Sunday, January 28, 2007

No laughing matter

Jayhawks roll, but Self gets in digs on bigs

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Bill Self wasn't smiling after Kansas University's annual home basketball blowout of Colorado on Saturday afternoon in Allen Fieldhouse.

He was hot and bothered not only by a botched first-half breakaway dunk attempt by Julian Wright, but the overall play of his inside players in a 97-74 victory - the Jayhawks' 24th in a row over the outmanned Buffs in Lawrence.

"I think it can be summed up in one word, and that's our big guys play soft," Self groused after guards Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers combined to outrebound the big-man group of Wright, Sasha Kaun, Darnell Jackson and Darrell Arthur, 13-12. "We've got too many finesse guys out there right now."

Rush, who was outscored by CU's Richard Roby, 30 points to 21 in the day's marquee one-on-one matchup, tied CU's Jeremy Williams for game-high rebounding honors with eight.

Kaun had four boards in 25 minutes, Wright four in 20 minutes, Jackson three in 13 minutes and Arthur one in 18 minutes.

"It's sad when Brandon has become your best rebounder," Self said of the 6-foot-6 Rush.

"Our big guys are not rebounding the ball. I am disappointed in our big guys collectively how tough they play. It's evident all our big guys don't play nearly as tough and strong as they should."

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KU vs. Colorado

The Buffs, whose 30 turnovers tied for the most by a conference foe in KU history (CU also had 30 in 1982), outrebounded the Jayhawks, 36-30.

"We get rebounds, and they tie us up on rebounds. Everybody's thinking, 'That's a good hustle play.' It's a pitiful play," Self said. "We get inside position, and they get a jump ball."

Self said Jackson, who had eight points and three boards in 13 minutes, could be excused because of his bad back.

Jackson, however, shoulders part of the blame for KU's lack of aggressiveness on the boards.

"I knew from the beginning I wasn't going for the rebounds," Jackson said. "When I was walking to the bench, I said (to Self) I was playing soft. He said, 'Yeah, we've got to change it around.'

"For big guys, it should be our main priority, to rebound the ball. The guards shouldn't get more rebounds than the bigs. We have to block out and go get it instead of letting the ball just come down."

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2006-07 Jan. 27 KU-CU Hoops

Kaun, who hit four of 10 shots and scored eight points, said: "We are not rebounding well. We're not boxing out or going after balls like we should."

Self - who celebrated the victory by heading out on a recruiting trip immediately after the game - said a high noon practice today in preparation for Monday's 8 p.m. battle at Nebraska would not be the solution to KU's board woes.

"You do not correct that overnight. It's not a technique thing, just guys that want the ball," Self said.

Plenty of Jayhawks wanted the ball on offense Saturday.

"Our offense bailed us out today," said guard Russell Robinson, who scored 12 points with seven assists against two turnovers in 29 minutes.

Rush (21 points off 8-of-13 shooting) and Chalmers (21 off 8-of-12 shooting) combined for 23 of KU's first 28 points as the Jayhawks blazed to a 28-13 lead midway through the first half. They combined for 27 at halftime as KU led, 47-34.

"I thought our big guys were as bad as our perimeter was good," Self said.

KU vs Colorado

Chalmers, who had four of KU's 19 steals, had the biggest play of the game. After KU's 19-point lead had dipped to nine (63-54), he stepped in front of a pass at midcourt and was fouled intentionally by Xavier Silas.

Chalmers hit two free throws, and Rush cashed a three off the inbounds play, allowing KU to go up 68-54 at 10:51.

"It's a nine-point game. They had the ball, and 30 seconds later we are up 14, so I'd say that was a pretty key play," Self said.

Chalmers read the pass like a cat-quick defensive back in football.

"I saw he was going to throw a pass. I deflected it, and he grabbed me," Chalmers said.

Chalmers hit three of four threes and Rush three of five on a day KU made 11 of 17 to CU's eight of 19.

"My teammates did a good job setting screens. They were looking for me and Mario early," Rush said.

Rush insists he was not trying to outscore Roby, who made 10 of 15 shots, including three of five threes.

"No. I was trying to not let him score," Rush said. "He got the best of my defense tonight."

KU, which has now won 35 of its last 36 games against CU, improved to 18-3 overall and 5-1 in the Big 12. The Buffs dropped to 5-12, 1-6.

