First Impressions from last night
-
For those that saw the game last night what were your first impressions of the newcomers and returning guys? Thought it was a good kickoff to the season. Obviously we didn’t get to see Jalen or Coleman-Lands but we saw the other 12.
Remy Martin- came off the bench as it seems Self is trying to coach him up to his standard that he expects of his guards. Remy is very quick, confident and as advertised in his 4 years at ASU can really score in a variety of ways. Funky shot, even made a 1 foot midrange jumper. We have missed having a guard like this since the Graham/Mason days. No disrespect to Dotson who was one of my favorite guards to play here but Dotson dominated the game in different ways, living on dribble penetration and spot up perimeter shots. Martin is clearly wired to score and look for his shot. We’ll see how that continues to mesh with Self’s way. Note to Bill- let him be who he is, you got him here to do what he does best. Embrace it and build around it. His defense looks like a work in progress. He’s small so playing him with Harris who’s small could be something teams with big guards exploit.
Agbaji- Clearly looked in even better shape then previous years. Seems like the NBA process really helped him get to the next step physically and possibly with some skill development that has been inconsistent. He’s the Thomas Robinson of wings physically to come through this program. His perimeter shot has improved tenfold since he got here. Saw glimpses last night of being a playmaker, not just scoring but making winning plays. Clearly a Top 3 player on this team. Excited to see what he does.
McCormack- Besides the hair being different I don’t think we saw anything out of the ordinary from Dave. He’s skilled around the basket, he looks in great shape, perhaps even having a little more pep in his step then we’ve seen the previous 3 years. Saw good effort from him attacking the boards. You still wish he’d use his big frame to his advantage, a few shots he had his patented fade away from the basket when he was clearly in a position to go up with it going towards the basket. That’s just who Dave is. Clearly a very important part of this teams potential success. The drop off to his backup in real games is probably going to be the most noticeable weakness on this team.
Braun- Personally I hope he comes off the bench when we have Wilson back from suspension. Last night was kind of a snapshot of who Braun is most of the time, an inconsistent spot up shooter on offense that cannot create his own. I do have a sour taste in my mouth from last year regarding him because this guy got a lot of looks last year and simply didn’t produce. There were several shots last night that reminded me of his struggles. I think he’s a great piece to have in the 2nd unit, we know he’s going to play heavy minutes & capable of big games when he’s locked in. Physically he looks to be in the best shape since he got here. I think its more mental for him then anything.
Harris- According to Self the most improved player in the offseason. I saw a more confident player on the court last night. He moves the ball on offense and was a pesky defender. He still has zero offensive game and that’s still the major issue with a player like Harris. I see this as a major problem when playing good teams. Last night wasn’t going to be one where we saw whether Dajuan has improved enough to start or not. Seems like Self’s next favorite pet. I need to see more.
Cam Martin- Don’t think we got much of a read on him last night. Interesting that he was the 4th big to enter the game behind Mitch/Clemence. Big body at least. Believe he missed his only perimeter look, shot looked good.
Zach Clemence- Looks like a typical Self Big that’s going to be put in the toughening box. Definitely needs to develop physically on his lower body. We didn’t see his good looking perimeter shot. Made a few buckets near the hoop. Not sure what role he will have but found it interesting he subbed in before Martin.
KJ Adams- Seems to be operating on the wing at least from this exhibition game. Physically he’s good to go already, heck of an athlete. Was very surprised at his ability to make the right pass as a freshman from his spot into the post. That’s something you usually see from upperclassmen and not a freshman right off the bat. Good debut from him I thought.
Yesufu- Seen a bunch of fans that were disappointed with his game last night. I will say this kid is a heck of an athlete, he can get up. He’s quick and was a willing passer all night. Struggled to score a few, felt like nerves maybe? Seemed like he was trying to figure out his place and not being a ball dominant guard like the role he had at Drake. I want to see more of him.
Pettiford- By far the most impressive freshman to play last night. He didn’t look like a freshman out there which is good to see when your playing inferior competition. He’s quick, he makes the right pass, he has handles and is an athlete. Perimeter shot looked good, in & out from what I remember on his only attempt. This is probably the freshman Self has to make an emphasis to play, not just for the betterment of this team but for the future. Very excited by him.
