No. 1 Baylor (24-1; 13-0) vs No. 3 KU (23-3; 12-1) Preview & Game Thread

He was - today. IMO, Mitchell and Bandoo should not be on the court at the same time, if we have any options.

We could have doubled him today, put Mitchell on Dotson, and force the other 3 "also rans" to beat us

Ok got our loss out of the way. Ready for our next stretch of wins!

wuzzybear said:

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But I'm kinda glad the streak is over. Now let's just win the remainder with no pressure and see how we get seeded. I do not know what the tiebreaker is but 1 or 2 really doesn't matter.

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Seems weird to be relieved a winning streak is over...but I kind of feel the same way. I think it might take some pressure off.

Yes, and like you said earlier in this thread, now we have experience in "the moment," - the "big game." We didn't succeed today, but think we have learned to deal with pressure in a significant way. Now, let's finish well...

Saddle Up! said:

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8-15 free throws. 53%.

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That had a lot to do with Vital taking a third of our foul shots. Take his out, and we're one make off our season average.

This one was lost in the field IMO, not at the free throw line. We just missed too many open shots.

Futbol Bear said:

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This game could've easily gotten away from the Bears with the dominant performance of Azubuike - I'm proud of this team for showing the heart & grit to stay in it to the very end!

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And if you look at what everyone for Kansas not named Udoka did, our defense was actually pretty damn good today. He just ate us up like he does everyone else when Kansas makes him a big part of their offensive game plan.

Azubuike is the Shaq of college basketball. There's not a big man in the college game that can contend with him physically. We frustrated their guards enough in the first matchup to keep the ball out of his hands on the block, but that was never going to happen a second time.

We should have sent Azubuike to the line more. Hack him and make him knock down free throws.

wuzzybear said:

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You can chalk this up to missed shots and FT's and we've been able to survive but not vs. KU. EVERY POSSESSION WAS PRECIOUS DOWN THE STRETCH. Freddie missed a wide open 14 ft're. Butler misses the front end of a 1 and 1, but credit this team for making KU earn the heck out of it.

I agree we should have fouled Bazooka away from the ball but you run the risk of it being called intentional which makes no sense.

On the last shot by Butler he should have leaned into Dotson so his momentum is going toward the bucket and it would have been an easier shot plus a chance for a foul and 3 FTs.

But I'm kinda glad the streak is over. Now let's just win the remainder with no pressure and see how we get seeded. I do not know what the tiebreaker is but 1 or 2 really doesn't matter.

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You say it's a risk of an intentional foul on the big A, but when he shoots 40% from the FT line, how big of a risk is that? Especially when at least twice we fouled a guy who shoots 80%+, and he buried all of them. Not being argumentative, just an honest question. Am I missing something?

BaylorLit 01 said:

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We should have sent Azubuike to the line more. Hack him and make him knock down free throws.

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I agree with this in principle. But as deep as he was getting the ball on most of his touches, a foul would have just been an and-1 opportunity.

Jack Bauer said:

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We can still win a share of the Big12 title.

We can still win the Big12 tournament.

We can still be a #1 seed.

Learn and move on. Way to not quit today Bears!

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Right - we still totally control our own destiny as far as at least a share of the conference title goes and with a little help in addition, could also still win it outright. Just need to quickly put this disappointment behind us and take care of business going forward, starting with KSU this coming Tuesday.

Can't say that for the reason you state in the top of your post. We left 7 points at the line, lost by 3, difference is a win by 4, if I'm right with my math...we lost by a combination of reasons: fg%, ft%, and no answer for Azumbuke. Onward from here - we'll get them at least 1 more time this season, so let's get about finishing the rest of our business to get to that position...

BUbackerinET said:

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Can't say that for the reason you state in the top of your post. We left 8 points at the line, lost by 3, difference is a win by 5, if I'm right with my math...we lost by a combination of reasons: fg%, ft%, and no answer for Azumbuke. Onward from here - we'll get them at least 1 more time this season, so let's get about finishing the rest of our business to get to that position...

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Blaming free throws when you shoot under 40 percent from the field and only get to the line for 15 shots is a red herring. It's lazy analysis IMO.

Free throws were a part of the problem, particularly missing the front ends of one-and-ones. But we only shoot them at a 70 percent clip as a team. That's a difference of eight makes in 15 shots and 10.5. That difference is far less impactful than the 10 or so wide open shots we missed from the field today.

I'm not suggesting the FG misses weren't a problem, what I'm saying is resolution of a simple problem would have made a difference in this game - it's over, let's get onto our next victim and not have a hangover here

BUbackerinET said:

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I'm not suggesting the FG misses weren't a problem, what I'm saying is resolution of a simple problem would have made a difference in this game - it's over, let's get onto our next victim and not have a hangover here

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And my point is if we shoot at our season average from the line today, we still don't win in regulation. At best, we send it to overtime. I wish we had shot better from the free-throw line. But that's a non-factor if we hit just two of the dozen or so good looks we generated and missed on offense.

Not going to keep this back and forth. Any combination of those 2 things would have won it for us, but ok, you win - feel better?

BaylorLit 01 said:

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We should have sent Azubuike to the line more. Hack him and make him knock down free throws.