"Anytime there's a streak like that against a fellow conference team, it's surprising," Self said. "People read a lot into that. But Kansas has also had some pretty good talent during those 36 games, too. I don't know if I'd ever say that Colorado's talent level has been as good as Kansas' talent level in those respective years. But certainly that's a remarkable streak, considering there's been that much success away from home."

Go figure

30

Points scored by Colorado's Richard Roby

30

Turnovers committed by the Buffaloes

34

Points KU scored off Colorado's turnovers

9

Points Colorado scored off Kansas' 19 turnovers

2

Jayhawks (Sasha Kaun, 4-for-10; and Rod Stewart, 0-for-1) who shot under .500

2

Buffaloes who shot better than .500

7-for-10

Kansas' three-point shooting in the second half (KU was 11-for-17 overall)

11-for-12

Kansas' free-throw shooting in the second half (KU hit 16 of 19 overall)

Comments

justinryman (anonymous) says...

Soft, finesse....I have said this before, there are no down and dirty players(not cheap thugs), guys like Haase, who dove on the floor, guys likke Pollard that would rather have 12 rebs, than 12 pts. KU has great talent, but I think they have too many Micky D players and not enough garbage guys...

January 28, 2007 at 6:59 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

byron (anonymous) says...

yes

January 28, 2007 at 8:26 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

GIHAWK (anonymous) says...

They probably don't want to get hurt so they won't jeopardize their NBA careers...

January 28, 2007 at 9:11 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhawk7782 (anonymous) says...

I like these players..Jackson, Arthur an Kuan but one Wayne Simeon equals all three.

January 28, 2007 at 9:22 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Chiliskate (anonymous) says...

The one thing that has bothered me all season is offensive rebounding....we put up a shot and guys are out of there like somebody called a firedrill...what happened to boxing out and trying to get the ball back...am I old fashioned or something

January 28, 2007 at 9:41 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

BABBOY (anonymous) says...

Well said justinryman. Wright's stupid dunk displays what is wrong and why we have little mishaps from time to time. At the same time, Self's act of taking him out shows it can easily be fixed. We have too many good players to put up with that show boating crap and Self did the right thing in benching him. Self is also correct in his tearing into his big men about their poor play against inferior talent. Maybe all this show boating and mediocre play can finally come to an end and be done away with. Good job coach. Stay on them.

January 28, 2007 at 10:12 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

crooner (anonymous) says...

I'm just glad we're hearing it out of Self. I think maybe they'll start to listen to it now.

January 28, 2007 at 10:25 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jbrownjib (anonymous) says...

We were lucky to beat MU and ISU. The only way around rebounding is sufficating defense that leads to lay ups and no shots on goal by the opponent. I don't want to take any thing away from these guys but it is frustrating watching the other team get 3 and 4 shots at the goal.

January 28, 2007 at 10:59 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

yovoy (anonymous) says...

j. haase was neither dirty nor THAT blue-collar. i loved his play, but a large part of it was due to the fact that he was often in poor defensive position. he gambled more than mario, but had less mental and physical prowess to pull it off. when you're out of position you'll be scrambling to get back into any position other than a position that has you beat. don't get mad, go back and watch some tape.

i'd rather have 3 or 4 bigs that can score 10 (or so) apiece, and can get 6 to 10 boards per, than 1 that can score 30 and get 12 to 15 boards. we had that in the aforementioned big dub, and it was great, but it sure made ku easier to defend. before him we had 2 bigs that could score 20, one of which could get 6 offensive boards a game (10 to 12 total), and the other could do about the same. did they ALWAYS get that many boards? no. i'm sure one of them will be accused of being soft, but the "soft" one actually sees the floor in the nba more that the "gritty" one does.

i DO agree that these guys have been a bit soft on the boards as of late. part of that has to do with the fact that they play pretty good post defense. if you play good post d, where do the shots come from? outside. if the shots are coming from outside, and they're not falling, where are they going to come off? a little bit longer than a mid-range jumper (or a shot from in close). if the ball comes off longer than it does from the mid-range, who should be getting lots of rebounds? that's right, GUARDS! the long carom makes it hard for bigs to have an advantage in position. let's season our rage with some sound basketball reasoning.

there are lots of factors that go into winning a game, and rebounding and defense are just 2 of them, but at the end of the game, the scoreboard shows who won. we won yesterday and our bigs looked pretty poor.

