redbrian
02-22-2005, 08:50 AM
Sure hope he didn’t crush any bystanders when he landed.
KU going from first to worse
JASON WHITLOCK COMMENTARY
NORMAN, Okla. — It's official now: The Kansas Jayhawks are not getting better as the regular season draws to a close.
It would be nice to blame the Jayhawks' swoon — which reached three games Monday night with a 71-63 loss at Oklahoma — on Christian Moody's injury-induced absence. Moody's value is now obvious. But his absence in KU's last two losses does not explain what's going on with coach Bill Self's Jayhawks.
The Hawks, 20-4 and 10-3 in the Big 12, played without confidence throughout the first half of Monday's game, and in the second half the Hawks abandoned Self's defensive-minded style of play and just tried to outscore the Sooners. The offensive bent helped the Jayhawks erase a large, double-digit deficit, but it did not instill any confidence that things will get better for Kansas on Sunday when Oklahoma State visits Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansas looks lost. J.R. Giddens barked at Aaron Miles late in the game after committing a stupid foul. Also, Giddens and Self appeared to bicker back and forth when Self pulled Giddens from the game early in the second half. Senior Michael Lee doesn't have a role on this team. After clocking 6 minutes and two turnovers in the first half, Lee played just 3 minutes in the second half. Kansas' freshmen simply haven't developed. C.J. Giles, Sasha Kaun and Darnell Jackson gave the Hawks nothing. Russell Robinson didn't play. Alex Galindo, trapped in the doghouse for weeks, played 19 second-half minutes Monday.
No way a team with this many experienced and talented seniors should be this lost in late February. The Jayhawks won't snap out of this funk easily. They've been in it most of the season. This team has never come together. You can blame a number of factors, including a rash of nagging injuries that have sidelined numerous players for short stints. Whatever the cause, the Jayhawks' pieces have never come together to form a cohesive unit. Kansas might be the first underachieving 20-4 team in college basketball history. KU has been unimpressive in too many victories and horrible in three of its losses.
A Kansas team that was supposed to peak at the end of the season is melting down with just three conference games to play.
If Kansas wins its remaining three games, it can still win the Big 12 regular-season crown, but it may have played its way out of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Kansas might need to win out — regular season and postseason tournament — to have a shot at a No. 1 seed.
Keith Langford shrugged off KU's sluggish performance, pointing out that KU went into last year's tournament with eight losses and still advanced to the Elite Eight. Langford is forgetting the upsets that paved KU's tournament route.
Kansas tried to snap a finger Monday night and make a miserable first half irrelevant.
Down by 15 at halftime, Self scrapped any plans of trying to beat the Sooners with a gutty second-half defensive effort. Despite a nice first-half offensive showing, which included five-of-11 shooting from behind the three-point arc, the Oklahoma Sooners aren't much of an offensive threat.
Self's plan made perfect sense. He put his best offensive lineup on the court at the beginning of the second half — Aaron Miles, Simien, Langford, Galindo and Giddens. Galindo and Giddens are poor defenders, but they're both streaky three-point shooters.
Having scored just 22 points in the opening 20 minutes, the Hawks needed outside shooting more than they needed Kaun's size or Jeff Hawkins' defensive spark. Kaun, Hawkins and Lee were the only KU subs to leave the bench in the second half. The trio combined for 5 minutes of playing time in the second half.
The plan worked. Kansas quickly shaved OU's lead by nine points 5 minutes into the second half. They eventually whittled the lead to one point on several possessions. Initially the Sooners couldn't stop the dribble penetration of Langford and Miles. The two seniors drove to the basket at will and either hit shots or drew fouls and went to the free-throw line. Galindo and Giddens chipped in three-pointers, and Simien knocked down several closely guarded shots in the lane.
But Kansas could never pull ahead. The three-point bombing that carried Oklahoma in the first half never materialized after the break. Oklahoma struggled for every point.
The Sooners kept the lead because Sampson realized the foolishness of playing man-to-man against Kansas.
The Sooners fell back into a 2-3 zone that sometimes looked a little bit like a trapping 3-2 zone. Whatever it was, it cut off Miles' and Langford's penetration, and that slowed KU's offense. Langford and Miles disappeared as scoring threats. Simien was KU's lone reliable option.
OU's Kevin Bookout did a marvelous job of fronting Simien defensively. At a shade above 6-7, Simien is a difficult target when he's being fronted. Monday night the Jayhawks made a concerted effort to get Simien the ball down low.
Giddens, the “mad bomber” over the weekend, took just six shots on Monday. He deferred to the upperclassmen. Simien scored 12 points in the second half. It wasn't enough. After taking just seven shots on Saturday against Iowa State, Simien fired 13 shots on Monday.
