Eh. We made it to the final game of a preseason tournament. That's a good thing. We beat an NCAA tournament team in Xavier. LOTS of top ranked teams lost this weekend. The final score is not really indicative of the game. We had the lead down to 6 points with 6+ minutes left. After that, we really went off the rails. Lots of bunnies missed. Until the last 5 minutes, I thought our defense was solid, and I liked us mixing up zone, man and even the press. Also, Purdue is a veteran team with a BIG big man who gave us fits, and I thought they played a very solid game today. They outplayed us and deserved the win. I am hopeful this will be a loss we can build upon.
The way too early, biggest concerns for me......
Lively/Whitehead - I am NOT bashing these kids in any way. They have battled injury and have only had a handful of collegiate games to get up to speed. I hope they develop into top tier players, but right now, I am just not seeing it....not even close IMHO.
3 point shooting is a problem. So far; KU 14%, Delaware 22%, Oregon St 17%, Today 10%. I really think the staff needs to figure out how we are going to score. I am not on the staff, but jacking up 20 threes and shooting under 20% make for games where even weaker talent can stick around. I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night though!
I still believe we are going to be fine, and we will be a force by the end of conference play, but I think we need to be prepared for a bumpy road over the next month.