Better or worse or about what you thought?

[stoopified]

In terms of developement of the team and w-l record. I wouls say that developement wise the team is where I hoped it would be.We have a solid 9 player rotation when healthy and everyone seems to understand their role. As for the record,we are already 2 games ahead of what I expected. I predicted 9-4 in non-con and am pleased that we are on the verge of being 12-1.

Hopefully we will continue this trend in conference ,as I picked OU to finish 10-8 in the Big 12.

 

[JBaker]

I think I had 10-3 non-conference, so we already beat that.
Now I'll be pretty upset if we don't go 12-1.

 

[DenverSooner]

I think I had 10-3 non-conference, so we already beat that.
Now I'll be pretty upset if we don't go 12-1.

Much better. I thought OU would really have a drop off from last season.

OU is much improved at pg. Spangler is a better rebounder than Osby, Fitz or M'Baye. The other players all seem improved.

 

[garyeb2]

Before the season started I thought that if we had no injuries we would have a good shot at 12-1 and 12-6.

But, there is new information. Hornbeak is hurt. He will probably be available before most think. But, the jury is still out on how well he comes back. I thought that Bennett could give us 12+ min. without much drop off from Spangler. That hasn't panned out yet.

Texas and Iowa St. are looking better than I anticipated. Teams like TCU, WV, and Okie St. look marginally better than last season. Baylor is also further along than I thought.

While the 12-1 part is well within reach, the 12-6 part appears to be in some doubt. I would take 10-8 in conference and call it a day.

I think we have a good team, but, the circumstances in which we are competing appears to be tougher than I thought.

 

[Stikboy]

Any way from what you've seen, that Hornbeak can be back for UT/KU? I remember you saying he was off his crutches the other day, but in Houston he was using them again. That could have been just so he could move faster. It'd be nice for him to have a "Buddy" like recovery..

 

[BoomSoon]

Much better team than I expected.

Yes, the schedule looked much tougher prior to the season if you are comparing to RPI right now. Alabama was picked as a tournament team. A&M was expected to be more of a challenge. Mercer is actually a Top 50 team right now.

However, part of the fact is that OU beat these teams fairly easily. Well, surprise, OU is actually a pretty darn good team.

There will definitely be some challenges in conference, but if the guys can beat LA Tech next Monday night, it's about as good of a non-conference as I could have hoped for.

Remember when Bama jumped out huge on the Sooners to start the season? Guys have seemed to respond well since.

 

[garyeb2]

Any way from what you've seen, that Hornbeak can be back for UT/KU? I remember you saying he was off his crutches the other day, but in Houston he was using them again. That could have been just so he could move faster. It'd be nice for him to have a "Buddy" like recovery..

He may be on track to have a Buddy like recovery. But, remember, Buddy wasn't the same when he came back.

 

[AdaSooner]

Definitely better than I expected. I actually thought we would have at least two losses by this point in the season. If someone had told me this team wouldn't be relying on defense to win games, I might have predicted more than two losses.

Read Gary's post again for the way I feel about the conference portion of our season. I'll add a few thoughts of my own. Every home game in the Big 12 is winnable, and that includes KU, OSU and ISU. But we could easily lose every away game. There is no such thing as an automatic W as some predicted early in the season. TCU and TTU might be close, but I sure hope our players don't get that idea in their collective heads when we play them on their home floor. I haven't forgotten our loss by 18 to a bad TTU in Lubbock two years ago, the only conference game the Techsters won that season.

Baylor is not the "usual Scott Drew coached team." They have too many weapons to underachieve to the point of losing too many games they're picked to win. UT is young, talented and getting better with every outing. I doubted that ISU was the real deal at first. Those doubts have been erased. OSU is, well, just plain good, plus they're also deep. KSU will be tough to beat on their home floor.

The only team I have seen that is down somewhat over what I expected is KU. Wiggins is really good. But he is not a player who can carry a team when the game is on the line, like say a Parker, Randle or Smart. Will Bill Self be able to bring his team together and produce a finely tuned machine by late in the season? The jury is still out on that one. The pieces are there. But Self has his work cut out for him this year.

