The Smashing Thrashing of Baylor, or the Great Allen Field House Turkey Shoot
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I have never seen Bill Self rub it in, but he did today.
Usually when an opponent shoots 39% from the field and 27% from trey, Self slows it down, and defends his lead, so as not to humiliate a fellow coach. Self’s preference for not humiliating his colleagues with lopsided victories has been one of Self’s admirable and retro characteristics that have endeared him to many in ever coarsening age of narcissism and preening vulgarity that we as a nation labor through. This he did today.
But when his team also shoots 54% from the field and 58% from trey, and his team is playing great basketball on offense, defense, transition, and even huddling during time outs better than usual, Self usually pulls his starters and first and second rotation guys and turns it into a 80-60 win that helps the opposing coach save face back home.
Not Saturday, January 2, 2016, a date which should live in infamy in Waco, Texas, but which should be savored by KU basketball fans as a day when justice was finally done to an impudent twit named Scott Drew that has unnecessarily disrespected Bill Self for many seasons in hand shake lines after games, and even put it to Coach Self and his Jayhawks, once in a game in a galaxy far, far away.
There have been many memorable lop sided victories in basketball, but to put this smashing thrashing into perspective, one must reach into American military conquests to even begin to do it justice.
KU’s crushing of Baylor was the basketball equivalent of the WWII Battle of the Philippine Sea aka The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, or perhaps even the dreadful massacre called the Highway of Death in the Gulf War.
Brave men like Rico Gathers were beaten senseless, guarded senseless, scored on with impunity, run ragged, and generally treated like pinyatas at a birthday party in Hell.
Baylor walked on the floor actually looking like it had the talent to beat KU.
But Baylor walked off James Naismith Court looking like a bear turned into road kill by an eighteen wheeler and then skinned and packed into Jimmy Dean sausage casings and spit roasted two weeks over Reactor Number 2 in Fukushima, Japan.
I don’t recall a talented basketball team being beaten as badly as KU beat Baylor EVER!
But did Bill Self stop playing his fabulous foursome of Wayne Selden, Perry Ellis, Devonte Graham, and Frank Mason?
Answer: not for a long damn time.
Remember, the final score was 102 to 74.
And it didn’t feel that close.
Look at the PT: Wayne, 34 minutes; Perry, 24 minutes; Devonte, 32 minutes; and Frank, 28 minutes.
Hell, Self doesn’t necessarily play these guys this many minutes in close games!
Oh, well, Perry’s and Frank’s minutes were a little low, but they did have 3 fouls a piece.
Come on, when was the last time Bill hung 102 points on a visitor and played his starters this many minutes?
You can go back to The Big Bang and not find something comparable.
Hell, The Big Bang was probably not that much louder than Allen Field House’s orgy of noise for what Self and KU served up to Scott Drew and his neutered bear cubs.
Think about it.
Casual observers of headlines and the box score will say, well, yes, of course KU won big because it shot 58% from trey and Baylor only shot 29% from trey.
But remember, KU’s last game KU shot 29% from trey and beat a decent UC Irvine team by 25 points.
Baylor shot 29% and got a century hung on it.
KU finished +28.
There was much more going on in this merciless beat down than one team with a hot hand and one team with a cold hand.
One team played what at times appeared a perfect game against a talented team that was simply eviscerated.
Many is the time I have seen a team get shelled like this for a half and walk off the floor shaking their heads not sure how things had gone so wrong.
But I have NEVER seen a team as talented as Baylor come back on the floor and get beheaded twice in one afternoon.
Every time out, it was like Scott was standing there without his head–taken from him by the KU players and Self during play, and being handed back to him by his own demoralized players.
Without putting too fine of a point on it, it was like watching Scipio Africanus march a Roman Legion through baby nursery.
To go on any more about the magnitude of the slaughter of these innocents would be to indulge in gratuitous prurience.
Suffice it to say that as usual C5 handled their post men with 19 Points, 13 Reebs.
