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1 year 2 months ago #30216 by Kong
1) this is not a deep team and I do not think the talent is there on the bench. They are good for a few minutes here and there but not to catch up or supply an infusion of scoring.
2) KJ Adams is one of the keys to this team. He has to play aggressively and when he is saddled with fouls he cannot.
3) Harris has shrunk. I thought when he went on that scoring spree he would become the extra ingredient we needed, but shortly after that he went into severe silent mode.
4) Grady. For all the accolades being showered on him, his shot isn't falling. Finally in the second half he started to attack the basket off of shot fakes but he doesn't do that enough.
5) this team has to come out to play from the opening tip. Over and over we start off sluggish and dig a deep hole that takes a Herculaneum effort to get out of and it is just too much as we fade down the final stretch. Other teams are throwing haymakers in the first round and we seem to be playing rope a dope.
6) Part of the aggressiveness in #5 is driving to the basket with a purpose! Driving in to leave ones feet with no idea where to pass or go or driving in only to spin around an look for someone to pass it to is not having a purpose

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1 year 2 months ago #30217 by LKF_HAWK
Kong - I agree, Harris seems to have hit a tough patch. Maybe he is hurt more than we know.


Gradey seems to be hitting a bit of a wall and dealing with step up in D’s focusing on him.


I thought Bobby would be doing more, but he was robbed of a lot of playing time last year, so maybe he too is hitting a wall. Maybe a bit more of Joe playing

HCBS seemed to acknowledge in his postgame presser that it is a marathon, so maybe he will use the bench more to help Harris/Jwill

Let’s share what HOF Coach can coax out of this team.
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1 year 2 months ago #30218 by HawkErrant
Re: Dajuan…

IMO he has not been the same since his headplant in Manhattan. I was amazed to see him back on the court afterwards, and watching him then I thought he was playing differently. It seems to me that delta has continued in both subsequent games.

I’m probably wrong, and maybe I’m seeing what I want to see because I’m a fan of “the one” (as my phone fills in for Dajuan when I use the mic instead of typing). But that’s what I’ve been saying elsewhere since the splat happened, and his play continues to be so atypical for him.

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1 year 2 months ago #30219 by replayloungehawk
I'd probably disagree on Grady. He scored 24 points last night. He was 2-5 from three and made all his free throws and was 8-13 from the field overall. That's not a guy who I'd say "his shot isn't falling." I think overall he has been 3-16 before last nights game. So yes, that'd I agree I guess. But he's still finding ways to contribute.

For some reason we have just hit a funk. I don't know what it is but Self doesn't seem to be concerned. Maybe he knows something I don't. Oh yeah, he knows a whole lot that I don't.

I think Yesufu could be that spark off the bench that Remy became. He can drive and score and he has a good 3 shot too. In fact he hit one last night that was wiped off.

I think Harris is hurt too. He's regressed after sort of becoming a huge offensive spark. It's very odd.

I hope they can mesh at the right time, which if you think about the way Self approaches the season it's non conf, conference, post season. Right now we did fine in non-conf. We are struggling currently in conf. We can still kill it in post season.
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1 year 2 months ago #30233 by USAF Jayhawk
I'm not worried...yet. We have hit during the middle of conference play on more than one occasions. The good teams have pulled themselves out of it, and other teams have not. How we recover will say a lot on how we handle the tourney(s).

As for Dajuan, I was pretty sure when he went down at KSU the medicos were messing with his right shoulder more than they were his head (checking eye response, etc.). That and the fact he came back in tells me it wasn't a head injury. If in fact he did injure his primary shoulder, that could explain his performance issues...some of his intercepted passes were weakly thrown.
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1 year 2 months ago #30234 by NotOstertag
Good points, Kong. Also agree with USAF's comment about hitting the middle of the conference schedule and hitting some speedbumps.

I do think the short bench hurts us. KJ in foul trouble, Grady having to make very normal adjustments as a frosh, and Dajuan's lull are a bit of a perfect storm. We certainly can't put the whole team on Jalen's shoulders and hope for the best (although it worked out in 1988, but I digress...).

There's also the fact that there are no surprises left for any team. People know not to give Grady an open look. People know that Jalen likes to go to his right. People know that getting KJ in foul trouble hurts us. That will continue, and that's where Self can direct adjustments, which I'm confident he will. I also think our lack of bench production is largely a result of the competitiveness of the league overall. You NEED your best guys out there as much as possible.

Finally, we've weathered a bit of a "perfect storm" and I think the UK game couldn't come at a better time. The KSU game was a battle (as expected) and nothing that should be considered a "bad loss". Heck, if Bill doesn't call timeout, maybe that's the difference there. The TCU game was an absolute collapse. Nothing good about it, but it could have also been the result of fatigue from KSU combined with overconfidence of playing in AFH. The first half of the Baylor game looked like a hangover from TCU and had we played like we did in the 2nd half for the whole game, maybe we eek out a W. Nevertheless, having to hit the road, on short rest, in a tough gym against a highly motivated team that smells blood in the water, and in what was essentially a "must win" situation, makes disaster almost likely.

The good news is that this "perfect storm" is coming back into our favor. Yes, we have a road game on Saturday, but it has absolutely no bearing on the conference race. Very little is on the line (except eventual tournament seeding which will take care of itself if we can come back and win the conference). UK is also vulnerable, so that's in our favor. Add in 4 days of prep time (more to fix what's wrong with the team than to gameplan UK), and I'm hoping that this is the turning point where things get back on track.

The only thing that I haven't seen that we usually see is some kind of "players only" meeting where somebody like Jalen will step up as a leader and where guys are called out by their peers to work harder. I'd wager that that is ALSO likely to be happening behind the scenes and that the announcers will be talking about it on Saturday.

