Rocked by the Jayhawks

Not a surprise. We needed to play much better to pull off the upset. Some good things and some bad. Here are my thoughts.

Likes
-- Sanders looked very good. He made some tough shots and played smart. The announcers pointed to the trash talking as a spark for Kansas. I really don't blame Sanders for that nor do I think it turned the game. The Jayhawks were getting in his face and weren't going to let that lead slip away.
-- Oates!. Another solid game from the big guy. He hustled and made some smart plays.
-- Paris covering for Rice. He didn't fill Rice's scoring, but he still handled their pressure and ran the offense pretty well.

Dislikes
-- Rebounding. This is going to kill us all year. No one rebounds that well and against a tall athletic team like this we gave away too many second chances.
-- Interior D. Blair needs to do more than block shots. He needs to also box out and get more rebounds.
-- Spears shot selection. He shouldn't be taking the fade aways from 15-feet.

Toss this up to a learning experience. I think how the young kids hung in there despite not having Rice and being down.

Mini Kansas preview

Kansas hits Boston Saturday in what will be the biggest non-conference game at Conte since Duke visited during the Troy Bell years. For those with short memories, the Jayhawks wiped the floor with us in Lawrence last year. This year's team might be even better than that one. Kansas is versatile in style and plays good defense. To say this will be a tough test or a primer for the ACC season is an understatement. The only team in Kansas' league that is left on our schedule is North Carolina. So why even play? Well I didn't say we can't win.

Keys to pulling off the upset:
-- Chuck and make a lot of 3s. Kansas' perimeter defense is so-so. We will have trouble scoring inside and running the tight flex, so we might as well let Rice, Raji and Roche throw up some 3s.
-- Limit turnovers. The Jayhawks are not ballhawks and won't apply the same pressure UMass did. As long as we play controlled, we should be ok.
-- Defensive rebounds. This will be up to Spears and Sanders. If they combine for 16+ boards, we'll be in good shape.

With this young team and this sort of opponent, I think we just have to hope they stay competitive. A win would be fantastic. A close loss would be something to build around. A blowout might be discouraging.

For those going, enjoy the rare non-conference treat and take pictures.