Honest assessment of talent on roster

[thebigabd]

JUCOs are not the answer. D1 transfers are. OU should be looking to take a transfer in every class. Ryan Spangler, Romero Osby, Tashawn Thomas, and M'bath M'baye have been high end performers for OU. Those guys are out there, go get them. You take some of those guys to complement the high school guys you've been developing in the program. For example, coming off of a final four run, Lon Kruger should have had no problem getting a grad transfer who could contribute, rather than needlessly delaying the start of C.J. Coles medical career by a year.

Sure, if you can get high-level D-1 transfers, by all means get them. I am not saying JUCO's are 100% the path, but I am saying that OU has won a ton of games with this strategy, and I am making an argument that you can get very good juco guys to fill roles if you prioritize them.

The problem is you have to prioritize them OVER big time recruits. You have to get them early most of the time. In other words, you are saying, "I am trying to build a GOOD team, at the expense of taking shots at a kids who could potentially build a GREAT team"... If you don't get them though, you've missed on the early signed juco talent, any early signed transfers, and are left with backup options and trying to find overlooked guys.

We've had some luck with overlooked guys, and we've had some flops. That's the risk you run when you go for broke.

But I do believe OU will have seasons like the one we are having with the Capel/Kruger recruiting strategy... We don't fill spots with known good players because we are waiting on primary targets. Kansas/Kentucky land these guys on the reg, OU does not. Never has, probably never will. They need to recognize who we are.

Are you telling me that if OU forecasted properly from season to season they can't know they need a shooter, a point guard, and a forward in the next class and can't establish a relationship with the best juco players in the country at those positions, and take a shot at Trae Young, Payton Pritchard, etc... If you can't get them right off the bat or in a reasonable amount of time and they are going to drag their recruitment out between Kentucky, Kansas, Florida, Arizona, Michigan State, etc OU should just jump ship and get the good players that they can get at that time.

Trae Young is a little different because he is local, but that is pretty rare.

Oh, you couldn't get Trae Young to commit but you have Daryl Macon, a top 5 juco recruit who is a 6'3'' 190 point guard out of juco ready to commit. Ditch trae young and sign Macon.

Oh, you couldn't get so and so 4/5 star forward to commit early but you have Vladimir Brodziansky out of Pratt Juco, a 6'11'' 225 forward ready to commit. Ditch 5 star guy who is dragging his recruiting out and choosing between OU, Kentucky, Kansas, Florida, arizona, michigan state, wisconsin, Indiana, etc and sign Brodziansky.

If you do that, you have a team this year of:

PG: Daryl Macon (averages 13 for Arkansas)
SG: Jordan Woodard
SF: Rashard Odomes
PF: Kristian Doolittle
C: Vladimir Brodianzky (averages 14/6 for TCU)

Do that, and OU is probably more like 16-5 right now instead of 8-13.

Don't ditch all recruiting targets in the early season, but if you have a good player on the line ready to commit and the other guy is choosing between OU and 20 blue bloods, sign the good player you have available to you.

 

[Chiefdaddy]

I've been saying this most of the year and I agree with you guys. You build around McGusty and Doolittle. IF we get Trae, we would be back in business but you still need some rebounding and another shooter since we can't count on James at this point. The other big thing I see with this team is the toughness. I haven't seen many of them mad that they are still losing. I want to see them pissed off, even at each other at this point. Somebody has to hold them accountable other than the coaches. And Kruger is a positive coach, so he just keeps clapping where Kelvin would have ripped up his denim shirt this year. We really miss Henson in my opinion. He always seemed to be the one that lit the fire in the guys and the refs. Bottom line, we have to go get some difference makers for next year.

 

[thebigabd]

How many scholarships does OU have?

 

[stormspencer]

Kelly Oubre.

He was a 1st round pick as a freshman.

Chuck, you're a really good fan and a positive poster....and, like you always do , I likely need to embrace more optimism myself. However, I can't take that that comparison seriously.....unless I'm missing something. I would give anything to have a player like Oubre on this team. Comparing Rashard to him isn't fair....because Rashard doesn't have the ceiling that Oubre does.