Cuffe- Briefly saw him play the last few minutes. Holy Macaroni can he jump. Makes him look bigger then he is with his elite athletic ability at the guard position. Definitely a RS candidate based on his injury + moving down a year to join KU this season. Might be the only game action he gets with him buried on the depth chart. We’ll see. Very exciting guard for the future if he sticks around.
Mitch- Same ol Lightfoot back for his 59th year. Made a 3, blocked a few shots. He’s a hawk!
-
Hi, all. Glad to have a place to chat about the Jayhawks.
Joined many moons ago but haven’t been active in awhile (and spaced on my user name!) thanks to Beddie for that breakdown. Spot on.
I’ll add a few tidbits…
Pretty happy to have hoops back! Everybody looked good last night.
Och looks fit. Hope he has a great year and expands his game a bit off the dribble.
The new guys: Will be very exciting to watch the new guards. Should be a fun crew.
Remy is full of swagger. Will be interesting to see how that goes over with teammates in good times and bad.
Yesu looked off. Hoping it was nerves as suggested above. He got up though!
Adams. I think I’m gonna like him.
I actually thought Clemence was more solidly built than I expected. Concerns about his quickness levels off the bat though. I thought it would be the opposite.
Pettiford!!! Solid play from a young guy.
Slight concern that all our littles seem kinda little??? Remy, Petti, Yesu, Harris. A few have solid builds of course, but hoping height not an issue vs bigger opponents.
-
Welcome back!
Last year we were one of the tallest teams and really lacked team speed. This year we have plenty of smaller/quicker guards but not that tall. Will be an interesting dynamic to watch
-
@BeddieKU23 I love Juan! Last year when they backed off of him he made shots. This will give remy more shots too. I love D! I wanna run. Needed to see more of big cam. BD needs to stay out of foul trouble and not fall away on his shots! Remy needs to play D. Braun looked more confident.
-
Okay… My impression of the game I didn’t see. I only have the stat sheet to go off of. I thought it would be fun to throw out an assessment, sight unseen and see if it is anything near reality. All of you who watched the game, please feel free to challenge my guesses here!
*I did not read any posts in this thread so I am not influenced by anything except the stat sheet!
Christian - Solid performance but didn’t stick out. Consistent involvement on both sides of the ball.
Dajuan - Showing sparkling moments but not always involved. Perhaps a bit nervous starting the new season and figuring out new players and lineups.
Ochai - Excellent shooting form. Disciplined decision-making, solid energy on both sides of the ball. Fought to get his shot while also hustling for rebounds. Plugged in!
David - Brought energy and consistent threat in the paint, both scoring and rebounding.
Bobby - Showed promise. Impressive for being a newbie.
Joseph - One of our best defensive players with high energy. Also showed quick energy on offense. Definite team player.
Kyle - Short time on the floor. Nervous play.
Remy - Big time aggressive offense, both as scorer and with assists. Definite playmaker. Still needing improvements on defense. Has foot speed but out of position on defense creating fouls.
Zach - Freshman nervousness. Fouling issues but very aggressive on the boards.
KJ - Showing definite promise but not connected well with teammates yet.
Cam - Nervous but showing offensive potential. Definite help on rebounds.
Mitch - Shows his experience. Effective play, especially on rebounds and defense.
-
Bobby is the future of the PG position at KU for as long as he wants to be here. Hopefully 3-4 years!
Remy I see being similar to the Newman situation. Self will ultimately play him because he is such a bucket getter and has to play. Hopefully he has a similarly awesome March.
Pretty easy to forget we were without a clear top 4 guy on the team and JCL a likely rotation piece. Obviously ESU is not good and the last 10 minutes were really not good at all because of Self playing walk-ons, Cuffe etc But I was pretty happy with most of the guys that figure to be rotation pieces.
The post situation behind Dave is obviously an issue. If Zach isn’t that much worse than Cam/Mitch I’d take my lumps to get him some game reps but Self typically doesn’t do that. Will be really nice to get JWill back.
-
Confession… I only watched the first half but here are my takes from what I saw.
