope so.
But it was a giant effort to beat KSU and WVU with last possession efforts.
Emotional let down likely.
Not sure why Drew played such a weak schedule. He has two footers and 3 decent perimeter guys. Go figure.
Drew is the the biggest anomaly in coaching.
Somehow he keeps signing players despite coaching them down.
Overview:
-8 rotation with all 8 averaging > 22 mpg.
-Loud road threads now Deafening.
Strengths:
-Length
-Rebounding
-Blocking
-Defense
Weaknesses:
-Turnover prone
-3 trifectates, 2 < 40%
-Pitiful pre con schedule
-Beaten by every good team they have played
-Hate the road
Beat by:
-even on glass.
-Strip them blind.
-Foul up their bigs.
-Run to build leads, walk to save energy.
Risk:
-Emotional let down after last heroic 2-game set.
-Their Length and depth make our cold nights especially tough..
Summary:
-Must keep winning at home.
-We can take a loss now in Norman on Tuesday, but not a loss in Lawrence to a mid pack 12-6 Failor.
-Classic low amp front end to 2-game set.
-Make shots.
-Failor can only win a rebounding/blocking contest on one of Kuâs cold nights.
-Run in spurts to save energy, but RUN.
-pressure and strip.
-Save amp for OU.
Huggs has been an acquired taste for me.
I loathed him all those years at the Natti.
He, Knight and Izzo, really did turn the game into a massively more physical game of banging for spot control and I wish it had never happened.
But it did.
So I either have to let go of the game I love, or find the good in what it has become and who has evolved it. Self came from a much less physical background and he has made his peace with it. I figure I can, too.
What I have decided is that Huggins, like me, has had his heart in the right place about the game, and was trying to do the best he could by it, even if he erred at times. Huggs tried to use the game to improve some lives that even the integration of the game was not reaching. Higgs tried to devise a way to win with guys that were strong and athletic, but not super skilled.
Huggs opened the game up for many players black and white that were not quite football players, were also not yet skillful hoopahs. Izzy did the same thing.
It took awhile but I learned it was not unprecedented. Ward Piggy Lambert started playing Purdue football players as centers and forwards to bang for boards, bang up cutters, and knock guys off spots, so he only had to get 2 great guards to fast break opponents to death. He started doing it in the late 1920s or early 30s. It changed the game and created what we think of as the more physical Big Ten ball of the last 50 years. Lambertâs brawn ball peaked with a guard named THE INDIANA RUBBER MANâJohn Wooden. Wooden evolved it into the UCLA WAY and won 10 rings in 11 years.
Huggs grew up in a very hard nosed part of the country. They are not easy persons to like, but if they accept you they have your back forever. And they have a code. And they are not known for mincing words.
He is what he is.
His sin was the bottle IMHO. He began to believe the rebel hype for awhile. For awhile he forgot to put the game and the young men first. But after his exile, KSU took a chance on him and he seemed to reconnect to the game. But he was still wired into the dark side of recruiting. Some how he kicked the recruiting jones, when he got back to his alma materâWVU. He seemed to want to do right by the old school. He started trying to do it without the dark sideâs recruitsâwith his kind of guys from the old days.
Donât get me wrong. He is no Bo Ryan or Bill Self, but he has tried to come back from the dark side where he had strayed.
He is like Knight. He wants in the HOF. Knight sucked on Vitale for admission. Huggs is sucking on Self.
Self apparently has a soft spot for rogues like Eddie Sutton, Jerry Tarkanian, and Bob Huggins.
But whatever: the guy can coach.
Any man with a cragar for an icon understands enthusiasm. The vintage Cragarâstill definitive!!!
Thx for the gossip and for expanding on his game.
HighEliteMajor said:
@jaybate-1-0 It appears you are excited about the big WVU win .. I think you set a record for threads started in a 24 hr period. Go get âem.
I didn't think I could still get this fired up!
But, shoot, these guys slogged The Canal and then went to the Tenaru and fought it out hand to hand for all the marbles on the sandbar and WON!!!!!
