Fran on OU's depth

[BigTime]

Johnson? Blake Johnson. And wasn't Gibson busted for something dumb and transferred to Hawaii or am I thinking of someone else?

I'll take the 08-09 team's depth over the one girch mentioned:

Leary
Davis
Pattillo (2nd semester c'mon Juan!)
Wright
Gamma Ray
Orlando Allen

 

[WaymanFan]

The year after the final 4 is by far the best bench we had. Alexander, Gilbert, Johnston, Gipson, Turner, Szendrei, and Selvy. It was so good, they could afford to redshirt Detrick.

No. Sooner04 was correct. Dietrick was redshirted to round out the class...and there was no depth at all in the frontcourt. If Bookout was on the bench, where did we get low-post points from?

Take a look at the minutes breakdown of the 1990 team. I was partly wrong about Mullins, though. He was only the 11th guy for a brief time (midseason, I believe) when Roland Ware was healthy. Michael Harris took some of Mullins' minutes because he was a better defensive player.

http://www.soonerstats.com/basketball/men/seasons/teamstats.cfm?SeasonID=1990#.Vj1k__9dGpo

 

[BigTime]

Depth passed the eye test in terms of confidence and assertiveness

 

[Sooner04]

Take a look at the minutes breakdown of the 1990 team. I was partly wrong about Mullins, though. He was only the 11th guy for a brief time (midseason, I believe) when Roland Ware was healthy. Michael Harris took some of Mullins' minutes because he was a better defensive player.

How good is that 1990 team if their best player is eligible (Brent Price)?

The whole Denny Price hissy fit may have had more to do with us not winning a national title than Danny Manning or Eddie Hightower.

 

[WaymanFan]

How good is that 1990 team if their best player is eligible (Brent Price)?

...and Burger Boy Jeff Webster doesn't end up redshirting after an early season injury. That team finished the regular season ranked #1 with Price and Webster watching the games. Not one of those guys on that active roster was even drafted in the NBA, but what a deep team it was.

The whole Denny Price hissy fit may have had more to do with us not winning a national title than Danny Manning or Eddie Hightower.

Yup...Price would have been the 6th man on the 1988 team instead of playing for a third-rate college hoops school in Columbia, SC.

 

[DenverSooner]

...and Burger Boy Jeff Webster doesn't end up redshirting after an early season injury. That team finished the regular season ranked #1 with Price and Webster watching the games. Not one of those guys on that active roster was even drafted in the NBA, but what a deep team it was.





Yup...Price would have been the 6th man on the 1988 team instead of playing for a third-rate college hoops school in Columbia, SC.

I think you guys are off a year. As I recall things Brent Price and Jeff Webster were not part of a he team that competed in 1989/1990.

 

[DenverSooner]

I think maybe Webster redshirted. I don't recall spruce being s transfer that year.

 

[WaymanFan]

I think you guys are off a year. As I recall things Brent Price and Jeff Webster were not part of a he team that competed in 1989/1990.

You're right...they weren't. I was basically imagining what that team would have been like had those two played on the deepest OU team ever.

As for this year's team, all of us hope Coach Kruger can go to his bench to get contributions from at least 4 players. Assuming Lattin starts, it's all a crap-shoot right now since Walker is the only returning player with experience. Still, most of us are assuming Buford will be a major contributor, and either (or both) James and Odomes will play major roles off the bench. Still, for this to be considered a deep team, then either McNeace or Mangyang will have to be solid contributors. With Mangyang hobbled, the pressure is on McNeace to provide valuable minutes. Otherwise, we're in trouble down low, especially on defense.

 

[NickZepp]

Our bench could be real good but it lacks any experience at all. I'm more in a we'll see type mode. Our starters will probably still play nearly all the minutes.

 

[Sooner04]

I think you guys are off a year. As I recall things Brent Price and Jeff Webster were not part of a he team that competed in 1989/1990.

The point WaymanFan and I were trying to make is that as deep as the 1990 team was, the two most talented players on the roster were not eligible to play.

Brent Price was on campus and practicing, but he was ineligible to play after transferring in from South Carolina.