January 28, 2007 at 11:37 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

justinryman (anonymous) says...

What Im talking about with Hasse is that he was on the floor for every lose ball, dove out of bounds to save it, he went in for rebounds, thats the kind of guy Kansas needs.

I also agree on how everybody leave just one guy to rebound while the other 4 run to the other end to try and get the high light dunk. Its not needed, yed the fast break if ran right is great, but full court passes are not the answer either.

January 28, 2007 at 11:59 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

tophersdad (anonymous) says...

I think that coach Self is most upset that the rebounds that the bigs get, and pull into their chests, are getting tied up by the other team. Our bigs are not ripping the boards. They are not going to the ball. When you play like that, simply put, you are 'Soft'.

Rebounds are not something you 'get'. They are something you 'take'. There is technique involvolved. But there is also a mindset.

January 28, 2007 at 11:59 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

TaCityHawkFan (anonymous) says...

Just my opinion, but we have been a poor rebounding team for awhile now. I think that the problem is every one of our bigs are shot blockers or want to be shot blockers. That is good if you can block shots, but they all try to do it on every shot. This type of play gets you out of position for rebounds. Perhaps we should factor the blocks per game in with the rebounds at maybe an adjusted percentage to see the complete picture, but we need to get into better positon. I like Jackson, when he doesn't try and block shots. He is generally the workhorse that goes after boards. He didn't do that yesterday and he acknowledged that.

January 28, 2007 at 12:08 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

danharris1 (anonymous) says...

Rebounding is all about desire and hard work not talent. I think we all know we have all the talent in the world, we are sorely lacking in the other department.

January 28, 2007 at 12:50 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jayhawkerman (anonymous) says...

I have said it over and over. Our front line guys are a little better than average. Sausha Kaun is playing the best and he was originally recruited as a project. The one that's really playing poorly is Arthur. Self is smart enough to see it, now can he do something about it. How much do we miss CJ's toughness now?

January 28, 2007 at 1:23 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

landon_2003 (anonymous) says...

did cj ever do anything while at kansas?? no...he hardly ever played and didn't score at all...just tall and that was it.

January 28, 2007 at 2:06 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

tophersdad (anonymous) says...

CJ's toughness???? You HAVE to be kidding!! CJ was the poster boy for soft!! CJ is the one who said, after KU's loss to Texas last year, "Nobody could have stopped him (Lamarcus Aldridge)." Really CJ? I am pretty sure that some folks in the NBA (where CJ thought he would be playing this year) can stop Lamarcus Aldridge!!

CJ Giles was so soft that Coach Self started a slow footed, non-free-throw-making, pre-med taking, WALK ON in front him!! No offense, Christian. But CJ was a thousand times the athelete. You started because CJ was SOFT!!

Good riddence....

January 28, 2007 at 2:15 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

First, anyone who doesn't like to read about solutions to problems that Coach Self is struggling with, because I'm not a coach, stop reading here and go on to the next post. What follows is exactly what I think Coach Self needs to do to help Julian Wright and to improve rebounding. My solution to Wright's problem takes awhile to explain. My solution to the rebounding problem is straight forward.

Regarding Wright: stop talking about his talent; stop criticising him; stop explaining what he's doing wrong; just give him a clear, handwritten goal of elegant performance (i.e., neither more nor less than the necessary amount of skill and effort expended to achieve the desired goal); copy it; put it on his bedroom ceiling, put it on his desk, put it in his locker, have him write it on his tennis shoes and wristbands and jock; have him say it 100 times when he wakes up, before he starts to practice and before he says his prayers at night; put it on a chalk board at the side of the court, program it to run at practice on the scoreboard overhead; create thought exercises and individual drills where he has to choose between the flashy solution, the simple solution and an elegant solution; praise him everytime he chooses the elegant solution; reward him with whatever the heck he likes that is legal for choosing correctly; transfer these thought and individual exercises into one on one drills; transfer those into two on two drills; transfer those into three on three drills; then transfer them into five man scrimmage exercises; have all coaches and teammates praise him for the elegant choice (which means they too have to understand it); no one criticises him for the too simple or too flashy choice--he just gets nothing at all and you do it again until he does it and you praise him for doing it; same thing in games--praise for the right choice, nothing for the wrong choice, unless he's costing you the game (then you pull him), but not if he's not; keep trying to create as many successful opportunities as possible that he can learn to habituate from and keep him out of as many unsuccessful opportunities as possible until he begins to show mastery.

