@wissox Concerning that exact move by Juan … From an article about the game from The Athletic-
“Harris had a name for the move where he jumps over the baseline — “the Juando drill” — explaining that the Jayhawks practice it and he knows exactly where he’s going with the ball when he leaves his feet.”
Yes - great observations Slayer…
And it appears Self is actually playing his bench a lot more this year early on rather than riding his starting 5 to exhaustion come March.
The more the bench gets meaningful minutes, the better we will be. Let them play through mistakes and not bench them immediately as Self has done in the past.
From a New York Times article about the game last night, focusing on KJ
“I think KJ showed a lot of people tonight that you can be an elite player at this level and not be a prolific scorer,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “Because he did it all.”
An Elite player who does not score all that much, and doesn’t really rebound… but does a lot of great, tough things that coaches adore. Going to be an interesting senior night March 8th. Self absolutely LOVES his KJ.
Did one of the announcers (Fran I think) state that Self has said “KJ is one of the best players we’ve ever had”? Ever.
Like it or not, KJ is going to get huge minutes all season as we all know. Personally I love the guy, and love watching him play d.
NC, Michigan st and now Duke this early in the season Pretty good so far
All good points. I know, in the past, HCBS has played guys that are scorers, but couldn’t play defense (Perry Ellis, Dedric Lawson come to mind and I’m sure you guys could come up with a bunch more past players that fit this catagory). Or guys that could rebound and be a defensive force in the paint but really poor scorers ( Landen Lucas, etc) The reasoning is that Self had really no choice I suppose… but I still think that KJ’s lack of rebounding doesn’t bug Self enough, because if it did, he would limit his minutes or, because KJ will do whatever the coaches ask him to do, really try hard to get under the basket a lot more than he is now. As we all know , rebounding is a HUGE part of basketball and can be the difference between winning and losing.
And speaking of working on important things, is it just me, or does it seem that every dam team we play can shoot free throws better than us??
Just so I understand, the argument here is: Our hall of fame coach, a guy that is considered to be one of the best ever, is giving huge minutes to a favored veteran player even though he is limited offensively and can’t or won’t rebound? Is he that blind? Or is there more to the picture?
He plays GREAT DEFENSE, and he boxes out extremely well, pushing his man away from the basket, which puts him in a poor rebounding position, but clears the way for his teammates to rebound.
And the only thing I can think of on offense, where he does stand around and gets easily boxed out, is that the coaches WANT HIM TO DO THAT. Perhaps to be able to get back on D quickly is my only guess. Remember, the reason why Self and the staff like him so much is that he is highly coachable. If they wanted KJ to rebound, he would be fighting to get under the basket .
So - in light of the comments about KJ on this thread, I re-watched the game and paid extremly close attention to what KJ did on both offense and defense.
Defense- KJ was excellent. When his man looked to drive and score, he never gave up, moving his feet constantly. He looked a lot like Marcus Garrett in my opinion. He communicated well with his teammates as a good veteran should about switching and helping his teammates get to the right opponent quickly. His boxing out in fact was fantastic. He always had his man in sight, and made sure there was no chance his opponent would get near the basket, except for when a teammate got beat and he had to shift in the paint to try and stop the opponents drive to the hoop. This of course put KJ away from the basket almost every time, thus never was he in a good position to rebound.
Offense - he mostly is a role player here, setting picks, moving pretty well away from the ball. Obviously he is not a prime target, but when he had the ball in open space he shot well in the first half. But when other KU players shot the ball he was passive, standing around really, and got easily boxed out virtually every time. Thus he had no offensive rebounds (he had one in the first half but I think that was it) Because of all the minutes he got, he was tired in the second half, and perhaps hurting a bit.
We all know Self has always had his “glue guys” and his favorites and we all know KJ is one of them. Self loves guys who play hard defensively and do what they are coached to do. kJ does both. And if Self and the coaching staff wanted KJ to become a rebounder, his playing style would be different. And if they wanted KJ to shoot more, he would be shooting more. Apparently they love what KJ is doing and has been doing the last several years.
