Best posts made by jayhawkcsg

This should be an outmanned opponent, in theory, although I do not expect this team to blow out anybody unless they are unconscious from deep.

So, my couch potato coaching plan would be to emphasize Quentin Grimes from start to finish.

Put him in position to succeed, whatever that may look like from the scouting report.

If it’s scoring in transition, great. Posting up, great. Passing and feeding Dedric…you get the drill.

This is THE game to do whatever it takes to clear his noggin and set him on the path.

Nice to see Garrett earning his keep on both ends of the floor now. Maybe by next year he’ll even hit a free throw or two!

I called out Dok in the preseason for looking like he’d regressed a bit. I was wrong, but I think I know why I was wrong: Dok needs a team around him to feed him the ball and space the floor, which wasn’t happening in the preseason without any set plays or Self wanting to show too much.

Agree that Dedric just knows how to score, where to be on the floor, like Danny Manning did.

Still love Dotson. some concern that he’s the only guy penetrating.

Grimes was hot from 3. Would like to see other aspects of his game. Got totally hosed on that mystery foul under the basket that sent MSU on that run late in the game.

Garrett. Hmmm. Confidence in him was once brimming, now not so much.

My usual DVRd reaction:

— surprised we got smoked, but not surprised we lost. Thought that was a strong possibility at Hilton.

— I still think this team is like a bunch of furniture you buy at the thrift store — doesn’t quite go together.

— Vick is trying too hard to be something he is not.

— as usual, teams have career days beyond the arc against us. Some contested, most not.

— the defense was mostly an atrocity. So many open players everywhere — and our players standing around wondering why

— Grimes…hmmm. Upvote.

— Dotson needs to shoot more.

— I’m hard pressed to remain positive on Mitch and Moore.

— Dok would have destroyed that ISU defense

Really the annoying part of the entire process is that it’s not transparent.

Not a peep from the NCAA.

And that’s ridiculous. That’s why there’s so much animosity in this thread. We are all in the dark, waiting, speculating.

None of us have any idea if Self is holding Silvio out because that’s what he feels he needs to do, or if the NCAA is behind the scenes hinting that he should do so. Self won’t tell us the whole truth.

It’s all about student athletes and their right to privacy?

Oh boy. That wasn’t pretty. Just finished the DVRd game.

Man, this may be the hardest KU team to watch play that I can recall in the history of my fandom.

It’s like pulling teeth just to get a shot off sometimes. My negative view of the game:

— Why is Vick so completely out of control every time he dribbles? It’s like he’s a merry go round trying to hold onto the ball as it spins.

— Ochai played hard. His future is bright. Tough. Hoping his handle improves over time. Nice southpaw flush!

— The few times Vick hasn’t started it hasn’t gone well for him.

— some interesting whistles.

— I can’t recall a game where it’s been so difficult to get a shot off. Texas ain’t that good.

— Did Grimes play?

— For apparently the best big man passer in the history of the game, Dedrick sure couldn’t pass out of a double team.

— God I hate all of Vick’s game except spot up shooting.

— Still love me some Dotson. I wish he’d find a midrange game and shoot the ball once in a while.

— Our lack of playable size kills us a lot of the time. Or is it that we should blame Self for not developing Big Dave and Mitch?

— Did I mention Vick’s lack of defensive ability? Or is it lack of intelligence to play D?

— I guess if coach thought he’d have Dok and Silvio all year, no need to bring the other bigs along too fast.

— KJ enters the game. Whistle. Turnover. Perplexed look on his face.

— man. This team. I guess they aren’t frustrating because at this point I don’t expect a road win.

So happy to see this team on the winning side of a blowout. I know Huggy Bear’s boys were undermanned, but happy to see us share the ball, play with some freedom.

— Jacque back in da house!!! Can’t recall the last time he was around. New assistant next year???

— I wonder if Pollard would make a good coach. Always solid in the post.

— Malik looked tall.

Back to the game…

— KJ! Did he look good or did he just make shots? No comment (says the KJ basher).

— Grimes had a sweet dish underneath…and nothing else.

— I’m officially happy with the team and rotation. Do not allow Vick to even come back to clean out his room, please.

— Big Dave is a giant, currently semi talentless spaznoid. But I love him!

