Texas vs. Kansas Post Mortem: Grades Are In

A lot has been said about the game at this point, but great job in all your write-ups of this tremendous win.

The way the parts on this team are clicking, the only real Achilles heel I can see is offensive stagnation when we play/are forced to play Dogus and Hill at the same time. In looking at our remaining conference slate, do you see any teams with personnel (elite blow-by guard plus a stout low-post threat) that would dictate that kind of lineup? Or should I not worry too much because the remaining three of JCB/Hamilton/TT or GJ could still create against the inevitable junk defense? Or are we good enough at this point to run our optimal lineups regardless of opposing personnel and live off reciprocating matchups at the other end?

That’s a grading curve that was earned Saturday Trips.

If I was Barnes I think on Sunday when the team met to go over film I would have dimmed the lights, hit the tape - and shown the USC game.

The next three contests are all potential killers, and while I think this team gets it, they still spent the last 24 hours hearing just how damn good they are. Reminding them that if they decide that they don’t need to work at it that they can still get bitch-slapped might be appropriate right now.

One thing is for sure, the 3 opponents we face over the next 8 days are sick and tired of hearing how good we are and they will bring their A effort.

cory joseph’s leadership. that’s part of what makes him the glue guy on this squad. it’s not all about what he does skill-wise. he’s the guy that gathers the players together, keeps things positive, steps in to calm flaring tempers (whether it be teammates or our head coach)…as a freshman. he’s not a perfect player, but i already love the kid.

The post mortem for this post and your hoops coverage: A+

Sadly, I wasn’t able to watch the game on Saturday due to family business, though I did keep up with it on the radio and online.

Kind of an odd question, but can anyone tell me what was going on between Hamilton and Barnes at the end of the game?

I thought Barnes was awesome. For a guy who has been awkward when picking his time to call a timeout, he has been much better this season. The lack of a timeout during the opening salvo from KU was genius. I think he just wanted the guys to soak it in and he basically said, “This is as bad as its going to get. Tough it out.” It was a perfect moment to not call a timeout.

I was wondering why Rick left Hamilton out for a large stretch in the second half. I understand that we built a large lead without him, but I don’t see how having him in the game hurts. Just a case of riding with the hot hand, mainly J’covan?

i don’t think rick trusts jordan as much as he does other players, especially in relation to hamilton’s ability level. maybe rick is still trying to “instruct” hamilton via extended stretches on the bench. not arguing against that, necessarily, but hamilton is a high-strung kid and i hope that rick is self-aware enough to know how much “tough love” is too much.

There was no reason to disrupt the rythm we had gotten into. All of the guys on the court were contributing, especially Brown, and we were kicking KU’s ass and getting back into the game.
There was no reason for Rick to break that run and that’s why Hamilton stayed on the bench—-no teaching moment there, IMO, just good coaching.

Fresh legs probably made some contribution to the two late blow bys and the catch up block from behind on Taylor as well.

your take on the situation at that particular point in the game may, in fact, be right. my point was more of a general one rather than exclusively about why barnes did or didn’t insert hamilton back in during the 2nd half of the kansas game.

My post was more to respond to Egonz query, but you did indicate you thought Barnes might have been trying to “instruct” him by leaving him on the bench for an extended period of time. Besides what I posted above as an explanation, I don’t recall that Hamilton had played badly on D or jacked up bad shots, which is what has usually gotten him long stretches on the pine, so I’m not sure why you had thought that, but es bueno.

No problems on my end, either. To clarify, though, I was actually attempting (not very well) to make two points.

1) I don’t think, in general, that Barnes trusts Hamilton as much as a coach typically trusts his best (at worst 2nd best) player. Rather than a specific instance during any particular game, this assumption is rooted in how much/little Barnes talks about Hamilton or credits him publicly…and, admittedly, past stretches of “instructive” time on the bench over the last 1 1/2 years.

This lead me to wonder if:

2) Barnes solution was trying to use stretches of the bench time during the Kansas game to accomplish something more regarding Jordan. There’s a valid argument against that, which I acknowledge. I still hold to point #1, though.

I think he just took Jordan out for a quick rest and somehow we managed to keep our run going with him on the bench so he just stayed with that lineup for a while. Nothing more to it than that.

As far as Barnes not saying much about Hamilton, I think that one is obvious. Eddie Oran is always pointing out on the radio how much JH means to our offensive flow whether he gets the ball or not because the defense has to account for him and can not give him any space off the ball so it opens up everything. He asked Barnes about Jordan and Barnes just said, “Look, Jordan can score. When he gets it going he is impossible to stop.” Then he changed the subject. Barnes is hoping and praying he can convince JH to stay one more year to keep working on the non-scoring aspect of his game.

JH has gotten much better, but he could be convinced that one more year of improvement like this one and he goes from the 15th pick to the 3rd. Barnes knows that with JH back next year, this team is probably the favorite to win it all. JH is just a walking mismatch in college at the 3. We will be good without him, but he is probably the difference between top 10 and top 2. Of course, now Barnes has to worry about TT leaving early too…

If somebody alredy mentioned it, sorry. But I think it is worth noting the Hamilton also went 7-7 from the charity stripe. That is how you go 5-13 with no 3’s and still score 17.

AWESOME win!

Rick doesn’t coddle his players. That’s his style and we all get it. If Rick’s strategy is to downplay Hamilton’s contributions publicly, I sure hope he’s letting him know privately how important he is to this team. Tough love works, but only when the one on the receiving end believes that the you’re for him and on his side. Otherwise, it just comes across as you trying to keep him down, accurate or not.

‘It was a historic win even if our Jayhawk brethren have blown it off as an indictment of their own poor play and a much needed wake up call.’

I would say the excuse of more along the lines that the entire teams stayed up all night with their teammate, came out fired up on emotion, then completely ran out of gas about 10 minutes into the game.