A (Hopefully) Constructive “Negative” Post (returning players)

[WichitaSooner]

I played for a manic, twitchy, hyper control-freak coach my first 2 years of high school. I hated it. I dreaded practice. It was emotionally exhausting. He once grabbed me by the throat and choked me after making a bad pass in practice. He loved Bobby Knight if that tells you anything.

We had stellar talent and underachieved. We were ranked 4th at the end of the season in 3A in 1988 and didn't even make it to State. The coach retired after my junior year and the school brought in a new young coach. He was a breath of fresh air. I suddenly loved practice. Basketball was fun again, and although most of the talent had graduated the year before (2 guys went on to play college basketball, 1 guy played college football and went on to the NFL, and 1 other starter graduated) we missed the state playoffs by only one game.

I just wonder if Moser is hard to play for like that. Reports that he doesn't allow assistant coaches to speak in practice are alarming. Our recent play is alarming. Maybe going from a guy like Lon to a guy like Moser was a shock. I don't know.

I also wonder whether his overall personality wears thin on players. He paces the sideline like Bruce Weber, talks constantly about the culture wall, always references Rick Majerus sayings, and it seems like everything he says to the media is a cliché or straight out of a motivational speech. I have to imagine the players feel like rolling their eyes at that stuff a lot of the time, especially when his in-game coaching hasn't led to positive results. Sampson was obviously very emotional and demanding, and had certain things (defense and rebounding) that he emphasized. But he also didn't come across as a robot when he talked about them, and, most importantly, when he emphasized things, the team succeeded in those areas. By contrast, Moser hasn't gotten his team to show any tangible progress in many (any?) areas.

 

[sdcloud9]

I played for a manic, twitchy, hyper control-freak coach my first 2 years of high school. I hated it. I dreaded practice. It was emotionally exhausting. He once grabbed me by the throat and choked me after making a bad pass in practice. He loved Bobby Knight if that tells you anything.

We had stellar talent and underachieved. We were ranked 4th at the end of the season in 3A in 1988 and didn't even make it to State. The coach retired after my junior year and the school brought in a new young coach. He was a breath of fresh air. I suddenly loved practice. Basketball was fun again, and although most of the talent had graduated the year before (2 guys went on to play college basketball, 1 guy played college football and went on to the NFL, and 1 other starter graduated) we missed the state playoffs by only one game.

I just wonder if Moser is hard to play for like that. Reports that he doesn't allow assistant coaches to speak in practice are alarming. Our recent play is alarming. Maybe going from a guy like Lon to a guy like Moser was a shock. I don't know.

I have wondered the same thing. I admire his energy but is it to the point that he wears players out? I have heard that assistants don't like working for him because he is balls to the walls all the time, similar to Musselman at Arkansas.

 

[TINY]

I played for a manic, twitchy, hyper control-freak coach my first 2 years of high school. I hated it. I dreaded practice. It was emotionally exhausting. He once grabbed me by the throat and choked me after making a bad pass in practice. He loved Bobby Knight if that tells you anything.

We had stellar talent and underachieved. We were ranked 4th at the end of the season in 3A in 1988 and didn't even make it to State. The coach retired after my junior year and the school brought in a new young coach. He was a breath of fresh air. I suddenly loved practice. Basketball was fun again, and although most of the talent had graduated the year before (2 guys went on to play college basketball, 1 guy played college football and went on to the NFL, and 1 other starter graduated) we missed the state playoffs by only one game.

I just wonder if Moser is hard to play for like that. Reports that he doesn't allow assistant coaches to speak in practice are alarming. Our recent play is alarming. Maybe going from a guy like Lon to a guy like Moser was a shock. I don't know.

Kelvin was much harder to play for during his time at ou. He couldn’t retain any of his blue chip recruits (Humphrey, Spaulding, lavender, McKenzie, et al). That worked out ok.

Many used to complain about Lon being too nice. Now Porter is too mean. Lmao

 

[steverocks35]

Kelvin was much harder to play for during his time at ou. He couldn’t retain any of his blue chip recruits (Humphrey, Spaulding, lavender, McKenzie, et al). That worked out ok.

Many used to complain about Lon being too nice. Now Porter is too mean. Lmao

I think there’s a happy medium, and I’m just speculating anyway. I don’t know for sure what PM is like to play for of course.

 

[cvangild]

I think there’s a happy medium, and I’m just speculating anyway. I don’t know for sure what PM is like to play for of course.

I think most ALL of our problems are more related to our overall talent level, than it is to PM's coaching style, etc. If we had a couple of athletic bigs vs. the Groves brothers, and if we hadn't lost both Mo and Harkless...we probably wouldn't be having these conversations.