— Mitch and Ochai need to be in an energy drink commercial.

— The Ochai baseline dunk made me smile.

— I refuse to read another NCAA corruption story the rest of the year.

— Love to see Dotson’s growing confidence.

— Even Fran was even keeled tonight!

The thing that gets me about this team is the defensive mental lapses. That Texas 3pt make after our free throw near the end of the game was comical. The guys were standing around and laughing coming back onto the floor. Nice to see them relaxed, but carefree is another matter.

If Garrett continues his impressive offensive output at the rim, I got no complaints about his game from deep. Not everybody’s a shooter. (Insert joke here about the rest of our players) But he for sure needs to clean up his free throws. That goes hand in hand with getting to the rim.

Poor Silvio. Never want to see a kid stuck in NCAA limbo. We all know that could last awhile. Although you’d have to think he knew “somebody” had to pay for the $2,500 online course he apparently needed to attend KU. Small potatoes I know, but did he think it was coming out of Fenny’s pocket? His parents? I hope the money aspect is limited to this and he somehow pays it back (no loans from Fenny!) and returns second semester.

I agree with High Elite. Playing with basically a new team this year, and a new (old) system, kinda. The bad part is that the two post player system requires freshmen to get them the ball. That’s not working out for Dedric yet for some reason. They haven’t learned how to feed him the ball.

Dotson and Grimes need to learn on the job — fast.

mayjay said:

@stoptheflop You are right. But it will take awhile before we can expect our 3 frosh to be able to set picks legitimately on whoever is guarding Vick tightly. I never want to see the rash of illegal screens we have sometimes seen in past years, especially with the feet-no-wider-than-shoulder-width rule changes. With the inside dominance of Doke and D Lawson, and Doke’s whistle-magnet bulk, it will be hard to get picks from the big guys without risking possession-killing fouls. The balance should develop, though, if Grimes’s shooting picks up and the defenders have to start divvying up their outside attention.

Yea, gotta agree with this. Teaching the freshmen to set screens will take some time. Especially after watching them run into each other on the weave! I think the key to most of this will be Grimes. He’s got the size to pick somebody, but not the brains yet. If and when he comes along, our “team” game will grow more sophisticated. I mean, we did just lose some four-year program guys recently. Not easy to replace. Institutional knowledge loss.

Well, after watching the game… I’d say my couch potato game plan was in effect, but not effective!

They tried to showcase Grimes and put him in position to succeed, but he just isn’t ready.

That seems obvious to me now.

The really disappointing part of his game to me: transition.

That was supposed to be his strength coming into the season. Pardon my French, but he looked like a giant chicken shit in transition. Scared or unskilled enough to even get near the basket to finish or dish.

So, back in the oven he goes. Hopefully he’ll be up to temperature by March.

DVRd…just done watching. — Eerily similar to the ASU game, but we didn’t tank in the end. Thankfully. — Dok and Lawson are not scoring well when paired together. Self needs to figure out how to make this work. I can’t. Lawson seems best to me when posting up close, not facing up. Dok’s the same, obviously. He can bully his way around. Lawson tries too many inefficient attempts when navigating too far from the hoop. To his credit he makes some hard ones. — if we can’t shoot worth a shit, the above is important. — Dotson is a Learjet. Shot from a cannon. With boosters. Lowercase mvp to Lawson. — Grimes is scoring more. Happy about that. but somehow it’s not pretty. It’s a start. — I got a kick out of the announcer praising him for his amazing hustle for diving on the floor for a loose ball — which of course was a turnover from his sloppy ball handling. — KJ came in. KJ quickly turned it over trying to dribble. KJ less quickly attempted to guard on the perimeter — quite unsuccessfully, leading to a basket. KJ was quickly yanked. I hope this will put an end to you jokers who think KJ is a perimeter defender. — Mitch should have had more floor time covering Larry Bird. Not a game for McCormack. — Vick is way better at the step back three than any other shot. Realize it and stop the other wild-haired shots. — We are not a poised team at times. Way too many quick triggers in the second half when we should be burning clock. — Well, seems like we can expect some tight conference games! — Glad that one is under our belt.

Oops, i forgot to add…do not expect him to come in and be lights out savior from the 3 pt line. that’s a very rare thing as a freshman.

