OU vs TCU

[jerry]

We had 26 turnovers. 15 were by Seniors. Now that is player development?? Not so much.

 

[SoonerNorm]

I watched Texas/TCU, and they had the same first half, except that TCU had about a six point lead. I think Texas scored the first fourteen points of the second half, and that ended that. TCU is inept offensively. We just cannot foul them. They will hit free throws.

We made them look like an offensive juggernaut as TCU scored 54 points in the second half alone.

 

[OKUman]

Let's see, no one knows how to pump fake the post, no one knows how to not put the ball on the floor in the post, and we can't pass the ball efficiently against a zone defense. Yep that just about sums up the first half. I agree, burn the film and come out and play some Sooner basketball. Sheeeeeesh!!!!

Same questions have been asked for about the last few years.

 

[OKUman]

For almost 4 years we have thrown passes to our 6'6" center like she is 5'6". Some things continue to elude me.

It's called coaching, and we have not seen much of it with post players ever on the women's team.

 

[OKUman]

Before you think this is too tough an assessment.
OU got blown out by TCU. TCU....
Don't let the mad run at the end confuse things. OU got dominated
tonight.

Sherri looked disinterested tonight. Like she's finally out of things to try.

Graduation might be the best thing for the team.
Just awful level of effort tonight.
The turnover story might be worst in Sherri history
I really think this program needs to not make the tourney as a wake up call.

I think the talent has been badly overestimated.
The pieces don't fit. They don't work. The roster is a mess.
Sherri and the coaches really need to take a very hard look at who needs
to stay and who needs to go.

Yes and yes and yes. She has not upgraded her talent as most other national teams have done. And has not added to her staff coaches who can teach the post. Ask you're self if Courtney was better when she was a senior yuan she was a freshman.

 

[SoonerNorm]

The lack of teaching basic fundamentals by this coaching staff is one area everyone should be concerned about. Recruiting is the other.

 

[garyeb2]

The lack of teaching basic fundamentals by this coaching staff is one area everyone should be concerned about. Recruiting is the other.

I'm sure Sherri knows how and is teaching fundamentals. She doesn't seem to hold them accountable. The only hammer any coach really has over the players is playing time.

If she isn't willing to use the only tool available, nothing is going to change much.

 

[jerry]

This will be really tough for Sherri, but it looks like she needs to do what Bob did last year in football. Reload with a new, young aggressive coaching staff.

 

[gosooner2]

I'm sure Sherri knows how and is teaching fundamentals. She doesn't seem to hold them accountable. The only hammer any coach really has over the players is playing time.

If she isn't willing to use the only tool available, nothing is going to change much.

Unfortunately if you do not recruit well enough you have nothing better on the bench to go to! Lose/lose situation.

 

[SoonerinNC]

As disappointing as this year is it may be a blessing in disguise. Everything has generally worked out well for Sherri in her tenure with the Sooners. This year it is not working. She seems to be the type that will learn from her first real adverse experience with the Sooners and maybe this season will cause her to reach a new level as a Div I coach.

Contrast her game yesterday with what we saw with the men. Our depth helped us beat Texas soundly. Yet with the women Williams was woefully ineffective, Carter and Wyatt barely saw the floor and Kellogg not at all. Meanwhile our four returning starters played 131 minutes (80 by Hook and Ellenberg), and had 19 turnovers. Other than Campbell we got only 3 points off the bench.

I wonder if Sherri learns anything from having a seasoned coach like Kruger around. They both like to play pressure defense and uptempo offense and they both had essentially a four guard offense this year.

That is where the comparison stops. Kruger is a master at building for the long haul. Many wondered why he used the freshmen so much last year and most wondered why Cousins was here at all. Most would have cashed in Neal's scholarship and sent him packing. But while we suffered with growing pains last year this year it seems to have paid off. Kruger seemed to have had a long leash with Cousins and Neal but he stuck with them.

I'm not a fan of punishing players with bench time, but I think at times you need to take them out of the game to get their perspectives in line. They have to know that you don't expect them to play sloppily. You can't play pressure defense and uptempo offense with most of your starters playing 30-40 minutes. Not in today's game. So at times they need some bench time to get their heads right and more important to keep their legs fresh.

The reserves need to understand where they fit in the rotation. It is hard to do that when you play 25 minutes one game and 5 the next and maybe not at all the next time. The only thing we know about this year's rotation is that KayKay will relieve Griffin and someone will relieve Campbell and Hook if they get in foul trouble.

