🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@jaybate-1.0
I think, well hope, that we see a more team game and that scoring and attempts is pretty even across the board. (among 5-7 players)

1.) No, 8-10 average. He will have some games when he gets hot, has a MUA, or has to force things which will make it higher on those nights.

2.) Starter, 6-8 attempts. PG position, 10-12 attempts.

3.) Perry won't be leading scorer in more than 50% of games, but he may lead scoring in more games than anyone one else. Again hoping for balanced scoring.

4.) Alexander. He will score points from the 4 and 5 spot. I think one of Lucas and Mickelson will cut into the minutes of one of Perry, Traylor, Alexander; for defensive purposes.

5.) This is a tricky one. I'm not really sure who starts so I don't know. My thought (guess) is that Greene will score more per minute played, but will also get scored on more per minutes played. Oubre will score more per game and will be a good defender and that will keep him on the floor. But I will say, from what I saw on the camp game videos, that neither of them had to play defense fighting through screens and such, plus we don't how much help that position will have to give on defense. Wow, I hope that makes sense!

6.) Another tricky one. You sold me on the idea of "making the easy play" and I think that will apply to all on the team. So I'm leaning more to gluing, but I feel 50/50 because the easy play for him may be to just shoot the ball. However, if he's not effective at which ever one HCBS wants then he will be riding pine.

Once the rotation is set, I feel like anyone of our top 5-6 will have a big game while another disappears, and the rest score about 10-12 ppg. And I think it could be a different guy in all those situations in each game. Again, I hope that makes sense! :)

Great questions!

@Crimsonorblue22 Yeah I want it for him as well. It will be interesting to see what his (and everybody else's) role will be on this team.

Perry, Jamari, and Cliff just seems like a short (in height) rotation to me, so I think one of Hunter and Lucas will have an impact on someone's minutes.

Interesting post from all!

I'm not sure how all this will play out. Last year, Embiid scored most of the time by taking his man one on one, or two, or three, however many they threw at him. :) Perry seemed to score in the flow of the offense, catching the ball on the move on ball reversal and a few one on one when he had the MUA. Jamari seemed to be an opportunistic scorer. Put backs, loose balls, being open because his man helped somewhere else, scoring in transition. Toward the end of the season, we saw Mari score on drives to the basket when he had a MUA. Unless the offensive scheme is to get the ball to him, then his game will be much like it was last year. I'm not really sure how Mari's game would translate if he was ever a focal point.

I haven't seen enough of Big Cliff to know which category his game falls into. Is he creative and skilled (and polished) enough to be a focal point on offense, or will he be an opportunistic scorer? Hard to tell from his highlight videos. My guess is somewhere in between.

Of course Bill will run the good ol' high/low, but it will probably look a lot different this year in the way it's executed. My hope is that we have enough scoring threats all over the floor that the post player don't feel burdened and have to force anything. And vice versa!

Defensively, I'm hoping Hunter or Lucas will be able to fill a roll similar to what Kaun (notice I spelled that right this time ;)) did. Whenever an opposing big got into a rhythm against us, he would come in and just bother the crap out of the that guy. He didn't blanket people, but he would keep them from their spots, mess up their timing, and I think it messed with their head. After 3-4 possessions of this, then Kaun would score on them and it was like he took their heart. And did it with energy and a smile!

I like the idea, that defensively we could throw different looks at opposing bigs. This group will be interesting to watch this season.

@RedRooster Thank you sir. Thanks for everything!

Well my first week of posting is in the books. I want to say thank you to everybody who viewed, posted, up voted, and most all engaged with me. You have no idea how great this is for me.(kinda going through a tough time right now) I have looked up to all you guys for a couple of years. Thanks for taking me in and making me feel at home. I hope that I have been an asset to your community.

I actually feel a little pressure to be better at contributing. I have no idea what to talk about next, but I'm something will come to me. Of course some may argue that I had idea what I was talking about this week! ;)

You guys are the best, and I wanted you to know that!

@nuleafjhawk lol thanks man! It's an honor!

59 post, well 60 now, and no @HighEliteMajor ? I had really hoped he would get in on this one. I even tried to coax him out on the first post! :)

@DoubleDD lol Yeah Cole had (at that time) exactly what he needed to have against UNC.

Many of you guys have talked about Self coming into his own as coach and about to step into greatness. You guys have all the historical knowledge to base that claim, and I agree. I wonder what it would be like for Self to have that team now! Holly cow! I also would've like to see Hinrich and Collison play for Self. They were great, but imagine how they would've been with Self as a coach!

