#9 OU @ #3 KU 1pm CST on ESPN+

[SoonerBounce13]

I see your point, and you very well may be right. Overall, defensively, they've been fine. The turnovers are by far the biggest issue. But I'm not sure what the coaching staff can do. I ASSUME they talk about. I ASSUME they watch film. I ASSUME they do ball drills. But these are dudes that have played hundreds of hours of basketball. Taking care of the ball should be something they already value.

On the flip side, I think Lon's team the last year he was at OU had one of the lowest TO rates in the country. Which was awesome. Is it because Lon knows something about basketball that Moser doesn't? Maybe like a super special anti-turnover drill that only a select few coaches know? Or was it because that team, especially the guards, were bought in to taking care of the ball and made it a personal responsibility? I think I'll take the latter.

Do you have stats to back that up?

 

[SoonerBounce13]

Cooper can't redshirt he's played.

I don't know whether to say how stupid I feel because i've fallen for it yet again... Getting over excited after a very good to great non con only to see the team crater yet again in conference. Or, the fact that it's premature to feel that way and the last two are two of the tougher ones in conference. But yeah it's looking like same song, like 7th verse now. Still along way to go, there's time to see how they rebound. Problem is last year we had KU and alot of good teams on the ropes throughout the games only to falter at the end. Today and the other night we were never really in it at all in the second half.... Oh well, at least we're more athletic!

Dude calm down.

Y’all are literally acting like clowns. We all said before this stretch it would be. Wry difficult to win either of these games. Kansas is Kansas. Tcu just beat Houston.

Chill out!

 

[SoonerBounce13]

I’d say this: as recently as two weeks ago, many of the eternal optimists and most frequent posters were saying this is the most talent we have had in years AND were saying we need to win all our games against OSU, West Virginia, KSU, Tech, and maybe Cincy. Well, based on everything we saw this week and the past two years, I think it’s likely we will lose every road game we play against that group. And the reason our record is so good is simple: Arkansas, Iowa, and USC not only aren’t good, they are downright bad. That and 8 absolute cupcake buy games will get you plenty of wins.

Lol there’s the WS we all love. Welcome back.

I knew you’d be back after a few losses.

Where were you during our winning streak?

Clown

 

[WichitaSooner]

Lol there’s the WS we all love. Welcome back.

I knew you’d be back after a few losses.

Where were you during our winning streak?

Clown

Hey buddy. You spent months referencing me when I wasn’t posting. Now you complain when I post twice. You must lie awake praying my name will pop up so you can pounce.

During our awesome winning streak against NET 300 teams and a few major conference teams having down years, I was watching every second. Happy with the wins and improved talent level, while fully expecting us to struggle when we started playing good teams on a regular basis. Drove through the snow and negative temperatures to vocally and passionately support the team today even though I knew there was no chance we’d win. But I’m clearly not a fan according to folks like you and Coach and a few others.

People like you are truly insufferable. You simply can’t tolerate anyone with a different viewpoint. You and a few others seem to want a board that amounts to a big circle jerk where we all discuss how great our team is, complain about every single call that doesn’t go OU’s way, and excuse every loss because “winning on the road is very hard.” Can’t wait to see the reactions when we lose to some of the “bad” conference teams you guys were all expecting us to sweep a couple weeks ago. Out of curiosity, is Tech still one of the bad teams? Are their wheels still falling off now that they are in first place and have a better overall record than our highly ranked team? But I’m sure we will rally and start picking off road wins left and right. It’s not like we have 82 games of data under Moser to tell us otherwise.

 

[BoulderSooner]

I don’t think that’s correct. I believe the rule is you have to play less than 30% of the games.

It is the rule.

 

[inoref]

Not much to say about the game only the best team won...Move on get better

 

[TINY]

Lol there’s the WS we all love. Welcome back.

I knew you’d be back after a few losses.

Where were you during our winning streak?

Clown

Have to say it is hard to defend WS here with his self-imposed posting ban that conveniently took place while ou went from unranked to top 10. Doesn’t make a peep until ou loses twice (against very good home teams that would be favored against anyone in the country).

