The 9 Man Rotation
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Very happy with playing 9. Our bench shot 4-17 but the variety of looks we could roll out today i think confused Cincy and has allowed us to go hard on D and the offensive glass.
Ideally Flory plays more and Hunt and KJ a little less. Flory was at 17 and the other 2 and 30+, but hey, we need buckets to win games.
I do have a problem with Hunts effort on the defensive glass, but his scoring is critical.
Shak was a beast and deserved all of the 27 min he got. He got extended run where Dajuan wasnt on the floor even.
KJ is improving on the offensive glass: 5! His jumper wasnt there today but progress in rebounding is critical.
Rylan and Storr were not great, but i am happy with the run they got. I dont think they are broken. AJ had another baseline oop and played a nice 2 man game with Hunt. Rylan was kind of a nothing burger but thats ok. There will be games where his spot up shooting is useful.
This team is highly entertaining to me and Self feels engaged and you can see incremental progress across the board. I think we have a chance to be very good by March.
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This team has found an identity and it is their defense. This team has become much better defensively than I think most here anticipated. Shak Moore is showing why he was a DPOY candidate at Miss. St. and has taken so much pressure off of Dejuan that Dejuan is playing like he did a couple of years ago. Flory being able to guard every position has been a revelation amd has also taken some pressure off of KJ on that end as well.
Also, this team is old. I believe Flroy is the only player in the rotation not in at least his 3rd year of college.
There’s still some work to do with the offense, but the defense is going to keep KU in just about every game the rest of the season.
When we play Houston, it might genuinely be a race to 40 for who wins.
This group absolutely has the tools to win a Big 12 title and contender for a Final Four and national title.
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Tightening the rotation, getting Shak, and changing how we use Hunter on D have all really helped. We’re hedging him way less and it allows him to play to his strengths. He’s a good positional defender in the post, and has pretty good hands without fouling.
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Surprising it’s our defense that had us all concerned talking about how we would have to out score our opponents to do anything, but yes our defense is showing for sure
We have now won two big games in conference on the road which is huge
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Shaq has brought our level of defense to an upper level
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@SlimShaddy54 just imagine if Storr and Rylen figure it out. I felt like there were some bright spots there for AJ today and Rylen last game. They didnt show up in the box score.
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Nice to the guys put some pride in on that side the floor. Watching KJ go hard after offensive rebounds is exactly what people mean when they say it’s 90% want to and 10% skill. I’ve never seen KJ hustle like that on the glass in the last 4 years. Shak has really been a difference maker for this team so far especially after the WV loss which is one of the worst in the Bill Self era IMO. 9 man rotation works fine just need AJ and Rylan to continue to improve for this team to be a great one.
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@kjayhawks said in The 9 Man Rotation:
Nice to the guys put some pride in on that side the floor. Watching KJ go hard after offensive rebounds is exactly what people mean when they say it’s 90% want to and 10% skill. I’ve never seen KJ hustle like that on the glass in the last 4 years. Shak has really been a difference maker for this team so far especially after the WV loss which is one of the worst in the Bill Self era IMO. 9 man rotation works fine just need AJ and Rylan to continue to improve for this team to be a great one.
KJ 's, light switch has finally came on as far as the boards - -Nine rebounds game before this one- – Seven in this one— and it’s been offensive also , we had been sucking on offensive rebounding but him and Hunter both better these last two games
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I watched AJs post-game interview, his attitude seems to be good, positive
Hence I am hopeful.
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Much of the discussion about AJ struggling this season, especially those that wonder why he came to KU when it doesn’t fit his style of play, seems to be missing what I think is a crucial point. I think he, and his advisors, knew he’d never make it to the NBA unless he learned how to play defense and how to play more team oriented offense. He had to know that guys who don’t play defense ride the pine at KU, and that Bill Self demands that even his scorers know when it’s time to pass. Clearly it’s taking longer for him to make strides in these areas than anyone thought, but hopefully his eyes are still on the end game. But for Self to let him go back to his old style of play would do nothing to increase his draft chances.
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@ImmunoHawk That is essentially the feedback he got when he tested the NBA waters last season was that he needed to improve his defense and shot selection.
The concerning thing about AJ is that KU is his 7th school in 7 years going to back high school. Something like that is red flag raising. It’s also red flag raising leaving a coach like Rick Pitino when Storr was going to get all the playing time he wanted last season. Pitino is a guy who knows what it takes to develop players into NBA talent and still has connections to NBA front offices. This tells me there’s something wrong with AJ. The most likely options being that he’s lazy, or he’s uncoachable, or some combination of the two, or he’s got someone in his ear giving him bad advice.
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If he can go back to finishing at the rim it makes him more valuable and us more dangerous. When we got it going it was from Hunter doing a Joker drive and finish and shows Hunt has cajones. Shak turned the corner and got downhill and he is instant spark. He is not scared either. Zeke got in the lane made a pass and hit a floater followed by Juan’s. AJ went hard and make both throws that had a big impact on the game. If we can make 10 threes we can or will be in position to win every game. This game left me stunned as every type of shot just would not go in.
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@FarmerJayhawk Hunter’s steal rate is way up this year to go with decent block rate and great rebounding numbers. He’s turned into a solid defensive center, just still can’t slide for shit so he can be exploited in P&R in the wrong matchup. Ideally, we just need to avoid teams with stretch fives that can punish drop coverage.
