I said this last year.....

[SoonerfanTU]

And I'll say it again:

Last year, Blake saved our butts several times, and IMO, made Capel appear a bit better than maybe he really was. Go check a few of the box scores, especially in conference play. Some of you may say that Blake was the best player, so he should get most of the points/touches. And there is some truth to that, but there are alot of games where he absolutely had to go off on the other team, and play like few players have ever played at OU, for us to win by 5 or 6.

We don't have a player like that this year, and we may not for another decade or two. To me, seasons like this show what kind of coaches we have, and where they are at. I kind of relate it to football. Kelvin Wilson is the same OC that he was last year, this year. He just has a different level of talent to work with. So.....is he as bad as some fans say he is, or as good as we was last year when he called plays for the top college offense of all time? Hard to say, but since most years we aren't going to have the talent that we had last year (in both sports), I'd rather have a coach that can coach up a roster that isn't loaded with talent.

Long post, but the short of what I'm trying to say is that I think we all overvalued what exactly Capel was doing as a coach last year b/c of the talent of Blake Griffin. Of course we'd miss him this year, but my point is, the secondary players, alot of times, played inconsistent and poorly last year as well. This year, we just don't have a guy like Blake to save our bacon.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

I'll also add that I'm not giving up on Capel or this team.

I'm only commenting on where I think Capel is, as an X's and O's guys, TODAY. I'm really not sure where he'll end up in a few years.

 

[Seymore Cox]

And I'll say it again:

Last year, Blake saved our butts several times, and IMO, made Capel appear a bit better than maybe he really was. Go check a few of the box scores, especially in conference play. Some of you may say that Blake was the best player, so he should get most of the points/touches. And there is some truth to that, but there are alot of games where he absolutely had to go off on the other team, and play like few players have ever played at OU, for us to win by 5 or 6.

We don't have a player like that this year, and we may not for another decade or two. To me, seasons like this show what kind of coaches we have, and where they are at. I kind of relate it to football. Kelvin Wilson is the same OC that he was last year, this year. He just has a different level of talent to work with. So.....is he as bad as some fans say he is, or as good as we was last year when he called plays for the top college offense of all time? Hard to say, but since most years we aren't going to have the talent that we had last year (in both sports), I'd rather have a coach that can coach up a roster that isn't loaded with talent.

Long post, but the short of what I'm trying to say is that I think we all overvalued what exactly Capel was doing as a coach last year b/c of the talent of Blake Griffin. Of course we'd miss him this year, but my point is, the secondary players, alot of times, played inconsistent and poorly last year as well. This year, we just don't have a guy like Blake to save our bacon.

How can Blake save our butts when he's part of our butts. Blake was great and obviously was the most talented guy in the nation last year, but he was a sooner so how could he save the sooners.

 

[bocabull]

Capel has won 4 NCAA games in his first 3 seasons. He took over a program on probation with no talent.

He is building things the right way with high school talent. This year is the worst because he has no upper class talent. Sure he could have thought short term and plugged gaps with jucos but as we have seen that is a never ending cycle with fake results that get exposed in March.

That is how you are 1 and done every year like Sampson was until he finally got a high school stud in Hollis Price.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

How can Blake save our butts when he's part of our butts. Blake was great and obviously was the most talented guy in the nation last year, but he was a sooner so how could he save the sooners.

Because the entire team should contribute to a win.

We shouldn't have games where players shoot the ball poorly, and we don't play good defense, and the ONLY reason we win is b/c Blake went Godzilla on some team.

That doesn't reflect good coaching, just a really, really great recruit. My point is that we had alot of the same issues last year, they were just masked b/c of the man child.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

Capel has won 4 NCAA games in his first 3 seasons. He took over a program on probation with no talent.

He is building things the right way with high school talent. This year is the worst because he has no upper class talent. Sure he could have thought short term and plugged gaps with jucos but as we have seen that is a never ending cycle with fake results that get exposed in March.

That is how you are 1 and done every year like Sampson was until he finally got a high school stud in Hollis Price.

You gonna complain next year, b/c we won't have any upperclassmen then either.

Honore? Allen? Davis? Willis?

Any of those guys get you excited, b/c those are our upperclassmen next year, as of today.

 

[Seymore Cox]

Because the entire team should contribute to a win.

We shouldn't have games where players shoot the ball poorly, and we don't play good defense, and the ONLY reason we win is b/c Blake went Godzilla on some team.

That doesn't reflect good coaching, just a really, really great recruit. My point is that we had alot of the same issues last year, they were just masked b/c of the man child.

Blake was definetely the focal point, but he averaged 22pts a game. OU as a team averaged 80. We played as a team. Blake didn't try to take every shot. He didn't take low percentage shots. Defensively he wasn't great, but he looks like Rodman compared to the guys we have now. Taylor Griffin was on that team as well. So was Austin Johnson. They saved our Bacon a time or two.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

That is how you are 1 and done every year like Sampson was until he finally got a high school stud in Hollis Price.

