Silence of the flock
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@Marco said in Silence of the flock:
Alot of the silence comes from everyone being burnt out on the neverending NCAA investigation, but I’m still paying attention and posting.
I think that we, taking a look around at the college basketball landscape, stand a great chance to be bullies this year. My favorite NBA team? The Bad Boys. Defense wins.
This is not an elite defensive group. Harris and Agbaji are the only two top level defenders on this team. Yesufu is a question mark because of the step up in competition. Remy Martin and JCL are decent defenders, but don’t expect either to be in the discussion for an All-Defensive team spot. McCormack is average and struggles against athletic bigs. Braun and Wilson are below average defenders at best. I doubt Cam Martin is anything special on defense because of his lack of athleticism.
This team will be improved on defense from last season based on experience, but this team won’t touch the 2020, 2012, or 2008 in terms of being elite defensive teams either.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 agree with some of your points, but this team has the ability and depth to bigtime full court press. And that would feed our offense.
Granted, I know that coach has never really done so, but if ever a time it is now. The depth and speed at our guard positions and abundance of 4s almost mandates it.
Btw, I think that some are sleeping on Martin. He’ll be a better defender than many think, and will average about 9 ppg. He’ll have the green light to shoot anytime that he is open.
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I really can’t wait to see what Yesufu & Coleman-Lands bring to the table. If they are consistent upgrades over Thompson & Enaruna/Grant-Foster its a win. I have no idea what we are getting in Cam Martin but I hope his stretch shooting ability translates and he can at least defend at an average level.
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@BeddieKU23 that’s what I think he’ll be, a more than average defender (he has size), and a guy that can stretch the floor. Dave will undoubtedly start, but I’m thinking that Martin will fit in very well with this team as far as kickouts and passing, things like that.
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I don’t think he can guard at the D1 level. Having a big whose only use is to shoot threes is incongruous with every bone in Bills body and he will only see floor when games are total blowouts either way.
Mitch will be the real backup 5 in meaningful minutes with maybe one of the freshmen getting a little run when Self is sick of Mitch
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@approxinfinity said in Silence of the flock:
I don’t think he can guard at the D1 level. Having a big whose only use is to shoot threes is incongruous with every bone in Bills body and he will only see floor when games are total blowouts either way.
Mitch will be the real backup 5 in meaningful minutes with maybe one of the freshmen getting a little run when Self is sick of Mitch
I have not heard this but I could see it breaking that way after the games start because Bill is Bill. I truly hope not. Mitch and Bryce were both unreal bad last year.
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Three long weeks until the first exhibition game… ! Should be a fun year no matter how they land at the end
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Glad to see people finally waking up from their summer snoozes! lol
I find it very unlikely we will put much energy into running a full court press. I know we’ve got the speed and the bodies… we just don’t have the coach who will take the time and energy to commit to running that as a real threat. Also… we have too many new guys who have to learn from scratch and we have to gel as a team. Yes… there will be desperate moments when we apply full court pressure.
I do see the potential for Self to run 3/4 court pressure or at least pickup at half court. It requires no scheming and little instruction. Maybe run some traps. It’s more a tactic to throw teams out of rhythm so they can’t easily run their offense. I think Self sees the potential of Harris having big steal numbers (which happen through chaos and traps).
If Martin can bang treys he’ll have opportunities to do so… either through established PT or using him as a spark. We will have those nights when our regular perimeter guys go cold. A guy like Martin could go in and be a real spark, depending on how he is used.
@BeddieKU23 sees it correctly concerning comparing talent to other teams. Big difference with this team though… many of those great players did it on teams without ultimate PG play. I keep saying it… PG is the most important position on the team. He’s the quarterback in football. He’s the playmaker. Remy is a proven entity. And Harris and others should surprise many.
@Texas-Hawk-10 rarely shows this much confidence in our teams, especially this early. I see why. Experience rules D1. We really aren’t counting on one or two superstar freshmen coming in and bringing home a NC. I’m so glad (and refreshed) we aren’t setup with another one of those teams! All of our guys are on equal ground, and any one of these guys can get hot and pickup a lot of needed positive attention… more possible than other years when we have a top tier guy stealing the spotlight all the time. This should help gel the team and also give guys something to fight for!
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It will be interesting to see how Remy meshes his style with Self. I think that’s something to monitor. Same with Yesufu, those two guys can go make a play that isn’t scripted. I really hope those two have the freedom to create because last year we saw the worst offense in the Self era out there. Harris is in year 3 in the program and we’ll see what leap he’s made in his game. Pettiford is waiting in the wings. The backcourt positions should be in good hands. If anything Self has options which in the past several years he hasn’t really had. I’m glad they hit recruiting hard on that front.
