Any Win Is A Good Win
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Devonte Graham is tied for 22nd place on the all-time scoring list with 1,495 points.
9 official games left in his season. 7 regular, 1 Big-12 tourney, 1 NCAA tourney. Max games left; 16. At his current scoring rate it looks like his range will be 14th to 11th give or take. Not bad for a kid that almost went to Appalachian St
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Hard to believe but only 3 home games left.
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@BeddieKU23 Max possible is 7 + 4 + 6 = 17, but we donāt want that extra B12 tourney game, do we?
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mayjay said:
@BeddieKU23 Max possible is 7 + 4 + 6 = 17, but we donāt want that extra B12 tourney game, do we?
I typed before having my coffee. Wouldnāt we play a max of 3 Big-12 Tourney games? Anyway I still canāt count wortha beans
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@BeddieKU23 Not if we end up in the bottom tier for the opening round.
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mayjay said:
@BeddieKU23 Not if we end up in the bottom tier for the opening round.
Your right, canāt see us falling down to a 7 seed but anything can happen with this bunch
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This is how our offense looks without Svi. Iād like to see 15 shots from him next game.
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Word from my inside guy was Svi was very sick the last few days.
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kjayhawks said:
Word from my inside guy was Svi was very sick the last few days.
Thanks for posting. Makes sense. A shame we donāt have another capable player so he could rest.
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Best we can say is that sick Svi at least drew significant attention. If Newman would have had a decent performance, which we should expect, the game would have looked differently. But then again, why would we want to cruise to a 15 point win at home? Whereās the fun in that?
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@kjayhawks didnāt look sick on that windmill! Seriously, they were doing a good job on guarding him. He didnāt appear to be slowed downed or sucking air.
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@Crimsonorblue22 He seemed to move slower to me and was bent over several times catching his breathe, yes the wind mill was stupid. It couldāve got T and cost us.
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There were a few times Svi was open and the ball didnāt go his way, a couple times it was forced to Vick instead when he really wasnāt open. I wondered at the time if Vicks teammates were trying to help get him out of the doghouse or if there was something up with Svi. Only 3ās i saw him take were either after a whistle blew or the one just after the shot clock expired. He was 2-3 on those which along with that nasty dead ball dunk (lucky no T on that) makes me think he wasnāt in too bad of shape.
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Surprised Svi didnāt get the ā#$%# moveā treatment in the post game from Self that Greene got years back for doing something similar
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kjayhawks said:
@Crimsonorblue22 He seemed to move slower to me and was bent over several times catching his breathe, yes the wind mill was stupid. It couldāve got T and cost us.
I honestly expected a technical foul for that.
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BeddieKU23 said:
Surprised Svi didnāt get the ā#$%# moveā treatment in the post game from Self that Greene got years back for doing something similar
Self likes Svi, thatās the difference lol.
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Iām still trying to decide if I buy the mediaās version of this game; that Self complained at our guys and the guys stepped up on defense. TCU hit plenty of treys and missed many wide-open treys.
I still saw a soft game. How many times did our guys dive on the floor for a ball? Had things gone bad a few more points, the world would be falling. Come on, this was TCU! ā¦and without their star guard.
I know Rome wasnāt built in a dayā¦ but wow! How did we degenerate to this level of play?
We are doing destructive things just lowering our expectations to the point that this team is being judged as a ārebuild yearāā¦ āmediocreāā¦ etc etc etc.
How many McDs AAs are on this team? How high were our players ranked out of HS? How did we get to the point where we have all these highly-rated players only playing even with teams that have ZERO highly-rated players, or maybe one?
I donāt get it.
Is it just because we donāt have post depth? Kind of like most of those UCONN teams that didnāt even have a Doke, but somehow won plenty of NCs?
Iām sick of all the frigginā excuses made for this team. Iāve stuck behind them this entire way. I will continue to back them, but I canāt say many positive things about this team.
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BShark said:
BeddieKU23 said:
Surprised Svi didnāt get the ā#$%# moveā treatment in the post game from Self that Greene got years back for doing something similar
Self likes Svi, thatās the difference lol.
Sviās dunk was also a dead ball situation, not a live ball situation like BGās was.
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The effort on D was good last night! This team can either get crushed inside or give up 3s. But there is no way for us to not allow both. That was the best defensive game we have probably played imo. The other team just made the open shots.
