Comments on: Post-mortem, Texas A&M (03/16)

By: BigDeal

BigDeal — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:29:53 +0000

Huggins said many times last year, “the guys don’t play hard enough, they think they are playing hard, but they don’t know what playing hard is.” To play the smothering D that aggressive guard overplaying requires, there has to be supreme effort and good rotations…we have neither. The guards don’t penetrate effectively and also don’t shoot the ball consistently (well, that is). Walker needs to be posted on the other side of Mike and the ball rotations need to be quicker to exploit both sides of the lane instead of just posting either. Walker needs to use his good midrange game. When Mike gets 2 and 3 defenders, we need Bill to step into the lane and post on the opposite side, or clear and let Sutton and some other guys cut down the lane to the hoop ie. use Mike to create other inside shots for others, not just 3’s they can’t hit. Substitution patterns…A&M, Mike starts to feel it and hits a couple and puts A&M on their heels around 11:30 left, Martin puts him on the bench, and follows with Walker. Both should never be on the bench together…except with fouls. 1:30 left, puts Pullen on the bench after he had been doing a good job on the A&M point, and inserts Young, who gets beat into the lane. Last play, Stewart brings the ball up??? Pullen should bring it up and create for Walker, Beasley, and lastly Stewart.

By: bottyworks

bottyworks — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 02:16:11 +0000

1) The guards need to penetrate and fininsh or dish. Pullen has great ability to finish, but settles for the 3 too much. Think back to what won at OU…that is the type of plays our guards need to make.
2) Not sure what to make of Sutton. He is good for 2-3 steals and layups a game, but HAS to be on the court. There is a huge difference IMO between Gilbert and Sutton…at least Sutton is giving you defense.
3) Fred Brown should only be in when facing a zone. Anderson needs to get at least 20 minutes a game.
4) Too late for this now, but think to last year about Cartier. He was extremely effective coming off the bench…maybe that should be Walker’s role. Give him a chance to settle down.
5) Finally, it is all about defense and rebounding. We aren’t good about talking something away from our opponents. We let them do whatever they want, rather then force outside shots, or take away dribble penetration, etc.

By: King Kong

King Kong — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:50:41 +0000

9 seed in the west (anaheim) or east (raleigh) setting up a possible second round game against UCLA or UNC in a seemingly home game for that team.

Hope we win our first round game.

By: Ron_Burgandy

Ron_Burgandy — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:57:30 +0000

Because we have a bunch of freshman who aren’t used to playing such a long season.

Because on offense all we do is stand around and watch Mike and wait for him to do something.

Because Bill is settling for 3’s trying to show off for NBA Scouts instead of driving to the basket and using his god given athleticism. We would be a much different team if Bill was spending more time around the basket.

By: fatty

fatty — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 05:58:51 +0000

Blake and Clent are terrible offensive players. They essentially leave our team with zero margin of error every night.

By: jthutch

jthutch — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:08:51 +0000

I’m going to chalk it up to a long hard season. These freshmen are not used to being beaten on like this every night out. In high school they were stars and refs would protect them most of the time. They just were not ready for the grind that it takes to play a full big 12 schedule. They have the components put into place and next year should be interesting and the next year will be even more so provided the commitments for 09 will really be here. By the Way is there any word of Whitherspoon?

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:24:11 +0000

In looking at the larger picture for this year, I’m pleased we took 3rd and made it to the dance. That’s forward movement. Next year will be a supreme challenge. Enjoy this while we can. We’ll never see another Beasley in a KSU uniform in our life time.

By: Bullfn33

Bullfn33 — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:12:13 +0000

In the end, basketball comes down to making shots. We aren’t making them and that’s the only real difference between January and now. We played decent basketball for the most part against A&M. The team is just lacking confidence right now and that shows when you’re throwing up brick after brick. Prime example: Bill Walker 0-6 3pt.

If we aren’t hitting, we’ve got to commit to pounding the ball inside and quit settling for 3-pointers. The inside post game and penetration to draw fouls is where we should be going in times like this. That’s our bread and butter anyway.

By: KUsucks

KUsucks — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:00:50 +0000

Maturity. I know it’s an old excuse, but the guys do give effort, and then they get called for fouls, fouls don’t get called the other way like they’d like, and they whine and cry like school girls. Then they start yelling at each other. Then they give up. Composure in tough times is an experience and maturity issue. With it we win @MU, @NU, and maybe vs. Oregon and @TTU.

By: Russell

Russell — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:05:23 +0000

Walker scored pretty much saved the CU game by being one-on-one.

Most of these comments are over-the-top dramatic.