"When I was a freshman, I remember Coach Naismith telling us how important it was to play good defense." - Mitch Lightfoot
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1 year 2 months ago - 1 year 2 months ago #30237 by konza63
Great thread. Pretty much agree with everything each contributor wrote.

Self's comments the other day about adjusting for a marathon are interesting, IMO. He's riding that tiger I mentioned before (in some other thread) - namely, adhering to his viscerally competitive spirit and desire to win the league by sticking with his best players versus developing the team for March and April, which would require playing a lot more green (yet fresh) bench guys, allowing them to play through mistakes in order to grow, and losing more games (and probably the league, given how stout it is).

Tough balance, and I speak just for me by saying I'd rather play for the ultimate prize, which is the post-season. We've got enough league title banners now to fill up a basketball museum's undisplayed storage stash - do we have to get another one this year? I mean, it's a true blessing when we are solid enough in a given year to get both (league title and deep post-season run), but I'm not sure this year is that year. Especially given how stout the Big 12 is - at least the Top 6.

With that being my take and preference, here's what I'd love to see going forward:

* Bobby only spells Dajuan as a PG backup - no more (ever) of Dajuan and Bobby on the court at the same time. (As they were in the Baylor game for a non-trivial sequence of H1 minutes, when Gradey got in foul trouble. 2 non-scoring PGs on the floor when no one but Jalen can score? Recipe for disaster, and that is precisely when Baylor extended their lead and took control of the game)

* (Warning, controversial take) Start Joe in place of Kevin and allow him to play into a rhythm. He is a better offensive option than Kevin, but clearly not a better defender. However, we need offense out of the gate, per Kong's point, and Joe has a better ceiling there than Kevin. When Joe gets enough PT, he has shown some capacity to shine. Give him that. And as for Kevin, he has shown a shrinking violet M.O. in big games - especially against fast, athletic teams - all season (Tennessee, KSU, TCU). Let's see how he responds as the first man in (6th man) off the bench, bringing great D, energy, and rebounding.

* Give MJ and one of either Udeh or Ejiofor a lot more PT minutes from this point forward. (RE: Udeh and Ejiofor, whichever is the staff's choice based on practice, matchup, and/or hot hand) Yes, in a backup role, but PT minutes nonetheless. And coach them in their role to focus on doing 3 things and doing them well: Playing good D, REBOUNDING on both ends, and setting screens.

To me, this is the recipe for a higher ceiling. But I'm not Coach Self - not by a long shot. Just calling it like I see it.

PS: NotO, to your point, I think the UK game is key to turning around the season. The reason is that, if we bounce back and beat them at Rupp (and I truly believe UK should be favored given our slide, Oscar's height and rebounding, and UK having recently turned their season around), we will regain confidence just in time for the huge rematch and revenge game against the Grapes at Allen come Tuesday night. But if we lose at Rupp, with only 2 days of rest/prep before a VERY confident and capable K-State team comes to town, I fear for the worst. I honestly believe, after watching the Purps at Texas, Baylor and Iowa State, they will have zero fear in our barn and will give us one hell of a dogfight. But I think we win that game - or stand a better chance of it, anyway - if we beat the Squidettes tomorrow. Here's to the favorable scenario playing out...

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1936 inscription on the portrait of Dr. Naismith, displayed above Phog Allen's office desk at KU.
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1 year 1 month ago #30255 by Kong
Please note that all the items I mentioned were fixable by the individuals. The question was could they and the Kentucky game showed that they could. Now they have to maintain that mindset going forward. Specifically...

1) this is not a deep team and I do not think the talent is there on the bench. They are good for a few minutes here and there but not to catch up or supply an infusion of scoring.

Udeh was big for us, literally and figuratively. We have to continue to get contributions from him.

2) KJ Adams is one of the keys to this team. He has to play aggressively and when he is saddled with fouls he cannot.

And with Udeh spelling him from time to time he was able to do that.

3) Harris has shrunk. I thought when he went on that scoring spree he would become the extra ingredient we needed, but shortly after that he went into severe silent mode.

Much better. Much much better from Harris. Back to early season from I would say. Would still like to see a more consistent three from him, but he hit a couple key ones early on and that forced Kentucky to take the threat seriously which opened up the lane more for him and everyone else.

4) Grady. For all the accolades being showered on him, his shot isn't falling. Finally in the second half he started to attack the basket off of shot fakes but he doesn't do that enough.

I may be harsh on the kid. He was an assassin with that three late in the game, but he still seems to be struggling a bit. His play in nearly every other facet of the game was outstanding and I will take it every game.

5) this team has to come out to play from the opening tip. Over and over we start off sluggish and dig a deep hole that takes a Herculaneum effort to get out of and it is just too much as we fade down the final stretch. Other teams are throwing haymakers in the first round and we seem to be playing rope a dope.

Much better. We did not fall behind by a huge margin. We took their shot and answered it... immediately. Well done

6) Part of the aggressiveness in #5 is driving to the basket with a purpose! Driving in to leave ones feet with no idea where to pass or go or driving in only to spin around an look for someone to pass it to is not having a purpose

Again, the aggressiveness was there in spades against Kentucky. Look at the rebounding, the drives in the pain with purpose, not veering off, etc. Much better. Still a few sloppy plays, but overall the aggressiveness was there and it paid of magnificently.

Finally, this team does not have a huge margin of error in conference this year. We have to play like we did against Kentucky every game. That energy, that focus, that aggressiveness has to come every game. I don't know if that is realistic, but with as tough as the conference is, it will be required.

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