Never, never, never talk to him about his talent; always, always, always praise him about the elegant moves he's made or working on learning to make; jump for joy when he does a layup on an uncontested fast break and jump for joy when he windmill dunks to get around defenders to make a play, not because it took great talent, or because it was an incredible physical feat, but because it was such a great choice.

Consistent praise for the consistent goal of elegance is the coin of the realm.

January 28, 2007 at 2:31 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Remember some times the most elegant move is the flashiest move and sometimes its not and teach him that that is the case. Whenever he makes a play that you doubt is elegant, ask him for his defense of why it was elegant, tell him to think about if you think he's wrong, blow the whistle and move on. At the same time, keep correcting and riding him about all the things he does know how to do, because it will make him keep feeling like one of the guys (which he needs), but don't ride him about this issue of elegant choice, which he clearly does not yet grasp; When he masters it, which he quickly will, hold a graduation and mean it.

After graduation, remember that because of his unusual combination of talents, sometimes the most elegant move for him IS a flashier move than what a less talented player would make and vice versa--sometimes he can make a simpler play than another guy with less talent.

Sometime--sooner rather than later--get him to watch tons of tape of Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Shaq--all guys with unusual combinations of talents who redefined their positions--and cut the footage to show how they made elegant choices--sometimes incredibly flashy and sometimes deceptively simple looking--in order to maximize their contribution to winning the game; constantly repeat "elegance equals excellence" and show him that elegance can involve power or finesse; simplicity or complexity; and encourage and reward Wright for emulating these player's abilities to make elegant choices given their unique talents, not their ability to make "great" plays;

Next, create a film of Julian's elegant choices, not of his great plays or bad choices and ask him to explain about what a flashier and what a simpler, but not as elegant of a choice would have looked like. Program him to find within himself the ability to recognize and those undesirable options praise him for not having taken them; this way he gets double the praise--for choosing correctly and for not choosing incorrectly. You can work on his mental toughness by brow beating him on things he's already mastered.

January 28, 2007 at 2:32 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Remember education comes from the root "edu", so always draw the concept of elegance out of him, put it all around him, but don't force it into him. Let him bring it out of him. Show him in the tapes that he already knows how to be elegant--to be what you want him to be and that you are simply trying to get him to be more of what he already is--to build off that to make him keep improving.

Above all, quit talking about what he's doing wrong. Its counter intuitive to stop, but trust me it will work. Julian's got a mental block about his talent. Outside he's bright and bubbly and sharp, but inside he thinks the only reason he's at KU is because of his "talent." Deep down he fears its the only thing he's got that's any good. He's like the very smart pretty girl, who keeps defaulting to her beauty every time she runs into trouble trying to build a career for herself based on her intellect AND her appearance. When the going gets tough, or focus is lost for whaterver reason, and when the Coach gets on Wright, he keeps trying to win the Coach's approval and the game with his talent, because the Coach keeps talking about his talent and criticizing his choices. If your choices were criticised and the coach had already convinced you that "good" choices were not your strength, of course you would recurringly default to talent to achieve praise and acceptance. Break the vicious circle. Forget talent. Talent is boring and elegance is excellence AND it leads to making you feel like you are at your best when you need your best. Forget good choices and bad choices; that implies dumbness if you make bad choices. Julian is intelligent. Formalize elegance of choice for him and then give him lots of chances to master acting elegantly; then get out of the way and watch this guy become perhaps the greatest tweemer KU ever had.

January 28, 2007 at 2:33 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Also, Coach Self, remember he's in this predicament in part because you're asking him to play out of position. He's not a big forward IMHO and your wasting him there, even though he's good enough to make you only look bad part of the time for making him do it. He should be playing small forward or even 2 guard with his "talents" and he should be revolutizing those positions by smothering guys smaller than him on defense (the way Bobby Wilkerson once did for Bob Knight on Indiana's great undefeated team) and taking them inside the way Magic once did in college, when he still couldn't shoot a lick from outside. If Wright had been working all summer and all season on the skill set for a small forward/2 guard instead of how to play big forward, where his future will only be being mediocre at best, we probably wouldn't even be talking about Julian's inelegant choices.

