Well there it is, that's game. KU is 0-3 when trailing at the 5:00 mark.
Well this post didn't have insight, wisdom, articulation or even anything resembling good sentence structure but if it gave us the karma necessary to pull that one out then so be it.
We didn't play well down the stretch but some credit has to go to Chapman and Brown. Those two manned up big time in the second half.
TRob was able to get 17 and 9 but this wasn't his strongest performance. He wasn't patient with the ball but he did have to deal with constant double teams and did make the pass to Withey for the 'and 1' that really did it for us.
Sometimes the road to a conference title is paved with brick and we had a few of them out there today. Not our best effort but we battled for a tough road win. They coun t the same in the W/L column, so we'll take it.
That pretty much sums this KU team up right there. At points, looks as good as any team in the country, but they let off when they get a nice lead. It is a very good sign that even after blowing that big lead and falling behind by 4, that they gutted it out to get a nice win on the road. Hopefully a lesson is learned by this team and it will make them tougher and more confident moving on.
Shoe, apparently you did not pick up with the associated sarcasm. I was simply sharing a graphic that was included in the telecast shortly after the game went inside 5 minutes and KU was trailing.
but if it gave us the karma necessary to pull that one out then so be it.a
You'll notice that I post things from time to time for this specific purpose. Doesn't always work but today it did!
How do we win a game where pretty much ALL of our bigs played poorly? I think the T-Rob interview about his family situation for GameDay was an unnecessary distraction. He just didn't seem to be mentally into the game today. He floated in and out and wasn't his normal vocal self. Just my opinion, maybe its nothing...
We won on the road...I'm happy with it! Of course, like everyone, not too happy with our 2nd half play, but overall it wasn't that bad for a road game. I really hope we can take care of business for our next three games, so that um, AHEM when we beat Mizzou after that we'll be two games up on everyone else in the Big 12! Haha I'm kind of joking about the 'when' - I'm sure it will be a tough game to pull off. But I'm sure looking foward to it.
KU looked a bit sloppy and a little more patience in the 2nd half might of helped. That said, a win on the road is a win on the road. If We can beat Iowa State and just win one of games against K-state or Missouri (away), Kansas should be in a good spot.
I think the bad thing about having both Releford and TT step up and be scorers is the fact that sometimes they aren't still running the offfense thru our bigs first. Don't get me wrong, TT is playing better than any other player in the nation right now, but I wonder if we aren't too quick to take outside jumpers instead of reversing and looking for Withey or TRob more. We all know this team works better when we go inside first then kick out for uncontested jumpers. I have noticed that we are getting way to happy to shoot from down town rather than look for our bread and butter.
Hey the win today was a good gut check win for this team. I think this win alone will make us realize that we can't just turn on and off the switches and always win easy. I give Texas credit for not quiting. Baylor quit Monday when we punched them in the mouth. K-State quit when we punched them. TExas did not back down. THey are young, but I see some really good pieces there, so next year will be a coming out party for them so to speak. Texas will win some games in conference, so this still was a very good road win for the Hawks today.
Where was Young at in the first half? Why didn't we get Tharpe in at some point when we were ahead by 15 in either half? THese are stupid questions, we know why those guys don't get minutes and its because they don't play D. I still think we have got to give those guys minutes regardless. Teahan is a big defensive liability and doesn't get out on shooters near fast enough. If his shot is not going down, his worth or value to this team is about "0". Tharpe especially needs some time on the court. We saw TT get tangled and come up lame for a few minutes. Last game EJ was sick or dehydrated or something. I don't think it would hurt to see THarpe get more touches and gain some needed experience.
We won this game today because we got back to getting Trob and Withey involved in the offense more in the last 4 minutes. TT had some really good drives and mid range shots. I think the team knows that TRob and Withey will win us more games than lose if they are our first option. I'm concerned that Releford is too eager now to score and sometimes isn't rotating the ball around enough. We need his scoring, but only if it comes within the offense and its framework.
I don't know if I am over reading the play right now or not? I see a much improved team overall, but still having moments of complete disfunction yet. TT has lowered his TO's, and that alone has created more offense for both him and the team. Just think today we established our lead both times with playing inside out and then we decided to shoot threes instead of being steady and getting the ball down low. Now I know that Withey and TRob both missed some easy ones today and that will happen, but still need to stay the course some.
I stated after Monday's win that I am enjoying watching this team alot. That didn't change today. We won at Texas, a place that we don't win at very often. I don't care what kind of team they have this year, winning there is still of note and worthy of some praise.
I think the bad thing about having both Releford and TT step up and be scorers is the fact that sometimes they aren't still running the offfense thru our bigs first.
I think in this game the lack of the game going through the bigs was due to the bigs playing like crap, not because of Taylor or Releford looking to be scorers. Withey was nearly invisible and T-Rob didn't appear to be playing very mentally into this game. He wasn't vocal at all and didn't fight hard for post position enough.
Where was Young at in the first half? Why didn't we get Tharpe in at some point when we were ahead by 15 in either half? THese are stupid questions, we know why those guys don't get minutes and its because they don't play D. I still think we have got to give those guys minutes regardless.
More minutes for Tharpe and Young in the first half and we probably lose this game. Young was REALLY BAD when he was in there.
I don't know if I am over reading the play right now or not? I see a much improved team overall, but still having moments of complete disfunction yet.
Remember, this is STILL an erratic, inconsistent team. They are LESS inconsistent than they were 6 weeks ago, but it's still there. They will still swing from great to bad. They are spending more time playing as a good team and their "good" version has gotten a LOT better from the beginning of the year, but they still have this type of play in them. Teams don't go from inconsistent to consistent in a month.
