Let the Double Speak Continue...
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Regarding Manning and Mickelson this p.m. Five minutes combined? Four?
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Greene, Svi and Oubre on the floor together? Now THAT would be an interesting combo…esp. if one of them wields a hot hand.
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I had another thought … Self wants to “manufacture” points. Whatever happened to posting up a perimeter guy? Self has brought that up in the past, thinking out loud. That’s a pretty standard way to take capitalize on MUAs. But again, he went all last season with Wiggins on the roster and didn’t post him up once.
On Manning, Self said he’s “emergency” only. Heck, Self couldn’t put Manning in last week – remember his statement: “But when we’re playing well, don’t sub; playing badly you can’t put him in that situation." So he talked himself out of playing Manning just that easily.
“Emergency” is really foul trouble or injury. The good news is that Mason has the lowest foul rate per minute of the 10 players that have played substantial minutes.
In the kusports.com article today, I was glad to see Svi’s name now mentioned in the PG discussion. For my money, I’d rather give Svi the minutes that might otherwise go to Evan Manning just to see.
The issue is always ball handling – that’s where we’re deficient w/o Mason or Graham. I have no idea how Manning would stack up in a high pressure game, or if he could deliver the ball under pressure. Last season, Selden struggled with both. Don’t know how Svi stacks up in that situation yet, either.
I asked @Jesse-Newell yesterday about Svi, and he said Self had said that Svi is thinking too much now, and thus putting him in the PG spot might not be the best move. At some point, though, he will stop thinking too much. And if Graham’s out for the season, I think Svi’s the best option.
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@drgnslayr HA! Thats hilarious!
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@jaybate-1.0 Perry shot the trey pretty good last year. Granted it was in a small sample size. But I think Perry’s numbers from 3 will get better. I can feel it.
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I will put it this way.
We need Perry to be a 40% trey dinger so badly that I am joining a Jewish Temple, a Catholic parish, and a Baptist Church with a pond, so that I can pray for it on Saturday morning, go to mass Saturday night, and get dunked Sunday morning in hopes of persuading the almighty to give The Designer a triple blessing.
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“Maybe sometimes Self talks about practice (where the team spends a lot more time than games), whereas we think he’s only talking about games?”
Never thought of it that way… creative perspective!
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@HighEliteMajor Last season it was the red pill - blue pill post. Now the spoon. Morpheus? Neo? One half of the Wachowski brothers?
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@jaybate-1.0 said:
I always remember the big red head some years ago that also was getting his architecture degree. What an awesome person he appeared to be!!!
Matt Kleinman
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@icthawkfan316 This is my opportunity … you got me on the “your” - “you’re” thing a few weeks ago — do you mean Kleinmann? Ball’s in your court.
The spoon thing just seemed to fit as Self’s comments twist us in all directions, yet we have no idea what he really means most of the time; and perhaps neither does he.
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@icthawkfan316 Kleinmann is my favorite walk on. I got the feeling (thanks to some good pieces on kusports) that his practice contributions pretending to be the upcoming opposing big were critical to our championship run.
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A 7 foot red head guy, who obviously makes a strong visual impression, named “small man”.
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@jaybate-1.0 HA! I fully agree Jaybate. Especially if we want to sweep Texas and/or Iowa State this year. We need Perry’s trey gun. Would you accept 38%, 37.5%? Maybe you should also consider joining a Buddhist or Hindu temple to cover all the spiritual bases.
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@HighEliteMajor Exactly. Now that I had my wish of starting Alexander granted I will now move all of my wishes over to the PG spot. That wish is that Manning never sees the floor. When you have Svi and Selden who are future NBA guards as options for taking the ball up the floor when Mason is out it is a no brainer. PG is the very last position on the court where you can afford to have a walk on. I don’t buy the “coaches son” or “he’s looked great in practice” stuff. Remember what UNC looked like without a PG in 2012? No way we beat that team if they are fully stacked. Roy should have probably just played Harrison Barnes at PG and gambled with that. Instead they played their Evan Manning type and came up short.
