KU’s Bill Self still searching for what his teams had in the past
ESPN sideline reporter Kris Budden said something fascinating on the television broadcast of Saturday’s Kansas-West Virginia game, and it ended up becoming even more relevant following KU’s late collapse and 65-64 loss.
The old saying is you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Based on Self’s pregame conversation with Budden ... the Hall of Fame coach is realizing exactly what he had in previous years with guards Frank Mason and Devonté Graham.
Budden reported that Self had said he needed to do a better job in late game-scenarios. He needed to remind himself he had a young team (at least when it came to experience with him) and that his players didn’t always know everything he wanted. He had to become a better teacher in those crucial moments.
To his credit, Self appeared to be willing to try something new; his team’s issue with closing out road games hadn’t been difficult to see, even if a solution remained elusive.
We know how this turned out. KU held a 64-58 lead during a timeout with 2:23 left, then promptly gave the game back by allowing a 7-0 West Virginia run to end it.
“Coach broke it down in the simplest form of ways,” KU forward Dedric Lawson said of his coach in late timeouts. “ ... The way he broke it down, we just didn’t execute the assignment he gave us.”
This is not like KU. Not under Self anyway.
A coach who has preached toughness from Keith Langford to Lawson watched his team get pushed around in crunch time on Saturday. One example: After a timeout, when Devon Dotson was supposed to get a pass to initiate offense, he couldn’t free from James Bolden, leaving Lagerald Vick to hoist up a contested three on the next-to-last possession.
A man who loves winning games when his team doesn’t play well — and relishes in victories that come because he has defensive players that will grind — watched helplessly when the Jayhawks faltered in each of the three final possessions that could have secured the game.
“That’s something that we’ve always taken great pride in is winning the most important possessions,” Self said. “That obviously didn’t happen tonight.”
The worst part, though, might be this: Self has players he can’t trust to do things themselves. At least not yet, anyway.
Remember past years on the road? Sometimes Mason would see his coach’s play call, decide to freelance instead and finish with a tough floater to ice it. Or Graham would simply take his man off the dribble, muscling in a tough layup to secure conference title No. 14 when KU had nothing going against the Big 12’s top defense.
Who is that guy for this year’s team? Who, when everything’s going off script, will put his head down and have the courage in chaos to go make a play?
Vick took the shot at the end of regulation on Saturday, though his contested three was not an ideal attempt. KU was trailing by one and in the double bonus, meaning the situation called for a quick drive with an opportunity to get fouled.
Maybe teams of the past would have had their thoughts closer in line with Self. This one isn’t there yet.
More evidence of that came just seconds earlier. Self called timeout on a key possession, and after a Marcus Garrett miss, the guard was able to steal the ball back with KU up one and less than a minute remaining. Self called timeout again.
Would he have tried to hyper-manage the game there with guards of previous years? We can’t know for sure, but the answer — in all likelihood — would have been no.
The late road meltdowns are almost silly in their consistency at this point. KU led 74-69 before the last media timeout against Arizona State before the Sun Devils finished on an 11-2 run. Against Baylor, Dotson was fouled before the last media timeout and made both free throws after the break, giving KU a 68-48 advantage with 3:59 left; Baylor outscored KU 20-5 the rest of the way.
Then, on Saturday, KU put up the first four points following the final media stoppage, only to watch West Virginia score the final seven. That means KU, in the last minutes of its three competitive road contests, has been on the wrong end of a 38-11 beatdown.
All is not lost for KU. There have been years the Big 12 race has looked murkier than this, with Self pulling the best out of his team just in time for the stretch run.
This certainly wasn’t encouraging, though. For the second time this season, after a loss, Self blamed himself for a final-possession decision while at the same time making it clear he wished one of his players knew better what to do.
“I should’ve called timeout,” Self said of the final possession. “I just thought we’d drive it.”
Mason might’ve. And Graham probably would’ve.
Neither player is on this year’s team, though, which leaves Self still searching.
For the answer to a puzzle that hasn’t been solved.
