I smell more recruiting negligence......

[WTSooner]

We're 2-11 in our last 13 games and are coming off 21 and 24 point drubbings. Oh, also, our best player (arguably) is out for the year.

It is not "arguable" that Harkless is our best player.

He's our fourth leading scorer. He lost his starting job earlier in the year, he shoots 42/64/32 from the field for FG/FT/3P. Tied for the lead in turnovers per game on the team. And isn't even our leading steals guy (if defense is his hallmark).

Just sayin'.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

It is not "arguable" that Harkless is our best player.

He's our fourth leading scorer. He lost his starting job earlier in the year, he shoots 42/64/32 from the field for FG/FT/3P. Tied for the lead in turnovers per game on the team. And isn't even our leading steals guy (if defense is his hallmark).

Just sayin'.

Agreed. He has not been great this year. or even good. Pretty disappointing year.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

If you can’t see the point then I can’t help you.

I see your point.
You don't see mine

 

[steverocks35]

It is not "arguable" that Harkless is our best player.

He's our fourth leading scorer. He lost his starting job earlier in the year, he shoots 42/64/32 from the field for FG/FT/3P. Tied for the lead in turnovers per game on the team. And isn't even our leading steals guy (if defense is his hallmark).

Just sayin'.

It’s arguable because nobody else stands out as our best player.

 

[38red]

It is not "arguable" that Harkless is our best player.

He's our fourth leading scorer. He lost his starting job earlier in the year, he shoots 42/64/32 from the field for FG/FT/3P. Tied for the lead in turnovers per game on the team. And isn't even our leading steals guy (if defense is his hallmark).

Just sayin'.

I think he's the best player and it's not even close. He has his faults (TO) but he's my first player to pick for a team from this roster. Hill is second but there's a gap for me!

 

[WichitaSooner]

It is not "arguable" that Harkless is our best player.

He's our fourth leading scorer. He lost his starting job earlier in the year, he shoots 42/64/32 from the field for FG/FT/3P. Tied for the lead in turnovers per game on the team. And isn't even our leading steals guy (if defense is his hallmark).

Just sayin'.

This doesn’t happen every day, but I fully agree with WT. I’ll never understand the Harkless love. He is our worst ball handler and passer, not close to being our best shooter, makes bad decisions at an alarming rate, and, while a solid defender for the most part, was called out by Moser for not pulling his weight on that end of the floor last month.

This team doesn’t have a great player, clearly. If I had to pick one guy on the roster to start a team with, Hill is my guy because he plays his role very well. On a team with better talent around him, you could win with Jalen at the four. I think he has shown strides this year offensively, but needs to continue becoming more aggressive next season.

 

[Sooner04]

I'd pick Tanner Groves first and if he didn't get 20 shots a game I'd run everybody on the team a mile for every notch short of that mark. Play the game as slow as possible and see if I couldn't get the other side in a bit of foul trouble.

Harkless had a great run last year for about a ten-game stretch when the whole team was standing on its head. His TO propensity leads directly to buckets on the other end. We have no chance when we don't protect the ball. None.

 

[AdaSooner]

people have short memories

OU is 45 in kenpom ..

basically the same range as the last 4 years ...

Are you sure it’s not selective memories?

Porter gets bashed for the way this season is spiraling out of control, while those same people seem to forget the stinker of a season after Lon and his staff took us to a Final Four.

To me, failing to take advantage of a FF is a lot worse because the opportunity doesn’t come along too often.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Are you sure it’s not selective memories?

Porter gets bashed for the way this season is spiraling out of control, while those same people seem to forget the stinker of a season after Lon and his staff took us to a Final Four.

To me, failing to take advantage of a FF is a lot worse because the opportunity doesn’t come along too often.

I think that’s a bit of a false equivalency. That season was terrible and everyone acknowledged it. But that season would likely not have gone off the rails if Woodard had been healthy. It wouldn’t have been a great team, but not awful. And that year was always going to be a rebuilding year after losing the three seniors from the FF season. Remember, that was before the portal. I’d also say that if you look around at teams that make the FF, very few outside the blue bloods turn that into a prolonged run of excellence. Lon definitely deserves some blame for the last few years, but that 2017 season was an outlier. If Moser shows he can get us to the tourney every year but this, then I’ll say the same about this season.

 

[TINY]

I think that’s a bit of a false equivalency. That season was terrible and everyone acknowledged it. But that season would likely not have gone off the rails if Woodard had been healthy. It wouldn’t have been a great team, but not awful. And that year was always going to be a rebuilding year after losing the three seniors from the FF season. Remember, that was before the portal. I’d also say that if you look around at teams that make the FF, very few outside the blue bloods turn that into a prolonged run of excellence. Lon definitely deserves some blame for the last few years, but that 2017 season was an outlier. If Moser shows he can get us to the tourney every year but this, then I’ll say the same about this season.

That’s a lot of “ifs and buts”. Let’s remove nuance and look at results. That team had the worst record since 1980. If we want to apply nuance, then no one should be bashing Moser for this year.

