Is KU a tournament team

[ExitFlagger]

This is easily the worse KU team since 99-00. They'll make the tournament but shouldn't be any higher than a 5 or 6 seed. And 2 freshman who haven't played a meaningful minute aren't going to turn this team into world beaters.

De Sousa may not have a big impact with such little practice time, but you're insane if you think Preston won't.

I'm not sure why people seem shocked that a team that was already thin in the frontcourt isn't dominant after losing its top talent. Drop the most talented player from most top 25 rosters and you have an NIT team.

 

[Turinturumbar]

This is easily the worse KU team since 99-00. They'll make the tournament but shouldn't be any higher than a 5 or 6 seed. And 2 freshman who haven't played a meaningful minute aren't going to turn this team into world beaters.

In normal circumstances you’d be right. But
when those two players give you bodies at a sorely needed position, then yes they can make a huge difference. Right now it’s like trying to play football with great interior lineman but your starting and backup tackles are taken out and you have to throw some small, slow walk-o s out there. Suddenly your QB has no time to throw and your running game is also severely limited. It won’t matter if your QB is Montana, your RB is Walter Payton, and you’ve got Jerry Rice out there to catch passes. You get those lineman back and suddenly you’re rolling. Obviously the comparison is exaggerated but it’s true. Right now KUs talent is lopsided to certain positions. They are limited on the sets they can run and more importantly they just don’t have the gas in the tank to keep a consistent effort. And we’re relying on guys to be rebounders when that is not what they do. When you get two talented players at a position you’re sorely needing, yes it can have a huge impact. They can run more sets, give better effort, and more importantly teams won’t be able to focus on shutting down the perimeter. This will open the 3 for what may be the best group of shooters in the nation. More importantly it will allow us to score when we aren’t shooting well. Right now, if we are having an off night shooting, we lose because we have no interior presence....and that carries over to the defensive end.

 

[Big_C_KU]

Imo we're just setting ourselves up for disappointment if Preston and De Sousa are eligible to play. Preston isn't going to add this great defender and rebounder which is what this team needs. He didn't show much desire for either in the exhibition games. He'll add some offense and that will help but that really isn't what this team needs. It's toughness, defense, and rebounding. Those aren't what Preston is known for or showed in exhibitions and KU fans are expecting him to provide that the second he steps on the court.

And De Sousa has only been practicing with the team for what 2 weeks if that? Unless he has Embiid level BBall IQ he's not gonna see much time. He'll add a body and fouls at times but Self has shown his tendency to prefer to play guys who know the system. He'll be behind Lightfoot for sure.

Just think we're putting these crazy expectations on these guys because of the whole ordeal and the fantasy of what these guys could bring. When they more than likely don't live up to those expectations you'll see KU fans act disappointed and throw hate their way and the only ones whose fault it will be will be KU fans because they've created the unrealistic expectations.

 

[Turinturumbar]

Preston isn't going to add this great defender and rebounder which is what this team needs. He didn't show much desire for either in the exhibition games. He'll add some offense and that will help but that really isn't what this team needs. It's toughness, defense, and rebounding.

Just think we're putting these crazy expectations

"He'll add some offense and that will help but that really isn't what this team needs."

It certainly helps. This team is good offensively most nights, because they pass well and they're good shooters. But the games we've struggled in have been the games in which the opponent has focused on shutting down our three point shooters and giving us the middle. And at times it has worked. They can't do that to us if we've got athletes who can score down low, especially if we can put two bigs on the court at the same time. Washington is the biggest example of this. They smothered our guards and gave us everything inside the 3 point line. Vick could have scored 80 if he could have finished at a decent rate. If you've got two bigs in there, they can't do that.

And no, Preston isn't a great defender, but he can most definitely improve. You saw him defensively when he was a few months removed from high school and hadn't played in a real game. Now he's got a few months of practice with the 1st team under his belt, and by season end, if he's given the clearance to play soon, he could develop into a defensive threat. Either way though, right now we have guys being asked to do things that they shouldn't be asked to do. Playing out of position, and doing things they're not accustomed to. If you can put two bigs on the court at the same time, Self can run his defense more like he wants to do it, and the other guys won't have to try to overcompensate.

"It's toughness, defense, and rebounding."

Toughness requires effort. Good defense requires effort. When you're running the same guys ragged, they run out of steam. Right now they're getting outhustled, because they've all logged so many minutes due to depth issues. Last night they gave great effort in the 2nd half, and they looked exhausted..... They've got nothing left in the tank, and the effort they gave last night could spell trouble for our game against KSU. We're lucky that game won't be against a better team.

