Conference Race

[pdub]

We were not then.
Nor are we now.

I think this team is a 3 seed.
Which is good considering what we lost.

[NewtonHawk11]

There is no team to get healthy against coming up on the schedule.

Maybe OU or oSu in like 3 weeks when we go Saturday at OU and then Tuesday at oSu.

[pdub]

I don't care at all about Kentucky.
I'd take a 4 game loosing streak if it meant a 4 game winning streak after.

"Maybe OU or oSu in like 3 weeks when we go Saturday at OU and then Tuesday at oSu."

Issue is, we struggled v both of those teams at home.

[TDub]

one game at a time.

Need 1 win to stop the slide. Get heads right.

[KUTradition]

There is no team to get healthy against coming up on the schedule.

exactly

that’s why it’s hilarious to me that anyone thought that 2 or 3 losses was possible, or that this team would be a 1 or 2 seed

this squad is solidly on the 3 line, with a decent chance to drop to the 4 line depending on whether or not the ship can be righted

Bilas said it last night - the Big12 has no bottom, but just top- and mid-tier teams…no nights off, no “easy” wins where we can get guys healthy and/or get valuable minutes to those who need them

[Deleted User 863]

What 12 teams are all going to be seeded better than KU? Resume matters. Ours will be excellent. Even if we have 5 or 6 total losses.

We are NOT going to be a 4 seed unless things completely fall apart.

[pdub]

I can't see us dropping to a 4.
Bill Self will get us in the B12 race but we may not get over the hump.

Right now we're 8th in NCAA's NET rankings which they use over other metrics.
My guess is we fall in that rather than rise.
It's why I think we'll be fighting at the end of the season for a 2 seed, maybe needing some B12 tourney wins to lock it in.

[KUTradition]

we already have 4 losses

lol at only having 2 more…dumb, unrealistic wishful thinking

games left:

at uk (L)
#5 statie (W?)
at #12 isu (L?)
#10 ut (W?)
at ou (W?)
at osu (L?)
#17 baylor (W?)
at #11 tcu (L?)
wvu (W)
tech (W)
at #10 ut (L?)

i see exactly 2 games for which i’m confident of a win

[ousdahl]

imma try to be glass half full here:

we've had plenty of seasons in which we stink it up in the middle of January.

the bigger question is, what corner might we turn to stop stinking?

Our strengths are our wings. Jalen's doing AA things, and Gradey might go all-conference too. KM's at least a serviceable complimentary piece, not a star, but at least should help more than hurt.

So our room to grow lies in our guards and bigs. We've got pieces at both positions, too! I think it's:

- figuring out some rotation to avoid overworking Dajuan (10-15 mins a game from some other guard, and potentially even spelling Dajuan rather than playing alongside, thus defeating the purpose of avoiding being overworked)

- figuring out some minutes for some big/s who are actually big, and can come in and be some sorta rebounding/defense anchor for us down low (10-15 minutes a game outta whoever steps up among Ernest/Zuby/Zach/Cam)

we've seen such growth in-season before, right?

[randylahey]

Remember when you said we were the best team in the country?

We were then.

We haven't been the last week or so....but let's be real, losing @ KSU and @ Baylor aren't exactly bad Ls.

We will be a 1 seed or 2 seed. How awful.

There is no such thing as a bad loss in big 12 play. Not a bad team on our schedule

[randylahey]

we already have 4 losses

lol at only having 2 more…dumb, unrealistic wishful thinking

games left:

at uk (L)
#5 statie (W?)
at #12 isu (L?)
#10 ut (W?)
at ou (W?)
at osu (L?)
#17 baylor (W?)
at #11 tcu (L?)
wvu (W)
tech (W)
at #10 ut (L?)

i see exactly 2 games for which i’m confident of a win

I see 0 guaranteed wins in that schedule. This conference is better than its ever been. Gotta play well every single night. But, I'm confident we will win 60-70% of those. No clue which ones will we pull out or drop though

[CrimsonNBlue]

There is no team to get healthy against coming up on the schedule.

Maybe OU or oSu in like 3 weeks when we go Saturday at OU and then Tuesday at oSu.

Not to make any excuses, but I do think our guys are worn out.

In just 14 days we had:

Comeback and Nailbiter against OU
Comeback and Nailbiter against ISU
Comeback and Overtime game with KSU
Comeback attempt against TCU
Comeback attempt against Baylor

We don't get minutes from our bench, have a 90 pound PG, and our best rebounder is 6'7" with a short vert and also needs to score 30 ppg for us to have a chance at winning league games.

