I agree with Jason :KU shouldn’t rely on the three

ROYC75 · 03-20-2008, 08:55 PM

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/col...ry/539904.html

KU shouldn’t rely on the three
Commentary by JASON WHITLOCK
The Kansas City Star

OMAHA | It was perfect, the way Kansas trounced Portland State 85-61 Thursday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The top-seeded Jayhawks mustered the perfect amount of energy, focus and ball-sharing while making just enough crucial mistakes to give Bill Self a reason to chastise his players between now and Saturday’s second-round fight with UNLV.

A repeat of Thursday’s performance in the next three rounds and it’s highly likely the Jayhawks will make a premature exit from the Big Dance.

They shot too many threes, passed poorly into the low post and played horrible defense during stretches of their blowout victory over an overmatched Big Sky squad.

This is now two games in a row that Kansas has fallen in love with the three-ball. The Hawks, 32-3, have fired 25 threes in victories over Texas and Portland State. Lucky for them, they’ve drained 27 of 50 long-range shots.

I say it’s fool’s gold.

“I don’t think so,” said KU big man Darrell Arthur. “I think they were good shots. Guards got the ball where it needed to be. We just missed a couple of them in the second half. I thought we did a good job shooting the first half.”

No doubt they shot accurately and took wide-open shots against Portland State. The undersized Vikings didn’t have the athleticism or size to defend the low post and scramble out on KU’s sharpshooters.

The problem is three-point shooting can take on a life of its own when things start feeling too good on the perimeter. Good shooters start believing they’re great shooters, and streak shooters start believing they can shoot themselves out of a drought. Kansas is setting itself up for failure by not playing inside-out at all times, especially against an inferior foe.

“The way they play defense,” Self said of the Vikings, “is wherever the ball is, their whole team tried to get to the level of the ball. It’s called ball-line defense. And so wherever the ball is, they do a great job of really getting there. So most of our threes, if I’m not mistaken, were taken off of forcing the defense to help and passing it out.”

It’s a sound explanation, but the Hawks should’ve imposed their will on Portland State rather than taking what the defense gave them.

“The point you’re trying to make, which I would agree with,” Self said, “we have to play through our big guys. And tonight we didn’t do that as much, in large part because of the way they defended and how we shot the three in the first half.”

Kansas sank eight of 13 three-point shots in the opening 20 minutes. Sherron Collins and Mario Chalmers combined hit five of seven. The three is a hard shot to turn down when it’s falling.

But while Chalmers, Collins and Brandon Rush were unspooling threes, Arthur, Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun — KU’s three-headed post rotation — combined to take seven total shots in the first half. That’s not good.

And neither were the passes into the low post that were supposed to get them the ball. Portland State picked off several of the passes.

“It was sloppy,” Self agreed. “We had two or three uncontested layups if we had thrown the ball to the open hand and led them into the shot. We underthrew like two or three of them. We’re usually a better post-feeding team than that. So that’s something we definitely need to tighten up.”

OK, well the Hawks might want to tighten up their defense, too. About six minutes into the game — after Kansas built a 14-3 lead — the Vikings settled down, got into their offense and scored with relative ease. They got the shots their offense was designed to produce and closed to within 24-18 with about 9 minutes left in the half.

It wasn’t until Chalmers’ and Robinson’s quick hands and feet started creating turnovers — they combined for five first-half steals — that the Hawks reasserted control of the game.

“We’ll have to play much better defense, in my opinion, than what we played today,” Self said referring to Saturday’s game against UNLV.

Sorry if this column sounds too negative. The Jayhawks played a pretty good game on Thursday. But they didn’t enter this tournament with intentions of beating Portland State. They’re in the Dance to win the whole thing, and they’re not going to do it tossing up 25 threes against good opponents.

It’s cliché but true: Live by the three, die by the three.

03-20-2008, 08:55 PM	Topic Starter
ROYC75 Time For Your Wake Up Call !!! Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Barn Yard Casino cash: $2130400	I agree with Jason :KU shouldn’t rely on the three http://www.kansascity.com/sports/col...ry/539904.html KU shouldn’t rely on the three Commentary by JASON WHITLOCK The Kansas City Star OMAHA \| It was perfect, the way Kansas trounced Portland State 85-61 Thursday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The top-seeded Jayhawks mustered the perfect amount of energy, focus and ball-sharing while making just enough crucial mistakes to give Bill Self a reason to chastise his players between now and Saturday’s second-round fight with UNLV. A repeat of Thursday’s performance in the next three rounds and it’s highly likely the Jayhawks will make a premature exit from the Big Dance. They shot too many threes, passed poorly into the low post and played horrible defense during stretches of their blowout victory over an overmatched Big Sky squad. This is now two games in a row that Kansas has fallen in love with the three-ball. The Hawks, 32-3, have fired 25 threes in victories over Texas and Portland State. Lucky for them, they’ve drained 27 of 50 long-range shots. I say it’s fool’s gold. “I don’t think so,” said KU big man Darrell Arthur. “I think they were good shots. Guards got the ball where it needed to be. We just missed a couple of them in the second half. I thought we did a good job shooting the first half.” No doubt they shot accurately and took wide-open shots against Portland State. The undersized Vikings didn’t have the athleticism or size to defend the low post and scramble out on KU’s sharpshooters. The problem is three-point shooting can take on a life of its own when things start feeling too good on the perimeter. Good shooters start believing they’re great shooters, and streak shooters start believing they can shoot themselves out of a drought. Kansas is setting itself up for failure by not playing inside-out at all times, especially against an inferior foe. “The way they play defense,” Self said of the Vikings, “is wherever the ball is, their whole team tried to get to the level of the ball. It’s called ball-line defense. And so wherever the ball is, they do a great job of really getting there. So most of our threes, if I’m not mistaken, were taken off of forcing the defense to help and passing it out.” It’s a sound explanation, but the Hawks should’ve imposed their will on Portland State rather than taking what the defense gave them. “The point you’re trying to make, which I would agree with,” Self said, “we have to play through our big guys. And tonight we didn’t do that as much, in large part because of the way they defended and how we shot the three in the first half.” Kansas sank eight of 13 three-point shots in the opening 20 minutes. Sherron Collins and Mario Chalmers combined hit five of seven. The three is a hard shot to turn down when it’s falling. But while Chalmers, Collins and Brandon Rush were unspooling threes, Arthur, Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun — KU’s three-headed post rotation — combined to take seven total shots in the first half. That’s not good. And neither were the passes into the low post that were supposed to get them the ball. Portland State picked off several of the passes. “It was sloppy,” Self agreed. “We had two or three uncontested layups if we had thrown the ball to the open hand and led them into the shot. We underthrew like two or three of them. We’re usually a better post-feeding team than that. So that’s something we definitely need to tighten up.” OK, well the Hawks might want to tighten up their defense, too. About six minutes into the game — after Kansas built a 14-3 lead — the Vikings settled down, got into their offense and scored with relative ease. They got the shots their offense was designed to produce and closed to within 24-18 with about 9 minutes left in the half. It wasn’t until Chalmers’ and Robinson’s quick hands and feet started creating turnovers — they combined for five first-half steals — that the Hawks reasserted control of the game. “We’ll have to play much better defense, in my opinion, than what we played today,” Self said referring to Saturday’s game against UNLV. Sorry if this column sounds too negative. The Jayhawks played a pretty good game on Thursday. But they didn’t enter this tournament with intentions of beating Portland State. They’re in the Dance to win the whole thing, and they’re not going to do it tossing up 25 threes against good opponents. It’s cliché but true: Live by the three, die by the three.
Posts: 37,976