Call your shot:

[BigTime]

Which frosh guard will have the biggest impact for the Sooners this year? I have heard good things about all three of them.

I think Hield will score the most but I'm leaning toward Cousins having the biggest impact as a true freshman (back up PG).

I wonder which one of the 3 will be the best defender right away?

 

[Mr.B!!!]

I'm going with Cousins, solely on gut instinct. If just one of these guys is ready to produce we are a solid team.

 

[KBaden145]

Hornbeak, as a combo guard, seems like he might be the easiest to fit into a rotation. I think the one or two who guard best will play most.

 

[BigTime]

Hornbeak, as a combo guard, seems like he might be the easiest to fit into a rotation. I think the one or two who guard best will play most.

You make a good point regarding defense as we know Pledge, Osby, M'Baye and Fitz can score...and that Cam will play good defense.

 

[KBaden145]

Kruger has said from his first observations of the squad he liked their skill shooting the ball. I think he has hinted from the beginning he needed better athleticism and better D. These young guards will hopefully give that 2nd unit a spark on both sides of the court but especially matching up on D. I wouldn't be surprised to see all 3 play, especially if we don't get what we need from Neal as a wing off the bench shooting the ball.

 

[25mob]

Probably Hornbeak as the PG on the second unit. Even though I think that Hornbeak and Cousins will be interchangeable on the floor together in the backcourt with the second unit.

 

[WTSooner]

Hard to say, mostly b/c it may not be which of the frosh guards are the best, but which veteran in front of them falters the most, allowing them the change to impact games.

I think Hield is the most ready offensively. But he can't play point. That leaves Hornbeak and Cousins to get minutes there. We also don't know where M'Baye is going to get his minutes. If he plays inside mostly, I think Hield has a chance to get Cam's minutes. If M'Baye is starting at the 3, and Cam is backing him up, and Pledger plays a lot at the 2, I'm not sure they'll plug Hield in at the 2 with a pg and M'Baye (3), so that could limit his minutes.

Really interesting to see how this all shakes out. Not sure an OU team has had so many questions, and different possible answers, in a long time.

 

[garyeb2]

Well, it isn't like the three freshmen guards just rolled into town on the 1st day of school and are planning to drop by the gym next week when practice starts. By the time the first regular season game gets here, they will have been working out with the team for four solid months. That includes off season conditioning drills.

For all practical purposes they are fully integrated into the team. They have had plenty of time to adjust to D1 speed, tempo, and toughness. That is assuming some of those qualities are currently present with last seasons players. They have been going against Grooms, Pledger, and Clark every day and they are ready to get them or they aren't.

Last season there wasn't any competition between Grooms and Blair for the starting spot. On the 1st day of practice Kruger handed Grooms the ball and it was his job to lose. And he didn't. The job of 1st big off the bench was Arent's job to lose. He did.

Who plays where and how much won't be a mystery for very long. Practice starts on Friday. Day one will tell us most all of what we need to know.

 

[WTSooner]

Who plays where and how much won't be a mystery for very long. Practice starts on Friday. Day one will tell us most all of what we need to know.

Disagree a little bit. I think we have enough guys that will be inconsistent for various reasons (not super talented, young, playing out of position, etc), that this year, we may see the lineup and/or rotation of players change quite a few times. Somebody slumps, they might just lose their minutes for several games or the rest of the year. I also think LK will experiment early, which means a lot of different looks.

 

[TheGimper]

Disagree a little bit. I think we have enough guys that will be inconsistent for various reasons (not super talented, young, playing out of position, etc), that this year, we may see the lineup and/or rotation of players change quite a few times. Somebody slumps, they might just lose their minutes for several games or the rest of the year. I also think LK will experiment early, which means a lot of different looks.

Not to mention, in the early games (until we face real competition) Kruger likes to rotate a lot of guys and use a lot of different line-ups. So it might not be until our pre-season tournament that we get a more sound idea of what we'll be running in Big 12 play.

 

[garyeb2]

Disagree a little bit. I think we have enough guys that will be inconsistent for various reasons (not super talented, young, playing out of position, etc), that this year, we may see the lineup and/or rotation of players change quite a few times. Somebody slumps, they might just lose their minutes for several games or the rest of the year. I also think LK will experiment early, which means a lot of different looks.

Sure, I would expect Kruger to use a 9-10 man rotation early on and mayby deep into the season. But, my point was that some players will get the first and most minutes with the 1's in practice. And that will likely tansfer to the first and most minutes in games.

The identity of those players will be known to Kruger well before he commences the first practice.

 

[SoonerinNC]

I think they will all play. Kruger likes to run and use pressure defense. Takes a lot of players. We have 5 starters returning and Neal. Then M'Baye and the 3 freshmen. Whoever starts will play the most but they will be spelled early and often.

They couldn't do that last year because of no depth and it killed us late in the games.

 

[garyeb2]

I think they will all play. Kruger likes to run and use pressure defense. Takes a lot of players. We have 5 starters returning and Neal. Then M'Baye and the 3 freshmen. Whoever starts will play the most but they will be spelled early and often.

They couldn't do that last year because of no depth and it killed us late in the games.

