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Kansas Sweep, An Old Men Debate, + "X-Factors for a Deep Run in March?"
87 Plays2 months ago
Welcome to Episode #46 of the No Conference for Old Men Podcast.
Our Houston Cougars are now 26-4 & 18-1 in conference, after grinding out a win over Cincinnati & sweeping the Kansas series with a Big Monday physical pounding of KU where the Cougars pounded the boards & turned the Jayhawks over repeatedly! Next up is Baylor for our final game of this season. The 3 Old Men provide recaps & preview the games this week, & then look forward into March to weigh in on "UH X-Factors for a Deep March Run?" .
Please have a listen as the 3 Old Men weigh in & discuss the topic of the week, as well as provide some quick-hit game summaries and previews.
- No Conference for Old Men is available for free via Spotify / Apple Podcast / SoundCloud & the GoCoogs.com website; we're also available via the Republic of Football Podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas Football as their only basketball-centric offering
- Intro / Exit music: Ground Zero provided by FreeBeats.io
- Please follow us on gocoogs.com/old-men/
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:07
@NoConfForOldMen
Welcome folks to episode number 46 of the No Conference for Old Men podcast, the podcast where three old guys are talking Houston Cougars basketball with a bit of Big 12 coverage added in as well, and proud members of the gocougs.com network, the undisputed number one Houston Cougars content provider.
Meet the Hosts
00:00:24
@NoConfForOldMen
We're here today with all three of the old men, Tom Lidiak, former coach, Bill Walker, former player, and myself, Steve Chang, analytics guy for this episode. Well, our Cougars took care of business again this week in grinding out a Cincy win at home, 65-59, and then turning around to complete the KU sweep this season on Big Monday, sixty five to fifty nine and extend our lead in the Big 12 to four games ahead of Tech and Arizona.
00:00:49
@NoConfForOldMen
There's no letting up for Samson's elite program as the Cougars battle to ensure a number one
Houston Cougars’ Recent Victories
00:00:54
@NoConfForOldMen
seed come tourney time. Now comes one final regular season game at Baylor where a win could continue to distance ourselves from Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee for the third projected number one seed and potentially land us in the preferred Midwest region.
March Madness Prospects for UH
00:01:09
@NoConfForOldMen
With only one game to preview this week, the three old men decided to maybe look ahead towards March Madness again this week.
Cincinnati Game Analysis
00:01:17
@NoConfForOldMen
So the special topic this time is going to be around what are UH's X factors, so to speak, to ensure a deep March run, which of course would hopefully result in our first national championship in men's hoops.
00:01:28
@NoConfForOldMen
So let's get into it, guys. In dissecting our wins against two of the historically top hoops programs in the Big 12 this week, let's begin with the post-game analyses of the grinding win over Cincy at home.
00:01:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Then we'll transition to your thoughts on the sweet big Monday win over KU that resulted in a sweep of the series this season. Let's start with you first, Tom. What were some of the things you saw from a coach's perspective in the Cincy game?
00:01:54
Tom
Well, first off, last week we talked about Cincinnati being probably the most disappointing team as far as expectations go in the Big 12. And then again, they had won, I think, like five of their last seven or eight games.
00:02:09
Tom
And they came out and they played like a team that was a bubble team, a team that was facing elimination. They got off to a quick start. We were down 10-4.
00:02:21
Tom
And then there were some substitutions made, and we went on a run. i have written down pretty much the five guys that were in the lineup when we made our run was JoJo, Terrence, Milo, Eman, and Malik.
00:02:36
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:02:37
Tom
Then I think we got the lead. We scored like nine straight points to go up 13-10, and then LJ subbed in for Sharp. We continued to click. And at one point we were up 37-22, so we hit a 15-point
Second-Half Strategies vs. Cincinnati
00:02:51
Tom
lead. And then the foreign guy, Shimas, I think it was, hit a three at the first half buzzer to make it 37-25. So we went into halftime with a 12-point lead.
00:03:04
Tom
We came out right out of the bat in the second half going to Juwan. And I believe he scored three baskets like in the first four or five minutes. He had another basket later on. So he had, I think he had all eight points in the second half.
00:03:32
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:03:32
Tom
Terrence, he gave us some scoring, but he played 26 minutes and he didn't get a rebound. I'm sure that didn't sit too well with, Kelvin and staff when they went to the film, LJ gave us a scoring burst.
00:03:45
Tom
He had 20. Uh, and the one thing probably a lot of people want talk about is, we're kind of the shakiness versus the press, uh, they were desperate.
00:03:57
Tom
they go to press. It kind of looked like a diamond press, like a one, two, one, one. I'm not sure if it was a diamond or, or just a man, but they were trapping the inbounds pass.
00:04:01
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:04:05
Tom
They were like super aggressive because then they were denying the pass back to the inbounder. And, you know, we were a little bit shaky against that. And
00:04:15
Tom
my opinion on that is, you know, when you're up by nine, 10 and there's maybe like two minutes left, if you're aggressive and you attack the press and you miss, you're playing into their hands. But on the other side, the flip side, if you're conservative and don't attack, you're also playing into their hands.
00:04:36
Tom
so when you're conservative and don't attack, you're vulnerable to turnovers. Uh, But we did get the ball in bounds in the deep corner. know, and not only do you have two defenders here in a trap, but you also have two extra defenders, the sideline and the baseline.
00:04:52
Tom
So, you know, we got to avoid getting the ball there. And then the other place is, and this is all clinic talk, too.
00:04:58
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:04:58
Tom
You know, clinic talk is great. You're undefeated when you're talking X's and O's in a clinic setting. I think it was Mike Tyson just said, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
00:05:09
Tom
So just a reminder that this is all clinic talk. But you want to avoid the deep corners on the inbounds. You want to avoid the trapping zone, which is the sideline near midcourt and especially past half court.
00:05:21
Tom
You don't want to dribble across half court, pick your dribble up, get trapped, because now you can't throw it back. you can't throw it behind you because that's a backcourt violation. And Coach Sampson, he's aware of all this, and he knows we need to improve in some areas there.
00:05:38
Tom
But once again, I'm talking about the Bundy and Miss America. We came out with 73-64 win. i'd take it every day, twice on Sunday, you know if we can get a nine-point win.
00:05:52
Tom
Once the NCAA tournament starts and we get nine point wins six times in a row. Yeah, I'll be happy with people bitching about our press press attack.
00:05:57
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
Player Perspectives and Analytics
00:06:01
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. No kidding. Hey, Bill, how about your...
00:06:04
Bill Walker
As long as it doesn't hurt us during that six game run.
00:06:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Well, again, as long as we win, right? To Tob's point. Bill, how about your views of the Cincinnati win from a player's perspective?
