2023 v 2024

[cowboysooner]

Thought it would be fun to pose the same question toby rowland posed on his show this morning and tonight on sooner sports talk:

What if anything is different between last years team at this point versus this years team?????

I think we are a little deeper, shoot the ball a little more consistently and we have two elite players this year and last year I don’t think we had any. Just a collection of good or solid players. I think we are also a little older.

What do you guys think?

 

[SoonerBounce13]

T

Thought it would be fun to pose the same question toby rowland posed on his show this morning and tonight on sooner sports talk:

What if anything is different between last years team at this point versus this years team?????

I think we are a little deeper, shoot the ball a little more consistently and we have two elite players this year and last year I don’t think we had any. Just a collection of good or solid players. I think we are also a little older.

What do you guys think?

At this point t on the year last year, McCollum looked elite

 

[WichitaSooner]

I think the better shooting will continue. But I do think the loss of athleticism will show more as the competition increases. Soares and Oweh can do things physically that Elvis and Miles and Goodine just can’t do.

The five-spot will continue to be a key. Sam has been worse than last year, especially against actual competition. Wague is a totally different player than Hugley, and isn’t the scoring threat Hugley was for parts of last season. Can we get anything from him, and/or can Luke step up consistently?

 

[Sooner04]

I'm nowhere near as high on this group as I was last year's squad. I drank the Kool-Aid. Again.
I don't think we're anywhere near as athletic. And we have a gaping hole in the middle.

After the Arkansas game last year, which was on December 9:
McCollum: 14.9-2.9-3.2
Oweh: 15.2-4.1-1.9 (steals)
Uzan: 8.9-4.0-4.1

I hope to be surprised. I hope to avoid the Faceplants of February (patent pending).

 

[NickZepp]

I'm nowhere near as high on this group as I was last year's squad. I drank the Kool-Aid. Again.
I don't think we're anywhere near as athletic. And we have a gaping hole in the middle.

After the Arkansas game last year, which was on December 9:
McCollum: 14.9-2.9-3.2
Oweh: 15.2-4.1-1.9 (steals)
Uzan: 8.9-4.0-4.1

I hope to be surprised. I hope to avoid the Faceplants of February (patent pending). i

Fears is way more athletic and overall better than anyone we had at guard last year. I would say the other parts are similar or maybe not as good as last years group. Although we haven't see Jones or Nwankwo yet. But Taylor and Goodine are probably about the same as our bench guards last year. I think we may be slightly better at the guard spots overall. Moore is better than he was a year ago.

All that said conference play is a different monster. Gonna need everyone to step up and be better. The SEC may actually be as tough as the Big 12 was last year.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Fears is way more athletic and overall better than anyone we had at guard last year. I would say the other parts are similar or maybe not as good as last years group. Although we haven't see Jones or Nwankwo yet. But Taylor and Goodine are probably about the same as our bench guards last year. I think we may be slightly better at the guard spots overall. Moore is better than he was a year ago.

All that said conference play is a different monster. Gonna need everyone to step up and be better. The SEC may actually be as tough as the Big 12 was last year.

Fears is not “way more athletic” than Soares or Oweh. More skilled, yes. Better overall player, yes. But those guys, Soares in particular, are fantastic athletes.

 

[CMSOONER]

I honestly think that Fears is the difference. Fears adds a dimension we didn't have last year. McCollum was good, but Fears is better. Our guards while maybe not as athletic are better than last year. Our front court is almost exactly the same.
My rankings are strictly up to this point in the season for both teams.

Milos < Elvis
McCollum < Fears
Soares > Miles
Dart = Goodine
Owen > Taylor Jr

Moore = Moore

Godwin > Godwin
Hugely > Wague
Luke < Luke

Owen had an incredible start to the season last year before falling off a cliff. IMO I would put Taylor Jr ahead of 2nd half Owen.

 

[Moneyball]

The upside of having a lineup full of seniors is the team seems way more comfortable than they did last year. We haven’t had a 10 minute stretch without a bucket yet this year. That was almost expected every game last year. That’s the main difference to me.

Also, Fears is a legitimate difference maker. Hopefully he can maintain or even improve his level of play when the lights get brighter in conference.

 

[NickZepp]

I honestly think that Fears is the difference. Fears adds a dimension we didn't have last year. McCollum was good, but Fears is better. Our guards while maybe not as athletic are better than last year. Our front court is almost exactly the same.
My rankings are strictly up to this point in the season for both teams.

Milos < Elvis
McCollum < Fears
Soares > Miles
Dart = Goodine
Owen > Taylor Jr

Moore = Moore

Godwin > Godwin
Hugely > Wague
Luke < Luke

Owen had an incredible start to the season last year before falling off a cliff. IMO I would put Taylor Jr ahead of 2nd half Owen.

Moore is better than he was a year ago and it's probably not even close. Moore wasn't consistent till February last year.

 

[WichitaSooner]

I honestly think that Fears is the difference. Fears adds a dimension we didn't have last year. McCollum was good, but Fears is better. Our guards while maybe not as athletic are better than last year. Our front court is almost exactly the same.
My rankings are strictly up to this point in the season for both teams.

