KU vs. Zags game thread

[sdoyel]

The first half D did this team in. Not going to dwell on this one. Many positives to take. D is easiest to fix.

[NewtonHawk11]

Yeah. Zags have 3 of the top like 20 players in CBB.

And KU still hung with them with the worst defensive performance that Self has had in quite a while.

KU will be fine. They’ll still win a ton of games and lose very few.

[sdoyel]

https://twitter.com/jessenewell/status/ ... 92449?s=21

[ousdahl]

Zags better than us today, no doubt.
I'd be happy to play em again once our defensive rotations are in late Feb mode.

Yup.

First game of the year. Lots of tinkering with lineups at that.

This team gonna compete.

[Sparko]

I will take it though. This one was a few bad calls from being a nail biter. Mac was legendarily bad. Jason Bennett bad. And it was a game.

[CrimsonNBlue]

We are really good.

Time for second lunch and a ton of wine.

[twocoach]

Basketball is back baby! So thankful. Bummed they lost but happy they played and had a lot of positives.

Everything they did poorly is fixable. Self will coach them up and they'll be a Top 3 seed.

[pdub]

We had multiple chances to go on top but I just don't think we had it today to keep that lead.

Leaked points.

Zags are rightfully the top team. But they have several hateable players.

[NewtonHawk11]

We had multiple chances to go on top but I just don't think we had it today to keep that lead.

Leaked points.

Zags are rightfully the top team. But they have several hateable (white) players.

[Mjl]

Offense looks fine. Better than expected maybe.

Defense is a mess. Garrett and Agbaji need to be leaders by communicating on D. Others will follow.

And Dave needs to be a defensive presence. He's capable, just looks like he choked.

[Mjl]

In Moneyball, Lewis talked about intelligent people often not performing well in sports - intelligence can inhibit the supreme confidence needed to perform at the highest level.

Just hearing DMac talk, I wonder if that's an issue with him. Not saying I think it's likely... Just saying that he seems like a really intelligent guy, and he looked like a guy thinking way more than a junior should out there. The tools are there - he needs confidence.

[Sparko]

In Moneyball, Lewis talked about intelligent people often not performing well in sports - intelligence can inhibit the supreme confidence needed to perform at the highest level.

Just hearing DMac talk, I wonder if that's an issue with him. Not saying I think it's likely... Just saying that he seems like a really intelligent guy, and he looked like a guy thinking way more than a junior should out there. The tools are there - he needs confidence.

You might be on to something. Not a very instinctive player. Mulls plays.

[twocoach]

In Moneyball, Lewis talked about intelligent people often not performing well in sports - intelligence can inhibit the supreme confidence needed to perform at the highest level.

Just hearing DMac talk, I wonder if that's an issue with him. Not saying I think it's likely... Just saying that he seems like a really intelligent guy, and he looked like a guy thinking way more than a junior should out there. The tools are there - he needs confidence.

It's not really that simple. A subset of really smart athletes are so smart and analytical that they can't help but analyze what's happening and decide what to do fast enough. But there are plenty of really smart athletes who also happened to be able react quickly and become the best of the best.

Some dudes with a shorter mental check list are more free to let their bodies react without their brains getting in the way. Other dudes with a shorter mental check list also just stand there paralyzed by not knowing what to do at all. Lots of factors.

[AlOerter]

As the season progresses, defense will improve dramatically. Dave will get better. One of our coaching staff's strengths is scouting reports. Hard to have a good scout this early in the season. We will have to help out in the paint more. How many times did we see opponents drive the paint only to kick it back out when Dok's enormous shadow appeared in front of them? No amount of coaching can create that.

[twocoach]

I doubt KU will see an offense this year that will be as good as what they just faced in their first game.

[NDballer13]

The first half D did this team in. Not going to dwell on this one. Many positives to take. D is easiest to fix.

Second half D wasn't much better. How many times did Suggs take the ball coast to coast and lay it in before the defense even thought about turning their heads to see if a ball was coming at them?

[NewtonHawk11]

I doubt KU will see an offense this year that will be as good as what they just faced in their first game.

This is true. Kentucky is going to have the length to matchup with KU, but they won't have offensive weapons at all 5 spots like the Zags had.

[twocoach]

I doubt KU will see an offense this year that will be as good as what they just faced in their first game.

This is true. Kentucky is going to have the length to matchup with KU, but they won't have offensive weapons at all 5 spots like the Zags had.

Creighton and Baylor will both be battles with really good teams but Gonzaga will be the best overall of our opponents.

A game like this is a great chance for a coach to sit down in film study and say "see, I told you guys in practice that if you didn't pay attention to these little details that a really good team would take your lunch and eat it in front of you."

KU didn't really suck at anything or shoot themselves in the foot like they normally do in a double digit loss. They just made a bunch of little mental mistakes that gave really good players an easier path to score and they took advantage of them almost every time.

McCormack is the only red flag from that game for me. He might not be ready yet for what this KU roster needs him to be this year. Hopefully this was just one of his bottom three games. Overthinking the game has always been a problem for him and it doesn't seem to have gone away yet.

[randylahey]

You could argue Baylor being as good as the zags. remember what they did to us in allen fieldhouse last year? they brought that whole squad back. teague butler mitchell vital. those guards that tore us up. thatll be a hell of a matchup too, but we will be a lot more prepared for it by then

[CrimsonNBlue]

Baylor doesn’t have that scoring/shooting talent that Zags have.