Udoka

[pdub]

He deserves his own thread.
Teams continue to have to game plan around him the most.
I wish he could shoot 55% from the free throw line.

[PhDhawk]

He's so good

[pdub]

4 blocks last night.

[Deleted User 75]

4 blocks last night.

Your prediction has been spot on. Blocks increased a lot. Not due to the ability to foul, but due to his ability not to foul, stay vertical, stay patient, and his timing is so much better......I can't even imagine how good he will look next year if he keeps improving.

[pdub]

That's the issue.
I would love Dok to come back.
I don't know if his game has changed enough ( he's just gotten even better at what we knew he could do ) to translate to the NBA - but I don't think that will stop him from leaving to go pro.

A senior Udoka would be my dream.

[pdub]

Not due to the ability to foul, but due to his ability not to foul, stay vertical, stay patient, and his timing is so much better......I can't even imagine how good he will look next year if he keeps improving.

It's a chicken egg here though.
He doesn't have to think about going up for a block now that we have options.
He can play easier.

[Soklous]

KUSports Nick Krug took this photograph. I think it is wild.

[Deleted User 75]

Not due to the ability to foul, but due to his ability not to foul, stay vertical, stay patient, and his timing is so much better......I can't even imagine how good he will look next year if he keeps improving.

It's a chicken egg here though.
He doesn't have to think about going up for a block now that we have options.
He can play easier.

Ya maybe. Although I don't know that we really have equal options. We take a huge step back when he's not in there. He's our best player. So I'm not sure he's got the freedom to foul at will.

Curious to see how Doks fouls per game look as we get deeper into the season.

If blocks go up and fouls go down then I'm not sure that supports the theory that he's better at blocking shots because he can foul more.

[ousdahl]

yeah we take a huge step back when Dok comes out, but that step can be a little less huge if we take advantage of McCormack's rebounding and size, and bury Lightfoot so far down the bench that maybe Self won't even be able to see him any more.

Don't get me wrong, I like Mitch. He hustles, and seems like a good keed.

But other than that, he sucks.

and a man crush is a man crush.

[Deleted User 75]

He's not a 5. Mitch won't be in there as our lone big. It doesn't make any sense.

McCormack rebounds and runs and that's what we need.. the problem is he looks a little lost on defensive rotations and it's probably safe to imagine our playbook shrinks significantly when he's in because we run so much stuff for Dok to get the ball.

[Deleted User 75]

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... ike-1.html

It's early so the season average stats are sort of meaningless at this point....

he's averaging 3blks per game, which is highest of career....

meanwhile his fouls per game are exactly in line with his 1st 2 years even though he's playing more minutes.

His fouls per game are even more impressive when looking at per 40 numbers....per 40s shows blocks way up, and fouls slightly down so far.

[pdub]

It's not the freedom to foul at will.
It's the freedom to go up for those blocks/shot alterations rather than pulling a standing Lucas because if you pick up your 3rd foul, Mitch doesn't have to play the 5 as our lone big, which you just mentioned he won't have to be.

[twocoach]

He's not a 5. Mitch won't be in there as our lone big. It doesn't make any sense.

McCormack rebounds and runs and that's what we need.. the problem is he looks a little lost on defensive rotations and it's probably safe to imagine our playbook shrinks significantly when he's in because we run so much stuff for Dok to get the ball.

Mitch Lightfoot was freaking terrible yesterday. And in general, our defense on the #55 was awful until Self got a T and bitched out the team for not playing the scouting report. After that we tightened up against him and I think he only had 2 baskets the rest of the game.

[Deleted User 75]

We tightened up for sure, but dude also just started missing shots. At no point did I think we were playing consistently good defense. We would have some good defensive possessions, but weren't stringing enough of them together against a team we should be much better than.

[CrimsonNBlue]

I'm not convinced, but I wonder if this team would be better if Azubuike would have went pro and De Sousa were available. The Lawson-Azubuike fit is little awkward right now.

Bill really likes the 4 guard lineup. And, it's better in today's game. 1. He loves switching every screen on defense, especially when he can do it with all 5 guys. and 2. Right now Bill has a newfound high school girl crush on the 3-ball.

Thank god for Lawson. Being able to PnR with him will keep us from prolonged offensive slumps.

[ousdahl]

I think about this a lot. Silvio would have been such an asset. Even as a half-freshman he was an effective big, and would have been so much better this year. Strong, explosive, good hands.

Dok is such a good old school college center though. Takes up the most space, can’t be pushed around, better blocker this year, unguardable down low.

Let the guys settle in. Dok recognizing the double team and dumping off to any number of open guys, it’ll be a thing of beauty.

[Deleted User 75]

Unless those dump offs result in us having to take/make 3s. Other than Vick and maybe grimes I don't feel good about our 3pt shooting.....Moore can knock them down, but he's got to be in the game, and so far it looks like I'd prefer Dotson play as many minutes as possible, which leaves limited opportunity for Moore.

[CrimsonNBlue]

I think about this a lot. Silvio would have been such an asset. Even as a half-freshman he was an effective big, and would have been so much better this year. Strong, explosive, good hands.

Dok is such a good old school college center though. Takes up the most space, can’t be pushed around, better blocker this year, unguardable down low.

Let the guys settle in. Dok recognizing the double team and dumping off to any number of open guys, it’ll be a thing of beauty.

I'm really dumping on the guy b/c I do think he's useful, but I really thought we'd see so much more out of Dok than we have so far.

Can we talk about his low BBIQ? Because it's staggering from a Bill Self big in year 3. We're going to have a lot of games where Dedric finishes at the 5. The game, and Bill Self to an extent, have moved past playing 2 bigs.

[TDub]

Hard to tell if hes improved. He cant stay in the game long enough to tell. In that aspect he has absolutely not improved.

[pdub]

He got hit with two extremely weak fouls.
It'll be a different story in B12 play.