From: marek@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Marek Lugowski)
Subject: Re: Kansas skanks...
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 18:20:42 GMT

In article <1993Jan26.172741.8519@titan.tsd.arlut.utexas.edu>
alan@tsd.arlut.utexas.edu (Alan Martin) writes:

>marek@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Marek Lugowski) writes:
>
>>Well, I won't woof, because months ago I said IU was a fundamentally better
>>team than KU ...
>
>If you think IU is better, then I won't disagree.  I might quibble with your
>use of the word "fundamental", however.  Kansas executes a very sound
>offensive game plan, plays very tough defense, and blocks out well, which is
>how I would define "fundamentally sound."  The past few games, they've had a
>tendency to lose focus, which I suppose you could call a
>"fundamental" problem, but I wouldn't. I honestly attribute that to poor
>coaching and preparation.

I think the fundamentals you listed are good enough for Indiana high school
level of play, okay okay, tournament time Indiana high school basketball
level of play.  For the NCAA programs with aspirations, I would be slightly
more inclusive.

1.  creativity on the floor.  KU, what I have seen of them, play "routine
motion".  I don't see much evidence of creative, energized players, true
artists.  I see solid workers, and then only some days.  And some days,
like yesterday, not even workers.  At Indiana, Bailey embodies creativity
on the floor.  Sometimes seeing him do one thing in a game makes the game
memorable.  And it is not a dunk.  Remember the ball-handling at Kentucky,
remember the ball-handling at Ohio State, watch him choose nonintutive passes.

2. mixing things up.  KU does indeed "look like" IU in much of thier
half-court game, except that IU has more of a range and can hurt you from
all 5 positions.  People say Reynolds is no offensive threat -- I hope they
have seen his performance of late.

3. poise.  KU gets blown out.  don't expect IU to get blown out this year.

>Before you think I'm really dumping on Roy Williams, I'd like to
>point out that another notable program mentioned in your post has
>exhibited that behavior in a few tournaments, and I'm certainly not
>calling Knight a poor coach either.  Occasionally, coaches misread
>their players and don't get them properly prepared to play.  It happens.

Forgve me if I am suffering from a convenient lapse of memory, but I do not
recall IU being as unprepared for a team as KU was for Long Beach State.
Even losing in upsets such as to Richmond, Cleveland State, those were
tough games to the very very end.  I don't mind losing, I do mind losing by
not caring.

>In this case, it happened at a very opportune time for the Jayhawks,
>considering that it wasn't in the tournament (for a nice change), and
>it wasn't even a conference game.

This was my initial point.

>As for the Jayhawks tournament chances, they are a total enigma.  They've got
>a bit yet to prove to me, and to themselves, I imagine.  I'll still pull
>for them, but I won't promise to shave my head if they lose.

If you shave, be sure not to tear a pix of the Pope... it's been done.

>>P.s.  They still play uninterestingly, from a spectator's viewpoint, no
>>matter what they do.  However, they should make thier uninteresting shots
>>more often given the talent that they have.
>
>Now this is amusing.  Do you think IU is uninteresting as well?  If so,
>then at least you're consistent.  KU and IU play remarkably similar motion
>offenses that are predicated on shooting only higher percentage shots.
>These offenses start to look stale when they encounter tough defense,
>simply because it takes them longer to find a good shot.  I've seen
>IU several times this year, and I've always been impressed by the
>similarity between these two offenses.  Now you appear to say that *one*
>of them is uninteresting.  Curious.
>
>
>						Al

See comments above.  IU really has more in its arsenal than you alledge.
Also, careful study of the KU/Michigan and IU/Michigan tapes will reveal
how IU is superior to KU at forcing their oponents to conform to their
style at play, while executing unexpected counterattacks that score quick
points.

Frankly, if KU played as much like IU as you claim, and have as interesting
people on the floor, I would be glad to root for three teams in the top 5.
Heaven knows, I may not root for Ky and UNC for religious reasons. :)

				-- Marek