Perry Ellis: Quiet Revolutionary

I started researching this post with the intent of proving a hypothesis: #kubball has changed precipitously, for the better, since their January 20^th players-only meeting and the infamous January 22^nd meeting between Coach Self and 4/5 of his then starting five (Perry Ellis, Wayne Selden, Jr., Frank Mason III and Devonte’ Graham).  I expected the statistics to bear out my supposition:   that the team was shooting better, scoring better, and creating better (rebounds, turnovers, assists, FT%, etc.)  In fact, the statistics did bear those things out.  But, as it turns out, when you look more closely, what they actually show is this.  The team isn’t necessarily doing anything better; Perry Ellis is.

Since the 2 meetings, The Jayhawks’ FG% has improved from 44.4% to 50.4%.  That number is even more impressive when you couple it with the fact that, in the 10 games after those meetings, the team is actually making 2 less FG’s per game.  They are just taking 8 less shots.  So they are not only shooting at a better percentage, the team is choosing much better shots to take.  This is compounded by the fact that Frank, Devonte’ and Wayne are actually shooting at a lower percentage than they did in the first 6 games of the conference season, prior to the 2 meetings.  The lone driver of the 12^th straight conference title run is actually Perry Ellis.  Perry missed 50 shots in the 6 conference games prior to the meetings (and road losses at WVU and Ok State).  In the 10 games since (including the non-conference game vs. UK), Perry has only missed 46.  He’s improved his FG% from 44% prior (mirroring the team’s overall FG%), to a mind-blowing 58% after.  To reiterate:  In the last 10 games, Perry Ellis is making 6 out of every 10 shots that he takes.  Amazing.  

 

Another factor in the successful turnaround to the 12^th straight conference title run has been the team’s propensity for 3PG, what coach has previously termed: “Fool’s Gold”.  At 42.3%, Kansas’ Three-Point Field Goal Percentage ranks 4^th in NCAA Division I basketball.  Most Jayhawks’ fans would attribute the turnaround, following the team meetings, to Self s embrace of the long ball, and the team’s improved propensity for making it rain.  That, however, at the team level, is not really true.  Since the team meetings, KU is shooting 39% from 3PG, and taking (and making) 1 less 3PG per game.  To further clarify the data:  since the team meetings, Devonte’ is shooting 9% worse from downtown, (although he’s shot a lot more often).  Wayne Selden is shooting 10% worse from the three since the team meetings.  Svi and BG have made a positive impact from three-point land as of late, but the real driver is once again Perry.  He is 11 of 22 from 3PG in the 10 games since Coach Self pulled in his Fantastic 4.  He’s made 6 more 3’s in the last 10 games than he did in the first 6, on only 10 additional attempts.   That’s no fool’s gold, my friends.

                Thus, the statistics led me to this conclusion: since KU’s players-only meeting and Coach's meeting with his Fantastic 4, in league play, @PElliz has played like the Big 12 POY and carried the team to #12Big12.  It’s as simple as that.

                What’s fascinating about that to me is that very few people are cheerleading for him.  Yes, Bruce Weber noted, after Perry’s heroic and legendary performance in The Dillon’s Sunflower Showdown, that the best player on the best team in the conference should be the POY.  But, that’s really more of a semantic argument.  The player in that assertion is anonymous.  To his credit, after the January 23^rd game, Coach Shaka Smart of #HookEm said, "I don't know why he doesn't get more attention nationally."  It is a great question.  I think that I know the answer.

I recently read the audio version of @susancain “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking” (https://itunes.apple.com/us/audiobook/quiet-power-introverts-in/id493666327).  In it, Dr. Cain analyzes introversion as a personality trait.  She posits the power of introverts as leaders.  For her argument I would suggest that there can be no better case study in the realm of intercollegiate athletic competition than 2015-16 Perry Ellis.  In the best conference in college basketball, Perry has compiled a season where he is Top 10 statistically in scoring, field goal percentage, and rebounds, and 13^th in free throw percentage.  He is the definition of an elite player.  Yet he gets very little national publicity.  Why?  In a world built around alpha males at every level, Perry is quiet.  However unnatural it may be for Perry to be a team leader in an environment demanding of chest bumpers, and floor slappers, he’s done it.  He is the best player on the best team in the best conference.  His school is soon to be #1 in the polls, and, if the winning streak continues, the #1 overall seed in the post-season tournament.  The job that Coach Self has done to foster this introvert, and, in fact, what the young man has done to himself, will largely be overlooked after April of 2016.  It truly should not be.

