Locker room drama?

[mardaddy51]

Can anyone speak on the rumored drama that was going on within the program? Was it Trae, jealousy towards Trae & the attention he got, or something else?

 

[DenverSooner]

I haven’t heard of any from any credible source.

 

[mardaddy51]

I keep hearing things from different people on the Sports Animal. Like Dean, Jim, and I think Dusty. No real credible sources, I know. I was just wondering.

 

[oudna]

I’d be more concerned if there wasn’t locker room drama on a team going 4-12.

 

[perryj74]

Thought I heard or read something that the day before the game in Pittsburgh there was a players only meeting where there was an airing of grievances. Kristian Doolittle was credited with a quote about they were going to have to say some things that might hurt feelings but that they needed to be said.

 

[Stikboy]

I mean how hard is all this to figure out? Trae seemed like he always said the right things about Kruger and teammates, but his body language told a different story. Not rocket science to any even casual observer.

Some people on this board will absolutely pounce on you and trash you with some righteous indignation if you even begin to say anything semi negative against Young. I don't like him or dislike him. I love OU basketball. I was excited when he signed. I wondered how his uber scoring ability and 40 foot shots would mesh. I was on cloud 9 the first 16 games. Then when OU started it's slide I like everyone else was hugely disappointed. Some of those losses were directly a result of Young's horrible shot selection, putrid shooting, and turnovers/bad decisions. Conversely you can say we won some games we wouldn't have without him. And yes, the supporting cast sucked in many losses.

I don't know what the answer is. I don't have any inside info but there has seemed to be something off the entire season as far as Trae's coachability and interaction with his teammates. But, who knows? They may all say they would die for him. I feel like Trae was a huge "bandaid" for poor recruiting and/or player development. For every top 50 or 100 guy like McGusty we got, we have 2 or 3 like Polla, Freeman, or Lazenby. Nothing against those kids but they obviously aren't as talented as the teams we're facing. Even our higher recruited kids aren't as good at certain things as many others on other teams we thought we were as good as.

If OU had lost all these games as a bunch of mud-blooded savages diving on the court and playing physically and mentally tough, that might be more palatable. Kelvin said there were two kinds of players. Some had mud in their blood(dogs) and some had sugar in their blood. You can probably figure it out. OU's team is full of sugar. And not as talented as we like/need sugar. I can't believe I now watch Texas Tech and long for their players/team culture.

So, here's to Kruger turning it around. Great man, and very good coach. These last two years, though, have been inexcusable. I still can't believe Final Four momentum wasn't capitalized on better. Nothing was capitalized on, at all. Since then it's all been a colossal failure. If he can't turn it around next year it may need to be next up. At some schools that may have already been the case..

OU is a football school certainly, but also has great basketball tradition. The program deserves better success. I long for the days in the early 2000s when OU was mentioned along with Florida as one of the top football/basketball combo athletic programs. It also happened in the 80s and some in the 90s(mostly basketball). I hope Lon can find it again!

 

[152219]

OU is a football school certainly, but also has great basketball tradition. The program deserves better success. I long for the days in the early 2000s when OU was mentioned along with Florida as one of the top football/basketball combo athletic programs. It also happened in the 80s and some in the 90s(mostly basketball). I hope Lon can find it again!

OU still isn't mentioned as a top football/basketball combo?

In the past 3 years, OU has made the CFB playoff twice and the FF4 once. Can any other program come close to sniffing that?

 

[Stikboy]

OU still isn't mentioned as a top football/basketball combo?

In the past 3 years, OU has made the CFB playoff twice and the FF4 once. Can any other program come close to sniffing that?

No. I completely and totally agree with you.

 

[skyvue]

Some of those losses were directly a result of Young's horrible shot selection, putrid shooting, and turnovers/bad decisions.

I'm not sure there's a single loss for which I would name Trae as the primary cause. It's so easy to blithely single him out as the primary cause of our slide, but that's a drastic simplification. He's a great player, but he was a freshman. No one should be surprised that his shooting fell off at times, especially given he was carrying the team on his shoulders (and getting double teamed -- and not generally getting the benefit of the calls, either). Not a single other player carried his share of the load--in a given game here and there, yes, but not over the course of the season.

We had more missed shots that were wide open (thanks mostly to Trae's passing and court vision) than Trae had turnovers. He led the nation in assists, and he easily could have had five more per game.

 

[OUSKINS]

I mean how hard is all this to figure out? Trae seemed like he always said the right things about Kruger and teammates, but his body language told a different story. Not rocket science to any even casual observer.

Some people on this board will absolutely pounce on you and trash you with some righteous indignation if you even begin to say anything semi negative against Young. I don't like him or dislike him. I love OU basketball. I was excited when he signed. I wondered how his uber scoring ability and 40 foot shots would mesh. I was on cloud 9 the first 16 games. Then when OU started it's slide I like everyone else was hugely disappointed. Some of those losses were directly a result of Young's horrible shot selection, putrid shooting, and turnovers/bad decisions. Conversely you can say we won some games we wouldn't have without him. And yes, the supporting cast sucked in many losses.

I don't know what the answer is. I don't have any inside info but there has seemed to be something off the entire season as far as Trae's coachability and interaction with his teammates. But, who knows? They may all say they would die for him. I feel like Trae was a huge "bandaid" for poor recruiting and/or player development. For every top 50 or 100 guy like McGusty we got, we have 2 or 3 like Polla, Freeman, or Lazenby. Nothing against those kids but they obviously aren't as talented as the teams we're facing. Even our higher recruited kids aren't as good at certain things as many others on other teams we thought we were as good as.

