Overcoming 7'6"
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I am probably like a lot of others in here concerning last night’s game. The first half gave me a stomach ache… thinking back to the last few years. Our guys not prepared for a dogfight, more like a cat grooming.
But I did feel better for part of the second half, mostly in the first minutes. Perry and Wayne took over. It was great to see both of these guys awaken from their first half naps. They really need to stop napping during games. Though they did wake up in the second half for a few minutes… enough for us to create the winning gap in the score.
I am amazed at Perry’s offensive tool set. I am amazed at the positive impact Wayne can have on our guys. One or two steals, assists or baskets from Wayne seems to liven up our entire team! This is his team!
I recall many times over the past couple of years where we came out flat and we stayed flat. I’m not saying that won’t happen again, but it is encouraging to see our veteran players step up and right a wrong, all within the 40 minutes of game time.
In as much as the first half gave us a “bad sign” for things to come, the inspired bursts in the second half gave us a “good sign” for possible great things to come in the season ahead!
Perry still hasn’t figured out enough to take it to bigger defenders… but he did show basketball IQ last night by taking what the defense gave him. He is as much a threat from the outside as any of our guys because he can hit that shot consistently and is often given the gift from defenses not wise enough to guard him out there.
Regardless what happens at the C5 this year… this is NOT the same team we had last year! For many, many reasons.
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Great post slayr. Like you, I had a bad feeling about this game in the first - Northern Iowa and Stanfordesque. But even with a terrible first half and below average trey shooting, we still won by 25.
I was very impressed by how Perry attacked in the second half and took it right to big Mommadou and even drew a foul or two on him.
The urgency they had in the second half is how they need to play all the time.
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It says a lot that we can win these games only shooting 29% from trey. This is the real solution to convincing Self that our perimeter shooting isn’t “fool’s gold.” Our trey shooting is nothing more than another tool in our deep tool chest that is quite capable of helping us beat any team in the nation. So if we don’t hit our treys… we have other ways to win!
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We found out that height and weight are not a problem for Lucas. He can guard any size player and out perform him if the player is a tad bit slower than Landon. McKay, Gathers and WVU Goggle Eye are a tad bit faster than Landon. Enter Mickelson, Bragg and Diallo.
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@drgnslayr yes, this is definitely not a one dimensional team.
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What I was wondering about during the first half last night was whether they were performing funerals during the timeouts. My memory is slipping but I can’t recall another game at AFH in which the crowd was so dead. There were a couple of shots of one side of the seats and everyone was sitting there like they were in church.
The students are on break but that was ridiculous,
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@sfbahawk I think that is one of the reason that this particular game without many of the students was why we lost to SDS two years ago right before conference.
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@drgnslayr No they arent the same team. In mind and body, they are different. I seem to recall @jaybate-1.0 mentioning a crucible of some sort and it seems they have come out of it stronger. I really think the team benefited from their over seas trip to Korea last summer. They are fighters and have developed that tougher mentality needed to win games in tough situations. I really think had they played UC Irvine last season that they would have lost the game, or at very least been a much much closer game. Last night, they were clearly bothered by the sheer size of UCI in the first half. Then they got over it and fought hard, took it to them.
Had they shot to their average on 3ptas it would have been a 40 point win.
I think thats a good sign.
I mean if KU can lock down on a much bigger team on a night when their treys arent falling and win the game comfortably, then against the rest of the big 12, they will face similar circumstances and be able to stay focused, not panic and just lock down on defense, grind out a win.
I like this team. They have an orbital ceiling that they havent reached yet.
I hope Coach Self doesnt shorten his rotation, especially the C5. Its working!
Do I think KU will go undefeated in Big 12 play? Not even. But I like our chances very very much to at least share the conference title for our #12th.
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@sfbahawk I was kinda in a weird state just watching it. Strange game!
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@drgnslayr - good discussion. It looks as if Perry should just keep shooting open 3s. He’s got that range. NBA can definitely use him if he can consistently knock it down. He’s not as fluid as Wiggs when it comes to moves around the rim, but he can still find ways to score or get fouled.
@wrwlumpy I was impressed how well Lucas performed that night
- he was able and looked the best out of the other C5 to handle the giant. Diallo and Bragg look a bit struggle maintaining their stances even against shorter players - I’m concerned about this. I wonder if anyone notice that too. They get pushed around easily.
