Posts Tagged Basketball
Shabazz Muhammad and KU
Courtesy of MaxPreps
By now, you’ve heard the name a hundred times. Regardless of rankings, reclassifications, or anything else, he’s the best player in the Class of 2012. A 6’6 small forward with the ability to shoot, penetrate, pass, dribble, and create. To steal a baseball analogy, he is a 5-tool offensive player.
And he’s visiting the University of Kansas during the biggest regular season game in years.
Muhammad as made it official that he’ll be in the house for the Kansas – Missouri game on February 25. Quite a game to attend. It will be a rematch of epic proportions. If there was ever a game where the roof would actually blow off the building, it will be that one.
Sure, ‘Bazz will be visiting another good “rematch” game when he visits Duke for the North Carolina game. And while that is one of the best rivalry games in all of sports, it will be played next year. And for years to come.
This game won’t.
Muhammad is a game changing type of player. He’s a coach changing type of player. Even a program changing one. But if you’ve followed me long enough, you’d know that I personally don’t think he’ll be in Lawrence next year.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the fact that he wants to come check this place out.
And no, I’m not for moral victories when it comes to recruiting. Self and Co. have had their fair share of those. But there is something to say for getting the best players to visit Kansas.
Branding, perception, competition, twitter…all that crap matters. I want the best players to visit campus every single year, regardless of how much we think they’ll come here.
Odds are we can get one or two of those blue chip kind of players every class, a few guys that fly under the radar, and a few guys to fill out the roster. We’ve done a hell of a job with that plan over Self’s tenure.
And who knows, maybe Shabazz falls in love with Kansas. Maybe the crowd goes as nuts for him as they do the game. Maybe he is blown away with Coaches Self and Townsend’s message. Maybe our current and future players rub elbows with him and make him feel like this is the place to be.
There’s a whole lot to love here.
But even if he doesn’t, I’m glad he’s checking us out.
KU, KSU Highlight Video (HD)
Highlights from the game last night. Enjoy.
@FakeJeffWithey’s Dating Advice
Editor’s Note: @FakeJeffWithey on twitter is a great follow. Check him out if you haven’t. What follows is his first installment of guest pieces to JHT. Just in time for Valentine’s Day…I present, @FakeJeffWithey’s Dating Advice.
“I met a really hot girl and she gave me her number. The only problem is she goes to MU. What do I do?”
I find that the most effective way to deal with rivalries (and most of life’s challenges) is through stereotypes. In the same way that you would never marry an Asian girl because you couldn’t trust her to drive your kids to school, stereotypes should keep you from ever considering a Missouri or K-State student, alum, or fan as a dating possibility. Just think of all that could go wrong with this relationship. When the happy ending to a love story involves you having a lame “House Divided” license plate on your car, the relationship is not worth pursuing. And that’s the best case scenario. How are you going to feel when you’re in your living room watching KU play in the Final Four and your house blows up because of the meth lab in the basement? My guess: not very good. The best advice I can give you in this situation is to nail and bail. No relationship, no feelings. I’d rather marry a Kansas 4 than a Missouri 10.
“How do I get my girlfriend to agree to a threesome?”
Threesomes will always hold a special place in my heart seeing as how I lost my virginity in a three-way. Unfortunately I haven’t had to think about them in quite some time. When you become a star, three becomes four, four becomes five, and five becomes six. These numbers keep increasing as you inch closer to becoming a cultural icon.
For those of you that aren’t seven foot superstars, threesomes can be intimidating. The key is confidence. To get started you should work on another girl behind your girlfriend’s back. Pretend you’re James Bond and be as sly and secretive as possible. Once you know the new girl is down, you now have to get your girlfriend comfortable with the idea. How do you do this? My personal preference is tequila. Once your girlfriend is drunk enough, call the other girl over and start getting Withey with it. Good luck!
“What is the best way to decorate a bachelor pad?”
Most people think that the goal of a bachelor pad is to impress a girl with your decorating skills. Most people are wrong. Once a girl is back at your place, you’ve already done the impressing. Your bachelor pad should be designed to send one message: It’s time to get down to business.
