Any chance we don't suck next year?

[seniorsooner]

We're about to enjoy a half decade of being the new Colorado...

No we aren't.

 

[Bk2X]

Firing Capel was the only chance at OU actually being worse next year than this year. Oh well, deal is done and I am ready to support the next guy as I will be renewing my tickets without a doubt.

 

[suncoastsooner]

Whatever.

Capel took the 2nd best program in the conference and turned it into the 11th best in 5 short years. Media around the country recognized it because a lot of people have been wondering if Capel would survive another dismal season.

If anything, we look like morons for hiring Capel. I can remember some national media folks questioning the hire big time when it was done.

Name one member of the national media and provide a linked quote that questioned the hiring. The national media was gushing love about Capel from the moment it was announced; hell for the most part they still are even five years later and two dismal seasons later.

 

[boksooner]

This article certainly sounds like ESPN is still fauning over Capel.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6216030

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma fired coach Jeff Capel on Monday after he followed a trip to the NCAA tournament's regional finals with the program's first back-to-back losing seasons since 1967.

Capel was 96-69 in five seasons in charge of the Sooners, but just 17-36 the past two after Blake Griffin entered the NBA draft early and became the No. 1 overall pick.

"After careful consideration, it has been determined that our men's basketball program would be best served by a change of direction," athletic director Joe Castiglione said in a statement. "Jeff Capel has worked diligently on our behalf, and for that we are appreciative. He has many outstanding qualities and we wish him success as he moves forward."

Capel had five years left on the contract that was extended after he made it within a win of the 2009 Final Four, with Griffin leading the way. He was making $1.5 million per year, and had annual raises and stay bonuses built into the contract.

But since he signed the extension, the program has fallen apart.

Despite having three McDonald's All-Americans on the roster, the Sooners finished the 2009-10 season with nine straight losses -- the second-longest losing streak in school history -- to plummet out of the Top 25 and end up with a 13-18 record.

Five underclassmen left the program, Capel restocked with largely unheralded players and Oklahoma went 14-18 this season. Attendance at the Lloyd Noble Center dropped off severely.

"As we look to the future, we do so with a great university, a proud tradition in basketball, continued commitment to excellence in all areas and some of the country's finest facilities," Castiglione said. "We expect that those qualities will play an important role in our search for a new coach."

Capel inherited a program saddled with restrictions after major NCAA rules violations by predecessor Kelvin Sampson, and the Sooners are again being investigated because of a loan former player Keith "Tiny" Gallon has said he took from a Florida financial adviser.

Documents obtained from the university showed that Oronde Taliaferro, a Capel assistant who resigned last year, frequently exchanged phone calls and text messages with the adviser, Jeffrey Hausinger of Tampa, and was even invited to stay at Hausinger's home.

A joint investigation by Oklahoma and the NCAA began a year ago, but has not yet yielded any charges.

Capel, a former Duke guard who was an up-and-coming coach at Virginia Commonwealth, was hired by Castiglione in 2006 after Sampson left to take over at Indiana. The Sooners missed out on the postseason in his first year at the helm, but then made it back to the NCAA tournament with Griffin the next two seasons.

 

[NickZepp]

Firing Capel was the only chance at OU actually being worse next year than this year. Oh well, deal is done and I am ready to support the next guy as I will be renewing my tickets without a doubt.

If Capel came back were we really going to win 20+ games next year? I'm sorry i don't see that. I kinda agree we probably won't be that good next year because we don't have a recruiting class late in the game. Even when Capel got here we had Tony Crocker, Keith Clark, and a bunch of decent young talent. We have some decent young talent now but no recruiting class to speak of right now. I didn't see us getting a lot of players this offseason that would have suddenly made us a 20 win season. Which was the only way Capel keeps his job next year if he wasn't fired.

 

[OUALUMinTX]

You are wrong.
Basketball is much easier to turn around than football.
One player took us to the elite 8 with an average coach.
A coach like Gillispie would have us dancing in year 2.

I totally agree. All you really need is a very good PG and a good big man and some role players to have a good team. CU turned around in one year with a new coach. Can't see why we can't, too. Just have to hope we get the right coach.