If OU had lost all these games as a bunch of mud-blooded savages diving on the court and playing physically and mentally tough, that might be more palatable. Kelvin said there were two kinds of players. Some had mud in their blood(dogs) and some had sugar in their blood. You can probably figure it out. OU's team is full of sugar. And not as talented as we like/need sugar. I can't believe I now watch Texas Tech and long for their players/team culture.

So, here's to Kruger turning it around. Great man, and very good coach. These last two years, though, have been inexcusable. I still can't believe Final Four momentum wasn't capitalized on better. Nothing was capitalized on, at all. Since then it's all been a colossal failure. If he can't turn it around next year it may need to be next up. At some schools that may have already been the case..

OU is a football school certainly, but also has great basketball tradition. The program deserves better success. I long for the days in the early 2000s when OU was mentioned along with Florida as one of the top football/basketball combo athletic programs. It also happened in the 80s and some in the 90s(mostly basketball). I hope Lon can find it again!

Spot on post. Excellent. As always, the "answer" is probably somewhere in the middle. TY is neither to blame for our slide, nor should he be absolved completely.

 

[MsProudSooner]

I mean how hard is all this to figure out? Trae seemed like he always said the right things about Kruger and teammates, but his body language told a different story. Not rocket science to any even casual observer.

Some people on this board will absolutely pounce on you and trash you with some righteous indignation if you even begin to say anything semi negative against Young. I don't like him or dislike him. I love OU basketball. I was excited when he signed. I wondered how his uber scoring ability and 40 foot shots would mesh. I was on cloud 9 the first 16 games. Then when OU started it's slide I like everyone else was hugely disappointed. Some of those losses were directly a result of Young's horrible shot selection, putrid shooting, and turnovers/bad decisions. Conversely you can say we won some games we wouldn't have without him. And yes, the supporting cast sucked in many losses.

I don't know what the answer is. I don't have any inside info but there has seemed to be something off the entire season as far as Trae's coachability and interaction with his teammates. But, who knows? They may all say they would die for him. I feel like Trae was a huge "bandaid" for poor recruiting and/or player development. For every top 50 or 100 guy like McGusty we got, we have 2 or 3 like Polla, Freeman, or Lazenby. Nothing against those kids but they obviously aren't as talented as the teams we're facing. Even our higher recruited kids aren't as good at certain things as many others on other teams we thought we were as good as.

If OU had lost all these games as a bunch of mud-blooded savages diving on the court and playing physically and mentally tough, that might be more palatable. Kelvin said there were two kinds of players. Some had mud in their blood(dogs) and some had sugar in their blood. You can probably figure it out. OU's team is full of sugar. And not as talented as we like/need sugar. I can't believe I now watch Texas Tech and long for their players/team culture.

So, here's to Kruger turning it around. Great man, and very good coach. These last two years, though, have been inexcusable. I still can't believe Final Four momentum wasn't capitalized on better. Nothing was capitalized on, at all. Since then it's all been a colossal failure. If he can't turn it around next year it may need to be next up. At some schools that may have already been the case..

OU is a football school certainly, but also has great basketball tradition. The program deserves better success. I long for the days in the early 2000s when OU was mentioned along with Florida as one of the top football/basketball combo athletic programs. It also happened in the 80s and some in the 90s(mostly basketball). I hope Lon can find it again!

I can't speak for anyone else, but what irritates me is rumors that aren't based on facts. Interpretation of body language by a fan sitting in the stands or watching on TV isn't fact. We used to have a guy who posted who was a team manager. His posts were usually spot on.

Rumors don't help anyone. If you don't think they are harmful to players or recruits you are just kidding yourself.

 

[TINY]

I can't speak for anyone else, but what irritates me is rumors that aren't based on facts. Interpretation of body language by a fan sitting in the stands or watching on TV isn't fact. We used to have a guy who posted who was a team manager. His posts were usually spot on.

Rumors don't help anyone. If you don't think they are harmful to players or recruits you are just kidding yourself.

+1!

 

[WTSooner]

Rumors don't help anyone. If you don't think they are harmful to players or recruits you are just kidding yourself.

lol, this is a message board on the internet. If only "facts" were posted, it would be pretty boring.

I don't have any "facts" either, but I'd bet several dollars that there are chemistry issues. I can see it, as can many others.

 

[DenverSooner]

Lots of guys looked jealous of Trae to me. I think Being the star was more important to some of them than winning.

I might cut some people if I were Kruger.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

If so, there were chemistry issues last year also, before Trae became a Sooner. There was lots of bad body language from multiple players during the 2016-17 season.

 

[hoopsaustin]

Lots of guys looked jealous of Trae to me. I think Being the star was more important to some of them than winning.

I might cut some people if I were Kruger.

Correct

 

[MsProudSooner]

If so, there were chemistry issues last year also, before Trae became a Sooner. There was lots of bad body language from multiple players during the 2016-17 season.

I noticed that, too. I took it to be as a result of youth. They are running out of 'youth'.

 

[WTSooner]

If so, there were chemistry issues last year also, before Trae became a Sooner. There was lots of bad body language from multiple players during the 2016-17 season.

Different issue, IMO, but I agree there were issues last year too. I think last year's had more to do with being young, and not having much in the way of player leadership after Buddy, Cousins, and Spangler left.

 

[152219]

Different issue, IMO, but I agree there were issues last year too. I think last year's had more to do with being young, and not having much in the way of player leadership after Buddy, Cousins, and Spangler left.

Leadership had to be an issue this year as well. Lattin seems like he is a great guy, but I don't see him being much of a team leader (same with Woodard last year). Can Christian James be the leader next year? He obviously worked hard last year to transform his body, so the work ethic appears to be there.

 

[hoopsaustin]

heard from a good source our #2 or #3, idk where to put him, hated Trae. Dude was jealous that Trae is on a different level