2011 - 2012 College Basketball Season

[bobbyhawks]

It is odd to think that KU has received fewer minutes from the bench than MU, especially when considering how there is only really one... maybe two untouchable players. It is really telling who Bill Self has confidence in, though, in big games. We play podunk-U, and he really goes out of his way to get the bench some minutes; then we play Duke or a game gets close, and he only subs as a reaction to fouls. The same could be said for any coach, but I think Self really reveals a lot about his confidence level or belief in certain players' athleticism in those scenarios.

[shinatoo]

double removed

[shinatoo]

One of the reasons Mizzou's defense has fallen off is because they've had some foul trouble in the last couple of games. They only go 7 deep, 8 if they have to so they tend to leave the guys in with foul problems and it impacts their D.

MU had 14 fouls in the 'Nova game. total. If that's foul trouble, than MU is gonna be in a serious sh*t storm come conference season. BigXII refs whistle u for breathing too hard.

Also, I'd be curious to see how MU gets away with a 7 man rotation in conference play. That's an awfully thin rotation.

It is when 3 of those are on Phil Pressy in the first half. Plus I believe 9 total in the first half.

[chingon]

Losing Bowers for the season is really hurting Mizzou, I think he's would have been the difference between a good team and a final four contender.

With Bowers, I think there was a possibility that MU could have lucked into a final four slot, but "contender" seems a bit optimistic. With Bowers, MU might have been a sweet 16 "contender" had a good shot an another elite 8 bid and been a final 4 longshot. Of course, it's awefully hard to say anything with certainty this far out, much less with the hypothetical addition of a marquee player, and even if you can, the tournament is funn because its so volatile.

As the teams stands now, they'd have to pull a pretty lukcy seed/schedule to be any kind of shoe-in for going deep. They are going to get outsized and flat out outskilled versus "final 4 contender" teams, and I don't think the lone addition of Bower's would solve that problem. I will say that with Bowers, they would have been a good bet for a parting Big 12 regular season championship (and obviously will be in the hunt even without him).

[Highlander]

Losing Bowers for the season is really hurting Mizzou, I think he's would have been the difference between a good team and a final four contender.

With Bowers, I think there was a possibility that MU could have lucked into a final four slot, but "contender" seems a bit optimistic. With Bowers, MU might have been a sweet 16 "contender" had a good shot an another elite 8 bid and been a final 4 longshot. Of course, it's awefully hard to say anything with certainty this far out, much less with the hypothetical addition of a marquee player, and even if you can, the tournament is funn because its so volatile.

Contender just means they have/had a chance. They were certainly contenders a few of years back with Lyons and Carroll et al, and I think they could have been this year. Maybe they still are contenders, but with only 7 guys in the rotation, too much can go wrong in any one game to sustain a run against better competition. Nobody has a deeper backcourt in the country but few marquee teams have only 2 guys on the front line (although KU is pretty much in the same boat in that regard).

[KCMax]

Mizzou right now is one of the top 15 teams in the nation in my mind. Of course they're contenders. With Bowers they're pretty serious contenders. Not a favorite (I think UNC, OSU, Kentucky and Syracuse are heads and tails better than everyone else), but yea, if you squint, you can see this Mizzou team taking a run in March.

[Highlander]

One of the reasons Mizzou's defense has fallen off is because they've had some foul trouble in the last couple of games. They only go 7 deep, 8 if they have to so they tend to leave the guys in with foul problems and it impacts their D.

MU had 14 fouls in the 'Nova game. total. If that's foul trouble, than MU is gonna be in a serious sh*t storm come conference season. BigXII refs whistle u for breathing too hard.

Also, I'd be curious to see how MU gets away with a 7 man rotation in conference play. That's an awfully thin rotation.

Kadeem Green is the only scholarship player that is not seeing any time on the floor right now. At 6' 8" and a former 3-star recruit, his size is needed badly so he must be pretty raw if Haith isn't playing him. In January, the Tigers will also be joined by Andrew Jones who was apparently a very good HS basketball player and now plays football for Mizzou. That said, he's not been on the squad or played b-ball during his stay at Mizzou so it's hard to see how he is going to be an improvement over Green except for maybe his phsyical stature (he's a TE). So concieveably, Mizzou could go 9 deep by the time conference play starts but #8 and 9 may not bring too much to the table.

Anderson, not only brought in no new recruits to MU this year, but regretably ran off Tyler Stone who is having a great year at SE Mo State scoring 20 at Oregon and 18 against Mizzou. I think Haith, who's hire I really did not like, is doing pretty well with what he was left...granted, good players but so few of them... and having to deal with Bowers being out for the season.

[chingon]

Contender just means they have/had a chance. They were certainly contenders a few of years back with Lyons and Carroll et al, and I think they could have been this year. Maybe they still are contenders, but with only 7 guys in the rotation, too much can go wrong in any one game to sustain a run against better competition. Nobody has a deeper backcourt in the country but few marquee teams have only 2 guys on the front line (although KU is pretty much in the same boat in that regard).

Yeah, I think we just have a slightly different idea of what contender means. To me that basically a good -- as opposed to long -- shot, and I honestly don't think Bowers would have put them over that hump given the teams that are likely to make up this years top 5 or 7 teams.

I think MU has a top 25 season in front of them, a tournament appearance and a "contender" shot at the Big 12. Its not an insult. That seems like a pretty awesome season to me, especially given the loss of Bowers and the teams much-bandied shortcomings.

