A win today is important because a loss to Baylor may deplete what little capital we have with the selection committee. A week ago I was worried we would play ourselves into seeding hell. Now I am looking at a #5 seed like Mangino looks at 4 lbs of velveeta.
1) According to Hiphopopotamus write up on KU's loss over at Oread Boom Kings, Baylor zoned the hell out of Kansas and made them jump shooters. That worries the hell out of me because KU is better coached and more disciplined in general. We need to pound the middle of the zone with Damian James and Gary Johnson. If Gary is healthy, this could be a huge game for him because his game is perfect for killing a 2-3 at the elbows.
2) We need another strong shot selection game out of AJ. Maybe we get lucky and they run a box and 1 with Dugat trying to stifle Abrams. Big Dex and the idiot power forward twins can do big damage against a box and 1. If they go 2 - 3 and dare AJ to shoot us to victory (what I would do to start), we need excellent shot selection. AJ has been under control in the tournament, but I am worried after hearing some of his post game comments that he is about to start launching.
3) When we are jacking them up, our 3's, 4's, and 5's need to crash the backside glass. We are a good offensive rebounding team, and we will need those putbacks to break the back of the zone.
4) Defensively, we need to aggressively close out their shooters (basically all their guards). We don't want Baylor to get in a rhythm from beyond the arc. I would really like to see some full court pressure to eat at their shot clock a little when Dexter is out of the game. Getting help from our guards on long rebounds to limit Baylor to one shot will be imperative.
5) Damian James and AJ Abrams need to be contributors tonight. I don't think foul trouble will be an issue because Baylor has an extreme allergy to contact. So, the two guys that should be leaders need to be leaders.
Thoughts?