ISU Wrap: The Four Out/One In Magic
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Wax on, wax off…wax on, wax off…remember how Mr. Miyagi taught Daniel-san not only about the basics of Karate but also about personal balance?
I believe Coach Self has taken his time teaching his team not only the basics of all the different styles of offense and defense but more importantly, has allowed them to find out for themselves what he they do best and what they don’t, and now the team is putting all the pieces together and playing to its strengths and the competition weaknesses.
KU has now put together 3 really good games (UT, KSU and ISU), and one (TCU) that perhaps they were hoping they could use to rest players and became closer than it needed to be. KU is now in firm control of the conference and players are headed towards their anticipated potentials. There is no question that all the rotation players are playing considerably better now than they were 10-15 games earlier.
Mason is starting to show signs of fatigue and I am sure Coach Self wishes he could give him some additional rest, but as well as Davonte has played, he is not quite ready to take over the position for extended periods of time and he is still at his best when playing with Mason. Also, opposing defenses are a lot more aware of Mason’s scoring capabilities and are planning accordingly, something he did not see in the earlier part of the season when Ellis was the one constantly being double teamed. The tough conference competition should help not only KU but all conference teams in the post season.
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Apology to Landon Lucas;
Mr, Lucas a few games back I mentioned that I never saw worse hands in my life. I was agitated at the time but felt like a replay of the tape would justify my comments. Well in the games since I’ve noticed those hands are working just fine. Sorry about that hasty judgement!
Seriously though, Landon may not be the stud super talented big man but talk about somebody that with very limited floor experience is coming in and giving valuable minutes. His D is improving, he’s drawing fouls, spacing the floor nicely, and when given the chance scoring. His improvement is largely overshadowed by others and he still has a ways to go to be a rotation player. But it is sure nice to see we have someone that won’t hurt the team when the situation call for it. Particularly when like last night Cliff just seemed out of sorts and Jamari had periods of time he could not get out of his own way.
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@jaybate-1.0 I’ve noticed the last 3 games, BG doesn’t like to get roughed up, more than anyone else in the team.
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@icthawkfan316 when both teams went out at half, they all looked really tired. I thought the 2nd half frank was much stronger, finished those 3 free throws, as opposed to TCU game, when he was really tired, and was short. They all need to spend some extra time on throws!!
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@Jyhwk_InTigrtwn I agree! Lucas plays hard, got some key boards. I have a hard time w/McKay!
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Good discussion everyone.
I was glad to see Self make the adjustment of having guys get back on defense to stop ISU when they try to run. Kind of a novel idea, I suppose.
And once again, Self has them start out in the stagnant inside-out, but eventually switches to outside-in. As we have discussed before, playing outside-in is the only way they have a chance at a final four and challenging UK.
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That image you posted of Cliff and the fellow with the radiating braids is amazing. I would vote it an award winner. Was it taken by you, or a professional? If you took it, perhaps you should become a professional, if you’re not. If a professional took it other than you, you should probably ask @approxinfinity, or @bskeet about how to handle attributions of images like that, to ensure copyright compliance. Just a thought. @wrwlumpy might also know the rules, since he posts so many images. Regardless, its a remarkable image. Rock Chalk!
@drgnslayr, that too is a striking image of MLK? Any idea where that was was taken? I don’t recall it.
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@jaybate-1.0 saw it on twitter, I’m not a professional!!
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“Apology to Landon Lucas”
Landen may not be a super stud 5-star recruit… but he has height and he has pretty good fundamentals. Of our bigs, he is the only one that really knows how to set up in the low post. I wish he had stronger low post finishes… but… he is still improving his game.
He is a bit inconsistent… but he is an option off the bench, and in some games he is our BEST option! Since he does know how set up in the low post, in certain match ups he can dominate in the low paint. That isn’t going to be in every game…
Part of his inconsistency is on defense. Sometimes I think that is the rust from not getting enough real game action. He is our best post player at sealing off the boards, too.
He is definitely an important part of our depth!
