Yep you Hawks are right.
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What in the hell was Coach thinking playin Mitch so much? Doesn’t he know that Mitch isn’t ready to play at this level yet. Doesn’t he know that Mitch needs sit out a year to learn to play this game? I mean come on Playing Mitch like this. What gives Coach?
Way to play Mitch. Way to bring it.
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Did Self have a choice?
Great game by Mitch.
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@DoubleDD I’ve done my share of ragging on Mitch. He shut me up tonight. He played like Cole Aldrich did against UNC. He was spectacular. I thought Devonte shut up his critics tonight as well. What do you think?
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Oh yea Graham was tough as beans tonight. Hope the team picks up on what he did tonight. I’m thinking it did.
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Graham did a great job being a PG tonight.
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BShark said:
Graham did a great job being a PG tonight.
In big 12 play, he’s been putting up Trae Young numbers.
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@HawkChamp Did he have eight turnovers too?
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Graham has done well in big 12 play averaging 25.5 and 6. Hard to ask much more outta him at least offensively, had that big steal late tonight as well. He has added getting to the hoop to his game, just worried he’s gonna get banged up and he did tonight.
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https://t.co/X4rGMlrRLn Mitch ready
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@nuleafjhawk what a whiner too! Lol
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@DoubleDD hoping he isn’t so beat up he starts to lose his edge
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nuleafjhawk said:
@HawkChamp Did he have eight turnovers too?
We’ll be ground hard by Press Virginia.
They foul so much the refs swallow the whistle.
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nuleafjhawk said:
@HawkChamp Did he have eight turnovers too?
LMAO - - - -that was a good one - - I like that lol. - - Carte is tough – tough - -tough. - -I think - -I know h took it personal about Young, and wanted to show/say - Welcome to the Big 12 little man.
However Trae will not face a defense again like he did tonight and even as poorly as he played still finished with 29 but for sure WV got into him let him know no matter how good you are - this is my house - -I’m a Senior your still a freshman -I am a 3 time defensive player in this league wait your turn lol. - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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@Jayballer54 He’s going to be a star in the NBA, man. He is amazing. He got fouled everytime he touched the ball. They fouled him 50 times, at least.
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@Jayballer54 I’d trade Carter for Newman…lol.
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KUSTEVE said:
@Jayballer54 He’s going to be a star in the NBA, man. He is amazing. He got fouled everytime he touched the ball. They fouled him 50 times, at least.
ya Trae did get mugged sometimes for sure - -BUT ummm - - 50 times ? - -Come on now Jethro - was we watching the same game lol? -Come on now , you know Granny gonna give you a whuppin if your stretch the truth. lol - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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KUSTEVE said:
@Jayballer54 I’d trade Carter for Newman…lol.
In a NY minute lol. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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It was a tale of two halves for mitch. He played great when it mattered. He finally stepped up in the moment when his team needed him with Doke on the bench. Game mvp. Sometimes a game like that can really turn the corner for someone who is playing spot minutes and struggling with consistency
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@KUSTEVE @Jayballer54 I watched the end of that game and my first impression seeing carter and young…man body vs. freshman body. But man can young score it…even on an “off” night.
@kjayhawks i too Am concerned about the beating DG took. A lot of time on the floor. And he is not built like Frank or carter to handle that level of physicality for 20 games. Will be an issue moving forward. They have to bite bullet and reduce his mins to 33-35 a game.
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BeddieKU23 said:
It was a tale of two halves for mitch. He played great when it mattered. He finally stepped up in the moment when his team needed him with Doke on the bench. Game mvp. Sometimes a game like that can really turn the corner for someone who is playing spot minutes and struggling with consistentcy
Exactly. It was a miracle and thank goodness it happened because it was required. What was Self going to do? Play a walk-on?
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@BShark I was wondering how close we really were last night to seeing the tight end
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@Fightsongwriter Probably pretty close. Doke fouled out late enough to where Mitch was able to finish the game but had he needed a breather I believe Sosinski was next in line.
