Next Year...

[fksooner]

Freeman is the one I'm excited to see, I think he will play a lot.

 

[WTSooner]

Guards are still key. Lattin, AK, Jamuni arent guys we throw it to 20 times for shots.

Wood, James, Odomes, Austin Dante McGusty will be most important.

This. We don't have the post talent to be more balanced yet. And I don't see that changing next year. MAYBE the year after. Maybe.

Edit: Landing Bolden would change this, obviously.

 

[bgrch1350]

If we land Bolden I think sweet 16 for Sure!!! No Bolden I say finish middle of Big 12 and make the tourney.. Try to win 1 game and go from there. Mcgusty is the real deal I hear and James looks good.

I think the most important players are Buford and Odomes. Size and athleticism is what they bring and are kind of wild cards to me.

Grandstaff you know what you get, I don't expect anything crazy from him his first year. (Shooter)

Lattin same thing.. Great defense hopefully he can score 10-11 points a game and play 30mins.

AK/Mcnece bring size/defense but can't expect them to score more than 6-10 points per game.

You guys are putting to much stock into Bolden. Not whether we get him or not but on how good he will be as freshmen. Post players who fall outside of top 10 on recruiting don't usually dominate as freshmen. He's 20 on espn, 12 on scout, and 16 on rivals.

Just look at Jeter for duke as a comparison.

 

[BCSooners]

You guys are putting to much stock into Bolden. Not whether we get him or not but on how good he will be as freshmen. Post players who fall outside of top 10 on recruiting don't usually dominate as freshmen. He's 20 on espn, 12 on scout, and 16 on rivals.

Just look at Jeter for duke as a comparison.

Jeter was known as a project even being ranked so high (i.e. Diallo of Kansas), his ceiling is extremely high considering his athleticism, length, and motor. Bolden is considered a throwback center who you can feed the ball to and against single coverage will score a lot of points even as a freshman.

Compare this year with Swanigan & Stone vs. Jeter, Diallo, & Labassaire; then compare them again in 5 years. Some are ready to contribute now, some will pass the others up in the future.

 

[soonernutt]

A REALLY fun year. The type of year coaches live for, where the molding really takes place. Practices will be balls to the wall for all minutes except Woodard's.

Our NCAA seeding has been higher every year Lon's been here....only one more step to go. I'm not going to bet against him. ldwt356:

As a fan, it's why I watch as well. This year has been fun, and hopefully will stretch on to the end. But, the development and team-building is what makes it interesting to follow a program.

It's interesting to think that this year is the culmination of Lon's first recruiting class here. Coming into a program on the ropes, he quickly brought in Cousins, Buddy, and Spangler. The talent he's brought in since is exciting, but other than Woodard and Lattin, we haven't seen much of them yet. Next year will be exciting in that we will start to see who has progressed the most.

As far as expectations for next year goes, this will probably be the first year under Lon that we aren't better than the previous year. That's OK if it turns out that way, since we are a Senior-laden team right now. Just ready to get it going and see what's up with the young guys. I'll enjoy the remainder of the Buddy, Cousins, and Spangler show, however many games we get. Then, the basketball nerd in me gets to enjoy seeing how next year's team shapes out.

 

[bgrch1350]

Jeter was known as a project even being ranked so high (i.e. Diallo of Kansas), his ceiling is extremely high considering his athleticism, length, and motor. Bolden is considered a throwback center who you can feed the ball to and against single coverage will score a lot of points even as a freshman.

I bet he won't. Whether he's on our team or anyone else's. I'm going off of strictly what history shows us. If he does. Awesome. But expecting him to is setting yourself up for disappointment.

 

[Big Old Booger]

I bet he won't. Whether he's on our team or anyone else's. I'm going off of strictly what history shows us. If he does. Awesome. But expecting him to is setting yourself up for disappointment.

Diallo was supposed to impact KU this year and he can't even get on the court. Some of that is because he wasn't able to play early in the easy games but he was probably never that close to being an impact player or he would be playing more now.

 

[jackson_supersooner]

Yeah it's one of those years you can't really expect anything but to see consistent improvement and the team build chemistry throughout. Hoping for a tourney appearance and would be very happy with a 20 win season. We will only be losing Woodard and Manyang after next year so that would set up a great 17-18 team with Young and a big time post player coming in!

