Does Lon start Carl against OSU

Yes, with these ingredients: WTSooner, OU'S starting line-up and WTSooner = not that many conference wins!
 
I thought you knew the game and how to play. Just what I thought!!!!!
 
We need to be aggressive on defense and put a lot of pressure of Paige. We have to walk in the building with confidence that we can win there is no way we should lose to this team with all of the problems they have. That being said we can't afford to not call time outs we they go on a run, it is best to stop the momentum and re-focus the team. Good luck! Guy's tonight go a take this WINNNNNNNNNNNNN!
 
ok fan 1 said:
It's very clear for the fans that has been following the team and studying the game that Grooms was being recruited by Lon Kruger before he got to OU. This is a prime example of a coach promising a recruit if he signs I will give you the job, but what the coach fail to tell these recruits being an pg is the hardest job in basketball because you are an extension of the coach to carry out the plan. However I think Kruger counted Blair out before he stepped on to the campus, even with the turnovers Blair has proven he can contend with top 25 teams such as Baylor. Also, when we played Mizzu last year we played them better and did not make school history by getting blowed out by almost 40 pts. and the only thing that really changed for mizzu was a new coach just llike OU. However, we got to new players and new coach so we should have had the advantage. The game has been slowed down because Grooms can't make split second decisions and he is a defensive liability on the floor. The only time the pressure defense works is when we are not playing a top 50 team and even then it doesnt work. For example when we played Saint Louis we got out coached and played by a team that didn't have better talent nor were the players more athletic than our team. Take a good look at the games and study them very closely and you should see the game needs to speed up and you need a pg out there that can see the floor in transition and make the decisions that need to be made to keep the defense off balance. That is the only way Neal and Clark will be more effective and you all need to get off the gas about Blairs turnovers because Pledger and the rest of the team is killing the team with their turnovers, because they see the pg. Grooms only has a few moves to get the ball to them and when that is shut down we will continually get blowed out of games that I know we can win if the right line-up is put out there. I wish Kruger would stop taking so long to put Blair in, he always wait until we are down by 20 and 7 minutes to go and by then the confidence of the team is shot!
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First, let me say that I was a huge Carl Blair fan last year, and that hasn't changed this year. He does indeed bring a lot to the game that I like in a point guard. It's what he doesn't do well that cost him his job as a starter.

Carl led the team in turnovers last season with 91. That was better than 3 per game, which is not good for a player charged with running the offense. I said more than once last year that he would have to improve his ball handling in the off season if he expected to start this year. Through 14 games he leads the team in (you guessed it) turnovers with 30. That may not seem like much, until you realize that his playing time has been cut almost in half from the 27.6 minutes he logged last season. Project that out in minutes played and it could (potentially) be double that number.

I really like Carl Blair! Met him a a few weeks ago and was very impressed. What's there not to like about Carl? He seems like a very nice young man. Having said that, though, I understand why Coach Kruger is starting Sam Grooms. He may not shoot free throws as well as Carl or connect with Cam at the rim as well on ally-oop passes. But when it comes to ball control and running the offense, Sam is the best option right now. If that changes, I'll be happy to admit I was wrong.
 
I would not want to you beside me going to war, because it's clear when things look worse than what it is you would for sure jump ship!!!! If you think Grooms is the best thing to go with right now, someone who either refuses to play defense or just can't play defense and that has been proven in the games. We will be talking sooner if not later at the cost of the team and OU'S biggest fan.
 
Something tells me you have a personal connection to Carl that will not allow you to accept what everyone here is trying to tell you. It's certainly not based on a knowledge about basketball, that's for sure. Have a nice day!
 
Not a good game for the Sooners but guess who had a double double and led the team in scoring and rebounding (tie with Ro)?

CB def was given free rein by the OSU D, but I'm surprised.
 
At this stage I believe he gives us the best chance to WIN!!
 
No I don't have a personal connection to Blair but I would enjoy having one as a fan. I wonder if Blair knows that there are people in the team circle if not a pretending friend counting him out. But what is clear your favorite player Grooms can't score nor play defense. Blair had PAGE ON LOCK DOWN! When they put Guerrera in and Blair started to check him and Grooms took the job of guarding PAGE he hit two 3 pointers on Grooms. Props to Kruger he did better getting Blair in there sooner he should have came back out with him just to mix it up. But I guess it takes time to tell Grooms, "son you are just not getting the job done.
 
