Oubre Party!!
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In a post earlier this morning, I mentioned that Self said in the preseason press conference that he wanted his team to have an identity established by conference play. If Self is willing to moderate, change slightly, see what his stellar recruiting efforts have created, well – we have an identity. If today is an indication, Self may be embracing the transformation.
I fully expected today to be about pounding it inside. While Lafayette wasn’t a good team a defending threes, we certainly had a skill advantage inside with Ellis and Cliff (who was expected to start). But somehow, we played our game. We played outside-in. And it was magnificent.
Only 32 of our 96 points were shots near the rim. I can’t rewatch the game, but of the 32, many were of the driving variety. Very few were pure post play moves. Astonishing, really,
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Oubre: Brannen Greene misses weights yesterday. Now Oubre is the starter for good. See what I said there? For good. I felt that once Svi was replaced by Greene, it was just a matter of time. Greene was a place-holder. It was over. UNLV game I said. Now it’s really over. Oubre was spectacular. Greene could have gone to weights, but it wouldn’t have mattered. While many of us in Jayhawk nation fretted over Oubre for whatever reason (myself included), I think we all have to hand it to coach Self. We have a spectacularly prepared player. 23 points, 10 boards, driving, shooting, defense. Very cool. Svi was better prepared to play early. Now, he can start Oubre, Svi has a big role and ready for next season. Perfect.
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Mickelson: Not to overreact to one game, but has Lucas ever looked that good? Self said in the preseason that he would not play Ellis and Mickelson together. Ellis needed a tougher presence because both Mickelson and Ellis were true fours, and Mickelson a face up four. Whatever. They were both on the floor together today for stretches. Self said in the post game interview with Greg Gurley that Mickelson would be playing more. Lucas starts today, and then is playing with the scrubs. We have seen some movement perhaps in the rotation. But what I see in Mickelson getting playing time is Self perhaps acknowledging the acceptance of our destiny – an outside/in team. If Self believes Mickelson to be more of a trued four, more of a face up guy, why would he play him we were pound it into the post?Circumstantial evidence, but still evidence. Plus, Mickelson seemed like a more difficult guy to shoot over than Lucas
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Three Point Shooting: Did I read that right? 12 of 23? Did I read that right? 96 points? I feel complete. Some nights it won’t be 12 of 23. It might be 7 of 23. But this team simply needs to shoot threes. 20+ most nights. Oubre looks like he has the stroke. Svi got it going. Mason is what we thought CF might be, without the tail dribbling. Selden perhaps can challenge 40%, but likely an acceptable 37%. And Greene is the best of the bunch. This is a spectacularly talented perimeter team.
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Driving: The three point shooting enhances the ability to drive the ball. Defenses have to play tight and close out completely. Oubre appears to be all he was billed to be. Svi is solid in that phase with some nice agility. Selden a bee-line bull. Mason a gap exploiter. Ellis a reverse pivot machine. And Traylor (who initiated not one bit of offense today, by the way) has that quick first step.
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Three-Point shooting + Driving = Outside/In: God bless America. This team has chance at a national championship playing this way. Playing this way, we can beat Kentucky. We can beat Duke. We can beat anyone we might face. Self just has to accept the identity and embrace it. Admittedly, it is riskier than shoveling it in to Marcus, Markieff, or TRob. But it is less risky with this team.
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Inside Game: We were not playing Kentucky today. We were playing a low grade mid-major with some middling post guys. And we had trouble inside. Self said on the post game that Ellis lacked energy, and might be “under the weather.” Not sure if it’s true, or if it’s just good cover. Ellis will score inside. So will Cliff. But it (post scoring) is a nice second option with those guys.
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Box Score: I’m looking at the box score. I can’t stop looking at it. 23 three pointers. Mickelson played more than Ellis. Mason 9:1 assist/turnover. Oubre a spectacular double-double. We scored 96 points on only 8 made free throws.
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Hot Shooting Opponent: Can you imagine how this game might have gone had we played inside-out? Had we rotated the ball around the perimeter as we did in the second half against Utah? This could have been a bit dangerous. I think we would have won. But it’s the next level up in opponent that would worry me.
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Temple: Let’s see how all this holds up Monday night. Temple got a couple guys eligible this past week and might be better than anticipated. Shooting in a hostile environment. That’s our next challenge.
Perhaps I’m just too optimistic here. But this game – the style in which we executed our offense – seems like an incredibly positive development. This is how you manufacture points.
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##K K K KELLY!
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@RockChalkinTexas Hmmm…
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@MoonwalkMafia hmmmmm is right!
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Mickelson looked good in the early practice for the fans last year before he had to sit out. Coach also said he will be careful when announcing his starters early. Greene sat because he missed weight training. I know it was Lafayette, but there was a much better flow than we’ve seen before. Great passing all around and one more pass had all the shooters wide open in great rhythm. Beat the Owls!
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FOOLS GOLD or no, today’s offense was fun to watch. Can Bill Self sleep peacefully with it? Jayhawk Nation to stay tuned!
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Agree! Really pleased with Hunter for his game today. His hands are better than Lucas’. I thought he would be in the rotation given he had all last year to sit out and learn the system and is now a junior. Hope he gets the chance to develop more. Oubre of course looked like a kid in a candy store getting his touches tonight. Fav play of his was the steal he took down for a dunk. Should have given Cliff more of Ellis’ minutes. Now if only we knew how to defend the perimeter.
