Exhibition Observations

[cowboysooner]

Fun seeing the kids play.

T Groves and Chamgois are each and both better at the five than anyone we have had at that spot in years. Both are 6'8 or better and have some lead in their pencil. Both are skilled and play tough and hard.

Hill and J Groves will form a decent 4 position. Groves is better on offense and Hill better on defense, but collectively, they will man that spot fine.

Goldwire (and then any number of other players) will make us solid at the point.

Harkless and Gibson give us experianced hands on the wings. Both are pretty good defenders and good shooters.

The three freshman looked like D-1 players.

Mawien looks pretty good and can help in a pinch either inside or out. Big Rick has made drastic improvement since last year. Don't know how much they will use him.

Defensively, we guarded/contested shots. Mostly No open shots. Not sure how to compare it to Lon's defensive scheme but less switching for sure.

Offensively, little one on one, it was structured except when a kid tried to get to the rim. Most all of the shots were catch and shoot. Porter clearly wants to run things inside out when he can. We didn't score much inside but we tried to get the ball inside a lot.

I think going forward, he will alternate T Groves and Chamgois at the five, Hill and J Groves at the 4, play Goldwire at the point, and rotate noland, Harkless and Gibson at the wings. Then, play Mason, Bijon and Mawien a little here and there.

All in all it was a good performance against an inferior team. We will know more in the next month with the competition steps up.

Looks good to me.

 

[WTSooner]

I think going forward, he will alternate T Groves and Chamgois at the five, Hill and J Groves at the 4, play Goldwire at the point, and rotate noland, Harkless and Gibson at the wings. Then, play Mason, Bijon and Mawien a little here and there.

Johnson will play on the wing.

We're either going to be really deep, or somebody like Noland isn't going to play much this year.

 

[SoonerinNC]

Good rundown Cowboy. Glad to see a lot less one on one play. Always thought that was the weakness in Kruger's system.

Agree that we gave very few open shots.

 

[tmeyer3307]

Yeah, not sure we can decide anything off of last nights performance.. BUT I kind of figured Hill would be the 4. Groves/Mawein/Chargois were all ?s to me.. Where would they fit.. Looking like Chargois will play back up 5 and if Groves can shoot it like that and survive on the defensive end he will play the 4 and split pretty equally with Hill I'd think.. Which leaves Mawein/Big Rick out of lineup..
Guards think they play 5 a lot.. Gibson, Harkless, Goldwire.. Johnson hopefully then either Noland or one of the back up pgs.

I don't think Goldwire is capable of scoring it like he wants to. Doesn't look like he can shoot it.

 

[CoachTalk]

T groves is every bit of 6'10, ethan and jacob legit 6'9.... big rick. 7'2

My question is... who gets left out? This team is deep.

bijan, mason (spotty)
rick and akol (rare rare)
I think all 13 could play. I know thats not happening. CJ will play for sure.

 

[pnkranger]

T groves is every bit of 6'10, ethan and jacob legit 6'9.... big rick. 7'2

My question is... who gets left out? This team is deep.

rick, bijan, mason (spotty)

I think all 13 could play. I know thats not happening. CJ will play for sure.

I agree with this. I think Rick and Mawein won't play much. Mason and Bijan will be in and out of the lineup as injuries, foul trouble, short turnarounds, etc. challenge us throughout the year. They won't play a lot, but 5-7 minutes between them barring tight games against top opponents. I expect you'll see 9 guys only in those types of games.

 

[cowboysooner]

BTW, I wanted to see Johnson but I don't think he dressed out last night. Where was he? Is he off the team again?

 

[BoulderSooner]

BTW, I wanted to see Johnson but I don't think he dressed out last night. Where was he? Is he off the team again?

away from the team for personal reasons ( he also missed fridays banquet)

 

[thebigabd]

So many bench players who normally won't play very much got tons of minutes last night because the score was so out of control.... but Goldwire and Hill worry me as starters. They got totally outshined by other players like Chargois, Mason, and Noland.

In some ways, that is a good thing... you typically start your season with more experienced guys as starters... but Goldwire is a 5th year senior who has been coached by a legend and Mason was kind of a ho-hum 3star recruit who had offers from Kansas State, UMKC, Abilene Christian, and OU.

Mason looked great, and Goldwire was relatively boring.

 

[AdaSooner]

T groves is every bit of 6'10, ethan and jacob legit 6'9.... big rick. 7'2

My question is... who gets left out? This team is deep.

bijan, mason (spotty)
rick and akol (rare rare)
I think all 13 could play. I know thats not happening. CJ will play for sure.

I think Rick may be the odd man out. Ethan and the Groves Bros are too valuable to sit if they stay healthy. Rick has come a long way since last year, so he could give us some quality minutes in spots.

I agree that CJ will play for sure. I think Bijan may redshirt, although he certainly looked the part of a player who belonged last night.

I’m not ready to throw in the towel for Bijan or for Alston Mason yet. Mason was a legit 44% shooter from three his senior year in high school, plus he can play the one or the two. Porter definitely knew what he was doing when he signed the kid. I think he’s going to be a star someday!

