Texas Tech Game

Kansas is off to a sluggish start. T-Rob has given up three layups on defense and Taylor has a lazy turnover and an airballed layup. NICE. Our hottest player, releford, hasn't even touched the ball on offense yet that I remember.

I think its safe to say Lubbock is one of the toughest places in the Big 12 for KU to play.....and I have absolutely no idea why.

Taylor's THIRD airball at the rim. Unbelievable.

There are barely any people in the stands, so it isn't the crowd. Maybe the flat crowd is why the Jayhawks are so flat.

another cold shooting half for KU so far...

Glad they got the call right and kicked the TT player out for basically throwing a punch.

As a Kansas City Chiefs fan, I gotta say I really enjoy it when Mitch Holtus calls KU games.  Dude is just a good all around commentator.  A little bit "ironic" that Miles Simon is paired with him.

I actually like Holtius better calling basketball than Chiefs games.   He is the worst homer in all of sports when it comes to the Chiefs.   As a direct employee I know that team announcers are not able to be overly critical (see Frank White) but Mitch is flat out ridiculous.   You would think everything is perfect in KC and the Chiefs have won 7 of the last 10 Superbowls.

This game is another example that this Kansas team just doesn't have the leadership necessary to get the team up for all occasions.  We are going to have games all eyar that we play down to the opposition but like tonight our superior talent should eventually take over.   It is a slippery slope though and probably will be what knocks us out in March.

Bill Self should get the game ball for today's game. He made effective use of the a$$-chewing and player-benching techniques to give KU the kick in the pants it needed. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

On another note, Mizzou had yet another mortal game against Iowa State tonight, eeking out a win. It's a tough place to play, but Mizzou didn't look very good from what I saw.

This game has been all about our defense, which has been good if not dominate most of the year.   We are not playing the LJ, Augmon, Hunt UNLV team by any stretch but we are tenacious.   I wish last year's squad had put forth as much effort on defense as this one does. 

As physically painful as it is to watch Taylor at times to me the most frustrating player continues to be Elijah Johnson.   A kid who can finish a one handed oop should be way more active than he is.   I've seen him beat defenders off the bounce but it is almost like he cannot summon the intestinal fortitude necessary to just "let it goe" and attack.   I cringe on his first long range shot every night because it seems like his confidence level for the entire game is dictated by the result of that initial attempt.

Shoe, you bring up a good point regarding EJ that Miles Simon alluded to early in the game and that is basically that EJ often times is too content shooting from the outside or passing instead of just taking it strong the rim, which he is more than capable of.

Damn, this game was 26-20 and now this? What a bloodbath. Good grief. The bench is getting LOTS of minutes tonight.

EJ often times is too content shooting from the outside or passing instead of just taking it strong the rim, which he is more than capable of.

Welcome to the club.  We validate parking and we offer drink coupons for the bar. With your membership you also get a half time stat sheet, an EJ is #1 foam finger; and a 'take it to the rack EJ!' tee shirt.

corny gilded comment:  am I the only one happy to see Gillispie back in the big 12?

Welcome back to the big 12 Billy!! 

Gilded, thanks for the official welcoming but I've been here all season (regarding EJ).

Also, I was hesitant to say it but you went ahead so I'll agree that it is nice to see Billy back in the Big 12.

I think its safe to say Lubbock is one of the toughest places in the Big 12 for KU to play.....and I have absolutely no idea why.

Lubbock is the least energetic atmosphere in the Big 12 so I imagine that's why Bill Self's teams have historically struggled in Lubbock. 

As physically painful as it is to watch Taylor at times to me the most frustrating player continues to be Elijah Johnson.   A kid who can finish a one handed oop should be way more active than he is.   I've seen him beat defenders off the bounce but it is almost like he cannot summon the intestinal fortitude necessary to just "let it goe" and attack.

I've been saying that about EJ since Thanksgiving that he's too passive on offense.  I've actually been wondering lately how much his shoulder injury from last year has made him gun shy about being aggressive on offense and has resulted in him settling for a lot more jump shots.

what to get excited about?

the team: 14 / 9 AT

and TT: 5/4

I've decided that any time TT is >1.0 in AT, I'm throwing a party with balloons, noise makers, 80s hair band music (beause it's the best), and a big pinata with leftover Halloween candy to celebrate.

Having a hard time typing this post with the streamers and glitter all over my keyboard.  Have to go, the pinata is 'bout to break and I love 3 month old butterfingers!!!

Looks that kill
Round and Round
Unskinny Bopp
In My Dreams 
Crazy Train 

Woo hoo Tyshawn!!! 

Taylor managed to accomplish a first in my long life of watching basketball: FOUR airballs on drives to the rim in one half of basketball. None of these were blocked or had fouls called on them. Just Taylor TRYING to get a foul and completely missing the rim four times on bunnies within three feet of the rim. How the heck does that happen?

My "Big Party" is for Tharpe, finding the range and knocking down three of three from long range. That should give him a little confidence! He is still defensively challenged, shall we say, but at least he got to see a few shots swish through the net. I was bummed for Niko Roberts, missing two free throws that would have been his first points of the year.

T-Rob had a nice 19 points in 19 minutes, after removing his head from his butt early in the game. Pretty bad when you get blown past four straight times for easy layups. Self sat him down and got that fixed pretty quick.

Any road win is a good road win, and Ku looked good overall. On we go!

It was an ugly game but I think this year for us UGLY wins more times than not.  Taylor makes bad decisions after bad decisions.  My thought all year was if Tharpe could show some signs of life maybe Taylor would be sat more often.  Since Tharpe has no defense yet I don't see that any time this year.  I will give Taylor credit for his D because he does  get after it on that end and doesn't commit silly fouls very often.  However, if Tharpe can continue to hit some shots as the season progresses he will see more quality time on the court and maybe this will encourage him to try harder on D.

EJ like all you have said already just isn't looking to score enough.  HE has more athletic ability than any other guard in the Big 12 if not the whole nation.  He just needs to use that elevation and hang time more for scoring from the middle ranged area and then the defense would have to honor his driving and then the pass off for dunks would be warranted more.  He is just afraid to miss I think. 

Releford was decent once again and basically kept us in the game in the first 10 minutes or so of action.  He needs to become maybe our second option instead of our 4 or 5th option.  IF TRob isn't available then I would see to it that Travis is the one we are looking for next.

I do think Tyshawn had nice game after the first few minutes once he settled down and stopped throwing up circus shots looking for a call.  I think he realized he wasn't going to be getting that call during the game and when he realized that, he started playing much more under control and was pretty effective most of the game.  He also did a good job of protecting the ball after the first few minutes as well because he had a couple of the dumbest TO's imaginable right out of the gate to go along with his airballs.  I think too many people are using the first few minutes of the game to cloud their judgement about Tyshawn for the entire game and that's not fair to Tyshawn.  Yes the first few minutes was some of the worst play we've seen from Tyshawn all season, but give him credit for being able to forget about that and go on to play one of his better games of the year to me.  I don't expect "good" Tyshawn to show up every night because there is very little to support that will happen, but I do think he will be "good" Tyshawn more than "bad" Tyshawn for the rest of the way because he has shown that ability to put together multigame streaks of playing good basketball before blowing up for a 7 or 8 turnover game.