KU 81 Baylor 75 - My Thoughts

I'm not sure I have a word for it, but I know KU played much better
tonight and, once again, ran into a team that played very well and had
an extremely hot shooter...and who, as a team, shot over 50% the game, ending the 92-game streak KU had going of holding opponents to under 50%.

We definitely got the ball inside a lot more and I was thrilled with
that. Our first 6 pts were in the paint.

Once again, Marcus Morris came to play and 1 of the 3 sophomores was a
big difference maker.

What did everyone think of Tyshawn buried on the bench for the first
half? I think it's clear Brady was out there because of experience and
his defensive skills. But Tyshawn wasn't much of a factor when he was
in there.

Sherron played great and penetrated much more consistently tonight,
though I'm still not comfortable with him having to score 20+ a night
in order for us to win. That said, he's doing it because Xavier
continues to defer too much offensively and settle for 3 pt shots.
It's maddening seeing him ignore a wide open baseline and instead take
a contested 3 over a guy that's 6'10". He did go to the hole a couple
of times, which is a couple more than he usually does, so maybe he's
taking baby steps.

I thought Brady played well and did a good job defensively even though
Dunn was in the zone.

KU played with great energy for most of the game and the ball didn't
"stick" as Self likes to say.

I would still like to see more hunger on the glass from this team.

Thomas Robinson has regressed. You can tell he is thinking way too
much out there and plays tight every time he's on the floor...earlier
in the year, he was a lot more carefree, but he's clearly struggling
with implementing what he's learned in practice.

The one official that called the foul on Brady when he cleanly stole
that ball was brutal all night. I think he's also the one that called
a foul with 3 seconds to go and the game decided.

Baylor impressed me, especially how well they battled in that
environment with foul trouble.

I thought the crowd was average at best and missed some opportunities
to give the team energy. They shouldn't have to wait for Sherron to
wave his arms before getting off their asses...er, fat butts.

Overall, a very good win over a hot shooting team that has a lot of
talent. It was close for longer than I hoped, but we closed it out.
This team doesn't have a dominant edge yet, still doesn't play
hungry/angry, is still learning to lock down defensively, and
continues to struggle to find an identity they can hang their hat on. I hope those
thing come sooner rather than later because the Big 12 is looking
tougher every week.

Keep Rockin and Chalkin,

Mic

Dear Tyshawn....

Shut your mouth.

Love,

Bill Self

This also confirms one of the suspicions I've had all season long. That Bill Self and his coaching staff can yell and scream and say whatever they want...or make the team run sprints until their feet bleed....but a LOSS is one of the few things that would get this team's undivided attention.

"Now we know that we've got to be ready to play every night. We can't take anything lightly." - Tyshawn Taylor

Wait until you see what Bill Self had to say in response to Tyshawn's other comments. Something tells me Elijah Johnson is finally going to get back out on the court in Lincoln tomorrow. I, for one, welcome it. Tyshawn needs an attitude adjustment. And Bill Self is going to give it to him.

http://www2.kusports.com/news/2010/jan/12/taylor-says-times-hes-unsure-his-role-deep-talent-/

Keep Rockin and Chalkin,

Mic

KU-Tennessee: My Thoughts After a Second Look

I watched the KU-Tennessee game again, this time with the benefit of the DVR rewind feature and with no bar noise in the background.

I'm not intentionally being negative here and I am not down on this team or do I think the season is over or that the world is coming to an end. It's just there were a lot of negatives in this game, especially when I got a chance to watch it more closely.

*Tennessee really hit some timely 3's and they and their crowd really
fed off of them....reminded me of the same type of energy MU always
gets in Columbia when they hit 3's against us. Likewise our team
really looked overly deflated/defeated after several of those 3's.

*I love Sherron, but he took some very poor shots and took several
defensive plays off. He's playing a ton of minutes and having to carry
the load offensively and it's taking a toll on him big time.

*I may have counted wrong, but I think X only took the ball to the
hole off the dribble twice the entire game. He is becoming eerily like
the Brandon Rush we saw for much of the 2008 season...camping out on
the perimeter and not attacking the glass. His offensive game has to
become less predictable.

*Cole looked tired on many occasions. He works his tail off defensively
and then "rests" many times on offense, which is one major reason why
he isn't scoring.

*How did we lose this game with Chism and Prince on the bench with 4
fouls each at the 13 minute mark?

*Tyshawn is a bad pass waiting to happen and he goes through the
motions a lot on D. After a few good games, he's regressed to the form
that got him benched for Elijah "MIA" Johnson.

*This team makes A LOT of lazy passes.

*We did a very poor job of getting back defensively with several
instances of players backpeddling downcourt instead of turning around
and sprinting.

*The timeout that Pearl Jr. got on that held ball was a ridiculously
horrible call.

*As much as Self hates it, we should mix in zone more often.

*There was a time where Lew Perkins had his head sitting in his hands.
He looked like he'd just heard that Mangino's son proposed to Perkins'
daughter.

*The Morris twins looked like scared, confused freshmen. So did Robinson.

*I'm wondering why we waited so long to full court press?

*How did we only get 3 steals?

*I would say in the last 2 games that this team has had to rely on
Collins about 70% of the time offensively and defensively/rebounding
we've had to rely on Cole about 75% of the time. It's draining both of
them to where other parts of their games are suffering. The rest of
the players have, for the most part, been casual
observers...especially late in the game.

*I hope Royce Wooldridge is as good as his half brother.

*Bruce Pearl should get coach of the year for beating the #1 team in
the country with 6 scholarship players, 4 walkons, and 2 players
fouled out.

*That McBee 3 made me throw up in my mouth. What a fluke shot to seal
the game. That kid didn't even know where he was. Damnit.

*I like that Tennessee threatens admission to future games for anyone
that rushes the court. That should be mandatory at all schools.

Keep Rockin and Chalkin,

Mic