Highlights from the game last night. Enjoy.
Posts Tagged #kubball
@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.
So which team is better?
(AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)
Let’s face it. KU lost a game it shouldn’t have lost.
These kinds of losses happen to every team, no matter what the front of the jersey might read. It seems to happen less to Bill Self-coached teams though. Maybe that’s coaching. Maybe that’s having better talent. Regardless, the game in Columbia on Saturday night was one the Jayhawks simply let get away.
And it sucks.
I would have traded two losses to Iowa State for a victory at Missouri. Maybe even would have thrown in a random Texas Tech loss or something. But damn, I wanted to win this game.
It felt like a tournament game. That’s the only way I can really characterize it. Not because of the atmosphere (tournament games usually can’t compete with a good campus atmosphere) and not because of a “must-win” kind of scenario. But because it had that elevated feeling about it. Much more than any other regular season game. I got the sense many of you thought it did too.
Obviously there were conference championship implications. And of course there was the whole SEC drama. And College Gameday and primetime and the high rankings and all that stuff.
But I think the biggest thing for me was the very legitimate question about which team is better.
And I think we got a pretty good idea.
Kansas is.
Don’t let the box score fool you. Kansas actually played pretty good defense against the Tigers. There were two stretches where breakdowns killed us, both times occurring at the end of the halves. But that was a shady 52% shooting performance by the home team.
KU fought through ball screens all night with ease. Our switches were precise. There was rarely a situation where Missouri’s “quickness” was the reason for a basket.* There was pressure and intensity and steals and hard fouls. Hell, they shot 20 free throws to our 9.** They had 10 total fouls to our 20. We were the more aggressive team. And we were the team that routinely passed the eye test.
*Ignore this entire paragraph when it comes to Conner. He’s a liability on defense that is becoming harder and harder to watch, especially against teams with attacking guards. I honestly want him to play the 4 so he doesn’t have to leave the block. A 6’5 white power forward that holds his ground in the paint is better than a 6’5 white 2-guard getting passed by possession after possession, leading to easy buckets and impending foul trouble against our bigs forced to help compensate for his inability to stay with his man. I digress.
**As for the foul disparity, I refuse to let myself use refs as a reason to say a game went one way or the other. Despite a few questionable (and a few awful) calls, we should have won the game. Short of reaching out and tripping our players, the referees are rarely an excuse for a loss. We put ourselves in a bad situation late, and MU took advantage. Refs didn’t lose the game. We did. I digress further.
Off-balance 3-pointers were swishing for the Tigers. Late shot-clock breakdown prayers were hitting the bottom of the net. Defensive hands in the face didn’t deter the ball from finding the basket.
Some nights you just have it. And to Missouri’s credit, they had it when they absolutely had to have it.
Kansas, on the other hand, got a lot of great looks. Our half-court offense looked fantastic whenever we got going inside out. I especially liked the Withey point-forward plays that got Thomas an easy entry pass nearly every time. Jeff got the ball near the free throw line and had five options with it – four open passes and a shot. He found the wing twice for good looks to Thomas. Straight out of the play book.
We got good looks in transition and off ball screens for Tyshawn at the top of the key, and in the corners for Conner. And we still missed a lot of them. Obviously we are still struggling to find any rhythm whatsoever from 3-point range. But our two best players were finding their shot on most possessions. And they were good shots. In most cases, much easier shots than Missouri could get.*
*By my count, MU only made three non-3-point baskets in the second half. On the other hand, they made 6/11 3-pointers. Most of the time, they shot 3s because that was the only option “open.” By comparison, KU made 13 layups, dunks, or short jumpers and only two 3-pointers in the second half.
I’ll take that kind of play in the long run. You can have the team that relies on 20 foot jump-shots. I’ll take the team that has the ability to get a layup or post look every possession.
Despite the foregoing, KU’s efforts were good enough to put us up 8 points with two minutes left. EIGHT. On the road. In the hardest and most “intimidating” away court we’ll play in all season long.