As far as his scoring ability (and Juans ) after all these years, it is what it is. He will never improve all that much at this stage. He and Dajuan at least know this, and don’t force up too many bad looks.
Now if we can get the transfers to buy in to playing consistent high effort defense, (we know they can score) I think this team will be real contender.
Thanks all… next question - how many games can one play and still redshirt?
@RockChalkinTexas I missed it - was there official word on Jamari Mredshirting?
It is raining threes - sure fun to watch
let us hope these guys can hit em later in the season like in conference play
He’s def going in the 2nd round
Just read it too!
INTERESTING
I had a complete quad tear in my early 60’s - it took a full year, but did get back to normal, and still playing sports. Patellar tear may be a different animal tho.
Actually, I looked up both, and looks like they have the same outcomes. With the right rehab regimen, Elmarko should recover well.
As I remember, his announcing gigs were sporadic. So you knew he was going to say off-the-wall stuff. I found him highly entertaining personally because I never expected him to be a “real announcer”. He was a goofball really, but smart!
I remember once he was asked over and over and over again , almost badgered, by his announcing partner to pick which team was going to do well in the ncaa tournament, and he steadfastly repeated that it’s all about who plays well that given day. He stood his ground and of course he was dead correct.
I’m going to miss the big fella.
Wow - no transfers out! Other than Philon de-committing… what a difference from last year…
A question… what are the main drivers for Furphy and his family at this point? Hard to believe that a 19 yr old is that overly concerned about money and a burning desire to enter into a full time job. Is it lack of NIL $? Does he not like having to take classes?
@wissox You are also a Wisconsin fan, right? So Obviously, you’ve seen this kid a lot…
@BShark Yes- arguably the most under-utilized shot in college- the open space pull up jumper. I saw Elmarko do a couple of those successfully this year.
@BeddieKU23 Thanks - I hope Elmarko stays- I thank he’s going to be a stud starting next year… … what’s the consensus on Hunter leaving or staying?
So- with the two recent transfers, and KJ staying, what does this mean for elmarko and Jamari?
I was at the game today - surprised at how many Texas fans were there, probably because they wanted to experience Allen fieldhouse before their SEC exodus. Great to see bench players get so much time! When Timberlake hit that alley-oop slam, the place went absolutely bat-shite crazy, even the 70- 80 something fans were jumping for joy. Great overall energy today. God that place gets bowel-shakingly loud.
So, a question … what’s the likelihood that Furph sticks around next year? The love for that kid in the arena today was total and overwhelming.
Weren’t we supposed to replace Morris by now? We need more help … maybe Furphy will step up and mature quickly….? Not sure about marko at this point… he distresses me a lot more than Timberlake. Nick can score… he’s still adjusting to D1. Good to see Kevin being JWill. He will try and drive and shoot any place any time. And I agree… Hunter looked sick or something. This team always looks on the edge of losing. Not a lot of wiggle room with this group.
@mayjay
Good point… the electricity was obvious for sure… I think I’m going to rewatch the game for a third time 
Obviously, HCBS stressed defense in the past couple of practices. The team responded… That was one of the more maniacal defensive efforts I have seen from KU in a good while. Makes you think… Can they do this all the time? Maybe the fact that it was a huge home game amped them up so that they were able to sustain that high intensity effort for a long stretch of the game. It takes an enormous amount of energy to do that, so it might not be feasible to ask this team to come up with that kind of defensive effort every game.
The game would have been a lot less close if not for Newton. Bilas was right… He hit at least 3 end-of-the-shot-clock crazy threes that would have been career college highlights Had he done that just once or twice per season.
Both Timberlake and Braun I think got pulled because they both were slow on a defensive switch. The Nick situation reminds me a bit of Remy Martin. Bill wasn’t too high on Remy for a lot of the season that he was here, but we have a NC banner in the rafters and we don’t have that without Remy Martin, So let’s hope Nick works hard on his defensive effort, which, as we know, will earn him playing time. I still foresee a critical game in which Nick is the difference.
