Does Willie even want to be out there?

[soonertboy824]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

thats what u get when ur the star player and have a yr like he has had...fairornot

 

[sheepdogs]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

Blame it on the trainers. Why they didn't implement R.I.C.E. is inexcusable.

 

[Krugerfan52]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

Has been disgraceful.

So has his attitude.

It's the same as anything in life. You get what you put into it. If he had been putting out the same effort as Crocker and Cade had then he would have the fans loving him right now.

 

[MsProudSooner]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

Blame it on the trainers. Why they didn't implement R.I.C.E. is inexcusable.

??????

 

[TINY]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

So has his attitude.

It's the same as anything in life. You get what you put into it. If he had been putting out the same effort as Crocker and Cade had then he would have the fans loving him right now.

Cade and Crocker are upperclassmen, WWIII is not. I am sure we will not have the privilege to see WW as an upperclassmen, but don't lump him together with guys who have been playing D1 bball for 3+ years until that time comes. Capel is the leader of the team so blame him for the lack of leadership, not WWIII.

For the record, the only guy I saw scrap on the floor for a loose ball was Willie last night. Willie was injured, too, mind you.

 

[MsProudSooner]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

Cade and Crocker are upperclassmen, WWIII is not. I am sure we will not have the privilege to see WW as an upperclassmen, but don't lump him together with guys who have been playing D1 bball for 3+ years until that time comes. Capel is the leader of the team so blame him for the lack of leadership, not WWIII.

For the record, the only guy I saw scrap on the floor for a loose ball was Willie last night. Willie was injured, too, mind you.

Prior to the season, Willie was quoted as wanting to be the leader for this team, much as Blak was as a sophomore last year. When players make comments like that but don't follow up with their actions, fans tend to remember.

 

[playmakr]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

This is what happens when grown men and women live vicariously through 18-22 year old kids. Their life happiness is dependent on whether or not Willie Warren has a good game or not.

 

[TINY]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

Prior to the season, Willie was quoted as wanting to be the leader for this team, much as Blak was as a sophomore last year. When players make comments like that but don't follow up with their actions, fans tend to remember.

I understand but WWIII is not Blake. No one is Blake, but Blake. He was the most talented player to ever wear an OU jersey (#1 NBA draft pick). He is an anomaly, not the norm. I can tell you that WW is not the reason why we suck this year (17PPG, 4RPG, 4 APG). Those are unreal numbers for a sophomore, and they will make him a lotto pick whenever he chooses to leave.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

I wouldn't cry for Willie, this time next year he'll be getting about 10-15 minutes a game for a play-off team making major $$$$ in the NBA. One bad thing about basketball culture generally is that every since Jordan, the thought is that a "team" revolves around a ****y alpha-male that "carries" the rest of the guys to greatness. Now the legacy has carried on through Kobe and LeBron and has gotten to the point where guys like Durant are questioned for not being "hard" enough when their play does the talking for them.

Blake wasn't a "vocal" leader, he led by example, and his "toughness" was what it was, not something that he sought to throw out there at every opportunity. Willie has mad game, but is streaky and still needs things to run through him to feel like he is critical. In the past, this season would have been considered a "sophomore slump", now it is a draft status killer. The fact is that another year to mature in college would do wonders for Willie as a person, but that is not the world we live in and not the reason why Willie came to OU.

 

[seniorsooner]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

This is what happens when grown men and women live vicariously through 18-22 year old kids. Their life happiness is dependent on whether or not Willie Warren has a good game or not.

I think that's a bit much. This is a board for discussion. That's what people do here, discuss. Otherwise there would be no need for this site. Are some hypercritical of anything and everything WW does? Yes. Do I think it's unreasonable to question the bad attitude and occasional lack of effort he has exhibited this year? No. I will applaud him when he plays well and be disappointed when he doesn't. Does that make me a pathetic loser with no life, living vicariously through OU athletes? No.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

I think that Willie just needs to go out and have fun while playing smart basketball. Him coming back was a buisness decision, but that is not what college athletics should be about. Blake came back becuase he was on a mission [get OU back to where it was when Wayman left]; Warren should have come back becuase he wanted to make a Final Four.

 

[Tony]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

I think that's a bit much. This is a board for discussion. That's what people do here, discuss. Otherwise there would be no need for this site. Are some hypercritical of anything and everything WW does? Yes. Do I think it's unreasonable to question the bad attitude and occasional lack of effort he has exhibited this year? No. I will applaud him when he plays well and be disappointed when he doesn't. Does that make me a pathetic loser with no life, living vicariously through OU athletes? No.

I think playmakr is spot on. It has been shocking to watch the reaction of many fans to Willie Warren this season. It is almost as if they think he owes something to them. Really strange how personal people take things like Willie's performance and even the mildest critique of Cade Davis' basketball ability. As a fan of telepathy, I also enjoy the mindreading.

Of course there is nothing wrong with being disappointed when the team or a player doesn't play well. It seems apparent playmakr is referring to the people who are "hypercritical of anything and everything" regarding Willie Warren.

