These pre season games mean nothing, especially when you are a young team.
The talent is there. The coaching is there. In January when the real games start expect this team to take a big leap forward.
I just don't see the coaching, it may be a knee jerk reaction but Capel's record at OU without Blake Griffin playing is unspectacular. We have too much talent to be losing this much. With the guards we have we should be able to out-score these mid majors. Hopefully Capel proves me wrong, he's young as well so there is plenty of room to improve.
Capel has only had 1 season without Blake. His first season when he was handed a program on probation with as much talent as a Huston Huffman intramural team and he still went 16-15.
SK, we have lost 2 games on road trips thousands of miles from home. How many times had these freshman even traveled on a plane before? Let alone to Alaska. lol
Things will settle in after XMAS. Not worried at all.
with as much talent as a Huston Huffman intramural team and he still went 16-15.
These pre season games mean nothing, especially when you are a young team.
The talent is there. The coaching is there. In January when the real games start expect this team to take a big leap forward.
No it doesn't matter. If OU is 9-7 or better in the Big XII they will be dancing. If they are playing their best basketball late in the season they will advance in the dance.
I have watched so many seasons and time after time these pre season games mean little if anything. Just like 2003/2004 when OU started 10-0 or something due to an easy schedule only to fall flat on their face when the real games started. I define anything before the new year as pre season. The teams have not had that much practice time, the coaches are messing with the rotations, working in new players, etc.
Actually losing these early games will help us if we finish strong. The national sentiment will be:
"wow, what a great job Capel did with this young team after a slow start. Those early losses meant nothing since they were playing 4 true freshman who were just getting their feet wet"
Show me anywhere it says the NCAA tournament seeds are based on your first 10 games. Nope, they always say the 2 most important things are you conference record and your last 10 games.
It matters for seeding. Even if we string together a decent conference record, we'll get a much worse seed when they look back and see losses to teams like this. We're probably going to end up with 3-4 "bad" losses, and that will make our first round NCAA game just about unwinnable, given the matchup it'll likely create.
These games matter.
How many times had these freshman even traveled on a plane before?