Kansas went to Morgantown and beat West Virginia 58-49 on Wednesday night. The win was their 9th straight and they have set up a rematch in Waco next Saturday against Baylor that could go a long way to determining the Big XII regular season title. This Kansas team is doing it with one of the best defenses in recent memory.
The Big XII has 3 of the top 5 defenses in the nation and 4 of the top 6. It’s impressive stuff. Kansas is best at 83.4. West Virginia is 2nd at 85. That is a decent gap from 1 to 2. It would be the best defensive numbers of the KenPom era. That’s impressive stuff.
Kansas is playing the slowest they’ve played in the Bill Self era, 232nd in tempo. Before you proclaim this as a vindication of slow basketball like Jeff Potrykus did, keep in mind, Kansas has fluctuated through the years when it comes to tempo. Weirdly, Self coaches to his talent and not to a system.
What’s most important is they’re 5th in effective fg% defense. They’re 12th in 3pt shooting defense and 10th in 2pt shooting. They also block a lot of shots and are 20th in steal % but average overall on turnover %. They also do not foul. If you can’t score the ball, Kansas will suffocate you.
They’re doing all this without Silvio de Sousa who is out until the end of the regular season. Helps they have two of KenPom’s top 10 players, Devon Dotson who is 1 and Udoka Azubiuke who is 9th.
The offense is 14th in offensive efficiency. With the 25th best effective fg%, that is a deadly combination with their defense.
Even as the number one team overall in KenPom, it feels they’ve been somewhat forgotten. If the offense can stay as efficient as it has been, with a defense for the ages, they can cut down the nets in March and they might be the favorite right now. In a year without any great offenses, this Kansas team is built for 2020.
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