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Really nice win for the good guys. Very glad to see Wayne get untracked offensively. We’re simply a better team than the Clones, and we should’ve won in Ames. I am predicting OU beats the Hillbillies tonight, leaving us 2 games ahead in the standings, with the biggest trap game of the year in Stillwater ( Eskimo Joes ) on Saturday.Hope the guys don’t read the press clippings …we have half a season left. RCJHGKU.
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OU better win…Pomeroy still has them ranked as the top Big 12 team and ahead of KU. I just don’t get how he can justify this ranking when they lost 4 of 5 conference games in January including a head to head with KU, and since then, they have won only against bottom feeders TTU and OSU and stand 5-4 and tied for 4th place with KSU and 3 full games behind KU in the conference standings.
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There looms another serious factor in the Svi Saga. Military turmoil at home. His family might be comfortable with his staying in the USA for an extended spell, perhaps even a 3rd year in Lawrence if his stardom is late arriving and NBA draft boards appear not to guarantee early professional security with First Round selection. As previously posted on this thread, he is currently caught in a numbers game with more experienced players who have proved more advanced mastery at various skillsets important to Bill Self Hoops. Obviously, Svi is a powderkeg awaiting the sizzling fuse. I hope he stays with the program. However, like Wiggins, his talent and potential might be better designed to fit NBA Basketball.
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@JayHawkFanToo Real good point about Devonte. I saw some freshmen mistakes this last game i haven’t seen from Devonte, so not sure he is 100% ready to run the team w/o Frank just yet. He’s close, but still has a ways to go. Of course, one could say Wayne looked like a high school sophomore the first part of the game- I was cussing him, praising him, cussing him, and then the praises took over with every shot. I wonder if Wayne is related to Tyshawn.
A thought struck me watching the team last night - we’re going to have Frank, Devonte, Wayne, Perry, Jamari, Cliff!??, Landen, Svi, Hunter??? and the 2016 national player of the year ( Mr Greene ) BACK next year. Add in Bragg, and another big or two, and we’re stronger than horseradish …WITH experience. So, we’re a OAD team with loads of rugged veterans at every position. National championship either this year, or next year…OR BOTH YEARS.
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@JayHawkFanToo Go back and listen to Kenwrong’s interview with Jesse- Kenwrong is an old bullshitter, a used car salesman stuck in college basketball, selling his weird science hocus pocus to all gullible enough to buy in. I’ve heard better pitches from door to door vacuum cleaner salesmen.
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I think the problem with Kenpom’s rankings are they are purely statistical. And always with statistics there are outliers. From what I have read from Jesse and Kenpom, he never claims his system is perfect. I don’t think he believes that Oklahoma is currently the best team in the Big 12. His rankings focus mostly on Points per Possession. So if you have a lot of blow outs those will have a great effect on those statistics. OU has a few against some bottom feeders which KU didn’t stomp. There is definitely some weird mumbo jumbo in there especially with the idea that close games come down to “luck.” But mostly I find Kenpom to be a database of statistics arranged in a way that people can access them to learn more about their team or someone else’s. Jesse has been pretty on target with his score predictions this year basing most of the information on stats from Kenpom. I have read enough Jesse to have a pretty good inclination that he is not a stupid guy. The stats are to be used and analyzed, not taken as truths about who is best.
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The problem with Pomeroy rankings is that they do not reflect reality well. All computer models use basically the same information with their own unique twists in an attempt to create a model that closely reflects/predicts reality…this is the ultimate test of any model. When a reasonably unbiased person looks at the results and thinks…this does not look right…then the model is flawed. This is not to say that all computer models are good or bad, simply that some are better at predicting the perception of the general population.
In this regard Pomeroy is not that different than snobish movie critics that tell us a movie is a “masterpiece” when most viewers think is garbage; of course they claim that viewers lack the “sophistication and culture” to appreciate it, but we know that if looks like a turd, smells like turd and floats like turd…it is a turd, and no review is going to change that. Pomeroy uses his own snobish approach to tell us we really do not understand his genius and we are not smart enough to understand what he is doing.
There are a number of computer models and by and large they all have somewhat similar results; however, Pomeroy’s model seems to be at odds with most of the other models. If you take an average of all the models, Pomeroy would be considered an outlier.