Love it that Juando was trying to drive and score… he did everything right except for adjusting his touch at the very end to lay that ball softly in the hoop. We all know that looking to score is just not in his comfort zone, but of course he does everything else so well that we don’t get very far of course, without him. He should throw up shots each and every time teams back off him at the three-point line, and hopefully over time he will just become more comfortable with doing it and not worry so much about missing.
I’m surprised the commentators did not talk more about what a magical environment that was at Allen Fieldhouse last night. Easily the best home arena in sports in my opinion. Two years ago, I went to my first home KU game (senior night) and I was blown away… The volume is absolutely indescribable. You intuitively realize that something very special is happening all around you, and the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. And last night was probably 50% louder! WOW
Kevin is apparently trying to be the new alpha dog Jalen Wilson. I imagine Coach self has told him essentially that. “You go be the guy when we need it the most.” Those three treys he hit in the second half were beyond massive- he won us the game. It takes large stones to step up and hit those., especially after the last game where he flailed offensively.
And I will take KJ doing those running floater shots in open space all day. It seems to be the most comfortable shot for him, other than layups and dunks.
Juan of course needs to drive and dish (which is what he always does) but he also needs to SHOOT - it can’t all be Hunter and Kevin tonite trying to create offense.
So - not entirely sure why some on this site are trashing Nick so much compared to the other bench players… when Elmarko or Jamari or Johnny misses open shots, no one here seems to jump on them like they do Nick. I understand that their upsides are potentially huge, and am glad the Self is giving them good minutes- the faster they develop, the better for us down the road. When I watch Nick, I see good defense, hustle, moving away from the ball, passing, and he boxes out well. He is not as athletic and the aforementioned 3 guys, but in my opinion he can be a good addition to this team, because he can shoot the three consistently when given minutes, and when he starts to acclimate to this level.
Here’s an excerpt from the game recap from LJW:
“ After a lethargic stretch for the next 10 minutes, Nicolas Timberlake, who had been struggling in his reserve role to begin the year, helped Kansas create some separation late in the first half. Timberlake drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing on an assist by Jackson, only to follow that up with a better play on the next possession. Timberlake faked out a defender on the perimeter before drilling a pull-up jumper from mid-range.
Moments later, Timberlake dished a quick entry pass to Hunter Dickinson for the turnaround jumper to stretch KU’s lead to double-digits.”
That’s certainly what I saw… and he tried a block on 2-on 1 breakaway due to a horrendous pass by KJ, fouled the guy who made the layup, and then was pulled. What am I missing?
Lay off Timberlake guys… Yeesh - give him a chance for god sakes. There will be games where he will pour in 3’s, hit clutch shots, make big time pressure free throws… you wait and see.
I can’t imagine any decent student wanting to go to a basketball game in which Morris plays at GCCC. There will be a lot of protests outside the arena. This is sure to backfire for them
I wonder how long it will be before we start to get the real details of this incident…
And can Morris be so colossally stupid, knowing that he is under a huge behavior microscope, with any minor misstep and he’s gone, to then force himself on one or all of these women? Sadly like so many rapes in college where it comes down to a “he said she said” case, to do that with that many witnesses?? And the accusation is rape, not indecent exposure, or indecent assault or attempted rape. Rape. Apparently other teammates are also named as potentially corroborating witnesses - not to the alleged rape, but to seeing the women in the dorm at some point that evening. None of this seems to make sense, until we get more details.
@BShark Thanks for the details “… all 3 girls left screaming… “ wow. To me, that sounds off. so he is accused of raping one of these girls? All of them ? Love to know more details. This whole thing sounds just plain weird . Something not right here.
Any more details surfaced on this yet?… wtf is with this guy?
…just read this old string today about Nick T , in anticipation for game 2 in Puerto Rico today.
