3-2 ZONE: SELF GIVES OPPONENTS MORE TO PREP FOR
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Self is turning opposing coaches into preppers!
Preparing for BAD BALL is a nightmare.
KU can’t score b2b, but that is the ONLY given!
Each game KU’s Trey slump continues, opponents fear the law of averages bringing a 75% Trey ball game. Gotta guard the three.
Each game KU shrinks the impact space and "just drives it, " the driving originates from four, sometimes five positions on the floor! Gotta lay off everyone to stop the drive.
If you guard the perimeter, Self weaves.
If you guard the weave, Self puts his stretch 4 in the weave and pulls one of your posts.
If you guard the stretch 4, he pulls out the 4 AND 5, and drives the 5!
At least on defense, you only had to worry about the M2M and and a little junk diamond man and 2 zone.
Not any more!
Self showed a full blown 3-2 zone at the end of the TCU game.
It was a diabolical thing to do to opposing coaches.
The 3-2 can morph into Self’s diamond and 2 zone, or stay a packed 3-2 zone, or move into a 3-2 matchup zone or a m2m.
Talk about cruel!!!
And he did it just for Scott Drew, who plays this zone game with Self.
Turn about is fair play.
Welcome to the Preppers, Scottie!
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@jaybate-1.0 Did you (or anyone) happen to watch Duke/NCState? In the first half, Duke ran a 2-2-1 3/4 court press, dropped into a 2-3 zone, went 5/11 from three (45.5%), blitzed NC State and was up 49-22 at the half.
I’m not trying to diminish coach Self running a zone for a few possessions yesterday – in fact, he switched to it on crucial late possession, which was a terrific move. But from a big picture strategy context, Self lives true to his word. We just do what we do.
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Its still not as fun to watch bad ball lol! Prior to last year our KU basketball was like a well oiled machine. There was chemistry, there was high flying chest bumps after great plays, countless alley-oops, and there was something comforting when your favorite team beats everyone by double figures! I used to really enjoy watching KU basketball now I am just nervous every game lol.
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I love that style of play, as you know.
But I am afraid that untl the rule enforcement changes, if KU had 9 OADs, as Duke has, BAD BALL would win 9 of 10 games. Really this a very difficult innovation and more global in principle than board rats yet appreciate.
This is about as far from traditional Self Ball as Self can get. Shrinking impact space is the opposite trying to increase it. Defending leads is the opposite of playing to create runs. Systematically muddying it up even when you have superior talent is the opposite of playing to optimize transition. Playing to win the protection stat and break even on the disruption stat is the opposite of playing to break even on the protection stat and win the disruption stat. Playing to keep it close is the opposite of trying to step on their necks. Playing Bad Ball every game is the opposite of playing it anyway they want. I could go on and on. Self has inverted Almost the entirety of his approach to the game that everyone has copied the last ten years. He has left his own program. And he started the season trying to leave it against UK. But he realized he had not changed radically enough.
This team now, even as crippled as it is with injuries and a suspension, has more ways to attack the basket than most teams it faces. It was a logical response for a global thinker like Self who has with few exceptions favored diversified attack. We favored a meat ax approach to change. Trey balling. Self said no that is not diversified enough. So he laid a tick tack toe grid on half court and set about devising as many ways to attack the basket from each of the nine cells as he could. It’s brilliant. It gives up back 2 basket action and turns every cell on the half court into a potential drive point where impact space can be shrunk to a foul situation. AND he samples the trifecta every game to see if any one is hitting. It is BOTH. He has a lot of Trey shooters but even more drivers. Half court is the way to create the fouls. Get the opponents stationary, attack their space, shrink it, reduce it to FT shooting ASAP, defend the lead.
It is very hard to defend no matter how big and athletic an opponent is, and once our guys learned to help defend, we are in every game, even with everyone injured, no one able to hit threes, and our flipping star out.
Kelly Oubre gets it better than anyone right now. When our treys start falling again, look out. We only need to make 5 of 12 treys to win every game playing this way and that is sooooo easy for this team to do for six games after slumping for ten games.
Coach K’s team has underperformed this season, given his talent. I reckon Self would be neck and neck with Cal, don’t you?
And then he would beat Cal even with one less OAD/TAD.
Seriously Cal has slowed tempo down against good teams just as Self has, at least when I have watched.
Coach K is to be applauded for trying the counter strategy you and I have advocated and I hope it works, but I doubt it will, until the rules enforcement changes. Why it might work for Coach K is the same reason any strategy Coach K adopts tends to work pretty well: he has more talent and the refs seem to give him a favorable whistle–especially in the Madness.
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Success breeds imitation. Be very afraid. Next season most teams in the Big 12 are going to drive it and emulate what Self is doing.
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@jaybate-1.0 Yeah, but KU will still be better at it, having had a full season and a summer to perfect it.
Is Perry playing tonight?
Will our trey guns start hitting tonight?
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Big article about it on the LJW site
Self: Perry Ellis back in KU starting lineup against Baylor
By Staff Reports
*Injured KU forward Perry Ellis will return to the court against Baylor in Friday’s Big 12 tournament semifinal game, KU coach Bill Self said during pregame interviews.
Ellis, who has missed the Jayhawks’ last two games with a knee injury, will replace Jamari Traylor in the starting lineup, Self said, according to KU officials.
KU plays Baylor at 6 p.m. Friday at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.*
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@DanR Rock N Roll! Perry wont be doing any spin moves but I bet he’ll at least be able to drive it like 90% normal. Hope he can get his average boards too. Now all we need is our trey guns back and a crappy normal coaching job from Scotty Drew to play the winner of OU/ISU
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This could be one part get Perry a few minutes early, when it does least damage, to get him over the fear of coming back, then sit him for the rest of the half. If we have a small lead, repeat the second half for 4 minutes then sit.
The other part, and the bigger part is to force Drew to prepare for more players.
If Perry can even play at 50% capacity it will surprise me.
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I think what coach K is trying is validating the logic of what we have been advocating.
I just think Self has come up with a different way to skin the cat.
Talent levels between the teams differ so sharply.
Coach K has the big anchor defender in Okafor that Wooden came to rely on with Jabbar, Walton, Patterson and Washington. Self lacks this.
Self also lacks a great anchor defender in the Short Fred Slaughter mold.
But even if he had one he seems to prefer to guard the basket rather than make the basket hard to get to.
Self also sees little value now in big leads. He spends every lead he gets on shortening the game or collecting fouls.
Self has left the program much farther than any coach in recent memory.
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@jaybate-1.0 Yes. I am worried about Perry being around 50% also. I can imagine those spin moves might aggravate a sprained ligament. But… maybe the threat of Perry will help.
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This is maybe hopeful thinking, but playing Baylor’s zone and Perry not at 100%, I see this as a game that will force us to play “fools gold” basketball…tonight we break out of our shooting slump from 3!
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@Jayrawks1 Baylor fouls a lot too! Need lots of help!
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@Hawk8086 I doubt that Perry would be spinning on a healthy knee. Teams are scouting his spin move and denying it. He wont do it injured.
The staff will get him some good legal pain meds before the game and wrap his leg in the best knee brace money can get, not to mention he has been getting treatments on it Atleast twice per day since the injury. He’ll be ok…or he wont.