Wayne was the blazing star of the game with a shooting hand so hot it literally left a contrail, wherever he went.
Perry had a good, but average for him, outing.
Devonte played one of the greatest games I have seen a KU 2 guard play. He finally grew into the shoes left him by Nic Moore and showed that the role Nic created in the WUGs in Korea is what made that team a champion and can make this one a champion also. I have been harping on Devonte being inefficient all season, but today he was not only efficient, but efficient playing a brilliantly high risk game doing everything for everyone on the team, ranging from taking over the game for stretches, to being Frank’s and Wayne’s Tour de France grade domestique other times. It was an absolutely beautiful game of basketball.
Frank is fast turning into an alchemist before our eyes. He is becoming a kind of Hermes Trismegistus in sneakers. He is thrice great. Frank glides around much of the time almost like an AWACS flying over the frey linking every one without even appearing to be doing much, until a little redirect is needed and then boom he makes one of his incredible plays that he makes look easy, but which one sees no one else doing in D1.
Hunter got lots of raves from others and rightfully so, despite getting fouled up early. He hung 7 points, six rebounds, 3 blocked shots, several alters and lots of good post defense in only 17 minutes due to fouling. Were Hunter to put together 30 to 35 minutes of such play, we might have been watching a day approaching what C5 put on today.
Bragg looked good in his 10 minutes, but Self was very careful to come with him as a first substitute at the 5 against a replacement, who was about as slim as Bragg and a perfect match up for Carlton. Still, Carlton did his job.
Landen saw 11 minutes, less than I expected. He too did his duty, though.
Diallo was productive, but one can score when one takes 4 15-18 foot jump shots outside the flow of the offense in 6 minutes of play. My hunch, and its just a wild guess, is that if Cheick had shot half as much he would have played twice as long. Just a wild guess.
Jamari slipped into his unproductive ways in rebounding and scoring in his 10 minutes, but his hedge defense was seamless, he dished two assists, and got a fine block.
On the Greene and Svi front, Greene got the big 18 minute opportunity, looked very rough, but was productive. Svi looked very smooth, but was not very productive shooting and rebounding. Greene got 3 rebounds and fought hard on defense, which justifies his roughness more than his shooting, given the role he is being asked to fill. And miracle of miracles, BG got an assist. He also didn’t make Self palm his forehead. Svi looked smooth, as I said, and did not make Self palm his forehead. But Svi at the FT line kept him from being knocked out for the rest of the season. Svi managed to score 5 points on FTs in only 4 minutes and 1 FGA. Svi is not out of the competition yet, despite Brannen holding an edge.
The only black lining to all of these silver clouds I can find are the high number of fouls by C5. Hunter had 4, Jamari 4, Lucas 3, Bragg 1, and Diallo 1. That is 12 fouls on C5! What does this reveal? It reveals that big strong bigs with quick feet are one way to take KU into a Free Throw shooting contest on a day when KU is not shooting as astronomically well as KU shot against Baylor. Think about that: 12 fouls out of the 5 position. I reckon C5 could hold Wilt under his average giving 12 fouls!!! Bottom line: you can only give huge numbers of fouls against good teams, when they are shooting poorly and you are hot. Do it on the reverse kind of a night and you are apt to get into problems.
But my did I have to look a long way to find anything negative to say.
Great, great, great exhibition of team basketball at the expense of Scott Drew.
What could be better?
Maybe a week of great sex with a beautiful woman?
Maybe.
Rock Chalk!
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I agree about the fouls, but half of those were silly fouls by Hunter, which he did a much better job of avoiding in the second half, and a couple more silly ones from Jamari, who really struggled in general.
