GAME 35- THE CROWN - OKLAHOMA (19-15) vs COLORADO (17-15) 7:00pm CST on FS1

[Hecubus]

There was plenty of shame if you were there, sitting in the Villanova section with tickets they didn’t use. Lol.

 

[WichitaSooner]

There was no shame in that loss. Villanova caught fire. Just like when we kicked their ass in Hawaii by 20+ in the beginning of that same season

It sucked and was absolutely shocking but it had no carryover effect. It has nothing to do with anything that happened in future seasons. The next year was a disaster because Woodard wasn’t healthy and the key returning guys never improved.

 

[WaymanFan]

It sucked and was absolutely shocking but it had no carryover effect. It has nothing to do with anything that happened in future seasons. The next year was a disaster because Woodard wasn’t healthy and the key returning guys never improved.

Setting the NCAA tournament record for the worst blowout loss in Final Four history was about as brutal as it gets, but certainly had no carryover effect. Lon got a pass for 2017, but did his worst coaching job at OU in 2018. He could not find a way to get anything close to max production out of the Trae Young season. When a team has zero chemistry, that falls on the head coach. Period. One thing about Lon was his amazing consistency at literally every stop. He left every coaching job better than he found it (the sign of a very good coach)...but he also left every school at least two years from their Lon Kruger peak. The best example was Florida. He did an amazing job leading them to a surprise Final Four appearance (they had no tradition prior), but had a losing record in his last year there a couple years later. The main reason I respect the heck out of him, though, was because he won with class and integrity instead of scandals and nonsense.

 

[TINY]

There was plenty of shame if you were there, sitting in the Villanova section with tickets they didn’t use. Lol.

Same! I purchased 2 tickets from their ticket office and they sent me 4! At least I made some money selling the lot after OU got embarrassed.

 

[sanguinetti]

It sucked and was absolutely shocking but it had no carryover effect. It has nothing to do with anything that happened in future seasons. The next year was a disaster because Woodard wasn’t healthy and the key returning guys never improved.

Funny thing about that year, my dad and I went to a preseason practice and Christian James was the best player on the floor by a lot. Lot confidence, just unstoppable. Smooth AF. Then season comes, not so much.

On the ooc thing, particularly disappointing to me. I live in Colorado and Ricardo Patton era buffs had a couple bubble teams that bcuz he was padding win totals with garbage ooc games fans don't go see.....their SOS was terrible in old rpi days.

Meanwhile Kelvin and whomever made our OOC were genies at working the rpi/SOS.

So it's disappointing to me to have become the CU AD many years later

 

[WichitaSooner]

Funny thing about that year, my dad and I went to a preseason practice and Christian James was the best player on the floor by a lot. Lot confidence, just unstoppable. Smooth AF. Then season comes, not so much.

On the ooc thing, particularly disappointing to me. I live in Colorado and Ricardo Patton era buffs had a couple bubble teams that bcuz he was padding win totals with garbage ooc games fans don't go see.....their SOS was terrible in old rpi days.

Meanwhile Kelvin and whomever made our OOC were genies at working the rpi/SOS.

So it's disappointing to me to have become the CU AD many years later

James was so disappointing to me. He showed so much promise as a freshman on the FF team. Every time he was on the floor, he did something to help the team win. I thought he was going to have a great career but he didn’t come close to living up to his potential. Hard to know if that’s work ethic or just not being suited to a starring role. And then as a junior, he was one of the guys who was said to be jealous of TY.

 

[cowboysooner]

Christian James issue was he couldn't control his weight. Skilled guy and had moments and then would disappear at times. I was hoping that our final four run with Buddy would propel Lon's recruiting to a higher level, but that clearly didn't happen. Too many inherent deficiencies in the OU basketball program moderates the success of any and all coaches at OU.

The unfortunate thing about our administration's delay in funding the basketball program under Porter (and I don't blame them for it and think it was the right thing to do) is it was a real opportunity to win a national championship. With the right commitment, we could have purchased a team that no coach at OU under normal circumstances could have ever recruited and developed. Now that everyone is committed at a high level, the blue bloods are a tough ceiling to crack

 

[steverocks35]

Christian James issue was he couldn't control his weight. Skilled guy and had moments and then would disappear at times. I was hoping that our final four run with Buddy would propel Lon's recruiting to a higher level, but that clearly didn't happen. Too many inherent deficiencies in the OU basketball program moderates the success of any and all coaches at OU.

The unfortunate thing about our administration's delay in funding the basketball program under Porter (and I don't blame them for it and think it was the right thing to do) is it was a real opportunity to win a national championship. With the right commitment, we could have purchased a team that no coach at OU under normal circumstances could have ever recruited and developed. Now that everyone is committed at a high level, the blue bloods are a tough ceiling to crack

Yeah well this was a top ten portal class and he didn’t do jack with it. The problem this year was terrible COACHING, not talent. The problem next year will be terrible COACHING whether we have talent or not.

 

[Eielson]

Setting the NCAA tournament record for the worst blowout loss in Final Four history was about as brutal as it gets, but certainly had no carryover effect. Lon got a pass for 2017, but did his worst coaching job at OU in 2018. He could not find a way to get anything close to max production out of the Trae Young season. When a team has zero chemistry, that falls on the head coach. Period. One thing about Lon was his amazing consistency at literally every stop. He left every coaching job better than he found it (the sign of a very good coach)...but he also left every school at least two years from their Lon Kruger peak. The best example was Florida. He did an amazing job leading them to a surprise Final Four appearance (they had no tradition prior), but had a losing record in his last year there a couple years later. The main reason I respect the heck out of him, though, was because he won with class and integrity instead of scandals and nonsense.

I believe that was right around the time Hill and Henson left. The assistant coaching hires were lazy after, including his son, and player development was never the same.