Is Capel working in Fitz for next season?

[campbest]

its easy to have a 4 guard offense when you have guys like mike nardi, randy foye, allen ray, and kyle lowery

Was in response to a previous poster calling it a "gimmick"...Wright was playing to his strengths, which is what Capel has been trying to do this year.

 

[luckyc1423]

Our guards could attack the rim or possibly get some ball movement, but that isn't possible when you have TMG and WW on the floor at the same time. He does shoot a good % from the floor, but have you checked other aspects of his game? Fitz shooting a great % is nice, but he's not going to get more than 6 or 7 shots a game, which doesn't negate the fact that he grabbed zero boards in 30 minutes against Baylor or 2 rebounds in 28 minutes vs. Iowa State.

This team's problems don't start with it's offense...you win championships based on your defense and rebounding, it needs to start there. But, I agree we do shoot too many threes.

I completely agree with you Fitz is not a great defender but we really only have 1 or 2 great defenders on our team. the 4 guard attack has proven that is not good on defense...so why have we not tried two posts for extended periods that much? I understand that two posts do not play great D but neither do our guards, so to me those two different lineups is a wash when you look at things in terms of D.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

His field goal % is 543 which is second best on the team. He has not shot a three a year long! That tells me that if we can reduce the # of 3's taken, and bring in a guy with a good shooting percentatge he should have been playing all along....there has been to many excuses made for capel, the dude has not done a good job this year and that is all there is to that.

That is an illogical argument.

If that were the case, we should let our top, say, two guys, shooting percentage-wise, take every single shot, right? You know why that wouldn't work? Because teams would defend them better. And they'd have to take bad shots. And b/c of that, their shooting percentages would dip.

 

[campbest]

I completely agree with you Fitz is not a great defender but we really only have 1 or 2 great defenders on our team. the 4 guard attack has proven that is not good on defense...so why have we not tried two posts for extended periods that much? I understand that two posts do not play great D but neither do our guards, so to me those two different lineups is a wash when you look at things in terms of D.

So who do you take off? TMG, best shooter; WW, best at attacking the rim; Crocker, scorer, good defender and rebounder; Davis, good defender and rebounder.

Fitz would not contribute as much if you take one of those guys out. Again, for the 10th time, most of the match-ups in conference don't allow Fitz to get a lot of playing time...he can't defend, rebound, run the floor with them. And again, for the 10th time, he is our fifth or sixth option offensively, that is why he shoots such a good %. You think he would get those #'s if KU doubled him like they were Gallon last night.

 

[quick release]

Was in response to a previous poster calling it a "gimmick"...Wright was playing to his strengths, which is what Capel has been trying to do this year.

I tend to agree with you, but its tough to have success with it unless you have outstanding guards like nova typically has.

 

[Shooterms]

I think the most common mistake made by fans when they are questioning/criticizing coaching decisions is that they overlook the fact that players change over time. Fitz is a better player today than he was in Alaska. All players change over time, but Freshmen do so much more. To look at the way Fitz played last night and say he would have done that all season is simply untrue. This isn't a video game, where the players are programmed with certain skill levels and always play the same way. These are young men who are growing mentally, emotionally, and physically, all the while working with professional coaches to develop their skills.

There were bright spots last night, and Fitz was certainly one of them. As well, the desire to compete for the whole game was nice to see. It is almost as if, perhaps, there has been a paradigm shift in team chemistry.

 

[buttermaker1]

I think the most common mistake made by fans when they are questioning/criticizing coaching decisions is that they overlook the fact that players change over time. Fitz is a better player today than he was in Alaska. All players change over time, but Freshmen do so much more. To look at the way Fitz played last night and say he would have done that all season is simply untrue. This isn't a video game, where the players are programmed with certain skill levels and always play the same way. These are young men who are growing mentally, emotionally, and physically, all the while working with professional coaches to develop their skills.

There were bright spots last night, and Fitz was certainly one of them. As well, the desire to compete for the whole game was nice to see. It is almost as if, perhaps, there has been a paradigm shift in team chemistry.

Yup he grew up last night in the belly of the beast. All 4 freshman and Davis played better in the 2nd half. They out scored the number 1 ranked team in their yard in the 2nd half. I am not big on moral victories but that was a much needed half of BB on National TV against the number 1 ranked team in their yard.

 

[ChampsIn2011]

Played 37 minutes tonight and got 14 shots... His game time has been pretty spotty, minutes here and there, but now it seems like he is playing him a lot. I am sure a lot of it is practice and what not, but to play almost the entire game tells me he is getting him very valuable minutes for next season.

16 points, 6 rebounds, and some really nice jumpers. His second or third basket (a drive to the rim) was pretty nice too.

On the other side, Tiny only got 6 shots but made half of them. I think Bob Knight was correct in saying his moves are too slow. That could be weight, inexperience, fatigue, but probably a combo of all of those things.

It was nice playing 2 big guys, and KU only beat OU on the glass by 6 which isnt that bad.

