Just how amazing has his season been?
13, 20 point games.
Who would have ever thought he would average 20 points a game? Incredible
On the verge of becoming the 1st Big-12 player to avg 20 + 5 assists a game.
Possible front-runner for POY.
14th place on the All-Time Scoring Record with 1,622 points. He still has at least 10 games left in his career, 17 if all goes as planned.
What else am I missing?
No matter what happens he’ll go down as one of my favorite hawks ever!
“You know, you look at this team and everybody, including myself, has said what’s wrong with this team all year long. We don’t do this, we don’t do that or we’re too small or we don’t have enough depth or we don’t play hard enough or we’re not hungry enough. And all they’ve done is they’re the No. 3 overall seed, and they’ve won two games in the tournament and are going to the Sweet 16. We’ve got to win two more games to get where we want to go. But I’m so proud of our kids and nobody can say that they haven’t had a great season. Now we have to go make great (turn into) special.” -Bill Self
Has Self said anything better all season long?
I’m pumped for Friday. We’re going to win
At work and have this beaming smile.
The win ranks up with the best of them.
Hope everyone else is enjoying the feeling of that W.
San Antonio here we come!
heard this was going up in the Rafters at Kansas St’s next home game. Next year they can add to it.
Time to give this guy some props for his defense and intangibles on the court so far this year.
His defense on Saturday against Paschall was outstanding. He was locked in. Talked after about the film he watched on how to guard him and its refreshing to see how much detail he put into that matchup. Overall I thought he did as good a job as we could have hoped on him.
We all know his 3 point shots are prayers, he constantly clanks the first free throw at the line and he’s struggled finishing on drives but man does this kid compete on both sides. He’s a valuable ball handler as we saw when Nova went to a full court press. It’s nice to know if Dotson is struggling or in foul trouble that we have a ball handler that can get into the offense. He has great hands and awareness when looking for steals. More importantly we have a guy that can matchup with someone’s best scorer 1-4 positions. Great to have.
He scores 1 point but his impact on the game seemed to outweigh what the box score says. Now if the staff could only get that shot fixed…
This guy deserves his own thread.
What an unbelievable performance last night. Dare to say that tops Kevin Durant’s performance here years back but after playing 54 of 55 minutes and putting on a clinic all through the OT’s I do say this was the best performance by a non KU player ever in this building.
And he does it with class… If you saw his post game interview with Scott Van Pelt he was all class even though you could sense he was upset leaving here without a victory.
And our fans, the one’s that were left gave him a standing ovation. Name another fan-base that will do that for a kid on the other team. Not ISU, Not KSU…KU is all class even its fans, although sometimes we all have our moments.
I’ve been a fan of his for a while but I gained a whole new appreciation for him. He had moments last night that reminded me of how Steph Curry is playing in the NBA. He’s that good, I do think he’s got a chance to become an NBA all-star the way he carries himself and the hard work he has put in to be where he’s at.
I’m jealous he’s not in a KU uniform, I’m jealous Self didn’t see what kind of player Hield could become, but who could have?
Thanks Buddy for putting on a show but respectfully missing that last 3 in triple OT. I will never forget that game.
Signed
Low 4 STAR Combo Guard Issac “Mackey” McBride
Low 4 STAR SG/SF Christian Braun
Offers have Visited
5 STAR PF Matthew Hurt
5 STAR PF Precious Achiuwa
4 STAR SG/SF Cassius Stanley
Offers, haven’t visited Campus
4 STAR Combo Forward Tristan Enaruna
4 STAR Combo Guard Harlond Beverly
3rd in points per game in Conference- 22nd national
2nd in shooting % in conference- 5th national
tied for 1st in 3pt %, really improved that # lately- 17th nationally
worst FT shooting team in the conference- believe there are only 11 teams worse in all of D-1. Yikes
3rd in the conference in rebounding- 61st nationally
2nd in assists per game conference- 16th nationally
Surprisingly 3rd in Blocks in conference- 34th nationally playing mostly 4 guard lineup…
KenPom has us 8th nationally in Adjusted Offense, 6th in Adjust Defense.
So far so good.
Boy is hungry.
Cut his trip back home short and is back in Lawrence working on his game. Taking after Frank and putting in the work to have a dominate Sr year.
What a chaotic season its been.
We are starting four freshman in March, wow! Who saw that coming?
We have an outside chance at the conference title still with 2 to play. We need some help and we need the boys to take care of business in Norman Tuesday.
Senior Night is Saturday without any Seniors to cheer, cry, and congratulate for. How weird is that.
We’ve had our starting Center go down with a season ending injury. Another potential starter has had his eligibility robbed of him for at least two seasons. Another starter and 3 year Letterman apart of 2 Elite 8’s and a Final 4 has left the team. Another starter missed 4 games and still isn’t 100%.
KU has beaten 10 ranked teams this year accounting for 45% of their wins this season.
They are 3-7 on the road. They are 19-0 on a Neutral & Home Court.
For the first time in a long time KU likely won’t be a 1 or 2 seed.
Instead of worrying about potential 2nd round matchups, we’ll have to worry which potential 14 or 13 seed we’ll see.
Despite all that has happened this is March. This is our chance to end this season on a high note. How many games we got left? 11? One can only dream
Game Tip: 12:15 Central, 1:15 Eastern, Coffee Time if your PT.
Network: TBS. Guess I’ll have to look to see if I have this channel anymore. What’s on TBS these days?
Mascot- Eagles. Nothing to add here other then the “EW” is embroidered in the logo. Clever.
Conference- Big Sky. Wiki says they joined in 1982.
Tournament History- EW has made the tournament twice, losing to Oklahoma St in 2004 & Georgetown in 2015 in the opening round.
