#1 reason that this is Trae's fault

[coolm]

you can't be a leader and take off on defense like that.

he's needed to go ahead and foul out a few games if necessary and commit himself to defense more. whether that meant we lost other games or not. this demeanor is killing us now more than him picking up fouls. he's soft and we are because of it.

they're all just following his lead.

 

[JBaker]

What was Trae doing wrong last year that caused these players to lose more games than any team in OU history?

 

[Sooner Season]

you can't be a leader and take off on defense like that.

he's needed to go ahead and foul out a few games if necessary and commit himself to defense more. whether that meant we lost other games or not. this demeanor is killing us now more than him picking up fouls. he's soft and we are because of it.

they're all just following his lead.

I think your statement belies the problem cool......our upperclassmen are following the lead of a freshman.

 

[stormspencer]

The idea of Trae (next year) trying to defend Westbrook or Kyrie Irving is absolutely absurd at the moment.

But he's only 18/19 and he is going to get stronger/better....and he is going to get a helluva lot better coaching in the NBA as well.

 

[hoopsaustin]

What was Trae doing wrong last year that caused these players to lose more games than any team in OU history?

Lol exactly

 

[hoopsaustin]

I think your statement belies the problem cool......our upperclassmen are following the lead of a freshman.

This too. Thread doesnt really work.

 

[sperry]

The idea that this is Trae's fault is laughable. He does need to play better defense though. He's not producing enough on offense anymore to justify the complete lack of defense.

 

[sybarite]

you can't be a leader and take off on defense like that.

he's needed to go ahead and foul out a few games if necessary and commit himself to defense more. whether that meant we lost other games or not. this demeanor is killing us now more than him picking up fouls. he's soft and we are because of it.

they're all just following his lead.

I respect your opinion probably more than anyone else on this board. But, I would suggest that you delete this post.

 

[TheGimper]

I do think we need a new defensive scheme. I know it’s not ideal to implement this late in the season, but I don’t see how things could get worse. It feels like our current D is designed to only stop midrange jumpers.

 

[coolm]

I respect your opinion probably more than anyone else on this board. But, I would suggest that you delete this post.

I am powerless. once it's out there then it's out there.

Plus I believe this. I think Trae needs to play hard on defense.

I do appreciate your prior support though. I dont mind that you disagree. I am a grumpy old man.

 

[sheepdogs1]

I am powerless. once it's out there then it's out there.

Plus I believe this. I think Trae needs to play hard on defense.

I do appreciate your prior support though. I dont mind that you disagree. I am a grumpy old man.

The problem is Ann Margaret doesn't live next door.

 

[Matthew G]

What was Trae doing wrong last year that caused these players to lose more games than any team in OU history?

2017 OU: 114th offense, 39th defense
2018 OU: 18th offense, 108th defense.


As you can see, last year we couldn’t score. This year, we play 4 on 5 defensively with Trae out there. If Trae even out out a little effort on defense rather than swiping randomly when he gets beat we wouldn’t be on a 6 game losing streak.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t all on him, but when you play 4 on 5 defensively, it’s easy to see why players have thrown in the towel. What’s the point of defending 4 on 5?

 

[SoonerBounce13]

I do think its effort, but Lon has a big part of the blame. Trae is visually tired. He refuses to play shepard, who is an adequate backup, for more than a couple minutes at a time

 

[steverocks35]

This is bizarre. The lack of defense is a total team effort. If it's anyone's fault, it's Lon Kruger's. Despite their undeserved reputations, our big men are the worst defenders I've ever seen. Guards get to the basket at will and any big man that catches it in the post scores, gets fouled, or kicks it out to an open shooter because our big men need help. To call out Trae for lack of defense is crazy.

 

[DenverSooner]

When have you ever seen a guy play huge minutes that doesn’t play defense?
In football when do see guys play that don’t block. Team sports require a team effort. I don’t know that it is Trae Young’s fault but OU is not playing team defense.

This is unacceptable. Something must change. And that something is OU must play better defense

 

[tmeyer3307]

Trae and James are lazy. Our bigs are too thin and can only play help defense and block shots. Doolittle is too short to guard legit 4s in the league and too slow to guard guards. Odomes is the best overall defender on a bad team.

 

[allday92]

It's tough for freshman to play solid defense in their first year, just like for rookies in the NBA. Can Trae be in better position and not swipe at the ball? Sure. But its on the coaching staff to hold him accountable, or to have a scheme to where Trae is hidden on defense - but when you switch everything that's not possible. A minor adjustment for Lon should be to put Trae on the opposing team's worst perimeter player and have him not switch.

Look at Coach K and Duke, ever since he started to go the one and done route with Capel, he's started to play more and more zone defense, specifically a 2-3. It takes a year or two to learn man defense for freshman (learn how to close out, hand position, rotations, etc).

 

[AdaSooner]

This is bizarre. The lack of defense is a total team effort. If it's anyone's fault, it's Lon Kruger's. Despite their undeserved reputations, our big men are the worst defenders I've ever seen. Guards get to the basket at will and any big man that catches it in the post scores, gets fouled, or kicks it out to an open shooter because our big men need help. To call out Trae for lack of defense is crazy.

The lack of defense on this team is absolutely on our coaching staff, only I blame the assistants more than Lon. He’s one man. He can’t be everything to everybody. The assistants coach the players up in practice. One or more is usually assigned to work with the bigs, so that’s on them too.

I have said this before and I’ll keep saying it. The assistants on Lon’s staff have done a poor job of player development, recruiting and improving our defense. Krutchfield is the only one who gets a pass from me. I’m a big Lon Kruger fan. But, what we saw last night cannot be tolerated. If this dumpster fire continues unchecked, he may have to accept the fact that the assistants on his staff are not doing their job

And, by the way, I don’t agree that this is Trae’s fault. It’s obvious the poor kid is dying with every missed shot and turnover. You can point that finger squarely at our head coach. He’s the architect of a plan that worked for awhile. So, now that it has gone off of the rail, he has to accept the responsibility for that too.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

To call out Trae for lack of defense is crazy.

why?

 

[okhoops918]

It's not "not" his fault.

Lon gets some blame for selling his soul the day TY signed with OU. The keys to the car aren't in his hands anymore even if he wanted to drive it now