@DoubleDD I think you're on to something here. The only exception being the deep bench we had in 08'. But everyone on that team new their roles and that team had so many interchangeable parts. And, I think they (the players on that team) liked that fact, and liked playing with each other. Everyone seemed to have chemistry with everyone.

I've got a source that I talk to, and when fishing for info, I always ask him if all the player get along with each other, and who is buddies with who. I haven't yet got enough info to make any sense of it yet, so the jury is still out.

This is my Friday too! For some reason I can't post at work. I can see all of you guys and it shows that I'm logged in, but that's all. (stupid government computers!) It kills me that I can't get in on the conversations while there are happening. So I ended up staying up way too late every night my first week of posting. I got to figure something out because I love this site! This weekend will be all about spending time with the kids, but I'll try to sneak in when I can. ;)

Hey @DoubleDD, check out what I just replied with to slayer and give me your thoughts. Please!! :)

@DoubleDD Agreed!!!! Enough in his wheel house to pull out all his tricks and schemes. If the staff can give the players everything that the 08 bunch had, look out!!!

The pieces are there, everybody step up!

Rock Chalk!

@drgnslayr I was thinking of this sort of thing yesterday also.

We have good competition at almost every position. And this summer and in practices the players have to be looking over their shoulders and getting pushed. I always thought this sort of situation is good for the players, but I wonder if, once the season starts, it hurts the players ability to look ahead at the opponents on the floor. For instance, (this is just an example, made up by me) you have say Perry trying to do what it take to out play say Traylor, instead of focusing on out playing his matchup on the other team.

I have no idea on this. I guess it depends on the player. Any thoughts? Anybody?

@DoubleDD

I agree with you about HCBS. I think he's a great coach and I wouldn't want any other. I also agree with you about Embiid's presence.

So...lets take a quick inventory. We lost Embiid and Black and gained Big Cliff. We lost Naa and gained a soph. Mason and CF, and a freshman Graham. So are we coming out worse, or better, or breaking even? I think that is yet to be determined. (I'm assuming that we break even with the wing players) But I still feel that the ability of the coaching staff to develop our returning players and put these pieces together, as well as, their ability to scheme and make adjustments throughout the season is key and will be the biggest factor in whether the season ends in a championship or disappointment. Thus, the reasoning for this being my biggest concern. Just because I'm concerned doesn't mean that I have lost faith and hope. My hope is for everyone on the team to up their game and that includes the coaches.

Wouldn't it be cool to know which coaches did the scouting report for each game, and be able to track how the team played in each game. Just to see if there is any correlation.

Great conversation! Thanks to all you guys for engaging with me on this. This is has to be the greatest assembly of basketball minds anywhere!

@Crimsonorblue22 Well, on CF, I don't think he was ever developed enough to be effective with the team with what skills he had to offer. He certainly didn't get the minutes that Naa and Mason got. And with more minutes during the course of the season he may have developed better chemistry with the starters. I cited a couple of examples in my PG thread. IMHO, and I don't claim to be an expert, CF had some kind of confidence issues in playing or at least attempting to play HIS game when on the floor, until the last two games of the year. (which I described in detail on the PG thread) Now I don't know if this lack of confidence issue was coach induced or self afflicted by CF himself, however, I think the coach could have done more to help him through that whether it be through "freedom to go make a play" or let him play through some mistakes, or run some set plays to free him up so he could "see the ball go in", etc. Maybe coach had him in a toughing box of some sort, I don't know. I do believe that player development is a two-way street, both player and coach share some responsibility in that. And for whatever reason CF didn't seem to be as good as he should've been, at PG or 2 guard. The point of my post above is that it couldn't have been the coaches game plan to use CF, Black, Mason, and Traylor to march through the tournament, after a season of relying on Embiid, Wigs, Perry, and Selden. So something must have went wrong in the game plan the last two games.

On Wigs, I wasn't trying to bag on Wigs. All those things you mentioned that he did was great. He's a good kid and I hope he does great things in the L. Again my frustration was with the coaching staff. Someone should have helped him develop another move to compliment his spin move, because it was always just a matter of time before other teams and coaches took that move away. In fact in a larger scope, the coaches should have prepared the team for the time when other coaches would eventually take him out of the game, like they did towards the end of the season. Relying on one guy, no matter how good he is seldom works, and that's on the coaching staff one way or another.

I'm not sure if I'm very good at this posting and getting my thoughts together and points made, but if you look at my 3 threads on my concerns for this season it all fits together. Fixing the problems we had last year, what we added for this year, and what needs to be done better by all of the above. Hopefully that equation adds up to a championship. I don't think I have all the answers, but if the right questions don't get asked then solutions are never found. I'm just offering my take to both the right questions and the right answers.

