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Let's not lose hope

  • replayloungehawk
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1 year 2 months ago #30182 by replayloungehawk
I know today was bad. But let's not lose hope. Let's keep things in perspective. Last year's team lost six games. Got blown out at home. Many said McCormack was awful. We didn't have a bench. All kinds of stuff. I think this team will be fine.

The Big12 will tough tough tough this year. Let's keep our heads up. Rock chalk for life!!!
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1 year 2 months ago #30184 by LKF_HAWK
I guess the Chiefs won, which was a more important game in the scheme of things. But the Hawks should be ashamed of that effort, disrespectful of the Phog and the program. They had nothing.

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1 year 2 months ago - 1 year 2 months ago #30185 by hairyhawk
This might be the minority opinion but I have to take my hat off to TCU. They played great and made shots. They hit almost everything while the Hawks were missing layups. his could be a good wake up call.
Last Edit: 1 year 2 months ago by hairyhawk.
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1 year 2 months ago #30186 by LKF_HAWK
TCU played great, a lot of that is did not show up. KU slower and smaller that TCU, no way should TCU have better ball players thank the Hawks..just wrong.

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1 year 2 months ago #30189 by konza63
We should absolutely take our hats off to TCU, hairyhawk. They were light years ahead of us today. The far better team pretty much from start to finish, and in all phases. We stunk, they were elite. Pretty much sums it up.

“With kindest regards to Dr. Forrest C. Allen, the father of basketball coaching, from the father of the game.”

1936 inscription on the portrait of Dr. Naismith, displayed above Phog Allen's office desk at KU.

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1 year 2 months ago #30190 by Bayhawk
How long before we hear of a players meeting?


RC

The end is nothing; the road is all.
-- Jules Michelet

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1 year 2 months ago #30191 by konza63
:-) Good question, Bay. Could be happening tonight, but my prediction is if we lose the next 2 - at Baylor and at Kensucky - which, honestly, isn't that implausible. (Especially now that UK seems to be turning their season around)

“With kindest regards to Dr. Forrest C. Allen, the father of basketball coaching, from the father of the game.”

1936 inscription on the portrait of Dr. Naismith, displayed above Phog Allen's office desk at KU.
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1 year 2 months ago #30195 by CorpusJayhawk
Agree that hats go off to TCU. It was that special game for them when everything clicked. We had that game against Mizzou. Every team will likely have one per season. I may be the minority opinion here but no team meetings required. One bad game does not a trend make. If we were to string together a series of bad games then I would probably change my tune. But one bad game is just statistically speaking, almost a certainty once per season. This game was in the 97th percentile of standard deviation, meaning it will occur about once every 35 games or so which equates to once per season. It happens. It happened last season, it happened the season before that and the season before that. That is just the way of the world in college basketball. It is not a good thing and I hate it. But my clinical and reasoned view is that this is just that game every team is very likely to have every season. If you look for the source of this terrible game you might cite these things.

1. Gradey couldn’t hit his shots
2. Dajuan had some careless TO’s and was not quite as court aware and crisp as usual
3. McCullar looked reluctant to shoot open shots and thus missed some opportunities forcing us to settle for poorer shots.
4. KJ once again in foul trouble and his shot was off
5. Missed layups by a number of players
6. Defense was a step slow and a little haphazard

Okay, now posit conclusions from these nominal causes.

1. Is Gradey getting worse and has he lost his touch? I don’t think so. Just a tough stretch. He is clearly a great shooter.
2. Is Dajuan’s game deteriorating. Now that is silly. He has done nothing but steadily improve. But there are always speed bumps in the road to improvement.
3. Is McCullar toast, never again to regain confidence. Now that is laughable. He is a smart player and Self and company know how to handle this. This is a common problem in college hoops. This too shall pass.
4. Is KJ being exposed as in actuality a limited player that can be easily schemed against? Not in my opinion. Win a few, lose a few. My bet is on KJ in the long run. Too much want to, too much athleticism, too much intelligence,.
5. Did this team suddenly lose their ability to hit the floaters and rim shots. Some days they fall some days they don’t. We will get nothing but better in that area.
6. Is Self being exposed of not being able to develop game plans against teams after 20 years at KU and 30 years coaching? Now that IS funny. TCU was just in a zone that happens. The Bostón Celtics would have had their hands full with TCU the way they were playing for much of this game. If anything, this game will serve to improve us even faster.

