Doubters....apologize here

[stormspencer]

Let me be the first. I'm sorry for doubting this team. Going into the tournament, I thought our ceiling was the Elite 8 based upon our play over the last 6 weeks of the season....but then we were blessed with a very good draw. And this team more than proved their worth. To a degree, we are all guilty of "over-analyzing" because we know our team so well inside and out (strengths, faults, etc.). And sometimes it ends up clouding our view and jades our perception on how they will perform with whatever biases that we see.

Some on here are better than me and never doubted, but there are others like me out there as well. Man up.

:OU-logo:

 

[hoopsaustin]

Everyone doubted. Cuz we Werent playing as well as we could. I think everyone knew we could pull it out if we played like January again

 

[Big Old Booger]

Let me be the first. I'm sorry for doubting this team. Going into the tournament, I thought our ceiling was the Elite 8 based upon our play over the last 6 weeks of the season....but then we were blessed with a very good draw. And this team more than proved their worth. To a degree, we are all guilty of "over-analyzing" because we know our team so well inside and out (strengths, faults, etc.). And sometimes it ends up clouding our view and jades our perception on how they will perform with whatever biases that we see.

Some on here are better than me and never doubted, but there are others like me out there as well. Man up.

:OU-logo:

When I sat with you at the WVa game in KC I said I thought we were done. I didn't think we would get thru the first weekend but hoped for sweet 16. So, I will eat crow as well.

I will say, to me, the turning point was that 2nd half against WVa because a player besides one of the starters stepped-up, made plays and got us back in that game with a chance to win. The development of Christian James, IMO, has been crucial to this run because when he has played we haven't seen a dropoff like we saw before.

 

[152219]

When I sat with you at the WVa game in KC I said I thought we were done. I didn't think we would get thru the first weekend but hoped for sweet 16. So, I will eat crow as well.

I will say, to me, the turning point was that 2nd half against WVa because a player besides one of the starters stepped-up, made plays and got us back in that game with a chance to win. The development of Christian James, IMO, has been crucial to this run because when he has played we haven't seen a dropoff like we saw before.

There was a span in yesterday's game when 3 freshmen were on the court at the same time and they held their own. Huge step going forward in the tourney and in particular next year as they are learning to play high pressure basketball.

 

[HeismanWatch]

:facepalm

 

[scrybe]

No apology necessary, at least not to me. I never doubted that this team had the talent and ability to make the Final Four, but anyone who claims they KNEW the Sooners would do this is either being untruthful or they're insane.

There's no reason our Sooners can't win it all now. Don't know that they will, but they are playing with so much confidence now that no one should doubt they have a good chance. Lon Kruger has done a great job with this team. I also believe we have the best starting five in college basketball -- along with some very capable backups.

 

[BigTime]

I doubted that we could get past the SS/E8 so Ill gladly say I was wrong. Just didn't see us playing like the team I watched in December/Early January but I am so glad that team appears to be back to its shot making, confident self.

Boomer Sooner!

 

[stormspencer]

No apology necessary, at least not to me. I never doubted that this team had the talent and ability to make the Final Four, but anyone who claims they KNEW the Sooners would do this is either being untruthful or they're insane.

There's no reason our Sooners can't win it all now. Don't know that they will, but they are playing with so much confidence now that no one should doubt they have a good chance. Lon Kruger has done a great job with this team. I also believe we have the best starting five in college basketball -- along with some very capable backups.

Several posters mentioned that getting to play different teams (not in the Big 12) in the NCAA tournament would really help get OU out of their "funk" (if you want to call it that). I wasn't sure after the first two games in OKC, but they have really turned it on the past two games and look like a totally different team.....resembling what we saw in December.

 

[dubyac]

I was one. I believed we could win with Lon because he's a great coach/teacher. I did not believe he could recruit the kind of players needed to win a conference title or reach the Final Four, let alone win the whole damn thing.. I gladly admit how wrong I was & thoroughly enjoyed watching the improvement of the team & every player in the program from the day Lon arrived..

Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk

 

[stormspencer]

When I sat with you at the WVa game in KC I said I thought we were done. I didn't think we would get thru the first weekend but hoped for sweet 16. So, I will eat crow as well.

I will say, to me, the turning point was that 2nd half against WVa because a player besides one of the starters stepped-up, made plays and got us back in that game with a chance to win. The development of Christian James, IMO, has been crucial to this run because when he has played we haven't seen a dropoff like we saw before.

