A Tale of Two Games: Harvard Denied the Running Game, Holy Cross Offered It, Self Played Take What They Give Us Both Times
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The essential difference was the tempo.
Harvard just said no to the running game.
Holy Cross gave it to us and we took it.
If Holy Cross had just said no to the running game, the Holy Cross game would have looked much more like the Harvard game, only with better shooting. We would have beaten Holy Cross by 10-15 instead of 33.
Self ALWAYS takes what they give him.
Holy Cross, unlike Harvard, was quite outmatched on the glass by KU, so the Holy Cross coach picked his poison. He could either stop KU from running, or keep guys back and try to stop KU from having such a lopsided rebounding edge. He tried for offensive rebounds, and he tried for defensive rebounds. But KU was just too long, so KU got the rebounds anyway. And it was off to the races.
Harvard had good luck matching up with KU on the glass and so was able to release guys and so keep KU from trying to run.
Only a very few teams over the course of a season decide to risk letting Self’s teams run. They know if they concede the rebounding and release a lot of guys back on defense quickly, Self will slow it down and grind.
Anyone that thinks this blow out of Holy Cross is a defining moment about KU becoming a dedicated running team is kidding himself, or herself.
Few teams will choose to let KU run this season, as Holy Cross did, especially after what became of Holy Cross tonight.
Teams in the Big 12 almost entirely opt to deny the run and let Self grind. Fred tried to run for a few years, but by the end of his tenure and losses to Self, even Fred was deciding it was better to back Self into grind, as happened in the Post Season Tourney last year.
There’s a lot of grind in KU’s future this season, not because Self refuses to run, but because he takes what they give him.
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@jaybate-1.0 I saw five HC players running back on D after single shot. Haven’t seen the 1st half yet at all.
To make this case for me, your going to have to demo what your asserting cause I didn’t see it that way at all.
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@jaybate-1.0 and now I read this:
“I told them, `Don’t go near an offensive rebound. A shot goes up, just get back,” Crusaders coach Bill Carmody said, “and they still beat us back in transition.”