00:06:18
Bill Walker
Yeah. And I'll reiterate a little of what you said, Tom, but a nine point 73, 64, this could, and probably should have been a 20 plus point blowout, but,
00:06:30
Bill Walker
you know Aside from a couple of the concerns, this was a good win over a team that was desperate for an NCAA bid. I said going in that they were well-positioned for an NIT run.
00:06:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:06:43
Bill Walker
Well, no question.
00:06:43
@NoConfForOldMen
but You're right.
00:06:46
Bill Walker
ah ah yeah Cincinnati, they're deep. so you know They played us ah As you mentioned, Tom, we got off to a slow start. We were actually down 10-2.
00:07:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, that's right.
00:07:02
Bill Walker
you know Outscored them the rest of the half, 35-15. I'd be up 12 at half. And i would say had point guard Day-Day Thomas not been on fire, it could have been a really ugly first half for them. and i didn't even mention Thomas during the preview because
00:07:18
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:22
Bill Walker
He was their starting point guard last year. He's been coming off the bench for a lot of the year, and then when some of the other guys went to the bench, he got reinstated into the starting
00:07:32
Bill Walker
and He's never really been a great scorer for them, but he absolutely was against us. and Yeah, if he hadn't been on fire, it could have been a really, really ugly first half for them.
00:07:45
Bill Walker
They're a team that does protect the ball well, but we forced them into nine turnovers in the first half and they were really playing right into our defense's hands.
00:07:56
Bill Walker
Uh, Second half, Thomas when not in foul trouble because he he was in foul trouble the entire game. scored 19 points on 8 of 12 from the field.
00:08:06
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:08:06
Bill Walker
And they also previewed, aforementioned Gissel James, were a bit of a problem for our guards, which was one area of concern I mentioned last week when addressing teams that could cause us some problems down the road.
00:08:21
Bill Walker
The other issue, and this is reiterating what you said, Tom, was handling the full court pressure. yeah It was a problem, and I mention it as a concern, because it was a problem versus Iowa State, and you know kind of allowed them to get back into the game, well, and it allowed Cincy to get within single digits.
00:08:41
Bill Walker
ah ah yeah We had only two turnovers at halftime, but ended up with nine for the game and several of them coming late when they began to press us and trap us in the corners, as you talked about, Tom.
00:08:55
Bill Walker
Yuzan had four turnovers and a lot of that due to the full court pressure. But on the positive side, LJ shot fairly well, led us with 20.
00:09:05
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay.
00:09:06
Bill Walker
Terrence and Malik, both coming off the bench, obviously, shot 9 of 14, scored 18 points, and really helped to offset, from us, miserable shooting from beyond the arc, 3 of 14 for the entire team.
00:09:23
Bill Walker
We only had, I think, 6 offensive rebounds for the game, and the team just needs to be... and the the entire team, not, not just the guards that are back, but everyone needs to be aware of when the press comes and, we're going to need help. Uh,
00:09:40
Bill Walker
in the Kansas game, they pressed us late and, uh, and both in that game and Cincinnati, we were able to, on a couple of occasions, throw lengthy passes to our big men.
00:09:44
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:09:51
Bill Walker
I think, the big men probably need to come up and support the press break. And, and, I think if we get the ball to them, start moving the ball quicker and even use on taking some timeouts from, from time to time, rather than getting trapped and,
00:10:06
Bill Walker
tried to do everything that he can to get the ball to someone else. I think we should be okay. Uh, bottom line though, good win over, like I mentioned, a hungry team.
00:10:17
Bill Walker
And for the second year out of two in the big 12, the outright big 12 championship.
00:10:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:10:25
Bill Walker
and we spent the post game cutting down the nets, uh, you know great accomplishment for the team. And, yeah off to the postseason after we handle Baylor.
00:10:36
@NoConfForOldMen
Nice.
Upcoming Kansas Game
00:10:37
@NoConfForOldMen
I mean, looking at it from an advanced analytics perspective, it was as we expected, slow paced, physical defense, and just a grinded out win, 73 to 64.
00:10:47
@NoConfForOldMen
Probably should have been a win by a larger margin like you had highlighted, Bill. But since he started pressing us when really the game had gotten out of reach, we were up 19 points with less than seven minutes to go.
00:11:01
@NoConfForOldMen
This is a huge game for Sinsti, as you guys had both mentioned, coming into the game at the time. They were somehow still on the bubble as a next four out, according to Leonardi. And a big win at UH where we had nothing to gain would have likely almost sealed the deal for them to get in.
00:11:17
@NoConfForOldMen
But that wasn't going happen to a Coach Sampson team. So again, we limited that to 49% effective field goal percentage and only 30% from three-point range. And then pair that up with forcing turnovers on almost 18% of their possessions and since they just couldn't get anything going.
00:11:35
@NoConfForOldMen
Only thing they did well was getting offensive rebounds on over 34% of their misses. For us offensively, we shot lights out inside. Effective field goal percentage at over 56% and over 64% from two-point range.
00:11:48
@NoConfForOldMen
Key stat of the day. that ultimately kept the game as close as it was, was around turnovers. So we had five of our nine turnovers overall for the game after the seven-minute mark of the second half when the game was out of reach with a 19-point lead.
00:12:03
@NoConfForOldMen
But we'll take, again, the nine-point win and move on because the big Monday showdown versus Blue Blood, KU was up next in two days.
00:12:11
Tom
which
00:12:11
@NoConfForOldMen
For KU, yet another short turnaround, which I hate. But guys, I got to admit that I love being showcased on big Monday games.
Kansas Game Performance
00:12:20
@NoConfForOldMen
Let's begin with you first, Bill. What were your quick thoughts from a player's perspective with this win over KU that gave us a sweep of the series this season?
00:12:38
@NoConfForOldMen
nice.
00:12:43
Bill Walker
It kind of came down to the end, not right at the end, but close. And then secondly, to brought my friend Brian Hiske, former U of H golf standout, and to Don Houchin, thank you for the upgrade. yeah Tight game, close game, emotional game, and i ended up five rows from the court right court.
00:13:09
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. and Nice.
00:13:09
Bill Walker
And so so great, great, great seat. So thank you very much to everyone. Now to address our analytics guy who questioned my mental state when after the game, you, Tom, texted that Kansas kept the game close and I disagreed.
00:13:20
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:13:30
Bill Walker
Was the game close? Of course it was. Absolutely. You know, we were down in the second half. We ended up winning by only six points. However, here's the disagreement.
00:13:41
Bill Walker
Did Kansas keep it close?
00:13:45
@NoConfForOldMen
Absolutely. You're not giving them credit?
00:13:46
Bill Walker
but per would argue would argue absolutely not.
00:13:47
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh.
00:13:52
Bill Walker
And 20 Kansas turnovers would wholeheartedly support me.
00:13:56
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:13:59
Bill Walker
This game is a is you know it's a typical Kansas road blowout loss. if our rims didn't have lids on them.
