Does Capel have what it takes to coach this team?

[gracefor24]

You have no business in this thread. OU is not KU. Capel can not recruit the DEPTH that KU can. That's the bottom line. I don't like the way this team is put together, but I don't think one season means we're heading in the wrong direction. It's not easy to recruit one McD's guy to OU, let along a team of them. You're going to whiff on some of the middle-range guys, because they all have holes in their games.

It's a public forum, buddy, no big deal.

It has nothing to do with who KU recruits but I will say Bill Self has somehow managed to do really well with kids ranked similarly to the ones that are playing terrible or not playing at all at KU. I think he is a great evaluator and it shows. The AA's are going to be good and at OU they definitely have (Griffin, Warren, TMG, Gallon), the difference is how your role players develop and how you put them in a position to be successful. KU has done well in that area both in guys filling roles and guys improving a great deal while on campus (MorrisX2, Morningstar, Reed, Taylor, Darnell Jackson).

 

[NickZepp]

You are the one blaming Sampson for Capel having 2 guys a recruiting leaving

Year 1
Maze, Clark both left. Crocker stayed
Year 2
Early kicked off, Neysmith left
Year 3
Blake Griffin goes pro from the last class 2 JUCO leave or get kicked off

There's 4 guys in the first 3 recruiting classes that stayed all of their years. Warren, Davis, Willis, and Crocker. One of those wasn't a Capel recruit.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

And it's not just the transfers, it's the busts on top of the transfers. Wright shouldn't be starting, and probably shouldn't be the first big off the bench. Allen? Hardrick? Willis? What it amounts to, is Capel has recruited Blake, Willie, TMG, and Gallon. And not all of that list has panned out to date.

 

[NickZepp]

Forgot Omar Leary he was a backup but he stayed both years and did a solid job as a role player. We could actuall use that this year.

 

[WaymanFan]

I think the John Blake comparison might not be far off. Capel can definitely spot talent, relate with talent but maybe just can't coach it at a big time level yet.

Jeff Capel, with all his faults on display this year, remains 4-2 in the NCAA Tournament. A John Blake equivalent would be 0-0 in the NCAA Tournament. In other words, you picked a pretty bad argument. That's 4 NCAA tournament wins in his first three (okay, four) years at OU. His two predecessors combined for ONE NCAA Tournament victory after their first four years.

If next year is like this year, I'll start having my doubts...but until then, I'm staying on the bandwagon.

I'm not comparing Coach Capel to Coach K, but the latter's first three seasons at Duke went like this: 17-13, 10-17, 11-17. Duke fans by the thousands wanted him fired. I wonder how that turned out? The point is, some of you are giving up on Coach Capel waaaaaaaaaaaay too soon.

Edit: BTW, blaming Kelvin Sampson for this mess is a copout. He had nothing to do with this. Jeff needs to do a better job in his recruiting efforts. Much better.

 

[seniorsooner]

Comparing Capel to Blake is a prety weak comparison, imo. My friends and I put together an "All John Blake Years Team" prior to this past football season, and it had a lot of talented players on it. Yet the best he could muster was 5-6. Capel had a very talented team last year and went to the elite 8. Big difference.

 

[38red]

Yep. You can't blame Kelvin for all the issues. Capel started behind the 8 ball but he's had plenty of time to put the kind of talent together to be consistent.

This is all I'm trying to say!

Griffin masked a lot, but OU wasn't that HOT team until the middle of Griffins 2nd year! That's a year and 1/2 to 2 years Capel had to battle for recruits before there was anything positive coming out of OU on the court. Now that Griffin is gone and the seniors too, the holes are showing up big time!

Cannon, Clark and Maze were late in the year recruits(I don't have a problem with those misses!). Patillo failed, that hasn't been a constant problem for Capel's recruits so far.

We are young with some talent that all have holes in their game (mostly on D and ball handling). To me, Capel's has a year in a half before you can talk about being on the hot seat (unless the off the court issues continue at the same pace next year!).

 

[NickZepp]

Comparing Capel to Blake is not only weak but it holds no water. Capel's weakest team was over .500 this team may be weaker and end up just under .500 but Blake's strongest team just barely finished under .500.

 

[skyvue]

I'm not comparing Coach Capel to Coach K, but the latter's first three seasons at Duke went like this: 17-13, 10-17, 11-17. Duke fans by the thousands wanted him fired. I wonder how that turned out? The point is, some of you are giving up on Coach Capel waaaaaaaaaaaay too soon.

