Basketball Season
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That scrimmage restored my PTSD from last year… we start off totally over-ranked at #1, we have no perimeter shooting, we don’t have enough athleticism (at least, not against Cal), but even worse this year is we have no McCullar on defense. We are going to have to average 80+ points to have a good record this year.
I know it’s even before being early… I said what I said because of my PTSD.
I’m just putting my trust in Self to turn these guys into a competitive team. Isn’t it the fact that we have Self the reason why we get over-ranked early in the year?
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JUAN RECALL:
Here is my take on Juan. At times, he looked horrible in this scrimmage and was played by a freshman, who ate his lunch. Yes… we saw what we saw. So here it comes… all the Juan naysayers.
Juan is not an NBA prospect. Never will be. But he is typically a solid defender and solid point guard. His first job is to be the mechanism for bringing Self’s game out on the floor. We all know, if Self isn’t happy, it is going to show because he’s screaming at someone, making faces and turning bright red himself, and benching someone. He usually doesn’t lose his cool with Juan because Juan is accomplishing his #1 priority.
Here is the Juan everyone wanted… he put up 26 points, and no two other players together matched his total. He is Juan thinking about getting his own points. How do we like that? In this case, he had to score because we had NOWHERE else to go for points! #1 team in the country, no alpha scorers.
Juan is a PG built perfect for a team with 4 other players with offensive skills. When he’s on that team, he will only average around 6 PPG but everyone else will score big. When we have a team like the team we had in the scrimmage, Juan is also lost in space because no one is teaming with him to score.
Actually, I feel a little better about Juan after this scrimmage. Clearly, he has add a bit more physicality to his frame. And it showed up on his own personal offense. I think we will see Juan scoring more this year, I just hope it isn’t because he has to (but I fear this).
The guy I’m more concerned with is KJ. I appreciate his natural athleticism. I had hoped he would develop into a real offensive savant but I’m not seeing it in this game. Some guys develop where they just explode in a year, and I thought we would get that out of KJ but I don’t think so now. A big part of his production should be rebounding. I’ve said this on here every since KJ came to Kansas. Someone needs to sit him in a chair and have him watch Charles Barkley rebound until he gets it. He should be the next Barkley. He should have a personal trainer who knows how to teach this skill because he still doesn’t get it. And from the 10+ rebounds he should easily snatch every game, he should be adding at least 6+ points off his rebounds.
I know I’m in a PTSD moment here… I see we have more depth… will it even be enough to replace McCullar? Who is going to start playing defense? Defense requires hustle, but it also requires skills. Anyone on our staff capable of teaching defense? I’m not just talking about team defense. I’m talking about (what I always talk about) teaching players how to hedge, etc.
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@drgnslayr yeah we don’t have McCullar on defense, but he really didn’t play healthy outside of the first half of the season (and we looked pretty good when he did).
My PTSD from last season is watching games at the end of the season when he didn’t play. It would be nice for the newcomers to get near McCullar’s level of defense, but we really just need them to be better than Timberlake/Furphy.
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@dylans said in Basketball Season:
@jayballer67 during the scrimmage against Arky the announcers called Harris the best point guard in college ball. I’m not sure I 100% agree with that, but he’s definitely solid. We’ll miss him next season, but someone will figure it out and off the team goes again.
I agree with you on that totally bud, Juan IS NOT the best by a stretch, but like said very solid -we be all right, agree
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@drgnslayr I agree with everything you said here. This team isnt going anywhere if Storr and Rylan dont figure it out. But thats on them.
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@approxinfinity said in Basketball Season:
@drgnslayr I agree with everything you said here. This team isnt going anywhere if Storr and Rylan dont figure it out. But thats on them.
Just think Sorr is going to be an issue , gonna be a war between him & Hunter who is or thinks suppose to lead this team. Heard from previous fans that Storr is a Black hle - -15-17 shots per he wants to get his shots - -forced or un forced- -shooting at best time - or not the best - -dunno.
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The takeaways here should be simple:
-Mayo, Coit, and Storr are bad
-The freshmen look like good pieces for the future
That’s it.
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Those comments on Storr aren’t the end of the world, everyone knew that him taking bad shots and playing bad defense wasn’t going to improve the team. This confirms that Self is trying to improve his decision making and holding him accountable. Now its a toss up whether that will work or not, but is better to try and fully actualize his talent.
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Not convinced that any of the transfers are bad. Definitely a work in progress. None of them are complete.
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I wouldn’t be entirely critical of Storr just yet.
