How are you liking "ugly" basketball?

[michigancat]

Is anyone else starting to really like watching our new style of play?

Seeing the team fight for rebounds and loose balls is becoming a thing of beauty to me.

[cireksu]

It's not that much difference that watching wooly's teams except this team can score in transition very well at times.  We can break and get points when teams press us.  Wooly's teams were good at breaking a press but it was only to get the ball across the timeline.  Wooly's teams never counterattacked and got points off it.  Pretty much how we beat mizzou.  This team CAN defend better than Wooly's who were pretty good defensively.

Offensively, if we are not getting offensive boards is too ugly to watch still.

[ECN]

i love it. its like organized street ball with uniforms.

[cireksu]

Like and 1 without the good ball handling and crazy dunks, and the fat dj running around the court pumping the crowd up*

*I think that is what we need to improve attendence.

[michigancat]

I've noticed that Huggins usually has patience for turnovers in transition*...not so much for throwing to the other team in a half court set.



*The notable exception being Akeems "oop" lob that didn't make it to the lane.

[cireksu]

*The notable exception being Akeems "oop" lob that didn't make it to the lane.

*



*That was ugly, I'd be plssed too.

[ksu_FAN]

I like physical basketball.  Its fun to see teams completely frustrated after you take away everything they want to do on offense.  Plus, I've been fairly pleased with Huggins' offensive system.  

[michigancat]

I like physical basketball.  Its fun to see teams completely frustrated after you take away everything they want to do on offense.  Plus, I've been fairly pleased with Huggins' offensive system. 

I like that it's "physical" without being "slappy" (ku, MU, aTm).  At least that's my purple-shaded impression.

[cireksu]

One thing that I like is that they are starting to get the mentality that if someone get's into the lane 3 things will happen.

1.  The other guy will get Hacked very hard on the arm and body.

2.  They will block the shot.

3.  The other guy will make the shot but get bodied up very hard and hope a whistle isn't blown.

[ksu_FAN]

I like physical basketball.  Its fun to see teams completely frustrated after you take away everything they want to do on offense.  Plus, I've been fairly pleased with Huggins' offensive system. 

I like that it's "physical" without being "slappy" (ku, MU, aTm).  At least that's my purple-shaded impression.

Agreed.  Though you know our nonphysical opponents (especially teams like ISU and NU) are going to complain like crazy.  However, I don't see us reaching and body checking like some teams do forcing the officials to swallow their whistles so the game isn't 2 hours and 45 minutes long.  

I

[pissclams]

We're all happy since we've won 4 in a row...this "ugly" basketball is the greatest!!!

*on January 3rd our "ugly" basketball sucked and Huggy was nothing more than a Sheep in Wooly's clothing.

[kougar24]

We're all happy since we've won 4 in a row...this "ugly" basketball is the greatest!!!

*on January 3rd our "ugly" basketball sucked and Huggy was nothing more than a Sheep in Wooly's clothing.

Wouldn't that be "Wooly in sheep's clothing"?

[pissclams]

Something that is bad, whichever of those is the worst is what I meant.

[michigancat]

We're all happy since we've won 4 in a row...this "ugly" basketball is the greatest!!!

*on January 3rd our "ugly" basketball sucked and Huggy was nothing more than a Sheep in Wooly's clothing.

They didn't play good defense against X.  They let XU have a "pretty" game, not one that "sets basketball back 30 years", which tends to favor our Wildcats.

[ksu_FAN]

We're all happy since we've won 4 in a row...this "ugly" basketball is the greatest!!!

*on January 3rd our "ugly" basketball sucked and Huggy was nothing more than a Sheep in Wooly's clothing.

Fans overreact (good and bad) all the time.  

[kougar24]

We're all happy since we've won 4 in a row...this "ugly" basketball is the greatest!!!

*on January 3rd our "ugly" basketball sucked and Huggy was nothing more than a Sheep in Wooly's clothing.

Fans* overreact (good and bad) all the time. 

* especially on message boards

[chum1]

It's not an ugly style.  We have finesse players, not bangers.  Things only get ugly when we don't execute.  This is better described as 'inept.'