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@jaybate-1.0 I agree with all that you said here, well the words that I could comprehend anyways lol, others ummm not so much, have no idea what some meant lol, but I’m kinda slow. The only other possible negative that I saw was once again Baylor was given multiple opportunities to drive right down the lane in the game, because of not stopping the dribble drive, we have got to do a better job of moving our feet staying in front of players, not getting beat on the drive, BUT that’s getting kinda picky reaching during this game, I posted in another thread, pretty much a complete game, when we play like this we look petty dam scary, when we play like this, I’ll take my chances against anybody in the Nation hands down, and as always ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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@jaybate-1.0 There was definitely something going on between Coach and Drew. I couldn’t help but notice the non-handshake handshake Self had with Drew after the game. It would’ve taken high speed photography to capture the millisecond that shake took.
I love all our guys, but Devonte has been the one player I pull for the most. It is fantastic seeing him take off like this.
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Good news on Greene. NOT his thumb. Got hit on the funny bone hard. Irony?
Don’t think Coach likes the smarmy Drew. Handshakes are where you can see for yourself his reaction to the other coaches. No love lost there at all.
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@jaybate-1.0 Great post as always, and I enjoy a beat down of Scott Drew, but I hope this was not done at the expense of playing some starters too many minutes. Oklahoma looms large on Monday night, and I hope we don;t show up tired.
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@KUSTEVE This is just my own personal opinion, but I think Self takes a fair amount of offense to coaching against someone who really isn’t a coach.
It would be like a real politician debating Donald Trump. (If there were such a thing as a real politician) or me being the starting Quarterback against Cam Newton. You just can’t take those situations seriously…
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@nuleafjhawk I wish i could downvote your post. I wish you’d take your political nonsense elsewhere.
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I don’t know what it is about Scott Drew, but that guy stirs in me what barely remains as a snort in an aging old stumbling bull. I suppose that my animosity hails back to Drew’s AFH pre-game shenanigans several seasons ago, My wife cannot comprehend the level of bitter vetch which I display in ceaseless fashion when Drew’s mug appears on our tv screen. I transform from a gentle old spaniel into a pit bull, teeth bared and snarling. Praise be to the just and mirthful gods that Bill Self was bestowed with a special lift to his loafers as he passed through that post game handshake line last night. My only regret: our lads should have scored 150!
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@REHawk LOL. Love it…
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Dam, I guess I’m going to have to start paying more attention. I didn’t even notice, or pay any if all attention to the hand shakes between the coaches. What am I missing guys? is there a problem going on here? As far as Coach playing the guys to long I don’t really think that’s going to be an issue, I think we will be fine, if anyone it’s going to be Oklahoma with the short turn around late game yesterday, game last night and then having to travel here, they had a war. hope we are ready, should be classic, with the atmosphere, national tv, the new video, it’s gonna be insane ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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“I don’t recall a talented basketball team being beaten as badly as KU beat Baylor EVER!”
Oh come now Mr. Jaybate. You can remember things like famous alchemists, and Scipio Africanus and know words like prurience for goodness sakes, but can’t recall us defeating Marquette in 2003 with 3 future pros, two who are still playing? Remember that game? We were winning 70-30 at one point!! The Carolina beatdown comes to mind in 2008 semis as well.
You did bring out the inadequacies of Scott Drew. He seems to get a deer in the headlights look when things aren’t going too well. One of the most beautiful games I ever watched was UW against Baylor in the 2014 tourney, sweet 16. It was an absolute clinic of how to play against a zone. The pregame noise was UW won’t be able to compete against BU’s length and athleticism. Bo showed how it’s done. And the look on Scott’s face was one of total cluelessness. Just like yesterday.
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@nuleafjhawk " I think Self takes a fair amount of offense to coaching against someone who really isn’t a coach."
PHOF
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Fellow Posters: I have read a few times that Scott Drew is always badmouthing Coach Self on the recruiting trail. Am I mis-remembering posts, or is this generally assumed to be true? If so, how would we/Self know this? Do we hear this from recruits who sign with us who have also been recruited by Baylor, or would Self hear that from other coaches who do not resort to such tactics?
