Post-game Round-up: KU vs UTEP
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####CJ Online: Ellis helps KU hold off UTEP, 67-63####
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — It was just one play, but to Kansas coach Bill Self, it signified an example of the largest issue facing his KU basketball team.
####KU Sports: Victory in third place doesn’t impress Self####
Paradise Island, Bahamas — A narrow victory over UTEP in the third-place game of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament was no cause for celebration for Kansas University’s basketball players, coaches and fans on Saturday in Imperial Arena in the plush Atlantis resort.
####KU Sports: UTEP used gimmicks out of necessity####
Paradise Island, Bahamas — UTEP men’s basketball coach Tim Floyd busted out some gimmicks Saturday night against Kansas at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
First, it was the stall on offense. Then it was the triangle-and-two zone defense.
####ESPN: No 2. Kansas rebounds to down UTEP in Bahamas####
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Of the six halves Kansas played on its three-game trip to the Bahamas, Jayhawks coach Bill Self thought only one of them was any good.
The other five, he thought, were “crappy.”
#####CJ Online Live Blog#####
#####KU Sports Live Posts#####
####Jesse Newell’s article at CJonline, Self says KU went ‘backwards’ in Bahamas####
“It’s hard to coach execution if you’re worried about energy and effort,” Self said. “Because no matter what you do, if you’re worried about coaching execution when the energy and effort’s not there, it’s never going to look right, because you don’t ever play 100 percent all out.”, Coach Self.
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We need to play White and Greene more because we cant buy a 3…
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Our starters are poor from 3pt range, and our defense sucks right now. Self needs to bring Black and Tharpe off the bench and give Greene, Frankamp, or White more minutes. With no threat of outside shooting we are going to get zoned to death this year. We already knew alot of this before this game but its true.
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The young players showed their inexperience today. By and large the team looked like they were going through the motions but their heart was not there. I believe practice next week is going to be “educational.”
If I were a conspiracy nut I would think that Mason was trying to affect the spread. Three huge boneheaded mistakes at the very end of the game nearly cost KU the game. He has played long enough to know better and the coaching staff kept telling them what to do and what not to do and he did exactly the opposite. On of those things that make you go …hmmm…
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I thought we started the game out with good energy, but then slacked off. Our defense, I think, is starting to come around. White was in for a few minutes, missed a 3 pointer, and then came out. What we don’t know, in these instances, are did he do something else that warranted not playing much…miss and assignment, lose his man? Self seems to prefer Tharpe and Mason in at the same time when Selden or Wiggins takes a break. It was good to see Selden be more aggressive…but 6 turnovers? Yikes.This team will get better, but outside shooting will be a weakness if White , Frankamp, or Greene does not play more.
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Lots of teaching still left to be done.
I like the way we came out of the gate, but then we just slowed down again. We are too athletic to be playing that slow, but I think it’s just some tentativeness on the part of the freshmen and team as a whole.
Glad to see Wayne be more aggressive and make some 3’s but he is going to have to learn to keep control and use his speed and body to get in the lane with a zone and not turn it over. Keep it up Wayne your getting there.
Tharpe and Mason? Mason had a bad game last night, but he has been bringing the swagger we are missing. I just wish he could use his skill at penetrating to dish as well as take a shot. Tharpe needs to step it up! I’m glad he made a couple of 3’s last night, though I’d rather see 2-3 instead of 2-5, but he is a shooter over a driver and teams are daring us to take the open 3. Tharpe is a Junior and the leader of this team, he is the one that needs to light the fire and find a way to help motivate players on the court. I know he is trying…but like I said before he needs to step it up!
Embiid bailed us out last night. Plain and simple.
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@stat-not only do we need a three point shooter, we need one who can get the damn ball off quickly. Brannen Greene is the guy if he can get on the court. Long , long season ahead if we can’t score from the outside. The triangle, and any ‘packed in’ defense is gong to give this team fits for a while.
I’d be curious to see know how many of Wiggins points have come in the paint. Would KenPom have this?
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If you look at our top 5 scorers on ESPN they are Ellis followed by Wiggins, Selden, Embiid, and Mason. Wouldnt it just make sence to start those guys? I remember how dissapointed I was this time last year with Ellis and how he came out swinging in march. Ellis only averaged 13 min a game for the year and these guys are getting more time and more reps on the floor. I am hoping around the first of the year these guys are able to punnish their big 12 foe’s!
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We caught the freshmanitis bug. Look at the symptoms… lethargic play, slow minds, no motion, standard flu-like symptoms…
We can blame it on the flu… but in reality… it was freshmanitis. These guys probably lacked sleep and were distracted and then suddenly had to face a few different wrinkles in the game (including the strange venue)… and they froze like deer in the headlights.
I don’t think the answer will come from changing the starting lineup. The answer is for Self to get these guys to play together as a team. To defend better individually and as a team… and to attack the rim better individually and as a team. I watched 'Nova in that championship game come back and take the crown. If any of you watched the interviews after the game they interviewed that little guard that nailed the loss on us and he went on and on about how he loves his teammates and how they do everything together. Totally different feel than what we have going on.
Let’s face it… all the distractions from sports mag covers to media interviews has shifted the focus away from this team on what it should be; the team! It must be tough for them to focus, especially being so young. The Bahamas trip interrupted the only consistency in their lives; waking up every day on the Kansas campus and going through their daily rituals. It may not sound like a big deal to us… but we aren’t a flock of teenagers being shoved onto the national spotlight.