[Highlander]

If you saw the brawl between Cincy and Xavier, it might be difficult to believe that Yancy Gates only got a six game suspension. I figured we was done for the season.

[grovester]

yep, should have gone long in to conference play at least.

[KCMax]

Any thoughts on the Big KU win? I thought it was some of the best basketball they've played all year. A lot of that has to do with good Tyshawn Taylor showing up rather than bad Tyshawn Taylor (and it turns out he's been playing hurt and will miss the next 2-3 weeks). Kevin Young also had a coming out party - love his athleticism. Him and Wesley are spark plugs off the bench. Woulda loved to see how KU would have done against Sullinger, but OSU is still a very deep team without him. Can't apologize for beating OSU without him.

Ohio State (who I'm also a fan of as an alum) looked pretty flat in the first half, but I like the way they battled and hung around even without their best player.

[kcmetro]

I was disappointed Sullinger didn't play too. Even if it meant a loss for KU, it still would've been nice to see him against T-Rob. I figured it would be a close game with or without Sullinger though, since it was at AFH and KU teams usually get up for big time opponents.

KU seemed to lead by 6 to 11 points almost the entire game, which was a bit surprising. But when Kevin Young and EJ are draining 3's like that, it makes sense. OSU didn't play very well, and yet they still had a shot to win it late. Their shots just weren't falling until the second half, and we were getting lots of open looks from 3 point range. They also didn't have an answer for T-Rob inside. OSU is gonna be hard to stop once Sullinger comes back. I think their offense really struggled because it runs through Sullinger, and guys get open looks from defenses collapsing on him when he has the ball. So I expect them to be back to their form as soon as he returns.

Lots of good early tests for KU this season so far, which will benefit us in conference play. I think this team will be able to win some grind-it-out games down the stretch due to that experience. At the start of the season, I thought this team was probably a Sweet 16 team at best, but if everyone stays healthy, I wouldn't be surprised to see them make a run at an Elite 8 or Final Four in March. Taylor is going to have to take care of the ball though for that to happen.

[Highlander]

It just wasn't a good matchup for OSU without Sullinger. They didn't have the size/experience to match up with KU inside and they are not known for being a good outside shooting team. OSU's defense lacked intensity most of the game, they were really lax on the ball and didn't press KU's guards all that hard. I was kind of suprised with their lack of urgency on defense trailing in the second half by 10 points. Young looked good, where did that come from...has looked inept at times prior to OSU.

[bobbyhawks]

KU really needs Tyshawn to be around for scenarios where we need to get to the free throw line or manufacture some quick points during offensive struggles. That said, Tyshawn had 7 turnovers in a big game. That is unacceptable for a starting point guard. He has the worst turnover rate on the team. Since 2006-07, only the 2009-10 version of Elijah Johnson has had a worse turnover rate at KU. As a senior, he really needs to make some improvements. This is the time of the season when we can most afford to lose him, and we will absolutely need to solve how to generate offense when he is not around.

[Highlander]

KU really needs Tyshawn to be around for scenarios where we need to get to the free throw line or manufacture some quick points during offensive struggles. That said, Tyshawn had 7 turnovers in a big game. That is unacceptable for a starting point guard. He has the worst turnover rate on the team. Since 2006-07, only the 2009-10 version of Elijah Johnson has had a worse turnover rate at KU. As a senior, he really needs to make some improvements. This is the time of the season when we can most afford to lose him, and we will absolutely need to solve how to generate offense when he is not around.

I guess Tharpe will finally get some minutes.

[shinatoo]

From ESPN.com

3. Kansas: Just eight days removed from a minor knee injury, point guard Tyshawn Taylor is expected to return to the court when the Jayhawks face Davidson on Monday in Kansas City. Kansas, which is getting 17.8 points and 11.4 rebounds from Thomas Robinson, visits USC on Thursday to take on the undermanned Trojans.

[bobbyhawks]

I wonder if this is Self telling Tyshawn to tough it out for Davidson as they are our toughest competition until KSU on 1/4, or if he is genuinely ready to play. If it is one of those injuries that just needs a couple of weeks, I could see how having a limited Tyshawn tonight would make sense as long as it doesn't make anything worse. We shall see. KU isn't quite a "live by Tyshawn, die by Tyshawn" team as we were with Collins, but we aren't far away. I still would like to see some other guys get minutes so we have someone to turn to when Tyshawn is particularly bad from the TO standpoint.

[KCMax]

Mizzou lands Oregon transfer G Jabari Brown for next year. The frosh was a five star recruit out of HS.

[shinatoo]

I found that more interesting for where they were playing than who was going to play.

[bobbyhawks]

Pretty pathetic game. I'm not sure how much of that game was a dose of reality vs. how much was just a terrible single effort and a realization that our only really clutch player also is on a turnover bender unseen before by KU fans.

We dropped 6 places in the Kenpom.com efficiency rankings (now #12). We are now #272 in the nation in preventing steals and #191 in offensive turnover %. We have 6 players offering more than 20 turnovers per 100 possessions. Compare that to MU who only has Kadeem Green at 20.2. I saw a lot of people say that Bill Self was outcoached last night, but I really don't see what options he had other than maybe to give Wesley and Young more minutes early on in the game vs. Teahen. Conner is playing himself out of minutes as he was a major liability on the court last night. KU has a chance against a similarly blah opponent coming up, so it will be interesting to see their level of focus in the next game.