KU vs Bill Self's March Kryptonite Sunday at 4:15
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I was not worried about UNI, I was not scared of playing Stanford, VCU was an afterthought, I was not really worried about Michigan, and I really thought we’d beat Villanova. I am worried about MSU because of Izzo and his ability to win games in the tourney. This a very dangerous game. I very much wanted Miami instead.
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Against MSt, Mason will be Mason; count on 20. Josh is flat out dialed-in on offense and defense. He is ready to compete. Devonte is playing his best defense of the year. Devonte will give the young MSt guards fits. Bridges, Langford and Ward at forward are all freshmen and just might be a little overwhelmed playing us. I’m encouraged by everyone’s game Friday. Let’s cruise to KC guys. RCJH
Any matchups you are worried about? I didn’t get to watch much of MSt’s game Friday. Anyone else surprised the refs are flat out letting the players play? It reminds me of the Big 10 about 10 years ago.
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@stoptheflop The matchup I am most worried about? Izzo vs. Self. History tells us we should be worried. We’re better, we have more talent, we have more experience. What makes me most optimistic is Self’s approach to offense this season. I haven’t seen any “puckering” – see Germany in the WBB finals after we had played much differently in the other games of the tourney. Self is much different now, he’s embraced this style. Let’s hope we don’t see puckering.
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Josh will have his best game yet. Talk about motivated- we’re going to play our best game of the season. We finally saw this lazy, talented team finally focus last game. Devonte had 3 steals in a row. When he plays like that, we are simply a different team. A much better team. Josh will have bushelfuls of motivation to play exceptionally well against the team he left at the altar. They’ll be motivated, too, Our best > their best.
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worry all you want, you won’t be after the game is over and this team is headed back to KC
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@HighEliteMajor said:
@stoptheflop The matchup I am most worried about? Izzo vs. Self. History tells us we should be worried. We’re better, we have more talent, we have more experience. What makes me most optimistic is Self’s approach to offense this season. I haven’t seen any “puckering” – see Germany in the WBB finals after we had played much differently in the other games of the tourney. Self is much different now, he’s embraced this style. Let’s hope we don’t see puckering.
Agree this game has me very nervous as well and I really hope we don’t see the pucker/choke out. If the team loses while playing well but MSU is lights out, well that’s just a lot better than a close loss where KU is like 4-23 from three.
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@BShark MSU was lights out against Miami. They haven’t shown the ability to string consecutive games together this year though.
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They will certainly be up for this game. Izzo seems confident.
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@BShark it doesn’t matter what they did during the season. Teams often play much different during the tourney. We will get their best shot
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Not saying KU will blow them out in fact I bet it will be close but there is a reason they have 14 losses. Izzo has just as many early tournament exits as Self so it’s not like he is even the great tournament wizard some make him out to be. I’m still nervous about the game though.
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A lot of blah in this thread
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@JayHawkFanToo 8-point favorites. I’d take that.
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I think Nova losing hopefully helps us remain focused on our current game and not on a potential ISU match up in KC. One thing I loved from the UC Davis game was I never really felt we took possessions off til the last 5 minutes with a 40 point lead. All year we have let our foot off the gas with a double digit lead. Now some of it is probably the level of team that we played but getting after it for 40 minutes is what I’m all about. Go hard fellas, there is no tomorrow.
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This team is so well rested and nasty it doesn’t matter who the opposing coach is.
That little Italian meatball is going to be fuming on the sidelines.
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@BShark and they have additional motivation since JJ “spurned” them
Hoping none of that matters though
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@kjayhawks you are spot on.
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The meetings with the media were great. Izzo and Self respect the crap out of each other. Izzo said Jackson had the guts to call him personally to tell him he chose KU, most recruits do not do that. Jackson mentioned that he chose KU in part because he felt Self cared about him as a person. All around lots of really good things said.
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@BShark where did u see those?
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@HighEliteMajor I think the counter to that history of Billy getting routinely beat by Tommy, is that Self is out of his old box now. We arent designed like an old-school B1G team, which is Self’s origins at Illini, and that’s what he built at KU, but Izzo knows that blueprint, helped teach it to Self (the hard way). But I think the last time Frank faced MichSt, KU won. And this is Frank’s best team, maybe a bit more dynamic than last year’s due to 1 Josh Jackson.
I’m very wary of MichSt, as they have a master, HOF coach. We’ll see what happens on the hardwood. Each coach knows his roster, and the mgmt thereof. Should be a heck of a chessmatch. But doesnt Josh like to play pick-up games of chess?
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Also, we’ve seen SEVERAL sets of Bill Self players that play up or down to the level of the competition. Maybe we disrespect some no-name teams like VCU, UNI, Bradley, Bucknell…but we almost always are stoked with our A-game vs “name” opponents, which definitely includes MichState.
In my biased world, KU’s A-game beats this particular MichState’s A-game. Lets see…
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@ralster said:
KU’s A-game beats this particular MichState’s A-game.
Sure. But what’s the answer to Self’s big question: “How do you win when the shots aren’t falling?”
Defense, rebounding, 50/50 balls, toughness?
Frank will drive like a maniac and Josh will be all over the floor - oh and Lucas will play at a level that 18 months ago we didn’t imagine and that we now take for granted.
I’m more worried about the refs than about MSU…
