KU Scout

Chris_Nelson · Jan 11, 2018

For most of Bill Self's career his teams have run the high/low offense. Dating back to last season due to the personnel KU has had, he has scrapped that in favor of a 4 out 1 in offense. KU still gives you a lot of different looks, too many to go through all here, so I will try to hit on some of the basic concepts and things to look for.

Guarding Azubuike

In the high/low offense KU did a great job of spacing the floor and creating angles to enter the post for easy buckets. They are still able to do this, just in a slightly different manner. If KU is running an action on the strong side of the floor and Azubuike is hanging out on the weak side outside of the lane, there is a good chance KU will look to reverse the ball and Azubuike will duck in and seal his man underneath the basket for an easy dunk or lay in. When the ball is on the strong side of the floor, the post defender is naturally in the middle of the lane in help defense. This makes the seal easy if the defender is not moving on the pass and meeting Azubuike outside the lane. And some of it has to be awareness prior to the play happening. Again, if Azubuike isn't following the ball and stays on the weak side, he is doing it for a reason and the post defender must recognize that.

At the very minimum, the one thing the 5 men for Kansas State must give on Saturday is all of their fouls. Azubuike is shooting almost 77% from the floor but under 42% from the free throw line. The K-State bigs cannot let him dunk the ball or lay it in the basket. They must foul him, and in a manner he can't get an and 1, and make him go to the free throw line.

Do not overhelp: Be willing to give up contested 2s instead of open 3s.

KU will spread the court and look to beat the Wildcats off the dribble, which is my biggest concern going into the game. When an offensive player gets into the paint, the other defenders are normally taught to help, and K-State is a team that can over helps at times. However, as long as the defender is in front of the ball, or in this game, even on his hip, the help must stay home. Open 3s will kill the Wildcats. They must force KU to make tough 2s.

K-State cannot leave Svi. He is shooting almost 60% from 3 at home this year. The one guy the Wildcats can help off of is Garrett. You must make teams play to their weaknesses, and his 3 point shooting is a weakness. If on Saturday Garrett happens to knock down 3 or 4 open 3s, you just have to tip your cap to them.

KU has traditionally done a good job of screening the help defenders who have slid into the lane so that they cannot recover out to a shooter on a kick out pass.

Be good out of timeouts / Specials for KU.

I would love to know over the course of a season, the percentage of times KU scores in their first possession out of a timeout. They are very good in those situations. And not only do they score a lot, they will do it with plays that could be momentum changing/building plays such as lob plays for a dunk or flare screens for an open 3.

We all know about KU's "chop" play at the end of games. This is the play they used to tie the national championship game against Memphis at the end of regulation and have run a ton of other games. It consists of a dribble hand off on the wing followed by a ball screen. On the backside, they will set a flare screen for another shooter who started at the top of the key.

K-State must be solid defending the dribble weave. After several handoffs, KU will sprinkle in another look to create an open look. Historically a look they have given is the post stepping out and setting flare screens for an open 3 in the corner. They will also for a lob play or duck in for Azubuike. If Lightfoot is in the game, there is a good chance he is going to come out and set a ball screen which he likes to slip to the basket.

Attacking KU defensively:

This is not your typical Bill Self team in terms of defense or rebounding. The Wildcats must make Svi and Newman play defense. Svi has improved but he is still a guy you can attack off the dribble.

The Wildcats must force Azubuike to defend away from the basket. I would love to see them do this by setting some ball screens for Dean Wade. Get Wade the ball at the elbow area and set a ball screen for him there, with Diarra and X in the corners. When KSU goes small, if KU leaves Azubuike in and has him on Dean, then they need to run some clear outs for Dean and put him in a lot of pick and pop situations to make Azubuike defend on the perimeter.

KU is primarily a man team but has played some zone at times this year. In the final few minutes at TCU they went zone, which played a big role in them closing out that game. Self has also been known to throw a triangle and 2 at teams when he needs to change momentum. K-State saw this at home one year with Pullen and Clemente when they built a huge first half and it completely changed the game.

In general, the Wildcats must survive the first few minutes of both halves and close each half out. They can't allow a patented KU 8-0 run to end the first half. If Dean can stay out of foul trouble early I think the Wildcats should go small and force Self to either take Azubuike out of the game or have him guard Dean on the perimeter. When the Wildcats are in a traditional lineup, they must find ways to take advantage of Dean's mismatch in the post against a smaller defender.

The last time K-State won in Allen they used a zone defense the 2nd half. We may have to see some of this Saturday. Obviously, K-State has to be on point identifying shooters and getting out to them, but K-State's inability to guard the ball is my biggest concern in this one. If the Wildcats can hold KU to single digit 3 point makes they have a shot. Let them get up to 12 or more and it gets awfully difficult.

Matt Hall · Jan 11, 2018