@approxinfinity The bigger question beyond why can’t Mitch hit threes this year is why can’t Lawson hit threes this year? Looks like he made about 30 in each of his Memphis seasons. 35% as a frosh and 27% as a soph. Way behind that pace this year at 16%. It would help tremendously if he could pick up the pace in the 3 pt. department.

And i’m with ya…MORE Big Dave!

Well that was an interesting finish! Mother effer. A few things that stood out to me:

— That’s how to use Vick. Less dribbling, more spot up shooting. Even less dribbling would be better.

— Statistically Dotson looked good, but I thought he was a bit sloppy. Still love his ability to get to the hoop. His D was off too.

— 26 offensive rebounds for Baylor? That has to be a typo, or a World Record. Somebody call Guinness. Or the NCAA to get Silvio cleared.

— which brings me to PT for bigs other than D Lawson…about 20 minutes. Not much. Other guys have to man up and hit the boards.

— crazy stat line: fg/3pt/ft percentages all in the 50s. Odd.

— what did Mitch whisper in Self’s ear after he ran into dude’s head?

— I think we found a worse free throw shooter than Dok (Vital)

— ochai continues to impress. Looks good across the board. Was the initial red shirt Self’s worst decision since adding Anrio?

— it’s official: I have decided Grimes simply does not look like a basketball player. Maybe a slugging outfielder?

Ochai did look scared shitless for once. I’m guessing Self didn’t want to destroy his confidence after seeing him struggle.

Ugh. I’m trying not to be reactionary, but it’s difficult.

It seems year after year we read about Kansas and a recruit in some sort of trouble, or about money exchanging hands. I don’t follow other programs as i do Kansas, but i can’t imagine this sort of news is normal. I’d feel more positive if, for instance, a North Carolina fan could tell me they read the same thing every year.

I’m guessing they don’t.

The more I read, the more I’m convinced it’s time to cleanse the program.

I love Bill Self, but I would not be disappointed if he and his staff got the boot.

I am a believer that equipment companies and handlers do tons of dirty work behind the scenes with all top recruits and programs. This will not change.

So, we’d likely be in the same position with a new coaching staff, but at least we could try to reclaim our image, which seems tarnished outside our world.

It may be time to remove the rose-colored glasses.

I know, i’m expecting the down votes and wrath of other fans, but think about it…Self can’t be ignorant of all these things.

Lemme have it…sorry.

jayballer73 said:

For sure ( KU ) fans are spoiled beyond belief

I like being spoiled.

So we don’t bother Wissox…

Horse shit start! C’mon boys! We needed to start this game strong to not give Auburn any momentum.

@Texas-Hawk-10 Tex, you’re a class act. I respect your ability to remain poised under duress. I do not share that trait. Sorry bout that. You can be angry with me if you want for having and sharing an opinion. I think that’s pretty much what message boards are for. I don’t see a header on the KUBUCKETS title page that says “only for non-critical, rational thinkers”.

If it makes you feel better about my low class-ness and petty-ness, i ripped him while he was here as well.

Well, a very different start to the season than in recent years. Basically a new team. Zero chemistry so far. Seems like that will take some time. Hopefully less than five days! Or, as Self suggests, is it just awkward looking because they have not run a single play yet? My very early player impressions thru two:

Overall as a team: seems a bit unathletic and clunky? Dedric: old school. Will he actually dunk this year? Like his game. KJ: SLOW as dirt. Zero chance of covering a small. Hmmm. Dok: seems like he’s regressed a bit. Certainly not improved… Vick: no change (I was hoping he’d be dribble-driving) Dotson: I love this kid. He may be one of our few take it to the hole guys. The rest will come along. Charlie: we will need his shooting. The rest? Meh. Attitude? Grimes: mostly invisible til late in the 2nd half. Maybe he found his aggression! Agbaji: you see him going after every ball? Red shirt my ass! He should be in MMA. My fav. Big Dave: this will take time. No expectations this year. Any contribution a positive. Mitch: bigger. Stronger. Still slow footed. Back up Garrett: mr glue. Love his game. Oddly invisible tonight though. Scared shitless to shoot though. Drive it, man!

KJ is just a hot mess. I can’t think of a better way to describe him or his play so far.

