Duke Kills Kansas... Kansas Wins Game!
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As you read this… tell me when you knew we actually won this game:
- No Coach Self
- Duke had 21 offensive rebounds
- Duke made 9 more FTs than us
- Duke used 3 dominant 7-footers to none on our side
- Halfway through the first half, we abandoned most of our aggressiveness… shutting down their offense and getting out on the break, settling for a half court game favored by Duke.
- Kansas shot 3 of 19 from trey.
You know what your eyes told you. At times, Duke seemed to totally dominate us with their size, physicality, and NBA future talent.
Now forget what you thought you saw… and soak in the other stats and facts about the game:
- Kansas blocked 13 shots… Duke 2.
- Dajuan had 10 assists… Duke (as a team) had 8. KU had 21 assists.
- Kansas still managed to get 12 offensive rebounds.
- Duke had 3 more TOs than us.
- Kansas shot 46.3% FG… Duke 35.8%
- Duke shot 3 of 21 from trey.
In a game full of giants… JWil filled the stat sheet, including 11 boards. And our invisible Dajuan, with his tiny 6 points, was the difference in this game. By himself, he had more assists than the entire Duke team, which means he was able to create more scoring for his teammate than all the Duke players did for each other combined.
What sticks out with us is Gradey’s scoring threat. We need to create a TON of offense for this guy! One of the few Bilas comments not full of Duke love mentioned how Gradey plays like a senior. Can he do this all year? I doubt every single game, but if he can do it in this game, down the stretch when we really needed it, he can do it in March!
Imagine what would have happened with a healthy MJ in this game? He’s a guy that can easily make his scoring space on anyone, any size. He’s a guy who plays above the rim and surely would have impacted some of those rebounds.
Bill Self was missed in this game. I have absolutely no doubt that we would have spanked Duke had Bill been there to keep us from straying away from our early game strategy.
Though Bill was gone, his fingerprints were all over this game. JWil’s after-game interview showed that. He mentioned his leadership focusing on staying composed. We showed composure throughout this roughneck game. When Duke finally took the lead, you could sense their cockiness… and they weren’t prepared for us coming back strong at the end. They get their cockiness from Scheyer… who I’m beginning to dislike more than Coach K.
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When Gradey finally came back in late in the game after a long spell on the bench.
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Speaking of Gradey, and sorry if this is off topic, @drgnslayr … congrats to Matt Tait for joining in on the Gradey fun. From his story:
Kansas played from behind for most of the second half, but a seven-point spurt by Dick, who was quiet throughout the second half, broke the game open for Kansas late and the Jayhawks went on to grab the victory despite shooting just 3-of-19 from 3-point range on the night.
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Is it not insane to see Bill Self who so many (myself included) assumed would be too stubborn to adopt a modern game go to a FF and win a Natty playing modern basketball?
Now we are starting a 6’6 C and running and gunning like we are an NBA team. Bill adopting this style of play and just recruiting athletes has made Bill the most dangerous coach in CBB.
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Jalen, Juan and Kev bring an incredible level of leadership to this team that will be leaned on just like last night. Duke doesn’t have that. It’s hard for them to have it with puppies every year. Jalen is a grown man and it shows in everything from confidence to his play. Juan is the quiet leader running the show. Kevin is the robin to Jalen’s batman. It wasn’t perfect but I’m mighty impressed with the result
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Great summary! I might add the significance of a sequence early in the 2nd half. A guy literally steps on McCullers foot and falls and it’s a foul, and then he had the amazing block that was also called a foul. He goes to the bench, I was seething as a 2 point lead went to a 5 point deficit. When he re entered at about the 10 minute mark the ship was steadied setting us up for the amazing finish.
The announcers noticed it not. Bilas couldn’t really help but show he was pulling for his alma mater. I generally like him but while there was nothing real overt, his bias was still happening.
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The 21 assists is just mind boggling when you consider that we didn’t even hit many outside shots. Often times a ton of assists is an indicator that the ball is moving and then guys are knocking down shots.
These guys just really share the ball. That may sound strange in a game where one guy took 26 shots but even Jalen had 5 assists and many of his shots were the result of being the only guy on the floor tall enough and tough enough to attack. Several of his three attempts came in the last 10 seconds of the shot clock where to me they were a good decision because it was either he shoot or we risk a turnover. Bilas criticized one of those looks and said he shouldn’t take a deep three like that but should drive but there was one second in the shot clock…
Tough game for bilas to call if we are honest and generous. Dude is a Duke grad. They are replacing a legend. Hard not to pull for your Alma mater in a situation like that. I couldn’t be unbiased, that much I know.