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Bill Self deserves major credit. Once again proving why he is the right coach for this job. He has done a masterful job with this year’s group.
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@HighEliteMajor I was fooled the first 9 min of the game. It really looked like outside in to me cuz they had sets with 4out 1 in. I am still learning the multifacets of the game. It was great to watch though! I also noted in my post that the 16 turnovers didnt even register to me! 3 point shooting was killer and our drive and kickouts were making that happen. Great game. I dvrd it for future use
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@Lulufulu Wasn’t able to reply yesterday. For the first 9 minutes plus, they were in their standard high-low. Watch how the top guy, most of the time Traylor, would go out top and screen, and many times to the wing for a screen. Ellis was in that spot too. The “high” does a lot of screening. In the ISU game, lots of the screening was on the ball. The high will also slide down to the opposite low block many times on a post feed. From the high spot, Ellis can get three point looks. in possession 6, Ellis was high, kicked out and got a three from the high post.
This is much different than what we saw after Traylor left with two fouls at 10:19. Ellis came in, 4 in, 1 out.
I have mentioned how our base high-low offense is adaptable to a three point game. It’s as simple as focusing screens away from the ball, or setting digging your perimeter game in a little tighter so ball screens can create looks near the three point line.
But back to the regular offense.
In the possessions 4, 9 and 11, the high (Traylor in 4; Ellis in 9 and 11), the high goes to screen the wing. In each instance this is setting up a little two man game. The low post moves to the opposite block. In possession 4, Selden dumps to Traylor and Traylor commits a charge. In possession 9, Ellis screens for Mason, who shoots and misses. In 11, Ellis screens for Selden who drives and turns it over. These possessions show some of our classic high-low attack.
In the first 9 minutes, we had 9 points. Two of those points were Oubre’s dunk in the second possession on a run out, and two points were on an inbounds play to Oubre in the third possession. We scored two baskets from our our offense in 9 minutes.The standard offense failed miserably.
The best moment was at 11:55. Cliff high, Ellis low. Ball far side wing feeds Ellis on the block. He spins and guys collapse on him. He dishes to Cliff for an easy lay in. On possession 14, Ellis had a nice runner for a basket. That was it from the offense.
This is a great game to keep on the DVR because you can really see and contrast both attacks. From an effectiveness standpoint, there is no comparison.
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@Kubie Landen. Not like Lando Calrisian.
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@HighEliteMajor IMO Self is playing cat n mouse with opposing defenses maybe like has been referenced by jb & others as rope a dope. He’s far less inclined to do it on D, but is possibly making adjustments to get in the heads of opponents. Clearly the hi lo barely works this year but it can limit possessions. Face it, Bill hasn’t achieved all his success with rocks in his head. I think he’s making the right adjustments at the right times this year-something he did not seem to do in March the last 2 years. So far, so good as his team seems to respond well when he calls an uptempo 4 & 1. Teams that give me jitters are the ones with players names ending in"ski" Kaminski, Tarczewski, don’t recall the kid from Gonzaga, but you follow my drift. Teams with major height…like UK. JMO
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Along the same train of thought-imagine how tuff UT could be if they could use Turner & Ridley & Holmes how Norm & Self would school those guys? What a waste of a OAD if in fact he is. JMO
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@HighEliteMajor Thanks! Im definitely going to watch that game again anyways and now I’ll have a bit more to focus on.
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@globaljaybird
I think there is a lot going on here. I do think Self played rope a dope with ISU. The OU game was a big wakeup on how this young team can flip flop.
Self wants consistency.
He’d rather have two good halves, than a great half and a bad half. I think we need to keep that idea in our heads. The OU game was a disaster, and we are very very fortunate to have won that game.
Self knows how hard it is to force momentum on to his guys. It is easier to throttle them back and let them release energy gradually (consistently) over having them come out amped, then run low and in trouble, then refocus to finish strong. Granted, the last way builds character, but Self isn’t interested in building character in AFH. Self is interested in protecting home turf. Now on the road is a different story (concerning character)… but for a team this young, you don’t want to bite off too much character building in one game. It’s best to control what he can control. The character building will come through the season regardless.
