Nice KU Win

I thought the first half was one of those times when everything went KU's way. The ball bounced KU's way and the calls went KU's way. Things evened out a bit in the second half but obviously the better team won. I thought UTEp did some nice things on defense in the 2nd half anticipating passes and creating KU turn overs. KU will need to clean that up as the competition gets better.

Yes Hairy, and what a discrepancy between starters and the bench . . . .


RC

UTEP was never really in it. I was looking at the ESPN gamecast about halfway through the 1st half and they had KU with a 99% chance of winning and I don't think it ever dropped.

Obviously, we were a little sloppy at times turning the ball over, but like the TV guy was saying, part of that was also good defense on the part of UTEP. As for my own 'eye test' there were certainly times when UTEP got the ball away from us that looked like legit good steals (but there were also some pretty obvious times where we screwed up).

We're a lot of fun to watch and loaded with talent. My only remaining concerns are these:

1.) McCormack still missing bunnies. In addition, he's also making some dumb mistakes like bringing the ball down where the little fellas can swat it away, and an overall lack of aggressiveness. That said, he's definitely coming around. Nevertheless, he needs to go stronger to the rim, and use his size/strength more when he's playing against smaller opponents (which is most of the time). Forget "finesse" and find "beast mode".

2.) Jalen Wilson is still a work in progress. If he were a regular bench player, I'd be satisfied with how he's playing, but we've seen the real deal and it hasn't arrived yet. I'm confident that it will arrive soon, but he got a late start and it shows. To his credit, he grabbed a team leading 7 rebounds last night. I always followed the advice that when you're not having a great offensive night to focus on things like rebounding and defense which are largely "effort" based. If you hustle for 7 boards and put in the effort on D, the rest will eventually come around.

Onto Mizzou at AFH. Not sure what we have to gain in this but I hope we crush them and get them out the door. They're literally the bottom ranked team in the SEC (according to Sagarin). Not loving the fact that we're giving them a spotlight. At least the fans will make them miserable and KU should run them out of the gym.

1. My biggest issue with Dave right now is not any of the things you guys cited, although they are all valid. He has not been a good rim defender. Our 3-point defense is the 4th best under Bill Self. Our 2-point defense is by far and away the worst in Self’s 19 years. That is not all on Dave but he is a big part of it.

2. Mizzou is not just at the bottom of the SEC, they are the lowest rated team of the 76 Power 6 teams. How thoroughly embarrassing. I’d have to go back and look, but Mizzou may be rated lower than any Power 6 team in many years. They are way down there.

3. Saying Jalen Wilson got a late start is no longer a valid excuse. That ship sailed at least 3 games ago. I have certainly bot given up on Jalen being more of a force, but he is struggling offensively for sure.

4. King McClure was far superior to Lance Blanks.

5. KU WILL NOT LOSE TO MIZZOU!! Mizzou is truly horrific this season. But it is sort of a trap game s HE points out. I have us favored by 26 points. They could lose by 15 and still come out a little ahead. But there is simply no way other than something unpredictably catastrophic, like all the KU players becoming violently ill that could cause Mizzou to win.

6. I’m not entirely in agreement that UTEP stepped up defense in the 2nd half. KU lost a lot of intensity in the 2nd half. The crispness and intensity that built the 20 point lead was simply not there. Granted, the 1st half (or at least the 1st 15 minutes) was all KU’s way.

7. Not sure why there is not more praise for Braun. He is the one player that to me has furthest advanced his game over last season. No question Ochai has added dimensionally to his game as well. The only other player that is anything other than incrementally better like everyone should be is Mitch. Mitch is mostly just incrementally better but his offense seems to be dimensionally better. Dajuan seems to me to be the 2021 Dajuan just maybe incrementally better. Wilson at this point has regressed. McCormack is all over the map and may end up being the best version of himself but as of yet is probably a notch below where he ended last season.

8. Remy had an interesting game last night. I thought by far his best defensive effort and probably his worst offensive game as a Jayhawk. Pretty interesting that.

9. KU’s offensive rebounding has been on fire as of late.

10. KU back to 7th in the DPPI ahead of Gonzaga and Duke. Several big question marks for teams.
— Is Arizona really as good as they seem to be
— Is LSU really as good as they seem to be
— Is Houston really as good as they seem to be
— Is Auburn really as good as they seem to be
— Is Baylor really as good as they seem to be

11. 12 teams remain undefeated but that will change this weekend. Some of those teams are finally playing real opponents.