One thing I noticed live was just how thoroughly taped up Elijah's knees were. He did make some excellent assists, but he just looks tentative in his ballhandling and shooting. I wanted him to have the kind of breakthrough senior campaign Tyshawn did last year, but so far the one spot has been our biggest weakness. This is compounded by the fact that neither Naadir, Rio, nor AWIII seems ready to pick up the slack. Self even went to Evan Manning in desperation at one point.
Some good things to note... Another thing I noticed live is how dynamic, self-assured, and graceful McLemore is on the court. If he can become a bit more consistent, and avoid hitting the freshman wall, it's going to be a pleasure to watch him this season. And we do seem to be reaching the point where Travis filling up the stat sheet is a routine rather than major event. So it's not all bad news.
Deron, looks like I brought you around on the pg question. :) at times, Rio Adams has looked interesting, but tharpe has clearly not yet stepped up his play either.
ReplyDeleteJohnson is really getting attacked on d. Stark had 25 and really did more damage than that. Self's comments after the game were highly critical. I don't know why Johnson has to pick up 4 fouls a game, that suggests he can't defend the point.
Withey again was solid. But mclemore in foul trouble demonstrated that we look like a very average team without him.
Don't know why traylor hasn't gotten more pt lately. He is better than young.
Look at how Jason king laid it out, ugh:
ReplyDeleteWhat happened Friday wasn’t an isolated incident. Opposing guards have been having monster games against Kansas all season.
Michigan State’s
Keith Appling had his way with Johnson and KU’s backcourt in a 19-point effort back on Nov. 13. Chattanooga threw a scare into Self’s squad and even led at halftime two days later thanks to
Farad Cobb, who went 7-of-9 from 3-point land.
San Jose State’s
James Kinney went off for 30 points against Kansas on Monday at Allen Fieldhouse, and Starks was darn near unstoppable Friday.
“(Oregon State) didn’t run any offense,” Self said. “All they did was set a high ball screen for 18 minutes in the second half, and we couldn’t guard it.
“We could not stop No. 3 (Starks). Period. That’s something that’s got to improve or we’ll have to change how we play. We’ll have to play some zone or whatnot.”
Here was self's comment:
ReplyDeleteHe got whipped,” Self said of Johnson. “I hate to say that, but the point guard on their team gets 25 and ours gets 6. It’s not all on him, but that’s the thing that’s a little frustrating, because I don’t know where we go from here -- yet.
“I”m trying to figure out a way to put us in a situation where maybe the other team doesn’t feel so comfortable.”
Well, that game against Colorado, to echo one of the announcers on ESPN, was the best this team has played all year. Fun stuff, what say?
ReplyDelete