Coach- Shantay Legans. Legans played at Cal & Fresno St with a Euro career before getting into coaching. Young coach, not even 40. Legans was the assistant at EW for 8 seasons before taking over. Last year Legans was COY finishing 23-8. He’s 75-48 as a coach with an impressive 53-20 record in conference play in 4 seasons. His .610 win % is tied for 4th highest in school history & highest since the mid 1960’s
Who they’ve played: Lost to Washington by 3, Lost to Arizona by 3, Lost to Oregon by 17, Lost to St Mary’s by 5. Some really close games against P5 competition. 10 cancelled/postponed games as well.
Winners of 13 of their past 14 games, they finished 12-3 in conference play & won their Conference Tourney by 10 over Montana State.
Kenpom: For the analytics peeps- #110 overall, #86 offense, #152 Defense. As a #14 seed they were the 3rd worse behind Morehead St (#128) who plays West Virginia. Colgate #84 (Top 50 offense) & Abilene Christian (Top 30 defense). #14 seeds only have 21 victories in Tournament History. They are #28 in Tempo which means they like to get up and down and take shots.
Team Statistics:
Avg 78 ppg as a team (41st best in country)
Opponents score 69.4 ppg (193rd in country).
Average shooting team- 46% FG , 35% 3PT, but great here 78% FT (#10 in country).
Poor Offensive Rebounding team (#315), assists (#61), poor in steals (#312), blocks (#208), low turnover rate (#61), fouls per game (#197).
Players: Leading scorer Tanner Graves won Big Sky POY & Kim Aiken was Defensive POY. Tyler Robertson was also Top Reserve of the Year.
Player Stats- 5 guys average double figures.
Tanner Groves, leading scorer at 6’9, has a big beard with a headband (I laughed watching highlights). Tanner averages 16ppg & 8 boards. 55% FG, 32% 3PT on 17 makes on the year.
Kim Aiken 6’7- 11.7 ppg, 8.5 boards, 45% FG, 31% 3PT, 34 made 3’s (tied with Robertson for most made 3’s on team)
Tyler Robertson 6’6- 11 ppg, 46% FG, 37% 3PT.
Michael Meadows 6’2- 10ppg, 46% FG, 37% 3PT.
Jacob Davison 6’4- 10ppg, 38% FG, 36% 3PT.
Jacob Groves 6’7- 8ppg, 53% FG, 30% 3PT. Brother of Tanner.
Jack Perry 6’2 4ppg, 50% FG, 50% 3PT. Primary ball handler.
Style of Play:
Watching their championship game High Ball Screen action with Graves (one set) or Aiken for a 2 big HBS action (another set). The two big set seems to be all about getting Meadows an open side from the wing or setting up a backdoor. Perry is the primary ballhandler but Meadows will also run the show as well. Tanner can beat you off the dribble at 6’9 so if Dave is guarding him from the perimeter that’s a tough matchup. Meadows seems to have some craftiness/slashing 6-10 feet ability as he’s got above average athleticism for his size & quickness and can rise up. They pass it well, seem to be a team with good chemistry. Montana St is really bad which makes them look better. EW was up almost 20 at half. Groves is relentless trying to establish post position. I can see Dave in foul trouble battling him just the way he plays with a high motor. I think Self may have to use Garrett on him at times although Groves has significant weight advantage. The other Groves brother is skilled, can score off the bounce and from 3 and looks bigger then his 6’7 listed height. Robertson doesn’t look like much, thick wing body. Montana St made a game of it in the 2nd half but foul calls and a T seemed to end that run.
Interesting game. KU should win if we have Dave available. Hard to say much more at this point until we know for sure
I’ll start.
I’d say we are on target as far as record goes. Considering who KU has already played compared to most of the country (see Houston’s schedule for example), we are in good position as usual. The Marquette loss was one of those days where nothing went well. 13 hours later they big-boy gamed Tennessee so we know the makeup of this team is strong. Resume wins against Kentucky & UConn will matter in March when it comes to seeding.
I think overall as a team we’re a bit below my expectations as far as level of play compared to past years.
The loss of Morris at the last minute left the coaches scrambling to adjust. Some guys are playing more minutes than expected because of that loss. It is what it is there. I understand this team is not going to play it’s ‘A’ game even half the time. Have we even seen KU’s A game yet? I would argue we haven’t.
Thoughts on Hunter’s impact so far?
I will fully admit he’s been worth every penny in NIL so far. He’s a force on both sides of the ball and providing leadership & consistent effort while playing a ton of minutes. Big Dave and Doke didn’t log this many minutes for KU and so far he’s holding up pretty well. I’m still coming around to liking him in the way I do others on this team but he’s been every bit the advertised player so far. Does anyone notice how quickly Hunter tries to initiate his offense before defenses have time to adjust? Perhaps the one weakness I’ve seen so far from him is the lack of comfort going ISO & trying to score. He seems to do his work before catching the ball or immediately as he catches the ball, it’s uncanny and not something I’ve seen from any previous KU player. I’m interested to see as we get further into the season to see how good Hunter is when we need him to go get a bucket down low.
Kevin McCullar our best player?
It certainly feels like he’s the best player on this team a lot of the time. His impact on both ends has been outstanding so far. His jumper has improved, his confidence and feel in year 2 here is similar to what we’d see from guys in year 4. Kev took an opportunity to be the guy and has ran with it. So far he’s the MVP in my eyes.
KJ Adams has ascended into an All-Big-12 player?
Perhaps a bit of a hot take but the past 3 games or so, how can anyone deny his impact on the court? He’s a positionless player that has a hard time making free throws and has zero outside game but as Self says he’s a stud. He’s a winner too. I might be biased here, I sympathize greatly with KJ’s story especially losing his mother and knowing the impact that has on you. I can’t imagine what he’s going through right now trying to navigate his personal life with this pressure to be great at KU. He’s certainly taking this opportunity well so far to make an impact on the court with his teammates. I didn’t know he could handle the ball in transition like he has lately and his passing ability seems to be shining even more this season. We all know the things KJ can continue to improve on but right now he’s playing at an all-conference level and I hope that doesn’t get lost in the shuffle of Hunter and Kev’s great starts so far. Who’s improved more, Kev or KJ so far?
