Dont start the Neal is not athletic crap

This guy seems like a better recruit than Godbold was. Godbold turned out to be a pretty great Sooner (not a great player, per se, but a guy who was good enough to play regularly and learned to play hard and with defensive intensity over the course of his career). If this guy can be as good as DG or better, I'm pleased.
 
Sooner04 said:
I saw enough to realize the kid wasn't Oleg. He had some athletic ability and some pretty good hops.

Was he a good defender? No? Was he Oleg? No, but some are lumping him into that category of a complete scrub, and I thought he was a better player than that.
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Anything but a scrub...

wish he would have stayed, i think he would have carved out a nice role...but i'm not sure he was committed to do so...

but none of us know anyway, whether he really asked to transfer or if it was a suggestion from Capel...
 
As I've said before, Ray leaving is the best for both parties involved. I'll leave it at that.
 
Edmond_Sooner said:
but none of us know anyway, whether he really asked to transfer or if it was a suggestion from Capel...
Click to expand...
That's the thing. I just want to know what happened. He gets the start at O-State, leads the team in rebounding and Capel just destroys him in the presser afterwards because of bad defense. It's not like everyone else was leaving it all on the floor up there in Stillwater that day. They all stunk.

I thought he could've been a solid player for us. That's why I defend him when people come around and call him a hack.

As I've said before, Ray leaving is the best for both parties involved. I'll leave it at that.
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NickZeppelin, ladies and gentlemen!
 
seniorsooner said:
As I've said before, Ray leaving is the best for both parties involved. I'll leave it at that.
Click to expand...

If he wasnt willing to put forth the effort necessary and accept the role he was going to have i agree 100%...and i think his lack of playing time this year tells that story...
 
Sooner04 said:
That's the thing. I just want to know what happened. He gets the start at O-State, leads the team in rebounding and Capel just destroys him in the presser afterwards because of bad defense. It's not like everyone else was leaving it all on the floor up there in Stillwater that day. They all stunk.

I thought he could've been a solid player for us. That's why I defend him when people come around and call him a hack.


NickZeppelin, ladies and gentlemen!
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Exactly...

he has some skills, no doubt about that...

Weird situation, that's for sure...but through all the ups and downs this year with the team, him not really getting a chance to get consistent minutes tells a story in itself...Capel just didnt trust him or he wasnt getting the work done in practice on a consistent basis...

For those players like Ray that are on the cusp, practice is so much more valuable because during a few days of practice you can play your way into the lineup or out...
 
I thought Gonzaga was a breakthrough for Ray and Tech was a breakthrough for Ray. I thought his legnth would bother people, but his effort wasn't there. He's a sophomore, and about a year and a half from getting his body in any type of playing shape. Neal comes in more ready to play than a guy who had been in the program for 2 years. He's 6'6 and 160!!! ANd he's not a great rebounder, he just had a good rebounding game. Not even a double digit one.
 
DM said:
I thought Gonzaga was a breakthrough for Ray and Tech was a breakthrough for Ray. I thought his legnth would bother people, but his effort wasn't there. He's a sophomore, and about a year and a half from getting his body in any type of playing shape. Neal comes in more ready to play than a guy who had been in the program for 2 years. He's 6'6 and 160!!! ANd he's not a great rebounder, he just had a good rebounding game. Not even a double digit one.
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More ready to play? neither you or i know that...and it cant be judged by the physique alone

Coming out of High School Ray was a more well-rounded ball player and had more upside (debatable yes i know)...because we are desperate for a player that we think will come in and play hard and is smart now we automatically say this is the perfect fit or he is better than previous recruits...that is false...we wont know for a few yrs...hopefully...

What i do know is it would have been nice to have both Neal coming in and Ray with 1 more year seasoning...(again, if he was willing)
 
Last edited:
Good comparison -- I saw Neal play in person and he reminded me of Little also. I'm hoping his intangibles offset his "tweener" status. From all accounts, he's a hard working, smart, good kid who WANTS TO BE AT OU. I hope he makes it -- and there are more commitment announcements in the near future.

SLEDO
 
I would love to have David Little again. He could fill it up!!
 
dHe will certainly be practicing against air if he faces Willis.
 
thecynic said:
I'm not bagging on the kid at all, it just seems weird that all of the sudden they offer a kid no one has ever mentioned before and now suddenly it's a "good get." Maybe he'll turn out, who knows, maybe it's just a case of not being in the public eye enough, but at the level of ball he was playing I find that hard to believe. I hope for out sake it turns out great, but I don't think you can fault people for being skeptical or calling this kid a reach.
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As campbest said, Neal is not new to many of the posters here. OUHoops introduced him as a possible recruiting prospect as far back as February 27. I found another thread SoonerNorm started sometime later. Check 'em out and you'll see.

http://ouhoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13935

http://ouhoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14205
 
SLEDO, who would you guess to be our next commitment (s)? You sound like you know something and curiosity is killing me. Speak up.
 
