Ford has done an okay job, not spectacular, not terrible. He inherited some good players that were being coached by a drug addict and did about what you would have expected with them. His own recruiting has been somewhat weird in that he would intentionally over sign and has had a revolving door policy with rosters for the most part, but he seems to have put a cohesive team together for this season, so I'll be curious to see how they come together. Smart is definitely not Blake, I'm not sure that Smart is even the level of basketball player that Willie Warren was coming into OU.
OSU Committ
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I agree with everything you said except the Willie Warren comment.
Smart was just named Preseason All Freshman team, Willie never did that.
LAS VEGAS -- I spent about an hour Thursday afternoon watching games with Florida's Billy Donovan, about 30 minutes at night chatting with Gonzaga's Mark Few. And now I can't wait to see Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart.
That's the result of those conversations.
I'm intrigued by their ongoing praise of OSU's incoming freshman.
It's been more than a month since Donovan and Few coached USA Basketball to a gold medal in the FIBA Americas U18 Championships in Brazil, but both men are still raving about the 6-foot-4 guard from Texas who could -- and perhaps, should -- be the Big 12's top newcomer when the ball is tossed up this November.
"He was our leader from the moment the players introduced themselves," Few said. "He's one of the best kids I've ever been around -- and that includes all the Zags I've coached."
BoulderSooner
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If he does that, he and Nash will be gone after the season and Ford will be gone soon after. Smart might be a great player but Ford just can't get it done at this level.
Preseason all freshman team?
BoulderSooner
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even better preseason freshman of the year
http://www.prepticket.com/articles/...St-Cowboys/Big-XII-hands-out-preseason-awards
That's not bad, and I'm pretty sure that was after the season. I'm not saying Smart won't be good, and I posted before there was a step away from the comparison. I'd put it this way, if Smart can have the impact that Warren did right away I'd be pretty happy if I was an oSu fan.
Agreed. However, Smart won't have Blake to take most of the attention.
Agreed, that is why I say that if I was an oSu fan I'd be thrilled if Smart put up numbers similar to Warren, because Warren had it a lot easier than Smart is going to.
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Ah, this old trope. So often repeated, so wrong.
That same roster, by and large, made it to the Elite Eight two years later. Yes, Blake had a lot to do with it, but even a player of Blake's talent won't take a "dreadful" team that deep in the tourney.
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Who cares what they did 2 years later. They went 16-15. He had nobody of any significant worth. AJ and Taylor were role players. Carter was the best player on the team and Longar had his moments. Worst roster, talent-wise, of the previous 20 years at OU up to that point. Not nearly as talented as the group Ford inherited 2 years later.
That was after the season
1) Before Obi broke his ankle during his freshmen season...OSU was one of the best teams in the country. Shortly after he got hurt...their team went from 16-2 having beaten 3 top 25 teams, to end up only winning 22 games overall. That roster was very thin that year and that injury killed them. It left them with 7 scholarship players that year. The year after took a blow when Curry bolted for the one of the last picks in the 2nd rd of the nba draft and Cooper didn't return from summer vacation which made them rely on a bunch of freshmen.
So Ford takes over a group that was lead by 2 senior guards, Obi and a future lottery pick. And as for Thomas wanting to play the 2..thats all his big men do. I see Soucek out there jacking up 3's.
2) Mizzou lost to a 15 seed in the first round of the tournament...Bravo to them. That 4 guard lineup really paid off.
Willie Warren was Freshmen of the year and NOY in the Big 12...they don't hand out trophies for preseason anything.
And as good as Smart might be...Isaiah Austin and Ben McClemore are going to be challenging him for the actual FOY award.
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I care what they did two years later. A "dreadful" roster of players wouldn't have achieved what they did, even with the addition of Blake.
I said it then and I'll say it again: Sampson would have gotten 19-20 wins from that group and an NIT bid at worst. So Capel comes in for some of the blame for that team's lousy season. The talent wasn't that bad. Not great, but not that bad.
He said he doesnt think Smart is even close to what Willie was COMING IN to OU lol. Not sure why everyone started talking about end of the year awards
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Denis Clemente up @ KSU was B12 Newcomer OTY that year.
I didn't say "even close" so please don't put words in my mouth. I view Smart and Warren as much more comparable than I do Smart and Griffin. You backed off the Griffin comparison [or at least clarified]. The reason why people started talking about end of year awards is becuase you seemed to take offense at the comparison or at least dismiss it, when Warren had a heck of freshman season. Again, if Smart can be as good as Willie Warren was as a freshman, you should be happy.
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