NorthCarolinaSooner
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2009
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I know a lot of people who come on this board were disappointed OU didn't make the post season and generally how the season ended. I would hope that most of you are actually level headed enough to be patient and wait another year or two before getting really antsy and continuing any heavy bashing of the coaching, etc.
The biggest thing about college basketball (and basketball in general) is having talent. There is a lot of truth to the statement that "Great players make great coaches" and the team that Kruger was left with, although it had SOME talent, wasn't very deep and was lacking talent in some areas.
A lot of you know I coach college basketball (albeit at the small school, non-scholarship level) and we play a tough schedule that includes a couple of NCAA DI teams every year and several NCAA DII schools every year. It is a new program that has only been in existence for two years.....this was my first year and I was taking over a program that was 0-28 the previous year and only averaged 42 ppg last year. We only won 2 games this season (first two in program history) and had the wood laid to us several times....I'm sure that if we had a message board like this one that a lot of people would have been calling for my head this year but most of them would have realized the positives that occurred, such as:
1.they only had 1 second half lead last year.....we had 7 or 8 this season, inluding a 1 point halftime lead against the #8 team in the country in our association..on the road...a game we eventually lost by 15...and two double digit leads against a team that was ranked #16 in the country in our association at one time.....both games we lost in tough matchups.
2.we increased our scoring average by 17 ppg.
3.we didn't lose a single varsity player to grades this season (multiple players were lost the year before)
4.we had our first two academic all-americans in school history this season.
5.we did this while playing two 6'4" posts and no wings over 6'2"....something that will (and is) being addressed in recruiting...but it takes time.
All these are things most people wouldn't have realized or paid much attention to. I hate losing more than anything and next year is going to be a different story as we will have our first full year to recruit as a staff in the programs history....we weren't far away from being really competitive and we need people involved to be patient and give us two more years before they turn on us like some people are always quick to do. So, I guess, what I am saying is that I can sympathize with both sides (as a fan and as a coach) and hope that you guys will be patient and give the staff a chance to do what it is going to take. I know it is hard when you want your team to win so bad (especially when you are used to them winning in the past) but they will get there.
I know most of what I said really doesn't matter to some of you.....but you can't judge the staff by one season when there was a LOT of work to be done. THAT is where I am coming from on my side of things and I hope our fans give me and my staff a chance to get this thing going in the right direction.
Guys...sit back and enjoy the ride.....the staff will have the program back at the top of the Big XII soon!!!
The biggest thing about college basketball (and basketball in general) is having talent. There is a lot of truth to the statement that "Great players make great coaches" and the team that Kruger was left with, although it had SOME talent, wasn't very deep and was lacking talent in some areas.
A lot of you know I coach college basketball (albeit at the small school, non-scholarship level) and we play a tough schedule that includes a couple of NCAA DI teams every year and several NCAA DII schools every year. It is a new program that has only been in existence for two years.....this was my first year and I was taking over a program that was 0-28 the previous year and only averaged 42 ppg last year. We only won 2 games this season (first two in program history) and had the wood laid to us several times....I'm sure that if we had a message board like this one that a lot of people would have been calling for my head this year but most of them would have realized the positives that occurred, such as:
1.they only had 1 second half lead last year.....we had 7 or 8 this season, inluding a 1 point halftime lead against the #8 team in the country in our association..on the road...a game we eventually lost by 15...and two double digit leads against a team that was ranked #16 in the country in our association at one time.....both games we lost in tough matchups.
2.we increased our scoring average by 17 ppg.
3.we didn't lose a single varsity player to grades this season (multiple players were lost the year before)
4.we had our first two academic all-americans in school history this season.
5.we did this while playing two 6'4" posts and no wings over 6'2"....something that will (and is) being addressed in recruiting...but it takes time.
All these are things most people wouldn't have realized or paid much attention to. I hate losing more than anything and next year is going to be a different story as we will have our first full year to recruit as a staff in the programs history....we weren't far away from being really competitive and we need people involved to be patient and give us two more years before they turn on us like some people are always quick to do. So, I guess, what I am saying is that I can sympathize with both sides (as a fan and as a coach) and hope that you guys will be patient and give the staff a chance to do what it is going to take. I know it is hard when you want your team to win so bad (especially when you are used to them winning in the past) but they will get there.
I know most of what I said really doesn't matter to some of you.....but you can't judge the staff by one season when there was a LOT of work to be done. THAT is where I am coming from on my side of things and I hope our fans give me and my staff a chance to get this thing going in the right direction.
Guys...sit back and enjoy the ride.....the staff will have the program back at the top of the Big XII soon!!!
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