My fondest wish for this year

[j2d2]

is that we stop allowing anybody from every team we play to go straight to the basket and lay it in. I've been watching replays on SoonerSports and it's unbelievably frustrating to watch that happen time after time. A legless man scooting along the floor could get all the baskets he wanted against us last year. Dont know how we won a game. #*%&*#*!!

 

[SoonerfanTU]

Yep. I think it was a bit of a mistake to ask Blake to "be careful" on defense. Took away all of his agressiveness at that end of the court. When your guards pressure the ball, they are going to get beaten, which is fine, if you have somebody behind them to alter shots. Not sure we're going to have that guy this year either. I don't see Tiny in that role, and I'm not yet sold in Wright/Allen. Guess we'll see.

 

[MGB]

In the few games late in the season in which Allen got some decent PT, I thought he did pretty well as a shot blocker.

 

[Jeopardude]

Yep. I think it was a bit of a mistake to ask Blake to "be careful" on defense. Took away all of his agressiveness at that end of the court. When your guards pressure the ball, they are going to get beaten, which is fine, if you have somebody behind them to alter shots. Not sure we're going to have that guy this year either. I don't see Tiny in that role, and I'm not yet sold in Wright/Allen. Guess we'll see.

I wish they had given Blake a goal of 4 fouls a game last year. I'm sure there
the D will be much more aggressive this year.

 

[BigTime]

I think this quote by Bill Russell may fit the bill here: "The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot."

I also hope that we do a better job next year in contesting the lane and with help defense in the paint.

 

[FaithfulSooner]

This was definetly a flaw of our defense. I know it was because of protecting Blake, but I don't think we'll see that much this year. The lane needs to be protected. We don't want to be dirty, but we do want to let opposing teams know that we have a lot of beef in the middle this year. If you come into the lane we will get physical with you. BOOMER SOONER BABY!!!:chestram2:

 

[Krugerfan52]

I dont think we'll see it as much, but I think it will still happen with Tiny. If it doesnt, its likely that he will be in foul trouble and sitting on the bench which will hurt us as well.

 

[seniorsooner]

This is where Pattillo crapping out is really going to hurt us. The big problem we had last year in the post for most of the year was QUALITY depth. When you don't have guys on the bench that you have confidence in to come in and give you quality minutes, it's hard to have your starters be very aggressive on the defensive end. With Pattillo around I would've felt pretty good about our depth with he, Tiny, Ryan and Big O. Now we're 3 deep. I may be in the minority here but I really don't think Fitzgerald is ready to give us quality minutes this year.

 

[Darwin]

Blake was too good to sit, partly because of depth and partly because our perimeter play wasn't that good. This year the guards need to control the game so our bigs don't have to be special all the time.