🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@DinarHawk You should have heard Gottlieb on twitter. He was crying the whole damn game.

You know, prior to this game, I used to like Marcus Smart despite the backflip last year. After this game, though, it's a complete 180. I can see why he came back to school - taking full advantage of the OSU drama department's resources. There were a lot of Oscar season jokes about his behavior, but it wasn't even good acting. It was disgusting. Dirty and undignified. A guy who's supposed to be one of the toughest players in the country doesn't fall down at being breathed on. Worse, that T he got on Selden was completely bogus. I've watched and rewatched it over and over again and you can see the blue of the student section barrier between both elbows and Smart's face as Selden cleared out. Honestly, as bad as he was today, I wish Selden had just straight up busted his nose for all the bad acting. A little here or there doesn't bother me. Sometimes you gotta sell a call or the refs won't see it, but what we saw today was nauseating and ridiculous.

My take on OADs is that they're basically salt. You might be healthier to swear it off completely, but without it, you'll be left with a bland plate. Load up on too much, and it overwhelms the dish. But when you strike the right balance, it takes you to places your palate has only ever dreamed of.

Given the fact that we were replacing the starting 5, I think there was/is more room for salt this year than in a normal year. We were basically starting with a boiled potato of a team. There's certainly nothing wrong with a boiled potato. If you're starving, then it's practically a feast. But KU has been dining too richly, grown too thick to really be sated by such a meager offering. Don't get me wrong, though. Even the most nicely seasoned potato is no substitute for a full turkey dinner with all of the trimmings, but the way things looked from last year to this, we were no where near Thanksgiving time. Yet now, as the meal comes together, it looks like we may have been closer than we thought. We managed upon some leftover beef. We found some greens. And what we thought might start as stock is rapidly thickening into a fine gravy before our eyes. If the bird cooks up as nicely as it looked on the label, we'll be gorging ourselves come March.

Still, I do share the larger concern about OADs. I don't want KU to become UK. We don't need a revolving door of talent. And we certainly don't want any meals that consist solely of over-salted potatoes with no meat. I would rather get Embiid for two or three years than have him beget Turner and Zimmerman. In fact, I'm not really sold on Turner as it is. He's not a very good offensive player and I think the comparisons he's drawn to Anthony Davis are right out of left field (he doesn't have any of the guard skills Davis has). Yeah, he'd be a great rim protector, but he think he's more of a less explosive, higher BBIQ Nerlens Noel. Certainly not a bad thing to have, but also not worth having for one year if you can't build around him. Not to mention, that Big Cliff is an excellent shot blocker in his own right (although he's a swatter and that needs to change), and that we have Mickleson and Traylor as more defensively gifted bigs anyway.

I actually really like the way next year's current class is shaping up. Although Big Cliff will likely OAD, he's raw enough that I could see him coming back for a second or even third season to truly become NBA ready. Likewise, based on comments made by him and his father, I think Kelly Oubre is looking more for a 2-3 year college career. If you've followed his stats from this season, he's scoring tons, but needs obvious work on his long ball before he takes it to the professional level. Although he will most certainly challenge whoever is left at the wing after the season ends, his role may become first guard off the bench unless his energy and defense win out. Where I do see a talent gap and were I have concern over the remainder of this year and next is at the PG position. Mason shows a lot of promise and may even be able to achieve a Sherron Collins type career in time, but he's a couple years off, and that's been more evident as Tharpe's played better. For his part, I think Tharpe showed great leadership in Ames, but he's still not nearly the player we need him to be on the defensive end, and he's also not a consistent enough player on the offensive end. He's shown recently that he's capable of having big games, which is good, but I'd feel much better if he'd average 6/6/2.3 (p/a/to) than if he's at 10/2/1. Regardless, I think we need to do a better job of attracting elite (especially defensively) pgs that have room for development. Being able to disrupt on the perimeter would make a huge difference in how we've done this season, as well as how we could do. I'd actually like to add Jaquan Lyle not inspite of his reported academic issues, rather, because of them for the reason that I think he could have a McLemore type trajectory (although I don't think he's psuedo-OAD material the way BMac turned out), sitting out a year, then coming in to an immediate impact role, and eventually leading the team his junior season.