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@BShark If ML had one more foul in 1st half, I think he would have played. Silvio, Silvio where fore art thou Silvio?
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Hopefully eligible for the ISU game.
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In a different thread I had brought up for discussion possibility of Mitch red shirting next year. Looking at next year’s roster and assuming Dok is back, simply going by talent level Mitch will be our 4th or 5th Big after Dok, Lawson brothers, Silvio. With this in mind and considering our deep guard situation it is safe to assume that Self will play 4 guard line up majority of times. Barring any unforeseen situation and/or injury one can assume that Mitch will not be getting more than 10 minutes a game.
Mitch is a great kid. He plays with tremendous energy and passion. But he is not very big, even Self said it after the game last night. This year Self has no choice but to play Mitch. The situation will be different next year. If his minutes will be limited why not take the opportunity and improve your game and becoming bigger and stronger and provide greater contribution to the team in years 3 and 4. We have seen this formula work with other players - Releford, Lucas, Morningstar, Traylor as an example.
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@AsadZ In no way do I intend to denigrate the contributions, hopes or desires of Mitch Lightfoot. But I really wish for him the opportunity to red shirt. The chance to grow physically, allowing his body to catch up with his superior basketball IQ and intense desire. Mitch is a rare Bill Self recruit; something of a gamble who is paying huge dividends at an early developmental stage. I would love to see him in the program for 5 seasons.
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AsadZ said:
In a different thread I had brought up for discussion possibility of Mitch red shirting next year. Looking at next year’s roster and assuming Dok is back, simply going by talent level Mitch will be our 4th or 5th Big after Dok, Lawson brothers, Silvio. With this in mind and considering our deep guard situation it is safe to assume that Self will play 4 guard line up majority of times. Barring any unforeseen situation and/or injury one can assume that Mitch will not be getting more than 10 minutes a game.
Mitch is a great kid. He plays with tremendous energy and passion. But he is not very big, even Self said it after the game last night. This year Self has no choice but to play Mitch. The situation will be different next year. If his minutes will be limited why not take the opportunity and improve your game and becoming bigger and stronger and provide greater contribution to the team in years 3 and 4. We have seen this formula work with other players - Releford, Lucas, Morningstar, Traylor as an example.
Traylor had to redshirt due to academics. Just like BMac.
Anyway as I also mentioned in the previous thread we are very much on the same page here regarding Mitch.
I do think though that especially if Doke comes back we see a lot more 3/2 again. Though it will be very flexible since KJ and Dedric are very skilled 4s. KJ even played the 3 spot at Memphis.
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The redshirt idea for Mitch, or anyone, is based on opportunity. This year of course it would have made no sense. If we had Preston, Maxwell, Coleby, and Whitman (or three of them with Doke), it would have made great sense.
If we have four players in front of him, then it seems like a perfect situation.
All depends on where he sits in Bill Self’s eyes related to playing time.
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I saw this one coming, but…
Guard against over optimism and over expectation.
Players improve gradually and that improvement accrues.
The accrued improvements often lie in latency waiting for a favorable match up to come into view.
I did not expect Mitch to break out, because he is suddenly a hyper talent coming out of a funk.
I figured the guy has been working his butt off, he’s been getting serial dabs of fire baptism; then Doke’s back blew up, and Mitch found himself in several matchups (first and second strings of TCU bigs) that he was suited to hang with. None of TCU’s bigs he faced were real Dixon style bruisers of the kind he used to bang with at Pitt. The TCU bigs were slightly more experienced versions of Mitch; i.e., what Mitch could be in anos tre y quatro, senores.
So: when you combine matchups that didn’t automatically blow him out, with the Oral Roberts of basketball coaching coming to Mitch pregame in a dire, must-win road situation, early in the conference season and laying on of coaching hands, and telling Mitch “son, you really can leap tall buildings in a single bound, and I recruited you for exactly this kind of situation, don’t let your teammates down,” well, the timing seemed right.