God I love that we always beat Roy’s UNC teams. What a win for us even with their starting PG out.
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@joeloveshawks When making wishes for the PG spot, my first and foremost wish is that Graham makes a full & speedy recovery.
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I would love to see Mickelson get some playing time. I think he can knock down the jumper from the free throw line, rebound and block a few shots. I think he is capable of running up and down the court. I think we have enough guards, we need to give the big man a chance and see what he can do. If Hunter can rebound, get up and down the court and block/alter shots I’m sold. Being able to knock down the free throw line jumper would be a plus.
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@HighEliteMajor Drat! Caught on a proper name. Oh the humanity!
And yeah, the spoon thing fits. I was just wondering if maybe you watch the games in digital rain looking code.
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Last year Ellis had the team’s highest 3-pt shooting percentage at 0.471. Granted he did not have a lot of attempts but when he did, he shot well; he has hit some clutch 3s this year and I would think his current percentage will only go up.
The game has not yet slowed down for Svi and hence the thinking too much comment. He seems to have high basketball IQ and in time he will get used to the speed of the American game. As far as his 3-pt percentage, yes, he does have a good technique and form and seems to get in good position to take the shots but the shots are really not falling. If you look at his record prior to KU, his 3-pt shooting has been wildly inconsistent and probably averages to 0.300, not necessarily bad but I would not consider him a 3 point shooter, at least not in the same class as Greene or Frankamp that have a proven prior record. It is possible and maybe even likely that in the future his 3-pt shooting will improve but at this time, I would not rely on it.
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@icthawkfan316 Absolutely. I should have included that!
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@KansasComet Got your wish KC!
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@KansasComet — changing his handle to, @KansasProphet.
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And talking about treys, let’s not forget our two big 3pt assassins who shot an amazing 100% in their four years at KU
“I wanted to shoot one. I think the fans wanted me to. I got a lot of Tweets from fans about shooting a three. My friends back home said, ‘Go ahead and shoot it. You’ll make it,’’’ said Withey, who swished a straight-on three with 5:18 left in the first half of Monday’s 79-42 rout of Texas Tech.
He flashed a three-point sign to the fans after hitting the bucket that gave KU a commanding 32-12 lead.
“I knew it was going in. I was ready,” Withey said of being prepared to celebrate. “Before the game, Elijah (Johnson) said he’d get me open to shoot one. I asked him, ‘How should I celebrate?’ It was brought up that’s the way I should do it,” Withey added.
“He had no choice,” Johnson said of Withey trying a three. “I told him that I was going to drag his man, and as soon as he bit I pitched it back to him. As soon as I turned around I saw Jeff celebrating already.”
Withey can’t wait to joke about his three with a former KU big man, also known for hitting the only three-point try of his career on his own Senior Night. Zany Scot Pollard, who like Withey is from California, hit a three in the Jayhawks’ Senior Night victory over Kansas State on Feb. 22, 1997, in Allen.
“I heard Scot bragging about that. Not any more,” Withey said with a smile. “I might have to go for the all-time percentage record,” Withey added. “Me and Scot are tied at 100 percent. If I go 2-for-2, I beat him.”
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@approxinfinity I think Mickelson can be a difference maker. Thanks! I appreciated the way Hunter ran the floor, rebounded, and even hit a short jumper. I guess I did get my wish, wow!
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@HighEliteMajor Many thanks. Looks like Self is using all the weapons he has available. I don’t know how you shrink this group to 8 players, just too much talent, which is never a bad thing. I think we have enough talent that when a player or two are struggling, it’s “next man up” without a major drop off in talent. I guess we are at least 10 deep as well?
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Coach Self has indicated several time in the past that he normally likes to have a rotation of 7 or 8 players; he is not the only coach that feels this way, I have heard other coaches state the same thing. However, earlier this year Coach Self indicated that because of the available talent, he might extend the rotation to 9 or 10 players. Looks like he is doing just that.
