This Is Not Your Father’s Oldsmobile
What is it that used to keep the Hawks from attaining their goals in the post season? In fact,often caused us to be a laughingstock as we blew No. 1 Seed after No. 1 Seed?
1. Quick, heady guards who could penetrate the lane with ease for layups (their own or some otherwise mediocre big man’s) and hit the 3 all day;
2. A steady diet of big men who would simply push our inside players around for rebounds, follow shots and inside position; and
3. Pathetic free throw shooting–especially under pressure.
Bill Self has put together a team that appears to be capable of handling all three of these problems. We have the best perimeter D I have seen at KU, with the possible exception of Valentine, Douglas, and Johnson. And WE have the guards who can penetrate and dish or score.
We have enough big, strong, athletic players, with enough fouls to give, to keep the opponent’s big men from pushing us around inside. We might be outplayed to an extent inside, but we will not be dominated. Even the best frontcourts that can be thrown at us will have to work hard for everything they get.
And we can put five 70% FT shooters on the court in the end game.
Not that we will the NC this year–we still have 2 problems: (1) Inside players who have serious trouble finishing within 3 feet of the basket; and (2) experience in big game (I mean bigger than A&M and ISU) situations.
The latter will take care of itself.
As for the former, add a little moxie and efficiency by CJ, DJ, and K, and next year, we will have the best of all possible worlds–we will have the edge on everybody we play both inside and out.
And having a natural point guard won’t hurt either. Why didn’t Roy ever put this team together? I think this team could get an 8 or 9 Seed and take out a 1. Fortunately, I don’t expect us to be an 8 or 9 Seed.
I also think we are now at the apex of the coaching triangle.
–Mark
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10 Responses to “This Is Not Your Father’s Oldsmobile”
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January 28th, 2006 at 11:49 pm
I do not think we are at the apex of the triangle based on Roy’s NC last year. I do think we will be at the apex of this deal, but we are gonna have to wait two or three years till we win the championship. I agree though about this… Self definately knows what he is doing. We need to get some hardcore lobbying going for Rush to stay one more year!
January 29th, 2006 at 7:51 am
My reference was to now. At this poin tin time, the Jayhawks, in my opinion, are the best team of the three. As wel as this team responds to being on the road, I would welcome the chance to play Illinois or UNC anywhere.
As for Roy’s NC last year, let’s see him do it with his own recruits. UNC won last year because Matt’s (hey, is that you)recruits won it for themselves. They had no loyalty to Williams. Ergo, they didn’t their emotions get in the way when they got close to winning one for “their” coach.
January 31st, 2006 at 9:04 am
Big words Mark. KU is improving and has come a long way from the start of the seaons, but is better than neither UNC or Illinois.
A neutral court matchup with either team wouldn’t be a good one for KU. Take them on at Allen and KU has a chance.
January 31st, 2006 at 2:37 pm
I think KU would very likely beat UNC on a neutral court, and I would like our chances against Illinois.
January 31st, 2006 at 2:44 pm
That’s so last week. The easy game would be UNC–anywhere. KU’s guards would eat UNC’s lunch. And while Hansbrough is better than any individual KU big man, the Hawks’ Big Man By Committee approach would keep him from winning the game by himself. Illinois would be tougher, with the best guard and big man on the floor–but KU has too many talented players to throw at the Illini. Closer game, but I’ll take my chances NOW (as opposed to sometime in the past) on any court.
January 31st, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Even Illinois fans agree they are a bad night by Dee Brown from losing to anyone in the nation. When he leaves next year…
January 31st, 2006 at 8:20 pm
Not a good night for Dee Brown:
Link
February 1st, 2006 at 11:52 am
Looks to me like Dee had 16 points and 7 assists. Again, a bad night from Dee and Illinois goes down. Not much developed talent on that team after him.
February 1st, 2006 at 3:10 pm
This is not the Dee Brown show. Augustine had a bad night with 7 points, Dee shot 6-18. A bad night shooting and he still gets 16…that’s part of my point. Beyond those guys there were players with 12, 16 and 12.
Don’t look now, but that talent is developing and contributing. Not unlike KU, mind you—I’ll give your team credit where it’s due—developing and growing as the season grinds on, becoming less reliant on one or two guys and developing balance across the board.
February 14th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
My name is Susan and I live in Orlando. Is there a way to get this blog feed in my email?