Bill Self Playing Favorites
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The biggest problem for Jamari is he didn’t improve after his sophomore year. He had some spectacular plays, and was at his best in working the high/low passing system Self cherishes, but he was not creative in making his own opportunities to score. I already see a huge difference between “reactive JT” and the aggression Garrett has started displaying. I think it is a bit premature to predict Garrett won’t improve based on this point only a few games into his sophomore year.
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@Fightsongwriter He’s not hurt, he’s just…this unathletic. He graded out as the absolute worst athlete at the combine after his SO year at Memphis. If he had a lick of hops, he’d be in the NBA right now.
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So far its looked like Dotson will be a OAD. It’s super early but I cant imagine scouts are not impressed with his ability to defend, jet in the open court and run the team. Again this is just from what we have seen early but I can imagine he will only get better and more comfortable as the season goes. He is already one of the 5 most valuable players on this team and that wont be lost come spring
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@mayjay What you are describing is a player in Traylor that had probably peaked. We all have a ceiling. When looking at Traylor’s four seasons, it seems apparent that his sophomore season was the peak or perhaps a touch of overachievement. He was simply a bad basketball player. His junior season was just awful. His senior season was worse. By then, Self finally realized the harm Traylor was causing. Playing Traylor, and even having him on the roster, was a mistake. With Garrett, it is premature. But the skill set of shooting … one you can analyze quite a bit by what you see … is a struggle. Hard to see that materializing. But Aaron Miles shot 50% from 3 his senior year. Things can change. But such a shift is huge exception.
@Bosthawk Right, scoring is one element. And my judgment of those three players (Traylor, Lucas, Brady) was in part due to their lack of scoring. Just part. Lucas was the one where the lack of scoring was the biggest focus. Traylor was trainwreck in all aspects except for blocks coming from off the ball. That’s all he was good at. And he was bad at everything else. Further, as a purported energy guy, he was lazy and loafed down the court a lot of the time. Brady was just slow and overmatched. The complaint with Brady wasn’t scoring. It was that against higher talent, he was unable to function effectively both offensively and defensively. His excellent post-feeding ability made him a Self favorite in his cram the post offense. Lucas was an excellent rebounder, a smart rebounder that used positioning well. But he gave us zero rim protection in the middle. And couldn’t defend above average players in the post. And couldn’t jump. But his inability to offer much of anything offensively beyond being able to sometimes make open looks was a critical flaw. And we really needed something significant in the middle in two straight tourney losses where Lucas was run out there. He got the most out of what he had I think, as did Brady. Traylor, I view differently. Watching him as much as I did, I can’t get over the laziness I saw. And I still can’t fathom how the guy played for KU. So it wasn’t all scoring.
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BeddieKU23 said:
So far its looked like Dotson will be a OAD. It’s super early but I cant imagine scouts are not impressed with his ability to defend, jet in the open court and run the team. Again this is just from what we have seen early but I can imagine he will only get better and more comfortable as the season goes. He is already one of the 5 most valuable players on this team and that wont be lost come spring
Eh, I still think there is a high chance he stays.
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BShark said:
BeddieKU23 said:
So far its looked like Dotson will be a OAD. It’s super early but I cant imagine scouts are not impressed with his ability to defend, jet in the open court and run the team. Again this is just from what we have seen early but I can imagine he will only get better and more comfortable as the season goes. He is already one of the 5 most valuable players on this team and that wont be lost come spring
Eh, I still think there is a high chance he stays.
I hope so otherwise this wont be a top 25 team next season. But I think its early to call either way and if he continues to play well and this team goes far his stock will never be higher
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@BeddieKU23 I think if his jumper develops he could end up a high pick. Also, very solid chance Doke is back. Self will make things work, KU will be top 25 next year.
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@mayjay Exactly. Good post. Here’s my take on the whole can of worms: They take grimes out for 5+minutes, and Jayhawk World immediately goes off their rocker. Now we’re supposed to believe that Marcus Garrett is now Jamari Traylor because MG got an extra 5 minutes? Huh? Marcus is a work in progress, but many of his elements he brings to the table help us win. Playing Jamari at times so much was frustrating at times when we had more talented people on the bench.Hopefully, Grimes will come to play and get his extra 5 minutes back by coming to play, and guard his man.Many of you on here are etched in stone that MG will never shoot well, and maybe you’re right. But if any of you think for a second that MG now has a lock on a position as a starter over Grimes, I would kindly ask that you stay away from all sharp objects, and check yourself in immediately to a mental health care facility. Because that’s way over the top. All Marcus has done is give us everything he has every game, he plays lock down defense, he hustles every play, he never complains, and his woeful shot did get in the net a few times. Shame on you people comparing him to Jamari in an insulting way. They’re not all going to be stars.