Milos < Elvis
McCollum < Fears
Soares > Miles
Dart = Goodine
Owen > Taylor Jr

Moore = Moore

Godwin > Godwin
Hugely > Wague
Luke < Luke

Owen had an incredible start to the season last year before falling off a cliff. IMO I would put Taylor Jr ahead of 2nd half Owen.

I actually would welcome back last year’s Sam at this point. He is going backwards.

 

[Boom Soon]

Obviously, we cannot make firm comparisons until the end of the season, but here are my unsolicited thoughts.

1. Fears can create better than any guard last year.
2. The shooting is definitely improved. I would take Goodine, and Forsythe taking 3 point shots over pretty much any combo last year.
3. Kobe and Miles are not near as athletic as any guard last year but they take care of the ball so much better. Last year’s team was a turnover machine at times and it doesn’t matter how athletic you are if you can’t take care of the ball.
4. Post play, with the exception of Luke is worse. Don’t need to explain that one much.
5. I think Moser coaches these guys better. I think they fit what he wants to do more. I think the chemistry is really good because of that.

I’m excited to see this team with Jones back. From what I’ve heard he’s a long guard that can shoot. That will only help.

Moser legitimately has two NBA guys on the roster. That is something we have not seen since Buddy Hield played. Moser needs to take advantage of that. If you would’ve told me, four years ago, that Moser would have two NBA guys on the roster year in year four I would have dreamt of deep tournament runs. This is absolutely his best chance to make it happen.

 

[cbertus6]

This years team is a better shooting group and dare I say seems to be mentally tougher (although that could change). It also has a guard that is legitimately capable of taking over and winning you a game. But it is also way less athletic on the whole and that seems to be showing up the most on the boards. We are getting bullied at times on the boards in a way I don’t recall happening last year. I’m still nervous about how our defense holds up as well once we get into the teeth of our schedule.

 

[NickZepp]

I think our guards had a bit more size last year with Soares and Oweh and to some extent Milos. That helped on rebounding some.

 

[WaymanFan]

The biggest difference between this year and last year is that we now have an exciting freshman to watch for the first time since Trae Young. I hope Fears gets better as the year rolls on (Young, or at least his 2018 team did not), but he is no worse than the second most exciting freshman on our roster in the past 15 years.

I'm not sure why we're seeing Hugely vs Wague comparisons. Did Hugely even play after January? I don't remember him seeing him in a game the second half of the year. That means anything Wague gives us will be better. Also, Northweather didn't get off the bench last year and is now in the rotation. As such, I think we'll be a little better at the 5 than last year even if Godwin does not improve.

The better athleticism from last year didn't translate to wins. Whether the aforementioned differences translate to wins this year is what we're about to find out. I hope we can get at least one of our two injured players back as it should translate to more depth than last year's team.

 

[CoachTalk]

This is also an old team. sure we had some old guys last year but this year Id guess is couple years older on average.

 

[WichitaSooner]

The biggest difference between this year and last year is that we now have an exciting freshman to watch for the first time since Trae Young. I hope Fears gets better as the year rolls on (Young, or at least his 2018 team did not), but he is no worse than the second most exciting freshman on our roster in the past 15 years.

I'm not sure why we're seeing Hugely vs Wague comparisons. Did Hugely even play after January? I don't remember him seeing him in a game the second half of the year. That means anything Wague gives us will be better. Also, Northweather didn't get off the bench last year and is now in the rotation. As such, I think we'll be a little better at the 5 than last year even if Godwin does not improve.

The better athleticism from last year didn't translate to wins. Whether the aforementioned differences translate to wins this year is what we're about to find out. I hope we can get at least one of our two injured players back as it should translate to more depth than last year's team.

Your memory is faulty. Hugley got hurt in mid February and was splitting time with Sam to that point. And Luke played a fair amount from that time forward.

 

[cowboysooner]

Imo, moore and luke ate noticably improved and fears is the best pkayer we have had in awhile. But sam seems to have regressed some.

As for the other guys, they seem better offensively but maybe worse defensively (at least to this point). I agree with wichita, soares was a better athlete than any of the new guys

Bottom Line for me, i think this team is a little better but still say we will need to see a few conference games to know.

Better meaning this team would beat last years team not have a better record. I haven’t seen any sec games to assess the competition

 

[NickZepp]

 

[red recluse]

I'm nowhere near as high on this group as I was last year's squad. I drank the Kool-Aid. Again.
I don't think we're anywhere near as athletic. And we have a gaping hole in the middle.

After the Arkansas game last year, which was on December 9:
McCollum: 14.9-2.9-3.2
Oweh: 15.2-4.1-1.9 (steals)
Uzan: 8.9-4.0-4.1

I hope to be surprised. I hope to avoid the Faceplants of February (patent pending).

this is me as well. proud of the boys for going undefeated so far. not easy and pretty impressive with a rebuilt roster, no matter who you play. but the sec will be a bloodbath. i think the conference combined for 19 losses so far when i looked the other day, which is insane. i believe this is a tournament team, but not getting my hopes up again because i don’t think sec will have enough available bids.

 

[WaymanFan]

Your memory is faulty. Hugley got hurt in mid February and was splitting time with Sam to that point. And Luke played a fair amount from that time forward.

I stand corrected. I did not realize he played in 75% of the games. Healthy, he was better than what we have now. Regardless, if Wague and Northweather stay healthy, we'll replace his 201 points and 90 rebounds over the course of a full season without too much difficulty.