9 reasons Kansas is the most dominant force in NCAA hoops

The 2010, 2011, and 2013 teams were all dominant during the regular season and they all had the numbers to make the final 4. The question we have to ask ourselves is why doesn't our dominance show up in tournament play. We had no business losing to Northern Iowa, VCU, or to blow our big lead against Michigan in 2013. So what happened to these teams? Coaching? Nervousness? Unpreparedness? Style of play? Game plans?

To me, it seems rather simple for how you beat a Bill Self coached team in the tournament because I've seen it time and time again. We lost to teams who shoot a lot of three pointers. Here's the numbers for the opponents that eliminated KU in 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2015.

2010 Northern Iowa: ranked 132nd, averaged 18.8 three point shots a game
2011 VCU: ranked 20th, averaged 22.9 three point shots a game
2013 Michigan: ranked 96th, averaged 19.8 three point shots a game
2015 Wichita State: ranked 144th, averaged 19 three point shots a game.

It makes sense when past KU teams relied heavily on our big's to protect the rim and pound the glass. That left the perimeter open a lot of the time for opposing teams to make three point shots. The numbers from those tournament games kind of speak for themselves. Northern Iowa: 9-26 from three, VCU: 12-25 from three, Michigan: 8-23 from three. I'll even throw in Wichita State as they were 10-20 from three. Do you see a recurring theme here?

What about this years team?

So, knowing this I bring you to this years team. Whats different about them? Well, for starters we don't have the dominant inside presence like those past teams had. What we do have is two fast point guards in Frank Mason and Devonte Graham who are able to guard the perimeter. Throw in a more experienced Selden and you have a 3rd option to guard the perimeter. Case and point; KU is ranked 77th in opponent points from 3 pointers. Opposing teams only get 18.8 ppg from three point shots. Thats an average of only 6 three pointers allowed per game. For comparison to other big names ranked ahead of us; W Virginia is ranked 6th, Kentucky is ranked 12th, Michigan State is ranked 13th, Louisville is ranked 29th, K-State is ranked 40th, Wichita State is ranked 63rd. The other schools ahead of us are mostly schools from outside the power 5 conferences.

The 2010 team allowed 19.1 ppg from three point shots (ranked 200), the 2011 team allowed 17.8 ppg from three point shots (ranked 128th), and the 2013 team allowed 19.1 ppg from three point shots (ranked 207).

THE NUMBERS PROVE WE HAVE A TEAM WHO IS REALLY GOOD AT DEFENDING AGAINST THE THREE. THAT SHOULD MAKE EVERYONE OF US REALLY HAPPY MOVING FORWARD.

2010 (national champion caliber numbers)
-Finished the season #2 in Ken Pom's rankings
-Ranked #2 in adjOFF and #9 in adjDEF
-Ranked #1 in average scoring margin
-Ranked #5 in ppg
-Ranked #8 in team shooting %
-Ranked #62 in opponent ppg
-Ranked #4 in opponent shooting %

2011 (national champion caliber numbers)
-Finished the season #2 in Ken Pom's rankings
-Ranked #7 in adjOFF and #11 in adjDEF
-Ranked #3 in average scoring margin
-Ranked #6 in ppg
-Ranked #1 in team shooting %
-Ranked #69 in opponent ppg
-Ranked #11 in opponent shooting %

2013 (final four caliber numbers)
-Finished the season #8 in Ken Pom's rankings
-Ranked #34 in adjOFF and #5 in adjDEF
-Ranked #5 in average scoring margin
-Ranked #18 in ppg
-Ranked #8 in team shooting %
-Ranked #51 in opponent ppg
-Ranked #1 in opponent shooting %

Great post ATX, thanks!!!

RC A & F

Agree Konza - mostly tilted toward AFH & Big 12. Who besides KU (2008) from the Big 12 has won a NC in last 11 years? Even been in FF? Reason 8 - consecutive NCAA appearances is nice, but first and second round losses are not. So IMHO, the premise doesn't hold water.

You're forgetting one very important thing Konza. Scoring is up this year with the rule changes so of course you would expect the averages to be higher for everyone. That's exactly what happened for most big name schools. The best team this year in points allowed from 3 pointers is 3.6 points higher than last year. Thats an average of one made 3 point shot per game; and that's for the best team in the country at not allowing points from 3 pointers.

