I like this team and it will continue to be fun to hopefully watch them improve. But wow where do I start. Even though it stinks to lose I'm glad OU is starting to play average or above average teams. Talk about "draining the swamp" on what they need to work on..
There are a few things that really bug me. Many of our guys come off like they're confident. Guys like Odomes and James. I wish Odomes would stop flexing his arms after a simple layup. Lattin does that too on some of the most seemingly simple plays. I'm not saying don't celebrate SOME plays but sheesh. It's like, act like you been there before dude. Then James, I think he really does think he's a star but he isn't as good as he thinks he is. So when it comes to crunch time all three of these guys disappear.
I really had hoped that scoring would be spread out so that OU wouldn't have to do what they did with Heild in some games we lost. OU, when things got tight against a good team, would pass it to Heild and regardless of how bad a shot it was try to let him make a play. Well, yesterday they did that with Woodard. Woodard ain't Buddy. And even though he made some low percentage threes to make the score look closer do you really think he'll make those even half the time? I love Jordan but if he's the guy we're going to feed when everyone else's nuts are shriveled up past their backend then we are in deep trouble.
As far as the lineup, I would try Woodard--James--McGusty--Doolittle--Lattin. Odomes has shown flashes of great driving and creating a little. But for a wing, his lack of outside shooting is going to really hurt us. He won't be able to drive like that against good teams that much. I see him as a good energetic sixth man off the bench. OU at times yesterday had nobody on the court who either could or wanted to score in a clutch fashion. McGusty has show great range from 3 and had some games where he drove pretty well, and created baskets. Now, I know Odomes is better defensively right now but why couldn't McGusty improve? He's only 1 inch shorter than Odomes. We need that offense in the lineup.
I think it's pretty apparent that Lattin is what he's going to be. Yes, he can continue to improve. But I don't think he's the guy you can throw it into against KU and get your bucket. I did think he had some good rebounding effort yesterday and his shotblocking of course is stellar. If Doolittle could become a little more assertive offensively and learn maybe a post move or two he has a great shooting touch from outside, 3 and midrange. For his physical size, he needs to become a much better rebounder. I'm sorry but trying to force Strong into the lineup is a mistake. He threw up some absolute bricks yesterday and has been. I mean they were off into the next area code. I think Lon needs to live with Jordan at the point, and OU needs to cultivate other scoring, along with Woodard's continued hopeful scoring.
This team just needs to keep playing. LIke I said earlier get McGusty in there more. I bet Lon wishes he could play 20 non conference games. Because that's what this team needs, is to keep playing games against other people. Get more comfortable with the uncomfortable. OU is young and they still can't do things it seems other teams take for granted. Things like passing to guys that aren't expecting it. Making horrible decisions on fast breaks. Not getting points in situations where you HAVE to have them. Making layups, and making the high percentage shots when you get them. Not taking contested, terrible shots. Which brings me to one of my biggest pet peeves with this team.. Half court offense. Sometimes we have good ball movement but sometimes I have no idea what they're trying to do. Jordan or Strong will be dribbling and all our tallest guys will be standing out around the 3 pt line like a bubble. Then, of course we jack an ill advised 3 pointer. With Buddy it worked alot. He's gone. Again, we need a facet of the offense to be guys like McGusty driving, pulling up, hitting midrange, going all the way to the bucket, and hitting 3s. Keep defenses honest. Dish to Lattin or McNease. Woodard seems to be the only guard that does this.
OK i'll shutup now. I'm just disappointed that we didn't win a game like that in OKC, and that we aren't better by now. Honestly I didn't really think we'd win but hoped. They still make too many dumb mistakes to beat good teams. I really really hope they improve quickly before too much morale goes south. Lon is a good coach, and this is a chance for him to perform a really good coaching job. Find the strengths of some of these guys and maximize them. Put all the pieces together. We'll see what happens..
