Does Capel have what it takes to coach this team?

[Gutter]

I completely agree. The defense has gone down hill every year.

I don't agree with that. I think we've been fairly solid all three years - then plummeted off the cliff this year. A lot of that is the players - most of these freshman don't look like they've ever been asked to play a lick of defense. And Capel doesn't seem to have done a very good job making them.

Willie, Tiny, TMG...These are the kinds of players that Kelvin had trouble getting to come to Oklahoma because of this emphasis on tough defense. They didn't want to play it. So he got players who often lacked "smooth" basketball skills but made up for it with a willingness to play defense. That made for some pretty ugly basketball that a lot of fans didn't like. It was a trade-off. Now it's flipped and, I think, we're seeing the downside to the opposite approach.

 

[afaSooner]

Taylor and AJ were above avg college defenders by their senior season. Then just having Blake's presence in the middle was enough to alter opposing team's offenses. I think everyone forgets that Juan P could have been a game changer this season.

Typically you would have upperclassmen waiting in the wings to fill the void, defections have left OU severely short especially on the front line. Blake leaves early, Pattillo was a fool, Clark out, Allen a bust as a project, Gallon vastly overrated with he and Fitz being a few seasons away from Big 12 level of play. I think Capel was a little snake bit here and really should have had a little more urgency in trying to recruit front line depth the last few seasons, maybe with the mindset of a few athletic defensive stoppers.

Trying to replace those guys with with true freshman Tiny and TMG from the Athletes Always Unguarded ranks, Willie who is always underachieving as a defender, and flat foot Fitz and robot Wright was a recipe for a defensive disaster from day 1. I think this guy had it right before the season even started.

We missed the writing on the wall

With that said, I think its incumbent on Capel to instill a defensive mindset on a team. Solid defense can always keep you in a basketball game. However, I don't care that these guys were MCDAAs, they are FLAT OUT TERRIBLE defenders. TMG is starting to get it, but I doubt Tiny ever will and doesn't have the athleticism. Willie had already punched his ticket to the league, the effort and desire required to be a great defender never was there. I think Capel will learn from this this season, that recruiting a player on offensive accolades alone can quickly kill a team. If you think of next years squad and defensive abilities, its downright scary. If we don't land more recruits to fill our voids on the defensive end for next season, we could be seeing much of the same next year.

Obviously a guy like Pattillo would have been GREAT for this years team. Looking back I'd guess that Pattillo PLANNED to RS and be a big help to this years team but maybe the reason he decided to come out of RS & start playing last year was because he knew he wasn't going to be here this year. (might as well get in and try to raise your stock) Before coming out of RS he may have started skipping class and lost interest in what he was here to do but why? I'm speculating of course but if it's true that Capel looses control of his team real easy, looking back Pattillo may have been a shining example of that ultimately coming back to bite us where it was going to hurt us worse this year... down low under the basket. The aloof approach to things can sometimes spill over into a kids attitude toward class and ultimately lose sight of their goals.

I really hope Capel puts an end to these doubts about him next year. Hopefully this team was just snake bitten and next year we see more control off the court and guys playing w/more heart on the court every game. Pattillo most certainly was a HUGE loss to this years team. For whatever reason the worse case scenario played out for him and the OU basketball program in the end. Either it's a poor choice of character on behalf of Capel or a kid like Pattillo needed to be 'steered' more or coached better and it wasn't done hence his loss of direction.

 

[OUBig12Champs]

NO, not at this level! Not yet anyway - some day maybe? He connects well with young men, but the young men seem to rule the roost with Coach Capel? I like Coach Capel as a person, not as the Coach of The Program!