Let the saga continue...

After reading the link for Diallo's case dragging out, I saw other links on that page and one was about Carlton Bragg subbing in the 2nd half. Self is quoted as saying he may not (sub only 1) again, he is still trying to figure out the best lineup. In conclusion, he said the only thing he was sure of was giving Ellis as many minutes as possible. I think there are some of us here that would rather see Ellis going out more!!! Of course he is good, but others in the lineup are just as good, if not better. Why can't Self see this?

I think Perry can be frustrating because he misses so many bunnies but he is still our best scorer of the bigs. Obviously we all want to see more from him but he is still being effective.

I hear what you are saying and I agree that Perry is pure best scoring big man...sort of. When Perry is hitting close to 60% on his 2 pointers he is very effective scoring and does present KU's most difficult to guard inside player. But when he hits 50% or less, you can argue his scoring effectiveness is largely neutralized and his other aspects are not typically accretive compared to some of the other bigs. He does not rebound nearly as well as Lucas. He does not pass as well as Bragg or Mickelson. His defense is arguably below average, depending on who he is defending. And his flow to the team can at times be negative since he becomes the focus and when he is doing poorly that can be a negative. Now Perry can be above average at all of these things at time but he has not shown the penchant to show this energy all the time. f you look at my player rating, Perry is on a par with all of the other bigs with the exception of Jamari who is well below the pack. If you look at the +/-, Perry has been the most effective this season. Both of these metrics have weaknesses. My conclusion is Perry is playing about the right amount of minutes but if I would be somewhat inclined to sit him more quickly when he is not hitting his shots or not playing effective defense.

I think the closest to Perry in scoring ability is Carlton. The others are not scorers. You can argue that we do not need scorers out of our bigs just garbage guys who cleanup anything missed by the guards. I think that is what you primarily get with the other guys. Perry can score well in more ways than any of our other bigs. I agree he needs to miss less but I think we all feel that way including him. I think the garbage guy big is the most under rated necessity of a strong team.

Perry's an interesting case. He's never going to be super-effective against big, wide, physical players deep in the paint. Nevertheless, the rules are changing to limit the amount of physical play that's aloud, so that works to his favor. I do think he's finally in a position where he's our 'go-to' guy. There is a big "BUT" in there, and I'd say it's "but coach needs to know how/when to hit the wake-up bottom on Perry."

Whether it's missing bunnies, or not playing with passion, there are times like the first half where Perry doesn't seem to have his head in the game. So maybe a quick call over to the bench and some kind of "interaction" (some guys respond well to a butt-chewing, others don't, so whatever happens at the bench is up to HCBS), might hit the reset button. Even if it's only 30 seconds, it's enough I think to get him rolling.

That actually brings up another thing: with a 10 player deep rotation, I see no problem with platooning a substitution to send a message. While we may not want to pull Frank and Devonte at the same time, it's possible in a situation where the starting 5 come out asleep that we could pull 'em and send in Svi, Brannen, Landon, Jamari, and Bragg/Diallo. Yes, that's not a great backcourt mixed with a confusing frontcourt, but it wouldn't have to be for long, and again might give Self an opportunity to send a big/quick message.

Funny thing about the last game was that as bad as we were playing (ugh, how many front-end 1&1 free throws can you miss) I was never really worried. Maybe another 2-3 minutes and I'd have hit the panic button, but it just seemed like once we got the switch turned on, we'd be fine.

Final note: KC is NOT a home game. It's really close, but when your home court is AFH, there's really no venue where you can play, no matter how friendly, where you can match the energy where the court is almost a 6th man on the floor. Opposing players might go into the Sprint Center impressed with the surroundings, but AFH can intimidate, overwhelm, or even just blow guys away with its iconic spot in the game. That puts a lot of teams on their heels in the early going. So it doesn't surprise me to see KU struggle at times in KC.

Right on to all you said until the final point. I agree that nothing -- NOTHING! -- compares to AFH 9the house that Wilt built ) but, you gotta admit that there was a big a$$ Jayhawk in the middle of that court!

RC

Self has his hands full with this one. Too many players, not enough minutes. Who to play??

Ellis is our most solid big (not really a big though) in terms of scoring, but he brings almost nothing in terms of chemistry and leadership. Not bashing the kid - it's just that he so obviously stays in his own world and isn't a natural leader. That's OK, unless you're the senior who the coach says is the core and leader of the team. That's an issue.

The freshmen are the most talented and energetic, but the most raw. How much do you play them ahead of upperclassmen to get them experience, and to show other recruits that KU doesn't bury freshman stars?

Lucas and Hunter are solidly above average, but likely will never deliver as true high low players in the Self system.

We are loaded with sharpshooters, but to Self that's "fools gold".

I'm fascinated to watch how Self pulls this all together.

Rock Chalk.