Landen... Dear Landen...
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@sfbahawk “I guess the arm is a part of the ball.”
In that photo, both the forearm and the shoulder, too!
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I wish Cole Aldrich was around to teach the bigs to keep the ball up and your head up at all times. That guy had the quickest most accurate outlet pass of any big I can remember at KU. He led many a success fast break just by his beautiful outlet passes both off of rebounds and opponent makes. Truly something to study and admire.
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A big issue is that he just isn’t a high level athlete. Doke needs to play more. Lucas is super smart though so that will keep him on the floor.
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@ralster Lucas is 5th year, right?
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Landon is just not an athletic player where he can change that. Bragg got the ball and kept it high on a few plays in the post because he has the ability to do so.
That play with Lucas was another example of poor officiating, the ball did not go off Landon.
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Are we missing Perry yet?
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@BShark he was, but missing him does nothing to help the current situation, so it is a pointless activity. Our guys have all the tools to succeed and improve, so that is where the focus should be.
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@drgnslayr That’s why I was so ticked when he did it so much against IU, we worked on since middle school when I played, no reason for a 5th year senior to do that. Other issue to me is his claim to fame is rebounding and defense which wasn’t anything great ether.
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Definitely missing Perry. We lacked the go-to scorer so Frank just played his 1 on 5 game again which was working but we know its not a style of play we can rely on every game. Guys have to step up, especially Devonte and Jackson.
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@drgnslayr
I totally feel ya on this one, I just made a big post on jaybates thread not knowing you started this one. Yea LL is a MAJOR liability. I really hope Dok gets a chance this year.
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If Lucas is a “MAJOR liability” then KU is in serious trouble. Outside of Mason and Graham he is the most dependable player in the team. What we are seeing is Lucas being double or triple teamed because Bragg is not asserting himself and teams are leaving him alone. Once he starts to produce, opponents will have to guard him and Lucas will be a lot more productive.
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@drgnslayr I was thinking the exact same thing during the game! Keeping the ball high is one fundamental Lucas still needs to learn. I think he will. The fundamentals are what has made him valuable. As others have noted, he is not an exceptional athlete. He’s just a big body who is smart. He does what he’s supposed to. He’s fundamentally solid. I think within a couple more games we won’t see the ball coming down low any more. He will learn.
If only our other bigs could learn their fundamentals. Like boxing out. Just putting a body on somebody when the ball is in the air goes a long way to swinging the rebound probability into the defender’s favor. Right, Carlton?
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I’m not sure Landen will ever learn to keep the ball high, this is year 5 with the same issue. I don’t think its a fundamental problem its a physical-athletic issue. He draws power from his legs because he doesn’t have the natural ability to go up with the ball upon catching it.
Bragg had a play in the 2nd half where he caught it and layed it in without the ball coming down which too me showed the difference between the 2 players athletic ability.
Around the 2 minute mark is the play
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I don’t understand the LL thrashing that’s going on ONE GAME INTO THE SEASON. I’m not his best friend or anything, but good grief - isn’t he the one that the TEAM told Coach Self to start last year? Isn’t he the one that everyone (including the people on this site) ranted and raved about and said that we wouldn’t have advanced as far as we did without him last year? Am I in some sort of alternative world?
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@nuleafjhawk
I feel like he should be, at the very least as good if not better than last year. Same thing w/Bragg, throw the dang
Down!
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@Crimsonorblue22 One game… - It takes me a week to get back to normal at work after missing one day.
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@nuleafjhawk I hope you are right!
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@BeddieKU23 Yes, but Lucas is tall enough that he should be able to get up to the basket without needing much power. It took him 4 years to demonstrate some of those rebounding fundamentals we started seeing last year. I’m thinking he didn’t really start working on offensive fundamentals until recently, so I’m not giving up hope!
If only Bragg and Lucas could trade skills, and share each others’ strengths. Shooting vs rebounding, offense vs defense. Granted, neither player has shown much of either aspect yet this year, but it’s early.
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@Crimsonorblue22 If he doesn’t score 30 and get 25 rebounds tonight - I’m done with him.
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@tundrahok I just want to see some toughness!
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@nuleafjhawk you can be coy, but a lot of us that are critical of Lucas are just pointing out the obvious. For over ten years now one of the cornerstones of KU basketball is dominant big men.
I really to do hope for the best, but you really gotta hope for Bragg to step up, or that Dok is givin a chance to play 15- 20 minuets in a game. Tonight will be another great test, I am sure glad we play tough teams early and don’t have a false sense of security like other teams with cupcake schedules.
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I don’t want this to turn to trashing Landen. About two months ago I gave him a huge positive thread on here that was well received.
Having said that… Landen is a 5th-yr senior. He now has no one in front of him. He will have to be held 100% accountable.
Call it what you want… I call it “tough love.”
I watched the game again yesterday and noticed another play where we fed Landen in the post and he didn’t bring the ball down… he just laid the ball in the basket quickly… scoring easily.
I think there are probably a dozen little tweaks we need to make this year that will mean the difference of possibly winning everything in March, or coming up short. This is definitely one of those necessary tweaks. We have all been on Landen for 4+ years now about bringing the ball down and combining it with a big gathering moment. That all has to stop. It’s embarrassing to watch and 99% of the time leads to a negative outcome.
This is important to Landen. I’m sure he would like a shot at pro ball after this year, whether it be NBA or abroad. I can tell you with certainty that this one issue is outlined in RED by every scout who has watched him. There is rarely a game where he doesn’t do it at least once or twice… sometimes more.
I feel a need to stay on him about this… taking a proactive attitude.
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Every player has certain strengths and weaknesses.
For Landen, his major weakness happens to be very well known, to the point that I am sure everyone has it mentioned in the scouting report. As a result, it will be exploited more than maybe some other player’s weaknesses simply because guys know that if they double down on Landen, he will bring the ball down and they can force a turnover when he does that.
That’s no different than the fact that guys are going to play off Josh and his suspect jumpshot, or the fact that teams funnel Frank into traffic because he tries to bull his way through it, or guys will get physical with Carlton because he still doesn’t hold position as well as we would like to see.
There are improvements that must be made because these are known deficiencies that will be attacked as the season wears on.
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LL will be better tonight just needs to settle in and do what he is capable of rebound and defense, LL is a Jayhawk although disappointed at times with him I still love him, as I do most hawks.