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I thought Bilas did a fine job. Believe me, if I was calling the game, I would not have been nearly so impartial.
I do think Sheyer (sp) is a coach I can dislike as much or more than coach K. Perfect! Hope he has the coaching chops to keep the job. I’m going to enjoy watching KU beat his teams.
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Jon Scheyer is less schmarmy and self-satisfied than K. At least so far. He has a long way to go before he even approaches the same level of unlikability. Maybe do something first, as a head coach. Earn our emnity. Until then, meh.
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In case anyone missed it and why I still am not a fan of Bilas…
When FILIPOWSKI (FLIPPEDOUTSKI) threw an intentional, head-high, elbow in the paint, Jay didn’t explode with words. Imagine that had been a Jayhawk who did that? Bilas would be filing an assault charge with the DA’s office!
I can’t believe something that horrific didn’t end with FILIPOWSKI being tossed from the game. So you can throw a high elbow and it’s clean if you don’t actually knock someone’s block off with it?
FILIPOWSKI is a real talent, and he’ll be in the league the next year. But is he going to be throwing elbows the rest of the season? I have no doubt that Scheyer LOVED what he did.
Put me on the books right now… that Scheyer will be hated far more than K ever was. He’s obnoxious and feeling even more entitled than K ever did.
There is no way that K would have approved of throwing high elbows.
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@drgnslayr I’m also interested in the no call on that play. Just curious whether contact with the head is a part of the rule or if it is within a refs power to assume intent on a play like that.
The Duke kids sure seemed entitled to challenge the refs all game. One dude charged the ref in the first half only to be held back by his teammates, then nearly tackled Jalen at the end of the game and just got a talking to.
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@drgnslayr said in Duke Kills Kansas... Kansas Wins Game!:
In case anyone missed it and why I still am not a fan of Bilas…
When FILIPOWSKI (FLIPPEDOUTSKI) threw an intentional, head-high, elbow in the paint, Jay didn’t explode with words. Imagined that had been a Jayhawk who did that? Bilas would be filing an assault charge with the DA’s office!
I can’t believe something that horrific didn’t end with FILIPOWSKI being tossed from the game. So you can throw a high elbow and it’s clean if you don’t actually knock someone’s block off with it?
FILIPOWSKI is a real talent, and he’ll be in the league the next year. But is he going to be throwing elbows the rest of the season? I have no doubt that Scheyer LOVED what he did.
Put me on the books right now… that Scheyer will be hated far more than K ever was. He’s obnoxious and feeling even more entitled than K ever did.
There is no way that K would have approved of throwing high elbows.
Ok, love you @drgnslayr but K was certainly no saint when it came to cheap shots. He was always jaybates biggest enemy for popularizing what jaybate saw as a game plan that utilized cheap shots as a strategic option. K wouldn’t have appreciated the player charging the ref because that was HIS responsibility (dude loved working the refs) but the elbow wouldn’t have phased him.
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Wait until they do that on another team’s court!
The game was ridiculously violent.
Look where we are today… and refs trying to reduce the violence in the game… and then here comes Duke with a bunch of 7’ thugs who are largely permitted to mug the paint.
Bilas had a lot to do with taking aggressive play out of college ball. He pushed for softness in the game and always protested “mugball.”
You didn’t hear him say a word about what they were doing last night, only saying the game was a slugfest (or whatever). He didn’t pinpoint the blame on Duke for what they did.
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What goes around, comes around.
If Duke is going to play this rough all year I’m betting they won’t stay healthy.
This will backfire!
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So… we won a tough physical game against a quality albeit young team… and we played like a team. Without coach Self as well ! Me likey this current Jayhawk roster a lot. ! Should be a fun season indeed
Yes, as mentioned in this thread, Jay Bilas has been the spokesperson for how the game is gotten extremely physical to the detriment of the game, and yet this was about a physical early season game as I’ve seen in a while… And Bilas did not seem to make any comment at all… ?
Now is GD gong to be a OAD? I wonder if he will get feedback at the combine and elect to come back another year …
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Blakes, who damn near tackled Wilson is Kyle Cuffe’s former teammate in HS.
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Very physical game. I was just happy nobody was serious injured but Kevin, Juan, Joe were all grimacing at one point or another. We matched their physicality though, this team is TOUGH, already, Bill Self has already molded this group and he’s going to keep doing so as the season goes along.
The refs were out of hand in the 2nd half. We are lucky their impact didn’t cost us the game.
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@BeddieKU23 said in Duke Kills Kansas... Kansas Wins Game!:
Very physical game. I was just happy nobody was serious injured but Kevin, Juan, Joe were all grimacing at one point or another. We matched their physicality though, this team is TOUGH, already, Bill Self has already molded this group and he’s going to keep doing so as the season goes along.
