KU BIGS
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@betterfireE from the beginning of the season against Washburn, it has been about Lucas’s inability to deal with foul trouble and what constitutes a foul. Every single game he has dealt with foul trouble. Clearly, the refs are calling our games closer than others I have been watching. It might take a bit longer, but I’m sure he will figure out how to stay in the game without fouling with the help of the coaching staff. Its just not possible for him to get in a rhythm when he is trying not to foul then he has to sit for long periods with foul trouble. I think we will see our productivity go way up when he solves this puzzle. You can do it Landon!!
On the question of who to play: I want Landon at the 5 25 minutes a game once he figures out the refs and isn’t thinking about it all the time.
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Honestly I don’t want them to shoot the ball unless they are wide open. We don’t have a single post player that can catch a pass make a move and make a basket. I would like to think Bragg is that guy but half the time he can’t even catch the pass.
We are better off not worrying about where our post Points are coming from. Right now they are a bonus to games we play.
And our 5 guards can do everything, we are fine until future notice
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@jaybate-1.0 all I read was excuses
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The thing with the big guys is this - they do not need to score in order for KU to have a chance this season. That five man perimeter rotation is so good, they will be able to overcome most any challenge that they face, provided they get some support from the big men.
That support means two things.
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Defense
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Rebounding.
Last night was bad because our bigs did not defend or rebound. The lines:
Coleby - 20 minutes, 3 rebounds, 4 blocks, 0 turnovers, 5 fouls.
Lucas - 10 minutes, 2 rebounds, 0 blocks, 3 turnovers, 5 fouls
Bragg - 10 minutes, 1 rebound, 0 blocks, 0 turnovers, 3 fouls
Azuibuke - 5 minutes, 1 rebound, 1 blocks, 0 turnovers, 2 fouls
Total it up and you get 45 minutes, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks, 3 turnovers, 15 fouls.
That’s terrible. Actually, that’s worse than terrible, but I don’t know what word to use. That’s hot garbage. That’s a dumpster fire. That’s throwing up all over the coffee maker first thing in the morning bad.
And yet, KU cruised to a win over a solid Georgia team because their guards are so good. If KU can get anything resembling production from anyone up front, this is a national title waiting to happen.
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@justanotherfan like I have been saying, I am glad we know the problems early on so there is more time to improve and fix them by March. Is there any combination of guards out there better than ours when they are playing well?
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@HawkChamp said:
@BigBad no one is saying Landon needs to be a prolific scorer. We just want him to play like he did last season. It could be mental for him at this point.
I think it’s partially how the game is being called right now. But probably a bit mental too. He was visibly upset last night.
@HawkChamp said:
@Texas-Hawk-10 the travel schedule has made it difficult for them to implement new things and improve on the old stuff. Easier stretch coming up.
Yep. Basically parking the bus in Lawrence now, so hopefully we see some improvement. I doubt they will practice much before UNCA though.
@betterfireE said:
I’m interested to hear others’ thoughts on how to maximize our lineups. Jackson-as-Perry-Ellis is perhaps an inevitability, with Svi filling in as Wayne Selden. But for our bigs, do any of them complement each other, or do we have to play them one at a time?
Play Josh as much as possible.
Solid takes on the post players. Udoka should be able to improve his stamina as the year goes on.
@HawkChamp said:
@justanotherfan like I have been saying, I am glad we know the problems early on so there is more time to improve and fix them by March. Is there any combination of guards out there better than ours when they are playing well?
I say no. There is certainly no other collection of guards I would take over ours. Straight swapping is easy (like say, Monk from UK over Vick) but as a group give me this KU squad.
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@HawkChamp said:
@justanotherfan Is there any combination of guards out there better than ours when they are playing well?
Short answer - no.
Longer answer - heck no.
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Lucas and Coleby are playing less than 100%, Azubuike is a freshman who is showing the typical inconsistencies of a freshman, Lightfoot isn’t strong enough yet.
Bragg is the only real disappointment, and even with Bragg, I agree with @jaybate-1.0 that Bragg is at less than 100%, but I diasgree with the cause. I don’t believe it’s tendinitis as jaybate opines. I believe it’s literal growing pains. 6-8, 220 lbs. that Bragg played at last year is much different than the 6-10, 240 lbs. he’s playing at this year. That’s an adjustment that will take Bragg some getting used to and I’m sure his knees are pretty sore because my knees were always pretty sore any time I went through a growth spurt which was frequently considering I’m 6-5.
I think Bragg will end up being fine, but he’s essentially going from a Marcus Morris type body to a Thomas Robinson type body amd there’s an adjustment to ve made in his game with his new size. It’ll take him time to get there, but I believe Bragg will figure it out.
