ESPN's Way Too Early Top 25

[Sooner04]

I forgot they won 20. I just remember thinking the wheels fell off. Probably felt worse because I think that was OSU's good year.

O-State was great that year. I was at the game in Stillwater, and it's still the loudest basketball arena I've ever experienced. By quite a healthy margin, actually, and I've been to a bunch of big games in different places.

Kelvin held that team together with duct tape and a few paper clips. They couldn't score at all, and they battled a ton of injuries, but they were a break in Boulder and stop in Dallas from possibly sneaking into the NCAA Tournament.

Then we win the conference in 2005 and the team is LOADED with internal strife. Kelvin was a wizard. I still don't know how he did it.

 

[oudna]

Got the 2 Juco studs in '05, right? I liked that team a lot.

 

[BoulderSooner]

That was the only season that Kelvin did not make it to the NCAAs, as that team went to the NIT. OU started out that season rated #14 in the early AP rankings.

That 2003-04 OU team finished 20-11 (8-8 in Big-12). Jason Detrick (Senior) and Drew Lavender (Frosh) were the only double-digit scorers on that team; both at about 11 ppg. The young players on that team included DeAngelo Alexander (Soph), Lawrence McKenzie (Frosh), and Kevin Bookout (Soph). Jabahri Brown was a senior on that team.

I like the prospects and upside of the current roster over that 2003-04 roster.

that is one of the years the kelvin did not coach the to the talent on the team ..

he only could coach "his way" at that time ... that team if played up tempo could have won more games then they did ..

 

[SoonerTraveler]

that is one of the years the kelvin did not coach the to the talent on the team ..

he only could coach "his way" at that time ... that team if played up tempo could have won more games then they did ..

Could be. It appears that Kelvin has adapted a bit after his time in the NBA, as he likes to play faster now that he is coaching at UH.

Like many coaches, Kelvin thrived most when his best player(s) were also the team leader(s). The closest thing to a team leader on the 2003-04 team was Kevin Bookout, and he only averaged 7.6 ppg that season. A more up-tempo style may have helped that team, but the lack of a player stepping up to be a real team leader may have hurt more.

The freshman class of guards on that team turned into a cancer, as both Drew Lavender and Lawrence McKenzie ended up leaving OU after their sophomore seasons. Good players but poor teammates.

Looking back, it was amazing that the Sooners tied for 1st place in the Big-12 conference in 2004-05. JUCOs Taj Gray and Terrell Everett excelled from the first moment that they walked on campus, and were the leading scorers in their first year at OU, and Big-12 champions.

 

[bgrch1350]

I don't get the love for Kentucky in all these preseason polls. #2 in CBS. #3 in ESPN.

They lose all their starters minus Briscoe and they are favored to finish top 5. thats why preseason polls are a joke.

 

[152219]

I don't get the love for Kentucky in all these preseason polls. #2 in CBS. #3 in ESPN.

They lose all their starters minus Briscoe and they are favored to finish top 5. thats why preseason polls are a joke.

#1 recruiting class year after year will keep them high in preseason polls.

 

[geeoh]

#1 recruiting class year after year will keep them high in preseason polls.

It's always so hit-or-miss as to whether Cal can get them to play together. He usually does, but at a Top3-5 level? Who knows.

 

[bgrch1350]

It's always so hit-or-miss as to whether Cal can get them to play together. He usually does, but at a Top3-5 level? Who knows.

His teams perform better when they have experience returning to go along with his freshmen. This might be one of his least experience teams returning.