One KU basketball reality is getting harder to ignore. Just ask Chaminade’s coach
The college basketball coach who knows the Kansas Jayhawks best is Bill Self.
A close No. 2 at this point, though, might be Chaminade’s Eric Bovaird.
His Silverswords, after opening the season with two wins, had 14 full days to prepare for KU in the opening round of Monday’s Maui Invitational.
So he had plenty of time to run through the scenarios of how Monday’s eventual 93-63 loss to KU might go.
“We thought they were going to play two bigs a lot of the time, really try to take advantage of us,” Bovaird said afterward.
Chaminade seemed ready for that ... and led 7-3 through 3 1/2 minutes when Self went with that particular style.
This is where Chaminade’s blueprint went awry, though. Self put in shooting specialist Isaiah Moss, and KU went to a four-guard lineup to match up with the Silverswords.
Over the next eight minutes — the time Moss played before checking out again — the Jayhawks went on a 24-5 run.
Before going further, let’s state the caveats: This was one game. It was against a Division II school. It also was against a size-challenged lower-level opponent that rarely plays anyone above 6-foot-6.
Still ... for Self and staff, it has to be getting harder to ignore the mounting evidence of the early season.
And that is this: Even if KU has three talented big men, it has been a better team with a four-guard lineup.
Especially so when Moss is in the game.
This obviously is a different puzzle for Self compared to many seasons past. Typically, he’s looked to sacrifice offense to improve his defense with lineups, preferring the extra help to come on that end.
KU’s current scenario is the opposite. Self is loaded with gifted defensive players who possess both length and speed, yet the missing piece has been that one outside shooter who can space the floor and help improve the play of others.
Moss, especially for teammate Udoka Azubuike, has been that perfect complement — providing so much on offense that Self basically is forced to overlook any defensive lapses he’s had.
Listen to Bovaird on this as well. He studied KU for two weeks, coming away with the belief that his team might be able to take advantage of the Jayhawks’ inconsistent outside shooting. When KU played two bigs, Bovaird wanted his players to swarm the interior in both their man and zone defenses.
Moss checking in, though, completely shifted how Chaminade could defend.
“Moss is a special player. He’s a knockdown shooter,” Bovaird said. “We knew that (Devon) Dotson could make shots and (Marcus) Garrett and all them and Ochai (Agbaji), but we were going to make them at least prove it.”
That’s the difference.
Opposing coaches can live with three of KU’s guards beating them from the perimeter. It’s evident — even from casually watching the Jayhawks so far — that Dotson, Agbaji and Garrett are still at a yellow-light stage when it comes to attempting threes, consistently wondering if their shot selection is correct.
With Moss, it’s a full green light. And this lack of hesitation makes it possible for KU to exploit even the tiniest advantages it creates offensively.
A perfect example came in the second half.
With the shot clock running down, Garrett swung the ball to Moss on the wing, with Chaminade’s defenders getting out just a half-step late.
No other KU player on the roster would have seen an opening. Moss, though, set his feet immediately and put up the shot, rattling it in for his third and final three.
Self clapped his hands twice, then looked back toward his assistant coaches. Translation: It was crap offense ... but also resulted in three points, which is almost as well as a possession can end.
Yes, KU has three heralded big men, but basketball is a sport that values cohesion over individual effort.
In this case, the Jayhawks — with Moss on the floor — have been a more complete team offensively while not giving up too much on the defensive end.
It’s why Moss started the second half Monday.
And why he could do the same in first halves of the not-so distant future.
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 12:44 AM.
