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Men's Basketball

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Wright makes right

Penalized soph sits, responds

By Gary Bedore

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Late for practice Friday, Julian Wright knew there'd be a penalty to pay Saturday night in Allen Fieldhouse.

"Coach tells us you've got to be on time," said Wright, Kansas University's sophomore forward, banished to the bench at the start of a game for the first time this season as punishment for being late for a Friday workout.

"It was not real late. Sometimes coach is early. Sometimes he's a little late. It was my fault. I should have been there on time."

Informed at a morning shootaround that Rodrick Stewart would be taking his place in Saturday's starting lineup against Rhode Island, Wright didn't brood.

Instead he erupted for a career-high 23 points in 31 minutes in an 80-69 victory over the Rams, surpassing his old career high of 21 points against Florida.

"On our team, it's not who starts," Wright said. "It's producing when your number is called."

Some might have accused Wright of showing up late for Saturday's game. He scored four points with three rebounds in 13 minutes during the first half as KU led, 30-22, at the break.

But he erupted for 19 points off 8-of-10 shooting the second 20 minutes, including 12 points in the first six minutes of the half.

Wright had two length-of-the-floor layups to go with an assortment of shots inside and out.

"I was trying to run the floor. I got a lot of baskets in transition," said Wright, who along with Brandon Rush (19 points) tallied 42 of KU's 80 points. "They shot a lot of threes, and the floor was spread out. It was an open court. My teammates found me with some good passes."

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2006-07 Dec. 30 KU-URI Hoops

Freshman Sherron Collins, who started the second half in place of the flu-ridden Russell Robinson, had 11 points and five assists in his 16-minute second-half stint. He had two dishes to Wright for hoops in Wright's early second-half surge. KU (12-2) finished the second half with 50 points.

"Julian was terrific. He did a great job of making shots and getting rebounds," coach Bill Self said of Wright, who had eight rebounds on a night the Rams (7-7) outrebounded Kansas, 43-42, including a 32-20 advantage the first half.

"Sherron was great outside of one or two plays. I thought it was his best game."

Of the sitting of Wright to start the game, Self indicated, "We had a time-management issue with three athletes the last couple of days: Julian, Darnell (Jackson) and Shady (Darrell Arthur)," Self said, indicating Jackson and Wright were late Friday and Arthur was tardy Saturday.

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KU vs. Rhode Island

"They were all separate issues. It's one thing we've tried to do, emphasize being responsible. Nothing major, just guys late."

As far as assessing KU's game, Self had to lament the Jayhawks once again not putting away a team that was wobbling on various occasions.

KU used a 13-0 run in a nine-minute stretch of the first half to grab a 30-14 lead. However, Rhode Island closed the half, 8-0, to cut it to eight by halftime.

Also, KU led by 17 (60-43) with 9:09 to play, but Rhode Island immediately cutting the gap to 11, at 60-49, at 8:14. It was still just a 10-point game with a minute left.

"It's what I spent 15 minutes after the game talking to the team about. That was a 30-point game," Self said. "We had chances to crack it open. Our guys are competitive. We're not doing a good job of suffocating folks when we have the opportunity. We had the opportunity tonight and Thursday (in 63-43 win over Detroit). You let teams hang around, they can beat you.

"If you take away their free throws, offensive rebounds and our lack of killer instinct, that was as good as we have played in a long time," Self concluded.

The Jayhawks will not play again until a week from today at South Carolina. Tipoff is 3:30 p.m. Central Time in Columbia, S.C.

KU vs. Rhode Island

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Comments

jaybate (anonymous) says...

A decent game against a 7 and 6 trey team that couldn't shoot their average on treys. It would have been closer had Rhode Island shot their average, but still a KU win nevertheless.

Maybe the win was even better than decent considering starting PG Robinsion played only 9 minutes because of flu.

Despite Julian's productive offense , Brandon's continued re-grooving, and Mario's continued steadyness, Collins seems the best news out of this game. Yes, he was productive offensively, but he is that on and off. The good news was that in 27 minutes he had 5 assists and only one TO. The freshman starts to mature. Could he have pulled a 5-1 without Chalmers on duty? Not likely. But this is still a significant step for him.

Speaking of Chalmers, 5 steals is something to crow about, even against Rhode Island.

Dark cloud? Only a little grey one. KU was out rebounded by one and outrebounded on offensive boards 20-15. But this can happen when a team hoists 26 treys and only makes 34%. Long rebounds can be squirel-ly.

South Carolina a week from now in South Carolina is a good time for a road game against a respectable team. The flu should be gone by then, though some of the stuff that's going around causes lower intestinal problems for a couuple weeks or more. And week of practice should fine tune them. The travel should get them used to hopping around during the conference games.

