KU CU Postgame
I was stuck on a plane from LaGuardia to KCI for the entirety of last night’s game, so I can add little to the mix as far as thoughts and analysis about last night’s game(no different than usual, you may chortle to yourself…).
Texas A&M should be in the NCAA tournament for the totality of their work this year. I’m confident that four Big 12 teams will make the tournament, and I’m similarly confident that both Colorado and Nebraska effectively squandered their chances at going to the Big Dance.
But can the same be said of Kansas State, which looks increasingly troublesome for this Saturday’s game? Ehhrrh, I don’t really think so. It’s a pride game and if we play with defensive intensity, we will win. We better win anyhow.
We *may be hitting the dog days of Spring here, or we may just be accustomed to having overly inflated expecations for our young Jayhawk squad. I don’t honestly know. Will our lack of a true post finisher be our undoing, or will our nearly peerless post-depth allow us to wear folks down?
I think the best scenario for this team would be to win two games in the Big 12 tournament in Dallas en route to a 4 seed in the Dallas pod. Playing three consecutive games in Dallas will definitely give us a shooting edge against teams who are just getting used to a new arena.
Congratulations to Max Falkenstein, that man whose chipper tones have animated the glorious pagaentry of Kansas Basketball for more than three generations of Jayhawk fans. There is truly no one like Max anywhere else.
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22 Responses to “KU CU Postgame”
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March 2nd, 2006 at 9:07 am
I know we all love to knock Dick Vitale, but his comments on the Duke-FSU game were remarkable. He said, “Tonight, Florida State delivered the strikeout punch.” Brilliant! Combining two separate sports in one analogy. I am waiting for him to say, “Wow, that was a touchdown spike right there” or “Did you see that slap-shot bodyslam? Oh baby!”
The guy is a flat out genius when it comes to stuff like that.
March 2nd, 2006 at 10:21 am
It was a bad shooting night for some of the leading scorers in the Big 12.
J. Jackson (1st in scoring) - 7-23
Roby (4th) - 3-13
Martin (t-5th) - 6-15
A. Law (t-5th) - 3-11
Tucker (9th) - 4-11
J. Jones (10th) - 5-14
Rush (11th) - 4-11
Gibson (14th) - 2-7
Aldridge (19th) - 2-5
That’s 36-111 (.324)
The only guys in the top 20 that had a good night were Aaron Bruce and Mario.
March 2nd, 2006 at 11:24 am
My concerns following last night’s game are as follows…
1) Consecutive poor rebounding games.
2) Julian Wright’s turnovers the last couple weeks.
3) Brandon Rush’s diminishing shot attempts.
4) Rush, Robinson, and Chalmers getting to the free throw line much less often in recent games.
On the positive side of the ledger…
1) In the most wildly optimistic scenario I could imagine following the Kentucky game, I had the Jayhawks winning 11 conference games.
2) One can be concerned about Brandon Rush following a game in which he shoots 50% from the floor on 11 shots, grabs six rebounds, and contributes three assists and two steals to offset his three turnovers.
3) This is a really, really good defensive team.
March 2nd, 2006 at 12:47 pm
I don’t see any chance that KU is in the Dallas pod. Texas and Memphis will be the two high seeds there since each is a 1 or a 2 and Dallas is closest to both of them.
Because of the rules on playing conference teams, KU can’t be in Texas’s pod. The only scenario I can conceive of is KU dropping to a 7 and getting put in Memphis’s pod if Memphis is a 2. That would probably take a loss at K-State and a loss in the first round of the Big 12 tournament. Here’s hoping KU ends up somewhere other than Dallas.
March 2nd, 2006 at 1:51 pm
Brendan,
There is still a chance for KU to play in Dallas. In the Minneapolis Region, these are the seeds that play in the Dallas Pod: 1, 8, 9, 16. Memphis could get that 1 seed.
In the Oakland Region, these are the seeds that play in the Dallas Pod: 4, 5, 12, 13. So KU could get the 4 or 5 there.
At this point, Texas has played themselves out of a 1 seed. Memphis could also be the 1 seed in the Atlanta region Dayton Pod.
