Jayhawk ThoughtZ™

[RichZ]

1. I was pretty psyched for this game. The venue certainly helped. Never won there, giant crowd, etc. History-- They'd beaten us all 4 times we'd played prior to last nght. They were 4 time National champions -- wait... in 52, 88, 08 and 22? Wow. 4 times over a 70 year span? And that's their rich history of national success? Sorry, but that kinda pales in comparison to 6 times in 25 years, doesn't it?
2. The announcers made a big deal about Petersen being out. Barely mentioned that we were without our starting center.
3. Speaking of centers, I felt like our 2nd string freshman center really kind of came of age last night. 12 points from the field on 75% shooting, 8 boards, 2 steals, 2 blocks and only one TO. Really felt to me like we could/should have gone to him a bit more often last night.
4. Solo was our only starter to get to the FT line, where he was 2 for 2. That's right, one trip to the line, by one of our starters. Zero FT attempts for the other 4 starters.
5. I guess complaining about the refs in a game you won is bad form, but... we were called for 5 in the first half and 10 in the second, compared to 3 and 7. Uglier though, was the discrepency in the # of FTs each team was awarded. We shot 6 for 8 from the line. Kansas shot 15 of 21. Basically, it felt like we were being discouraged from playing defense in the paint. Especially in the 2nd half.
6. I think maybe this Braylon Mullins kid is going to be pretty good. In 23 minutes against a quality opponent last night, he had 15 points from the field on 50% shooting, went 2 of 2 from the line, had 5 boards, a steal and only one TO.
7. Alex had his usual workmanlike game -- 6 boards, 11 points, a steal and a pair of blocks. But it was the timing that made the biggest impact. It just seemed like when we needed it most, he found a way to score a bucket or prevent his man from scoring one.
8. We had an uncharacteristically low # of assists last night. 12 dimes on 24 FG. We've been averaging 2 dimes on every 3 buckets so far this season.
9. After looking like the 2nd coming of Kemba (yes, I'm exaggerating) last game, with 14 points on 3 for 3 from 3 and 5 for 5 from the line, 9 assists, 2 boards and a block, Malachi struggled a bit last night, with a 1 point, 0 for 3 from the floor, 3 boards and 1 dime outing. He was though, still effective on D.
10. I have to be honest. By game's end, I wasn't all that impressed by Kansas. I'm sure they'll be a better team when Petersen is ready. But top 10 better? Maybe, I guess, but I don't really see it.

 

[Lafayette]

Though it seemed we played poorly and were in each others way we play a very high motion offense with off ball screens, zips, ghosts, etc.

By comparison a flair cut is weaving around one or more players to get a 3 before the defender can follow. But while some team use that type of offense we can do that as a fake while others are setting picks elsewhere. In other words the defense does not know which of our players will get the ball.

Kansas also went cold from 3 during a stretch in the 2nd half which let us get rebounds and initiate offense instead of half court sets.

Mullins had that 8pt or so run and the crowd was cold but faint UCONN chants.

This was a massive game for us playing in a winless place without Reed and despite no DP for them it matured Reibe and Mullins.

 

[caw]

1. I was pretty psyched for this game. The venue certainly helped. Never won there, giant crowd, etc. History-- They'd beaten us all 4 times we'd played prior to last nght. They were 4 time National champions -- wait... in 52, 88, 08 and 22? Wow. 4 times over a 70 year span? And that's their rich history of national success? Sorry, but that kinda pales in comparison to 6 times in 25 years, doesn't it?
2. The announcers made a big deal about Petersen being out. Barely mentioned that we were without our starting center.
3. Speaking of centers, I felt like our 2nd string freshman center really kind of came of age last night. 12 points from the field on 75% shooting, 8 boards, 2 steals, 2 blocks and only one TO. Really felt to me like we could/should have gone to him a bit more often last night.
4. Solo was our only starter to get to the FT line, where he was 2 for 2. That's right, one trip to the line, by one of our starters. Zero FT attempts for the other 4 starters.
5. I guess complaining about the refs in a game you won is bad form, but... we were called for 5 in the first half and 10 in the second, compared to 3 and 7. Uglier though, was the discrepency in the # of FTs each team was awarded. We shot 6 for 8 from the line. Kansas shot 15 of 21. Basically, it felt like we were being discouraged from playing defense in the paint. Especially in the 2nd half.
6. I think maybe this Braylon Mullins kid is going to be pretty good. In 23 minutes against a quality opponent last night, he had 15 points from the field on 50% shooting, went 2 of 2 from the line, had 5 boards, a steal and only one TO.
7. Alex had his usual workmanlike game -- 6 boards, 11 points, a steal and a pair of blocks. But it was the timing that made the biggest impact. It just seemed like when we needed it most, he found a way to score a bucket or prevent his man from scoring one.
8. We had an uncharacteristically low # of assists last night. 12 dimes on 24 FG. We've been averaging 2 dimes on every 3 buckets so far this season.
9. After looking like the 2nd coming of Kemba (yes, I'm exaggerating) last game, with 14 points on 3 for 3 from 3 and 5 for 5 from the line, 9 assists, 2 boards and a block, Malachi struggled a bit last night, with a 1 point, 0 for 3 from the floor, 3 boards and 1 dime outing. He was though, still effective on D.
10. I have to be honest. By game's end, I wasn't all that impressed by Kansas. I'm sure they'll be a better team when Petersen is ready. But top 10 better? Maybe, I guess, but I don't really see it.

In regards to point 10, many consider Peterson better than AJ, BYU without AJ against UConn would have lost by 20+ albeit with Reed. I have watched only a handful of Peterson's games but he is that good. Still probably only a top 15-20ish team with him though IMO.

There were only maybe three plays I thought UConn should have gotten a foul called and didn't after watching the replay. They just attacked the rim better than UConn did most of the game. That said, KU has a bunch of fans complaining on social media about the foul calls which is just funny.