Post WV game thoughts
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I mentioned this earlier, but I think the key difference is that most of Dave’s points came in the flow of the game. We weren’t constantly trying to feed the post. I haven’t gone back and watched the game, but based on the play-by-play, just 2 or 3 of his buckets were post feeds - including the first score of the game. The rest were put backs after an offensive rebounds, interior passes from our guys penetrating, a transition dunk, and one wide open jumper. That’s when Dave is most effective on the offensive end. He is simply an inefficient back to the basket post player. At best, a 50% scorer, who commits too many TOs when trying to score after a feed + the TOs that come with poor entry passes. But, he can be very effective when he is not the primary scoring option. Frees him up to face the basket and go after offensive rebounds.
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Come on now, we’ve seen Dave have good games before and he always follows it up with out-of-sync efforts. I like Dave. When he comes to play, KU is much, much better. But, he isn’t on every game. Let’s get use to it. When Dave’s off, we need a third scorer besides Ochai and Christian. Jalen or Dajuan come on down.
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I think a lot Dave’s success yesterday was all about matchups. West Virginia played a mostly traditionally sized lineup. That meant Dave didn’t have five smalls picking at him the entire game. IMO he felt more comfortable.
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@rockchalkjayhawk he looked more comfortable, wasn’t all robotic acting.
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@stoptheflop said in Post WV game thoughts:
Come on now, we’ve seen Dave have good games before and he always follows it up with out-of-sync efforts. I like Dave. When he comes to play, KU is much, much better. But, he isn’t on every game. Let’s get use to it. When Dave’s off, we need a third scorer besides Ochai and Christian. Jalen or Dajuan come on down.
The point being made is that even when he wasn’t scoring he was still by far our best post player because of defense.
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@tis4tim Dave’s play is impacted by his confidence. When gets it going yesterday’s a great example. When he fumbles the ball he is trying to move before he has caught the ball like a fb receiver. He knows how to have a positive impact and sometimes he pulls it off. I don’t see him regressing.
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Did anyone else leave yesterday’s game with a boosted level of appreciation for Dajuan’s play?
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@BShark said in Post WV game thoughts:
The point being made is that even when he wasn’t scoring he was still by far our best post player because of defense.
And even when he isn’t playing well, his mere presence changes how the other team plays offense. “KU is better with McCormack on the floor.”
Even when he is fumbling around and looking like a doofus, our team is better with him in the game.
“The numbers were already screaming that McCormack was the clear choice to take over starters’ minutes at the 5 spot, even if he can be maddening to watch at times.”
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I still hope Remy recovers and finds a way to help this team. I do think what we showed yesterday was that we have enough skilled players on this team to mold into whatever we need to be. Joseph was huge! KJ brought more energy, too!
What really made the difference for us in this game was our defense. We put more pressure on the ball and it translated into stops and more offense.
I still think we have another gear we are capable of. That next gear makes us a title contender!
We have the pieces to win this whole thing. We also have the pieces to fall flat on our faces. It’s up to this team to step up and bring high energy to games! We actually looked like we were having fun in that second half!
I hope we build on this instead of going back to nap status.
GO HAWKS!
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Yesufu had an extra gear yesterday and made smart plays with the ball. Liked his energy and finding ways to do other things even if the ball didn’t go in the hoop.
Dave looked healthy and motivated. Nothing was sped up. He used his size well creating angles and had active hands on a ton of rebounds. He played like a top 10 big in the country yesterday. We know that’s not going to happen every game or even every week but we certainly do need him to play like that more often then once or twice like we have seen so far. Whatever he did to play like that needs to be bottled up.
Same goes for Jalen Wilson. I have never seen the kid play better. It wasn’t just making shots he changed a good portion of this game with his passing, rebounding and pushing the ball relentlessly. You even saw him defending at a better level then usual. He really looked like he was finally playing for the team and not just trying to force plays to catch up to speed. He has had 2 big games since getting a chance to play a lot of minutes. Seems like coming off the bench for him is not ideal to getting him to play well. Jalen plays like this and this team starts to play to its potential.