 

[opsooner]

We are definitely better than I had hoped but so is most of the conference.

I agree that we can win all homes games (but unlikely) and can lose all road games (also unlikely). Very concerned about not having Hornbeak and fear we might lose a few games either during his absence or right after he returns that we might not have lost had he been healthy.

Beat La Tech and then go 10-8 in conference and I will be very happy. Anything better than that is icing. Anything worse could make it difficult depending on conference teams ahead of us and how we compared in conference games. OSU, KU, Texas, Baylor, ISU, and KSU all have at least one better non-conf quality win than us.

 

[Big Old Booger]

Much better than I expected. I didn't predict the non-con schedule but I expected to lose the Seton Hall game and did not expect to play Michigan State as tough. I expected that one to be a double-digit blowout (16 point loss) but it wasn't. I also did not expect to play UTA so close either. So, kind of a mixed bag but I'm definitely pleased with what we have considering what many expected at the conclusion of last season.

Back then we heard "rebuilding" and "nit season" and other words that have the same meaning. I think we are a tourney team at this point and if we can somehow get to 12-6 or even 11-7 I think we have a great chance to win a game or 2 in the tourney.

I think every home game is winnable and I think we should win at least 3 road games and probably 4 (Tech, TCU, WVU and either Texas, KSU or Baylor). I think we give OSU a very tough game in GIA and could win that one and I think we hang tough with KU at AF but probably don't win and end up losing by 10-12. I don't think any big 12 coach will outcoach LK but I think KU's talent and height will be too much to overcome (at AF).

 

[WTSooner]

I predicted 11-2 OOC, and 11-7 in conference, in this thread:

http://ouhoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29699

Looks like we are likely to finish one game better in the OOC. So W/L-wise, we are probably better. As a team overall? Probably a little better, but it's being done much differently then I thought it would be.

I'm really curious to see how this team does against better competition. Outside of the Michigan State game, we are likely to have about 10 games against better competition than anybody else that was on our OOC schedule, and another 4 probably that are better than everybody except MSU and Bama. So we're about to see a major step up in competition.

 

[OULad]

We are definitely better than I thought. Unfortunately the league is a lot better than I thought also. I think we finish 6th. Maybe 5th if we catch some breaks.

 

[coolm]

I would take 10-8 in conference and run away happy. This is a TOUGH conference and going above .500 would make me very happy.

 

[JBaker]

We are definitely better than I thought. Unfortunately the league is a lot better than I thought also. I think we finish 6th. Maybe 5th if we catch some breaks.

KU, ISU, OSU, Baylor.
Who else should be better than us to the point that we need some breaks to finish ahead of them?

 

[sybarite]

I've been stunned by this team. Much better than I had anticipated.

 

[sperry]

We are much better than I thought, but the conference is much better than I thought. I would have said 2 losses non-con, and we're going to get through with 1. Our conference record will probably be about where I thought it would be (9-9, 10-8) but that will be more than enough to get us into the dance on the strength of the conference, which I didn't think it would be going into the season.

 

[usedtobe1]

The team is much better than I expected them to be. They rebound better. Of course, college is a PG's game, and Woodard turned out to be a solid player from the start. He has a solid body and doesn't get man-handled by physical defenses. I love his passing, and he sees the entire court well.

OK, I mentioned Woodard, so I'll mention some of the other players. Spangler is a much better rebounder than I thought he would be, but probably not as much offensively as I hoped. He's a good, smart defensive player but we need him on the floor and I hate seeing him taking as many chances as he does to block shots. He does well for an under-sized center..... he really should be a 4. Cam has made unbelievable improvement. His shot has really improved 100% and he's always been athletic and a good defender. I wish he had redshirted and we had him for another year. Buddy is kind of streaky. I love his hustle but he sometimes plays out of control and takes wild shots. He is he best on the team at creating his own shot. Cousins is really turning into a good player. I love his athleticism.

