EJ to the portal

[mict085]

Harkless was a good player but he struggled when he tried to step outside of what his role should be. Nobody is irreplaceable. However, we won’t really know how big of a loss this is until we see who we get in the portal.

 

[Soonerb98]

Hello everyone.,
Long time reader here, excited to join the conversation.

I felt like Harkless was up and down, but always made a few toughness and hustle plays. It also seemed that he was a leader on the team. With all the youth and turnover on the roster, I wonder if we'll miss those intangibles more than the stats, especially early in the year.

 

[thebigabd]

Hello everyone.,
Long time reader here, excited to join the conversation.

I felt like Harkless was up and down, but always made a few toughness and hustle plays. It also seemed that he was a leader on the team. With all the youth and turnover on the roster, I wonder if we'll miss those intangibles more than the stats, especially early in the year.

Welcome to the forum.... and good post. I agree you with you. You can't always replace intangibles, experience, etc. He was a good player on ability alone, and had those other things as well. Definitely a loss.

 

[CoachTalk]

It’s going to be a loss. I don’t care about +/ - all the time.

He was the leader. I don’t know what happened to change his mind but obviously if he doesn’t want to be here then we’ll be better off.

Otega will bring that junk dawg mentality. Cj noland has it. Hill has it.
Milos is a winner. Benny. He’s got some Austin reaves in him. Slash the throat. Tell you to go somewhere etc…

 

[CMSOONER]

Here is EJ in a nutshell this year. Very good role player.....slumped majorly trying to be Primary option.

Anyone who thinks this loss doesn't hurt is fooling themselves. He is a skilled, athletic wing who can be an elite defender and has shown he can be a good offensive player as well. He had a big slump when trying to fill the primary offensive option role, but once he settled back into his comfort zone he hit his stride again prior to the injury. Don't be surprised when he has his best season on a new team and all you doubters start singing "what could have been".

 

[Sooner04]

Why did our play improve so much once he hit the shelf? He would be a wonderful asset as the fourth-scorer and #1 or 2 defender, but if he's option A or B on offense the ceiling of your basketball team drops in a hurry.

A couple of months ago it's all "shock the world". Now he's gone. That tells me he had ideas of playing 35 minutes a game and getting 15 shots. I am a HARD pass on that. I've seen that show, and I know how it ends.

 

[thebigabd]

Why did our play improve so much once he hit the shelf? He would be a wonderful asset as the fourth-scorer and #1 or 2 defender, but if he's option A or B on offense the ceiling of your basketball team drops in a hurry.

A couple of months ago it's all "shock the world". Now he's gone. That tells me he had ideas of playing 35 minutes a game and getting 15 shots. I am a HARD pass on that. I've seen that show, and I know how it ends.

His last game was 2/15 against Texas. He had 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 steals in that game.

OU went 5-4 in the stretch without him.... They beat:

Oklahoma State - Sucks
West Virginia - Sucks
Kansas State - Sucks
Baylor - Very good
Missouri State - Whatever

They lost to:
St Bonaventure
Iowa State
Texas Tech
Texas Tech

Not sure I would describe the results as "so much better".... 4 of the 5 wins in that stretch without him were against **** teams

 

[WichitaSooner]

Why did our play improve so much once he hit the shelf? He would be a wonderful asset as the fourth-scorer and #1 or 2 defender, but if he's option A or B on offense the ceiling of your basketball team drops in a hurry.

A couple of months ago it's all "shock the world". Now he's gone. That tells me he had ideas of playing 35 minutes a game and getting 15 shots. I am a HARD pass on that. I've seen that show, and I know how it ends.

Precisely. None of the Harkless lovers have explained why we were consistently better with him out of the lineup if his intangibles were so important that they make up for his lack of offensive talent or skills. We won two games in the last two months with him in the lineup, and in one of those two, he played four minutes.

 

[StoopsBros]

The new name that followed EJ:

Mike Boynton - Oklahoma State HC

 

[TarheelstateSooner]

I think a vast majority of our players on our current roster are very replaceable. That's probably the bigger issue.

 

[BoulderSooner]

His last game was 2/15 against Texas. He had 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 steals in that game.