KU going from first to worse
JASON WHITLOCK COMMENTARY
NORMAN, Okla. — It's official now: The Kansas Jayhawks are not getting better as the regular season draws to a close.
It would be nice to blame the Jayhawks' swoon — which reached three games Monday night with a 71-63 loss at Oklahoma — on Christian Moody's injury-induced absence. Moody's value is now obvious. But his absence in KU's last two losses does not explain what's going on with coach Bill Self's Jayhawks.
The Hawks, 20-4 and 10-3 in the Big 12, played without confidence throughout the first half of Monday's game, and in the second half the Hawks abandoned Self's defensive-minded style of play and just tried to outscore the Sooners. The offensive bent helped the Jayhawks erase a large, double-digit deficit, but it did not instill any confidence that things will get better for Kansas on Sunday when Oklahoma State visits Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansas looks lost. J.R. Giddens barked at Aaron Miles late in the game after committing a stupid foul. Also, Giddens and Self appeared to bicker back and forth when Self pulled Giddens from the game early in the second half. Senior Michael Lee doesn't have a role on this team. After clocking 6 minutes and two turnovers in the first half, Lee played just 3 minutes in the second half. Kansas' freshmen simply haven't developed. C.J. Giles, Sasha Kaun and Darnell Jackson gave the Hawks nothing. Russell Robinson didn't play. Alex Galindo, trapped in the doghouse for weeks, played 19 second-half minutes Monday.
No way a team with this many experienced and talented seniors should be this lost in late February. The Jayhawks won't snap out of this funk easily. They've been in it most of the season. This team has never come together. You can blame a number of factors, including a rash of nagging injuries that have sidelined numerous players for short stints. Whatever the cause, the Jayhawks' pieces have never come together to form a cohesive unit. Kansas might be the first underachieving 20-4 team in college basketball history. KU has been unimpressive in too many victories and horrible in three of its losses.
A Kansas team that was supposed to peak at the end of the season is melting down with just three conference games to play.
If Kansas wins its remaining three games, it can still win the Big 12 regular-season crown, but it may have played its way out of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Kansas might need to win out — regular season and postseason tournament — to have a shot at a No. 1 seed.
Keith Langford shrugged off KU's sluggish performance, pointing out that KU went into last year's tournament with eight losses and still advanced to the Elite Eight. Langford is forgetting the upsets that paved KU's tournament route.
Kansas tried to snap a finger Monday night and make a miserable first half irrelevant.
Down by 15 at halftime, Self scrapped any plans of trying to beat the Sooners with a gutty second-half defensive effort. Despite a nice first-half offensive showing, which included five-of-11 shooting from behind the three-point arc, the Oklahoma Sooners aren't much of an offensive threat.
Self's plan made perfect sense. He put his best offensive lineup on the court at the beginning of the second half — Aaron Miles, Simien, Langford, Galindo and Giddens. Galindo and Giddens are poor defenders, but they're both streaky three-point shooters.
Having scored just 22 points in the opening 20 minutes, the Hawks needed outside shooting more than they needed Kaun's size or Jeff Hawkins' defensive spark. Kaun, Hawkins and Lee were the only KU subs to leave the bench in the second half. The trio combined for 5 minutes of playing time in the second half.
The plan worked. Kansas quickly shaved OU's lead by nine points 5 minutes into the second half. They eventually whittled the lead to one point on several possessions. Initially the Sooners couldn't stop the dribble penetration of Langford and Miles. The two seniors drove to the basket at will and either hit shots or drew fouls and went to the free-throw line. Galindo and Giddens chipped in three-pointers, and Simien knocked down several closely guarded shots in the lane.
But Kansas could never pull ahead. The three-point bombing that carried Oklahoma in the first half never materialized after the break. Oklahoma struggled for every point.
The Sooners kept the lead because Sampson realized the foolishness of playing man-to-man against Kansas.
The Sooners fell back into a 2-3 zone that sometimes looked a little bit like a trapping 3-2 zone. Whatever it was, it cut off Miles' and Langford's penetration, and that slowed KU's offense. Langford and Miles disappeared as scoring threats. Simien was KU's lone reliable option.
OU's Kevin Bookout did a marvelous job of fronting Simien defensively. At a shade above 6-7, Simien is a difficult target when he's being fronted. Monday night the Jayhawks made a concerted effort to get Simien the ball down low.
Giddens, the “mad bomber” over the weekend, took just six shots on Monday. He deferred to the upperclassmen. Simien scored 12 points in the second half. It wasn't enough. After taking just seven shots on Saturday against Iowa State, Simien fired 13 shots on Monday.