I really believe in Sherri. I think she is very bright and does a good job of building a strong team concept. I'm sure she has spent many sleepless nights this year trying to figure what went wrong. Her challenge is to determine what to do to avoid having a meltdown season like this again. I don't know the answers but am confident that she will figure it out.

 

[hawks00]

So I just figured out the girl who made the layup at the very end of the game was Alexann Yancey who formerly played at OU. What a way to end her career.

 

[atlantasooner]

hawks00,
TCU put her in the game at the end to score.

 

[KCRuf/Nek]

Wow. Scoring 26 points, regardless of when they happened, isn't worth two pennies. Reality check: the rest of the team is TERRIBLE. Vegas didn't slave enough for the team, and thus, she was worthless.

Smh.

How many of those points made a difference? We needed those shots going in early before we were hopelessly behind. What...Oh thank you Vegas. Since you finally decided to play we only got beat by 20 instead of 30. :woot I'll take 14 points in a good win than however many in a stink bomb loss.

Same questions have been asked for about the last few years.

Maybe ten.

 

[sybarite]

As disappointing as this year is it may be a blessing in disguise. Everything has generally worked out well for Sherri in her tenure with the Sooners. This year it is not working. She seems to be the type that will learn from her first real adverse experience with the Sooners and maybe this season will cause her to reach a new level as a Div I coach.

Contrast her game yesterday with what we saw with the men. Our depth helped us beat Texas soundly. Yet with the women Williams was woefully ineffective, Carter and Wyatt barely saw the floor and Kellogg not at all. Meanwhile our four returning starters played 131 minutes (80 by Hook and Ellenberg), and had 19 turnovers. Other than Campbell we got only 3 points off the bench.

I wonder if Sherri learns anything from having a seasoned coach like Kruger around. They both like to play pressure defense and uptempo offense and they both had essentially a four guard offense this year.

That is where the comparison stops. Kruger is a master at building for the long haul. Many wondered why he used the freshmen so much last year and most wondered why Cousins was here at all. Most would have cashed in Neal's scholarship and sent him packing. But while we suffered with growing pains last year this year it seems to have paid off. Kruger seemed to have had a long leash with Cousins and Neal but he stuck with them.

I'm not a fan of punishing players with bench time, but I think at times you need to take them out of the game to get their perspectives in line. They have to know that you don't expect them to play sloppily. You can't play pressure defense and uptempo offense with most of your starters playing 30-40 minutes. Not in today's game. So at times they need some bench time to get their heads right and more important to keep their legs fresh.

The reserves need to understand where they fit in the rotation. It is hard to do that when you play 25 minutes one game and 5 the next and maybe not at all the next time. The only thing we know about this year's rotation is that KayKay will relieve Griffin and someone will relieve Campbell and Hook if they get in foul trouble.

I really believe in Sherri. I think she is very bright and does a good job of building a strong team concept. I'm sure she has spent many sleepless nights this year trying to figure what went wrong. Her challenge is to determine what to do to avoid having a meltdown season like this again. I don't know the answers but am confident that she will figure it out.

I don't have a clue. I have been watching this team this year with astonishment. A year that should have been one of anticipation has become the biggest nightmare in Sherri's history. I hope that Sherri has seen something being in the middle of it that is not apparent from this sidelines..

Frankly, I'll dismiss most of the criticism as being silly. "Sherri can't teach players to improve?" Get serious. Someone always brings up Courtney. Well, Courtney is still Courtney. DRob, Jo, Nyesia, ----how many others were completely different players when they left? That claim is so asinine that it doesn't even merit being left up as a post---by anyone.

Turnovers? I'm tired of this argument. Yesterday's turnovers did hurt, but they were a reflection of a lot more than just not paying attention. They certainly weren't induced by TCU pressure. Our mental attitude was just sloppy, and that has happened much too often this season. I think it happens with every team every season. But, it doesn't happen to the same extent and frequency that it happened this year to this team. Something is going (or not going on) in this team's collective and, perhaps, individual heads that just isn't making sense.

It happens. There are kids who, for some reason, just don't improve, or maybe play well as the leader in pressure situations. You have had it happen to you. There are things that you just can't do right. You have the mental or physical ability, but you just can't do it right. Does it mean that your coach can't coach? Can it be just one player? How would this team have fared last year without Jo? If just one player got screwed up mentally, we lose. Even the UConns of the world have this problem. Tennessee should be in the national finals every year with the talent that they recruit. Why aren't they? Baylor just had Griner and Sims for three years, two of the better and unique stars in history. They won one. What happened the rest of the time?