 

[TINY]

Because if your two best wins halfway through the season are home games against teams that may or may not end up being quad one wins when all is said and done, that isn’t all that impressive for a top 10 team. Look at the wins most of the teams around us in the polls have. And again, my concern isn’t that we lost those games. It’s how we have lost them, which is pretty much the same way we lost games the past two seasons with much less talent.

At the game today, my biggest confusion was the substitution patterns. After the first few minutes, our three starting guards, who are clearly our three best players, were rarely all in the game at the same time. Meanwhile, Harris, Adams, and McCullar played the entire game other than McCullar coming out for less than a minute when he got banged up. JM was on the bench during the segment when KU started pulling away. Soares and Darthard have been better additions than I expected, but they have both been bad this week. Why not adjust and just let your best players try to win you a game today? It probably wouldn’t have changed the outcome, but adjust! I’m not saying sit a guy the second he makes a mistake or misses a shot, but we played multiple segments today where we only had a couple scorers on the floor. Why play with one hand tied behind your back? Why let a 4-pt lead turn into a 16-pt game without using your third timeout? Why give Cooper the same treatment Oweh got last year even though he clearly had tons of potential? It just feels like the coach, and by extension the team, isn’t capable of learning and fixing their issues. KU turned the ball over like crazy the past two games. I had zero doubt Self would make damn sure that didn’t happen again today. Result: 2 turnovers all day. Why can’t Moser make similar fixes? Yes, the two teams that beat us this week are very good. But playing this way will also get us beat on the road against the teams at the bottom of the league, and that’s absolutely fair reason for concern.

Kansas lost at ucf. Houston has lost 2 straight (one of which against that isu team that ou handily beat). Kentucky lost to a mediocre A&M yesterday. Duke almost got beat for the 2nd time by a horrible Georgia tech team yesterday. #1 Purdue got embarrassed by freaking nebrasketball.

No one in the country is winning at the rate you are expecting ou to.

 

[bob the nailer]

I wouldn't say we handily beat ISU, yes the final score was not close but it was a very close game until the last 4-5 minutes

 

[Darwin]

On paper we lost 2 road games with a win at home, schedule breaks easier for the next 3 weeks. Even one road win with no losses at home puts them in a solid position for a good seed.

 

[HPDrifter]

while fully expecting us to struggle when we started playing good teams on a regular basis

This statement is applicable to about 95% of all CBB teams. Conference road wins gainst the top 1/2 of the league are going to be rare. The key is to hold serve at home and pick off a few road wins against the bottom feeders.

 

[Wyatt]

This statement is applicable to about 95% of all CBB teams. Conference road wins gainst the top 1/2 of the league are going to be rare. The key is to hold serve at home and pick off a few road wins against the bottom feeders.

Tough week against two very good teams on the road. Now let’s go 2-0 next week. My goal is for the team to go 10-8 in conference, and make it to the Round of 32.

 

[Eielson]

Last time we won in Lawrence, Billy Tubbs was our coach. I don't believe Sampson played there every year, but Lon did for a decade, and laid a goose egg. Let's not overreact to losing by 12 in a place we haven't won in 30 years.

This team has flaws, as we've known. We need roster improvement from the bigs, which seems like a broken record at this point, but our backcourt is elite. We don't have an elite team here, and the overall sentiment has always been that we aren't legitimately a top 10 squad as ranked, but we've made clear steps forward.

Now, if we lose to WVU at home, I'll be tempted to panic.

 

[Eielson]

Have to say it is hard to defend WS here with his self-imposed posting ban that conveniently took place while ou went from unranked to top 10. Doesn’t make a peep until ou loses twice (against very good home teams that would be favored against anyone in the country).

It's comical at this point. I used to take him seriously, but he's a meme at this point.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Have to say it is hard to defend WS here with his self-imposed posting ban that conveniently took place while ou went from unranked to top 10. Doesn’t make a peep until ou loses twice (against very good home teams that would be favored against anyone in the country).

You can’t even get your facts right. I stopped posting months before the season started because the board no longer contains much constructive basketball discussion or useful info other than the recruiting thread from Stoops. Otherwise, it is Coach mocking people with his LOL replies, people getting offended by any negative comments, and others making the typical ridiculous predictions about our depth and how many NBA players we have on our team.