So long and short, I think Embiid over Shepherd is where we want to be right now. I think Wigs over White is less of a deal overall, but he may be the player we needed to be competitive today rather than the guy we want to bring us wins in the future. And although I thought Selden was a lock for OAD earlier, I'm on the fence now. I still think he projects as an NBA 1, and if that rough patch he hit in December was truly his freshmen slump, then I think that's where he'll be headed this summer. But if he has too many more games where he fails to make a positive impact on the other either side of the ball, he'll be back, and we'll be better for it. There might be some opportunity cost there, especially if we're going to retain at least one of Greene and White, but I think either outcome would please me, and either way, we're in good shape for next season, and that's all that really matters.

I know I'm more than a little late to the party. I'm also not sure who I really like as commentators, but I'm not a Knight fan. I get that he knows his Xs and Os better than anyone else out there, but his cantankerous old man schtick grates on me over time. Plus, he seems to think all plays would be improved if you'd just ball fake, dammit! It doesn't help that he can't keep players names' straight, even mixing up who plays for which team. I also can't stand Dickie V. HE'S ANNOYING BABY!!!!!! Raftery is just a poor Dickie V knockoff, so he's on my hit list too. Onions! is a terrible catch phrase, as is Man-da-Man. I kind of like Sir Charles as a halftime guy when CBS season comes. He's a bit 'turrible' too, but his goofiness is part of his charm.

I, for one, LOVE those jerseys. Maybe the best alt jerseys they've played in during Self's tenure. Hope we see them a lot. Hell, I'd take those over our regular one every game.

@HighEliteMajor I'll do you one better, HEM: Pick AW3.

Frankamp is clearly out. He's played more lately than the other two and his rep was that of an outstanding shooter, but thus far he hasn't delivered. He doesn't put pressure on the D when he's handling the ball, his defensive is unremarkable, and most of all, he has hit the least out of the three, so there's no way we can seriously consider him. Yet Self has played him more lately. I can't explain it, but Self needs to get his head right and keep Frankamp on the bench.

Okay, so that leaves Greene and White. Greene is clearly the more 'pure' shooter. His stroke looks beautiful and he delivers it with consistency. Greene also has the most upside. He's a little taller, a little longer, a little more athletic, and just looks more natural out there. But Greene isn't the smarter player and his athleticism and shooting aren't enough to overcome that. He's been forcing shots, he really can't drive, he can't pass, and just has an overall bad habit of poor decision making. And that has hurt his shooting consistency. All in all, he looks a lot like White last year: clearly the tools to be a good shooter, but can't keep himself on the floor. Still, Greene does do a bit better on D, not losing his man as often and picking up fewer bad fouls.

Nonetheless, I'd stick with AW3. He occasionally picks up tacky fouls and seems to struggle defending back-cuts in particular, but he also has shown the ability to use his length and linear speed to get steals, and he's been a better rebounder, something we've been sorely deficient on. He's even registered a few blocks. On the offensive end, AW3 has exercised better shot selection. He's also shown that he can put the ball on the floor and finish at the rim. He plays with the sort of control you'd expect from an older, more experienced player. He may not be the better shooter or off ball defender, but he has more versatility and plays much smarter overall. So why doesn't he play more? I'm not sure. There has to be some reason he isn't getting minutes until after Frankamp and Greene have been exercised as options, but I don't really see it as much on the floor. On the whole, he's been the better player of the trio. I'd give him the minutes for the rest of non-conf play and see what happens. If it turns out to be the wrong choice, you can shift directions in January, but for now, we all agree that consistency in that 5th spot is what's needed, so let's get there.

@Hawk8086 Cant argue with too much with that analysis. That said, this is the sort of loss I can live with. The guys competed. They didnt block out on the offensive glass just lime against Nova, but they played hard. I think this game goes to show how important Wigs is on both ends of the floor. The D hardly works without him in there. I also likedbthst he wanted to take over the game late. He still needs to do that for two halves.