Great conversation! Thanks for engaging with me. Believe me, I learn more from being wrong and taking in what all you guys say. I can't wait to see how next season plays out.

@drgnslayr lol! Man, I love Burgess Meredith's character in the Rocky movies so much, I hate to compare him with Wussy Weber.

@Crimsonorblue22 No,no! No tree limbs here!

@bskeet Haha! that's funny! Sounds like you were raise right! I can't remember where you are from, but I doubt I've ever been there.

I love these kinds of threads. I'm just guessing many of the posters on here are older than me and I'm kind of an old soul, so it's interesting to hear about all this stuff. I thought about doing another thread about stuff, big or small, that we each do that is nostalgic or not main stream anymore. I'm not sure if anyone would be interested or not? I do a lot of little things the "old way" just to keep it alive and to teach my children. Plus most of time, the "old way" is the better way.

@Crimsonorblue22 Yeah he came really close. It was a real positive thing to see him play with such heart his last game. I will always hold him in high regard for the effort he showed.

It's was just a sad end to a season where we all had such high hopes. KU's best recruiting class, the number 1 and number 3 draft picks, the best head coach in basketball and like I said in an earlier post; "we were relying on Mason to drive and kick (which Perry and Traylor couldn't finish), Black to show some heart and toughness, and the shooting of an undeveloped CF. Now that's not KU basketball, and I'm sure HCBS would agree."

I know I probably sound to critical and have unreal expectations, but hey, I'm a Jayhawk fan, one of many of the best fans in the world!

Oh, one more thing, it's Constitution Day! Maybe I should have put this on my last post, but oh well, I think it fits with this discussion we're having. A quote from Thomas Jefferson:

"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear."

I will always question with boldness everything as long as our seasons end in disappointment.

Rock Chalk!

I really hate using the Embiid injury as an excuse. It may be a reason, but not an excuse. And for everybody that want's to give the coaching staff a pass on not being ready for Stanford (already knowing that Embiid wasn't going to play) I ask this, what if Embiid had really been a 2-3 year project like he was thought to be? Would we have lost 15 games? There should have been a backup plan. Maybe not a good enough plan to win a championship, but enough to get out of the second round.

My big beef is lack of player development within the season. Another example being Wiggs spin move in the lane. He had an awesome spin move, and halfway through the conference season, everyone knew it. I remember screaming at my TV, after Wiggs spun in the lane and had the ball stripped for the 15th time, "can't somebody on that coaching staff spend about an hour with him and come up with another move, at least one, just to mix it up!" :) And as others have said, Perry is the worst post defender HCBS has ever had. But I digress.

Bill Self said last year that for x-mas he wanted: health, toughness, and a little outside shooting. He got none of it. Some of that is fate, some the players fault, some the coaching staffs fault. So, the x-mas list should be the same this year and lets hope that he's been good this year!

Interesting stuff, one and all. I guess from this last week we could probably all agree that to win a title this year we just need to be better. Better guard play. Better post play (especially defense). Better coaching. We're hearing good stuff about Mason this summer, good stuff about Perry, and I think the fact that boot camp is back to 2 weeks is a good sign for the coaching decisions. Sounds like a National Championship year to me, at least until it's not!

@DoubleDD Good post! Agreed.

"Couple of things here. One KU was a very (and I mean very young team) last year. Two KU had a very key injury with Embiid. Coaching can fix that."

Exactly, coaching should have fixed that. They knew we were going to be without Embiid for the tournament.

@nuleafjhawk and @JayhawkRock78

I am from a different generation than most of you, and I think you're right about being robbed of good music.

Growing up my dad had the some vinyl record that my brother and I absolutely wore out!

Marty Robbins-Gunfighter Ballads

Johnny Horton- Greatest Hits (North to Alaska, Sink the Bismark, Battle of New Orleans, etc.)

Tom T. Hall- Children songs (I got this on CD for my 7 year old)

Also my dad was a big Charley Pride and Ricky Skaggs fan. I love hearing songs like Roll on Mississippi, Cotton Pickin Delta Town, and Highway 40 Blues, etc. As a kid, our first family vacation was taken in a car with an 8-track player! ;)

Good stuff guys!!

@KUSTEVE Good post!

But... :)

quantum leap (Perry) Yeah...ok, but in year 3, with HCBS, Perry better play some D!