I did like the way we started with Lightfoot and Doke. It set the tone to start the game.
I do feel like we donāt get enough steals from jumping passing lanes on switches and I saw some serious confusion from guys last night on whether they should switch or not and that lead to several open layups. But, If that gets cleaned up and this team continues to play defense like it did last night we can beat anyone.
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@Kcmatt7 No way was this KUās best defensive effort last night. TCU got way too many open looks to be considered good defense. The defense was good the last 10 minutes of the game, but the first 30 were definitely not good.
The KSU game in Manhattan has to be the best defensive game by KU at least in Big 12 play this year. KSU never had a chance in that one.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Well we all have our opinions. A lot easier to play good D when you put up 40 in the first half , shots are falling and you are actually getting to the free throw line. That keeps teams from getting out in transition. I mean, from what I remember, KSU had plenty of open looks too. They just didnāt make them.
We were far more active last night jumping lanes than in the KSU game. We forced 12 turnovers compared to only 7 against KSU. We also held TCU to .402 from 2pt, which is solid.
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drgnslayr said:
Iām still trying to decide if I buy the mediaās version of this game; that Self complained at our guys and the guys stepped up on defense. TCU hit plenty of treys and missed many wide-open treys.
I still saw a soft game. How many times did our guys dive on the floor for a ball? Had things gone bad a few more points, the world would be falling. Come on, this was TCU! ā¦and without their star guard.
I know Rome wasnāt built in a dayā¦ but wow! How did we degenerate to this level of play?
We are doing destructive things just lowering our expectations to the point that this team is being judged as a ārebuild yearāā¦ āmediocreāā¦ etc etc etc.
How many McDs AAs are on this team? How high were our players ranked out of HS? How did we get to the point where we have all these highly-rated players only playing even with teams that have ZERO highly-rated players, or maybe one?
I donāt get it.
Is it just because we donāt have post depth? Kind of like most of those UCONN teams that didnāt even have a Doke, but somehow won plenty of NCs?
Iām sick of all the frigginā excuses made for this team. Iāve stuck behind them this entire way. I will continue to back them, but I canāt say many positive things about this team.
Agree with everything. I actually thought we regressed despite seeing improved effort and energy levels out there as a team. We picked possessions to defend with purpose and force TCU out of their normal flow. The 2 big look was only effective until Doke got a foul two minutes in and Lightfoot got his 5 minutes later.
Making shots has suddenly become an issue. Weāre simply missing open and easy looks. I donāt know what the solution is. We let TCU control pace and tempo or that was a deliberate change from KU on how we attacked and took shots. I saw a lot of shot clocks going under 10 last night that usually were a rarity in this years offense. That could have been a response to the āselfish thoughtsā line Self used.
Glad we won, we looked vulnerable even into the last few minutes. We have lots of flaws unfortunately. Shooting better then we did might have just masked them. I hope this is a game that moves us forward in some way
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I am still seeing the upside of this team when they play. The conference tourney is a month away from today. We are playing our best defense of the season right now. Bill has started pushing buttons and pulling strings to get all 4 of our guards to play at a high level. Not to mention, we have seen growth from Doke, Garrett and Lightfoot seemingly every game.
Imagine, a team where we are active on D like we have been 3 of the past 4 games. But, they also make wide-open shots and exploit mismatches like they can. Vick and Newman are both talented enough to shoot 45% from the field. If they can start to do that, this team will start cruising to victories. One more month of tweaks. Bill already got Newman to break out of his shell. If he can work the same magic on Vick, Iām not sure anyone can beat this team.
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@drgnslayr dokeās boards, huge step forward, confidence w/throws huge step forward. Tcu good rebounding team.
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Good rebounders and TCU leads the Big 12 in 3-Point FG PCT at .411
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The conference would have to have upsets of biblical proportions for KU to drop from 1 to 7, it is just not happening, so it is 3 games at the most in the Conference Tournament.
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Svi had the lowest usage of any player that played yesterday at 5.6%, the next lowest was TCUās J.D. Miller at 11.8%; the next lowest KU players were Newman at 15.9% and Lightfoot at 16.9% which gives an idea of few times Svi was involved in the game plan; Doke had the highest at 32.1%.