[pissclams]

We're all happy since we've won 4 in a row...this "ugly" basketball is the greatest!!!

*on January 3rd our "ugly" basketball sucked and Huggy was nothing more than a Sheep in Wooly's clothing.

Fans overreact (good and bad) all the time.  

See this thread for evidence of that.  My point is that it's funny to read guys gushing about how much Huggins' "ugly" style is the greatest thing since sliced bread as we ride a 4 game winning streak. 

[michigancat]

We're all happy since we've won 4 in a row...this "ugly" basketball is the greatest!!!

*on January 3rd our "ugly" basketball sucked and Huggy was nothing more than a Sheep in Wooly's clothing.

Fans overreact (good and bad) all the time. 

See this thread for evidence of that.  My point is that it's funny to read guys gushing about how much Huggins' "ugly" style is the greatest thing since sliced bread as we ride a 4 game winning streak. 

Don't forget about my ridiculous expectations for Fred Brown love thread, either. 


My main point is that when it's working, I really like watching it - even though it's given us games that are traditionally considered "painful to watch".  Obviously, I don't like watching it when we're losing.

[sonofdaxjones]

Since Huggy has all but conceded and stated that KSU has the transition basketball ability lower then a 2nd grade girls team, I don't look for him to be getting all that upset at times with transition turnovers.    I am surprised by this however, since he's stated that they work on it all the time  in practice.

But when you've got a bunch of guys who have NEVER done a good job of taking care of the ball, and still have a suck ass b-ball IQ what do you expect??

[ksu_FAN]

We're all happy since we've won 4 in a row...this "ugly" basketball is the greatest!!!

*on January 3rd our "ugly" basketball sucked and Huggy was nothing more than a Sheep in Wooly's clothing.

Fans overreact (good and bad) all the time.  

See this thread for evidence of that.  My point is that it's funny to read guys gushing about how much Huggins' "ugly" style is the greatest thing since sliced bread as we ride a 4 game winning streak. 

I think the last two games have been true "Huggie style" basketball games working the way its supposed to work.  Totally take the opponent out of their game and play solid offense to win the game.  The Xavier game wasn't really Huggieball b/c we didn't do offense or defense particularly well.  The Tech game had vast overreactions as many fans focused on our defense, when the problem was our offense and the inability to consistently hit shots.  Huggieball will look particularly ugly when your offense doesn't work, though Tech had something to do with that.  aTm was Huggieball working against a very good team on the road and not being able to finish.  We've also seen Huggieball evolve from preBW to BW to postBW. 

[catzacker]

Before we get really excited, let me be the wet blanket that says we've been "physical" and won against  0-4 MU, 1-4 Baylor, 2-3 ISU, and a Chicago State team that is better suited to be a traveling band of trapeze performers.  Against 4-0 A&M we looked okay but lost and against 3-1 TT we looked terrible.  But to be fair, under Wooly, we probably would be 2-3 or 1-4 right now.  I just like that the team is, aside from the TT game, winning games it should/is supposed to.  I hope it continues against NU and MU so we can get to 5-2 before we have to go @ UT and @ ku.

[pissclams]

We're all happy since we've won 4 in a row...this "ugly" basketball is the greatest!!!

*on January 3rd our "ugly" basketball sucked and Huggy was nothing more than a Sheep in Wooly's clothing.

Fans overreact (good and bad) all the time.  

See this thread for evidence of that.  My point is that it's funny to read guys gushing about how much Huggins' "ugly" style is the greatest thing since sliced bread as we ride a 4 game winning streak. 

I think the last two games have been true "Huggie style" basketball games working the way its supposed to work.  Totally take the opponent out of their game and play solid offense to win the game.  The Xavier game wasn't really Huggieball b/c we didn't do offense or defense particularly well.  The Tech game had vast overreactions as many fans focused on our defense, when the problem was our offense and the inability to consistently hit shots.  Huggieball will look particularly ugly when your offense doesn't work, though Tech had something to do with that.  aTm was Huggieball working against a very good team on the road and not being able to finish.  We've also seen Huggieball evolve from preBW to BW to postBW. 