Agreed, nobody could save Naa from Naa. But Naa got a lot better from the beginning of his soph. year to the end of his soph. year, before the meltdown. That's my point, we didn't see last years freshman improve throughout the season as we did with Naa the year before.

Injuries, well, Embiid's hurt us for sure but his play was really a bandaid for the other issues. Seldon's injuries happened before the season ever started so I don't think that should factor into a discussion about lack of in-season or in-game coaching, except the fact that it's being used as an excuse instead of something that we overcame through player development and scheming.

I don't think our players are dumb by any means, I'm just not sure they were being taught very well. But if people want to say that our new players just don't have the IQ that our other teams have had, then I ask you, who recruited those players? Not Joe Dooley! :)

@jaybate-1.0 Thanks, friend!

@BeddieKU23

???"hogwash" ???

Yes, we would be talking about this even if we would have made the Final 4. @HighEliteMajor talked all season long about the lack of in-game adjustments and how the players weren't improving as the season progressed. (sorry HEM if I'm putting words in your mouth) If we were talking about these obvious issues before the season was half way over, then yes we would still be talking about them now.

Sir, you proved my point in your last sentence,

"You can't replace them with the same, Howard and Roberts are fine coaches who will only get better with what they do"

That's my point, they HAVE to get better at what THEY do, or better yet, what KU basketball does. And, Joe Dooley was great at what he did. The playbook was dumbed down MORE as the season went on, not the other way around. Scheming was thrown out the window to the point that we were relying on Mason to drive and kick (which Perry and Traylor couldn't finish), Black to show some heart and toughness, and the shooting of an undeveloped CF. Now that's not KU basketball, and I'm sure HCBS would agree.

@JayHawkFanToo You said,

"The main playbook is still the same. How much of it is used depends almost uniquely on the basketball IQ of the players available and not the coaching staff. You have to assume that all member of the coaching staff at KU are more than capable of understanding Coach Self's entire playbook; however, the same cannot be said of all the players."

Exactly, however it's the coaches job to teach the players the fundamentals and IQ needed to execute said plays and adjustments.

One of the worst things I noticed was the fact that our wings couldn't feed the post accurately and on time when the ball was reversed (a staple of our offense). It got so bad that Naa would bring the ball up the court (because no one else could), then they had to run the weave just to get Naa on the wing to feed the post. Ridiculous!

I think the 05-06 squad (full of young players and Moody) would have beat the socks off these guys. Maybe not the first game of the year but for sure by the end.

Sorry guys, for some reason I couldn't post at work today, so I'm late to my own thread. :)

@bskeet Agreed! But...we've had young teams before, like 05-06, and the players got noticeably better as the season went on individually and as a team. We didn't see that this year with maybe the exception of Embiid and Traylor. Perry made a jump during the off season. My take is that the perimeter players didn't make any improvement as the season progressed. I just hate using youth and inexperience as an excuse.

My biggest concern for this season is with the coaching staff. Last year was Bill Self's worst TEAM since being at KU. I know everything goes back to the head coach, but I don't think it was all his fault. I mean, you have assistant coaches for a reason. Right?

The offensive schemes seemed way simplified. The defensive schemes seemed way simplified. The playbook seemed very thin. Lack of in-game adjustments. Lack of "wrinkles" to help the team in situations. Some individuals got better as the season went on, but the team as a whole didn't seem to get any better.

I know we were young and inexperienced, but we've had other young and inexperienced team that showed improvement as the season went on. @jaybate-1.0 has posted about the "low foundation-high ceiling" guys and that is key, but I think there is another factor to consider when talking about a team. Could the players just not "get it"? Lack of preparation by the coaches? Lack of quality scouting from the coaches? Lack of in-game suggestions from the assistants? The inability to "coach them up"?

I like many, feared the loss of Danny Manning, but we've seemed to have weathered that well. And I point to the development of our bigs like Traylor. He has shown improvement every time he gets on the floor.

I fear what we are missing is Joe Dooley, and what I call the "Joe Dooley factor" I remember reading or hearing somewhere Mario mentioning how important Dooley was in his development here at KU. To me. the key word here is development. RussRob, Mario, BRush, Sherron, TT, Reed, Bstar, EJ, TRele all developed each year here with Dooley. IMHO, nobody developed like that last year over the course of the season.

The "Joe Dooley factor"? Well...the guy never smiled, never celebrated, had a scowl almost the whole time. He was always talking to Self on the sideline in games. He would watch players on the floor like he was burning a hole through them. He was constantly burning a hole through the score board, then the clip board, then the score board, then back to the clip board. Always working. He always had things to say to the players during timeouts and they listened intently, not staring off in the crowd.

