KU BB circa 2017-18
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Rock Chalk to KU fans! Football is finally over and basketball is here. We might even gain a player from their squad, a minor contribution to KU Athletics, but hey when you are where the football program is, every little contribution counts.
KU BB is so fun to watch this year, even better than last year! The guard play is tremendous. This is the best shooting and passing team we have had in the Bill Self era. And the fastest.
And our head coach is turning them loose. He screamed at Lagerald for not jacking up a quick three in transition in the last game. Imagine that! We have come a long way on the offensive end, and our coaching philosophy has adapted to the current personnel and to a more modern style of play. However, the change is more than jus the current roster of players and shooters, the old school coach has evolved for the better on O.
Although we have not yet seen a KU player turn down a lay up to pass to a wide open three point shooter (like Golden State does), we are running and gunning and using our athleticism and our superior talent to speed up the game and shoot it early in the clock. Shoot the open three!, always, at any time!
It is the most exciting development from a stubborn coach who knows how to win and will play his team in the best way to procure the ‘W’, no exceptions.
I will leave it to some of the other board rats more into analytics than me to provide the percentages of three point shooting vs two point shooting related to “best chance to win” statistics. It is certainly more modern and more high performing than the old conservative style of play on O.
I just love the spread offense (in the corners) and the hybrid hi-lo (unclogging the lane), not just because we are guard heavy but because it is a high octane powerful force in modern college ball. We can still dribble-drive and shoot or pitch, but no longer have to feed the post as our first option every time.
We can win by outscoring the opponent but as we proved against UK, we can win even when we do not shoot well. (UK is slightly down this year but KU is really good and showed tremendous toughness and senior leadership in that game). If we can keep Dok in the game we can play at a very high level and win any game, including the ones in March. When we get Billy back in a month, and get the high schooler (mini T-Rob) on the team at the end of Dec, we will be ready to make a very serious run. Plan B -which might be enough - is to have Mitch for “pitch and pop” and a few blocks, and Plan C is to have the football tight end knock people down and out for 2-4 min, if and when that particular game requires it. But our guard play is just a joy to watch. Frank was the NPoY but we have a better unit this year. Out current five, soon to be six are super studs and their D will get better as the weeks go bye.
We have a few weakenesses on individual D, keeping people in front of us, and our rebounding is still questionable, but our O and intangibles make up for it.
Our team D will get better by March. Our O is already top of class. This is the year, barring injuries, that the KU fans will get the cherry (Final Four) on the cake (another Big 12 title and 30+ win season). Believe it, this team stays healthy, this team is a favorite for the National Title. Rock Chalk!
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Welcome. Your post makes an interesting point. Guard play does seem even MORE free wheeling this year and last year was itself a new peak. So why?
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Devonte is a more freewheeling “disher” than Frank.
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Vick IS LONGER AND MORE ATHLETIC, almost LIKE A CHEEHAH, than Devonte was.
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Malik is a second 2 and a really HUGE athletic presence still getting untracked.
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Svi has always been a racehorse reining it in and he’s running at 4.
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Doke has transmogrified from a lumber wagon into really long, fast Mercedes S Class Maybach stretch! This guy is AMAZING GETTING DOWN THE FLOOR!
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Lightfoot subs in and he can fly end to end also, and he’s twitchy quick in half court.
Self has defined who we are as “twitchy fast” and “strikes like a Cobra.”
I can see why Self has to test Sosinski a bit. This is one FAST Team. It’s not clear just any bruiser could keep pace.
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jaybate 1.0 said:
I can see why Self has to test Sosinski a bit. This is one FAST Team. It’s not clear just any bruiser could keep pace.
A recent article stated that Sosinski had very fast 40 times in football, for what it’s worth. I don’t think just basic running speed is a problem, though “keeping pace” probably involves a lot more than that, including the mental aspect.
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Nice post!
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Holy cow. A fast 260 pounder in tennies! Let’s hope he’s a quick study and can start and stop.
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@jaybate-1.0 He runs a 4.4 in the 40. At 260 lbs.
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That’s smokin’ at any size!
I used to play pickup b-ball games with KU football players in college at AFH. If this guy can curb the tendency to run through people and slide, he could help.
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@jayhawk-007 I love your comment about the hybrid hi/lo. Exactly right. We see Vick sneak in there, get some 15 footers, along with some other offensive action from that look (not frequently).
As an aside, Self’s comments on Sosinski were essentially, if we’re playing him, ever, we’re in trouble. Just a practice player is all. Stranger things have happened, though.
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HighEliteMajor said:
Stranger things have happened, though.
Clint Normore, anyone? 3-3 in the '88 championship game, including a 3-pointer.
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Really enjoying your enthusiasm!
And great to read your thoughts. I hope you keep posting.