DM said:
It's OK to be skeptical. Personally, I'm comparing him to other prospects that have been offered. If you look at a guy like Nick Sidorakis, who we have riduculed because of a debate where OSU fans said he was better than Cade, it was obvious that Nick was not a player his first two years. This year, Sidorakis was a major contributor and a big reason to OSU's improvement. Now if I were to compare Neal to Sidorakis or Godbold I would give the edge to Neal.
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Sidorakis has always been pretty good. He was just stuck behind guys like Eaton, Harris, Anderson, Muonelo and Page his whole career. Plays pretty good D and knocks down his three's.

Sidorakis was pretty highly recruited out of high school as well. Had offers from all the Oklahoma schools, and if he hadn't committed so early to OSU had West Virginia and some east coast schools on him.
 
HoHum said:
Sidorakis has always been pretty good. He was just stuck behind guys like Eaton, Harris, Anderson, Muonelo and Page his whole career. Plays pretty good D and knocks down his three's.

Sidorakis was pretty highly recruited out of high school as well. Had offers from all the Oklahoma schools, and if he hadn't committed so early to OSU had West Virginia and some east coast schools on him.
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um no. He had an offer WV, but he would never have been offered by a Huggy WV team. WV, the two Oklahoma schools and mid majors were his other offers. But as far as how he played in high school and during AAU ball, he wasn't better than Neal in my opinion and neither was Godbold. Godbold put up better numbers, but his all around game wasn't close to Neal.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz5U7vgQDx8[/ame]
 
Sooner04 said:
why?
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Because that one game where the ball just happened to bounce to him and he got a few rebounds his own coach went off after the game about how weak he was that day.

And thats the BEST game you can come up with for the kid.
 
DM said:
um no. He had an offer WV, but he would never have been offered by a Huggy WV team. WV, the two Oklahoma schools and mid majors were his other offers. But as far as how he played in high school and during AAU ball, he wasn't better than Neal in my opinion and neither was Godbold. Godbold put up better numbers, but his all around game wasn't close to Neal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz5U7vgQDx8
Click to expand...

That video showed a few things, but one that you rarely see. Tyler Neal is able to use his left hand around the basket, but also able to shoot with it anywhere inside 8-10 feet. The only player that I can remember that did that consistetly was Larry Bird.

The other thing I noticed was his timing. Neal's teammates knew they could just throw it up to him in the lane anytime they wanted, even into a double team and he would seal his man and catch it exactly at the right time. Not only that, but his timing to block shots was good as well. He has a 35-inch vertical and he uses every inch of it for shotblocking and posting up. Thats one big difference in he and Andrew Fitzgerald (who I actually like). Fitz has no vertical and cannot do these things that Neal can do. Neal is a better athlete. Hopefully they both will contribute though the next few years.
 
capelfan52 said:
That video showed a few things, but one that you rarely see. Tyler Neal is able to use his left hand around the basket, but also able to shoot with it anywhere inside 8-10 feet. The only player that I can remember that did that consistetly was Larry Bird.

The other thing I noticed was his timing. Neal's teammates knew they could just throw it up to him in the lane anytime they wanted, even into a double team and he would seal his man and catch it exactly at the right time. Not only that, but his timing to block shots was good as well. He has a 35-inch vertical and he uses every inch of it for shotblocking and posting up. Thats one big difference in he and Andrew Fitzgerald (who I actually like). Fitz has no vertical and cannot do these things that Neal can do. Neal is a better athlete. Hopefully they both will contribute though the next few years.
Click to expand...

Th
 
capelfan52 said:
That video showed a few things, but one that you rarely see. Tyler Neal is able to use his left hand around the basket, but also able to shoot with it anywhere inside 8-10 feet. The only player that I can remember that did that consistetly was Larry Bird.

The other thing I noticed was his timing. Neal's teammates knew they could just throw it up to him in the lane anytime they wanted, even into a double team and he would seal his man and catch it exactly at the right time. Not only that, but his timing to block shots was good as well. He has a 35-inch vertical and he uses every inch of it for shotblocking and posting up. Thats one big difference in he and Andrew Fitzgerald (who I actually like). Fitz has no vertical and cannot do these things that Neal can do. Neal is a better athlete. Hopefully they both will contribute though the next few years.
Click to expand...

This is probably the most detailed youtube highlight clip I've ever seen. It really highlights his athleticism. One play he ran down a break and blocked a shot, something that Hardrick, Allen, and Fitz will never do. He has a very good post up game. I don't think we'll see much of it on the next level as I think he's a little undersized to post up guys on a big12 level. He does seal very well like you said and wastes very little movement. If you watch it when he gets the ball in the post, he makes his move instantly with either his drop step or his one dribble. In contrast, when Tiny got it in the post, he just held the ball, did his lean back, took two, sometimes three or even four dribbles. As the season went on, Tiny started doing something I really didn't like was catching the ball in the post and pivoting away from the lane and facing up too much.

So like the post says, he has a high bball IQ. His weaknesses are going to be his ballhandling, his slow release from distance, and his youth mainly. I think he'll be a heavy rotation player by the end of his Sophomore year.
 
I don't have any inside information. I'm just a fan trying to stay upbeat who hopes we can get past this temporary bump in the road. One would think we would start hearing more tangible information soon about all the jucos we're chasing. Who knows -- there might be some prospects waiting to see what happens with Willie Warren and Tiny Gallon before they make a decision.

SLEDO
 
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