The only way to travel…

First… congratulations to Coach Self, our team, our school, and our fans! This was so needed for many reasons, not the least being the shaft we received 2 years ago for canceling our deserved run in March.

How did this happen?

Were we just lucky? Obviously no! Last night’s comeback shows just how good this team can be and had to be to bring home the trophy. But we can’t deny the luck we had along the way and I scratch my head wondering if the basketball Gods in AFH, or Bill Self Sr., pulled some strings from up above. Not only did we avoid injury throughout our March run, but we also benefited from other players going down and big upsets along our path. We even benefited in our final seconds as Bacot went down, turning the ball over and being done when his team needed him most. So many things happened in our path to this championship it is hard not to think someone upstairs didn’t pull a switch or two. I wonder if we might expect a new NCAA investigation into this one, draped in conspiracy theory and stretch out for another 20 years or so.

Self vindication? Hell yes! Gone are those critics saying Self can’t bring home another trophy. Gone are those critics saying Self can’t coach the big game. Personally, I’m giving the MVP award on this championship to Bill Self. He was a different man in this tournament than from the previous March tours. He was a lot more positive and had pure gratefulness for just being in the tourney. His poise was off-the-charts and it had to be the main ingredient for how our team stayed poised, including capping off the evening with the biggest halftime comeback in NCAA tournament history. I’ve never seen Bill smile more in March than he did this year. Listen to what he said to his troops at halftime last night, after being down by 15, another NCAA record lopsided score. He stayed poised. Listen to Big Dave’s comments after the game… he stayed poised. Bill is a different man after losing his father. I lost my father last year, too, and I know how different I am. Bill is, too. And it played out last night.

Comparing championships? I’m not sure I like comparing our championships at the threat that we minimalize any of them. But heck… we are sports fans and everything gets analyzed and compared. I wasn’t around for our 1952 championship so maybe others can comment. I did experience 1988, 2008, and now 2022. All three of these games are colossal storylines deserving special recognition. Even Self brought history into his locker room last night by asking his players… would they rather be down by 15 at half, or 9 with two minutes left in the game! I have to give credit for 2008 being the game where we had the biggest burst move to take the championship! I have to give the 1988 game kudos for creating “the legend” Danny Manning and how he carried his team on his shoulders to a championship over a heavily-favored OU team. But this team… this team’s storyline is only beginning to be told. Each player stepped up in their individual way to be a part of this! Never was the load so well distributed. Break down the game last night and you can point to so many plays by differing players that were “life or death.” Bill mentioned togetherness was their strength.

We may not own the record for most National Championships but no other school can claim as much March Magic as we possess! What stands out now… our book is yet to be written because we have so many chapters left to experience!

Love to everyone, and after more celebration lets start our next chapter of magic!

I’m still on a buzz after yesterday’s game. Why shouldn’t I buzz like a beehive? We scored a big win against a stable of lottery picks and the tallest team in the country!

DUKE CALLS: YES. The phenomenon lives on! We can no longer say it’s favoritism towards K. I will start with the obvious… no punishment for undercutting Hunter! Anyone who has ever dribbled a basketball knows that was a complete cheap shot and warranted a severe call. Hunter retaliated… and I know everyone will jump on Hunter for doing what he did. I thought that way, too, at the time. Having a night to sleep on it… Hunter did the right thing! Only Hunter can stick up for his protection on the court because big guys are always targeted for cheap shots that can put them out of commission. I wish he had blooded his face. Might as well since he received the death penalty.

Now for the Duke call no one is talking about. “The game is won by inches and tenths of seconds!” This is what I was taught playing ball in my youth. Duke advanced the ball to half-court only using .1 second. That is absolutely impossible! It is not possible to catch a ball and call time out using .1 second. Usually, the standard of minimum time to run off a clock on an inbounds play is .3 seconds. This is the minimum. Having one player both catch the ball and call timeout should be a good .5 seconds. This had me screaming every bit as much as the Hunter call!

BILL SELF IS ALIVE AND WELL! Am I the only one who noticed how good Bill looks this season (concerning his health)? He was running the sidelines and coaching throughout the game but especially down the stretch. I recall entire seasons where he sat on the bench and whispered to an assistant during games.

KJ’s BEST GAME AS A JAYHAWK! I’m going along with that! He made many key plays and baskets, and mostly, he shutdown Cooper for most of the game. But he did have help, and I had mentioned before Self might pull something out of his bag… and he did… with constant double-teams and it worked very well!

