Michigan St. Recap

Overall that was a very satisfying first game. The guys did not wow in the first half but they came alive in the 2nd half. A 13 point win against a blue blood HOF coached team is always satisfying. If I had to find things to be critical about it would be a little difficult. There were some things that were not so satisfying but Ochia Agbaji's overall great game was the clear dominant aspect of this game. Ochai scored a game high 29 points but perhaps the most notable aspect of Agbaji's game was his solid ball handling and also his smart play. He looked like a senior. Here are the notable stats.

1. Agbaji 29 points -- also 2 steals and a very significant 0 TO's. He was 8-8 from the FT line, 9-17 overall and 3-6 from long range. He only had 2 rebounds but he drew something like 7 fouls. Just a really wonderful game by Ochai.
2. KU was outrebounded 40-30. This was sort of expected with Wilson not eligible. McCormack notably had only 2 rebounds. That will not cut it. But my prediction for No. 2 rebounder on the team, Christian Braun, led the team with 8 rebounds.
3. KU 19-24 from the FT line. The 79% is very good, especially considering McCormack missed three of those in 5 attempts and he is a better FT shooter. If we shoot north of 75% from the FT line on the season we will be very tough to beat.
4. 11 KU players played. 9 played at or above expectation. McCormack played not terrible but not up to his capability and Yesefu was pretty non-plussing. Everyone else played really at or above expectation.
5. Coleman-Lands was 1-5 and 1-3. We will need him to do better than that.
6. KU with 9 TO's against a historically good defensive team. That is one of the more encouraging stats. If we stay around 10 TO's per game, we will be in the Final Four. This is not an anomaly. With Pettiford, Martin and Harris all getting some playing time, we had very good ball-handling. Dajuan had 4 assists and zero TO.
7. 3 freshmen played and by my assessment, all played really well. KJ Adams did not score but looked really solid on defense with a huge block to end the 1st half. Clemence looked really good and the dude can shoot it. KJ also had a really nice assist and 2 big rebounds in short minutes.
8. Remy had no points on no shot attempts in the 1st half and shot 5-9, 1-3 in the 2nd half and scored 15 points.
9. KU PPP of 1.130 and MSU a PPP of 0.961. For perspective, KU's average under Self is 1.11 on offense and 0.94 on defense. But this is a top 25 type team in MSU so both of these numbers are very satisfying. I'd say our defense is maybe a little behind at this point but 1.13 Off-PPP against a top 25 team is really good. This team may end up being a really good offensive team.

Player Grades
Ochai Agbaji (A+) -- Simply a great game by Ochai. Smart, athletic, no mistakes and most importantly a good handle. He could be an All American if he plays like this.

Bobby Pettiford (A) -- Only played 11 minutes but looked really solid. Hit both shots and his only FT and grabbed 2 rebounds and had 2 assists. But the eye test was the best. He looked comfortable and smart. He is going to be a player.

David McCormack (C-) -- David reverted back to that terrible habit of dribbling away from the basket. I jumped out of my chair. yelling at him. His shooting was ho-hum and his defense was spotty.

KJ Adams (A) -- He did not score in his 4 minutes but boy did he make his presence known. He hustled and looked very comfortable. He was hustling. We are really going to like this young man.

Zach Clemence (A) -- Probably not a fair gauge this game but he showed he can give some very effective spot minutes. I think his lack of bulk will keep him from playing significant minutes but he did everything right. He showed the sweet stroke hw is known for. And his 2 steals were very heady. He looks like he has great court presence.

Christian Braun (B ) -- If Christian can play 25 minutes and get 7-8 rebounds and score 7 or 8 points I will be happy. He had 8 rebounds , 7 in the 2nd half. He looked terrible in the 1st half but seemed to settle in in the 2nd half. But my of my, those 2 bricks in the1st half were fugly.

Remy Martin (B ) -- Sort of absent in the 1st half but showed why he is here in the 2nd half. He hit all 4 of his FT's and went 5-9 overall. He had 2 assists (not great) and 3 TO's not great. I'm tempted to give him a B- but he did bring energy and was solid on defense.

