USA beat down China 93-56 in a scrimmage today!
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Watching KU basketball this time of year can only be described as one thing…Christmas in July!
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I expected China to have a much better team than that. Maybe sending a single college team to play against All Star has a cohesive advantage. Our pod will be pretty tough with many of the squads using players under 25 that are on their National Team.
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Noticed Vick was the high scorer, which was unexpected. From the game report, I’ll bet he scored a ton of transition baskets. Low tallies for Mason. Sounds like he was happy running the show and setting up his teammates for easy baskets.
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@JayHawkFanToo Hey, thats awesome. Wish that whole game was posted on youtube somewhere.
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I’m loving that Mason seems to be more proactive on distributing the ball. He’s obviously a great scorer, but we need more assists from him, and getting others involved. Didn’t he have like 11 assists vs Canada?
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@hawkmoon2020 YES
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@ajvan Vick may have been the high scorer, but most everyone had between 13 and 9 points so it was very balanced.
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Nice to see we don’t have to rely on Frank to be superhuman every outing. Really, really wish we had Devonte Graham in action instead of the loaner guys. Mason is twice the player Moore is. Graham is every bit as good as Mason, and has a higher ceiling than Moore–> absolutely sucks Graham got hurt.
Also wish we were doing it with all KU players. Vick is getting golden mpg with his future team. I cannot think of “Vick” without thinking of UArmour endorsement deals…
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Disappointing to see a nation of 1+ billion cannot put together a team to compete with 1 NCAA team at 70% strength…This speaks well for team chemistry that comes with sending one NCAA team. I have to wonder just how well the WUG teams will play if they are all-star ensembles.
On the flip side, Self takes 3 McD’s, 1 Frank Mason, and 2 6’10 guys who are itching to play. Not to mention the 1 man athletic wrecking crew of Ja, Mari, and Traylor…
I’d like to gently postulate to the kubuckets readership that Bill Self has not forgotten what to do with his various pieces he has on this team…I also think the 24sec clock will highlight the explosiveness in the American athletes, as well as sharpen the KU team for the upcoming NCAA 30sec shot clock.
In glad news to some of our readers, it may mean the end of the dreaded ‘weave’, as we may not have time to run it…?
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I am kind of worried about Self’s response. Where is the down attitude that we usually see at this time of the year? Usually we get the “We aren’t very good yet at all” from him.
I know it’s weird to complain over positive comments, but it seems he is over compensating a little. Is he really that happy to be a coach for this team! Is he getting burned out? I don’t know.
The most likely explanation is this is a more battle tested group and is simply further along. And he really is excited for this upcoming year. But there is a nagging voice telling me differently. Is it too early for pessimism? Lol
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I haven’t seen the stats but the best thing about that score is the 56 points against us with a short shot clock.
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@JhawkAlum I get the feeling he just isn’t feeling much pressure. He took a leak in the middle of the scrimmage against China! The US team placed 9th in the last WUG, and 5th the time before. Sure they are representing their country, but the event just doesn’t get all that much attention. The Journal World sent Bobby Nightengale and Mike Yoder to cover it! There’s a lot more pressure and attention in the Big 12 than on this world stage. With all the extra time for practice and bonding, and low expectations, it’s all good. I think Bill is just relaxed and enjoying himself.
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@tundrahok I think bobby and mike are doing a great job!
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@Crimsonorblue22 Sure, they are great, and I appreciate their coverage. But I would have expected the sports editor and the KU basketball beat writer to get sent, somebody higher up the totem pole. Especially this time of year when there’s not much else going on sports-wise (I gave up on baseball in 1994), and to an international event. I was just surprised to see the photographer writing articles. Maybe it’s too expensive for a local paper to send more staff, maybe Keegan didn’t want to squeeze his big butt into a little airplane seat for that long. I just think it’s a big deal, and I’m excited, and I thought the A-team would have wanted to be there (not that the current guys aren’t doing a great job).
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It would be great if we could dominate the rest of the teams like we did China… but I’m not counting on that. China looked bad… real bad.
At least, I hope we get challenged more than what China could do.
I’m guessing we are one of the quicker teams in the tourney. That should play into our hands.
Tonight is the night! Game 1!
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@drgnslayr First round! Are there any brackets we can fill out?!?
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The 9th place finish is deceiving. The top two teams for each bracket advance and play for places 1-8, the rest of the teams play for places 9-20. I believe NIU finished 9th which means they probably lost 2 game in the fist round and did not advance to the top bracket and went undefeated in the lower bracket. If I remember correctly each team plays 9 games so you can go 7-2 and finish 9th and you can have a much worse record and finish in the top 8, the key is making it out of your initial group in the top2 and you are guaranteed to finish in the top 8 …makes sense?
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@JhawkAlum This has always been Self’s attitude during the summer international trips. He uses these times to install some the offense. Since Self doesn’t have 4 of his projected rotation players available right now, there’s not a lot he can really do at this point as far installing new stuff without having to do it a second time when Diallo, Graham, Greene, and Svi are available. Self’s just having fun because that’s about all he can do with this group the way it’s comprised.
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@JayHawkFanToo It’s actually a little more convoluted than that. I can’t explain, but here’s a link to the 2007 results per wiki: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball_at_the_2007_Summer_Universiade
Seems overly complicated, but whatever allows the most corruption seems to be the way to go in international sports. (i.e. FIBA)
It also looks like China has been terrible, historically speaking.
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@dylans To be fair, the basic idea is to guarantee lots of games for everyone, so everyone gets in a bracket after pool play.
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@ralster Agreed totally. I am wondering, what does our competition look like? We know we can take China. But, what about the other teams? Who won the past 2 or 3 WUGs? Which countries can give us a run for the gold medal?
I think KU will benefit Hugely by using the 24 second fiba clock before the NCAA season starts, then it will even out a bit as the better teams get used to the 30 sec clock.
UK vs KU is gonna be a tough game and a huge game but I think we beat them at AFH.
May not be the end of the weave. I like it personally. But, 5 less seconds shouldnt be the end of the weave, just less time to execute. The 08 team ran it to perfection and Ive liked it ever since.
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That is the old format. The new format consist of 4 pools of 6 teams each; the top 2 advance to the top bracket and play for places 1-8. The other 16 teams played play in lower brackets 9-24. I will guess that the bottom 16 teams are in two pools that play for place 9-16 and 17-24.
2015 World University Games Pools
Pool A – Korea, Estonia, Germany, China, Angola, Mozambique
Pool B – Russia, Canada, Mexico, Mongolia, Sweden, Montenegro
Pool C – Australia, Lithuania, Finland, Japan, France, Chinese Taipei
Pool D – Serbia, Brazil, USA, Turkey, Chile, Switzerland
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@JayHawkFanToo Sure. The point is we haven’t dominated the last few games, and aren’t necessarily expected to win automatically, which should mean less pressure.
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Agreed. Only die hard basketball fans even know about this event, so there really is not a lot of pressure. The main benefit is the opportunity to get some actual game practice and get a jump on the competition; the 24 second shot clock will help get the team prepared for the upcomimg season. If KU were to win, I am sure the AD will milk it for a while but otherwise no big deal.
