Lon Kruger on time and task: 'We’ve got to get the bar back up where it was

[SoonerinNC]

I'm not satisfied even with 9-9 conference but I feel that the coaches got about all there was to get from this team. We played a lot of close games and won a few more than we lost but lost more than we won in conference. I do think that Kruger needs to ask himself why we do better out of conference than we do agianst teams that know us well.

We had a good sub top-25 team and generally did well against teams at that level, particularly out of conference. We were generally competitive against most of the top teams we played with some exception, most notably K-State.

We had a decent senior group but none that gave us that game after game solid performance. James the closest. Muni never reached the lofty predictions and his injury hurt us at least depth wise.

We lacked depth and usually suffered when we had to substitute as most mens teams have to do. The transfers and Freeman faded after the non-conference.

I am a big Kruger supporter but he has to bear the brunt. His seniors, with the possible exception of James didn't improve much. McGusty never learned to play five man basketball and is gone along with Shepard whose soph year was obliterated by Young. Generally he needed to recruit better than he did. And he has to figure why guys like Weber seem to play so well against us. Actually we did pretty well considering how undersized we were.

We have our three best returning (Doolittle, Manek and Bieniemy) along with Reeves. Good nucleus to build on. Aparently a good recruiting class coming in. Good opportunity for our Sooners to have a good 19-20.

 

[BCSooners]

OOC games are always a crap shoot on what it actually means at the time. We thought our OOC schedule was going to be really tough, and it really wasn't. It kept us ranked high b/c we didn't have any stupidly bad teams, but those games are guaranteed wins just like many of our other OOC games were this year, even though they were treated as being tougher.

We all thought we were a lot better than we really were after our OOC games.

Conference play is a much better gauge. Those are your peers. Those are the teams you aren't going to surprise, b/c you play them all twice a year. Those are the teams that for the most part are going to show up every game against you, b/c conference standings and often times rivalry bragging rights are on the line. Often times, a bad Big 12 team is still better or comparable to most non-P5 teams, even the good ones. ND was dead last in the ACC. They gave OU everything we wanted on a neutral court, and they beat a pretty good Purdue team. Bad P5 teams are often better or comparable to good non-P5 teams. That is why conference play matters. It's the better gauge for where your program/team currently is.

It also matters b/c that reflects how you are playing recently. I think we all want our team to be be playing better down the stretch, right? Pretty tough to look great in OOC, be pretty terrible in conference, lose to the worst team in the Conference Tourney, THEN turn it on and make any kind of noise in the Dance.

I just want the team/program to be better. We've got to be better in the Big 12 than we've been the last three 3 years. I think we can all agree on that. My issues are more with the program in general than trying to just bust on this year's team. But this year's team is what we're talking about, and they are the present OU team, so sure, they are probably catching some of the crap that is really meant for the last three years as a whole, or the program. What this team accomplished this year is about what I called their ceiling during the offseason. But I think we were a bit lucky to achieve what we did. We weren't anywhere near as good as our OOC record, we got lucky with a couple of opposing teams late in the season missing key players, and we still made the Dance with what I believe is either the worst or one of the worst conference records of all time.

But again, my problem is with the program. Constant rebuilding and roster turnover. Inconsistency from year to year. The bad years being too bad. Too many project players that never contribute being recruiting. Going after too many athletes and guys with impressive measurables, and not enough true basketball players. Not being a "tough" team. That is important at a school like OU, b/c we're never going to consistently have elite talent. Being forced to play guys out of position (which hurts us against quality teams) b/c of recruiting issues and lack of development of several players.

I agree the program as a whole needs to get back on track a bit. I would say this year was solid bc of what OU had. OU is going to have grind years every 3-5 years probably, 1 down year every 8-10 years, and the rest should be 7 seed or higher every year. That would be my standard. I liked this years team (the grind year), the team 2 years ago would be considered the down year, and last year was the year I really had an issue with. That team was talented enough to be ranked all year with a top 5 seed, but selfishness & team chemistry ruined that.

My question wasn't "are you satisfied", it was "would you be happier if".

 

[sheepdogs1]

Ok? I asked a question, you can answer it or dispute the question if you'd like. What you're doing is pointless.

And a restocking of lollipops is anything but pointless. Go for it for all you are doing is trying to stir up some excrement.

 

[BoulderSooner]

this thread has really gone off the rails ..

there are 2 or more points of view and no one is going to change anyones mind ..


how the coach saying he wants to get back to a higher level is worth arguing over i don't know but that is enough of it in this thread ..