For the bench, Hornbeak is about what I thought he would be. He's a solid player but never looks happy. Hornbeak, Cousins, and Buddy can play some defense.... they're quick and they work hard on defense. Sometimes we get beat on defense but it isn't because of lack of effort. Tyler Neal is mucht better than I could have imagined. He's filling the gap I had hoped Edson Avila would fill. Tyler is a lot more physical this year, and his psot offense is a pleasant surprise .... he just doesn't sit out ther and shoot 3's. Booker is turning into a good player is is probably already our best outside shooter but he does a lot more than that. He is actually improving on defense and becoming a complete player. I got tickled at the A&M game. I sat by the entrance tunnel and while waiting for the 1st game to end, Booker was pretty loose and was dancing much of the time. I'm hoping to get a little more consistency from Bennett because we need him. We won't win a lot of games with just Spangler inside. He sometimes needs more help than 3 guards and a SF (Clark). Bennett has to be that guy. He's quick enough but the physicality may hurt him. He needs to be stronger. Maybe he is just now getting into game shape after his injury.

I like that we're playing 9 deep but I am concerned about our inside game. Spangler is really solid but even he is under-sized. Our lack of size is going to hurt us in some games, but having our guards rebound so well has helped.

We will go as far as Woodard can take us......

 

[WaymanFan]

This team is definitely better than I thought they'd be to this point. I would have never predicted that Cam and Buddy would combine to average 35+ points in non-conference play. If someone stated the over/under at 30, I probably would have guessed the under...definitely did not see 35. I also did not expect Jordan Woodard to be playing like an upper-classman so early in his freshman campaign. He's the best freshman PG at OU since I've been a fan (Dave Bliss era). Terry Evans had a really good freshman year as well, but I don't remember having the same confidence in him as I do Jordan.

Like others have stated, I didn't expect the conference in general to be as good as it has been. Going 10-8 in conference play will be the goal from my perspective, and that assumes a 4-0 record against TCU and TTech. Going 2-2 against Kansas and OSU will likely push us above 10 wins, but 2-2 is not going to be easy.

 

[oSuJeff97]

KU, ISU, OSU, Baylor.
Who else should be better than us to the point that we need some breaks to finish ahead of them?

While I don't know that I would classify these teams as definitively "better" than OU, both Texas and Kansas State should be in the conversation.

Both Texas and Kansas State currently each have a better win(s) than OU does, having beaten North Carolina and Gonzaga, respectively. You might also argue that Texas' win over Vanderbilt is better than any of OU's wins.

K-State also has a couple of bad losses, so I would probably give OU the edge over them.

But I think it's debatable right now who is better between Texas and OU. OU has a better record, but Texas has played a tougher schedule and definitely has the better wins.

But to your point, I don't know that OU would need "breaks" to finish ahead of either K-State or Texas, but I certainly don't think it's a slam dunk. It'll be a dogfight for every position in the Big 12 this year.

 

[AdaSooner]

While I don't know that I would classify these teams as definitively "better" than OU, both Texas and Kansas State should be in the conversation.

Both Texas and Kansas State currently each have a better win(s) than OU does, having beaten North Carolina and Gonzaga, respectively. You might also argue that Texas' win over Vanderbilt is better than any of OU's wins.

K-State also has a couple of bad losses, so I would probably give OU the edge over them.

But I think it's debatable right now who is better between Texas and OU. OU has a better record, but Texas has played a tougher schedule and definitely has the better wins.

But to your point, I don't know that OU would need "breaks" to finish ahead of either K-State or Texas, but I certainly don't think it's a slam dunk. It'll be a dogfight for every position in the Big 12 this year.

OU lost to Michigan State by 11 on a neutral floor. Texas lost to the Spartans by 14 at home. So, using your logic, OU must be at least three points better than UT.

Seriously, I agree there are no automatic Ws in the Big 12 this season, especially on the road. TCU and Tech appear to be the weakest of the lot. But even those two games will not be easy. Any team in the conference is capable of beating the teams at the top on their home floor. The Big 12 is going to be a dog fight this year.