A win would give them a lot of confidence.

December 31, 2006 at 3:31 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jbrownjib (anonymous) says...

Jaybate, nice job on the recap. I live in Atl, GA and was not able to catch the game. You did a good job of accessing it and breaking it down for me.

December 31, 2006 at 7:33 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

mitch (anonymous) says...

Good analysis, jaybate. There were definitely some bright moments. Nice to see less struggling at the line. other than a couple of embarrassing tosses by Kaun. The mental breakdown at the end of the first half must not be repeated or they willl give away some wins this season. They also can't afford to simply pass the ball around the perimeter, take one shot, and not be in position for the rebound, all without an attempt to penetrate on most possessions. There were flashes of brilliance on a number of occasions. If they can learn to repeat and extend those times, they willl do well, especially if they can simultaneously decrease the number of times they appear to check their brains at the door. Focus, intensity, good basketball IQ, and improved clock management all need to occur on a more consistent basis. The couple of possessions down the stretch where they milked the clock and made their shots were absolutely heartwarming. It also was one of the key factors in negating the flurry of treys by RI in the closing minutes, along with making most of their free throw attempts during this same time. Go 'Hawks!

December 31, 2006 at 7:46 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

mcoan (anonymous) says...

I said at the beginning of the game that we should win this by at least 20 if we're any good. Oops. I agree completely with coach's statement: ""It's what I spent 15 minutes after the game talking to the team about. That was a 30-point game," Self said. "We're not doing a good job of suffocating folks when we have the opportunity. We had the opportunity tonight and Thursday (in 63-43 win over Detroit). You let teams hang around, they can beat you."

But our team only cares if their opponent is a a Top 50 school....little teams, they barely show up for. Lazy, unmotivated.

December 31, 2006 at 8:04 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Sanity (anonymous) says...

Mitch, It is the ball that moves the zone, not the players. It is not necessary to have a guard dribble-penetrate into the zone. In fact. a dribble is often slower than the pass and his defender may congest spacing that the bigs might need to seal their men and get open to receive his pass. In Self's high/low, the ball certainly reverses or skips around the perimeter. It is however the ball, that must go inside and be redistributed or fanned to move the zone. Fanning is passing from the baseline to a fellow diving high post, to the small at the top of the key, or usually cross court to the opposite wing, who should be open if his man sagged to help on the diving big.

Self suggests the best reason to practice a zone, is so your players can practice playing against it. Usually he practices 10 minute every other day on the zone. Recent practices have paid off. Next time you see the zone attacked, watch what the bigs do as the ball moves around the perimeter. They will bleed or X depending on whether the ball is pased or skipped around the perimeter. They will also crackdown to screen the fellow big's man so he can flash to the ball. Watch how the bigs pin the weakside wing's man inside as he helps so he cannot recover as the ball is fanned from the opposite baseline across to the open, squared up weak side wing. This is only a small part of what is actually going on.

When Aaron Miles and Wayne Simien played, Aaron would pass to one side and cut toward the goal and end up on the opposite baseline. Under those circumstances, the high post helped reverse the ball after sprinting to the top of the key. As the ball swung to the wing on Aaron's side and then to Aaron on the baseline, Aaron would feed Wayne for five footers. Again, the ball moved the zone and this time the best feeder made the open pass from an inverted location.

It should however be remembered that this offense demands shooters who can make the open squared up shots that they did not have to create themselves. Most importantly, it needs bigs who keep their bodies on the defender so they can feel them. They must be able to seal their defender farther in the direction that he overplays them, either for shots or so space can be created for ball entry into the inner zone. They must also be able to hit those point blank open shots, because offensive rebounding position, may be a weakness if they miss.

Next time, don't worry about dribble penetration, watch the bigs. They are the key to what will happen next.

December 31, 2006 at 11:08 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KBReyn06 (anonymous) says...

I thought this game was really fun to watch, especially in the second half. Our ball movement was amazing and led to some easy baskets. It looked like they were playing hard on both ends of the court for the entire game. Its hard to call them unmotivated after seeing all of them play good defense and run the court like they do. They definately aren't lazy.

December 31, 2006 at 11:43 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

tdub (anonymous) says...

We made some great strides on offense in this one, and the defense will always be there. Anyone else catch the Shockers vs. N. Iowa last night? I don't hear anyone calling for Turgeon to replace Self today! With all the hype around The Valley this year, all I saw was a bunch of average athletes hoisting threes at every opportunity, even the bigs were in on it. We seem to shoot a bunch of threes at times, but they are always wide open and shot by capable shooters. Also, remember when Julian disappears for a game or 2 again that Mario is the guy who will consistently step it up. As he goes, so goes the team.