00:14:08
Bill Walker
We took 26 more shots than they did for the game. 26, and we made five more shots than they did. What that means is that on the shots that we took,
00:14:21
Bill Walker
above and beyond what they took, the 26 shots, we shot under 20%. I mean, shots just didn't fall.
00:14:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:14:28
Bill Walker
We were the better team. We forced 20 turnovers. They did nothing to keep themselves from getting blown out. It just was one of those nights where we didn't shoot well, and we had good shots. They just didn't fall.
00:14:44
Bill Walker
But We outplayed them. We played our typical exceptional defense. We held them to 59 points. The aforementioned 20 turnovers to our six.
00:14:56
Bill Walker
well We out-rebounded them by three, and that's only because so many of our shots did not fall. We had 17 offensive boards to their five, and their turnovers led to 16 U of H steals.
00:15:13
Bill Walker
Kansas did next to nothing to keep that game especially close. The defense absolutely rests.
00:15:21
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh, hey, Bill? Bill?
00:15:23
Bill Walker
No, I don't even want to hear it, Steve.
00:15:25
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah yeah You're sounding like some of our fans. You do realize Kansas has the number six defense in the country, so there's a reason, you know, there's a partial reason in terms of why our shots didn't fall.
00:15:34
Bill Walker
like I'm not complaining about... and
00:15:37
@NoConfForOldMen
So they did something to impact our shooting, right?
00:15:40
Bill Walker
yeah It would be one thing if they were tough, contested shots, but we had open looks.
00:15:41
@NoConfForOldMen
Number six, baby. Ha ha.
00:15:48
Bill Walker
We had good shots. They just didn't fall. It doesn't mean that they're – I mean, we've been shooting well all season. I mean, so many times we've come on, and for a defensive and rebounding team, we come on and we talk about how – you know, we shot over 50% from the field, our effective field goal percentage, which you get into is, is in the high 50s, 60%.
00:16:10
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:16:12
Bill Walker
I mean, it's, it's been a, it's been a great year. i have no complaints.
00:16:16
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh, absolutely.
00:16:17
Bill Walker
It just happened to be one of those games where there just seemed to be a lid on the rim on, on both rims for us. And, you know, it, It just happened.
00:16:27
Bill Walker
But I'm going to give Kansas little to no credit for that.
00:16:31
Bill Walker
I mean, 20 turnovers.
00:16:32
@NoConfForOldMen
That's where we're going disagree.
00:16:35
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:16:36
Bill Walker
20 turnovers. They're just not that good. And, you know, it was a tight game. And they played hard. They actually created a few turnovers at the end, again, with their press.
00:16:46
Tom
It was a what game, Bill?
00:16:49
Bill Walker
But, pardon me?
00:16:50
Tom
was it It was a tight game?
00:16:50
@NoConfForOldMen
What was
00:16:52
Tom
Oh, Oh, okay.
00:16:53
Bill Walker
Yes.
00:16:55
@NoConfForOldMen
that? Oh. What?
00:16:57
Bill Walker
I said right from the onset. I said very said right off the bat it was a tight game.
00:17:05
Bill Walker
But where I think, Tom, you were dead wrong, and where I am absolutely right is that Kansas did not make it a tight game.
00:17:07
@NoConfForOldMen
hey
00:17:15
@NoConfForOldMen
oh
00:17:15
Bill Walker
The fact that our shots didn't fall, the fact that Kansas, rather than making it a tight game, turned the ball over 20 times,
00:17:18
@NoConfForOldMen
Hmm.
00:17:25
Bill Walker
it's could have easily led to them being blown out. It just, it just didn't happen. And you know what? Sometimes that's the case. We've had games this year where, where we've been up big and, and, you know, think it was maybe TCU. We let back into game at Fertitta. I mean, they're just games where, where we're clearly the better team.
00:17:46
Bill Walker
We just don't, And end up with the margin victory that we should have. And this was one of those games. We're clearly the better team. We're the superior team on both ends of the floor.
00:17:57
Bill Walker
ah ah in every aspect of the game, it just the shots just didn't fall. And, yeah, I give Kansas little to no credit for that.
00:18:05
@NoConfForOldMen
fine
00:18:05
Bill Walker
But I give them full credit for 20 turnovers.
00:18:08
@NoConfForOldMen
but Spoken like a true fan. yeah
00:18:12
Bill Walker
and No, spoken like someone who actually watched the game.
00:18:16
Tom
you
00:18:19
Bill Walker
i have I have more criticisms when I come on or concerns than anybody
00:18:21
@NoConfForOldMen
oh
00:18:31
Tom
Thank you.
00:18:34
Bill Walker
Uh, I have, I have no, no issues with coming away with the win. just was a game that Kansas had nothing to do with the fact that it was close. Absolutely nothing.
00:18:47
Bill Walker
Period.
00:18:52
Bill Walker
You know, Cryer actually was the one player who shot very well from the field.
00:18:58
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:18:59
Bill Walker
Tuggler was all over the boards. He only committed one foul in 27 minutes. But my star for the game, well, certainly Cryer, but also Wilson.
00:19:09
Bill Walker
He got the start because it was senior night. 27 minutes, scored 10 points, but five boards, six assists, and four steals.
00:19:18
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, crazy.
00:19:18
Bill Walker
He is going to be absolutely key for us as we make our run to the title. I do want to mention one Kansas player of note, and that would be their All-American center, Hunter Dickinson.
00:19:30
Bill Walker
He almost had a triple-double against us. 17 points, 12 boards, and seven turnovers.
Post-Game Reflections and Coach's Insights
00:19:38
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, it's beautiful.
00:19:40
Bill Walker
At times, I thought he was... He played very intimidated. His shots, it looked like oftentimes he shot the ball quickly without really gathering himself, and the shots were off.
00:19:54
Bill Walker
uh, he's a great passing big man, but I thought he got rid of the ball quickly several times and his passes were off as well. And, thought he, he probably hurt them as much as he helped them throughout the game.
00:20:06
Bill Walker
And, uh, yeah, I would have loved to have seen him achieve that triple double, but he, was awfully close with the, uh, seven turnovers,
00:20:12
@NoConfForOldMen
He was close.
00:20:14
Bill Walker
But, you know, another conference win. And like I said, senior night, just a great win. And it was awesome seeing I saw I didn't see this at the game, but I saw it on tape afterwards. Calvin with with some tears coming to his eyes when he when he hugged Juwan after the game that that was that that fantastic.
00:20:30
@NoConfForOldMen
i yeah. Come on.
00:20:35
Bill Walker
you know, pretty special to see. So great, great night for the seniors. Congratulations to them and, and off to an NCAA title run.
00:20:43
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, completely agree. Tom, how about you from a coach's perspective?
00:20:46
Bill Walker
You should.
00:20:47
Tom
the
00:20:47
@NoConfForOldMen
No, I'm only agreeing in the last part, not your assessment of what impacted our shooting.
