The Toledo Rockets are next on the firing line, Saturday afternoon at Kemper. Let's slaughter those handsome devils!
We have to break this scoring slump sooner or later, but although I'd like to see us approach the score of this game or even this one, realistically I'll have to project an 80-60 Kansas victory.
Hawks 90 Rockets 65
ReplyDeleteWell, 3 ugly-ish games in a row. Now that the Jayhawks have a week off, what's good and what's bad about this team?
ReplyDeleteBad: Free throw shooting, hunger, field goal percentage, consistency, forcing things (as Self would say trying to make a few great plays rather than lots of good plays)Russel Robinson's shooting, Brandon Rush's disappearing acts, Darell Arthur's fouls.
Good: Everyone seems extremely unselfish, Brandon Rush's defense, Darrell Arthur's offense, Sherron Collin's aggressiveness, Rush's recent (last two games) efforts to attack, Chalmer's consistency, our ball pressure defense.
It seems if we can play with more hunger, passion, and consistency, and if someone other than Arthur can emerge as a consistent offensive threat (we've got the talent, they just need more confidence or something) than things will fall into place.
But right now, they're all over the map.
I think you're right on, Chris. The only thing I would add to that assessment is Jason Whitlock's observation that Rush and the other guards are just camping out on the perimeter and not penetrating. We broke Florida's defense down on seemingly every possession; why we haven't done the same to lesser opponents is a real head-scratcher.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, while Whitlock calls for better shot-selection, Keegan calls for the opposite, in this edition of the Bad TK Quote of the Day:
"This is a team that needs to get more aggressive with a 10-point lead, instead of less aggressive. Go for it. Take a wild shot. If you get benched for it, yell at the coach, and when you go back in, take another wild shot. Anything but this plodding, ugly ball."
Yeah, that sounds like a formula for victory, Tom. Take this team's best attribute (unselfishness) and trash it! Maybe you'd be happier writing about the Portland JailBlazers (sorry, Ismail).
By the way, where the hell was Julian in that Toledo game?
Deron- no offense about the jail blazers. I hate that team. It is full of KU beaters- Juan Dixon, Steve Blake (gone now), Jarrett Jack, and now a damn Huskie- that scary good Roy kid. And- if that wasnt enough, they have Aldrich from my least favorite school (except BYU) TEXAS. So go ahead and post anything you have on the Blazers.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about Julian- where has he been since the Florida game? Why cant Arthur stay out of foul trouble? I am a lot more worried about this team now than I was at the begining of the season.
Well, I'll say one good thing about the Blazers: their asst. general manager is KU's beloved Kevin Pritchard (he was also their interim coach a year or two ago). He probably drafted all those players because he saw close-up what they did to his alma mater.
ReplyDeleteIt is too bad Darrell can't keep himself in games, but that's typical for freshman big men; they don't know how to position themselves defensively and the refs never give them the benefit of the doubt.
Collison was also extremely foul-prone as an underclassman. If Darrell would just stick around for more than a year (not bloody likely, I know) the calls would start going his way.