I know that I harbor no animosity toward BU players, but I find myself not liking Drew at all. He gets good talent there, but I think of him as a “roll the ball out there” kind of coach. An AAU coach at the D1 level, if you will. I don’t get the intricacies of the game as most here do, so I may be being a bit simplistic here. If he is badmouthhing Self, that could be the animus. It could also be that Drew has what my son-in-law would call “a punchable face.” Examples that he has provided would include Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
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Scott Drew has as many losses in Allen Fieldhouse as Bill Self does now. If I were Drew I’d be a bit envious as well. (I hope I would be gracious in defeat though)
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@jaybate-1.0 I personally anticipate he (HCBS) displays the same vile intentions for even a more thorough beat down of UK & the Squid when their visit finally ensues…
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@wissoxfan83
I think of Madison.
But I love Lawrence.
I had a mentor in Madison.
But I have my daddy in Lawrence–St. Jimmy.
Bo was a nice, but gooney blind date.
But I married Bill.
I am a basketball monogamist.
He makes the earth move under my feet…
Especially yesterday!
I have graduated from both schools to become lifetime fans of both, but with all due respect, nothing the Badgers have ever done can in basketball compare with my Jaybirds; either overall, or yesterday!
Damn, yesterday was a Mt. Everest moment in how to play the game.
It was all Bill Ball.
He ran a bit of everything he has been assembling.
And the team was shifting seamlessly among all of it.
Quick trigger Trey for lead.
Faint with two possessions of Bad Ball.
Transition.
Defend the lead in the High-Low down to 13.
Quick trigger trey back to 15, then 20.
Perfect, timely matchup substitutions.
Defend the lead.
Passing offense.
Anticipate the rough stuff of Scott trying to cheap shot back into the game with some hard fouls.
Press and steal a possession to encourage despair.
Defend the lead.
One foot on the gas and one on the brake alternating, while the CVT shifts constantly, seamlessly.
It was the sweet fruit of two years of sweat, toil, labor and determination in the Horejsi Laboratory at the Institute for Advanced Basketball Studies in remote Basketball Tibet!! It was the flowering of MULTIPLE OFFENCE 2.0.
Beauty walked the razor’s edge.
It was the Subaru’s quiet, humble, but tenaciously competitive engineering team finally getting the continuously variable transmission to work correctly, after decades of others trying and failing to make the CVT work with elegant efficiency long envisioned in principle!
Bravo to Bill and his staff and players!!!
Naismith, Allen, and Iba were all beaming up in the rafters above the scoreboard.
This was one of those sublime moments in the greatest game ever invented.
It was one small step for a team.
But one giant leap for MULTIPLE OFFENSE 2.0.
Rock Chalk!!!
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@jaybate-1.0 Good stuff. Self put Drew over his knee and spanked his behind.
You said, “What could be better? Maybe a week of great sex with a beautiful woman?”
Funny, last year, you said the same thing I think – but left out the “great” and the “beautiful” parts … but perhaps my memory is flawed ….
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@jaybate-1.0 Your initial post in this thread is likely my favorite out of all the ones I’ve read by you. A fine example of what happens when passion, intelligence and good writing meet. Nice work!
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Xclnt point. Now I have to start wringing my mitts again!!!
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Thx, u r very kind.
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If I were young and in therapy, I could probably put at least one therapist’s kid through college getting to the bottom of my repetition you aptly note!
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@jaybate-1.0 Or maybe your standards have increased???
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No, about sex, I am resolute. There are no bad orgasms. Men and women were put on this earth to sustain, even enhance, genetic diversity. This is as bed rock as the “c” term in E=mc^2.
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There is plenty of anecdotal information on Drew bad mouthing other coaches while recruiting, a huge no-no in the coaching business. While these types of issue are pretty much kept under wraps, former Texas and current Tennessee coach Rick Barnes just about spelled out in a press conference.
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@KUSTEVE You just did downvote it sir!
