Bill Self w/ 2

[DeletedUser]

meh

bad optics, nothing more

It didn't bother me at all. He was just being honest.

[ousdahl]

Cuz Haunkier Taunkier was barely playable, and cuz we lacked the 1-4 depth to put KJ there

Self does not want Kj at the 5.

A non rebounding. Non shot blocking. 6'7 wing.

Do you mean to suggest Self DOES want a non-shooting wing?

But I suggest KJ at the 5 as much as anything cuz we did it for a whole season last year and didn’t seem to get defensively clowned as much as we did this year

[ousdahl]

It’s a downer pity thought, but in the last six seasons we’ve been past the first weekend ONCE.

Half of those seasons we got blown the F out.

Granted, one of of those seasons was shut down cuz of a pandemic.

And the other was a natty…

the season before this convenient timeline was also a final four

Take it to the NCAA thread.


(Not that I disagree with you! I was there for it on Mass St and everything!)

[DeletedUser]

Cuz Haunkier Taunkier was barely playable, and cuz we lacked the 1-4 depth to put KJ there

Self does not want Kj at the 5.

A non rebounding. Non shot blocking. 6'7 wing.

Do you mean to suggest Self DOES want a non-shooting wing?

But I suggest KJ at the 5 as much as anything cuz we did it for a whole season last year and didn’t seem to get defensively clowned as much as we did this year

We did it because Udeh and Zuby weren't ready, although they played more at the end iirc.

And we did get clowned defensively with Kj at the 5. Just in a different way. He can't guard big guys inside. He can't score inside on big guys. He can't draw the bigs away from the basket in the first place because they know he can't shoot. I get what you're going for in theory with the speed advantage, but without the shooting they just sort of drop/sag off of him...and he can't score over size at the rim.

Just my opinion. I think Kj was pretty damn good scoring from the 4 this year. Better than he was at the 5 the year prior or in his limited time at the 5 this year....but he only scores is a few ways.

[ousdahl]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t/doesn’t KJ score pretty similarly both this year and last? Whether at the 4 or the 5

Lots of lobs and rolls and quick moves going toward the hoop, maybe a floater or jumper in the 10-12 foot range, but not much more than that.

His FT attempts were up a tad, but it’s not like it was some big new feature of his game - from 3.1 to 3.5.

Also, his ft% over the years has gone from 60% to 60.7% to 60%…at least he’s consistent?

[ousdahl]

Point being…if we are gonna roll with another year of KJ playing big minutes, I think it might be worth trying to get him minutes as the 5, where his lack of shooting is less of a liability than other positions….and lack of rebounding and shot blocking and height be damned

[DeletedUser]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t/doesn’t KJ score pretty similarly both this year and last? Whether at the 4 or the 5

He had a 19% increase in scoring this year compared to last year.

[DeletedUser]

Point being…if we are gonna roll with another year of KJ playing big minutes, I think it might be worth trying to get him minutes as the 5, where his lack of shooting is less of a liability than other positions….and lack of rebounding and shot blocking and height be damned

Have you completely forgotten about the 2022-2023 season?

We did what you're suggesting. Kj averaged 28mpg, the majority of which were at the 5. And the 5 spot was a glaring weakness of ours. Size. Rebounding. Shot blocking. Scoring. That's why we brought in Hunter.

You cannot beat elite teams with 7ft big guys playing Kj at the 5. It doesn't work. We just played Kj at the 5 against Cincinnati and got blown out by 20 and they aren't even good. What happens against Purdue? Or UConn? Or UNC? Or Duke? Zona?

[AlOerter]

Well supposedly the top center in next years class will be backing up hunter next season. Rest assured. Who is the complete opposite of hunter.
And clemence is another interesting front court option, 6'10 shooter, which is exactly what Gonzaga used to space the floor and tear us apart

Clemence is the type of player that created matchup problems for us this year. We'll have to see how he plays defense.

