Plus/Minus Update: December 26th

How about that Josh Selby guy?  Pretty sure his first two games have exceeded all reasonable expectations that anybody had, including his teammates and coaches.  However, some of his teammates have struggled in the two games since he has been on the floor.  Tyshawn Taylor and Elijah Johnson in particular have had two games that all of us would like to forget.  EJ hasn't had the on-court struggles but that is mainly because he hasn't been on the court, playing only 8 minutes against USC and 6 minutes against Cal.  Taylor's just been bad all over. 

As far as the team picture since Selby has started playing goes, the offense as a whole has struggled more than usual to score points.  The Jayhawks scored 1.01 points per possession against USC and 1.06 points per possession against Cal.  Both of those numbers are well below the season average of 1.18 ppp.  It needs to be pointed out that both Cal and USC are defense first teams, so waiting a few more games before making a judgment is probably wise.  Defensively, USC scored .98 points per possession and Cal scored .86 points per possession.  The Kansas defense allows .84 ppp on average, so the Cal game was more like we're used to seeing.  How much of the defense against USC can be attributed to Selby is unknown but we did see a lot of poor rotation by the guards that led to mismatches.  A freshman in his first game could have been a factor in that, though I don't think it's anything to worry about long-term. 

vs. Cal

Player bullets, USC, and the season chart below the jump.

• While Juenemann didn't get a full minute, his box score is worth a trillion. We can look the other way on the particulars, right?
  
• Tyshawn...another bad game.  He took a few ill advised (IMO) shots early in the game and never recovered.  5 assists is solid but giving the ball away 5 times and missing 7 shots on the day isn't productive.  Hopefully he figures out how to play next to Selby or he's going to have a long, frustrating season.
• Career game for Tyrel Reed.  Just a great game by him.  Took it to the rim a few times, hit some threes, grabbed rebounds when they were in his area.  No way do I expect that kind of game from him consistently but he does have a skill set that should match up well with Selby. 
  
• Great game by Markieff.  Seems to be putting it together over the last few games.  He's done a great job of staying on the court and out of foul trouble.  More on this tomorrow.
• T-Rob with 10 rebounds and some great energy.  He's frustrating as hell half of the time but wildly entertaining the rest of the time. 
  

vs. USC

• As you can see here, Taylor has had 11 turnovers in the last two games.  Just way too high for a guy that's supposed to run the offense.  And 6 turnovers against 1 assist is just unbelievably bad. 
  
• Markieff Morris and Thomas Robinson both had solid games in the box score.  Markieff again showing improved discipline with the fouls, getting called for only 2 in 30 minutes.
• I remember thinking that Elijah Johnson looked lost in this game and the box score backs me up.  8 minutes played and only 1 rebound and 1 foul to show for it.  These last two games are probably an indication of where he sits with the team now that Selby is playing.  Personally, I'm a huge fan and had hoped Brady would be the one giving up minutes but that doesn't seem to be the case.  

Season