Kansas Defense Needs to Get much Better

KU's offense has been very good this season and borderline great. But the defense leaves much to be desired. It is still early and statistically the teams are not yet fully connected but the picture is starting to emerge. Right now in my DPPI I have Kansas ranked as follows;

Overall: 8th
Offense: 8th
Defense: 80th

Being ranked 80th in defense will not win a National Championship. There are 14 teams ranked in the top 30 in offense and defense. Generally to be a team vying for the NC you need to be in the top 30 in both offense and defense. Below are the top 50 teams in the DPPI. You can see KU has the worst defense rating in the top 20. Only Iowa (115) has a worse defensive rating in the top 30. Only 3 other teams in the top 50 have worse defensive ratings. KU better get their defense clicking.


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Garrett getting healthy will help. Grimes learning what is expected at this level will help. Keeping Doke on the court would also help.
This may never be a great defensive team by HCBS standards, but they should be much better by the back 9 of the Big XII..

Two great things coming out of the trip to New York:

1.) We learned that these guys can handle adversity. They struggled at various points in both games, and had to gut it out against Tennessee. They found a variety of ways to win, and didn't back down or quit. That bodes well for this team as I'm sure they'll face adversity again many times this season.

2.) Thanks to the overtime, hey have EVEN MORE VIDEO to review than they would have normally. Lots of examples of who missed which assignments, who didn't see the open man (Vick wide open in the paint, for example) and make the extra pass, who made the wrong decision.... Let's just say that Self and his assistants have a LOT of teachable moments that they can demonstrate via video.

Bottom line, this was a learning experience...road trip, distractions, new arenas, big spotlight, tough competition. We got both wins, which is a bonus. Overall, I'd give the guys a solid "A" on the trip. Defense will come. Self will make sure of that.