This team...

USAF Jayhawk wrote: BU gave us 21 turnovers and still had not one but two chances to ties the game at the end. We were lucky.

As for Timberlake, I disagree that he's coming along. He's a volume shooter that suddenly can barely hit the ocean with a paddle from a canoe. Yes he hit two 3's, but he MISSED 5. He had the chance to ice the game with a free throw and clanked it badly. His defense is terrible (granted that was a great steal and dunk), drifting off a solid 3pt shooter at the end to give him a wide open look? He must be killing it at practice for HCBS to continuously trust him in games, 'cuz I'm not seeing it.

Sometimes shots don’t fall.
3 pointer or free throw, even if you’re touted as a shooter, sometimes they just don’t fall. But come on, that’s supposed to be your thing and you repeatedly show your shot is not. >Sigh<

YOU ARE PLAYING in your first ever KU start, and for 30 of your 31 minutes you play so well that Jay Bilas is talking about the positive contributions you have brought to your team this game.

And then in that last minute of the game you do you worst to totally blow up everything you did in your first 30.

Bad entry pass to Hunter sails OOB over HD’s outstretched hand to give BU the ball and a chance to tie (64-61). To be fair, Nunn bodied HD so the big guy lost his balance, otherwise he catches that pass and scores. Arguably a foul on Nunn, but it is not called and it still counts as a turnover by you.

But you get back on D, guarding your man Nunn in the corner, but then you abandon him to help on Johnny’s man who has blown by him and is driving to the hoop for a 2 pointer. Yeah, you stop him from shooting for 2 but only because he passes to Nunn still parked all alone in the corner for a 3 attempt. BIG MISTAKE!

But Nunn misses on the gift shot, and you get the rebound and tear down the court. Fouled on the floor, you go to the line to shoot 1&1, a chance to put the game out of Baylor reach.

You, the TOUTED SHOOTER, miss the first shot!

You then streak back to get on D, but INEXPLICABLY *again* move away from the 3 point arc and end up closer to Elmarko Jackson on the side than to the shooter Walter. Walter has brought the ball up the court, Dajuan guarding him all the way back to the arc until *your* man leaves you to set a screen on Dajuan for Walter. You, instead of stepping up to pick up Dajuan’s man, have instead retreated away (standing flat footed closer to Elmarko than any Bear) and Walter launches his game tying 3 attempt. Luckily for KU & you he misses and KU wins. Unluckily for you Dajuan knows what happened and reams you out on your way off the court.

Afterward when asked specifically about *your* play during the game, Self makes it a point to say only “We won.”

Later Self says ““They got exactly what they wanted because we couldn’t get matched up five-on-five and switch a simple high ball screen.” He’s talking about you, Jayhawk.

Self also says “I actually thought our hands were better tonight. I thought our ball-screen defense was excellent. I thought Hunter did a great job on ball-screen defense. I thought behind it we had some guys screw up a couple times but for the most part it was really good, because that’s how they score.”

Self adds “This is probably the least happy I’ve been after a win because that’s not how you play basketball, and that’s certainly not the intellect in which you’re supposed to play it,” Self said. “I’m disappointed that we can make those four or five plays that we made in the last minute that put us in harm’s way to actually lose the game.”

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Self’s purposely being nonspecific, but again, those last 30 seconds were dominated by your bad play and we all have to believe that you will be watching some KU video today before the Super Bowl comes on.

I want you to succeed, Nic.
This team needs you.
I appreciate the energy and effort you exert.
I understand shooting slumps.
I do NOT understand brain dead, low hoops IQ defensive lapses by a senior player that result in back to back wide open trey opportunities.

Straighten his head out if you can, Dajuan!
We need his head “on” and “in” the game!

In a pregame interview with Bilas and HCBS Furphy reported that the thing Self has told him that has stuck in his head is to “get my head out of my bum”. (I submit HCBS used a synonym for “bum”).

LEARN THIS NIC!


And Self — you do that voodoo that you do so well!