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Our track record with upperclassmen transfers is spotty. Malik Newmann delivered, Jeff Withey did too. Charlie Moore? Poor kid just need to bite the bullet and call it a career and get on with life, although Miami is a nice place to discover finally to hang it up! I expected way more from Isaiah Moss and the hyphenated named kid last year who seemed to try extra hard that he was good and failed spectacularly. I think Yesufu can grow into a usable piece. Remy I do have high hopes for as do the ones who chose him for Big12 player of the year. But I still seem conditioned to give transfers a sideways glance.
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We had the Lawsons too, one worked out well. Tarik Black, Kevin Young other successes.
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Players are by and large what they are. So I will say I wasn’t too surprised when Moss and Dedric were basically the same players. I was also not surprised by Charlie’s struggles. Malik I think is one where Self really brought the best out of him eventually.
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@BShark what happened to Newman, is he playing overseas?
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@BeddieKU23 Thanks, forgot those guys although I didn’t look at rosters to try to remind myself. Dedric Lawson was indeed a nice transfer although it didn’t lead us to any sort of promised land. Of those others you mentioned I think Tarik surprised me the most especially since he also earned a couple of seasons in the NBA. I never saw that coming.
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The experience edge this team has will lead to better results. 4 starters, 2 rotation guys + 4 transfers. 10 deep before a freshman. Last years squad didn’t have any of that. Guys were put in situations they weren’t used to. Some guys played that shouldn’t have but necessity ruled. While there’s some chemistry to build with this squad, the talent is there, the experience is there to be a much improved team, which should lead to a team that can possibly cut down the nets.
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I didn’t mention the Hunter Mickelson, Sam Cunliffe, Dwight Coleby, Mario Little’s of the world. Transfers are hit and miss as you noted. I think Remy and Yesufu were great additions from the portal and will prove to be the exceptions. Remy with 4 years proven in the Pac-12, torched KU once. Yesufu was so fun to watch in the NCAA tournament and torched USC, a team that made us look like a bunch of 8th graders. He’s got some Moxy to him that I’m excited to see how it all fits here.
Agree on Dedric. He was statistically really good but for me underwhelmed in many areas I thought he’d excel at here. That was a weird squad. The injury to Doke & the drama with Vick ruined a lot of it.
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@Marco said in Silence of the flock:
@BShark what happened to Newman, is he playing overseas?
Yeah, he has really bounced around. Seems like he will have a long career but not at any one place.
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@BeddieKU23 said in Silence of the flock:
I didn’t mention the Hunter Mickelson, Sam Cunliffe, Dwight Coleby, Mario Little’s of the world. Transfers are hit and miss as you noted. I think Remy and Yesufu were great additions from the portal and will prove to be the exceptions. Remy with 4 years proven in the Pac-12, torched KU once. Yesufu was so fun to watch in the NCAA tournament and torched USC, a team that made us look like a bunch of 8th graders. He’s got some Moxy to him that I’m excited to see how it all fits here.
Agree on Dedric. He was statistically really good but for me underwhelmed in many areas I thought he’d excel at here. That was a weird squad. The injury to Doke & the drama with Vick ruined a lot of it.
With the rules change I think things are going to be a lot different going forward. We are basically going to see the lower levels of college hoops turn into feeders for the big boys. We already saw that this offseason with the likes of Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, Michigan etc take in players from low leagues that are expected to have very real roles and/or start.
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I think most of our transfers have a solid track record behind them already. Quite a bit different than other transfers from our past. Not sure about Martin because of his play being in D2, but I like what I see in game footage. Obviously, Remy is on another level. That shows why he already is recognized so highly in the Big 12.
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Remy and Coleman-Lands are probably the safest bets as far as expectations go among the transfers because they’re both coming from other P5 schools and have enough of a track record that we can pretty much pencil in their expectations. Remy is a legit B12 POY and I’ll even say he’s got a shot at NPOY if he duplicates his ASU numbers here and KU remains top 5 for most of the season. JCL will be a solid role player that gets good minutes.
Yesufu is much more of a wild card because he is stepping up a level in competition. We know how good he can be against good teams, the question with Yesufu will be consistency.
Cam is the biggest question mark among the transfers in this class because of how big of a step up he’s taking in level of competition.
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https://twitter.com/mctait/status/1449102559977816071
Remy saying the right things at least. More on Tait’s timeline.
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@BShark agree. How long before the smaller schools in unison all try to get the new transfer rules squashed? Because without question, they have basically become farm teams.
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If we stay healthy it is hard not to see us being a very dominant team this year. Question will be consistency. How will we do after we drop a couple? Good signs in preseason practices. Guys seem to be focused and working hard. Also… I am not sniffing out a troublemaker in our new crop of players.
Maybe only distraction is URP? Please someone tell me these jackarses wouldn’t punish this team during the season!