They don't make up stuff this good in movies.
Two soon to be hall of famers going at it.
I bet Self introduces the sunnuvagun!
An absolute blocking machine in that WVU post man.
A kid stepping out of high school and INTO HARM'S WAY in D1.
Malik playing with a brain bang.
Doke overcoming a home job that is now as American as apple pie and finding the courage in himself to recover and be the hub of our victory down the stretch.
LaCobra playing on seemingly magically rejuvenated legs the last two games and just gluing and giving everyone one everything they need on this team.
Mitch jumping like a gazelle and making a key offensive play down the stretch against guys that could break him in two and knock him off any spot.
Devonte's grandma probably driving from somewhere in Virginia, where the Father of our Country lead desperate men through a seemingly unwindable war, and his grandma getting even more fiery than Self.
Self wearing one of Bob's wind breakers to show solidarity and respect to one of his elders and a guy born just a year before me.
The Potomac and Monongahela Rivers winding around through the country where Revolutionary and Civil Wars raged.
Holly Rowe, usually utterly a FairPlay for Kansas broadcaster and a damn cancer survivor looking healthy fighting through her loyalty to her alma mater of WVU to be just and professional and kind to both teams.
A 13 title run on the line early on the Front Nine and 14 in the mist across the river on the Back Nine.
This is soooo sweet I can't tell ya, HEM.
If you bounce it, they will come.
Oh, they will most certainly come, HEM.
What's going on in my beloved Washington, D.C., the seat of the country I love even more than basketball, HEM, its worn me down, and I am about as resilient and optimistic about this country as anyone could be. I am pretty sure I have figured out most of what is going on and it isn't pretty, but its not my place to tell Americans what is going on, or what to think, or believe about it all, but, man, HEM, I really needed this weekend of basketball to recharge me.
P.S.: Thanks for occasionally giving this old coot and poke and a stroke and a little encouragement. What goes around comes around.
Rock Chalk!
drgnslayr said:
Got to love Doke's emotions! He will learn to harness those emotions to work for him instead of against him... but I'm not worried about that. He is learning everything so so quickly!
Doke is taking OWNERSHIP of our games! He FEELS responsible and KNOWS he must be held accountable. It is a real honor to have a player who is wearing his emotions on his sleeve. Very transparent and showing he is truly a Jayhawk!
I boldfaced the part that I think is so very important. He comes from another culture on another continent, same as Embiid did. He played in America in high school, but he was learning our culture from the ground up. Probably had to develop a taste for flipping cheese burgers. What he is now doing at KU is absolutely awesome in the size of steps he is taking now. He came to KU and probably still did not fully understand and feel the game intuitively as he is beginning to do now.There was no legacy reason for him to feel possessive of the paint the way he might have for a soccer goal, or whatever the hell else they played back home. He literally is just now starting to move around that lane and look beyond his man for interlopers to dominate. He has been a little slower to grok this part of the game than Embiid, but Embiid was the father of all athletic freaks. The thing that is so awesome is that Doke does some things BETTER than Embiid. I mean Doke can literally fly end to end and beat almost everyone. And Doke is very close to having TWO offensive moves: drop step baseline; and running hook into the lane. Its not a jump hook like Danny's. Its a running hook. I haven't seen one for a long time. I used that exact move when I had to swing from small forward to big forward in high school sometimes. That running hook will be there every touch, as long as Doke can make that drop step baseline and dunk move. It is a killer combination for him. He is going to hurt some teams really badly with those two combined moves before the season ends and if he comes back next season with a third move, he will probably average in the mid 20s and could average high 20s if Self wanted to play through him. He is that good.
drgnslayr said:
Hard to believe this kid was in HS a few weeks ago. And now, suddenly, he is playing in front of monster crowds and national TV! Wow!
When Silvio wanted to he moved Konate out of the way like Konate was light as a feather! Loved watching Konate whine to the refs about the physicality of Silvio.
