#11 OU vs texas 6pm CST on ESPN

[opsooner]

And we missed a lot of shots because we were not running any offense and we were thus forced to take bad shots or we just did. Quite often there was no one in position to offensive rebound because because it was impossible to anticipate who was going to shoot and when.

 

[TEvans4Three]

7 points in the final 11 minutes...yikes indeed.

 

[snydrosooner]

Sam not playing well yesterday hurt or rebounding. He is pretty good at blocking out and allowing others to get the rebound. The old thunder with Adams trick.

I also see a trend where are guards go to the hole and pass out to 3 point line a lot. I get not wanting to get blocked, but we have a tendency not to make the 3. Rather shoot it inside more.

 

[outest]

Did you all notice when Sam Godwin catched the ball at the top of the key, he will look to pass?. The big guy defending did not even bother to guard him but stayed 3 feet back just in case he drives to the basket. This made it easier for their big guy and give them confidence on the other end of the floor. What does it take to get Sam consistently shoot the ball when he is open around the free throw line. This will open up space for our guards/wings to drive to the basket. I hope Moser saw that and let Sam shoot 1000 practice shots around the free throw line. This team depends on our guards for offense. If they have a bad game, this is what happened. Heck, I would let Sam Godwin goes one on one with Hugley in practice with one condition, you can only score on a 2 point jump shot until they both are comfortable. Anyhow last night their big and point guard outplayed and outhustled ours.

 

[allday92]

So in your mind, then, last season, Oweh was completely unprepared to play meaningful minutes till midway through conference play. and then all of a sudden, almost overnight, he became good enough to not only play, but start and be one of our better players? It isn't possible that he was actually ready to help us sooner, but Moser simply missed the boat because of his reluctance to play freshmen? He wasn't a freshman, but it also reminds of Marvin Williams. Moser barely played him most of the season two years ago, then finally put him in and for a few games before getting hurt, he was a big spark.

I always think of Cousins as a freshman. He was awful. Seemed to turn it over every minute he played. Yet, on a tourney team that spent some time in the top 25, Lon kept playing him and let him grow through the mistakes. Why? Because he knew that Cousins and Buddy were very talented players who we needed to develop for the long term. He clearly could have used the "he isn't ready" rationale to keep him on the pine. No doubt, there were games when we would have been better off sticking with a less talented upperclassman simply to minimize mistakes. But is that the best way to improve as the season goes on? And as for your point about freshmen struggling, that's right, they do often take time to develop. But given a chance, most of them do develop. Look at our own conference. Almost every other coach is willing to live with some growing pains in the first couple months of the season because they know the payoff will come. I don't think it is a coincidence that while many teams improve throughout the season, we seem to hit our ceiling in December and then come back to earth.

And I have no idea what service had Luke as a top 100 player. The sites I found this morning barely had him in the top 50 at his position. More to the point, I saw him struggle to stay in front of guys in games against NET 300 teams two months ago. His ceiling is very low. There is a difference between a talented player struggling due to youthful mistakes and a guy struggling because they have physical limitations.

I will make a prediction: Cooper will start getting some minutes soon, maybe as soon as Saturday. And when he does. it wont be because he all of a sudden became a better practice player or a light turned on. It will be because Moser finally decides to give him a chance. He may play like crap, he may do well. Most likely, some of both. Either way, it is something that should have happened sooner. And you're right, I have no clue what kind of player he will become. But I know that Moser has shown, through three years, that he is reluctant to play talented, young guys who have the potential to be big pieces of the program. I think that is a mistake.

Cooper is talented, but Northweather is no slouch. The national media were raving about Luke in the offseason and how he was pushing for the starting job.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Cooper is talented, but Northweather is no slouch. The national media were raving about Luke in the offseason and how he was pushing for the starting job.

National media simply reported the talking points that Porter gave them at media day and in interviews. And those "national media" raves largely came in short tweets. I don't think any of them said anything beyond reporting that Moser told them he was practicing well. Those talking points mean nothing. They obviously weren't true because when the games started, we all saw what happened.

Comparing Cooper and Northweather seems odd to me. Luke had almost no high major offers till OU, Mizzou, and Wisconsin appeared at the last minute. If a 6-11 guy can actually shoot AND is athletic, there is no way that happens, even if he didn't play high profile AAU ball. I would rather have Parker Braun from Kansas on our roster as a third big.

I'm not saying he should never play or that he is to blame for anything last night or the past two seasons. I just think he and Cooper are two completely different situations.

 

[Soonerinkc]

Not that anyone cares but the women are playing the horns in Austin.

What a **** show… it’s either a fast break or 3…which we’ve missed the last 6.

Unbelievably tied

 

[Soonerinkc]

Actually kicking ass… lol up 10 playing great D

 

[skyvue]

They held on for the win. Nevaeh Tot missed the first of two free throws on three straight trips to the line in the last two minutes. It would have been a lot less tense if she'd hit all six of those shots, but the Sooners won by 4 over #10 texas. Terrific win.

 

[red recluse]

that 3 from lexi was unreal. just spit right in the face of pressure. what a crazy turnaround these ladies have made.

 

[Eielson]

Wishcasting. The backcourt greatness is overstated. These guys are good but when you compare them to their Big12 peers and watch them In Big12 play, There’s a lot to be desired. I’m tired of hearing about potential. They need to perform, NOW. Until they deliver the goods consistently, it’s still a wish.

I'm not talking about potential. I'm talking about how good they are right now. These guards went into Lawrence and ran KU's guards out of the gym in the first half. McCullar had a great second half, but OU absolutely wins that game if our frontcourt was remotely comparable to our backcourt. The loss against UT was largely due to the bigs as well.