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@drgnslayr The real question is ALWAYS how will a team deal with adversity. Someone will get hurt, we may lose some games we weren’t supposed to, distractions happen. Seems like this year we could have the talent. If that shapes up to be true then it’s just about gelling and taking on each challenge as it comes.
I still worry about Dave as a legit leader and reliable advantage each game. I just don’t see how his mobility increases to the point where he is definitely better than most of the guys he goes up against.
I’m also concerned, as others mentioned, about the transfers fitting in to Self’s system. It traditionally taken time for most to adjust and freedom and creativity are not always at the top of the list of skills rewarded with playing time and trust from the head coach.
Totally agree that a systematic use of a press is a pipe dream. A trapping press just isn’t how self sees basketball working. What I do see is guards picking up there man nearly full court but especially 3/4 court. Harris in particular is a proven ball hawk and can at least cause some stress on opposing guards as they simply try to bring the ball up the court. If Harris can find a partner in creating havoc it could be a fun year. It’s really too bad he and Garrett couldn’t muster enough offensive threats to play A LOT together to build that kind of chemistry. Remember, Mario couldn’t have made all those steals and been in all those passing lanes without russ rob adding pressure. In this same subject, Dave’s defense needs to take a step forward (which it started to last year) so that the guards can have some freedom to gamble knowing if they miss it’s not an auto bucket.
Basically I still see this season going as Dave goes and that makes me nervous. Hopeful, but nervous.
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@benshawks08 how many minutes do you see Cam Martin getting?
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He will certainly get minutes and was a highly coveted talent. But tbh I just haven’t watched enough of him to know whether he is truly a Self style guard. Just looking at stats, the 1 foul per game is something that stood out to be as a possible issue as that could indicate a lack of physicality on the defensive end but again, not an expert on Martin so I’m in wait and see mode on him. Hasn’t he been hurt this off season?
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@benshawks08 My bad, I was talking about Cam. I’ve amended my post.
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@Marco yeah going to be honest that he’s a big unknown for me. I would imagine he will get some minutes early to see how it goes but I’d imagine he has a pretty short leash. Self has adjusted to playing small over the last few years and has seemed willing to put more guards on the floor if that’s where the talent is.
Obviously Dave isn’t playing 40 minutes a game so someone has to get some of those minutes but I’m not plugged in enough on the new guys to really guess who that’d be.
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@Marco said in Silence of the flock:
@benshawks08 My bad, I was talking about Cam. I’ve amended my post.
I’d forgotten we had 2 Martins…
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Can’t wait! I am a fan no matter what. I’ve stayed abreast of developments in transfers and think we can go 8 deep for sure…maybe 10??? We’ll see if Coach has loosened up on his tried and true fashion we have labored through in years past. Excited to see how he forms the team! Happy Homecoming!!
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Great post and I agree.
I’m probably more optimistic because we have so much experience on this team and I feel certain Remy is going to step up big time to run the show. We have most of our key players back and then surrounded them with mostly experienced players.
I think Dave’s role will change quite a bit. We won’t be counting on him as much this year… mostly because we have a legit PG who will be a playmaker. Remy should help all our guys’ games. I think Harris will be considerably improved, too… and he has shown us sparks of being a playmaker.
Cam offers us a nice change up from Dave. Maybe we have a game where Dave is off or being controlled on his limited offensive game. Cam can come in and stretch the floor. He should be easy to use on the perimeter with pick and pops. Dave is more pick and roll and then had to finish near the rim. And though Cam’s defense is in question… but to some degree, so is Dave’s.
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@benshawks08 bro, I forget sometimes too. I think that Cam is going to play about 10 or 11 mpg. He can shoot from deep, and factor in that Coach bigtime recruited Clemence who at 6’10 can also shoot. I’m thinking that Bill is going to start mixing things up some from here on.
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Pre-season Kenpom just dropped, KU checking in at #3. Obviously doesn’t mean too much, but nice to see.
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Seems a little high on B10 teams.
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@KirkIsMyHinrich they are definitely high on something, and I’m not so sure that it’s just B1G teams…
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Hopefully Dave can play about 25-27 minutes a game and more in big games. Keeping out of foul trouble was an issue for him later in the season. I definitely see this as one of the bigger things to watch because of how much of a drop off there’s likely to be to the next guy. Maybe Cam surprises us making the jump to D-1.
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Just from Late night, I thought Big Dave looked a lil more jumpier, more athletic. Anxious to see if that’s true. Dunking seemed easier.
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Maybe it was the hair but he did look a little more sleek in build. Got up nice on a few dunks . Guy has transformed his body and probably is about as maxed out athletically as he’ll be here. If he can play 25-27 minutes a night we’ll know that he made big strides in his last year
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Dave has worked hard the whole time he has been at Kansas… including through the summer… really working on his conditioning. I expect him to be a little faster and that will help his footwork some.