Depth at these positions, allows you to rest everybody more. With more rest, they could play with more effort and determination and yes, play better defense.

"Just think we're putting these crazy expectations"

Sure we are. Fans do that. But I think others are underselling the impact they will have. They don't have to perform at a high level to have a big impact. I don't think by any means they're going to be world beaters. They'll probably put up marginal numbers. For me, it's not about the numbers these guys will put up individually. Rather it's about the pressure they'll take off the other guys, allowing our currently eligible players to play with more consistency and efficiency.

 

[twocoach]

Imo we're just setting ourselves up for disappointment if Preston and De Sousa are eligible to play. Preston isn't going to add this great defender and rebounder which is what this team needs. He didn't show much desire for either in the exhibition games. He'll add some offense and that will help but that really isn't what this team needs. It's toughness, defense, and rebounding. Those aren't what Preston is known for or showed in exhibitions and KU fans are expecting him to provide that the second he steps on the court.

And De Sousa has only been practicing with the team for what 2 weeks if that? Unless he has Embiid level BBall IQ he's not gonna see much time. He'll add a body and fouls at times but Self has shown his tendency to prefer to play guys who know the system. He'll be behind Lightfoot for sure.

Just think we're putting these crazy expectations on these guys because of the whole ordeal and the fantasy of what these guys could bring. When they more than likely don't live up to those expectations you'll see KU fans act disappointed and throw hate their way and the only ones whose fault it will be will be KU fans because they've created the unrealistic expectations.

Good grief, Negative Nancy.

Adding these two bodies , even if they suck, helps the team. Right now we are so short handed that our current roster has to play a ton of minutes. This leads to Kansas having to keep practices short to help save their legs, especially as players get beat up in the slugfest that is this year's Big 12 round robin.

And when you cannot practice as much, you cannot spend as much time on your game plan and you cannot practice all of the special situation scenarios you normally do, which Self is typically an excellent coach of.

And adding both Preston and De Sousa means that now Dok can play full tilt defense instead of playing tentative due to being scared of getting in foul trouble and leaving Ku with no one but Mitch Lightfoot and Clay Young.

Adding Preston adds another level of offense that has to be guarded. A team could no longer just focus on shutting down the three point shooters and dominate us. That would still leave Preston available to hit mid range jumpers and hit the post hard and drag defenders back off of the shooters.

Adding them to the available roster is more than just adding the stats that they contribute. I know you understand all of this.

 

[Me and Rex]

Good grief, Negative Nancy.

Adding these two bodies , even if they suck, helps the team. Right now we are so short handed that our current roster has to play a ton of minutes. This leads to Kansas having to keep practices short to help save their legs, especially as players get beat up in the slugfest that is this year's Big 12 round robin.

And when you cannot practice as much, you cannot spend as much time on your game plan and you cannot practice all of the special situation scenarios you normally do, which Self is typically an excellent coach of.

And adding both Preston and De Sousa means that now Dok can play full tilt defense instead of playing tentative due to being scared of getting in foul trouble and leaving Ku with no one but Mitch Lightfoot and Clay Young.

Adding Preston adds another level of offense that has to be guarded. A team could no longer just focus on shutting down the three point shooters and dominate us. That would still leave Preston available to hit mid range jumpers and hit the post hard and drag defenders back off of the shooters.

Adding them to the available roster is more than just adding the stats that they contribute. I know you understand all of this.

Agreed! I dont understand how some people think adding two McDAA level bigs (one is, one likely would have been) to a post that really only has one threat and one back up would not help. I don't care if it's the first time they've touched a basketball in a year...their availability changes everything. Defensive rotations\responsibilities become much easier for all involved. More rest. More fouls. More options. Less pressure on Dok. More freedom for Dok to play without worries. Less Svi\Vick guarding opposing post players.

The football analogy from above is spot on.

Their addition...even if their statistical contributions are minimal...elevates the ceiling for this team exponentially.

 

[wardhawk]

More and more of a no everytime I watch them play

 

[ExitFlagger]

More and more of a no everytime I watch them play

Nice call, bro.

 

[wardhawk]

Nice call, bro!

Long season

 

[viviajm]

We now have another big. He has 12 more conference games and at least 2 more in the Bid 12 Tourney in which he can become acclimated to the team. If BP gets the okay that will give us 4 bigs. But without BP the rest depends on matchups. KU also has 4 guards that can make a lot of 3's and a HOF coach. Yes we have a tourney team.

 

[wardhawk]

Bubble team IMO

 

[VAWildcat15]

This thread is not aging well lol.

 

[viviajm]

Reminds me so much of 99. Next year could be very similar to 2000.

Next year will be more like 2008 or 2012. Book it Dan'l.