 

[Big Old Booger]

We might be less guard oriented next year. We'll see how that plays out.

Nope. Lon Kruger teams are always guard oriented and next year will not change that. I look for Woodard to drive more next year like he did a few years back and make things happen in the lane with outside shooting from James and Grandstaff and all the other good young guards we will have.

 

[bgrch1350]

Nope. Lon Kruger teams are always guard oriented and next year will not change that. I look for Woodard to drive more next year like he did a few years back and make things happen in the lane with outside shooting from James and Grandstaff and all the other good young guards we will have.

We weren't with Osby. However, Osby is not on this team.

 

[DenverSooner]

And, NO WAY, we are a "Texas Tech type team" next year. NO.WAY. At worst, we will be a 4th-6th place team next year. Although I see us as better than ISU, TCU, Tech, Baylor, OSU and WV. I see us being as good as Texas and KSU and maybe a step back from KU.

West Virginia is young. Texas loses quite a bit. I doubt Texas is better than OU next year. Additionally, Taylor will probably go pro.

 

[BCSooners]

I bet he won't. Whether he's on our team or anyone else's. I'm going off of strictly what history shows us. If he does. Awesome. But expecting him to is setting yourself up for disappointment.

If teams don't double team him and you give him the ball he will average 10-14 points next year given 30 minutes.

 

[sheepdogs1]

Nope. Lon Kruger teams are always guard oriented and next year will not change that. I look for Woodard to drive more next year like he did a few years back and make things happen in the lane with outside shooting from James and Grandstaff and all the other good young guards we will have.

It looks to me like the players in general next year are going to be a taller crew. With this it would make sense that the outside shot reliance will be less, when compared to this season, and the ball won't have to squint as much when being shot. Now the players label might be that of a guard but the appearance will be that of a more inside game, and in the process missed shots should be easier to rebound due to the proximity between the basket and the shooter.

 

[bgrch1350]

If teams don't double team him and you give him the ball he will average 10-14 points next year given 30 minutes.

1) he won't come close to 30 minutes a game for any team.
2) we saw the same predictions for ak and so on.
3) Ridley was ranked about the same as Bolden and he averaged 4 ppg as a freshman.

 

[Big Old Booger]

We weren't with Osby. However, Osby is not on this team.

yeah, Osby was all we had. Look back at some of the guards we had back then. None of them could start on this team.

Blair
Pledger
Grooms
Clark (played out of position; he would start or play a lot on this team at the 4)

Blair wouldn't touch the floor if he made the team and I'm not sure he could even make the team. He was terrible, the worst guard I've ever seen start at OU. EVER.

Pledger was a decent shooter but didn't want to play defense and didn't care to rebound or do anything else.

Grooms was a good PG but Woodard and Cousins both are better.

All we had that first year was Osby and Clark who was out of position and didn't do much. He was much better the year after that and then the next year.

Really, that entire roster was bad except Osby, Clark, and Grooms. Neal was a decent player but he shouldn't have started, he was more of a role player. Fitzgerald was a nice role player too. Good offense but couldn't rebound or defend to save his life. Honore was terrible. Arent was terrible.

If anyone can't appreciate what Lon has done with this program go back and look at the roster from his first year and today. It's like night and day difference.

 

[Big Old Booger]

It looks to me like the players in general next year are going to be a taller crew. With this it would make sense that the outside shot reliance will be less, when compared to this season, and the ball won't have to squint as much when being shot. Now the players label might be that of a guard but the appearance will be that of a more inside game, and in the process missed shots should be easier to rebound due to the proximity between the basket and the shooter.

You might be right but I bet we shoot as many 3's next year if not more than this year.

 

[campbest]

Good year would be 22 wins and make the tournament with a 10 seed or higher.

 

[coolm]

a good year will be playing appreciably better at the end of the year than at the beginning. thats my standard.

 

[inoref]

Kansas wins big12 again, OU will be okay next year

 

[bgrch1350]

yeah, Osby was all we had. Look back at some of the guards we had back then. None of them could start on this team.

Blair
Pledger
Grooms
Clark (played out of position; he would start or play a lot on this team at the 4)

Pledger could start for this team. And we had M'Baye as well back then.