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Rock Chalk Talk: Basketball
Anything pertaining to basketball: college, pro, HS, recruiting, TV coverage
Anything pertaining to basketball: college, pro, HS, recruiting, TV coverage
KU's bench
- replayloungehawk
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9 months 4 weeks ago #32083
by replayloungehawk
I saw an article on KUsports about how KU's bench was non existent. I wondered what the board thought of this. There has been a lot of talk about how we aren't getting production from our bench but I wondered if that's actually necessary? Or is it more important that when a bench player is in the game we don't give up a lead or fall further behind, if we are losing. That's my main desire with a solid bench. Sure points are nice, like it was awesome having Remi off the bench a couple seasons ago. As Fran said "he's like their caffeinated drink!" But another solid player off the bench that season was Lightfoot and he averaged 4.6 points a game which isn't much. I guess I'm just wondering what the mindset is of those on this board as to whether this will prevent us from going deep into March. Obviously we need some guys to be able have rest in the game. But the idea of a solid bench isn't necessarily to get production in the way of points but in the way of defending a lead or not further falling behind. It's a huge plus to have a six man of the year though, I get that...
I do think in order for us to have a solid bench 6, 7 and 8 are going to have to have a little rope to get more comfortable now that Furphy has separated himself from the rest.
I do think in order for us to have a solid bench 6, 7 and 8 are going to have to have a little rope to get more comfortable now that Furphy has separated himself from the rest.
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- hairyhawk
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9 months 4 weeks ago - 9 months 4 weeks ago #32085
by hairyhawk
What I think, not that I really have a clue, is the season and the tourney are different. In the season you need a bench because the games are coming fast and furious. Conference play is really tough as all the teams are good and know your sets really well. You need depth during the conference season. The NCAA tourney if you proceed you still never play more than 2 games per weekend. The timeouts are longer the halftime is longer so depth is a lot less of an issue. I think the hawks are not in bad shape for the tourney but it is hard during the season. All of us fans want to see more from the bench and we can get caught up in what we see but as Not_O has pointed out we only see the games not the practices. I hope the non-starter Hawks can really come on late in the season but I do not think it will affect the tourney as much as KM's 3pt percentage.
Last Edit: 9 months 4 weeks ago by hairyhawk.
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- HawkErrant
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9 months 4 weeks ago #32087
by HawkErrant
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain "Innocents Abroad"
A “copy & paste” (edited) of my “Ugly win” comment.
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First, Furphy must start or KU won’t be going anywhere this time around.
Second, the bench is really just Braun, Jackson and McDowell.
Parker is the only one of the 3 who has basically played to expectations. His role is to give Hunter 5-10 minutes rest every game without hurting the team, and he has done that.
Nick has improved on defense so he is not the defensive liability he was earlier this season. If he can find his offense — which is the reason he was pursued by KU — Bill has a huge part of his answer. If Nick fails to become the scorer we had hoped for, this season is essentially a second rate season for KU by Self standards.
Now to be fair to Nick, Elmarko — who has been playing out of position all season (he always played PG, not 2G before KU) — is another hoped for contributor who has not contributed. EJ needs to find his scoring mojo if KU is to make any real noise.
If BOTH of them can find their offensive mojo, KU can go far. If neither one, or only one finally click, it’s going to be a rough road over the next 12 Big 12 games and into the postseason.
I have not given up on our guys yet, but my hopes and expectations have been significantly reduced because of our guys not playing to expectations. Here’s hoping things start to click for them.
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And addressing your question — I would agree with the idea that as a minimum the bench must allow the team to tread water against the opposition when the bench player(s) is in. However, I would submit the idea that the bench must provide some points or else that goal is unachievable. As an example, Lightfoot did not score much on average, but he was huge in several games in his career. And Remy … well, he was Remy, and that was huge at the end when he was finally healthy.
I don’t expect either Nick or EJ to be like Remy, but neither has played to expectations, and that has been the single biggest problem for KU this year. (Not the only issue, but the first issue among several, including rebounding and valuing the ball).
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First, Furphy must start or KU won’t be going anywhere this time around.
Second, the bench is really just Braun, Jackson and McDowell.
Parker is the only one of the 3 who has basically played to expectations. His role is to give Hunter 5-10 minutes rest every game without hurting the team, and he has done that.
Nick has improved on defense so he is not the defensive liability he was earlier this season. If he can find his offense — which is the reason he was pursued by KU — Bill has a huge part of his answer. If Nick fails to become the scorer we had hoped for, this season is essentially a second rate season for KU by Self standards.
Now to be fair to Nick, Elmarko — who has been playing out of position all season (he always played PG, not 2G before KU) — is another hoped for contributor who has not contributed. EJ needs to find his scoring mojo if KU is to make any real noise.
If BOTH of them can find their offensive mojo, KU can go far. If neither one, or only one finally click, it’s going to be a rough road over the next 12 Big 12 games and into the postseason.
I have not given up on our guys yet, but my hopes and expectations have been significantly reduced because of our guys not playing to expectations. Here’s hoping things start to click for them.
=====
And addressing your question — I would agree with the idea that as a minimum the bench must allow the team to tread water against the opposition when the bench player(s) is in. However, I would submit the idea that the bench must provide some points or else that goal is unachievable. As an example, Lightfoot did not score much on average, but he was huge in several games in his career. And Remy … well, he was Remy, and that was huge at the end when he was finally healthy.
I don’t expect either Nick or EJ to be like Remy, but neither has played to expectations, and that has been the single biggest problem for KU this year. (Not the only issue, but the first issue among several, including rebounding and valuing the ball).
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain "Innocents Abroad"
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- USAF Jayhawk
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9 months 4 weeks ago #32093
by USAF Jayhawk
The bench also has to cover for extended minutes when a starter is in foul trouble. So far I've not seen us able to do that. Of course, we've not seen a lot of foul-induced bench time for our starters, but tourney refs usually calls games closer than Big 12 refs and I suspect that could haunt us with no bench
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