As always, tweet your questions to oh you never read this part anyways let's just answer some questions:
@RockChalkTalk given youth / injury, what would you consider a "successful" season? S16? E8?
— Irish Phog (@IrishPhog) March 12, 2014
I am of two minds here. On one hand, I have that whole "championship or bust" mentality where, regardless of how I really think of a KU team's quality, if they don't win the title it wasn't a good season. On the other hand, I have a pretty long track record of not really predicting any team to make the Final Four. Only four teams do it, obviously, and there are just so many pitfalls along the way with matchups, locations, incorrect seedings, your opponent getting hot from three, you going cold from three, etc. etc.
That said, I think Kansas should be able to get to the Sweet 16 without Embiid. Then whether I am satisfied with the season or not depends on whether he comes back. If he doesn't come back, really anything after the Sweet 16 is gravy in my book. If he does come back, however, and shows that he's healthy, I think Kansas immediately is one of the favorites to win the title. That said, anything after an Elite 8 I'm just not going to count on so while I wouldn't be happy if they lost in the Elite 8, I'd still consider it successful (matchups pending, of course).
@RockChalkTalk do you believe Wiggins will be stepping up big time in the post season?
— Rock Chalk Board (@KUChalkBoard) March 12, 2014
I think it's unfair to expect him to post a 41 point game every game of the tournament, but he's already been pretty aggressive this year. Both his usage rate and percentage of shots taken lead the team, and that's with the offense designed to get the ball in the post. With Embiid out, I expect the middle will be a little bit more cleared out, which should open up the middle of the lane for drives from Wiggins (or for Perry Ellis) so he should get some (hopefully) better looks at the rim.
Side note: I hope Kansas runs about 10,000 pick and rolls with Wiggins and Ellis. Both can shoot, both can get to the rim. A pick and pop where either a big man has to guard Wiggins one on one or where they have to leave Perry Ellis relatively open to shoot a jumper seems like an ideal play for Kansas.
What two or three components or types of players does a team need to have to be able to effectively neutralize Wiggins on offense?
-2.1 seconds left
I wasn't even going to answer this question because I still haven't figured that out. Not in the sense that Wiggins is unstoppable, I just think the stuff that stops him varies from game to game. I will say he is struggling at finishing at the rim (62% via hoop-math) and he's also taking way too many of his shots as 2 point jumpers (just over 30%) so if you have a guy (or guys) who can stick with him for his first couple dribbles you can force him to take a pull up. His handle isn't great, so if he has to dribble into traffic there is a good attempt for a steal as well.
Wait why am I helping opposing teams? You should totally just leave him to shoot open threes and let him have lanes to the hoop. That's how you stop him.
I dread the day when basketball season is over. Do you have any ideas to help us pass the time during the late spring and summer months?
-The 6th Jayhawk
I do indeed. First off, there are other great sports until late June. The NCAA hockey tournament runs in conjunction with the basketball one (the first weekend is the weekend of the Sweet 16/Elite 8, and the Frozen Four is the weekend after the Final Four), and then the NHL and NBA finish off their seasons with playoffs beginning in April and running into June.
After that, it's World Cup time, my third favorite sporting event behind the Olympics and the NCAA tournament. Once that is over all you'll have is baseball, but fortunately there is plenty of TV on your DVR by now. My top 5 shows you should watch if you haven't seen yet (current or recently ended shows edition):
1. Parks and Rec
2. The Americans
3. True Detective
4. How I Met Your Mother (I have to see how it ends at this point)
5. Archer
honorable mentions to Psych and Cosmos.
With all of that stuff to watch, you probably don't even need to leave your house, and having spent portions of summers in Kansas, that's really the best case scenario.