Stop telling me Lightfoot is...
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Lightfoot is also playing way out of position as well. He’s being forced into being a low post player on both ends of the floor when he’s never had that role before. The guy is a stretch 4 and is being exploited in major mismatches because he’s never guarded the position before.
Clay Young has been better on the defensive end because he was a post at his JuCo even at his size. He understands the role and what’s required of the role much better than Lightfoot does.
I’m not going to rip in Lightfoot for this because none of it is his fault. He didn’t make Coleby transfer, he didn’t make Whitman transfer, he didn’t make Preston sit out because of a car. We all know Lightfoot isn’t ready for this role, but he’s the only option at this point.
This situation is why Self is trying to get DeSousa enrolled early and it’s why Sosinski was added to the team. KU needs to work on developing Sosinski over the next 3 weeks which KU only has 3 games during that stretch. Work him into the rotation this week, let him make his debut against Nebraska, give him some big minutes against Omaha as a trial run, and if that goes well, let him sub for Azubuike against Stanford and see how that goes before Texas on the 29th.
If the Preston situation gets resolved in a positive manner by that time, then swap Sosinski out for Preston. Either way, KU needs to find a way to get Lightfoot back to the stretch 4 spot because him as a low post player doesn’t work.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Well said.
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JayhawksandChill said:
He can not rebound, nor does he seem to know that when others shoot the ball, he might want to consider doing it.
No offense No defenseI know we need bodies, but he is not ready. I honestly would rather see Clay.
Lol, that’s really funny actually. - I know that your not trying to imply that Mitch Light is the cause of this warm pile of dog crap. - Sure he is PART but not by any stretch of the imagination THE problem by any way shape or form
Right now this team is a cluster f- - - . - - W have guards that can’t come close to sliding their feet and cutting off the dribble drive - HELL we got a 6-8 kid named SVI that it’s a full time job for him to keep from dribbling the ball off his own feet or just blatent throwing the ball to the other team or flat ass getting it stolen from him.
This is a complete TOTAL team train wreck NOT just Mitch by a long stretch. - -What Self needs to do during practice is - -put ALL the basketballs away and have these guys learn basic defense 101.
This team has SO many issues right now it’s past funny. But let’s not start in on Mitch as try to place the blame on him because he is a easy target. - This goes WAY beyond Mitch. - -Ya let’s play Clay watch him get manhandled by 6’9 - -6’ 10 guys like a piece of candy sure that will work - your just replacing liability with a liability, that’s a huge bonus. - -This WHOLE team is really bad right now - – Coach Self said in the post game might have to try slowing down the game - -might have to try zone - -WHY? - cause we fricken get blistered on man to man we are slower then a sloth moving our feet.
People can try and make excuses - -point fingers at this guy - -that guy - bottom line is this team sucks right now, and got ALONG way to go. - I think some was fooled when Ku blistered the Johnny on the spot teams , then when we Actually play quality teams - quick guards - quality big’s we got exposed our glaring weakeness got exposed - Not just Mitch - -Hell let’s just bench all 5 starters and play nothing but walk on’s and student managers do just as well. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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@truehawk93 ASU showed our back court not consistently athletic. Good shooters when no one in their face. Showed we suck at stopping dribble penetration. Showed we have horrible interior defense when playing man D. Their penetration & interior passing shredded Hawks. Showed we cannot defend 3 point shooting. So we’ve witnessed this in back to back games vs mid to upper level power 5 programs. Let’s change it up some.
Throw some wrinkles to opposition. Need to throw Zone, triangle two & man/man at folks. Svi, Malik are very weak links defensively in man against better than avg D1 athletes. To sum up, many weaknesses exposed this week & earlier vs KY. We beat Syr because they can’t shoot straight.
Not time to bail on Hawks at all. They need us more than ever. But this team needs help & 40 min of man D ain’t working. Try something.
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I am trying to figure out why Garrett gets so much praise, while Lightfoot gets singled out in this thread as virtually useless:
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mayjay said:
I am trying to figure out why Garrett gets so much praise, while Lightfoot gets singled out in this thread as virtually useless:
Thank you, exactly what I’m trying to tell some. He is an easy target for some a big slow white boy - -easy target - these problems go WAY beyond Mitch - i’s just some think he is an easy target/person for people to place the blame on - - This is by far a huge Team problem , NOT just a MITCH problem. - -good points, this happens almost every game, people quick to blame Mitch. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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May see CS go to some zones here or there in stretches. But I wouldn’t look for it to last. He did imply it may go that way. But I felt was also clear he didn’t wanna give these guys that bailout. He is gonna gamble that they get better playing M2M by seasons end. Right, wrong , or indifferent. Don’t get your hopes up for a zone and certainly if you do see some of that, don’t sell yourself on the fact that it’s here to stay. It’s not. Oh… And anyone that wants to place blame on any one specific player should look at the added football guy… Everyone else on the team has actually won “a” basketball game before.