Yep...it seemed like for most of the Big 12 season that when we even made one sub (outside of our starting 5), then we either saw a noticeable dropoff on defense or offense (and occasionally both). And with what we have seen from James over the last several weeks, he has seemed to stabilize our rotation and decrease the likelihood of other teams going on a run when we are subbing.

 

[oudna]

I thought every game after Bakersfield would be a coinflip. But it's been the exact opposite.

But I also assured February's shooting slump wouldn't last.

 

[tycat947]

No apology necessary, at least not to me. I never doubted that this team had the talent and ability to make the Final Four, but anyone who claims they KNEW the Sooners would do this is either being untruthful or they're insane.

There's no reason our Sooners can't win it all now. Don't know that they will, but they are playing with so much confidence now that no one should doubt they have a good chance. Lon Kruger has done a great job with this team. I also believe we have the best starting five in college basketball -- along with some very capable backups.

Agreed! They upped their game a level or so from the last few weeks of the regular season. I thought Elite 8 was their limit as well. One of the big differences to me, is the play of the bench. They've gotten meaningful and productive play from James, Buford and McNeace. We had spurts from them during the season but nothing consistent. They've provided valuable help off the bench in post season. Keep it going!

 

[skyvue]

Everyone doubted. Cuz we Werent playing as well as we could. I think everyone knew we could pull it out if we played like January again

Not everyone.

Teams go through ups and downs over the course of a long season, and our downs weren't nearly as bad as some here painted them. How a team is playing in mid-February doesn't necessarily mean anything regarding the NCAA tourney. Teams often struggle at the end of the season and/or in their conference tourneys, only to turn it on in the Big Dance.

I don't indulge in predictions -- it just doesn't interest me to do so -- but I never believed for a second that we couldn't do well in the tourney.

 

[CoachTalk]

Everyone doubted. Cuz we Werent playing as well as we could. I think everyone knew we could pull it out if we played like January again

No doubt here. Never too high never too low.

 

[Soonerinkc]

What's funny is it's more about one's personality, how they were raised, etc...than whether they "are a good fan".

I said my peace during games...there were some real brain farts games. The NCAA run has been strong. CAN they win it all, yup...but they can just as easily not. I'm enjoying what I'm seeing. They are back to playing for "fun" it looks like.

Here's to bringing the first NC to Norman!:woot

 

[scrybe]

Another thing: Not only is a team not as bad as they looked in their worst losses, a team is usually not as good as they look when they go on a long winning streak.

Kansas looked pretty much unbeatable throughout the second half of the Big 12 schedule. That's why they were given the top overall seed at the start of the NCAA tourney. But how much did that help the jaybirds in the Elite 8 against Villanova? Now, it's the Wildcats that look like they can beat any team they play. But they're not unbeatable either -- and we know that for a fact.

Our Sooners have as good a chance as any of the remaining teams to cut down the nets one week from tomorrow.

 

[bgrch1350]

When the season ended, we didn't look like a final four team. Then the bracket was release and then there wasn't any doubt we wouldn't be a final four team. Home court advantage the first 2 rounds and then followed up with with most likely a higher seed team which almost happened had aTm not taken advantage of the biggest blunder in tournament history and then the weakest one seed of them all with only one day to prepare for buddy.

I don't think there was any doubt after the bracket came out that we weren't going to be in the final four. And I'm ok with the committee helping us out with an easy road to the final four after they deliberately screwed us over last time so that they would guarantee themselves a Griffin vs Hansbrough matchup.

So bring on nova and hopefully repeat the same results from earlier in the season.

 

[SoonerinNC]

Several of our posters feel that

Kruger is not a game coach and maybe not a good x & o's coach

We should get every defensive rebound

We should never give a layup or open trey

We should never have a turnover and so on

Tough way to live. I think the UConn womans team is the most dominant I have seen maybe ever and they have all those deficiencies.

To me the biggest improvement has come in the bench. McNease, Manyang and Buford got torched on defense and James got lost a lot and I remember the game where he and Odomes gave up 3 turnovers in a row.

We could have dropped out early with a real bad game but there was not a good reason to give up on a team that torched Villanova and took Kansas to the wire twice.

We had a target on our backs the whole season because of our early success and were in a tough conference. Very few blowouts but somehow we can now go 8 deep without a big dropoff and when Buddy is off we seem to get our energy from somewhere else.

we may not win again but in anyones book we have had a great season.