Thanks for reading my Freaky Thoughts. Feel free to contradict me in any way, I am happy to tell you why you are wrong.
I could have taken the low hanging fruit and called this the "lose to KU" edition, but I can't understate how impressed I was with the bounce that the team had. Bounce isn't all about transition and lobs and dunks. It also manifests itself in lift on jump shots and in being able to get into proper position defensively.
One of the main talking points coming out of the Texas A&M game was how there was no game for a week and Bruce could really drive the team in practice during the week. I have been as hard on Bruce as anybody, but I think the way he handled the week was as good of a coaching job as he has done all season.
One of the first questions that Cartier Diarra was asked at the press conference last week (thanks I believe to @KMAN_Squints) was how hard has practice been coming off of the Aggie debacle. Diarra's answer was very telling. He talked about how they used the week to rest and recuperate. It showed on Saturday. They were so crisp on the defensive end, both mentally and physically. They were communicating incredibly well and they were very quick in getting to the spots they needed to be defensively. Both phases defensively were very good. They were very good on the ball and they were very good in help. Reid Gettys mentioned it about 10 times. They totally took away the pick and roll game by beating the offensively players to their spots. They were incredibly tough in fighting over screens when the ball handler didn't get close enough to the player setting the pick. Mawien and Dean were both simply outstanding on defending the player setting the pick. They were able to help enough on the ball without losing contact with their own player. It was a joy to watch.
That brings me to Mawien. He might be the most underrated player on a K-State basketball team in a long, long time. Sometimes, people have a hard time quantifying how good he is because he doesn't need to score the ball to be extremely effective. About every third post on basketball on this board is about the need for a true big man that can score. Hell, Kellis has started a running count on twitter about it.
Mawien is so good on the defensive end that he doesn't need to score to impact the game in multiple ways. I would love to see him be a better passer, and I would love to see him make more quick and decisive moves when he does touch the basketball, but when you are being taught to put the ball on the floor with a gather dribble, it takes away that part of the game.
Other teams know how much Mawien impacts the game. The start of the OSU game was a perfect example. They went right at him early and often to try and see if they could get him into foul trouble and out of the game. The first two possessions were both designed to put Mawien in Pick and Roll situations and go right at him. The problem for OSU was, both guys shot fade away shots. K-state also caught a couple of breaks early from the officials. Anei was fouled by Wade and didn't get the call and then got called for a the foul on Barry Brown on the next possession where he played really good defense.
I loved the matchups to start the game. I had thought Sneed would start on Waters, but Sneed started on Likeke and Stokes started on Dizawa. How many teams have a starting 3 that can guard the teams point guard allowing possibly the best defender in the conference to chase the leading scorer all over the floor. It took Waters right out of the game.
The game started a lot like the A&M game to be honest. OK-State hit a couple of really closely guarded threes and K-State missed a bunch of wide open shots. There was one sequence where McGriff hits a really tough fade away three over Dean and then Brown, Stokes and Sneed combined missed four wide open three's in the next two possessions.
At the 13 minute mark, K-State was 2 for 9 from the field (1-5 from three) and 2 for 4 from the free throw line with 3 turnovers. That was the point that Dean found Barry cutting to the basket for a layup and then found Barry in the corner for an inside out 3 and the rout was on. K-State outscored OSU 36-15 over the next 13 minutes to really open up the game.
At this point, the neophytes are going to chime in about how K-State made threes and it shot OSU out of their zone.
It's a terrible over-simplification. K-State did shoot it really well from deep from that point on, but it was the quality of shots that they were getting because of the passing that was so impressive. The ball movement was as quick and as decisive as I can remember it being. The ball very rarely stuck. On the first Brown three, it was an inside out pass from Dean when he got doubled in the post. It was a tremendous look. On the next Diarra three, it was a good cut by Stokes and a great pass from Sneed to find Stokes that made the play happen. Stokes gets the assist, but very few players in the corner are going to find Stokes cutting from the weak side wing to the freethrow line and be able to make that pass like Sneed did. Once again, the ball got into the paint and then was kicked out for a wide open three. It was really good passing.
