Keys to the Win

1. Excellent scouting - Every player I heard interviewed mentioned the effectiveness of the scouting report from Terrance. Self also mentioned it. Our defense was largely effective because we anticipated almost every move. Self said the only move they played poorly against was Felix going to his left, which apparently they scouted but executed poorly. That was a difference maker.

2. Hot potato - KU always passes better than almost every other team in the country. Last night they were better than I have seen them in years. The ball moved with extreme quickness and in the right direction based on the defense. We annihilated their zone largely with crisp and perfect passing.

3. Preparation - Self did not have practice on Sunday. Rather they ran through the scouting report and let the guys rest their bodies. No one on the planet can stop a guy like Isaiah Taylor one on one by reacting. You have to stop him by knowing the teams tendencies and knowing his tendencies and anticipating. This game was won largely in the prparation. The execution was a manifestation of the preparation.

Listen, we lost to Michigan St. largely because they adjusted and we did not as well. I think Izzo is equal to Self and they are two of maybe 10 coaches that are at that level. That is why I love those games between the titans of coaching. I love to watch the game plans and the adjustments. self is second to none but he has his bad nights and Michigan St. was one. I hope like hell we meet them in the NC game. It will be an incredible game but I will always be happy we have Self. We hit shots last night and that always helps. They missed a few and that always helps. But we simply executed to the game plan and the scouting report and that was the real difference. Shaka Smart is no doubt an up and comer. But he met the master last night.

Yep, you got it.

I mentioned it elsewhere, but it seemed that after we smashed Texas in the mouth right out of the gate, they were on their heels playing reactively to us for the rest of the half. When they had a chance to reset things at the half, we came out and stopped their brief surge. Then it was all over.

Very good prep work with no real practice and very little time. A good rehearsal for the two-games-in-two-days pulse of the tournament.

Great point on the rehearsal for the tournament set-up. I really like the Saturday-Monday games for that reason.

In the tournament, you're likely to get a tougher opponent in each subsequent round. Same thing happened in this case: Tech @ Allen Fieldhouse is an easier game than Texas on the road. So psychologically, the guys had to mentally prepare for a bigger challenge after beating Tech.

Very good preparation, and well timed.

I would love to know which coach scouts each opponent. It would be interesting to see if the Jayhawks consistently do better when one coach is the lead scout. Terrance Howard scouted the Longhorns. What if every game that Townsend scouts they are less effective? Or Roberts? I assume all do well but it would interesting to know. Each coach has his strengths. Townsend is known as one of the best recruiters around. Maybe his scouting is only average. Having been privvy to a couple scouting reports in my day it is eye opening how much of a difference that makes. In fact, I would say that scouting an opponents offensive AND defensive tendencies is one of the biggest keys to superior performance.

The scuttlebutt was that Dooley was one of the best position coaches in the country and also one of the better scouts. Twonsend has always been considered one of the best two or three recruiters in the country. Danny kept a low profile but I always suspected that he was an excellent position coach and probably recruiter as well. And Danny is sort of like Ellis (or Ellis is sort of like Danny) being a very classy person. My personal fav coach was Jank. He was absolutely loved by the players and I thought early on would be a great replacement for Self. Now I don't aknowledge that we will ever need a replacement for Self.

Heck, HE, while we're dreaming let's really dream. Here's to hoping;

-- Self retires at age 70 as the winningest men's division 1 coach of all time beating coach K by about 30 games at least. This would require hime to average about 32 or more wins per season from here on out.
-- Self retires with the most NCAA tournament wins of any coach in history
-- Self retires with the most National Championships of any other than Wooden (let's be relaistic here)
-- Self reaches the 1000 win plateau at Kansas.
-- At his last home game, every player he coached shows up to pay tribute.

I'll probably be dead by then......

Agree as for the MSU game, KU was close to "cracking" it open and then Valentie pulls on his Magic cape and goes bonkers. Izzo is a great coach, like HCBS, but I was at the game in Chicago and the Hawks just lost it when they started to miss shots, which impacted their D and rebounding. Meanwhile Valentine just would not miss. Even coach Izzo said as much in his postgame comments. I don't know, the MSU game still irks me..

Yes!! It's not unreasonable to think ill make it another 17.

I guess I thought he was younger....

At any age,


RC

LOL! And so true!