Great 2nd half, the best half of basketball for this group at both ends. I was very impressed. Im not going to overreact since we have 2 road games looming but hopefully that win was some serious momentum
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@BeddieKU23 “Nothing was sped up.” Perfect take.
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4 games into the Big-12 war here’s some thoughts on guys trending up, trending down or staying consistent.
Agbaji: Staying consistently good to really good.
16 games in and Och is averaging 20.6ppg. Who would have thought we’d have a 20pt scorer with the depth this squad had on paper? Shooting nearly 53% from the field and 47% from 3 he leads the Big-12 in scoring and is certainly a 1st team Big-12 player, the likely POY in the league and has a real chance at 1st team All-American, if not POY. After some up and down games Agbaji was really good in a pair of home wins this past week. We’ll see what he’s got for this week. He’s been terrific.
Braun: Staying consistently good
CB’s made a big leap this year and is the 2nd leading scorer. Recently his shooting numbers have taken a bit of a dive (down 10% in FG% recently) & only 11ppg in conference play so far. We’ve seen CB dominate in stretches over multiple games already this season so this might just be a bit of a lull as defenses have adjusted to him some. While he struggled mightily in the first half against West Virginia he had some nasty plays like the no-look pass or the big block that was called a phantom foul. CB had 5 official blocks on Saturday, he has more blocks this season (22) then he had combined in his first two years so that’s been an underrated element to his game. He’s extremely important to this lineup and I think another peak in his scoring is coming soon.
McCormack: Trending up in conference play
Big Dave, what is there to say about Davith’. In 2 conference games he scored 36 points and grabbed 30 rebounds. The other 2 conference games he scored 5 points and 10 boards, came off the bench and sat a majority of another. Non-Conference play he was mostly inconsistent and sometimes unplayable and not enjoyable to watch. However the Dave that gets 19 & 15 in conference games is the Dave we know can exist. He’s trending up because Saturday he finally looked comfortable and healthy. Tuesday he gets a rematch with the mountain-man Groves from the first round of the NCAA tourney last year. I hope we see the “trending up version of Dave”.
Wilson: Trending up since entering the starting lineup
Losing Remy Martin with a knee injury has been difficult for KU but the bright spot to that development has been Jalen Wilson finding his groove reentering the starting lineup. He flat out had his best game in a Jayhawk Uniform Saturday filling the stat sheet to 23 pts, 8 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals and a partridge in a pear tree. Jalen has hit double figures twice in 4 conference games. He kept the Hawks in the bad loss at Tech and then was the catalyst I thought Saturday on a lot of fronts Saturday. Hopefully this Jalen is here to stay. We are all here for it.
Martin: Trending down and concerning.
A knee injury has kept Remy out of the lineup for the past two games however the rumor mill has stirred the pot that there’s more then just an injury going on in Lawrence. Who knows what’s true and what’s not but even Self got heated in his post-game interview about it. Regardless this team could use a healthy Remy, physically and mentally. KU’s PG situation has looked a bit leaky without him, although we saw positive minutes from Yesufu off the bench (who had missed the previous game himself). Self doubled and tripled down today that’s he’s day to day with a bone bruise and hopes he’ll be playing Tuesday night. Perhaps we’ll have closure to this situation and we’ll see Remy out there playing. Will be interesting to see how Self handles that because Wilson is playing better starting. Never a dull moment.
Dajuan Harris: Trending up
Juan got the game winner Tuesday which was a great individual play to bail out a wild ending to that game last week. Followed it up with a solid 6 pt 5 assist game on Saturday. He’s been mostly consistent throughout the season handling the ball, getting the ball moving on offense and playing pesky defense. We know his limitations on offense but we’ve never had to question his effort & he’s all about the team.
Coleman-Lands: Consistent bench piece
We know what JCL can do best which is shoot the rock. Bailed the team out on New Years day when he scored 20pts. He’s averaged 5ppg in conference play off the bench and seems to fill his role well as veteran guard. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has 1-2 more games this season where he helps lead them to victory.
