Kruger final grade - D

[seniorsooner]

I'll save you guys from reading Gary's novel and sum up his stance as follows:

Any game OU won this year is because of Kruger's masterful coaching. Any game they lost was due solely to inferior talent.

 

[Sid]

The number of posters in this thread afraid of giving Lon a final grade is telling. I agree with OP's comments. It was disappointing watching the team make the same mistakes over and over again.

:capelspin

 

[garyeb2]

I'll save you guys from reading Gary's novel and sum up his stance as follows:

Any game OU won this year is because of Kruger's masterful coaching. Any game they lost was due solely to inferior talent.

I thought you said that you took the oath to ignore my post. We would probably both be better served if you did just that. You don't seem capable of restating my position.

Let me one potato two potato this for you. In the non conference portion of the schedule OU beat every bad or mid-major team that they played. And they beat a couple of others that weren't bad. They won those games because they had superior talent. Capel might have even won some of those games.

The problem is in the Big 12. There aren't very many bad teams. mayby only one. Two if you count OU. Three or four if you thow in OSU and A&M. Relative to the competition in league play, OU has no talent. Isn't that what the results would indicate?

 

[AdaSooner]

The problem is in the Big 12. There aren't very many bad teams. mayby only one. Two if you count OU. Three or four if you thow in OSU and A&M. Relative to the competition in league play, OU has no talent. Isn't that what the results would indicate?

Big 12 coaches picked OU to finish ninth in the pre-season, so it's obvious their evaluation of the team's talent (or lack thereof) was not that far off. Anyone who thought OU was good enough to compete with the best teams in conference is in denial.

I never had high expectations for this team at any poiint of the season. I'll admit that I switched to my usual glass is half full mode when we were 9-1 in non-conference play. That quickly faded when the multiple weaknesses this team had started to show up like a wart on a super model's nose.

I'm not willing to give Kruger a high score for his coaching this season. At the same time, I'm not blinded to the facts either. This was not a team blessed with talent. I see no reason to rehash the flaws that plagued at least three members of our starting five. If most of you don't know what they are by now, you haven't been paying attention.

I have said numerous times that our biggest problem was quality depth. If someone can name one player coming off the bench who could be counted on to spark the team or even to maintain the status quo, I might stop talking about it. Since no one on this team fits that description, I will continue to say it until I'm proven wrong.

 

[bocabull]

The number of posters in this thread afraid of giving Lon a final grade is telling. I agree with OP's comments. It was disappointing watching the team make the same mistakes over and over again.

:capelspin

Bingo.

 

[Sid]

I'll save you guys from reading Gary's novel and sum up his stance as follows:

Any game OU won this year is because of Kruger's masterful coaching. Any game they lost was due solely to inferior talent.

Thanks for clearing that up. Since you did not give Lon a final grade, I will mark you down in the A category with the other posters in this thread.

:capelspin

 

[garyeb2]

Ada, I'm not trying to prove you wrong or even argue with you about it. Every coach needs to be able to go 8 deep or so without much drop off.

Kruger had me scratching my head all season with his two fouls and sit in the first half policy. There were some competitive games we had a chance to win and starters were on the bench with 2 fouls and subs that would get us beat were in the game.

In those games with no bench, I think I would have given the starters 3 fouls before pulling them. But, I'm not the coach. Kruger is. And I just don't think that he could have done much more this season.

 

[AdaSooner]

Bingo.

You and Sid make a good team. You should meet somewhere and talk about basketball. Set it up and I'll buy. Maybe I can learn something.

 

[AdaSooner]

Ada, I'm not trying to prove you wrong or even argue with you about it. Every coach needs to be able to go 8 deep or so without much drop off.

Kruger had me scratching my head all season with his two fouls and sit in the first half policy. There were some competitive games we had a chance to win and starters were on the bench with 2 fouls and subs that would get us beat were in the game.

In those games with no bench, I think I would have given the starters 3 fouls before pulling them. But, I'm not the coach. Kruger is. And I just don't think that he could have done much more this season.

Gary, if I'm interpreting what you're saying correctly, you're actually reinforcing the point I was trying to make. Kruger didn't have many options when he looked to his bench for help.

You're right, he continued the rotation pattern in the first half no matter what, and all too often it resulted in losing a lead the starters had worked hard to build. That left me scratching my head as well. Guess he figured it was better to rest his starters in the first session than to wait until the second half.

