Landen Lucas Injury





  • @BShark

    Slighly concerned about this.



  • Landen is a stud. Josh is going to find him with passes, so Lando needs to be ready. Tonight’s speech will be epic.



  • Took the boys to get autographs after the home game vs UT back in January, and LL wasn’t allowed to give sign because of his wrist injury then. Been bothering him quite a while.



  • Operable Landen.



  • @Blown

    Have you been holding out on us on this juicy Landen tidbit, or did I miss it?



  • @jaybate-1.0 said:

    @Blown

    Have you been holding out on us on this juicy Landen tidbit, or did I miss it?

    This is a separate injury from the wrist injury.



  • @jaybate-1.0 holding out for fear of spies among us.



  • @Blown

    Howling!



  • So what are the chances this gets worse. We’ve all seen this scenario play out once too many times recently. I really want to bury the devils advocate but if he’s nursing an injury that could get worse boy we are really playing on egg shells once again



  • @BeddieKU23 We have pretty much been on eggshells all conference season!



  • @BeddieKU23

    With the league being over I say sit him after tonight until the NCAA tournament.



  • @BShark

    I have to wonder is the injury one that would actually heal between now and the 3rd week of March? If not then we basically have no reason to sit him.



  • @BeddieKU23 @BShark It’s gone from no tape, to tape, to now being reported. It is not going to get better between now and the end of the season. As long as he can play defense he is good. This is one good thing about LL not being an offensive threat; they are really not losing any production in that regard.



  • @BeddieKU23

    “So what are the chances this gets worse.”

    From what we know, it doesn’t sound like it will get worse. More likely to slightly improve.

    Meanwhile, Dwight playing without a brace and looking much better. And, of course, Carlton showing good signs of improvement.

    I think we will be fine in March.



  • @Blown

    Saying we don’t get any production is misleading, he is our 5th leading scorer. He often provides some big buckets when we need them.



  • @drgnslayr I agree. It does not appear to be bothering him much, as indicated in the article. The other three bigs need plenty of PT tonight. Landen will need plenty of rest for Saturday.



  • @drgnslayr

    Dwight was mighty impressive Saturday. I’m not ready to say he could fill the huge void that would be created if Lucas was injured.

    Carlton proved yet again that he can’t put two games together. When he does show up he can impact the game.

    Again I hope the injury can be managed the rest of the way, I’d actually prefer I didn’t even hear about it. I bet the entire team has some sort of various ailments that are kept under wraps, would have preferred this one had stayed there



  • @BeddieKU23 did Carlton even get ten minutes on saturday? He didn’t even play enough to show whether he can or not.



  • @HawkChamp

    He played 3 minutes, got himself in early foul trouble and found the bench because Coleby was playing well. If your a bench player, you come in for Lucas who’s in foul trouble and then you proceed to get 2 fouls in less time then it took Bill Walton to change shirts its not a productive day



  • @BeddieKU23

    I’m not expecting constant big games from Carlton or Dwight. But the fact is now either of those guys has the potential to have a big game. Just having the potential is a huge step forward, and chances are, both will have some good games ahead. We will take that. And it will just make our opponents have to deal with that much more and not be able to just focus on stopping the three amigos.



  • @BeddieKU23 actually, I didn’t say “we don’t get any production.”

    What I said was, he is not" an offensive threat; they are really not losing any production in that regard."

    Opposing coaches don’t have to put much into scouting LL’s offense. Yes, he is the 5th leading scorer, on a team that goes 7 deep. And he scores less than .5 points ahead of Vick, while logging more minutes. He also scores less points per minute than Bragg.

    I’m not degrading LL’s impact and importance to this Team. I’m simply stating the Obvious. His wrist injury carries much less significance, than any other player who gets regular minutes.



  • @drgnslayr

    You are correct, recently we’ve seen potential for our bench bigs to produce when called upon. That’s a great sign for a team that needs the depth. It makes our ceiling seem higher having multiple players that can be counted on.

    What I hope is that in the Big-12 tourney even Bragg/Dwight could give Lucas some rest especially if we make the finals. Dwight could use the PT, Carlton is always fighting himself to stay on the court. I would have no issue getting these guys some game action.



  • I could be wrong… but I think the Landen thumb issue is an arbitrary point having little impact on his game, or possibly no impact.

    Playing with tweaked fingers and thumbs is just a part of basketball.

    I recall, several times, big shooters having taped fingers and playing fine. Sometimes when they remove the tape, their averages drop and they go back to taping again more out of superstition.



  • @drgnslayr A hurt thumb is a big deal for a big with a history of comparative inability to hold onto the ball in a crowd. One out of 4 fingers might be no big deal, but there is only one thumb on each hand. If it ain’t working, evolution on the unique human grip is set back a couple million years for that hand.