The refs were out of hand in the 2nd half. We are lucky their impact didn’t cost us the game.
Back issue plagued Kevin last year too. Great toughness from him and Dajuan last night.
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@BShark said in Duke Kills Kansas... Kansas Wins Game!:
@BeddieKU23 said in Duke Kills Kansas... Kansas Wins Game!:
Very physical game. I was just happy nobody was serious injured but Kevin, Juan, Joe were all grimacing at one point or another. We matched their physicality though, this team is TOUGH, already, Bill Self has already molded this group and he’s going to keep doing so as the season goes along.
The refs were out of hand in the 2nd half. We are lucky their impact didn’t cost us the game.
Back issue plagued Kevin last year too. Great toughness from him and Dajuan last night.
Hopefully not lingering issues. Two guys we cannot afford to have on the sidelines
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It was WVU Huggy ball. They fouled us 3 times every time we had the ball. After a blazing start, our tempo slowed down, and we started wrestling with them. That’s when they took the lead, and I knew it was time for me to take a break from the game thread. Then Gradey came in and did the Remy, and we won.
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@Kcmatt7 ATHLETES that’s the key. KJ got beat defensively and just stripped it from the big weak white boy (youngs).
We aren’t the biggest but we are quick, Kevin and Juan have long arms for steals and they play the game with poise.
I’ll admit when we were down 4-5 with 4-5 minutes left I thought it’s over we can’t get a stop, board or if we don’t forget scoring.
Man was I wrong
Rock chalk jayhawk - hope we go back to back as this is a Bill Self win ugly in March team
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@benshawks08 Bilas likes KU/Self/AFH - raves about us but you could tell he was bias last night. It wasn’t blatant but more he’d talk so positively about Duke while speaking of us in a more negative light. That’s alright so be it.
Great points about assists are normally knocking down outside shots and we didn’t
This team is mature, unselfish and the experience helps. We will have that next year and need an experienced portal big or 4 man wing stud this off-season to round out the class.
Jalen is selfish when he drives but after watching our bigs not finish worth crap on some dump offs I can see why. I think as the frosh bigs get better Bill will tell him to drive and when a defender comes dish that for the dunk. I think he’s unselfish but playing the way he is because no one else can finish.
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@drgnslayr if he landed it he was in trouble but even my wife said - his intent was clear he just missed - shouldn’t that still be a tech?
Nope because it’s Duke 2nd half calls and he didn’t connect
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Yep… and you see how Scheyer worked the refs in the first half? A Coach K trick… preparing to send his thugs on the court for violence.
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@BeddieKU23 I’m curious when we lose if Bill whips out the soft word. I don’t think this team is soft and I don’t think Bill does either.
Normally it’s bad loss and out comes “we are uh uh uh so soft it’s pathetic” - then Christmas break we improve and are ready for big 12 run.
Not sure we hear that word all year. Maybe we hear labor offensively or just plain bad offensively but soft
Nah this group ain’t soft after last nights W!!!
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@BShark any word on it? Hope he’s okay. Maybe take Friday off let Gradey shoot more and mj play
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@Jethro “did the remy”
Officially Jethro’s phrase I love it - you dog!
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I can’t agree more with this @drgnslayr
What sticks out with us is Gradey’s scoring threat. We need to create a TON of offense for this guy!
Part of Gradey’s “slump” is that guys weren’t looking/finding him. Once they did, he delivered.
Gradey stood out, but make no mistake this was a team win. There were good contributions from the bench and the defense was solid throughout.
Timing is everything; 3/19 from three looks pretty dismal, but the last 3 was at the right moment and KUDOS to Gradey and the team for executing when it mattered most.
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@kuballin10 Rock chalk jayhawk - hope we go back to back as this is a Bill Self win ugly in March team
Not even close. You get a D- on that one. We aren’t going back to badball. I remember how those days used to trouble you. Jamari isn’t walking through the door anytime soon.
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I haven’t been able to watch the game again yet. But, my lasting memory of this game is of all the really bad 3 pt shots put up by both teams. Joe’s 2 shots in the first half barely hit the backboard. I guess the big stage for this game causes players to forget all about shooting mechanics and just jack up any old shot. Also, I sure like playing the early game in this classic because all the seats are full. It looked like most of the Mich St and Kentucky fans left after their long, long game. It seemed that anyone in the arena could sit courtside for our game in all the empty seats.
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I mean that was probably a C+ game overall with a A+++ finish. You take that finish every time, we saw the fight, the leadership, guys step UP and make plays when it counted, defensive toughness, playing as a TEAM.
