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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Kansas Hoops Notebook

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KU vs. Syracuse

KU vs. Syracuse

All-tourney team

Kansas University’s Sherron Collins was the only Jayhawk on the all CBE Classic all-tournament team. Others: Paul Harris, Syracuse; Jon Brockman, Washington; Nick Calathes, Florida. Jonny Flynn of Syracuse was most valuable performer.

Tourney talk

KU has not yet contracted to play in an early-season tournament next year.

Memphis coach John Calipari has said the Jayhawks likely will play Memphis in St. Louis in the finale of the Memphis Invitational.

KU would play two or three games in Allen Fieldhouse in that “tourney” against small to mid-major Div. I schools.

The Jayhawks will play in the Las Vegas Invitational in 2010. The tourney format will feature two KU home games and two in Las Vegas, the marquee game KU versus Arizona.

KU will play in the Maui Invitational in 2011 and has no tourney set for 2012. A good bet for 2012 would be another Jayhawk Invitational, which likely would feature four home games.

Cheek still listing five schools

Dominic Cheek, a 6-foot-5 senior guard from St. Anthony High in Jersey City, N.J., told Zagsblog.net he enjoyed his official visit to Rutgers last weekend.

“I like Rutgers a lot because I know I can go there and be a main factor,” Cheek said.

On his visit, Cheek watched his former St. Anthony teammate, freshman Mike Rosario, score 27 points in a victory over Robert Morris. Another of his former prep teammates, Tyshawn Taylor, attends KU.

Cheek, Rivals.com’s No.16-rated player, has a final five of KU, Memphis, Villanova, Pittsburgh and Rutgers.

Cheek said Memphis signee Xavier Henry is trying to get him to become a Tiger.

“He’s still recruiting me because he wants me to go there with him, so I have no problem with that,” Cheek told Zagsblog. “He’s text-messaging me and told me that. He wants me to join him in the backcourt.”

Stats, facts

Cole Aldrich’s 16 boards were a career high. … Taylor hit eight of 13 shots and had a career high 17 points.

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Comments

kcphantom (anonymous) says...

How was Aldrich not on the all-tourney team? He was a beast! 31 points, 25 rebounds, 8 blocks in two games! BEAST!!!

November 26, 2008 at 6:33 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhawk23 (anonymous) says...

Roger that, kcphantom.

November 26, 2008 at 6:37 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Timmay97 (anonymous) says...

OK, after reading this article now Xavier Henry is starting to piss me off. He's already picked Memphis and now he's trying to get his "rival" recruit to there too away from KU. Granted, he's got more on his list than KU, but F him. Maybe I'm ticked because of the game we should have won last night. But it still annoys. I'm actually proud of the guys hanging in there. I feel real good about this team. The later it gets in the season, the more confident I will feel toward them. We'll be fine. I still want to know why Releford isn't playing. I don't even care that's it's only 4 games into the season.....he's going to transfer come next year. He's too talented.

November 26, 2008 at 7:40 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

hawkitup (anonymous) says...

Timmay, I completely agree with you on all points:(1) Henry is starting to tick me off. I really hope Cheek signs with KU.(2) Should've won last night but I am impressed with what I have seen so far out of these young Hawks. I think we'll be alright come Jan/Feb.(3) What is up with Releford? I was really surprised he hasn't gotten any major minutes. Is Morningstar and Reed really that much better than he is? What's the deal. I'm not trying to get down on the guy but I really haven't been impressed with Morningstar...what gives?

November 26, 2008 at 7:44 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KU (anonymous) says...

Guys, with regard to Releford......It's pretty simple. Self is obviously not getting enough confidence in Releford during practice to put him in when the games really matter.......YET. Self must feel that Morningstar and Reed bring a "stabilizing" influence to the game that Releford doesn't......YET.There were a couple stretches last night that cost us the game when the guys on the floor were definitely NOT stabilized. Silly turnovers, sloppy passing, dribbling aimlessly into the lane with no plan, failure to play sound defense, failure to block out.Self probably figures you can only have so many young "destabilizers" in the game at one time....both the Morris twins for example. Once Releford becomes a stabilizing influence instead, he will be on the floor more.

November 26, 2008 at 9:48 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Maxhawk (anonymous) says...

When Little returns he will take even more minutes that Releford might see. It does not look good for Releford contributing this season.It's a bit strange considering how well he played in Canada.

November 26, 2008 at 10:38 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jeffthejayhawk (anonymous) says...

Yes, Mario Little...please!!! Does anyone else wish the Morris twins would throw some dunks down? It seems they are afraid to take the ball up strong. They are always double-pumping and changing their shots in the air. attack the rim!!!

November 26, 2008 at 10:58 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

red_devil (anonymous) says...