Lightfoot- Consistent Mitch but trending down in conference play
Look Mitch has had some bright moments this year as the backup 5. We know what he gives us off the bench and we also clearly know what he can’t do. He hasn’t looked great of late especially if Dave has a good game, you can see the drop off. He’s blocked 7 shots so far in conference play which is 1 shy of his total from non-con play. He’s shown improvement making baskets around the rim shooting 61% on the year which is a career best. He’s been a much more reliable option when he gets position in the paint. Mitch tends to plays well when KU plays smaller frontcourts and that’s been a theme most of his career.
Yesufu- Incomplete but trending up after Saturday
Hasn’t really had a chance to make an impact so far this season. He’s struggled at times but Saturday was a bright spot for him after missing Tuesday’s game with an ankle injury. 4 assists, no points but had lots of energy and had a burst of speed our other guards do not have. Particularly liked after a bad turnover how he sprinted down the court to disrupt a layup, displaying hustle that will please his coach. He had a few impressive passes Saturday so he’s definitely trying to fit in. Has struggled to score the ball as his numbers indicate and that’s mostly due to sporadic playing time. Feel like he’s one you gotta keep putting out there to work out the kinks because his athleticism and speed are there.
KJ Adams- Trending up
Recently got his first start of the year & that is the only game so far where he’s logged more then 10 minutes. Tools are there & he’s rarely looked out of place even for a freshman. Moves the ball well, goes after everything with max effort. Good kid.
Pettiford: Trending down but due to injury/covid circumstances
Unfortunate for this young man that an injury & covid has stunted his development this season. His two games since returning haven’t been great by any means but he’s been put in a tough spot and just needs to get his sea legs back. Hopefully in a few weeks he’ll be a dependable rotation guard again.
Clemence: Trending down due to injury
Dealing with a toe injury has only played in 1 conference game so far this season which wasn’t his best game either. The future is bright for him but he’s just buried on the depth chart this year to get any serious minutes. Physical development as well as understanding how to play defense at this level is going to go a long way for him next year.
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@BeddieKU23 good work! I like that most are considered trending up. After seeing what happened to top teams this weekend I feel fortunate we escaped unscathed.
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Last week was a pivotal week and it was a good time to go 2-0 while holding serve at home. I’m really hoping we can leave this week 2-0 again and maybe create some early separation in the conference standings. We owe our former hawk Bryce Thompson a nice thank you
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@BeddieKU23 Great analysis. I see 6 starters and 6 bench players on the list. When all 6 starters are healthy, who will be on the bench to start the game? Yes Bill, we know, starting doesn’t matter. But it does to some.
All the bench players are also important pieces the rest of the season, depending on the game. I don’t remember having that many players in one season that seemed critical, and arguably should be part of the rotation. It will be fun to see how it all plays out.
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Looked at the rankings and while 7 isn’t bad I think we might be higher. One spot behind is Wisconsin. For a team picked 9 or 10 in the league to be 8 in the whole dang country is pretty remarkable. Arizona is a fraud and will be exposed. Our matchups with Baylor will be epic and hopefully we win the season series with them when we beat them in the NC
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@BeddieKU23 I concur. The WV game made me feel much better.
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@BeddieKU23 I love your post. In reference to Remy, a supposed “insider” started a rumor about Remy leaving. This person also proclaimed a few months ago we were going to the B10, so he doesn’t let facts get in the way of a good story. I think this episode will galvanize Remy, galvanize the team, and I expect a great effort tomorrow night.
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@BeddieKU23 solid post! I think it’s also important to not Harris has done a great job taking care of the ball while distributing and playmaking. I think I saw his assist to turnover ratio is tops in the big 12. Or at least was?
Self also noted that Bobby is just being out in a horrible spot. I thought that was an interesting sentiment from him. He clearly loves the dude and he must not be fully recovered for self to say something like that.
