Experience gained by the OU Freshmen Players

[SoonerTraveler]

Since the board has slowed a bit as we wait for NCAA tournament play to begin, here is a another topic to consider: Experience gained by the OU Freshmen Players. Just as a point of comparison, here are the OU FRESHMAN scoring numbers for Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins, Dante Buford and Christian James.

SCORING AS OU FRESHMEN
211 points ... Buddy Hield (2012-13) ... 27 games (7.8 ppg)
180 points ... Je'lon Hornbeak (2012-13) .. 32 games (5.6 ppg)
_85 points ... Isaiah Cousins (2012-13) ... 32 games (2.7 ppg)

111 points ... Dante Buford (2015-16) ... 31 games (3.6 ppg)
_78 points ... Christian James (2015-16) ... 30 games (2.6 ppg)

Obviously, Christian James and Dante Buford will have the opportunity to add to their freshman stats in the NCAA tournament. Another interesting stat is minutes played as a OU FRESHMAN. This can be considered a measure of EXPERIENCE GAINED as a freshman to build on as a sophomore.

MINUTES PLAYED AS OU FRESHMEN
725 minutes ... Je'lon Hornbeak (2012-13) ... 32 games (22.7 mpg) .. Started 29 games
679 minutes ... Buddy Hield (2012-13) ... 27 Games (25.1 mpg) .. Started 13 games
508 minutes ... Isaiah Cousins (2012-13) ... 32 games (15.9 mpg) .. Started 14 games

389 minutes ... Dante Buford (2015-16) ... 31 games (12.5 mpg)
245 minutes ... Christian James (2015-16) ... 30 games (8.2 mpg)
156 minutes ... Jamuni McNeace (2015-16) ... 22 games (7.1 mpg)
100 minutes ... Rashard Odomes (2015-16) ... 15 games (6.7 mpg)

Also junior Akolda Manyang has played 286 in 24 games so far this season.

Observations:

• All 5 newcomers to the team this year gained at least 100 minutes of game experience.
• Dante outscored Isaiah as freshman, while playing less minutes.
• What could have been, if Je'lon Hornbeak had stayed a Sooner.

The 3 seniors on the team this year have each played more than 1,000 minutes; Buddy (1,121); Isaiah (1,072); Ryan (1,062). That is a lot of minutes to be played by the underclassmen next season.

 

[Larry72]

Thanks very interesting
Entering the season, most thought that the Srs. and Jordan would play fewer minutes because we had additional talent/depth. It did not work out that way.

 

[hoopsaustin]

i had forgotten that Hornbeak was ahead of Cousins as a freshman.. reminds me just how raw cousins was as a freshman.. hornbeak is a headcase and its sad.. could have been part of something special

top quality post OP

 

[tmeyer3307]

I also forget about Hornbeak being ahead of Cousins. If Buddy doesn't miss a several games he also has 60-100 more points right now.. I wish Hornbeak could of stuck it out, but him and Cousins on same team could be scary..

 

[SoonerBounce13]

I also forget about Hornbeak being ahead of Cousins. If Buddy doesn't miss a several games he also has 60-100 more points right now.. I wish Hornbeak could of stuck it out, but him and Cousins on same team could be scary..

we already have a hornbeak on the team

 

[Chaser728]

Thanks for this information! It really is sad about Hornbeak and makes me think we could have another departure like that from Odomes or even McGusty if we land on some of our big targets the next few years. I sure hope not, though, because I have a hunch that Odomes is going to be very good, just needs some confidence.

You know I also think about what might of been had Booker stayed. Would have been great to have him off the bench this year, but this is the price you pay for success in recruiting...Guys want to play/start and have many other options. But you just hope they feed off the competition...

But seriously thanks for the write up its great info...

 

[tmeyer3307]

Booker=B Greene from Kansas..

Would of been very nice even though a lot of people hated him..

 

[hoopsaustin]

Booker pretty much won us a game last year in March. Hit a crazy fadeaway 3 that started some momentum. He would have been huge this year. Too bad he was trouble

 

[Laxtothemax12]

I expected Odomes to be a bigger factor than he was this year. Hopefully him and Buford can break out next year because there are 3000+ minutes to be given to

 

[BCSooners]

we already have a hornbeak on the team

I'll bite...who? Please don't say Walker

 

[WaymanFan]

I'll bite...who? Please don't say Walker

I'll bite too...but it can't be Walker. I was watching Hornbeak play last week against Iona. I think he was 5-5 from beyond the arc...scored 20 points. It was a season high, but any basketball novice can see the guy has developed a sweet shot. Jay Bilas kept referring to him as "Buddy Hield's former roommate."

I'm guessing the answer is Christian James, but Hornbeak is definitely better right now...not a fair comparison for 2016.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

I'll bite...who? Please don't say Walker

I'll bite too...but it can't be Walker. I was watching Hornbeak play last week against Iona. I think he was 5-5 from beyond the arc...scored 20 points. It was a season high, but any basketball novice can see the guy has developed a sweet shot. Jay Bilas kept referring to him as "Buddy Hield's former roommate."

I'm guessing the answer is Christian James, but Hornbeak is definitely better right now...not a fair comparison for 2016.

Hornbeak: per 40: 16.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 3.3 apg, 3.6 topg, 2.6 spg, 37% FG, 40% 3pt%

Walker: per 40: 11.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.7 apg, 2.4 topg, 1.6 spg, 33% fg%, 38% 3 pt%

Hornbeak has better stats accross the board but not by much. granted i haven't really watched hornbeak much this year, just kept an eye on stats. The one area i think he would help would be defense. But he only plays 20 minutes a game at monmouth. It's not like he is a super star. This numbers wouldn't be as good here as he isn't going to get more playing time than any of the starters and would be playing similar minutes to our first guard off the bench. Shoot, Christian James might be a better player than him right now as a freshman.

So yeah, hornbeak is a better player and would be an upgrade over walker....but i don't think he would add much to this team. he isn't a difference maker on this team