Kruger's Bedlam Halftime Speech:

He had me fired up. Hell, I'll go fight right now! Not sayin' I can win. :ez-laugh:
 
That would be great news if Buford won the battle. We would really be loaded. I just like what I see from Lattin athletically. He's got NBA spring & length. Leads the team in rebounds & blocks per minute. Damn near leads the conference in those stats per minute.

Yes he's raw. But you can teach somebody how to shoot. You can't teach somebody to play a foot above other players!
 
He's been practicing with the team longer than Buford has. I know Buford had much more experience than McNease prior to their arrival in Norman, but unless you're there for practice every day, how can you possibly rule him out?
 
Did you like what you saw from J-money when you attended practice Skyvue?
 
skyvue said:
He's been practicing with the team longer than Buford has. I know Buford had much more experience than McNease prior to their arrival in Norman, but unless you're there for practice every day, how can you possibly rule him out?
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Have you not listened to the reports on him? Kid is RAW. Very raw. I hesitate to use the word project, but that is kind of what he is.

Stand by my comment. I don't see much of any chance he competes for a starting spot next year. And that is fine. His best days are ahead of him. Hopefully as a junior/senior starting will be an option.
 
WTSooner said:
Have you not listened to the reports on him? Kid is RAW. Very raw. I hesitate to use the word project, but that is kind of what he is.

Stand by my comment. I don't see much of any chance he competes for a starting spot next year. And that is fine. His best days are ahead of him. Hopefully as a junior/senior starting will be an option.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with you, And there is nothing wrong with that. Not every kid will be a Blake Griffin thay dominates from day 1
 
not the buford is going to be a 3 for sure ... but he has only practiced with the guards to this point
 
I'm not saying the guy's going to start; I'm just not saying he's not going to. I don't understand the rush is to put a guy in a box and make pronouncements about his prospects. The reason he redshirted this year was that he was raw and needed work. Well, come next November, he'll have been working with our coaches more than a year, and who can say what kind of progress he'll have made in that time? I can't, and with respect, neither can you guys, especially if you haven't even seen him in practice (perhaps you have, I don't know).

I'll use the example I always use when posters rush to write off a player: Stacey King. I wonder how many fans, in early February of his sophomore year, would have predicted he'd average 22 points and 9 rebounds per game as a junior.

My guess? None would have.

It's not a perfect analogy. King was already playing, but he improved over a few months to a degree few could have predicted; who's to say McNease isn't making similarly large steps forward on his own path?

I'm not saying McNease will do that, but you guys are saying he won't. I've seen him practice (just once, admittedly, but nonetheless...). To me he looks to have a high ceiling, and I wouldn't deign to make any pronouncements about when he'll approach it.
 
I love it --- I love both watching it and the fact that OU's sharing it
 
skyvue said:
He's been practicing with the team longer than Buford has. I know Buford had much more experience than McNease prior to their arrival in Norman, but unless you're there for practice every day, how can you possibly rule him out?
Click to expand...

McNeace, from a pure ball skills perspective, had that far to go when he arrived at OU. I'm sure he has improved quite a bit, but the amount needed to start in the Big XII is almost insurmountable.

Just my opinion from watching him since his junior year of HS.
 
Have not seen McNeace play but I'd like to hear from those who've seen him in practice.

As far as light bulbs going off and monster like improvements occurring from some of these young giants during their first few years of college, Skyvue's comparison to Stacey King is interesting.

I don't know about McNeace but I, for one, never got why Stacey King wasn't getting major minutes as a freshman. During the football season Stacey played a bunch of pick up games at HH and I sometimes played against him. I told everyone I knew that this guy would easily start. Here was a 6'10 guy who was fastest guy on the floor, could dribble, do a crossover and had a sweet looking jump shot. And then, he barely got into any games, if ever.

I don't know if McNeace has those kind of skills but if he does, don't sleep on him.
 
SilliSooner said:
I don't know if McNeace has those kind of skills but if he does, don't sleep on him.
Click to expand...