It's not that the players coming off the bench don't try or play hard. They're just not good enough to hang on to or increase a lead, as we have seen subs on other teams do in a number of games this season. This team is anemic when it comes to quality depth.

 

[Sid]

Kruger had me scratching my head all season with his two fouls and sit in the first half policy. There were some competitive games we had a chance to win and starters were on the bench with 2 fouls and subs that would get us beat were in the game.

In those games with no bench, I think I would have given the starters 3 fouls before pulling them. But, I'm not the coach. Kruger is. And I just don't think that he could have done much more this season.

Thank you. Bill Callahan used the same strategy when he came to Norman in 200(4)? The football fans should understand the point I am making. LOL

:ed

 

[Sid]

You and Sid make a good team. You should meet somewhere and talk about basketball. Set it up and I'll buy. Maybe I can learn something.

Another check mark in the A column.

 

[DenverSooner]

Ada, I'm not trying to prove you wrong or even argue with you about it. Every coach needs to be able to go 8 deep or so without much drop off.

Kruger had me scratching my head all season with his two fouls and sit in the first half policy. There were some competitive games we had a chance to win and starters were on the bench with 2 fouls and subs that would get us beat were in the game.

In those games with no bench, I think I would have given the starters 3 fouls before pulling them. But, I'm not the coach. Kruger is. And I just don't think that he could have done much more this season.

But OU was fine in the first half of virtually every game.

 

[AdaSooner]

But OU was fine in the first half of virtually every game.

True enough. But when your bench is not capable of holding their own in relief of the starters, it will eventually have an affect on how well everyone performs in the second half.

I believe the lapse in concentration and a sustained effort on defense we saw was more mental than physical. The margin of error was so small for this team, they couldn't overcome a slumping Fitz or Pledger or Clark. Add a weak bench to the mix and the result was a disaster in the making that usually resulted in a loss.

 

[Sid]

I believe the lapse in concentration and a sustained effort on defense we saw was more mental than physical.

KS? That's why Lon does not deserve a final grade higher than a C.

:ed

 

[AdaSooner]

KS? That's why Lon does not deserve a final grade higher than a C.

:ed

You left out the rest of what I said regarding starters with flaws and a weak bench that didn't contribute much in a supporting role. Those two things had more to do with our season than mental fatique or anything Kruger did or failed to do. You saw that, too, you're just too stubborn to admit it.

I'm not saying there wasn't room for improvement in the way LK motivated or coached the team. I'll concede that it could have been better, at least from my point of view, which is far from that of an experienced coach who has forgotten more about the game than I'll ever know. That doesn't change the fact that he didn't have a heck of a lot to work with when the season started.

 

[OUsky]

I
So b/c of that, this season is all on him and not Capel.

:ez-roll:

 

[StatGeek]

I always enjoyed it when we had Grooms, Blair, Neal, Washington, and Osby/Fitzgerald on the floor together for a few minutes each game (that's what our 8 deep looked like). Talk about a loaded roster, I can't believe we didn't win 30 games this year.

These grades and opinions on Kruger's performance this season are truly amazing. I really enjoyed the first 75% of this season when all the clowns on this thread were still afraid to post because they thought we might have a decent season.

 

[Sid]

You left out the rest of what I said regarding starters with flaws and a weak bench that didn't contribute much in a supporting role. Those two things had more to do with our season than mental fatique or anything Kruger did or failed to do. You saw that, too, you're just too stubborn to admit it.

I'm not saying there wasn't room for improvement in the way LK motivated or coached the team. I'll concede that it could have been better, at least from my point of view, which is far from that of an experienced coach who has forgotten more about the game than I'll ever know. That doesn't change the fact that he didn't have a heck of a lot to work with when the season started.

I don't disagree with your comments. If Lon would have found a way to squeeze out 2 or 3 more conference wins this year, I would have given him a higher grade. Again, KS? One more time. A? B? C? D? F?

 

[AdaSooner]

I don't disagree with your comments. If Lon would have found a way to squeeze out 2 or 3 more conference wins this year, I would have given him a higher grade. Again, KS? One more time. A? B? C? D? F?

B- to no worse than a C+ (reasons for the grade can be found in my posts)

 

[BruinSooner]

Yeah, we didn't lose to Chaminade but we did get absolutely pasted by a Tech team that won 1 game in conference and regularly got destroyed by nearly everyone they faced. Don't act like we didn't have some horrendous performances this year.

I'm going to agree with this. TT loss is embarrassing...and pretty close to Chaminade embarrassing.