 

[Big Old Booger]

Name one member of the national media and provide a linked quote that questioned the hiring. The national media was gushing love about Capel from the moment it was announced; hell for the most part they still are even five years later and two dismal seasons later.

Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News. I heard him on a radio interview after he was hired and during his first season and every time he questioned the hire. He thought it was a desperate move on OU's part and a sign they couldn't get anybody of substance to take the job.

This was on Kansas City sportstalk radio on 810 AM WHB. Maybe others on here who live in KC heard the same thing and will support me, but this is the truth.

I don't know that he ever wrote about it though. I'll see if I can find a link.

EDIT: Here is a link to an article he wrote:
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/12822935/

PS -- the link doesn't contain all the comments he made on the radio, but it does question the hire. DeCourcy is one of the best basketball writers in the media.

 

[suncoastsooner]

If Capel came back were we really going to win 20+ games next year? I'm sorry i don't see that. I kinda agree we probably won't be that good next year because we don't have a recruiting class late in the game. Even when Capel got here we had Tony Crocker, Keith Clark, and a bunch of decent young talent. We have some decent young talent now but no recruiting class to speak of right now. I didn't see us getting a lot of players this offseason that would have suddenly made us a 20 win season. Which was the only way Capel keeps his job next year if he wasn't fired.

20 games, probably not... are we even going to win ten games next year now though? I highly doubt it.

 

[Big Old Booger]

20 games, probably not... are we even going to win ten games next year now though? I highly doubt it.

A good coach would be able to take this talent and win 20 games. BCG would probably take this talent to the 2nd round of the NCAA tourney.

All we need is somebody to coach lockdown defense and principles of rebounding, which Capel could not coach, and this team would have won at least 5 more games this year, maybe 6 and probably finished in the 9-7 area of conference play.

 

[colston15]

A good coach would be able to take this talent and win 20 games. BCG would probably take this talent to the 2nd round of the NCAA tourney.

All we need is somebody to coach lockdown defense and principles of rebounding, which Capel could not coach, and this team would have won at least 5 more games this year, maybe 6 and probably finished in the 9-7 area of conference play.

I used to think you were confused, now I just think you're crazy. :ez-roll:

 

[Big Old Booger]

I used to think you were confused, now I just think you're crazy. :ez-roll:

We had 3 top 150 recruits (Pledger, Fitz, and Clark) as well as Cade Davis. We probably have more talent than some of the Big 12 teams who are still playing and yet we only won 5 conference games.

With better coaching I think we would have won the following games:
Chaminade
Cincy
Arkansas
@ OSU
@ Baylor
Nebraska
@ Tech

That would make our record 9-7 in conference and 21-11 overall.

 

[colston15]

We had 3 top 150 recruits (Pledger, Fitz, and Clark) as well as Cade Davis. We probably have more talent than some of the Big 12 teams who are still playing and yet we only won 5 conference games.

With better coaching I think we would have won the following games:
Chaminade
Cincy
Arkansas
@ OSU
@ Baylor
Nebraska
@ Tech

That would make our record 9-7 in conference and 21-11 overall.

We were an underdog in every one of those games, excluding Chaminade.

Best case scenario in those games was 3-4.

 

[Edmond_Sooner]

We had 3 top 150 recruits (Pledger, Fitz, and Clark) as well as Cade Davis. We probably have more talent than some of the Big 12 teams who are still playing and yet we only won 5 conference games.

With better coaching I think we would have won the following games:
Chaminade
Cincy
Arkansas
@ OSU
@ Baylor
Nebraska
@ Tech

That would make our record 9-7 in conference and 21-11 overall.

I think with another coach we would have gone 29-3 and 14-2 in conference...


Just sayin...

 

[suncoastsooner]

Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News. I heard him on a radio interview after he was hired and during his first season and every time he questioned the hire. He thought it was a desperate move on OU's part and a sign they couldn't get anybody of substance to take the job.

This was on Kansas City sportstalk radio on 810 AM WHB. Maybe others on here who live in KC heard the same thing and will support me, but this is the truth.

