Enough Nicety - Bragg Needs to Deliver

We cannot stop ANYONE at the rim, and every team knows it. Lucas has to back off for fear of any fouls. None of this is Lucas' fault - we're getting solid play from him. But, it's a layup drill, an NBA level dunk contest, and a guaranteed career night for every opponent's big man.

Bragg either has to get some nasty in him, get pissed off about his situation and come out swinging, or Self has to move on. I really think Bragg is not a true big, and is not buying into his role. His skill set (whatever it is) is not posting up or muscling people inside.

One big question is whether other teams have the same difficulty in success rates with their young bigs. It's been three years in a row now that Self has been unable to get his "star" big off the bench. Cliff, Cheick and now Bragg. Either our recruiting of bigs is horrible, or Self's system is so hard for a big to crack that it takes three years, which you don't get with these guys.

To be honest, I would not choose KU if I was a young, raw big who needs playing time and patience to develop.

I do not agree on the bigs front. That was an interesting subset you brought up as the year before is Embiid and this year is really Doke. I think we are a couple injuries from writing a very different narrative.

Obviously Self and KU have had success with bigs, including Embiid, but the trend and recent history (i.e. after Manning's departure as bigs coach) is very bad. It's not just that our bigs haven't become dominant all americans, it's that they have been benched from day one, have been given very little room for error, and honestly - have failed.

They also have had significant off court issues. I suspect some of the off court issues involve an immature young man's response to not playing more than 8 minutes a game (Greene?) and feeling like a failure or "bust" rather than a meaningful part of the team. Cliff, Diallo and now Bragg are watching their future pro prospects disappear before their eyes. If they didn't have the talent in the first place (Cliff?) then why did we take them. Or, is it that we don't have a staff that can coach them into their talent. Or is our hi-lo system so dependent on practice and experience that no freshman (or Soph in Bragg's case) can competently perform in that system? Whatever the issue, Self and staff have under performed with the bigs over several seasons, and must take some responsibility for that.

It is with great risk on message boards for anyone to question Self, as it draws out the "what do you know", "are you a D-1 coach", "I trust Self more than you" comments. But we are all wise enough to see things without requiring first hand experience as a KU coach. The big man regression over the past few years is OBVIOUS, and is frustrating.

Self is great, I'm not remotely calling for his head, but we've had enough of these "busts" turn into off court issues that Self must step up and take responsibility and fix it.