How successful was Duke in the years before Coach K took over? How many McDAA's were on his early teams? (I'm not necessarily trying to make a point -- I truly don't know the answers.)

 

[htownSOONER]

I was extremely critical of Sampson, I am sure most of you remember that. This is in no way Sampsons fault. Anyone that says this is KS fault is wrong.

 

[38red]

No one is blaming Sampson personally, but the situation Capel came in too!

 

[WaymanFan]

How successful was Duke in the years before Coach K took over? How many McDAA's were on his teams? (I'm not necessarily trying to make a point -- I truly don't know the answers.)

Duke's recent teams prior to Coach K were VERY SUCCESSFUL. They played Kentucky for the National Championship just two years before Coach K arrived. The Duke fans should be grateful that the school administration didn't completely overreact to their demands and complaints.

Coach Capel deserves a good chunk of the blame for this year's team, but that doesn't mean he's not going to be a great coach at some point. I still think he's a very good coach now, but needs to figure out this recruiting thing pretty quickly.

 

[NickZepp]

Oklahoma doesn't have the fan support Duke probably had at that time.

 

[SoonerEyeDoc]

This is the worst defensive team I've seen in almost 30 years. Atrocious.

Agreed. I was thinking that this is quite possibly the worst OU team that I have seen in my lifetime (and I'm 38 years old). I just hope that all the young players returning next season will use this as a learning tool, providing more motivation for them want to get better for next season.

 

[buttermaker1]

It's a public forum, buddy, no big deal.

It has nothing to do with who KU recruits but I will say Bill Self has somehow managed to do really well with kids ranked similarly to the ones that are playing terrible or not playing at all at KU. I think he is a great evaluator and it shows. The AA's are going to be good and at OU they definitely have (Griffin, Warren, TMG, Gallon), the difference is how your role players develop and how you put them in a position to be successful. KU has done well in that area both in guys filling roles and guys improving a great deal while on campus (MorrisX2, Morningstar, Reed, Taylor, Darnell Jackson).

Like clock work here come the gawks

 

[gracefor24]

Like clock work here come the gawks

:clap:woot

 

[MercedeSooner]

Is Capel Tommy Amaker ? He left a train wreck at Seton Hall after coming in, recruiting big, then the program spiraled out of control because among many things lack of discipline. You can argue that the same things that endear him to many of the kids and that allows him to get commits from such highly touted players also plays against him. Do our guys respect him as much as they would Bill Self ?

 

[Sid]

I was extremely critical of Sampson, I am sure most of you remember that. This is in no way Sampsons fault. Anyone that says this is KS fault is wrong.

Ditto.

 

[Romulus]

Is Capel Tommy Amaker ? He left a train wreck at Seton Hall after coming in, recruiting big, then the program spiraled out of control because among many things lack of discipline. You can argue that the same things that endear him to many of the kids and that allows him to get commits from such highly touted players also plays against him. Do our guys respect him as much as they would Bill Self ?

same could be said for Quin Snyder

 

[soonerroby]

This has nothing to do with Sampson. Capel has had 4 years in the program. He has recruited his own players and put in his system. This loss today had nothing to do with him. Please stop that nonsense.

I said ROOTED in the mess he left behind. There is no way you lose scholarships and don't have issues down the line. This team lacks serious depth that is partially due to the defection of recruits AFTER signing day the year Sampson left and partially due to the current staff not hitting on all their recruits. Anyone who thinks this team wouldn't be better with Dameon James & Scottie Reynolds is just nuts. The leadership and toughness those two guys would bring to this team would be worth at least 5-6 more wins IMO.

A college basketball team can change with the addition or subtraction of one player. IMO, the greatness of Blake Griffin allowed us as fans to gloss over weaknesses that were there last year, but didn't manifest until this year. Warren disappeared at times last year, but Griffin made up for it. How good would this team be if Blake Griffin were suiting up? Can you imagine what it would be like to have him & TMG on the court together?

I think Capel is a good coach and I'm not advocating he move on any time soon. I'm simply stating that his predecessor didn't exactly leave the cupboard in good shape and tied his hand behind his back from a recruiting/scholarship standpoint.

Bob Stoops had neither of those hindrances when he took over from John Blake. There were lots of athletes on campus ready to play. I'd have to see Capel switch to the Princeton motion offense and Syracuse 2-3 zone defense in the middle of a game then switch back at half then switch back at second media timeout before I'd say this reminded me a John Blake team.