Way late to the debate, but if we're picking one, I say go with White. He doesn't have Greene's upside and will probably never get to the NBA, but all around, he's the most advanced of the three. That said, as much as we have a 3pt shooting problem, at it's core, I don't think it's a 3pt shooting problem. Yes, guys are getting in cold or not hitting shots. AW3 was 0 - 5 in the Bahamas, but over 40% coming in, (Wigs was 4 for 10 for those who care) so I don't know that we're really at the right place hit the panic button on the issue. The core problem that I did notice from the Battle games is simply that the ball is very sticky on the perimeter. We don't seem to have a group of guys that's good making reads without the ball in their hands. They catch the ball, then decide what to do with it, rather than knowing what they are going to do when the ball arrives. That makes reversals slow and allows traps in the post to be effective, help defenders in the post to get back out to defend the perimeter, and the halfcourt offense to stink overall.

Given that poker was the only thing I was ever any good at, I like to think of bball game theory in terms of poker. A successful hold 'em player has a plan for his hand as soon as he sees his cards. He knows what his cards are worth, what will beat him, etc. He doesn't even have to hear a bet to know if he's going to fold or what bets he's going to make. The same thing is essentially true of effective half court play. You have to be able to see what the D has given you without the ball in your hands in order to be effective. You can't wait to make the reads until you receive the ball because by that time, the D is already reacting and your information will go quickly out of date. As much as I disagree with a lot of the criticism of Wigs, I think the reason he becomes subject to it isn't that he's unwilling to attack and take over games, but it's that he fundamentally lacks this skill at this point in his game. He either reads too late or makes the wrong decisions too often. I don't really think he's passive or wanting to just blend in, it's just he doesn't have the BBIQ to take over a game the way we'd want. He could probably get away with that if we had more reliable PG play, but with our PGs, Mason is a score first type, and Tharpe really isn't playing to his role, taking too many shots, and not knowing when it's a good time to pass versus attempt a layup.

With all of that said, I'd point us back to 2012 and not that in that year, not only did we lose to Duke, but we went on to lose to Davidson in KC, then follow that up with labored performance against a horrible USC team only eventually to come together and play for the title. There will be plenty of time for armchair analysis between now and March, but I'd say regardless of anything I typed above, it's too early to really know who this team is and what their deficiencies really are. 7 real games isn't much of a sample size. Shooting could bounce right back and then we'd think we have a whole different kind of team. I'll be more concerned if they're playing this poorly at the end of January, but right now, it doesn't amount to much. The silver lining, if there is one, is that playing this many quality opponent's means this team is going to grow up fast. The next cupcake-y team that we play is Toledo at the end of the month. If we're still struggling to figure things out at that point, maybe it'll be time to shake things up and look for remedies, but for the time being I can live with the fact that this team is winning without really being very good.

@Blown You need hoop-math ↗.

So does that mean he shouldn't play D?

Regarding our penultimate possession in this game, I don't have any problems with the way it played out. Some criticize Mason for taking that 3 as he's not an especially good distance shooter, but to them I'd point out two things: 1) he's been the best 3 pt shooting Jayhawk in this tournament (not that that's saying much) and 2) he was certainly the best player on the floor last night, so if it's not him taking the shot, then who?

As for Self's comment that maybe he should have taken a time out, he's right. Maybe, but maybe not. The question is what does that get you that you didn't already have? If you take a timeout there, it's to set up a play and get an open look for your best player. The way the offense ran, they got an open look for the best player anyway. If Mason rose up and hit that shot, we'd all be on here talking about how awesome it was that he had the guts and the talent to get it done. But he missed, so obviously that was the wrong thing to do, right? No! At least, not necessarily. You can tell when a man doesn't play poker (or at least he isn't any good at it), because he falls prey to that type of linear thinking. You can make the right choice given what you've got and still lose. It's all about understanding the odds and when you're at an advantage or a disadvantage with them.

Having that TO left when the ball left Mason's hands is better than not having it. No inbounds play was going to get him more open than that unless Nova just completely cocked up. If we'd got the offensive board on the ground after he missed (and we almost did), having that TO lets you set up one more shot. I'm not suggesting that there aren't reasons to use the TO to set up a play (for instance if you wanted a different shooter, but I would take Mason over Frankamp, White, or Greene in that position), but simply pointing out that there's nothing inherently better in making that choice versus not. It's not a simple case of, 'if they'd only called time out there XYZ would have happened.' Calling time also allows the other team to make adjustments and get their defense set. None of us is really in any kind of position to say exactly what would happen, but I haven't seen or heard anything to suggest that running something else put us in any better a position to win.

