🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Good bounce back win on the road. Ellis was great early and Tharpe was great throughout. Among Naadir's desirable qualities is a knack for knowing when he needs to take over the game and carry the team. In at least three games this year we lose if it isn't for his shooting. I also wonder if Coach Self and Coach Drew had the names Heslip and Tharpe at the top of their gameplans prior to the tip. Doubtful.

Concerns:

Embiid. Something is not right with him. Knee? Freshman wall? Both? Neither?

Selden, Wiggins and Embiid combining for 3 points in the first half, and a lucky three at that.

Our starters on the court with a 16-point lead under three minutes to go. I don't get the reasoning there, especially in light of recent injuries.

One other thing: why didn't Baylor start fouling to extend the game at the end? I know they were down 12 or 14 with 2 minutes to play and chances were slim, but they didn't even try. They quit. I guess I shouldn't care if the opposition lays down, but for whatever reason that bothered me.

Not to imply injuries are a welcome sight or beneficial in any way, but without Brandon Rush's injury do we win the title in '08?

I watched most of the Kentucky game and UK was awful to put it mildly. They were lethargic on defense, masonic on offense and got outplayed all night.

But the capper for me was under two minutes to go and an LSU player on the free throw line. Kentucky had four guys straddling the lane for a possible rebound and LSU had none. Their other four players were in the backcourt to prevent any kind of run out and quick score. On the second free throw, a miss by the way, Kentucky had a lane violation. Four UK players and only the shooter to box out and they commit a lane violation. It was priceless.

I know it's just one game, but sometimes I swear Bill Self coaches rope-a-dope style.

Despite what my eyes have told me, Self has intimated on occasion that this team does play with heart. I guess I've just been waiting for a pulse. Last night I saw some promising blips on the EKG, highlighted by Selden's best springbok imitation to corral that loose ball. Unbelievable play.

While I'm sure all of you saw it, if you still have the game on DVR, watch it again. Specifically, watch the replay from the midcourt POV. In about three steps Selden goes from one side of the court to the other, seemingly dematerializing through one OU player and rematerializing on top of the ball ahead of another OU player who was just a few inches from the ball after the initial scrum. It's one of the most amazing hustle plays I've seen from a KU player in all my years of watching.

Hopefully a sign of good things to come.

Someone get this man a grail for his avatar. Welcome, JB. Good to see you.

I'm sure I'll sound like the ultimate homer in trying to excuse ... er, defend what I witnessed last night, but I don't think a lot of the guys were functioning at 100% health-wise. Neither the team nor Self will so much as hint at the possibility and I have no empirical proof but their mostly sluggish play was eerily reminiscent of that TCU loss, a loss where close-up shots provided ample evidence of pallor and bullet-sized sweat beads flowing profusely down the brows of several players. I didn't see that in this game, but we were a step slow, sometimes two all night. Seems implausible with all the thoroughbreds in this stable that all could muster no better than "show" at the finish line without some underlying cause.

That said, I think we lost the game at the free throw stripe. As bad as we looked and played, the free throw line is the one place where you get a clean look every time - no defenders to alter the shot, no possibility of a turnover, no controversial calls to affect the outcome. You can't get out-hustled at the line; you can't get out-coached. But you do have to make them if you want a legitimate shot to win a nail-biter and we missed ten in all. Unacceptable. Ask Duke how it feels to lose by 11 and miss 12 "freebies". Aside from "chartiy stripe" being one of the biggest misnomers in the game of basketball and, despite all the missed threes, blockouts and opportunities, we win this game if we make our free throws.

I won't say this was a good loss, because I don't find much solace in getting beat, but the vomit-colored lining on this cloud is that if, as a team, you must suffer a flu bug epidemic, this time of year is certainly preferred over a March pestilence.

Greetings, all. Thrilled to be part of this grassroots effort at keeping free exchange of ideas and informed discussion alive. While I hadn't posted much over the past year at LJW, I certainly visited to keep up with everyone's thoughts and opinions on all things KU.

I do, however, have a good excuse for my posting slack in that I moved back to the surrounding Lawrence area after 23 years away, meaning I can now INVOLVE myself in game days and Late Nights and I can see all the games on TV instead of trying to find computer links or watching game highlights through my mind's eye in text format. Needless to say, it has been amazing to be a part of it all again.

Anyway, as with you all, I refused to bow down to the Facebook gods (or demons as the case may be) and was sad to see such a great community decimated so quickly. But I'm glad to find familiar names here and I will certainly chip in my two cents where I feel I can contribute something worthwhile.

Props to the conspirators who assembled this site.

Rock Chalk!