OU went 5-4 in the stretch without him.... They beat:

Oklahoma State - Sucks
West Virginia - Sucks
Kansas State - Sucks
Baylor - Very good
Missouri State - Whatever

They lost to:
St Bonaventure
Iowa State
Texas Tech
Texas Tech

Not sure I would describe the results as "so much better".... 4 of the 5 wins in that stretch without him were against **** teams

teams in the top 70 by definition do not suck ..

 

[BoulderSooner]

It’s going to be a loss. I don’t care about +/ - all the time.

He was the leader. I don’t know what happened to change his mind but obviously if he doesn’t want to be here then we’ll be better off.

Otega will bring that junk dawg mentality. Cj noland has it. Hill has it.
Milos is a winner. Benny. He’s got some Austin reaves in him. Slash the throat. Tell you to go somewhere etc…

agree with all of this

 

[BoulderSooner]

Harkless was a good player but he struggled when he tried to step outside of what his role should be. Nobody is irreplaceable. However, we won’t really know how big of a loss this is until we see who we get in the portal.

yep ..

 

[TarheelstateSooner]

teams in the top 70 by definition do not suck ..

Depending where they are ranked. You could argue they aren't good either.

 

[WichitaSooner]

His last game was 2/15 against Texas. He had 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 steals in that game.

OU went 5-4 in the stretch without him.... They beat:

Oklahoma State - Sucks
West Virginia - Sucks
Kansas State - Sucks
Baylor - Very good
Missouri State - Whatever

They lost to:
St Bonaventure
Iowa State
Texas Tech
Texas Tech

Not sure I would describe the results as "so much better".... 4 of the 5 wins in that stretch without him were against **** teams

Yea, 5-4 is no better than the 2-11 we went in his last 13 games. And great job cherry-picking his one game against Texas to make your point.

 

[TarheelstateSooner]

Yea, 5-4 is no better than the 2-11 we went in his last 13 games. And great job cherry-picking his one game against Texas to make your point.

Eh. He had some solid games down the stretch before he was out for the season.

A lot of players went ghost at times last year. In the Okie State loss Hill played 24 minutes and had 0 points. vs TCU at home Hill had 6 points on 1-4 shooting.

Harkless seems to be the scapegoat for this fanbase right now. Interesting.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Eh. He had some solid games down the stretch before he was out for the season.

A lot of players went ghost at times last year. In the Okie State loss Hill played 24 minutes and had 0 points. vs TCU at home Hill had 6 points on 1-4 shooting.

Harkless seems to be the scapegoat for this fanbase right now. Interesting.

Because we have eyes and watched the games. Also, his own coach benched him, so there’s that.

 

[WTSooner]

He was the leader. I don’t know what happened to change his mind but obviously if he doesn’t want to be here then we’ll be better off.

I never once saw the way Harkless interacted with the team and thought he was the leader, or really, even a leader.

He wasn't the one that would pull the team together after fouls or before free-throws. He wasn't the one typically leading those short conversations. He wasn't the guy Moser would pull to the side and talk to.

Some of ya'll manufacture crap like this that really isn't true.

Kind of how we've you've made Harkless out to be some great defender. He isn't. He had that rep, but his on-court results don't suggest anything more than a slightly above average defender. We were pretty mediocre on D for having two "great" defenders starting at the 1 and 3 spots.

 

[NorthCarolinaSooner]

For me, I won't get wound up about losing anyone from a good, not great, team. As long as we add talent...but you cannot sit and debate about guys you don't know coming in (new additions) because they could end up being great. I doubt anyone debated the addition of Buddy Heild over someone leaving when we signed him.....but he was really good at OU.

I think Moser is smart enough to recruit over guys already here....I coached in college and my goal was to:

A. recruit guys who compliment what our strengths were

B. recruit talent that could push our current guys for time on the floor

if you do those things you will always continue to improve.

 

[BoulderSooner]

For me, I won't get wound up about losing anyone from a good, not great, team. As long as we add talent...but you cannot sit and debate about guys you don't know coming in (new additions) because they could end up being great. I doubt anyone debated the addition of Buddy Heild over someone leaving when we signed him.....but he was really good at OU.

I think Moser is smart enough to recruit over guys already here....I coached in college and my goal was to:

A. recruit guys who compliment what our strengths were

B. recruit talent that could push our current guys for time on the floor

if you do those things you will always continue to improve.

well said