It might be wishful thinking to believe we can get a talented big, as that's seemingly been on our annual wishlist since Henson left. It may also be wishful thinking that all 3 of our starting guards come back. But it's not wishful thinking that we have one of the better starting backcourt in the country.

 

[Eielson]

I’d say the game itself was a thousand times worse than the thread.

I've seen you defend Lon losing to Baylor by 40.

 

[WichitaSooner]

I've seen you defend Lon losing to Baylor by 40.

That personality disorder of mine has a weird side effect. It causes me to give more slack to a coach who saved our program from a mess and led us to 8 tournaments and a FF than a coach who still has a zero in his tourney column at OU.

 

[MiketheH]

Good point about Lon.

I'm haven't given up on Porter. There are a variety of things holding Oklahoma back. Hopefully a step into an easier conference will help next year -- if we can keep our current eligible talent.

 

[TINY]

That personality disorder of mine has a weird side effect. It causes me to give more slack to a coach who saved our program from a mess and led us to 8 tournaments and a FF than a coach who still has a zero in his tourney column at OU.

I was curious how they matched up thus far in their ou tenures and found it to be pretty similar overall:

Lon:
35-28
15-4 in season 3
1 ncaa tournament appearance (round of 64)
1 losing season

Moser:
34-33
15-4 in season 3
1 NIT appearance
1 losing season

KenPom(season):
Lon:
2012 - 105
2013 - 51

Moser:
2022 - 30
2023 - 54

Lon made the ncaa tourney again his 3rd year and lost in 1st round again. Went to sweet 16 in year 4.

I think Moser can make the ncaa tourney this year. We will see if he can keep building like Lon did.

 

[WichitaSooner]

I was curious how they matched up thus far in their ou tenures and found it to be pretty similar overall:

Lon:
35-28
15-4 in season 3
1 ncaa tournament appearance (round of 64)
1 losing season

Moser:
34-33
15-4 in season 3
1 NIT appearance
1 losing season

KenPom(season):
Lon:
2012 - 105
2013 - 51

Moser:
2022 - 30
2023 - 54

Lon made the ncaa tourney again his 3rd year and lost in 1st round again. Went to sweet 16 in year 4.

I think Moser can make the ncaa tourney this year. We will see if he can keep building like Lon did.

The obvious caveat is that when Lon was hired, the team had been 13-18 and 14-18 the previous two seasons, been sanctioned, and Capel had alienated the fan base, whereas Moser took over a program that had made four straight tournaments and was run the right way, even if the on-court results had slipped a bit. The other major difference is that our team got progressively better in each of Lon's first five seasons -- there was never anything approaching the dip we had from year one to year two under Moser. And I didn't go back through all the old game logs to check this, but it sure doesn't seem like we had nearly as many head-scratching games like what happened the other night. Plus, the inability to even compete with the two most hated rivals is a major black mark -- especially since OSU hasn't even been that good the past couple years.

 

[TINY]

The obvious caveat is that when Lon was hired, the team had been 13-18 and 14-18 the previous two seasons, been sanctioned, and Capel had alienated the fan base, whereas Moser took over a program that had made four straight tournaments and was run the right way, even if the on-court results had slipped a bit. The other major difference is that our team got progressively better in each of Lon's first five seasons -- there was never anything approaching the dip we had from year one to year two under Moser. And I didn't go back through all the old game logs to check this, but it sure doesn't seem like we had nearly as many head-scratching games like what happened the other night. Plus, the inability to even compete with the two most hated rivals is a major black mark -- especially since OSU hasn't even been that good the past couple years.

I tried to keep more of the subjective things out of the data because it can go both ways.

For instance, Lon didn’t have to worry about NIL or the transfer portal/free transfers. Lon’s overtime record was very head scratching. We lost almost all of our first 6-7 OT games if memory serves. Lon’s record against Kstate was very head scratching, also.

The resumes to date are not materially different imo. We will see where the program goes from here, because Lon clearly elevated the program over the next few seasons to an elite level (though it was not sustained).

Update: Lon was 0-5 in OT games in 1st 3 seasons.

 

[TEvans4Three]

I tried to keep more of the subjective things out of the data because it can go both ways.

For instance, Lon didn’t have to worry about NIL or the transfer portal/free transfers. Lon’s overtime record was very head scratching. We lost almost all of our first 6-7 OT games if memory serves. Lon’s record against Kstate was very head scratching, also.

The resumes to date are not materially different imo. We will see where the program goes from here, because Lon clearly elevated the program over the next few seasons to an elite level (though it was not sustained).

Update: Lon was 0-5 in OT games in 1st 3 seasons.

Moser was left with a pretty tough recruiting job to keep the players from leaving...so essentially was left with the same cupboard that Capel gave Lon. Just a different way to go about it.

 

[Eielson]

The other major difference is that our team got progressively better in each of Lon's first five seasons

Yes, we all remember that he brought in Buddy in his first recruiting class, who improved every year. Then he graduated and then we plunged into mediocrity. What's your point?

If you haven't seen the progression of this team from year 1, then I don't know what you're watching. It's really weird to obsess about him having a down year in season 2. Lon's year 6 team is on a very short list in contention for our worst in 40+ years. Laying an egg in year 6 is much worse than year 2, correct?

 

[SoonerBounce13]

Moser was left with a pretty tough recruiting job to keep the players from leaving...so essentially was left with the same cupboard that Capel gave Lon. Just a different way to go about it.

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Yeah I’ll never understand people that think moser walked into a good situation