And Connor Teahan is a stabilizing presence? I can't believe Releford didn't even get in the game. When he came in against Washington he looked good, although it wasn't until the very end.

November 26, 2008 at 11:13 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

rcaltrider (anonymous) says...

As far as the game last night goes, I was pretty encouraged with most things. This team has a lot of talent and it will get a big boost when Little gets in and gets adjusted. He is what they are really lacking, the "tweener" or Brandon Rush type of player who is more like a SF. Right now they have "bigs" in Aldrich and the twins and guards in the other guys who have been playing. Little could be the missing piece (that and experience which will come.)As far as Za-vee-ay Henry, he can kiss my @$$. Hopefully Dominic tells him to kiss his Cheek and comes to KU and goes against Za-vee-ay next year. Henry is seeming more and more like a little punk to me. I wasn't as upset with him choosing Memphis as I was with this story about him trying to influence Cheek. Go F yourself Za-vee-ay!!

November 26, 2008 at 11:18 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

rcaltrider (anonymous) says...

My guess on Relaford is that it has to do with defense. I have no info to back that up because obviously I don't see practice. I could be way off, but that would be my guess.

November 26, 2008 at 11:22 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Chicago_JHawk (anonymous) says...

How can anyone blame Henry for trying to get Cheek to go there? What do you expect him to do? All these guys know each other and will talk to each other. Hopefully Taylor's keeping in his ear, too.

November 26, 2008 at 11:49 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

LakeShawnee (anonymous) says...

I think he is sitting Releford to further motivate Releford. I vaguely remember Coach Self pulling this with some of the youngsters back in the fall of 2005 (in sitting Julian to motivate him by conference play, or it might have been a different player).Thoughts?

November 26, 2008 at 12:03 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Regarding....KU v. Syracuse: KU looked super to me last night. Until we lost our legs middle of second half and got worn down by their superior weight/strength, we looked like the better team. Heck, we lost in OT on a lousy shooting night to a very good, experienced team of brawnier players.Syracuse: physically, it was the usual array of Big East prison bodies and Sing Sing escapees with mohawks and corn rows tripping, cheap shotting and pushing when behind. Too bad they play that way, because their bigs are wide and can defend and board, their PG is superb, and beyond Flyn, they're tall and can get shots and defend shots on the perimeter. They are a text book case of a team assembled to create match up problems, even though they are not very pretty. And they've got three guys who can pop the Triceratop reliably. No shame losing to this SU team early. SU might be there at the end of the season.Coaching--Self: I think Self was too hard on the KU players last night. His competitive juices got the better of him, because he had a chance to beat the third winningest active coach in the game--Boeheim, and square a score with Cuse for beating us in the championship. You could see that he wanted to beat Syracuse and Boeheim VERY much. I love this competitiveness and care for the legacy in Self. Its a big part of what makes him great. But I have a hunch KU's players were probably not ready to be ridden that hard this early in the season, especially against an very good and vastly more experienced team. I suppose he was trying make this team realize that it IS good enough to beat these kinds of teams, and make them more afraid of him, than of Syracuse's bruisers, but I just don't think young players this early respond well to a firm hand, when giving it their all, and performing above expectations already. You could see several of them looking hurt, like coach, we're already playing over our heads, and doing what you want. This kind of mental toughening needed to start in the next easy game, rather than this one. Starting toughening too early risks making young players feel like what's the point, ya can't please this guy! On the other hand, Self was trying to push them hard enough to keep them from getting humiliated early in the season. He rightly understands that getting such a young team a shot of confidence is crucial to getting them ready for the mental toughening he wants to put them through. So: maybe he was doing what had to be done afterall, because of the strength of early schedule and our youth. He was giving the sly Self smile a lot, too. Its a smile that makes me feel good even 1000 miles away through a TV. I can only imagine how good it makes the players feel up close.

November 26, 2008 at 12:14 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

mbmerriman (anonymous) says...

releford is the best defensive freshmen, i think he isnt playing because he isnt as good as tyshawn and not as experiences as Reed and Morningstar

