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Baltimore Sun article on Andrew Fitzgerald
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AdaSooner
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Nice article on a young man who has worked really hard to get in shape and to improve his game!
With all of the talk about M'Baye and our freshmen recruiting class, Drew is kinda of the forgotten man on this year's team. If he has a good season, and if he has improved his footspeed and his ability to be more effective on the boards, his contribution could be huge. His mid-range game was really good last year. He just has to do more if OU is to be successful going forward. It's clear that he knows what he has to do. The question is, can he bring that knowledge to the court when games are on the line.
With all of the talk about M'Baye and our freshmen recruiting class, Drew is kinda of the forgotten man on this year's team. If he has a good season, and if he has improved his footspeed and his ability to be more effective on the boards, his contribution could be huge. His mid-range game was really good last year. He just has to do more if OU is to be successful going forward. It's clear that he knows what he has to do. The question is, can he bring that knowledge to the court when games are on the line.
Agreed, Ada. Fitz does have the skills and midrange game he needs to have a really good senior season and hopefully help the Sooners make the dance. Does his lack of footspeed and ability to play above the rim limit him? Of course; but with the skills Andrew has, his role on this year's team should not be diminished, as some are predicting.
AdaSooner
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Scrybe, I think what some are saying is that Drew's lack of footspeed could put him at a disadvantage on what should be a team that will play the up-tempo style Coach Kruger wants to see. The addition of M'Baye, a racehorse player in his own right, and our freshmen guards, who are all built for stamina and speed, will give us the quality depth we didn't have last year.
That said, Fitz has proven throughout his career that he is a hard worker who is willing to do whatever it takes to get better. He's also an intelligent young man who likely knew when the season ended last year what he would have to do in the off season to continue to be a factor. With those things in mind, I think we may see a different Andrew Fitzgerald this season. Sure hope that's the case!
WTSooner
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The key to this team, and guys like Fitz, is to get them to buy into the team concept, and to focus on what they do best. I feel like Kelvin would REALLY overachieve with a team like this, b/c we have a lot of guys that do a few things really well. Kelvin LOVED guys like that. You can't shoot, but you can get to the lane and draw fouls? Great, don't shoot. You can't score the ball very well, but you play great defense and rebound? Great, don't shoot, just screen and rebound/defend.
I know it's a different era, and it's probably tougher to get kids not to shoot, even when open, but you become more efficient when you run your offense through your best players. I hope to see a bit of that this year. Cam shouldn't lead the team in shots taken, in any game. Same with Grooms, and probably even Fitz. We have the pieces, it's just fitting them together, and getting them to buy in.
I know it's a different era, and it's probably tougher to get kids not to shoot, even when open, but you become more efficient when you run your offense through your best players. I hope to see a bit of that this year. Cam shouldn't lead the team in shots taken, in any game. Same with Grooms, and probably even Fitz. We have the pieces, it's just fitting them together, and getting them to buy in.
I agree with everything you said, but wanted to point out a key difference in Kelvin and CLK. Kelvin cared about wins and fit his "system" to his players, noting that any D-1 player can and should be able to give 100% effort of defense and that is where OU thrived under him. People disagree with me, but I'm still a firm believer that CLK played more last season to his system than his players based primarily on defensive schemes. I'm not, nor will I ever claim to be a big X and O's basketball fan, but what Fitz was asked to do defensively notwithstanding his limitations is the basis for my opinion. He was asked to cover a lot of ground on his defensive assignments and that never really changed completely over the course of the season.
KBaden145
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Coach didn't ask Fitz to do anything a 6-8 big shouldn't be able to do at this level. Fundamentally, the onus is on the player to just get better not 'fit' the system better. Timing a defensive rotation doesn't take great athletic skill. It takes knowledge of what the offense is doing and where the help should come from. Above all, it takes effort and that is another area Fitz needs to improve on. He wasn't a defensive and rebounding liability in his first 3 years because he isn't very athletic. I don't believe the necessary effort has been there. Now if you are talking about him not being great at challenging shots, contesting shots on the goal, or blocking shots, you have a point. Coach wasnt asking him to necessarily do those things, however.
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furge
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Fitz would definitely have suited Kelvin's patient style of offense, but I think he would have taken lumps (especially as a freshman) over his conditioning and focus on defense. He's sort of a Bizarro Johnnie Gilbert, where he's an entrenched starter and offensive specialist with questionable defense, who doesn't exactly collect floor burns. But I also think Kelvin - like the rest of us - would probably credit him big time for his improvement in conditioning and weight loss.
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