*******OU-Southeastern Louisiana Game Thread*******

[sheepdogs1]

Man, that second half was frustrating to watch. I know it doesn't really matter -- the game was never remotely in doubt -- but hoo-boy, I hate seeing us lose our intensity that way. Poor rebounding, poor defense, low energy, poor finishing in the paint, poor shooting overall.

We have to get much better very quickly. We don't really have any early-season leeway this year. There are almost no patsies on our schedule. I kind of wish we'd stuck with our starters and key backups more in this game. We don't really have minutes to waste on walk-ons and deep-benchers this season.

Speaking of rebounding, as a team we had two more rebounds.

 

[AdaSooner]

Man, you guys are tough. :facepalm

Did you really expect to see a second half blowout like the first half? SE Louisiana picked it up in the second half because they didn't want to be embarrassed again. It's also important to note that 12 OU players saw action in today's game, 9 logged double figures in minutes. All five starters played from 23 to 28 minutes. It's likely you can add 5 minutes each to their playing time against a tougher opponent.

Keep in mind, too, that TaShawn Thomas is not in game shape yet. By that, I don't mean his physical conditioning as much as being prepared mentally to play in a real game. Regardless of the opponent, it's not the same as practice. It was easy to see his timing was off. Our perimeter-oriented guards need to get him the ball inside more. Seemed obvious to me that he knows what to do when he gets it in a position where he can do the most damage.

I'm happy with the way this team played today. A big plus for me is the knowledge that Spangler is going to have some help inside this season. Our guards just have to adjust to getting the ball inside to our two starting bigs and let them do their thing. The difference this season is that we don't have to score from the perimeter on every possession to win games.

 

[Stikboy]

Spot on post.

I too was underwhelmed by Thomas. But you can see the talent is there. He is bigger than I thought, and I thought he kind of loafed some.. They just need to play together more.

 

[skyvue]

Man, you guys are tough. :facepalm

Did you really expect to see a second half blowout like the first half?

No, but I did expect we'd win the second half by more than two points.

We're on the road against a quality team in three days, a team that scored 100 points in its first game and has 45 at halftime today. We don't have time this season to get incrementally better -- we've got to make some big improvements and fast.

 

[CoachTalk]

Unreal. Go fire bob stoops!

 

[MsProudSooner]

Unreal. Go fire bob stoops!

:ez-roll:

 

[skyvue]

Unreal. Go fire bob stoops!

Pointing out we played a pretty crappy second half is a long way from calling for anyone's job. I regularly get accused here and elsewhere of being a sunshine pumper, so stow it, Coach.

We're jumping right into the fire. Four of our next five games are against quality teams, and we've got plenty more lined up after that. We don't have time to slowly improve, is all I'm saying.

If that makes me a bad fan in your eyes, I guess I'll have to live with that.

 

[Hotrod33]

Skyvue,

I understand what you are saying and agree to a point. Yes, I agree that we can't improve slowly but Tashawn needs a couple of games to knock off the rust. You can see he has the talent. The rest of the team had two exhibition games to do that but not him. That hurt for the chemistry of the team. But also, I think Kruger knew that this game was almost over as soon as we got that big lead. It will be a tough battle against Creighton but Kruger and the staff will have this team ready to go Wednesday.

 

[WaymanFan]

I agree with a lot of what skyvue said, but I think the lackluster 2nd half was more in part to the game not being competitive. Heck, it was over after the first TV timeout in the 1st half. In cases like that, it's very difficult to keep the team engaged for 40 minutes. When we were engaged, I loved how the defense played. We'll definitely get a better test Wednesday night, and I expect the team to be far more focused than this afternoon.

 

[MNsooner]

Unreal. Go fire bob stoops!

:ez-laugh::ez-laugh::ez-laugh::ez-laugh:

In all seriousness, Buddy really does have a chance to be an all american.

 

[CoachTalk]

Lk let up in the 1st half... Playing deep subs very early. It's natural let up at that point. I was overal very pleased with the win.

Thomas will be a stud. Give it time. Huge game for him.

 

[SoonerinNC]

5 or 6 minutes of absolute perfection. Good shots in rhythm. Running the court well, lockdown defense and absolute domination on the boards.

THEN we did what a lot of teams do when they are that dominant. Started trying to overpower them and lost intensity and focus. Not too bothered about that. Pretty natural thing to do.

We need more of a Thomas offense. He was pretty much out of sync. Makes me think he hasn't worked a lot with the starters. He also looked a little gassed pretty early.

That is the most one on one basketball I have seen from a Kruger team. I'm sure he will let them know it too. Too many quick trey attempts out of rhythm and far too many drives to the basket and taking a tough shot. They need to dump off more when they don't have a high percentage shot. But, I also didn't see many people spotting up for a dump off.

I'm glad to see that penetration ability because Kruger will have them dumping off for easy hoops. That is also the character of this team so I expect to see a big improvement next game.

Good for a first game. We got a glimpse of how good they can be. A fair number of teams have been pressed or even defeated in their cupcake games.

 

[coolm]

you guys are harsh taskmasters. I was impressed with Thomas' moves. I wasn't impressed with his game readiness ... but duh. they just need some PT.

 

[WTSooner]

You can tell Thomas has game. Might have the best post game we've seen since Blake at OU. I think, once he is integrated and comfortable, he'll have an Osby like impact. Osby shot more 15 footers than I think Thomas will, but Thomas will trade those shots out for truer post moves. I think he gives us the one thing we were missing the most.....a guy we can throw it to in the post, and watch him score.

 

[stormspencer]

You can tell Thomas has game. Might have the best post game we've seen since Blake at OU. I think, once he is integrated and comfortable, he'll have an Osby like impact. Osby shot more 15 footers than I think Thomas will, but Thomas will trade those shots out for truer post moves. I think he gives us the one thing we were missing the most.....a guy we can throw it to in the post, and watch him score.

Thomas does remind me alot of Osby in the way that he handles the ball and makes his move toward the basket. They are both very smooth ballhandlers for big men and make it appear effortless with their style. Another quasi-comparison would be Bobbi Joe Evans....although I don't know if Thomas has Bobbi Joe's outside stroke.