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk.

What Bill Self learned from Andrew Wiggins

Over the course of the next 6 months, a lot of criticism will be poured upon both Bill Self and Andrew Wiggins. One will be criticized for being beaten, again, by a double-digit lower seed in the NCAA Championship Tournament. The other for ending his amateur career with a tentative performance, shooting only 6 field goals in a game where his teammates (and Coach Self) desperately pleaded for him to take the reins. With the introduction of Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre at October’s Late Night in The Phog, all sins will be forgiven, and Jayhawk Nation will fall at the feet of Coach Self, en route to his 11th consecutive Big 12 Conference Championship. Even before that, on June 26th, the young phenom from Ontario will grace the stage in New York, introduced as one of the very first men chosen to fulfill his dreams and become a millionaire playing a game. Yet, while the criticisms will subside, lessons will have been learned by these two men, and the greater lesson may have been taught by Wiggs, to Coach.

The hang-up with being a National Championship-winning college coach at a blueblood program is that the expectations never lessen. After 11 seasons, no one needs to explain this to Coach Self. No one needs to explain that this is not a curse, but a blessing. With all of the criticisms, with all of the expectations, come great, great rewards, not the least of which is that there isn’t a recruited athlete out there who might not choose Kansas. Walking into the home of a high school athlete as the head coach at KU puts you on a plane enjoyed by very few of your peers. Having said all of that, I don’t believe that anyone was more surprised that Andrew chose to come to Kansas than Bill Self. On May 14th, 2013, the number 1 recruit of his class, announced with zero media presence, that he was going to take his talents high above the golden valley. Young Wiggs had kept this choice completely to himself and the decision to go to Lawrence was a big shock. "There hasn't been a ton of communication between the college coaches and Andrew," his high school coach said. "I think they'd all probably tell you they don't really know where they stand." Interviews with Self on May 14th confirmed that Self had no idea.

Even more, Self had to not expect that such a thing would happen. Glitzy, celebrity recruits don’t come to KU. He had missed on Julius Randle, he had missed on Aaron Gordon, and he had missed on Jabari Parker. Yes, he had secured Wayne Selden, Jr., but Wayne fit the Self-era mold better; an understated hungry kid, if a McDonald’s All-American can be such a thing. B.Rush, Selby, and B-Mac were big-time recruits, big-time gets for Coach Self and his staff. But all of them had eligibility issues, and the fanfare and hoopla associated with them was never in the same universe as that of Maple freaking Jordan.

When Andrew descended upon Mount Oread, so did the national sports media, and the celebrity paparazzi, as well. No sooner was Andrew under Self’s tutelage then Gentlemen’s Quarterly showed up to do a spread, and before the kid have even played in his 1st college game, SI put him on the cover. There’s fanfare, and then there is 21st Century star-fucking, and America was gonzo over Andrew Wiggins. It became pretty clear, pretty quickly, that the teenage Wiggins was not prepared for, not comfortable with, and not feeling the celebrity attention poured upon him. The young man did his best, but, this was not something that he was prepared to do.

Coordinately, this was a new experience for Self. The sports media has always found a 2nd home at Allen Fieldhouse. College Gameday and Sports Illustrated covers were nothing new for Coach. But, Wiggs was the product of the biggest hype machine since LeBron James. In the Twitter age, this hype transcends sports and the sports media. Self’s aw shucks Okie mannerisms can translate well to Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale, because basketball is basketball, but schmoozing with GQ photogs was far out of his comfort zone. Coach Self discovered quickly that this was not helpful for the team or the young man. Very early in the process, Coach squashed the myth-building of Maple Jordan. This is where the learning began. For both men.

“He’s a terrific talent, but an even better kid.” This is the statement that Coach Self made, introducing young Wiggins to the University of Kansas. For those of us who have been around Coach, this was a throw away statement. Classic Bill. And, on the surface, there really is nothing special about the statement, at all. In reality, this sentiment is exactly why the kid chose the coach. Wiggins stated that the relationship that he developed with Coach Self in the recruiting process was the best of all. And that was exactly why. The understanding that the development of Andrew from a teenager into a man is a large part of the learning process that Andrew was looking for. Wiggs came to Lawrence for sanctuary from the media storm, and for Coach to show him, not only how to be a man, but to be The Man. I don’t think, at that moment, in that situation, Bill understood the depth of what that task would involve. On March 23, 2014, he understands.

