SoonerfanTU
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I had this misfortune of listening to the BBall game tonight (God, how awful is BBS? That's another subject for another time.) and I was stunned time and time again at just how bad this team is on the road. Tonight's game was a chance to show the progress of the past couple weeks wasn't some sort of mirage, but instead they look like oases in the Sahara. Nebraska sucks, and they beat the snot out of us.
It's the tenor of these losses, the losses where you know about ten minutes in that your team is about to be pillaged, that continues to sit with me. We're Oklahoma Basketball. We've been to every postseason but one since 1981 and we're getting our butts kicked on the road in the Big 12 Conference. Hammered. Absolutely smoked. How bad is it? Well, judge for yourself:
We have four conference losses, two of which have been by more than 15 points. We have yet to lose to a Big 12 opponent with a winning record. A chilling vision of things to come.
But we lost to Baylor by 31. 31!
We lost to Nebraska by 17, and we popped their conference cherry. Unreal.
What's bad is that we've seen this before. Jeff Capel has been our coach now for nearly four years. In that time we've suffered 11 double-digit losses in conference play. Kelvin coached here 12 seasons and had 25 dd losses.
What in the hell is going on? Is there any accountability? I can understand losing on the road. It's tough. I saw Louisville lose to West Virginia today and the Cardinals were on the business end of two blown calls in the last minute, and if either one is called correctly Pitino's bunch wins the game. But I cannot tolerate a lack of competitiveness. We're Oklahoma, for God's sake, and we're getting hammered.
Recruiting is everything in college sports, and we have not built off our most successful recruit. Billy Tubbs brought in Wayman Tisdale and bridged the gap following WWT's departure with the stellar Choo, T-Mac and DJ class. Kelvin brought in Eduardo Najera and bridged the gap with Hollis and Ace. The two superstars (WWT and Eddie) brought an uptick to the program and the next guys sustained the wave. Capel has failed to do that for whatever reason you see fit. The '86 team, the first one following Wayman, finished 15th in the final poll. The '01 team, the first following Eduardo, finished 13th. This team, the first following Blake, will not receive a single vote in the final poll. That's horrendous.
There have been a few bad breaks for sure, losing Keith Clark and Juan Pattillo certainly hurts, but a head coach's job is to understand the player he's recruiting and not tie up a scholarship with a head case. If they can't cut it, you have to know that during the courtship process. Off the top of my head I can think of Chris Early, Bobby Maze, Tony Neysmith and Kyle Cannon alongside the guys I mentioned above who've bailed for one reason or another. To have that much attrition is atrocious.
This is a ramble, for sure, but I've become completely disenchanted with how this team plays. Who are we? What do we do? Do we hang our hat on defense or stellar offense? Right now all we are is a solid team at home who gets its butt kicked on the road. I grew so tired of the "Heart, Hustle and Hardwood" schtick that Kelvin forcefed us, but at the end of the day you knew his guys were going to come out of that tunnel and play their asses off. I do not get that sense from this team, and that aggravates the hell out of me.
I can tolerate losing, but I WILL NOT tolerate a lack of effort. Put me five guys out there who'll compete for the University of Oklahoma or find somebody else who will.
Taken from SF's.