I don't think we have realized just how physical Silvio is. He is truly a low post beast! In some areas of his unrefined game he is actually more imposing than Doke. Of course, not all areas... but in some areas and you can see it.
I'm taking nothing away from Doke though. I can't think of any player that has advanced as fast as Doke! The guy is unreal!
It is utterly insane that he was able to contribute as much as he did! Its like a fairy tale. Step off the high school floor. Step onto a KU-KSU rivalry game on Naismith Court. Step onto a plane. Step onto Mountaineer court in total D1 WAR with almost certainly two hall of fame coaches playing an early game for all the marbles! Silvio just exceeded my wildest expectations just being able to let us rest Doke as much as he did.
Good lord!
I think he will have more troubles the next few games when opposing coaches get some video to get a scout on him, but that's okay. Kruger and OU will be the game where we see how much a scout hampers him. But after OU, he will have a few weeks to get better.
Let's face it. We are not asking the moon. We were going in down 15 until we got a little lucky trey by Devonte, I think it was. Its not like Silvio came in and turned the tide and shut them down. But what he did was exactly what could NOT have happened before he got here. Before he landed, Mitch would have played and Mitch would AND Doke would have been fouled up with 10 to go. Neither would have been able to play hard till 3 to go. Silvio is an absolute god send. And I trust your judgement implicitly: if you say he's got the chops to take another big step during the next few weeks and begin to turn tides with his dominance, well, then let's count our lucky stars. But even if he doesn't fulfill what you saw, he is enough right now to enable us to be MORE who we are for more minutes of the game.
And that's huge.
Bet on the concussion.
It also appears Self is massaging his role into a the guy who drives it late in games and sits as much as Self can afford the rest of the game. It seems like Malik is becoming this teams 6th man even when he plays starter sized minutes. He is supposed to come in when we aren't running the offense anymore and go get baskets. This sort of role would make his average fall also. His shots are created, instead of the offense shaking him loose for some looks.
Its pretty apparent that Self decided to let Malik be Malik and stop trying to bang him into the team player role. He did something similar with Andrew Wiggins. Wigs and Malik share something similar. They are not ball hogs so much as great athletes that really can go get baskets against almost any D1 defender. And when Self tries to get them to let the offense come to them they get tentative, because it is literally not clear to such players when to pass and when to impact. Unlike other players, they see a floor where they could impact every touch. So then they just start passing the ball and not getting involved enough in the offense. Self obviously struggles with coming up with a workable shooting heuristic that allows them to blend AND impact. After mid season, in both players' cases, Self finally just crafted roles where they could more or less go get baskets anytime they felt like it. Wiggins had the green light full time and played full time because he was a fine defender and did just did so many things well even at only 2/3 speed. Malik is not quite as overwhelmingly talented, but he's pretty darned good in go get a basket mode. So: Self is literally putting him in games when he wants Malik to go get baskets, and he sits Malik for Garrett when ever Self wants more offensive flow; i.e., when he wants to ball to keep moving. I was pretty confused about what Self was doing until the KSU game sunk in. But it happened again vs.WVU. It appears the last 5-8 minutes of games our offense defaults largely to either create and impact, or catch and shoot. It actually makes quite a bit of sense, considering the abilities of Devonte, LaCobra, Malik and Svi. They are kind of a scary bunch when they are impacting or in catch and shoot modes. Mix in an occasional cut or back door to our bigs and you've got a late game stew to serve for all opponents.
But I believe the concussion is lurking as an issue. Malik is still not quite as freewheeling as he was; that's a signal to me that those landings after creating shake the brain meat in its hammock still and it doesn't always feel good.
Despite getting homed out of the first half, and contending with a stud on WVU, Doke did more than dunk. These are why I am so thrilled by his play.
He showed the first flickering of big man territoriality.
He showed signs of scrappiness diving for loose balls.
He took some serious abuse and did not back down.
He looks better and better going to paint to hook , which will make his drop step dunk to baseline more deadly.
Way to play Doke!!! Way to overcome adversity and anchor our comeback!!! You Da Man, now!!!!