Posts made by betterfireE

Thought there were some awful calls/non-calls that led to the Villanova run.

We all knew that this was a year we could lose bad like this. Also, USC seems majorly under seeded…

Pretty sure they can just run out the clock at this point. Not enough steals or defensive pressure in this game. Perhaps we aren’t athletic enough to do that to USC.

Fosters feet move too much in his shot

We have to double teams everyone. They don’t have to double team anybody. Length

@DanR They can take us one-on-one.

Win or lose, just want these guys to enjoy themselves and play as hard as they can. I realize we aren’t getting many fouls called our way and that it’s discouraging. Just play hard regardless and enjoy.

Just joined. They are smelling blood. Also, they’re taller and more athletic. Love y’all

Too many charges in college basketball. Hard to watch

Yikes. We look like we got 3 hours of sleep

We looked out-scouted.

Cannot win this game with that kind of effort from Lawson and Dotson. They need to be good every night, no exception.

Gotta guard the corners better (Vick). Obviously Lawson can’t dribble through a quick team like K-State. Honestly, I think we win this game with Garrett. That way we get less turnovers, a more rested Dotson, and more assists. Guard play in defense was just not disciplined enough.

Don’t have a leader, like Graham. Don’t have a shooter. Don’t have a rim protector. Still pretty good on defense. I’m impressed we didn’t lose that game by more.

Grimes needs to have more horizontal range on defense. He and Vick need to guard the corner better. Garrett needs to develop a step back floater.

We also tried to outspeed Kentucky. You have to outsmart them with pump fakes and body control. At times they are too quick so it’s impossible to beat them without a little shooting. That said, I think if the whistle was a little more fair, we could have won. There were a lot of non-fouls by us. In addition, a lot of fouling by Kentucky. I did not like that elbow in the face by Kentucky’s player, Ross or Reid or whoever. He looks a lot like Patrick Mahomes, but like a pale, more broseph asshole version. That should have been an ejection. Doesn’t matter if it’s intentional or careless.

We’ll have to get better at shooting.

Vick is showing poor awareness.Cant leave Grines in if he’s going to play defense like this.

They are just a better team than us.

Vick needs to come out.

What is so good about Grimes?

I didn’t think this was a bad loss at all. WVU played pretty good defense. They defended the point well, especially at the end, and we had no answer. What gives me hope is our defensive play, which is keeping us in nearly every game. The defense is consistently good, and defense can get you far in March. I hope the team hurts. No pain, no gain. But I’m ok.

This is going to be an interesting year because we have an elite scorer in Dawson and and an elite defender in Garrett. Probably would need some advanced stats to back that up, but that is my observation for now. This is the first elite defender I can remember us having in a while.

The thing about Garrett versus Grimes is that I often see Garrett make secondary assists or secondary steals, much more than I’ve seen from Grimes. If Grimes isn’t shooting well, which seems to be common, then Garrett is far and away better statistically.

Yes, we need Grimes to shoot well and yes we need shooters. But would I take a shooter over Garrett’s play right now? Probably not. Too many intangibles like the assist at 5 minutes left to go against Nova, numerous forced turnovers, and good box outs. It’s hard to take out a guy who directly or indirectly leads to 5-7 turnovers for the other team.

@betterfiree

… Now might be the best time to go. If not now it’ll be senior year, but let’s be frank. Doke is an endomorph and will tend to bulk up over time. Either he commits to changing his body type early, or he becomes ill-suited for the NBA for a few years. The tend is a trend and I’m not sure another year in college will do good for a guy who willl become less and less equipped to deal with stretch 5’s.

Additionally, self has said himself that Doke has gotten out of shape after a brief week or two of dealing with injury. Devonte Graham, an ectomorphic- mesomorph would never have issue with being in shape after a brief time like this. Is this going to get better or worse?

I think the NBA is the most competitive it’s ever been. Long players that can move and are skilled are a thing now. They exist. And where Doke fits in that mix is not clear. It might be a good thing to leave to maximize your earning potential. If Doke eventually becomes a Shaq type I’m the NBA,

I also agree that Doke should have played 5-10 minutes this game. Silvio should have played the entire game probably. Maybe put Mitch in there, but he can’t really drive it yet either.

We still lose in this game.

@dylans

I was a big critic of the F4 loss, but Nova destroying Michigan (who played pretty good defense) gave me some perspective.

Pressuring players way outside he perimeter isn’t just a tactic. It’s a domination strategy. It’s like saying “we will win in the trenches” in football. Or “let’s play a 2-4-4 formation” in soccer. Ability to pressure like that out on the perimeter is a special thing that not every team could do. The 2008 team could do that, but they were Bartovik’s 2nd strongest team all time, behind one of the Kentucky teams.