I want to point out Gabe Simpson of OSU. That dude is a unit. He is a true freshman on a full academic scholarship that tried out as a walkon for the football team and made it and then tried out as a walkon for the basketball team and made it. That's some serious shit right there. Mad respect for that young man.
I could have taken the low hanging fruit and called this the "lose to KU" edition, but I can't understate how impressed I was with the bounce that the team had. Bounce isn't all about transition and lobs and dunks. It also manifests itself in lift on jump shots and in being able to get into proper position defensively.
One of the main talking points coming out of the Texas A&M game was how there was no game for a week and Bruce could really drive the team in practice during the week. I have been as hard on Bruce as anybody, but I think the way he handled the week was as good of a coaching job as he has done all season.
One of the first questions that Cartier Diarra was asked at the press conference last week (thanks I believe to @KMAN_Squints) was how hard has practice been coming off of the Aggie debacle. Diarra's answer was very telling. He talked about how they used the week to rest and recuperate. It showed on Saturday. They were so crisp on the defensive end, both mentally and physically. They were communicating incredibly well and they were very quick in getting to the spots they needed to be defensively. Both phases defensively were very good. They were very good on the ball and they were very good in help. Reid Gettys mentioned it about 10 times. They totally took away the pick and roll game by beating the offensively players to their spots. They were incredibly tough in fighting over screens when the ball handler didn't get close enough to the player setting the pick. Mawien and Dean were both simply outstanding on defending the player setting the pick. They were able to help enough on the ball without losing contact with their own player. It was a joy to watch.
That brings me to Mawien. He might be the most underrated player on a K-State basketball team in a long, long time. Sometimes, people have a hard time quantifying how good he is because he doesn't need to score the ball to be extremely effective. About every third post on basketball on this board is about the need for a true big man that can score. Hell, Kellis has started a running count on twitter about it.
Mawien is so good on the defensive end that he doesn't need to score to impact the game in multiple ways. I would love to see him be a better passer, and I would love to see him make more quick and decisive moves when he does touch the basketball, but when you are being taught to put the ball on the floor with a gather dribble, it takes away that part of the game.
Other teams know how much Mawien impacts the game. The start of the OSU game was a perfect example. They went right at him early and often to try and see if they could get him into foul trouble and out of the game. The first two possessions were both designed to put Mawien in Pick and Roll situations and go right at him. The problem for OSU was, both guys shot fade away shots. K-state also caught a couple of breaks early from the officials. Anei was fouled by Wade and didn't get the call and then got called for a the foul on Barry Brown on the next possession where he played really good defense.
I loved the matchups to start the game. I had thought Sneed would start on Waters, but Sneed started on Likeke and Stokes started on Dizawa. How many teams have a starting 3 that can guard the teams point guard allowing possibly the best defender in the conference to chase the leading scorer all over the floor. It took Waters right out of the game.
The game started a lot like the A&M game to be honest. OK-State hit a couple of really closely guarded threes and K-State missed a bunch of wide open shots. There was one sequence where McGriff hits a really tough fade away three over Dean and then Brown, Stokes and Sneed combined missed four wide open three's in the next two possessions.
At the 13 minute mark, K-State was 2 for 9 from the field (1-5 from three) and 2 for 4 from the free throw line with 3 turnovers. That was the point that Dean found Barry cutting to the basket for a layup and then found Barry in the corner for an inside out 3 and the rout was on. K-State outscored OSU 36-15 over the next 13 minutes to really open up the game.
At this point, the neophytes are going to chime in about how K-State made threes and it shot OSU out of their zone.
I want to point out Gabe Simpson of OSU. That dude is a unit. He is a true freshman on a full academic scholarship that tried out as a walkon for the football team and made it and then tried out as a walkon for the basketball team and made it. That's some serious shit right there. Mad respect for that young man.
