Predictions of #1 vs #1 Sunday

[warbirdlover]

Watched Kansas beat Oklahoma and they looked good. :laugh:

 

[zaphod]

What kind of game does KU feature, up tempo open court, Defense, 1/2 court offense, etc, strengths and weaknesses?

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Watched Kansas beat Oklahoma and they looked good. :laugh:

Next to their 2 loses, that was the first close game I have seen from them in a couple months. Pretty scary actually the way OU came back.

What kind of game does KU feature, up tempo open court, Defense, 1/2 court offense, etc, strengths and weaknesses?

If they get the chance they are usually up tempo, open court. They would likely be happy with scores in the 90's. They are a really unusual team for what I am used to with KU in the last 24 years. Although many KU teams have had deep rosters and good in transition, and score alot of points for them alot of this is generated by steals and blocked shots. Never remember them having a team that generates this many steals. Very, very young team.

As far as weaknesses, for what I am used too they lack size underneath, not necessarily height as they do have two impact players at 6'10" and 6'11", but size. Like I said they get alot of blocked shots so they are very athletic. I think their age and maturity is another weakness, probably their biggest, sometimes they are forced into another teams tempo and don't always react well. This happened in the last game against OU when they went up by 17 and OU forced alot of turnovers late when KU tried to keep it going. Bill Self is hard to read, he obviously has alot of talent in recruiting and coach but it is hard to tell if these loses to very easy teams should fall on his shoulders or the age and maturity of the team. The fact that they have mainly freshman and sophmore impact players shows they will be strong for years, but they really do not have any players that can step up and be a leader. Many think Rush is who they should go too, but personally I see Chalmers as the person that could do so.

I have never watched a KU team that I would say has the same ability to take control of games and blow teams out. This team does that more often than not. Half the games I have watched will start fairly close and slow and then they will go on a 15 point run. If the can keep their focus in the early rounds there is no reason they shouldn't make it to the Final 4. In their 15 conference games they have loses to Texas Tech and Texas A&M, which were fairly close. I believe you would have to go all the way back to the first two conference games to find any others that were even reasonably close, or even put me on edge, up to that OU game. Although I think Missouri and OU have always been their biggest rivalries, so anytime you play them on their home court you can likely bet it will be a good game in the end.

 

[fore142]

does florida still deserve a #1 seed??

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

does florida still deserve a #1 seed??

Having lost 3 of their last 4 games to non ranked teams with exception to Vandy who is likely only ranked because of their win against Florida, and the fact that late season games are usually weighted more heavily, I doubt it.

If they should drop their last game to Kentucky, it is likely they may drop to a 3 seed. Currently I would likely take Ohio State, UCLA, Kansas, Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Maybe North Carolina and even Memphis who has won their last 17 games over them in the seedings, but there are still conference tournaments to consider.

 

[fore142]

Having lost 3 of their last 4 games to non ranked teams with exception to Vandy who is likely only ranked because of their win against Florida, and the fact that late season games are usually weighted more heavily, I doubt it.

If they should drop their last game to Kentucky, it is likely they may drop to a 3 seed. Currently I would likely take Ohio State, UCLA, Kansas, Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Maybe North Carolina and even Memphis who has won their last 17 games over them in the seedings, but there are still conference tournaments to consider.

thats pretty much what i was thinking. Its really sad that a team three weeks ago seemed like a lock for the finial four, and now it doesnt look like they really have a chance to get a one seed.

 

[zaphod]

#1 seeds now Ohio State,UCLA, KU,and Wisconsin or NC depending how Wisconsin does against Spartans without Butch ( he's out 4-6 weeks with dislocated elbow). In the end I see teams with very contrasting styles and no completing dominating team. Will be great tourney.:laugh:

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Interesting what a difference a day makes. KU now has control of their own destiny on this one, and still has a lot of work to earn the #1 seed. Texas A&M was one of the KU loses. They were tied with KU for the conference title. Having lost to Texas last night makes it all the more interesting. KU has one game left, against Texas. So conceivably, they could end up in a 3 way tie if Texas knocks off KU, but Texas having beat the other 2 (split with A&M). They also still have a conference tournament. Really as it stands right now you they will likely need to win out, or at least make it to the championship game to be a #1 seed. I guess it's time for them to step up and start the tournament now if they want to show the last two years were just a fluke.

You can probably tell Bill Self still have something to prove to me and I am a little leary to get any bit of confidence. Until he makes it to at least a Sweet 16, they need to make his life miserable in Lawrence seeing as how he signed a 5 year extension this year after two dreadful tournaments. Granted, he has a young team, but they aren't getting any younger and unless he does something this year his recruiting will likely become very tough.

 

[Youngun5]

BIG game against Texas today. KU has a chance to win the Big XII outright and possibly solidify a No. 1 seed in the NCAA.

if they lose there is a 3 way tie atop the Big XII and Texas would have tie breakers over both A&M and KU.

Time for this team to show what they're made of.

 

[Youngun5]

what a game, Durant is without question the best player in college bball, no comparison.

no team in the country would have beaten texas in that first half, 10/12 from 3, jesus....

that must've been one R rated KU locker room at half, but it worked. closed the 12 point gap in what? 3 minutes?

i still fear for this KU team though, they had a solid chance to close this game out with 2 mins to go and didn't. if anything, free throws will be the achilles heel for this team....

ku might've just solidified their no. 1 seed. a strong showing in the Big XII wouldn't hurt though just in case.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

i still fear for this KU team though, they had a solid chance to close this game out with 2 mins to go and didn't. if anything, free throws will be the achilles heel for this team....

I fully agree. I've never understood how KU can always have such poor FT shooting teams. This year seems even worse than the past. I know earlier in the year Self really touched on this in the practices and it seemed to help, but obviously they are not concentrating on this as much now. I can rarely remember one of their teams where FT's did not kill them and figure into almost every loss.

Chalmers is the only impact player that shoots better than 75%, and not by much. I have always been a firm believer that when your team is up by 7-10 points with a couple minutes to go, that no matter how good a player you are, you should likely not be on the court if you shoot less than 70% from the line. Kinda tells you that you need to work on that part of your game if you want to figure into those situations. Unfortunately if KU did this they would not be able to get a full team on the court. Kinda hard to pull a guy out who shoots 60% from the line, and justify it is because of FT's, when the guy you put in only shoots 66%.