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It was great to see Kelly make such a loud statement today. Those long arms are great for knocking balls away - that runout off the steal was a work of art. Love the lefty 3 pointers, for sure. When we get Devonte back, we could have Frank, Devonte, and KO as ball-hawking fiends. I would LOVE to see us start getting a slew of runouts.
BTW, I am so impressed with Frank. I have fallen in love with his game. He is playing so much more under control, much better decisions most of the time, and his shot has been great.
Hunter has awoke. I like him better than Landen in every way, shape and form, but that’s just me.
Loved seeing Svi have some shots fall. He indicated in interviews he was practicing a lot in between practices, so that kind of work ethic will eventually pay off.
I think we’re going to be a real good team come March. This is a good one.
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@HighEliteMajor Word
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Great outside shooting although @Jesse-Newell kept pointing out Lafayette’s perimeter D is very suspect. I’d like to see the same type of performance from Kelly against Temple before I’m getting all googoo eyed over him and Hunter for that matter too.
Frank on the other hand has won me over with his outstanding play against good and poor competition.
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@HighEliteMajor If I may. I don’t believe the word “scrubs” is suitable for our subs. These kids may not be as good as the starting 5, whomever that may be on any given night, but I’m sure they bust their butts as much as anyone on the team. I have no problem using the word for opposing teams, but I feel we should be more respectful of our players. Besides “subs” is shorter and takes less effort to type. JMO.
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@brooksmd much respect! Our subs are sometime starters besides your great point!
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@brooksmd FYI, I did not refer to our subs as scrubs. I referred to the walk-ons that Lucas was playing with in the last minute as scrubs. Perhaps that wasn’t clear. Meaning, one moment, he’s starting; then, by the end of the game, he’s got mop up duty.
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From KU Sports.
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Mickelson showed a tough game today to go along with his skill set. Activity, aggressive play, infusing a Mickelson’s skilled game raised the ceiling. A Self head pat on his last exit is a great trophy for his hard work along with keeping confident even though he was way down in the rotation. With Oubre coming alive today too Team Jayhawk grows forward towards conference play. Now we can settle into the serious business of winter break.
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@HighEliteMajor No I understood who you meant and by subs I was referring to anyone who doesn’t start, be they on scholies or walk-ons. Like I said it’s JMO and how I feel about anyone who is fortunate to wear the uni.
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Ya…we just became IowaState (offensively), while becoming a reasonable facsimile of a Self team defensively, but with lapses. As HEM mentioned, we just found a way to “manufacture” pts. If it werent for 3 missed dunks, we’d crack 100, & Fred Hoiberg would crack a smile…
The only note of caution is that Lafayette was a team of sharpshooting Brady-Reed-Hummel-types, complete with a Euro-stretch4 playing the center.
Kudos to Self for giving the quick yank to ColdHandLucas and EllisEmptyPortfolio. We should have expectations for Mickelson, as he was a top50 recruit, and had more blocks per min played than Embiid, while a Razorback.
Incidentally, I think UNC plays this way also, and so does Duke (free to 3!). There’s no shame in being versatile enough to incorporate offensive playstyles that better suit your lineup.
Final idea: Think about the '12RunnerUpHawks. BigCliff could play the TRob role, while 6’10 Hunter plays the ‘Withey’ role–who’s to say that couldnt be a decent post-presence type of traditional Self lineup? Except instead of KYoung+Wesley off the bench, you get McDAA Ellis + Jamari freakinTraylor off the bench, who I think has more energy, athleticism, and bang-ability than KYo did.
For this KU squad, its more about matchups + maintaining high energy.
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…I also think KU has better 3gunners than IowaSt. We could beat them however they chose to play us. We have the best 3shooting team Self has ever had at ku, imho, but lets see if the 3%stats further into the season prove that’s this team’s identity. This particular collection of KU kids may have just turned Self a new leaf for him…
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false
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@ralster When Wayne, Svi, and Greene get it going from 3 point range at the same time in a game, that could be scary with Hunter and Cliff on the boards.
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Wow. One decent game against Lafayette and people are crazy jocking Mickelson. @ralster even suggests he moves into the starting line-up and Ellis moves out.
And I think Self has a quick hook and overreacts to things at times…
Reel it in. The Oubre praise is a little more deserved. He had been making strides previously, against real competition. The expectations were that he could step in for Wiggins. For Hunter, one game against an undersized front line doesn’t do much to move my expectation needle for him other than maybe he has finally done enough to overtake Lucas in terms of minutes. Maybe.
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Lindy’s preseason poll ranked Hunter #12 center in the country.
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The praise for Oubre makes sense to me. After all, just based on his physical skills, Oubre is one of the two or three most talented players on this team and one of the 35 or 40 most talented players in the country.
Mickelson is a good player, but not an elite type. That makes me believe that he will have games like yesterday, but probably won’t be able to do that consistently.
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@KansasComet Actually, you might pitch Frank and Kelly in among your 3 pt. gunners.
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@REHawk Right you are. I was only looking at one scenario, there are so many others. It’s great to have options!
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@HighEliteMajor 12 of 23 and 2 of the misses were from Manning and Self.