Unlike TCU, I haven’t seen the Bomb Cyclones bigs this season, so I don’t know what to expect from actual match ups.
We can be sure that if Iowa State’s bigs are similar in morphology and skill level that Mitch will fare about the same. His accrued development means he could maintain that level of play against those kinds of bigs. But…
If ISU is sporting prison body bigs cut from the WVU cloth, or if they are bringing a footer with them, or a near footer with a lot of back to the basket moves, then it would be rational to expect Mitch’s line score to drop back down to a sound floor game with more goose eggs than impacts.
Mitch, like most other first year in the rotation bigs, is a work in progress that shows well when the match ups are just right and not otherwise. Its not a knock on him. Its just how it is.
A big man has to get very sound and very strong, and very assured to handle bad match ups with aplomb.
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Post Script:
One more thought about what triggered Mitch’s break out.
Five words: Devonte bashing and Devonte driving.
Self decided to win it by playing through Devonte and driving Devonte quite a lot. In anticipation of Self’s use of Devonte, Dixon was giving Devonte very physical treatment and Dixon was using a lot of big man hedging on Devonte and scraping Devonte off on the other end with a lot of back screens with his bigs. That translates to asking a lot of his bigs on both ends over 40 minutes and it also triggers lot of situations with Dixon’s bigs being away from the basket and away from Mitch. Finally, it meant that even with rotating two bigs, Dixon’s not particularly great leapers were getting leg fatigue.
So: Mitch had some day light, because Self decided to ritually sacrifice Devonte’s body on driving to maximize the likelihood of stealing one on the road and avoiding losing two straight so early in the conference circle bird, er, round robin.
To project what Mitch might do versus ISU, one has also to ask then: how will Self use Devonte? Will he dare to sacrifice his body again for 38 minutes to get 28 driving the hard way, and so pre-occupy ISU bigs, and thus give Mitch more daylight?
Or will Self turn Devonte back into a distributor and try to win the game at the wings with Vick and Garrett/Newman?
If Self decides to win it on the wings, with both wing driving, and weaving, and popping the triceratops, I am not sure Mitch will be left as alone as when Self is playing through Devonte; other things equal that could translate to less room to work for Mitch.
On the other hand, Self’s brilliance may help him find a way play through the wings in a way that does force the opponent into hedging with their bigs on wing driving. If so, then Mitch could find himself with as much if not more daylight.
Common sense suggest Self will at least try to play through his wings against ISU to cut Devonte some slack.
On the other hand, if the wings are not up to the challenge, Self will probably quickly default to Devonte body sacrifice in order to get the home win. Home wins are requirements from here on.
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@jaybate-1-0 Do we also have a Red team affect going on? Mitch is going up against Billy, Dedric, and KJ every day in practice. It’s the old saying, “if you want to get better, play against guys better than you.” It can’t help but help him get better, no?
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And imagine how much frustration Billy Preston is taking out on Mitch in workouts!!!
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@jaybate-1-0 mitch-slapping on a whole new level.
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@jaybate-1.0 Oooh, I never thought of that. How much fun would that be to watch!
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Mitch + slapping = Bitch, I’m Mitch
You write the fight songs, so time for the Mitch rap theme song to go with Frank’s.
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@mayjay I could take a swing at that…been a LONG time since I wrote any rap tho.
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@DoubleDD Calm down. We knew Mitch could play, but you have to admit, he wasn’t showing much lately. NOW, let’s hope you can prove us wrong by Mitch playing consistently for the remainder of the year. We will definitely need him. The NCAA is going to sit on Preston and Silvio.
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I’d like to see Mitch stretch defenses by hitting that trey a little more consistently, Keef style. Speaking of Keef, I’d like to see if Angel could talk to Momma P. Angel was such a parental presence at KU. She was the one that inspired the FOE. Momma P could use a good dose of Angel.
Paging Angel, please teach Momma P some FOE.
