GAME 4 - OKLAHOMA (3-0) VS EAST TEXAS A&M (1-4) - 7PM CST on SEC NETWORK+

[OULad]

For the record I thought we played well last night. We just missed some early shots. Even up 5 at halftime I had no doubt we wouldnt win by at least 25.

 

[Stikboy]

I keep trying to compare this year's squad with last years to see how much potential there is for improvement, but I can't figure out where I come out..

Better:
--When at full health we seem like we'll be deeper
--Guards seem like better shooters and scorers(need to wait until schedules toughens, of course)
--Fears is better than any guard we had last year
--Moore better
--Slightly deeper scoring
--So far guards taking care of the ball much better(again, jury out until conference)

Worse:
--Lineup is smaller and slightly less athletic
--Lack of interior girth
--Can smaller guards defend bigger guards?
--No sparkplug like Soares off the bench(Taylor?)

Same:
--Godwin, is he better or not?
--Can Taylor work into giving us what Soares did?(Not quite the athlete, but showing signs of scoring and being a dog(defense/rebounding, I'm liking him)
--Wague...He can't shoot like our fat backup big from Pitt last year but seems more athletic. What will he give us?
--X Factors=Jadon Jones, Goodine, Nwanko(pipe dream this year?)--If/when they get healthy who is going to the bench. And whoever does it won't matter, we will be deeper. Wonder how tight the rotation will be when that happens.
--Cole a factor?

So, no rhyme or reason just some random thoughts after 4 games. I think we'll know more after Atlantis, I just hope Goodine and Jones return so we can get a good picture..

 

[OULad]

I mostly worry about the interior. We are really thin there. Its reason I would pick us 10th or so in conference and not higher. If Nwankwo can come back, that could change a lot.

 

[Stikboy]

I mostly worry about the interior. We are really thin there. Its reason I would pick us 10th or so in conference and not higher. If Nwankwo can come back, that could change a lot.

I agree. Godwin already looks worn out. We need another guy in there. Unless Wague can start to play more minutes.. If either one of those guys gets hurt we're screwed. Too bad Northweather seems to be a 6-1 guard in a 6-11 body.

 

[WichitaSooner]

I wonder why Northweather isn't playing sooner in games than he has this season? Last season he was one of the first off the bench....does anyone know? IMO he's somewhat of a waste of height, as all he seems to do is stand around the perimeter and wait to shoot a 3, kind of like a Matt freeman-type player, so if it's for that reason, then I understand. Him and Yaya kind of frustrate me as they have the height we really need during conference play, but it seems they haven't put in the work to improve. that, or they're always injured??

Northweather isn’t good enough. He made just over a quarter of his threes last year and that is supposed to be his best attribute. What else does he contribute?

 

[WichitaSooner]

I keep trying to compare this year's squad with last years to see how much potential there is for improvement, but I can't figure out where I come out..

Better:
--When at full health we seem like we'll be deeper
--Guards seem like better shooters and scorers(need to wait until schedules toughens, of course)
--Fears is better than any guard we had last year
--Moore better
--Slightly deeper scoring
--So far guards taking care of the ball much better(again, jury out until conference)

Worse:
--Lineup is smaller and slightly less athletic
--Lack of interior girth
--Can smaller guards defend bigger guards?
--No sparkplug like Soares off the bench(Taylor?)

Same:
--Godwin, is he better or not?
--Can Taylor work into giving us what Soares did?(Not quite the athlete, but showing signs of scoring and being a dog(defense/rebounding, I'm liking him)
--Wague...He can't shoot like our fat backup big from Pitt last year but seems more athletic. What will he give us?
--X Factors=Jadon Jones, Goodine, Nwanko(pipe dream this year?)--If/when they get healthy who is going to the bench. And whoever does it won't matter, we will be deeper. Wonder how tight the rotation will be when that happens.
--Cole a factor?

So, no rhyme or reason just some random thoughts after 4 games. I think we'll know more after Atlantis, I just hope Goodine and Jones return so we can get a good picture..

I agree with most of this but think you underestimate how big the decline is in athleticism. Moore, Soares, Cooper, and Oweh were our best athletes by a mile, and three are gone. None of the new guys are close to them. Think back to the noncon last year. It was a dunk show with Moore and Waldo and Oweh. Now Moore is the only guy we have on that level, and that matters a ton when the competition ramps up. It’s why we were so bad two years ago. We had one of the least athletic power conference teams I’ve ever seen.

