ForTay minutes from a Title; TCU ADV

[Emo EMAW]

Did we get killed on the boards?  Felt like we did, and that's why the d looked like crap.

[kso_FAN]

Did we get killed on the boards?  Felt like we did, and that's why the d looked like crap.

Our oboarding was about our average, but we gave up 44% to TCU, so it wasn't great. But they still shot it really well for them too; keep in mind they cam into the game shooting less than 40% in league play.

[SleepFighter]

This game lost us 6 spots in kenpom. 

[Mr Bread]

This game lost us 6 spots in kenpom. 

Yeah, KenPom does not like the cats this year.  He's got the Breads five spots back after Iowa just raped on us a little, leaving us at 8-9 in conference.  The Breads offense is streaky as hell and our defense is pud.  I don't know which way it should go (move Breads lower/move cats up/both), but I have a hard time agreeing with KenPom that they're that close.  My eyeballs say no. 

[kso_FAN]

kenpom likes it when you destroy bad (>200 teams) in addition to beating good ones. K-State hasn't destroyed a lot of those, even though they won comfortably (10+) in most of those games.

[Mr Bread]

kenpom likes it when you destroy bad (>200 teams) in addition to beating good ones. K-State hasn't destroyed a lot of those, even though they won comfortably (10+) in most of those games.

See the problem there is that Illinois barely beat some very poor teams this season as well (Nebraska: #137/+7, Penn State: #163/+5, Gardner-Webb: #183/+1, Auburn: #186/+2, Hawaii: #190/+1 in OT, Norfolk State: #221/+10 and Western Carolina: #240/+8) and actually lost to one of them at home (Northwestern: #131/-14). 

K-State doesn't have that many shitty close wins (TxSo: #156, Del: #171, TCU: #274 and UMKC: #323) and the cats have no bad losses. 

That's a lot of credit for two or three big wins and a lot of pud on the Breads part. 

[mocat]

Good points Bread. I would say kenpom has Illinois' SOS at #5, while KSU is at #79. Also KSU is 5 spots higher. And kenpom does not give a flying french fry about wins/losses. Just performance. If KSU lost @OU and @WVU nobody would be bitching about their kenpom ranking, but truth is his formula really doesn't differentiate between close wins and close losses. 

[slimz]

_FAN, it feels like, at least over the last few games, our interior defense and rebounding have really suffered when JO has been out of the game, and when he's in he seems to be getting above guys for a lot of rebounds. Shane, Gip, and DJamer seem to have issues getting rebounded around and over. How can this be fixed for next year? Is it just a matter of size (height) and/or agility? If so, will Diaz or Fincher have to/be able to step up? Or can the guys who got the PT this year at the 4/5 improve their technique to make up for that? I'm starting to be concerned that this could be a significant issue against the KU's (duh), OSU's, Baylor's, ISU's of the world, and that's nearly half the conference.

Or is my perception off and we don't need to actually be that concerned in this area going forward?

Thanks and I'll listen off-air.

[kougar24]

_FAN why couldn't you have said "ForTay minutes from a title" or something like that 

Oh man

[kso_FAN]

_FAN, it feels like, at least over the last few games, our interior defense and rebounding have really suffered when JO has been out of the game, and when he's in he seems to be getting above guys for a lot of rebounds. Shane, Gip, and DJamer seem to have issues getting rebounded around and over. How can this be fixed for next year? Is it just a matter of size (height) and/or agility? If so, will Diaz or Fincher have to/be able to step up? Or can the guys who got the PT this year at the 4/5 improve their technique to make up for that? I'm starting to be concerned that this could be a significant issue against the KU's (duh), OSU's, Baylor's, ISU's of the world, and that's nearly half the conference.

Or is my perception off and we don't need to actually be that concerned in this area going forward?

Thanks and I'll listen off-air.

Good observation. JO has been a force on the boards (both ends) as his per 100 poss numbers show. Gip has been solid, but there is a clear drop from JO's numbers to his, especially in conference play. I think oscar lives with it because Gip has been very productive on offense with his minutes.

No doubt, next year someone is going to have to get much better on the boards. Hopefully it will be Gip, Shane, Nino all getting a bit better, but that part of JO's game (not to mention shot blocking) will be things we miss a lot next year.

[sys]

we won't miss jhr that much next year, because he hasn't played that much this year.  also, don't discount diaz.

[SwiftCat]

we won't miss jhr that much next year, because he hasn't played that much this year.  also, don't discount diaz.

I don't know what to do. I disagree with nearly both things you said here, but you are right a lot.