I can't figure this team. The best basketball we played was in the first four games. The team that played Wichita, Creighton, Gonzaga, and Louisville was a good team. They are good teams. The team that just beat Kansas and Texas was a good team. We don't have our scorer, and we play together well? What is it about having Vegas play has been a problem? Do we wait on her to give us direction? How can we lose that team edge that we had against KU and Texas and look so bad----not bad, pathetic?

How do you, in the same game, just make the same pass or dribble that has lost you the ball, and do it again? The last time we lobbed it to Griffin, it was stolen. I think I'll lob it to Griffin. The last time I caught it, I dribbled, and it was stolen. I think I'll dribble it one step for a better look. As a coach, what do you say? What do you say when someone just tosses it carelessly away? Let's dribble it into a crowd one more time, despite the fact that you have over fifty turnovers making that exact same move in your career. How do you coach past a complete mind block.

Don't tell me that you didn't have a mind block somewhere. For some, they just have to swing at that change-up. They can't help it. They've missed it three times already today, but they'll miss it again if you throw it. Maybe you are absolutely certain that you can take it away from this kid. This team makes the same mistakes again and again. They are bright, but they don't learn. They have the talent, but they don't learn.

I don't know that you can coach that. You simply do the best you can and wish them well in their new careers as physicians, lawyers, or accountants. The dumb thing is that this team could make it to the Elite Eight. They won't do it this way. But, they have that ability. They played Louisville, a pretty certain Elite Eight team, to a standstill. They just probably won't.

 

[KCRuf/Nek]

The lack of teaching basic fundamentals by this coaching staff is one area everyone should be concerned about. Recruiting is the other.

It was interesting watching Duke/NC and SC/Tenn today. Just the shear number of athletes out there was amazing - especially for NC. And then to watch a team like the Vols and their spacing and passing and cutting. It was fun. They don't have an issue bouncing it into the post. Proper spacing, proper angle, and a pass that can be handled only by the center. It's funny how much easier that pass is when there is only one defender around.

And I wonder if any of these coaches would have sat there clapping like a seal as their team committed 30 turnovers. I imagine, much like Geno, that their asses would have been on the bench and someone else would have been in there.

 

[SoonerSpock]

It was interesting watching Duke/NC and SC/Tenn today. Just the shear number of athletes out there was amazing - especially for NC. And then to watch a team like the Vols and their spacing and passing and cutting. It was fun. They don't have an issue bouncing it into the post. Proper spacing, proper angle, and a pass that can be handled only by the center. It's funny how much easier that pass is when there is only one defender around.

And I wonder if any of these coaches would have sat there clapping like a seal as their team committed 30 turnovers. I imagine, much like Geno, that their asses would have been on the bench and someone else would have been in there.

Teaching accountability has never been a strength of Sherri's nor do I suspect it ever will be!

 

[Sooner Cal]

I think we expected too much from this team. Really not that talented. Vegas was the only top talent. Morgan needs more talented players around her. She wants to distribute, but the others are often just standing watching. Griffin got better year by year until this year's conference season began, then she slipped backwards. Kornet is inconsistent. Sharane is her own worst enemy. Carter disappears. Edwards plays out of control. Wyatt is lost. Portia should have played more. Kay Kay misses the easy shots.

TCU played up tempo. That's supposed to be our style of play. We lost the game when TCU started hitting the shots in the 2nd half. No sense of desire to win. No leader stepped up. No one tried to fire up the team. Vegas hit several shots to make it look better, but in reality the game was lost with 15 minutes to go. It showed in our body language.

The coaches just have to play the year out. I don't know that there is anything that would help with this group.

 

[atlantasooner]

Cal,
I think you hit everything on target.
It's not just one thing.
I disagree though that Sherri could have shaken things up drastically and pushed the youngsters into the mix more. Maybe more losses but a better idea of what OU has in
Edwards
Carter
Kellogg
Wyatt
Gibbs
My real concern about OU hoops is that there is not a starter in that five player group.

 

[Mark]

Cal,
I think you hit everything on target.
It's not just one thing.
I disagree though that Sherri could have shaken things up drastically and pushed the youngsters into the mix more. Maybe more losses but a better idea of what OU has in
Edwards
Carter
Kellogg
Wyatt
Gibbs
My real concern about OU hoops is that there is not a starter in that five player group.

You can add Kornet to that list

 

[atlantasooner]

Mark,
Results make that a tough statement to argue with. Factor in Manning's played three ? games in 2 years and OU has no all big 12 caliber starters from two recruiting classes.