That’s pretty incredible. I think the most courageous of Missouri fans would admit that they were lucky to win. And that the game in Allen could be a blood bath.
For example, a friend of mine who fancies himself a huge Mizzou fan and even bigger sports junkie went to the game and texted me the following afterwards: “I think Kansas is slightly better than Missouri. Just one team was at home.” It was nice of him to admit it, but I disagree with him. I think Kansas is the better team and it doesn’t matter where we play.
I hope we see them two more times this season. It’s a real possibility.
I’ll be taking KU in both.
Kansas, Oklahoma highlight video
Highlights from KU’s 84-62 victory over Oklahoma last night in Lawrence:
Preview: Kansas, Oklahoma
Preview:
The Oklahoma Sooners (13-7, 3-5) travel to Lawrence tomorrow to play the Jayhawks (17-4, 7-1). Kansas is coming off of its first conference loss of the season after a 72-64 loss at Iowa State on Saturday. Bill Self and Co. will look to bounce back in Allen Fieldhouse in what some are calling a “trap game” leading up to the College Gameday match-up at Missouri.
Oklahoma is coming off one of its biggest victories of the season — a 63-60 victory at Kansas State. Lon Kruger’s Sooners are playing better basketball of late, led by junior guard, Steven Pledger (17.8 PPG). Forward Romero Osby has also picked up his play, posting a 16 point, 11 rebound game last week against Baylor’s front line.
The Jayhawks have won eight straight games against the Sooners and have not lost in Allen Fieldhouse to the crimson and cream since 1993. Oklahoma will seek to revenge a loss in Norman earlier this year, where the Jayhawks needed a career high 28 points from Travis Releford to pull away in the second half for a 72-61 victory.
Matchup of the game:
Steven Pledger scored 30 points in Manhattan last game. He is Oklahoma’s best perimeter threat as well, posting a .436 3-point shooting percentage. I have a feeling all three of our guards will have a shot to guard him tomorrow, and I think that will be the biggest defensive matchup of the game.
Keys to the game for Kansas:
- Rebound the basketball. Over the last few games, the Jayhawks have played soft. This couldn’t be more evident than against Iowa State, where Iowa State out-rebounded KU by a margin of 36-23. In Norman, the Jayhawks tied the Sooners with 34 boards. It will be a welcome sight to see this tilt back into KU’s favor.
- Force feed Thomas the ball. Robinson had one of his worst games of the season on Saturday in Iowa. He caught the ball numerous times in good position but failed to turn those catches into good shots. He had five turnovers and never looked comfortable. The Jayhawk guards will need to continue to feed him the ball if this team is going to go anywhere this year. If that means force feeding him, then that’s what needs to happen.
- Let the defense lead to the offense. Kansas played one of its best stretches of basketball this year in that second half in Norman. They played loose and free and took advantage of every OU mistake. I want to see that same energy from the start and hopefully see it maintained throughout.
Keys to the game for Oklahoma:
- Play physical ball. The Sooners hit the Wildcats in the mouth last game and it took Frank Martin’s team a while to respond to the physical play. It wasn’t the prettiest game (63-60), but it was the way Kruger and OU needed to play to win that game. They’ll need to do the same against KU.
- Continue to take high percentage shots. One reason the Sooners won in Manhattan is they shot 4-9 from the three-point line while defending K-State into shooting 3-17 from three. OU will need to make a high percentage of its open looks while also pestering Kansas the same way it did the Wildcats.
- Crowd the lane. Kansas has not been able to knock down many perimeter shots of late, so the Sooners will be wise to cheat toward the lane. Forcing Thomas against the baseline or into a trap has been a good strategy against smaller teams. OU will need to pound the paint defensively and hope the KU cold streak continues.
TV: ESPNU, 8:00 CST
Line: KU -16.5; O/U 138.5
Prediction: I think KU wins handedly. Final score: 83-68
KU, ISU highlight video
Highlights (if you can call them that) from the Kansas game today in Ames.
