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Coach Williams' comments
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Possession analysis
| "We'll see if we have any toughness. We didn't show much toughness
out there in the game, and we'll see if we've got any toughness. If we do,
we'll bounce back and do some good things. If we don't, we won't have any
good things happen all year."
--Roy Williams
I know that many of you are upset after KU’s 84-53 loss to Wake Forest, so I am going to start my article off on the right foot and share the positives from the game.
POSITIVES
- Kenny Gregory’s injury did not get any worse. Why? He didn’t play.
- Drew Gooden played hard. (13 pts, 8 rebounds).
- Dick Vitale didn’t do the game. His rambling, screaming, annoying voice would have made this loss that much harder to endure.
Ok, that’s enough for the positives.
To be honest, that’s just about all any Jayhawk fan can take away from this game, other than the fact that it didn’t occur during the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament. For those of you who are eternal optimists and always can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I applaud you. That being said, I would suggest you don’t bother reading the rest of this article.
NEGATIVES
- This was the fourth worst loss in KU history and the second worst loss by a KU team under Roy Williams. Dreams of a National Championship sure seem far, far away right now, don’t they?
- KU was, once again, humiliated before a national television audience. Here’s a couple of quotes from television commentator and former North Carolina and NBA player Brad Daugherty: "You got to guard some people, man", and "They’re getting their backsides handed to them".
- Kenny Gregory didn’t play at all due to his injured foot and back. The Jayhawks proved tonight that they don’t currently have what it takes to handle true adversity.
- The Jayhawks were 3 of 17 from 3 point range, missing their last 10 attempts. They shot a miserable 38% from the field. Visions of KU teams of recent history dance through my head.
We needed Jeff Boschee (8pts, 2 assists, 3 fouls, 4 of 12 from the field (0 for 7 from 3pt range) and Kirk Hinrich (3pts, 3 rbs, 3 assists, 4 turnovers) to step up tonight. They didn’t. Let me share some of my notes I wrote down during the game about each player:
- *Boschee—missed 3 ptr, missed layup, hit 3 ptr, missed 3 ptr, picked up 3rd foul at 18:06, missed 3ptr, airballed 3 ptr, made 2 short jumpers, turnover, another missed 3 ptr, and another missed 3 ptr.
- *Hinrich—hit 3 ptr, turnover and then committed foul, beat downcourt off missed free throw and then a dumb foul for a 3 point play, turnover when called for "palming", missed 3 ptr.
- We needed Eric Chenowith to come up big tonight, particularly because a lot of the pre-game talk was about our BIG frontcourt. So much for that……Eric came up "HUGE" with 1 point, 5 rebounds, and ZERO intensity. His first, and only, point came on a free throw with 4:51 left in the game. Back to the drawing board, Eric. You’ve got to play big in big games. Playing big against Illinois State, Washburn and Middle Tennessee State doesn’t quite cut it when you play like you did tonight. You pretty much re-inserted doubt into your head, your teammates’ heads, your coaches’ heads, and the fans’ heads, about your ability to be a consistent force down low. You are a 7’ 1" SENIOR coming off of 3 straight double doubles. How do you explain your disappearing act in this game?
- We needed Mario Kinsey to give us a spark off the bench (0 pts, 0 rbs, 1 assist, in 15 minutes). Didn’t happen. Here are a couple of notes I wrote down about "Not So Super" Mario: "Comes into the game and turns it over", and "Steal late in the game, tries to draw contact, throws up underhanded airball". Mario, are you sure you’ve recovered from those surgeries?
- What is going on with Nick Collison? He had decent numbers (12 pts, 4 rebounds), but had 5 turnovers. I love the kid, but he has looked more like a freshman the last few games than he ever did AS a freshman. Is he catching a case of the sophomore slumps? I hope not.
- In the 2nd half, Wake Forest shot 68% from the field and outscored KU 46-28. Not like this should be surprising to any of us who have watched this KU team play pathetic perimeter defense night in and night out. Their defensive performance tonight will be used by coaches all across the country as an example of HOW NOT TO PLAY DEFENSE. It was pathetic and it was hard to watch. I can’t count how many times a Wake Forest player hit a wide open jump shot due to our complete lack of defensive effort. On a couple of occasions, I felt like making a mad dash for the toilet.
- KU was outrebounded 43-26 by Wake Forest. So much for our BIG FRONTCOURT. This margin shows a complete lack of effort, hustle and heart from virtually every player on this team. "Embarrassing" is the first word that comes to mind.
- FREE THROWS: KU was 12 for 23, with Drew Gooden a typically pathetic 7 for 14 from the charity stripe. Absolutely unacceptable.
- Though I don’t have official numbers, I think it is relatively safe to say that Wake Forest got EVERY loose ball tonight. At least it seemed that way.
- TURNOVERS. TURNOVERS. TURNOVERS. The Jayhawks had 20 of them tonight that led to numerous points on the other end. Again, PATHETIC and unacceptable for a team that has as much talent as this Jayhawk team does.
- Forget everything I have said and you have heard about this team having several scorers to pick up the slack when one or two players are off. We do have scorers………as long as the opponent isn’t playing defense.
- Horrible spacing. One of the things I’ve talked about all year is that this team seemed to know where they were supposed to be on the court at all times. More importantly, they knew where their teammates were. Not tonight. The only "spacing" the Jayhawks did tonight was "spacing out" when they were down by 10, then 20, then 30 points. The alarm was going off, but they just kept hitting the SNOOZE button.
- The Jayhawks were beaten physically, mentally and emotionally. Coach Williams said, "They totally kicked our tails every way you can possibly be kicked. Physically, mentally, coaching... Everything." With about 10 minutes to go in the game, many of the players looked like they didn’t know what hit them. I didn’t see any fire from any player (other than Drew Gooden) when they were down by 20 points in the 2nd half. They simply went through the motions and quit, throwing in the towel before the game was truly over. They showed no heart and no belief in themselves. It’s one thing to get beat by a good team. It’s another thing to quit when you’re down, and that is what this KU team did tonight.
- I don’t know about you, but I can literally feel the gloating smirk of every North Carolina (and MU, for that matter) fan right now.
To say this was ugly would be a gross understatement. This was embarrassing. All I can say is I don’t feel very confident with the Jayhawks going against DePaul in five days after this humiliating loss. KU should (but likely won’t) drop about 15 notches in the polls based on their "performance" tonight.
Man, it was tough to watch. That’s all for now…..
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