 

[inoref]

To be honest imo the talent level is avg, I never really bought into how this was loaded with young talent..not saying they're dead beats..

 

[WTSooner]

To be honest imo the talent level is avg, I never really bought into how this was loaded with young talent..not saying they're dead beats..

There are a lot of guys on our roster that were pretty highly thought of in recruiting circles.

One or two of them are misses? Cool, that can happen. But 3, 4, or 5 of them? That is a coaching issue.

 

[sperry]

It's not a talent level problem. The talent may not be good enough to compete for a conference title right now, but it's certainly good enough to stay out of the basement. In Jordan Woodard and McGusty you have a pair of all Big-XII level talents. You have guys like Doolittle, Lattin, James, Sheperd, and Odomes that are solid big xii contributors.


This team is somehow worse than a team that started the following lineup:

PG Carl Blair
SG Stephen Pledger
SF Cade Davis
PF Cameron Clark
C Andrew Fitzgerald

Let that sink in for a moment. Your tallest player was a 6'8" guy that couldn't jump over a phone book. Carl Blair was playing 30 minutes a game. Cade Davis was the best player on your team. And that team was better than this one. And that is with 4 sophomores starting, so it's not like they were a super experienced bunch.



This team should be about where Oklahoma State is this year. Under .500 in the conference but with a winning record and a fringe tourney team that is probably NIT bound. Instead they are the worst Sooner team since I started following the sport in the mid 90s.

 

[thebigabd]

It's not a talent level problem. The talent may not be good enough to compete for a conference title right now, but it's certainly good enough to stay out of the basement. In Jordan Woodard and McGusty you have a pair of all Big-XII level talents. You have guys like Doolittle, Lattin, James, Sheperd, and Odomes that are solid big xii contributors.


This team is somehow worse than a team that started the following lineup:

PG Carl Blair
SG Stephen Pledger
SF Cade Davis
PF Cameron Clark
C Andrew Fitzgerald

Let that sink in for a moment. Your tallest player was a 6'8" guy that couldn't jump over a phone book. Carl Blair was playing 30 minutes a game. Cade Davis was the best player on your team. And that team was better than this one. And that is with 4 sophomores starting, so it's not like they were a super experienced bunch.



This team should be about where Oklahoma State is this year. Under .500 in the conference but with a winning record and a fringe tourney team that is probably NIT bound. Instead they are the worst Sooner team since I started following the sport in the mid 90s.

Ouch, pretty unreal.

 

[Big Old Booger]

It's not a talent level problem. The talent may not be good enough to compete for a conference title right now, but it's certainly good enough to stay out of the basement. In Jordan Woodard and McGusty you have a pair of all Big-XII level talents. You have guys like Doolittle, Lattin, James, Sheperd, and Odomes that are solid big xii contributors.


This team is somehow worse than a team that started the following lineup:

PG Carl Blair
SG Stephen Pledger
SF Cade Davis
PF Cameron Clark
C Andrew Fitzgerald

Let that sink in for a moment. Your tallest player was a 6'8" guy that couldn't jump over a phone book. Carl Blair was playing 30 minutes a game. Cade Davis was the best player on your team. And that team was better than this one. And that is with 4 sophomores starting, so it's not like they were a super experienced bunch.



This team should be about where Oklahoma State is this year. Under .500 in the conference but with a winning record and a fringe tourney team that is probably NIT bound. Instead they are the worst Sooner team since I started following the sport in the mid 90s.

I don't think Woodard is all big 12 caliber. Last year was his best year but he played the 2 and still he had a huge slump in the middle of the season that coincided with the teams worst basketball of the season. He just not a big 12 poing guard and we learned that his freshman and sophomore season. He's a 2 but he's too short to play the 2 and we have nobody else to play point.

IMO, if you took the best players from this team and from that team, at the very least you have players from this team who start on that team -- McGusty, and probably Woodard (Blair was the worst PG at OU ever). I think Lattin maybe starts over Fitzgerald though Fitz could score, but his defense was in one word -- terrible.

Clark definitely starts but Doolittle plays a lot and the Odomes/Davis rotation would be interesting though Davis had a more complete game.