 

[Seymore Cox]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

This is what happens when grown men and women live vicariously through 18-22 year old kids. Their life happiness is dependent on whether or not Willie Warren has a good game or not.

LOL!!! We're all guilty of this. I've followed WW for most of his life and I'm extremely proud of the kid. However, I'm not in the Mike Gundy camp. This is time to leave boy like ways behind and become a man. If WW wants to aspire to be an NBA player, he has some work to do. For us fans, it's probably not healthy for us to be so emotionally involved in whether a player thrives or not. We're just a small fraternity on OUhoops, the epidemic is much more severe with our football brethren.

 

[sheepdogs]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

. It is almost as if they think he owes something to ?????

It's spelled T E A M!

 

[playmakr]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

Are some hypercritical of anything and everything WW does? Yes.

If you don't fall into this, the post isn't directed at you. I'll leave it up to individuals to figure out where they fall in. There is nothing discerning about people taking an interest and having a passion for a sport. However, when people think they know or understand what it takes to play at the level these guys are playing and start psychoanalyzing guys they don't even know or can't possibly relate to, all because they watch a lot of games or played on the JV team in high school or "have inside info", it becomes obvious they are simply looking for a scapegoat to make themselves feel better about their own personal shortcomings.

For us fans, it's probably not healthy for us to be so emotionally involved in whether a player thrives or not. We're just a small fraternity on OUhoops, the epidemic is much more severe with our football brethren.

Indeed. And it wasn't fair for me not to preface my statements by saying it is a small minority especially on this board.

Really strange how personal people take things like Willie's performance and even the mildest critique of Cade Davis' basketball ability.

For some, it's about picking a scapegoat. That will usually be whoever is most convenient at the time to get on. That torch has been passed from Jabari Brown, to Alexander, to Drew Lavender, to TE, to Kelvin, to Crocker, (yea, all of a sudden he is the Messiah after 3 years of criticism) and now to Willie. The scapegoats for the football program as DM acknowledged runs much deeper and much wilder, and most OU basketball fans are much more grounded than the OU football fans who don't know what to do with themselves if OU loses a college football game. Some of these people do cross over though, and they need to wake up get back into the real world. These people who think losing a collegiate sports game is a big deal need to get a grip and see what is going on in parts of their own country, and see what real problems are. A lot of people wish losing some game was their worst news of the day.

 

[Seymore Cox]

Re: The treatment of Willie Warren

It's a little unfair to paint Warren as the sole issue behind losses. When he isn't aggressive offensively he gets blamed, when he's overly aggressive offensively he gets blames. And you know what, he should. But don't pain him as a pariah.

 

[Seymore Cox]

I am sure that Willie and Crock pushed Capel to play. Reality is the team has more chemistry without them right now. If they can't physically play 100% then lets get some other guys some experience. That is what this season is about - getting experience.

Team Chemistry shouldn't matter about who's playing and who's not. It's about outworking the other guy. OU didn't outwork a sorry, pitiful team. I can't recall one player who remotely had a good game. There's only about one or two players that would even be in the rotation of a UT or KU roster on Nebraska's team. Give credit to those guys, because regardless of how talentless they were, they outworked everybody on our roster from 1-9.

 

[seniorsooner]

My only beef with Willie is when I don't see effort and when I see a bad attitude exhibited during games. That's all I have to go on as I obviously don't watch practice. If Willie is playing hard and shoots 5 for 18 and turns it over 6 times, so be it. He's being aggressive and playing hard. However when I see him turn it over and then pout and not get back on defense, that is very disappointing to me. I don't feel like I need to be John Wooden or something to be able to see that when it happens. I thought his attitude and effort was much better since the Bedlam win, and for that he is to be commended.

 

[MO]

My only beef with Willie is when I don't see effort and when I see a bad attitude exhibited during games. That's all I have to go on as I obviously don't watch practice. If Willie is playing hard and shoots 5 for 18 and turns it over 6 times, so be it. He's being aggressive and playing hard. However when I see him turn it over and then pout and not get back on defense, that is very disappointing to me. I don't feel like I need to be John Wooden or something to be able to see that when it happens. I thought his attitude and effort was much better since the Bedlam win, and for that he is to be commended.

I don't think a fan is capable of properly discerning effort or attitude. It's an underlying point of this discussion. Since fans can't properly discern effort or attitude, then they shouldn't comment on them.

Seriously, what do you think it accomplishes? You might be wrong and even worse, you might be contributing to the problem. Ever miss a couple of 4 foot putts and then everyone wants to talk about it. Did that ever help?

 

[seniorsooner]

I don't think a fan is capable of properly discerning effort or attitude. It's an underlying point of this discussion. Since fans can't properly discern effort or attitude, then they shouldn't comment on them.

Seriously, what do you think it accomplishes? You might be wrong and even worse, you might be contributing to the problem. Ever miss a couple of 4 foot putts and then everyone wants to talk about it. Did that ever help?

I might be an idiot, but I can tell when somebody isn't hustling. To say that fans are completely incapable of discerning effort or attitude is just not accurate.