With Mitch I think it’s odd that he’s often regarded as a decent post defender by commentators and common observers because he’s rarely out of position but when he’s in according to some numbers, I think Newell reported, our team defense is NOT good at all. Love the kid (excuse me man) but I am finally on the play Dave 25 minutes and split the rest between Adam’s, 5 guards, and use Mitch sparingly less than 10 a game unless foul trouble.
Also love what another poster said about having 6 starters. It IS a problem, but a good problem to have.
Really hoping yesefu builds on and is given the opportunity to build on that wvu game. He’s a game changer with his speed and showed some nice work both defensively and pushing the pace of the game with his foot speed and his vision looking ahead after turnovers and long rebounds.
This team needs to play fast. If they can escape the grind in any game they are likely to blow it open.
Still interested to see if self has any more wrinkles up his sleeve for some of the big games. We’ve seen mostly standard offensive sets and only a handful of pizazz from the coaching box I feel like. Is the team not ready to execute, are practices more focused on the defense, or is some stuff being saved for when he thinks he will need it?
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@wissox Arizona is always a fraud.
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We need some Andy Reid wrinkles! Dude has a bunch!
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Oh no, fran tmrw!
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I think the Remy chatter is 100% nonsense! Let’s let this kid do his thing… get healthy… come back… and kick some ass! He has such a great energy… so needed by this team. Hard to say exactly how he will fit in, especially if he is out for long… but he will find a way to contribute and it will be well needed!
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@benshawks08 said in Post WV game thoughts:
@BeddieKU23 solid post! I think it’s also important to not Harris has done a great job taking care of the ball while distributing and playmaking. I think I saw his assist to turnover ratio is tops in the big 12. Or at least was?
Self also noted that Bobby is just being out in a horrible spot. I thought that was an interesting sentiment from him. He clearly loves the dude and he must not be fully recovered for self to say something like that.
With Mitch I think it’s odd that he’s often regarded as a decent post defender by commentators and common observers because he’s rarely out of position but when he’s in according to some numbers, I think Newell reported, our team defense is NOT good at all. Love the kid (excuse me man) but I am finally on the play Dave 25 minutes and split the rest between Adam’s, 5 guards, and use Mitch sparingly less than 10 a game unless foul trouble.
Also love what another poster said about having 6 starters. It IS a problem, but a good problem to have.
Really hoping yesefu builds on and is given the opportunity to build on that wvu game. He’s a game changer with his speed and showed some nice work both defensively and pushing the pace of the game with his foot speed and his vision looking ahead after turnovers and long rebounds.
This team needs to play fast. If they can escape the grind in any game they are likely to blow it open.
Still interested to see if self has any more wrinkles up his sleeve for some of the big games. We’ve seen mostly standard offensive sets and only a handful of pizazz from the coaching box I feel like. Is the team not ready to execute, are practices more focused on the defense, or is some stuff being saved for when he thinks he will need it?
At this point Juan has a 3.9 to 1.4 assist to turnover ratio has 62 assists to 23 turnovers and has 23 steals to go along with it.- – - - Christan is our next best. Christan has a 3.3 to 1.3 assist to turnover ratio- - has 52 assists to 34 turnovers and has 21 steals to go along -these are our top two guys
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@drgnslayr said in Post WV game thoughts:
I think the Remy chatter is 100% nonsense! Let’s let this kid do his thing… get healthy… come back… and kick some ass! He has such a great energy… so needed by this team. Hard to say exactly how he will fit in, especially if he is out for long… but he will find a way to contribute and it will be well needed!
I’ll say this AGAIN Remy isn’t going anywhee, hearing and reading more and more to the exact opposite - -Remy is staying
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Yeah I have seen the Twitter posts from said insider. No doubt this person does get some information but tends to go without verifying it in other cases before putting it on blast. I’m certainly not naive to think there’s “nothing” going on because otherwise there wouldn’t be something to talk about. Hopefully it was overblown and the issue is more that Self is probably upset about how the information is being put out there since he tends to keep these kinds of things behind closed doors. It’s a situation I hope is just smoke and no fire
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@BeddieKU23 The best one of all was after he crapped the bed over this incident, he comes out and says he “saved the season”…lol. You can’t make this stuff up…
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Good point about Harris as I did not know he was near the top in that statistic but it makes sense because for the most part he has been a really steady hand.
