Ou Baylor

[thebigabd]

Alondes Williams
17 minutes
7 points, 1 rebound, 1 block, 2-2 threes, and 2 turnovers

Jamal Bieniemy
33 minutes
5 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1-2 threes, and 2 turnovers

 

[hoopsaustin]

I'll take the the guy that's 11/18 from 3 the past 2 games over the guy that's 3/15 and 3/17 from the field on the night. There was still 8 seconds left and Brady was wide open at the top of the key.

AR is confident, but getting the ball to your best shooter with a great look seems like the best option to me.

Sure if you can.. it was in traffic. Defense was retreating. Manek prolly gets his shot swatted from behind

 

[steverocks35]

Alondes Williams
17 minutes
7 points, 1 rebound, 1 block, 2-2 threes, and 2 turnovers

Jamal Bieniemy
33 minutes
5 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1-2 threes, and 2 turnovers

Well we only had one guy on the entire team in double figures so it’s hard to criticize these two guys

 

[thebigabd]

Well we only had one guy on the entire team in double figures so it’s hard to criticize these two guys

I was wondering what happens if Alondes plays 33 minutes and JB plays 17.

 

[BCSooners]

Alondes Williams
17 minutes
7 points, 1 rebound, 1 block, 2-2 threes, and 2 turnovers

Jamal Bieniemy
33 minutes
5 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1-2 threes, and 2 turnovers

Bienemy is so good defensively and battled to get loose rebounds to help out the bigs. He’s also a ball mover which this team needs, does the little things.

I think Williams can be really good, needs to rebound better for his size & athletic ability. Thought he was solid yesterday though.

 

[hoopsaustin]

Reaves was likely screaming at Harmon to pass it because he's a damn ball hog

Ya.. and hes WIDE open......

 

[AdaSooner]

I'm in the camp that this was the right pass to the right player. Reaves did fire up and miss a bunch of poorly-thought-out shots last night, but he did hit a huge three just moments earlier.

Reaves was open in the corner and his shot came close to going in. If it had, it mostly likely would have been the game winner and we'd all be celebrating the kid. I may be one of only a handful of Sooner fans that feel badly for him.

I was on record last night in saying Reaves took a good shot. I’m also on board with feeling bad for him. That was the best option available given the time and circumstances. If he had made the shot, all we would be talking about right now is a great comeback win over a quality opponent.

 

[Jccouger]

I am giving Reaves grief for that last shot, but it's really not the last shot. If you focus directly on that last shot it was actually a good look, and it was a shot he needed to take in regards to the situation.

The issue I have is, the last shot is just a culmination of an entire year of him taking poor shot after poor shot, shooting a **** percentage, and still chunking up more ill advised shots. I'm sick of it. This is no longer a "slump". This has proven to be who he is. He's not athletic enough to play against high level teams. He's a slightly above average shooter when teams aren't focused on him & he can catch and shoot open 3s.

 

[CoachTalk]

I am giving Reaves grief for that last shot, but it's really not the last shot. If you focus directly on that last shot it was actually a good look, and it was a shot he needed to take in regards to the situation.

The issue I have is, the last shot is just a culmination of an entire year of him taking poor shot after poor shot, shooting a **** percentage, and still chunking up more ill advised shots. I'm sick of it. This is no longer a "slump". This has proven to be who he is. He's not athletic enough to play against high level teams. He's a slightly above average shooter when teams aren't focused on him & he can catch and shoot open 3s.

This is a bad take.

 

[pnkranger]

This is a bad take.

I agree with the point that, against more athletic/longer teams he should help us spread the floor as a catch and shoot (or catch and attack guy), i.e. that he should not be running the point in those situations.

The thought that he's not athletic enough to play against high level competition is laughable. He's 6'5", long, shifty, and a pretty dang good ball-handler. His shooting will come around.

 

[NY Soonerfan]

This is a bad take.

For the sake of argument, why is this a bad take? Could you actually offer some evidence for once, instead of just swatting away someone's opinion?

The guy is shooting 24.5% ON THE YEAR, and he's made more than two 3's in a game TWICE. He constantly tries to go one-on-one and therefore takes horrible shots, which are nowhere near in the flow of the offense (if we even have such a thing). And, this is happening in a major conference, not a mid-major one. And, we are now 18 games into the season. As stated, this is no longer a slump. This is an entire body of work, and the only body of work that is significant to this discussion, because it's taken place against a much, much better quality of opponent on a night in and night out basis.

 

[Max Power]

For the sake of argument, why is this a bad take? Could you actually offer some evidence for once, instead of just swatting away someone's opinion?