JUAN LOOKING TO SCORE! Finally! I said earlier that we can’t go too far if Juan leads us in scoring. I’m not so sure now. For one reason, we have balanced scoring coming from everyone on the team! They are all a threat and contribute and it happens often when not expected… but appreciated! Juan has turned his game up a notch and we will be hard to beat in March if we stay healthy and Juan keeps his pedal to the metal!

HUMILITY AND PERSPECTIVE HAVE TO BE MAINTAINED! Okay, we’ve beaten some good teams early on and remain undefeated and #1, but come on, this team has a long way to go before we proclaim their greatness. We were lucky on Duke’s second-to-last play that Kon didn’t see a wide-open Cooper on the trey line! That would have done wonders for the kid’s short college stint legacy!

DUKE REMAINS AMERICA’S TEAM TO HATE! They have become a recruiting monster that gets about all the players they want. That Kon kid is almost as good as Cooper. All I can say is the pressure is on Scheyer to turn lottery picks into titles. If he can’t soon, he’ll end up another Calipari… selling dreams and bragging rights for a big goose egg in March! I hope he fails miserably!

SUDDENLY WE LEARNED TO SHOOT FTS?! 91.7% from the line? Look how important that was in this game! Had we shot 70% we probably would have lost this game! Can we expect this every game? Of course not! But we shouldn’t be a mediocre FT shooting team. We have a team full of shooters and we should maintain one of the higher percentages in the country! Come on, fellas, take pride in this stat and focus on it!

LOVING OUR DEPTH! I still have PTSD from last year! But I will get over it… and quickly… because we now have a bench capable of keeping up with our starters and sometimes sparking a fire in our play!

RCJH!

I know many of you will be blasting out of here at any moment.

I just want to acknowledge KUBuckets ( @approxinfinity ) and all the awesome Jayhawk posters that made this a great season for talking up basketball!

I’ve had a great time and learned more about the game this year than any other year of my life!

You guys killed it this year!

Thanks to everyone!

This is it!

This is the “stir up” I’ve been waiting for, and I even feel like we got a bonus!

So… what am I talking about? Udunka stuffing at ease? Earning a starting spot to help lift his game? 4-guard x-axis basketball starting the game?

All good… but what I am talking about is the roles of Frank and Devonte. I have been pushing for Devonte as our PG for more than a year now. Technically speaking… hard to say if he was a PG last night or our SG. Turns out not to matter. Frank is probably our best ball handler to be responsible for getting the ball to half court. But once he crosses half court and is positioned in the middle atop the key, that is where traditional concepts are thrown out the window and the chemistry of Frank and Devonte take over.

Look at the stat book. Frank, our PG by name, scores 21 pts and had 5 assists. Devonte, our SG by name, scores 6 pts and had 11 assists. Who ran the show? Who was our real PG? I guess we will say BOTH just to avoid a senseless argument. Months ago, it was difficult for me to convince fans just how incredible Frank is at scoring… a true volume scorer. He has the aggression of a driving volume scorer and has a dead-on shot from trey when it is wide open.

I don’t think fans have thought much about how hard it is to score 21 points in a game while being the floor general. Frank can’t take full credit for this because he does have the help of Devonte. Devonte is growing as the team “play maker”… a role he needs to take and conquer. Devonte exploited the over-match last night by continuing to pound the ball to Udunka for slam after slam. That is what play makers do… something works, they keep going to it.

Now I will discuss the “bonus” I mentioned above. Coach Self is truly the “Riverboat Gambler.” In my past vision, I thought we should move Devonte into the traditional role of PG. But the guy with the cards has decided to not show his hand anytime soon. Perhaps Bill will keep it a shared role. How will teams prepare for that? Who do they put their best guard defender on? Coach’s “ace in the hole” turns out to be Devonte’s ability to step up for big offensive games. We can flip the roles and succeed, too… especially on those rare nights that we face a team with a gifted guard defender.

We are just at the beginning with this team. They are just now coming around to executing a few plays and twists, and perhaps more importantly, they are filling in their roles and starting to be held accountable. The removal of Landen and Carlton from the starting lineup was more about a message to the team. Everyone will be held accountable, even 5th-year seniors.

Udunka is now plugged in! He still has a long ways to go… but it was amazing to see him take advantage of his size, and largely do it without fouling. You can see the game is starting to slow down for him and he is just beginning to execute. Bravo! He certainly has picked up the pick and roll! Amazing how just one weapon can be utilized over and over! Imagine when he has several big weapons?!