I have my criticism of him as an offensive player and I think when he’s a non scoring threat for 30 minutes in a game it does have a bit of snowball effect if the team around him isn’t producing as we have seen in some games. He usually has one of his better games scoring when KU is up big so it’s something I think has the ability to handcuff this team down the road. However I have seen improvement and development from him and the kid just goes out there and plays and has the same face on 98% of the time. Nothing seems to phase him.
Bobby certainly looks like the mental aspect of the injury may be impacting him. It sounds like he really didn’t have a lot of practice time before being put into the fire again so it makes sense he might be behind again. You could tell with full court pressure that he struggled with that he just needs some time to get back to playing.
Teams go on runs with Mitch in and having rewatched some recent games Mitch gets caught switching on the perimeter and its not pretty. Perhaps the recent uptick in minutes for KJ at the 5 is in regards to some struggles Mitch has had in situations the staff is also seeing
Agree about this team playing fast and pushing pace. They have done a much better job this year doing that. The big-12 just has teams with styles of play that do not typically lead to up and down games. Everyone seems to want to limit possessions and slug it out which from a coaching perspective probably makes sense but from a fan POV it’s not as fun when KU has a team that is best when it’s able to push in transition and get the pace of play to their liking. The counter to that is KU has to force their style on opponents rather then letting teams dictate how the game gets played. So far its been a mixed bag in conf play.
I also agree about the offense. Seems like injuries have prevented this team from practicing the way Self may want them too. I want to see this team focus more on attacking downhill as I think sometimes we just tend to pass it around the perimeter looking for the angles and the defensive rotations. I think our guards can do a better job getting a foot in the lane and reading how the defense responds. We tend to get easier baskets or get open perimeter shots when we get our guards in the paint area. We have seen a lot more wing post ups this season whether it’s och or someone. Recently Self has started running Dave in more pick and roll sets instead of iso block stuff and that’s something I believe can have a positive impact. I wouldn’t be surprised if Self is saving some stuff for Baylor etc so there’s some element of surprise in the film teams get.
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@BeddieKU23 said in Post WV game thoughts:
Good point about Harris as I did not know he was near the top in that statistic but it makes sense because for the most part he has been a really steady hand.
I have my criticism of him as an offensive player and I think when he’s a non scoring threat for 30 minutes in a game it does have a bit of snowball effect if the team around him isn’t producing as we have seen in some games. He usually has one of his better games scoring when KU is up big so it’s something I think has the ability to handcuff this team down the road. However I have seen improvement and development from him and the kid just goes out there and plays and has the same face on 98% of the time. Nothing seems to phase him.
Bobby certainly looks like the mental aspect of the injury may be impacting him. It sounds like he really didn’t have a lot of practice time before being put into the fire again so it makes sense he might be behind again. You could tell with full court pressure that he struggled with that he just needs some time to get back to playing.
Teams go on runs with Mitch in and having rewatched some recent games Mitch gets caught switching on the perimeter and its not pretty. Perhaps the recent uptick in minutes for KJ at the 5 is in regards to some struggles Mitch has had in situations the staff is also seeing
Agree about this team playing fast and pushing pace. They have done a much better job this year doing that. The big-12 just has teams with styles of play that do not typically lead to up and down games. Everyone seems to want to limit possessions and slug it out which from a coaching perspective probably makes sense but from a fan POV it’s not as fun when KU has a team that is best when it’s able to push in transition and get the pace of play to their liking. The counter to that is KU has to force their style on opponents rather then letting teams dictate how the game gets played. So far its been a mixed bag in conf play.