Next, regarding rebounding: Here's the way to get rebounding in a hurry. Every big man who doesn't average one defensive rebound every four minutes of PT, runs the stairs for an hour the next morning and every morning at 6 am until the next game. Their rebounding stats and their endurance will skyrocket.

Julian's problem may not be fixable until the off season, but each long journey begins with a small step. The rebounding can be cured two games from now.

January 28, 2007 at 2:33 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

tophersdad (anonymous) says...

jaybate-- that is a lovely sentiment....

Having coached a little bit of ball, I think Coach Self's approach of not letting Julian talk to the media after the game, as well as clipping the quotes of his team mates and opponents (Mizzou players in the KC Star) will serve nicely to embarrass him to the point of not letting it happen again.

I am not worried about J Wright.

He gets enough boards for a three. The real problem is the bigs. They are not playing smart and lack some of the heart it takes to secure a board. Calling them out in public should work on the egos a bit.

Larry Bird called his team mates 'sissies' during the finals one year. They responded by blasting the Lakers, physically, and winning a title. If they hadn't responded, or let his comments hurt their feelings, then the Lakers would have won the title that year.

And deservedly so!

January 28, 2007 at 2:45 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

pitthawker (anonymous) says...

Please... Julian's missed dunk is going to happen. These guys are college players that want to make a statement. When he pulled off the 360 in the Big 12 tourney last year, nobody bitched. It was one mistake that happened in a game they would win anyway. m I have NO issue with what he did. Also, I agree with the first point slightly. We do need some bigs who are willing to scrap, but I think Robinson has always played tough.

January 28, 2007 at 2:47 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

danharris1 (anonymous) says...

jaybate-War and Peace?

January 28, 2007 at 2:55 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

tophersdad (anonymous) says...

Kansas basketball....

Julian Wright.....

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.... WAIT!! Or was that 'Tale of Two Cities'?

Sorry Jaybate!!

January 28, 2007 at 3:22 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Roysoldboy (anonymous) says...

I am sure that picture of the players on the bench must have been taken after Wright failed to windmill the ball. I reacted just like that after a couple of uncouth words escaped from my mouth. I nearly fell out of my chair at that one.

It is wrong for the 2 and 3 men to get more rebounds than the 4 and 5. It is true that any long shot that misses will probably bounce long and that shuts them out but I don't remember too many of Rush's rebounds being long ones. When 6'5 and 6'6 players are out rebounding 6'8 to 6'11 something wrong is going on and it is usually, as has already been mentioned, they are all trying to block a shot that none of them got to. It is that crap that must stop.

January 28, 2007 at 5:38 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

kickazzkurtz (anonymous) says...

in my opinion when people look at the final rebounding numbers they are missing part of the problem. Because of KU's defense teams are putting up long shots and many times during a game it just happens to be a long rebound. So the overall numbers look worse than they sometimes are.

Yes it is true that some of the short rebounds KU is loosing, but when you look at the final numbers try and remember how many were just long rebounds over the players heads. The end of the Tech game was a perfect example and it was a big rebound.

January 28, 2007 at 6:21 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

tophersdad,

You sound like you know your stuff. You mentioned that Wright gets enough reebs for a three. I thought he played 4 most of the time; that he was paired with Kaun or Arthur most of the time. I only get to see them on the tube from out west, so, have I missed something? Has he been playing alot of three?

January 28, 2007 at 8:04 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

danharris1,

Tolstoy's good enough for me. :-)

At least you didn't say Rememberance of Things Past by Proust; that woulda hurt! :-)

January 28, 2007 at 8:14 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

chitownjayhawk (anonymous) says...

We need our big men to watch tapes of TJ Pugh, the all-time scrappiest jayhawk of all time! Never pretty to watch, never the most talented, but man did he have HEART!

January 28, 2007 at 9:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

chitownjayhawk (anonymous) says...

And yes, I did write "all-time" twice in the same sentence.

January 28, 2007 at 9:51 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

DerekR25 (anonymous) says...

Personally, I'd like to know what's happened to Arthur. He has a sweeter shot than any of our big men and should be using his muscle to get closer so he has it even easier. He's still young so I can understand some of the dumb fouls on defense, as defense is a more difficult "art" to pick up and master.