The living room and any common space should be designed to deter lingering. This means no TV, no coffee table, and absolutely no furniture. Now to the important part, the bedroom and it’s three necessities. The first step is finding the right bed, because as the old cliché goes, that’s where the magic happens. The bed should be comfortable, but not so comfortable that she wants to sleep over. Next you’ll need a mini fridge stocked full of Red Bull and Gatorade. This will give you the energy and hydration you need to go multiple rounds. Finally, you need lava lamps and lots of them. We live in the 21st century now people, if lava lamps haven’t replaced your need for overhead lighting; you need to get with the times.
Don’t blame Conner
Pregame warmup 3s always go in.
Conner has become the new Tyshawn.
No, he’s not point plank’n. But he has become the hot message board target of the week. More and more he is being yelled at in sports bars. He’s drawing the ire of the casual KU basketball fan.
Kind of like Tyshawn a month ago.
Unlike Taylor, this is not Conner’s fault. He is who he is. He’s not underachieving like Tyshawn was. He’s not a knucklehead like Tyshawn was (at times). He’s not really turning the ball over. And unlike Tyshawn, who would occasionally take plays off, Conner plays his ass off on nearly every possession.
I repeat, he plays his ass off on every possession. Which is why I feel badly writing anything negative about him. Or letting others speak so negatively of him.
But let’s face it. He was a walk-on for a reason. And due to some misses on the recruiting front, he is going to be our 6th man this season. For better or worse.
I have heard him compared to Tyrel Reed. I think that comes from the fact that people saw Tyrel hit corner 3 after corner 3. People sometimes see Conner hit the corner 3 too. But Tyrel was so much more than a spot up shooter. He had a flare for the dramatic. He seemed to hit the clutch shot at exactly the time Kansas needed it the most. He had good lateral quickness and kept his man in front of him. He wasn’t Keith Langford, but he could dribble baseline if he needed to and would nearly always make a good decision with the ball.
Conner is not Tyrel Reed. Conner is Conner.
Conner is a fantastic high school basketball player. At Rockhurst, he averaged 25 points and 8 boards a game. He was Mr. Show-Me Basketball his senior season. He was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year. He had a tremendous high school basketball resume, but couldn’t garner a scholarship offer from any of the Big XII local schools.
To play basketball for Bill Self, you have to defend. If you don’t defend, you don’t play. That’s how he’s always been. Everything starts with the side of the court that doesn’t include shooting or passing or dribbling the basketball. Coming into the season, Self recruited a great wing player named Ben McLemore. Like Conner, he was a standout high school player. He averaged 28 and 12.
He could also defend.
Ben was recruited to come in and play right away at a position the Jayhawks needed. When he didn’t qualify, Conner entered the picture as a guy that was going to have to play, even if he didn’t meet Self’s qualifications for the position.
In theory, Conner is not a bad guy to get minutes on this team. He has traditionally been a decent 3-point threat. This KU team didn’t really have many of those coming into the season. When he came off the bench, defenders would have to respect his shot, leaving more room for Thomas to operate and Tyshawn to drive. It makes some sense.
Except the poor guy just can’t guard.
And this is something the casual (and not so casual) KU fan has started to notice.
Unlike Reed and Morningstar and other white KU dudes that have come before him (because, let’s be honest, nobody…and I mean NObody compares white guards to black guards. It’s silly, really. Happens in football too. Think “Wes Welker-type.” I digress), he lacks lateral quickness. He lacks court vision. He doesn’t have the handles. And when he lacks confidence with his shot, he hurts his team.
Now some will look at the box score and see that he went 2-2 from 3-point range on Saturday. Those watching the game might even say that those two shots were huge at the time. Others, still, might even throw in that he got KU’s biggest steal of the game, one that led to points on the other end. All of these points are 100% accurate. It was his best game in a month.
But he got killed on defense.
Missouri seemed to run most its offense right at him. It didn’t matter who he was guarding. His guy seemed to get the shot, or at the very least, his guy started the possession for the shot. Can’t blame them really. I’ve been saying it all season. Whenever Conner is in the game, the opposition should send its guard right at him for a blocking foul or around him to make T-Rob or Withey slide over and draw those guys into fouls.
Again, I want to remind you, this isn’t Conner’s fault. Don’t get mad at Conner. If anything, get mad at Self for multiple misses on the recruiting front the last two years. Get mad at the NCAA or the Big XII partial qualifier rules for keeping Ben in street clothes for the season. Hell, get mad at Naadir Tharpe for struggling so badly in practice that he can’t make the rotation on a team that desperately needs another competent guard.