Maybe more important than that, Coach Self learned that he could handle the shit show that comes from housing these prima donna, one-and-done, constructs of the high school recruiting/365-day college basketball reporting complex. Along with Calipari and Krzyzewski, Bill was now in a different stratosphere of the college coaching ranks. For a coach who stresses loyalty, and commitment, and champions the family mentality within his team, so much so that “Family Over Everything” is his mantra, this is a strange dichotomy. And yet, amongst his team, amongst his booster base, amongst the sports media, and amongst his peers, the two seem to have married up just fine. And don’t fool yourself: in spite of the 1st weekend dismissal, that status is cemented for him.

But that’s not the lesson that Wiggs taught Self. That may, or may not, have been an exercise of self-understanding for Coach Self going into the process, but it seems that a whole different lesson unfolded before him. By hook or crook, the usual approach that Coach has used to shape these young men was not appropriate for this young phenom. Sure, the hopes of the Wiggins family were that Bill would impart the toughness upon young Andrew that he had done with so many of the program’s protégés before him. And Bill took up that mantle, right from the beginning. But this is not a normal kid. And the toughness, nee the manhood, that needed to be taught to young Andrew was not the only lesson that this student-athlete needed. Yes, more so than Brandon, than Josh Selby, than Xavier and CJ and Carl and Barbara, than Maclemore or Joel, Andrew was upper middle class suburban; entitled, but not dismissive, heralded, but not gratuitous, antsy, but not sheepish. In spite of the entire world of differences, this celebrity superstar was a very identifiable teenager to him, not unlike his own son Tyler, but completely different. This was going to be a test for Self that was unlike any other he’d had in coaching, and Wiggs celebrity status had very little to do with it.

For those who are familiar with Coach Self, and his Selfisms, it is common knowledge that the most insulting thing that he can call a player is “soft”. The nastiest of four letter words in the Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball program. He has, on many previous occasions, gotten the best out of his young and impressionable players by challenging their manhood. For many, this would be the reason that Wiggs chose Self, and this was going to be the lesson that Wiggs needed to learn to get to the next level. For a long time, Self himself believed this, and was unrelenting in this approach. But that’s not the nature of this athlete. The thing that makes him that terrific kid, even more terrific than his talent, and the thing that identifies him most of all, is his kindness and goodness as a young man. This temperament and approach were of no relation to the fictional construct of the celebrity hype machine, the character: Wiggins. Self came to learn that these attributes that distinguished Andrew Wiggins, the young student athlete, were inseparable from Wiggs, his sensational freshman small forward. Not only were they inseparable, they were noble and worthy. In a revolution of Self’s technique, he began to foster these character traits, to coddle and elevate the nature of the man, even in front of his teammates. In doing so, Andrew Wiggins got what he needed from Coach Self. He was assured of his security from the media onslaught, he learned how to be a man, both on the court and in the locker room, and, most importantly, he learned that it was ok to be himself: gracious, deferential, and accommodating, in spite of his otherworldly gifts. This is when Andrew flourished, down the stretch, posting games of 29 and 41 points against Texas and WVU. In spite of the hay that will be made about his 1-for-6 swan song versus Stanford, Wiggins got what he needed from Self.

In doing so, Coach Self learned the biggest lessons that he’s learned yet in coaching. That he can do it. He can shape his message to accommodate the needs of the athlete. No matter the need, no matter the level of athlete. He can make them better.

Prior to Andrew Wiggins, no basketball player that came to Kansas was bigger than Coach Bill Self. But Andrew was. That is a situation that Coach Self had never been in, and never had to respond to. In doing so, I believe that he has convinced himself that it is a situation that he can excel in. That is the situation present in nearly every NBA organization. And, if it has been as eye-opening as I think it has, I would imagine that the urge to test those waters is more prevalent than ever for Bill. He can take these young celebrities blessed with the gifts of gods, and make them better. There may be no better reward than that.

That is what Wiggs taught Bill.

Requiem

It’s over.  Just like that, it’s all over.  For Jayhawk Nation, these “Day Afters” are always rough.  For so many of us, our blood, sweat, and tears are committed to 18-22 year old young men (or in Travis’ case 25 year old men), and millionaire coaches.  Their recovery is quicker than ours.  This is especially true today, after a loss like this, where we snatched defeat from the jaws of clear victory.  The haters, who have to revel in our misery for they have no success of their own to appreciate, think that it’s witty to shout “Rock Choke”, but such comments recognize that merely being one of the best 16 schools in America is far short of the expectations placed upon us.  That’s a good problem to have.  But, even the realization of persistent superiority isn’t what we need today.  What Jayhawk Nation needs today is catharsis.  Thus, I offer you this:  in your bewilderment and disappointment, don’t lose sight of what your school accomplished this year.