We have to take the long view, though. Was this a good loss? No. But it can be. This is the sort of game that can turn a team around and really galvanize them. It can also be the sort of thing that deflates them. We'll find out how they respond in the next few hours, and in the week to come. Let's hope the result is KU's first ever win over UTEP (as strange but true as that is). RCJH!

1. Three Point Shooting: My first thought during and after this game was -- what a waste. We have three guys that are supposed to be major outside shooters. Three point threats. And we desperately needed outside shooting in this game. But Greene, Frankamp, and White barely got time to get in the flow. Greene shot an open three and was barked at by Self. This is the exact type of game where we needed outside shooting, but it wasn't in the game. In hindsight, White or Greene would have been better in the game, down the stretch, than Wiggins. We have a strength that is now a weakness. Self has to commit -- pick one, and play him. Let him take some threes each half. White, Greene, and Frankamp played a combined 15 minutes. Just give all those minutes to one guy -- let him gun a bit.

2. Press: I was perplexed as to why we didn't attack that half-court press harder. We were content to just get the ball across. Multiple options on attacking and trying to get easy buckets, but nothing. I was very disappointed with Self there. Hard middle flash, corner pass, long lob, three flat, x screen. Something. Please.

3. Officiating: Again, both ways. But it is nearly criminal how the officials are controlling and screwing up games. From incompetency, to inconsistency. It is just horrible. One obvious example was the phantom call to foul out Embiid. But the officials go unpunished and are never accountable. The worst of this new "approach" is when an offensive player is driving and the the defender is to his side chasing. The offensive player invades the defenders space, bumps him, and gets a foul. Every time. It goes both ways.

4. Hedging: Self is going to have to rethink this. We are exposing our big men to cheap fouls. Just cannot do it with Embiid. He is too valuable.

5. Mason: The only real alpha dog on the team, so far. Oddly, I sensed that Brannen Greene has a little of that in him. Loved his body language when he got in the game.

6. Post Play: Again, Tarik Black is a footnote. Actually played ok, but it was Self's call. 8 minutes of game-time. If you don't play Black in a dogfight like this, when do you play him? And Traylor got just 8 minutes. Would you trade Traylor and Black for Kevin Young? I would. But we need one of these guys to be a player.

7. Wiggins/Selden: Was seriously waiting for Wiggins to try to take over. Still waiting. For a while there, forgot he was on the court. Selden kind of slipped into obscurity too. Mason is playing like I thought Selden would. Still, I would have rather had Selden in than Tharpe down the stretch. Just my gut feeling at the time.

8. Rotation: Pick one, Greene/White/Frankamp. Give him 15+ rotation minutes every game. Other two sit. Start Embiid. Start Mason. Four freshmen in the starting lineup -- Mason, Selden, Wiggins, Ellis, and Embiid. Pick Black or Traylor, first big off the bench. Only play the other one if necessary (like tonight, with foul issues). Add in Tharpe off the bench. And go with it. 8 guys, emergency big.

Sorry, but Villanova isn't that good. We allowed them to stay in the game. That's how it will be this year except with a few of the excellent teams. We will determine our fate.

For the most part, I agree HEM, though I'd point out a couple of things:

Villanova beating us wasn't that big of an upset. They were rated the #20 team in the nation at kenpom.com prior to the game. We were rated #5. This loss doesn't compare to TCU, VCU, etc. These guys were in our league, but yeah, we backed down when they got back up.

The lack of energy this week may be due to illness amongst the team. I certainly hope it is, anyway. We know Wigs was said to be dealing with flu. He and Ellis were sucking a lot of wind when they were clunking the front end of free throw attempts. It would certainly explain Selden's anemic performance, too. I will give Wiggins credit for showing up on D, though. He wasn't perfect by any means, but he did contest shots and was very nearly the hero of the game if he'd been able to corral that loose ball at the end. He wasn't aggressive on offense though, and that has to change fast.

