Let's Play Follow The Leader....
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Am I just imagining things? (don’t you hate when people say that. Unless they are totally brain dead, aren’t they imagining something?)
When I break down games this year, I am starting to notice a trend.
And that trend is this team plays “idle ball” (meaning… they just stay close to their opponent’s score).
Then, suddenly, Wayne busts loose for a few buckets. Either out in treysville, or driving the paint.
It is what happens after that where I am seeing the trend.
It seems right after Wayne explodes for a basket or two, Perry then does the same. It seems that Perry is fueling off of Wayne’s contributions.
And from Perry’s response to Wayne, Frank follows Perry, and makes a contribution. This is where we get our 10-point gap.
I am starting to see Devonte as a big closer! I thought he had a very flat game yesterday, but put his big boy pants on down the stretch to make an important basket off the drive and also contribute many FTs. We could sure use him contributing more in the other 38-minutes of the game, but at least he may come through when it counts most, down the stretch.
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@drgnslayr Very interesting premise. It made me think of cause-effect type stuff. Other team hits a couple of buckets. KU team makes adjustment, or gets red-faced Selfian “adjustment”. This also happens offensively as the guards get play calls from the coach… I think the myriad of plays, options, experience that KU has, and frankly, many teams have–> cause the game to ebb and flow.
We even saw Tubby go zone in the last few possessions, trying to cause a KU miscue.
OU, however, has a bigger repertoire, and their own dynamic-duo of Hield + Woodard (27pts in AFH).
Plus, let’s be honest, sometimes players are out-of-breath momentarily from a hustle play, so if no time-outs, then they may take a play “off”, and not be the aggressive initiator on the next play.
To me, ebb & flow has many, many variables, including what the $52mil guy is demanding…as he has a pretty strong hand in what happens, not only regarding plays, but also pace.
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I know fans might not have enjoyed that game so much yesterday… because, for the most part, we did win “ugly.”
But I was impressed that we finished strong. That is what we need to see, and our overall record will be much better if we continue the trend of finishing strong.
I think Devonte is focused on that. He was very big in the OU win down the stretch, too. He is a bit of a “showman” so he likes the bright spot light pointed on him.
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I also kind of wonder if Perry’s spurt just following after Wayne’s is less about Perry being fueled by Wayne’s performance, and more about Self calling plays after a Wayne spurt to go to Perry because he thinks Perry might have less double-teaming and more scoring space since the defense has to focus harder on stopping Wayne.
When our offense goes stale, it just takes a few drives by one or two of our perimeter guys to help break us from the funk.
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No doubt that when Wayne starts hitting the defense shifts to him and opens up for Perry.
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Except for last night, Wayne was off for much of the game and Perry was tooling along his way to a double double, right?
Otherwise, I’d say Wayne is often a spark. Perry just goes about his business so quietly that you often don’t notice he’s in double figures already. Like the bass player in a band, don’t much notice him until somethings off.
