BTO’s Kansas Postgame Report

[Volfan1000]

1. First off apologies for the delay, couldn’t watch it live and took me awhile to be able to sit down and watch the replay, love these feast weeks for hoops but work schedules make it difficult too. With that said…another tough loss, much like against Purdue the day before, although thankfully much different stylistically. However once again it’s a game that you feel much like Purdue, very well could’ve won and again went cold when you needed points, resulting in a L. Again no shame in losing that game but the way it was lost makes it feel worse as it was much like Purdue and much like other big game losses in recent memory.

2. Purdue & Kansas are both currently Top 5 defensive teams, so it’s not a total shock that they gave us trouble to score when we needed a bucket. We got points when needed against Wisconsin on the road and that’s a Top 35 defense, so maybe it was just more a case of running into great defenses more than anything. That still doesn’t likely make you feel any better but it does feel worth mentioning imo. I will say though that we combined to go 17-63 from 3, good for 27%, in the 2 losses, that’s just not gonna work. This team is built to shoot the 3 ball (more on that in the next topic), and we need to shoot them often, but we are not going to be near the team we want to be if we shooting sub 30% against the best teams we face.

3. Continuing that thought…we need some guys to find their perimeter shot in a hurry, maybe it was that gym, maybe it was the quick turnarounds or the good defenses or a combination of everything, but it’s gotta improve. I won’t harp on JJJ too much because overall he’s shot well this season, but in those 2 losses he went 1-7 from 3. Vescovi thankfully had a good last game because to that point he had started the season 3-13 (23%) from 3 and really didn’t look like himself behind the arc, maybe that’s adapting to a new role or maybe it was the time away from the team, but hopefully that last game got him going, if it did then that L may have been worth it. Zeigler at 18% on the year is the other one that needs to find it, or quit shooting it lol, more on that in a minute. But yea, this roster is constructed to play small ball, and to shoot a lot of 3’s, if as a team we can’t find a more consistent number and a few guys get it going we will struggle against good teams. Aidoo isn’t a back to the basket player, we don’t have many guys who are good drivers/finishers, this team has to shoot the 3 ball a lot, and that’s fine, but you gotta hit them too.

4. As for Zeigler, really hate it for him, and for us, but right now he’s really struggling on the offensive end. The defense as always has been good, but his perimeter shot and even layups it’s just not there right now, and it’s understandable considering he’s just recently gotten back to full contact, but it’s been bad. With that said, I fully believe that for us to reach our ceiling it involves him being at his best, and for him to get to his best it may very well mean he/we have to grind through the struggles while he gets his legs back and hopefully works things out.

5. Another additional thought on the offense, and this could probably have been lumped in above but oh well…we gotta do some self scouting with our guys and talk about some of these 2’s. Zeigler, Gainey and JJJ along with Aidoo are the 4 who come to mind most. A shot 18’-22’ is among the worst in CBB, and right now we are taking entirely way too many of them. The first 3 are a combined 20/62 (32%) from 2, this counts layups and dunks, so their long 2 percentage is likely much much lower…that’s a horrible shot to be taking and is exactly what good defenses want you to do. Same for Aidoo, his 2% is inflated by shots 3’ and in, but I would guess his 2pt % from 15’+ is around 20%, it’s a horrible shot to be taking and our offense really needs to eliminate it immediately.

6. Big picture losing 2 games against Top 5 teams on a neutral court is not cause for panic, or really even surprising in the least, after all we were underdogs in both, still doesn’t mean it’s not disappointing though. We hopefully learned a lot about ourselves and what we need to work on, and some guys individually who need to get things going. We still sit as a Top 10 team according to pretty much everything, and we have lots of basketball ahead of us still. We go to Chapel Hill on Wednesday and that won’t be an easy game by any means, likely slight underdogs, but a winnable one. After that the schedule lightens up a bit and you’d hope we can go on a bit of a run and build some momentum heading into conference play. Barttorvik projects us still at 22-9 and that’s right where we were to start the year, so no major harm done, and a win against UNC would go a long ways. Going 5-2 against @Wisconsin, N Syracuse, N Purdue, N Kansas & @UNC would be impressive and a great start to a resume for March.




GBO!!!

We need at least 25 to 30 paint points per game to supplement the three point shooters and Awaka should be getting a few more minutes of playing time per game along with Estrella to address that deficiency.

The UNC game at the Dean Dome will be a very tough place to snatch a win.