00:20:54
Tom
Okay. yeah
00:20:54
@NoConfForOldMen
Hey, Tom.
00:20:56
Tom
Kansas, as if you listen to our podcast, you know how much I love Kansas.
00:21:00
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:01
Tom
that's sarcasm. You know they're 10 and 90 conference right now. would say I almost feel sorry for him, but I don't, you know, If you know what the term Schadenfreude means, I get a little bit of that every time I see them lose.
00:21:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:21:20
Tom
Senior night, senior day, it was awesome. Pre-game, the only... I guess the only disappointment was I wanted to hear more stories about when Juwan played with Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney.
00:21:35
Tom
Yeah.
00:21:35
@NoConfForOldMen
that That's so funny.
00:21:41
Tom
The big key, it was 30-27 at halftime, and the only reason Kansas was that close was Milo's picking up his second foul with 17.03 left in half.
00:21:49
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:21:50
Tom
So he sat down for the last 17 minutes, and that's probably the only thing that kept Kansas in the game in the first half.
00:21:59
Bill Walker
The only thing.
00:22:00
Tom
I was listening to Kelvin's radio show, and he was talking about how Milo's got that second foul for reaching in and hacking. Well, you know, if you get one foul, you got to be a little bit smarter than that, especially you never know. Sometimes officials who will let some of that hacking, go and And sometimes they don't.
00:22:21
Tom
So, that second foul reached in, got it, sat on the bench. And Kelvin said,
00:22:26
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:22:28
Tom
He said, he told Milo's you're going to sit here for the rest of the half. I'm not going to put you back in the game because you won't learn. You would, you won't learn your lesson. And.
00:22:38
Tom
So there was no way he was going back in the game. So kudos to Kelvin for doing that. Bill, you mentioned LJ, 22 points. You said Bill had a shout-out to some people for some tickets. I want to give a shout-out to John Elsley. He's on the message board and Randy Randell for seats.
00:22:56
Tom
And I mention that because well one of the seats was – three rows from the baseline, and watching Cincinnati play defense and then watching Kansas play defense, I thought it was tougher for us to get a shot off versus Cincinnati's defense as opposed to Kansas.
00:23:03
@NoConfForOldMen
All
00:23:13
Tom
I thought, you know, for some reason it just, you know, the analytics, I don't know what it is.
00:23:13
@NoConfForOldMen
right.
00:23:14
Bill Walker
Correct.
00:23:18
Tom
You know, the analytics say Kansas is the sixth best team in the country.
00:23:19
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:23:22
Tom
But, when I'm watching the game and, it's not on TV, you're so close to the court. yeah it it appeared like we were, it was hard to get shots off, good shots against Cincinnati than it was Kansas.
00:23:33
Bill Walker
Correct.
00:23:33
Tom
And, you know, which Bill's point was we got shots, but we missed them. So whatever you want to make of that, that was just my eyes looking at the game.
00:23:45
Tom
I did think that we exploited Dickinson a little bit in pick and rolls. He doesn't move very well laterally and, you doesn't recover very fast. He's not very fast. So I think we exploited some of that.
00:24:00
Tom
I thought Dickinson did a better job in the second half with his defense. A lot of things to talk about, Kansas. Well, whatever you want to believe that the game was close.
00:24:12
Tom
Galen Robinson mentions something about, he calls it positive fear. And he says, when you come in and you play U of H, you come in with a positive fear, knowing that if you don't go out there and match our intensity and our toughness, you're going get blown out of the building.
00:24:28
Tom
And I think that's what happens in a lot of our games is we get the other teams, we get, we get their best punch.
00:24:32
@NoConfForOldMen
Best game, yeah.
00:24:44
Tom
Kansas State ran them out of Hilton. Those teams don't play like that against us, except BYU might be the exception early in the year when we blew them out.
00:24:47
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:24:55
Tom
Malik had probably the two plays of the game, making that steal and the dunk, and then that little dipsy-do he had where he went up against Dickinson and finished on the other side of the basket.
00:25:03
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:25:07
Tom
That was – That was an amazing shot. Another thing about KU, it's gotten to a point where their fans are claiming moral victories. You got this blue blood program,
00:25:22
Tom
and you know they're they're like, well, dang, we played Houston close. you know thought I'd never see that in my life. Bill Self, another one I want to talk about. He just seems resigned.
00:25:38
Tom
You know, he put out that statement the other game. Zeke Mayo got those death threats and stuff.
00:25:41
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:25:42
Tom
And then Bill put out this statement. You know, it's pretty much probably coming from the sports information director or whatever. But it just seems like resignation.
00:25:55
Tom
Press conference in our game. Again, you know, it's hard to see like any fire there. So I'm not sure what's going on with that. I guess we'll see at the end of the year.
00:26:08
Tom
Dickinson, Bill, you kind of talked about him. Seven turnovers. I counted at least three deflected passes that led to steals.
00:26:17
Tom
Just lazy passes. You know, no pass fake. Just got the ball and threw it, without pass faking. They were deflected. ended up in turnovers. I'm glad he did it, though.
00:26:29
Tom
He had one turnover on an offensive foul where he was posted up, and he just manhandled, I think it was Malik out of the way, got called for an offensive foul.
00:26:37
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:26:38
Tom
And then that horrific pass... that he made Malik, and Malik goes down and dunks it.
00:26:45
@NoConfForOldMen
And dunks it.
00:26:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:26:46
Tom
I've never seen Bill Self put both hands over his face more times than in the game against us, and that was one of the times that he did that.
00:26:51
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:57
Tom
Hunter Dickinson. You know, what's his legacy going to be at Kansas? Well, I think his legacy is going to be he played two years for Kansas and they were two of the worst years in recent Kansas history.
00:27:09
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:27:10
Tom
I think that's going to be his legacy. Not sure what it is. You know, I had a chance to sit close to the court, so it kind of saw his body language. Nothing. it's almost like he's a flat liner,
00:27:26
Tom
not a whole lot of negative body body language, but not a whole lot of positive body language either. It's, it's like the factory worker who comes to work and he punches in and he, he punches out and, that's kind of way I feel about, about him, you know, as so-called, best player on Kansas, his team, it's not like he uplifts his teammates and inspires you to play harder or play better.
00:27:36
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh, interesting.
00:27:51
Tom
So, Who knows what's going on with Kansas, but I'm glad they're having those troubles.
00:27:58
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:59
Tom
Let's see. Didn't get much from JVA on offense. He played 15 minutes, he got three rebounds. Or Terrence. Terrence, offensive struggle this game.
00:28:08
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:28:09
Tom
0 for 7, 0 points, two rebounds in 19 minutes.
00:28:16
Tom
So, yeah, that's – few more things. It looks like KJ Adams had pretty good game. Talked about Dickinson already. Ryland Griffin.
00:28:27
Tom
What, what the, what the heck with him played 11 minutes over four, zero points for, for Ryland Griffin.
