{"id":11043,"date":"2022-03-04T11:56:30","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T16:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/?p=11043"},"modified":"2024-08-28T13:37:02","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T17:37:02","slug":"jayhawk-talk-tc-whew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/2022\/03\/04\/jayhawk-talk-tc-whew\/","title":{"rendered":"Jayhawk Talk: TC-Whew!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>March is here! The days are getting a little longer, brighter, and warmer. Spring break is three weeks away. We\u2019ve had a few geese in our yard already, the onslaught to come. The City of Indianapolis is fixing potholes! <del>Baseball is about to start<\/del>.<\/p>\n<p>And KU fans are freaking out.<\/p>\n<p>My experience with the Jayhawks this week was tempered by not being able to see much of Tuesday\u2019s TCU game in Ft. Worth. L had a game at the same time and we made it home in time for the last 10 minutes or so. Which turned out to be the worst 10 minutes to see. At least her team won. 53\u20137!<\/p>\n<p>I was able to watch all of Thursday\u2019s rematch in Lawrence. It had everything. A big KU spurt early, fueled by 12 quick Ochai Agbaji points. A LOUD AFH crowd. Defensive lapses, poor shot selection, and getting bullied by a more athletic team. A six-point deficit early in the second half accompanied by thoughts of hopelessness and anger at pissing away a two-game lead in the conference race thanks to getting swept by TC-freaking-U. An eight-point lead with under 2:00 to play that was nearly thrown away.<\/p>\n<p>Basically the 2021\u201322 Jayhawks distilled into their essence.<\/p>\n<p>But the dub is the dub, and a win Saturday against Texas means KU gets a share of the Big 12 title.<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t freak out too much about the TCU games since they are the epitome of a bad matchup for this year\u2019s KU squad. Every team has those, and it sucks that KU had to play the Frogs back-to-back, at the end of the season, because of Covid issues in January. I was disappointed at how little fight KU showed when I was watching Tuesday. I was heartened by the fight early and late Thursday. I was concerned about how many dumb mistakes they made in the middle 20 minutes Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>And, let\u2019s be honest, KU people freaked out this week because it was TCU. It didn\u2019t matter that they beat Texas Tech last Saturday. That was their only impressive Big 12 win. It wasn\u2019t until we saw them, and saw how long and athletic they are, and that for the first time maybe ever they actually play decent ball, that we realized, \u201cOh shit, these guys are good.\u201d Not sure what to make of a world where TCU is solid in hoops.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>KU got a very friendly whistle Thursday. I can\u2019t decide if that was because \u201cKU gets every call at Allen\u201d or just that KU was so freaking bad on defense that a ton of TCU\u2019s shots were so wide-open KU didn\u2019t have a chance to foul.<\/p>\n<p>Well, it was a friendly whistle other than the ridiculous technical on Mitch Lightfoot. College refs are such clowns. In the NBA, if guys start yapping at each other, and continue to after being warned, both players hit get with a T and you play on. College refs always have to make an example of a player to give the impression they\u2019ve taken control of the game. It wasn\u2019t just the T itself. It was how the ref called it, signaling the foul EIGHT TIMES as he walked to the scorer\u2019s table. An absolute \u201cLook At Me!\u201d clown show of an effort by that guy. Big 12 refs have called so many garbage T\u2019s on players this year for things that happen on dunks, I guess KU was due.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just a fantastic sequence of events. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UqBqgUg0UC\">pic.twitter.com\/UqBqgUg0UC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; We good? (@gifhawk2) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gifhawk2\/status\/1499559843430117390?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 4, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>That said, Mitch has been in college for 18 years. He knows how refs are. Take your dunk, run up court, and talk your shit when you set up for defense when &#8211; maybe &#8211; the ref has other things to worry about. Although that guy was clearly itching to call one. It likely wouldn\u2019t have mattered.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>My brother in Jayhawk-dom E$ said Jamie Dixon looks like a guy who doesn\u2019t wash his hands after he uses the restroom. I laughed hard at that, because it seems like a pretty fair assessment.