Concerns for Colorado game
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The annual trap road game right before Christmas. Personally I think Self does it on purpose. We can schedule a home game and send the kids to their families but that’s just not the way Bill does things. This has a chance to be an ugly game.
Let’s talk the fallout from the SFA game where Adams & Harris were sick according to Self.
How cliche’ was it for SFA to kill them with the High/Low. Had to be causing a system overload crash in Bill’s hard-drive as he watched them pound it in time and time again.
KU’s offense was probably a ‘C’ effort at best. Ochai missing dunks and open shots. This was also the first game we’ve seen this year where he went quiet for a large stretch. He gets 18 but you wouldn’t think he did. I thought KU did a really poor job attacking their pressure. Seemed like we let SFA dictate where the ball was going. Credit to SFA for making life difficult. I think they played well above their pay grade in this one catching a KU team that kind of took them for granted in the first half.
It’s remarkable after 4 years in the program that David McCormack can take himself out of an entire game with 37 minutes left but that’s what he did. If your an opposing team looking to find the biggest weakness for this KU team look no further then that. It’s a mess.
Then there’s the Remy situation. Makes the big 3 to extend the lead to 6 to win the game. It’s a play that Remy can make every single night. That’s what he does. However Self was very critical of other plays in the game that Remy was apart of and for good reason. The give and take with Remy was on full display. Remy’s defense was an issue Saturday but without him this game might not have ended positively.
Colorado is 9-3 and is in a bit of a rebuild. Beat Montana St in OT, Lost to Southern Illinois, beat Duquesne in OT, barely beat Brown, Stanford & Eastern Washington by under 5 pts. They haven’t exactly blown away teams they are expected to beat.
If I recall correctly the last time we played in Colorado it was a very questionable buzzer beater that got us. I have tried hard to forget that day but that’s what immediately comes to mind. Have we played them since??The altitude will be something they have to manage as well. Colorado is a big team, 3 of their top 5 scorers are post players. Jabari Walker is an inside/out dude, Evan Battey is a wide load that’s added a 3 ball to his arsenal. Potentially they can give us a lot of problems down low again just like SFA did. Colorado also plays slow and plays solid defense which is a staple for them. Kenpom has them #72 on defense, held their last 3 opponents under 60 pts. UCLA and Tennessee scored 73 and 69, Stanford 76 so they can be scored on. #286 in tempo is probably the biggest reason why teams haven’t been able to score on them.
Thoughts?
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We were at the SFAU game and my opinion, uninformed as it is, is that they collapsed 3 players to the defensive middle on every drive or pass to the post. There was simply no way to get the ball to the hoop or out to the shooters. When Dave had it, it took to long to pass back out, with defenders returning to the shooters in time to defend. Lots of grabbing and hacking by SFAU (and lots of foul calls as a result). On offense, SFAU simply bulled their way to the basket - shoulders were lowered and elbows hooked to get clear. KU was simply unprepared for that aggressive style. I’m sure the Hawks will see it again.
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our defense is killing us . It’s not just Dave on the defensive end either the whole dam team sucks. In the end our defense can be our undoing this yr. Ya Dave has been stinking it up for most the year on the offensive end , but we have scorers that can overcome that for the most part - -exp Oachi - - Braun - - Jalen - -others that can help. Our defense is killing us , way to many straight line drives , getting beat off the dribble drive to the hole.
This happens it seems every dam year we have a lot of trouble defending the perimeter . Seems like I dunno teams get a lot of wide open 3’s players almost making have hearted efforts to defend the three. When I heard we are DEAD LAST in the big 12 defensively just thought WTH ? - -Bill has always wanted that tough defensive effort , right now were not defending anybody. Come tourney time we defend or lack of defense is going to cost us & cost us big - like the end of our year big
Tomorrow night will be another night possibly of down low. As much as I like Dave - -people here know this the guy from SFA made him look silly , some of his moves just left Dave & others standing like whaaaa? Bill has always seemed to find ways to take care of things
Will never happen but Bill is to proud to do so but the thought of some zone couldn’t hurt - -just a change of pace , something different. Would help cover some lapses on the defensive end maybe not get exposed as bad down low, might help our guards defend the 3 better. Need to try something w are just getting beat to much to make a serious run
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KU’s defense is last in ppg. Kenpom has them #38 nationally (8th best in Big-12).
The defense isn’t good and it was an issue collectively and individually. Dave was the domino that set the game in another direction when he got 2 early fouls.
Not many are going to go around claiming KU’s defense is good but when the offense doesn’t play to its Top 5 capability everything becomes more noticeable. That wasn’t even close to KU’s best performance on offense and I think that’s what really made it much closer then it should be.
I give credit to SFA’s coach for knowing Self too well and making a defensive scheme that he knew would potentially slow down KU enough to keep them in the game and it worked. They were prepared well and gave KU a lot of issues getting into sets.
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Great points. They really mixed up zone and man pressure well. Seems like they caught Self and the players a bit unprepared.
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I’m concerned for conference play. Today’s poll has five B12 teams in the top 25 -Baylor, Kansas, Iowa St, Texas, Texas Tech. Oklahoma and West Virginia are right outside the the top 25 poll at 26th and 27th, respectively. Oklahoma St is receiving votes. TCU and KState aren’t awful. Conference is insane this season.