[ousdahl]

why are so many Self teams, and this one in particular, so prone to having to play ourselves out of holes?

[CrimsonNBlue]

Because we've never guarded the 3 well and even Fran has fully admitted that KU is most league teams' super bowl.

[pdub]

why are so many Self teams, and this one in particular, so prone to having to play ourselves out of holes?

I don't think this is true for Self's teams but certainly this one in particular.
And, because of similar roster makeup, perhaps some last season as well.

If Kansas and Self were prone to playing themselves out of holes, they'd have lower scoring margins over the years - and whenever Self has a 1 seed type of team, which is often, they have very respectable scoring margins despite the even more respectable strength of schedule.

[KUTradition]

we already have 4 losses

lol at only having 2 more…dumb, unrealistic wishful thinking

games left:

at uk (L)
#5 statie (W?)
at #12 isu (L?)
#10 ut (W?)
at ou (W?)
at osu (L?)
#17 baylor (W?)
at #11 tcu (L?)
wvu (W)
tech (W)
at #10 ut (L?)

i see exactly 2 games for which i’m confident of a win

I see 0 guaranteed wins in that schedule. This conference is better than its ever been. Gotta play well every single night. But, I'm confident we will win 60-70% of those. No clue which ones will we pull out or drop though

i said confident, not guaranteed

both ou and osu can easily trip us up

[Deleted User 863]

i see exactly 2 games for which i’m confident of a win

That's because you have a negative losers mentality/attitude.

Step away from the ledge.

[KUTradition]

if you say so, stalker

[twocoach]

imma try to be glass half full here:

we've had plenty of seasons in which we stink it up in the middle of January.

the bigger question is, what corner might we turn to stop stinking?

Our strengths are our wings. Jalen's doing AA things, and Gradey might go all-conference too. KM's at least a serviceable complimentary piece, not a star, but at least should help more than hurt.

So our room to grow lies in our guards and bigs. We've got pieces at both positions, too! I think it's:

- figuring out some rotation to avoid overworking Dajuan (10-15 mins a game from some other guard, and potentially even spelling Dajuan rather than playing alongside, thus defeating the purpose of avoiding being overworked)

- figuring out some minutes for some big/s who are actually big, and can come in and be some sorta rebounding/defense anchor for us down low (10-15 minutes a game outta whoever steps up among Ernest/Zuby/Zach/Cam)

we've seen such growth in-season before, right?

Yes, we see it most seasons.

Pass more to the right team and less to the wrong team.
Make a higher % of open threes.
Make a higher % of bunnies.
Attempt to defend shots by sticking their hands straight up instead of over the shooter, drawing cheap fouls.

There are plenty of adjustments that KU is in full control of that are very attainable.

Harris and McCullar are playing as bad as they have all season at the same time and during our toughest stretch of the season. This isn't their normal. Self has also obviously seen that he needs to get the bench guys some more reps and has been playing them more. They have sucked ass so far but will improve with some additional reps and some more intense focus in practice.

This team's ceiling hasn't changed because of a nasty spell of bad play. We have seen them play well against some good teams. KU has proven multiple times that sucking for a few weeks in January doesn't impact a team's ability to win in the tourney. I may be a few more weeks before we see "good Kansas" again but I believe that the coaching staff will find the right buttons to push and adjustments to make to give this roster their best chance to reach their ceiling at the right time.

[twocoach]

we already have 4 losses

lol at only having 2 more…dumb, unrealistic wishful thinking

games left:

at uk (L)
#5 statie (W?)
at #12 isu (L?)
#10 ut (W?)
at ou (W?)
at osu (L?)
#17 baylor (W?)
at #11 tcu (L?)
wvu (W)
tech (W)
at #10 ut (L?)

i see exactly 2 games for which i’m confident of a win

I see 0 guaranteed wins in that schedule. This conference is better than its ever been. Gotta play well every single night. But, I'm confident we will win 60-70% of those. No clue which ones will we pull out or drop though

i said confident, not guaranteed

both ou and osu can easily trip us up

Now probably isn't the best time to determine how confident you are in this team as no one should feel confident about anything they do. I thought last year's team was a "lose to the first decent team they face in the tourney" team after last year's Kentucky ass whipping. Nothing left to do but to just let it play out and hope.