Jeff Webster played in the first couple of games, but was injured (foot, I think) and ended up redshirting.

 

[bgrch1350]

No, I don't. I live out of state and don't even get to see them practice. Am I happy to hear positive reports out of practice (especially from those outside the program, like Fran)? Sure, and it's kind of strange that you aren't.

But I don't make predictions of greatness or pump up the team. I never even predict scores of individual games when those threads are posted.

But even if I did build up the team, I'd be ccorrect more often than you. Last season turned out pretty well, no? And the season before that? And even the season before that, compared to what came before it. I can assure you that, in viewing the team in a positive manner over the past three seasons, I've been right far more often than you with your doom-and-gloom "realism."

What's more, you were the one relentlessly trashing Coach Kruger during the 2012-13 season for playing the freshmen who are now our stars. It's a good thing he did, too. We went from 15-16 to 20-12 that season, and Buddy and Isaiah have continued to improve. Had Buddy spent most of his freshman year on the bench, as you would have had him do, it's a pretty safe bet he wouldn't have been conference player of the year last season.



You're not focusing on three months ago. The rankings you place so much stock in (so much that you dismiss everything that comes after) happened much longer ago than three months. Three months ago was August 6, for pete's sake.

Is Fran Fraschilla praising Tech's depth? Have any Tech players been included in ESPN's Top 100 freshmen of 2015? Did any of their freshman guards score 37 points and grab 11 boards in the Faith 7 game in early June (five months ago)?

The answer to all of those is no. But you've factored none of that into your "expert analysis" regarding these players. All you care about is some recruiting service's star ranking, "info" that is many months old. James and Odomes both signed their letters of intent a year ago and have been working out with the team for five months. Buford and McNeace signed theirs two years ago and have been getting coached up by Kruger and Co. for nearly 18 months.

I wonder when Rivals or any of your services last updated their ranking of any of those four players. It's been much, much longer than three months, of that I'm certain.

1) The rankings actually were last updated on rivals 8/5/15. You can actually see the date on the rankings so you are actually wrong. And scout updates right around that time. So it was 3 months ago that the rankings were updated.

2) Kruger has proven that he can develop players. He's a great coach. I don't discard that. His recruiting hasn't been very good. I will say that he brought in 5 guys last year and only 3 played. And there was a chance that Thomas wasn't going to be eligible. And not one player was ranked in the top 100 on rivals or scout. Because 2 guys redshirted, we had a terrible bench last year. Cole isn't good. Booker saw the writing on the wall so he bolted this year. And Bennett's minutes went way down towards the end of the season. If you think we had a good bench last year then the fact that all 5 starters were avg over 30 minutes a game says everything.

3) Next year we have McGusty coming in and possibly Bolden. And most likely both will start here day one starting next season. And if rankings don't mean anything then why is it most likely that the 2 players ranked in the top 40 could come in and beat out all the previous players who weren't top 100 players (according to scout and rivals)?!?!

You talk about McNease and Buford getting coached up for 18 months by Kruger and co. We had a final 4 starting 5 roster last year...so how does bringing those guys in last year help last years team get to a final 4? The answer is that it didn't. We lost to Michigan St by 4. We had 2 guys off the bench play in that game and they combined for 3 points. Had we added some players who were top talent out of high school like McGusty is, we probably could have gotten past MSU.

Kruger is finally getting a mixture of players with McGusty and others. And thats all i really wanted. Hopefully Bolden will complete that class.

 

[BoomSoon]

Buford, Lattin, James and Odomes are all Top 150 recruits. James' injury dropped his stock and Lattin played a bit overseas to drop his.

Odomes was a hot commodity after he committed and was rising. Jamuni was a diamond in the rough. Having Jamuni and Buford (unfortunately for him) redshirt last year was a blessing.

Untested? Absolutely. But with such a veteran group of starters, not much is being asked of them this season. It's a great learning opportunity. All we need is one or two guys to step up at certain times, different games.

Then, next season, we're going to have a load of young talent. But then it's go time for them.

Program is in a great position to transition after this special group of seniors and Jordan.