Baylor Game Tonight



  • Very disappointed in Bill for that Technical. Can’t happen. Cost his team a chance, as faint as it was. His mess!



  • Players not named Dick & Wilson went 6-23 from the field.

    Same starters not named Dick & Wilson are 18-50 from the field in last 3 games. The math sucks.

    Can’t win if 3 starters can’t shoot.



  • @wissox said in Baylor Game Tonight:

    @kuballin10 “We make a great comeback and get screwed by the refs”. Read the game thread. About 10 comments in a row after the comeback about this call and that call. Equally bad? Not sure, but my comment was about that critical stretch where we get bumped and nada, and then tap guy on shoulder and ref calls a foul. Pretty egregiously bad reffing there.

    Go ahead rag on our point guard. He spectacularly led this team to a national championship. He’s hit a bit of a wall here like everyone else besides Jalen but your estimation of how bad he’s hurting this team is way off.

    And again, your takes would be easier to stomach if you ever thought it was ok to say something good during a game chat, but you’re so predictable in when you comment.

    Block him. He isn’t a KU fan- he’s a troll.



  • My blood pressure is so much lower after deciding not to watch the games live. I look at the score after the game is over. If we won, I watch it (no commercials), if we lost, I go for a hike, go grocery shopping, go to a movie…

    Sure, call me a fair weather fan. But it works for me. And I’ll live long enough to not watch them lose again.



  • @nuleafjhawk

    Lucky. Do what works for you. This is not a game you want to throw on not unless you want to live a bit less.



  • @Jethro what did I say that’s wrong?

    Juan has played poorly for 4 games

    KJ has been bad these last 2 games (coincides with teams figuring out how to guard our pick and roll which is dare Juan to shoot and he won’t or when he doesn’t it isn’t well)

    JW - a stud

    Gradey - he’s growing and battling hard on D and the boards when his shot isn’t falling like the last few games

    Kev - struggled badly but last night was better a double double. Hopefully out of his funk

    Bobby - awful - needs to be the backup pg not first wing off the bench. He and Juan play together and the lead increases just like it has the last 3 games. 4 guys who can’t score, 2 don’t even look to shoot or even drive the lane and JW

    Joe - awful - not the scorer he hoped to be this year

    Clemence - weak

    Zuby/Udeh/Rice - need more run even though they make stupid frosh mistakes

    Bill said it they are bigger than us. We get dominated on the offensive glass every game and KJ’s ability to score 15 has been taken away and he still is an awful rebounder on the defensive end

    Yes, you can be a fan and still see the warts. Curious how Bill figures this one out. Guys have regressed offensively and defensively



  • Okay… it’s in moments like this that some of us say stuff out of emotion, then often later apologize or get called out when we start playing better again.

    This now qualifies as a “dip”… even though we can argue that only the home loss was unexpected.

    We’ve been extremely spoiled ever since our last losses last year including that UK beatdown at AFH.

    So if we’ve been spoiled, don’t you think our players have been spoiled? Heck… we (and team) have been living in denial before we started collecting multiple “Ls.” We’ve been winning by just a couple of points every game and then instead of looking at why we weren’t pounding these teams we applauded our coolness and ability to finish games.

    We’ve got a bunch of talented guys… but it takes more than that. We’ve got to turn it up a notch for 40-minutes (not just a few minutes per game).

    Being in a tough league pushes us to bring game for 40 minutes. And that’s exactly where our mindset has to be for March. Best we learn it now and we still have time to go on a long run in February and regain confidence.



  • I’m not reading much into this 3 game skid. From what Self has said, a few times now, is he’s resting the players more this year to play the long game for the conference. With the extra day off that of course means less practice. Duh.

    Hopefully the other teams beat each other up throughout the season while we’re more rested in March.

    Having said that, there are concerns though but the team is not lost.



  • @nuleafjhawk and surprise surprise you still get to watch the vast majority of our games!



  • Correct me if I’m wrong, werent we still playing with house money? By my count we are still up a couple hundies! Let it roll!



  • @rockchalkwyo agreed we played great to start the year minus southern Utah and TN

    It’s more how we are playing right now. If your 1 and 5 aren’t playing well you won’t win many basketball games.

    Bill has to get Juan more rest he doesn’t have the stamina to get it done for 35 minutes a night. Bobby needs to be the sub for him and Joe/rice for the wings (granted Rice doesn’t understand simple defensive principles as Bill’s stated plus other credible insiders on this board)

    This team can make a run but they gotta get back to the confidence they were playing with.



