"Niagara Falls" plus a Kentucky Preview

I had to dig around to find the KU box score that showed minutes played. KU was playing so fast and were up and down the court, I was wondering what kind of gas the starters spent running the floor against Niagara. Brandon Rush once again was on the floor the longest though he logged under 30 minutes. Jeremy Case and Rod Stewart almost got 10 minutes each, two players we might need in a crunch down the road to the Final Four. if we get in a bind like Ohio State did today, it will be nice to have Jeremy Case as an optioin to hit a 3. Case was 3-5 from beyond the arc yesterday.

ME TEAM: KANSAS JAYHAWKS 31-4
## Player Name.........Reb...Pts...Ast...S..MIN
30 Wright, Julian.......10.....10.....0.....1....23
24 Kaun, Sasha...........3......2 ....0.....0....13
15 Chalmers, Mario......0......19.....2.....3....21
25 Rush, Brandon........5.....9......6.....0....28
3 Robinson, Russell.......4......16...8....5....25
00 Arthur, Darrell........8 .....12....1.....0 ....17
4 Collins, Sherron.......1......15....6.....4....20
32 Jackson, Darnell......9.......4.....0.....0....16
5 Stewart, Rodrick.......2......3.....4......1.....9
10 Case, Jeremy..........2 .....9.....1......0.....9
12 Morningstar, Brady.....0 .....5.....0....0.....7
11 Bechard, Brennan.....1.....0.....0.......0.....4
40 Witherspoon, Brad....2.....1.....1.......0.....3
54 Kleinmann, Matt........1....2 .....0......0.....5

Arthur and Kaun each had 3 blocks. Robinson had a huge game. He also went 3-5 for 3 pointers. Chalmers went 3-4 behind the arc. Got to love the firepower we get off the bench from our two Freshmen. There was nothing the Purple Eagles could do to stop Darrell Arthur in the paint and Sherron Collins is so much fun to watch when he is attacking the rim.

So, KU now gets Kentucky. This Second Round reminds me of the 1999 NCAA tournament when Kentucky was a 1 seed and Kansas was the 8. KU was in a bit of a transition that year starting Ryan Robertson and Jeff Boschee at guard, Eric Chenowith, TJ Pugh, and Nick Bradford started in the front court; Kenny Gregory, Lester Earl and Marlon London made for a decent bench. Remember Marlon London? London was a Chicago native and was home sick so he transferred to DePaul for his Junior season.

This KU team tied for second in Big XII play and won the Big XII tournament by knocking off Oklahoma State 53-37 in the title game. It was Jeff Boschee’s Freshmen year and Ryan Robertson and Kenny Gregory’s Senior season. Before the Kentucky game Roy Williams was talking about taking their turn as being the upset 8 seed over the 1 seed. Ryan Robertson scored 31 points and Jeff Boschee shot 18 threes in that game only to make 6 of them. Kentucky had Scott Padgett who hit a couple of key three point shots late in regulation, along with 13-17 from the stripe, to lift Kentuky over the Jayhawks in overtime.

This year Kentucky isn’t so deep nor as talented as former iterations. They have struggled to find someone to run the point. That is not good for them as they prepare to face a stingy Kansas defense who looks to turn poor ball handling and pressured decision making into steals that lead to easy points in transition. You can already see some highlight reel dunks coming off our fast break.

Kentucky’s strength is in the front court with Randolph Morris. Sasha Kaun suddenly becomes much more important with his size and strength. KU has such a versatile team this year that they can match up well with anyone. This can’t be more evident as they transition from Niagara’s run and gun to Kentucky’s half court grind. There will be fewer possessions in this game and a much lower score. Kentucky is similar to Niagara in the fact that they depend on the three point shot from their guards to be effective. The difference here is that Kentucky will slow it down into a half court game and will feed the ball into their big man to try for easy buckets inside. Once they establish Morris they hope that will open up kick outs for clear three point J’s.


Kentucky will need to bring their A game at both ends of the floor, something they have struggled to do all year, to hang with Kansas. KU has a clear advantage with their strong identity at small guard play. Pressure defense on the ball by Chalmers, Collins and Robinson may be the key for a KU victory. The Jayhawks will make it difficult for the Kentucky guards to get good looks at feeding the ball to Morris. An added bonus for KU is that they have depth in the front court and they routinely smother the ball when the other team gets it into the low block. All of this makes me think that Randolph Morris is going to have a rough day in Chicago. Sasha Kaun will be able to body up Morris while Wright and Arthur will be able rotate over to swat away any weak shots. There will not be many other options in the low post once they contain Morris.




















Bill Self, since taking the helm at KU, is 2-0 against Tubby Smith.

Here is a bit from a KUsports.com article

“I know Kentucky has strong transition defense,” said KU sophomore Brandon Rush, who exploded for a career-high 24 points off 9-of-15 shooting in the Jayhawks’ 73-46 rout of the Wildcats last season at Allen Fieldhouse.

“They are very good on defense. They’ll want to make up for that game last year.”

KU junior Russell Robinson said the Wildcats, “will have big incentive. A lot is riding for their coach (the embattled Tubby Smith). They’ll remember the last two years (KU also won, 65-59, at UK during Robinson’s freshman year). It’s two great programs.”