March 2nd, 2006 at 1:53 pm
[…] PhogBlog has a nice analysis of Saturday’s game. […]
March 2nd, 2006 at 2:01 pm
Good point Brendan. However, don’t you think that Memphis will end up with 1 seed. In that case, KU could very well end up in Dallas unless I’m reading something wrong.
March 2nd, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Ah - and Peter has stepped in and said what I was trying to say.
Dayton is a *little bit further from Memphis than Dallas, but, in my opinion, the Atlanta region would likely be more favorable for Memphis post Dayton than Minneapolis.
The Minneapolis region would be very nice for KU fans since it’s a 6.5 hour drive from KC. I’d be very tempted to take a half day off and catch a seat at the Metrodome for that.
March 2nd, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Peter, Jeremy-
The pods aren’t tied to the regions, or to the seeds. The only thing that determines what region a pod is in is the region that the top seed in the pod is assigned to. (I hope that made sense.)
Essentially, the seeds and bracket get set by the committee first. Then they go through and assign each four-team section of the bracket to a first round site. The highest seeded teams get first dibs. If, like Brendan says, the committee decides that Texas and Memphis both deserve to play in Dallas, then as (probable) 1 and 2 seeds, they will get to. In which case, the only way KU ends up there is, like Brendan said, if they drop to a 7 and Memphis is a 2. But that would take some losses by KU and Memphis.
Jeremy, the Atlanta region vs. Minneapolis region reasoning is moot, then. The committee might choose to put Memphis in Dayton, but it wouldn’t have anything to do with Atlanta vs. Minneapolis, because Dayton could feed into either of those regions.
I feel like I’m not explaining this well.
March 2nd, 2006 at 3:01 pm
Or am I wrong about the “first dibs” thing? Do they try and make it fair for ALL the 1 thru 4 seeds? In other words, if Dallas is slightly preferable to Dayton for Memphis, but Dallas is far preferable to Dayton for KU, would they let KU go to Dallas? I don’t know the answer.
March 2nd, 2006 at 3:07 pm
OK, here is the NCAA’s rule. It doesn’t really answer my question though.
7. After the committee has placed the top four teams in each region, the committee will assign those teams (and, therefore, all teams in their bracketing sequence—e.g., seeds 1, 8, 9, 16) to first-/second-round sites. The committee will attempt to assign each to the most geographically compatible first-/second-round site, proceeding in order of the seed list. When multiple teams are a similar distance from a site, generally the team with the higher seed-list ranking will be assigned to the site.
March 2nd, 2006 at 3:16 pm
David,
The NCAA is unclear on this. Reading from the the guidelines here, it seems as if it’s a dibs thing:
I’m not sure what a bracket position is. Does that mean the exact same seed in the exact same region? If so, then it’s not an issue.
Evidently, they want to seed teams as close to home as possible
Additionally:
Reading the above, I don’t think there’s anything that precludes a move to Dallas for KU, unless they thought it wouldn’t be fair to Memphis.
March 2nd, 2006 at 3:16 pm
It seems like quite a few people are talking about how we need a true finisher for a bigman, and while I completely agree, I also want to keep it on people’s radar that we need another 3. We have depth in abundance everywhere else. But at 3, we have Brandon Rush and that’s it. What if he’s hurt? What if he’s injured? What if he *ehhem* sucks for a night or two, or three? Sometimes I think Brandon gets some easy PT while everyone else has to earn it. Sure, he may be a learning sponge eager to learn, as Self points out, but he’s on easy street for his PT. The other alternative is getting Julian to learn the plays as 3 to be able to shift.
March 2nd, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Does it really matter where we play the first two rounds? As long as we stay within a reasonable traveling distance (between the Rockies and the Appalachians)I think it will be OK. After all, they are neutral sites, and those who have seen ‘Hoosiers’ know that every court is the same.