There is always some drama on teams. And our current drama is about Landen and Carlton. Teams actually need a bit of drama. This drama should be a good thing as both players adjust to step up their games, and Christmas break is right around the corner. I expect both of these guys to really put their hard hats on during that developmental period.

Last. We have to realize who we played. It isn’t going to go this easy moving forward but at least we got a little taste of what these guys are capable of. And they got it, too! This should help them focus on a goal to play at such a dominant level on all our opponents and also away from home. We got a long ways to go, but one step at a time, and last night was a great step in our desire to climb to the top.

I just can’t stop being a mother… er… father!

1. JWil - You are the “X-factor” guy in this game that will not get the MVP trophy, but this championship goes through you! You have to glue on Manek on the trey line and shut him down while also fulfilling your role as dynamic rebounder! If you do these two things well, we will not be denied the title! On offense… drive to the paint with your calculated medium speed… knowing not to charge and needing only a crack to slip through and put your body on a defender and score at the rim! We need your double-double!

2. Chai - You’ve got this! Replicate your game on Saturday! Look for your shots and don’t hesitate! Defend hard, too. You called it right… you were built for this stage!

3. DMac - Just like Chai… bring your Saturday game! No reason to do anything else. Bring the contact to Bacot and force him to back down without dropping your shoulder! Get excited because you finally get to match up with a big who may be in more pain than you!

4. Juan - CONTROL THIS GAME! Play with poise, always be aware of tempo. You already know to push tempo. Our best tempo is sometimes a subtle shift. In the least, always push the ball up the court and make them run hard because they have no bench! When UNC runs and exerts energy on defense, they have less energy on their next offensive possession. So monitor UNC’s energy level and take advantage of it, and tweak our pace based on how well we score. It’s all inside you because you have the best court instincts we’ve had running point in a long, long time!

5. CB - Realize how much your second half burst counted in our win versus Nova! Your first half was less than stellar but you left that behind and always focused on the next play! Do the same in this game and you will have your shining moments that will really help us bring home the trophy!

6. Remy - No words necessary… You know how to support this team. Sometimes it means fitting into the flow, sometimes it means taking over. Trust your instincts and play to win!

7. Mitch - I doubt anyone will have more emotion than you because this is your last game in a Jayhawk uniform and you’ve been in Lawrence since the invention of the wheel! Don’t be hyped up! We need your steady play, be levelheaded, and you will put in many key plays that help us win because you know the game so well. Play the role of a veteran!

Team - Do what you did all year… maintain your poise! The brightest lights are on and YOU GOT THIS! All you have to do is play your hardest and leave all your game on the court, and stay poised! That is the winning formula!

I know I speak for all Jayhawk fans everywhere… WE ARE PROUD OF THIS TEAM, WIN OR LOSE!

Jo Jo made the historic step “out of bounds” that put black basketball players “in bounds” in college basketball.

In 1966, Kansas was in the Elite Eight game against Texas Western. In a key moment in the game, Jo Jo was called for stepping out of bounds. A crucial call leading to Kansas going down in defeat, 81-80.

As most of you know, Texas Western went on to win the National Championship. A historic game in more ways than one. Texas Western brought the first all-black starting five to the championship game and faced off against an all-white Kentucky team. In 1966, racial issues were tense in America. This game took on a different flavor than past championship games.

The Texas Western victory in the 1966 NCAA Championship game represented the final hurdle for college coaches all through America to come to an understanding that black players could be a huge benefit to their teams and worth the “risks” associated at that time for recruiting black players.

College basketball has never been the same since 1966, and Jo Jo White made the most-famous out-of-bounds play that changed the tint of college basketball all through America.

I remember that championship game. Not so much the game, but the firestorm that came afterwards. Racism was on full display during this period and there were many outlandish racial events occurring on a constant basis. Lynchings and police brutality were still common.

While our nation focused on these events and the uprising of black leaders, like Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., sports became the conduit for bringing black and white people together.

We shouldn’t forget our past. Jo Jo White was a true soldier for humanity. He represented himself with tremendous dignity and was rewarded with earned respect wherever he went, including his playing days in Boston, which was infamous for race intolerance at that time. Jo Jo has always been a part of my connection to the University of Kansas.

Rest In Peace, Jo Jo White. You will be missed by many and you will never be forgotten!

Calm down, people. If any non-KU people are reading this page their laughing… and rightly so. What this page really shows is we are spoiled rotten fans. We are crapping in our shorts because we are a 3-seed. Sure, we aren’t used to that. We also aren’t used to being in this position of being a team that has been beaten up by the NCAA for almost a decade with their b*llshit fake case where they somehow know more than the DOJ.