As far as rebounding all the big guys need to "get ticked" kinda like an article I read Saturday said of Rush. It said Rush glared first at the ref, and then at Roby after he dunked w/ Roby on his back and didn't get a foul called. The big guys need to find a reason to get fired up at the other team and feed off of it all game long. We're not huge down low, but our athleticism should be dominating the boards. We're long and athletic enough that, IMO, the excuse of the "long rebounds" off of long threes is unacceptable. If the ball goes high, and long enough to get over the bigs' reach, then the ball should be going right to one of the guards. I mean come on, you've seen how high and far Julian and Arthur can jump and reach. They should be snatching everything right out of the air with Kaun and Jackson being the scrappy bruisers they should be underneath.

Here's what I think. I think the guys need worry more about staying grounded and boxing out than trying to block everything. (In my opinion) Block what you can get to, but stay grounded, because teams are getting us on their backs way too much by faking, and by that time, if we haven't committed the foul already, we're way out of position to rebound when they miss. It's simple really, guys just have to learn to "wall up" and block it only if they have a clean shot at it or if they have help underneath. I also think they need to trap the post area a lot more like they did last year. When opposing bigs got the ball down low, I remember usually Kaun, Wright, and at least one other was usually on them like flies making them either force bad shots, turn it over, or call time out. I don't see it as much this year. Anyway, I've rambled enough. Rock chalk Jayhawk!!! Beat down the Huskers, that way I don't have to hear it from all these Husker fans here in Omaha, NE (Where I live).

January 29, 2007 at 12:23 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

justinryman (anonymous) says...

DerekR25, I hear ya on all these Husker fans in Omaha, if we have a close game or even a DePaul game, I will never here thend of it up North. Hopefully I can dig up some tickets to make down to Lincoln today to see the J'Hawks take care of bussiness.

They will have thier hands full in the paint tonight with Maric, so I just hope they have learned a lwsson in the past two days on post D and rebounding.

January 29, 2007 at 8:18 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jayhawk86 (anonymous) says...

Well, this is definately an interesting situation. On one hand, it seems as though we are not getting enough rebounds because of the aggressive attempts at shot blocking. On the other other, hand it seems as though the other teams typically have poor shooting percentages because of this same aggressiveness. Maybe not getting the block every time, but that every shot is contested and often altered.

Hmm...Stop the agressive block attemps, therefore leading to more uncontested shots and less rebounds to be had because of the now made shots. Or continue to alter and block shots leading to poor opposing fg%. Which do you chose?

Personally, I think we need another Chenowith.

January 29, 2007 at 11:39 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayCeph (anonymous) says...

I think the point of our guards getting more boards than our bigs is an interesting one... but it seems a bit singular minded. If the issue was about our bigs out-rebounding our guards, that would be one thing (and easily correctable). However, I don't think that is the problem. It seems as though our team is getting out-rebounded by the opponent and our bigs aren't doing enough to counter that.

The whole notion of the long rebound is clear but off the mark. Our team, collectively, is leaving the area after the first shot. No one is sticking around for the board and put-back. Their bigs are outrebounding our bigs because of an emphasis to halt their transition game.

How many caroms do our bigs get compared to the bigs on the other team? That is the telling number. We fix this problem and correct this inequity and the perception of our bigs being 'soft' grows limp.

January 29, 2007 at 3:56 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

DerekR25 (anonymous) says...

Jayhawk86,
It seems you've kind of skewed what I was saying to an extreme case. When what I was talking about lies more in that "grey area" of knowing when to try to block shots and when to stay grounded and harrass the hell out of the shooter, that way we don't have 3 guys in the air going 3 seperate ways each away from the basket and there for taking themselves out of good position for the rebounds. Last I knew good aggressive defense that contests and alters every shot doesn't nessissarily include trying to block every shot, especially if there's not a very good chance a defender will get to it. Just a thought, but I think you can play just as aggresive and make people miss just as much without having 3 guys jumping around looking almost careless and sloppy. It just takes discipline. A lot of it is timing, so a guy doensn't have to jump as high or far to block a shot in the first place, making it easier to recover. I just think that if the guys learned to be more aggressive w/out all the block attempts, we'd still force a ton of bad shots but we'd also have a better chance to come away with the board as well. Anyway, Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!! I'm gonna go get ready for the game! Later guys!

January 29, 2007 at 4:29 p.m. ( | suggest removal )