Harris again the unsung hero…
Juan is averaging a career best 7 assists and playing more minutes than his coaches would like him to but that’s the reality we face with only 9 scholarship players. I wouldn’t say Juan has been better than last year in some areas, but he provides the steady force at PG we wouldn’t have without him. It’s hard to imagine what games will look like without him. Hopefully we are still a year plus away from that reality. He’s a stud.
The 5th starting spot…
This seems like a storyline that’s going to continue for most of the year. Elmarko has had some bright spots, especially of late and I do think he’s starting to settle down into his role. Elmarko really is playing out of position but he’s doing his best to fit with the other 4 guys. Confidence seems to be a big key for him, you see him slowly gaining it as he picks his spots and figures out what the coaches want from him. I had extremely high hopes for him this year and he’s on target to get there imo. I like that Self has stuck with him in the starting lineup as by doing that he’ll have a chance to get settled and start contributing more. His ceiling is still extremely high.
Furphy & Braun.
Johnny has been exciting to watch so far. Considering how late he joined this team its remarkable the impact he is able to have at times. His defense certainly needs some tuning (knowing when to move those feet instead of using the hands) but he’ll get there. His ceiling is incredibly high not only for this season but hopefully in year 2 where he could be a potential breakout performer. I see Johnny as a player they must convince to stay at all costs.
Braun has impressed me in his backup minutes. His athleticism really shines, quick leaper and has provided steady minutes when needed. I like that he’s a lob threat and rim protector as well. He’s been a good addition providing consistent effort and play which isn’t always easy to do when your backing up someone such as Hunter.
Timberlake & McDowell.
I expected to see more of an impact from Timberlake especially shooting the ball. This was a confident scorer at Towson with some surprising bounce at times. So far we haven’t seen a confident player and we haven’t seen the scoring. Perhaps expectations were misguided given his high profile transfer recruitment but I have a hard time believing UConn & UNC also misevaluated him. It’s always a risk banking on mid-major players to make the jump up and still perform and I think that’s a big part of it here. You have to kind of project at times. If anything this gives the staff even more caution when scouting transfers from lower levels. I can’t imagine there’s any science to knowing who will be a hit and who won’t. I hope Nick continues to battle for playing time and can do some good things here.
McDowell- was a bit surprised in some of the early games at his ability to make an impact on defense and make some timely open shots. Seems to have fallen back into a sparingly used role but for someone that wasn’t expected to have a big role as a freshman I’m happy with what we have seen out of him so far. I’m high on his future here and hopefully he sticks around to develop. Has all the makings of an important role player down the road.
Game in Lawrence…
Great time to get some payback
What a 2nd half turnaround. Without Wayne Ballin out we fall but our defense rebounding and shot making was stellar in the 2nd half.
This is the wayne we’ve waited 3 years for what a performance young man
What a great start for the long awaited debut for the big fella!!!
Stat line: 13pts- 6rbs- 3blks- 4 fouls- 1 TO- 1-4 FT
I’m not going to lie I spent a good portion of the game just watching what he does on the court. It is clear to see that he changes this team in so many positive ways. I thought his debut was as good as advertised, a great starting point for him. The opponent was terrible but these are the games he can develop feel for the game.
The word is he’s “raw”. You can see that certain things will take time like the turnover he had to start the game. Or his pursuit to block everything even when it wasn’t his man. He’ll have to learn court awareness and the timing to leave the floor for blocks because good teams will exploit that over-pursuit but boy does he know how to alter and block shots. I had forgotten just how elite his skill is.
Diallo showed a few nice moves, including the And-1 but the footwork and speed to get by his defender was something that reminded me of Joel. I think we will see a daily evolving skill-set for this guy just like Embiid showed us.
Did anyone watch the game and think this is Joel 2.0?? I got that feeling watching his variety of highlights.
The block & Mailman dunk by the way was awesome. I know Self was rolling on the sideline about it but every now and then a little fun never hurt anyone. Call me impressed, regardless of the opponent, this guy is what can make this team elite!!
At least we got one stud coming our way next year.
Congratulations to @Skyline_Raiders hoopster Marcus Garrett for signing NLI with @KUHoops
Congrats Marcus, I have a feeling we will be very happy with this guy
First off great win, this team really rallied around itself and fought hard in the 2nd half. Frank Mason your playing at an All-American Level and if it wasn’t for your heroics in both games I’m not sure where or what we’d be feeling about this team.
Before I go any further I have to ask a serious question to this board
Is the game of College Basketball fun to watch with the way the officials are calling the game?
I find myself angry with how the game is being called. This is significantly worse then any year I can ever remember rules being enforced. 48 fouls last night, 60+ in the Indiana game, this isn’t acceptable. Where has the let the kids play aspect of this sport gone?
Are we okay with Josh Jackson getting a foul for trying to get a loose ball or his 5th foul where he came back into the game for less then 10 seconds? Or the 4 point play Duke got at the end of the game? I could on and on about countless other moments of just “I don’t know what the ref’s are doing”.
Jay Bilas mentioned outside of 3-4 calls every call was justifiable. That these calls were always fouls, they are just now being enforced.
I disagree with this statement. I didn’t see this officiating in the Kentucky/Michigan St game, I didn’t see this in the Oregon/Baylor game I watched earlier in the day. So why is KU getting stuck with some agenda driven officials? RANT over for now…
Positives from the game:
Have to start with this guy. That last second shot felt Sherron Collins-esqe. He’s got that fire in him. Played a great game. I didn’t expect his impact on this team would standout so much but its clear that this is HIS team and we’ll live and die with how far he can take us.
Stretches of that 2nd half where you felt the beast coming out of him. He had what I thought were 3 legitimate gripes on foul calls. Totally disrupted him all night. If not for the foul calls he probably would have showcased a huge game, 15 pts in 18 minutes and he was active. Has to learn how to stay in the game and his FT shooting leaves a lot to be desired. Keep working Josh. He needed that game.
