Statistical Rearview: Survival in the Rockies
by Owen Kemp on Feb 4, 2010 8:48 AM CST
in Basketball
30 comments
What separates good from great teams in college basketball? For me it would be consistency. The ability on a night in and night out basis to get a team to focus, compete and play at it's highest potential. Right now it's hard to say if there is a team out there that does that and last night Kansas showed once again that they have a long way to go.
This is a team that can come out and play with anyone in the country. There have been a handful of games where the general consensus is that on that night they could have beaten anyone in the country. Then we have a game like last night. Colorado was not in any way extraordinarily good last night. Sure they were playing hard and the effort was there because they were hosting #1, but they didn't play out of their minds. The fact is Kansas lacked focus, lacked intensity and any sort of desire until somehow finding it in overtime. Even in overtime it was primarily a motivated Marcus Morris that made it happen.
Clearly, this had the potential to be a trap game and we talked about it here before, but it doesn't make it acceptable when it rests squarely on the shoulders of the Jayhawks. Altitude, Shmaltitude, this team was missing shots and throwing up shots that were short from the beginning. Plain and simple they weren't ready to play. Fortunately for the Jayhawks, the Buffaloes weren't entirely ready either. It was close, Kansas survived and now it's on to Saturday.
Somehow, Kansas won nearly every statistical category in this one as a team. Better from the field, better at taking care of the ball, a few less fouls, and in the end even outrebounded the Buffs. Where's the problem here? Why are we sitting here a day later talking about an overtime scare against an inferior team? It boils down to good possessions. Colorado at times was milking the shot clock to the end, running circles around Kansas and getting a good look. Kansas did a nice job of getting high percentage shots but Colorado was determined to make them earn the points from the line. Kansas failed Miserably to the tune of 18 for 38. Throw in 8 more possessions for the Buffaloes because of work on the boards and Kansas is fortunate they weren't hitting much.
eFG% both teams struggled shooting well below their season average. Colorado and Jeff Bzdelik have given Kansas problems the last four years when they can make the game ugly. They did that.
Turnovers didn't play a major factor as it was pretty much even although many of Kansas' cough ups were unforced errors and lazy passes which doesn't sit well.
The offensive rebounding was honestly won by the Buffaloes but Marcus Morris' 4 rebound 2 point trip in overtime put that stat in a slightly more positive light.
Lastly is those dreaded free throws. Kansas attacked the rim, much like they did against the Wildcats. It's a great plan for Kansas, if they are making free throws. Last night could not have been more abysmal in this area.
| Stat | Game | Season Avg | Opp Season Avg | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  | | | | |
|
| Points | 72 | 66 | 84 | 75 | 62 | 71 |
| FG Att | 56 | 64 | 59 | 53 | 59 | 53 |
| FG Made | 25 | 24 | 29 | 25 | 21 | 24 |
| FG Pct | 44.6 | 37.5 | 49.4 | 47.3 | 36.3 | 45.0 |
| FT Att | 38 | 17 | 25 | 24 | 19 | 25 |
| FT Made | 18 | 10 | 17 | 18 | 13 | 18 |
| FT Pct | 47.4 | 58.8 | 69.4 | 76.2 | 68.3 | 70.1 |
| 3pt FG Att | 13 | 27 | 18 | 17 | 19 | 17 |
| 3pt FG Made | 4 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| 3pt FG Pct | 30.8 | 29.6 | 40.9 | 37.5 | 31.5 | 33.2 |
| Rebounds | 45 | 41 | 41 | 29 | 33 | 35 |
| Off Rebs | 13 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 12 |
| Def Rebs | 32 | 27 | 28 | 21 | 20 | 23 |
| Team Rebs | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Assists | 13 | 15 | 17 | 14 | 12 | 12 |
| Steals | 7 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| Blocks | 6 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Turnovers | 11 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 15 |
| Fouls | 21 | 27 | 18 | 21 | 20 | 21 |
Individually we are talking a three man show last night. Sherron, Cole and Marcus Morris. I'm sure the plus/minus won't be kind to Sherron who despite tying for the team lead in points was a bit of a detriment with so many missed shots on the night. As always he seems to come up big when we need him, but there were far fewer cheers for #4 last night than normal.
