Difference Maker
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Who will be the difference maker for KU this year?
I know who I’m thinking about…
BTW: consider Diallo cleared and in your consideration.
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I think it’s Wayne.
I think being at the three open his game up to drive a little more and not have the pressure on him of ball handling as much.
If Diallo clears I think he takes even more pressure off Wayne and frees him up more and can even help Wayne’s assist game.
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Wow, there are lots of choices here.
I guess the first question is, what’s the “difference” you mean? Winning the Conference again won’t be “different”. I’m guessing you mean “'who will get us over the hump in the postseason?”
To me, that means the guy who won’t let us lose.
Frank Mason.
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Perry, then Frank and Selden.
You can make anyone seem THE guy by playing through him.
But to me who you play through is situational game to game. It’s driven by MUA each game. A great talent can make the situational choice the same every game.
The difference maker is the saddle guy. He is the guy the team is schemed around.
Brandon Rush was the difference maker in 08 even with the knee and all the great players. He was the hub. He was so central that Self did not change the scheme when he was rehabbing. He just plugged another player in the role and waited for Brandon, so the team would be ready to plug him in.
The difference maker is not just the guy with the biggest MUA one one one, but he is the guy who, if you scheme the team around him, he creates the greatest advantage for the whole team.
He is he guy that when you play with him as a cornerstone he is most likely to create the most advantage over his man AND his team over opponents.
Put great talent in support of a difference maker and you’ve got a potential champion.
I don’t know if Perry is good enough to be enough of a difference maker to win a ring, but…
He’s the guy…unless someone super novas.
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Difference Maker - SELF
All of our players are going to contribute - how far we go depends on how true Self is to self.
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I would go with Wayne.
He’s going to have to prove this summer was no fluke. If he’s aggressive, all the time & making shots at a higher clip he’s going to be the biggest impact. I’m hoping he can shoot 70% from the charity stripe because if he’s being aggressive he’s going to get fouled a lot. Having him off the ball is going to help this team tremendously.
Svi & Diallo were my other choices. Svi is important because he’s good enough to be a starter but looks like he will be our 1st guard off the bench. Diallo, well we all know the situation…& I’ve gotten accustomed to believing he won’t be playing so I didn’t pick him.
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Svi
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After reading HEM for the last 4 years, I might be wrong, I’m not sure , but I think some of his implications point to this man.
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@wrwlumpy wouldn’t that be something!
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Good topic … I would say that for Kansas to compete for the national title, we need marginal improvement from Ellis and Mason. We need marked improvement from Graham. And we need significant improvement from Svi, Selden and Mickelson. All from a production standpoint.
But I think the most important player is Bragg when considering a potential difference maker. He’s the difference maker from a talent standpoint. For KU to make a leap, we’ll need him to be a force by January.
I’m assuming Diallo is ineligible.
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You’re exactly right about #31 being the difference- And I am going now to spell out why using a series of carefully prepared power points, JamPom statistics, probability tables, astronomical solar wind charts, and basketball actuarial data compiled over the last 20 years…
Oh crap… I don’t have the time for all of this (wife is screaming for me to go out and shoot a possum for dinner - she hates to miss her TV stories and cook late) so I’ll just say in my heart you are (hopefully ) right Who knows ?
Cletus
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No one is picking Greene? Must be the new singlet, that rose tinted shirt…
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I agree with @HighEliteMajor. The man to watch is Carlton Bragg. Bragg has the highest upside on either end, and his play could really change the ceiling for KU. He can score and defend, and could be a part of either small or big lineups. I think that makes him a huge difference maker.
The other potential guy is Brannen Greene. If he is consistently an elite three point shooter, he probably opens things up in ways that no one else on this team can. Just the ability to knock down a couple (or 4 or 5) threes in a game changes everything.
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I’ve got Wayne as my difference maker… for a few reasons.
First reason… when he is ON, I don’t see us losing to anyone. Why? Because we usually get fairly consistent results from most of our starters then add in a hot Wayne and we become almost unbeatable.
Second reason… Wayne is a difference maker because we know he can go hot or cold and the difference between his hot and cold can be drastic. Above… I said “difference maker” and that doesn’t always mean the guy that most influences the wins… also the losses!
I can see players like BG being a difference maker of a game or two when he gets hot. But for a season, I don’t see him making that big of impact.
If Wayne can play at the level he played at WUG and show some consistency doing it, we stand a great chance of a deep run in March!
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I get it Bragg is the shiny new car that hasn’t been driven yet. No flaws, no scratches… He’s an immense talent & with Self’s comments about him not being here all 4 years would seem to cement that he’s going to be very good…In Time.
If he’s an intricate part of the rotation by January then his impact will probably one of the biggest story-lines. It’ just hard to see him getting the minutes to really impact the team, the way we might project.
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Actually i was thinking what if it was Greene too… ? Playing enough D to keep himself in the game, Getting crazy fearless and dropping trey-bombs in huge points of games
(can’t WAIT for season to start yikes!)Logic says Mason or Wayne… Although i wouldn’t be surprised if Wayne has a few struggling off games. Which will hopefully be more than offset by take-over performances or blazing stretches. Lets hope Hunter’s play translates to the more physical D1 style
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Wouldn’t that be wild?! We soon find that BG has never been at full strength while at KU, and suddenly he is a different player, especially on the defensive end?
So he comes out and starts blazing from trey. Shoots a whopping 54% from trey over time, while snagging 7 rebounds a game and becoming a lock down defender?
When Self signed BG, that was his hopes. I remember him saying that BG would score a lot of points as a Jayhawk and end up in the NBA. He was thinking about THIS Brannen Greene!