Self has vented frustration and it’s mostly where he shows relief because he’ll be able to recruit better again.

The idea of firing Self says everything. It’s starting to feel like Alabama football in here. I remember reading all those crying fans wanting Saban’s head on a stick because he only won 6 NCs. This is the type of crap that starts making a HOFr want to quit.

We have a team literally glued together based on only one idea; sign the best individual players we could get. Few top tier players want to play at a school in the cross-hairs of the NCAA.

Concerning this team… moving forward… anything is possible. We know we aren’t winning the league this year. What are our chances in March? Not so different than other years. The luck of drawing a good path in March will be crucial (as usual), and it’s all about us being healthy and playing good at the end. We could easily get knocked out in the first weekend, or go on a nice run. It’s the same for the rest of the D1 teams. Anyone can win and anyone can lose… just ask Purdue last year.

We never recovered from losing whats-his-name, the Texas guard who had off-court problems. Imagine if that didn’t happen and he had the year many of us felt he was capable of.

Everyone ragging on Juan. Seriously, people. You aren’t happy because he doesn’t just shift into a different player to meet our current needs. Had we kept the Texas guard Juan would be having a stellar year… doing what he’s good at… assists.

Let’s remember this entire season… not only the dud games like UCF. Has any other team won as many big team games as us? I guarantee you, no one wants to draw Kansas in March Madness.

The real problem we have is lack of consistency. This team can beat the best and lose to the worst. Yes, Hunter’s perimeter defense is awful. Yes, KJ has limited offense. Yes, Furph’s magic trey isn’t dropping right now. Yes, we get limited points out of Juan. Yes, Kevin’s trey isn’t falling. Yes, our bench is the weakest we’ve ever had under Self. I think it’s our weak bench that has hurt us the most, especially creating consistency issues.

This team is tired. Anyone can see that. So the same people who think Self needs to go probably also blame our guys for not being in shape. All I can say is we have more uneducated posters in here. How many of you guys played basketball that ran at this pace? It’s not something you can imagine until you’ve done it. I’ll prove my point by pointing to the world’s best basketball platform, the NBA. Our starters are playing more minutes than most top NBA players, and they play a 48-minute game spread out over more time. More timeouts, too. And we do not have all the benefits the NBA has with 365-day training, diets, etc. Plus, there is a reason why people say the NBA doesn’t play defense. These guys are pacing their seasons. That’s why I don’t watch NBA until June.

You have to start talking less and listening more. Watching games closer. BYU had the perfect game plan. They ran a grueling offense. Probably averaged 8 picks per possession. They beat us down. They knew we didn’t have a bench.

The smart move forward, as a fan base, is to support these guys and accept whatever happens this year. We are limited more than usual with this team. Push players to do better but be respectful. Don’t have typical insane expectations with this team. They may just surprise you in the tourney. Maybe.

I am probably like a lot of others in here concerning last night’s game. The first half gave me a stomach ache… thinking back to the last few years. Our guys not prepared for a dogfight, more like a cat grooming.

But I did feel better for part of the second half, mostly in the first minutes. Perry and Wayne took over. It was great to see both of these guys awaken from their first half naps. They really need to stop napping during games. Though they did wake up in the second half for a few minutes… enough for us to create the winning gap in the score.

I am amazed at Perry’s offensive tool set. I am amazed at the positive impact Wayne can have on our guys. One or two steals, assists or baskets from Wayne seems to liven up our entire team! This is his team!

I recall many times over the past couple of years where we came out flat and we stayed flat. I’m not saying that won’t happen again, but it is encouraging to see our veteran players step up and right a wrong, all within the 40 minutes of game time.

In as much as the first half gave us a “bad sign” for things to come, the inspired bursts in the second half gave us a “good sign” for possible great things to come in the season ahead!

Perry still hasn’t figured out enough to take it to bigger defenders… but he did show basketball IQ last night by taking what the defense gave him. He is as much a threat from the outside as any of our guys because he can hit that shot consistently and is often given the gift from defenses not wise enough to guard him out there.

Regardless what happens at the C5 this year… this is NOT the same team we had last year! For many, many reasons.

We’ve been short on depth all year.

Devonte plays almost 40 minutes per game.

Yet… we look a lot fresher than most of the teams we play.

How come?

A huge part of that surely must come from the efforts of Andrea Hudy. She is the training mom of all our guys and even travels with our team on the road.

