@Lulufulu Don’t worry. I was being tongue in cheek to those obsessing on ramping up KU football.

The “Poke a Doke” strategy is something teams can try at the end of games because it can impact scoring for a few plays. To use a strategy like this early in a game adds problems to the team trying it. What it does quickly is put us in the bonus. So Doke doesn’t shoot well from the line. At a certain point we pull him, like when we make it into the bonus, especially the double bonus. Now, with Doke on the bench, our five players on the court play very aggressive offense. I don’t know many coaches that want to have their opponent in the double bonus early in a game. So for whatever point gain they make early with Doke pitching bricks, it gets made up later with double-bonus FTs shot by more proficient players. Imagine going from a strategy of “foul Doke immediately” to “don’t foul anyone!” There is a big shift that will take place in the game once Doke sits on the bench. A real problem with “Poke a Doke” for this coming year is that we have plenty of post depth, especially if Silvio is eligible (most likely, he will be). So we can live with Doke on the bench. I don’t really see the advantage of this strategy early in games, but if used, what happens if Doke actually sinks a decent percentage of FTs? Last… from a motivational perspective… what does that say to the players if their own coach would rather have a player from the other team decide the outcome from the line versus his own players just going out an winning the game by themselves? I’ve never experienced playing in one of these games where a player is intentionally hacked with this strategy, but I can’t imagine it’s a fun game to play in and it would feel demoralizing to be the team hacking!

betterfireE said: @BeddieKU23 I’d like to know: Can Silvio play out along the perimeter with their 5 (who likes threes), or do we need Mitch? Will Graham be effective against Brunson on both sides of the ball? Do we surrender athleticism to anyone else besides Bridges? I would still prefer to put a guard on Spellman- with Svi but if its going to be a big I think we just roll the dice and adjust if needed to during the game. Spellman is a big dude, he’s not a bean pole like Bagley but Spellman for the most part has made his biggest impact in their offense shooting the 3. He can put the ball on the floor if defenders bail out to contest a shot as he’ll use a pump fake and has decent handles for a guy his size. This is a tough matchup. I believe Self will go with Doke and Silvio/or Mitch on him and hope shots don’t fall or we have enough secondary help to limit his opportunities. If we take the last two games as any indication of how KU handles a pick and pop 4/5 man Skara/Donnal & Carter were left on an Island multiple times from what I remember. Spellman however is a better shooter then both of them so the %'s make it difficult to leave him open. If we respect his shot too much Nova has some advantages trying to take our guys 1 on 1 downhill without help. I think Self is going to gameplan on offense to get him in foul trouble though. This could be an interesting development. We are worried that Doke will again foul himself out of stretches of this game but getting Spellman on the bench could absolutely change the game in KU’s favor. If they have to use Crosby-Roundtree for stretches he’s giving up 70 pounds to Doke and if they switch Paschall onto him Doke again has a favorable matchup. That would put CR on Svi which then creates a potentially big advantage. Tough question. I would say Graham can only be stopped by himself on offense. It’s been rather impressive seeing the transformation he’s made over the course of the season as a point guard and leader. Brunson is a solid defender but Graham has a quickness edge against him that I hope he’s able to use. Brunson is averaging 3 fouls a game in his last 3 so maybe Devonte is able to bait him into some cheap fouls. Devonte really hasn’t played great on offense this entire tournament. He carried us against Penn but that was more about the first half. Since then he’s been a sidekick to the Newman show which isn’t a bad thing. It’s kind of created this dynamic where Devonte doesn’t have to do it all on his own. Defensively I think Brunson has an advantage. There isn’t a guard that can stop his old man back you down game. This is where I’m worried about fouls. Brunson has these “bait you” moves that he’s crafted. He can rise up over you and make a difficult mid-range or 8 footer. I just hope Devonte or whoever gets his assignment makes the shots difficult without fouling. We can live with Brunson having a big game as two of his bigger games on the year scoring wise Villanova lost. He’s a big time player who I have a ton of respect for. DiVincenzo is the other x factor athlete. In the Texas Tech game he had a few dunks, one off the bounce and a put back slam off a missed three that were big time plays. He’s deceptively bouncy, not like a Vick that has that gliding athletic ability and can rise up really high. DiVincenzo I thought made the plays that kept momentum alive for them in a game that was downright hard to watch offensively. Vick can match him but I’d imagine its either Malik or Devonte that gets him when he’s in the game.

I love good old fashioned stats. The youngsters are saying this and that about these non advanced stats and why this effective whatever is better or why you really need to look at PER. I would if I had a PHD in stats! But for me, these are good enough. I like the stat that he has missed 52 shots from the field all year and missed 53 FT’s! Heck, I just looked, Trae Young has missed 60 SHOTS in the last 5 games!

Any off-the-ball foul should be called exactly what it is, intentional, resulting in two shots and the ball.

@kjayhawks As a fan, the Sprint Center experience with great seats along with the Power and Light District is really nice. As a player, an arena that looks so different that AFH can be a negative and I read the players do not like playing there. The advantage of playing at AFH becomes a disadvantage when playing in the newer, larger arenas.

@mayjay True… but the NCAA is a private authority, using their own laws (often not fair) whereas the feds have to follow federal law.