But it’s not Conner’s fault. He’s trying his hardest. And we’re going to have to live with it. Here’s hoping his 2-2 performance on Saturday is a jump start for the rest of the season.
And if it isn’t, here’s hoping KU plays a lot of “Conner Teahan types” in its remaining games.
Kansas, Oklahoma highlight video
Highlights from KU’s 84-62 victory over Oklahoma last night in Lawrence:
KU Gameday in AFH (video)
Fantastic video from the great Micah Brown of KU Athletics Department (also the Micah Brown that was a hero in the Orange Bowl game). You might remember him from his Gridiron series over the last few years.
I think he did a great job capturing the gameday experience in Allen Fieldhouse. Please watch it if you haven’t!
Kansas, A&M preview
Preview:
Texas A&M (11-7, 2-4) enters Allen Fieldhouse tonight with the desire to get its season back on track. Huge preseason expectations have not been realized, but a victory against the Jayhawks (16-3, 6-0) would go a long way to jump start a team in need of something good to happen.
Head Coach Billy Kennedy was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease earlier this year and he has had to miss a lot of time with the team. Kennedy is in his first year in College Station after former Kansas guard, Mark Turgeon, left the Aggies for Maryland. Even with a new coach, most pundits looked at the returning talent for A&M and thought they would compete for a Big XII title this year.
Instead, the Aggies will need to put together a run in Big XII play just to make the NCAA tournament (for the 7th straight year).
It will be a match-up of defensive-minded teams tonight. Texas A&M gives up an average of 59.2 points, while Kansas is a close-second in the Big XII at 60.4 per game. The Aggies, however, have a difficult time scoring the basketball and will have to make shots to hang with Kansas.
One of the Aggies’ best players, Khris Middleton, may not dress for the game. His presence would be missed, but the Aggies were able to pull off an overtime win against Oklahoma on Saturday without him much of the game. Kennedy will rely heavily on guard Elston Turner, who is averaging close to 14 points this season. He’ll also call on his defensive stopper, guard Dash Harris, to try to keep Tyshawn Taylor out of the lane.
This will be the Aggies’ last game in Allen Fieldhouse before moving to the SEC. Kansas will be hoping to send A&M home with its 18th loss in the last 19 meetings against the Jayhawks.
Matchup of the game:
Dash Harris vs. Tyshawn Taylor
Keys to the game for Kansas:
- Take care of the basketball. Kansas has more talent and the home crowd. The Aggies struggle to score, so the last thing Kansas can do is give them free baskets in transition off of turnovers.
- Pound the ball inside. Recently, the Jayhawks have been playing better basketball. Over the last nine games, there has been a much stronger devotion to getting in the paint — either through an entry pass or penetration — and less of a reliance on three-point shooting. This needs to continue tonight against the Aggies.
- Don’t let the Aggies think there is a chance. Get up early and stay up. Kansas doesn’t need to give up any more 15-point leads.
Keys to the game for Texas A&M:
- Control the clock. The Aggies won’t hang 80 on Kansas. They may not hang 65. In order to win, Kennedy will have his team slow the pace, take good shots late in the shot clock, and defend the heck out of the half court.
- Make shots. Let’s be honest. Teams that have won in Allen Fieldhouse usually make a high percentage of three-point shots. Nothing quiets the crowd faster than a barrage of threes.
- Most of these guys are Juniors and Seniors. They won’t be taken aback by the home crowd. However, mistakes tend to compound if made early. A&M will need to get through the first ten minutes of the game and stay within 5 or 6 to have a chance.
Line:
Kansas -18.5; 126 O/U
Prediction:
KU 78, A&M 62
Update: @FakeJoeDooley’s Drinking Game (cheat sheets)
Thanks to @joshdutcher, there are now “cheat sheets” available for playing the @FakeJoeDooley drinking game. You can find the original rules here, but these sheets will help. Especially late in the 2nd half after you’ve played the game for a while…
CLICK LINK BELOW AND SAVE:
DooleyDrinkingGame_CheatSheets
Rock Chalk!
Kansas, Texas highlight video
January 21, 2011 – Kansas at Texas, Frank Erwin Center
Banner photo courtesy of Eric Gay, AP