00:28:28
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Invisible. Yeah.
00:28:37
Tom
My guess it's defensively probably the same thing with AJ store. It's probably on the defense and Dwan Harris, the so-called best point guard in America a year ago.
00:28:50
Tom
He took two shots, guys. He played 34 minutes and he took two shots. He had two points. He had two assists. And bench, every time Self took out by Dunga, I cheered.
00:29:05
Tom
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
00:29:06
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I agree.
00:29:08
Tom
Ha, ha. I was saying, good call, Bill. Good call. Baidunga only played 16 minutes, and it wasn't because of foul trouble. He only had one personal foul. The little guy for Kansas, Coit.
00:29:22
Tom
Coit actually might have been their best player that night on the offensive end.
00:29:24
@NoConfForOldMen
Absolutely.
00:29:25
Bill Walker
Oh, absolutely.
00:29:26
Tom
14 points.
00:29:26
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, absolutely.
00:29:29
Tom
However, on the other end, here another one where Bill put both hands in his face. LJ was in the corner. Coit's guarding him. Malik drives. or He really hasn't beat his man. He's around the elbow area, and it's not like Malik is going to finish at the rim.
00:29:50
Tom
For some unknown reason, Coit goes over there to stop the ball. You never leave a corner man to help. Not with the three-point line these days.
00:30:03
Tom
And not only did he leave his man in the corner, he left LJ, Cryer, one of the best shooters in the country.
00:30:06
@NoConfForOldMen
Hmm.
00:30:09
Tom
LJ knocked down a corner three, and you just could see the disbelief on the Kansas staff. AJ Storr, Bill, your man, Wisconsin guy.
00:30:20
Tom
AJ Storr, five minutes, 0 0 for 1.
00:30:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh.
00:30:25
Tom
He had two more points than a dead man would have. And that's the story.
00:30:29
Bill Walker
Yeah, he played he played right to what I said about him last week.
00:30:33
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:30:33
Bill Walker
He's one of their most consistent players. He's bad at home and he's bad on the road.
00:30:38
Tom
And here's the deal.
00:30:38
Bill Walker
Perfectly consistent.
00:30:39
Tom
talking about Talking about how many times Bill had both hands in his face.
00:30:44
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:30:44
Tom
They threw – store was wide open, and somebody threw like a baseball pass. And he went to catch it, and he glanced over his shoulder to see from U of H what's coming.
00:30:54
Tom
And he let it go right out of his hands out of bounds. And Bill went immediately to the bench, you know after he put his hands to his face and got him out there. So, i don't know. It'll be interesting see what happens to Kansas.
00:31:06
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:31:07
Tom
You know, I don't have any sleepless nights worrying about burning about them, but it's really – It's really good to to win. sixty five fifty nine And the seniors got to speak a little bit after the game. I thought it was kind of funny when Emmanuel started to chant for Juwan one more year.
00:31:27
@NoConfForOldMen
One more year.
00:31:27
Tom
That was funny.
00:31:30
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
Previewing the Baylor Game
00:31:31
@NoConfForOldMen
as you guys had highlighted, Kansas has been extremely up and down this season. And for this game, we're coming in after another loss at home, this time to Tech.
00:31:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Of course, no sympathy for KU because this was another opportunity for us to show who the new big dog of the Big 12 was. And the sweep of the series versus KU put an exclamation point on that.
00:31:51
@NoConfForOldMen
So with the back and forth win, we're one step closer to our number one seed come March Madness. From advanced analytics perspective, this was yet another, what I considered a heavyweight battle with two of the best defenses in the Big 12, both top six in the country as I'd highlighted, slugging it out.
00:32:08
@NoConfForOldMen
We limited KU inside where they rely heavily for their offense, finishing the game at effective field goal percentage 51%, but under 42% from two point range.
00:32:18
@NoConfForOldMen
It was the thing of beauty as we blocked 20% of their two point shots in getting steals on 24% of their possessions. Again, what allowed them to keep things close was their out-of-the-ordinary accuracy from three-point range, especially Coit, who was just playing out of his mind on offense.
00:32:36
@NoConfForOldMen
On the flip side, it was one of our worst shooting nights offensively, just over 40% effective field goal percentage, under 36% from two-point range. But thankfully, we had a crazy 46% offensive rebound rate on our misses.
00:32:50
@NoConfForOldMen
And with Malik Wilson taking over on senior night, boy, what a godsend. He sat the game. We took 16 more shots than KU did for the game. 68 to 42.
00:33:02
@NoConfForOldMen
That's a demoralizing ass
00:33:03
Bill Walker
twenty six Exactly.
00:33:06
Tom
Steve, you're the numbers.
00:33:06
@NoConfForOldMen
26. You're right. a a Yeah, yeah,
00:33:09
Tom
Come on, man.
00:33:11
Bill Walker
let me
00:33:11
@NoConfForOldMen
You're right. I can't do my math.
00:33:12
Bill Walker
further Further strengthening my argument.
00:33:12
@NoConfForOldMen
I'm the analytics guy too.
00:33:15
Bill Walker
Thank you, Steve.
00:33:17
@NoConfForOldMen
But that was a demoralizing ass kicking, no matter how you look at it. Now let's get to our final regular season game of the season. A game at Baylor that we thought coming into the season could be for the Big 12 Championship. How wrong we all were.
00:33:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Tom, why don't you go first from a coach's perspective with a quick preview of the Baylor game.
00:33:37
Tom
First off, you said we thought that it might be for the championship. What's this we shit, Kimasabe?
00:33:43
@NoConfForOldMen
No, no.
00:33:44
Tom
I didn't have Baylor.
00:33:45
@NoConfForOldMen
a We had them fourth. We had them fourth. We said it could be, right?
00:33:48
Tom
Oh, we had him fourth. Okay, okay.
00:33:50
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, we had them fourth as a group.
00:33:52
Tom
not Not number two, right?
00:33:53
@NoConfForOldMen
No, no, no.
00:33:54
Tom
Okay, okay.
00:33:54
@NoConfForOldMen
It just could be, right, depending on how things went. there were
00:33:56
Tom
Okay.
00:33:57
@NoConfForOldMen
We had them pretty high up
Conference Tournament Strategies and Analysis
00:33:58
@NoConfForOldMen
there in conference, right?
00:33:59
Tom
Okay. Yeah, I think I had –
00:34:01
Bill Walker
this coming from Is this coming from Mr. Five five Conference Lost?
00:34:07
@NoConfForOldMen
No, I'm completely wrong.
00:34:08
Tom
That's me.
00:34:08
@NoConfForOldMen
I'm happy.
00:34:09
Bill Walker
No, I was talking to Tom.
00:34:10
Tom
oh, yeah.
00:34:11
Bill Walker
Actually, both of you.
00:34:11
Tom
Yeah.
00:34:12
Bill Walker
Actually, both of you.
00:34:12
@NoConfForOldMen
i had yeah I had four, I think, four.