The guy is shooting 24.5% ON THE YEAR, and he's made more than two 3's in a game TWICE. He constantly tries to go one-on-one and therefore takes horrible shots, which are nowhere near in the flow of the offense (if we even have such a thing). And, this is happening in a major conference, not a mid-major one. And, we are now 18 games into the season. As stated, this is no longer a slump. This is an entire body of work, and the only body of work that is significant to this discussion, because it's taken place against a much, much better quality of opponent on a night in and night out basis.

With a 3 point line that is further away than any stats he has in prior years.

 

[stormspencer]

Bienemy is so good defensively and battled to get loose rebounds to help out the bigs. He’s also a ball mover which this team needs, does the little things.

I think Williams can be really good, needs to rebound better for his size & athletic ability. Thought he was solid yesterday though.

I think an immediate, short-term improvement to our rebounding woes would be getting our guards more involved....especially on the offensive glass. I realize you run the risk of getting "cherry picked" in transition, but we can't just have one guy (sometime two guys) alone trying to rebound. We are not going to win a lot those rebounding battles when it's 1 vs 4 or 2 vs 4.

One thing I've noticed the last several games is that Hill and Iwaukor both attack the offensive glass. Having both of those guys in does bring up other liabilities, but rebounding is not one of them. Both of those guys are very active on the boards.....and may be our best offensive rebounders right now.

 

[AdaSooner]

I think an immediate, short-term improvement to our rebounding woes would be getting our guards more involved....especially on the offensive glass. I realize you run the risk of getting "cherry picked" in transition, but we can't just have one guy (sometime two guys) alone trying to rebound. We are not going to win a lot those rebounding battles when it's 1 vs 4 or 2 vs 4.

One thing I've noticed the last several games is that Hill and Iwaukor both attack the offensive glass. Having both of those guys in does bring up other liabilities, but rebounding is not one of them. Both of those guys are very active on the boards.....and may be our best offensive rebounders right now.

Lon has used guards to rebound before when size is a much bigger issue than we have now.

I don’t get why all but one and sometimes no player on the team sticks around to rebound a missed shot or loose ball? You’re right in that Jalen and Victor make an effort, but the other players turn and run to the defensive end like they’re afraid of getting beat in transition. Is it any wonder our second chance stats are so poor? What are we afraid of?

 

[BCSooners]

It’s just how players are built. With OU’s starting lineup Doolittle is the only offensive rebounder. Hill & Iwuakor are good ones, Kuath is average, I really thought Williams would be more aggressive.

 

[skyvue]

Harmon was 2-4 from the free throw line last night. I'm not sure I want him getting fouled on a drive. If he has a clear lane to the basket, that's something else, but I don't think Harmon at the line is preferable to Reaves with an open shot from three.

 

[thebigabd]

Harmon was 2-4 from the free throw line last night. I'm not sure I want him getting fouled on a drive. If he has a clear lane to the basket, that's something else, but I don't think Harmon at the line is preferable to Reaves with an open shot from three.

Harmon is a 68% foul shooter.
Reaves is a 24% 3pt shooter

However, Harmon has to make two shots.

 

[Max Power]

Harmon was 2-4 from the free throw line last night. I'm not sure I want him getting fouled on a drive. If he has a clear lane to the basket, that's something else, but I don't think Harmon at the line is preferable to Reaves with an open shot from three.

so you would rather a guy that was 2-10 at that point shoot? that makes no sense

 

[skyvue]

so you would rather a guy that was 2-10 at that point shoot? that makes no sense

I have high hopes for Harmon, but he hasn't yet proven to be a clutch player; Reaves has come through in the clutch (he very nearly did last night). We'd have needed Harmon to hit both shots (something he didn't accomplish in two previous tries last night), and even then we'd have only been tied.

 

[NY Soonerfan]

One of the other things that really bothered me last night was that we don't do a lot of little things that good teams do to win ballgames, especially close ones.

We lose track of a shooter with 2 on the shot clock and he hits a 3; Manek sulks on a turnover, doesn't get back on defense, and therefore doesn't get a rebound when Doo gets back to block the shot, and it lands in a Baylor player's hand for a 2-foot layup. There's 5 points right there. We lose track of the ball a lot on defense, leaving open shooters, take way too many terrible, out of rhythm shots on offense, we commit silly turnovers (Bieniemy tossing it down low to Doo, who was a) never open, and b) doubled teamed anyway, immediately comes to mind). And, quite frankly, before we got a fire lit under our butt's, the lack of effort to rebound the basketball was embarrassing in the first half, or even 25-30 minutes. You would think a team that can't rebound the basketball would at least out effort the other team, to try and bridge the gap.

Add it all up and you lose close games, especially when you're facing better teams. Baylor did not play well last night, and, to our credit, we were able to hang around and almost pull off a shocker, but if Baylor played well it's not a close game. Maybe we can sneak by over some mid to bottom level B12 teams, but if we are going to have any chance against the top half of the league, we need to clean up a lot of the little things that seem to bite us far too often.