Nick, in my humble opinion, is EXACTLY who we want as a transfer. He grew up in Braintree Ma, a few towns away for where I’ve lived for 30 years. His father Jeff is a huge basketball junkie, and played for BU and he got to play in the first round of the NCAA tourney in 1988 ( they lost to Duke). Nick was a standout hard working player at Braintree high school but when it came time for college, not a single D1 or D2 school was interested. Zero. He and his family knew he was D1 capable, certainly a D2 level player, So he went to Kimball Union Academy in NH for a year, and worked incredibly hard to improve every part of his game, especially his shooting, taking between 300 and 500 shots before games.
After that year, Towson was interested, and his hard work paid off. He got better every year, averaged 17.7 a game there, and because of Covid he had one extra year of eligibility. Rather that go overseas to make some money, he wanted to know what it was like to play for a higher ranked D1 program. The memory of no one wanting him out of high school still stung, and he felt he had something to prove. He knew he would draw some interest in the transfer portal, hoping for around 15 schools to contact him but was shocked when over 70 schools reached out, including some blue bloods. Self didn’t meet him face to face, just over zoom. He picked KU essentially because of a chance to play under HOF Coach Self. When he visited the campus he and his family knew instantly they had made the right choice. Obviously, NIL $ is a good incentive, but he most definitely is not here for the Money (Hunter is here for the $). He is here to play for Kansas.
This is the kind of grown-ass kid I will root hard for.
So - what’s the conference part of KU’s schedule now gonna look like? No more home and away games for each team obviously.
Good highlight dunk reel… includes some of the aforementioned dunks and a few I forgot … McLemore ! Jamari! Lots of Agbaji dunks too …
There are lots to choose from… this is one of my favs of all time- Wayne Seldon
Love to hear about or see your favorites
I wish some poster here who are connected and in the know would please enlighten us as to what the hell is going on … This is the weirdest year for KU B-ball ever.
@Crimsonorblue22 Oh yes that’s right… thanks for reminding me !
Remember - Self LOVES KJ… which means he is a total team player and will do everything he is asked to do. if Self tells him to shoot more, obviously he will. but he will see lots of minutes as well we all know.
Years ago, certain posters in this site would be very down on some of the KU players, role guys who Self really liked. I remember HEM was a big poster here, (where did he go? Or is he here under a different moniker?) and he would bring out lots of stats to bolster his claims about who should not be getting playing time as much. So I started re-watching games and just focusing on these so-called players who he didn’t like. I saw stuff like, setting picks, boxing out, playing smothering D, passing, moving very well away from the ball, switching on D, and communicating well with teammates. Where are the stats that register those qualities? Very eye opening for me. That’s when I realized why Self liked, and played these guys a lot.
Best of luck Wissox!
My best game… haven’t been to too many ( I married a KU grad and got sucked in big time to KU basketball over the past 30 years ) was two years ago… senior day against Texas - they won in overtime and then went on to win the NC. Allen Fieldhouse… NEVER been in a louder arena in my life. The volume was was almost lifting me out of my seat to the rafters… Plus senior day/night games are very emotional. Awesome experience ! I was proudly wearing my Marcus Garrett jersey
Wouldn’t Hunter be one of those big bench bodies in the nba? Guys that come in the game so the starters can rest?
Ernie wanted more what? Money? What happened last season? Why the secrecy?
Why is it a blessing that he’s leaving? Love to know more about him
So - is the consensus here that we are now done adding players despite having one more scholarship ???
Just curious
Wonder if Nelson will plan to visit soon? He’s apparently visiting Alabama… I think we would have heard something about him or anyone else setting up a visit by now, or in the next few days… if Self thinks there is a need for a shooting 4, then Self will get someone. If not, then we’re all set. This has been arguably the wildest offseason I’ve ever seen. 8 effing transfers leaving KU- yikes. And next year, the question will be not which of our recruits will leave, but who will stay.