How important is the quality of the scout team?

[kubandalum]

Over the years and across different forums, I’ve seen quite a few snide remarks about walk-ons, and never any comments on whether the quality of the walk-ons is important as members of the scout team in practice preparing for games. So, does it matter? Do coaches think it matters who they pick?

[pdub]

For sure.
I'm betting all of KU's scout team/walk ons are still stars on their high school teams, so they aren't just scrubs.
I think another thing that's important for a scout team is someone who is sharp and responsible. They gotta grind, do what they are told and show up every day ready to work.

[ousdahl]

didn't Tyshawn turn a corner in 2012 when BMac finally got to guard him on the scout team?

[Deleted User 75]

didn't Tyshawn turn a corner in 2012 when BMac finally got to guard him on the scout team?

I seem to remember the timing on that being about right, but it's really hard to say THAT is the reason why he turned a corner and not any number of other things that impact his growth and performance.

[DrPepper]

At least on message boards, the quality of the scout team gets mentioned. They are a very important piece. Hustle, attitude, and being a quick learner are required, but basketball skills and position too. The scout team learns the offense and defense of the opposition each game. Kudos to them.
Back when senior speeches were more common, lots of appreciation for the important work of the scout team is handed out by the starters and by Self.

[NDballer13]

Tough to say it has no impact when the last two FF had scouts teams like last year's that could have finished in the top half of the Big 12, and 2012 when they had McLemore and Traylor.

[randylahey]

didn't Tyshawn turn a corner in 2012 when BMac finally got to guard him on the scout team?

bill self always credits than whole team turning a corner after BMAC and Jamari were eligible to practice/scrimmage against the starters

[vegashawk]

BMAC and Jamari aren't your typical scout team players. Big Red (best offer was Pacific I believe) is the more typical scout team player.

[ousdahl]

BMac, no, not typical.

Jamari, meh, sorta...

[Deleted User 75]

BMac, no, not typical.

Jamari, meh, sorta...

Jamari is making a living playing basketball overseas. I'd say that is not a typical scout team player, no matter how much some of you hated that he played over certain recruits....wonder if he's making similar money to what Cliff is making wherever he is?

[ousdahl]

Jamari should have been a practice player but instead he was getting big minutes over guys like Cheick...

How much money is that dude making?

What if he got time to develop? Maybe he could have done better than Jamari’s 0 points and 0 boards against nova that year?

[Deleted User 75]

We've gone thru this all before..some people seem to believe that players magically develop significantly over night, others think it takes longer. It's a difference of opinion that is pointless to debate, but we do it anyway.

Self does what he thinks is best for the team in both the short and long run. I trust he's better at judging those choices and making those decisions than we are. It's a team sport, not individual, so more goes into it than player A has more "potential" than player B, so let's play him even if it makes us worse as a team and we lose games because of it. I'm sure some coaches do it that way (calipari), but that doesn't seem to be the way self operates. He coaches to win each game and make the team as good as possible, and his record of doing so speaks for itself.

In my opinion if it only took a handful of extra minutes over a 3 or 4 month span in college that Diallo, Wiggins, etc would all be the best players in the world by now under the idea of rapid development taking place. In reality that's just not how it works most of the time. This idea that Diallo (or whoever) can only improve in games is not something I buy into.

How long has Diallo been in the NBA? All indications are he's a hard worker, and yet it's taking him time to develop his game. It doesn't happen overnight. He's not being hindered by those 80 game minutes Self gave Jamari over the course of 3 months.

I trust Self knew what he was doing when he made those tough decisions on who plays and how much.

[pdub]

Self shoulda played Diallo a lot more than that Jamari dude.

[Deleted User 75]

Do I think Diallo would have been better individually during his time at KU if he was given more minutes? Yes. Maybe only marginally, but yes.

Do I think KU would have been better as a team if diallo was given more minutes? No, not really. Otherwise Self would have done it. Diallo looked lost a lot of times. What we could have gained from him individually quite possibly could have hurt us in other areas. And I have to imagine Self weighed the pros and cons and made the decision he felt was best for the TEAM.

[pdub]

"Otherwise Self would have done it."

Self has flaws. He is not perfect. I think he made a mistake there.
He favors his guys - I think most of the time it works well.
"So you know better than Self!" or something of the sort is a bad comeback.

[Deleted User 75]

"Otherwise Self would have done it."

Self has flaws. He is not perfect. I think he made a mistake there.
He favors his guys - I think most of the time it works well.
"So you know better than Self!" or something of the sort is a bad comeback.

Totally agree he has flaws. He makes mistakes. Maybe that was 1 of them. It's just a matter of opinion because we will never "know".

Would it change your opinion of it if the decision was based on diallo being unable to execute our schemes or stay within himself of offense instead of veering from the play or scheme we were running? What if diallo didn't practice hard or have a good team attitude? Self has an entire program to manage, what if he thought playing diallo over jamari even though jamari fit better "right now" could cause him to lose some players mentally who also thought they had more "potential" than someone playing ahead of them?

I'm not saying any of that is the exact reason why Self chose Jamari over Diallo. But those are factors at play that could impact those decisions.

Either way, we will never know for sure. We've all got players who we thought should play more over someone else, or who we think is better than the player playing over him. People wanted conner over frank, even devonte over frank, and EJ over the white boys, and so on...I liked jamari and what he brought to the table and in my eyes self made the right call in that situation.



tl;dr

Why do you guys think Self played Jamari over Diallo?

[pdub]

He liked Jamari's attitude better and he was Self's guy.
I get it.
I don't think it helped our team per se but I get it.

[Deleted User 75]

I don't know about you, but I'd much rather talk about this than have to read the politics board.

[pdub]

Same.
This kinda 'argument' is what kansascrimson is here for.

[randylahey]

The Jamari debate will never die