 

[TINY]

I agree with most of this but think you underestimate how big the decline is in athleticism. Moore, Soares, Cooper, and Oweh were our best athletes by a mile, and three are gone. None of the new guys are close to them. Think back to the noncon last year. It was a dunk show with Moore and Waldo and Oweh. Now Moore is the only guy we have on that level, and that matters a ton when the competition ramps up. It’s why we were so bad two years ago. We had one of the least athletic power conference teams I’ve ever seen.

I don’t think they are as athletic either but they look more skilled. The ball handling and passing is much better. I think the outside shooting will come around.

going to be interesting to see how Moser’s offense works against better teams with 2-3 PGs on the court at a time.

 

[mict085]

The providence game will be the first real test and I’m not sure they’re any good.

 

[CMSOONER]

Don’t think you know what that word means.

Lolz

 

[opsooner]

I agree with most of this but think you underestimate how big the decline is in athleticism. Moore, Soares, Cooper, and Oweh were our best athletes by a mile, and three are gone. None of the new guys are close to them. Think back to the noncon last year. It was a dunk show with Moore and Waldo and Oweh. Now Moore is the only guy we have on that level, and that matters a ton when the competition ramps up. It’s why we were so bad two years ago. We had one of the least athletic power conference teams I’ve ever seen.

That’s also how I see it. Moore is the guy who can create to get some easy buckets and allow his teammates to potentially get some easy looks. The more I watch I think Fears has to become a polished player very quickly, with all of the good he has provided so far but without any of the bad. My hope is that this happens and maybe Jones and Goodine and a few others can then make some plays at the right time and we can win enough close games. But I am not holding my breath. Even if that happens we have to figure out how to stop some opposing stars who will be much more skilled and bigger and stronger.

I think we need to win against several of our decent nonconf opponents and then have to be above (not just at) .500 to make the tournament. Tall task.

 

[OULad]

Win games in conference and it will all take care of itself. Our early schedule is bad, but it does pick up. Im not worried about the schedule keeping us out of the tournament. Im more worried about losing conference games.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Win games in conference and it will all take care of itself. Our early schedule is bad, but it does pick up. Im not worried about the schedule keeping us out of the tournament. Im more worried about losing conference games.

You’re not worried about the thing that kept us out of the tournament last year happening again even though our schedule is somehow even worse this year?

 

[Boom Soon]

Win games in conference and it will all take care of itself. Our early schedule is bad, but it does pick up. Im not worried about the schedule keeping us out of the tournament. Im more worried about losing conference games.

I see your point. The OOC is laughably bad but if OU can scrape together 11 wins in conference they should be in. But that’s going to be a very tough task. The SEC is only marginally easier.

 

[cowboysooner]

I love the schedule. All new team. We needed some exhibition game to start melding the team before the competition stiffened. Then gradually increase the competition. Hopefully we win our share of the holiday, Georgia tech, osu and Michigan games. Then if we can more than we lose in conference I think we should be good fir the ncaa tournament

 

[WichitaSooner]

I see your point. The OOC is laughably bad but if OU can scrape together 11 wins in conference they should be in. But that’s going to be a very tough task. The SEC is only marginally easier.

Oh 11 league wins would have us in easily. The point is this: our schedule gives us one path to the tournament. We will have to win at least half our league games. If we schedule better in the noncon, we would have two potential paths to the tourney. And we have shown under Moser that we aren’t a good conference team. So play a good enough noncon that if you win 10 or 11 noncon games, you could make the tourney by going 8-10 in the league. It is the exact blueprint that got us multiple bids under Lon in years where we had losing Big 12 records.

 

[OULad]

We needed this schedule to get some chemistry and to learn the system. We cant play a killer schedule with an entire new team.

 

[skyvue]

We needed this schedule to get some chemistry and to learn the system. We cant play a killer schedule with an entire new team.

As has been pointed out repeatedly, no one is calling for us to be playing a bunch of top 50 teams. One can "build chemistry" against teams in the 100s or even the 200s, but we're playing teams ranked in the 300s and that could definitely come back to bite us if we're a bubble team come selection time. Strength of schedule matters.

 

[WichitaSooner]

We needed this schedule to get some chemistry and to learn the system. We cant play a killer schedule with an entire new team.

So how many years are you going to give him this excuse? He has a new team every year because he can’t retain players. And how well did it work last season? Did playing a bunch of podunk opponents help our chemistry when we got to conference play and looked like crap?

And as Sky pointed out, who said we should play a “killer” schedule? We could play a slightly below average schedule and it would be a massive upgrade over this garbage, and would still be a mile away from a killer schedule.

 

[Sooner04]

I love the schedule.

It's the worst schedule in the country. Are we doomed to this every season since we now experience 75% turnover?

 

[OULad]

It's the worst schedule in the country. Are we doomed to this every season since we now experience 75% turnover?

Get out of here with this doom and gloom crap