[pdub]

KJ got abused by traditional bigs.
We had three lengthy wing types out there to help on defense ( Dick, McCullar and Jalen ) and Jalen was just a rebounding savant.

I don’t think you want KJ as your starting 5 if you can help it.

[ousdahl]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t/doesn’t KJ score pretty similarly both this year and last? Whether at the 4 or the 5

He had a 19% increase in scoring this year compared to last year.

I meant more the ways he scored.

[DeletedUser]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t/doesn’t KJ score pretty similarly both this year and last? Whether at the 4 or the 5

He had a 19% increase in scoring this year compared to last year.

I meant more the ways he scored.

Not really....but I think it's easier for him to score on guys his size or smaller than guys bigger than him. Especially in the post.

[pdub]

But then you loose the back post scoring which seems boring but is a good way to draw the defense in, cause foul trouble and get high percentage baskets.

KJ is not that guy.

[ousdahl]

My concern is, I dunno if KJ is that guy who should be the forward or wing or whatever either.

Trying to figure out the best way to utilize a non-shooter here.

[ousdahl]

Maybe it’s more let him get some minutes as the backup 5.

Spell our starter, check in another guard/wing or two, and run and gun.

KJ’s not ideal for guarding an elite 7ft big, but there’s not a ton of them around. And he was an effective post scorer against Cincy’s bad frontcourt…maybe the only non-awful thing about that game

[randylahey]

KJ is a misfit. But then one foggy Christmas eve you might find a good place for him on offense

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

Self told me the suggestion box was overflowing yesterday and it's duly noted that people on here don't like Dickinson and want him gone - and KJ isn't a guy they feel should be starting.
He also told me to be thankful he got a month head start on thinking about this upcoming season so we should be good.

Ok, being serious, for many years people bitched that players should be "compensated". I argued a free education, being fed, housed, clothed, getting to play college athletics, and traveling to some cool places, was pretty damn good "compensation".

Fast forward to 2024... I feel "the portal" and NIL are hurting college basketball (and football) more than they are helping college basketball (and football). Spoiled players be damned.
Related side note, check out what Coach Prime said recently. While I feel he's an asshole, he is highlighting that the landscape of college athletics (and pro athletics) is going to look a whole lot different than our father's NCAA and Professional athletics. I feel - in a really bad way.

P.S. For those who feel Self had a bad season all around. Yeah, it wasn't a great one but hindsight is 20/20.
He had the horses to beat 1 seed UConn, 1 seed Houston, 2 seed Tennessee, 3 seed Baylor, 3 seed Kentucky, 7 seed Texas, 9 seed TCU, and 13 seed Yale (who was good enough to beat 4 seed Auburn).
In other words, one of the best if not at times the best, team in the country. Until shit happened.

[ousdahl]

So I guess this team peaked in like December?

As for “KJ isn't a guy they feel should be starting,” I guess he and Dajuan both were guys who ended up starting when someone else didn’t work out.

That’s fine, and exactly what depth is for.

But then we just ended up starting them both for 3-4 straight years anyway.


(KJ got the nod at center when none of underclasssman Udeh/Zuby/Zach were ready.

Dajuan was apparently the best at being PG among all those small guards we had in 22….but who knows if he would have still started if not for Jalen’s booze cruise…)

[DeletedUser]

Dajuan was apparently the best at being PG among all those small guards we had in 22….but who knows if he would have still started if not for Jalen’s booze cruise…

You think Dajuan started every single game other than senior night because Jalen was suspended for 3 games?

LOL. When you try to take digs like that you make yourself end up looking stupid fyi.

Jalen started every game from January on. Alongside DH. So I think it's a safe assumption that DH starting all year (and every single game since other than senior night that year) had absolutely nothing to do with Jalen getting a DUI.

[DeletedUser]

Jalen missed 3 games and didn't start in 10 others.

Remy started 13 total games.

Hmmmmm.