NCAA Tourney the Thread

[Oscar Uniform]

That game where Alex Spaulding made the critical play to beat them.... great times.

Actually it was Ryan Humphrey's tip-in of Eduardo Najera's shot.

 

[WaymanFan]

If message boards were around when Billy Tubbs was head coach, he would have had his detractors as well. It’s the way it is with every fan base. No doubt Kelvin made some mistakes when he was at OU which resulted in him having his critics. Interviewing for the Texas job (the one Rick Barnes got) was not a bright move, and I’m sure he wishes he handled that differently. His teams had some ugly losses in March - Manhattan, Temple, Syracuse, Utah, and whatever mid-major from the state of Wisconsin he lost to in his last game at OU were painfully UGLY losses. I purposely did not list Indiana State because it was at least a highly competitive game. Like everyone else, he wasn’t perfect.

I think even his biggest detractors would agree the guy was still a heckuva coach. I think, like Billy, he got a little burned out near the end. He had an amazing recruiting class in 2003, and I think losing everyone from that class after two years was the beginning of the end for him. Still, he got the Indiana job on merit, and had things worked out there, I believe he would have won perhaps multiple National Championships by now. Instead, he went to the NBA and learned how to be a better offensive coach (his words). He is now one of the 3-5 best college head coaches in America. I believe he will win a title at Houston.

 

[Sooner04]

That game where Alex Spaulding made the critical play to beat them.... great times.

Spaulding played great the entire game....basically out of nowhere. Transferred immediately after the loss to Izzo's Spartans the next weekend.

 

[mict085]

My point is this: abd and others constantly talk about missing Kelvin as if OU is to blame for him no longer being here. He left of his own volition for a great job. So why do so many of our posters feel the need to criticize the state of our program while praising Kelvin? Why can’t we just realize that two things can be true: he is a phenomenal coach, but he chose to move on so we shouldn’t constantly pine for him.

I’m not pining for him. His leaving OU was complicated by several factors.

First, he’s a much better coach now than he was at OU. He choked in the tourney many, many times. Outside of 1-2 seasons, his MO at OU was to win 20 games, never win the Big12 regular season title, and lose in the first round of the tourney every year. He needed to leave to become a better coach, and he did.

Second, I was pissed at how he left, not because he left. He put us on probation and then left us holding the bag. That didn’t sit well with me at the time. Now, with the benefit of time and reflection, he wasn’t totally to blame for that. His crime was texting which is now legal and I have no doubts other coaches were doing the same and much worse, yet we get punished. I also believe the OU admin had their heads up their asses and didn’t support him at all during this time. KU, osu, and others in our region were cheating their asses off and we get popped for text messages? The admin throws kelvin under the bus and it was only a matter of time and opportunity that he was going to leave.

I liked kelvin. I still like kelvin. He’s a better coach today than he ever was at OU. He also has more support for his program at Houston than he ever received at OU. That’s my biggest problem with all of this. For decades, our admin has wanted to hire a coach that wins without much support and keeps us out of ncaa probation. They aren’t committed to winning championships. They are committed to staying out of trouble and looking like good citizens.

I also want us to be good citizens but the goal should be to win championships. We need to give our program the resources to win. We are better than texas tech, auburn, tennesse, etc and yet we have allowed mediocrity to set in because we don’t invest enough in the program. That’s my biggest complaint about OU basketball. We need to invest more in the program if we want to win and return to where we belong. We also need to invest more in recruiting the level of talent needed to win. That takes money.

 

[WTSooner]

The interesting question with Kelvin will be how much of what has/is making him successful has he passed on to Kellen. The upside was why I was on board with at least interviewing Kellen last offseason. He's had a front row seat, twice, on how to build long-term success at two non-basketball dominant schools from watching Kelvin.

 

[thegreyghost]

Again, how can they change this? You can’t add noncon games in Jan and Feb. And if they weren’t prepared, how do you explain all their success in the tournament?

They could definitely schedule a few non conference games in January and February before the start of the season…OU played Auburn on Jan 29.

All that success hasn’t exactly got them a title, especially when they face a physical defensive team

 

[StoopsBros]

Boy, Providence couldn't hit the broad side of the barn in the 1H

 

[WichitaSooner]

They could definitely schedule a few non conference games in January and February before the start of the season…OU played Auburn on Jan 29.

All that success hasn’t exactly got them a title, especially when they face a physical defensive team

We play one game a year as part of the SEC challenge. If you can find any examples of P5 teams playing “a few” noncon games in January and February, I’ll be shocked. I just disagree with the thought they aren’t prepared. KU has won one title in the past 34 years. Are they not prepared? The Big 10 as a league hasn’t won one in 22 years. UK hasn’t won in a decade. It’s really hard to win the title. If you make the Sweet 16 every year and the FF occasionally, you’re clearly coming into the tourney ready to go.

Back to the general thread…I’m getting a sick feeling we are looking at a KU-Duke title game. Please, Kelvin (or Villanova), save us!!

 

[StoopsBros]

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/jeffborzello/status/1507528682344169474[/TWEET]

 

[tooney]

Down goes Purdue.....Down goes Purdue!!!!

:chestram2:

Peacocks win!!!

 

[NickZepp]

Hats off to the Peacocks on National Peacock Day.

 

[StoopsBros]

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/rushthecourt/status/1507532473923739649[/TWEET]

 

[TINY]

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/rushthecourt/status/1507532473923739649[/TWEET]

Embarrassing performances for that sh1t conference. They need to be punished next year by the committee regardless of regular season performance.

 

[NickZepp]

So if Iowa State wins it'll put a Big 12 team in the Final 4 for sure.

 

[TINY]

So if Iowa State wins it'll put a Big 12 team in the Final 4 for sure.

Ku always seems to get easy roads in the tourney. Feels like ou always ends up playing the toughest teams possible when we have a chance to advance deep. The sun needs to shine on us soon.

 

[NickZepp]

Ku always seems to get easy roads in the tourney. Feels like ou always ends up playing the toughest teams possible when we have a chance to advance deep. The sun needs to shine on us soon.

Just get athletic guards that can score

 

[red recluse]

manek struggled guarding jaquez in the low post, but he brought the defense when it mattered.

brady vs st. peters. ngl, this sucks.

edit: poor wording on my part. i want st peters to win it all, it just sucks that it could be at the expense of brady going to the final four and vice versa.

 

[NickZepp]

Unless Iowa State turns things around 3 ACC teams in the Elite 8. Not bad for a league that was horrible.

 

[WichitaSooner]

manek struggled guarding jaquez in the low post, but he brought the defense when it mattered.

brady vs st. peters. ngl, this sucks.

Duke and Carolina and Kansas in the FF … not sure if this is a sign of the apocalypse or one of Dante’s levels of hell.

 

[NickZepp]

ISU just goes on too many long droughts offensively.