GAME 14 - SEC OPENER #10 OKLAHOMA (13-0) @ #5 ALABAMA (11-2) 5pm CST on SEC NETWORK

[snydrosooner]

Nope....just stop right there. I'm not even sure Bama is in the top 4 of the SEC. Tennessee, Auburn, and Florida are better than Bama and Kentucky might be better than them as well. This excuse making (deer in headlights, etc.) because we are now in a kick-ass league athletically and don't look up to snuff is not a surprise if you've been paying attention. We went 13-0 in the non-con, but a few of us on here could see the warts and saw what was coming ahead of us. We got our asses kicked because Bama has a significantly better roster (athletically), they play to their strengths, and they are better coached. Some don't want to hear that and will give me the laugh icon, but this is our new reality. Once again, we whistled past the graveyard in non-con (I'm not complaining, we had some good wins.... but barely), but until we upgrade significantly from an athletic standpoint (with both size and length with skill), we are no better than a bottom half (at best) finisher in this conference. It sucks, but it isn't a surprise to some of us. Maybe we can sneak a few wins out that we shouldn't but tonight was a freaking reality check.

Who are you saying tonight was a reality check for? Players, Fans? Most fans have been optimistic, but knew we were not top tier SEC team. While maybe didn't think we should lose by 30, most expected a loss, but remained hopeful. Moser knows the routine, If the players were to caught up with their record, then it was Moser job to bring that down. Schedule wise, we some bad teams, but we played enough good teams to be ready but probably needed a true road game.

Or maybe we are led by an 18-year-old player who is great, but also may not have the experience needed to settle down the team in games like yesterday. Many players like Fears do not loose many games in high school or AAU. The next 4 games will determine the season in my opinion. be 3-2 would be great, 2-3 ok, 1-3 bad, 0-4 new coach.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Who are you saying tonight was a reality check for? Players, Fans? Most fans have been optimistic, but knew we were not top tier SEC team. While maybe didn't think we should lose by 30, most expected a loss, but remained hopeful. Moser knows the routine, If the players were to caught up with their record, then it was Moser job to bring that down. Schedule wise, we some bad teams, but we played enough good teams to be ready but probably needed a true road game.

Or maybe we are led by an 18-year-old player who is great, but also may not have the experience needed to settle down the team in games like yesterday. Many players like Fears do not loose many games in high school or AAU. The next 4 games will determine the season in my opinion. be 3-2 would be great, 2-3 ok, 1-3 bad, 0-4 new coach.

It’s definitely a reality check for many on the board, if they are being honest. Plenty of people thought we could compete with Bama. Some thought it was no different or more difficult a challenge than Michigan because they wrongly think that Michigan’s two big guys are NBA players and make them as tough a matchup as we would face. They pointed to Arizona and Louisville as teams with size that we beat and said that made them somewhat confident we could do the same yesterday. Either way, very few of the people who have been hyping up our record and ranking thought we would get embarrassed start to finish yesterday. People talked about this team being “grittier” than last season, etc. And when a few of us pointed to our poor defensive metrics and overall poor rankings in things like the NET and KenPom, the excuse we got in return was that we shouldn’t read too much into us playing poorly against bad teams because we weren’t fired up for those teams and a couple of them were leading into or coming out of Christmas.

Like Storm says, this league is awesome. There are many more great opponents out there. If you watched closely for the first two months of the season and saw us struggle to rebound and dominate physically against a bunch of really bad teams, you could see this coming. Moser claims to have been very intentional in the kind of player he went after in the portal this season: shooters, guys with good character, and guys with experience winning. Missing from that list is guys who are good athletes. It’s too late to fix the athleticism issue, so he better figure out a way to get them to play and compete harder defensively or on the glass, and he needs to figure out his rotations so we aren’t just throwing darts and hoping for the best.

 

[cowboysooner]

Whatever we are, i think the game will give the guys a good learning experience. The early success may have been a little rat poison

Based on what i have seen of other sec teams mostly in the last couple weeks, I believe i have seen 6-7 that are very clearly more talented and better. The rest look about like us. Thus my early prediction of 7-8 wins. As we get to watch the conference teams play over the next couple weeks we will know about whether that prediction was too optimistic

In any event, i just don’t think you can draw too much from a first road game loss to a top flight team. Particularly if that top flight team is a uniquely bad matchup for your squad (loaded in the front court)

 

[Soonerinkc]

Pretty simple, and not a contradiction. If a team has lack of size, you have to have great effort. Every time down. We did not have that tonight. Not even close.