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Did you all see the video of big Dave making the full court shot? It was actually impressive because it didn’t look entirely lucky.
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Well remember, he didn’t miss a single 3 pt shot last year!
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https://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article255177727.html
I feel like this could be the key issue all season. This is a good explanation of the selfs way va freedom to play dilemma.
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@benshawks08 I am definitely looking forward to seeing how this team shakes out. Coach likes to be in control, and it has served both him and we the fans well. Interesting that he specifically names Remy while bringing up Mason in context. He’s basically saying, “don’t overthink it, if you can make the shot take it, if not pass the ball.”
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Great read from Jesse. Also shows how Self is in a constant learning situation himself.
I suspect we will start the year with last year’s guys starting, minus Marcus plus a mix of Remy and DaJuan.
What an advantage we have is we can run all returning players in proper positions and slowly give minutes out by how well the new guys perform.
Also liked how Self discusses adding more players to the regular minutes list. After further discussion it sounds like he is just talking about adding 1 more guy… to have a rotation as many as 10.
Sounds like we need to redshirt more than one. If we don’t, we probably lose at least a couple guys to the portal. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The times have changed… so players move from team-to-team more but that also gives coaches a chance to replace players easily.
A big key to future success is learning how to educate players faster into your system. This will absolutely be paramount moving on into the future.
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@drgnslayr said in Silence of the flock:
Great read from Jesse. Also shows how Self is in a constant learning situation himself.
I suspect we will start the year with last year’s guys starting, minus Marcus plus a mix of Remy and DaJuan.
What an advantage we have is we can run all returning players in proper positions and slowly give minutes out by how well the new guys perform.
Also liked how Self discusses adding more players to the regular minutes list. After further discussion it sounds like he is just talking about adding 1 more guy… to have a rotation as many as 10.
Sounds like we need to redshirt more than one. If we don’t, we probably lose at least a couple guys to the portal. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The times have changed… so players move from team-to-team more but that also gives coaches a chance to replace players easily.
A big key to future success is learning how to educate players faster into your system. This will absolutely be paramount moving on into the future.
Cuffe and Adam’s are the two guys who should redshirt. Cuffed has lost out on a lot of games because of the Covid situation, not his fault, and he has several players in front of him on the depth chart currently so him redshirting seems like the safest bet. KJ Adams also has several players in front of him on the depth chart and his ranking suggests he also needs time to develop and work on his body so he would make a lot of sense to redshirt. The other 12 guys all have a reasonable path to minutes.
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Sounds logical to me.
Question… with this transfer portal… seems obvious players may be lost easier.
Also seems easier to snag decent, experienced talent.
Isn’t just turning smaller schools into talent farms?
Maybe we redshirt two. Take a hard look at where they are later in the year. If they don’t look like minutes players Self advises them to transfer. Meanwhile… he brings in a new batch!
Am I seeing this wrong?
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@drgnslayr said in Silence of the flock:
Sounds logical to me.
Question… with this transfer portal… seems obvious players may be lost easier.
Also seems easier to snag decent, experienced talent.
Isn’t just turning smaller schools into talent farms?
Maybe we redshirt two. Take a hard look at where they are later in the year. If they don’t look like minutes players Self advises them to transfer. Meanwhile… he brings in a new batch!
Am I seeing this wrong?
I’m just going to say it… While we have more than benefited from the new transfer rule, the smaller schools are being put at a serious disadvantage. I don’t think the rule will last for long.
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@drgnslayr said in Silence of the flock:
Sounds logical to me.
Question… with this transfer portal… seems obvious players may be lost easier.
Also seems easier to snag decent, experienced talent.
Isn’t just turning smaller schools into talent farms?
Maybe we redshirt two. Take a hard look at where they are later in the year. If they don’t look like minutes players Self advises them to transfer. Meanwhile… he brings in a new batch!
Am I seeing this wrong?
I don’t think it changes Self’s approach very much in regards to players already on his roster. Maybe Kyle Cuffe transfers out because it could be awhile before he sees big minutes with Harris, Yesufu, and Pettiford all capable PG’s already here and none looking like early exit candidates. That combined with how little he’s played recently could hinder his development and he ends up at a lower level. Maybe Adams or Clemence, but I would say those two would be more likely after year two based on the class KU has coming next year if either Adams or Clemence fails to crack the rotation in 2022-23. 2022-23 is looking like it could be be very young team at the 4 and 5 spots.
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That is part of why I thought they would maybe go transfer to get a big. It will be very interesting to see who wins those starting jobs for sure.
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@BShark said in Silence of the flock:
That is part of why I thought they would maybe go transfer to get a big. It will be very interesting to see who wins those starting jobs for sure.
I’d love to see Clemence and Udeh being the starters at the 4 and 5 spots respectively next season if both Wilson and McCormack are gone which seems pretty likely at this point.