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Drew said so in the postgame.

whitetrash said:

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BaylorLit 01 said:

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We should have sent Azubuike to the line more. Hack him and make him knock down free throws.

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Drew said so in the postgame.

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Sounds like a plan for next time.

Just think KU needed this win big time just to stay up with us. I'd say that speaks well of our team. Rubber game in KC.

boognish_bear said:

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The good thing is we've got at least 1 more opportunity to confirm that. I look forward to that happening.

Saddle Up! said:

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wuzzybear said:

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You can chalk this up to missed shots and FT's and we've been able to survive but not vs. KU. EVERY POSSESSION WAS PRECIOUS DOWN THE STRETCH. Freddie missed a wide open 14 ft're. Butler misses the front end of a 1 and 1, but credit this team for making KU earn the heck out of it.

I agree we should have fouled Bazooka away from the ball but you run the risk of it being called intentional which makes no sense.

On the last shot by Butler he should have leaned into Dotson so his momentum is going toward the bucket and it would have been an easier shot plus a chance for a foul and 3 FTs.

But I'm kinda glad the streak is over. Now let's just win the remainder with no pressure and see how we get seeded. I do not know what the tiebreaker is but 1 or 2 really doesn't matter.

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You say it's a risk of an intentional foul on the big A, but when he shoots 40% from the FT line, how big of a risk is that? Especially when at least twice we fouled a guy who shoots 80%+, and he buried all of them. Not being argumentative, just an honest question. Am I missing something?

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Because an intentional foul means they get not only the 2 FTs but they get the ball right back. Simlar to a ClassB technical foul. That is why it is too risky. I thought we should have fouled him at least once in the final 2 minutes when they were still running their offense. However, doesn't really matter cuz Butler missed a one and one and Freddie missed a 14 ft from the FT line that he makes about half the time when that open.

This is a process. We will learn from this for the tourney. I hope we get them again and play better but can't fault the effort. KU just got too many easy shots. If you watch the replay they had a ton of buckets that were dunks or layups although they were not the easiest of layups. I just do not think we forced them to beat us with outside shooting which personally I would prefer. We let them drive and all they had to do was either take the shot or dish to Bazooka. I just thought our D was a little off today in that area.

wuzzybear said:

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Saddle Up! said:

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wuzzybear said:

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You can chalk this up to missed shots and FT's and we've been able to survive but not vs. KU. EVERY POSSESSION WAS PRECIOUS DOWN THE STRETCH. Freddie missed a wide open 14 ft're. Butler misses the front end of a 1 and 1, but credit this team for making KU earn the heck out of it.

I agree we should have fouled Bazooka away from the ball but you run the risk of it being called intentional which makes no sense.

On the last shot by Butler he should have leaned into Dotson so his momentum is going toward the bucket and it would have been an easier shot plus a chance for a foul and 3 FTs.

But I'm kinda glad the streak is over. Now let's just win the remainder with no pressure and see how we get seeded. I do not know what the tiebreaker is but 1 or 2 really doesn't matter.

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You say it's a risk of an intentional foul on the big A, but when he shoots 40% from the FT line, how big of a risk is that? Especially when at least twice we fouled a guy who shoots 80%+, and he buried all of them. Not being argumentative, just an honest question. Am I missing something?

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Because an intentional foul means they get not only the 2 FTs but they get the ball right back. Simlar to a ClassB technical foul. That is why it is too risky. I thought we should have fouled him at least once in the final 2 minutes when they were still running their offense. However, doesn't really matter cuz Butler missed a one and one and Freddie missed a 14 ft from the FT line that he makes about half the time when that open.

This is a process. We will learn from this for the tourney. I hope we get them again and play better but can't fault the effort. KU just got too many easy shots. If you watch the replay they had a ton of buckets that were dunks or layups although they were not the easiest of layups. I just do not think we forced them to beat us with outside shooting which personally I would prefer. We let them drive and all they had to do was either take the shot or dish to Bazooka. I just thought our D was a little off today in that area.

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Got it. Thanks for the explanation. I didn't know about the FT's plus possession.

BUbackerinET said:

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We could have doubled him today, put Mitchell on Dotson, and force the other 3 "also rans" to beat us

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I'm just telling you what they said. And KU does not have "also rans". The story goes (from the media) that Self decided to play the current lineup while Dotson was out a bit and liked having teams to defend four shooters to take some heat off "A".

On the post game, Scott just said we should have fouled "A" more to put him at the line instead of giving up the dunk and lay-ins. Of course he talked about how we have to do something about the free throws.

#4 San Diego State down 7 to UNLV with 7 mins to go.

UNLV 63
SDSU 58
1:18

UNLV (14-14) upsets SDSU on the road. Bye bye Aztecs

No worse than No. 3

It was bound to happen eventually. They may be good, but they were not going to be undefeated. It will be interesting to see how far they go in the tournament. I don't expect them to go all the way to the Final Four but what do I know?

whitetrash said:

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BaylorLit 01 said:

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We should have sent Azubuike to the line more. Hack him and make him knock down free throws.

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Drew said so in the postgame.

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Freddie and Vital both had four fouls in the game. Clark had a couple to give, but who else is going to commit those fouls everybody wants?

Zags getting tested by BYU (70-66) 9:00 left.