Cole played outstanding for the most part but was as gassed as I've seen him all this year. It reminded me of our trip to Columbia last season, when he could barely get up and down the court late. I understand that there is a little bit of difference in the altitude, but I have a hard time with it being such a major factor that Cole is standing on the court ineffective and then has to sit during a critical time at the end of regulation. Great game for Cole for the first 35, but from about the 5 minute mark in the second half he became nonexistent.
The real winner last night for me was Marcus Morris. Sure he was frustrating at times as the Morri can be, but he was attacking from an offensive standpoint and it was a controlled chaos that for the most part was working. In overtime he brought an energy to the court that the team lacked all game long even waving off a substitution from the bench at one point. Sombody needed to step up and Morris did. 6 points and 7 rebounds in the extra frame. Obviously a number padded slightly by that on battle underneath but it was all the more important because of the effort and the end result being 2 points. Hats off to McMorris in this one.
| S | MIN | PTS | FGM | FGA | FG% | FTM | FTA | FT% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | OR | DR | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
S. Collins | * | 41 | 16 | 6 | 17 | 35 | 4 | 6 | 66 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
|
B. Morningstar | * | 37 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 40 | 1 | 2 | 50 | 1 | 2 | 50 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
|
C. Aldrich | * | 35 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 75 | 4 | 7 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
|
M. Morris | * | 30 | 15 | 6 | 14 | 42 | 2 | 7 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 100 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
|
X. Henry | * | 17 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 75 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
|
T. Taylor | 25 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 50 | 1 | 3 | 33 | 1 | 1 | 100 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
|
T. Reed | 21 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
|
M. Morris | 14 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 66 | 3 | 9 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
|
T. Robinson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
|
C. Teahan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| S | MIN | PTS | FGM | FGA | FG% | FTM | FTA | FT% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | OR | DR | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | ||
|
M. Relphorde | * | 39 | 18 | 7 | 15 | 46 | 3 | 5 | 60 | 1 | 4 | 25 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
|
R. Higgins | * | 38 | 14 | 4 | 15 | 26 | 6 | 6 | 100 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
|
N. Tomlinson | * | 38 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 33 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
|
A. Dufault | * | 27 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 22 | 1 | 4 | 25 | 1 | 5 | 20 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
|
C. Crawford | * | 10 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 50 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
|
L. Knutson | 34 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 62 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 75 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
|
S. Harris-Tunks | 15 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 50 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|
D. Thorne II | 12 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
|
K. Hornbuckle | 9 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
|
T. Eckloff | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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awful shooting all-around
even with the poor shooting from the floor, if KU makes half of the free throws they miss then you are talking about a double-digit blowout.
I’m becoming increasingly concerned about Xavier. It’s not uncommon to hit a freshman wall, but he is way too talented to be struggling this badly. He’s shooting 28% from beyond the three point line in conference play. The conventional cure for this should be for him to drive the ball to the hoop to get his confidence back, but even that does not seem to be working because his turnover rate has doubled in conf. play.
Waiting for April.
He doesn't finish around the rim.
I think with Xavier he as clearly relying on his physical makeup and just being a better talent in high school. Now he’s facing better more physical play night in and night out and he isn’t adjusting well. He can’t finish around the basket, he relies to much on his left hand and his shot isn’t there. I hope they can find something here and make it work but right now he’s not one of the top 5 on this team in my opinion.
52 Conference Championships!! Holy Hell...Good Luck with That!!
Definitely not top 5.
On the plus side, the worse he plays down the stretch the more likely he is to stay another year. I guess?
I'd rather win a national title....
with him being a badass and going pro. In the immortal words of Herm Edwards…“You play to win the game” and I would add the word “now” to the end of that.
52 Conference Championships!! Holy Hell...Good Luck with That!!
Sorry for the reply fail.
But yeah, I’d take a title under any circumstances. It’s just becoming obvious that X is not exactly integral to that pursuit.
X's offense is no longer integral to that pursuit, but his defense is
We said all of last season that the only thing that KU was missing was a reliable third scoring option. We thought going in to this season that X was that missing piece. He was that and then some during non-conf play, but we really don’t need it any longer because Marcus has become such a reliable scoring option.
X has the physical ability to guard taller, stronger perimeter players that no one else on the team possesses. We need him there, especially against a team like Kentucky or Texas where so much of the offense is based on the inside-out with tall, athletic perimeter players.