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@HawkChamp don’t say that TO LOUD. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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@justanotherfan Cruised? - - -you did say Cruised?- - -dam that’s what I thought you said lmao, but ok you run with that . Wonder if we were to ask Coach Self if he would of said that we cruised? - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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Yeah, Self has to be supremely ticked off at our bigs not named Coleby after last nights game. He is the only one who came to play and did so with a wrapped knee. To me, it says a lot when he keeps Coleby out there for 20 minutes, lets him play through fouls, fouls out even, doesnt score much but gives us good defensive production and some rebounds and blocks, Self doesnt trust his other bigs right now. Thats painfully clear. Buike has our best upside, our highest ceiling but Self said it himself, he didnt play him cuz Buike doesnt know zone. He just doesnt. Moving forward, if our bigs dont step up, we are going to have to play more zone and Self will Have to bring Doke up to speed. Man to man is the KU way but playing zone like we did last night will help us win games in March. Playing zone with Buike FAMILIAR with zone offense and defense will help us win games in March.
Its supremely impossible to put Frank, DG,JJ, Vick and SVI out there on the court at the same time. Those guys are good, but not that good…and then, who backs them up? Nobody.
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@jaybate-1.0 I hope your wrong dude, about the injuries. The medic/nurse brain in me wants to assess with my own eyes before I totally buy in. You could be right tho. On first glance though, it doesnt seem like Lando is hurt, it just seems like he is sucking because he is being schemed against. Bragg? Dunno Doke? Dunno. He is behind the group tho, on conditioning. Coleby, played like a man last night despite or perhaps in spite of his healing knee. He could be our starter by mid season if Doke or Lando dont break out/heal up. Lightfoot, yeah, needs to pack on the lbs.
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@Lulufulu Landen Lucas was spotted wearong a boot in Hawaii, there’s definitely something going on there with his foot/ankle that we don’t have all the details about at this time.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I dont doubt that at all. But, Im watching Lando on the floor and he isnt favoring either lower extremity at all. No limping, when he runs the floor, sliding jumping, anything. Im not seeing it. But, clearly there is something wrong because “Ball dont lie” He is not the same player he was last year at all. Its not close.
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KU players wear lingerie for a reason and it is not because it is something more comfortable to slip into. They wear it for actual injuries and some times to look injured one place instead of another. In a few games two years ago he had everyone wearing lingerie so they all looked injured and only some were. Injuries aren’t excuses. They are strategic realities. They’ve limit what can be done by individuals and so by teams. They alter what pages of the playbook get used.
Self appears to deny, understate, even mischaracterize injuries and sickness as other issues and so mislead media, fans and opponents in order to make it harder for opposing coaches and players to exploit KU’s strategic limitations. It appears just SOP.
Self may win us a few, or several, games a year by this misdirection. It depends on the injuries and the talent available, how much he has to do it.
This year the team is short handed and appears to have an early cluster of injuries. So: we are seeing a lot of slight of hand. When you see lingerie, study the foot work immediately. It’s the tell.
Next, crosscheck (no, not the voting software journalist Greg Palast says was used to throw the election), with the kinds of things a particular player in question can reputedly do, when healthy, versus what this player is actually doing in that game. Ask: is it the match up that’s stopping him, or is Self scheming around injury, sickness, or a bottom third of the performance distribution?
Think about Vick, a reputed dead eye Trey baller not taking many treys and making few for some games now. Boom! The lingerie showed up. Something has been up with Vick.
Self reputedly likes guys to “play through,” so they probably don’t even tell him at first, but he can tell. He can tell when a gnat is on a player. The guy is nothing if not a detail freak! He apparently decides pain becomes injury and when to rescope roles and how to mask the rescoping.
We are not talking excuses. We are talking reality and illusion and strategy. Period.
Self likely knows opposing coaching staffs have a very limited amount of time to study recent game feeds in these stretches of two in three and 3 in six and implement injury specific exploits. So: he makes it hard on them to do it at all.
Self has won 82% of his games in some part because of doing this sleight of hand stuff with injuries. Most coaches aren’t apparently as deceptive at this stuff, as Self. Even Coach K was had by him the other night.
But who knows? Coach K stayed in a game with only 7 guys himself. He was probably disinforming Self too.
Mark Fox is younger and earlier I development. Fox frankly looked like me watching a professional magician much of the Georgia game and Fox is a good young coach. He had a really good scheme for KU, but as the game unfolded and Self kept shifting gears, Fox appeared to grow uncertain about where the real weaknesses were and where the smoke and mirrors were distracting him toward. Had he guessed right about who to exploit and who not to?
Fox got uncertain and hesitated; that is what Self is so great at making other coaches do. He who hesitates against Self quickly sees Self’s players start making plays. It’s uncanny, but how it is.
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@Lulufulu Adrenaline is a magical thing that when it’s flowing, you don’t appear as hurt as you may actually be. We don’t know if Landen is hobbling around on non game days. All we see is practice and games where the adrenaline is pumping.
I can tell you that during football season, my body hurt 24/7 and I was usually moving slower than normal because of how sore I was. Once I put the pads on amd got out on the field though for practice or games, nobody would know how sore I was. I suspect this is the case with Landen and everyone else dealing with nagging injuries right now.
