Does OU have a good bench?

[DenverSooner]

I thought (and probably still do) that the bench is a big weakness for this team. Last game CJ Washington has a big night. Today Tyler Neal has a big night. (Honore also made a nice contribution even if it wasn't in the box score.).

Is this bench better than we thought?

If Tyler Neal can consistently produce off the bench, OU is going to be darn good next season. They will be a very solid 8 deep (starting 5 plus Neal, Blair and M'Baye) with two top 100 sg joining the team and talented 6'9" forward.

Blair has shot a pretty respectable percentage from 3. I wonder if he can teach himself to be both a backup pg and a guy that can spot up and hit open 3 pointers when Pledger needs a break.

 

[UHsurfer12]

Doesn't help that the best bench player, Newell, left the team.

 

[DenverSooner]

I am not going to spend another second worrying about Newell. I am solely focused on OU. The question is: Are Washington, Neal, Blair and Honore a better bench than we thought?

 

[AdaSooner]

I am not going to spend another second worrying about Newell. I am solely focused on OU. The question is: Are Washington, Neal, Blair and Honore a better bench than we thought?

IMO, I believe the answer is a resounding, YES!

Every player on your list has stepped up big time for his team at one time or another. Even Honore', who I was not that high on last year, has given the team some quality minutes off the bench. C. J. is much improved this year, and Tyler has more than met my expectations. Blair may not be the best point guard around. But he's the best back up PG we've got, and I'm sure glad he's on our roster. He does a lot more good things than he's given credit for.

 

[WTSooner]

I am not going to spend another second worrying about Newell. I am solely focused on OU. The question is: Are Washington, Neal, Blair and Honore a better bench than we thought?

Better than we thought doesn't mean "good".

I don't know that we have an answer for your question yet, but I'm inclined to say no. Not saying they can't have good games, or good stretches, but we'll go as our starters go.

 

[TheGimper]

What WT said.

Tyler had the best game of his career. I'm not inclined to say that will be his norm. Barry might have gave his best 10 minutes against Arkansas. CJ looked rough this game, Casey's been struggling and Carl is Carl.

 

[ouwxman]

I think OU's bench is better than I thought. If you have Grooms, Pledger, Clark, Osby, and Fitzgerald starting, Tyler Neal is a pretty darn good 6 man. I don't feel we lose much defensively when our bench players come in, which is a big plus. Blair can turn the ball over too much and doesn't have the same control as Grooms, but he's a better shooter.

As for the post players, I don't think we've seen enough to make a verdict. Washington had a nice game against Oral Roberts, but looked lost today. He's a better shooter than Honore, but Honore will outrebound him and provide a better physical presence. I don't think we lose a lot with Honore in defensively, but he needs more polish on the offensive side. We had a nice lead when Fitzgerald got into foul trouble, but in a close game Honore or Washington may play a lot of minutes if Osby or Fitzgerald get into trouble and they are a pretty big dropoff IMO. Arent really hasn't had much success offensively and isn't too effective defensively either.

 

[p230]

Its better than the bench we had last year so I will hang my hope on that for this team. We are overall a better team.

 

[AdaSooner]

Denver didn't ask if the players on his list were good. He wanted to know if they're better than we thought. For my part, the answer to that question is, yes.

If Arent had been on that list, I would have added a footnote to say that he is not as good as I expected him to be. Hopefully he will improve as the season progresses and he adjusts to the D-1 game. For a guy his size who plays really hard, he's a lot more intimidated than I could have possibly imagined when he signed with OU.

I'm pleased with the progress our back up players have demonstrated in the past two or three games. They're not consistent. But one or more seems to find a way to get the job done, and that's the most important thing to me. I'll worry about them being consistent later. lol