00:34:14
Tom
Well,
00:34:15
@NoConfForOldMen
four to win and I didn't think we'd win. I thought we'd have five conference losses.
00:34:18
Tom
I'm, I am, I'm happy to say i was dead wrong on that.
00:34:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, me too.
00:34:24
@NoConfForOldMen
No kidding.
00:34:24
Tom
I was happy. I'll, I'll take that.
00:34:25
Bill Walker
Me too.
00:34:26
Tom
Okay. yeah
00:34:27
Bill Walker
but About you two.
00:34:27
@NoConfForOldMen
That's right.
00:34:30
Tom
I like, I kind of like the sandbag, you know, this way you kind of, the disappointment's not as, not as much if we don't,
00:34:36
@NoConfForOldMen
that's right
00:34:52
@NoConfForOldMen
how
00:34:52
Tom
you know, like, uh, what was it?
00:34:53
Tom
Forrest Gump said, life is a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.
00:34:56
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yep.
00:34:57
Tom
And that's, and that's, uh, that's Baylor.
00:35:00
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:35:02
Tom
We're healthy. Knock on wood. We're healthy, and that's the most important thing heading into this last game. And speaking of that stupid conference tournament, here's my theory.
00:35:14
Tom
We should play the first game, win it, and then either play our subs that second game, or how about the starting five just pick up two fouls real quick so Kelvin has to sit them.
00:35:16
@NoConfForOldMen
ye
00:35:26
@NoConfForOldMen
ah
00:35:28
Tom
Ha, ha.
00:35:28
@NoConfForOldMen
I'm with you. I'm with you 100% there. Win one game and then play your backups.
00:35:33
Tom
I don't know. I don't know how many out there listened to Kelvin's radio show the other night, but that's what he said. he's not crazy about these conference tournaments.
00:35:56
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:35:58
Tom
win.
00:36:00
Tom
these are Kelvin's words. He said, flat out, the only reason we're having these tournaments and, you know, in a big conference like the big 12 is money.
00:36:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Make money. Yeah.
00:36:09
Tom
And that's the only reason the only, the only people who are concerned about this tournament are number one, ISU, because that's their super bowl. I mean, they'd rather win that than the national championship, you know,
00:36:22
Tom
teams on the bubble and teams that aren't on the bubble, whose only shot is NCAA bid is to, is to win the tournament. I hate it, you know, this time of the year, because, we're finally healthy.
00:36:36
Tom
And Kelvin went into the idiocy of these tournaments. And I'm sorry, I'm digressing from Baylor game, but it's possible you're going to play three games in three days. so
00:36:49
Tom
last one being Saturday. And then sometimes you'll get a Thursday game. So it depends on where you're playing. Pretty much you hop on a plane on Sunday and you travel and yeah, you're playing Thursday if you're playing three games in three days and the players are exhausted mentally and physically.
00:37:11
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:37:13
Tom
So it's... I hate it. I can't say how much I don't like these conference tournaments, but I'll let Bill talk about Baylor.
00:37:24
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, go ahead, Bill, from a player's perspective.
00:37:48
Bill Walker
They beat Oklahoma State, and then they barely beat TCU on the road to put themselves at 18-12 overall.
00:37:48
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:37:54
Bill Walker
10-9 in the Big 12. That's good for right now, a sixth-place tie with Kansas. Baylor's in, and Right now, they're currently projected a 10 or an 11 seed in all the projections that I've seen.
00:38:09
Bill Walker
This game probably means a little more to Baylor, although i don't see much advantage to being 10 seed over maybe 8 seed.
00:38:21
Bill Walker
And Baylor would have to win at least a couple games in the Big 12 tournament to get themselves up to an 8. And actually, I'm not even... all that high on some of the projected six seeds.
00:38:32
Bill Walker
But one win in the Big 12 tournament should lock Baylor in at either a 9 or a 10. Of note for this game, Baylor has 12 losses, but only two losses this year at home.
00:38:47
Bill Walker
A three-point loss, bad loss at home to TCU, and seven to Arizona. That's it. they've beaten everyone else at home. So this game could very well be closer than one might think.
00:39:02
Bill Walker
I mentioned a few guys, and we've talked about them before. We didn't play them that long ago, but Norchett O'Meara, who had a really good game against us, he still leads Baylor with almost 16 points and 10.5 boards per game. He's been leading them in scoring and rebounding it.
00:39:22
Bill Walker
most games. the five star edge comb, he's next at almost 15 points a game. And he's now shooting 36% from three against us. He was five of five from the field, 14 points, six boards, but he committed five turnovers. So he's, aspiring to be Hunter Dickinson,
00:39:44
Bill Walker
Their other players, their best players, all backcourt players, Roach, Nunn, Wright, Langston, Love. loves Love may be little bit more of a small forward, but Roach, Nunn, Wright, guards.
00:39:57
Tom
Is it love out for the year though? Is love out for the year?
00:40:01
Bill Walker
I don't know if he is.
00:40:02
@NoConfForOldMen
I'm not sure.
00:40:02
Bill Walker
It had to have just happened.
00:40:02
@NoConfForOldMen
i know he's hurt again. Yeah, he's hurt again.
00:40:07
Bill Walker
Okay. Yeah. I didn't, I didn't hear that he was out for the year, but I honestly, I don't know. but if he's out, then, it's going to be more on the guards, uh, And all those guards can get hot. They can all get to the hoop and draw fouls, which is what they do when they win.
00:40:23
Bill Walker
When we beat them seventy six sixty five at Fertitta, we had five players in double figures. We assisted on 17 of 27 made field goals, and we only turned the ball over seven times.
00:40:36
Bill Walker
Well, Baylor shot just a blistering 58% from the field, 60% from three, but they did cough the ball up 15 times. To win this game, we need to certainly shoot better than we did against Kansas, which we will do.
00:40:53
Bill Walker
We need to move the ball well like we did against Baylor the first time. We need to hit the offensive glass because we're going to be bigger and we're more aggressive and we're better rebounding team.
00:41:03
Bill Walker
We may need to If they send their guards at us, and they did in the game at Fertitta, they trapped late in the game. They caused some turnovers, which we've addressed. We need to play through the traps and their press.
00:41:16
Bill Walker
We need to limit our fouls against them. We need to defend the perimeter. and contest as many of their outside shots as possible. And I think we will absolutely do enough of all of those things. We'll play well enough.
00:41:30
Bill Walker
But I do think it'll be a relatively close game. I have us winning 72-66. seventy two sixty six
00:41:37
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I think we're going to be close.
00:41:37
Tom
yeah And I will say this.
00:41:42
Tom
and I would say Baylor would be motivated because it's senior night, but they already had their senior night.
00:41:47
@NoConfForOldMen
They did. Yeah. Yeah, I'm going cut my section short so we can get to the special topic.
00:41:50
Bill Walker
Smart.