He didn’t get a ton of minutes. Maybe that was Self jabbing at him a bit, trying to get him to play in his style.
But, he did seem a bit more motivated toward the end of the game. He showed some flashes. More of that!
I think we all will be frustrated with the defense this year. It will not be great from what we’ve read and watched. Maybe one of those Roy Williams years where it’s a free for all. Except Hunter can’t run!
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I just want the offense to look better than it did. Dajuan was the only guy scoring! Thats crazy.
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@approxinfinity said in Basketball Season:
I just want the offense to look better than it did. Dajuan was the only guy scoring! Thats crazy.
Yep. Total weirdness with Juan scoring.
I’m just gonna assume we had no offensive game plan installed, so he couldn’t set anybody up to score.
Tuesday will tell us a tiny bit more.
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Thankfully it’s still October. Hopefully we look a lot better in March.
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@rockchalkjayhawk said in Basketball Season:
@approxinfinity said in Basketball Season:
I just want the offense to look better than it did. Dajuan was the only guy scoring! Thats crazy.
Yep. Total weirdness with Juan scoring.
I’m just gonna assume we had no offensive game plan installed, so he couldn’t set anybody up to score.
Tuesday will tell us a tiny bit more.
That and missing 3 rotation players (including our best player).
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We usually don’t start the season playing ranked teams on the road in an exhibition but that’s what’s happened the last two years. In both occasions we did not look good and hopefully that’s not a trend to follow. I can imagine some teams during the conference championship streak looked similar to the other day. I hope so, at least. Tommorow is another day to get better
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Matt Tait tweets
Self said he’s got AJ Storr “messed up at the moment” because the newcomer doesn’t quite know yet what be aggressive means for Self and with #KUbball
Self added that he thinks Storr is still thinking a lot instead of reacting…
Self on Zeke Mayo: I think we have to get more production out of him than we had the other night & he has to put himself in position to be more aggressive.
“I think the other day he kind of played cautious.”
——- Anyone notice a 20 year trend? Guys come here and play tentatively. Self needs someone to have the cojones to ask him the tough questions on why this is. We aren’t talking some 1-2 year trend this is years of this……
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@kuballin10 good thing Malik and Remy magically threw off the shackles of Bills voodoo curse when it counted in the tourney huh? Frank and Graham were able to develop from marginal D-1 prospects to first team All Americans in spite of Self. Its a miracle!
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@approxinfinity Mason not being given the keys killed me for that Wiggins team….
Literally barely played frankamp which hammers his confidence only to play him against Stanford a ton
Bill has always struggled with lineups and effectively building everyone up not just “his guys”
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Frankamp was also just really bad at playing basketball
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I’d guess I watched more of Storr than anyone here last year. Everything you guys are saying is true. He’s an enigma, but I’m not going to let one exhibition game where we were missing guys say he’s a bust. He starred in a game knocking off Purdue last year, you know 2nd best team in the country. He can play with the big boys. I also remember it took him a few games to get into the swing with the Badgers. I don’t really watch defense individually. I can’t tell you about defensive lapses except that people complained about it. I never liked his carelessness with the ball and at times became turnover prone.
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@FarmerJayhawk And yet after playing tharpe all year instead of developing a freshman - Bill was resorted to conner because tharpe was that bad
Complete coaching blunder and not utilizing the season to develop guys in game
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To add insult to injury - philon as a frosh looks like a stud
17 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists against Memphis tonight
Starting alongside Sears
Bill gets to ride with his guys yet again this season to yet another round of 32 or sweet 16 loss
Crazy to think at a premier D1 school the coach has favorites so much he will never recruit over them (kj and d2)
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@kuballin10 yeah weird how Tharpe was better than Frank all year and Bill played him. I loved Frank from the jump but he needed time to develop. Props for moving the goalposts through, hope you didn’t strain your shoulder.
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I think we’ll see better from Storr as we go but he’s definitely in Self’s toughening box right now. I have to ask, why did Self go after Storr if the fit was going to be a work in progress. I can imagine KU spent a pretty penny on his NIL deal and are counting on him to be a major factor for this team. There does seem to be a good bit of risk here but as you mentioned he’s got big game ability in him with proven production.
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@BeddieKU23 the fit was always weird. A guy who is a ball stopper that doesn’t play D coming to a school that moves the rock and is expected to play D.
I think he figures it out but it’s kind of Like Malik Newman where it may take some time.
Always the possibility Griffen knocks him out of the starting lineup as well. And the Storr comes in as a “2nd unit” type of guy and that fits him better.