Ok fan, I'm here to et some crow....Blair played great tonight. I still trust krugers judgement.

Unrelated, ar u high or drunk
 
I here what you are saying that is why a coach have assistant coaches because he can't see everything. But what has been proven is film does not lie go back and look at all of the games if you can and you will see we will never be able to contend if we do play defense to the end. It's war every time they walk out on the floor. There is no need to eat crow, but you do need to pay attention.
 
I like Grooms but he just doesn't fit the roster because we need more scoring and he's just not a scorer. Blair should start for now. He's capable of scoring more.
 
I'm not trying to rain on Carl's parade. Carl and Barry are my two favorite players. He is polite, has a great attitude, hard worker. I'm really happy for players like that when they have a big night.

But, if you want to finish 0-18 in the conference, start Carl at the point. A point guard in simple terms has 4 jobs. Here they are in order of importance.
1. Get the ball up court
2. Pass it to the open guy
3. Defend the other teams point
4. Score if it comes handy
Other than that persistant and chronic turnover issue, Carl lost his starting role because he can not do job #1. OSU is so short handed that they didn't have the option of pressing.

Grooms can get the ball up court under pressure. He has been doing it all year. He is the only one on the team that can. We don't have any ball handlers. Carl is not a terrible ball handler. But, he can not do it by himself. There is no one to help. Opposing coaches know that. If he were on the floor all the time, he would be gamed planned against, his weakness would be easily exploited.
 
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garyeb2 said:
I'm not trying to rain on Carl's parade. Carl and Barry are my two favorite players. He is polite, has a great attitude, hard worker. I'm really happy for players like that when they have a big night.

But, if you want to finish 0-18 in the conference, start Carl at the point. A point guard in simple terms has 4 jobs. Here they are in order of importance.
1. Get the ball up court
2. Pass it to the open guy
3. Defend the other teams point
4. Score if it comes handy
Other than that persistant and chronic turnover issue, Carl lost his starting role because he can not do job #1. OSU is so short handed that they didn't have the option of pressing.

Grooms can get the ball up court under pressure. He has been doing it all year. He is the only one on the team that can. We don't have any ball handlers. Carl is not a terrible ball handler. But, he can not do it by himself. There is no one to help. Opposing coaches know that. If he were on the floor all the time, he would be gamed planned against, his weakness would be easily exploited.
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Very good point. The unforced turnovers last yr were brutal to watch. I would go with Grooms just because he seems to understand how to set the offense better. putting Blair in the starting lineup doesn't automatically solve our scoring issues, IMO.

Pledger has to get better looks and make them again, and Cam/Neal have to score some. Fitz can score, but has not taken good shots lately either.

The last thing is we need to get some easy buckets off of defense early in the game, to get everyone going. We had maybe 3 easy buckets all night against the pokes, while they had easy buckets by the bushel, IMO.....
 
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I'm fine continuing to start Grooms, but in games like last night, if Carl is playing better, he should get more minutes. Simple as that. If we go 0-18 in conference play, I promise, it won't be b/c of who starts at pg.

I also think trying to pigeon hole what a pg should a nd shouldn't be able to do is a bit short sighted. In most college offenses, including OU's, once the initial pass is made to start the offense, the 3 guards are no different. Or at least, they should be no different. OU wouldn't have to reset so many times if Grooms was more of a scoring threat. I still say that the single biggest thing hurting OU on offense right now is the way they are able to defend Grooms. His man is sagging, and taking away the wing pass to Pledger, and affecting the ball screens set by Osby and Fitz. LK is going to have to scheme around that, but we don't have many other options, with out limited guards. At least with Blair, he has a chance to knock down some jumpers.

Last night was the first time I've been REALLY disappointed in OU as a team all season. I think we have more talent then OSU, had more to play for, and we came out flat. And when the going got tough, we didn't band together as a team, they started playing individual basketball for the first time all year. We KNOW that won't win Big 12 ball games.
 
WT, I have a couple of college basketball coaches that I routinly access for opinions and information. One of which that has won over 500 games as a head coach, and within the last 60 day, I ask him what he looked for in a point guard. I was quoting his exact reply in my post.
 
I agree grooms can play defense, get the ball to the open guy and all the above against the teams that is not in the top 50. Stop taking lunch breaks while watching the game. Remember until the roster is changed we won't win.
 
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