Simplifying the whole embarassing fiasco

Because my simple mind does not comprehend the complexities of basketball, I can decipher only what is apparent to me: The opposites of steady, determined, and controlled are: hurried, frantic, and disorderly, leading to shots taken too early in the clock, missed bunnies, missed assignments, really stupid fouls, and frequent naps, all of which result in an embarrassing, to put it mildly, loss.

It is very simple to me too, which is that we're attracting high level D-1 talent, just not ELITE D-1 talent. I appreciated how hard the guys worked at defense this year, and I really liked all of them as representatives of KU. They should be proud of how they came together and how hard they worked.

But they were overwhelmingly limited offensively.

USC, Gonzaga, etc. are bigger, faster, quicker and more athletic across the board than we are.

USC, Gonzaga, etc. are far better shooters than us. I was surprised last night when we made a 3, and surprised when USC missed.

We absolutely have to put the NCAA mess behind us and rebuild. This delay is the most effective punishment I've seen, with no end in sight.

Rock Chalk and on to football !! (good lord, did I actually say that?)

On a positive note and consistent with your thoughts AZ, we might celebrate a little that we got this far this year. with this talent and lack of athleticism. We might also celebrate that we got to see Marcus Garrett become the player and the young man that he became. Ditto a little for DMac. Will next year be better? Maybe, but may be not until the NCAA fiasco is over.

One of the cooler things I did this year was to download the roster of every top 80 team and every top 100 HS recruit for the last 4 years. I then built a roster scoring algorithm so I could compare somewhat consistently and objectively the various rosters at least in terms of seniority and based on HS recruiting success. Based on that, the 2021 KU team is the lowest roster score since the data became available in 2003. Also, KU ranked 23rs in roster score in the country. That paints a pretty clear picture that this KU team, while (and I have said this ad nauseum) a nice solid team, is not by any objective measure elite. Anything better than say 20th rank in the polls is due to better coaching and better effort by the team. In my mind from the tip against Gonzaga or at least shortly thereafter, I never thought this team was going to be much better than a 20-25 ranked team. And for awhile I though they would be worse than that. So when I look back at this year, I am going to remember it as one of Self's better coaching jobs and a team that, largely due to Marcus Garrett and David McCormack, tended toward overachieving. While it is always disappointing that KU has a team that is not vying for the NC in any season, this one is not on the players and especially not on David and Marcus. Jalen also was a key piece most of the season. This team was a team that delivered more than we had reason to expect. Not by a mile, but in a zero sum game, this team was in the positive. A 2nd place Big 12 finish and a 3 seed are frankly amazing. This was not a 3 seed talent team but they did earn it with their play down the stretch.

Having said all that, while I cannot expect frogs to be princes, meaning I cannot expect players like Agbaji, Braun, Harris, Enaruna and Lightfoot to play like the Mobley brothers I can expect Self and the staff to do their part in putting a championship team on the court regularly. Self has done that more regularly than anyone in the last 17 years. But we are in a swoon right now that needs to be corrected. We need to recruit some elite talent, especially at point guard. Whatever it is that is hindering our recruiting is on Self. He needs to fix it and fast. If it is the NCAA issue than that is not on the NCAA that is on Self. I will choose to be very optimistic about next season because Self has been the master at pulling rabbits out of hats roster wise. But i do not believe the core we have coming back likely to produce a team evan as good as the team we had this year. We'll see what Adams and Clemence can really do. But unless Agbaji and Braun have an Azubuike sort of transformation then they are not the answer even with a year of maturity. I love Braun and Agbaji tremendously. I think both give 100% and are fine young men and great teammates. They are simply B level players who can be key cogs but probably as 4th, 5th or 6th guys on the roster. Come on Bill, fix this problem. You always have. I trust you will. But 2019 was a disaster in a lot of ways. 2021 had some bright spots in that the guys improved greatly and overachieved, it was nonetheless never going to be anything other than a Sweet 16 at the upside, realistically speaking. It's a brave new world. Kansas has Self, we have Allen Fieldhouse, we have fan support 2nd to none, we have alumni support as good as any, we have media exposure in the top tier. We still have a lot to attract talent. Now Bill, get 'er done!!!

Not long ago Dotson was a promising freshman as was Grimes. If they played for KU as Juniors we still lack depth under the basket but are loaded at the wings.
Why QG bolted for Houston and DD for the G League seems to be an issue that HCBS owns at least a large slice of.

He reminds me of Frank. I didn't notice how tough Frank was until his soph year. I didn't realize how great Devonte was until him dominated Buddy .

Watching this kid pass reminds me of Patrick Mahomes. He will look one way and throw the opposite and nail whoever he is aiming for. I think he is going to be phenomenal in the coming years and I look forward to watching him improve. he should be the starting point guard next year jmho

I'm not ready to crown Dajuan at this point, but neither am I ready to say he is not the next Frank or Devonte'. He has some strengths and weaknesses. But there is no denying that he has some numbers on his side. The first chart below is his player rating by game. He certainly finished the season strongly. He had some outstanding games. There is no denying he did some nice things. But he also had some real stinker games. Granted, he was a freshman.



The next table is the season plus-minus. To the degree the plus-minus is meaningful, it is at least interesting that the KU points per minute was highest with Dajuan in the game at 1.94. That is not an insignificant stat. However, the defense +/- was the worst. Nor is that an insignificant stat. His overall +/- was 0.17 points per minute which was right in the pack. Certainly better than Braun who was lowest of the top 6. I have a vision of a love child of Devon Dotson and Devonte' Graham as our next point guard. Or maybe the love child of Aaron Miles and Kirk Hinrich. That may not exist but that is what I am hoping for.