Funniest moment of the game, watching Doke try and take the ball on a 1 man fast break. Missed the layup, got his own rebound, Dunked and then flexed about it. I thought he was terrific in the 2nd half whether it was rebounding or fighting for points in the lane. With the way Lucas played again the Big Fella might be starting soon.
He made some really great acrobatic layups last night. His defense was stellar all night. He finally came to life, he was big. What is up with his cramping?? Concerning issue. Played all 40 minutes, a true gamer.
Looked more comfortable again. Besides the obvious foul trouble he had a huge baseline jumper and I thought played well. He competed for rebounds and snatched a few I didn’t expect from him. Keep evolving Carlton.
We were really locked in to their offense for a good 30 minute stretch there. Forced Allen into a bad shooting night and generally gave them fits trying to get good shots. We rebounded well, and gave great effort on defense. Nothing we can do about the crazy amount of foul calls,
The bad:
What’s wrong with him? How much longer can we ride him being a non-factor. Is the injury really hurting him or are we just seeing the real Landen without Perry around to help him. Is the motivation gone that made him step up last year? Concerning. If Doke plays like he did going forward, hard to see him not passing Lucas.
Actually I thought Svi played well but how do you miss that point blank layup?? That is all. Would have loved to see one of his 3’s go in, the one he had wide open off a blind pass from Mason would have sealed the game.
Where is it? 2-17 is hard to overcome
9 of 19, won’t cut it in games that come down to the FT game. Hopefully these guys get some shots up and practice
Thoughts guys?
Fanbase been a little tough on him this year.
He can play still. Huge 3’s. Just straight cold daggers!
Thanks DG
Starting the game thread early to give everyone this…
At least we know for sure now…
Billy Preston has been fully cleared by the NCAA.
Oak Hill Magic is real!!
5 star guard announces for KU. Dad played for Self at Tulsa. Big time shooter, big time recruiting victory!
Welcome young man!
Congrats to Marcus. WELL DESERVED!!!
Start of the best month in sports. Even better if we win the whole thing!
Its 2 games and we’ve played no one so this is an early overreaction take but this dude, the flashes he’s showing are impossible to ignore.
He’s got some Embiid/Doke vibes to him. The ability to run the floor like he did last night for multiple dunks is very impressive. He has some quick twitch jumping ability at his size which we haven’t had in the frontcourt in a while. He’s not afraid to switch onto a guard on the perimeter defensively already which is rare to see from a freshman. He changes the offense with his lob ability, not just that he’s good at it, he’s elite there, his wingspan and athleticism allow you to throw it up at a height or angle that only he can reach. Again, extremely impressive.
Self found his next big thing
Ernest Udeh now has the KU record for consecutive field goals made without a miss, multiple games. He’s now at 20 straight FG’s without a miss. He is tied right now for the Big-12 record. Crazy!
I’m much happier with rooting for Furphy then I ever would have been for Morris.
The fact Bidunga was able to man the post for 10 minutes really let’s us know how good we have it at the 5. Big moments for flory and he responded. Good sign
He only suspended him after it was apparent he had no other option. I cannot assume but I’m sure the ACC and Duke felt the pressure to finally make the punishment stick this time.
He didn’t sit him the 2nd half of the game in which he committed the trip which to me said all I needed to know about Coach K. He saw the play, it was right in front of his bench. He saw the tirade that Allen put on after on the bench, right in front of him again. Inexcusable from player and Coach in that situation.
How much of Allen’s issues are directly related to Coach K’s antics as a coach? I would say they are closely tied together. I respect Coach K, amazing coach but the suspension was 1/2 of a game and a day late. Duke and the ACC knew the media was coming after them full throttle and that’s why the suspension ultimately happened.
After Saturday’s events which saw KU claw to victory against Texas, OU benefit from terrible officiating, and K-St take out its 2nd big victory in a week in Iowa St. Monday brings a big matchup between OU and ISU. If Iowa St holds serve at home we win the Big 12 with a win Tuesday.
Last week I started the root or “rout” for Baylor Bears thread and we were graced with a victory from them over ISU. This week it’s the opposite we want Iowa St. to win at home against OU and practically eliminate them from any championship hardware.
Everyone knows our last game is at OU on their Senior day and we don’t want to go into Norman with Oklahoma having something to play for. We need the Cyclones to kill those dreams and KU can crown themselves at home. How great would that be for all this team has gone through to beat West Virginia and claim #11 at home. I certainly can’t think of a better situation.
So for One night Only I will half heartedly become a Cyclones fan. Who’s joining me??
Joel Embiid with the assist!!
Official stat line for Philadelphia this year. Opts, Orebs, 0blks, 1 Ast.
Not that it was any surprise but it was just announced via twitter that KU’s own Andrew Wiggins will be named Rookie of the Year.
Congrats Andrew, you were at times amazing this year for your crappy Minnesota. With a great off-season he has a chance to be an All-Star next year, he was that good at times.
I think you sold Mason a little short on where he could end up. He’s got a legit chance at cracking the top 10 actually.
Perry Ellis finished 8th with 1798. 10th place has 1754.
Last year we played 38 games.
If Mason plays 38 games and averages say 16 a game (conserative # right now, not knowing where his average is going to settle on) he will finish in 10th all-time with 1759 points (roughly).
The way he’s scoring right now could see him in the 18-19 pts a game area.
18 a game would land him in 6th place just behind Sherron Collins. 19 a game he would pass Collins.
Will be interesting to track this as the season goes by.
For those that haven’t payed much attention to the rest of the Big-12 this may be for you to get up to speed as we inch closer to conference play. I will go through each team labeling them Contender or Pretender. I’ve watched 2-3 or more games on each team so far. This may not play out to be accurate at season’s end but this should give a good idea of who stands in our way to #13.
Baylor. Ranking: #4 AP, KenPom- #11. Adj O- #15, Adj D- #14.