The bottom line is that Nova wanted the win, and our guys didn't. I don't know why, but they clearly didn't. Nova worked the glass hard. Ellis was repeatedly caught just watching the ball as it came off the rim only to see it tipped by a Nova player when there was no block out. The rest of the bigs did the same thing. We aren't even in the top 100 for rebounding teams this season. Mason is the only won bringing consistent effort. I hope he replaces Tharpe as the point pretty soon. Frank still needs to be a better distributor, but Tharpe's decision making has been incredibly poor on this trip. And there should never be a single game in which he takes nearly as many shots as Wigs and Ellis (he took 7 to their 8 each) unless he's just red hot knocking everything down. The game turned as much on the 17 fter he missed in the final 2 minutes as anything else.

All of that said, no excuses. I know what Bill will be saying to these kids tonight, tomorrow, and for the rest of the year. He'll be on them to be as aggressive and engaged as Nova was tonight. Hopefully this game becomes lesson learned, or at very least a building block to a great season.

@Kip_McSmithers

Turner has indicated pretty strongly that he doesn't want to compete with another OAD. I don't remember the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of it would weigh heavy with him if a suitor already signed a player at his position. I wouldn't rule anything out, but regardless of what happens at UK this year, they'll be returning at least one other big between Marcus Lee and Dakari Johnson, and could very well return both. I don't see Turner walking into a situation with that kind of log jam in the front court.

On our end, if Embiid can maintain this trajectory, he'll add be an OAD right there with Wigs (I think Selden will be gone too. He's going to make a great NBA pg in a few years). Likewise, if Ellis' tear continues, he'll be a late lottery guy if he decides to go (though I think we'll get one more season out of him). Given that, I think we've got a great shot at Turner, who would slot in ahead of Mickleson, Lucas, and Traylor. If Embiid returns, however, I'd count us out, but that'd hardly be a disappointing turn of events. Even the worst case scenario of losing Embiid and Ellis and missing on Turner wouldn't leave us in too bad of shape. Big Cliff is a presence on both ends of the floor and I'm willing to bet that junior Jamari will be a better player overall than junior Kevin Young. That may be HEM's nightmare, but it's certainly a front court I could live with.

As for the OSUs of the world, I'd be more surprised to see Turner on a Big 12 team other than KU than anything else. Okie St. is going to be a middling team at best next year and landing Turner wouldn't drastically alter that. Same thing with TX, who is also likely to be returning Ridley and Ibeh. Ohio St., on the other hand, looks like a very good fit for him. Yes, they have Amir Williams who will be a senior C, but I don't think Turner would have any trouble jumping Marc Loving on the depth chart, so either he or Williams could slot the the 4 and that would be an incredibly formidable twosome. I'd handicap them as the favorite until we reach March and have a better idea of the future fortunes of Ellis and Embiid.

I wouldn't give up on Tarik as a starter just yet. The biggest reason he's been so prone to fouls is we haven't played a single team with traditional, post-up bigs. I look for him to show his value against Florida, Georgetown, and New Mexico more so than the teams we've played so far. That said, Embiid was fantastic tonight and I'm looking for more of that going forward. But, as HEM would say, temper your expectations a bit. He still has to learn to handle double teams better. He's shown improvement on D and staying on his feet, but there's a ways to go there before he can do the Withey. Most importantly, though, he has to show he can hold position and finish like that playing against thick, tough, Izzo-type bigs.

As for Greene, I think this game puts him on transfer alert. He's shown a lot of passion and talent, but he's a TO liability still and not a great defender, and there is another skilled wing already signed for the next class. I hope he's in it for the long haul because he looks like a kid that could break out as an upperclassman, but I gotta think he's giving a long hard think about transfering to UConn, his second choice. If that happens, it's our loss, but I hope that's not the case.

I think this could be a good reminder to the team not to rest on their laurels tomorrow night. Yeah, we beat Duke, but Iona is a capable team with some good outside shooters, just like Belmont. I don't think it'll be a huge blowout, although I'd welcome one. I hope this team handles success well.

I'll definitely say more than a few prayers for you. Good luck and God bless.

Blown I agree the fakeout move was not my fave, but ESPN is reporting that he faxed in his LOI this morning. That doesn't mean he couldn't ask for a release, but I don't think he's going anywhere. Plus, it does feel a lot better to be on the winning side of that move, having been faked out in the past.