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@kuballin10 said in Basketball Season:
To add insult to injury - philon as a frosh looks like a stud
17 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists against Memphis tonight
Starting alongside Sears
Bill gets to ride with his guys yet again this season to yet another round of 32 or sweet 16 loss
Crazy to think at a premier D1 school the coach has favorites so much he will never recruit over them (kj and d2)
Nobody would have thought the 20-21 team would develop into the ‘22 team. Also the offseason haul of guys this year was pretty insane. A bit early for this take.
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The Juan D2 thing is the dumbest thing I’ve read on this board
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@Kcmatt7 said in Basketball Season:
@BeddieKU23 the fit was always weird. A guy who is a ball stopper that doesn’t play D coming to a school that moves the rock and is expected to play D.
I think he figures it out but it’s kind of Like Malik Newman where it may take some time.
Always the possibility Griffen knocks him out of the starting lineup as well. And the Storr comes in as a “2nd unit” type of guy and that fits him better.
If Storr is a bench player, that’s a miss from all involved. As one of the “premiere players” that entered the portal with proven scoring production in the Big-10, I fail to see how this isn’t a miss if that’s the direction it goes. I’m hopeful for the opposite but it’s not like we have a perfect hit rate with transfers either, just look at last year. If Storr was your top transfer player and you paid a lot for him, you better get your money’s worth in a sense.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he follows a Malik or Remy situation. The end result with both was positive.
Griffen was IMO the one I had the most confidence in transitioning to a significant role. 3 and D type guy, perhaps spread the floor more playing the 4 if possible next to Hunter. I think he’s a starter and I’d play him over KJ personally but that’s another subject matter…
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@FarmerJayhawk You and Self don’t get it.
Yes, in October and November Tharpe was better and could run things having been in the system for more time.
Come March it was a complete blunder as time beared out he wasn’t good. Had Self played Mason through the mistakes and trials…by March we’d been a better team.
Mason was ready just needed a leash
Labaron is ready just needed a leash and opportunity
Mahomes was ready year 1 just needed the opportunity
Coach is very short sighted with development and doesn’t grasp practice vs game performance differences
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@Kcmatt7 Remy happened
Big Dave in March happened
Braun and Ochai became nba wings along with Jalen - which is what carried us. 3 nba level guys on that squad which we don’t have today.
Bringing up Philon - I don’t need to see anymore. He’s better than Juan and Moore. 6-4 with 6-7 wingspan and a legit nba prospect. Yeah let’s stick with the 7th best pg in the big 12 who can’t stay in front of his man.
Whether it’s Self, his system or what. Spencer wouldn’t have had as good of a year here as he did uconn and Labaron wouldn’t be performing the way he is here like he is at bama. The reason is because how strict Self is with running his system.
He killed Storr’s confidence and many many others.
He needs to balance letting guys come in and play their way aggressively and slowly meld it to fit what he wants so by January it works.
Instead he tries to break them of every bad habit from the tip and neuters them. This has happened for two decades here with countless players. Wish he’d mature in his thought process.
If you’ve taught any sport the ability to retain confidence while tweaking the player is crucial. With the portal we don’t have 2-3 seasons to tear a player down and rebuild him
Self retired after this year or next - book it
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@BShark sorry mo st level is more accurate
I know you agree with me on Self letting guys play a bit more and have a leash
He gives leashes to people who don’t elevate the team but then hammers the guys who could
Juan is a high floor low ceiling guy - u know what u get
Storr - complete opposite
To let guys like Storr ingrain quickly you have to let them play through the crap
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@BeddieKU23 said in Basketball Season:
@Kcmatt7 said in Basketball Season:
@BeddieKU23 the fit was always weird. A guy who is a ball stopper that doesn’t play D coming to a school that moves the rock and is expected to play D.
I think he figures it out but it’s kind of Like Malik Newman where it may take some time.
Always the possibility Griffen knocks him out of the starting lineup as well. And the Storr comes in as a “2nd unit” type of guy and that fits him better.
If Storr is a bench player, that’s a miss from all involved. As one of the “premiere players” that entered the portal with proven scoring production in the Big-10, I fail to see how this isn’t a miss if that’s the direction it goes. I’m hopeful for the opposite but it’s not like we have a perfect hit rate with transfers either, just look at last year. If Storr was your top transfer player and you paid a lot for him, you better get our money’s worth in a sense.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he follows a Malik or Remy situation. The end result with both was positive.