1. We were all witness to Elijah’s 39.  Mr. Big Shot on Big Monday.  As hostile of an environment as you’ll find in any sport.  Not just because the Idiots Out Wandering Around have nothing better to do, but because it’s Kansas.  Every farmer east of Des Moines, along with Mel Weatherwax, will turn off Duck Dynasty and make their way to Hilton for a shot at The Champs.  In that environment, a man has to take over.  And he did.  Coach Bill Self said it was the greatest offensive performance he’s witnessed at Kansas.  Mine, too.  And I’ve been here longer.  I’m so, so thankful to have witnessed that.
   
2. #Flight23.  @Humb1e_Hungry23.  The kid’s a one-and-done.  Our other experiences with one-and-dones (Xavier and Selby) have not generated the kind of love that Jayhawk Nation feels for this kid.  Why?  Simple: results.  The bank shot heard round the world was one of the Top 5 moments of KU basketball history for me.  We watched Ben follow up EJ’s 39 with 37 of his own to break Danny Manning’s freshman single-game scoring record.  Ben will leave Lawrence as the all-time highest scoring freshman in Kansas basketball history He could become the highest drafted Jayhawk in the NBA amateur draft this summer.  He could become the best pro since The Truth.  And somehow we’re all okay with that.  I’d say a lot of this is the character of the man, where he came from, how he’s handled himself.  It’s the only way that I can explain how we’re okay with putting a kid who played less than 40 games in a KU uniform in the same breath as Manning and Pierce.  And I’m so, so thankful to have witnessed it.
   
3. We were all witness to a new all-time Big 12 shot blocking record.  I wouldn’t have bet a buffalo nickel that this floppy-haired skinny volleyball player from California would become the most prolific shot-blocker in conference history.  I mean, 2011-12 was magical for us, and, because of T-Rob and Tyshawn, we lose sight of Jeff’s records – 31 blocked shots in NCAA tourney, and 140 blocks on the year.  He finished off 2012-13 with 265 blocks and was, for the second straight season, the Big 12 Defensive Player of The Year.  And, I’m so, so thankful to have witnessed that.
   
4. We all witnessed Coach Self’s 500^th win as a head coach (at Iowa Stae) and 300^th as head coach at Kansas (vs UNC).  That would be 30 wins a year for 10 years, except, to put it in more perspective he didn’t win 30 games here until season 4.  He is unequivocally the best in the business today, but receives very little pub, which is good for us.  We have been to 24 straight NCAA tournaments.  We have played 38 games as a Number 1 seed, an NCAA record.  We will have one of the top 2 incoming freshman classes in America for 2013-14.  All because of Bill Self.  I’m so, so thankful to have witnessed that.
   
5. 9 Straight.  Every college hoops “expert” came out of the woodwork in a lathered fury to pile on the three straight conference losses.  Oklahoma State was in the driver’s seat.  Kansas State was in the driver’s seat.  We still had to go to Gallagher-Iba and Hilton.  The streak was over.  Guess what?  Nine.  Motherfucking.  Straight.  Try again next year, bitches.  I’m just thankful to have witnessed that.

So, find your catharsis in this Jayhawk Nation:  Rosters change, expectations don’t. 

Up next: Ten Straight.

Rock Chalk, Jayhawks.   

Contrary to reports, the sky is not falling...

Look: we are a number one seed.  We are the second overall seed.  We are coming off of a Big 12 Tournament in which Tyler Self got on the floor in all three games played.  In the last 30 days we have seen a 39 point masterpiece by Elijah, followed up by a 37 point masterpiece by Ben.  We witnessed the emergence of Perry Ellis as an offensive contributor.  So, the expectations are high.  However, all of those things:  A.) Followed a much-publicized 3-game losing streak, and B.) Occurred on the national scene.  All of these things, in conjuction with a season-ending dismantling at Baylor, and 2011’s South Regional final loss to VCU, 2010’s loss to UNI, 2006’s loss to Bradley, and 2005’s loss to Bucknell have ESPN's College Hoops bloggers ready to discount the Jayhawks.  But the truth is this:  KU won both games this weekend, and they won both of them very much the way that they have won games all year long.  And, if The Hawks are going to win at Jerryworld, I’m afraid to inform you, that the games at The Sprint Center are very reflective of what lies ahead.  Furthermore, you shouldn’t be afraid of that.  So, the sooner that you disregard the “experts” and get your asshole unpuckered, the more fun that this thing is going to be.