“They are a better team than last year and more balanced,” Self said. “They really guard, don’t give up easy baskets. They have always been that way under Tubby Smith.

Here is the Blue Ribbon Report for Kentucky:

The Front Court
It begins with 6-11, 260-pound Randolph Morris,
who all season led Kentucky and hovered around the
top six or seven in the SEC in scoring, rebounding, field
goal percentage and blocked shots, leading barometers
of a competent post man. When Morris played well, the
Wildcats stood a better than average chance of winning.
When he struggled, or teams found a way to contain
him, Kentucky was beatable.

On the plus side, consider his 23-point, 13-rebound
performance against Santa Clara, his 25-10 effort against
Eastern Kentucky and a 20-10 night against Houston.
On the minus side, well, he never put together a monster
game like those against SEC opponents. It took him
until the Wildcats’ 13th league game to score as many as
20 points, and that was against LSU, which was playing
without Glen Davis.

To be fair, nearly every team in the SEC has two or
three enormous post players capable of keeping an
eye on Morris and holding him in check. And he did
have some solid performances in the league, piling
up double-doubles against Ole Miss, South Carolina,
Tennessee and LSU.

But when Morris struggled in the league—four
points, six boards in a loss at Vanderbilt, 11 points,
two rebounds in a loss at Georgia—the Wildcats were
vulnerable.

The rest of Kentucky’s frontcourt pretty much consists
of journeyman types, a bone of contention for
demanding fans who wonder why Smith and his staff
haven’t been able to sign a quality four man in recent
years. Kentucky has been in the hunt for several, but
couldn’t close the deal.

Of the group, 6-8 senior Bobby Perry is the most
skilled and experienced; he’s made more than 50 starts
the last two seasons. Perry is neither exceptional nor
terrible in facet of the game. At his best, he’s capable
of the kind of performance he showed during his last
Kentucky home game, when he scored 22 points in a
win over Georgia.

Fellow 6-8 senior Sheray Thomas averaged around 18
minutes a game in the regular season, but his contributions
weren’t significant. He reached double figures one
time (12 points in a loss to Vanderbilt) and is capable of
a six- to eight rebound game.

Backcourt
Herein lies perhaps the Wildcats’ problem—the lack
of a true, take-charge point guard. Ramel Bradley,
a 6-2 junior, started the season at the position, but
Bradley is more of a scorer by trade, so Smith moved
6-6 freshman Derrick Jasper to lead guard. Jasper did
a decent job, presiding over an 11-game winning streak
that lasted from Dec. 5 to Jan. 20. He rang up some big
assist games—eight against UMass, six against Houston,
Georgia and South Carolina, but he also committed a
pile of turnovers. Worse, he’s a liability in late-game situations
because of his free-throw shooting prowess, or
lack thereof.

That meant Bradley had to swing back to the point
at times, but though he led the Wildcats in assists,
clearly he’s better when he’s unencumbered by having
to run the offense. A four-game stretch late in the SEC
season when he averaged 21.5 points against Tennessee,
Arkansas, South Carolina and Florida represented
Bradley at his finest.















Bradley’s greatest weapon is the three-pointer, though
he doesn’t need the three to score; he was 3-for-12
against Tennessee and 3-for-10 against Florida yet still
scored 21 and 20 points, respectively. Bradley’s shot went
AWOL late in the season when he was 1-for-10 from
three against Georgia and 0-for-2 against LSU, but he’s
still Kentucky’s top perimeter threat.

Joe Crawford, a 6-5 junior, enjoyed his best season
in Lexington and was generally a consistent scorer.
Ironically, the ’Cats lost when he scored 29 at Georgia
and 24 at Tennessee. When Crawford has some help,
usually from Bradley, the Wildcats are a lot tougher out.
Smith has said Jodie Meeks, a 6-5 freshman, is the
most impressive athlete he’s coached. He’s a potential
game-breaking scorer who occasionally took over at
the point when Jasper had to be pulled because of his
inability to make free throws. Meeks, who shot nearly 90
percent from the line, doesn’t have that problem.

When Kentucky Wins
The Wildcats are a lot harder to beat when Morris
is ready to play and getting his touches in the post.
Because he usually commands a double team, that
almost always leaves wide-open shooters on the perimeter.
Kentucky usually won on the nights three-point
shots were falling. In turn, that forced defenses to ease
off Morris and guard the perimeter, which gave the big
man some room to operate.

Defense is another key to this team’s success. When the
’Cats expend some energy on that end of the floor, they
always give themselves a chance to win. But unlike some
of Smith’s best teams in Lexington, Kentucky hasn’t been
a consistently good defensive team.

Beating the Wildcats
Kentucky folded down the stretch of several games
toward the latter part of the season, in large measure
because of their lack of a true point guard and inability
to make winning plays. But there were other factors.
Liken it to a golfer who drives the ball well one day
and hits his irons poorly, or hits every green in regulation
but can’t make a putt. In Kentucky’s losses, the
Wildcats couldn’t get both aspects of their game clicking.
Some nights, the defensive intensity was there but
the shots weren’t falling. On other nights, it was exactly
the opposite.

The Final Word
This isn’t one of Tubby Smith’s better teams at Kentucky, but the Wildcats are capable of winning a game or two in the NCAA Tournament if they can figure out a way to make plays down the stretch.