 

[CAVPUT]

Right now we’re a team of tradeoffs. Knecht is sloppy in traffic and doubles and a little reticent on switches and recovers slowly on D. Gainey is not a great offensive piece for flow, but he reliably creates. Hopefully he’ll dump the fake three into two shot. That’s a very common high school star move, but it needs to go. JJJ is such a great defender and rebounds, but his offensive slumps are a mystery. Santi is obviously coming back from missing practice and returning to form. My assumption is that Gainey and Knecht create more shots for him, but he’s still working hard to get looks. I think that will trend in a better direction when we can play some good/not great defensive teams. Our bigs by committee approach was probably driven by the foul bank we needed to spend against to of the best in Edey and Dickinson. We need Aidoo to hold space against lesser competition and rebound consistently. Awaka is everything you want in effort and drive, but he needs to play inside what his height allows. Mashack is an enigma. He’s a freak athlete, incredible defender and shows up everywhere. He’s just a platypus on offense. Our best play with him on offense is clearing the lane for him. I wish we’d feed him after pass/cut more often. ZZ isn’t back, but he will be. He seems uncomfortable with his crossover, first passes, and hasn’t found his shot or his drive, as BTO mentioned. More than anything, we just haven’t found flow. We need players to feel space, and understand the team as a unit. I think tightening the rotation will help. We have to rebound better. Full stop. I know we have limitations here physically, but even our guards are spectating on both ends. Follow shots, please. Ultimately, this team is two percentage points off in threes from being undefeated. All the time zone changes, playing odd times of day, weird court lines etc. are harder on teams that haven’t developed chemistry. If this team gels, and learns to play well together, the sky is the limit.

What's funny is how our fans do this dance in every sport. They think each UT team is gonna run roughshod over everyone and everything then go into complete hysteria when they lose a game or two.

 

[SN-A-C Orange]

@BTO well written. It was worth the wait.

I thought we could go 3-0. From what I saw I wasn't wrong. Yes, I know we ended up 1-2.

I personally think that Kansas made a good decision limiting their shots from deep to 12. I was hoping we would do the same
I felt like it was the venue and not so much a poor shooting game.
I also think I see chemistry to be lacking, but that takes time.
Frankly, I like what I saw and I remain optimistic.

Our defense against Big men needs an upgrade.
Our defense on the pick and roll with a big man needs some work.

Knecht needs more time adjusting to better defense and also being a better defender ...both of those are going to take a little more time.
Patience, violation. The bath is still in the bath water.

 

[RAVOL]

I don't care about 2 or 3 point shots I just want buckets. Now this gym had a deeper 3 pt line NBA range and our guys shot behind this line both of the losses along with tough rims led to poor shooting. Both Perdue and Kansas had something we didn't big to get easy buckets when struggling. Looking forward to this season as we will improve and ZZ can only get better by playing. In CHRIST Alone

 

[KTrain]

IMO this team would have been better off playing an easier OOC early schedule and ramp it up in a December Holiday tournament but that's water under the bridge. This team had Vescovi fly home for a death, a life changing event, ZZ coming off ACL, new pieces that will be main instrumental players in Knecht & Gainey. IMO after the 13 game pre SEC schedule, the chemistry, the roles and all should be worked out and this team should be fine. Hopefully in March we are saying I'm glad we played #1 & 2 early because these guys know how tough its going to be.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

IMO this team would have been better off playing an easier OOC early schedule and ramp it up in a December Holiday tournament but that's water under the bridge. This team had Vescovi fly home for a death, a life changing event, ZZ coming off ACL, new pieces that will be main instrumental players in Knecht & Gainey. IMO after the 13 game pre SEC schedule, the chemistry, the roles and all should be worked out and this team should be fine. Hopefully in March we are saying I'm glad we played #1 & 2 early because these guys know how tough its going to be.

I think that it sets up pretty well for a potentially special season. It’s not going to be linear - there will be advances and regressions. These losses and another potential one at UNC will teach them and humble them. Have pre-conference results that meet expectations. Do well in the conference regular season. Take it to the highest level in the post season. It’s very possible because so many on the roster are new to the program or coming off of injury. Peaking in March is doable.

 

[Col_Cathcart]

Gainey (the player I named in that post) shot 6/19 from 3 in Hawaii, have to hit 48% on that long 2 to make a case it’s a better shot. Gainey was 3/13 for 23% from 2 in Hawaii.

JJJ was 3/11 from 3, have to hit 41% of those long 2’s to be a better shot, he was 4/10 for 40%.

So to your point, even as poorly as we shot from 3 those were still better shots than the 2’s. As a team overall we shot 28.5% from 3, so would need to shoot at least 43% from 2 to make a case…we shot 38.7% from 2.

I’m fine with that distribution from JJJ. Plus his 2s tend to be that 10-12 foot turnaround instead of the 18 foot pull-ups that Gainey was trying. Very different situation

 

[Franklin_Vol09]

We 100% need some iso plays for KNECHT or AIDOO down low. When we go on scoring droughts, we have to have a go to player or set of plays. At least try and get to the free throw line.

 

[cardvolfan]

This team is shooting 77% from the FT line. I see no huge liabilities from the line this year. Get to the line at all costs.

 

[MinisterofDef#92]

We 100% need some iso plays for KNECHT or AIDOO down low. When we go on scoring droughts, we have to have a go to player or set of plays. At least try and get to the free throw line.

I believe Knecht posting up is a key adjustment that needs to be made and I strongly suspect we will see that in certain situations. He is a real threat to score obviously but, if they double, then it will open up the perimeter and/or cutting lanes.

 

[MinisterofDef#92]

This team is shooting 77% from the FT line. I see no huge liabilities from the line this year. Get to the line at all costs.

Exactly...have to find ways to make the game easier at times - attack the paint and create some contact.