As usual had to DVR the game after work…couple delayed thoughts from last night: — Dedric finally looked like a player. Loved that reverse lay-in. Didn’t offer much defensively though. — There are games where Dok looks like he isn’t ready to play physically. He’s huffing and puffing early. This was one of em. I wonder if when he’s done at KU we will find out he’s got some weird lung disease or asthma. — Dotson: man crush. I don’t care if he never takes a shot that isn’t a layup! — as much as I’m hating on KJ, and I’m still hating on KJ, he made a few important yet spastic plays. — Grimes is a virtual no show on the court. Can’t figure this one out. Best I can figure is that Self has set up isolations in years past for players like Wiggins and Oubre, but has emphasized post play so far with this team? Maybe he’s stupid and can’t pick up the plays and system? He seems lost all over the place. I don’t see one particular skill that sets him apart yet. I don’t see any skills that make him a one and done. Hoping by January he can figure things out. — loved that Vick did a little bit more than chuck up threes. Even drove the lane a few times! More! — we played some great defense at times last night. The Vols took and made some contested shots. — the weave: looks like we haven’t really practiced this yet. We got guys running into each other. Stopping short. Dribbling from corner to corner. Odd. — overall a great win vs. a very tough opponent

The one thing i’d caution against…the 3 pt. shot. I’d say he needs to find his “safe spot” somewhere else before relying on the outside shot. Get to the lane somehow. Play defense. Pass the ball. Something. Contribute. Anything! But if you start chucking up 3s and they don’t fall, BLAM there goes your head again… He’s a big kid with a big body. take it to the hole!

Oh my. We shoulda won that game by 20. What an odd finish. Pretty good 37 minutes, followed by an unusually un-poised 3 minutes. I believe Self just took the blame for a few of the cluster effs where we had guys running into each other in the final few minutes. That was unsightly. How the hell did we lose? Mainly because they started triple teaming Lawson and the bench crapped the bed I guess. We sure need a more consistent presence other than D. Lawson. That won’t be too hard to game-plan against in the tourney. Maybe Dok when he returns. Grimes. Sigh. I feel the need to repeat myself (sorry): I’m not sure i’ve ever seen a guy more chicken shit to take it strong to the rim. It’s like you can see him starting to do math in his head when he gets the ball near the basket. not smooth. And his passing…two feet away and he’s zipping 100MPH fastballs face-high. I’m going to consider this game a win. Still have no clue how we lost. Seriously. Did any of you think we’d lose at halftime?

@truehawk93 i have been using ESPN+ To watch the games this season. Way better than the old ESPN3 pay per view. But, that was the last game, so I’m going to cancel my subscription if I can figure out how.

Too late to redshirt KJ for a few years or so? (sorry, couldn’t help myself)

Really, i’m happy to hear about Ochai. Can’t hurt, hopefully. I liked what i saw early on. Seemed big and aggressive. I’m not so concerned about him losing half a year down the line. Players come and go. We’ll find a replacement 3.5 years from now. Sounds to me as though we’ll spread the floor some when he’s in the game – with priority No. 1 being go North/South and get to the hole. Not an easy ask for a freshman. that’s what we need more of IMO. Keep it simple.

Holy jeebus, did I just see that Baylor score right? Dang. Anger from Saturday revisited.

On to tonight’s happiness…

— helluva second half. Like two different teams. aggressive. Mean. Liked it.

— Ochai’s energy was great. I can see now his handle needs some maturing, as evidenced by his awkward drives tonight. Good to see he’s got the nuts to go there though. Love his rebounding ability.

— Dotson is a gritty little mother effer. He’s got that Frank non smile.

— nothing positive from Grimes tonight. Looks like he only played in the second half because of foul trouble. He quickly needs to figure out one simple thing he can do to contribute, and do it well.

— KJ is a %#$@&** spaz. He’d fit in better if it were 1995. But I suppose he helped tonight.

— I honestly thought ISU was going to pull away in the first half. Shitty fan, I know. They just seem to have better athletes — bigger, stronger.

— loving the new Garrett.

But the good thing is that we now know what we have to work with, and Self can adjust the lineup and offense accordingly. Dunno what he’ll do, but at least we can pretend we have a direction and can stick with it.

A victory! how’s about that. nice. Now we need TCU to hold onto that lead over Iowa State! Go horny toads!

