I've been pondering the team's performance since before the Stillwater Surrender trying to compose some thoughts. So while I'm stuck inside waiting for Snowmageddon/Snowpocalypse/Tsnownami to do its damage, I'll post my too-long opinions here, knowing full well what opinions are like.
First, when the coaching staffs of the other nine Big12 teams were plotting the upcoming season back in September and October, which team are they most preparing for? And during November and December, which opponent's games did they most scout and analyze? If those coaching staffs weren't focusing on our Jayhawks, then they are much stupider than I think they are.
So what would they gain from such analysis? First, they would know that while Perry is a great player, muscling up and scoring thru contact is not his game, so they have to put a body on him. Second, they know that Self wants to play thru the Perry and the center, and none of our centers are great scorers. So that defender can slack off to help guard Perry, while angling his attack to keep the pass from going to his man. This shuts off Self's favorite line of attack. These two things are unchanged from last year.
Third, our opposition would note our improved guard play. A key part of this play has been Frank's ability to penetrate and either dish or make tough layups. So they have to get their defense back and prevent his penetration. Finally, they would note our awesome 3-pt shooting (at least until recently) and few mid-range jumpers. Our opponents would make a point of guarding Wayne closely and not allowing Brannen to spot up outside.
So basically, I think our opponents have been doing a good job of scouting us and the high caliber of coaching is pulling every trick in their books to stop our offense.
On defense, I'll make just a few points. Perry has not usually been noted for his defense and I surmise this is because we can't have him getting in foul trouble, as a Bill Self team needs someone who can score inside. I've often noticed that when Davonte is guarding his man outside, he is shading way to the inside, essentially letting his man drive to the outside where there is less help but stopping the drive into the paint, where help should be more available. Maybe he does this based on coach's direction or scouting reports which say his man only drives to one side, but he seems to get burned too often. Neither Carlton nor Cheick have figured out how to play help defense. Until Cheick's recent emergence, Hunter was our best shot-blocker but has been inexplicably underutilized; even when he started he rarely saw action in the second half. Why does Self hate Hunter?
Now for a few notes on the last two games. Against WVU, we at least completed. I don't understand why we don't make better use of Perry to break the press, as he is a fairly big guy who can handle the ball well. We should be able to break anyone's press if we use him properly. In my view, when you break a press you need to score and make the other team pay, but we didn't seem to attack much. Also, I haven't checked their shooting percentage so I may be wrong, but against WVU I think we would be better off if we stopped trying to block every inside shot and instead concentrated on rebounding, because while we're going for a block, their other players are getting good rebounding position.
Against OSU, we flat out collapsed. They did a decent job of blocking our penetration and we weren't hitting threes, so all they had to do was defend inside. Then in the second half when we started faltering, everyone flat-out forgot our offensive scheme. We had no ball movement, no reversal, no picks, and no chance. Either one of the guards would almost instantly chuck up a three or try and fail to penetrate, or we'd make one pass inside and chuck up a shorter shot. As our point guard, Davonte has often tried to score too quickly, instead of executing our offense. This was easy to see; why was Self so flummoxed?
I've never understood why Self's players never know how to set a good, solid pick and the ball handlers don't know how to use a pick. Jamari is the only one who tries to get a body on the opponent while screening and he usually gets called for an illegal screen. It would also help if once in a while a player would fake a shot or pass but that's not in the repertoire either.
Finally, to wrap up the longest thing I've written since KU graduation, does Self believe in analytics? Does he keep any stats like Corpus +/-?
At the end of the OSU game, I was really fed up with Self and thinking he needed to go. That was emotion and not logic. I don't know who else I'd rather have as coach. But the way he coaches in Stillwater, he is the absolute last person OSU should ever think of hiring.