                Every single college basketball analyst at ESPN, other than Jason King, has not typed the word Kansas this week, without following that with “TCU”.  These guys (and gal), who have seen little of KU during the regular season; continue to harken back to that fateful night in early February in Fort Worth.  For them, the season begins and ends with that awful loss.  You cannot possibly take KU serious, because when is that team that lost to TCU going to reemerge?  But the simple answer to that is: Likely never.  The truth is, on February 6^th, Kansas shot 30% from the field.  It has only shot below 40% since then once, the loss at Baylor.  But, in that loss at Baylor, the 38% FG% from KU was not the reason for their loss.  They allowed The Bears to shoot 58% from the field, which is 13% higher than they let anyone else shoot in conference play, and 17% higher than anyone since then.  It is 26% higher than they let anyone shoot in the opening weekend of March Madness.  But, to my original point, the comparisons to our TCU loss have no bearing on where the team is now.  They shot 44% from the field against UNC, and 48% against WKU.  Removing the TCU loss, where we shot 30%, the team shot between 38% and 57% throughout conference play.  The 48% that the team shot against WKU, where the ESPN crew began their TCU tirade, was merely 1% lower than we shot in the Big 12 Championship game.  A Tyler Self game.  Thus, the cries of “the sky is falling” in regards to our offense are both unfounded, and not supported by the data.

                Here is where our efforts must be focused in Arlington:  Opponents’ FG%.  It has been our bread and butter all season, and must continue to be.  Over the course of the entire season, only 5 opponents have shot 42% from the field or greater: Michigan State (52%), at Texas (45%), Okie State in The Phog (43%), at OU (45%), and at Baylor (58%).  All of those are losses except for at Texas, which would have/should have been a loss, had The Horns not shot 25% from the charity stripe.  So, that is your marker for Friday night.  The Hawks must limit Michigan to 42% from the field or lower.  If we do that, we should win.

                Keep in mind, we’re likely to shoot somewhere between 38% and 57% from the field ourselves, so, if it happens to be on the low end of that, we’ll be biting our nails.  If it’s closer to 57%, we’ll be drinking Ad Astras and screaming “We want Tyler”.  Either way, if we limit The Wolverines to 42% FG%, we’ll be playing on Sunday for the South Region title.

                The sweet justice in that is that we’ll be doing it mere miles from Fort Worth.  Perhaps one of those “experts” could actually make a trip to TCU for the first time.

Big 12 Tournament Primer

            This weekend is a true contradiction for me.  As an institution: I loath the conference tournament.  The weekend discredits all of the hard-fought victories of the conference season, which, as a throwback guy, I put so much emphasis upon.  As a KU fan, the wins at The Octagon of Doom, Hilton, and Gallagher-Iba Arena were as difficult and as meaningful victories as you’re going come by.  In any sport.  So, to make them relatively meaningless is a philosophical chasm for me.  Plus, Jayhawk fans have had to deal with the catcalls of the loss to Topeka YMCA, and the cries about the missed foul call on Elijah.  I don’t want all of that caterwauling to have been for naught.  And the 9 Straight.  That’s an important thing to Jayhawk fans.  Like, gutturally important.

            So, now I’ll offer you this:  I love the Big 12 Tournament.  Like, it’s my favorite sporting event of the year.  The culmination of those aforementioned games is metastasized at The Sprint Center.  All in one weekend.  We will potentially have a Friday evening primetime double feature that will include KU/ISU3 and KState/OkState3.  How could you possibly want more than that?  With TCU and WVU out of the field, we have a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of traditional Big 12 opponents who really, really dislike one another.  And, by the way, have had some of the most closely contested conference games in all of college basketball for 2012-13.  I’m all geeked up over it.

            The Big 12 Tournament does offer us a picture of what to expect over the next month, though.  NCAA Tournament is really a collection of 3 consecutive 2-game tournaments.  The rounds of 64 and 32 will very much resemble Thursday’s contest; half-empty arena, heavy with KU fans, against a team with very little chance of scratching The Hawks.  The Sweet 16 and Elite 8 will very closely resemble Friday’s atmosphere; impassioned fans and lots of TV timeouts.  So if we’re trying to measure what’s in store for this version of Self’s Jayhawks, there’s no better measuring stick than this weekend.