Contender
Maybe the most talked about Big-12 team besides KU this non-conference is Scott Drew’s Bears. 8-0 with big wins against Oregon, Xavier, Louisville and solid wins against VCU & Michigan St. Officially it says they have won against 4 ranked teams but we all know Izzo’s squad is not a Top 25 team this year.
Is Baylor for real? Yes they are.
Replacing their starting PG, do it all SF/PF & C should have led to growing pains but their replacements Manu Lecomte (Miami transfer) and Jo Lual Acuil Jr (red-shirted due to heart condition) both used the red-shirt year to develop their games. Jonathan Motley entering the starting lineup has also had a big effect on this teams efficiency at both ends of the floor. Last year he was a 6th man type, this year he’s their leading scorer and no questions asked best player. So far these three players have shown to be better then the guys they replaced from last years squad. That’s tough to say especially when Prince was drafted & Rico Gathers ended his career as one of the top rebounder’s in Big-12 history.
The win against Louisville is their biggest win so far. Winning in that weird ball-room place in the Bahamas (KU lost to Villanova a few years ago) showed a tough team. They were down 22 points and looked hopelessly beaten. They looked like a typical Scott Drew team that was folding playing top competition. But then the game changed and Baylor found a way to come back and eventually won. Louisville will be a solid top 10ish team all year, its a big win. The Oregon win looks good on paper as well as Xavier but both times Baylor got lucky playing them at home. Oregon was also short their best player and looks like a team that is still putting itself together. Xavier might not be a Top 10 team this year but it was another statement win.
The one question every KU fan and Big-12 fan knows though is can Scott Drew coach this team up in Big-12 play. Are they peaking now? Can the zone-match-up defense that gives teams fits in non-conference play hold up when teams who play them annually scout and pick apart game film to find weaknesses. Is Baylor’s home court atmosphere good enough to win big games against KU and others? If the answer to those questions is yes, then KU has perhaps its biggest challenger in years on its hands. OU & Iowa St looked poised to take KU down last year and just couldn’t survive the gauntlet that is Big-12 play. Holding serve at home and getting 1 or 2 lucky breaks on the road is absolutely needed to win this league. You have to play perfect almost every night.
West Virginia: Rank- #15 AP- KenPom #9- Adj O #16- Adj D # 8
Contender: “Sigh”
I’m not sure which team I despise more: Huggy Bear’s slap attack or ISU’s weatherwax delusional clan. I guess they both can be on equal footing.
Huggins again has a team that can contend for the Big-12. The AP poll has them lower then KenPom which has them a solid Top 10 squad right now. They haven’t played a tough non-conference, just two games that even stick out. Temple is decent and had a huge lead over West Virginia in a neutral court game. Temple blew the lead like a lot of teams do facing non-stop pressure, WVU came back but didn’t have enough clutch shots in the end to get the comeback victory. Just this past week West Virginia went into Virginia and got a huge win on the road. It was a chippy low scoring slugfest. Pack-Line defense against nagging full court pressure. Virginia is not the Virginia of the past few years offensively- and without arguably their best player who was kicked off the team just a few games into the season for what sounds like a drug problem, UVA is 3rd or 4th best ACC team this year. Still a road win is a road win and it shows that no matter how much talent you have, a certain style of play can overcome weaknesses on a team.
As far as West Virginia’s players go, Devin Williams is gone (thank every basketball god out there) Paige is gone- he was a nuisance and Jonathan Holton who was the lead man on their press is also gone. Esa Ahmad a former top 100 player who had a typical freshman year last season has become their leading scorer. Their 2nd leading scorer- Nathan Adrian? Who? Now sports a made for TV haircut instead of his traditional buzz cut. Seems like he’s been at West Virginia half a century. Went from 4 pts a game to over 10. Juniors Jevon Carter who looks 50 with his hair-line and new dirty player of the year nominee Daxter Miles (see my thread about his dirty hit on a Virginia player) are still kicking around fouling people and launching 3’s.
I struggled with putting this team as a contender because I don’t think this years squad is that good. Their style of play dictates they can muddy up any game and keep them from losing games they might otherwise. Other than Virginia they haven’t played a team that wouldn’t beat a bottom dweller in the Big-12 so the jury is still out on how good they really are. Last years WVU squad would roll this years version by 20. But there is enough veterans on the squad to think they will find ways to win some games on the road and they always give KU their super bowl effort in Morgantown in which we always wonder if the ref’s drink the local water before the game, or they are secretly wearing West Virginia shirts under those zebra uniforms. Self has never figured out how to attack the press without us fans pulling our hair out. The home/away games will be tough especially with how they are scheduled.
Iowa St: Rank- #25- KenPom #23- Adj O #31- AdjD #19
Contender
In what should be Iowa St.'s last year as a Big-12 contender for a while, Prohm has 6 seniors in his rotation. Gone is George slow-mo Niang and Predator clone McKay from last years squad. Niang was not replaceable and Prohm went the transfer route to try and replace some of the production lost.
Monte Morris has taken over this team and is the leading scorer. Deonte Burton has really come on in recent games and is a match-up nightmare for most squads who don’t have an undersized athletic forward roaming around on their team that weighs 240. Naz Long comes back for his 17th season after medically red-shirting with a hip injury. He’s been terribly inefficient so far shooting the 3 ball. Matt Thomas is one of those 4 year players that you love to have on your team and hate to play against. Iowa St literally has no one on the team over 6’8. Josh Jackson is as tall as their tallest guy. That in a nutshell has exposed their biggest problem this year- post size and depth. They have neither and Prohm is forced to play mid-major small in a power 5 conference.
Schedule wise Iowa St has played 3 teams with a pulse and lost 2 of them. Miami is rebuilding, Iowa St beat them on a neutral court then lost to still Undefeated Gonzaga 2 days later in a hard fought 2 point game. Monte Morris blew a chance for a game winning shot by not even getting one off in time, which for a Senior leader is inexcusable. Gonzaga is a top team again this year so the loss isn’t the end of the world. Last week Iowa St dropped an OT game against Cincinnati in which both teams were allergic from putting the ball into the basket. A 55-54 OT game. Cincinnati usually makes every game they play a fall asleep type affair but this game was filled with lots of missed shots.