I feel like Self and Dooley were like Batman and Robin, The Lone Ranger and Tonto, etc. I feel like he and Self could play good cop-bad cop to develop a player. One to get their attention and the other to teach, either way didn't matter. I'm not a Joe Dooley or coaching expert.(and won't ever claim to be) I'm not sure what intangibles he brought to the coaching staff, but there must have been something.

@HighEliteMajor has posted a lot about Self not ever changing. IMO, he really hasn't ever had to MOST of the time, until this last year. At least introducing new wrinkles from time to time was enough for us, and the ability to "coach'em up".

There probably is a lot more to these coaching issues that I just can't put a finger on yet, and the solutions may be even harder to find. However, I got faith in HCBS's ability to coach up players, and hopefully his coaches!

So... what do you think? Am I way off base here?

Are we missing the "Joe Dooley factor"?

Will the current coaching staff be able to pick up the slack?

Will the playbook expand this year?

Will execution be better?

Will play like we actually had a scouting report before hand, instead of making it up as we go?

I hope so! It's time to "pick up the pace, and I don't mean picante" ;)

@Crimsonorblue22 Ha! Ha!

Weber can't find the camera????

Marshall likes the camera, maybe a little too much????

Self looks pretty confident that he could take both of them UFC style, at the same time!!!!

@Crimsonorblue22 Oh yes, Embiid would've made that guy ineffective on both ends of the floor! And probably would've fouled him out halfway through the second half!

In case you guys haven't noticed, ;) I'm hoping Lucus or Hunter can fill that role that Kahn and even Cole filled in 08. You don't need that guy all the time but when you need it, it's priceless!

@drgnslayr It's kind of funny we end up talking about bigs on the guard thread and guards on the bigs threads. I guess it really is a team game! :)

Agreed on fight for real estate, also the guards will need to pressure the entry pass wide to get said footer off his spot. It's just that guy from Stanford (I'm really not sure if he was a footer, but you know what I mean) was exactly the kind of guy that Kahn would've bother just enough to be ineffective, if only we had a Kahn last year! ;)

I mentioned before about our guards helping with long rebounds. Those types of plays never seem to go our way. Especially when we have a player or two "nicked up" and playing good D for 35 seconds on bad wheels, just to do it again for another 35, against team that are trying to shorten the game. (mid-major tournament games) I noticed in the camp games this summer our guards seemed to have knack for knowing when to stay home and rebound and when to leak out for the outlet pass. This will be key if we really up the tempo this year. Mario was the last guy we had that had that knack, and he still does today in the pros.

Spot on with Perry!

@drgnslayr Thanks slayer, glad you enjoy.

I'm with you on the x-axis style of play, in fact, I would like an all of the above approach. Another great point on controlling tempo, but I would go one step farther and say, this team needs to dictate tempo. Meaning forcing certain opponents to play fast, others slow, and also fast and slow in the same game. The 08 squad was the last team that could change pace within the game and be effective. I believe Tyshawn and the 12 squad could've done it, but didn't want to run Jeff weary trying to keep up. IMHO, the best teams we had that could use tempo as weapon was the 02 and 03 squads. That bunch could change tempo within a single possession! Check out my "Dream Mode" thread that was inspired by you. It's mostly nonsense, but the idea of playing at multiple speeds and different styles at the same time is at least interesting, if not practical.

Shot fakes=HUGE! While this always needs work, the videos of the summer camp games showed a few guys using fakes and side stepping to create shooting space. The videos also showed guy taking 3's in transition and early when they found themselves open and in rhythm. (hopefully HCBS will allow this) Also saw some of our little guys playing along the baseline and some backdoor layups behind the defense which supports your x-axis game as well.

Great take on the upcoming Kensucky game.

Question for you, or anybody. Much has been made about playing up tempo (rightly so) and much has been made about keeping Big Cliff on the floor (again rightly so). But does that really fit together? I mean I haven't seen anything that would suggest that Cliff is fast, or would have the conditioning needed to play that way for extended periods of time. Maybe I'm wrong here. But if we expect Cliff to play bigger than he is in half court defense, we better not wear him out running track meets 40 mins at a time.

BTW I love the garden/produce pics keep them coming! I just cut up a 30# watermelon from the garden!

@KUSTEVE I tend to agree with you on it being a good thing that everything isn't etched in stone. It make everyone have to compete for minutes, however, I fear that this situation COULD lead to poor team chemistry as some play with 1st unit then 2nd unit as it all gets sorted out.