JO has been much better the second half of Big XII play. Like _FAN said, he's a force rebounding and blocking shots, on top of that I don't see Diaz doing either of those things. Maybe Fincher? That's just blind hope though.

[ksupamplemousse]

we won't miss jhr that much next year, because he hasn't played that much this year.  also, don't discount diaz.

JO makes teams change how they try to score, he definitely throws off their game even if he doesn't play that much. Obviously that is just an opinion and hard to prove statistically, but I think we will miss that aspect of his game. From a sheer statistical analysis though, oscar didn't play him enough to miss him all that much. Also, Diaz can't do the things we will miss about JO (block/alter shots and rebound).

[sys]

jhr has been great, i'm not trying to downplay that at all.  just (like deuce said), he hasn't played that much.  he's missed 67% of minutes this year, when you take his ability, minus the ability of his replacement, and then multiply by .33, it just can't be that large of a number, even if his replacement is significantly worse.

agree that diaz isn't going to be the rebounder or shotblocker than jhr is.  just think he has some ability and that he'll get a chance to show that next year.

[ksupamplemousse]

jhr has been great, i'm not trying to downplay that at all.  just (like deuce said), he hasn't played that much.  he's missed 67% of minutes this year, when you take his ability, minus the ability of his replacement, and then multiply by .33, it just can't be that large of a number, even if his replacement is significantly worse.

agree that diaz isn't going to be the rebounder or shotblocker than jhr is.  just think he has some ability and that he'll get a chance to show that next year.

Diaz has some offensive ability, but we already have a big who has more offensive ability than Diaz in Big Gip. Unless DJamer really develops into a good rebounder/defender by next year (I would honestly take Lu Colon type production), then our team will devoid of a big who can do either of those things well. That is a problem, a problem that I hope and pray oscar solves in this next recruiting class.

[CNS]

I think DJamer will be a good rebounder.  tough physical guy and seems to be a more natural jumper than Gip. 

Diaz still seems to be all over the place when on the floor, and not in a good way.

[pissclams]

i sat in on a couple of practices this year, diaz's biggest problem is that he literally speaks zero english- so he doesn't understand anything the coaches are saying.  instead he has to rely on angel to communicate to him.

one hilarious anecdote- coach lowery was yelling at diaz to box out because DJamer kept getting boards and diaz thought lowery said something else.  diaz runs off the floor, out to his car, and grabs a piñata and a stick, hangs it from one of the practice goals, and hands coach lowery the stick and begins to blindfold him.  everyone was just lol'ing.  so when someone misunderstands a coach, the players call it a diaz. lol.

[ksupamplemousse]

Great post, I love the insiders on this board.

[06wildcat]

i sat in on a couple of practices this year, diaz's biggest problem is that he literally speaks zero english- so he doesn't understand anything the coaches are saying.  instead he has to rely on angel to communicate to him.

one hilarious anecdote- coach lowery was yelling at diaz to box out because DJamer kept getting boards and diaz thought lowery said something else.  diaz runs off the floor, out to his car, and grabs a piñata and a stick, hangs it from one of the practice goals, and hands coach lowery the stick and begins to blindfold him.  everyone was just lol'ing.  so when someone misunderstands a coach, the players call it a diaz. lol.

Interesting if accurate...

[KanSt43]

i sat in on a couple of practices this year, diaz's biggest problem is that he literally speaks zero english- so he doesn't understand anything the coaches are saying.  instead he has to rely on angel to communicate to him.

one hilarious anecdote- coach lowery was yelling at diaz to box out because DJamer kept getting boards and diaz thought lowery said something else.  diaz runs off the floor, out to his car, and grabs a piñata and a stick, hangs it from one of the practice goals, and hands coach lowery the stick and begins to blindfold him.  everyone was just lol'ing.  so when someone misunderstands a coach, the players call it a diaz. lol.

Interesting if accurate...

I really, really hope this is true.

[wabash909]

i sat in on a couple of practices this year, diaz's biggest problem is that he literally speaks zero english- so he doesn't understand anything the coaches are saying.  instead he has to rely on angel to communicate to him.

one hilarious anecdote- coach lowery was yelling at diaz to box out because DJamer kept getting boards and diaz thought lowery said something else.  diaz runs off the floor, out to his car, and grabs a piñata and a stick, hangs it from one of the practice goals, and hands coach lowery the stick and begins to blindfold him.  everyone was just lol'ing.  so when someone misunderstands a coach, the players call it a diaz. lol.

 

Great practice report, Garth.