Coach Self has mentioned a new strategy of carefully controlling our players’ legs both on the court (practice) and off the court.

I’m willing to place a bet that Andrea has teamed up with Bill to coordinate this strategy of saving our guys’ legs.

Can we really state that our Big 12 Conference Title #14 shouldn’t be credited largely to the efforts of Andrea?

I don’t think so!

So… here is a shout out to Andrea for everything she brings to our program! She deserves a ton of recognition (had to describe it in weight).

@kjayhawks

In some ways, I consider Bill a distant friend. We’ve met many times throughout the years and talk basketball. Surely he could pick me out of a police lineup and he’d tell them I’m okay. lol

I do have to say the past couple of years have been different. I’ve never given him high marks in some areas of basketball… like… his lack of ability to get his guys fired up before a game, or during a game. But now, I feel lost on some of the moves with this team.

I guess I should have expected this… KJ feels better then immediately replaces most of Flory’s minutes. Seems like Flory gets punished for going out there and hustling.

I do think the minutes distribution on this team is a problem. Seniority is preferred over firepower. This was the perfect opportunity to put KJ in his place… as a sparkplug off the bench! It’s a role he is built for! Not a 31+ minute player.

AJ deserves more minutes, too. He is starting to produce, somewhat. Instead of building a penal institution team, how about we reward progress, instead of just punish mistakes?

I’m at least happy Rylan is getting more minutes. And he is the answer to our perimeter shooting. His defense is so-so, but make sure and set him up on offense to counter anything bad he does on defense.

In that Baylor game… Hunter should have scored 50 points. He was unstoppable in the low paint and they didn’t know how to keep him out of there. Why wouldn’t we take those gifts every single possession?

Okay… if it wasn’t enough to blow the WVU home opener… we then proceeded to choke on Houston at home. Meltdown 1 and 2.

Okay… if that wasn’t enough… we blow a 21-point lead at Baylor, a team decimated with injuries and horrible play this year.

How do we do it? How do we blow leads? How do we manage to play solid one minute, then the next minute look incapable of beating an under-6-foot team?

We’ve all vented our frustrations already. Self… blah blah blah!

At this point, I think we need to adjust our perspective. For one thing, by now, I think we’ve all adjusted our expectations, but I’m about to go behind that.

Is this just about our guys playing great one moment, then completely sucking the next moment?

Seems like some of us want to put all the blame on our guys instead of giving some credit to our opponents. Is that fair?

Sports are not about being fair. Period. Sometimes, teams go cold, and others are hot. And it isn’t just about attitude, preparedness, or game coaching. That answer doesn’t help you if you have your pitchfork out and feel like jabbing Self right now… or a player or two. Sports will always have some level of randomness. That’s a big reason why we play the game.

I’m not letting our guys off this easy! Get out the BBQ sauce and prepare to eat!

Players also have to take responsibility for the outcome of a game. “Going cold” should not be enough of an excuse to blow a 21-point lead. Several things had to happen to lose a deficit like that.

Look at our remaining schedule. I can see us going 5-5. Is a 21-11 record good enough to guarantee a tournament selection or must we prove our worth in the B12 tourney?

I watched until half. Felt optimistic. Had to then go to my kiddo’s basketball game. When returning I caught a social media post hating on the Jayhawks so I was warned about watching the second half.

I fast-forwarded through the second half… watching the collapse in fast-forward mode. It helped relieve my anxiety knowing I didn’t waste the extra 45 minutes watching it happen at regular speed!

@approxinfinity My English is a disaster. At least I can say, “Not bad for my second language!” I can say that. I can also lie. lol

There is so much involved in being a real team leader. In some ways, Juan is the guy. He is our player best connected to Self. That counts. Lots of the leadership happens off the court. Making sure the players stay in line in their free time. Being there for them when they get sick. Etc. etc.

Being demonstrative is a HUGE asset! We need more visible enthusiasm. Also need someone reading defenses and directing traffic, on both sides of the ball. Juan is too mellow at this.

@approxinfinity Not sure our floor general has to lead in scoring… but it sure helps tremendously if it is a player who can go get his shot any time he wants. Sometimes… we need a basket desperately, and if that player could just wave everyone out of the way and take his man and score, it would be a big help.

2022 was a wild year! We had many alphas! Ochai finally learned to be more alpha, Christian was probably born and alpha, and Wilson had no problem taking over games! Even with all that… in the final moments for the Championship, Big Dave came to the rescue! I loved that team!

@approxinfinity

I see it the same.