I'm fearful that this team still won't be consistent enough to get us to the NCAA's and that we currently are just on one of those "ups" like we saw in Vegas, but ultimately I don't feel as though we're really all that great a team, consistency is something that good/great teams display.  We still have "downs" like Xavier that we're going to experience...I really don't like how we match up vs. Nebraska this weekend (aside from our rebounding edge) and feel like we're doomed to lose this game.

Maybe the Wooly/Asbury/Altman years have scorned me into believing that what we're seen recently is nothing more than a 4 game winning streak over 4 bad teams.

[ksu_FAN]

Please don't compare the X game and Tech game.  The X game we were just bad.  Its almost like our guys were tight wanting to get Huggins a win there and we never got into the flow of the game.  And Walker was trying to do to much, which he admitted afterward.

The Tech game had some defensive breakdowns, but that was about Tech being stellar at the line and our inability to hit shots.  You aren't going to beat anyone in this league shooting 30% very often.  The fact that we were in that game up until the last few minutes IMO is a endoresment FOR Huggieball, not against it.  Same with the aTm game. 

We've really only had two games that didn't follow the Huggieball formula since mid-December, the aformentioned X game where we were just bad, and the Missouri game where we played out of our style a bit b/c of Missouri's style and were still able to win.  That game was really pretty true to form until the last 5 minutes when Missouri was able to get going (they scored 21 the last 4:42), but not nearly enough to overcome what we had done to them for the first 35 minutes. 

As Huggieball has taken effect, its really been pretty good to us.  I don't see that going away.  We won't see a repeat of the X game, but we might see a repeat of the Tech game sometime and we just have to hope we defend a little better to pull out one of those 54-52 Big 12 games that happen several times every year.

[michigancat]

I'll say again, I'm just starting to like watching a Huggins' style game.  I wasn't really commenting on our consistency or NCAA tournament aspirations.

I even enjoyed watching the Tech defense because they played good defense, (for the most part), and did a good job hustling the entire game.

So you're all really just being wet blankets on my enjoyment of the style.

[Dan Rydell]

One thing that could help us maintain consistency is the variety of scoring options on this team.  Basically, if we can get 25 out of Cartier/Hoskins, 15 out of Akeem/Lance, 12 out of Clent/Blake/Maybank, and 5 out of Afellonett each night, we'll be right there in every game.  To get those points, we don't have to have each player on fire every night.  There will be a few games like the Tech game, where everyone goes cold, but it's better than having to depend on a single player every game to get 25-30 points or you have no shot.

[WilliamTheWildcat]

I've loved every minute of it.  Finally we have guys who don't stand around when the ball is on the floor. The all out hustle plays will make a world of difference for this team.  Sure, we've had some lapses as we've waited for this transition, and there will probably be a few more along the way.

But I'm ecstatic.  I can't wait for Saturday.

[ksu_FAN]

I'll say again, I'm just starting to like watching a Huggins' style game.  I wasn't really commenting on our consistency or NCAA tournament aspirations.

I even enjoyed watching the Tech defense because they played good defense, (for the most part), and did a good job hustling the entire game.

So you're all really just being wet blankets on my enjoyment of the style.

Agreed.  I enjoyed the Tech game most of the game, even though we couldn't buy a bucket.  Both teams were playing really hard, it was intense, and the defense was great.  Down the stretch we didn't rebound well and Tech started getting away from us for shots to get the lead and the game became frustrating, but it wasn't b/c of the Huggieball style.

[WILDCAT NATION]

I love it, particularly when we can hit shots....especially Akeem and Lance.

[bigdeal]

Good analysis.  It is good to see the guys playing with some aggressiveness and offensive confidence.  It seemed we were always tentative under Wooly.  The guys are getting the system and, I think, know what they have to do.  As long as they don't get too cocky, they have a chance to be in every game where the offense doesn't leave us.  That being said, we all know Lance is streaky and Akeem is iffy on shooting.  Lets just hope they have matured and that the whole team can just continue to progress and make this style of play a habit.  It is pretty fun to watch them attack like they have the last few games.