Hawks dismantle the Pride

OvermatchedI assume everyone who reads my posts also watched the game. Because of that, I see no reason to replay it in English. However, if the word “Impressive” is in the dictionary, then that should cover the game analysis well enough. The 101-65 victory was KU’s 37th straight home opener win and their 42nd straight home victory – which leads the nation. There are a lot of good things to talk about, so let’s get going.

The most obvious lead story was Xavier Henry’s 27 points – the most by any freshman in his Kansas debut. The previous record was Norm Cook (21). Wilt Chamberlain not only holds the KU debut (Soph) record (52 points), but it is also the all-time scoring record in Kansas history. And, it reminds me of a little story I put in my first book over 20 years ago. Chapter 1, page 1.

A FORGOTTEN PLAYER

If ever there was a case of living in someone else’s shadow, Joe Ruklick lived in Wilt Chamberlain’s. In 1956, Ruklick’s Northwestern team played against Chamberlain’s Kansas team. Ruklick, a center himself, was totally outclassed by Chamberlain. Even though it was only Wilt’s college debut, he scored a collegiate high of 52 points.

Three years later, in 1959, as Joe Ruklick looked on, he saw the Philadelphia Warriors draft Wilt Chamberlain first. Coincidentally, Philadelphia’s second pick that year was Joe Ruklick.

Ruklick was totally obscured by Chamberlain in his first two years, but never more than in his third year, 1962. As Ruklick observed from the bench, Chamberlain set an NBA record when he missed only eight minutes out of the entire season! He watched him score over 50 points many times, as Chamberlain set an NBA record by averaging 50.4 points per game. Late that same year Wilt scored 100 points in his most famous game. His last two came inside of one minute to play on an assist by a forgotten player named Joe Ruklick. It was one of the few minutes in one of the last games Rucklick played that year, his third and final year in the NBA.

X-MAN

I previously expressed my doubts about Henry going to the NBA after only one season for the simple (or so it seemed) reason that he would not get to star enough on this star-studded team. Obviously, I may have to rethink that one! Henry showed not only his great shooting ability, but his overall game. He didn’t look like any freshman I have seen at Kansas. That could well mean he will be a one-and-doner, but there is a lot of season to go. We’ll see.

Henry not only led the team in scoring (27), but had an EFF of 30 – which is simply phenomenal. His shooting reminds me of Ron Kellogg (back in the 80’s) who played for my all-time favorite KU team (1986). Kellogg was also a lefty and had a sweet stroke. Clearly, Henry is a superior player for the simple fact that he’s this good his first game as a freshman – not to mention he’s likely to get more rebounds and assists than Kellogg had in a season. But, the shooting stroke is similar. Once again, allow me to lament the fact that there wasn’t a three-point shot in 1986 for Kellogg and Thompson (Calvin). The three-pointer was adopted for the 1987 season.

ROTATION

This nine man rotation is a thing of beauty. Assuming an up-tempo pace beyond previous Self-led KU teams, all nine should be fairly content with their production. I think it’s reasonable to break them into three groups of three – Leadership (Collins, Aldrich and Reed), Sophomores (Taylor, Kieff and Cus) and Freshmen (Henry, Johnson and Robinson). Based on that (and this is what makes me excited about this season), the Leadership group had a combined EFF of 44, the Freshmen 42 and the Sophomores 38. Production is going to come from a lot of directions this season. It’s a great mix!

COLLINS

That leads me to Collins. He played a good game. Whether or not he will shake the shooter’s mentality (15 fga) and become a playmaker (3 assists) remains to be seen. However, I’m more hopeful than I was before the game despite the numbers above. The reason is because it is clear that Kansas has other weapons and enough depth that Self should find no reason not to run every team into the ground. The more they run, the more likely everyone will be involved. The more everyone is involved, the more likely Collins will take the job of playmaker more seriously than the job of scorer. But, who knows? If he can hit 3-5 from 2s and 4-10 from 3’s and 5-6 from 1s, I really don’t know if I care how much he shoots. The one big advantage he had vs Hofstra was that his PG counterpart was actually shorter than he was – which allowed him more opportunity to shoot.

GAME FLOW

One thing I’m going to track this season is flow of the game.  I haven’t decided if it will be in 4-minute intervals or 5-minute intervals. So, I did both. Here are the 4-minute intervals. Shown is the first half and then the second.

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As you can see, both halves begin fast and dropped off. The biggest difference was 4th interval of the first half versus the second. KU went through a sluggish period in the first stanza which included missing a lot of FTs. Also, Henry was out of the game much of that time.

There is a lot more to talk about, but I’ve got all season.

PLAYER PRODUCTION

Here are the player’s points and EFF. 

EFF = (Pts + Reb + Ast + Blk + Stl - Missed FG – Missed FT – TO)

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE

Hustle = Blocks + Steals + Off Rebounds