All I care about is they bring hustle to the game. That Villanova performance made me feel like turning off the TV. They looked a little bit better for UTEP… just had some mental farting down the stretch. Those Mason fouls were largely a joke… phantom fouls. I’m surprised the announcers bagged so hard on Mason for hustling, and didn’t even mention how the refs were dominating the game more than the players. I’ve always hated refs that hyper call the last minute of a game!
BTW: those announcers were horrible. They should do a bit of background study on teams before they get on TV and blurt out horrible comments that are untrue. When they went on and on about KU not having 3-pt shooters on this team I wanted to punch my flatscreen. We just don’t have an offense in place to accommodate our shooters. That’s a big reason why we are throwing up a low % from 3. You only have to look at Frankamp to see that… he’s almost earned his bricklayer’s union card by now! The guy won’t miss if the offense flows and he gets hit in the chest with a pass where he has room and his feet are set.
Frankamp isn’t even a weapon we can use yet until we have a working offense. That should help people understand just how immature our offense is right now. I’m still confident we’ll get it together. The key is to turn off the media buzz. They loved to build up Wiggins before he ever dribbled a ball… and they are loving tearing him down after just a few games because his stats don’t match up to Parker’s or Randle’s. Take it all with a grain of salt… Actually… listen to Marcus Smart’s early words about Wiggins being put on a pedestal without ever dribbling a ball. He didn’t even mean it as an attack on Wiggins… he was just exposing how the media runs off in unrealistic directions.
Life will continue.
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Some random thoughts.
KU might benefit from getting some practice time with the Nike basketballs. It appears to make some difference in the game performance. I don’t remember who of our players commented that they were not used to playing with the Nike basketball after the Wake game. And I found it ironic that Duke uses Nike, and they struggled at the free throw line (57%) in Chicago with the Wilson basketball. And all of KU’s games were using Wilson balls except the most recent 3 games.
I really don’t like the look of the ballroom at Atlantis. The darkened seating area made it look like driving at night with dome light on. It must be terrible for the depth perception. Our guys had the worst field goal shooting at the ballroom of this young season.
I don’t understand why Coach wouldn’t play Greene. And I wonder if Greene will be tough enough to stick through the toughening box, and stay at KU for 4 years. Is it the maturity thing? Off court issues? I keep thinking what that hit&run with the parked car means. But the demeanor on the sideline or on the court doesn’t suggest a Rio Adam or JR Giddens type. He seems to be a nice kid.
What’s wrong with Frankamp’s shot? He was a shooter, but now he can’t make either 3 or 2 pt. Is the Wichita city league that bad? But seriously why doesn’t Greene play ahead of Frankamp? They both have the reputation of being sharp shooters, but Greene is clearly superior physically.
Quote of Coach Self, “To me, when you look as a coach, you should be judged on basically three things: Do they play together and are they unselfish? Do they play extremely hard? And are they tough?” Self said. “And I’d say we went 0-for-3. So that’s frustrating to me when you go 0-for-3.” So where/what is the role of the coach? I get that the teaching happens during practice and the players are supposed to do what they practiced, but I don’t think Coach did much to help the young kids during the games in those three games. Or maybe he proved his point, all the star power won’t win you games or may lose if they don’t play like a team. They were missing some fighting spirit during these three games.
Here is a good site for stats, statsheet.com. And if you want some bragging right material, here is dailyjayhawk.com.
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I’d be curious to see know how many of Wiggins points have come in the paint. Would KenPom have this?
@Blown, 22 of Wiggins’ 35 FGs have come at the rim, according to Hoop-Math.
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@Jesse_Newell Thanks for the effort to bring the KU fans together. And I have a request. Can you start the live chat a little earlier or put up a message saying when the live chat will be open instead of the chat room being full message? Last time, I checked the CJ live chat and it displayed the chat room was full message until the game started. And it was very confusing.
Also I wonder if you can shed some light on the Greene situation being close to the KU team and Coach Self. Why is he in Coach’s doghouse? I just don’t see the reason why he isn’t playing and I thought he was terrific in the first couple of games.
Thank you.
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Stats from statsheet.com through first 7 games
#Andrew Wiggins’ production#
#Wayne Selden’s production#
I think the positive trend should be the more minutes they play, the more points they produce. It is mostly true for Selden with the exception of Nova. But it appears to be the opposite for Wiggins. So does it mean Wiggins is cherry picking rather than putting consistent effort throughout the games?
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Keep in mind that Wiggins and other players had the flu and were not 100%at the tournament.
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Was curious if that joke of a gym where they played might of had an impact on them also. I didn’t like the lighting in that place or how it was set up. I know they have some stuff that was sown as a lot of weaknesses but all off the big names that played 3 days in a row at neutral sites lost over the weekend too.
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Watched the OkState v Memphis. Fran Frascilla was at a loss for words because he couldn’t slobber on and on about M. Smart. Gave every excuse for him but had derogatory things to say about Wiggins production. Made me sick.
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Ladies and gentlemen, parity in College basketball has entered the building. With the influence of the one and done, the days of senior laden dominating teams are gone; on any given day, any team can beat any other team.
