After that scintillating and very important road win...

...it's now time for KU to come back to the friendly confines of the Barn and squeeze some oranges.



Here's hoping we have some fuel left in the tank and stomp the Cowpokes into submission. I hope we get up by 30 so that Frank, Devonte, and company get some rest in the second half...and our other players get some good court time.

Glad you got to enjoy it, Peter. RE your critiques, my take:

* The Refs. I hate to drone on about officiating, as I prefer to let the games just speak for themselves, but I'm with you on this. It's gotten to be just utterly comical. I was dead-serious with my post last night that I don't know how Self exhibited such self-control in watching such an egregious case of gross buffoonery by the zebras. All the more so given the stakes involved--a KU loss would've all but ended our quest for #12. I literally would've been tempted to throw a chair, a la Bobby Knight, if I had been in his shoes. I don't even know what to say about it anymore, because it almost seems like a conscious effort on the part of the refs to a) make themselves more important than the game itself; and b) do all that they can to help conference foes take down KU, with a token call here and there in KU's favor to make it seem like they're not totally biased.

* Turnovers. Yes, that's too many, but I do feel like it's a bit of a "nitpick" for this huge win. I also would point out that our starters--who played 39, 32, 29, 28, and 26 minutes--only had 8 turnovers for the entire game. That's 8 turnovers on the road, in a hostile arena, playing one of the true top teams in the land, in a revenge game for them, with the national MVP on their squad, the Game Day crew on hand, the zebras in their pocket, and all the pressure on KU (as the team trying to stay in the running for #12). That's pretty impressive. Now, as for our bench (6 turnovers by 4 guys, including 3 by Greene alone), that's not good. But for our core players, they performed okay in that department, IMHO, given the tough backdrop cited above.

* Selden. Yep, not a good game from him at all. Just imagine, as one poster on here last night said, if we'd get all of our guys firing at the same time! But for whatever reason, Selden is prone to very bad swoons at times. Last night, Cousins was just schooling him--and trash-talking the entire time. Normally, you'd think that would get under the skin of a good player and he'd step it up. But instead, Wayne basically camped out beyond the three line and heaved up long bricks (except for one important trey in a KU run--his only made 3 of the game). The guy just seems to get completely dispirited when he's not hitting 3s. Self needs to rip him a new one, and inspire him to GO TO THE RIM in such instances. PLAY THROUGH YOUR DEFENSE. Gain energy from that, and impact the game in other ways! 2 rebounds in 32 minutes, while the much shorter Mason grabs 5 in 26? That's all effort and want-to, and Wayne shrunk from the game last night. That does need to get fixed if KU wants to make a deep run. We might be able to afford it in an early round game or something, but it can't be a consistent thing. He needs to step it up, following the lead of his fellow four starters. Now.

All told, though, I think this team has definitely turned a corner. The last 3 games have really underscored that. We need to not rest on our laurels or fall back to old habits now--keep the foot on the gas, let Self keep tweaking the machine to make it run even more efficiently, and we could very well be a team to be reckoned with in the forthcoming post-season.

I still go back to Korea though. He was a real stud over there and besides the UK game I am still waiting for that guy to reappear.

I'm with you, Hawknmo. If we can get that Selden for six games in March-April, and the rest of our guys are hitting on max cylinders, we become quite a force to reckon with.

RE: Bragg, I personally don't see the benefit of leaving now. He's not even showing up in the second round of most mocks, and in all of his public comments (even when asked about playing time at KU) he always says he's enjoying his time at KU and just trying to learn to be a better player from the experienced bigs. That seems to hint at a kid who is looking at his own development as a glide path, with next year being the breakout. Of course, that's just conjecture since I'm not inside his noggin, but that would comport nicely with what we're seeing on the court, too. (That he's not ready yet, needs another year)

Diallo is more of a concern (leaving) just because he's coming up as a mid-first-rounder on many mocks. He definitely needs another year just to learn the game of basketball, but will he do that or take the short-term cash?

PS: Selden is showing up very early 2nd round on most mocks...meaning he could still feasibly play himself into late first round if he closes like a beast and has a good tourney. Speaking of which, the "wild card" factor in all of these draft questions is how well KU performs in the tourney. If by some chance we hit the goldmine and win it all, then we could see multiple guys get drafted, just like UK, UNC, and others have seen happen in the recent past. A championship ring changes a lot of perceptions, and heightens players' draft stock in a big way. But that, of course, is getting way ahead of ourselves. Just putting it out there now, though, in the "what if" category. (Let's just say that it would be a VERY nice problem for KU to have!!!)

He will either leave early for the pros (NBA or overseas) or stay at KU. Transferring would mean riding the pine for a year, he won't do that with his pro potential. If he doesn't go pro, he will stay at KU and look forward to learning how to be a 4 -- the position he will play at the next level -- next to Udoka's 5.

Good stuff, Jammaman. Thanks for posting, and please do so more often.

I definitely like this statement, and concur:

Hopefully our offense will generate more driving attempts, which either add points via, the shot, or resulting FTrows and putting teams into foul trouble also offer potential benefits to us.

We're not taking it to the paint enough (esp. Selden, who loiters behind the arc far too much). Even if we just drive to probe the D, pull someone off their man, and dish under or back out, just go there a bit more often. We'll need that in the tourney, because you KNOW we're going to have a day where we run cold from outside (a la OU in the first half against us). That said, at least this isn't a "Boschee" or "Billy Thomas"* situation this year, where having just one sharpshooter go cold could ruin us. We have so many good shooters that the likelihood of a stone-cold night from everyone as much lower.

Rock Chalk...

* RE: Billy Thomas, that was another live tourney loss (and premature KU exit) that yours truly suffered through. We were completely reliant on Billy's bombs that season, and he couldn't have hit water if he fell out of a boat in that game. UVA over KU at Kemper, back in the day. Ugh...

Nice find.

I had forgotten what a wretched game Haase, Gurley, and Sean Pearson had as well. All I could remember was Billy throwing up brick after brick after brick from downtown. He finished 1-8, and all were three bombs.

Here's the sorry box score--turns out the entire team couldn't hit water if they were falling out of a boat that night.

www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1995-03-24-kansas.html

Let's just say Ole Konza has experienced some tough ones live and in person (the '91 NC game vs. Puke was definitely a drag, along with the Oklahoma City flameout against UNI). But I've had good karma ever since taking my son to Omaha in 2012, when we not only got to see KU win but also cheered with delight in watching that "vaunted" Misery team get taken down in a 2 vs.15 shocker (Norfolk State). I went on that year to St. Louis and watched us knock off Ole Roy (again).

"Good times, bad times, you know I've had my share..." (Hat tip to the greatest band of all time)