Coach Howard scout report

Pregame radio interview

Oregon plays fast, shoots the 3, play small ball, and are quick all around. On defense, they had a great season defending the interior. Now even with the loss of Boucher, they are still dangerous there. Oregon still has the PAC-12 Defensive player of the year in Bell. (There is a comment re: Altman saying their other big will have to be more conservative inside without his big teammate) Howard plays that off as gamesmanship...this is the last game of the year for somebody...Bell and everybody else will be leaving it all out there and doing whatever it takes to put their team to the top. No time to be conservative.

For KU, that means sticking to the game plan, playing smart and aggressive within the flow of the game. If we do that, we will be in good shape.

Oregon plays a bunch of defensive schemes to keep a team out of rhythm...2-3, press, soft press, good switching high to limit open 3 opportunities. Guys need to be aware of the shifting schemes and dictate their game plan.

Jackson and Brooks matchup will be great. Josh has to keep his emotions in check...it's Kansas v. oregon, not Jackson v. Brooks for the Final Four.

Dorsey and Graham...recruited Dorsey out of high school. He has done well for himself at Oregon. Great 3 shooter, effective off the bounce, very good from line. Both are showing up big on a big stage.

For KU, defense focusing on limiting transition opportunities, especially from 3, crashing the boards and having success with offensive rebounding like the other night, and re: Brooks and Dorsey- keeping them from doing whatever they want. Disrupting their rhythm...

Otherwise, Bragg can be more effective maybe considering the matchups. Legerald continuing to contribute strong off the bench will be important. Both will have the opportunity to be a positive effect on the outcome.

We are confident, but Oregon is too, and deservedly so. They have done a lot of good things obviously to get to this point. Neither can afford to rest on the earlier tourney success. Both teams were left behind at this stage last year, neither wants that to happen again.

They discussed Altman's Kansas connections as asst. coach under Kruger and later head coach at KSU. Nothing new there...

Oregon- Athletic ability, plenty of guys that can go get their own. Purdue got opportunity through actions. Oregon does too, but has more guys that can go on their own.

Dorsey hottest kid in the tournament, no disrespect to Devonte.

We need to slow them in transition. Average 27 pts. in transition, they get a lot of scoring outside of the half court offense. That pitch ahead to attack or shoot 3 has been effective and KU must limit those chances. No way to stop it entirely, just can't let transition plays be the norm. We can help that a lot by being effective in our offense, taking care of the ball, getting some offensive rebounds.

Oregon switches defense and we just have to go and play our game regardless of what they throw at us. Can't react negatively to the switching schemes.