Here's a comparison of this year to last year for a few schools and points allowed from 3 pointers:

Kentucky
2015: 13.5
2016: 16.1

Duke
2015: 15.2
2016: 19

Wisconsin
2015: 15.2
2016: 17.8

Wichita St
2015: 15.8
2016: 18.3

Kansas St
2015: 16.1
2016: 17.5

Baylor
2015: 17.1
2016: 19.8

Michigan St (They have actually improved their 3 pt defense number this year)
2015: 17.2
2016: 16.3

Kansas
2015: 17.5
2016: 18.8

Texas
2015: 18
2016: 19.2

North Carolina
2015: 19.5
2016: 23.9

The fact that KU has gone from 17.5 to 18.8 points allowed from 3 pointers is great in this season of higher scoring. We are only allowing 1.3 more points from three this season. Our ranking has gone from 101 to 77 in the country compared to last year.

The bottom line is we have improved our three point defense this year even though the actual number is technically higher than last year. But then again almost everyone elses numbers are higher too.

Here's last seasons top 10 rankings for opponent points from 3 pointers

1. Fla Atlantic-10.2
2. Rhode Island-11.1
3. N Mex State-11.3
4. TX Christian-12.7
5. Pepperdine-13.5
6. Manhattan-13.5
7. Kentucky-13.5
8. Ste F Austin-13.9
9. San Diego-14
10. Richmond-14.1

Here's this seasons top 10 rankings for opponent points from 3 pointers

1. American-13.8
2. Rhode Island-14.4
3. St Fran (NY)-14.8
4. Vanderbilt-15.4
5. NC-Wilmgton-15.4
6. W Virginia-15.5
7. N Dakota St-15.7
8. Fla Atlantic-15.8
9. Prairie View-15.8
10. Manhattan-15.9

A couple of points - this year's SOS is lower rated than last year's. From your "What about this year's team?" section - all three of the players that you cited (Mason, Graham, & Selden) were here last year too. Also had Oubre. So I'm not seeing where this year's team is better at guarding the 3. Admittedly, in some games, Selden is playing better this year than last.

Speaking of being at tournament games, I was at the 2011 VCU-KU elite 8 game, 2012 Ohio State-KU final 4 game, and the 2013 Michigan-KU sweet 16 game. All were great experiences; win or lose.

I agree, we don't need to bring up past shortcomings as it's all been explained here before. I just wanted to start a discussion of KU defending the three this year and how good of a 3 point shooting team we've become.

I wasn't going to add to this, but since 18 hours had passed since the last bb post, guess I won't be blocking anything important from getting posted. You have one year of attendance that I don't have (kick myself for not going to NOLA in 2012). Was at FF in 08 (my only positive experience of watching KU bb games at a football stadium), 2010 OKC R-32 (possibly the year our esteemed moderator was referring to), 2011 - Elite 8 (San Antonio massacre), 2013 - S16 in Arlington, 2014 St Louis R-32, 2015 Omaha R-32. What made 2011 doubly troubling was I had FF tix, so went on to Houston. Thankfully saw VCU & UK loose in semis. Am hoping for a return to FF in Houston this year.
NOTE: My session got timed out by the time I tried to submit this, so in the interim have been at least 2 bb related posts.

From the article:

It hasn't stopped Kansas. Through Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin, through two years in which not a single starter returned, in years that saw pedestrian 3-4 conference starts, there's Kansas, always finding a way to the top of the Big 12.

1. What is the second year where no starters returned?

2. I know we started a season 3-4 overall (I believe it was Chalmers's freshmen year -- the '05-'06 season), but I don't think we had a 3-4 conference start. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

08-09 after the NC.

In 05-06 Hawks started 1-2 in the Conf and then went 11-1 and won the Big X12 Tourney

Don't know about the article, but no 3-4 starts. During HCBS tenure, worst start was 1-2 in 05-06. Have been two 3 game losing streaks: 04-05 and 12-13, both were mid to late season.

nm

LKF wrote:

08-09 after the NC.
In 05-06 Hawks started 1-2 in the Conf and then went 11-1 and won the Big X12 Tourney

So is it '05-'06 or '13-'14...or both?

In '04-'05 starters Simien, Langford, and Miles graduated. Who were the other two starters that year?

Aren't there two questions: 1. were there any 3-4 conference starts (answer is no) 2. Were there years when were no returning starters - HE cited 2008-09 and 2013-14. Don't know about 05-06.
While maybe technically true, the 08-09 team had Collins who played significant minutes the year before, plus Morningstar a RS-So, Reed & Teahan So's, Aldrich who averaged 8..3 min and had an outstanding FF-Semi game vs UNC. Also, Little a Jr from a high calibered JUCO team. Plus freshmen Morris twins, Releford, & TT. The 13-14 team had Tharpe - Jr who played a lot the year before. Black - Sr, Ellis So, plus Wiggins, Embiid, Mason, Selden, Greene, & Frankamp freshman. Not like the cupboard was bare either year.