Think about it. 7 out of the last 8 McDonald's All-Americans have not panned out for our Sooners. You had Humphrey and Lavender transfer after their sophmore years. Reynolds and James jumped ship when Sampson left. Warren had a dissapointing year and looks to be heading to the draft. And TMG and Tiny have had off court issues and maybe heading out of Norman after one year. Of Course than there was Blake who was everything and more than you could ask out of a kid. Just food for thought i guess.
Curse of the McDonald's AA
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NMSooner'80
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I am glad that a couple of the "old school Burger Boys," Tisdale and Webster, had no issues like what some of the others have had lately.
Krugerfan52
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Had Nova gone down yesterday, three of the teams with the most MAA's would have been out of the tourney after day 1. UNC, Nova and OU. Not sure how many UCONN has, but I'm guessing they have their share.
Big Old Booger
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Did they have "McDonald's All-Americans" back then? Seems like when Webster was in HS it was Parade All-Americans but not sure about Tisdale even though he was one of the top 2 or 3 recruits in the country.
NMSooner'80
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I know there was when Jeff Webster graduated, but I can't remember for sure if there was a McDonald's All-America game when Wayman graduated in '82. I do know he was pretty much a consensus high school All-American.
gracefor24
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James wasn't a McD's AA.
Maybe one of the reasons these McD AA arent working out for us is because, they were flawed from the get go and thats why we were able to get them in the first place. Lavender is a great example, sure he was a McD AA, but the Dukes, UNCs, and UCLAs of the world took a pass on him because of his obvious flaws, height and defense. So all we had to do was beat Cincinatti for him.
Then the scenario perpetuates itsef. He didnt last at OU because of those flaws, and we wish he hadnt had those flaws so it would have worked at OU, but in reality, if he didnt have those flaws he never would have come to OU to begin with because the Duke's and UNCs would have been after him. For several of the other McD AA busts, the flaw wasnt height it was character, but it all ends the same
To me if a McD AA not from Oklahoma or Texas (our natural recruiting base)falls in OU's lap, we should probably be skepticle from the get go. If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.
Then the scenario perpetuates itsef. He didnt last at OU because of those flaws, and we wish he hadnt had those flaws so it would have worked at OU, but in reality, if he didnt have those flaws he never would have come to OU to begin with because the Duke's and UNCs would have been after him. For several of the other McD AA busts, the flaw wasnt height it was character, but it all ends the same
To me if a McD AA not from Oklahoma or Texas (our natural recruiting base)falls in OU's lap, we should probably be skepticle from the get go. If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.
Big Old Booger
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Good post. I've said the same thing. Our MCDAA's aren't the same as the ones Duke, and Kentucky, and North Carolina are getting. Except Blake. He was legit. Willie had baggage. Tiny had baggage. And TMG had baggage.
NickZepp
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Duke, Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, and maybe a couple others are getting guys that are constantly top 10 talent. In our history we've never done that. Even with Billy. Wayman was a top 10 player probably top 5. But outside of that he mostly got top 5/10 JUCOs and some top 20-30 players. Webster was around top 15-20 and was an mcds AA. McAlister was rated high but not an McDs AA. King was pretty high I think. But the JUCOs we got under Tubbs and Kelvin were pretty good. That's where both of those guys made their teams centered around. 88 team had Blaylock and Grant and Stacey King. We need to try and get top level JUCOs and top 50-100 type HS players that fit the roster.
okienole3
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I am glad that you have so much "knowledge" of things that happened before your were born.
Juco players are risky, but, I suspect, also hungrier to do well. Whatever inflated opinions they had of themselves coming out of high school, if they had them, had to have been deflated somewhat in the year or two since. Careful screening could result in a few nuggets.
If OU's burger AA's leave, success next year could depend heavily on recruiting good juco's who can play right away. Tubbs and Sampson had juco connections. I have no idea what Capel's experience is in this area.
If OU's burger AA's leave, success next year could depend heavily on recruiting good juco's who can play right away. Tubbs and Sampson had juco connections. I have no idea what Capel's experience is in this area.
This is where Tubbs and Sampson excelled. Those guys were always in on the best of what the JUCO ranks had to offer. Granted, there aren't as many quality JUCO players as in the past, but there's still no reason Coach Capel can't get it on the best of the best.
If you look at the two best OU teams of all time, bringing in a couple of JUCO players put them over the top (and neither had any Burger Boys)...of course, both teams already had pieces in place. After the 1987 season, I remember thinking that '88 would be a rebuilding year because we lost 3 four-year starters. However, Coach Tubbs signed 4 JUCOs, two of which got immediate playing time, one player made significant improvement, and OU winds up having their greatest team of all time.
Going into the 2001-2002 season, most of us weren't exactly jumping for joy. We had just lost a bunch of contributors from the previous team (N. Johnson, K. Newton, JR Raymond, T. Heskett and J. Heywood) that had a first-round NCAA exit. They were replaced with 3 JUCO players and a transfer from a small school. One of those JUCO players could play the point, a desperate need, one could shoot, and we got dramatical improvement from the two best holdovers...and we end up in the Final Four.
While next year's team will not have this much success no matter what happens, there's no reason we can't make great strides if Coach brings in a couple more immediate contributors, and a couple of returning players make significant improvement.