We just looked totally unprepared. And the Doke game plan was flat out dumb. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team give up on perimeter defense like that. This was an embarrassment that tarnishes the prior success of this season.

@dylans Apparently we don’t have 5 guys, or even 3 guys that can guard the perimeter. I’m proud of this season, but this team, Coach Self included, was unprepared for the most important game of the season. And they know it. It’s not like we gave it all, and they were just better than us. We gave no pressure defensively, had a horrible game plan. Players and coach. The bitterness is really because we didn’t leave it all out there.

And it’s tiring to hear people on this board complain about criticism of the coaching staff. Bill Self makes more per year than many people reading this will make in their lives. I think he is deserving of criticism.

This is Kansas. We should expect more. And last night we were embarrassed on National television.

@mayjay We should have just let him foul out.

@dylans For all the talk of troughs and peaks, if you rewatch those games, it’s clear than defense can dictate how well you shoot. And we did not play perimeter defense in the beginning when we got down 22-5 or whatever it was.

@Crimsonorblue22 if you’re asking me, I leave Doke out most of the game. I also probably sit Svi in favor of another big (yes I said it). You’re not going to beat Nova the normal way. They were always better than us, and it appears that they have a better coach too.

I love Bill Self and our team. I am satisfied with the progress we made this year. We were inferior. Our coach was inferior.

Doke should have never started this game. This was obviously a game in which we needed to surprise and we did nothing. We played like scared little pussies giving them so much space along the arc.

I am really disappointed in Bill this time. I am not going to hide it. Yes, they hit a ton of threes but how many were open? Too many. And that is unacceptable. We didn’t put any pressure on ova defensively and gave them exactly what they were expecting. This was a a disaster. Someone tell me otherwise.

Doke should not have played a minute in this game. I’m really doubting Bill Self right now. Someone talk me down

We are battling the refs as well

Doke, show us you’re ready for the NBA and guard the goddam perimeter

Graham the only guard playing D

Put DeSousa and Garrett in and roll the dice. Jesus

Yes, we stayed down Bill, but we aren’t pressuring their offense at all.

Yes, we stayed down Bill, but we aren’t pressuring their offense at all.

Make them fucking drive.

Jay Wright is a better coach than Bill Self. Oops did I just say that

I kind of wish Garrett had some more minutes. Totally missed that pass to the corner

Our defense is shit. Doke needs to sit. I think we now know who has the athletic advantage.

Important point: Svi and Bagley are approximately the same weight. No one else matches with Doke tomorrow. That said, I’m wondering if Silvio out on the perimeter is the better option. He’s great at collapsing. Nova is awful at defending the pick and roll. With an athletic big like that and solid passing, we could do some damage.

We can talk about Billy after Monday.

@BeddieKU23

I’d like to know:

1. Can Silvio play out along the perimeter with their 5 (who likes threes), or do we need Mitch?

2. Will Graham be effective against Brunson on both sides of the ball?

3. Do we surrender athleticism to anyone else besides Bridges?

@drgnslayr At first film review, screens seem like a weak point for Nova.

@Blown Silvio will probably eat their bigs’ lunch still.

@HighEliteMajor It’s within the realm of possibility that Silvio is the key player. Mobile but powerful and a big rebounder. Villanova may be secretly praying that we don’t have Silvio in the game. They may be game planning around him for specific plays to exploit his lack of basketball experience. Can he completelyneutralize Spellman? I think he has the ability.

Anybody else have any scouting report? I’m watching the WVU versus Nova game now. Pressing strategy seems to be a net negative for WVU so far.

@Fightsongwriter I’m wondering if we will need to bring in Garrett at all this game. I think he’s been able to get some minutes because of his handling skills on O and overall D while Graham has struggled a bit.

It’s not clear to me that Villanova can handle DeSousa or Doke. Although, why was DeSousa so ineffectual against Penn?

As for the guards, I think we’ve got to do a little trial and error on D. Vick/Garrett/Graham on Bridges, Graham/Svi on Brunson, Newman/Graham on the “lesser” guard, Svi/Mitch/Silvio on Paschal, Doke/Silvio on their big.

Can KU successfully guard the 5 out with a big in the lineup? If the answer is yes, I think we should win. We should be able to extend our defense a little farther out and challenge them to drive. If Silvio is inhuman and can be on the floor at the same time as Doke and guard Paschal, I like our chances even more.

Alternatively, we should be looking to put Newman in the pick and roll with Svi and Vick in the corners. I like our chances of drawing fouls against this team.

Nothing tells the story of a charge, defined by a player being in position prior to the player taking steps, like a static picture of a player already jumping in the air.

I just want to say, Malik’s ascension was inevitable if you look at the intangibles of the past couple of months or so. Vick though really came through and we can’t thank him enough. Well we could thank him more if we win a championship. How do we do that, by the way?