00:41:56
@NoConfForOldMen
Surprisingly, Baylor is still number 30 in Ken Palm. And again, they're coming off two key wins over OSU and TCU. Based on the metrics, this is projected to be a tight five point win on the road for the Cougs based on Ken Palm.
Houston's X Factors for March Madness
00:42:10
@NoConfForOldMen
i think I think we're getting motivated. i think they're short on people. So I'm actually predicting a larger 72 to 64 eight point win for the Cougs.
00:42:22
@NoConfForOldMen
So we'll see. Now, as we continue to look towards March Madness, how about we all look into what we believe our own X factors to optimize our chances for that March Madness run are and potentially our first national championship.
00:42:35
@NoConfForOldMen
Again, we'll do a deeper dive once the actual brackets come out. But for now, let's look internally as to what needs to happen with the team as they make their final push and why. And so, Bill, what's your take on any X factors for our Cougs heading into March Madness?
00:42:51
Bill Walker
who is our X factor? I would actually take either end of the spectrum. One, I would say who isn't. And then i would also argue that, that, uh, we don't have an X factor, uh, or that, you know, everyone is and can be our X factor in any game at at any time. you know, when we get into sweet 16 games,
00:43:20
Bill Walker
I think there will be a lot of playing our starters plus Malik and Francis. And i'll I'll mention Arsenal, but I feel like there are times when he he just looks a little lost on the court on both ends. And, you know, I think...
00:43:51
@NoConfForOldMen
oh
00:43:56
Bill Walker
And here's what I'd say you can argue. one You could argue Tuggler because when he's on the floor, when he's not picking up fouls, he's aggressive, he's athletic, he blocks shots, he's just difficult for anyone to contain, but he needs to stay on the floor.
00:44:15
Bill Walker
You could say Francis could be the X factor because when Tuggler and or Roberts get into foul trouble, Francis has been a defensive and a rebounding machine.
00:44:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:44:27
Bill Walker
He's come around in terms of his offensive game. He's hitting his free throws.
00:44:32
@NoConfForOldMen
Three throws.
00:44:33
Bill Walker
He's been a lot better, so you could argue for him. Roberts could be an X factor. If he could dominate inside, he's making his shots, he's coming off his right shoulder and dominating.
00:44:46
Bill Walker
getting the left-handed jump hooks up, which he's become pretty deadly at. Not only can he lead us in scoring, but it also forces teams to sink in on him and open up the kickouts for open threes.
00:45:02
Bill Walker
Wilson, obviously, you could argue he's so good defensively. He's so quick and athletic. He's... he can literally create and deliver scoring opportunities, uh, regardless of, of which side of the court he's on, uh, Arsenault, who I just mentioned, he just has to know where he is on the floor. He needs to not overthink things when he, when he does have the ball.
00:45:27
Bill Walker
he's talented. He's, he's certainly got a very good skillset and he could, he could absolutely help us, especially offensively. He's got to play and not, I think he overthinks things and and gets himself into trouble.
00:45:42
@NoConfForOldMen
and
00:45:44
Bill Walker
ah you know You could say Cryer could be the X factor. He's been our leading scorer eight of the last 11 games. He's our most experienced player. postseason player, his leadership has evolved, his solid shooting.
00:45:58
Bill Walker
Those will be critical. And I think we need to get him probably minimum 12 to 15 shots a game as we progress through the tournament and start encountering the better teams.
00:46:11
Bill Walker
Yuzan, for sure, since West Virginia, he's been more aggressive. He absolutely runs this team. He's got to be quick to move the ball versus pressure and presses.
00:46:24
Bill Walker
And yeah He needs to demand the ball down the stretch of games and get to the lane and either kick out or take shots, which I think he's very smart at determining the best thing to do and getting it done.
00:46:28
Tom
Okay.
00:46:37
Bill Walker
And finally, Emmanuel. And he could possibly be my choice, but not by much. He's led us in scoring seven times, but the last time he led us in scoring was January 11th.
00:46:50
Bill Walker
eleventh
00:46:51
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:46:51
Bill Walker
Now, if he's fully healthy, and that's the reason that he hasn't led us in scoring for the most part since, you know, in almost two months, if fully healthy, i think he's got to be more consistent shooting the ball, which probably means confidence And I'd like to see him more aggressive off the dribble because if he can get to the line and he's strong enough, he can certainly do that. He's absolutely deadly and we're in great shape if he's shooting free throws. So, you know, there's eight arguments for eight different players. It could be any of them or it could be none of them. I think this...
00:47:30
Bill Walker
This boils down to the fact that we're a team.
Advanced Analytics and Closing Thoughts
00:47:33
Bill Walker
Everyone gets involved. Everyone plays a role. And I'm not sure that there's one X factor that we're going to need or depend on going forward.
00:47:43
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, no, that's an interesting take. Kind of like the old five Slamma Jamma team as well. Like year one with Clyde. Every game it was like someone else coming up big in the tourney.
00:47:56
@NoConfForOldMen
So yeah, interesting take. How about you, Tom, from a coach's perspective? What's your X factor?
00:48:02
Tom
Yeah, I'm kind of taking Bill's approach as far as X-Factor. My X-Factors have to do really with none of the players as far as there their playing ability. Number one, X-Factor, I believe, is health.
00:48:16
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, that's good one.
00:48:17
Tom
We need to get through Baylor, and we need to get through that blasted conference tournament without anybody getting hurt. that's the number one thing right now. I think that's our number one objective. Yeah.
00:48:30
Tom
We want to go to Baylor and yeah, we want to win, conference tournament. And, uh, I'd say just cancel it, make a banner for Iowa state, give it to them, whatever. Okay.
00:48:43
Tom
You know, let them go to Hilton with their 17,000 people and they can have a party there. but health is the number one thing number two is staying out of foul trouble especially milos and i believe especially lj the those two are key yeah you know you don't want juan getting in foul trouble or or jojo or iman but i believe those two cannot get foul trouble and if i say
00:49:07
Bill Walker
Thank you.
00:49:16
Tom
between crier and between milos, which one, uh, don't get miles and foul trouble. milos just stay out of foul trouble. We saw what happened in those early losses in November when, he picked up his fourth and when he fouled out.
00:49:30
Tom
So that's number two, I'd say number three is the X factor will be what type of teams we face in the tournament. As far as matchups go, team wise,
00:49:43
Tom
that plays a big part too. look at Miami game a couple of years ago and that was just a, that ended up being a tough matchup for us. Uh, Bill, you talked about this. We're a hard team to game plan for,
00:49:56
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:49:57
Tom
You know, Juwan had those games in a stretch there. I can't remember which game it was. The Kansas game kind of stands out to me. There was a stretch there where they weren't given any help. they would short roll Juwan. He'd get the ball in middle of the floor, and then he would go to work, using, mostly that left hand.
