A few bright spots

[AdaSooner]

_OU's bench played well in this tournament. Bennett, Walker and Booker were especially good today, combining for 22 points and 9 rebounds a much bigger and deeper Badger team.

_OU was a plus 3 in rebounds (35-32)

_Despite shooting a pitiful 37% from the field (25% from 3), this team refused to go down easy to the #2 team in the country.

_They stayed in the game by being aggressive and getting fouled, with a 17 of 19 performance from the free throw line.

Turnovers killed us, most of them unforced. But putting the loss aside for a moment, I liked some of the things I saw today

 

[Navy2004]

Seems to me that Coach is playing with the bench to much at times and it makes for no game flow, or takes time for that group to get going

 

[Chaser728]

Seems to me that Coach is playing with the bench to much at times and it makes for no game flow, or takes time for that group to get going

Playing the bench now helps us later in the year... I am estatic that we were able to outrebound a team with that kind of size.

 

[AltSooner33]

I will be curious to see this too. Will they reward us for beating a top 25 team in ucla and butler team who beat unc and Georgetown, or will they just look at the fact that we have 2 losses, no matter the opponent.

 

[AltSooner33]

Sorry about my post. This was meant for the rankings thread

 

[cvangild]

I will be curious to see this too. Will they reward us for beating a top 25 team in ucla and butler team who beat unc and Georgetown, or will they just look at the fact that we have 2 losses, no matter the opponent.

HA! I just read that thread. But to your point, we will be able to tell what the majority does. If we aren't ranked...then you know they just strictly look at wins/losses and are clueless.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

Some other bright spots:

OU went 2-1 in a tournament against teams that are NCAA Tournament caliber teams. Note that Butler also went 2-1, losing to OU, but defeating North Carolina and Georgetown.

Even with the loss, OU’s post-season résumé will be helped by playing highly ranked Wisconsin.

Defense looks to be much improved.

The tough non-conference schedule will help turn these Sooners in “Road Warriors” by the time Big-12 play begins.

 

[KBaden145]

The improved defense and the contribution we are getting off the bench from Walker, Booker, Bennett, and Lattin has me juiced.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sdcloud9]

For me, there were no low lights in this tournament.

Anytime you play tough teams this early, it's a bonus, you get exposed in some areas that force you to go back and rethink some things. You don't learn that playing the Bottom 100 rpi.

The most important thing is that you see how your team competes and I think this OU team is going to compete very well against quality competition.

A 2-1 record at this tournament is a win-win.

 

[coolm]

if OU rebounds like they did for most of this tourney then they will be a force this season.

 

[Darwin]

More than a few bright spots and a surprise, Bennett playing like a senior. We played some teams more athletic, some with more size and we did very well. No final four prediction but I expect plenty of good things in conference and after.

 

[j2d2]

It seems to me that rebounding and defense carried us for the most part in this tournament. I think that rebounding and defense will carry us a lot further.

 

[AdaSooner]

It seems to me that rebounding and defense carried us for the most part in this tournament. I think that rebounding and defense will carry us a lot further.

Agreed. Who would have thought that defense and rebounding would be a strength this season?

This team has the potential to be really good when our offense starts to click.