Evaluation
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Ok let me ask this question. - - KU before last night was Ranked # 2 in the Nation. I know that rankings actually mean nothing or not much really during the course of the season , other then for fans thumping their chests. It’s at the end in March is really the only time it really counts - - -BUT since they are there , let me ask
Where do you all feel we REALLY should be ranked at this point of the Season? - -Do you think we are legit at # 2 - please be honest, and open without the Crimson and Blue Blinders.
My take I feel like we should probably be sitting at like # 5 - 6. - -I read where we had like the 3rd best odds of winning it all in March at like 6/1 odds - behind Duke & Michigan State. - -Where do you feel we will end our Season? - -Do you see us in the Championship Game?
At this point - - I don’t - Why? - - Depth. - -Big depth. -Right now I’m looking at it more like ousted again right about the elite 8 - - again
Another question -Who thinks Doke is going to declare for the NBA next year? - Do you think he is a 1st round pick? - -Again I don’t believe he is at this point. Our boy has no offense other then a dunk, a little slow of foot, still very raw. - -Does he come back? - Kind of makes you wonder what Coach Self sales pitch o De-Sousa -McCormack was when recruited them - -Was he telling them Doke was going to be gone? -If he comes back what’s and how is that going to effect Scholi’s? - -How if any if he came back how would that effect De-Sousa & McCormick’s role next year? - -questions to which I’m not sure I know the answers. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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Behind Duke, MSU, and Nova right now. But Duke should’ve lost a couple of games also, so no team is perfect. Arizona could be a real problem in March also.
None of these teams are the finished product. KU will improve, but only marginally unless Preston or DeSousa is added to the roster. I’m afraid without more post talent KU will fall behind the top tier teams by the end of the season.
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Bad match up this team can easily fall in the round of 32. I don’t see them anything more than an elite 8 team. Who knows how Preston and Silvio could impact this though.
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I start looking at rankings in mid January when you start to get an idea what the team is. I hope we’re a top 10 team in febuary.
How can you rank the team now when you don’t know who is on it.
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@Blown its not necessarily about matchup but rather if we have two other bigs and how are we shooting. Life is kind of a feast or famine. We have had struggles the past five tournaments but eventually we are going to have a good shooting game in the elite eight, just like OU did a couple years ago after scraping by the first weekend.
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Live by the 3, die by the 3. Until KU figures out how to attack the extended zone, I have a hunch it is going to see a lot of extended zones in the near future.
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I missed most of last night’s game, but last night was a night where a player with Preston’s skill set would have made a difference. His size and ability to score from inside and in the middle would have made him an idea guy in the middle of that zone.
If Preston is available, this KU team is much more complete than the current version.
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@justanotherfan Washington, under normal circumstances and normal preparation, would have been screwed with their gamble of a gameplan. They would have been double screwed if Billy was in there. They wouldn’t have stopped 6’10 coming down the lane with Dok.
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@dylans Ya, that’s what I’m thinking too. If we don’t get the added depth on the inside , come March if we were to match up with Duke or any other quality team with talented big’s I’m afraid we are in real trouble - - -I’m afraid actually by the time March rolls around if we were to match up against even Kentucky again might be a different story. - -We just struggle against length. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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3genhawk said:
I start looking at rankings in mid January when you start to get an idea what the team is. I hope we’re a top 10 team in febuary.
How can you rank the team now when you don’t know who is on it.
This is ONE of the reasons I said rankings aren’t really worth a tinkers damn during the regular season. - - Bottom line at the end of the year the only thing people really remember is who won the NCAA Tourney. - -If you were to ask or take a poll of people who was # 1 - - # 7 - or whatever during the season in January Feburary whatever - -9-10 people won’t be able to tell you that. - But they will be able to tell you who the Champ was. The rankings are for the fans to beat their chest - -oh look were # 1 in the country, - -to which you respond - - -AND? - - what does that get you? - you get any kind of trophy for being # 1 in the regular season? - - -no
But I was just curious - -since they DO rank the teams during the season - that’s why I am asking , where people think we really should be placed right now. - To which I say right now as of today - -probably 5-6-7th. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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justanotherfan said:
I missed most of last night’s game, but last night was a night where a player with Preston’s skill set would have made a difference. His size and ability to score from inside and in the middle would have made him an idea guy in the middle of that zone.
If Preston is available, this KU team is much more complete than the current version.
So Preston would of made the difference? - - I say he would of helped , but helped more then Vick did playing the middle? - Would he made more then the 26 points of difference then Vick made? - -I don’t think so. - -It’s not that Vick didn’t kick it out, didn’t matter, cause it was the OTHERS that didn’t get the job done after or when they had the opportunity, - -Doke was non existent. - -Newman was a no show for the 2nd game in a row. - -Devonte showed nothing - if very little. - -The thing about Vick like I mentioned before, he made the decision at 1st they come to cover, he dropped the OOOP to Doke for the slam, later they backed off, he became hesitant NOT all the time but it was like he became a little sensitive and concerned it seemed like he was afraid of not sharing the ball and shooting everytime - -But that’s what Washington was giving us - The little lane jumper. - -I don’t think Billy would of made that much more of difference on the offensive end. - -Wouldn’t matter if it was Vick OR Billy on the passing either - -Washington still going to contest the 3 no matter who was making the pass
Thing is though this game I don’t believe was actually lost on the offensive end, come the end of the day I think it was lost on the defensive end Washington pretty much got what they wanted anytime they wanted, the guys just seemed very uninspired almost like they didn’t want to even be there. a step slow with the foot work, reaching, getting beat on the glass, giving up lose balls everything - Not a good scenario. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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@jayballer54 yes he would have made a difference because we could have played two bigs and given Washington trouble by making them guard the perimeter and our two bigs.
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We never run high low stuff anymore because of our roster makeup. In years past whenever we needed a bucket Self would ALWAYS go to a high low set regardless of the defense. Billy Preston at the 4 would bring that into play. Though the high post in Self’s high low is the hardest position to learn and he has lost so much time. Not sure if he can save our half court sets. It depends on his talent level I guess.
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I think we deserved the ranking until we played last nights game. At our best there isn’t 3 better teams. When we have a game such as last night our margin for error is so small. We can’t play any more games resorting to Clay Young for minutes. If we don’t get Sam, Billy & Silvio into the rotation we have some glaring realities to face going forward. We are who we are until help comes and we figure out how to plug them in.
We won’t face a ton of Zone defense going forward I think. We have some glaring deficiencies against it currently with our roster.
Can’t predict what the future holds but a game like this in March will send us packing 100 out of 100 times.
Nobody was a first round pick last night. Doke has improved and a zone defense really limits getting him into an ISO situation. If Doke thinks he’s currently ready to leave, well I wish him the best. I can’t imagine many scouts will agree with that decision.
De Sousa probably thought Preston would be gone after the year. I have no idea at what point Silvio was aware he could join the team early or if this was always a possibility. It seems more likely that Silvio’s situation and KU’s situation is more coincidence and timing related. We really need him.
McCormack will be a nice 4 year big at KU. I don’t think Dave is the type that’s in a rush. I think he’ll be the type of person who would thrive learning behind Doke for a year.
It’s clear not everyone will be back next season. We have signed 7 guys for next year. Someone in the Newman, Vick, Doke, Preston foursome will not be in uniform next season. The only situation where everyone could be back would be if a commit backed out or someone transfered. Currently Vick is the only player that’s done anything to put himself in a position to leave early and be drafted.