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We never once made their guards go left. Same damn right hand scoop all game long. How about setting up with a defensive stance on the left and make them a little uncomfortable?
How about switching D’s?
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If Coach is really working on ZONE in practice sessions, I would not expect to see it used until absolutely necessary in a league game. Bill is a league guy. These back to back losses must really hurt him and his staff, esp. in regards to recruiting. But league wins are his forte’, and I do not expect him to broadcast what might be coming until we are battling to win a key conference contest. Opponents have now figured how to beat us (although today’s Arizona State 3 pt shooting played a key role). The Preston wait thwarts our forward progress. The entire dilemma with our big men has turned into a losing fiasco.
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Here’s why Garrett gets praise. Look at his stats coming into the game. He led the team in steals and rebounds per minute played. That said, Garrett’s stats were compiled largely on cupcakes, as have been everyone’s; though if Garrett plays less against good teams, that could impact it (as it has). We’ll see how it plays out. Lightfoot just isn’t good yet. This is not hard. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Just use @mayjay’s 1-10 scale.
That all said, today’s loss had nothing to do with Lightfoot. Nothing. Lightfoot is not playing worse than we would have expected, right? Lightfoot is actually playing perhaps better than I would have expected. And he is out of position as @Texas-Hawk-10 pointed out. We should not judge Lightfoot on Self’s failure to have competent big men on the roster.
Let’s see how this big man situation plays itself out. We’ve got two possibilities waiting in the wings. We now know our season depends on it.
This roller-coaster ride is just beginning. Wait until conference season. This will be fun.
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@cragarhawk imagine how he feels, just traded from the browns to the to patriots. I’m good wait a minute now they suck too lol.
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That this team can’t defend anyone right now. That’s a substantial flaw.
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Frustrated watching him under the basket, no box out, seemingly unaware of the shots being taken, the ball bouncing around etc.
Valid points however on him playing out of position, I don’t see the “effort” that others have often commented on- but likely he is just playing beyond his current capabilities, and therefore, not a very fair post on my part.
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We’ve never had a rebuild year. We’ve never been an underdog. We’ve never got to carry that chip on our shoulder. Who knows …maybe this team catches fire at the exact right time, and goes further in the tournament than our more well thought of teams in the past. More than anything, I want to see them playing with a free mind. Relax, it’s just basketball.
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If you are blaming guys who were always intended to be role players, it just proves that our starters are the problem.
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I well remember all the bone jarring hits on speedy determined Frank Mason as he raced to the basket. How many times did he get plowed into the stands? Those 3 speedy ASU guards latched onto something of a free pass yesterday when they roared down the chute like Frank Mason. No one to send them a memorable hit. If we don’t get Preston, deSousa or a surprise bruiser into the lineup pronto, this will indeed be a roller coaster ride throughout the league season. SOFT? Now like jelly.
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Doke could play the bruiser role, but with no one to replace him on the floor? As he is learning the game of Big Man Basketball, he plays under the edict: DO NOT FOUL OUT!
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Devonte’ has always been a little soft and he’s the unquestioned leader of the team. As Devonte’ goes so goes KU. Heck he can’t even sit on a bad night or the team goes completely to crap.
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The past 2 games we have done a poor job of putting the ball in our leader’s hands. If Devonte is to lead this team he needs to have the ball more. He’s our most capable passer so we have to figure out how to run more set plays with Graham initiating it. Too many possessions he hands the ball off and never gets it back. Again this is just my observation of how badly we’ve looked on offense the past two games. We don’t have a secondary ball handler to turn too like we did last season. Malik is non-existent in that aspect and asking guys who are supposed to score to fill that role is making it worse. There was a reason Self was after point guards so heavily in the 2017 class but we whiffed for whatever reason. Fundamentally I think the offense KU has been running this week and executing has been piss poor in part because we are taking the ball away from our most capable play maker.
The dribble drive weave offense is unraveling. It just looks and feels so non-aggressive even on replay of the game. We predictably make life harder for ourselves with the lack of aggressive nature to the hoop. Instead of putting a defender in a position to help or foul or make a close range shot we pass the ball out to the perimeter before the defender even has to make a decision. Lots of work to be done with this team.
The lack of sense of urgency was really what alarmed me from yesterday.
The defense is one of the fears we had coming in. We lack guys that want to stop anyone. One could say we have even more work to do on that end.
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@BeddieKU23 DG has to start being able to take it to the hole and finish though. Right now, nobody is collapsing on us and challenging us to finish layups 1 on 1. We aren’t making opponents pay for doing that so we can’t collapse a defense and reopen the 3 point game.