I like Lucas too. Hoping for some big minutes this year. And another great KU program success story unfolding before our eyes.

@jaybate-1.0 I'm curious, at what point do you think a player becomes a "Nike player" or an "adidas player"? It seems most recruits have on their list both Nike schools and adidas schools, etc. Is this really indecision, or just for show? Take Zimmerman for example, I thought we had the inside track on him and we're an adidas school. But if he doesn't choose us, he's likely to choose a Nike school on his list. Educate me!

Well this is my 2nd highest concern leading up to the start of the season. Hopefully all the knowledge and wisdom on this site can address my concerns.

A couple weeks ago I was talking with a gentleman about the upcoming season. I told him that Bill Self has got a stacked deck and should be able to play whatever game he wanted. The more I thought about that, the more I became unsure. First off let me say that, offensively, I believe we're in good shape. Big Cliff will put up good numbers (if he can stay on the floor), Perry's numbers should make a jump. Great stuff from @Statmachine to predict Perry's numbers. If you haven't looked, check it out. And I expect another jump in Traylor's numbers also. My concern lies on the other end of the floor defensively.

Like many I look to the 08 squad as a standard, especially this season as this may be the first time since then that we start two post players under 6-10. When the 08 squad faced a big close to 7ft, Kahn could come off the bench to match up and bother that guy defensively. And in the final four, against UNC, I was confident that we could handle Psycho T because we had 16 fouls and 4 big bodies to throw at that guy. But Psycho T wasn't a footer either. This year we will face some footers, and at least once, we will face more than 1 at a time!

I think Big Cliff will hold his own with guys close to his size, but he needs to stay on the floor and not get fouled up as @drgnslayr said yesterday. Plus, he's a freshman and you never know about bonehead plays.

Perry...well I think you get what you get with Perry.

And our likely 1st big off the bench is 6-7 Jamari, full of energy and hustle, but is that enough?

Landon and Hunter???? More questions than answers.

So, is Bill Self playing with a deck of 51, or is there an ace in the hole?

Is this team missing a Kahn?

Does this team really need a Kahn?

Did Landon and Hunter travel the world this summer to hangout with some monks, walk on rice paper, and became the chosen ones to stifle all things big with magical basketball kung fu? :) (I don't know, it's late, sorry)

How do we handle the twin towers from the color blind state? (sorry, but I've been there and the grass is green, not blue) Maybe we get lucky and the Harrison's won't pass them the ball!

How do we handle the big dude from Texas with the permanent mean look on his face, who threw Embiid down with no regard for local littering laws? Maybe with our new up tempo game, we can have him winded and out by the 10min mark! Oh wait, Rick Barnes will find a way to mess it up. Never mind!

And finally, how do we handle some no name footer from a mid-major, who can hit a 15ft. jumper and is money with his baby hook from 5ft in (which he picked up while walking on rice paper halfway around the world :)) and having the game of his life, when we are just starting our quest to dominate the greatest tournament in sports?

Well here it is, my 2nd highest concern for this season. Maybe I'm foolish and nobody shares these concerns. Maybe the wisdom of those found on KU Buckets hold the solutions to all thing troubling those who wear the Jayhawk proudly. May I be enlightened. And may I be asking the right questions.

Give me your thoughts guys! Thanks for reading.

@JayHawkFanToo
Point taken, but I hope we don't need any of them in the near future.

Hey @Crimsonorblue22, I know your defense comment was directed to HEM but I'd like to respond also if you'll hear me.

Mason, for sure, has a leg up on defense, but he got beat off the dribble too just like everyone else. And also some closeout issues on trey shooters. I will concede the fact that I don't know how much he was asked to help out on defensive schemes and that's what got him out of position on his man a few times.

As far as CF, I don't think he was as bad as everyone suggest. And I base that on the K-state game when Spradling started hitting a few shots, after moving through screens in the lane, and CF came off the bench and guarded him for about a 5 min stretch. Spradling touched the ball every possession but couldn't get a shot off. When CF was replaced (I can't remember whether it was Naa or Mason) the next possession Spradling hit an open 3 because whoever it was didn't keep up through the screens.

Almost every team we face will have someone like that for CF to guard. I seriously doubt any of our guards will be able to shut down one of the Harrison twins with Kensucky. And they all will probably struggle with guys like Foster of K-state and the Texas kid.

Mason should be better at ball pressure and pressuring the entry pass which, if you saw my post above, I think will be important this year IMHO. Just food for thought.

@HighEliteMajor
Thanks for the assist. I expect both to be improved, and that bodes well for the team. You can take it to the bank that Frank has been working on his shot. He has been talking about that all summer, I know this for a fact. So fingers crossed!