March 2nd, 2006 at 3:43 pm
10. Each of the first three teams selected from a conference shall be placed in different regions.
That might say more than anything. While they want to seed people close to home, it looks like they would have to ignore this rule which has precedent over their desire to be fair with the locations. Texas will undoubtedly command a better seed and eliminate us from Dallas. Dayton is only a couple hours or so further from Lawrence/KC. I don’t think it matters to these young guys, though. They might even be more comfortable away from a large contingent. Again, little respect with something to prove, sound familiar?
March 2nd, 2006 at 3:50 pm
Bobby, that rule is talking about regions. The four regions this year are DC, Minneapolis, Oakland, and Atlanta. This is where the 3rd and 4th round games are played. This rule means that if Texas is, say, the 2 seed in the Atlanta region, then KU has to go to one of the other three regions.
We’re talking about “pods” - where the first and second round games are played. The pod locations are not tied to the regional locations in any way. So if Texas was a 2 seed in Atlanta OR Minneaplois, it doesn’t matter. Either way they will play their first games in Dallas.
You are partially right, still, about Texas eliminating us from Dallas. Texas will be the head of one of the two Dallas pods. KU can’t be in that pod with Texas, so the only other ways they could be in Dallas are if they get a top-4 seed, and get to be head of the Dallas pod (unlikely, but possible) OR if they drop so far that they are a lower seed in another team’s pod which happens to be located in Dallas.
March 2nd, 2006 at 3:57 pm
A couple of things:
It would be advantageous in my opinion to play in Dallas because we will have played 2-3 games there that week. Comfort with the floor and the basket would definitely help out our offensive flow, IMO.
Additionally, Dallas wasn’t sold out last time I checked, and KU will bring a lot more fans to Dallas than Memphis. KU has gotten favorable locations since they started the pod system and I really wouldn’t be surprised to see that continue. I should add that Dayton is sold out so filling it with a *local team is likely less of a concern.
March 2nd, 2006 at 4:10 pm
My mistake David, I got them confused. The NCAA tries to put teams in the best regional location, based first upon seed, correct? If we are a four seed, wouldn’t we be there or is someone else poised to take that slot? Also, why would we be prohibited as a 5 seed? I would guess that we have a great chance to be a four seed, providing we win on Saturday and make the championship of the Big XII (we know that they will have selected before that game is over).
There is a rule against a team playing in a location if they played three or more games there during the REGULAR season. Post-season tournaments do not count, so this could be a great benefit. Obviously, they were concerned enough about this providing an unfair advantage to write it into the rulebook.
March 2nd, 2006 at 6:54 pm
Looks like I stirred up a bit of a wasp’s nest here …
Thanks to DavidH for all the work explaining how this works.
As I read it, there are five teams in contention for “protected” (top 4) seeds for whom Dallas is the closest pod site. I’d rank these, in order,
1. Memphis
2. Texas
3. Kansas
4. LSU
5. Oklahoma
If the committee can, I think they’ll try to ensure that only the top 2 end up in Dallas. While it’s possible that, for example, Memphis could be a 2 and Oklahoma a 7 in the same pod, the whole idea of a protected seed is that you’re the closest team to home in your pod, so you’re never at a home-court disadvantage.
As far as Dallas ticket sales go, I think that placing Texas there will take care of that.
March 2nd, 2006 at 6:58 pm
I guess the simplest way to say all of this is: - The committee only tries to keep you close to home if you’re a top 4 seed.
- If you’re not a top 4 seed, the committee tries to make sure that you’re further from home than the top 4 seed in your pod.
- The committee ranks the top 16 teams in order, then places them in the closest remaining pod site, so even if KU is in the top 16, if there are two higher ranked teams that have Dallas as their closest site, we’re not going there.
March 2nd, 2006 at 8:20 pm
If Kansas beats K-State while Texas loses to Oklahoma (a very possible scenario) it will give Kansas the outright Big 12 regular season championship. If Kansas then goes onto the Big 12 tourney championship, and Texas goes out before then, I think Kansas might end up with a higher seed than Texas, and hence a probable placement in Dallas. I view this scenario as unlikely but definitely not an unrealistic one.
March 3rd, 2006 at 12:42 am
But what if Mizzou wins the Big 12 tournament? Oh, wait…