The Martin/Self mental struggle will be the talk of the early season. Self is already negging him all over the place trying to get in his head. The dude comes out on FIRE coming off the bench after being put behind a TEAHAN. and at the half, Self said, “yeah he made some shots but I’d like the ball not to stick and to see some improvement on defense.” Let the battle begin. He had 4 years with Tyshawn and only gets 1 with Martin.
I saw some definite improvement from Dave. He seemed to move easier vertically. His dunks weren’t slipping over the top of the rim. Specifically the lob from Braun showed some good quick hops I don’t feel like we’ve seen.
Harris is going to play. A lot. Some posters on here may not like it because he’s not as flashy a scorer as some others on the team. But his ball pressure and quick hands gave us a lot of buckets early.
I really hope Ochai is on a mission this year. The early narrative is that he learned what he needed to work on from NBA camps and is back to show that he’s grown. Was off to a good start in the half I saw with smooth shooting and some nice attacking moves toward the basket. His D will be underrated all year I think.
Adams appears to be working on the right things. This is the only place I’ll significantly challenge @drgnslayr 's assessment because he was definitely connected with his teammates in the time I saw. A willing passer and one of those guys that is trying to get the ball where the coach wants it to go (DAVE). Whether that meant direct feeds of the posts, or quick ball movement to open up a passing lane for someone else, he was doing it and even gave a little fist pump after feeding the big man.
Didn’t see anything that impressed me behind Dave unfortunately. We will see how that develops.
Overall, we have lots of quick little guards. If we can use that to our advantage on both ends of the court, could make for some fun viewing this year. Transition baskets, drive and dishes, free flowing 3s seem to be on the menu.
-
I was mostly impressed with the team last night. They are way more athletic than last years team and teams in the recent past. It was nice to watch a team albeit against ESU run the fast break with ease and get easy buckets.
I was not impressed with Cam Martin at all. I am not sure what he is going to add to this team. Hopefully we do not have to play Mitch, and I would play KJ at the four some. I was very impressed with his floor awareness and what he brought to the game. I think it is obvious we are going to play 4 guards which is great as this team is deep at that position.
It will be fascinating to see how Self handles the playing time this year with all the talent he has. I think Cuffe and Clemence RS.
I really looking forward to the game against Sparty. Should be a fun one.
-
@Woodrow I’d rather have Sydney Curry than Cam Martin, oh well I guess.
-
@BShark maybe Cams game was a fluke last night. They did say he went off on esu last year. Seems like after he had the shoe incident he didn’t get much time. He looked better at late pm posting up big Dave. @drgnslayr you really need to watch the game!
-
I didn’t see the first or second half so here’s what I didn’t see. How the kids looked. How the veterans looked. How the veterans meshed with the kids. Which kids will have a future and which will take the portal option the first time the coach undresses him on the sideline during a game. Did I miss anything?
If I was watching I wanted to see if DaJuan’s shot went from looking like a junior high kid to at least looking like a high schooler.
If I was watching I really wanted to see who the next Garrett is going to be. What a loss that is for us.
If I was watching I’d check out BigDaves progress. I’d say he became a dependable big finally last year but will he become a top, all conference/honorable mention AA type kid?
If I was watching and if he was playing I’d be very curious to see how Jalen is becoming a more consistent player. For this team to make the big jump to national prominence we need the Jalen against Kentucky Jalen and not the Jalen against so many other teams Jalen.
But I wasn’t watching but I will be watching.
-
@wissox As mentioned above … you missed Self already telling Remy (written in my best Cartman voice from South Park): Respect My Authoritah!
-
Not really quite sure where all the hate of Mitch’s playing is coming from. - -Mitch is the heart to this team , the soul of this team just because he doesn’t go out and score 20 and grab 13 rebounds and 4 blocks people seem to want to jump on the Mitch is Garbage.