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>I seriously can not figure out what this team\u2019s deal on defense is. The athletic guys get lazy. The heady guys are constantly putting themselves in bad spots where their limitations kill them. Dave McCormack is perpetually trying to block shots that aren\u2019t lockable, leaving the lane open for offensive boards. They all make poor\/wrong rotations. They all communicate poorly. They just can\u2019t seem to figure it out.<\/p>\n<p>I wonder if it is all a matter of trust, and the lack of trust in the guys to their right and left mean everyone is constantly cheating one way or the other, and end up in a bad spot.<\/p>\n<p>Or maybe they just suck. It is maddening, whatever the explanation is. And since it is March, it ain\u2019t changing. I feel like the offense will be fine when they get away from Big 12 teams. I\u2019m already having anxiety attacks about them scoring 79 but giving up 84 to some team that hasn\u2019t scored more than 70 in two months. Or being up nine with about 3:00 to play and collapsing to blow a game that was won. You can\u2019t play a junk defense for 40 minutes, but KU\u2019s base defense isn\u2019t stopping anyone at the moment.<\/p>\n<p>Of course the 2006 Indianapolis Colts had an atrocious defense, and got gouged by Maurice Jones-Drew for approximately 400 yards in the season finale. Then they got their shit together and won the Super Bowl. You never know.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>KU has played eight of its nine Big 12 home games. Four of those games were blowouts.<a id=\"fnref:1\" class=\"footnote\" title=\"see footnote\" href=\"#fn:1\">[1]<\/a> The other four were all games that either went to overtime or were decided in the final 10 seconds.<a id=\"fnref:2\" class=\"footnote\" title=\"see footnote\" href=\"#fn:2\">[2]<\/a> For those of you who gamble, that offers some interesting options for Saturday\u2019s game against Texas.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Finally, KU fans, I admit I cursed Ochai last week when I wrote about how efficient he was, and how he never took a shot that I questioned. He\u2019s scored 27, 13, and 22 since in the three games since. But even those 20+ point nights came taking way more shots than he\u2019s taken this year. He\u2019s forced some mid-range stuff he hasn\u2019t forced all year. And he\u2019s missed too many shots at the rim.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s had such a beautiful and remarkable season. I hope he\u2019s not running out of steam as the weight of the last four months gathers on his shoulders and the pressure of March awaits.<\/p>\n<p>My bad for the jinx.<\/p>\n<div class=\"footnotes\">\n<hr \/>\n<ol>\n<li id=\"fn:1\">West Virginia, Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State <a class=\"reversefootnote\" title=\"return to article\" href=\"#fnref:1\">\u00a0\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn:2\">Iowa State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, TCU <a class=\"reversefootnote\" title=\"return to article\" href=\"#fnref:2\">\u00a0\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March is here! The days are getting a little longer, brighter, and warmer. Spring break is three weeks away. We\u2019ve had a few geese in our yard already, the onslaught to come. The City of Indianapolis is fixing potholes! Baseball is about to start. And KU fans are freaking out. My experience with the Jayhawks this week was tempered by not being able to see much of Tuesday\u2019s TCU game in Ft. Worth. L had a game at the same time and we made it home in time for the last 10 minutes or so. Which turned out to be the worst 10 minutes to see. At least her team won. 53\u20137! I was able to watch all of Thursday\u2019s rematch in Lawrence. It had everything. A big KU spurt early, fueled by 12 quick Ochai Agbaji points. A LOUD AFH crowd. Defensive lapses, poor shot selection, and getting bullied by a more athletic team. A six-point deficit early in the second half accompanied by thoughts of hopelessness and anger at pissing away a two-game lead in the conference race thanks to getting swept by TC-freaking-U. An eight-point lead with under 2:00 to play that was nearly thrown away. Basically the 2021\u201322 Jayhawks distilled into their essence. But the dub is the dub, and a win Saturday against Texas means KU gets a share of the Big 12 title. I can\u2019t freak out too much about the TCU games since they are the epitome of a bad matchup for this year\u2019s KU squad. Every team has those, and it sucks that KU had to play the Frogs back-to-back, at the end of the season, because of Covid issues in January. I was disappointed at how little fight KU showed when I was watching Tuesday. I was heartened by the fight early and late Thursday. I was concerned about how many dumb mistakes they made in the middle 20 minutes Thursday. And, let\u2019s be honest, KU people freaked out this week because it was TCU. It didn\u2019t matter that they beat Texas Tech last Saturday. That was their only impressive Big 12 win. It wasn\u2019t until we saw them, and saw how long and athletic they are, and that for the first time maybe ever they actually play decent ball, that we realized, \u201cOh shit, these guys are good.