How will we do next year

[WTSooner]

Compelling rebuttal WT.

It's just an insane statement to make. To even suggest that Cam is capable of doing anything remotely close to what Pledger does on offense is just silly. Cam is such a bad shooter that Lon basically told him to stop shooting threes. Not to cut down on them. Not to limit them. Basically to not shoot them at all.

I get that there is more to the game of basketball than shooting threes. But we have other players that can do what Cam can do. We have midrange guys. We have defenders. You stick 3-4 (three or four, for BoB) guys like Cam and Hield (this year's version) on the court together, and the lane clogs up, b/c there is nobody the defense has to respect from deep. You HAVE to have shooters to be a good basketball team. You must. And we don't know that we have one on next year's roster. Cam certainly isn't. And I don't expect some miracle for his senior season. Cam played well last year. He played well b/c he wasn't asked to do much.

 

[Chaser728]

Deep??? who is coming off the bench that makes us deep?

Well coming off of the bench next year will most likely be:
Cam Clark, DJ Bennett, Isaiah Cousins to name a few. Plus perhaps another recruit or two. I think the rotation will be every bit as deep as this years rotation. We all know that Hield, Hornbeak & Cousins will be better next year; but what about Mbaye?

If you had told me last year that Osby would have been 1st team All Big 12 I would have laughed in your face. There was no way anyone saw that coming... And yet, here we are. Mbaye with one more year in the system will be very good. Let alone we have Spangler who will be banging down low with Amath.

Will we be better? No one knows, but to suggest that we will be worse takes away the credit that is due this coaching staff for the job they have done with Osby, Pledger, Grooms & Fitz.

 

[JBaker]

Are you comparing our incoming talent to Kansas?!?! Please tell me that a top 5 recruiting class means something to you when we don't even have a top 50 class

Your argument was that we lose some of our best players, so it's insane to think we have a chance to be better next season.

Then your argument is that Kansas loses every single player of note on their team, but they're more talented than us, so they'll be just as good or better.

Those two arguments do not compute.

 

[bgrch1350]

Your argument was that we lose some of our best players, so it's insane to think we have a chance to be better next season.

Then your argument is that Kansas loses every single player of note on their team, but they're more talented than us, so they'll be just as good or better.

Those two arguments do not compute.

Tharpe would start at PG for us. Ellis would start at the 4 for us. That Wayne Selden kid would start for us.

if Kruger reloads like Self, then we can have good years following the losses of good players...but he's not doing that. Not one player we are bringing in would play for Selfs team next season.

 

[bgrch1350]

Well coming off of the bench next year will most likely be:
Cam Clark, DJ Bennett, Isaiah Cousins to name a few. Plus perhaps another recruit or two. I think the rotation will be every bit as deep as this years rotation. We all know that Hield, Hornbeak & Cousins will be better next year; but what about Mbaye?

If you had told me last year that Osby would have been 1st team All Big 12 I would have laughed in your face. There was no way anyone saw that coming... And yet, here we are. Mbaye with one more year in the system will be very good. Let alone we have Spangler who will be banging down low with Amath.

Will we be better? No one knows, but to suggest that we will be worse takes away the credit that is due this coaching staff for the job they have done with Osby, Pledger, Grooms & Fitz.

If were deep then so is every team in the Big 12

 

[JBaker]

Tharpe would start at PG for us. Ellis would start at the 4 for us. That Wayne Selden kid would start for us.

if Kruger reloads like Self, then we can have good years following the losses of good players...but he's not doing that. Not one player we are bringing in would play for Selfs team next season.

How many players that would play for Self's team did we need to lead KU basically wire-to-wire in Norman last month?

 

[bgrch1350]

How many players that would play for Self's team did we need to lead KU basically wire-to-wire in Norman last month?

Who won the big 12 and who didn't? Who's a 2 seed and who's a 10 seed

 

[KBaden145]

We will be better defensively, a better rebounding team, more athletic, longer, and just as deep. We will be a work in progress offensively, at least early. I think we will be better but if that translates to a better or worse record is debatable. It can't be underestimated how important another year of Krugers program will be.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

... It can't be underestimated how important another year of Krugers program will be.

So true in so many ways. Comparing year-two to year-one of the Kruger era, the improvement in Osby was significant. The improvement in defense was significant. The improvement in the team was significant.

Just consider guard play. I have enjoyed watching Pledger and Grooms play as Sooners, but all three of the freshman guards are more athletic than the senior guards we are losing. They were good defenders as true freshmen, so it should be exciting to see how they progress together as teammates on defense.

