J
@nuleafjhawk No one can tell me that Self doesn’t adopt a different mindset during the tournament. You can’t destroy teams all year long and win 30+ games and then get to the tournament and get the deer in the headlights look like you’ve never played in front of more than 500 people before unless you’re changing the game plan.
The competition is so much better. It is a single game elimination tourney. Unlucky, injuries, ineligibility, match ups…All of the great programs have had early exits to inferior opponents in the tourney. Shit happens. We are not deer in headlights but we have slightly underperformed in March, no question.
What bothers me, the only thing that bothers me and it is a minor criticism, is that Coach teaches team play on O same as D, and O has to be a little more selfish. We need to train the best players to make plays and not defer to the ‘team’ or the ‘system’ or ‘running our stuff’ or being hesitant to pull the trigger at crunch time. Not scared, just not trained to do it during the regular season, i.e. over-passing and too nice a team player on O.
Coach Self’s philosophy is like his game: feed the post, take a charge, play D, rebound, pass to get a better shot, hustle, be tough mentally and physically, etc. All the KU fans know the style, so very different from Coach Williams style (all O no D). .
But they are both winners and great program builders and great recruiters and great coaches in their preparation and game time adjustments (concerning the latter Self is head and shoulders above Williams).
I just wish we had a personality to challenge Coach Self on his O philosophy, and bring KU a more modern approach, leveraging the superior talent, recruiting great point guards, a little looser and freer and more individual play on offense. More dribble-drive and less passing…
This is such a small criticism but it may cause us (a little) to not perform as well at crunch time when one or two players have to take over the game. Wiggs, for example, just cannot only take six shots in the biggest game of the year. If he had been Alpha Dog trained during the regular season, he could have forced it a bit more at crunch time…maybe.
Sometimes Coach Self says, “that is not who he is” but he is who we teach and train him to be in large part: a total team player on both ends of the court.
UNCLOG THE LANE and turn 'em loose on O (like during the Games!)
RCJH!