I think Capel needs a roster revamp

[NickZepp]

When Capel first got here we had some okay talent. Not any special talent but some good players that could play some decent roles. AJ and Taylor were good athletes. Nate Carter was our best player. Jeff didn't play him the first half of the season at all which is probably why we ended up missing post season play. But that team also played hard every game and was pretty solid defensively. If Capel has that team now they probably win more games and play every team pretty good. Maybe lose a couple games by double digits but nothing like 20 points like this team is regularly.

My point is that team had more talent than this team. This team is flat out slow. They can play okay in the half court sometimes but that's inconsistent. Crocker is probably our best role player but he's not a real leader. Cade is probably our fastest player and that says a lot for this team. I like Cade and he plays hard but if he's probably our best athlete that says a lot about how bad your team is. We need a roster revamp. I know Capel loves his guys and he recruited all these guys but there's only about 5 guys that are at the level we've had even under Sampson. And maybe they are athletic than some of those players we've had but they aren't any good at basketball at this level. The guys I think we should keep are Willie, Fitz, Gallon, Cade and maybe TMG although I'm not sure about him most of the time. We need to open up the rest of the roster spots for people that can actually play.

 

[Navy2004]

Nick you are very good at pointing out things. I would agree about the roster. The players I would differ on. WW would be gone is soon as tomorrow. He has no leadership and is doing what he wants to do and believe it or not is making coach look very bad. If we are not going anywhere the rest of the year suspend him or do something because nothing else is working. If the star player is not allowed on the bench or in practice that will be a attention getter. Then these young kids will know nobody is above the program....

 

[NickZepp]

Willie isn't good enough to play in any pro league right now. He's barely a good college player right now.

 

[SoonerMatt27]

Mason-Griffin
Davis
Crocker
Fitz
Gallon

Pledger first off the bench.

Lets build for the future.

 

[NickZepp]

Pledger is just too slow.

 

[Navy2004]

Slow is a understatement

 

[SoonerMatt27]

I disagree.

He's no slower than Goldbold was, and he turned out to be a very solid defender.

 

[SoonerDan74012]

Willie isn't good enough to play in any pro league right now. He's barely a good college player right now.

He is not even good enough to play in div 1. :ez-laugh:

 

[jmizzy4ou]

I disagree.

He's no slower than Goldbold was, and he turned out to be a very solid defender.

DG had more lateral quickness than SP, IMO. Plus DG was very strong and able to play physical w/ most Big 12 guards.

 

[NickZepp]

He is not even good enough to play in div 1. :ez-laugh:

I didn't mean that but he's not nearly as good as a lot of people think.

 

[NickZepp]

The probably with Pledger is that we have him already in Cade Davis and Davis is faster so he gets the edge. And Pledger isn't near as good a defender also.

 

[SoonerMatt27]

DG had more lateral quickness than SP, IMO. Plus DG was very strong and able to play physical w/ most Big 12 guards.

Lateral quickness can be developed, Pledger is 6'4 220, strength isn't his problem. You don't have to be super quick to be able to defend. Davis isn't the quickest, he does have speed though.

 

[jmizzy4ou]

Lateral quickness can be developed, Pledger is 6'4 220, strength isn't his problem. You don't have to be super quick to be able to defend. Davis isn't the quickest, he does have speed though.

Lateral quickness is very important when you are trying to keep guards in front of you. When I said that DG was strong, what I should have said was that he knew how to use his body. His lower body was very strong, and he understood how to redirect a guy trying to get by him off the dribble.

No way does SP have the strength of DG at this point. I don't agree that you can teach lateral quickness, but you can teach positioning on defense. Larry Bird was painfully slow, but so smart and good at playing position D that he could stay with 2 guards for spells.

Most of our defensive problems are 1) Effort, 2) Understanding the concept of team defense/rotation.

 

[OUsky]

I disagree.

He's no slower than Goldbold was, and he turned out to be a very solid defender.

Godbold had Sampson teaching defense... big difference.

 

[htownSOONER]

I would kill for Godbold right now.


Wow, did I just say that?

 

[NickZepp]

The guys I think we should keep are Willie, Fitz, Gallon, Cade and maybe TMG although I'm not sure about him most of the time. We need to open up the rest of the roster spots for people that can actually play.

After further consideration I decided that I'm not sure TMG or Willie should be on that list. Those other 3 should stay the rest of the scholarships need to be looked at. And we need to bring in a lot of JUCOs/freshmen that can play. Stars don't matter to me just guys that fit the roster.

 

[daqman]

you're absolutely crazy if you think capel's first team had more talent than the current team.

 

[NickZepp]

you're absolutely crazy if you think capel's first team had more talent than the current team.

They had more basketball knowledge. Not even close. Talent you can maybe argue, but the best player still didn't play for the first half of the season.

 

[sybarite]

Talented individuals often look less athletic than less talented players that play as a team. You can play off of a team effort, looking good as an individual.

 

[Sawyer]

Reminds me a bit of what Mizzou was dealing with over the last few years of Quin, minus the off the court and NCAA issues Quin had at the time. There were several players that came in with lots of stars by their name, but low basketball IQs, almost no true role players/glue guys, and in general a team that was less than the sum of its parts.

I probably should add that I was actually behind Quin until the very last season and thought he could have turned things around (still do, if he had not been hampered by NCAA issues and his own personal issues). I don't mean this as a slight at Capel, but understand any comparison to Quin could easily be taken as such.

Capel obviously can recruit players. But can he build a team? That seems to be the biggest challenge right now for him, as it often is for young coaches. It will be interesting as an outsider to see how he handles the rest of this season and this offseason. The next 10 months very well may end up defining Capel's career as a head coach.