December 31, 2006 at 11:58 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

martyks (anonymous) says...

The only disquieting thing about the game is Coach Self's assessment: Those were three huge things to take out of the equation. Rebounds, free throws and killer instinct.... We might need those. This late stuff might be symptomatic of bigger problems. I sure hope it isn't, but I wish we had a few more gym rats on this team. We need an issue about a few players who come so early that it makes coaches worry about burn out.

December 31, 2006 at 12:53 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

notabandwagonfan (anonymous) says...

why do you think they couldnt shoot their average jaybate? Maybe good defense? Anyways, someone said earlier that our team was lazy and unmotivated. Sorry sir, lazy teams dont hold good shooting teams under 50% throughout the season, and lazy teams don't have one of the best defenses in the country. Unmotivated, maybe! But lazy, definately not! Pull your head out of your ass before you make a dumb comment like that!

December 31, 2006 at 2:11 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jimjones (anonymous) says...

"Sometimes coach is early. Sometimes he's a little late. " Wright said.

That's leadership by example...

not to mention a blatant case of a lack of respect for Self as a coach (but then again, respect is something that has to be earned).

I respect Self. I'd like to see him get what he deserves.... maybe juco coach of the year in Oklahoma.

December 31, 2006 at 3:26 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

notabandwagonfan, your comment spurs two thoughts.

First, I will understand you perfectly well without you saying "pull your head out of your ass." Whether you intended that for me, or someone else, or everyone, it just doesn't add one smidgeon of evidence to YOUR argument, which is otherwise worth discussing. In fact, it makes it harder for me to hear your argument. You seem to feel strongly about this issue, so give yourself the best shot you can at persuading me and others to your case. Stick to the issue so I can be persuaded.

Second, the problem I have with your argument that opposing teams shoot below their trey percentages against KU, because KU's defense is so good is this: if KU's defense were really the primary cause of opponent's poor trey shooting, opponents would almost never shoot the trey at their average or better against KU. But they often do. Opponents seem to have about as many hot trey shooting nights against KU as they do off trey shooting nights over the course of a season. Maybe KU's vaunted defense does reduce the number of hot trey shooting nights opponents have against KU, but even granting that, it still seems more of the trey shooting percentage is driven by the opposing teams shooting skill and the usual variance around their average than does KU's trey defense.

December 31, 2006 at 3:59 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

to notabandwagon fan continued...

Surely, you have been out on the court when you just had a better stroke than other nights. And just as surely, you have been out there when you just couldn't find your stroke.

Maybe you have some stats that prove otherwise, but based on what I have seen, the largest two drivers of trey shooting are the skills of the shooters and the variance around their mean tendancy.

The only other plausible driver occurs when the talent of the opponent is so defficient that KU's excellent talent just smothers the opponent. But that has more to do with talent asymmetry than defensive excellence. And everyone says talent is converging toward less asymmetry in D1, so that seems like less of a driver than it might at first seem. Also, there are already a couple games this season, where teams with lesser talent shot the bottom out of the basket from trey against us.

As Coach Self rightly says, more or less, some nights you shoot better and play offense better than other nights, but you can always bring your defense. If that bromide were true, and it seems to be true to me, then it just CAN'T be our defense that is decisive in our opponents' bad trey shooting nights. To reiterate, if this were the case, they almost never would have a good trey shooting night against us, because as, you stipulate, we have a great defense and we emphasize defense over offense and bring it most of the time, even on our off nights.

If you have an explanation that does not involve head extraction from colons (and other comparable colloquialisms), I would like to understand your reasoning, because I think trey offense and trey defense are crucial issues in understanding today's game.

December 31, 2006 at 4 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

notabandwagonfan (anonymous) says...

wow, they was a well thought and very long response, im glad you have the ability to use such big words and respond so well to what i said. You know its so easy to shoot three point shots when you can find a basket inside. Its not too hard to hit a decent percentage of 3-point shots when thats what you are primarily shooting, and add to the fact that you are shooting alot because there is no inside game. Most defensive, if not all, would be thrilled with the opposing teams shooting the ball from 3-point range than allowing them to put in shot after shot with ease in the lane. Opposing teams not only shoot below their averages from 3 point range, but also from inside 3-point range! There's something to be said about that! Now, that is my point!

December 31, 2006 at 4:50 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

notabandwagonfan (anonymous) says...

i meant to say that was a well thought response! And im sorry that i didn't use as many big words as you master jaybate!

December 31, 2006 at 4:52 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

canuckhawk (anonymous) says...

