January 26, 2022

This weekend was AWESOME

Let’s get this started with… OCHAI AGBAJI! What a season he’s having. He’s the perfect combination of aggressive with the ball and in control, and I can’t think of a bigger year-to-year leap in program history, outside of maybe something in the freshman-to-sophomore category that we all associate with players like Graham, Devonte’ and Mason, Frank. In conclusion he’s going lotto.

Last weekend pushed Kansas-area sports fans through the emotional gauntlet, starting with Saturday’s road game against KSU. That game had all the hallmarks of crazy second-round tourney games that KU has been on the wrong side of; KSU sophomore Nijel Pack could not miss, with every heat-check substantially more difficult and ridiculous than the last. It looked like one of those games that KU just couldn’t win, against an in-state rival levitating far above their own capacities, playing their own personal national title game. KSU led 50-34 at half, and for KU to win it would require a comeback never before seen in program history.

Things hardly looked better as the second half opened. But KU kept chipping away. They got stops. KSU, all of the sudden, stopped hitting one-footed, NBA-range three bombs. KU kept attacking—Agbaji ended up going to the line 11 times, yet another stirring addition to his repertoire. KSU’s lead evaporated, and aggressive play from Agbaji and Jalen Wilson pushed all of the pressure on KSU.

Ochai’s last bucket, man… what is there to say? He went and GOT IT. The move required a little bit of corkscrewing—Markquis Nowell attempts to deny Agbaji the ball but is late, giving Ochai a path on the baseline—and in years past, Och’s creativity has not been something that felt like a hallmark of his game. But here, he finds a way in and drops it. KU wins. Just incredible stuff, and experience we’ll need in hand for a deep tourney run. This team, you guys! They have heart.

Then on Sunday, the Chiefs game happened. We could spend all day just talking about that. The final sequence still doesn’t feel real; it was sky-scorching NFL football like no one has ever seen it. It was like the Rams game from a few years ago—you know, the one that Bill Barnwell anointed the best regular season NFL game of all time—with an even wilder, improbable ending and in the playoffs. There’s so many stats and clips we could go over. Every year Pat Mahomes does something you’ve never even heard of or imagined—the number that is throbbing in my mind is that he had 177 yards after the two minute warning, and that’s probably, like, the 10th-most notable thing that he did. The “Do it, Kels!” playground audible is what football is all about. Josh Allen played perfect, and was handed the most haunting loss in football history. Absolutely wild stuff! Go Chiefs!

All in all, it was the perfect setup for the main event—TEXAS TECH AT KANSAS ON MONDAY NIGHT, BABY.

WHERE’S REMY?

Texas Tech, wow, another absolutely wild back-and-forth game. KU could not stop 23-year-old Bryson Williams despite the fact that we can really fight fire with fire there age-wise (s/o Mitch and J Cole). Christian Braun was 4/13, Dajuan was 2/10 and Remy Martin was 2/7. KU replaced McCormack with 6’8’’ frosh forward KJ Adams for critical defensive swings in overtime, with KU looking slightly better, all things considered, despite the fact that they were playing 3 on 5 on offense (sorry Dajuan you know I love you!) It was an uneven effort from KU, but they ground down Tech in two OTs. This weekend added another two wins to Bill Self’s effectively infinite number of “well that was weird but it’s a dub!” program victories1.

Enter Remy Martin. Remy’s situation at Kansas is unique by design; I’m not sure we will ever see anything like this at KU again. The chart above is an illustration of KU’s +/- notables in the Tech game; immediately, you’ll see that Dajuan Harris is -9 (when Harris was on the floor, TTU outscored KU by 9) and that Remy Martin is +10 (Martin’s groups outscored TTU by 10). Yet, Dajuan Harris played down the entire stretch of the Tech game, including both overtimes. I think it’s natural to ask… what gives?

Let’s set aside two (big, I’m sorry) things: it is entirely possible that Martin is carrying a minutes restriction, and the eye-test suggests that his right knee is … not great. Self tends to ride lineups he likes, and for the Tech game, that consisted of some variation of Jalen Wilson (48 mins), Ochai Agbaji (46), Chrisitan Braun (49), Harris (31) and McCormack/Adams/Lightfoot. Remy wasn’t shooting lights out at all, but he moves the ball incredibly well and is KU’s biggest weapon in transition. What are we to make of the fact that he’s an afterthought in these clutch situations, especially when Martin’s weakness—defense—overlaps with Harris’s, at least when it comes to the TTU matchup?

Streak Talk has defaulted on this question before, but the game has changed, although the players are the same. I think that Self will deliver a better snapshot of where things stand with Remy almost immediately. Assuming Remy is all clear for Saturday, the SEC Challenge against Kentucky is the perfect game to give him free rein—the result of the game does not matter much (all-time program victories aside, don’t worry, we will catch them this season) and these reps will showcase what Remy has against high-level competition with lots of length. Let’s hope we see some burn, before the rotations tighten and it’s too late for the Remy Martin experiment.

KSU LOL SORRY I HAVE TO

I wanted an extra KSU beat here because it’s just so funny. Their season is basically over. RCJH.

DEVONTE’ NEEDS A STREAM

Something that comes up a lot on Streak Talk is the current happenings of one Devonte’ Graham, a beloved Jayhawk who has carved out a cool career in the NBA. When the timing works out, Devonte’ has offered our wonderful fanbase live commentary. His broadcast of the KSU’s games closing moments is incredible.

Kentucky on Saturday! I wish it was for the all-time-wins record but… so close.