            But let’s be real.  All we really care about is this:  who can beat Kansas?  It is, as usual for the Big 12 Tournament, Kansas versus The Field.  And, based upon trends, Kansas is a safer bet than The Field.  But maybe not this year.  Every sports writer in America seems to be jumping on Marcus Smart and Oklahoma State.  We’ll see…

            We start on Thursday with Texas Tech, so that’s where I’ll start:

            How the Red Raiders beat KU: They don’t.  I mean, if KU comes out like they did on Senior Night, a game which ended 79-42, this is going to be Tyler’s first Big 12 Tournament action.  Even in that game, the Red Raiders held KU to 13-10 for 10 minutes.  But 4 Jayhawks went for double-digits, Elijah had 12 assists, and KU out-rebounded Tech by 22.  At one point KU led by forty.  So, if that iteration of the 2012-13 Hawks appears, the limited number of Tech fans (and the vast number of KU haters) will have a very, very short day. 

            However, if they can simulate the game in Lubbock, it won’t be as ugly.  There the Red Raiders held KU scoreless for over 11 minutes in the first half, and only allowed 27 total first half KU points.  Unfortunately for them, Tech only scored 25 points of their own, and Jaye Crockett only accounted for 3 points, for the night.  In order for this team to test Kansas, they have to work the perimeter, create transition baskets and limit second chance opportunities.  Coordinately, they have to not allow Kansas to control the paint or the tempo.  Either of those scenarios will be fatal for Tech.  And, with the team that they field, they aren’t up to that task.  Sorry. 

            Prediction:  Chants of “We want Tyler”, and a much extended version of The Rock Chalk Chant around 4pm CDT.

            Where to watch:  I would say, ideally, in The Sprint Center.  It is a very nice arena.  But, I’m not a huge live sporting event guy.  It will be $15 for a CAN of mass-produced beer.  The wifi is sketchy, and there will be a ton of empty seats for the early Thursday session.  It will not be the best environment.

            The next best bet is Power & Light across the street.  The Alumni Association watch party and pep rallies will be at Z-Strike, formerly Lucky Strike.  I went last year, and the seating is really limited.  A bunch of JoCo codgers from the 70’s drinking Chardonnay.  Meh.  But, the pep rallies are fun, and there is a nice KU Bookstore remote kiosk set up for buying gear.  Just down the street is Johnny’s, which is a favorite for Lawrence transplants.  Great place to watch a game, and great KU crowd.  Plus, the pizza is damned good.  But, it’ll be full, early.  So good luck.  Another great option is The Cashew, down past The Crossroads at 19^th and Grand.  Good KU crowd, good environment, and good drinks.  But, for me, the Power & Light experience begins, and ends, at The Flying Saucer.  Get there early enough and you can sit on the couch.  The food is good, they have hundreds of beers on tap, and the Beer Knerd staff is dressed as Catholic schoolgirls.  ‘Nuff said.  Plus, on Friday, when it is 70 degrees, they’ll roll up the garage doors.  Do it.

            Of course, many of us won’t want to leave Johnson County.  If that’s the case, I’d recommend the Johnny’s in Olathe.  For all of the reasons that I recommended it at P&L, plus it’s neither in the congestion of P&L nor in North Lawrence.  Really a great place.  Or you could just do what I’ll do: a Casey’s pizza, a 6 of Shiner, Centurylink wifi and DirecTV HD on a Samsung HDTV.  The beer is cheaper, the picture is perfect, and the company is great!!!  Rock Chalk, Jayhawks. 

