Kansas Crimson

I think odds are now more in favor of him being 1AA than not.

Which is awesome.

once again!

dude hit some BIG shots

dude is killing it. i'm really loving bill's old school way of developing these guys over the course of a few years. eff the 1-and-dones, who needs them?

please no "we need elite talent" replies, this is about jalen. he's great.

He has to be tracking for the highest scoring season in modern CBB history for a guy 6’7” or taller without a single dunk.

jfish26 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 8:40 am He has to be tracking for the highest scoring season in modern CBB history for a guy 6’7” or taller without a single dunk.

Absolutely.

He'd average 2 more easy FGs a game if we could throw lobs to him.

TDub wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 9:33 pm

CrimsonNBlue wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 9:05 am I don't buy him as a NPOY candidate. I understand the odds are what they are.

buying yet?

My opinion of Jalen has greatly improved. And it was actually during the losing streak when it did. My favorite part is him pushing the ball after rebounds. I think he takes ill advised shots, namely too many long 2’s, but they go in!

CrimsonNBlue wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 9:13 am

TDub wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 9:33 pm

CrimsonNBlue wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 9:05 am I don't buy him as a NPOY candidate. I understand the odds are what they are.

buying yet?

My opinion of Jalen has greatly improved. And it was actually during the losing streak when it did. My favorite part is him pushing the ball after rebounds. I think he takes ill advised shots, namely too many long 2’s, but they go in!

The long 2's and ill advised shots are something we have to live with because he struggled to finish inside over larger guys (because he can't dunk and everything is below the rim), and with the limitations of our other guys shooting wise (KJ DH KM) his forced shots are probably similarly successful as their open shots.

This is a fun team. Easy kids to cheer for.

Frustrating because we aren't a team full of NBA guys. But fun because they are mostly multi year guys we have gotten to see develop over time. Which I enjoy.

CrimsonNBlue wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 9:13 am

TDub wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 9:33 pm

CrimsonNBlue wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 9:05 am I don't buy him as a NPOY candidate. I understand the odds are what they are.

buying yet?

My opinion of Jalen has greatly improved. And it was actually during the losing streak when it did. My favorite part is him pushing the ball after rebounds. I think he takes ill advised shots, namely too many long 2’s, but they go in!

To me the difference is in efficiency. He's shot 50% or better during this streak (12 outta 25 against KSU) He was at 40% or less most games previously. He's gone from being the default scorer (because no one else seemed capable or to want to) to a legitimate go-to guy.

PhDhawk wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 1:15 pm

CrimsonNBlue wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 9:13 am

TDub wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 9:33 pm

buying yet?

My opinion of Jalen has greatly improved. And it was actually during the losing streak when it did. My favorite part is him pushing the ball after rebounds. I think he takes ill advised shots, namely too many long 2’s, but they go in!

To me the difference is in efficiency. He's shot 50% or better during this streak (12 outta 25 against KSU) He was at 40% or less most games previously. He's gone from being the default scorer (because no one else seemed capable or to want to) to a legitimate go-to guy.

Yeah, they’re going in right now. I think it’s because he’s now a legit threat to drive and pull up and shoot.

So pretty much every AA campaign has a stinker of a game in there, right?

I expect Jalen to bounce back.

I also kind of expect his numbers to come a little back down to earth, as the rest of our team’s contributions become more consistent, and Jalen doesn’t have to do so much himself.

Ochai had 5 in the Providence NCAA tournament win, going 0-5 from 3.
Vonte had 3 in a loss to Washington going 1-8 from the field.
Frank Mason had 8 in a win v Long Beach but had 8 assists.

Some have been saying JWs numbers will come down for months. It's the February. He's scored some of his most points against some of the best teams we've played.

Time to stop the doubt.

I'll only say this. It was concerning that he wasn't even getting good shots up and just missing. He just couldn't get anything going at all. Never got the ball in a good spot, made poor passes and just couldn't do anything with the ball.

Not concerned, but just something to monitor.

I think it's a strange time to say his numbers won't come down the day after he posted a 1-7, 2 point game.

It wasn't because of good defense?

Feral wrote: ↑Tue Feb 07, 2023 4:48 pm It wasn't because of good defense?

It was a combination. Mitchell and Allen definitely gave Jalen problems with their size and athleticism and UT strategically tried taking Jalen out of the game. Jalen also did not do himself any favors by getting himself open for a catch, attacking the basket, and he did miss a couple of bunnies.

And, we should want Jalen's load to be lightened. Our other guys need(ed) to pick it up. It's great that Jalen set a KU record for most points over a 6 game stretch. Except for the fact that we went 2-4 over that stretch.

I think Texas defended us differently than most other teams. They tried to stop Wilson and they did a good job of it, but it opened things up for other guys and our offense, overall, was better for it.

Teams like to faceguard and deny the ball to Dick. It seems like a pretty effective strategy, overall, depending on how well you do it.

But with Wilson, who's clearly our most productive offensiver player, the approach by just about everyone prior to Texas, was to "let him get his" and play everyone else straight up. And it has worked pretty well. I mean, yeah, Wilson might go for 30, but if you don't give the other 4 guys extra space...they're no real threat...and you might hold KU to 60.

Adams is good in some matchups...but otherwise, Adams, Harris, McCullar, Yes, Zach, Udeh, Pettiford, etc. are not great shot creators. They're pretty good if they're left open or against a guy recovering from a double or when they're guy is sagging off to help guard Wilson. But we hadn't seen that.

I think teams looked at Wilson and think, his efficiency is so low and usage is so high, that we don't need to be scared of him the way we are against most 20+ ppg scorers. So, play him straight up, no doubles, no help and then you don't have to worry about the other 4 guys (maybe 3 if Dick is there) at all.

I think that's pretty spot on.

The only thing we have really done in the halfcourt outside of what Jalen has done is run PnR for Harris/KJ, and several teams have been able to take that away.