Agree with you on Svi playing point. I'm not old enough to remember Magic playing point at 6-8, plus I'm from Missouri. I'll believe it when I see it. :)

Point guard play is my 3rd highest concern for this team. Post play is my 2nd. I mentioned it a little in a post above responding to @drgnslayr. I'm going to start a new thread about that later. Please leave some thoughts on that when I get it posted. My number one concern has to do with coaching and I especially want your insight on that.

@brooksmd and @Crimsonorblue22

Amen!

Let's all raise our glasses to Perry not playing D like an old man and the Jaybate School of Literature Nonsense!

Oh wait, I forgot to mention...

Imagine playing fast, going 10 deep on the bench, and having no one "nicked up", in need of surgery, in walking boots, or wearing quilted pillows on their knees!

And yes, I stole that from @jaybate-1.0!

Ok NOW back to reality.

@Careful-you
Thanks for the kind words. I love this site and more importantly, the people on it. I, in no way compare myself to some of the posters here. I can only hope to pick up some the knowledge they drop behind. But, I'll try my best. ;)

I just finished another post that is meant to be funny. And I'll probably post another about our post play for next year and another on some coaching issues. Check them out and hope you join in the fray.

Ok, I just started posting this weekend and so I'm trying to play catch-up on some topics that most of you have already discussed. So thanks to all of you for allowing this and engaging with me.

I believe it was last week when @drgnslayr said this is the time to be in dream mode and that inspired me.

Now a lot has been made about playing style. Playing small, playing tall, playing fast, playing "methodical", etc. Well, what if we can do it all whenever we want to. And here is the real kicker...what if we can do all of that at the same time no matter who is on the floor!

This idea came to me when I was thinking about the dreaded KU weave at the top of the key. Imagine running that play with some players fast, some players slow. The fast guys being methodical, the methodical guys turning the corner and making something happen. Imagine trying to defend that. Even if they switch everything. Imagine guarding Svi moving at just a steady pace, then picking up crazy fast Frank! Then, if you survived that, switch again to CF who causes you to overplay as he takes a dribble, side steps and drains a 3 while you're in the stands three row deep! Now by the end of the game, you've had to fight this dreaded weave so much you have no idea who you're guarding anymore. And the next time you crawl out of the stands from three rows deep, you look up to see Wayne or Oubre driving to the lane and your only big teammate picking up his 5 foul trying to stop him. Then you think, "Oh yeah, that's who I was supposed to be guarding!". :)

Oh yes, bigs hitting the trey, guards finding success at the rim! Super athletic leapers throwing lobs to a couple of guys who were hiding all summer in tournaments around the country and the world! Moles dribbling anywhere they want to go, inbounding the ball and scoring at the other end with every player touching the ball and the ball never touching the floor! Big Cliff stealing the ball at the top of the key and going the other way for a dunk, Frank having a triple double involving rebounds and blocks!

Just imagine!

Ok, back to reality.
Let's get serious now.

@Statmachine

Great work! I love this stuff. Also thanks for posting stuff all summer. You gave me something new to read seems like everyday.

The only things I can think of that might be relative to your research is to look at the past players and how much they improved year to year. Perry's number are better as sophomore than theirs as juniors. However, if we knew what kind of jump they made from sophomore to juniors, we might know if Perry has hit his ceiling or what kind of jump to expect from him. The other thing is what percentage of their teams offense did they account for. Scoring 13 points on 8 shots is a big difference than 13 points on 15 shots, or 20 etc.

Also it would be cool to see if you can predict the numbers and how relevant guys like Landon and Hunter will be in the future. Maybe by looking at others who redshirted or transferred in. I don't know that may be tough, but if anyone can do it, the Statmachine can!

@jaybate-1.0
Another good post!

I guess I just assume all the tailing dribbling wasn't a true reflection of CF's game. More a product of the lack of team chemistry and experience and probably self confidence. Many times all of our PG's forward dribbled into right into trouble, and for CF that meant a quick hook and he knew it. It wasn't until the last couple of games that the chip got heavy enough for him to show some glimpses of what he can do when he has the confidence and the ok from HCBS to attack. One attack resulted in a open 10 footer, great confidence builder. Another attack resulted in a missed opportunity at an open back door dunk, because Wiggs hadn't seen that play all year and wasn't expecting it. So back to the tail dribbling. But I'll digress.

@drgnslayr
Thanks for the up vote! That really means something coming from the leading up vote getter! :) I've always enjoyed your insight and wisdom of the game over the last couple of years that I have been following all you guys.