The #'s so far say Iowa St is a better defensive team then offensive team. That is usually the opposite as Iowa St spreads the floor and takes jumpers whenever they feel like it. I feel a lot of it is due to Niang being gone. He was such an offensive juggernaut from all over the court and his point forward ability allowed ISU to have 2 PG’s on the floor at all times. Without that guy on the floor who could get a basket anytime he wanted ISU has had to rely on other individual talents. Because of the Seniors on this team I still have them as a contender and with the 2nd best home-court advantage in the league they always have the ability to hold serve for 9 games in-conference. This isn’t ISU’s best squad and it will show in road games where they struggle to get timely buckets and lack size to protect the rim and rebound.
Oklahoma- Rank- None- KenPom #42 Adj O #59 Adj D # 35
Pretender
No team lost more from last year then this squad. 3 starters, Buddy Hield, Cousins, Spangler. They had a banner year making the Final 4 and playing one of the best games in Allen Fieldhouse history. Left is PG Jordan Woodard-their leading scorer and C Kadeem Lattin a defensive player with an emerging offensive game as he’s averaging double figures now. Christian James has emerged as their 2nd leading scorer and is trying to follow in the footsteps of Hield, similar game and player. 3 Freshman are contributing and 2 other Sophomores who played sparingly last year. Young squad, definite rebuilding year.
So far they have dropped an OT game against Northern Iowa, beaten an okay Clemson squad and got blown out by Wisconsin on the road. OU looked promising early against Wisconsin but then the Badgers took over the game after halftime and made the final margin of victory look like a blowout. That game to me signaled that they are going to struggle at times in Big-12 play. They have talent, more so then 80% of the league but its going to take Kruger time to get them to play together. I think they could upset a few teams and make the NCAA’s because we all know the coach is good and has a proven track record for developing his team. They are still shooting the 3 ball well as a team and they are lucky that 4 year starter Woodard is still around to take pressure off the rest of the squad. They look like a 11-7 to 9-9 Big-12 squad this year.
Texas Tech: Rank- None- KenPom #31 Adj O- #33- AdjD #38.
Pretender
This might be the toughest team to get an early season prediction on because they have played literally nobody so far. Auburn is a young squad with some talent but probably an SEC afterthought again so the 2 point loss to them doesn’t bode well for them making the NCAA’s without some marquee Big-12 wins. The #'s so far say they are better then average but seriously who wouldn’t look good beating Houston Baptist, North Texas, Eastern Kentucky, Utah St, Incarnate Word, Rice, UT San Antonio. So far its the 11th worst out of conference schedule of 351 teams. They play nobody until traveling to Iowa St to start conference play.
New head coach replacing Tubby Smith is Chris Beard who got Arkansas Little Rock into the NCAA’s and knocked off Purdue in one of those epic first round games. Beard inherited a good team that made the NCAA’s themselves but stood no match for Butler. Starting Center Odiase has not even played this season but Texas Tech is 8-1 anyway. A key graduate transfer in Anthony Livingston is providing solid scoring so far and overall they have 7 guys averaging 8 points or more a game.
They certainly have the experience back and players to finish in the upper half of the league but its hard to predict that with them playing such a soft schedule so far. When they played a Power 5 school they lost and they had a chance to tie the game with 4 seconds left but Aaron Ross- their leading scorer’s shot was blocked. Until this team proves itself in conference they could be a team that finishes 11-7 to 7-11. The ceiling is there for them to continue off last years success with a 1st year coach.
TCU: Rank- None- KenPom- #51 Adj O- #67- Adj D- #54
Pretender
First year coach Jamie Dixon comes back to his Alma-Mater after a successful stint at Pittsburgh where he routinely made the NCAA tourney. TCU was undefeated until last night when SMU blew them out at home. SMU is a tough place to travel and win but the margin of victory says that TCU still has a long ways to go. There was some chatter they would be ranked but good thing this game gave everyone thinking that a wake up call. The two wins against Washington- a perennial underachieving team with NBA talent are probably not going to be substantial resume wins by end of season.
Dixon has some talent leftover from the previous regime and he did land a Top 40 PG in Jaylen Fisher who has been solid so far 11ppg, 4 assists. Alex Robinson a transfer from Texas A&M has been their leading scorer. Perennial disappointment Karvier Shephard is still around, Kenrich Williams is back from a knee injury and is averaging a double/double so far. Brodziansky- a twig post has also become one of their leading scorers in his 2nd year with the team. TCU plays 10 guys on the regular and has depth to stay in games. Can a good coach make that much of a difference in 1 year to change the winning culture around the program. Will fans show up and support the new coach and updated facilities? They should do better than 2-16 but its more likely 7-11 would be a big turnaround for this squad. KU does travel down to TCU for the Big-12 opener so we’ll get to see soon if TCU is improved…
Oklahoma St: Rank- None- KenPom- #47 Adj O #27 Adj D #81
Pretender
First year coach Brad Underwood brings an exciting style of play to OSU that Travis Ford never did. I think this was the best hire in the Big-12 in the off-season that has 3 new coaches. So far OSU is top 10 in tempo- they play fast and take lots of shots. Offensive numbers have been staggering so far but when they have played better competition they have come back down to earth. UNC absolutely destroyed them when some people were starting to take notice of this team.
Future NBA Sophomore Juwan Evans leads the Big-12 in scoring at 23 ppg. His shooting #'s so far are impressive and some TV guys have compared his game to Chris Paul. I think his usage % is near 34% so he’s getting big numbers while also getting a lot of opportunities. Phil Forte is back for his senior year after having his year cut short last season with injury. Just another guy your like “he’s still around”. Never been a fan of this guy and every-time he plays KU its his Super Bowl. Jeffrey Carroll might be the guy who’s benefited the most from the switch in style and coaches as he’s doubled his scoring average from 8 to 16 this year. Oklahoma St has 3 guys averaging 14 pts or more a game so they definitely want to score the basket. OSU plays 11 guys in its regular rotation and has 7 guys who have attempted 15 or more 3’s on the season.