I also agree about the offense. Seems like injuries have prevented this team from practicing the way Self may want them too. I want to see this team focus more on attacking downhill as I think sometimes we just tend to pass it around the perimeter looking for the angles and the defensive rotations. I think our guards can do a better job getting a foot in the lane and reading how the defense responds. We tend to get easier baskets or get open perimeter shots when we get our guards in the paint area. We have seen a lot more wing post ups this season whether it’s och or someone. Recently Self has started running Dave in more pick and roll sets instead of iso block stuff and that’s something I believe can have a positive impact. I wouldn’t be surprised if Self is saving some stuff for Baylor etc so there’s some element of surprise in the film teams get.
I agree with you for sure on tempo and this being a league that it seems teams want limited possessions slow or slower pace and that hurts Ku to a point. KU needs to get out and run cause when they do - - it’s lights out. to back this reasoning up on pace did you know that we have 6 teams that average 72 points or less in a game ? SIX Led by K/State at 68.3 --& followed up by WV at 69.0 However I don’t think it’s the case as much for Huggy that he wants that as they like I think to run to but they can’t shoot worth a dam . Their shooting % Again is only ahead of K/State they shoot 42.9% fg and 31.4 3pt - - they can’t shoot. - - K/State on the other hand seems like they are always a sloth on offense and they shoot 42.8. —. - -The only three that really push tempo is KU - - Baylor - - And Okie State Okie State 3rd in scoring at 76.6
Dave and I’m as big as Dave fan as anybody but been really frustrating this year. We have seen now two glimpses of what Dave IS capable of. When he is like last time out , he is one of the better big’s in the Big 12. I mean you can’t ask for much more then 19 / & 15 - just getting him to do it is the thing. He has this thin a lot of times seems to me anyways he will get good position and gets the ball and it’s almost like he is over thinking to mechanical like ok what’s next. Like you say he is much , much better of pick and roll - but I agree pretty much with what you say spot on
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A reason to keep ball screen offense apart of our offense as much as possible
https://twitter.com/jgtrends/status/1483460420325236744?t=FZMg74MebioelLkof7a-BA&s=19
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@BeddieKU23 that’s absolutely nuts. Who would’ve thought it?
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@BeddieKU23 said in Post WV game thoughts:
Whoa
https://twitter.com/kutweetsandnews/status/1483440131466047490?t=uupgbdbmP4PUSV-OSVfYIw&s=19
Whaaaaa ?
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@Marco said in Post WV game thoughts:
@BeddieKU23 that’s absolutely nuts. Who would’ve thought it?
Very surprising but encouraging
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@BeddieKU23 That’s awesome! Dave’s game with the most offensive rebounds in 19 years (by a KU player) must have pushed him to the top.
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@BeddieKU23 said in Post WV game thoughts:
@Marco said in Post WV game thoughts:
@BeddieKU23 that’s absolutely nuts. Who would’ve thought it?
Very surprising but encouraging
Hey, I’m totally onboard when he plays like Big Dave, Little d not so much.
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Everyone needs to sign this card
I’m very sorry Big Dave, I was wrong! I’m behind you all the way. Please get us a championship!
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I’m looking for news on Remy today but not seeing anything on twitter. I’m guessing he shot around with the team, but couldn’t tell in the pics.
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@BeddieKU23 said in Post WV game thoughts:
Whoa https://twitter.com/kutweetsandnews/status/1483440131466047490?t=uupgbdbmP4PUSV-OSVfYIw&s=19
That is pretty unexpected, but I like it. Dave still has to prove to me that last game was not just an outlier before I’m completely buying in to what he’s selling. He’s got the talent. He just needs to believe in his abilities and tune out any noise that suggests otherwise.
I said the same about Jalen a couple of games ago and he is finally starting to string some good performances together. I can only hope Dave does the same thing beginning tonight.
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@Kcmatt7 The KU hoops twitter account tweeted a short video of the afternoon shoot around and he was in it. Obviously that could mean nothing as well when it comes to dressing out and playing.
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@Crimsonorblue22 said in Post WV game thoughts:
Everyone needs to sign this card
I’m very sorry Big Dave, I was wrong! I’m behind you all the way. Please get us a championship!I’ll let the rest of you sign it… Never lost faith!