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At the D1 level, guys don’t suddenly stop being able to do what they are good at, even with scheming. Landon was a rebounding fool down the stretch. You just don’t loose that to foul calling. Maybe a sickness in the family, or a girl breakup. But Self said foot and boot, and he’s wearing junk in his shoe.
Lucas. Hurt.
Bragg? Hurt. Bank on it. A big guy sliding on 20-30 more pounds for more minutes than ever in his life? TENDONITIS! It’s almost a given. Only question is: is he a fast healer, or a slow one, Slow ones just keep getting worse after they get a little better.
Devonte. Hurt. Maybe not as bad…maybe. But he is mentally tough, like Tyrel used to be, so for all we know he could already be playing operable.
You can hide leg injuries, but you can’t hide the negative effects they have on things like jump shooting percentages, steals, and so on.
Bad wheels eventually have to be scoped around to avoid the lost scoring efficiency.
We have a bunch of guys with tendonitis and stress reactions in the legs; that’s my witch doctor’s opinion.
Buy stock in Vicky’s secret, at least for awhile.
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I can handle them being bad until January. By the time January rolls around, they better darned well be at least average, with the exception of Bragg who better be at least above average.
I almost feel like Landon should just sit until after finals. He’s useless on the floor and his foot is obviously in need of rest. He’s a 5th-year senior, he knows what to do, he just doesn’t feel like doing it.
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@Lulufulu it’s a rumor and theory that has been taken farther than what has been seen by my two eyes on the court
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I think our big guys need to watch every single North Carolina game and watch how well their big guys go after rebounds and how much they want the ball. Those guys play like men, not scared little boys
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@justanotherfan You pointed out what I was thinking while looking at the box score from the UGA game. I think Lucas’ biggest problem is adjusting to the officiating. 5 fouls in 10 minutes? Unbelievable for a Senior. He is getting frustrated and has not adjusted. He will adjust and get better…how much remains to be seen.
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@HawkChamp said:
I think our big guys need to watch every single North Carolina game and watch how well their big guys go after rebounds and how much they want the ball. Those guys play like men, not scared little boys
Tbf Roy has 3 JR/SR post players that were 4/5 stars.
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@jaybate-1.0 You have an excellent point. I just looked at everyones shooting percentages compared to last year. Its not even close right now.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 SWISH
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Its easy to get confused about what others mean in their writing.
For future reference, I try never to deal in rumors, without identifying them as such, and then usually in humorous posts. Regarding theory, I try always to use theory as a proven explanation, or assertion, describing a phenomena. I try to be consistent in using this definition of theory for two reasons. First, I know that the word theory has many definitions and so how is a board rat going to know which definition I intend if I use it one way one time, and another way another time? I also use theory in the way I do, because it is helps keep clear in my and readers’ thinking the distinction between hypothesis and theory, between a proposed possible explanation, and a proven one.
Folks around here that read me regularly understand that while lots of folks use theory to mean everything from an empirically verified fact, to an explanation found true by a jury, to an assertion supported by a lot of evidence, to a refuted hypothesis, to an inconclusive hypothesis, to an untested hypothesis, to off the cuff guesses, to outright smoke coming out of the posterior, I try to be consistent in my use of the term theory, so that persons understand me…
I deal in phenomena I can observe on TV, or at a game (the latter sadly too rarely), and what is reported, and then hypothesize about it. Even if I argue based on my hypothesizing that it appears likely that my explanation is accurately in conformance with reality, I am not in a position to assert such with an empirically verified level of statistical significance, or in my defintion of the word, to characterize something as a theory in any proven sense. So: my “explanations” of observable events rarely get beyond the hypothetical stage. Once in a while over time facts and further observations may emerge and lend support to my hypotheses. But hypothesizing is really all I try to do here; that and try to be funny from time to time, depending on my level of creativity at any given time.
I don’t deal in “theories” much. Theories to me are already proven according to a reasonable methodology of analysis and standard of evidentiary support and so I hardly need to “deal” in them. Most of us are already aware of the proven stuff.
For one example, I try NOT to propose conspiracy theories, because I lack the expertise, funds and time in most cases to analyse and conclusively support, or refute, hypotheses about conspiracies to the point of proving them to be conspiracy theories. I try to look at things from the non-conspiracy point of view and see if there are any plausible hypotheses that might be formulated to explain a phenomena without conspiracy.
As I like to say, conspiracy theories (unless proven) are for suckers, and are best left to the authorities.
And if they are already proven, then there is nothing to dispute, or analyse, anyway, right?
So: it makes good sense for you to disagree with my injury hypotheses, when you suspect, or find, evidence that refutes them. And to argue for them , when you find evidence that supports them. And I will be grateful, when you do, because I like to keep refining my hypotheses, or junking them, when evidence and/or logic dictates doing so.
But I have to say with all due respect that, so far, on this particular subject of team performance this season, I don’t read any facts, or observations, or logics, that tends to refute plausibly the hypotheses I’ve proposed.
But each game generates new evidence that could blow my performance/injury hypotheses out of water.
Rock Chalk!
