Areas of Improvement?

[Zimwillett]

What are 3 things you'd like to see OU improve for next season? Mine are pretty obvious:

1. Depth. I believe with the incoming class as well as Buford and McNease, this is already done, but those guys still have to prove it.

2. Ability/willingness to drive and score at the rim in tough situations (this is probably another way of saying shot selection); and

3. Better bench celebrations.

 

[Max Power]

Rebounding and finishing after contact at the rim

 

[KBaden145]

1. A concerted effort to improve 2nd unit production across the board, not just scoring.

2. Improved ability to attack off the bounce and finish at the rim or get to the line. We shoot FTs so good we need to get there more often. I always loved the stat Knight's teams used to have. They would often make more FTs than their opponents attempted.

3. Post scoring and more inside out offense.


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[ouboomer]

It will be interesting to see how OU plays next year because whether Buddy comes back or not Kruger is going to have lots of options and possible rotations. that's assuming all the other players return and recruits make it in. I would think 9-10 guys would play and more of an uptempo style would return (if they can get better bench production) on offense and I would think the defense as well can be better in certain situations of not breaking down and leaving shooters open as much as we saw tonight.

 

[outest]

Clam down on defense for 40 minutes even when they can't score. That's why I like Kentucky to win it all. They played tough defense for 40 minutes. They would have lost some of the games this season if it was not for their tough defense.

 

[slappy in OP]

Shooting. We focused so much on D this year (and that paid off obviously). However, our offense really took a step back. Poor shooting and not having someone step up and make a shot when we need it cost us some games this year. I think we improve on D next year with our additional size. We need to get some shots to fall.

 

[JBaker]

1. Layups
2. Rebounding
3. Depth

 

[campbest]

Better players.

 

[j2d2]

Awareness. Recognize when the opposing team increases their play. When the other team picks up thier defense-RESPOND! When they pick up their offensive intensity RESPOND with increased defensive intensity. Be aware of the other teams approach and respond if they increase thier play-at least equal them.

 

[WTSooner]

I'd just like to see some consistency in terms of effort. That is the #1 most controllable thing for a team, and it's something we struggled with all year long. And we struggled with it while having 3 juniors and 1 senior in the starting lineup all season. That rubs me wrong. Bring the effort, and let the rest take care of itself.

 

[j2d2]

^^^^^Too true.

 

[jerry]

All the guards need to work on finishing at the rim and passing in traffic. Since Jordan and Cousins have mastered dribbling between their legs maybe they could work on other things for next year. Good kids and hard workers so I bet they will.

 

[SoonerinNC]

Great teams have one or more of the following:
1) Depth. In today's fast game you can't do it with five, even six or seven quality players.
2) A dominant big man inside
3) A point guard who can penetrate at will and score or dump for an easy score.
4) One or two pure shooters.

OU has none of the above.

I think they will have the depth next year with five new players, all of whom seem able to play at a good level.

Manyang and McNease will add the heigth and Lattin could bring a much stronger offense next year. Don't know if any one of them becomes dominant but we should have more depth and flexibility inside next year.

Woodard drove well at times. Needs to improve his dishing. But some teams kept him out of the paint. Don't know whether he can improve much and we are two years away from another quality point guard.

Buddy is a great scorer but not a pure shooter. Too many 3-10 nights. Cousins was close the first half of the season but tailed off badly. Both he and Spangler seemed to lose confidence in their offense. Wonder if Cousins ever really recovered from the sprained wrist. He, Buddy or Booker could develop into a more reliable shooter from the outside next year. I don't expect Buford, Odomes or James to develop into a pure shooter next year but James was the #1 shooting guard in Texas before his injury.

Considering our talent level I think we did about as good as we should have expected this year. If you followed the game threads you would think we were about the caliber of Washburn or Eastern Oklahoma.

Our scoring was down but we forced our opponents to run a lot of clock on defense so I'm sure we had fewer opportunities this season. Even with the loss of Thomas I think our offense will be better next year. Our depth can not be worse and I believe the defense will continue to develop. We could make a big run next year. The development of the bigs is probably the most critical issue.

There is a difference between effort and intensity. I don't think we lacked the effort but the intensity was not consistent. Lack of depth was probably a major contributor. If you know someone is coming off the bench that can play you take a few less plays off. The games where we started slow were more due to poor shot selection and too many turnovers more than effort and the intensity was lacking in some cases.

 

[Stikboy]

Figure out what they're doing in the half court offense. Much of the time, the half court offense is attrocious and OU takes terrible shots. Some games it is masked by one or a couple of our guards getting hot. Focus on inside/out, set screens, pass/work the ball and get more high percentage shots. I can't believe, as good a coach as Kruger is, that we don't have something better than that weave. OU stands around and takes jump shots WAY too much. So very frustrating!

 

[tooney]

I would like to see Jordan and the bigs work on their pic and roll.

Have them watch steve nash and any of the bigs he played with.....I know Jordan had trouble getting the ball to them in some of the games and that is something he needs to work on.....or grow longer arms.

And I hope we have more depth next year....able to play as a group with more intensity on defense. Kind of the 40 minutes of hell philosophy.