Late game situations - need mucho improvement

[NMSooner'80]

That was a bad final minute for OU last night, and it wasn't much better Saturday against Kansas State. I thought OU had a slight chance of blowing that 16-point lead in the final 1:20 against KSU (and I was there in '87 when OU did blow an 11-point lead in about that length of time and lost in Lon's first year there).

I will assume the team has been / will be working on beating presses and making free throws between now and this Saturday. We can't have any more repeat performances, especially against WVU.

 

[OUballer]

you are 100% correct

 

[sooner 1234]

For everything that is great about Kruger , end of the game/ close game isn't his strong point .
I love the guy and when all is said and done depending how long he stays .... He probably goes down as the best coach ever at Oklahoma .
Billy was a great coach but had Kentucky like talent for years .

Kelvin was the best close game/ end of game coach I've ever seen at Oklahoma.

I will say Kruger doesn't miss FF when your a 90% shooter. Kruger doesn't turn the ball over with 20 seconds left .

The thing about kelvins teams they were so mentally tough. They weren't that talented, they didn't run the best schemes ... But at the end of the game it's all about mental toughness.

That's why kelvins record in 5 point games is off the charts .

Kruger is a better coach and better program manager , but his teams can be a little mentally soft at times .


I wouldn't trade Jruger for anyone right now , no coach is perfect .

 

[TheMont]

The end of the KSU and osu games weren't perfect, but we won. Last year's team really struggled in close games. But this year (aside from KU), we have won every one of our close games. It is a noticeable improvement. I think that has more to do with player's maturity and experience than coaching.

Last year, Lon drew up the perfect play at the end of the ISU game in the Big 12 tournament but Spangler missed the layup. Last year vs. KU in Norman, we were managing the final minute very well until Cousins fouled a 3 point shooter. It seemed like we could not make a clutch shot in the final seconds (Creighton, Washington, both KSU games, etc). This year we do. Buddy and Jordan especially want the ball and shoot confidently.

Also, it has been a trend of every single Oklahoma coach to blow double-digit leads. It just happens. Kelvin and Lon were both victims of it far more often than I'd like to admit.

 

[sooner 1234]

I just think teams take on their coaches mentality .

I do agree Kelvin lost a bunch of big leads but again his record on 5 point games was off the charts .Saying that kelvin was in a LOT of close games because his offense's were so bad. They couldn't blow out a lot of teams.

Winning close games alone isn't the mark of a great coach .... Your record should be the indicator.
I would have a rather have a team that is great on both ends of the court ,has talent , and play as a team, which is krugers signature .

A kelvin like team is going to be a rage talent , fight like heck and never give up .

heart , determination , and a fighters mentality will only take you so far .

 

[Laxtothemax12]

They just need to handle the ball a little better and not try to rush it.

 

[scrybe]

For everything that is great about Kruger , end of the game/ close game isn't his strong point .
I love the guy and when all is said and done depending how long he stays .... He probably goes down as the best coach ever at Oklahoma .
Billy was a great coach but had Kentucky like talent for years .

Kelvin was the best close game/ end of game coach I've ever seen at Oklahoma.

I will say Kruger doesn't miss FF when your a 90% shooter. Kruger doesn't turn the ball over with 20 seconds left .

The thing about kelvins teams they were so mentally tough. They weren't that talented, they didn't run the best schemes ... But at the end of the game it's all about mental toughness.

That's why kelvins record in 5 point games is off the charts .

Kruger is a better coach and better program manager , but his teams can be a little mentally soft at times .


I wouldn't trade Jruger for anyone right now , no coach is perfect .

Everything you said about Kelvin I believe is accurate. But I really think you're reaching a tad with your assessment of Kruger. There's no trend, really, and, like you said yourself, Lon's not the one missing free throws or turning the ball over. I believe this team has plenty of mental toughness. JMHO.

 

[jaymOU]

I just think teams take on their coaches mentality .

I do agree Kelvin lost a bunch of big leads but again his record on 5 point games was off the charts .Saying that kelvin was in a LOT of close games because his offense's were so bad. They couldn't blow out a lot of teams.

Winning close games alone isn't the mark of a great coach .... Your record should be the indicator.
I would have a rather have a team that is great on both ends of the court ,has talent , and play as a team, which is krugers signature .