Again, folks like you bitch if you think I’m posting too much, then turn around and complain if I don’t post for four months because you mistakenly think that coincided with our “winning streak.” Unless our winning streak started in August, I’m pretty sure that isn’t the case.

For those talking about how we “just need to hold serve at home and win a few on the road,” when was the last time either of those things happened? Even our very best teams have lost at least a time or two at home. Meanwhile, we have already lost two road games, and only have seven more. Does anyone actually see us winning four of those? Three? If we get more than two, I’ll be happily surprised. The teams that started the season slowly have improved, and we will need to play a hell of a lot better to win in cincy than we have played so far on the road.

But please, instead of actually replying to my posts, just keep taking personal shots at me that the mods allow because they, too, don’t like my opinions.

 

[Boom Soon]

Do you have stats to back that up?

Lon's last year they averaged 11 turnovers a game. Which was more than I thought. But here is an interesting tidbit. The year before Austin Reaves arrives (2018-2019), OU only averaged 5.5 turnovers a game. Which was definitely one of the best in the country. Then, in 2019-2020, OU's avg. TO a game doubles to 11. Guess who showed up? Austin Reaves. He led the team in TOs that year and it wasn't even close. he had 75 and then Doolittle had 62. So the question is: did Lon forget to talk to the team about TOs in 2019-20? Or was the best player on the team turnover prone?

Okay, so let's look at Moser. His first year here OU avg. 15 TOs a game. Now THAT is atrocious. Last year OU averages 13.4. Bad, but hey atleast an improvement right? This year, about halfway through the season, OU is averaging 11. Actually not horrible (comparatively) Guess who has the most TOs? McCollum. He has 37, and then the next guy has 30. McCollum reminds me of Reaves in many ways. He can score it up, but can be very careless with the ball. He can make a huge stepback three then three plays later lose the ball dribbling into traffic, or trying to throw a full court pass to Northweather with 30 seconds to go in the half instead of just playing smart.

It appears that both Lon (with Reaves) and Moser (with McCollum) face(d) a similar dilemma. Their best guard were awesome scorers but also turnover prone. So the options are yank their best guard off the court when he makes a turnover to prove a point and risk losing points, or keep him in for much needed scoring at risk he will make a handful of dumb turnovers in a game.

Again, I'm just not sure there's anything Moser can do with the turnovers assuming it's something the team talks about and works on in practice. The guys just have to value the ball.

But that is not to say I don't see how detrimental TOs are. KU lost to UCF and had 18 TOs. Texas lost to a really bad WVU team and had 22 TOs. They can literally be the difference between a win or a loss.

 

[Boom Soon]

You can’t even get your facts right. I stopped posting months before the season started because the board no longer contains much constructive basketball discussion or useful info other than the recruiting thread from Stoops. Otherwise, it is Coach mocking people with his LOL replies, people getting offended by any negative comments, and others making the typical ridiculous predictions about our depth and how many NBA players we have on our team.

Again, folks like you bitch if you think I’m posting too much, then turn around and complain if I don’t post for four months because you mistakenly think that coincided with our “winning streak.” Unless our winning streak started in August, I’m pretty sure that isn’t the case.

For those talking about how we “just need to hold serve at home and win a few on the road,” when was the last time either of those things happened? Even our very best teams have lost at least a time or two at home. Meanwhile, we have already lost two road games, and only have seven more. Does anyone actually see us winning four of those? Three? If we get more than two, I’ll be happily surprised. The teams that started the season slowly have improved, and we will need to play a hell of a lot better to win in cincy than we have played so far on the road.

But please, instead of actually replying to my posts, just keep taking personal shots at me that the mods allow because they, too, don’t like my opinions.

I'm not going to get into the weeds too much with individual games but I still think it's reasonable to expect them to go 9-9 or 10-8 in conference. @TCU @KU was the toughest two game stretch of the year.

Now, if I they lost to WVU I will probably be thinking something different.