00:50:16
Tom
but teams take that away uh, but that's all open up something for somebody else. So we're hard to game plan for, okay. You want to go out there and you want to stop, Juwan. That's going to open up something for somebody else. So for one, one of the guards, you want to shut down LJ.
00:50:30
Tom
All right. Milo. So you go in there and you probe the defense, shoot your little floater, et cetera, you know, so, uh, hard work. We're just a hard team to game plan for, the team is a superstar,
00:50:50
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:50:53
Tom
JVA's had his moments. Terrence has had his moments too. So, you know, we're or eight men. And, as long as we stay healthy, stay out of foul trouble, I'm good.
00:51:07
Tom
And I'm thinking we're going to win six in a row when and win that first national title.
00:51:12
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Very cool take.
00:51:14
Bill Walker
By the way, and I'll mention one other person, but my good friend Ronnie Bradshaw mentioned to me that every single time in U of H's history that they've made the Final Four, it's been out of the Midwest region.
00:51:29
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh, has it?
00:51:30
Bill Walker
just Just an interesting, interesting point.
00:51:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay.
00:51:33
Tom
And where's the Midwest being played this year?
00:51:33
@NoConfForOldMen
I mean,
00:51:35
Tom
Is it Atlanta?
00:51:37
Bill Walker
Indy.
00:51:38
@NoConfForOldMen
is it Indy? Yeah. I wasn't even sure.
00:51:39
Bill Walker
Indy.
00:51:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay.
00:51:41
Tom
Okay.
00:51:42
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. No interesting take.
00:51:42
Tom
well Well, go Midwest.
00:51:45
@NoConfForOldMen
Go Midwest. Yeah. I think that's our, it's our preferred region anyways.
00:51:46
Bill Walker
yeah Exactly. Yeah, yeah, it is.
00:51:50
@NoConfForOldMen
So yeah, hopefully it works out. So guys, I think the two of you know exactly where I'm going to go. with this because I've been kind of harping on this for the entire back half of the season. And now I actually have some data to back it up.
00:52:03
@NoConfForOldMen
It's, it's been my opinion that to reach our highest potential in March, I believe that Jojo and Terrence need to be on the court. together more often. These are the two kids on the roster that have next level athleticism and talent.
00:52:18
@NoConfForOldMen
They're also the two with the greatest length on the roster for their positions. And I don't mean height, but more arm length and reach. You guys also both know how much I've loved these two kids since their arrival, as well as the potential that they've flashed since being here, especially in the last month as we've gotten into February.
00:52:36
@NoConfForOldMen
And even though fans and even sometimes I think coach as well may not be as, I guess, high on these guys at times, whether it's because of perceived effort or proclivity for silly fouls.
00:52:49
@NoConfForOldMen
I think these are the two players on the roster that have another level that we haven't seen yet that could... really be the difference in hitting another gear come tournament time, kind of like how we saw UConn last year hit another gear.
00:53:04
@NoConfForOldMen
And now we've got some actual advanced analytics that actually somewhat support my point. I know I've talked in previous episodes about the individual player box score plus minus numbers for the season for both Tugler and Arsenal and trying to make my case. And truth be told, their numbers have actually come down a little bit, especially after this past KU game.
00:53:23
@NoConfForOldMen
But Evan Miyakawa, who runs one of the newer and more sophisticated advanced analytics sites called evanmaya.com, has come out with the exact metric that supports my view on needing to use Tuggler and Terrence more during this postseason run.
00:53:39
@NoConfForOldMen
So there's one that's called most impactful defensive player. And this stat goes beyond individual player box score defensive plus minus. It's a more nuanced in measuring when one player comes in and with the rest of the lineup as they shift to guard others, like when Terrence comes in to play the four, how does the entire team's defensive efficiency go?
00:54:05
@NoConfForOldMen
And so when he takes that look at things in the top 15 players in the country, we actually have three players on that list. Number one is probably not a surprise to you guys. Jojo Tugler. He's just been a defensive force this year whenever he's on, on the court.
00:54:22
Bill Walker
That's the key.
00:54:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:54:24
Bill Walker
He's got to be on the court.
00:54:24
@NoConfForOldMen
number yeah but Number four will be a shocker.
00:54:27
Tom
kit like like Calvin calls him Edward Scissorhands.
00:54:32
@NoConfForOldMen
edwards says But you know he every game, right he makes some type of explosive block that none of us think is even possible. i mean He comes out of nowhere, right and and it's usually game-changing.
00:54:44
@NoConfForOldMen
Now, number four on the list is going to be a shocker for you guys. Terrence Arsenault. This is number four in the country when he comes in. And then number 15 is Javier Francis. We've got three of the top 15 players when they come into the lineup and how the overall defensive efficiency of the team goes.
00:55:03
@NoConfForOldMen
And then he has this other stat that's just fascinating. And he calls it the most efficient two-man lineups. And in this case, he has Terrence and JoJo as the number two duo as far as who's in the lineup when each team executes its most efficient play during games across the entire season.
00:55:24
@NoConfForOldMen
And folks need to understand that this isn't saying that they're the best players or the best duo on our team. But then in analyzing all of the various lineups, it's when those two are on the court together when we make our runs.
00:55:39
@NoConfForOldMen
And I know I've said that in terms of, you know, from what we see and as I do kind of my own self count, but these are stats that he's run. And, you know, again, it's typically when Arsenal is playing the four position with Tugler or Roberts at the five that we see these runs.
00:55:59
@NoConfForOldMen
So it's going to be interesting to see how coach manages, this last game in the big 12 championships from a minutes perspective. Yeah. And hopefully it gives us kind of a peek of what's, he's got in store come tourney time.
00:56:14
@NoConfForOldMen
So.
00:56:15
Bill Walker
if we win If we beat Baylor and we win, I think, just one game in the Big 12 tournament, I think that seals the one seed in the Midwest. So...
00:56:26
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. I'm a hundred percent with you on that. If we can just win the Baylor game, and even if it's just one game, we win our first round match, and just like what Tom was saying, you know play play our backups for half the game, get them comfortable heading into March.
00:56:42
@NoConfForOldMen
I think we've got the number one seed wrapped up if we do that.
00:56:47
Bill Walker
Yep.
00:56:47
@NoConfForOldMen
So we'll see. So that's it for our 46th episode of the No Conference for Old Men podcast. We hope you all enjoyed it. And again, would really appreciate it if folks would follow, subscribe, or collect our podcast, depending on your podcast platform of choice.
00:57:01
@NoConfForOldMen
We're also available via the Republic of Football podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas Football as the only basketball-centric podcast. We're at the gocougs.com website for those that prefer to digest the content that way.
00:57:14
@NoConfForOldMen
We really appreciate the continued support from all. Also, please give us a follow on our Twitter account, No Confidence for Old Men. Thank you all again for listening. And please be on the lookout next week to download and listen as the next episode drops.
00:57:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Take care, everyone.