Lon Kruger, Steve Henson and Lew Hill were all college point guards. I think the young Sooner guards are going to receive wonderful coaching. They all look like players that have an upside.

The new freshman PG (Woodard) and freshman shooting guard (TBD) will be with the team this summer and will travel with the team in August on their 10 day overseas trip to Senegal and France. This will give all 5 frosh/soph guards a head start on next season.

Guard play is so very important to a successful college team. The Sooners are developing an athletic group that should be better defenders and help more on the boards than the departing seniors.

When it come to shooting, look what the coaching staff has done for Sam Grooms. I bet Buddy, Je'lon and Isaiah learn a lot this summer and we see improved scoring from this bunch next season. I bet they are not worse!

Also look at how productive the three freshmen guards were this season. It could be that Woodard and the new shooting guard will also be pretty darn good next season.

When one considers all aspects of the game, including defense, I am optimistic about the Backcourt being better next season.

 

[Chaser728]

If were deep then so is every team in the Big 12

This year we have 9 guys who average 15 minutes per game, and 7 guys who average over 17. We are the deepest team in the league this year, and that will not change next year.

starting 5:
Woodard
Hornbeak
Hield
Mbaye
Spangler

Bench:
Cousins
Clark
Bennett
Hamilton
(Another scoring wing)

There is no team in the big 12 that will be able play that kind of depth and experience. I think you are confusing the word depth with talent. BTW that lineup does have some talent as well. I am very excited to see the athleticism and length next years team brings!

 

[WTSooner]

There is no team in the big 12 that will be able play that kind of depth and experience.

Is that really true? I mean, that 10 deep you just posted will include two true freshmen (Woodard and the scoring wing), 3 sophs that played an assortment of minutes this year, a soph with virtually zero game time (Spangler), and two JUCO's. That leaves M'Baye and Clark as the only guys that have more than one year of D1 experience.

I get what you are saying, but I think there will be some growing pains next year. There will be a lot of inexperience in that 10 deep.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

We are building a program, not a recruiting class.

 

[pnkranger]

Here's the thing: we will NOT be better offensively, but our defense and rebounding should improve tremendously. Not only will Hield, Hornbeak, Cousins, and Clark -- our 4 best perimeter defenders -- return, but we add bigger/stronger/more athletic depth in the post and will be more "match-up proof" because of the versatility of the posts and the interchangeability of our guards. We can go big with Hamilton and Spangler, or go quick/athletic with M'Baye and Bennett, or mix and match as needed.

By all reports Woodard is a very good defender.

So I will say we could have an equally successful season, but, as was mentioned above, I think we'll need to get more points in transition than we have this year.

To do BETTER than this year, we'll need:

• consistency from M'Baye
• to find a solid ball-handler (Woodard?!?)
• to find a shooter or some outside shooting from our current guards
• cameron clark to play like a senior

 

[JBaker]

You know what's nice about Kruger's players so far?
Not a single one has quit the team yet.
Those last 3 years with Capel we seemed to be losing 3 guys a year just for no reason.

 

[WTSooner]

Was our rebounding really that bad this year? Last time I looked, we were 2nd in the Big 12 I think in total rebounding, and maybe 2nd in rebounding differential?

Early in the season I thought rebounding would hurt us some. Thinking back to Big 12 play, I really don't remember there being any games where rebounding really hurt us, or was the reason we lost. It kind of got lost in the shuffle, but as a team, I think we rebounded really well.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

You know what's nice about Kruger's players so far?
Not a single one has quit the team yet.
Those last 3 years with Capel we seemed to be losing 3 guys a year just for no reason.

Calvin Newell
Carl Blair

 

[WTSooner]

The team that I'm REALLY, REALLY excited about?

The 2015-2016 team. That team is likely to start Woodard, Hornbeak, Hield, and Spangler for their THIRD year in a row. Additionally they will only have lost Bennett (most likely) off the prior year roster, and that team, depending on some key additions, has a chance to be really good.

 

[JBaker]

Calvin Newell
Carl Blair

Both brought in by Capel.

 

[JBaker]

Was our rebounding really that bad this year? Last time I looked, we were 2nd in the Big 12 I think in total rebounding, and maybe 2nd in rebounding differential?

Early in the season I thought rebounding would hurt us some. Thinking back to Big 12 play, I really don't remember there being any games where rebounding really hurt us, or was the reason we lost. It kind of got lost in the shuffle, but as a team, I think we rebounded really well.

At Baylor. But we won that anyway.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

Gonzaga fans were absolutely sick over losing Spangler. I'm sure he will be fine here, Kruger seems to be content with building around solid guard play, can't say I blame him.