– Mitch. Nice effort. Happy to see he keeps his attitude team first.

– Grimes: Made two threes (yay), but otherwise invisible, other than the usual turnovers.

– The flow of the game is interesting to me lately. Teams really make Dedric struggle to find a shot in the first half, then he finds his game after the break.

– When Charlie’s in, i wish we could find him regular spots on the floor to shoot from. Always seems to be hurling up 3s at the wrong time, place and distance.

– KJ continues to be a hot mess. Oops, my bad. this is supposed to be a happy, positive thread since we won. ignore.

– That McGriff is a beast. wouldn’t mind having him on our team to add some thuggy muscle.

– Big Dave. Despite repeated calls for him to play more, i’m starting to wonder if that’s the right thing. At least starting may not be his thing. Good energy off the bench. Maybe he can bring the hammer down on opposing players who are off to a hot start. He’s got the elbows for it. Charles Oakley style.

– Ochai seems to be the most vocal player we have. New team leader? Own it.

My god this entire situation/trial is sooooo ridiculous. i still can’t fathom why they bothered.

Ahh, bitch-slapped by Oklahoma. How nice. For those of you not paying close attention, this is an Oklahoma team that lost at home to Baylor by 30. At the very least this team should be able to put up a fight on the road. I laughed the first play of the game when Dedric gave up a baseline dunk for lack of give a shit.

— Grimes should feel lucky if he hits the rim from deep. There’s simply no telling where his shot will go.

— Ochai has hit the wall.

— We would have a chance most games if Dedric could start hot.

— Big Freaking Dave with an awesome left handed post move hook in the lane!!! Loved that.

— Big Dave is not a good rebounder yet. He needs some Hudy time.

— Grimes the Giant Pussy, Example 799: three minutes left in the first half…open (ish) lane on left of the rim for a dunk…weak, missed toss up layup thingy. Fail.

— Doolittle, player of the year! Oh, wait, no. Hmmm.

— Manek, player of the year! Oh, wait, no. Hmmm.

— OU was smokin hot early, and KU was ice cold.

— I kept thinking if we could get it to 10 by half or the 10 min mark, we had a chance.

— More Chris Teahan!

— seriously, why not more Chris Teahan? It’s not like he could be worse on defense, right? Vick played no D. Shoot the rock!

— I guess this is what happens to a team with four freshman starters.

— I know I’m currently blue, but I don’t see next year being much better.

— I would not be sad if anybody but Dotson and Ochai left this team.

— I remember way back in the day when OU came to town, me and my buddy would sneak down from the stands to check out the OU cheerleaders in the hallway. Smokeshows galore! A sight to see back then! :)’

— our defense needs work, or effort.

— The Streak is over…

And as for the Fabulous Mr. Grimes… He looked more engaged last night. Happy to see that. The day I see him even attempt to dunk on one of his weak ass drives to the hole…he’ll have turned the corner.

Off topic for starters, but go NMSU and Louisville! Gotta get my bracket started off right…

And Rock freaking Chalk! (Please make it out of round one)

Upon further reflection… — we were simply outmanned and out-matured last night. Their experience and athleticism was too much for our youth.

— it is kind of funny how the NCAA sets matchups. I don’t notice how other programs do or don’t get bad matchups, but to offer up two programs that attack our weakness (3pt D) is curious. I guess everybody shoots a ton of 3s now though, huh. Hard to avoid.

— I didn’t get to watch the second half, but it seems we played better? At least the score said so.

— This was an odd year for the team. Let’s hope it was an anomaly. Injuries, defections, rules infractions. All too much to overcome.

— As for the players, my guess is that we will lose a few more guys…Dedric, KJ, Silvio, Chuck it up Charlie will all be gone. Grimes I don’t have a feel for. KJ I’m less certain about.

— As for incoming players…we need some. the question is, are we a tainted program right now? If the freshmen steer clear, then Self will have to rely on transfers again, and maybe even a Juco?

— we will need a new frontline, or most of a front line. Two power forwards, a backup center, a backup PG, and any kind of athlete who can help us defend under Self’s defensive philosophy, which seems outdated to me.

— We will also lose an assistant or two, I predict. Townsend likely. Snacks should stay. He’s comedic relief.