Agreed, keeping Cliff on the floor and effective is huge! The PG situation is probably my 3rd highest concern. My second is post play, particularly, post defense. I think our guard play will be better at stopping penetration. But what happens when we run into a 7 footer who is just money with a baby hook from 5 feet, like Stanford last year. The '08 squad had Kahn off the bench to help with that situation. Can Landon or Hunter fill that role this year? Can our guards help with entry pass pressure? I hope so, because all it takes is one mismatch like that in March to send you packing. In '08, I was confident we would beat UNC because we had 16 fouls and 4 big bodies to throw at Psycho T. Now I know he wasn't a 7 footer, but I think it makes my point.

Great post, thank you!

Thanks @HighEliteMajor , for your response. I have enjoyed your knowledge of the game for quite some time. It's an honor.

I agree with both you and @DoubleDD in your assessment of CF play last year being steady and methodical. But, I don't think that is a reflection of what he can bring to the table. One question is why is that all he brought to the table? Confidence issues? Freedom to go make the play? Playing with inexperienced players and not having the leadership role or skills to get the others on the same page? The other question is whether or not he can fix those issues, and whether or not HCBS will let him play the way he played in high school and with the U17 USA squad? Like you said HEM, he appeared to be the only option for HCBS the last two games of the season. What has changed since then? Hopefully a lot! ;)

With Frank, he needs an improved trey gun (which I think we will see out of both of them), more dishes on the drive (if the other players have their heads on straight), and some sort of mid range game. Because going to rim to be rejected or altered or hoping to be bailed out by a whistle just won't cut it.

Also, Self has talked about multiple ball handlers on the floor at the same time. So secure the rebound and get down the floor. This works to CF's advantage, I think, because it allows CF to get lost on the wing as all the high flyers go rushing by, sucking in the defense, where he can shoot the open, quick trey. But again, it questions, will his 3% be up where it needs to be? (I think it will) And, will HCBS allow this type of play?

Also defense will be key, particularly, post pass defense from our guards to help keep our bigs out of foul trouble. Frank has the edge here but both need to improve.

Also, we're going to need more rebounding from our guards too. Wiggs and Embiid are gone, and we can't afford to give opponents extra possessions on long rebounds. In the summer camp videos, CF seemed to have a knack for knowing when to rebound and when to leak out for the outlet pass.

Either way I think we will be better at the guard spot this year than last. Even Tharpe looked good when playing with more experienced player around him. Not so good last year. Which ever one can be a "floor general" should get the nod, IMHO.

Snatching up Graham quickly I think was a reflection of the lack of '15 pg prospects and injury insurance more than anything. But I could be wrong!

@JayhawkRock78

Thanks for the welcome. Glad to be here. This is by far my favorite site as well.

I like old fogey guys, I hope to live long enough to one too! :)

@jaybate-1.0
Interesting. I never thought about the OAD roller coaster being a factor in who sits up front. Of course there has been much debate about who starts at the other positions also.

"Can't say about Davonte, but Self said Davonte made the team a whole lot better the moment he signed."
Truth?
"Coach speak"?
Or more chip building for the other two?

Ahh, I didn't think about Brad Stevens. He would be a good candidate.

I've had Joe Dooley on the brain lately. He brought something to the coaching staff here that I feel was missing last year. I haven't quite wrapped my head around it yet. More to come later.

@JayHawkFanToo

I see what you're saying about drawing fouls. But we saw last year, as the season went on the refs got back to calling fouls based on TV timeouts and game length, unless it was a situation they had to blow the whistle. Another point that I failed to make about the Sherron/Frank comparison was that Sherron was wide enough to create space with just his body. Frank and CF should work on creating space much the way @jaybate-1.0 described yesterday when talking about Svi. That's what happened in the example I gave about CF hitting the wide open 10 footer. His defender was in turn and burn mode and had to stop or he would've run over CF. When a defender runs over the back of the pg in the lane it will get the call every time. When there is a meet at the rim collision, there's room for reasonable doubt. ;)

Honestly, I think scoring won't be as important as IQ and leadership abilities to be a "coach on floor type" because I think overall team IQ will still be lacking. They both need to improve on that because, if they can't do what is needed to make themselves effective, how can they facilitate the rest of the team being effective? I don't care who gets the nod, as long as they get the job done.

@wissoxfan83
I have this dream that if/when Bill Self leaves Danny Manning and Joe Dooley team up, flip a coin to see who is head coach and who is assistant, and KU just keeps on rolling! ;)