Waiting for April.
a player similar to
Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.
brandon rush obviously
Take the 2008 Memphis team for example. I don’t like to play what-ifs too often, but there is no doubt in my mind that we lose that game without Brandon Rush’s great defense on Douglas-Roberts.
Waiting for April.
O-rebounding
Colorado rebounded about 5 percent over their season average last night (30%) and we were under ours.
Beadlemaniacs - Award winning* college basketball blog
You know you like college hockey
that's the ol' Roy Williams "wont to"....
we didn’t have it last night by any stretch of the imagination
52 Conference Championships!! Holy Hell...Good Luck with That!!
had it at 21-8
didn’t have it after that
Zapp Brannigan/Dayton Moore quote of the day: "In the game of chess you can never let your opponent see your pieces"
by SagehenMacGyver47 on Feb 4, 2010 12:03 PM CST up reply actions
I'm not too worried
I think one should only be worried about performances like this when they run together. Did we not just play our two biggest rivals in back to back games last week? I think sometimes, we as fans, expect way too much from our team.
Did Kansas play well? No, not really, free throw shooting was unacceptable, too many turnovers, and just a lot of dumb mistakes. Did Colorado play well? Yeah, I think they did, I think they did a lot of things to force KU into bad decisions, and we are talking about a much improved team from years past playing in front of one of their best crowds in years.
Playing 16 games against teams from one of the best basketball conferences in the nation is no easy feat, and if one expects to win them all then I don’t think those are realistic expectations. Pulling the games out when you don’t play your best is the sign of a great team and this team has done that a handful of times this season.
What they can’t do, is let it compound into Saturday, or especially Monday.
by I need more Esteban on Feb 4, 2010 11:14 AM CST reply actions
exactly
we’re going to lose a game we shouldn’t at some point. The conference is too good. I just hope it’s something like at Oklahoma State so we 1. Don’t lose to a rival and 2. Don’t lose at home.
Beadlemaniacs - Award winning* college basketball blog
You know you like college hockey
I don't disagree that one blip in the radar is nothing to get too worked up about...
but we’ve had the blip several times this year, just not always back to back.
I’d also disagree that Colorado played well. I don’t think they did and I think a lot of our bad decisions were unforced. We had 8 turnovers that weren’t a steal. A few passes out of bounds that I can think of off the top of my head.
The best crowd in year…? Maybe but it was still 40-50% Kansas the television just happens to show the CU student side of the arena. Trust me there were a lot of KU fans there and if we take care of business they aren’t shitting their pants waiting for us to lose, CU fans leave and that’s a home game for us.
It’s a game we can learn something from, so I hope that much happens.
Hate to argue with you este…but my glass is usually half empty after a game like that. Something I need to work on.
52 Conference Championships!! Holy Hell...Good Luck with That!!
No no that's what it's all about, argument brings discussion
I’ll take your word for it about the crowd because you are in the Buffs backyard. And on TV it was definitely easy to tell that there were plenty of KU fans (paper said about 2,000 of the 11,000) but I still say even with that, it was one of the best CU crowds I’ve seen in years because I actually did hear them.
I’ll give you the unforced errors. I do remember a handful of just throwaway passes and I’m sure there were a few more I’m not thinking of. That kind of stuff is not good. But during the course of a 40 game season, teams are going to have games like that. It’s hard to imagine with this much talent that it can happen, but that sort of thing is contagious.
This is probably a horrible comparison but it just happened to me last week with my rec league team. We are one of the better teams in the league and we were playing a very inferior opponent, we played like total crap. It was a collective effort, everyone was throwing the ball away, missing bunnies, just terrible. We still won by 30 but we easily could’ve won by 50. My point isn’t that my rec league team should be compared to Kansas, it’s that sometimes in sports people have off nights and then in team sports, those off nights can be contagious through the entire team. The only thing you can do is say, “I’m glad we survived, let’s go practice and we’ll be back for the next one”.
It’s a game we can learn something from, so I hope that much happens.
Hate to argue with you este…but my glass is usually half empty after a game like that. Something I need to work on.
There is where we agree but the difference between me and you is my glass stays half full. It’s definitely a game we will learn from and during a National Championship run I think that is the most important thing. What does a trip to Colorado do for us if we go in there and blast them by 20+? Our boys wake up today feeling a lot better about themselves then maybe they should. After last night’s game, though, our boys wake up realizing that they aren’t as hot a shit as they thought and hopefully they go to work harder.