@wissoxfan83

Turner is #2 center and #2 overall according to ESPN. He's expected to announce in the spring. I think we have a decent shot at him. He was very high on KU early on, including a rumor that he planned to commit at Late Night. But when he was unable to make the visit, it seemed like KU started losing steam. He's a lanky shot blocker who has been compared to Anthony Davis. He's stated in the past that he's not interested in competing with another center in the same class, so the decision of Embiid to stay or go would likely be the biggest thing to affect his recruitment with us. Ohio St. has been the one with the most momentum lately, but it's still plenty early and anything could happen.

I know the Stones said you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you get what you need, but this recruiting year, I've got both!

Not only that, but we finally won a Hat Dance!!!! RCJH

@justanotherfan

Cliff Alexander

Positives - The first thing that stuck out to me is how long his arms seem. Sounds weird, but it was something that was noticeable. That wingspan makes him bigger than he is. VERY strong. Dunks a ton. Blocks lots of shots. His long arms allow him to high point the ball without jumping as high, allowing him to wait on the shooter. Finishes through contact with no real issues, mostly because he is violently dunking over that contact.

Negatives - Didn't see him shoot much, which is a worry. His mechanics look okay, but I wonder if he has the ability and confidence to step out to 15. Didn't see him really handle the ball at all. He's a post up PF, which is fine, but don't expect him to start knocking down 15-17 footers.

Overall - I don't know if he can hit jump shots with any sort of consistency. What I do know is that if you get him the basketball within 8 feet of the hoop, he's probably going to drop step and dunk. He also has a useful jump hook and a reasonable turnaround from that area, so its not all just power. But there is a TON of power. Like his defense more than Okafor. To me he's the better shot blocker. My only worry for him collegiately is that he won't be able to get the kind of position offensively that he gets in high school, so he will need to extend the range on his secondary shots (jump hook, turnaround).

Of all these guys, Cliff A is the one I want at KU the most. He is basically TRob 2.0 and potentially a 2 year guy. Like you, the wingspan was the first thing I noticed, and if his DraftExpress.com measurements are correct, that TRob 2.0 comment is literally true. Same height (6'9" in shoes), same wingspan (7'3"), same weight (240lbs), and same beastly athleticism. He could be our best defender if he comes and Embiid leaves. Although TRob wasn't our best defender on the 2012 squad, he did show what he could do on a number of occasions, especially when he was FBOTB in 2011 (remember that time he blocked a shot, fell down, got up, and blocked the second attempt? I know, it was some cupcakey school, but I'd never seen that before or since). Cliff has that kind of length and quickness.

As for worrying about his positioning and shooting, KU excels at teaching bigs how to gain position when the ball reverses, so I don't think there'd be any problems for him there. And if he stays 2 years, he'd have time to work on his jumper. He's not an automatic OAD like Oakafor, so that's not out of the question if NBA GMs agree.

The one thing I will say is, I would never in a million years want a coach to say those words out loud. It's fine if you think it. It's fine to have that goal in mind. I don't think human beings have much to wake up in the morning for if not to strive to reach a higher state (which isn't to say people waking up to survive are in any way lesser individuals, but they probably don't have enviable lives, either). But if you go and state that as a goal for the season, you'll likely derail yourself as soon as you fall short.

Having a goal like winning a title is fine cause if it happens it happens on your last game of the season anyway. But not missing a beat in 40 games is nearly impossible as it is (I mean, how hard is it for the best teams to win 5 in a row in March? It's only happened once since the tournament expanded to 64+ teams), so if it does ever happen in the modern era of college basketball, it's going to happen organically, not because some 2-bit Cap'n'Crunch decided to Babe Ruth it in the preseason. You know who would never do something so stupid as this? Bob Knight. Ya' know, the guy that ACTUALLY achieved a perfect season. If Knight were there, he'd have thrown a chair at Cal's head, then complained about his lack of fundamentals.

Long and short, if UK fails to cut down the nets this April (or even reach the Final Four), it'll have as much to do with Calipari's loud mouth as anything else. Clearly this was a check his butt couldn't cash, so shame on him. But double shame on BBN for actually buying into this nonsense. I get they want to put the memory of last season's flame out far behind them, but really? REALLY?