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@BeddieKU23 said in Concerns for Colorado game:
KU’s defense is last in ppg. Kenpom has them #38 nationally (8th best in Big-12).
The defense isn’t good and it was an issue collectively and individually. Dave was the domino that set the game in another direction when he got 2 early fouls.
Not many are going to go around claiming KU’s defense is good but when the offense doesn’t play to its Top 5 capability everything becomes more noticeable. That wasn’t even close to KU’s best performance on offense and I think that’s what really made it much closer then it should be.
I give credit to SFA’s coach for knowing Self too well and making a defensive scheme that he knew would potentially slow down KU enough to keep them in the game and it worked. They were prepared well and gave KU a lot of issues getting into sets.
The 2 pt defense if horrific but that’s what you get when you have to rotate Dave and Mitch at the 5.
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@KirkIsMyHinrich said in Concerns for Colorado game:
I’m concerned for conference play. Today’s poll has five B12 teams in the top 25 -Baylor, Kansas, Iowa St, Texas, Texas Tech. Oklahoma and West Virginia are right outside the the top 25 poll at 26th and 27th, respectively. Oklahoma St is receiving votes. TCU and KState aren’t awful. Conference is insane this season.
8 defenses rated in the Top 40 as well. There isn’t really a bottom to the conference so far. I think you can see that TCU, K-ST & Oklahoma St are not tournament teams currently but beating them in their gyms will not be easy by any means either
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@BShark said in Concerns for Colorado game:
@BeddieKU23 said in Concerns for Colorado game:
KU’s defense is last in ppg. Kenpom has them #38 nationally (8th best in Big-12).
The defense isn’t good and it was an issue collectively and individually. Dave was the domino that set the game in another direction when he got 2 early fouls.
Not many are going to go around claiming KU’s defense is good but when the offense doesn’t play to its Top 5 capability everything becomes more noticeable. That wasn’t even close to KU’s best performance on offense and I think that’s what really made it much closer then it should be.
I give credit to SFA’s coach for knowing Self too well and making a defensive scheme that he knew would potentially slow down KU enough to keep them in the game and it worked. They were prepared well and gave KU a lot of issues getting into sets.
The 2 pt defense if horrific but that’s what you get when you have to rotate Dave and Mitch at the 5.
Yeah teams are making 2’s at an alarming rate. Mitch played 26 minutes on Saturday. Most of that was Dave’s fault (getting into early foul trouble) but some of that is on coaching as well. They know the sweet spot for Mitch and they exceeded it by a lot. Didn’t trust Zach after he gave up 1 basket (typical). I think Adams would have been used a lot if he wasn’t sick since athletically he would have rebounded and disrupted shots at the rim.
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@KirkIsMyHinrich said in Concerns for Colorado game:
I’m concerned for conference play. Today’s poll has five B12 teams in the top 25 -Baylor, Kansas, Iowa St, Texas, Texas Tech. Oklahoma and West Virginia are right outside the the top 25 poll at 26th and 27th, respectively. Oklahoma St is receiving votes. TCU and KState aren’t awful. Conference is insane this season.
It’s gonna be a war.- -I know this you best protect home court
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We did better against zone with Jalen.
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Yes… the defense, flat out, sucks at this moment!
All that foot speed… wasted. Guys play totally out of position, they do a very poor job on switches… most of the time we have at least two defenders stuck in “no-man’s land” not guarding anyone. It’s one big mess!
The thing is, none of our playing time guys are freshmen. These guys know better! Self needs to really crack the whip on the lot of them! The head is Remy… He really needs to toughen up his game. Pac12 ball is not Big12 ball. His biggest adjustment isn’t learning Self-ball or a new team… his biggest lost space is his lack of playing Big12 ball, and he’s yet to have that baptism. Soon enough! Colorado may give him half a taste. Just wait until he faces Huggy Bear and his Mountaineers in WV!
I’m a big huge fan of Remy but can’t give him a break on this. He has to bear down and start playing like a Big12 PG.
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@drgnslayr said in Concerns for Colorado game:
Yes… the defense, flat out, sucks at this moment!
All that foot speed… wasted. Guys play totally out of position, they do a very poor job on switches… most of the time we have at least two defenders stuck in “no-man’s land” not guarding anyone. It’s one big mess!
The thing is, none of our playing time guys are freshmen. These guys no better! Self needs to really crack the whip on the lot of them! The head is Remy… He really needs to toughen up his game. Pac12 ball is not Big12 ball. His biggest adjustment isn’t learning Self-ball or a new team… his biggest lost space is his lack of playing Big12 ball, and he’s yet to have that baptism. Soon enough! Colorado may give him half a taste. Just wait until he faces Huggy Bear and his Mountaineers in WV!
I’m a big huge fan of Remy but can’t give him a break on this. He has to bear down and start playing like a Big12 PG.
Agree , true Remy can make some strong plays BUT there is a lot of times he is rally loose with the ball , there are times he tries to make the sweet pass and it gets turned over he does that rather then make the simple pass. - - His defense is HORRIBLE he gets beat constantly, BUT he is NOT alone defensively - we have work to do – lots of work