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I think holding TCU to 64 when they have been averaging 86 speaks to the defense.
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Self didnāt like Greenes last second lay up because Greene acted like he was gonna dribble it out and then then ran in and laid it up.
EJ on the other hand threw down Insult points against Iowa St in 2013 in the waning seconds and that didnāt bother Self because EJ was intent on taking it to the rack as soon as he got it. Hoiberg thought it was a shit move. Self didnāt. EJ had been spit on the year prior to that by an Iowa State fan and that was pay back.
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KU fans. I gotta be honest here. Just two games ago we got our asses handed to us by Okie Stateā¦at our house no less!! We have lost 3 games at AFH so far. That hasnāt happened in the Bill Self era. Hasnāt happened since 98. This team has such a slim margin of error, its not even funny. Sure, we played good last night but the defense won the game for us. Are we all 100% certain that this will be the case until the final four? Iām not. At all. I mean KU should have beaten them by double figures but this team cant do that anymore. Slim margin of error. I remain optimistic about our chances to at least tie for the conference crown by season end. I doubt we win it out right. I also doubt we win our big 12 tournament ( Sprint Center ) and I doubt we make it past the second game of the NCAAās
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@CRH107 Ned did you hear that? @drgnslayr
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@Blown EJ was in a zone! One of my favorite games. He was also very sorry. Bg did it w/no defense on him. Dick move, one of many that we donāt even know half of! Svi was lucky he didnāt get a T, ref knew he was mad at himself, decent of him for a change.
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@Lulufulu You said, āI also doubt we win our big 12 tournament ( Sprint Center ) and I doubt we make it past the second game of the NCAAās.ā
Ah, but how many times in yearsā past did you, me, and everyone else predict great things in March? Embrace the chaos for the chaos is normal. This is a roller coaster ride. All we can do is hang on and enjoy. And you never know, teams like this can find a crazy little hot streak. Not one doubt in my mind that this psychotic team can win it all (just so long as no tourney games are at AFH).
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@drgnslayr āHow many McDs AAs are on this team? How high were our players ranked out of HS? How did we get to the point where we have all these highly-rated players only playing even with teams that have ZERO highly-rated players, or maybe one?ā
This year in particular, I have really been noticing how Many solid players we have played againstā¦ all season. Guys, Who may not be McD AAs, but are basically good tough players. Iām an eye test guy, donāt have the basketball acumen or knowledge or the time to do an in-depth stat Deep dive analysis, but there are apparently a lot of solid decently talented players in D1, who with the right team makeup and competent coaching, can be a force.
Which makes me think, what really are these high school basketball rankings anyway? They can only analyze and therefore predict only so much for high schoolers (teenagers!) So much can change in college and beyond. Granted there are guys who are obviously going to be pro studs barring injury based on their high school performance, but how many high rated guys Peter out or donāt live up to their top 50 high school label?
I think we naturally assume we should beat our competition because we have more top 50 or 100 āratedā guys than they do. Itās much more complicated and all kinds of factors have to happenā¦ our conference has a LOT of good players at all positions. we often this season are just getting outplayed for large stretches of gamesā¦ out hustled, out rebounded, out-defensed, out-shot etc. and when this happens, I admit Iām the first one to think ā why is this happening?? We are better than these guys!! ? Arenāt we???ā Look at our ranking! Look at our coach!! Look at all out Mickey-Ds!!!
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Bosthawk said:
@drgnslayr āHow many McDs AAs are on this team? How high were our players ranked out of HS? How did we get to the point where we have all these highly-rated players only playing even with teams that have ZERO highly-rated players, or maybe one?ā
This year in particular, I have really been noticing how Many solid players we have played againstā¦ all season. Guys, Who may not be McD AAs, but are basically good tough players. Iām an eye test guy, donāt have the basketball acumen or knowledge or the time to do an in-depth stat Deep dive analysis, but there are apparently a lot of solid decently talented players in D1, who with the right team makeup and competent coaching, can be a force.
Which makes me think, what really are these high school basketball rankings anyway? They can only analyze and therefore predict only so much for high schoolers. So much can change in college and beyond. Granted there are guys who are obviously going to be pro studs barring injury based on their high school performance, but how many high rated guys Peter out or donāt live up to their top 50 high school label?
