It's not surprising

[j2d2]

That we are once again plagued with turnovers. I think it foolish to think this will ever change.
I think it very improbable that we will play really good defense- ever.
I think this team will eventually gel, but it isnt surprising that so many newcomers and frequent substitutions make for disjointed offenses and defenses.
Do not look for consequences for poor play, especially with regard to experienced players(this may change a bit but not much).

 

[GoWarriors]

They don't have a player that can make everyone better on the court. The last player to do this was Whitney Hand. The pg is too young and maybe not good enough to play at the Big 12 level. Maddie has that potential but with her knee injuries that is a big question mark now.

 

[SoonerNorm]

The problem with Maddie is the number of mistakes she makes on both ends of the court. If she were playing as many minutes as Gabbi, she would be leading the team in turnovers and fouls by a wide margin. She is going to have to learn to play under control before she can really help this team.

 

[Sooner04]

More turnovers than made buckets last night. Just brutal basketball.

 

[Sooner Cal]

Coaching is simple. Make the same mistake repeatedly, sit on the bench and watch another player have fun.

Sherri knows basketball, but it is questionable that she knows coaching. They are not the same.

Wooden started every recruiting class with the same lesson, how to tie your basketball shoes and wear your socks. Details matter. He asked one player to get a haircut. The kid, a JuCo all-american, showed up for the first game without a haircut. At halftime he asked Wooden, am I going to play coach? Wooden replied, I can't mKe you cut your hair, but I don't have to play you. Next game, hair was cut.

This is coaching. Understanding your lever and using it. Players want to play. Deny it and they respond. If they don't, they don't want to play and you just use them as a practice squad player.

 

[sybarite]

Quite a few things can contribute to turnovers: trying to work for a better shot, lack of concentration, or even officiating. I got the impression listening to the game and watching the North Texas game that we had become fixated on the officiating of the Paradise Jam. They called some really stupid fouls, and they called a lot of touch fouls. When you foul out six players in a game, you are too rough----or you have some officials who have a different pattern than the rest of the country.

After watching the Jam, I watched a K-State game. K-State is horrible, not any better than North Texas from what I could see. But, they simply didn't call any fouls. You could mug someone and get away with it. It was completely different from the Jam.

Now, enter UALR. I got the impression from listening to Colton Coale that they were slapping at us and stealing the ball. There are some turnovers that would have been called fouls in the Jam. In the second half, we adjusted to their officiating, and we really only turned it over on offensive fouls for the most part. Take away the offensive fouls, and we didn't have an excessive number of turnovers. Why were they calling that? I have seen the announcers of several games, including the Jam, saying that they were calling charges when it was blocking, and they were doing it routinely. Sherri said a couple of ours were clearly blocking.

When we adjusted, we got back into the game. Wonder what would have happened if we had not had the Paradise Jam experience prior to UALR?

 

[rocjunkie]

All I can say about the game, is I watched it. The first half we just didn't guard any body and they picked us apart for wide open shots, and hit them. 76 per cent for a half is hard to swallow. The second half the kids did a wonderful job of playing defense and almost pulled out a win. I will be honest, I did not see that much slapping or mugging by the Trojan defense, they just were hustling and much quicker than us. They wanted the 50/50 balls more than we did. The second half we played with more purpose and aggression and played like the Sooner team we expect.

I don't know what the answer is to this team, except with not really that much of a drop off from 1 to 10, play and start the kids that want to play 40 minutes and sit the kids that don't. Its not that hard to figure out. Kornet should start every game. Vivi is ready and I can live with her missed shots. LaNesia is another that should be first. Sharane, and then take your pick. We have kids that have earned their right and its time for coaches to reward them with their passion and drive to succeed, because starting the same kids right now ain't working.

 

[SoonerNorm]

I took a look at the box score from the men's game tonight and noted they only committed 6 turnovers.

 

[Sweetest OU Girl]

I've thought about that too Norm.

We can probably deal with 12-15 per game, but the girls are AVERAGING over 21 per game. I'm not sure I have ever heard of such a thing. A really bad game ought to be in that range.

But 21+ as an average????

 

[AustinTXSooner]

And our opponents have averaged 22+ per game. The season is still early.

 

[sybarite]

I'm not surprised at some of the criticism, but I am a bit disappointed in some of it was well. This is a new team, consisting of players who have not played with each other before. They aren't even in units that enable them to play together in a recognizable pattern yet. They are having a period of adjustment as they learn to adjust to each other---where they will be, what move are they likely to make, what kind of passes can they handle? That is added to the typical early season that usually results as we feel our way. Every December, we are completely convinced that we will be last in the Big Twelve. Yet, we actually did (except for a rather absurd officiating error) beat Kentucky, a team that did beat Baylor. This team has played a pretty fair schedule, and we could easily have lost a couple more. Last year's team would probably have lost to Washington and Illinois.

If you want to talk about men's basketball, there is a board for that. You might want to learn about some of the differences. If you look at the NCAA statistics this year, they no longer seem to list turnovers. You can look at the A/T ratio and the turnover margin. If you look down the top teams in turnover margin, you will notice that the men tend to average slightly over ten turnovers per game. The women tend to average more like fifteen. Some of the leading teams average 17.3 turnovers per game, but are still high in turnover margin (in the top ten). The game is different. Men play above the rim. Women don't. Women tend to make more passes involving risk, trying to get a better shot. Women make more turnovers---simple. It's a part of the game.

Incidentally, if you would like to examine the NCAA statistics, OU is ranked #139 in Turnover Margin, Stanford #181, and Duke #234. So, are we heavily favored against Duke because we turn the ball over less than they do?