 

[AdaSooner]

I think that’s a bit of a false equivalency. That season was terrible and everyone acknowledged it. But that season would likely not have gone off the rails if Woodard had been healthy. It wouldn’t have been a great team, but not awful. And that year was always going to be a rebuilding year after losing the three seniors from the FF season. Remember, that was before the portal. I’d also say that if you look around at teams that make the FF, very few outside the blue bloods turn that into a prolonged run of excellence. Lon definitely deserves some blame for the last few years, but that 2017 season was an outlier. If Moser shows he can get us to the tourney every year but this, then I’ll say the same about this season.

Fair enough. I agree with what you said about Woodard. No question that his health issues played a major role in our post FF season.

IMO, some of the criticism Porter has received is warranted, most is not. Lon didn’t get off to a great start in his first season. I simply think our new coach deserves more consideration than he’s getting now, not from you but from others.

He got a late start on the portal and in hiring his coaching staff. And, like me, maybe he relied too much on Tanner and Jacob’s performance against Kansas. I remember the excitement on the board when their commitment to OU was announced.

The portal can be a godsend if you make the right decisions. The opposite may true if you make enough mistakes. Case in point, what would our season have been like if Marvin had been ready to contribute from the get go? If Jacob had been able to even come close to repeating his performance against Kansas?

I’m not pleased with the season we’ve had, but I’m not as unhappy as some seem to be. The margin for error with this team was so small, we were unable to overcome the loss of one player even for a game or two. For example, losing Chargois for a few games really hurt. There were others I may be forgetting.

I’m excited about next year! If you haven’t seen the videos I posted of Oweh on another thread, check them out. I think all three of our signees will be a step up in talent and athleticism. I think Schroeder is better than anyone on this year’s team, and it’s not even close!

 

[Soonerguy06]

I agree, Shroeder looks very good in his highlight videos. He kind of reminds me of Austin Reaves, and I'm hoping he contributes in a similar way. The other two guys are very athletic and look great too. My concern is getting productive, athletic height. Idk who comes back next season down low, but even if everyone does I feel we will still struggle in that area. Hopefully there's space for Moser to grab a productive big from the portal, but idk what the scholly situation will look like on account of not knowing for certain who's returning.

 

[AdaSooner]

I agree, Shroeder looks very good in his highlight videos. He kind of reminds me of Austin Reaves, and I'm hoping he contributes in a similar way. The other two guys are very athletic and look great too. My concern is getting productive, athletic height. Idk who comes back next season down low, but even if everyone does I feel we will still struggle in that area. Hopefully there's space for Moser to grab a productive big from the portal, but idk what the scholly situation will look like on account of not knowing for certain who's returning.

I’m hoping OU can sign a big out of the portal to improve our ability to score, rebound and defend down low!

We know Chargois is moving on, and who the heck knows if Issanza and Mawein will be ready to contribute? We’ll need them desperately if the portal is not kind to us.

 

[BoulderSooner]

who the heck knows if Issanza and Mawein will be ready to contribute? We’ll need them desperately if the portal is not kind to us.

i actually thought Mawein was getting better and better in his min when Charg was out ..

 

[jaymOU]

I’m hoping OU can sign a big out of the portal to improve our ability to score, rebound and defend down low!

We know Chargois is moving on, and who the heck knows if Issanza and Mawein will be ready to contribute? We’ll need them desperately if the portal is not kind to us.

If Mawein and Issy are your backup bigs next year - that's a big problem. Ideally you add a banger, rebounder who can score in the paint and that's mostly likely a portal guy. Hard to recruit a HS kid ready to do that to OU.

If OU starts Hill and TGroves in the front court again next year, I don't expect much more than a ceiling of a .500 conference record.

 

[TINY]

I’m hoping OU can sign a big out of the portal to improve our ability to score, rebound and defend down low!

We know Chargois is moving on, and who the heck knows if Issanza and Mawein will be ready to contribute? We’ll need them desperately if the portal is not kind to us.

I’d give issanza about a 5% chance of sticking around. He is a poor fit for this system. Mawein will be a good player for us eventually IMO.

 

[AdaSooner]

i actually thought Mawein was getting better and better in his min when Charg was out ..

Me too! I also think Mawein should be getting some of J Groves minutes, for defense if no other reason.

 

[WTSooner]

Me too! I also think Mawein should be getting some of J Groves minutes, for defense if no other reason.

I don't think Mawein can play the 4 (or the 3). So far, hasn't he only played the 5? He doesn't move all that well either, unfortunately.

 

[BCSooners]

Worse than our 2017 team when we finished 11-20 overall and 5-13 in conference?

As for Mawein, I think he should play more, maybe give him some of Jacob’s minutes. He’s a better defender IMO.

Got my years messed up, yes that team was worse.

 

[StoopsBros]

Negligence because they're not recruiting some jucos you like? Haha.

Pass on all three.

Jake Stephens (VMI) &/or Xavier Foster (Iowa State)?

Recruit both. Some will disagree on Foster....but he was cleared, I'd at least look into the situation. The kid has a lot of potential.