Griffen was IMO the one I had the most confidence in transitioning to a significant role. 3 and D type guy, perhaps spread the floor more playing the 4 if possible next to Hunter. I think he’s a starter and I’d play him over KJ personally but that’s another subject matter…
It wouldn’t be a great look that’s for sure. That said I’ve heard it likely won’t go as far south as the Remy situation in part because Storr can not afford for it to. At least Bill acknowledged that he’s screwed him up a bit, hopefully it gets resolved.
Interestingly Torvik projected around 12ppg for Storr. At first I laughed it off but if the team is balanced I think that largely makes sense. Last year at Wisconsin he had the same kind of volume/load that Kevin did at Kansas, with similar efficiency. So if KU is better and he buys in, he may end up around 10-12 ppg.
I’m looking forward to seeing Rylan and Shak tonight. Last I had heard we were trending towards Rylan being the primary back-up 4, in addition to other roles.
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I do get that Philon flipped almost entirely due to geography but don’t let that ruin the narrative
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I think Self remembers the pieces to winning in 22. A big who you could throw it in to and get a bucket, a point guard who could distribute the ball and initiate offense, hit an open jumper if dared to, and three wings who could shoot, slash, and rebound.
Those pieces are all possibly there, but will all depend on how they develop and commit to the pieces where they may not be strong. KJ is a bit of an oddball here in that for what it’s worth to me, watching him play is so much fun because of the way he plays. He does have limitations though that impact the overall cohesiveness and effectiveness of the team on both ends. He called the 21 team unathletic and then brought them all back and somehow they played more to their athleticism.
Defense will be this teams “athleticism.” Can this team learn to guard at the level necessary to win a championship? He’s now had significant pieces of this team get beat on the pick n roll for about 3 straight games dating back to last season, so hopefully he has their attention. Traditionally, Bill has been best at teaching guys to defend. I’ve heard over and over again on this board and others that he just needs to get guys who can shoot/score and then teach them to defend. Welp, we will see if that plan is actually viable.
Side note: What would @kuballin10 be saying if Juan didn’t score 26 in the Arkansas game? Lol.
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@kuballin10 said in Basketball Season:
@Kcmatt7 Remy happened
Big Dave in March happened
Braun and Ochai became nba wings along with Jalen - which is what carried us. 3 nba level guys on that squad which we don’t have today.
Bringing up Philon - I don’t need to see anymore. He’s better than Juan and Moore. 6-4 with 6-7 wingspan and a legit nba prospect. Yeah let’s stick with the 7th best pg in the big 12 who can’t stay in front of his man.
Whether it’s Self, his system or what. Spencer wouldn’t have had as good of a year here as he did uconn and Labaron wouldn’t be performing the way he is here like he is at bama. The reason is because how strict Self is with running his system.
He killed Storr’s confidence and many many others.
He needs to balance letting guys come in and play their way aggressively and slowly meld it to fit what he wants so by January it works.
Instead he tries to break them of every bad habit from the tip and neuters them. This has happened for two decades here with countless players. Wish he’d mature in his thought process.
If you’ve taught any sport the ability to retain confidence while tweaking the player is crucial. With the portal we don’t have 2-3 seasons to tear a player down and rebuild him
Self retired after this year or next - book it
your fricken nuts. Self isn’t in any way shape or form retiring next Season , if he retires within the next FIVE you will have your Miracle lol
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@FarmerJayhawk This coming from Labaron himself or what……? Or just KU coaches because ultimately he saw he’d sit behind Juan a lot
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@jayballer67 this season or next if DP can’t get it done
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@kuballin10 said in Basketball Season:
@jayballer67 this season or next if DP can’t get it done
Man you really eithre to put the pipe down and slowly back away - -or share, got to be some awesome stuff you smokin
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@benshawks08 Hey Juan scoring 26 and trash talking Arkansas bench down 20 was a sight to behold
He did score just granted once the game was over and Arkansas let off the gas some
I’ll reserve judgment for his scoring until we see the full compliment of players against unc. We don’t have nba wings though so he needs to be a threat otherwise he and kj kill all spacing
I love KJ’s dunks man - just fun to watch and a soft spot for what he’s gone through in life. Self’s stuck with him so the results this season much like last are on coach for his roster decisions
Your remembering of the 2022 title team was quite a bit different than mine. With that pass first pg we got dominated at home by uk….and would have been bounced yet again in the 2nd round had Remy not saved us vs creighton
Juan had 2 incredible defensive plays and the lob to get us going the 2nd half and then sat on the bench for the crucial 8 minute stretch
Juan’s defense that Self thinks is so awesome is due to a minimal sample size against Unc. That’s forever etched in Self’s memory that he can’t see Juan’s lack of lateral movement causes him to not stay in front of his man defensively.