  • @approxinfinity Let’s hope!



  • @kuballin10 whats your point? Still a champion. Got nothing but love for the kid. Slumps happen. When he was on at the beginning of this season it masked a lot of our problems. Kid was ballin’! And will again.



  • @approxinfinity my point was literally stated in my post. Juan needs to rest more and not play 35-40 minutes a night.

    Bobby needs to play the 1 more and not play alongside Juan.

    Yes, Juan is a champion, so is Teahan. This years team is different than last years so not sure why we are referencing last year. Juan’s role last year versus this year is completely different.



  • @kuballin10 maybe you mix in a little too much sour when we lose, it spoils the taste of your point? I can get behind resting Juan a bit and giving Bobby some run at the 1, though he hasnt shown the growth yet to make that entirely comfortable. I felt like you were dogging Juan, and for me its like he’s not playing for me. I’m the fan. So its hard to endorse getting angry at a kid, even though sometimes we all get confused. Its easy for me to keep my head in check w Juan, probably because hes one of my 2 favorite players on this squad.

    Also, being a champion is everything. He’s a made man. Yes, I want to win, but hes already got a statue on mainstreet in my head.



  • @approxinfinity Yeah we view Juan differently. Juan was the sixth most impactful player on that roster last year. He sat the final 8-10 minutes for a reason. Both are true we don’t win a title without Juan yet Juan wasn’t a top 3 reason we won a title.

    He is billed this year as the most underrated guard in America yet averaging 7 ppg. He has to score for this team to be good and he isn’t good at scoring. He has Chris Paul vision but even Chris Paul in college can go get 20-30 when his team couldn’t throw it in the ocean.

    Self’s blind spot is evident with his comments raving about Juan and how he doesn’t lose in all their summer games lol.

    Juan is a phenomenal kid and overcame a lot. Me outlining him playing poorly isn’t a knock on his character or as a person, just talking about the hawks and the game. Juan could care less what I or anyone thinks except his teammates and coaches.

    Bobby billed as the next great KU guard has not been good. Juan doesn’t have the stamina to play every minute yet Bill doesn’t trust the bench or want Bobby running the show (can’t blame him). Yet we keep losing with Juan playing almost the entire game. This has to change and he needs to let Bobby run the show more even though he is clearly worse than Juan.

    Fresh Juan the final 5 minutes is better than a tired Juan who turns it over, has a loose handle and is out of control.



  • We’ve had some pretty good teams over the years where starters played major minutes every night. I’m still just not sure I buy the rest factor with 18-21 yr olds. Especially when you consider almost all of the timeouts these days are lengthy. For media purposes.

    It is possible however that CS may have done a lil of that(giving more rest)mid conference last season as well and maybe learned something he liked from it. I’m willing to watch that play out again if so

    Either way. This team is still devilish fun to watch. I thought they were just on the edge of really turning it on last night til a stretch of imo absolutely terrible officiating. Never really looked fully amped again after that.



  • In other news… GD gets a good write-up at KUSports. He’s starting to figure out how to score beyond catch-&-shoot! He’s also been rebounding a bit better, too!

    If he can become another guy who can make his own shot regardless of being defended (like JWil) then we’ve got an extra big-time weapon in our offense.

    Good things are coming our way… we just have a painful wait!



  • @drgnslayr i cant (and wont have to) imagine how filthy a 2nd year Gradey would be



  • The hope I still have for this team is that we have 50 days left to have something click for a couple of guys. There are really only two options left on the table for this team to make a deep run in the tournament.

    1. We either get our shit together and the starters start playing well enough to get us back to 1/2 seed contention which will give us the easiest path possible. But this team is in the danger zone a little bit right now… This team isn’t as bad as 2021 team with Garrett running point, but the feeling of having no levers to pull and a thin bench bring back some bad memories. A big bounce back statement game from this team would be nice, and frankly is overdue.

    or

    1. Bill sort of blows up what we’ve been doing most of the season and lets the young guys get a lot more run which might cost us some games. Mainly Udeh and Rice. See if those two can get comfortable the last 10 games and we can try to “peak” March 16th. This option is sort of waiving the white flag for the conference race mid-season, but gives us the best chance at a FF run imo. I think it would take losing the next two games in a row for Bill to ever consider doing this. Unfortunately/fortunately depending on your opinion, with the way we’ve been playing it is a distinct possibility.