Schedule wise they have dropped games to UNC as mentioned before in Maui & a 1 point loss to Maryland who’s in a down year from past squads. Otherwise their best win is against a struggling Georgetown team and a injury stricken Uconn squad down to 6 or 7 healthy bodies. OSU has 1 more chance before conference play to get a big win traveling to Wichita St next weekend. Style wise this team might surprise in Big-12 play by scoring but the biggest issue is this is a team that doesn’t defend anything. When Central Arkansas & Rogers St (must be a Div-2 squad) can score over 85 points against them imagine what KU and others will put up. Of course the last game of the regular season- traveling to Stillwater is the annual Bill Self can’t win in Gallagher Iba reunion. This year we don’t travel in February, its the 18th game of the schedule so maybe this will break the curse that has followed this team in that gym.
Kansas St: Rank Never, KenPom- Overrated Adj O # false Adj D # biased
Pretender
Did I mention yet that K-St sucks? If not then I am saying it now. Just how delusional are K-St fans. They have actually had a discussion I’ve seen that says their talent is a wash at most positions this year with KU. The water in Manhattan must have a nice spike to it. I don’t expect anything less from them because its typical, so typical that all you can do is laugh. Hey some K-St fans still think Dean Wade is the next Larry Bird. It would be like them to have the worst coach in the Big-12 with that pip-squeak voice that follows when he opens his mouth. How many more years does Bruce Weber get. They could have had Underwood- instead they get mediocrity- at best.
What else is there to say about this team. They have played a bunch of YMCA squads at home, lost a 1 point game to Maryland- not the only Big-12 school to do that so far. Cream puff central so far in out of conference play. Not wasting anymore time discussing them. They will finish last in the league in my opinion and I’ll be so happy if that does happen
I forgot Texas.
At this point Texas is a pretender. Shaka has a lot of work to do with this squad and at 4-4 they are struggling mightily to win games. I think we’ve talked up Texas enough over the weeks. I see them as a bottom level Big-12 team unless they figure out chemistry and the PG mess they got going on.
Thoughts everyone?
Kansas played its first game without Carlton Bragg Jr., who was suspended indefinitely after being arrested in connection with a domestic battery incident. The Jayhawks beat Nebraska easily but will need Bragg back at some point to go deep in the NCAA tourney.
Am I the only one that disagree’s with this statement " need Bragg to go deep in the NCAA tourney"?
Bragg is not a starter, how can he be the difference between what KU will do in March. It would be nice to have Carlton back with his head on straight and play to the level we all hoped he would this year but that seems like a stretch right now. It would certainly be a bigger blow losing one of our guards then Bragg.
First off, I want to wish everyone on this board a Happy Holidays. This is a special place to visit and talk daily about KU and for that, I hope everyone gets to spend time with family and loved one’s this upcoming weekend. You all make this place so much fun.
I know some may have missed the game last night due to the ridiculous cable packages that put this game on CBS sports. I was lucky I picked up the sports package just before Football Season rolled on and was able to see the game.
Short synopsis- 1st half -good, 2nd half -less than good.
UNLV is probably one of the 30 worst D-1 schools this year. Just don’t have the talent or development to say otherwise. A team that was torn apart by departures, coaching changes etc. KU should have won by 30-40 points but we left the bright lights with a 71-53 win. A 22 point lead at half got scary close to becoming a before Holiday meltdown (we’ve had those in the past). Then Svi made some shots and made everything fine again. What a season Svi is having and I couldn’t be happier for him.
I’ll be honest I went to bed a bit angry with how the 2nd half unfolded. I thought the guys mailed it in for a good portion of the half. UNLV was getting good shots and made them. Energy level was down and some of our best players were not performing.
Today is a new day though and after reading and thinking things through, I’m not going to take much from this game. First true road experience, First game without Doke and finally guys looking forward to seeing their families made this game forgetful after halftime.
We have plenty of time to prepare for the Big-12 opener against TCU on the road. Traveling to UNLV gave some of our young guys (Jackson, Vick, Bragg) valuable experience for that game. Plenty of game film for Self to use in practices next week where the effort will have to pick up a good amount to leave TCU with a victory.
I don’t think anyone should be too upset about the game if you have some doubts after last night. We can park this game in the “average” category and still left with a 18 point win.
Lucas & Bragg rebounded well. Their offense was forgetful though. Loved their efforts on the glass. Lucas set some hard screens last night, an underrated quality for him.
Jackson & Svi carried the offense. Dynamic kids at 6’8 they cannot be stopped if they are playing at a high level. Jackson does about 4-5 things a game that just jump off the chart. His effort level in the 1st half was awesome. Svi is continuing to evolve in the offense both Outside/Inside. If he to be aggressive to the hoop he makes this team dangerous in the absence of a real post presence.
Mason & Graham were disappointing, especially Devonte who didn’t seem engaged in the game at all after the first minute. Mason looked banged up on at least 2 different plays. Come on Frank! Not going to worry about them but they definitely didn’t bring their A game’s last night. Mason did have 1 incredible left-handed layup on the break though. Amazes me how good he is at the rim sometimes.
Thoughts?
Very similar team, play 4 guards, 1 big since the Boucher injury.
Our advantage again is our guards in this game. Benson & Pritchard are not athletes and cannot stop Mason or Graham. Oregon will play a soft press into a zone and switch into man at times. Basically Villanova Elite 8 all over again. Cannot have a ton of live ball turnovers against this group. Guard the shooters, make our shots.
Quick rundown of the players:
Tyler Dorsey is the biggest concern IMO for Oregon. He’s been shooting the lights out of the ball. KU recruited him out of HS. Kid has really stepped up late in the season.