Mo wanted a guaranteed starting spot at the PG position, while Harkless stated he wanted to get back towards the West coast. Had those two stayed, I say that's worth 3-4 more wins easily...especially considering how many close games we have lost.

 

[WTSooner]

I think most ALL of our problems are more related to our overall talent level, than it is to PM's coaching style, etc. If we had a couple of athletic bigs vs. the Groves brothers, and if we hadn't lost both Mo and Harkless...we probably wouldn't be having these conversations.

Mo wanted a guaranteed starting spot at the PG position, while Harkless stated he wanted to get back towards the West coast. Had those two stayed, I say that's worth 3-4 more wins easily...especially considering how many close games we have lost.

Man, I just don't agree with this at all.

Athletic bigs huh? How are they going to fit into what PM wants to do on offense? They better be athletic AND skilled. The only success PM has really had in his career he had Krutwig as his big. Hardly an athletic specimen, right?

Most were sick of Mo and Harkless by the end of last year too. I'm not sure I believe it, but it was said recently that if Mo stays we don't get Sherfield.

And Harkless was in and out of the starting lineup and doghouse last year. He is shooting 39% from the floor this year and 24% from three. Hardly the magical missing piece, IMO.

Literally nobody was bringing up talent/athleticism before the season started. Doing so now is looking for an excuse other than blaming PM.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

Literally nobody was bringing up talent/athleticism before the season started. Doing so now is looking for an excuse other than blaming PM.

There were plenty of discussions about the roster deficiencies before the season.

And why is looking for reasons why we are not performing well an excuse? Your second statement makes zero sense. So in your mind, if we don't bring up a concern BEFORE it is a concern, it is automatically excuse making? That is wild logic

 

[WichitaSooner]

Man, I just don't agree with this at all.

Athletic bigs huh? How are they going to fit into what PM wants to do on offense? They better be athletic AND skilled. The only success PM has really had in his career he had Krutwig as his big. Hardly an athletic specimen, right?

Most were sick of Mo and Harkless by the end of last year too. I'm not sure I believe it, but it was said recently that if Mo stays we don't get Sherfield.

And Harkless was in and out of the starting lineup and doghouse last year. He is shooting 39% from the floor this year and 24% from three. Hardly the magical missing piece, IMO.

Literally nobody was bringing up talent/athleticism before the season started. Doing so now is looking for an excuse other than blaming PM.

I separate Mo and EJ in my mind. The former would certainly help us and would have been welcomed back by most fans, I think. He finished last season very well and seemed to have found the consistency he lacked previously. Harkless ... no thanks. He solves none of our issues and his turnovers and poor shooting would only add to our problems.

 

[WTSooner]

I separate Mo and EJ in my mind. The former would certainly help us and would have been welcomed back by most fans, I think. He finished last season very well and seemed to have found the consistency he lacked previously. Harkless ... no thanks. He solves none of our issues and his turnovers and poor shooting would only add to our problems.

I agree with that, but if it did come down to Mo OR Sherfield, we're not really better off with either one without the other.

 

[WTSooner]

There were plenty of discussions about the roster deficiencies before the season.

And why is looking for reasons why we are not performing well an excuse? Your second statement makes zero sense. So in your mind, if we don't bring up a concern BEFORE it is a concern, it is automatically excuse making? That is wild logic

The discussions before the season centered around how we were going to find playing time when every scholarship player on the roster plus Godwin because they were all going to deserve it. Most had Cortes not even playing much b/c there was no way he could beat out the more talented players.

And now look at us?

Sorry, I find if humorous when our fans do that. If we do have a talent issue none of ya'll were talking about it before the season. So you were dead wrong, you are avoiding the real issue now.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

The discussions before the season centered around how we were going to find playing time when every scholarship player on the roster plus Godwin because they were all going to deserve it. Most had Cortes not even playing much b/c there was no way he could beat out the more talented players.

And now look at us?

Sorry, I find if humorous when our fans do that. If we do have a talent issue none of ya'll were talking about it before the season. So you were dead wrong, you are avoiding the real issue now.

again, how is it logical that we would have known before the season that there was a talent issue when we hadn't seen the new pieces?

That's like being excited for a movie after watching the trailer and thinking it is going to be good. But then after watching the movie you realize it wasn't as advertised and was pretty crappy. Would it be wrong to say the movie was crap? Or since we didn't say it was crap before seeing it we no longer have the right to call it crap? Your thinking makes zero sense. Maybe it is the director's fault. maybe it is the actor's. maybe it is both. But it is still OK to have an opinion on why it is crap even if we didn't think it would be crap before we saw it