Next year: everyone gets a flu shot.

December 31, 2006 at 5:20 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

danharris1 (anonymous) says...

Hey jimjones, who do you want to be the coach? maybe Snyder?

December 31, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

rockchalkjayhawk4ku11 (anonymous) says...

jimjones u are really starting to piss me off. Stop giving crap about Self. If your so smart u should coach.

December 31, 2006 at 7:33 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

FlaHawk (anonymous) says...

Self has many responsibilities besides showing up at practice. This is why he has Assistant Coaches that run large portions of the practice. The players have only one responisbility to play basketball (forget school for a moment).

It is absurd to thing that any Div I coach has to be at every practice or even ontime. Theyhave ahost of duties that require their attention.

December 31, 2006 at 7:53 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

notabandwagonfan (anonymous) says...

exactly, recruiting, scouting, etc.......

December 31, 2006 at 8:28 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

KUGreenMachine (anonymous) says...

jimjones...ur not a ku fan...enough

December 31, 2006 at 9:01 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

I wonder if Bob Knight lets his assistants do most of the coaching. He seems like a guy who makes it to most practices and is their in his players faces most of practice, teaching, teaching, teaching. Has anyone heard something to the contrary. No, I don't like Knight's temper and abusiveness, but perhaps the fact (if it is a fact) that he spends more time coaching and less time administrating, recruiting, scouting, that he has lasted so long, won so many rings, and won so many games.

Further, though this goes back quite a while, John Wooden was a great practice coach, who ran practices and didn't miss many. Wooden also, at least according to one person who seemed to know something about Wooden, had a philosophy of not spending alot of time scouting and watching films of opponents. He wrote in his book and said that he worried about what he could control--his team--and he wanted them to focus on what they did and not on what the opponent might do. He firmly believed in making the opponent play UCLA's game and did not worry about learning alot about the opponent's game.

Let's see, Wooden won ten rings and Knight several and is about to become the winningest coach of all time. Both were hands on practice coaches, who were relentless in getting their team to execute their own games. Neither was known as a fanatical recruiter who spent most of his time on the road stroking prospects. Both had charisma and reputations for graduating kids and superior knowledge of the game. Both coached a lot of years before getting any great players to play for them. Both won a lot of games with lesser players before getting the great ones to come. Both could land a player if they really wanted them. There may be a message here. Maybe being a great coach, rather than a great administrator, is still the most important part of being a college coach. Maybe great coaches can delegate administrative and recruiting tasks and focus on coaching and closing on recruits. Maybe being at practice on time with 100% focus is as important for coaches as it is for players, if coaches want to be great.

January 1, 2007 at 3:38 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

tdub (anonymous) says...

Everybody just start ignoring jimjones, it worked with phog. He's like a child, all he wants is attention.

January 1, 2007 at 11:22 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

notabandwagonfan (anonymous) says...

Yea Bob Knight also started coaching when he was 24 years old. He is a good coach, but what has he won in the past 15 years? John Wooden is arguably the greatest coach in college basketball history! We will never see anything like what he accomplished ever again. Also, I believe coach Knight has won 2 championships. If I'm right, 2 is not several.

January 1, 2007 at 3:09 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

ralsterKUMed95 (anonymous) says...

Very nice zone analysis by jaybate. I can only add how relatively easy it is for our team to attack zones now compared to the Miles-Langford-Simien era (and I liked that team alot also, for different reasons...). We have more options, it seems, now.

January 1, 2007 at 3:17 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

LAJayhawk5 (anonymous) says...

JimJones: Take your Self/KU bashing somewhere else, tool. Also, MU/Oregon State, suck it, again.

January 1, 2007 at 4:44 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

LAJayhawk5 (anonymous) says...

Just spoke with JimJones. Dude wanted me to tell you all that he's sorry for being such a clown. Thought I'd pass this along.

January 1, 2007 at 4:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

These are good points you make, notabandwagonfan. I thought Knight had won more than two. Benson's team won one. Isaiah's team won one. Alford's team won one, didn't they? That would be three. I thought there was one more, too, but I guess I'm wrong. IMO, about 10-15 years back, after his last ring sometime, Knight clearly got sick of recruiting and decided to see if he could win without great talent. He's won alot, but couldn't figure out how to win a ring without great talent. I admire him for trying, at least. His reason for trying at the time, reputedly, was that cheating was so rampant for the top talent that he decided to try to win with what he could recruit honestly and expose the cheaters whenever he could. Talk about walking the talk.