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No Garrett tonight. Concussion like symptoms. Rut roh
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Rick Barnes. I like our chances.
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BeddieKU23 said:
No Garrett tonight. Concussion like symptoms. Rut roh
Despite the nature of this thread, this really sucks!
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Will be interesting to see how we play without him. Lots of minutes for others.
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BeddieKU23 said:
Will be interesting to see how we play without him. Lots of minutes for others.
We might get to see extended minutes for Chuck or KJ…
Well then…
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BShark said:
BeddieKU23 said:
Will be interesting to see how we play without him. Lots of minutes for others.
We might get to see extended minutes for Chuck or KJ…
Well then…
Neither has shown that’s a good thing yet. Time for one or both to step it up
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Both KJ and Charlie played fairly well tonight. KJ was obviously frustrated and needs to stay under control but not sure KU wins without him…
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KJ is just a hot mess. I can’t think of a better way to describe him or his play so far.
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jayhawkcsg said:
KJ is just a hot mess. I can’t think of a better way to describe him or his play so far.
LOL! KU doesn’t win tonight without him.
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Despite shortcomings I still like the total package of what KJ can bring to the table more than Garrett. Just my opinion.
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Charlie Moore reminds me a little of Tyshawn in his apparent insistence on shooting the ball despite the obvious imprudence of such acts. And KJ does look like a “hot mess” — nice quote @jayhawkcsg. But he was key to winning. And I do love the irony of not having Garrett — does Garrett score KJ’s 8 points? Does Moore play as much? Does Garrett prevent some scoring from TN?
But we won, with both playing big minutes. With Udoka somewhat irrelevant. Just an excellent team effort.
Last night was a game, I think, that DeSousa would have made a huge difference. The type of matchup where he would have changed the complexion of the game.
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Moore and KJ gave great minutes last night. KJ had a really, really good stretch from late in the 2nd half all the way through OT. Looked like he gained some confidence.
I still think KJ should see very limited minutes. But, it was nice to see that we can rely on him when his number is called. Hard to believe how deep this team is.
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I was impressed with what KJ gave last night. He committed 3 quick fouls in the second half, but other than that he was really good.
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KJ had nothing for Grant Williams. But…I think that will be the case for a lot of guys this year. He was definitely much better after Williams fouled out.
@Kcmatt7 Agree. Nice depth to have but he also showed me why he isn’t getting minutes normally. He’s a nice worse case scenario starting 3/4 next year.
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Williams leaned in every time and drew the foul and so did several of the Tennessee players; a different crew would have called a lot of those a charge. The refs were really bad and really took over the game and not in a good way; I hate it when refs want to be the stars. The best refs are the ones no one talks about after the game.
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https://twitter.com/mattnorlander/status/1066386098740502528?s=21
Good article here.
Self talks about how it’s all mental right now with Q. Thinks this time off will help.
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Thought the same on Silvio. Very good point. Great team win. Had to battle being down for most of 2nd half.
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@BShark I thought he showed a lil more athleticism last pm.
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We flat out dont win tonight without Garrett’s defense. I’ll be honest, I’ll disappointed if MG doesn’t start Grimes has been lazy and flat out hasnt helped this team since Michigan State.
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@kjayhawks I can’t figure it out though. He’s not a lazy guy.
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@Crimsonorblue22 that was the recruiting spin on him, inconsistent shot and lack of effort at times. It was known, maybe he can be this seasons Newman but we are too deep to mess around with a guy that won put forth the effort in games.
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@kjayhawks he didn’t look lazy during the USA games. Shot wasn’t always there, but he played a lot of pt and got to the basket.
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@Crimsonorblue22 He is young still, plenty of time but he played very little in the second half against Tennessee and only 16 minutes tonight. It just bad deal when no part of the game he played stuck out good or bad really for like the 4th game in a row. I think we are a better team if he plays well but it all starts with him.
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Grimes is just lost on D.
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I agree that Garrett should start ahead of Q, but Garrett must limit his offense to driving and scoring at the rim, not shooting. In 33 min of playing time he correctly only took five shots and made two. But the misses spoke volumes about his lack of shooting ability. Garrett brings energy and heart. Bill Self loves the guy. But, please Marcus do all of us a favor and don’t shoot the ball. Defend, get steals and drive the rim.
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@BShark right and with his athletic ability, he should be more aggressive on offense. Maybe he just needs sometime. I trust Self and Co to help him.