I think we naturally assume we should beat our competition because we have more top 50 or 100 āratedā guys than they do. Itās much more complicated and all kinds of factors have to happenā¦ our conference has a LOT of good players at all positions. we often this season are just getting outplayed for large stretches of gamesā¦ out hustled, out rebounded, out-defensed, out-shot etc. and when this happens, I admit Iām the first one to think ā why is this happening?? We are better than these guys!! ? Arenāt we???ā Look at our ranking! Look at our coach!! Look at all out Mickey-Ds!!!
We actually only have two McDAA on the team. Newman and Doke. The real, big problem is we only play 7 guys. That effects so much.
But yeah rankings can be overblown. Cunliffe was a top 40 recruit in a solid class and basically canāt even play basketball.
A lot of it is based on pro potential and athleticism. That how you have guys like Graham and Mason who when you saw them you knew they would be really good college players but they werenāt ranked that high.
KU is about to get a commitment tomorrow from a player ranked outside of the top 300 (NR on Rivals even). Self offered him right after seeing him play. https://247sports.com/Player/Ochai-Agbaji-46042163
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@BShark Thanks for the heads up on this signee- we can only assume Self and his staff can see the potential in himā¦ and we should by odds have him for 3-4 years
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ā¦and, Iām making an assumption (gulp) that Ochai is of African descent. is the continent of Africa becoming the hottest place to look for raw potential basketball talent?
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Bosthawk said:
ā¦and, Iām making an assumption (gulp) that Ochai is of African descent. is the continent of Africa becoming the hottest place to look for raw potential basketball talent?
I know originally he is from Milwaukee but yeah with his name being what it is, his parents might have been born in Africa. Maybe more will come out on that after he commits.
Heās actually not all that raw from a basketball skill perspective. He is a really good shooter. He is shooting 56% from the floor (and I know, itās KS/MO hs hoops) and he shoots plenty of threes and other jumpers. Which isnāt to say he doesnāt have things to work on, because he does. All indications are he is a really hard worker and very coachable. Have not read a bad word about him. Guessing he will be a 4-5 year player. Iāve seen multiple people that have seen him play use ābetter shooting Relefordā as a comp. Iām hoping to go to his next game.
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He certainly doesnāt plan to redshirt though.
Some quotes
āIām just looking for the school thatās the right fit,ā Agbaji told Rivals more than a week ago. āA school that I can go in and be effective as a freshman right away. Iād probably be a better fit in uptempo but that doesnāt really matter because I just want a good coach who can make me better as a player.ā
āI got to see their new locker room and all of that stuff,ā Agbaji told Rivals before his offer from KU. āI got to meet Bill Self and talk with him. Heās very interested in me and said they are looking for a wing like me who is strong, tough and can shoot the ball."
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@BShark Now do you have any information other than an educated hunch that he will sign with KU? My quickie internet search came up with the usual non commital statements
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99.9% sure, but I donāt have any first hand/direct information.
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99.9. I likes them odds
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If he is planning to contribute as a freshman the KU is probably not the place where he wants to go, wouldnāt you agree?
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@JayHawkFanToo Youād think so but here we are. We are in the sweet talking phase still so who knows what the staff is telling him.
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Landing Agbaji would be big for KU because he played his AAU ball for MoKan which we all know has always had a negative relationship with KU.
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I was thinking the same thing. KU lost several decent players over the years because of MoKan.
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@JayHawkFanToo Porter and Young were MOKAN right? Not saying MOKAN was the reason we didnāt get them, but it also wouldnāt help lol.
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Yep. Both Porters as well as young, Burke, Cauley-Stein, Ojeleye, Tillmon, Nirn, Milton just of the top of my head.
Kevin Durant has now partnered with them so they will only get bigger. Getting a MoKan/Nike player would be nice.
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JayHawkFanToo said:
Yep. Both Porters as well as young, Burke, Cauley-Stein, Ojeleye, Tillmon, Nirn, Milton just of the top of my head.
Kevin Durant has now partnered with them so they will only get bigger. Getting a MoKan/Nike player would be nice.
It definitely wonāt hurt.
Burks was definitely just a miss by the staff. I donāt think KU ever got too serious with CS or Ojeleye. By the time we were kind of interested in CS it was too late.