Exactly

 

[WaymanFan]

A similar question was posed 5 years ago. Everyone kenw Blake would make the biggest impact, but the question was who was next? Of the three choices, Cade Davis, Quin Early and Tony Neysmith, my "gut instincts" went with Early (oops). Let's see if I can go 1 - 2, so I'll pick Cousins. If more than two of them are in the regular rotation by January, though, I'm afraid that means one of our guys wound up developing a case of "senioritis."

 

[AdaSooner]

I think they will all play. Kruger likes to run and use pressure defense. Takes a lot of players. We have 5 starters returning and Neal. Then M'Baye and the 3 freshmen. Whoever starts will play the most but they will be spelled early and often.

They couldn't do that last year because of no depth and it killed us late in the games.

That's how I see it, too. I've said for sometime that our freshmen guards will give us the much-needed "quality" depth we didn't have last year; a must-have for any team that wants to play an up tempo game. I believe each player will contribute in his own way. With Hield it might be scoring, whereas Hornbeak's versatility and his court smarts could be the key to his success.

But, if I had to pick one player who has a chance to stand out above the rest, it would be Cousins. He was by all accounts brought to OU to play the point. If Grooms has not improved his ability to score in the off season, I don't think that Coach Kruger will continue to sit idly by again, while our opponents play five on four and let Sam take wide open shots. If Cousins proves to be as tough on defense as he is said to be, and he can score from somewhere, his playing time will increase if Grooms does not come through.

That said, I'm hoping Sam will be an offensive threat that can't be ignored this year. His experience and his assist to turnover ratio still makes him the best bet to lead our offense.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

That said, I'm hoping Sam will be an offensive threat that can't be ignored this year. His experience and his assist to turnover ratio still makes him the best bet to lead our offense.

I really like Grooms, if he can have any success shooting the ball this year I think we are pretty good.

 

[AdaSooner]

I really like Grooms, if he can have any success shooting the ball this year I think we are pretty good.

No doubt about it. Cousins or Hornbeak, or whoever wins the back up point guard spot may turn out to be even better than Grooms in time. But they're unproven commodities right now, with zero experience at the college level. We know what Grooms can do. We also know what he couldn't do last season, and therein lies my only problem with naming him the starting point guard from the tip off to the finish. If he can become a scoring threat, this OU team will surprise a few people. I will not be one of them.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

No doubt about it. Cousins or Hornbeak, or whoever wins the back up point guard spot may turn out to be even better than Grooms in time. But they're unproven commodities right now, with zero experience at the college level. We know what Grooms can do. We also know what he couldn't do last season, and therein lies my only problem with naming him the starting point guard from the tip off to the finish. If he can become a scoring threat, this OU team will surprise a few people. I will not be one of them.

I'd settle for him to just be an "option". I'll probably take some heat for this sentiment, but if the other team is going to leave him wide open, I'd just assume he shoot the ball and our guys go battle for the board. Even though I couldn't stand his coach and I'm obviously an OU fan, I used to feel terrible for Gottleib when we just left him out there, that he was probably told not to take the shot probably only made matters worse inside his head...and we still beat them so him not shooting didn't help the final outcome. I'd take the 30% chance that it goes in and the 40% chance that we can grab the board over the looks that we were getting last season. Again, I'm sure I'll get ripped but that's my take.

 

[WTSooner]

It is really, really hard for kids to come in and run the point as true freshmen, unless they are just super talented. While I'm hopeful Hornbeak and/or Cousins will do just fine in a backup role this season, I suspect, at times, they will struggle to get us into our offense. Just the nature of the beast, especially since neither are "true pg's."

 

[AdaSooner]

I'd settle for him to just be an "option". I'll probably take some heat for this sentiment, but if the other team is going to leave him wide open, I'd just assume he shoot the ball and our guys go battle for the board. Even though I couldn't stand his coach and I'm obviously an OU fan, I used to feel terrible for Gottleib when we just left him out there, that he was probably told not to take the shot probably only made matters worse inside his head...and we still beat them so him not shooting didn't help the final outcome. I'd take the 30% chance that it goes in and the 40% chance that we can grab the board over the looks that we were getting last season. Again, I'm sure I'll get ripped but that's my take.

Why would anyone rip you for expressing an opinion?

I can see both sides of this issue. On the one hand, you don't want to let defenders double down on someone else and allow your point guard to take uncontested shots. For that reason, I lean toward forcing the opponent to play honest on defense.

At the same time, you don't want a 20% shooter from three taking too many shots, while robbing a better shooter of those opportunities. That's why I said Sam has to find a way to score from somewhere to be more effective as our floor leader. If it's on pull up short range jumpers or drives to the hole, so be it. Just SCORE!, anyway you can, and don't be a liability to your teammates on the scoreboard.

It is really, really hard for kids to come in and run the point as true freshmen, unless they are just super talented. While I'm hopeful Hornbeak and/or Cousins will do just fine in a backup role this season, I suspect, at times, they will struggle to get us into our offense. Just the nature of the beast, especially since neither are "true pg's."

Absolutely true. None of us have any idea what these kids will do when faced with the prospect of running our offense. My guess is they'll struggle, at least early on. Then again, we may be able to live with their mistakes, providing one of them can make up for it on defense, or by adding another dimension to the scoring column. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out as the season progresses.