Here's one way to look at it. If OU has another losing record then Moser is out. Then there's a mass exodus of players, and a new coach has to come in and start from scratch. Who knows what the future holds at that point. We finally have a truly athletic team that is fun to watch. Let's enjoy it.

 

[TINY]

You can’t even get your facts right. I stopped posting months before the season started because the board no longer contains much constructive basketball discussion or useful info other than the recruiting thread from Stoops. Otherwise, it is Coach mocking people with his LOL replies, people getting offended by any negative comments, and others making the typical ridiculous predictions about our depth and how many NBA players we have on our team.

Again, folks like you bitch if you think I’m posting too much, then turn around and complain if I don’t post for four months because you mistakenly think that coincided with our “winning streak.” Unless our winning streak started in August, I’m pretty sure that isn’t the case.

For those talking about how we “just need to hold serve at home and win a few on the road,” when was the last time either of those things happened? Even our very best teams have lost at least a time or two at home. Meanwhile, we have already lost two road games, and only have seven more. Does anyone actually see us winning four of those? Three? If we get more than two, I’ll be happily surprised. The teams that started the season slowly have improved, and we will need to play a hell of a lot better to win in cincy than we have played so far on the road.

But please, instead of actually replying to my posts, just keep taking personal shots at me that the mods allow because they, too, don’t like my opinions.

Get your own facts straight. I haven’t “bitched” about you ever to my knowledge. I absolutely have responded to your bad takes at times, but I don’t recall taking personal shots at you while doing so. If you qualify my last post as a personal shot then whatever. Someone else called u a troll, and I simply said it is hard to argue against that based on your recent posting habits.

I haven’t been posting negative stuff about you during your hiatus. The only post I can recall I was somewhat defending you. You may have me confused with some other poster.

 

[Stikboy]

Dude calm down.

Y’all are literally acting like clowns. We all said before this stretch it would be. Wry difficult to win either of these games. Kansas is Kansas. Tcu just beat Houston.

Chill out!

I'm calm. Can you read? In my post I acknowledged that in part of my thinking I knew this was a tough stretch. I also said we need to let it play out. I think you may be the one that needs to chill out.

 

[cvangild]

Lon's last year they averaged 11 turnovers a game. Which was more than I thought. But here is an interesting tidbit. The year before Austin Reaves arrives (2018-2019), OU only averaged 5.5 turnovers a game. Which was definitely one of the best in the country. Then, in 2019-2020, OU's avg. TO a game doubles to 11. Guess who showed up? Austin Reaves. He led the team in TOs that year and it wasn't even close. he had 75 and then Doolittle had 62. So the question is: did Lon forget to talk to the team about TOs in 2019-20? Or was the best player on the team turnover prone?

Okay, so let's look at Moser. His first year here OU avg. 15 TOs a game. Now THAT is atrocious. Last year OU averages 13.4. Bad, but hey atleast an improvement right? This year, about halfway through the season, OU is averaging 11. Actually not horrible (comparatively) Guess who has the most TOs? McCollum. He has 37, and then the next guy has 30. McCollum reminds me of Reaves in many ways. He can score it up, but can be very careless with the ball. He can make a huge stepback three then three plays later lose the ball dribbling into traffic, or trying to throw a full court pass to Northweather with 30 seconds to go in the half instead of just playing smart.

It appears that both Lon (with Reaves) and Moser (with McCollum) face(d) a similar dilemma. Their best guard were awesome scorers but also turnover prone. So the options are yank their best guard off the court when he makes a turnover to prove a point and risk losing points, or keep him in for much needed scoring at risk he will make a handful of dumb turnovers in a game.

Again, I'm just not sure there's anything Moser can do with the turnovers assuming it's something the team talks about and works on in practice. The guys just have to value the ball.

But that is not to say I don't see how detrimental TOs are. KU lost to UCF and had 18 TOs. Texas lost to a really bad WVU team and had 22 TOs. They can literally be the difference between a win or a loss.

You want to re-check your research. OU have NEVER averaged just 5.5 TO's/game. That would be unheard of. The season before Austin Reaves played, that OU team averaged 12.2 TOs/game.