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Mitch had ZERO fouls in 18 minutes and Doke only had two in 22 minutes. I know everyone is terrified of those guys fouling out, but come on, that layup exhibition by ASU was ridiculous.
REHawk said:
Those 3 speedy ASU guards latched onto something of a free pass yesterday when they roared down the chute like Frank Mason. No one to send them a memorable hit.
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@BeddieKU23 I understand what your saying. However if Devonte is suppose to be the leader, then on top of like what you say him not getting the ball back if Devonte is that leader - -then he should DEMAND the ball to close out at the end of the clock - He should Demand /want to be the one to take THE SHOT in crunch time. I don’t think Devonte really is a slasher, he more of a spot up shooter, I’m not really sure if he can take somebody of the bounce. - I’m not even sure if he can work to get his own shot.
I see him hit the open three - from crisp passing or off offensive rebounds where they kick it back out for the open three, He has to become more aggressive I’m just not sure if he can - -he for sure is not like Frank - -that’s not a knock - -that’s just a fact. - and it might not be fair to try and compare and expect him to be Frank - -Devonte is Devonte - Frank is Frank - -but just don’t think he is an Alpha. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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How many times have we been in a situation where the shock clock is running low? I would say I haven’t noticed that being a regular thing where Devonte needs to demand the ball. He certainly needs to do a much better job at taking control of things but it seems we are running a lot of offense away from him.
Where the issue I’m seeing is in the base offense we seem obsessed with running right now. That dribble drive weave action that is fooling nobody and is doing nothing other then wandering the perimeter. It’s not making defenders turn their hips and foul someone, its not forcing a help defender off their man, at least from what I’m seeing. The ball is sticking and if the result isn’t a made basket it just feels like unorganized chaos right now.
We’ll see what the response is from this past week. Cunliffe is eligible so we finally have some more guard depth to go to.
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Kcmatt7 said:
@BeddieKU23 DG has to start being able to take it to the hole and finish though. Right now, nobody is collapsing on us and challenging us to finish layups 1 on 1. We aren’t making opponents pay for doing that so we can’t collapse a defense and reopen the 3 point game.
I agree it starts with him. He needs to understand that he sets the tone for this team. I thought we’d be seeing progression instead of regression in that department from him. Of course everyone is still learning how to play their role with this team. This is right around the time that Self gets more time to work on things.
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Cannot rebound? Other than Doke, only Vick had more rebounds (7) than Lightfoot’s 5 and he played more that twice as many minutes (39 vs 18). He also tie with Doke in blocks with 2.
I don’t get the hate for the only kid I see trying his hardest while playing a position he is not qualified or built for.
Edit: I should have refreshed my browser. After I posted a bunch of posts similar to mine showed up.
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@BeddieKU23 But, as the leader of the team - -Who starts that offense we run - -your point guard. - -Who is our point guard? - -the one that is suppose to be leading the team? - He is the one who runs this - -or is suppose to run the offense - -if were running the offense away from him not sure it’s the others - I’ve noticed many times Devonte Standing I dunno - The whole system is out of kilter right now. - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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@JayHawkFanToo Hell he is leading the team in blocks. - -he rebounds as well as anyone else like you say for the amount of time he is on the floor. - Oh sure he makes mistakes - -but he by far isn’t the ONLY one on this team that makes mistakes.
I would challenge anyone here to name a player on this squad that is mistake free. Like you say Mitch just seems like he is an easy target for some. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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How I miss Mason. Best PG we have had in a long time and best late game “go to” player as well. Yesterday he would have willed the team to win.
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jayballer54 said:
@BeddieKU23 But, as the leader of the team - -Who starts that offense we run - -your point guard. - -Who is our point guard? - -the one that is suppose to be leading the team? - He is the one who runs this - -or is suppose to run the offense - -if were running the offense away from him not sure it’s the others - I’ve noticed many times Devonte Standing I dunno - The whole system is out of kilter right now. - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
I think your basically saying the same thing I mentioned. The offense is out of whack compared to our current level to perform it with what we have. Graham brings the ball down the court passes it and often doesn’t get it back. The way we are running offense right now seems too dependent on someone making an individual play. I would like to see the offense tailored more to Graham initiating plays off ball screen action, that way our PG is more involved in the output of the play. Whether he’s shooting or passing I think DG needs more usage to get the most out of this team. And that goes for him shooting the ball. We know he’s not Frank, nobody is asking him to be him. I do however think that if we start running more plays through his hands, we could see more consistent results.
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@justanotherfan I got your drift the first time and you laid it out pretty well…f-a-c-e-t-I-o-u-s, with a capital - I- …LOL
