It’s not only the wrong question, but an unfair one. Though similar in build and each distinguishable due to their own unique approaches to body hair—Davis with the unibrow, Noel the hightop fade—they are very different players whose skill sets aren’t identical, even if they occasionally align.
For now, Noel’s priorities should not include emulating The Brow; just eat up, lift heavy things and get ready to stand your ground against grown men.
3. Can Archie Goodwin Grow At The Point?
Kentucky’s starting point guard Ryan Harrow was out for the Wildcats with the flu, and Seth Curry knew it.
“They had some guys who were trying to fill in at point guard tonight, and we knew they didn’t have too much experience,” Seth said after his 23-point performance. “So we had to come in and jump all over them.”
Goodwin, a 6-foot-5 high riser that Calipari compares to Tyreke Evans, played 37 minutes in just his second collegiate game, going for 16 points, six rebounds and four rebounds. Goodwin’s quite clearly not of a pass-first persuasion and turned it over four times—including a traveling violation with under a minute remaining and Kentucky down three—but he impressed Mike Krzyzewski.
“Goodwin’s going to be a star,” Coach K said afterwards.
He’s a terrific athlete who will play much better without ten defensive eyes on him, but even when Harrow does return, Goodwin could be asked to play some important minutes as the primary ball handler for the ‘Cats.
Just don’t ask Krzyzewski how this Kentucky team will fare once they get their veteran point guard Ryan Harrow back.
“John wants to talk about our defense, so I’ll let him talk about his own team, too.”
Kansas Jayhawks (1-1)
1. Can Kansas Finish?
Shots. Rotations. Halves. Games. You name it, and Bill Self probably didn’t appreciate the way his Kansas Jayhawks finished it in their loss to Michigan State.
“We actually guarded them pretty good the first 25, 30 seconds of the shot clock,” Self said after the game.
“But then they got all the way to the rim twice at game point, and we didn’t even rotate over or foul or anything. Our soft play on those possessions, that was frustrating.”
Self, who coached at llinois from 2000-03, knows as well as anyone that stout defense for 27, 29 or even 32 seconds isn’t enough. The Tom Izzos and Bo Ryans up in the Big Ten only need those remaining ticks to crack your will and break into the scoring column.
Self said his Jayhawks tried to protect their lead late rather than playing their game; and it wasn’t just the defense. But it’s early in the season and the 14th ranked Spartans are no pushover, so Self answered half of the post game questions with an air of empathy, and assured that these things happen to young players.
“I thought we actually executed our offense better than we had all year long for about 30 minutes,” Self said.
But the KU Coach said his guys’ spacing “stunk” during the final seven or eight minutes, and that “we missed a lot of bunnies, too.”
Whether it’s at the rim or at the end of games, Kansas will need to finish if they want to make it back to Atlanta this April.
2. How Soon Until KU’s Freshman Lighten Withey’s Load?
There was one particular instance that Self mentioned when talking about those “bunnies” his team missed: an uncontested lay-up midway through the second half by freshman forward Jamari Traylor.