Saturday, January 14, 2006

Ups and Downs (Not Micah Downs)

When you have a team with four freshman and five sophomores, you're going to have ups and downs. The early part of the season proved that theory to be accurate. But recently, the 7-game winning streak and the games versus Kentucky and Colorado have provided an inordinate number of ups. Today's game against Kansas State brought the Jayhawks back to the ugly side of the Up/Down ledger and was essentially a microcosm of the season so far.

Really, it was a tale of two halves. There was little to criticize in Kansas' performance the first half. Mario Chalmers and Russell Robinson were dominating both ends of the floor, with Chalmers having his best game to date. Eleven points, three assists and three steals indicated that Chalmers was the best player on the floor in the early going. Both Chalmers and Robinson were hitting shots from the outside and penetrating the Wildcat defense with drives to the hoop. The officials continued a recent trend in KU games of allowing a more physical game, which certainly gave the defensive-minded Hawks an advantage. KSU could not make a pass without a KU player getting a hand on or foot on the ball. Eight KU steals in the first half led to numerous easy buckets on the offensive end. And KU's defensive intensity wore down K-State to the point that they lost focus on their own defensive end, allowing KU to run their offense with little resistance.

Then came the second half. After leading by as many as 12 points in the first half and going into the locker room up by eight, the young Jayhawks rejected the techniques that had allowed them to grasp the game by the throat. Early in the second half, the issue was not challenging 3-point shots. But the KU guards were doing a better job of feeding Sasha Kaun in the post and managed to revisit a 12-point lead.

But K-State adjusted. And Kansas did not.

KSU coach Jim Woolridge employed a zone defense and the Jayhawk offense soon became non-existent. Maddeningly, Julian Wright, arguably our best weapon against the zone with his ability to find the holes in the defense and make crisp passes both to the post and the wings, was not inserted into the game initially against the zone. The offense stagnated and the Wildcats started to fight their way back into the game. Equally frustrating was the lack of effort and any ability to adjust on the defensive end. KSU ran the same play over and over, setting screens and getting open 17-footers time and time again. The Jayhawks refused to recognize the defense that was being played against them and, disappointingly, showed little effort in trying to get around the screens to challenge the shots. The Wildcats regained the lead with around 4:00 remaining in the game and the momentum completely shifted. K-State continued to run their offense and their zone defense continued to befuddle the Hawks. Our young guards could not find the big men in the post and were repeatedly turned back when they tried to drive to the basket. Three-pointers were not falling and Brandon Rush had been pretty well bottled up all afternoon.

So what should have been a coming out party for Mario Chalmers turned into KU's first loss to K-State in 31 games. And while terribly dissapointing, this doesn't come as a huge surprise. KU had been flying high and K-State had just been humiliated by Nebraska in Manhattan. You knew KSU would come out with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. And the potential for a letdown from the inexeperienced Jayhawks was clearly a possibility. Unfortunately, this will probably be an ongoing theme throughout the season. Hopefully, the Hawks will flip back to the Up side for Monday's matchup with Missouri in Columbia.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG, Nick! I didn't realize that hell froze over, that pigs can fly & that there really IS a tooth fairy!
KSU beats KU in, of all things, basketball!
LMAO

Anonymous said...

No comment....as you know

Nick said...

It was a great weekend for rivals of KU. They had better laugh it up this year, though, because these opportunities won't present themselves beyond this year. Congratulations.

Nick said...

You may need to come back for a spell to re-energize them.

Anonymous said...

i leave the state and my team falls apart?????