Brandon Rush: the Missing Link
Last night’s nail-biter revealed that the Jayhawks are still a team in search of a game plan. The high-low offense name-dropped by Self and the players didn’t really take effect. As well, KU’s transition defense proved to be full of seams, as illustrated by numerous Sessions-Fazekas collaborations. It’s no wonder that Coach Self continues to mention “defense” with every other breath. Defense fuels offense, and the Hawks are not a team in rhythm.
The sexy thing to do after a close loss like this is to tag a player who could have made the crucial difference. The Lawrence Journal World’s Tom Keegan picked Micah Downs as deserving of more minutes, and it’s hard to argue with his take. But as I watched the game, I settled on a different lynchpin.
Brandon Rush.
In the first half, Rush seemed to be chasing the ball around the court like it was a yo-yo. His dribbling was infected by a lack of certainty, as if the bouncing ball was full of surprises: 2 points for the half. After Bill Self tore into him at half time, Rush went on to score 15 in the second twenty minutes. It’s hard to analyze inequities like this, but I have the feeling that once Rush gets his head game sorted out, this team will take on new life.
An active fire-starter on the perimeter will pick up the offensive slack that is giving KU enough rope to hang themselves in close games. I suspect that it will be Rush, not Downs or Chalmers, who will make the baby Jayhawks look like contenders.
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One Response to “Brandon Rush: the Missing Link”
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December 2nd, 2005 at 9:00 pm
Instead, I think it’s a combo of Rush & Downs that will make the difference. Neither really has it all by himself, but when the other is on the floor, they can both be matchup nightmares for the other team (tall, can drive, can shoot the 3 ball). Don’t take my word for it, Rush said so himself:
“I like playing with Micah,” Rush said. “He’s such a good shooter. I can drive and kick it to him. And he can drive and kick it to me. Based on what you saw tonight, I think you’re going to see us playing together a lot more.”
Thanks to the LJW for that quote.
But it’s true. If you go back and watch the game, you’ll see that Nevada put a lot of emphasis on covering downs - someone was on him like glue the entire time he was out there… except when Rush drove to the basket.
Plus, who would you rather guard you - a guy who’s 6′1″ or a guy who can move almost as fast as the 6′1″, but he’s 6′8″ with long arms.
The problems with this team right now are comfort and balance. We need more threes to be balanced. We also need more rebounds (6′8″ guy vs 6′1″ guy anybody). We’ll see what happens when Darnell and Rodrick join the team - things might get very interesting (probably not as much for Darnell than Rodrick). As for comfort, the players need to stop relying on Self’s and everyone else’s leadership to get things done. A player needs to show the confidence to get out there and rock hard core abs washer board style - anyone with me on the reference?
Great stat posts guys!