Would I rather win by 20? Yeah definitely. But I never get too upset about a tough, grind it out win on the road. Those are what build Championship teams.
by I need more Esteban on Feb 4, 2010 11:51 AM CST up reply actions
I agree with your perspective, I'm a lot more worried about some of the same problems that just keep showing up.
Missed shots close to the basket. Xavier not hitting jumpers. Those kinds of things.
Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.
agreed, being a little bit scared is a good thing
good to be reminded that ANY team in D-1 can beat you if you let your guard down. and it’s no easy task to go 110% against lesser teams. EVERYONE is susceptible to it, especially after a good start where the win looks easy (except Peyton Manning and maybe Kobe). it’s just human nature to slack off when you think you have a team beat from the outset, so a quick reminder that an easy win is never a given is a positive thing.
Zapp Brannigan/Dayton Moore quote of the day: "In the game of chess you can never let your opponent see your pieces"
by SagehenMacGyver47 on Feb 4, 2010 12:12 PM CST up reply actions
Its all aboot free throws
18 of 38? EIGHTEEN OF THIRTY EIGHT? WTF. Seriously. At worst you should hit 26 of those and thats the ball game. If KU shoots somewhat normal from the line they win by 12. 12 point win on the road against an improved Coloradie team is something I think we all would have taken.
Hopefully this game helps our boys focus more. Practice FT in practice please
speaking of free throws
maybe that is one reason for putting Xavier in at the end of the game. He is our 2nd best free throw shooter.
Beadlemaniacs - Award winning* college basketball blog
You know you like college hockey
yeah
we aren’t even talking about this if we do what we should’ve from the line.
People always talk about practicing free throws and it’s true, they need to be shot and practiced, especially after tough drills and at the end of practice so you can get used to shooting them with tired legs. But the fact remains, these guys have shot thousands upon thousands of free throws in their lives. Sometimes free throws are about way more than practice. How many free throws has Shaq practiced over his entire career and shot in games? But he still can’t shoot over 60%. It’s crazy but it’s one of those wacky parts of the game.
Practice your free throws KU, but more than that, just make your free throws.
by I need more Esteban on Feb 4, 2010 11:55 AM CST up reply actions
Plus we have shot well from the line all year
I think our season average was 71%. For a team overall thats not bad at all…weird
Can someone explain to me
Why the hell Conner Teahan saw minutes in the first half?
Regardless of intent, I think Coach Self sent a bad message to the team with that. Instead of, “let’s go for the throat, I’m gonna let my best players stomp on their ass and then my next best players stomp on the carcass” it was “hey we got this in the bag – let’s let a scrub get some PT”
Maybe it was just me. But I couldn’t (and still can’t) figure out why he was on the floor when he was.
There simply is no substitute for experience.
I can't say for sure why Teahan was in
but HCBS did rotate players in much more frequently than he normally does, especially in that first half last night. Obviously, with the elevation difference and the pace of the game in the first half, I think he was trying to keep our starters fresh. Obviously, in hindsight, maybe he should’ve shortened the bench a bit, but I don’t have a huge problem with the concept. I don’t think Teahan’s being in there in any way sent a message like you’ve suggested above. I think it was more about keeping players fresh.
Remember, we had a lot of foul trouble in the first half, with both twins with 2 (and I think T-Rob too, maybe), so we played a lot of smaller lineups (I recall several instances where X was technically playing the 4 spot. That, in conjunction with the altitude-influenced stamina issue, may have been why Teahan got the brief minutes he did.
Operation 39-1 is a go. Proceed to target.
Well I think he started the rotating players thing a bit too early
Plus, doesn’t Hurdy have the players up at 5am every morning playing Dance Dance Revolution?
Aren’t they supposed to be the best conditioned basketball team in recent KU history?
I know hell week started earlier and was longer and tougher for them this year (thank TT for that).
But damn did they look tired. I guess the KSU victory reall did kick our ass.
There simply is no substitute for experience.
Or maybe the message was to a guy like EJ
“start doing what I want you to do and the team needs you to do or I’ll play somebody else”.
Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.
Yeah, that could be.
EJ was the first person I thought of when Teahan came in. Like why CT and not EJ?
There simply is no substitute for experience.
we also don't know what's been going on in practice
maybe the kid is playing really well.
by I need more Esteban on Feb 5, 2010 10:50 AM CST up reply actions
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