Kansas Thoughts

[moqui]

So he got better for the Maryland game but got worse for Kansas.

It couldn't have been that he just had a bad game?

that's not unusual
but i agree with you that his poor shooting was probably not a result of his back.

 

[TinyManInside]

my son had races this weekend & i missed the game in real time, finally watched it tonight.

i was very disappointed. we should have shown better than we did. our advantage was going inside but instead we settled for jumpers. tyus and oshae are at their best slashing to the basket, not taking a combined 19(!) three pointers. while we did the usual great job on the offensive glass, we weren't aggressive with our advantage there, either. oshae & marek came into the game with a combined 17 offensive rebound put backs for baskets. they left the game with the same number. i understand that they got gun shy with the early charge calls, but that is no reason to throw away your advantage and resort to the weakest part of your game.

that being said, there was a lot to be encouraged about. frank answered the question of whether he would be able to perform vs top flight, p5 guards. he didn't flinch against the great jayhawk guards, and if his teammates could make shots he would have had another double double. he made 2 nice interior passes that were near certain assists and probably another half dozen for open threes that just didn't go down.

the defense was solid but clearly still some holes that need to be cleaned up. the response to the foul line entry was much better than vs. maryland and, considering the opponent, the 3 pt defense was adequate. but even though few future opponents will have the athleticism of kansas, they need to better recognize the lob play

the rebounding continues to amaze. as i've noted before, su is usually a good offensive rebounding team, but the defensive rebounding is unusually good for a zone team. kansas managed only 7 offensive rebounds on 28 missed shots - 25%. by way of comparison, the orange got 15 of 38 missed shots, nearly 40%

i'm still high on this team; i think by the time conference play rolls around we'll prove to be one of the top 5-6 teams. but i'm disappointed. it's pretty clear that we'd have had to have a perfect game to have won on saturday, but the issue should have been closer than it was.

maybe we'll get them again in march

I was actually encouraged. I thought it'd be more like 84-60 to be honest. I just don't think we have the needed perimeter shooting to open things up enough for our slashers when we're going up against a team that can really get after you on the perimeter. Kansas was great on perimeter defense and help-side rotations on players driving the basketball.

Frank should have easily had another double double. There were at least 4 plays where he set up teammates for what should have been routine finishes, but weren't.

I love how hard this team plays and how they're willing to bang on the interior, but Kansas had a noticeable strength advantage at several positions on the floor and guys like Dolezaj, Sidibe, and Chuckwu had trouble finishing on plays they made against the earlier opponents on the schedule.

One thing I will say about the rebounding is that Chuckwu actually boxes out better than most of the centers we've had in a long time (positioning sometimes makes up for lack of strength), Marek just understands how to 'go get it', and Brissett has a great combination of vertical quickness, positioning, and technique.

Mason

 

[SoBeCuse]

Agreed with lots of the posts here. Really need our guards to utilize some floaters. Or get some cutting action to the basket from other players. This tunnel vision to the hoop and constant charging has gotta stop.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Agreed with lots of the posts here. Really need our guards to utilize some floaters. Or get some cutting action to the basket from other players. This tunnel vision to the hoop and constant charging has gotta stop.

It's funny because I feel like so many guys on here whine all the time about our guards not being able to take guys off the dribble. But when they do and get black dress(? - supposed to be blocked) by a secondary defender who never established position, guys whine about that...

 

[moqui]

I was actually encouraged. I thought it'd be more like 84-60 to be honest. I just don't think we have the needed perimeter shooting to open things up enough for our slashers when we're going up against a team that can really get after you on the perimeter. Kansas was great on perimeter defense and help-side rotations on players driving the basketball.

Frank should have easily had another double double. There were at least 4 plays where he set up teammates for what should have been routine finishes, but weren't.

I love how hard this team plays and how they're willing to bang on the interior, but Kansas had a noticeable strength advantage at several positions on the floor and guys like Dolezaj, Sidibe, and Chuckwu had trouble finishing on plays they made against the earlier opponents on the schedule.

One thing I will say about the rebounding is that Chuckwu actually boxes out better than most of the centers we've had in a long time (positioning sometimes makes up for lack of strength), Marek just understands how to 'go get it', and Brissett has a great combination of vertical quickness, positioning, and technique.

Mason

chukwu is really impressing me. i was surprised at the way jim kept going to him in the 2nd half, but it looks like he may have turned a corner. he came into the game having gone 1 for 15 from the line for his career at su then missed his first three attempts in this game. but down the stretch, when the team was trying to come back, he went to the line 4 times and made 5 of 7 fts (one was a miss on the front end of a one & one). seems like jim has confidence that he can go to him in close games. if that develops it will be big, then we can really go inside/out.