Okay, there's more to it than that. Overall a great Champion's Classic. Even if we didn't pull away there in the end, I loved the toughness the team displayed. I'll cop to having some twitter schadenfreude with Julius Randle's first half, but he displayed tonight exactly why I think he would have been a great get for KU and why he could very well be UK's biggest liability. He's a 6'9" 250 lbs Tyshawn Taylor: often amazing, but equally perplexing at times. I also loved the way Wiggins performed without having to touch the ball on every possession. Ellis was the man. Frank Mason looked like he belonged more than Tharpe (I'll give him a bit of a pass, though, considering he didn't get as many reps as he should have coming into tonight cause of that stupid rule). All in all, hard-nosed, never-say-die kinda game. My final thought is, as great a win as this was, I can't imagine what it will be like when this team is actually good. When we can play D, when Embiid can stay on his feet and anticipate a pass, when Black can stay out of foul trouble (jk), when Wigs finds a little more stroke, we're gonna be a force.

That is all.

I didn't get to watch all of the game last night since my brother is getting married this weekend, but fortunately I did get to slip out to the bar and catch a few glimpses of the end of the 1st half and start of the 2nd during the rehearsal dinner (plus I had a friend tape it, so I won't miss out completely). Gotta say, yeah, that was ugly as ugly gets. But take heart. After I got home I decided to check out some of the other games and I saw something I didn't expect: BASKETBALL.

Whatever was sent out to the power conference refs about officiating, apparently the WCC didn't get the memo. BYU vs. Weber St. featured contact. Guys used their hands on D. Yes, if the pushed or stiff armed, they got called, but there were no whistles just for having a hand out and occasionally touching your opponent. Bodies banged too. Guys were allowed to use their hips and torsos to shunt the driver as long as they maintained defensive position.

From what I witnessed, it doesn't have to be the way we've seen it. You can give the ball handler more freedom without punishing good D. You don't have to let offensive players play out of control and then reward them with free throws for it. The current implementation of the hand check rule is a real turd, but officials don't have to call things this tightly. The power is in their hands. It doesn't matter what they call as long as they call things equally. I hope the Big 12 wakes up to this sooner rather than later. The real test of these new rules, though, is Tuesday. Power match-ups on a neutral court are usually games where whistles are swallowed a bit. Will players be allowed to play or does the free throw parade march on?

@Hawk8086 Only if it's the second miss of two or the front end of a 1 and 1. Missing then making leaves a point on the table. KU was 12 for 30 from the stripe. In order to have not lost any points, 9 of the 24 offensive rebounds KU had in the game would have had to have been converted after a two miss scenario. There may have been a few times that it happened, but I'm willing to bet it didn't happen 9 times, so no, free throws very much cost KU a title.

@hawk8086 I don't care how many offensive rebounds there were... If you shoot under 50% from the stripe and lose by 3 pts, free throws cost you in a big way.

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I just thought Wiggins lost his confidence a bit. He wasn't shooting well, and so he backed down, hoping others would pick up the slack.

He needs to learn to shoot through mini slumps. Maybe he feels like if he isn't hitting shots, he shouldn't be shooting and everyone will think he's being a gunner.

He's just feeling things out at this level. In HS, he knew he was the man regardless of the situation and had to keep shooting. Last night was him thinking he was polite. It exposed his good nature to be unselfish.

But he's an alpha dog and Self won't have a problem flipping his switch like he did sometimes with BMac.

@drgonslayr

I don't think Wigs is slumping. I think he's just taking bad shots. His first 3 shots last night were rushed and defended, so it's no surprise that he didn't hit them. But that isn't altogether unexpected, either. If you've read up on Wigs, the common criticism of his game is that his decision making hasn't matured yet (largely because, with his athleticism he can make questionable plays and finish anyway), and that he hasn't developed much in the way of moves to get his shot off (head fakes, hesitations, etc, again, largely because he hasn't needed them). His success this season is going to depend on how quickly he adds those dimensions to his game. The only thing about his performance last night that actually concerned me is that he finished without any assists despite drawing double teams and help defenders on a lot of his plays. I hope that goes away as the guys get used to playing together, but I don't know right now if it was because the off-ball guys weren't getting to the right spots or Wigs wasn't looking. I couldn't record this game because of the stupid JayhawkTV deal, and it irks me to no end.