The big problem is that we will always be terrible on defense if he and Tiny play at the same time because neither can jump or guard a 4.

They both are/will be bigtime, offensively, though.

 

[Shooterms]

The big problem is that we will always be terrible on defense if he and Tiny play at the same time because neither can jump or guard a 4.

Here is an example of what I was talking about.

 

[ChampsIn2011]

Here is an example of what I was talking about.

Dude, you can either jump or you can't.

It is 80-90% genetic.

They are never going to be explosive or play above the rim.

But ,what they do have are a very particular set of offensive skills; skills they have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make them a nightmare for people like you.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

But ,what they do have are a very particular set of offensive skills; skills they have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make them a nightmare for people like you.

LOL

:clap

 

[Seymore Cox]

Memories sure are short around here arent they...haha

I especially like the comment on another thread about us making the tourney if Fitz had been starting all year...that's a flat our riot...

I will say this, he is really progressing as a player...i am so excited that we will have him for 3 more years...:fitz

I liked what he did yesterday. I liked it alot. Fact is however, he gave up alot more points than he scored. He still has some ways to go. The fact that we probably would have gave up those points if Fitz were in or out of the game should also be noted........

 

[gracefor24]

Fitz is a really nice offensive player but really has to work on rebounding the ball. He has things that he can use to his advantage, strength and he has pretty good length. If you play 37 minutes you have to get more than 6 boards, Wright played 15 minutes and got 5 boards.

 

[campbest]

Fitz is a really nice offensive player but really has to work on rebounding the ball. He has things that he can use to his advantage, strength and he has pretty good length. If you play 37 minutes you have to get more than 6 boards, Wright played 15 minutes and got 5 boards.

He didn't grab a board in 30 minutes versus Baylor.

 

[Shooterms]

Dude, you can either jump or you can't.

It is 80-90% genetic.

They are never going to be explosive or play above the rim.

But ,what they do have are a very particular set of offensive skills; skills they have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make them a nightmare for people like you.

They will get better at defense. Almost every freshman has a steep learning curve when it comes to defense, so saying we will always be terrible on defense because they can't jump or guard a 4, is likely not true. They can learn to guard a 4 if their conditioning, basketball IQ and lateral quickness improves. Neither of them will likely ever be above the rim players, but they will improve on the 10-20% that isn't genetic (using your numbers), as well.

Oh, and those skills that terrify little ol' me, they'll get better at those, too. Soon, I won't be able to sleep.

 

[OUsky]

So who do you take off? .

They would still have all played... there is 120+ minutes to go aroound. It would have improved our bench play tremendously as we could of brought Cade off the bench for example instead of a player making 19% of is threes over his last 65 shots.

 

[BigTime]

I don't ever see Fitz and Gallon being able to play big minutes together unless both drop at least 20 pounds (making Fitz more of an ideal PF) and really work on lateral quickness and conditioning.

That said, I am very pleased to see Coach Capel making a commitment to allow Fitzgerald to get comfortable and ready for big minutes next season. I think he will prove to better for us next year than Ryan Wright was this season. We just need to land a guy like N'Diaye that can be a defensive stopper, and another one or two guys that are defense/rebound first type bigs (Will Yeugete).

I feel much better that Fitzgerald can give us 20 plus minutes per game next season than I did a month ago.

I sure hope that Tiny and Fitz realize just how important it is for them to improve their quickness and conditioning during this offseason.

 

[DenverSooner]

The big problem is that we will always be terrible on defense if he and Tiny play at the same time because neither can jump or guard a 4.

They both are/will be bigtime, offensively, though.

Ridiculous comment. Bookout was a solid defender. Renzi Stone was a solid defender. Cole Aldrich is a very good defender. None of those guys can jump. I would take a guy that boxes out and plays fundamentally sound over a guy with a huge vertical (that does not box out and play fundamentall sound) every time.

What kills those guys right now is they just make mistakes and don't have enough experience.

 

[gracefor24]

Ridiculous comment. Bookout was a solid defender. Renzi Stone was a solid defender. Cole Aldrich is a very good defender. None of those guys can jump. I would take a guy that boxes out and plays fundamentally sound over a guy with a huge vertical (that does not box out and play fundamentall sound) every time.

What kills those guys right now is they just make mistakes and don't have enough experience.

I think he and Tiny together pose a bit of a problem but really it has more to do with the fact they are freshman with low awareness right now, combine that with a little slow footedness and it's pretty bad.

They will both get in better shape and learn the game and where they are supposed to be on defense and it will look much better. Obviously it would help to pair them with either a legit center who could contest shots at the rim or an athletic forward that could really cover ground.

 

[daggerstu]

Like it has already been stated, if Tiny & Drew work their butt off in the gym & weightroon this offseason, then we'll be solid in the post next year. Again, solid but not great. We still need depth.

Losing Patillo's explosiveness was a major, major blow that was overlooked by everyone. The second biggest hit last offseason was missing out on getting Udoh to transfer from Michigan.