Show some patience. Also, learn a little about the game. It isn't men's basketball. Examine the NCAA statistics from time to time to see the differences.

 

[Three toe]

Syb: You no doubt will be banned for posting something:

- insightful
- logical
- rational
- compassionate
- reasonable
- caring
- intelligent

Thank you for properly putting things in perspective and giving the situation with the team comments from a loyal supporter!!!!

Three Toe

 

[tycat947]

Syb: You no doubt will be banned for posting something:

- insightful
- logical
- rational
- compassionate
- reasonable
- caring
- intelligent

Thank you for properly putting things in perspective and giving the situation with the team comments from a loyal supporter!!!!

Three Toe

+1

 

[SoonerNorm]

I've thought about that too Norm.

We can probably deal with 12-15 per game, but the girls are AVERAGING over 21 per game. I'm not sure I have ever heard of such a thing. A really bad game ought to be in that range.

But 21+ as an average????

I agree. If we would have only had 15 turnovers in the Kentucky and UALR games, we would be 7-1 right now instead of 5-3.

 

[scrybe]

+1

+2.

Thanks syb (and tycat, and Three toe) for offering/supporting a refreshingly different perspective on this team.

 

[trusooner]

Coaching is simple. Make the same mistake repeatedly, sit on the bench and watch another player have fun.

Sherri knows basketball, but it is questionable that she knows coaching. They are not the same.

Wooden started every recruiting class with the same lesson, how to tie your basketball shoes and wear your socks. Details matter. He asked one player to get a haircut. The kid, a JuCo all-american, showed up for the first game without a haircut. At halftime he asked Wooden, am I going to play coach? Wooden replied, I can't mKe you cut your hair, but I don't have to play you. Next game, hair was cut.

This is coaching. Understanding your lever and using it. Players want to play. Deny it and they respond. If they don't, they don't want to play and you just use them as a practice squad player.

Really????! What an absurd statement! To suggest Sherri doesn't know coaching is ridiculous! You don't get to 3 Final Fours and not know coaching! And to say that coaching is simple is crazy especially is this day and age. I wonder if Wooden would survive in coaching these kids today. Yes it is frustrating when they continue to repeat the same mistakes but they are young and hopefully with more games they will start to become more consistent.

 

[SoonerNorm]

Really????! What an absurd statement! To suggest Sherri doesn't know coaching is ridiculous! You don't get to 3 Final Fours and not know coaching! And to say that coaching is simple is crazy especially is this day and age. I wonder if Wooden would survive in coaching these kids today. Yes it is frustrating when they continue to repeat the same mistakes but they are young and hopefully with more games they will start to become more consistent.

It isn't just the freshmen who are responsible for the high number of turnovers. If you look at the stats you find the following turnovers per minute for the top offenders.

Gioya- 1 turnover every 6.7 minutes (100 minutes played)
Kaylon- 1 turnover every 7.3 minutes (161 minutes played)
Sharane- 1 turnover every 9 minutes (234 minutes played)
Ortiz- 1 turnover every 9 minutes (242 minutes played)

Ortiz is the only freshman who has committed a lot of turnovers. I can understand Ortiz being on the list as she is playing the most minutes of everyone, she touches the ball more than anyone else, and she is a freshmen. But, it's hard to explain why Sharane, Gioya, and Kaylon have as many turnovers as they do.

I could have included T'Ona and Maddie, who have high turnovers per minutes played, but they both have limited playing time and deserve some slack.

 

[SoonerinNC]

Sherri has always encouraged her players to play on the edge and be willing to take a risk. But for some time what used to be a brilliant pass for an open shot has turned into a bad turnover.

I think the reason for this is that there are better coaches and better players coming along. The rise of the likes of Baylor, Texas A&M, Louisville and Notre Dame have made it more than just Connecticut, Tennessee and sometimes Stanford. We are facing better, more athletic and well coached players more and more. I'm not sure we have adjusted to that in recruiting and in our playing schemes.

A bigger mystery to me is why we have players play with so little energy at times and why some just disappear like Vegas last year and KayKay both years. Why did our best player (Campbell-Olds) only put up 5 shots in over 30 minutes against ULAR. Why did what many predicted our top scorer (Little) play less than 20 minutes and contribute little (pun not intended) to the game.

The team seems to be close and have a very high morale. But we never know which team is going to be on the court.

 

[SoonerNorm]

Sherri has always encouraged her players to play on the edge and be willing to take a risk. But for some time what used to be a brilliant pass for an open shot has turned into a bad turnover.

I think the reason for this is that there are better coaches and better players coming along. The rise of the likes of Baylor, Texas A&M, Louisville and Notre Dame have made it more than just Connecticut, Tennessee and sometimes Stanford. We are facing better, more athletic and well coached players more and more. I'm not sure we have adjusted to that in recruiting and in our playing schemes.

A bigger mystery to me is why we have players play with so little energy at times and why some just disappear like Vegas last year and KayKay both years. Why did our best player (Campbell-Olds) only put up 5 shots in over 30 minutes against ULAR. Why did what many predicted our top scorer (Little) play less than 20 minutes and contribute little (pun not intended) to the game.

The team seems to be close and have a very high morale. But we never know which team is going to be on the court.

Great post!

 

[gosooner2]

So far I think this team lacks the same thing as last year, and that is no court leader. Sherri admitted this last year. There is no player that is going to get in a teammates face over sloppy play. Some teams (usually good ones) have 2 or 3 players that will let each other or other players know they are screwing up. Campbell-olds has said she needs to be the one but so far it is not happening. You would think the coach could do that but peer pressure is much stronger for some reason. Perhaps one will develop but it takes a strong player to do it. I also think a lot of what NC Sooner says is part of it. Maybe they are too close?