Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Did anyone else watch the drubbing on national TV?


I only managed to make it partway through the 2nd half before i just couldn't subject myself to more.
It was clear from the outset that we were just athletically overmatched at every turn. They were longer, quicker, and more dynamic and we had no answers. Not that i blame Self, i don't know what answers he possibly could have had except to retrieve one of those miniaturization ray guns like in a cartoon and shrink their team down  by about 50%.

No slight intended Deron, but those guys looked good enough to have a shot against your Spurs last night. They were running an NBA-styled rotation with 1st and 2nd teams that is identical to what the pros run in different quarters. They might lose a game here or there (like they struggled with mighty Buffalo last week because they were i guess disinterested) if they are bored, but the title should be theirs for the taking.

As for the rest of the Jayhawks season, I don't think this should change our outlook very much. We have a good amount of talent and, while we probably aren't favored to make a final 4, we have a good shot at it. That's about what i see. On the plus side from the game, I still like Frank Mason and when he isn't trying to sift through redwood trees like last night, I think he will be one of the more solid point guards we have had in a while (a "true" point). We need him or Selden, or the new European kid to be able to shoot us out of a clogged zone though. That's a concern.

Perry Ellis is supposed to be the focal point of out offense, and while we all like Perry and his heart, i think games like this show why NBA scouts aren't that excited about him. He's rather small to try to play like he does, and many of his shots get seriously contested or altered. He doesn't shoot well enough from the outside to draw his big guy out from the basket, and he can't really break people down on a dribble or anything. He has a decent array of post moves and solid fundamentals. But i think this could be the weakest frontcourt team that Bill Self has fielded in some time if one of the new guys doesn't step up. Ellis will be solid against our smaller noncon opponents, but I think he will struggle against larger frontcourts like Kentucky put out there (although no one else is going to look like that unless we reach the title game).

Don't know what quite to make of the new kids yet. This was a really bad game to judge them off of, and my DVR crapped out on the Santa Barbara game.

If you didn't watch this slaughter, what do you guys think of the year to come?