One big problem with this team
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NickZepp
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In the last decade we've only had one guy play that was really tall and really big. Most of our bigs in the past decade were 6-8 at the most. The 3 biggest guys we had were Jabahri Brown who was 6-10 or 6-11 and like real skinny. Longar Longar who was about 6-9 or 6-10. And Blake Griffin who was 6-9 or 6-10.
Brown averaged 5 points and 5 boards a game his entire career. He played great in a couple games against KU in his career. If we played KU every game he may be the best big man ever at OU. But he was never the best big man we had.
Longar Longar was good, but again I don't think he was ever the best big man on the team although that's unfair his last year because he was with Blake Griffin. His career averages were 7.2 and 4.3 rebounds. The last 2 years he averaged more than 10 points and 7.2 and 5.6 rebounds.
Blake Griffin was a superstar don't need to go into that.
Look at our best bigmen most of these years though. Nate Carter, Aaron McGee, Taj Gray, not a single one of them are bigger than 6-8.
To me it's not just about size as a post player. Our posts don't play with a lot of heart every game like some of our guys did in the past. Even Johnnie Gilbert who was mostly a bench guy played with a lot of heart. Renzi Stone way back when also.
One big problem I had last year with Gallon is that he basically played like a guard half the time. I'm not sure if he really thought he was a post player.
The best rebounder we had at OU under Kelvin was a 6-4 post man. The best rebounder in the NBA in the decade of the bigman of the 90s was 6-8 Dennis Rodman. Now he was mega athletic too. But still the rebounding numbers he put up probably won't be touched today.
Brown averaged 5 points and 5 boards a game his entire career. He played great in a couple games against KU in his career. If we played KU every game he may be the best big man ever at OU. But he was never the best big man we had.
Longar Longar was good, but again I don't think he was ever the best big man on the team although that's unfair his last year because he was with Blake Griffin. His career averages were 7.2 and 4.3 rebounds. The last 2 years he averaged more than 10 points and 7.2 and 5.6 rebounds.
Blake Griffin was a superstar don't need to go into that.
Look at our best bigmen most of these years though. Nate Carter, Aaron McGee, Taj Gray, not a single one of them are bigger than 6-8.
To me it's not just about size as a post player. Our posts don't play with a lot of heart every game like some of our guys did in the past. Even Johnnie Gilbert who was mostly a bench guy played with a lot of heart. Renzi Stone way back when also.
One big problem I had last year with Gallon is that he basically played like a guard half the time. I'm not sure if he really thought he was a post player.
The best rebounder we had at OU under Kelvin was a 6-4 post man. The best rebounder in the NBA in the decade of the bigman of the 90s was 6-8 Dennis Rodman. Now he was mega athletic too. But still the rebounding numbers he put up probably won't be touched today.
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Sooner_In_MI
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This. While I love Fitz's midrange game this team will never be successful if we need him to be our main rebounder. So hopefully Osby and Goff can help with that.
Sooner Quick
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We need guys with strength. Blake and Taylor both were strong as an ox. Cade Davis is strong and look how good of a rebounder he is. I see YoYo working the inside guys in the weightroom this off season.
Why can't a PG and a C be a priority? We have more than 1 scholly. Plus a PG is more needed b/c we already have Goff, Osby, Fitz, and Washington who will get a lot of minutes in the paint. We really only have Blair. Newell isn't too bad but it would be nice to have a true PG that will at least challenge Blair for minutes.
To me, it's not just the height of the post players. We all know Cade is playing out of position at the 4 and Fitz is not a true 5. But most of the successful teams at OU have never had a true 5 - except for Blake.
What OU needs is size mis-matches at other positions - either size-wise or athlete-wise.
Not only is OU small at the 4 and 5 - they are also small at 1 and 2. Cam is about the only "right" sized player and even he does not create a size mismatch - from either the height or width perspective. To me, you can be small at the 4 and 5, but if you are wide you can make up for some of the problem. You can also makeup some size issues by having big, athletic guards. Or even, smaller, wider, stronger, athletic posts.
Problem for this team is they are not tall, not wide and not overly athletic at any position other than the 3 - where they are, maybe, above average.
That's a brutal combination. OU needs athletes. This has been evident all year, and is magnified when we play teams who pressure the passing lanes - ala Missouri, KU, Texas, OSU - all teams who are clearly more athletic than OU.
Without an influx of more athletic players, I don't see OU making much progress in the W/L department.
What OU needs is size mis-matches at other positions - either size-wise or athlete-wise.
Not only is OU small at the 4 and 5 - they are also small at 1 and 2. Cam is about the only "right" sized player and even he does not create a size mismatch - from either the height or width perspective. To me, you can be small at the 4 and 5, but if you are wide you can make up for some of the problem. You can also makeup some size issues by having big, athletic guards. Or even, smaller, wider, stronger, athletic posts.
Problem for this team is they are not tall, not wide and not overly athletic at any position other than the 3 - where they are, maybe, above average.
That's a brutal combination. OU needs athletes. This has been evident all year, and is magnified when we play teams who pressure the passing lanes - ala Missouri, KU, Texas, OSU - all teams who are clearly more athletic than OU.
Without an influx of more athletic players, I don't see OU making much progress in the W/L department.
Soonerman
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How are we small at the 1 and 2? If anything, I would think Carl is one of the bigger point guards in the Big 12 and Pledger is fine as far as height for a college 2 guard.
soonernutt
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Agree that Blair can be a good PG for us. He is a first year player, and you expect struggles. It's tough to say where his ceiling is, but certainly experience will make him better. You hate to rely on newcomers to be handling the ball all the time because they get flustered and turn it over too much. Ideally, Blair will be a more consistent player next year.
But we still need to develop other PGs, and we don't have them here. So if we get a decent one, it's a really good thing for this team. Ideally, Blair will be improved and more reliable next year, and someone new can still get in and develop without being a total liability. Outside of some miracle superstar recruit (which isn't happening), that is probably the best scenario we can hope for at PG next year.
Max Power
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this
even with the improvement on defense that is expected from year 1 to year 2 (to help his tendency to foul), and offense (breaking the press better) he still cant play 40 min a game every game. We need another solid point guard so that Newell can slide to the 2 (appears to be his natural position as a score)
