Ok - I'll Be the First to Say It

[BobinFw]

This team is toast. Post-season play is a pipe dream - this team will be lucky to finish above .500.

Listening to Sherri on the post-game show was telling. She had said Ana and Shaina acted like they wanted the ball. Gilly played hard. Gabby's scoring was nice. Then she said we have a lot of soft players. That is basically calling out your other five players, including three seniors.

I'm not buying the travel excuse. It's the sixth game of the season. You're coming off an embarrassing loss. There's no excuse for not coming out and taking care of a 1-3 team that lost to Tulsa at home. If the team is exhausted now, just wait until February.

There are no automatic wins for this team. At the current level of play, they won't reach double digits in wins. Beyond Baylor and Texas the conference isn't that great - but the teams are much better than UALR or the SMU team that almost came back to beat us.

Yeah, we've seen bad losses before (looking in your direction ORU and UNT). But Sherri had some options after those games. What is she going to do this year - threaten to sit people? There's no one left to sit!

Look, I hope I'm wrong (won't be the first time). But I see this as the start of a rebuilding project. Our best hope is that Shaina and Ana get a lot of PT, keep improving through the year, and are ready to help lead next year. And unless we have a Tre Young in the 2018 class, the rebuild will probably continue into 2019.

Rant over. Hope this post is as accurate as Joey Galloway picking Baylor to win the Big 12 in football - but I can't see anything but trouble the rest of the year. Boomer Sooner!

 

[Sweetest OU Girl]

I have to agree with you, Bob.

And a huge part of the problem is our athletic director and coaches have decided to play most of our games on the road. That is a horrible, horrible idea.

We have played 2 home games and have 2 wins and ZERO losses.

We have played 4 away games and have 1 little bitty win and THREE losses. Leaving us dead last in the big-12.

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.

No one else in this league has played any thing like that many road games. Why? They want to get the season started on a positive note and develop their players. We do not want to do that.

In a few days I will run a post showing the results for all teams in the league displaying the exact records both at home, and on the road. Playing too many games on the road is devastating to your team's confidence and record. It is almost shocking the difference it makes. No one who understands basketball can think its a good idea to play mostly on the road in the non-conference part of the schedule.

My feeling is SC knows this is a weak team and does not want the fans to see much of them. In her mind she may wish we could just play all our big-12 games away, but the league will not allow it. Yes, that last sentence is a bit facetious....

Certainly not our only problem, but one of our main problem is we do not have a decent inside game. No matter what some of you seem to think. Vivi plays great twice every 10 games, plays acceptably three times every 10 games, plays poorly 3 out of every 10 games, and is atrocious in two out of every 10 games. Simpson is probably a fine young lady. But she has no business starting and playing so much. It is totally unfair to her and to the team. Give her three years to develop and maybe she will be a good contributor. Give her spot to Ana, and the team has at least a chance to score some.

 

[Hoopdreams79]

This team is toast. Post-season play is a pipe dream - this team will be lucky to finish above .500.

Listening to Sherri on the post-game show was telling. She had said Ana and Shaina acted like they wanted the ball. Gilly played hard. Gabby's scoring was nice. Then she said we have a lot of soft players. That is basically calling out your other five players, including three seniors.

I'm not buying the travel excuse. It's the sixth game of the season. You're coming off an embarrassing loss. There's no excuse for not coming out and taking care of a 1-3 team that lost to Tulsa at home. If the team is exhausted now, just wait until February.

There are no automatic wins for this team. At the current level of play, they won't reach double digits in wins. Beyond Baylor and Texas the conference isn't that great - but the teams are much better than UALR or the SMU team that almost came back to beat us.

Yeah, we've seen bad losses before (looking in your direction ORU and UNT). But Sherri had some options after those games. What is she going to do this year - threaten to sit people? There's no one left to sit!

Look, I hope I'm wrong (won't be the first time). But I see this as the start of a rebuilding project. Our best hope is that Shaina and Ana get a lot of PT, keep improving through the year, and are ready to help lead next year. And unless we have a Tre Young in the 2018 class, the rebuild will probably continue into 2019.

Rant over. Hope this post is as accurate as Joey Galloway picking Baylor to win the Big 12 in football - but I can't see anything but trouble the rest of the year. Boomer Sooner!

Bob where did you see the postgame?

 

[rocjunkie]

Bob where did you see the postgame?

