Kansas Crimson

Hunter's defense has been better this year. Not great, but better. Unlike last year, I think his defense has reached Landen Lucas' level (reference to off-season discussion)

Agreed. I think his defense is underrated. He's slow, but he's smart. Self has coached him up and he's handling ball screens and trapping a lot better.

mjl2 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 03, 2025 8:56 pm Hunter's defense has been better this year. Not great, but better. Unlike last year, I think his defense has reached Landen Lucas' level (reference to off-season discussion)

This feels fair.
In a different way of getting there ( ie Landen was actually a better defender but wasn’t 7 foot 2 ).

Agreed. If I have a complaint about HD's defense is that he sticks with his hedges a step or two too long before swapping back to his guy. He is slow footed so it seems to take him an extra step to get his brain to switch back to "get back to my guy" mode.

mjl2 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 03, 2025 8:56 pm Hunter's defense has been better this year. Not great, but better. Unlike last year, I think his defense has reached Landen Lucas' level (reference to off-season discussion)

Yeah. With better size. Hunter is slow in rotation. But plays smart defense and is real effective when he is in position. I've even seen him rotate over and blocking shots on occasion

Shak Moore has earned at least 1 more game as our 5th starter in my opinion.

DeletedUser wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 4:41 pm Shak Moore has earned at least 1 more game as our 5th starter in my opinion.

yes...either him or Flory ha

DeletedUser wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 4:41 pm Shak Moore has earned at least 1 more game as our 5th starter in my opinion.

Absolutely. He's good. Wish he had been healthy all year. Impacts the game a ton without even scoring

randylahey wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 4:42 pm

DeletedUser wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 4:41 pm Shak Moore has earned at least 1 more game as our 5th starter in my opinion.

Absolutely. He's good. Wish he had been healthy all year. Impacts the game a ton without even scoring

Yes. Just physical and fast.

Watch the way he fights for rebounds and tips in traffic. Dude plays hard.

My new desired lineup for the time being is

DH
Shak
Zeke
KJ
HD

Bench (ranked in order)
Bidunga
Griffen
Coit
Storr
Passmore

Yep.

It'll be interesting from here on who gets more minutes between KJ and Flory. Given that Flory plays two positions and KJ plays one, Flory might pass him. He makes it hard to keep him on the bench.

I'm still leaning Griffen over shak minutes wise. Zekes more natural position is the 2.

But starting shak and rotating from there feels like a good fit for now

Honestly our top 9 might get minutes all year. It's silly to have this old and experienced or a roster and not use them. Play high energy uptempo ball (hunter ain't the best fit for that tho)

Under/over ( under being seeded 1, 2 or 3 ) KU seed in March Madness is set to 3.5.

I think our chance at a 1-3 seed is a matter of whether we can break .500 on the road.

mjl2 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 11:54 am Yep.

It'll be interesting from here on who gets more minutes between KJ and Flory. Given that Flory plays two positions and KJ plays one, Flory might pass him. He makes it hard to keep him on the bench.

I think they'll be similar.

Flory will have to stay out of foul trouble. Not sure he's capable of 30min per night yet. If they're 25 and 25 I'm good with that. That's all the 4 spot minutes plus 10min of Hunter on the bench. Seems realistic.

randylahey wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 12:01 pm I'm still leaning Griffen over shak minutes wise. Zekes more natural position is the 2.

But starting shak and rotating from there feels like a good fit for now

Honestly our top 9 might get minutes all year. It's silly to have this old and experienced or a roster and not use them. Play high energy uptempo ball (hunter ain't the best fit for that tho)

I agree.

Also agree about Zeke being a 1 or 2, not a 3. Although Shak is probably strong enough to guard most 3s. And if KJ is in we are switching 1-4 anyway.

Griffen is going to play his 20mpg. I think it may be a better fit rotation wise if he comes off the bench. I do not think it was a coincidence that our interior passing improved with Shak in there. He is good at feeding the post. Good at moving the ball. And most importantly he doesn't look lost on where to go. They're still having to direct Griffen and Storr around quite a bit. Coit and Moore seem like they've grasped the offensive concepts better than the other 2.

BiggDick wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 12:17 pm I think our chance at a 1-3 seed is a matter of whether we can break .500 on the road.

So......what is your guess?

I think we will be a top 3 seed because the SEC is going to cannibalize each other.

6 SEC schools in the top 10 currently. Not sure how they can sustain that. Especially if Tennessee and Auburn continue to look dominant.

Houston, ISU, Texas Tech, Zona, Baylor.....hell, West Virginia all looking to do some damage in the B12 though.

pdub wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 12:44 pm

BiggDick wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 12:17 pm I think our chance at a 1-3 seed is a matter of whether we can break .500 on the road.

So......what is your guess?

hmm.

we're so far 1-2 on the road, so already digging ourselves out of a hole.

Let's look at the remaining roadies plus stream of consciousness predictions:

@Cincy - I think they just dropped out of the top 25 but have otherwise been ranked, but hopefully we got the wakeup call we need to come out swinging on the road - W

@ISU - they're a top 3 team plus it's Mevlin Weatherwax's Super Bowl - L

@TCU - Ernest Scared Straight (into the transfer portal) - W

@Baylor - Scott Drew Sucks and anything but will get you banned, randy - W

@KSU - lol kitties - W (though they might get us on the play hard chart)

@ Utah - wut - L

@ BYU - we do well with a narrative like revenge for punking us at home last year plus I don't see us loosing 2 in a row in Mormon country - W

@ CU - I'm prob going to this game so prob gonna get guttered - L

@ Houston - Hopefully we're gelling by now but ranked team on the road ugh - L

sooo that's 6-6 on the road...exactly .500, fuck!

Add in the fact we're wont to drop another home game or two we shouldn't as well.

But I also think we'll win at least 2 conference tourney games and have that momentum, but also not likely to win 3 in 3 days.

That's what, like, 8-9 losses going into the big dance?

So, let's say, 4 seed.

Of course, I hope I'm wrong, and hope we don't actually keep sucking on the road and dropping bad ones at home too, and the UCF dominance isn't some desperate outlier and wewe can actually keep riding that high, and I get served more crauw, which I'll gladly eat.