Funny, I don't remember Hollis being a "stud" in HS. Very good, yes. But he wasn't rated anywhere near where WW, Tiny, TMG, or Blake were. To my memory at least.

OU made a Sweet 16 before Hollis was on campus. As a frosh we went to the 2nd round. And we won the Big 12 (tourney) and were a top 15 team with him as soph. How come our current frosh and sophs can't do that? Also, there is more to "looking at a team" then postseason. You only use that b/c of Kelvin's early career failures.

 

[campbest]

I'll also add that I'm not giving up on Capel or this team.

I'm only commenting on where I think Capel is, as an X's and O's guys, TODAY. I'm really not sure where he'll end up in a few years.

I think this is an important point which gets looked over quite a bit. All of us harp on the team and improvement (or lack thereof at this time) and usually point to our overall youth as the problem. Personally, I don't think this situation applies any differently to Capel as a coach, recruiter and overall manager of the program. He is still very young and learning on the job how to deal with players, make adjustments, etc.

You learn through experience, hopefully he is learning a lot right now.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

You gonna complain next year, b/c we won't have any upperclassmen then either.

Honore? Allen? Davis? Willis?

Any of those guys get you excited, b/c those are our upperclassmen next year, as of today.

Or what about the year after that? Because if Tiny goes pro, you'd only have TMG, Pledger, Fitz, and Willis as upperclassmen.

As long as Capel keeps recruiting early NBA guys. And as long as Capel keeps missing on some of the secondary HS kids, and JUCO's he takes, this is going to be an ongoing problem. I don't think OU fans are going to be happy "rebuilding" quite that often, just b/c we don't have upperclassmen.

 

[p230]

I think this is an important point which gets looked over quite a bit. All of us harp on the team and improvement (or lack thereof at this time) and usually point to our overall youth as the problem. Personally, I don't think this situation applies any differently to Capel as a coach, recruiter and overall manager of the program. He is still very young and learning on the job how to deal with players, make adjustments, etc.

You learn through experience, hopefully he is learning a lot right now.

+1

I think we have a great core but Capel may be having a bit of difficulty managing it right now. This season may be a trial to watch but I have to think things will get better as we go.

 

[Sooner79]

Weren't the two games last year where WW went off the losses to UT and KU? Obviously because we were without Blake, but we can't expect him to carry us in every game this year. The example of letting Blake play slack defense didn't set a good example either although I understand why Capel tolerated it.

The thing about Capel that has always been in the back of my mind is whether he would end up being like Mikey's other proteges....Snyder, Dawkins and Amaker. I don't think so, but still.....

 

[sooneronas]

Weren't the two games last year where WW went off the losses to UT and KU? Obviously because we were without Blake, but we can't expect him to carry us in every game this year. The example of letting Blake play slack defense didn't set a good example either although I understand why Capel tolerated it.

The thing about Capel that has always been in the back of my mind is whether he would end up being like Mikey's other proteges....Snyder, Dawkins and Amaker. I don't think so, but still.....

He's not Mikey's protege. He never coached for Duke. He is more of a product of his dad.

 

[bocabull]

Funny, I don't remember Hollis being a "stud" in HS. Very good, yes. But he wasn't rated anywhere near where WW, Tiny, TMG, or Blake were.

You better check again. Hollis led his high school team to the state title and was MVP and led his AAU team to the national title and was national MVP. He was a top 5 guard coming out of high school.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

I saw everything I needed to see from Capel in his very first year to know that he is an excellent YOUNG coach. Ultimately, players have to buy into the system . . . not sure that they are willing to at this point.

 

[Sooner79]

He's not Mikey's protege. He never coached for Duke. He is more of a product of his dad.

OK, maybe he's not a protege but he always talks about how much he learned about coaching from Mikey and it still worries me some that he may end up being as "successful" as those guys.

 

[NickZepp]

Last year we were a defensive first team. We were so good on D that Blake could take plays off on D and still have a solid defense, We don't have any guys that play that type of defense. We can't even play the easiest defense ever which is transition defense. That's just running up and down the court which is what you do in basketball from the time you are first coached in it. If you can't play transition D at 18 years old you don't deserve to play college basketball yet.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

You better check again. Hollis led his high school team to the state title and was MVP and led his AAU team to the national title and was national MVP. He was a top 5 guard coming out of high school.

He was not a top 5 guard. Somewhere around 50th player, I think. Certainly not a top 5 guard, by recruiting services.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

Last year we were a defensive first team.

Not even close. We had the 8th ranked O, and around 36th ranked D. Defense was still the weakness last year too.

 

[Seymore Cox]

36th ranked d is bad?