Opinion needed

[snydrosooner]

Rational Opinions needed. This is not to slam any recruit or any commit.

OK We have a commit from a 3 star with potential. But it does seem some 4 star names have been out there with interest to OU. Are we loosing out on these kids or is coach taking a known commodity now?

I don't want to be chasing 4 or 5 stars that we get to the point that we have no one signed, but if we are still in on some of these guys, do we want to limit our scholorship availability?
( I know verbal commits are not binding, but I really don't want to become a school that tells someone the commits to OU to go elsewhere because we over extended our scholorships)

 

[DenverSooner]

My opinion is that OU should get the solid players early while working on the stars rather than purely focusing on the stars and ending up with no solid players. Capel lost his job because he didn't get the solid kids like this guy.

I think it takes a balancing act. Coaches need to take just enough guys like this so they are not scrambling for players at the end and then land a few of the big fish.

 

[NickZepp]

We shouldn't worry about player's star rankings and just get the guys that best fit the roster and can contribute to the program. Like Denver posted we basically had a roster full of empty spots under Capel because players either left early or weren't good enough to really contribute much.

 

[Stikboy]

My favorite Jeff Capel Special was Nick Thompson. I miss that Balla!

Ehh not really LOL..

 

[25mob]

My opinion is that OU should get the solid players early while working on the stars rather than purely focusing on the stars and ending up with no solid players. Capel lost his job because he didn't get the solid kids like this guy.

I think it takes a balancing act. Coaches need to take just enough guys like this so they are not scrambling for players at the end and then land a few of the big fish.

Hammer meet nail. Excellent point Denver!

 

[CoachTalk]

LK and staff know what they are doing. Stars mean little to them. They want athletic, long, tall players. These are now his players. He wants to get out and run and score the basketball.
Sure chase those stars till they committ somewhere else, but they know 8/10 are going to be guys that fit their system, regardless of *****.

 

[WTSooner]

LK and staff know what they are doing. Stars mean little to them. They want athletic, long, tall players. These are now his players. He wants to get out and run and score the basketball.
Sure chase those stars till they committ somewhere else, but they know 8/10 are going to be guys that fit their system, regardless of *****.

I don't disagree with anything you said, but you still want to recruit (and get) the best players (typically the higher stars) that also fit into your system. Not all players that fit the LK system are created equal.

Am I concerned with recruiting? No, not really. But LK hasn't landed that one stud yet that can push us up to the next level. At least, nobody that is that player as an underclassman. I think he'll land such a player in time though.

 

[CoachTalk]

I don't see too many 5 stars coming to OU. How many did Kelvin get? Every now and then sure. 3* and some 4* are what OU will get most years. Along with transfers and JC kids. LK has been doing it that way for a long time!

 

[WTSooner]

I don't see too many 5 stars coming to OU. How many did Kelvin get? Every now and then sure. 3* and some 4* are what OU will get most years. Along with transfers and JC kids. LK has been doing it that way for a long time!

That is a little misleading. Kelvin was good at landing JUCO's that were basically our 4* and 5* guys.

But again, I don't think anybody is really upset that we aren't landing 5* guys. LK is barely going after any such guys, and as you said, historically we don't land those kids unless they grow up in our backyard.

That said, what LK is missing on are the 4* kids, especially the runs ranked between 30-100 in the country. Hield was a 4*. Hornbeak more of a 3*. Woodard a 3*. But we have missed on countless 4* guys, from the region, the last two years. Williams-Goss, Shephard, Damian Jones, Tum Tum, Cornish, Grandstaff.....guys like that. Just look at our offer lists. We're going after a couple of 5* guys, 10 or so 4* guys, and the rest. And we aren't landing much of anything above the 3* range at this point.

I'm not saying we need a ton of 4*'s, but I'd guess Kelvin just about always had 2 or 3 guys that should have been 4* types on most of his later teams. Our current roster under LK isn't quite there yet. I think it will in time, maybe we need another year or two to build our name back up, but we aren't there yet.

 

[bocabull]

We are going to know a lot more in a couple months about what we have. But the Hield, Hornbeak Cousins class was a success. This year the main adds were Woodard, Spangler & Bennett. Woodard is a 4* who had an injury his senior year & Bennett appears to be outperforming expectations. If this class performs as well as last year our recruiting is a lot better than at first glance on the rating sites.

And if we are clipping along towards 20+ wins and another trip to the dance you can expect better rated players to only improve things. If we flop this year it could turn bad. I don't think it will.

 

[AdaSooner]

We are going to know a lot more in a couple months about what we have. But the Hield, Hornbeak Cousins class was a success. This year the main adds were Woodard, Spangler & Bennett. Woodard is a 4* who had an injury his senior year & Bennett appears to be outperforming expectations. If this class performs as well as last year our recruiting is a lot better than at first glance on the rating sites.