November 26, 2008 at 12:14 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Coaching--Boeheim: I thought he was for the most part outcoached, as he often is by good coaches. Remember, Jimmy almost let this one get away and this should have been an easy one for his team. Jimmy's one of those guys that has to have total advantage on talent and experience, which he often has in the Big Least, in order to win. Self took a bunch of skinny frosh and inexperienced sophs and outplayed a seasoned Syracuse team for 3/4s of the game and basically almost stole one. Compare Boeheim's and his team's performance to Self's last year with KU's seasoned, experienced team. This rarely happened to Self and KU last year against good opponents. It takes injuries and bad shooting nights for Self's experienced teams to lay big eggs against good opponents. Self's teams have their let downs against the occasional chumps. Maybe Jimmy thought they could coast against a green KU team, but I believe he's just an average coach at a very good school for recruiting, like Owens was at KU. Jimmy B's team laid an egg for most of the game and relied on KU's inexperience and a great burst from Flynn to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Boeheim must be very frustrating for Syracuse fans. I always think of him as the Ted Owens of the Big Least. He gets his W's when he has the better, more experienced talent, never when equal or inferior and young. Jimmy even whined about Sprint Center being like playing in Lawrence. Funny! KU would have definitely won that game at AFH. Would he rather play to empty seats at Sprint and not take from the gate? Heck, every team outside the east runs into this when they play in eastern tourneys. Every venue is about ten eastern teams back yard. Just stay focused on mediocrity Jimmy, you do it well. You lucked into a ring on a bad KU FT night with Carmelo. You lucked into a win last night on a bad KU FT night. This is you at your style. You never beat anybody when you're both playing well. If Syracuse wants to become big winners, they ought to hire Joe Dooley to replace you. Heck, hire Brett Ballard. Any KU guy out of Self's Okie baller mafia could put up a better winning percentage than you do year in and year out with the ton of talent you can get to come to Syracuse cause its close to home and a great school. Jimmy B gets my vote for the Underachieving Hall of Fame. Jimmy B is the poster boy. He's made people forget Ted Owens. If Self had been coaching Jimmy B's team last night, they'd have kicked the snot out of KU. Self is that much better.

November 26, 2008 at 12:16 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Rebounding: KU outrebounded SU overall, and even dominated for stretches of the game; that's an improvement over previous games, but our edge derived substantially from offensive rebounding, which was itself pumped up by our poor shooting. Take away that poor shooting and rebounding stats would have probably favored SU. Of course, take away our poor shooting and we would have handily won the game. :-) Thank heavens for our offensive rebounding. It was what gave us a chance to win on an off night. Big Rebounding: Significant improvement from UW game. But still not where it needs to be yet. KU attacked the rebound better on the offensive glass, for sure, but Harris and Onuaku could not be boxed out. They eventually ruled late in the game, when our guys tired.Small Rebounding: Our guards again were weak on the boards. Taylor got a few more, but Brady a few less. SU's perimeter outrebounded our perimeter. Net, no improvement. The only way to afford this gap is if Brady and Tyrel can drain treys. Since they are conspicuously NOT draining treys, expect Self to start giving Releford some serious minutes against some weaker opponents to see if Releford can up the boards. Little would be an answer, but he's out. But again, teams are clearly respecting Brady's and Tyrel's shooting, even if they are not making them, judging by the lack of sagging on the bigs. But this is surely about to change, because of their poor performances so far.The Twins: You can't ask for much better out of non-superstar freshman bigs than what they are giving us presently. Marcus especially seems to be finding his way little by little each game. Yes, each one made a couple bone head passes and defensive mistakes, but, good lord, compared to Arthur's first season, these guys are playing like veterans. Admittedly the Twins are benefitting from playing second fiddle to a better first fiddle in Aldrich, but still they are giving a good accounting of themselves. And each game there are fewer minutes where their eyes look completely mystified by what has just happened.

November 26, 2008 at 12:17 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Brady/Tyrel/Little/Releford Drama: Many continue to grimace at Brady and Reed, but again, they certainly did not kill us defensively against Syracuse. Heck, their play was at least good enough to help us almost upset a very experienced and good team. Reed actually played a very good floor game and Brady gave 26 minutes after a 36 minute night the night before. Ya gotta remember fans, these new guys are not used to bruiser ball on back to back nights. They are not battle hardened yet. The super talents score so much we forgive them for running out of gas, as Sherronatron and Quantum did in OT. The lesser guys DO disappear when they run out of gas, but that's to be expected. Early on, Brady looked his usual quick, springy self, but he tired even before Sherronatron and that magnified his height mismatch on the perimeter. Reed faired better because of more energy (less minutes the night before), and a basic hard nosed quality that is needed against Big Least teams, but again, this was a game where Little could have helped us a lot even if he had only played half the time. Little's role is, at the very least, going to be to come in for stretches to help this team get stops, just as Reed is supposed to come in and pop a triceratop.KU team status: Ahead of schedule for such a green team. Will be much better when Little arrives, but only situationally more flexible, unless Little is just exceptional.Syracuse team status: they got it done the way an experienced team should, but Boeheim has got to be concerned about KU's green sticks out quicking, out jumping, and out shoving his Big Leasters for quite awhile. KU didn't get intimidated. KU ran out of gas. Boeheim knows this.Most Interesting Tactical Move by Self: When they needed threes in OT, Sherronatron shifted to the wing to come off screens. It didn't work very well, because S-Man was too tuckered by then, but it pretty much says it all about what Self thinks of his outside shooters at this point.

