Substitutions Anyone?
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Soooooo happy we won!!!
And LL & JT played okay I guess.
But why did Brannen, Mick and Bragg get buried on the bench 2nd half and OT’s?
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@VailHawk Probably defensive reasons, except for Mickelson - not sure about him. Even though Brennan has improved his defense a lot, OU is too good to take any chances, which is probably his reasoning.
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@VailHawk I thought the same thing and posted as such on another thread. I was wondering if a fresh set of legs would have been able to stand out with a court full of exhausted guys on both sides.
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Mick couldn’t catch the ball and had two rebounds taken away from him by Spangler. People were tired in the second half, but this was more of a muscle game underneath. Lucas might be slow but he became as fast as the rest when they were tired and he wasn’t.
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@wrwlumpy I had already forgotten about them taking the ball from him, good pt!
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Greene fell down a couple of times. And Svi didn’t intimidate on defense nor create much on offense.
It’s nice to have depth. I like that we ran an injured Spangler into the ground. As soon as he’s tired and swollen, we let him bang with Lucas.
Anyway, horribly officiated game. I wonder if it’s punishment for some of the friendly home whistles we got early in the season.
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@wrwlumpy I have been thinking about that a bit and I think Self went with the best players and ones that would not make silly mistakes. Anyone wonder why Carlton wasn’t playing more? Self puts him in either in the second half or first OT, and he fumbles a pass out of bounds. Even if he is fresh, you CAN NOT afford stupid errors like that.
More important were transition defense and perimeter defense. Other than those two things I’d say it was a pretty well played game. They definitely have matured and were tough to overcome a double digit deficit. At times it reminded me of the San Diego St game a few years ago when they lost the lead and couldn’t take the lead back. But last night, when OU and Hield were on a roll, they overcame some poor first and much of the second half play, made solid defensive plays and really attacked, something that was missing the last two years.
That trip to Korea has really improved this team and has made them into a title contender.
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Self did bring in Greene for Graham on the final possession of the first OT. Clearly it was as a decoy as Self wanted Selden taking the final shot, but a stagger screen to get a fresh legged Greene an open look probably would’ve been the best option in that situation. As tired and ineffective as Isaiah Cousins was that game, I think a fresh legged Greene could’ve handled that assignment and given Graham and Selden a breather.
Lucas was the right player in that situation because KU needed rebounding more than anything else from the 5 spot because Spangler and Latten were killing KU on the glass in the second half. I think we also saw that the C5 will be a C2 or C1 in crunch time and will be the hot hand and/or biggest need will be the one playing.
We also saw that despite Bragg and Diallo having the highest ceilings of the C5, their current ability levels are not above the upper classmen yet. Diallo is just lost out there whenever he’s on the floor and is currently a net negative as he doesn’t pass and regularly pucks up two quick fouls when he’s in. I hope for Diallo’s sake that he comes back next year because he will be an NBA washout if he goes now. Bragg is improving, but he’s still not physical enough to play in the paint and his mist effective role going forward should be spelling Ellis for a few minutes at a time. Cite whatever stats anyone wants to, but basketball is played on basketball courts and not on paper. There basketball games say KU is flat out a better team right now with Mickelson, Traylor, and Lucas anchoring the middle.
A popular debate here has become does KU win if Bragg and Diallo play over whoever among the upperclassmen bigs played that given night. So, does anybody think KU wins last night with Bragg and Diallo playing over Lucas down the stretch and the OT periods?
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@Texas-Hawk-10 no I think it would be really hard for them to win with just Bragg and Diallo.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I just can’t agree w/BG going in to D up anybody-yesterday. He was looking so much better before yesterday.
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This theme has been bantered about on all the different posts today. I think that we had a good thing going and coach didn’t want to break it up with multiple substitutions. I’ve told kids in games before I’ve coached that I’m not putting them in because we’re playing so well, I don’t want to break it up. I could be way wrong, but it’s what I saw.
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lucas and Jamari understand better how to play consistent d, box out, shift well off picks and reconize switches, and know better when to leave their man and help out right now than Bragg and Chieck. Those skills were more important in last night’s game apparently according to Self (and i agree completely).
obviously HCBS felt Lucas’s weight and strength were needed last night, and he must have seen something that made hivm keep Hunter on the bench. I’ve watched the game twice now and still not entirely sure why hunter was not used more.
But of course there are some on this site who feel that not playing Bragg and Cheick enough at this point in the season A) will come to theoretically hurt KU in march, and
discourage Future OAD and TAD’s from signing with kansas because of lack of freshman playing time.
I for one have no interest in OAD’s wanting to come here unless they are a perfect fit for what we need and are so talented and mature enough to contribute big time towards a NC run. Let Roy and Cal have em all.
Also, we seem to be doing pretty well right now with our upperclassmen. And yes, winning games like this are what good coaches do. You find a way to win with your expereinced guys.We just won perhaps the greatest regular season game at AFH. Awesome to behold!! (That would have been a good game to see live dontcha think? "Grandkids, gather round so i can you a story of a certain night i happend to part of… ")
Alas, it is the nature of sport sites like this to inevitably have posters who will ceaselessly find the negatives, or continue to hammer away at their percieved viewpoints. Whether they are right or wrong is ultimately besides the point . It’s just in their nature. Actually I’m kinda starting to feel sorry for them … Life is short.
" one day a scorpion was trying to get across a stream but knew we would drown because he could’t swim. He spied a frog and asked if he could hitch a ride on the frog’s back across the stream. The frog said, if i let you, you will sting me because you are a scorpion. The scorpion said, no, if i did that then you would die and i would drown, and i dont want to die, so i promise i wont. The frog considered this and agreed to let the scorpion climb on his back and started swimming to the other side. Halfway across, the scorpion stung the frog, and as they both sank beneath the surface the frog cried out “why did you do that???!” “I cant hep it” the scorpion gurgled …" It’s in my nature"
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I would sure like to know what Coach Self “saw” or “thought”. Personally, I don’t buy it. I think he choked and played it “safe” which actually put the game at more risk than if he’d kept all the horses pulling. Instead, he cut the “team” down and slowed our game down to the same “horse power” as our opponent.
While it was an incredible game, I personally, don’t think it needed to go to 3 OT’s. Self gambled that OU’s horses would falter before ours did. Home court won it. (Not at all to diminish what the players did-it was incredible). Players made shots, but I can’t give any credit to coaching. I thought our Offense scheme-wise became flat as 2nd half progressed.
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@Bwag Totally agree. I was actually pissed by the 2nd overtime that self hadn’t substituted.
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@BigBad me too. My daughter, who stayed up to watch doesn’t like passionate discussion, wanted me to “calm down”. My wife agreed but was also asking if we saw any personnel changes.
