Boy do I miss SVI

First time seeing this team. I guess being ranked #1 I expected more so I'm a bit disappointed so far. I like having so many big guys and Dok doing great, even getting his free throws! Good to have Vick on the floor and I like his new haircut.
I feel a loss coming soon with Mich St so soon. I don't see this team improving fast enough. So much for #1 lol. I hated the headline in USA Today a couple of weeks ago.... NCAA championship or Failure. How UNfair. We're just another team like Puke or Kenyucky trying our best to be the best. Why put so much pressure on such a young team.
I hope the second half is better!!!!!! Will be interesting to watch this team improve........

I would have lost a bet on the Udunkie free throws!!! Wow, he sure has improved. But it doesn't change the "poke-a-doke" strategy for the other team. Sure he might shoot 80% from the line, but he's 99% from point blank at the hoop!


Tuesday is for real and resumes my raison d'être

RC

Watched the first half on replay last night. Great to see Ballard back at AFH. Not at all surprised that he got a warm welcome.

Not thrilled about having that #1 bullseye hanging on our backs. If MSU beats us, I'd be ok falling down to "somewhere in the top 5" for a while. Rankings are a LOT more important to me in March than in November.

One thing I think we're seeing is NOT what what we're going to be doing vs. MSU. Self (and Izzo too, most likely) don't want to show the other coach any kind of preview of what they'll be running, so I'm sure that we'll see some new stuff on Tuesday. My guess is that Self and company are giving guy specific tasks in the exhibition games..things to work on, things to focus on, but aren't necessarily coaching the game as they will when they count. In other words, I'm sure that Self "let's em play" more in an expo game, whereas he's calling a lot more of the shots in real games.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Tuesday. On one hand, we're deeply talented and have great potential. On the other, expectations (and the pressure they bring) are high, and will be a new thing for some of these youngsters to learn to deal with.

I guess by the time November rolls around I have lost understanding of the concept of Freshmen. Then we play in these exhibition games and it comes roaring back. All of the freshman have looked like.....well freshmen. I don’t have the depth of evaluation ability to see the little things that marks them as potential stars as well as the pros. But you can sure spot reluctance, delayed responses, reticence, out of control hustle and all the other things that seem to be trademarks of Freshmen. I am guessing that all three of the burger frosh will end up being great but my oh my, they were not great last night. They weren’t particularly horrible but definitely not Mason or Graham or Svi or even a senior version of Tyrel Reed or Travis Releford. I do like the tendency of Dotson to attack the rim, but I did not like his tendency to force passes at terrible angles just because that was the called play. If the pass is not there pull it back and call another play. The movement without the ball in the first half was almost comical. And McCormack was not ready for the double team which is partly his responsibility and partly knowing his teammates and where they will be. Vick seems to be the same old Vick. That isn’t bad but it is a little disappointing. The old Vick can do some nice things. But he also has holes. Not sure what is up with KJ. He seems completely off with his shot but he does hustle. The spacing often was horrendous which is to be expected with so many new guys. Lightfoot would benefit from a redshirt but doggone it, He May be the best guy off the bench at this very moment. I may be biased but I am learning to love Lightfoot. He strikes you of having decent athleticism but very limited skills but he always seems to come up with the right play at the right time. Agbaji should redshirt, not because he couldn’t contribute but because he won’t get minutes. Self makes noises about a 9 or 10 man rotation but when has he ever done that? It is not in his DNA. I would bet good money he will use 8 guys with the other 2 (Assuming 2 redshirt) 3-4 minutes in spotty action. We are not as athletic as I thought we would be but we will make up for it is girth, size and skill. That is not to say we are not athletic, we just don’t have any of the Zhaire Smith type guys. The two guys who have fully lived up to my expectations thus far are Dedric and Marcus. It will be hard to keep Marcus off the flooor. If he could only shoot. Moore looked a little calmer last night. He was way too hyped against ESU. We are a good match for an Izzo type team. Tough, physical with lots of motion. My prediction is that McCormack will get about 10 fouls per 40 minutes. Dok was 5-6 from the line. Am I a believer? Not yet but that was encouraging. Do I keep him in that game against OU if it is close. Maybe by then yes, but not at this moment. Boynton voted for K-State to win the Big 12. Sour grapes or legitimate? I say legitimate mostly with a little bit of sour grapes. Not sure what he has to be sour about. They beat us twice last year. That still sticks in my craw. What exactly is a craw anyway? Let’s hope we have some great practices between now and Tuesday. We need to even up the series with Michigan St. I was at the last game when we won 80-60 or something like that. I remember Draymond Green walked into the arena and a HUGE “boooooo” rose up from the crowd. Mostly Thunder fans I think. It was fun since the MSU section was basically one little Green clump amidst a sea of crimson and blue. It’s great to be a Jayhawk during basketball season. My Christmas wish is a basketball season with no players being held out or under investigation. Can we please have that, just once?

Good stuff, Corpus.

Here's info about a craw and the phrase "sticks in my craw."

www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/11/messages/738.html