In case you missed it ... Romero Osby

[OUHoops]

A great article on him in the Tulsa World last week by Guerin Emig:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=2&articleid=20110719_92_B1_CUTLIN215985

Here are some excerpts:

"The first day we met as a team, we had an individual meeting afterward," Osby said after Kruger's hiring in April. "I took it upon myself to go talk to him and tell him I wanted to be his leader."

"I've been trying to put myself in a situation where I'm not just talking about it," Osby said before a recent workout at the Lloyd Noble Center. "People tend to not respect you if you just talk about it. I'm trying to be one of those guys that shows it, from his effort and toughness."

"Romero's mind is in the right place. There's a sense of urgency to him," said Jozsef Szendrei, the strength and conditioning coach who, NCAA rules dictate, has more access to players than Kruger and his assistants in the summer. "He understands the importance of working hard all the time. Either you man up to it or man down. He's manned up. It translates to everyday things I see."

Osby's verbal skills are so natural that he was one of five athletes selected to represent OU at the Big 12 Conference Leadership Summit earlier this summer. He took the interaction with fellow league athletes seriously.

"We'd be assigned different groups, and we'd act out skits and figure out which way a leader would approach certain things," Osby said. "We thought about things that are really simple, like making sure you're always on time, and how they go overlooked. As far as teammates, we discussed how some you can't talk to like you can others. Like I can get on Carl (Blair), and he'll be like, 'OK.' But I might not say the same thing to Tyler Neal or 'Fitz' (Andrew Fitzgerald). It's just different. It's all about personal relationships.

"I'm finding a way to be able to talk to everybody. That really helps when it comes to leading."

 

[scrybe]

Great post, OUHoops. That article speaks volumes about Osby's character and his desire to help make the Sooners the best they can possibly be over the next couple of seasons. Personally, I'll be surprised if this year's Sooners aren't a better team and have a better record than almost everyone outside the program is predicting.

 

[Sooner23]

Sounds like a great kid. Hope he lives up to the hype Capel and others have built up for him.

 

[BigTime]

Sounds like a great kid. Hope he lives up to the hype Capel and others have built up for him.

The last transfer (JUCO or straight from another D1 program) to have anywhere near his level of hype was Nate Carter.

I am going to be cautious in my expectations predictions with Roe this year. Heck, if he can just go in there and grab rebounds and defend the lane then he will be an upgrade over last year!

He does seem like a great kid and a vocal guy.

 

[TINY]

The last transfer (JUCO or straight from another D1 program) to have anywhere near his level of hype was Nate Carter.

I am going to be cautious in my expectations predictions with Roe this year. Heck, if he can just go in there and grab rebounds and defend the lane then he will be an upgrade over last year!

He does seem like a great kid and a vocal guy.

Good point, BT.

I figure if he can rebound/defend well, then he will be the total package. His offensive game is probably his best, IMO. He has great touch shooting the ball, and has really developed his low post game by all accounts.

I expect him to be a little rusty in the beginning, but would not be surprised to see him develop into our best player by the end of the season.

 

[garyeb2]

I don't want to get wrapped up in one of those long who is going to play where back anf forths. But, I just read an old article that had Osby talking about why he wanted to transfer from Miss. St. It seems that they had him playing inside and he wanted out on the peremiter. The article did point out that he struggled some trying to guard 3's. But, that he could hit the 3 pt.shot at about a 41% clip. I'm sure that Kruger will call the shots. So, I guess that we will see.