I don't know, either, and I didn't in any way intend to be equating the two players' abilities. I don't pretend to be a great judge of talent; I was a terrible athlete in school (still am) and so my connection to sports has always been strictly as a fan. I played very little, I never coached (as if), I never officiated. I'm strictly an inexpert observer and have never pretended otherwise.

But I hate to see any of our student-athletes dismissed by our fans, and I've seen enough players pleasantly surprise to take a wait-and-see attitude on all our scholarship athletes, McNeace included. Coach K saw something in him or he wouldn't have signed him. Who's to say when he'll start to rise to the level Coach Kruger saw in him?
 
campbest said:
McNeace, from a pure ball skills perspective, had that far to go when he arrived at OU. I'm sure he has improved quite a bit, but the amount needed to start in the Big XII is almost insurmountable.

Just my opinion from watching him since his junior year of HS.
Click to expand...

Campbest, since you have seen McNeace play in person, I respect your opinion about his skills, or lack thereof. At the same time, I think it's important to note that when you saw him play his junior season, he was the equivalent of an infant in basketball terms. He was cut from the team as a 5' 10" freshman. So, in reality, his career didn't begin until a year later when he got the attention of the coach as a 6' 7" and no doubt awkward sophomore.

My point is that Jamuni's progress from the time he was introduced to organized basketball to his senior season when he would earn a scholarship to OU is really quite remarkable.

Skyvue and Garyeb2 seem to be high on this kid. I know there was at least one more poster who has seen him play in practice, but the name escapes me now. I do know that Gary said in one of his reports that OU's coaches are expecting big things out of Jamuni.

I don't expect him to start next season. I think that's too much of a stretch. But in view of where he came from to where he is now, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he has progressed enough to make a meaningful contribution off of the bench his first year.
 
BoulderSooner said:
not the buford is going to be a 3 for sure ... but he has only practiced with the guards to this point
Click to expand...

I've explained this before. He practices with the guards b/c even if he plays the 4, he is going to do so with a guard skill set. Kind of like Cam. It wouldn't make sense to have him practicing post moves, b/c he is never going to do that. Not even if he is playing the 4.

I'm not against the idea that down the road Buford could play the 3. And maybe, just maybe, that is next year IF Buddy leaves. But I think he is the ideal 4 in today's game. Especially for a team that wants to run on offense, and play pressure/switching D on that end. It only makes sense.
 
WTSooner said:
I've explained this before. He practices with the guards b/c even if he plays the 4, he is going to do so with a guard skill set. Kind of like Cam. It wouldn't make sense to have him practicing post moves, b/c he is never going to do that. Not even if he is playing the 4.

I'm not against the idea that down the road Buford could play the 3. And maybe, just maybe, that is next year IF Buddy leaves. But I think he is the ideal 4 in today's game. Especially for a team that wants to run on offense, and play pressure/switching D on that end. It only makes sense.
Click to expand...

Well, It wouldn't make sense to recruit 3 really tall guys with long arms and have them sit together on the bench watching another undersized OU team go thru a season. The team Kruger wants and is trying to build includes a rim protector.
 
skyvue said:
I don't know, either, and I didn't in any way intend to be equating the two players' abilities. I don't pretend to be a great judge of talent; I was a terrible athlete in school (still am) and so my connection to sports has always been strictly as a fan. I played very little, I never coached (as if), I never officiated. I'm strictly an inexpert observer and have never pretended otherwise.

But I hate to see any of our student-athletes dismissed by our fans, and I've seen enough players pleasantly surprise to take a wait-and-see attitude on all our scholarship athletes, McNeace included. Coach K saw something in him or he wouldn't have signed him. Who's to say when he'll start to rise to the level Coach Kruger saw in him?
Click to expand...

I agree with your point that McNeace will be a productive player by the time he leaves OU, and he might be contributing next year (my guess is he takes Bennett's minutes). I think most of the posters on here believe he will be a good player, but the question was (even though off topic from the thread) is could he start next year. If he starts over Lattin or one of the other bigs next year I will be pretty surprised.
 
Anyone else think that this halftime speech carried into the West Virginia game? The team sure looked awake the entire game last night.
 
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