Alas, he has flaws, as we all do, and his emotional problems came to a head the last few years at Indiana, where he clearly couldn't get some of the talent he wanted regardless of his principles, because alot of people got sick of his abusive antics. But I'd venture to say that most college coaches, even Coach K, couldn't win as many games as Knight has with the mediocre talent he's had the last ten years. I don't like Knight, because of his temper and foul mouth. I wouldn't let my kid go to his summer camp much less play for him. But I respect him for the many good character traits he has and for his obvious virtuosity as a teacher of the game. He knows basketball and how to teach it. And he gets the most out of his players, as nearly as I can tell. And he's apparently a hands on practice coach and that attribute is IMO crucial to his success.

Regarding Wooden's excellence being something we'll never see again, I have two thoughts.

One, we can still learn from him, even if we can't duplicate his wins.

Second, I never say never. I remember that every season Wooden won it all almost everybody said he wouldn't win another ring the next year...and then he did. Most records are eventually broken; that's a fact.

January 1, 2007 at 7:02 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Continued...

Out of the thousands of records that are kept, you probably can't think of any that have never been broken during the time the record has been kept. And among the records that seem likely to last a very long time, or maybe forever, like Wooden's, or Bill Russell's total rings for the Celts, or Ted William's .400, even these get broken eventually by changes in the fundamental rules of the game, or the technology used in the game, etc. So, while I agree with you that Wooden's record will be tough to break, no record is ultimately beyond reach over time IMO. History shows it repeatedly. And even if it were impossible to break Wooden's record, as I said, it is not impossible to learn from Wooden. He was a fanatical practice coach (practices were organized down to the minute), who didn't spend alot of time recruiting. Depending on whom you talk to, either he let his reputation drag them in after ten seasons of working successfully with lesser talent, or he let sugar daddy Sam Gilbert bring them in with "assistance." I don't claim to know the answer to that one. What I do know is that whatever talent he worked with at UCLA, and however it was drawn in, he was apparently at practice most every day working, and working and working with the players to teach them his system and get them to execute it flawlessly. He even swept the floor himself before and after every practice; that small act alone communicates a powerful message of humility and commitment to players. It says, "I am your teacher. You are my students. What we learn and do here matters more to me than faculty meetings, alumni meetings, happy hours, golf tournaments, anything. I clean the floor for you, so that you don't slip and fall. When you are done, I clean up after you, so that you can go and do what is really important--your school work. I care about you as a human being. You are not a piece of meat to me. You are my student and I am your teacher for as long as you obey my rules and give me your best effort between these lines and in that classroom." This kind of simple, concrete act communicates a selfless commitment to young men (and would to young women) that makes them realize all the rules, and all the teaching, have a purpose beyond advancing the coach's career. It makes them realize that there is something profound, something sacred going on beyond this glitzy, gaudy, favoritism riddled, money hungry world of college athletics. There is a teacher teaching young men to survive in a harsh world that often wants to use them up and throw them away.

January 1, 2007 at 7:04 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Continued...

Young men and women will always benefit from the rare coach capable of communicating this experience to them. The experience will always be sacred. If Bill Self can communicate this to his players by the means he apparently uses, I don't care if he invents an even slower, even uglier brand of basketball than has ever been played. I don't even care how many rings he wins, though such coaches seem to win their share, he will be good enough for me.

January 1, 2007 at 7:04 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

ralsterKUMed95 (anonymous) says...

Very well said, jaybate. I too, hope these young atheletes gain some life experience and positive mentoring while they are at college. I only have the warmest hopes for those past players who have graduated--I realized that about 3 yrs ago when I met BJ Williams, and this years summer camp when I met all the players/coaches. From every reliable thing I have read or heard, Self's players really like him, and as he once recently said, if he can "be a positive influence on them in addition to the basketball coaching", then power to him. It was crystal clear observing coach + players at the camp that he is quite in charge and fatherly with the players. He obviously has a different style of play he brings to KU, that each of us has been trying to get used to. I will let results and time be the judge of it all, and simply decided to support him (and the team) as I would for any coach that came to KU to try to help us win. This guy is on track for 900+ wins if he coaches to age 60(!)--we all shall see...

January 2, 2007 at 1:37 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Oh, that would be sweet to see Self bring the title of winningest coach back to the cradle of college basketball coaching where it belongs. The thought never occurred to me. You've given me new purpose here, ralsterKUMed95. I will try to meditate more frequently to try to overcome my aversion to the style of play he coaches. Seeing him win 900, or if I don't make it to that point, my son seeing him make it, would be one of the great experiences for me or him. I try not to ask too much of life, because I think life has already been pretty kind to me, but I do hope for KU to stay a top tier program for as long as there is a basketball being bounced anywhere in the world.

January 2, 2007 at 11:21 a.m. ( | suggest removal )