Ernie Abercrombie could rebound. Charles Barkley. Draymond Green. Yet none over 6-6. I’d take any of them over Wague or Northweather to grab a board if needed. And both of them are at least 4-5 inches taller. Size doesn’t equate to great rebounders.

Hustle, aggressiveness, and attitude over size usually wins on the boards.

And skill.. which is what I said. I watched W Davis 6’5 handle former school mate 7’1 Greg Dreiling…

Yes, hustle, effort are all part.. you don’t think wague or norweather lack skill.. just effort?

We go around and around … your original post said nothing but effort.

 

[snydrosooner]

It’s definitely a reality check for many on the board, if they are being honest. Plenty of people thought we could compete with Bama. Some thought it was no different or more difficult a challenge than Michigan because they wrongly think that Michigan’s two big guys are NBA players and make them as tough a matchup as we would face. They pointed to Arizona and Louisville as teams with size that we beat and said that made them somewhat confident we could do the same yesterday. Either way, very few of the people who have been hyping up our record and ranking thought we would get embarrassed start to finish yesterday. People talked about this team being “grittier” than last season, etc. And when a few of us pointed to our poor defensive metrics and overall poor rankings in things like the NET and KenPom, the excuse we got in return was that we shouldn’t read too much into us playing poorly against bad teams because we weren’t fired up for those teams and a couple of them were leading into or coming out of Christmas.

Like Storm says, this league is awesome. There are many more great opponents out there. If you watched closely for the first two months of the season and saw us struggle to rebound and dominate physically against a bunch of really bad teams, you could see this coming. Moser claims to have been very intentional in the kind of player he went after in the portal this season: shooters, guys with good character, and guys with experience winning. Missing from that list is guys who are good athletes. It’s too late to fix the athleticism issue, so he better figure out a way to get them to play and compete harder defensively or on the glass, and he needs to figure out his rotations so we aren’t just throwing darts and hoping for the best.

see I read the board different. I don’t think most thought we would lose by 30. But I got that most thought we would lose.

 

[snydrosooner]

And skill.. which is what I said. I watched W Davis 6’5 handle former school mate 7’1 Greg Dreiling…

Yes, hustle, effort are all part.. you don’t think wague or norweather lack skill.. just effort?

We go around and around … your original post said nothing but effort.

I think our rotations are not quick enough on defense. This leads to being out of position on rebounding. I think effort is an issue at times and for certain players, but skill and being in right spot is also an issue

 

[opsooner]

see I read the board different. I don’t think most thought we would lose by 30. But I got that most thought we would lose.

I really didn’t know what to expect. I definitely didn’t expect to get a victory but I also didn’t think it was impossible. I knew we had to keep their guards in front of us to compete and we did not. Throw in our cluelessness about rebounding and it was an easy win for them. Throw in our first road game that seemed to impact our offense and it was a rout.

 

[mict085]

I didn't think we’d win but I was hoping we’d at least compete. Bama is a really good team but that was a no show from a team that should at least be somewhat competitive. Fears looked like a freshman and Moore and the rest were no shows until the game was already over. Our defense was abysmal.

 

[WichitaSooner]

I might be in the minority but I’m not nearly as down on how Fears played. He got to his spots and had some good looks in the first half. Did he miss because he is a freshman, or just because he had a bad shooting half? Who knows. He isn’t a good perimeter shooter at this stage of his career, the layups and runners were the shots that he missed yesterday that he normally makes. Either way, he is the least of my concerns. I agree with those who wish Moore would play with energy from the start of games. It’s great that he has been good in the second half, but when you’re only playing two games a week, should be easy to play balls to the wall for all 40 minutes.

 

[CMSOONER]

My guess is even with him, Moser would go this route. He clearly prefers to pile up easy wins rather than truly testing his team and risking a loss here and there. It sure seems like a conscious choice on his part.

I realize they weren't scheduled, but were Michigan, Louisville and Arizona not good tests? Alabama is one of the best teams in the country. Our guys got punched in the mouth and didn't respond well. Let's see how the next few games go before we lose or minds.