On the redshirt issue, I agree that Frankamp makes sense to redshirt and will contribute more in his 4th and 5th year than if he's only here for 4 years total. That said, I don't think he should redshirt this year. I think he should redshirt next year. This year, while Mason is still a freshman, there's going to be times that we'll want a back up to the back up. There are, for sure, going to be games where Mason isn't up to the task for one reason or another. I know we could always slot in Selden as the back up in those instances, but I think you and I agree that that's not what Self wants to do and that it would be more natural to have Frankamp in that position. Given that it's a virtual certainty that Tharpe will be back for a senior season, that Frankamp is very unlikely to transfer, and that in a year, Mason could consistently look as good against D-1 opponents as he did against Fort Hays last, I think we'll have less demand for Frankamp's skill set. And though I know you're not hot on the idea, it will be doubly true if Tyus Jones winds up in a Jayhawk uniform, and I bet that's something Self is giving serious consideration cause everything I'm hearing says Okafor is a strong KU lean and that he might very well be able to drag Jones along.

Black definitely seemed to struggle having to close out and/or stay in front of his man on the drive. It will be less of a problem going forward because D1 teams will have real bigs instead of small forwards and guards at the 5 spot. Black's struggles, the poor D, and the sloppy pace all point to the unintended consequences of the hand-check rule change. You can no longer impede the progress of the ball handler and that's just going to put a lot more pressure on helping and rotating, and you'll inevitably give up points that way. What's more, pretty much any body contact on the ball handler, even if the defender stays in front and has his hands up, is going to get whistled. Black should have had a clean block when he picked up his 2nd foul because he kept his man in front and maintained his position, but, if the telecasters are to be believed, that's now going to be a foul every time. I get that the defense wasn't great, but is the unintended consequence going to be that you can't really play D at all?

I mean, if you really look at it, the big difference in the first half of the game wasn't that KU's perimeter defenders weren't trying to stay with their guy, it's that they avoided contact at all costs. KU had 4 fouls by the time Fort Hays put us in the double bonus. I just can't imagine a way that we're going to avoid games being sloppy and disjointed unless they tweak this rule. In fact, I'm willing to bet it's going to be so bad, they'll want to reconsider by mid-season. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Tar Heels cutting down the nets in April cause if you can't defend, the only thing to do is run the old Kansas break and hope you can outscore all your opponents.

The only way we're going to be okay on D is if/when Embiid can learn to stay on his feet. Once that happens, we can just go back to funneling the traffic to our erasers at the rim. Black and Traylor can also get in on the action some, but neither of them have the length to do what Jo Jo can. We can try trapping more on the perimeter or switching everything, but I don't know if that's going to work. Self hates giving up easy buckets, which is inevitable with traps, and I think Black is too much of a liability if he has to defend the drive, especially against quick guards. He's not a foot-dragger by any means, but he's also not fleet-footed either, and guys built like that always seem to get fouls called on them when matched up against smaller players, whether they're deserved or not.

I don't know... I really need to be watch some other teams and see how they've adjusted to defensive schemes, but I can't think of another team that I think is really analogous to KU's style of D. Maybe MSU? I'm also curious to see how teams live Louisville, Syracuse, and VCU fair on the defensive end. Is ball pressure and trapping the way to go? Zone? Or do we just need to not suck at man-to-man? I know the sports media talked a lot about these rules changes coming into the season, but I think the changes are WAAAAAAYYYY bigger than how they were sold. The goal was to reward offensive players for being aggressive, but I think we'll find out by the end of the season is that instead, they've punished the defensive player for sticking to his guy instead of just opening up the lane for an easy layup.

I think Alexander would be a better fit overall. He's a lot more athletic than Okafor, and a better overall defender. Okafor is very polished, but for with all his length, he doesn't block shots or rebound like you might expect. Plus, Alexander could very well be a 2 year player. Okafor is OAD, NQA.

Worth noting on the Jones/Okafor front is that Okafor added Hudy to his following list on twitter the other day. Doesn't necessarily mean anything, but at least we know he made a connection during his visit.