\u201d Not sure what to make of a world where TCU is solid in hoops. KU got a very friendly whistle Thursday. I can\u2019t decide if that was because \u201cKU gets every call at Allen\u201d or just that KU was so freaking bad on defense that a ton of TCU\u2019s shots were so wide-open KU didn\u2019t have a chance to foul. Well, it was a friendly whistle other than the ridiculous technical on Mitch Lightfoot. College refs are such clowns. In the NBA, if guys start yapping at each other, and continue to after being warned, both players hit get with a T and you play on. College refs always have to make an example of a player to give the impression they\u2019ve taken control of the game. It wasn\u2019t just the T itself. It was how the ref called it, signaling the foul EIGHT TIMES as he walked to the scorer\u2019s table. An absolute \u201cLook At Me!\u201d clown show of an effort by that guy. Big 12 refs have called so many garbage T\u2019s on players this year for things that happen on dunks, I guess KU was due. Just a fantastic sequence of events. pic.twitter.com\/UqBqgUg0UC &mdash; We good? (@gifhawk2) March 4, 2022 That said, Mitch has been in college for 18 years. He knows how refs are. Take your dunk, run up court, and talk your shit when you set up for defense when &#8211; maybe &#8211; the ref has other things to worry about. Although that guy was clearly itching to call one. It likely wouldn\u2019t have mattered. My brother in Jayhawk-dom E$ said Jamie Dixon looks like a guy who doesn\u2019t wash his hands after he uses the restroom. I laughed hard at that, because it seems like a pretty fair assessment. I seriously can not figure out what this team\u2019s deal on defense is. The athletic guys get lazy. The heady guys are constantly putting themselves in bad spots where their limitations kill them. Dave McCormack is perpetually trying to block shots that aren\u2019t lockable, leaving the lane open for offensive boards. They all make poor\/wrong rotations. They all communicate poorly. They just can\u2019t seem to figure it out. I wonder if it is all a matter of trust, and the lack of trust in the guys to their right and left mean everyone is constantly cheating one way or the other, and end up in a bad spot. Or maybe they just suck. It is maddening, whatever the explanation is. And since it is March, it ain\u2019t changing. I feel like the offense will be fine when they get away from Big 12 teams. I\u2019m already having anxiety attacks about them scoring 79 but giving up 84 to some team that hasn\u2019t scored more than 70 in two months. Or being up nine with about 3:00 to play and collapsing to blow a game that was won. You can\u2019t play a junk defense for 40 minutes, but KU\u2019s base defense isn\u2019t stopping anyone at the moment. Of course the 2006 Indianapolis Colts had an atrocious defense, and got gouged by Maurice Jones-Drew for approximately 400 yards in the season finale. Then they got their shit together and won the Super Bowl. You never know. KU has played eight of its nine Big 12 home games. Four of those games were blowouts.[1] The other four were all games that either went to overtime or were decided in the final 10 seconds.[2] For those of you who gamble, that offers some interesting options for Saturday\u2019s game against Texas. Finally, KU fans, I admit I cursed Ochai last week when I wrote about how efficient he was, and how he never took a shot that I questioned. He\u2019s scored 27, 13, and 22 since in the three games since. But even those 20+ point nights came taking way more shots than he\u2019s taken this year. He\u2019s forced some mid-range stuff he hasn\u2019t forced all year. And he\u2019s missed too many shots at the rim. He\u2019s had such a beautiful and remarkable season. I hope he\u2019s not running out of steam as the weight of the last four months gathers on his shoulders and the pressure of March awaits. My bad for the jinx. West Virginia, Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State \u00a0\u21a9 Iowa State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, TCU \u00a0\u21a9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31,52,58],"class_list":["post-11043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-basketball","tag-college-sports","tag-kansas-jayhawks"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11043"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11045,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11043\/revisions\/11045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}