We all get frustrated with this team. We see moments of solid play, then a lot of ho-hum basketball. This team lacks consistency on so many levels.

I know we botched the Houston game. That was frustrating, but didn’t bother me too much. I saw lots of solid play and against a true Top 5 team.

This UCF game frustrated me more. I know we live and die on Juan, and that was obvious in this game. Our defense was ridiculous. If we do that one time in March we go home.

I still see a big lack of toughness. Maybe we need more leadership. Maybe we need an alpha player to step forward. This idea of “leadership through committee” has never been something I totally embrace.

Flory and Zeke keep me excited! We need more from other players. ALL other players.

Will we have a good March? Seriously… I have absolutely no clue. I do believe we will need a lot of luck to make it too far.

@kjayhawks said in KU Mad, Central Florida next on schedule, part 2.:

Both diggy and Rylen have to score because they give up so much on the defensive end.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who sees this.

Diggy is kind of a scoring afterthought. His trey shot isn’t as steady as Rylen. Rylen really has great form. His release is way up there, quick, and with good form. He tries to set up his footing correctly, too.

One of the biggest improvements we can make right now is to take advantage of this excellent scoring option! But we have to run plays for him. He can use off-ball screens and use motion to create the space he needs. He should be an offensive priority!

I’ll keep saying it… he should be a steady scorer of 12+ ppg, even if he only plays 20 minutes.

What a complete waste of talent.

This game showed me how valuable Juan is… on both sides of the ball. We lost the assist totals by 6. A stat we usually carry, largely because of Juan. And we didn’t do it because all our guys were driving the ball, though AJ wasn’t shy in his limited minutes.

One stat that just keeps getting bigger… Rylan, 26 minutes, 4 points. He should easily have 12+ points every game… easy. We run nothing for him and he’s our best threat from 3. We lose so much when he plays 26 minutes and only scores 4 because he is a defensive liability. He’s here and earning minutes because of his trey threat.

KJ… the guy I isolate watching… he did both good and bad. He brought some energy and it took a while but he proved valuable down the stretch. It’s just hard now to give up any Flory minutes to KJ. Flory only played 2 minutes more than KJ, but snagged 6 more rebs than KJ and had 5 blocks to none for KJ. But we do need an extra big for depth, and as long as KJ can add some energy, and some stats, the loss won’t be huge. But if Self starts giving KJ 35 minutes and benches Flory… not a positive!

I’m having a hard time assessing the value of Moore now. He almost seems like he is battling his old injury. His play is becoming timid, and he’s backing down too much on offense. I didn’t see great defense from him tonight. No wonder his minutes were backed off to 12, even with Juan out.

Coit is our guy… who will be an occasional spark plug off the bench. Tonight, he really rescued us on his trey shot.

I hope Juan is back for the weekend. We aren’t ready to face more challenges without him. Just too valuable.

I felt a lot more comfortable after the Houston loss than I do after this victory.

We have a lot to take away from the Houston game.

First, and foremost, we figured out where our offense needs to come from… mostly these 4 players:

Hunter, Flory, Zeke, and Rylan. If AJ gets it together, he can be added to this list.

Knowing what we know now… it’s time to put a lot more focus on getting these players points. Juan already knows this… he only had 12 assists in this game!

I’m coming away from this game with optimism. The loss should help toughen up this bunch, and believe me, besides just gelling as a team, they need toughening! I’m starting to see a path for a nice March run! First time this year I see a path!

Once again… the spotlight is on KJ. When he returns. We will either sink or prosper. If he instantly gets his 30+ minutes back and then craps out on the stat sheet, it will be an early March exit. If he comes back realizing his role will be to bring even more energy to the current mix… we could go far!

I love KJ… it’s why I gave him hard love in my recent thread.

Most of you guys can replay the games. Go back after you watch for enjoyment and isolate your attention to KJ. No question he hustles… but he also gets caught watching the game like a spectator out there. Especially when the shot goes up. He should have already started heading toward the rim.

The difference in him make 50% fg and Flory making 80% is huge. It’s why KJ demands no respect from opposing defenses. They dare for him to shoot, even in midrange.

Of course he is setting picks, etc., but how valuable are those picks when he isn’t a threat at pick and roll? If I was a coach I would be spending time helping Flory master pick and roll.

KJ is great when he’s ON. And awful when he’s not. I’ll keep pounding this statement… he creates a big non-productive hole, right in the center of our offense. That is extremely valuable space and he devalues it when he can’t make a 12-ft floater.