Where Juan excels is off the ball steal passes and tipping them with his long wingspan. He anticipates at an extremely high level when off the ball.
On the ball….completely different story which is just natural due to his d2 athleticism
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@jayballer67 trust me….if he says he’s gonna take us to new heights and proceeds to have 2nd round exit, 2nd or sweet 16 exit and the same next year
He’s going to see the grandkids growing up and be like…I’ve done all I can
Where KU goes after Bill I’m excited to see
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Can’t wait to hear your delightful comments through the ENTIRE SEASON , kuballin10 last year was so fun wit you constantly bringing the logic for every time Dejuan took a step - - -Sooo much fun , looking forward to it. OH wait unless we win, then we won’t hear a peep out of you da, that really sucks
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@kuballin10 said in Basketball Season:
@jayballer67 trust me….if he says he’s gonna take us to new heights and proceeds to have 2nd round exit, 2nd or sweet 16 exit and the same next year
He’s going to see the grandkids growing up and be like…I’ve done all I can
Where KU goes after Bill I’m excited to see
Wherre KU goes after Bill WERE EXCITED TO SEE ROFLMAFO
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@kuballin10 Swain, Bossi, Noel, @BShark, etc etc. It’s very well known his family wanted him closer to home after he went to high school at Link
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@FarmerJayhawk said in Basketball Season:
@kuballin10 Swain, Bossi, Noel, @BShark, etc etc. It’s very well known his family wanted him closer to home after he went to high school at Link
Familiar friends and weed. Only reason he wasn’t already staying home is because the assistant that recruited him to Auburn left so he opened his recruitment back up. Once Alabama had a large exodus of players it was a done deal.
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I almost cannot believe that I am reading posts saying that Self bungled Frank Mason’s development. I would argue that Self’s development of Frank is among the most impressive examples of player development I have ever seen.
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@Jhawk69 said in Basketball Season:
I almost cannot believe that I am reading posts saying that Self bungled Frank Mason’s development. I would argue that Self’s development of Frank is among the most impressive examples of player development I have ever seen.
It really is unbelievable but goes to show how disingenuous some people like to be.
We are talking about a guy that the staff discovered in a back gym who was not a top 100 recruit when he committed. People on the boards were upset that we took him.
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Folks
I didn’t watch the game but still I’m very surprised to hear negative chatter after our first exhibition game. Aren’t we ranked preseason #1.
In my opinion this was perfect outcome for Self to determine what he has to work on in practice to prepare for game situations.
I agree with some comments from Ballin but I believe overall rhetoric is way too strongly negative at least at this time of the year.
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@kuballin10 We don’t have to go off of anyone’s memories. We have the box score. DaJuan played 27 minutes, got three steals, and played a big role in holding UNC’s backcourt to 1-13 from three.
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@kuballin10 said in Basketball Season:
@Kcmatt7 Remy happened
Big Dave in March happened
Braun and Ochai became nba wings along with Jalen - which is what carried us. 3 nba level guys on that squad which we don’t have today.
Bringing up Philon - I don’t need to see anymore. He’s better than Juan and Moore. 6-4 with 6-7 wingspan and a legit nba prospect. Yeah let’s stick with the 7th best pg in the big 12 who can’t stay in front of his man.
Whether it’s Self, his system or what. Spencer wouldn’t have had as good of a year here as he did uconn and Labaron wouldn’t be performing the way he is here like he is at bama. The reason is because how strict Self is with running his system.
He killed Storr’s confidence and many many others.
He needs to balance letting guys come in and play their way aggressively and slowly meld it to fit what he wants so by January it works.
Instead he tries to break them of every bad habit from the tip and neuters them. This has happened for two decades here with countless players. Wish he’d mature in his thought process.
If you’ve taught any sport the ability to retain confidence while tweaking the player is crucial. With the portal we don’t have 2-3 seasons to tear a player down and rebuild him
Self retired after this year or next - book it
Storr has literally not played a minute of meaningful basketball yet in a Jayhawk uniform and we are acting like he hasn’t had a game in double digits headed into conference play… get a grip lol.
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@Jhawk69 Bill stunted his development by having such a tight leash year 1. I’ve reiterated examples that if X player who’s excelled early in another system had come here it wouldn’t have been the same.
Mason was Virginia’s all time leading scorer for high school ball. Undersized yes, but an absolute dog that we stumbled on. Masons late nights in the gym and Self loosening the leash year 2 is what allowed the growth.