I don't know that he ever wrote about it though. I'll see if I can find a link.

EDIT: Here is a link to an article he wrote:
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/12822935/

PS -- the link doesn't contain all the comments he made on the radio, but it does question the hire. DeCourcy is one of the best basketball writers in the media.

Congrats you found a guy. I really hope people will go read the link to the article you posted so they can chuckle as thoroughly as I just did. That just made my week.

highlights of the article include: "Surest Bet: Iowa State, Greg McDermott". The same Greg McDermott who was canned last season after never having a winning season or finishing higher than 7th in the conference at Iowa State. He's now busy destroying Creighton's program who had its 2nd worst season in the Missouri Valley conference since they joined.

"Out of Water: Arizona State, Herb Sendek". The same Herb Sednek who turned around Arizona state by the second season and gave it it's first winning season in over half a decade at 21-12.

Outisde of his boldest move being the KState Huggy Bear hire and possibly Capel (which we're debating now) he consistently was wrong on everything he predicted the entire article. Hell of a source there guy. :clap

 

[LoveDemSooners]

I don't think we will suck if we hire Stacey King

http://twitter.com/#!/Sky21King/status/47677954863538176

 

[Edmond_Sooner]

Congrats you found a guy. I really hope people will go read the link to the article you posted so they can chuckle as thoroughly as I just did. That just made my week.

highlights of the article include: "Surest Bet: Iowa State, Greg McDermott". The same Greg McDermott who was canned last season after never having a winning season or finishing higher than 7th in the conference at Iowa State. He's now busy destroying Creighton's program who had its 2nd worst season in the Missouri Valley conference since they joined.

"Out of Water: Arizona State, Herb Sendek". The same Herb Sednek who turned around Arizona state by the second season and gave it it's first winning season in over half a decade at 21-12.

Outisde of his boldest move being the KState Huggy Bear hire and possibly Capel (which we're debating now) he consistently was wrong on everything he predicted the entire article. Hell of a source there guy. :clap

:dancinwillie

 

[OUBig12Champs]

I hope I am wrong and will be happy to eat some crow. But current state of this team is not close even with one good player and a new coach. Blake was not just "a good player" he was much more than that! And the talent around him was better too!

 

[suncoastsooner]

A good coach would be able to take this talent and win 20 games. BCG would probably take this talent to the 2nd round of the NCAA tourney.

All we need is somebody to coach lockdown defense and principles of rebounding, which Capel could not coach, and this team would have won at least 5 more games this year, maybe 6 and probably finished in the 9-7 area of conference play.

Did you even watch the team that played in the LNC this season? Rebounding fundamentals were the problem? I thought us having a young man who was only 6'7" and about 240 lbs. playing in the post was a little bit more of an issue.

We had a guy who might be able to play as a sixth man (and I stress the word "might") heralded as our star player for much of the season. And that's no knock on Cade, I love the guy, I've rarely ever seen any kid muchless a Sooner play with more fire and heart than he did during his career but Larry Bird or even Dave Sieger he is not. If you think even Dean Smith, Rupp, or even John Wooden could have gotten this team to 20 wins or next seasons team to that mark then I think you need to start looking into rehab facilities or at least a 12 step program!

 

[OUFan]

I think the Sooners will suck next year since they will have a new coach and a rebuilding year

 

[Edmond_Sooner]

I hope I am wrong and will be happy to eat some crow. But current state of this team is not close even with one good player and a new coach. Blake was not just "a good player" he was much more than that! And the talent around him was better too!

I would disagree here...

I know it is tough to see when you put a bunch of role players out on the court...but we do have some nice pieces to build around...

Still lots of work to be done, but Osby is a nice piece to add to our existing guys...

The greatest need for this team to be more competetive is some Post depth...

We obviously need PG help but Blair is serviceable...

It helps that all these guys have a year under their belt...and with a new philosophy and HOPE of a winning season things can change quickly...

Also scheduling is going to be very important for the next coach...

Look for them to finish with 3 or 4 more victories next year than they did this year and be in the NIT...if the new coach pulls something out of his arse with 1 or 2 guys they could flirt with 20 wins...