November 26, 2008 at 12:18 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Quantum Taylor Update (note: forget Tyshawn, this guy is Quantum) : if this guy stays healthy and actually learns how to play the Two position sometime this season, he is going to be fabulous, because he is already very good with almost no fundamentals for doing it whatsoever. He is getting by almost entirely on his training as a PG, a good brain, and on phenomenal athletic ability. About half the time, he has no idea what the 2 man is even supposed to do in Self's offense. And he sure has not hard wired the fundamentals of doing it. I'm always embarrassed for him until he recovers and does one of his super plays. He looks just like Chalmers did when Self moved Chalmers over to the two that first half of his first year; only, to be blunt, he's way better than Mario in every way but his trey and his anticipation on defense. Good lord. The reason no one's coming to KU in the backcourt is no one's sure Sherron will jump yet, AND the word out on the street about Tyshawn has to be the guy is a late blooming super star. The only way to describe his game is that he switches between a particle in position to a wave of light in motion, hence the Quantum moniker. By next year, nobody is cutting that kids's minutes. Also, defensive anticipation is partly a gift, but with the kind of quickness Quantum has, he could be the next wreak havoc defender to carry on Mario's and RR's legacy.Aldrich Not on Tourney Team: Stupid. He played great. He was better than the bigs they picked. Who are you gonna pick for a center? Calathes and Brockman, or Cole. Heck, Onuaku is better than Calathes and Brockman and I like Calathes and Brockman. Based on talent and based on performance in these two games, every coach in the country would have picked Aldrich. Not even close. They selected based on raw numbers. Cole changes games with his presense. The other guys just have better fundies right now.Conclusion: I'm quite happy with a split in these last two games and a good showing against Cuse.

November 26, 2008 at 12:19 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jaminrawk (anonymous) says...

It's funny. Xavier must want to bury his brother even further down the bench. Recruiting Cheek would make CJ a non-factor.

November 26, 2008 at 12:29 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

great point jaminrawk.

November 26, 2008 at 1:44 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

oldalum (anonymous) says...

I suspect CJ was only recruited to get the kid brother. He probably wouldn't have played much anyway.

November 26, 2008 at 3:17 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

soapboxstew (anonymous) says...

*I say that we do Memphis no favors. We can go the tourney in MSG, can't we? The "Coaches v Cancer"? We don't go to Memphis's tourney. period. Let them lure Middle Tennessee St. as the other marquee match-up in their tourney and stick it to them that way. I know that Bill Self (as well as myself) are peeved about what happened with X. I don't get the feeling that Memphis went the squeaky clean route in getting X. Even if they did, I say we do them and their program no favors. In the words of Ferris Buler's sister, "screw 'em".Cal is just out for revenge anyways, I say we don't even give him the opportunity. * One thing that I have noticed about Memphis is that while their guards are second to none, their frontcourt is weak sauce. And that is with 2 starters that will not be there next year. I saw that they have 2 juco kids signed for the frontcourt next year...and that is it. If they don't get a quality big, they will not have a quality team. When you think about it, what big in his right mind would want to go to Memphis? All you would do is set screens and rebound. Dorsey had 0 points against UCLA in the F4.* Lastly, X, do what you want. We can't stop you, and you can't convince Cheek all by your lonesome. What do you say to him, "You can be my Robin"?* P.S.- Bill Self, will you please play Releford. NOW. It's not like he is some scrub. He started for the U-18 USA team, and he can't start over 'the morning'. I love Brady as much as any other KU fan, his dad was great, he is a good kid, he loves KU; but he just doesn't have the tools to play 30+ min against top 5 talent (we want to be in the top 5 don't we?). Is Bill trying to show Stevenson and Cheek that we don't have a 3? Bill himself said that Releford was an elite defender. That should earn you minutes on this team. The real tragedy is that Connor T is getting more tick than Releford. What's that?The starting 5 at the end of the season HAS to be SC, TT, Releford (or Little), MM, and CA. With 'the morning' and Reed coming off the bench a bunch.

November 26, 2008 at 3:26 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Yahweh (anonymous) says...

No offense, Jaybate, I really think you need to start a blog. It's hard to wade through your incredibly long and obviously well-thought-out comments. I have nothing against you posting here, and obviously its a free country. Your comments, though, besides sort of clogging the space here, deserve a better forum. With a little html background you could be a major pundit out there on the internet. And don't tell me you don't have the time, because your efforts here have been Herculean.

November 27, 2008 at 12:49 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhawkdan42 (anonymous) says...

Jaybate-While I agree with a lot of your posts , they are WAY too long.

November 27, 2008 at 12:09 p.m. ( | suggest removal )