The culture of this program right now couldn’t be any higher. I’m super impressed, you can feel it.
We know Self will find ways to motivate this bunch. I have no doubts at all he isn’t resting on his success of last season. If anything with how this team has played so far, I’d say he’s got these guys bought in already & is going to continue to sharpen the knife along the way.
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@kuballin10 said in Duke Kills Kansas... Kansas Wins Game!:
@benshawks08 Bilas likes KU/Self/AFH - raves about us but you could tell he was bias last night. It wasn’t blatant but more he’d talk so positively about Duke while speaking of us in a more negative light. That’s alright so be it.
Great points about assists are normally knocking down outside shots and we didn’t
This team is mature, unselfish and the experience helps. We will have that next year and need an experienced portal big or 4 man wing stud this off-season to round out the class.
Jalen is selfish when he drives but after watching our bigs not finish worth crap on some dump offs I can see why. I think as the frosh bigs get better Bill will tell him to drive and when a defender comes dish that for the dunk. I think he’s unselfish but playing the way he is because no one else can finish.
I want to be mad at jalen for “selfishness” and taking 26 shots but I just can’t. He knows he’s the leader of this team on the offensive end. He knows it is on him to score. And I honestly don’t think he took that many bad shots. Of the 26 only 2 or three were truly forced and out of the flow of the offense.
I think there was a little bit of a game plan to keep Grady under wraps because he’s the real shooter on this team. And a little of Grady not being able to figure out how to get open in the right spot at the right time in a game where if you were a fraction late, the opening closed.
The book on jalen is that he can be inconsistent. Especially as a shooter. Letting him be THE GUY may have been on purpose and not even that bad of a strategy for Duke. But this years jalen while still perhaps inconsistent as a shooter seems hyper focused on doing more of the little things that allow him to score. He hits the offensive glass. Drives hard every time. A lot of those missed shots easily could have been fouls. I know I counted at least 4. And while taking 26 shots still managed 5 assists. 5 real assists. Not just swinging the ball and a guy happens to make a jumper.
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@benshawks08 it’s on Gradey but also on our O. Guys need to know his role is to score and when we are laboring go get him open and at the very least get him a touch
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Great point, I noticed Duke defending Gradey a certain way. Self and Co will see that tape and adjust. Teams did it to Ochai once they caught on. Gradey has too high of a BBIQ so he’ll adjust as well. I think Duke scouted us extremely well tbh. I’d hear coaches calling out a lot of our staple plays, the screen to lob was disrupted 4/5 times due to awareness from their bench for example. Gradey’s man didn’t help which is why he didn’t get many good looks, he also struggled some in the first half with shots, so I think it was some freshman moments he was working through but the response he gave late is why he’ll only be a Jayhawk one season.
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If the National Media doesn’t start recognizing Jalen Wilson as an All-American shame on them. I think KU will have to start campaigning for him soon, he’s already playing at an AA level. Give him his due.
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@drgnslayr I think your bias shows through on your comment about seeing how Sheyer worked the refs. Doesn’t every coach work the ref? Maybe ESPN’s bias shows through because they showed it, but I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
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@benshawks08 said in Duke Kills Kansas... Kansas Wins Game!:
@kuballin10 said in Duke Kills Kansas... Kansas Wins Game!:
@benshawks08 Bilas likes KU/Self/AFH - raves about us but you could tell he was bias last night. It wasn’t blatant but more he’d talk so positively about Duke while speaking of us in a more negative light. That’s alright so be it.
Great points about assists are normally knocking down outside shots and we didn’t
This team is mature, unselfish and the experience helps. We will have that next year and need an experienced portal big or 4 man wing stud this off-season to round out the class.
Jalen is selfish when he drives but after watching our bigs not finish worth crap on some dump offs I can see why. I think as the frosh bigs get better Bill will tell him to drive and when a defender comes dish that for the dunk. I think he’s unselfish but playing the way he is because no one else can finish.
I want to be mad at jalen for “selfishness” and taking 26 shots but I just can’t. He knows he’s the leader of this team on the offensive end. He knows it is on him to score. And I honestly don’t think he took that many bad shots. Of the 26 only 2 or three were truly forced and out of the flow of the offense.
I think there was a little bit of a game plan to keep Grady under wraps because he’s the real shooter on this team. And a little of Grady not being able to figure out how to get open in the right spot at the right time in a game where if you were a fraction late, the opening closed.