    This team IS good enough to beat anyone in the country, but the margin for error is just so, so small with how poorly the bench is playing. It has really been a big disappointment to watch pretty much zero improvement from Bobby or Yes. What’s worse, is that even with how poorly those two have played we can’t hardly see minutes from MJ who might be the only guy on the bench who can actually make a difference in March.

    In Bill I trust, but my expectations for this team are essentially nothing more than a sweet 16 at the moment. And I’m pretty sure we will all be holding our breath in the 2nd round…



  • @approxinfinity I think we need him back for next year to be up to our normal standards. Of course the floor with Self is like a 4 seed. We are so spoiled.



  • Unless we can get the real Juan back not sure how much of all these issues that they are dealing with will be fixed. Self needs his leader playing at the high level he was at because he seems to be the glue holding it all together.

    I just hope whatever is ailing Juan is something that will pass. If he’s got an injury he’s going to manage the rest of the season that really makes it difficult to play at a high level when your PG can’t do things he normally can do. He has looked hobbled and shook from mistakes he isn’t used to making. Makes you wonder if he did get concussed from that fall

    Hoping the 5 days in between games gives them a shot at redemption Saturday



  • @BeddieKU23

    Good article on him being worn down on KUSports.

    I believe it is an accurate assessment. Our Big 12 competitors realize they need to attack the head of the beast… and that is Juan.

    He needs less PT and has his rest break in games monitored at proper timing so he can perform at a maximum.

    Hard to recognize this team with Juan being off like this.

    I think in the off-season he should work heavily on strength/conditioning. Look what it did for JWil! Juan has the body of a boy and he’s facing some stout PGs.



  • @drgnslayr said in Baylor Game Tonight:

    @BeddieKU23

    Good article on him being worn down on KUSports.

    I believe it is an accurate assessment. Our Big 12 competitors realize they need to attack the head of the beast… and that is Juan.

    He needs less PT and has his rest break in games monitored at proper timing so he can perform at a maximum.

    Hard to recognize this team with Juan being off like this.

    I think in the off-season he should work heavily on strength/conditioning. Look what it did for JWil! Juan has the body of a boy and he’s facing some stout PGs.

    Thing is we can’t afford him to be out. - Who is competent of running point when he is out for any extended time? - -NO not Boby, Bobby is a turnover looking for a place to happen. - He is less scoring threat then Juan. I think the most I have ever seen Bobby score is maybe 6 - -MAYBE - -MAYBE 8 points. we can’t afford even LESS A THREAT to score then Juan. Bobby is far less the distributor then Juan - so who runs PG when Juan sits ? - -I dunno



  • @drgnslayr

    It’s year 4 for Juan so strength and stamina really shouldn’t be the concern here but you may just be seeing the limitations of him physically. Everyone has their breaking point and Juan came to KU needing work on his body.

    Ideally Self would trust Bobby more but we have seen he can’t really do that without the level of play dropping off, but in order for Bobby to get better you have to let him play the position. A lot of his minutes lately have been alongside Juan and that hasn’t done any good either. On the flip side perhaps Bill needs to commit to taking Juan out near every timeout and managing workload in some kind of set pattern because what’s happening now isn’t working.

    Shouldn’t other teams be just as tired when we play them? Baylor didn’t look gassed at all. KU had a slow December and now by the end of January this team has started cracking at the seams. It doesn’t make much sense going from one extreme to the other.



  • @jayballer67 @BeddieKU23

    Of course it is a bad tradeoff sticking in any reserve for Juan… but compared to leaving him in…

    I’d rather have the old Juan for 30 minutes a game then have this one for 36.

    I don’t think Juan has ever been pushed this hard in past years.

    Plus… something never discussed… when you keep tired players in for overuse you run a much higher risk of injury! Imagine Juan going out for the rest of the year?!

    Bobby looked great before Big 12 play. Then the competition became much tougher and we face all of these teams who have us totally scouted. He needs more minutes to adjust then he’ll contribute more. Same for Joe.

    Doing nothing different, at this point, would be a big mistake.

    Heck… try starting Bobby once or twice. It’s a way to shake things up. Maybe Juan plays better. Maybe Bobby plays better. Win-win.

    We need to bite the bitter pill… mix things up a bit. We are already stooping to Self’s intentional technical fouls.



  • It also hurts Juan playing with the bench, example the end of the ksu game. You can figure it out. The starters would have made those plays.



