Tale of 2 Halves (Self the Maestro)

That first half last night was tough to watch. Baylor was playing superb D, actively extending the zone out past the arc and using their long arms to disrupt us. I give credit to them for really shutting us down--our lowest point total in one half all year.

At that point, I wondered what adjustments Bill would make at halftime. Clearly, based on his interview with Holly, he was miffed at our core guys, and the announcers opined that he'd be opening up a can on the players in the locker room.

Well, it turns out that the Maestro is a bit more complicated (and savvy) than that:

www2.kusports.com/news/2016/mar/11/bill-...hawks-short-and-blu/

The guy knows this group of seasoned players, and is very much in tune with what buttons to push and on what occasions.

All we did is go out and score 49 in the second half. And that's with us taking our starters out down the stretch, so it could've been better than the OU half in '88.

I love how Coach and this year's players interact. The sequence with Selden in the first half was telling (when he yanked him for presumably messing up the inbounds pass play)...and the way Selden responded in the 2nd half. In fact, who doesn't think that some of the quiet determination and anger that Wayne put on display was semi-aimed at Self? And I mean that in a GOOD way--as if to say "you challenged me, so take THAT!" It's not a negative dynamic at all--it's one of respect. Even Bragg noted this in the Keegan piece--that he took Self's dis about zero rebounds (vs. KSU) personally and wanted to get back at Coach by storming the boards. They respect the man and the most visceral critique they can suffer is to have disappointed HCBS. (That and being called "soft" by him)

This is fun.