Thoughts On Oklahoma State and The Season In General

In lieu of a more traditional recap, some disjointed thoughts that I have that I can't really turn into a full post but want to:

1. Frank Mason is totally hurt right? He is shooting 36 percent on twos in Big 12 play and his assist rate is higher than his turnover rate in league play. He's letting guys blow right by him defensively as well. He had some nice drives to the basket last night which give me some hope, but his overall play leads me to believe he has to be hurt.

2. Why won't Kansas run its offense? The offense was good in the first half last night, and has started out good in a lot of games, but then Kansas goes to the 3 man weave or a drive into 4 guys in the lane. Kansas just doesn't have a great Plan B. If I can tell what Kansas is going to run on offense and predict the set right down to each pass and cut, then obviously every coach in the league can. A lot of times Kansas is so good and the offense is designed well enough that even running something the defense knows is coming leads to a good shot, but sometimes it leads to needing to adjust. Kansas is too experienced and too talented to have its only back up plans be to drive into tons of traffic.

3. If  your go to to explain Kansas is soft or mentally weak or any other buzzword, just admit you don't know basketball. (that means you, Jason King). There are enough Xs and Os things wrong right now without resorting to armchair psychology.

4. The margin of victory last night is a bit deceiving. OSU shot 52 percent from three, about 20 percent higher than its normal output.

5. KU's 3-point totals last night were a bit of an anomaly, obviously. A lot of them came late in the game when Kansas needed to come back and were just firing up threes. They also have had a lot of attempts lately where a guard will sit there and look at the rim like he is afraid to shoot or is waiting for something and then decides to fire anyway. Meanwhile, Kansas is passing up quite a few open in rhythm threes.

6. Kansas isn't running as much. 6 of its first 7 games were either in the 70s or 80s in terms of possessions, while 6 of the last 8 (that ended in regulation) have been in the 60s. This team is at its best when it can run, but it hasn't been able to lately.

7. Bill Self hasn't figured out his big man rotation yet. Other than Perry, the bigs played 13 minutes, 13 minutes, 11 minutes, 6 minutes, and 2 minutes. It's understandable, given the fact that Diallo had to sit the first handful of games, but it is a little worrisome not to know who your best pairs are this late into the season.

8. However, I don't get why the team's two best rim protectors were nailed to the bench when OSU was getting free drives to the rim.

9. The perimeter defense has been awful. Getting beat off the dribble, backcuts galore, etc. I think some of it is Mason being hurt, but it is certainly a troubling trend (worth noting, though, that KU is still 2nd in the league in defense and 1st in 2-point percentage allowed).

10. Kansas has done a lot of dumb stuff lately, but there is still plenty of time to fix it (it is still January afterall).