Dec 19 Headlines: Tharpe steps up as leader
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####KU Sports: Tharpe steps up as leader since demotion####
Kansas University junior Naadir Tharpe knows why he was stripped of his starting point guard duties during recent nonconference basketball losses at Colorado and Florida.
####Bleacher Report: Georgetown’s keys to upsetting Kansas####
The Georgetown Hoyas head into their Saturday clash with Kansas as a massive underdog, but since college basketball is as unpredictable as a weather forecast during winter, they stand a fighting chance.
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Found this on rustin dodd’s twitter page… Someone pointed out that Milton Doyle is leading Loyola in scoring… Not too shabby!
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/61619/milton-doyle
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Let’s not forget why coach Self started Mason in the first place. And let’s not forget what Mason has brought to this team.
It is always interesting the ebb and flow of the narrative. A few weeks ago, Mason was the “bulldog” and the one player on this team that would take charge. He was the most impressive player. He was nails vs. Duke. He reminded Self of Chalmers – Self’s words.
The only thing that changed was our horrible performance against zone defenses. That had just as much to do with coaching and preparation (particularly in the Villanova and Florida games) as the performance by the players.
And though coach Self says that Tharpe is better vs. zone defense, which appears to be correct, it is important to remember that Tharpe wasn’t a star in Atlantis, at Colorado, or at Florida vs. zones. And Tharpe is not a savior vs. the zone. I recall Tharpe passing the ball to Ellis in the corner, he was immediately trapped; Ellis then barely escaped and got the ball back to Tharpe, who then passed it right back to Ellis, where he was immediately trapped again. I recall Tharpe throwing lazy passes. I recall Tharpe dribbling directly into traps. He’s a junior, Mason a freshman.
Tharpe played well on Saturday vs. UNM. Tharpe may be the better fit for this team in the long run – emphasis on may.
But I don’t want to lose sight of what Mason brought to the table, and what he will bring to the table. Mason was shaky with his three point shooting early, but he was 2 for 3 from three point range vs. Florida and seemed to be finding his range.
Mason’s overall performance vs. Florida was very poor. No doubt. But we were not prepared to handle Florida’s 1-3-1. “We”, meaning the team. And Self is in charge of getting the team prepared. They were not ready. That’s on Self. We can say “young team” or whatever, but this is Self’s baby.
The team was flat out not prepared for the half-court 2-2-1 and 1-2-1-1 vs. Villanova. Heck, we came directly out of a timeout vs. Villanova and Selden dribbled right over half court into a trap (after we had just been trapped doing the same thing moments before). We didn’t have guys flashing to the proper spots. We didn’t attack at all. That’s lack of preparation. Then we were probably worse a few games later vs. Florida’s half court trap.
I guess my main points are that 1) Mason is still the player we thought he was – let’s not forget that with the sudden change in the narrative, 2) Tharpe didn’t play appreciably better vs the zone than Mason did prior to UNM, and 3) our struggles vs. the zone have had as much to do with preparation and coaching, as with performance.
And is it too far fetched to think that as the season progresses, and Mason cleans up some of the concerns Self might have with his play, that Mason reassumes the starting role? I don’t.
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Good article… especially this part:
“The games we were losing … I put a lot of that on me.”
If Tharpe is going to lead, the first thing he has to do is realize and verbalize that he is responsible for the results of this team, win or lose. This is the first step in becoming a leader. And it will help him lead these guys because now he can walk into a practice or out on the court of a game and he can demand performance from his players… because Tharpe will be held accountable for the outcome. And if any of these guys don’t like it, then they can stand up before a microphone and take responsibility first.
So Tharpe has now made step #1. Step #2 means he has to walk the walk. He has to lead this team. If he puts this all into a proper healthy perspective it won’t be so much about his own confidence moving forward. That will only complicate matters. Moving forward, this is about Tharpe standing up for his responsibilities and then being held accountable. This is like pulling one of your children off the railroad tracks before the engine arrives. You don’t do it based on confidence… you do it because you know you have to. If Tharpe can make this connection, he’ll play with more consistency and a lot less stress and over-thinking. All the greats find this connection. It helps them brush off a few bad nights and bounce right back to consistency… because it is what they have to do.
This entire team is laying down on the tracks… Tharpe needs to visualize himself rescuing this team, and know what is behind it. That’s the connection that will carry him and this team to glory moving forward.
Get it done, Tharpe!
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LeBron James Gets in Mario Chalmers’ Face During Timeout (From Bleacher Report)
[link text](link url)http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1894512-lebron-james-gets-in-mario-chalmers-face-during-timeout?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=kansas-jayhawks-basketball
Members of the Miami Heat lost their cool on Wednesday night in a game against the Indiana Pacers. LeBron James and Mario Chalmers had to be separated during a timeout.
However, James took responsibility for the spat and was spotted telling Chalmers that it was his bad:
UPDATE: Thursday, December 19, 10:30 a.m. ET
James and Chalmers took to Twitter after the game to say things were all good between the two:
–End of Update–
This is usually a group that seems to have a lot of fun on and off the court, but James exploded off the bench at Chalmers. It happened during a big game, so emotions were already running high.