The post game was on the radio, and Bob nailed it. I couldn't believe that Sherri threw her kids under the bus by calling them out being soft. Is it true, yes, but don't go public, keep it in house and work with the kids. It may be early in the season, but if Sherri expects all these tough road games are going to help, well lets see how she feels when this team is sitting home come March and the end of her NCAA streak is over. It will tough to keep this team at 50-50. There will be some more ugly losses before this season is over.

 

[tooney]

I wonder why Sherri would think it's anybody's fault other than her own if her seniors are soft????

They've been soft for years.....and she's watched the same group for three to four to five years now.

Why would she blame anyone other than herself???

Maybe it's Sherri that's soft..........

 

[BobinFw]

I have to agree with you, Bob.

And a huge part of the problem is our athletic director and coaches have decided to play most of our games on the road. That is a horrible, horrible idea.

We have played 2 home games and have 2 wins and ZERO losses.

We have played 4 away games and have 1 little bitty win and THREE losses. Leaving us dead last in the big-12.

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.

No one else in this league has played any thing like that many road games. Why? They want to get the season started on a positive note and develop their players. We do not want to do that.

In a few days I will run a post showing the results for all teams in the league displaying the exact records both at home, and on the road. Playing too many games on the road is devastating to your team's confidence and record. It is almost shocking the difference it makes. No one who understands basketball can think its a good idea to play mostly on the road in the non-conference part of the schedule.

My feeling is SC knows this is a weak team and does not want the fans to see much of them. In her mind she may wish we could just play all our big-12 games away, but the league will not allow it. Yes, that last sentence is a bit facetious....

Certainly not our only problem, but one of our main problem is we do not have a decent inside game. No matter what some of you seem to think. Vivi plays great twice every 10 games, plays acceptably three times every 10 games, plays poorly 3 out of every 10 games, and is atrocious in two out of every 10 games. Simpson is probably a fine young lady. But she has no business starting and playing so much. It is totally unfair to her and to the team. Give her three years to develop and maybe she will be a good contributor. Give her spot to Ana, and the team has at least a chance to score some.

The number of road games is certainly a problem. Some of these are the back end of home-and-home agreements. I'm betting a number of these games were set up back when we thought we'd have a full squad of players - the seniors plus Dungee and Mulkey (and even Rich). Typically if you've got a full, experienced team you don't mind going on the road a bit early to stretch them a bit ahead of conference play. But with the personnel losses and sub-par play, it's backfired.

And I agree totally about the lack of inside game. ViVi is the only inside presence we have, and though she's improved each year, she can be stopped. She can't shoot over bigger players, and she has problems when she puts it on the floor and teams run players at her. And when she has early foul trouble, we lose a huge chunk of rebounding, shot blocking, and inside offense. I know we have two bigs committed for next year, but from what I've heard they likely aren't ready to step right in and have an immediate impact. (Much like it took Williams and ViVi several years to play at a moderately high level.)

Regarding next year's class, with the exception of Williams, I don't think we're getting the types of players it takes to compete at a Top 20 level. Just not enough size or athletic ability. Again, hope I'm wrong.

 

[TheMont]

The most frustrating thing about scheduling a bunch of non-conference road games is that we did it in 2014-15. Sharane was a senior. KayKay was a junior, and everyone who graduated last year were sophomores.

We played 3 home games to start the season. Then we went to the Virgin Islands for a tournament (we went 1-2). Then we went to UNT (W). Then Arkansas-Little Rock (L). Then Duke (L by 20). Then Arkansas (L). We went OVER A MONTH between home games (November 21 - Dec 30). That's insane.

However, we then started Big 12 play 7-0, so maybe this is indeed making us stronger. I sure hope so.

 

[Mac]

Most of our players are just to inconsistent... Hard to win when our best player (ViVi) is on the bench with fouls, and it says a lot that Sherri had to sit her with 2 fouls even tho she’s a senior...

Mady try’s out there but she’s starting because we don’t have any other options, Lampkins could make an impact next year simple because they will be our only true power forward on the team next season.. Saying she’s not a D1 player is a bit much, but maybe she should be a rotation player.

Shay is the best freshman we have and like last year when Sherri started Mulkey over ViVi, I don’t understand what Sherri is doing bring our 2nd best player off the bench, only thing I can think of is she plans on starting Tatum next year, and doesn’t want to throw off chemistry heading into next season.

Gabbi does all she can, but she hasn’t developed since she’s been at OU, and is so small that if she’s not scoring then she doesn’t bring much to the court...