Hey Jaybate- You asked me about corner 3s in college. Dylan Burkhart of shotanalytics.com emailed me back with the stats. This from his email:

“With respect to avgs… 9.2% of (all) FGA are in one of the two corners (compare that to 23.7% are above the break threes). The avg percentage on corner threes is 35.4% and the average for above the break threes is 33.5%.”

So Hoiberg was right with his numbers. Corner 3s are more efficient than non-corner ones. I wonder which coaches know this and utilize it.

Just for fun, here’s KU’s shot chart this year compared to ISU’s.

How KU basketball (and Bill Self) get a 3.5% edge.

Media day is Thursday, so basketball is coming soon …

You guys always seem to enjoy a good discussion piece …

Bill Self’s story of toughness: “He was lucky that he ever walked again.”

Good stuff, HEM. I too went back to the tape to see what I had missed with Traylor … only to realize I hadn’t missed anything.

Hey guys — Hope you don’t mind me showing my face here.

Just wanted to let you know we’ve been doing live game blogs over at the CJ for the KU basketball games, in case you’re interested. It’s a little different setup with Cover It Live, but it has some cool features. Hoping to get some of the gang back together there, including (hopefully) Jaybate? We’ll see.

Shameless plug here, I know, but I figured the crowd around here would want to see this: 3 ways KU exploited New Mexico’s 2-3 zone.

It also shows how Frank Mason is behind Tharpe in attacking a zone and displays Self’s X’s and O’s with a smart set play that led to a dunk.

This will surprise no one … but KenPom. His projections are rarely more than 2 points off the Vegas line. His numbers aren’t perfect, but they’re as close as we have now.

@drgnslayr said:

@Jesse-Newell

I hate to beat a dead horse…

But I do have the golden question… I mean… the fools golden question!

Even if Cheick gains his eligibility, there will still be a question on whether or not we can effectively score in the low post.

Will we be running our typical hi-lo offense again? (regardless of the status of Diallo)

Will he be critical of our ability to maintain a high % from trey this year? Will it always be “fools gold?”

At crunch time do we go totally towards an emphasis on low post scoring? Even when it isn’t working?

And then other questions…

Will you be trying Wayne at the 3? Or… have you committed him to the 3 so we’ll watch him all year learn his new position?

Is Svi really as improved as some say? Should we expect him to earn a lot of PT this year, and if so, will it be at the 2 or 3?

I hear you on the 3-point questions. Though sometimes I feel like this when I bring it up …

Selden at the 3 is intriguing to me as well. He still will have to be the backup 2, correct? If not, who is? Svi? Definitely not Greene, which leaves his minutes in doubt if Selden is all 3 this year.

My daily assignment … plus I figured you guys would like this photo.

5th-best player for the season. I’ve been highly critical of him in the past, but he’s made some real improvements this year and has been a perfectly acceptable role player. Those have value too.

Good stuff, HEM. I too went back to the tape to see what I had missed with Traylor … only to realize I hadn’t missed anything.

Not drugs

Bill Self’s story of toughness: “He was lucky that he ever walked again.”

Just to add to the discussion … would be shocked if Jamari didn’t start Wednesday. Self wouldn’t tip his hand on the big men, but he seems pleased with Jamari this year like every other.

As far as Traylor’s rebounding goes, I’ wrote about it here last year.

One final thing: The LJW’s Tom Keegan asked Self specifically about Traylor playing despite his poor rebounding numbers yesterday. Here’s the transcript:

Q. You had a lot of big guys, where can Traylor get on the floor, he hasn’t been a great rebounder, he’s not a naturally great scorer. Is it being disruptive?

BILL SELF: I think so. Just energy. Jamari has actually played better than he’s played at any point in time in his career or the last two weeks, so I don’t know who will start tomorrow night, but he certainly would be a guy that deserves to start as much as anybody else right now, but that doesn’t mean we’ll start him, just because we want to look at different combinations. We already know how he and Perry can play together, we may want to look at some different stuff. Not tomorrow night, Wednesday night.

Here’s what it’s like to be Brandon Schneider. Have to assume Self goes through a lot of same tasks daily …

@HighEliteMajor said:

@Jesse-Newell Excellent … thanks for posting.

Possible questions for Self:

1. Who is the presumptive starter at the 2 – Graham or Svi.? If the season were to start today.
2. Is Selden cemented as the 3.? Meaning, that’s his spot.
3. If you were to rank Mickelson, Lucas, and Traylor as far as minutes now, who would get the most, who would get the least?
4. If Diallo is not eligible to play, who is the odds on favorite to start the most games next to Ellis in the post?
5. Did you make any tweaks or changes to your offensive system from last season? Any hints on what those might be?
6. You said that you “learned a lot” from your experience at the WUG offensively, What exactly did you learn?
7. Can you explain why Traylor’s rebound rates are so incredibly low (meaning, as far a post players getting regular minutes, his is the worst rebounding rate aside from Justin Wesley since Self has been at Kansas).

I asked him No. 6 a few weeks ago. He was pretty vague will going back to the “giving players more freedom offensively” answer. I thought his previous comment about “learning a lot” was interesting too.

For No. 1, I can almost guarantee (if healthy) that it’s Graham. The coaches love him and want two ballhandlers out there together as much as possible.

@drgnslayr said:

@Jesse-Newell

I hate to beat a dead horse…

But I do have the golden question… I mean… the fools golden question!

Even if Cheick gains his eligibility, there will still be a question on whether or not we can effectively score in the low post.

Will we be running our typical hi-lo offense again? (regardless of the status of Diallo)

Will he be critical of our ability to maintain a high % from trey this year? Will it always be “fools gold?”

At crunch time do we go totally towards an emphasis on low post scoring? Even when it isn’t working?

And then other questions…

Will you be trying Wayne at the 3? Or… have you committed him to the 3 so we’ll watch him all year learn his new position?

Is Svi really as improved as some say? Should we expect him to earn a lot of PT this year, and if so, will it be at the 2 or 3?

I hear you on the 3-point questions. Though sometimes I feel like this when I bring it up …

Selden at the 3 is intriguing to me as well. He still will have to be the backup 2, correct? If not, who is? Svi? Definitely not Greene, which leaves his minutes in doubt if Selden is all 3 this year.

What would we say WUG ball is? Selden at the 3 was probably the biggest difference, I’m guessing.

Love the avatar, by the way. Perhaps the greatest iPhone photo I have ever taken!

@ParisHawk said:

@Jesse-Newell Is Self still interested in continuing WUG ball during the season?

Great suggestions, guys.

This one will be addressed tomorrow too, but CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein had today that Self said Greene was 80 percent and hoped he would be cleared to practice Friday.

@JRyman said:

@Jesse-Newell in sure it will get brought up but what about B. Green and his recovery and time table for return or if he will take a medical red shirt?

Thanks