The book on jalen is that he can be inconsistent. Especially as a shooter. Letting him be THE GUY may have been on purpose and not even that bad of a strategy for Duke. But this years jalen while still perhaps inconsistent as a shooter seems hyper focused on doing more of the little things that allow him to score. He hits the offensive glass. Drives hard every time. A lot of those missed shots easily could have been fouls. I know I counted at least 4. And while taking 26 shots still managed 5 assists. 5 real assists. Not just swinging the ball and a guy happens to make a jumper.
Yup.
Just speaking the obvious here (to me at least), but Jalen and Gradey are the two guys vital to us scoring more points than the other team.
You take one out of the equation for spells, and other guys have to step up. I hope that MJ will turn into that third scorer quickly.
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@BeddieKU23 said in Duke Kills Kansas... Kansas Wins Game!:
Great point, I noticed Duke defending Gradey a certain way. Self and Co will see that tape and adjust. Teams did it to Ochai once they caught on. Gradey has too high of a BBIQ so he’ll adjust as well. I think Duke scouted us extremely well tbh. I’d hear coaches calling out a lot of our staple plays, the screen to lob was disrupted 4/5 times due to awareness from their bench for example. Gradey’s man didn’t help which is why he didn’t get many good looks, he also struggled some in the first half with shots, so I think it was some freshman moments he was working through but the response he gave late is why he’ll only be a Jayhawk one season.
Agreed on all.
Duke did a great job early on of defending our screen rolls thru the middle. None really worked until KJ? split the lane.
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I’ll never say I’m not biased! lol
But he owned the ref’s ear for an extended time after that flop call. I don’t see Self extending that for too long. Maybe I’m just biased… but I know what helped K get the famous “Duke calls” related to how well and how long he worked the refs.
Actually… it’s a sign of good coaching if it works and Duke has always mastered achieving this!
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@kuballin10 said in Duke Kills Kansas... Kansas Wins Game!:
@BShark any word on it? Hope he’s okay. Maybe take Friday off let Gradey shoot more and mj play
Haven’t seen it mentioned yet, but I noticed he was favoring it.
Dajuan should definitely get a light load against Southern Utah.
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It’s going to take a great team to beat our A game. We showed a lot of poise when the game counted.
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Grady did the Remy. Nice. In the game before this one we had a several minute scoring dead spot and most of the second half. In the Duke game we had dead spells in the middle of both halves. We will see some games later when we will say the team finally played their best game just like late last year when we started to really believe we could go to a Final Four.
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@rockchalkjayhawk Hopefully MJ can help shoulder the scoring load too. (If he can stay on the court)
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I think Gradey needs another season to make his body NBA-ready. I see him checking out the waters so he knows what to work on for next year… just like many of our guys do.
Plus… even though he looks so good now, we don’t know how this year is going to go for him yet. He could have a pesky injury slowing him down, or go in a bad slump. I’m skeptical he will have too big of a slump because his mechanics are the best I’ve ever seen in D1!
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Another year would be great for him and us fans but I don’t expect it right now.
One thing I’ve seen the media running with from the game and in general is that he isn’t a good defender. I’d have to watch the Duke game over to see if he struggled but I don’t recall him being an issue on that end. It’s something that could be used as a talking point/weakness for scouts with him.
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@tundrahok said in Duke Kills Kansas... Kansas Wins Game!:
Jon Scheyer is less schmarmy and self-satisfied than K. At least so far. He has a long way to go before he even approaches the same level of unlikability. Maybe do something first, as a head coach. Earn our emnity. Until then, meh.
Ha. Well said!
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@BeddieKU23 one thing ive noticed so far, to a seemingly anomolous degree, Gradey seems to always be in the right place for good things to happen on D. Several won possessions where people threw the ball right where he had moved to. Maybe his on ball D isnt elite but his defensive awareness seems uncanny, in this small sample size. It also helps to be the 4th defender sharing the court with Adams, Dajuan and Mccullar
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The draft will be stocked high this year… best to give him another year to build his brand. He’ll do good with NIL this year anyways.
I’m sure he could use some strengthening… and hopefully that won’t negatively impact his shot. Doubtful.
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Think it’s his high BBIQ that puts him in the right spots & I’ve noticed some really good instincts from him so far defensively. Norm said he got tired in the Duke game (played 32 minutes). We can quickly forget this was only his 3rd game and he’s a freshman. I see some really unnecessary criticism about his defense this early from the media.
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I think Gradey is back next year Mj maybe or he might transfer
Clemence, Joe and Cuffe will be gone
We got too many guards:
Juan - Bobby
Johnson - Elmarko
Gradey - MJ, McDowell
Bigs: kj, Ernest, Zuby
I think we get a transfer 4 or 5 to step in right away.