 

[Soonerinkc]

I’m not ready to throw in the towel for Bijan or for Alston Mason yet. Mason was a legit 44% shooter from three his senior year in high school, plus he can play the one or the two. Porter definitely knew what he was doing when he signed the kid. I think he’s going to be a star someday!

A guy I coached with here in KC and he is still coaching said Mason was a steal for us. Said he was really good. Definitely looked more muscular than I thought he'd be. Def plus for the team

 

[AdaSooner]

A guy I coached with here in KC and he is still coaching said Mason was a steal for us. Said he was really good. Definitely looked more muscular than I thought he'd be. Def plus for the team

I couldn’t agree more!!!

After watching an OU practice recently, Rivals’ Bob Pryzbylo said Mason was the most exciting player on the floor. Your coaching friend in KC said OU got a steal. Porter Moser and his staff saw something special in him, too.

I don’t see how you keep a player like Alston Mason off of the floor? The answer is, you don’t! That’s why I think he will play and play well this season!

 

[Zimwillett]

I'm going to temper my thoughts/expectations a little based on the opponent, but I agree with almost all the positive comments above. Loved the ball movement and the defensive effort (mostly). I like the potential depth and versatility. All three freshmen are potential contributors.

While I am really excited, I still have some concerns:

1. I'm not sure how sustainable anything close to that kind of shooting from 3 will be. Where will they go if/when the 3s aren't falling? Do they have anyone they can rely on to consistently get buckets at the rim/in the post when outside shots aren't falling?

2. I'm a little concerned about how this team will hold up vs. teams with a lot of size and athleticism. I could see some teams in conference really hurting this team inside/on the glass.

I'm not saying there won't be solutions to these potential problems, but if I had to identify concerns after one exhibition game, those would be my primary two.

 

[Stikboy]

I'm going to temper my thoughts/expectations a little based on the opponent, but I agree with almost all the positive comments above. Loved the ball movement and the defensive effort (mostly). I like the potential depth and versatility. All three freshmen are potential contributors.

While I am really excited, I still have some concerns:

1. I'm not sure how sustainable anything close to that kind of shooting from 3 will be. Where will they go if/when the 3s aren't falling? Do they have anyone they can rely on to consistently get buckets at the rim/in the post when outside shots aren't falling?

2. I'm a little concerned about how this team will hold up vs. teams with a lot of size and athleticism. I could see some teams in conference really hurting this team inside/on the glass.

I'm not saying there won't be solutions to these potential problems, but if I had to identify concerns after one exhibition game, those would be my primary two.

Very salient..

I echo those concerns. I worry about rebounding against some of the larger more physical Big 12 teams. If we go off the starting lineup from the other night we are pretty small and unathletic.

Goldwire—seems athletic, can defend and should be able to rebound his position pretty well.

Gibson—6 feet tall

Harkless—6-3 but good positional rebounder

Hill—6-6, good rebounder but not that tall/physical

Jackie Moon—obviously has the size but seems limited athletically. Can he rebound out of his area?

I don’t know, I guess after typing that out I feel a little better. I just feel like we’re small. Like, I’d feel better with a 6-8 or 9 athletic beast at the 4 who is a fanatical rebounder to go along with TGroves. A guy who loves to offensive rebound. In the exhibition it didn’t appear OU was hitting the offensive glass, even though I know they seemed to be making most of them.

It’ll be interesting to see how OU rebounds and their overall physicality as the competition rises. I know Moser preaches it so that is good. I’d love, of course, to be a good shooting team but it’s also satisfying to grind out physical wins when they aren’t falling.

 

[pnkranger]

Very salient..

I echo those concerns. I worry about rebounding against some of the larger more physical Big 12 teams. If we go off the starting lineup from the other night we are pretty small and unathletic.

Goldwire—seems athletic, can defend and should be able to rebound his position pretty well.

Gibson—6 feet tall

Harkless—6-3 but good positional rebounder

Hill—6-6, good rebounder but not that tall/physical

Jackie Moon—obviously has the size but seems limited athletically. Can he rebound out of his area?

I don’t know, I guess after typing that out I feel a little better. I just feel like we’re small. Like, I’d feel better with a 6-8 or 9 athletic beast at the 4 who is a fanatical rebounder to go along with TGroves. A guy who loves to offensive rebound. In the exhibition it didn’t appear OU was hitting the offensive glass, even though I know they seemed to be making most of them.

It’ll be interesting to see how OU rebounds and their overall physicality as the competition rises. I know Moser preaches it so that is good. I’d love, of course, to be a good shooting team but it’s also satisfying to grind out physical wins when they aren’t falling.

I agree with this concern overall, but you are not going to rebound very many shots when you shoot 76% from the field.

 

[lexusooner]

We could go big vs the tall teams if need be with both Centers playing together by putting Ethan at the 4…

 

[Stikboy]

Anybody heard when Marvin Johnson is supposed to return?

 

[OU92Grad]

Anybody heard when Marvin Johnson is supposed to return?

He gone!!

 

[WichitaSooner]

He gone!!

Seriously?

 

[Max Power]

He gone!!

So he left came back and left again?