Dajuan Harris (A) -- He only scored 6 but if he averages 6 points per game I will be okay. He had 4 assists and 0 TO's and had 3 steals. If I have a beef from him it was his attacks on the basket were weak with the exception of that 1 late.

Joe Yesefu (D-) -- 5 minutes and you really wouldn't have known he was there. He missed his only shot and had a foul. Pretty forgettable. I suspect we will see better games ahead for him.

Prison Mitch (A-) -- Why not an A you ask. Because his defense was porous. He got owned more than a few times. I love Mitch. He gives 100% and did some really nice things. Defense was not one of them. But he did shoot 2-2 and grabbed 3 rebounds.

Jalen Coleman-Lands (C+) -- He actually looked solid on defense. But his 1-5, 1-3 and 1 TO is not going to earn him a lot of minutes.

Grades are spot on. Seemed like we could have won by 30 if it wasn’t the first game and Self was trying to get everyone in the game. The old guys played under control. The new guys played nervous and excited to be in a KU uniform. Overall they looked talented and athletic. Should be fun to watch them come together.

The young guns look physically awesome. KJ Adams is a specimen and Pettiford’s legs are like telephone poles. Clemence is going to push Mac for time once he gets settled. Will depend on if he can play defense.

I have only two concerns. McCormack looked frantic again and was bad offensively without ever being double teamed. With all the shooters we have, he needs to score enough to draw a double, then be mature enough to kick it out to a shooter (which he rarely does). Against smaller opponents he’ll get his points, but when there’s a good defender, he’s just not the best option.

Having two essentially non shooters in Harris and Braun on the court at the same time will allow teams to pressure Ochai and not let him get going. I don’t think Harris shot one jump shot, and Braun gets points from garbage situations, not really in the flow of the offense. Love them both for their energy and what they do other than shoot, but they need to create some level of offense to keep the defense honest.

Finally, Harris may end up being the nasty defender that Garrett was. He’s fast, smart, a real pest, and is always looking for steals. I loved his energy.

Rock Chalk, and so ready for this season !

Good stuff all around. I'll keep my comments short:

First, great to get a win against a team that will probably make the tournament and could finish well in the Big 10. Quality win.

Second, Self played 11 guys. I don't see that being a regular thing even if he expands his rotation this year. Possible, but doubtful.

Third, I'm reluctant to identify any "trends" based on 1 game. Agbaji showed that he has the potential to have a great season, but we've seen guys have a great game and then disappear before. Hoping this is a trend, but it isn't yet. Ditto for McCormack's lackluster game. Hoping this ISN'T a trend, and it probably isn't. Martin has all the potential in the world, but hasn't found his balance yet...it was as if he was holding back in the 1st half and then Self told him to go ahead and play in the 2nd. He'll balance out the right amount of effort he should be putting out after a few games (I hope).

Fourth, it's always good to hear the Rock Chalk Chant.

Overall, I think we should all be pretty happy with what we saw last night. Lots of potential if/when all the pieces come together into a finely tuned machine. Even this imperfectly tuned machine seems pretty good. Self will keep turning wrenches and screwdrivers and I'm confident that he'll get the motor humming smoothly in short order.

I will share my thoughts on the game. It looked to me like HCBS has told Ochai that he needs to be “the man” this year and he has taken it to heart. I was hoping Big Dave would start this season like he played during the second half of last season. Unfortunately he started this season like he started last season. I think he will be fine once he gets in the flow. The biggest transition I think on this team is being made by Remy. He has been the 1st scoring option for his team since he got to college. He is very good at making tough shots. Now we are asking him to be a facilitator more and have a much more controlled shot selection. He is still figuring out how aggressive to be on offense with this team. I think it will flow better later in the season. I am very happy that they are playing again.

I think the first half of the game Bill didn't want Remy to do his thing. It looked like from the start that the plan was to get it inside to David and let him get his points. I think that Bill is trying to get David to settle down only I think David got worse as the game went on. He gets so amped up that he is totally out of his groove. We saw this a lot last year. I like David but he has to stop thinking so much and just start playing. Second half, I think Remy was given the green light . I'm pretty happy with this team. I'm going to really like it after Jalen comes back because we have a LOT of options which we haven't had in recent teams.