And if we are clipping along towards 20+ wins and another trip to the dance you can expect better rated players to only improve things. If we flop this year it could turn bad. I don't think it will.

Nice post, boca! I agree 100%.

 

[Stikboy]

Kelvin's last class that he didn't get a chance to coach may have been his best. Scottie Reynolds, Damion James, and two other guys who I think were fairly highly rated... Kelvin did get some McDonalds guys, more than a few....

 

[CoachTalk]

That is a little misleading. Kelvin was good at landing JUCO's that were basically our 4* and 5* guys.

But again, I don't think anybody is really upset that we aren't landing 5* guys. LK is barely going after any such guys, and as you said, historically we don't land those kids unless they grow up in our backyard.

That said, what LK is missing on are the 4* kids, especially the runs ranked between 30-100 in the country. Hield was a 4*. Hornbeak more of a 3*. Woodard a 3*. But we have missed on countless 4* guys, from the region, the last two years. Williams-Goss, Shephard, Damian Jones, Tum Tum, Cornish, Grandstaff.....guys like that. Just look at our offer lists. We're going after a couple of 5* guys, 10 or so 4* guys, and the rest. And we aren't landing much of anything above the 3* range at this point.

I'm not saying we need a ton of 4*'s, but I'd guess Kelvin just about always had 2 or 3 guys that should have been 4* types on most of his later teams. Our current roster under LK isn't quite there yet. I think it will in time, maybe we need another year or two to build our name back up, but we aren't there yet.

I understand what you're saying. It's a dirty world of college Bball out there. More than we'll ever know. LK is doing this clean, it's not quite a fair fight.

 

[WTSooner]

I understand what you're saying. It's a dirty world of college Bball out there. More than we'll ever know. LK is doing this clean, it's not quite a fair fight.

Yeah, I get that. And that is why I think LK was probably the perfect hire for OU at the time. Being on probation, we couldn't afford another slip up. LK will do things the right way. And he'll win at a fairly high level doing it that way.

 

[CoachTalk]

Yeah, I get that. And that is why I think LK was probably the perfect hire for OU at the time. Being on probation, we couldn't afford another slip up. LK will do things the right way. And he'll win at a fairly high level doing it that way.

UNLV hasn't taken off since Lon left. Got them in the right track and a new guy came in and got some of those upper eschlein players.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

Yeah, I get that. And that is why I think LK was probably the perfect hire for OU at the time. Being on probation, we couldn't afford another slip up. LK will do things the right way. And he'll win at a fairly high level doing it that way.

Are we still on some form of probation, or has that mess finally run its course?

We are no longer under any scholarship penalties, but I wonder if there is still some residue remaining from the Sampson/Capel transgressions.

 

[furge]

Considering that our last two Burger Boys were malcontents who basically quit on the losing team they helped to create, and took money to even come here... I have no problem with a scouting approach that doesn't use stars and rankings as firm priorities. You do it that way and you get one semester of Tommy Mason-Griffin for four years of NCAA penalites.

Kruger and Co. seem focused on sealing the deal with recruits BEFORE their ratings blow up. Buddy spent most of his senior year as a ** / *** recruit before creeping up to **** right at the end of the signing period. I think McNease could climb as well.

 

[sdcloud9]

I believe LK does it the right way and that's great for OU.

Having said that, the big studs aren't coming here because of a number of reasons (poor attendance/environment, et.). JC and KS played fast and loose with the rules at times and it got the school in trouble.

Personally, I don't want to go there again.

There are a few schools out there that are playing fast and loose with the rules, I guess as long as they don't get caught, it's all good. That's the college basketball world we live in.

 

[jerry]

We are going to know a lot more in a couple months about what we have. But the Hield, Hornbeak Cousins class was a success. This year the main adds were Woodard, Spangler & Bennett. Woodard is a 4* who had an injury his senior year & Bennett appears to be outperforming expectations. If this class performs as well as last year our recruiting is a lot better than at first glance on the rating sites.

And if we are clipping along towards 20+ wins and another trip to the dance you can expect better rated players to only improve things. If we flop this year it could turn bad. I don't think it will.

Good post! I agree.

 

[dubyac]

I'm not sure what winning at a high level is for us anymore... If finishing top 4 of the league & winning a game or 2 in the dance consistently is high level winning.. then Lon can & will do that here... However if conference titles, elite 8's & final 4's are winning at a high level.. that's not gonna happen with Lon he can't get those kinds of players to come to Oklahoma... It all depends on your definition...