These Are Dark Times There Is No Denying

Okay. It is so bad that I have quoted Rufus Scrimgeour. Please kill me. So, now let me bring you all back. There has been, and will continue to be, comparisons to the '04-'05 season. That was the last time that KU lost 3 games in a row. How spoiled are we that that is the case? But I digress... All of the haters are ready to assign a first round loss to Bradley for the '12-'13 unit. Guess what: this ain't that team. That team was Bill Self's first recruiting class + Roy's old boys. Wayne Simien, God love him, was the anchor of that crew, and he was never, ever healthy. Keith Langford was hurt in the UK game - I know, I was there. Alex Galindo got a lot of minutes, the next season he was lost to transfer and oblivion. Giddens was our shooter, and then he got in a knife fight at The Moon Bar, and wound up in New Mexico and oblivion. CJ Giles was an anchor in the paint, then he dragged his girl down the steps of her apartment and wound up in Oregon and then oblivion. The lone professional on that team was Wayne, who was damaged goods from his sophomore season on. To summarize, there is no comparison. Our current team has 2 lottery picks: Withey and McLemore. In all likelihood, Perry Ellis will eventually be a high draft choice. I believe Elijah Johnson will be paid to play. The '07-'08 National Championship team had 7 NBA selections on the roster. It's unlikely that this squad will match that, but the whole semantics of college basketball has changed. So, you can dispense of that nonsense, haters. Nonetheless, as the title suggests: these are the dark times. Maybe moreso, because this is not the '04-'05 team. Let's look at our 4 losses: First,our loss at The Champions Classic in Atlanta to Tom Izzo's Michigan State. For starters, there are very few guys who have an edge on Coach Self, but this was the 3rd consecutive loss to Izzo for Self. The Spartans outshot the Hawks 52%-50%, which was high for both squads, and KU actually outshot Sparty from beyond the 3. Down the stretch, the Spartans made their FT's, and The Jayhawks did not. KU seemed to control most of regulation, but the Spartans had alligator blood, they kept hanging around. In the end it was a circus shot from Keith Appling that won the game, a contest that came down to one possession. Certainly no cause for alarm. Now, we have the 3-game losing streak. The cause for alarm is great. However, the losses are so individually different. The Oklahoma State loss stings. It broke the 2nd longest consecutive home winning streak. We outshot the Pokes from beyond the 3, and from the charity stripe. The FG% was 41/43, in their favor. As stated in my previous post - we just got beaten by a NBA lottery pick and 4 solid role players supporting him. It's happened to us so seldomly, but with a recurring theme, in the Bill Self era. It happens. Then, there was the trip to Fort Worth. I couldn't describe their offensive futility in the 1st half any more eloquently than Coach did, so I will not try. Our 14% from 3 was only bested by our 10% in the opener against SEMO. However, we limited SEMO to 29%/25% from the field and 3, respectively. It is shocking how badly we played in the SEMO game, yet we forced them to play worse. We were outshot by 9% from the floor and 17% from the 3 against Texas Christian, which is amazing, because they shot so poorly. To reiterate the line that I have been saying all week: my mother coached JV girls. I have seen really, really bad basketball. This was the worst basketball that I've ever seen. There has not been a loss like that in The Bill Self era. Hell, there has not been a loss like that in Kansas Basketball history. So, then the question was: how will they respond now? A lot of ado will be given to the third consecutive loss. But truly, it was much more reflective of the first loss, against Izzo. Lon Kruger has not been to The Dance with 4 different schools by accident. He decided to force KU out of the paint, to equalize the superiority KU held down low, especially in light of Kansas' struggles to score. It was a brilliant manuever. Self was slow to adjust to the triangle-and-2, and when the bigs started hitting from deep again, he was slow to adjust out of it. OU improved their FG% from 36% at AFH, to 45% in Norman. They also improved 25% to 35% their 3-point percentage. Having said that, KU outshot them from the floor, and nearly matched them from beyond the arc. The difference on Saturday was at the free throw line. KU had its worst performance there since the Tennessee-Chattanooga game, where they shot a measly 53% from the line. The team meeting seemed to have pulled them out of their doldrums from the floor, but they could not overcome their free throw ineptitude. Needless to say, I believe that the suggestion may have been made on the flight home, that on their mandatory day off, the team may be shooting some free throws. So, that brings us to Monday night. KU will likely, and unbelievably be the lower ranked school in the contest. They will for the first time, in a long time, not be leading the Big XII Conference. They will unexplicably likely be home underdogs at The Phog. How will they deal with that? I'd answer with the numbers. In game one, at The Octagon of significantly-less-than-Doom, the Hawks were outshot at the line by 24%. If that happens, EMAW will steal one in The Sunflower Showdown. KU shot 62% from the stripe at home versus OU. Then dropped to 55% in Lloyd Noble. If they see the same drop-off on Big Monday, they will lose their fourth in a row. From a defensive perspective, the Jayhawks allowed OU to shoot 36% from the field in their victory at Allen. On Saturday, the Sooners improved to a FG% of 45%. In OOD, EMAW shot a weak 35%. If they improve the 9% that OU did, it will be tough for Kansas to overcome. So, as much time is being spent on Kansas' offensive woes, what restoration comes down to is something that Coach Bill Self is the very best at teaching. If they tighten up on the defensive end and make their free throws, they will be right back to form, and the sun will break through the clouds on Mount Oread. I promise.