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@BShark he doesn’t look like the same kid I saw play for USA.
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@stoptheflop I thought Marcus did ok fir his talent on offense tonight, missed a few at the rim but could’ve easily had foul calls on them as well.
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Crimsonorblue22 said:
@BShark he doesn’t look like the same kid I saw play for USA.
The coaching in that event was subpar.
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Q has simply lost all of his confidence. He hasn’t seen in a jumper go down in games and just can’t seem to get anything postive to work in his favor . His development is going to be the key to how far this team can go in my opinion .
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stoptheflop said:
I agree that Garrett should start ahead of Q, but Garrett must limit his offense to driving and scoring at the rim, not shooting. In 33 min of playing time he correctly only took five shots and made two. But the misses spoke volumes about his lack of shooting ability. Garrett brings energy and heart. Bill Self loves the guy. But, please Marcus do all of us a favor and don’t shoot the ball. Defend, get steals and drive the rim.
His outside shooting makes me think the cure may be an optometrist, a la “Wild Thing.”
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@Woodrow That does seem to be at least part of the problem. I wonder if we run any plays for him??? His game is not suited to running a weave just to feed the post every time down the court. The coaching staff needs to help create opportunities for him to see shots go down and build confidence.
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@DCHawker That might help, but he’s missing wide open looks. I think he needs two years- this shaken confidence thing doesn’t bode well for the NBA.
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As of today Grimes looks very little like a pro prospect. More like a Euro baller. Xavier Henry would be an upgrade at this point. Hopefully all the potiental he oozed last year comes to fruition by the end of the season like other slow starters (i.e. Oubre, Alexander etc.) I cant wait until Grimes “gets it”!
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Newman…
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I see Garrett as a vital piece to our success this year.
Everyone in here is correct to be critical of his offense.
But we will never find our way back to the Final Four without playing defense.
Garrett is one of the few players that even has a concept of defense right now.
Self has to teach defense and he has to put some defense on the floor. Right now, this is one of the poorest defensive teams I’ve seen from Bill at Kansas. Hopefully, they’ll improve dramatically over the year!
As of right now, MG may be the only player that has bought in to “Self ball” (defense).
By the way, I can easily see us lose a couple before conference play. This team is one big chaotic mess right now! We haven’t established anything on either side of the ball yet. Right now, Self will put anyone on the floor that will step up and fill in any of the holes in this team, on either side of the ball. Look, we’ve had to rely on a blistering Vick just to stay in games! What happens when he goes cold?
Right now, Self has to put any player on the floor who can execute ANYTHING! That is how loose this team is. We can’t even smack down cream puff teams with Doke in the paint. Gheez.
But I’m thrilled watching Vick finally showing us his wares. He still has other skills he’s not showing us. I’d like to see him take it to the rack more.
Have we even run our backdoor alleyoop yet this year? Wow… Self’s calling card.
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@drgnslayr Booyah! Nice post…
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drgnslayr said:
Have we even run our backdoor alleyoop yet this year? Wow… Self’s calling card.
This team is one of the least athletic teams Self has had. Grimes and Dedric do not have very good ups. Dotson is athletic but small. Doke is just big. Vick is the only top tier “athlete” on the active roster. Ochai looks to have soe serious athletic chops but we have to wait to see it develop.
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@BigBad Like Vick, I think Garrett is quick enough and athletic enough to execute the backdoor catch and dunk. But, currently on offense Garrett’s job is to execute the offense, not wait along the baseline for the backdoor pass.
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Garrett was “without a doubt” Self’s potg against Wofford. Interesting.
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Garrett really did play well, I thought. Somehow I don’t throw up when Self says that (like I did when he referenced JT in those situations – as if we weren’t watching the game).
Could Udoka really have been the potg? Meaning, that due to his absence we played better as a team?
God how I want DeSousa eligible. I’m beginning to believe that in order of importance, 1) DeSousa being eligible to play and 2) Grimes moving to his potential are the two biggest items for a national title.
Am I wrong in believing that I’d rather have DeSousa than Udoka?
I’m confused.
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@HighEliteMajor I don’t think its Doke, I think its the 4 guard line up that looks better. We used that line up against Tennessee in OT (Doke was fouled out) and it looked better. We also used it against Marquette with Doke in and it looked good. I think its fairly obvious at this point, that this team needs 4 guards on the court. I’m ok if Self wants to start Doke and Dedric and play 2 bigs here or there but the ball movement and overall play has been considerably better with 4 on the floor. I really don’t think there is an argument otherwise , watch tape of both and its a no brainer.