Dillon Brooks and Jackson is a fantastic matchup. Probably will be a lot of KU fans first introduction to the theatrics of Brooks. He’s got game, but if JJ is locked in defensively can force him into a volume shooter. Brooks is a very emotional player and can carry a team. Has made a few game winners this season (UCLA, Cal).
Dylan Ennis is 2-15 from 3 last five games, hopefully that continues. 6th year guard, he’s something like 25 years old.
Payton Pritchard has been solid for them as a freshman. Can shoot it but has struggled recently as well. Had a big game in the the first round, hasn’t done much in the past two games.
Jordan Bell is one heck of an athlete. Lucas has his work cut out for him again. Might be the best shot-blocker in the country. Has expanded his offensive game. Have to keep him off the boards, heck of a rebounder. Forcing him into foul trouble is a key to look at.
Casey Benson- steady point guard who shoots most of his shots from 3 (53% of made baskets from 3).
The Bench: Williams & Benson are the primary subs. Significant drop down to Williams. They have used another freshman big Keith Smith sparingly. No other guards play. KU would be smart to be aggressive and force fouls.
I’ve been loving the Harlan/Miller and company crew. So refreshing. They have been excellent
And everytime they mentioned Lucas being doubled I think KU got another open 3 attempt…
Just pointing out.
Alexander- Mickey D- ineligible to end his one average Season.
Bragg- Mickey D- Suspended twice, gone after Soph Season.
Diallo- Mickey D- ineligible to start the season, left after barely playing 1 year
Doke- Mickey D- Injured after 11 games. Seems to be the exception
Preston- Mickey D- lots of ineligibly questions following him.
Hmm should Bill be choosing his Mickey D bigs better?
Row Retires with 903 wins but twice as many unused timeouts. Maybe he’ll get them paid out in a bonus. Sry I had too.
Early but after 3 games Ochai leads the nation in scoring at 26.3ppg.
I don’t recall seeing many people who thought he would even lead the team in scoring much less the country. Dude put in a lot of work in the offseason and its paid off so far.
So here’s to Ochai for making the most of his opportunity that he has right now. If he continues to play like this all season he’s got a TON of good publicity coming and this team is going places
Yesufu had an extra gear yesterday and made smart plays with the ball. Liked his energy and finding ways to do other things even if the ball didn’t go in the hoop.
Dave looked healthy and motivated. Nothing was sped up. He used his size well creating angles and had active hands on a ton of rebounds. He played like a top 10 big in the country yesterday. We know that’s not going to happen every game or even every week but we certainly do need him to play like that more often then once or twice like we have seen so far. Whatever he did to play like that needs to be bottled up.
Same goes for Jalen Wilson. I have never seen the kid play better. It wasn’t just making shots he changed a good portion of this game with his passing, rebounding and pushing the ball relentlessly. You even saw him defending at a better level then usual. He really looked like he was finally playing for the team and not just trying to force plays to catch up to speed. He has had 2 big games since getting a chance to play a lot of minutes. Seems like coming off the bench for him is not ideal to getting him to play well. Jalen plays like this and this team starts to play to its potential.
Great 2nd half, the best half of basketball for this group at both ends. I was very impressed. Im not going to overreact since we have 2 road games looming but hopefully that win was some serious momentum
Dave has 10 boards already. Helps when you miss 5 shots from 1 foot
Well that settles it.
We were the best TEAM IN THE BIG 12
Can’t take credit but this is great.
Remergy
/rem-ur-gee/
An individual that is built for March and has the ability to go from 0-100, provides an instant spark. Is often referred to as an x-factor
#11 brought the Remergy last night
Self hinted the banner could be staying permanently
CHRISTIAN BRAUN WILL BE THERE!!
sorry for all caps but Jalen confirming CB will be in Lawrence! Going to be crazy
Last 5 years- 203 game sample size.
KU has trailed in 62/203 games at half (roughly 30%).
Of those 62 games, the opponent has won only 30/62 for 48%.
KU when leading or tied at halftime- 131/141 for 92%.
The largest halftime deficit an opponent has overcame against KU in the last 5 years is 11- Texas 2021 on the road.
KU has overcame 7 halftime deficits of 10+ points
Here’s a crazy, crazy one. KU has trailed at half (1-9 points) in 24 games. KU has won ALL 24.
They have been tied at half in only 10 games, 8/10 win record.
KU when leading at half- (0-9 pts), 67 games, 61/67 win record 91% win record.
Let me know what specifics you want whether its team/home/away/coach etc.
@wissox said in Best KU game you've been to.:
@BeddieKU23 How did you become a KU fan? I assume you don’t live in Kansas?
Yes I don’t live in Kansas, from the northeast (Vermont). When I was a kid the only game you got on TV was usually the regional one so that meant Uconn or Syracuse. My father is a UCLA fan so I wasn’t born into some local team to root for. I was just getting into playing basketball and the local game happened to be UConn vs Kansas. That UConn team had Ray Allen, Kevin Ollie, Donny Marshall. Believe they were #2 in the country at the time they played. KU beat them pretty good that day and Jacque Vaughn was the KU player that I liked the most. A few weeks later I went to our local mall and they had a sports store, they just so happened to have a Jacque Vaughn jersey (his number) and I begged my mother to buy it (which she did). Still have the jersey hanging up in my KU themed Man Cave now even though I wore that thing thousands of times growing up. From there I just became a fan and learned about all the history of the game and realized how big KU’s part played in all of it. Just seemed to further my fandom at the time and by the time I was a teenager I was beyond hooked into this life of a KU fan.
I’m happy with the performance last night. You need a game like this on the road where it’s not a pressure cooker situation because the rest are going to be dogfights. The guys didn’t play down to the competition and took care of business.
The national media and analytics will not react to this as quickly as it’s happening, but this KU team is going to get better now that it’s found its 5th starter. 2 games with Furphy in the lineup, 2 comfortable wins by double digits. That one change has spearheaded momentum in KU’s favor. Self deploying the chess pieces as needed.