Chris ain't going to like this article by Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News, who says KU reminds him of UConn's talented underachievers from last year.
Most of DeCourcy's points don't really add up. He says UConn's players were all NBA-minded showboats, then he admits that our guys aren't really like that. He's right that Julian needs to focus more on making solid passes than highlight-reel assists. But his suggestion that Sasha should start instead of Darrell (so that "Shady" can avoid early foul trouble) completely ignores the performance of Darnell Jackson, who's been far better than Sasha this year.
And his criticism of Russell for shooting too much is just flat-out wrong. It's true that RR's shooting percentage is poor, but it's not for overshooting; he's taken far fewer attempts than every other starter and 12 fewer than even Sherron.
Overall, though, you can see some parallels. UConn had a good year by most standards but you did have a vague sense that they were underachieving, even before George Mason. On the other hand, they went 30-4 and made it to the Elite 8; that's about what I predicted we'd do before the season. Considering how young we are, would that really be so bad?
(After losing to two unranked teams in the first month, I can't help but think we'll be lucky to do as well as Calhoun and co.)
Here's something to cheer us up: Winston-Salem State is coming to town on Tuesday. They're D-1 (status pending) and, I believe, winless. How about a 100-40 shellacking? What else are cupcake teams for?
I'm having that same stupid sidebar problem again in Explorer, though not in Mozilla. I don't know WTF's going on.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's a reasonable comparison until we show otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI do think his comment about Russell Robinson, though, makes one wonder if Decourcy has actually watched KU play this year.
RR shoots too much?!? I have been banging my head against the wall because he has been so timid and afraid to pull the trigger when open, allowing defenses to sag and collapse on our big guys. That part of the article could not be more wrong, IMHO.
Given his poor percentage (somewhere in the 30s), I don't think Russell should be shooting more. But his shot selection has been fine; he's just not a great shooter.
ReplyDeleteThis follows the tradition of KU point guards like Aaron Miles and Jacque Vaughn, who were great playmakers and defenders but inaccurate from the floor.
Correction: Winston-Salem State are not winless; they are 1-13, after falling to Georgetown Saturday in a 44-point squeaker.
ReplyDelete