Actually... it is Elijah's fault.

Saturday's loss to The Pokes felt familiar. I mean it shouldn't have felt familiar, this team has only lost 2 games. The Michigan State loss was nothing like what happened Saturday. In that game, the Hawks shot 50% from the field and got good contributions at the guard position. Elijah led the team had a team-high 16, plus 27 more points from the other guards. Kansas led for most of the way, up until Keith Appling hit a circus layup with 13.5 seconds left. No, there was nothing similar in the loss in Atlanta in November to the heartbreaker in Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday. Yet, it did feel strikingly reminiscent of Bill Self Kansas losses. And that's because it was. Although this was a conference game in Allen Fieldhouse, it really shook out just like those brutal non-conference games to mid-major squads that always seem to bite us. Northern Iowa, VCU, Davidson in the Sprint Center last year, that's what this felt like. Because that's what it was like. Many of our critics will say, they've been flirting with this inevitability for a while now. That their dry spells on the offensive end of the court was destined to catch up with them. But the woes that have afflicted Kansas in conference play, were not what hurt us on Saturday. This team scored 80 points in regulation. It had not done that since the American game. What happened against The Pokes was inevitable, but not because of their offensive stagnations as of late. No, what transpired on Saturday reflects the loses that have been a trend of the Self-era, and they fulfill the same failings. In the 2010 NCAA tourney, KU lost its round of 32 match-up against 9-seed UNI. The cavalcade of critics went unhinged. But, there's a correlation between that loss, and Saturday. In the 2011 Southwest Region final, #1 Kansas was upset by 11-seed VCU. Once again, the haters rejoiced. And what happened in the Alamodome that March, was reminiscent of what transpired on Saturday. In KU's home-away-from-home The Sprint Center, in December of 2011, the heralded Jayhawks dumped a sure victory to a very average Davidson team. They have yet to live down that loss. In all of those losses, there is a recurring theme: a career performance from an opposing guard, and an all-time abysmal appearance by one of our guards. Against the Panthers, Ali Farokhmanesh made the cover of SI, scoring 16 historic points, including 4 of 10 from 3-pt range. On the other side, Sherron and Tyshawn went a combined 4 of 21 from the field, and 0 for 11 from 3. More specifically, Tyshawn went 0 for 11 from the field himself, including 0 for 5 from 3. I was there, and in 2010 all of the scoring went through Sherron and Cole, but numbers tell us that Tyshawn lost us that game. The VCU game was so frighteningly similar to the UNI loss, it was chilling. The numbers were much more skewed in this one, but the bottom line was the same. The Jayhawks shot only 10% from 3, and the Rams' bench outscored us 22 to 3. But, the underlying theme was this: one of their players, PF Jamie Skeen scored a career-high 26 points, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range. By contrast, our shooting guards, Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed combined for 2 of 16 from the field. Morningstar finished with 2 points. He was brutal. Then there was last year's Davidson loss. In it, G Nik Cochran went for 21, and 4 of 5 from 3. He averaged less than 11 P/G for the season and made an average of 1 3-pointer. It's the kind of thing that only happens in these games. Conversely, Self, early in the season, leaned on Conner Teahan, in a shooter's role. He attempted 9 in this game, making 2. If blames rests anywhere, it was squarely with Con-ner. Tea-han. That brings is to Saturday. Markel Brown blew up for 28 points, and 7 3's. Seven. And, contrary to what Coach Self wants us to believe, it was Elijah who killed us, going 3 of 14 from the field. He was awful, and he cost us the game. Of course, I'm being facetious. What these losses truly have in common is Coach Self, himself. Now, I am the first one to laud praise upon Bill, he is the best active coach in America. But in these circumstances, he is too slow to react to a hot hand on the opponent, and too slow to make a move to find a hot hand on his own team. He made great defensive adjustments to shut down Brown in the 2nd half, and he did. Those adjustments needed to be made before he scores 22 points in the 1st half. Also, Andrew White was terrific down the stretch. Coach cannot wait so long to pull the trigger on that. There is too much talent on this bench to allow someone to go 3 for 14, or let us go down 14 points. Bottom line: I'm not one for criticizing National Champion Head Coach Bill Self, but I've seen enough of these exact same losses to recognize his weakness. For 6 wins in March to happen, he has to recognize it, also.