Quote:
Originally Posted by smithandrew051
There was a major shift in Self’s philosophy at the beginning of the 2017 season.
The original starting lineup was:
Mason
Graham
Jackson
Bragg
Lucas
Doke and Svi came off the bench.
Bragg was really struggling and Svi was hot. It was also apparent that Doke was a star in the making, with upside that Lucas couldn’t match.
Self switched things up and started Jackson at the 4 with Svi at the 3. Doke took over center until he got hurt.
That stretch 4 lineup was almost unheard of for Self and his high-low. We almost always had a traditional 4-5 combo.
Since then, we’ve seen Self run with smaller lineups in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, and now 2023.
That adjustment has really worked out. A true stretch 4 is such a tough match up in college. Big enough to defend forwards, but has to be defended around the perimeter. Can also defend guards. We really should’ve done this with Oubre and Wiggins in hindsight.
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The 2014-2015 season was probably my most frustrating season as a fan (I'm very, very spoiled following college hoops) in that it was obvious how that tournament was going to go being forced to play an incredibly underseeded WSU when our team wasn't assembled to its strengths (wasn't that the infamous "fools good" year?)
I also grew up 45 minutes from Wichita which really made that loss burn something special. I knew how the game was going to go, predicted a loss, and still got dunked on from WSU people in my feed for the next two years. I actually didn't mind the Marshall WSU teams before then, but good God they pretty much hung that like a banner over their stadium and wore a Koch Industries sized chip on their shoulder about KU the entire time. I still had a friend post highlights on that game on KU statuses for years after that match (until we won another title and WSU collapsed, that is. No college hoops is “dead”, of course).