Now, having said all that, the bad news is this team is not the dominant team that that we would hope. But this team did virtually nothing to change the assessment of this team. The models going into Big 12 play said KU iOS projected to win around 11 games. That model still holds solidly. That has not changed and the TCU loss if anything, kept that model in the range.

Losing by 23 at home is never a good thing and I don’t mean to paint it as such. What I do believe and strongly is that this is no portent of imminent doom. It is a single bad game. That is all. When it turns into two or three bad games then I think we need to figure out what is going on. As of now, it is perfectly in line with the reality that is college hoops and the stochastic that describe it.

Don't worry about the mules, just load the wagon!!
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1 year 2 months ago #30196 by konza63
I agree fully with your 6 causal takes for yesterday, Corpus - along with the TCU side of the ledger, which is that they played lights-out and so composed in a very hostile environment. No one should underestimate how hard that was to pull off, and they did it. It's the kind of win that could shape their entire season.

As for your conclusions and self-rebuttals, I'm with you on those too. However, I think we have a real problem with your #5, as it relates specifically to Dajuan:

5. Did this team suddenly lose their ability to hit the floaters and rim shots. Some days they fall some days they don’t. We will get nothing but better in that area.


As I said in prior posts going back to the loss at KSU, Dajuan is downright terrible at finishing near the rim, and his floater shot is very low-percentage (and recently not falling). His floaters are often, to be frank, "prayer shots" - he goes into the lane not entirely sure if he's going to pass or shoot, then flings up a low-percentage floater from 6-8 feet, and often misses. Not good. And then there's his shots near the rim. First of all, I would bet that statistically this season he has made less than 20% of these shots - and he's taken a lot of them. It's always to the right (which is a major "tell" to the D and clearly in the scouting report), and he's ALWAYS way off from the rim - usually 2-4 feet away and flying out of bounds, employing a very low-efficiency high-bank shot technique. I wish your database tracked these shots for him, because I'm telling you, his shot percentage there is abysmal. And yet, because he hit it to win last year against ISU and hit it a couple other times since then, he thinks it's what he's supposed to do. NO. What you are supposed to do, as a taller point guard than Frank Mason was, is study Frank's rim-finishing layup technique all off-season, then work on that incessantly in your training. Lift more weights, get stronger, and go to the famous trainer in Lawrence that Christian and Jalen have gone to, if you need to, but for God's sake work on that crucial missing part of your game, Dajaun. Also work with coaches or trainers employing "punch pads" to rough you up as you go to the rim so you develop that crucial ability to finish the shot through contact - which Frank was an absolute stud and genius at.

There is no reason he cannot develop this as part of his game - it's all about strength, both mental and physical, practice, and repetition. (Though sadly it may not happen until the upcoming off-season, unless the coaching and training staff notices it, fixates on it, and works with him constantly on it in the here and now) We need him to be a scoring threat, and while he does have a relatively pretty 3-ball, he's been off with it of late (after that red-hot night a couple weeks ago) and will always, seemingly, be timid and reluctant to shoot it. But the answer is not low-percentage prayer shots in the form of last-second-judgment floaters and high-bank shots while flying out of bounds AWAY from the rim.

I'll leave it at this for now, since the big playoff game (Bills-Bengals) is coming on, but it's a major problem - especially when Kevin is a very problematic consistent scorer and teams are shutting down Gradey. Combine that with KJ getting into foul trouble (and making truly bone-headed foul mistakes when he DOES get into foul trouble - when he should know he can't be reaching in on shots, etc.) and it limits us to one guy. One guy! Jalen. And that's been the tale of the tape now for 2 straight games - Jalen having to try and carry us while everyone else wilts. That ain't gonna cut it.

Nervous about the next 5 games, at a minimum. If we don't fix what ails us, we could lose all 5.

“With kindest regards to Dr. Forrest C. Allen, the father of basketball coaching, from the father of the game.”

1936 inscription on the portrait of Dr. Naismith, displayed above Phog Allen's office desk at KU.
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