A kelvin like team is going to be a rage talent , fight like heck and never give up .

heart , determination , and a fighters mentality will only take you so far .

Kelvin's teams, much like we have seen recently from Lon's teams are not really bad at end-game strategy as much as they are prone to prolonged scoring droughts.

Kelvin's teams suffered from this often and I think this version of OU's team could become victims of the same issue. Some of it lies at the foot of a jump shooting team - shots don't go in, you don't get to the line, you can't score.

But this team, when they struggle to score, seem to me to be much like the OKC Thunder - ball gets sticky, over-dribbling occurs, shots get forced, bad passes create turnovers........

Solution for the problem......I'd love to see a few more set plays during those stretches. I'd like to see LK take a timeout when things start going south, but he has a track record of seeming to want the team to work that out on the court. Call a play, draw one up, execute a good in-bounds play. Help them learn how to do this on their own. I think of Cousins as ultra-experienced, but playing the point is new to him.

The lack of a low-post scorer is sort of a concern, but it is manageable and something LK knows how to do.

If you just limit big runs by scoring a few buckets here and there, then with the firepower OU has this season, you should really be in good shape.

 

[Stikboy]

One thing that has to be said in Kruger's favor is player development. Under Kelvin guys would improve over the course of their careers, of course. But I think what we have seen from players' individual skill development under Kruger is phenomenal.

 

[Soonerinkc]

My 2 cents...

ksu/osu - not sure if it was our guys playing down, not being ready, focused, whatever...jeeze Evans was crazy...it's like he was Moses...splitting the red sea..we just stepped aside.

We've struggled against zone, BU will play a good zone. The 3 man weave doesn't work on a zone.

Wv, sorry, after our guards have turned the ball over 15+ over the last 2 games I see this game much closer. We don't set screens to get open on OBB plays..we just run around. It'll be a close game...hopefully I'm wrong.

The one thing he has done better is calling TO. Like someone said, that use to drive me crazy...be up by 10 and he wouldn't call a TO til down 2.

I think he's a great coach and very happy he's at OU. Love the team..it'll be a long road til the end.

BOOMER!

 

[Oscar Uniform]

Kelvin was the best close game/ end of game coach I've ever seen at Oklahoma.

Kelvin was good at keeping games close and coming from behind but was a failure at holding large leads. I will cite the 2003 game against Texas in Norman. OU had a huge lead. Every possession OU ran out the clock and settled for a terrible shot with no rebound. Oklahoma stopped scoring and Texas won the game.

 

[chuckb]

Kelvin was good at keeping games close and coming from behind but was a failure at holding large leads. I will cite the 2003 game against Texas in Norman. OU had a huge lead. Every possession OU ran out the clock and settled for a terrible shot with no rebound. Oklahoma stopped scoring and Texas won the game.

There was also 1 game against Kansas at home where we were up at least 20 with about 10 minutes left. Kelvin went into a stall game and ran no offense and we nearly lost. It was a miracle we held on for that game and we should have been able to coast to victory. We may have been up by 30.

All these trips down memory lane, about how great everything was when Kelvin was here, sounds like recency bias from a poor late game performance the other night. Generally, we do a good job closing games out. I notice that no one created a thread like this after the Iowa St game, when we came from behind and finished them off in the last minute or so.

 

[sooner 1234]

Again Kelvins record in 5 point games is off the charts . If I wasn't so lazy I would look it up . i remember seeing a stat one time ( while he coached here ) and it was like 80% .

His teams were always number 1 in FF % in the conference , they always were almost nunber 1 in number of turnovers ( of corse they had a lot less trips because of a slow offense ) and they always played very tough defense especially at the end of games when officials don't blow the whistle.

 

[DenverSooner]

That was a bad final minute for OU last night, and it wasn't much better Saturday against Kansas State. I thought OU had a slight chance of blowing that 16-point lead in the final 1:20 against KSU (and I was there in '87 when OU did blow an 11-point lead in about that length of time and lost in Lon's first year there).

I will assume the team has been / will be working on beating presses and making free throws between now and this Saturday. We can't have any more repeat performances, especially against WVU.

If something is gong to go bad, that was almost the perfect scenario because it shows the guys how important it is to focus and execute in late game situations without resulting in a loss.

I think OU will play well this weekend and be the Number 1 team on Monday. I certainly hope so.