— Self seems committed to see the NCAA shit through to the end. Hope he stays. I do think he needs to look inward and evaluate his approach on a number of things…offense, defense, recruiting.

— He says no easy buckets on defense, which means guarding the post in his eyes. I don’t think that works anymore. I’d like to see us stop hedging our guards down low. Stay with your guy on the outside, let the post survive on its own.

— it has not been a fun year to be a fan. This NCAA crap was getting old even before this season, and got worse.

— that being said, it’s always fun to watch the freshmen grow up. I saw growth with Big Dave. A bit up and down for Ochai. Bright future. Grimes I’m honestly not sure about. Does he need the ball in his hands more to be successful? He needs to work on his shot, and many other things. Dotson is fantastic. Very impressed with his first year. Imagine in a year or two when he gets confident in his shot.

— Thanks for listening to my thoughts/rants. I’ve enjoyed the board this year. Mostly a calmer, more rational site. Apologies to any I’ve annoyed!

Chuck It Up Charlie. You guys are being very polite…

@Texas-Hawk-10 I think i was mainly chuckling when Approx said he looked like a complete guard in flashes. C’mon. that’s funny, and polite. Overly polite.

FarmerJayhawk said:

Texas Hawk 10 said:

@jayhawkcsg Ripping a 21 year old because he didn’t play up to expectations after he’s announced his intention to move on just comes across as low class and petty.

Especially when he’s going home because he has a sick parent. Sometimes fans are the absolute worst.

Sick parent? Hadn’t read about that. Must be an update to the story i read earlier today. I’m not heartless, fer crissakes.

Yea, holding Silvio out is clearly a make the NCAA happy starting point. If we played him, that would be a slap in the face to the NCAA, who i’m sure would look down disapprovingly.

Sadly i’m quite a distance from the KC area. Drew Gooden country!

We didn’t get much insight to Agbaji‘s game last night, but kid sure looks built solidly, huh.

I did enjoy some of the pregame material. I’m spacing on the host’s name…former KU shooter. He was a bit awkward. And is Bahe the normal guy or was Piper just Sick?

@BShark yea, in complete agreement that KJ is a four, or at least he’s not a two. There was a bunch of offseason speculation that he would be in the small rotation. I can’t say I have a good feel for his skill set just yet. Hopefully he shows us a lot more than he has already. Gotta have some talent to average 12 and 8, right?

As per Vick…man, to have that athletic body and ability and not put it to good use…

BShark said:

The worry about KJ is that he was really inefficient at Memphis, he just played a lot.

That was in full effect last night! But, don’t want to so down on the kid so early on. I’m sure he’ll help us win some games. Self, hopefully, will convince him to fit into the system, contribute with the skills that best fit the team.

Man, I know Dedric scored some points, but it still seems his game was off — at least in the first half. He did have a few polished attempts in the lane, but most of his stuff seemed like haphazard drive from 15 feet, spin a few times and chuck up a prayer into a defender’s arms. He needs to settle down.

As a Bay Area resident, A few Bay Area factoids:

— the big rivalry here of course is Cal vs Stanford. The two schools are about an hour’s drive apart, depending on the horrendous traffic.

— attendance for most games (football, basketball) is not great. Interest in college athletics is mild, despite lots of graduates in the area.

— Stanford is close to all the big Silicon Valley companies: Facebook, Apple, etc.

— The campus is very nice. Saw a few hoops games. Cool baseball stadium.

— it’s true: housing here is beyond ridiculous. The median home price in Santa Clara county is about $1.3 million. That’s median.

— median rental price is about $3,500 a month for a single family home or condo.

— the San Francisco 49ers play in Santa Clara

— Stanford men draw about 4,000 per game / women about 2,800 per game

wissox said:

@jayhawkcsg We were in the SF area in 2017 and drove through the campus, after getting an in n out (meh) burger. We were interested to see the football stadium which appeared to be camouflaged in the trees. Needless to say you get to live in a beautiful part of the country. I hope you enjoy it!

In n Out Burger normally has a drive thru line down the street around here . Crazy. Good fries. Ok burger.

It is a nice place lo live!

I did see Dedric trying to cover a small on a late possession at the top of the key. not sure why that’s allowed to happen. he drove right by him.