 

[SoBeCuse]

chukwu is really impressing me. i was surprised at the way jim kept going to him in the 2nd half, but it looks like he may have turned a corner. he came into the game having gone 1 for 15 for his career at su then missed his first three attempts in this game. but down the stretch, when the team was trying to come back, he went to the line 4 times and made 5 of 7 fts (one was a miss on the front end of a one & one). seems like jim has confidence that he can go to him in close games. if that develops it will be big, then we can really go inside/out.

The guy is actually pretty darn coordinated and moves VERY well for a player his height. Really impressed with his progress.

 

[Arangeman]

KU shot 28% from 3 vs Kentucky. Their 45% team shooting from 3 was bolstered by playing nothing else but cupcakes. Let's not act like it was some defensive accomplishment to hold them to 35.5%. Tho better than the nearly 50% we gave up to Maryland and Toledo.

Graham, Huerter and that kid from Toledo eviscerated us from 3, all shooting over 60%. Good players, maybe a blip and not a trend, but concerning.

 

[SoBristol]

The guy is actually pretty darn coordinated and moves VERY well for a player his height. Really impressed with his progress.

Agree - Chukwu is still very raw, but he is getting better, more involved in the offense. Projecting to February, can he finish a little more? Same question with Marek? With what this team has on the perimeter, these two are the keys in how far this team can go.

 

[Newhouser]

Felt like the refs ruined the first half of play. I recorded the second half but had no desire to watch it because the first half was so chopped up. No flow to the game, not enjoyable to watch.

Great point in terms of watchability. Too many whistles in first half ruined the flow followed by the totally expected too few in the second half. Changing the way the game is called mid stream is one of the things killing college basketball.

 

[sutomcat]

chukwu is really impressing me. i was surprised at the way jim kept going to him in the 2nd half, but it looks like he may have turned a corner. he came into the game having gone 1 for 15 from the line for his career at su then missed his first three attempts in this game. but down the stretch, when the team was trying to come back, he went to the line 4 times and made 5 of 7 fts (one was a miss on the front end of a one & one). seems like jim has confidence that he can go to him in close games. if that develops it will be big, then we can really go inside/out.

Paschal did well but most of the second half, KU was guarding him with a guard. He should dominate when being covered by someone 6'3.

Kansas showed him no respect. I hope if he is covered by a guard in future games (UConn might do it, their big guys are not outstanding at this time), he takes advantage by posting up and scoring on alley oops.

Still, he has come a long way and is doing well. Very happy for him after the lost year and the awful injury he suffered.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Paschal did well but most of the second half, KU was guarding him with a guard. He should dominate when being covered by someone 6'3.

Kansas showed him no respect. I hope if he is covered by a guard in future games (UConn might do it, their big guys are not outstanding at this time), he takes advantage by posting up and scoring on alley oops.

Still, he has come a long way and is doing well. Very happy for him after the lost year and the awful injury he suffered.

Just no more missed dunks. That's really all I ask. Otherwise, someone may start counting those.

 

[two3zone]

Just no more missed dunks. That's really all I ask. Otherwise, someone may start counting those.

Nobody will ever break BMKs unofficial record. I'd bet he missed more than he made.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Also, how many possessions did KU have Mykhailiuk on Howard just straight 1-on-1? Definitely a few times. Not sure how many times if any we capitalized on that.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Also, how many possessions did KU have Mykhailiuk on Howard just straight 1-on-1? Definitely a few times. Not sure how many times if any we capitalized on that.

Yup. We need immediate recognition of those times where the guards/Brissett have mismatches like that and get out the damned way!

 

[moqui]

Brissett has a great combination of vertical quickness, positioning, and technique.

he's got paul harris' understanding of positioning & technique combined with jerami grant's length & athleticism. on top of that he's got southerland's three point stroke (though sadly they are dropping like they did in dirty's freshman year). good thing the latter; when his shots start falling like dirty as an upperclassmen then he's the total package and nba bound.

 

[moqui]

Paschal did well but most of the second half, KU was guarding him with a guard. He should dominate when being covered by someone 6'3.

Kansas showed him no respect. I hope if he is covered by a guard in future games (UConn might do it, their big guys are not outstanding at this time), he takes advantage by posting up and scoring on alley oops.

Still, he has come a long way and is doing well. Very happy for him after the lost year and the awful injury he suffered.

true, but still: jb had to know he was going to get fouled in those situations but he went to him anyway. he must have faith that his ft shooting is better than it has shown in games