Preview: Kansas, Iowa State
Preview:
Kansas will travel to Ames, Iowa for a matchup with the Cyclones (14-6, 4-3) on Saturday. The Jayhawks (17-3, 7-0) will look to extend their 10-game winning streak and keep an undefeated Big 12 record in tact. When the two teams last met in Allen Fieldhouse on January 14, forward Royce White and the Cyclones gave the Jayhawks all they wanted. Kansas eventually went on to win the game 82-73, but it needed a 17-2 second-half run to do so.
Iowa State will be looking for revenge on its home court. A victory against the Jayhawks would go a long way for the Cyclones’ tournament resume. It would also snap a streak of 14 straight losses at the hands of Kansas. The last time Iowa State beat Kansas was in 2005.
The Cyclones will need another big effort from Royce White, who leads the team in PPG (13.4), rebounds per game (9.6), assists per game (4.5), and blocks. In the last matchup against KU, the Jayhawks “held” White to 18 points and 17 boards. Hoiberg and the Cyclones will call on White to bring his best effort against a Kansas team that struggled to match up with him last game.
Matchup of the game:
Royce White and anyone who is guarding Royce White.
I think you’ll see everyone from Withey to Releford take a turn guarding White. He is a difficult matchup for a team that primarily runs man-to-man defense, as the Jayhawks nearly always do. This is especially true when he brings the ball up the court. It will be interesting to see if Kansas throws any zone at him. Personally, I think Releford is KU’s best option to guard White. He is versatile enough to extend in the half court, and tall enough to hold his own if White starts to post up. Regardless, Withey and others will have to be ready to help. It will be a team effort.
Keys to the game for Kansas:
- Defend the 3-point line: In the last matchup, Iowa State chucked 28 three-pointers (and made 9). On the season, the Cyclones have been a decent three-point shooting team from deep. Kansas will have to keep the percentage of made threes low once again.
- Don’t let the rest of the team beat you. Royce White is one of those players that is probably going to get his points. Similar to a Beasley or a Durant, certain guys will end up finding a way to score on you one way or another. While we can’t let him score 30, I’d rather him get his 18 as long as we defend the heck out of everyone else. Wild cards are much more scary than the sure things. For some reason, Christopherson is the one guy that concerns me. I really like his game, and I hope our guards don’t overlook him.
- Control the tempo early. If Iowa State gets up early on, the crowd will be a huge factor. I was in Hilton last year, and it was a very loud building with a great crowd presence. If Kansas can hit shots and control the game from the outset, the crowd won’t be as big of a factor, and our team will remain in its comfort zone.
Keys to the game for Iowa State:
- Do a much better job of keeping Taylor out of the lane: Last game, Tyshawn killed Iowa State. He took over in that second half and got just about any look he wanted. The Cyclones will have to do a better job of team defense against Taylor. The tough part about that is that if Taylor gets that help D to slide over, he’s been so much better of late at dishing the ball to Withey or Robinson. Hoiberg will have to pick his poison.
- Create matchup problems: Let Royce White do whatever Royce White wants to do. If he wants to play point guard, let him bring it up. If he wants to bang on the blocks, then let him. He’ll control the game on offense either way. The Cyclones will look to put him into spots where he can take advantage of a matchup, depending on who is guarding him.
- Hit shots. This will nearly always be a key to the game for opposing teams of Kansas. Team defense is Self’s biggest advantage over most teams. That said, when opposing teams are hitting three-pointers, it can overcome a lot of other disadvantages on paper. Last time, ISU was 9-28 from three. They’ll have to improve on that number to win.
TV: ESPN, 1:00 CST
Line: KU -6.0
Prediction: I think the Jayhawks control this game. The Cyclones will have our attention from the beginning, and Self has had all week to prepare a good game plan. I predict Kansas 75, Iowa State 66.