  • Great article by Jesse Newell about how much Landon Lucas impacts the game without showing up in the box score.

    http://kuhoops.com/ku-basketball-news/135387329/

    I don’t know if it’s been posted on another thread, but it’s certainly relevant to this one. By being in the right place at the right time his impact is huge, even with his pan hands (injured or otherwise).

    Last year, when Lucas was being lambasted here on his production per minute from box score statistics I did a lousy job trying to point out the things Jesse does here that make him so valuable. Those are why his teammates like him on the floor, and why his +/- scores are usually among the highest on the team. The team does better when he plays, even if his individual statistics don’t show it.

    But I was amused by one of Jesse’s observations, while describing all these great positional things that Landen does:

    “…and the rebound bounces off Lucas’ hands to teammate Josh Jackson.”

    I just think we can forgive those pan hands.



  • that hoopmath website is great. Some useful statistics about offense/defense…



  • @tundrahok

    Landen’s #1 attribute is his fundamentals. I’d like to know if we’ve had a better post man at fundamentals since Danny Manning. I certainly can’t think of one. Sure, he still makes mistakes and sometimes can’t grab the ball… he wasn’t recruited as a 5-star player that would even see the floor much at KU. He’s been a monster performer, especially when we look how he got to where he is at.

    This team isn’t going anywhere without a solid Landen Lucas.



  • I was incredibly critical of Landen Lucas last year, but I think much of that was justified. He rebounded very well, but he was a negative on offense because he was an absolute non-threat for most of the season. Towards the end of the year, he started scoring more (mostly on dunks off drives, but occasionally on a direct post feed), which meant that teams could not simply ignore him on the floor.

    That has carried over to this year. You can’t totally ignore Lucas. You don’t have to gameplan around him, but you can’t overlook him in the gameplan, either. He’s shooting in the 60’s, and he’s taking about 5 shots a game. That means you can basically book him for 7 or 8 points every time out, plus he’s going to grab 8-9 rebounds while he’s at it. That’s solid production from the 5th option on the floor.

    I think it has helped tremendously that Self has operated with Landen as the fifth option rather than trying to make him a primary option simply because he is a post player. That has helped Landen’s efficiency and his overall effectiveness.



  • @BShark

    KU no longer uses the word “injuries.” The new term is “collateral health imperfections.”



  • @justanotherfan I think the point of Jesse’s article is that Lucas is not a negative on offense, even if he doesn’t score. He facilitates scoring by others in ways that do not show up in the box score.



  • @tundrahok what other bigs, highly recruited over ll, couldn’t do!



  • @justanotherfan

    “I think it has helped tremendously that Self has operated with Landen as the fifth option rather than trying to make him a primary option simply because he is a post player. That has helped Landen’s efficiency and his overall effectiveness.”

    Spot on!

    Last year, when Bill was teaching his team the importance of playing tough D to win, he learned a big lesson himself. BAD BALL was also a lesson for Bill. It was useful to show our guys that we can’t coast on defense because we can hit the long ball. Bill also learned that he can’t make just any team be a hi/lo team. We didn’t become effective in the low post. It just doesn’t work to force it in the paint without a true back-to-the-basket scorer.

    Landen isn’t a back-to-the-basket scorer, but he has come a long ways with his offense. He stopped the long gathers and just goes up strong with the ball, giving him a real chance to score. He is learning to shield the ball with his body. He is learning that the backboard is his friend, and when used, makes it hard to defend his shot. He is learning that there are sweet spots on the floor in the low post that automatically increase the percentage of made shots just because of the where the shot is taken.

    This season is really playing out perfect for Landen. He isn’t counted on for points. He is counted on to defend and rebound, without fouling. Because of these reasons, he gets his points by being opportunistic when it is there. That will always mean producing a high shooting % because it is in the paint and usually when he feels secure to score.



  • @justanotherfan

    What has impresssd me most about this team has been it’s ability to replace last season’s scoring and rebounding of the Composite 5 center of last season. C5 used to average a high double double. Much of last season 15 ppg and 19 rpg was typical!!! And even the last few weeks when Lucas began to play more and Self went with C4, or C3, he was getting nearly that much and sometimes more.

    This year’s team literally can’t get squat out of its 5 position lately.

    It’s not totally obvious to me how Self has done it. He got Josh to become a stretch four and gave him Perry’s 10-15 FGAs/game and 8-10 rpgs. But that doesn’t compensate for no C5. It just finally replaced Perry.

    Self must have ramped Frank and Devonte’s FGAs. Because the composite of Svi and Vick dont appear to have matched Selden’s production most games, but I haven’t run numbers on that.

    It’s quite a stunning slight of hand by Self to have pulled this off.

    It surely has helped to have Frank improve from 38% 3pt to a ridiculous 51%. And Devonte, who has seemed quiet for long stretches has weighed in with timely bursts of treys for sure.

    Whatever, quite a remarkable season so far.


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