  • @drgnslayr said in Baylor Game Tonight:

    @jayballer67 @BeddieKU23

    Of course it is a bad tradeoff sticking in any reserve for Juan… but compared to leaving him in…

    I’d rather have the old Juan for 30 minutes a game then have this one for 36.

    I don’t think Juan has ever been pushed this hard in past years.

    Plus… something never discussed… when you keep tired players in for overuse you run a much higher risk of injury! Imagine Juan going out for the rest of the year?!

    Bobby looked great before Big 12 play. Then the competition became much tougher and we face all of these teams who have us totally scouted. He needs more minutes to adjust then he’ll contribute more. Same for Joe.

    Doing nothing different, at this point, would be a big mistake.

    Heck… try starting Bobby once or twice. It’s a way to shake things up. Maybe Juan plays better. Maybe Bobby plays better. Win-win.

    We need to bite the bitter pill… mix things up a bit. We are already stooping to Self’s intentional technical fouls.

    Weel here is a tid bit - - the competition isn’t getting any easier. So Bobby playing better before big 12 sure doesn’t help us now. Hell I would start Joe at PG before Bobby.- Bobby is no threat now-- he can’t shoot outside at all or hasn’t shown it, he drives and endds up throwing it away - - jumps off his feet has nowhere to go and throws the ball away - - easy transistion for the other team.

    Risk of injury is aHUGE PROBLEM when you have no bench - -the competition is much much harder the rest o the year soo Bobby isn’t helping



  • @BeddieKU23 said in Baylor Game Tonight:

    Unless we can get the real Juan back not sure how much of all these issues that they are dealing with will be fixed. Self needs his leader playing at the high level he was at because he seems to be the glue holding it all together.

    I just hope whatever is ailing Juan is something that will pass. If he’s got an injury he’s going to manage the rest of the season that really makes it difficult to play at a high level when your PG can’t do things he normally can do. He has looked hobbled and shook from mistakes he isn’t used to making. Makes you wonder if he did get concussed from that fall

    Hoping the 5 days in between games gives them a shot at redemption Saturday

    Message incoming but not a concussion.



  • @BShark said in Baylor Game Tonight:

    @BeddieKU23 said in Baylor Game Tonight:

    Unless we can get the real Juan back not sure how much of all these issues that they are dealing with will be fixed. Self needs his leader playing at the high level he was at because he seems to be the glue holding it all together.

    I just hope whatever is ailing Juan is something that will pass. If he’s got an injury he’s going to manage the rest of the season that really makes it difficult to play at a high level when your PG can’t do things he normally can do. He has looked hobbled and shook from mistakes he isn’t used to making. Makes you wonder if he did get concussed from that fall

    Hoping the 5 days in between games gives them a shot at redemption Saturday

    Message incoming but not a concussion.

    Drat. hope nothing’s broken.



  • I’m rooting for the guy like crazy, but I just can’t imagine success with Bobby starting at point right now. I figured he’d be like an Elijah Johnson kind of dude. Sitting on the bench with a load of talent waiting for his chance. But his ball handling is not good. Passing is bad unless you can catch with your knees. I can’t tell if he knows how to run the offense let alone knows how to control a game. He’s had plenty of chances to run the show and the results have not been good… yet.

    Yeah, I know how things ended with EJ too against Michigan, but he carried a load on his shoulders his senior year.



  • @rockchalkjayhawk lingering injury. Wouldn’t expect him back to normal this season.



  • @BShark said in Baylor Game Tonight:

    @rockchalkjayhawk lingering injury. Wouldn’t expect him back to normal this season.

    Drat. Lingering is even worse!

    When can Elmarko get here?



  • Haven’t heard of a lingering injury just physical pressure defense and aggressive guards on offense. Pettiford and Joe are trying mostly one on one plays and our slow half court offense requires us to hit threes and bunnies. We need a better and better MJ.



  • @Zabudda

    Kind of like Dave last year. You know he’s hobbled but not much is going to be disclosed.

    Udeh missed several games recently and we only learned after he had Wisdom Teeth issue. Staff keeping injuries and what not real close



  • At this point and present time I think we need Joe backing up Juan over Bobby. - -Bobby is a turnover looking for a place to happen at the prsent and no scoring threat at all- -a lot like Juan - -True Joe turns it over too not sure if any more then Bobby but much more of a threat on the offensive end


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