Mitch is far from being a flashy player - - -Mitch is no Huge Scoring Machine – Mitch is no glass cleaner , what Mitch IS though I’ll tell you AGAIN. Mitch IS a player that will give 110 % , more then I can say for a lot of these players present & Past. - -Mitch is a guy that is not afraid to get dirty , the guy that doesn’t get the glamour & Mitch doesn’t care if he doesn’t get that glamour , I’ll tell you WHAT MITCH IS though Mitch is a Kansas Jayhawk 150 % thru and thru. Mitch eats , sleeps , drinks KU ball , he loves this university. A lot of the others just go through the motions half ass. they will put in their 3-4 yrs and never be seen or heard from again.
Have we ever seen Mitch get pulled over for a DUI - -ever gotten in a fight at a Bar , ever been accused or was part of a group that was doing drugs or even accused of it ? -Ever been accused of hitting a woman ? - -or even worse. has Mitch ever been one of the guys shooting BB air guns and getting in Trouble ? - -( does the Morris Brothers ring a bell }- The answer is a resounding NO. What Mitch is he is a guy that comes to practice works his ass off to the best of his ability just like anyone else -Mitch plays to his capibilities , does anyone here really believe Mitch could do a hell of a lot more ? - Come on - -be real
What we HAVE seen though is Mitch saving another players ass after that player has gotten beat by catching up and blocking the shot from behind saving a sure cinch bucket , by one of our players getting beat. What we do see is Mitch giving his body up making the attempt anyways of drawing that Charge , What we DO SEE Mitch do is diving on the floor for loose balls , What we do see from Mitch is getting that rebound sometimes Big rebounds - -We see Mitch scoring some every now and then. - Most of all we have seen repeatedly Mitch coming up with that Block
Hell no Mitch isn’t some stud scoring machine - -not a huge rebounder but important rebounder- and what Mitch is most of all is - - he is and KU Jayhawk and he LOVES the school - - loves his team mates -Mitch get’s it and is proud to play fr KU - -he loves it - -I for one and maybe one of the few I am very glad Mitch is part of this team - -part of Any KU team , be his playing time is 2 minutes on the floor OR 15 minutes on the floor - -I wish we had MORE kids like Mitch who enjoys being a part of KU I mean really enjoys playing for Coach Self and doing what he can - - Doing the Dirty work nobody else wants to do. The block , the Charge , the loose Ball the rebound If I Coached a team I would love for Mitch to be part of that team. - I just don’t get the ill feelings towards him, the hatred seeing him on the floor. Everyone has a part to play - -Mitch’s part is the un-seen , the non glamorous things - the dirty work. - Dam Mitch doesn’t need to score - or shouldn’t have to Score - - we so I’ve been told we have plenty of Scorers we should have to rely on Mitch for that ever – I just don’t get it Dam
-
Mitch can block shots… with a small lineup, having a guy who can challenge shots down low is key. He can box out, set picks and pass, and Yes he will do whatever the coaches ask him to do because his blood runs Jayhawk blue. As we all know, Just not going to be a scorer consistently. What we’ve seen with him offensively in the past will be the same this year. I too can’t help but love the guy for who he is… a KU lifer. Got no complaints.
Biggus Davus does look a bit bigger and meaner, but still struggles with getting himself positioned to block shots when challenged, or moving his feet to stay in front of guys defensively. Apparently the coaches have decided that teaching him to pump fake is not worth it, (watch the villanova bigs- they have been coached to learn pump faking to draw fouls) so he will continue to shoot in his quick predictable way which opposing teams can often defend, thus making BD take a lot of fadeaway shots. Good news is that he is a very good free throw shooter when he does get fouled.
Yes gonna be interesting to watch Remy and HCBS. We have him for a year, and he is gonna hopefully light it up in enough games to compensate for his other “shortcomings” as particularly perceived by Self. Coach instinctually does not like nba style guys who shoot early in the shot clock or shoot whenever and wherever they feel like it. If Remy can work enough on his D and effort away from the ball, and make the right pass to open guys then Self will hopefully let him be who he is.
-
@rockchalkjayhawk Although I know nothing about South Park, I get your drift. Keep posting, welcome to the group!
-
@jayballer67 enjoyed your post. Hell yes, if we could have Mitch another 6 years I’d take him. Coaches love guys like Mitch. Great locker room guys, kids that play for team success instead of individual accolades. Plus the guy can come in and occasionally give the team a spark I’m with you jayballer, we have been lucky to have him
