OU vs Villanova 1130am CST on CBS

[WaymanFan]

All kinds of nonsense gets posted throughout the season every year; we're all only human, after all. So what? Scroll past it. Block people. Do what you have to do.

I can assure you that the annual *****ing about people being overly optimistic early in the season is every bit as annoying as the optimistic posts.

Good point, Skyvue...While it can be amusing that almost every year we will challenge the 1989-1990 team as the deepest ever, I actually love the optimism. Plus, why would it be so unreasonable to think CJ Noland will make great strides in his sophomore year and that Joe Bamisile would be an instant impact player? Heck, if those two things happened, this would be a pretty deep team.

Basically, at the start of the season our fans like to think of the "ceiling" rather than include the "floor" along with it...but doubt that is much different from any other fan base. The reality here is that if NEITHER CJ and Joe Bam makes dramatic improvement, this team is going to struggle at times.

 

[inoref]

If we couldn't beat this Villanova team we best try to avoid them in the future, they (the Cats) will get much much better. Nova just out tough the Sooners

 

[Stikboy]

Wish I had a dollar for every post where all you experts said these guys were contributors. Every year this board is all fired up about our depth and new additions. Been around long enough to know that it is on very rare occasions that we have depth that can be counted on consistently off the bench. Heck that is true for about 98% of all college teams.

And if I only had a nickel for all the "experts" who then come back after the fact and try to put everyone else in their place i'd have just as much money. I don't think people are purporting to be experts, at least not me. I'll speak for myself, I love OU basketball and sometimes I get excited about good recruits/transfers, and it's good preseason banter when you don't have games. Would you rather everyone say, "We're going to suck, we have no depth, there's no hope" every post? LOL. Get over yourself.

 

[Soonerb98]

Not aimed at anyone in particular, but you can also make "if I had a nickel every time..." statements about those who say we're awful, we have no depth, our coaches are lost, we won't beat anyone, etc.... every time we have a bad game. Fans are a fickle bunch, but that's their job. I'd rather people be too optimistic than just automatically discount any good signs and assume the worst.

I missed yesterday's game, but I'm not ready to give up on this season yet. Even good teams have bad games, but on balance, I feel like we've shown some good signs to be optimistic about when considering all 8 games.

 

[jmizzy4ou]

And if I only had a nickel for all the "experts" who then come back after the fact and try to put everyone else in their place i'd have just as much money. I don't think people are purporting to be experts, at least not me. I'll speak for myself, I love OU basketball and sometimes I get excited about good recruits/transfers, and it's good preseason banter when you don't have games. Would you rather everyone say, "We're going to suck, we have no depth, there's no hope" every post? LOL. Get over yourself.

:woot:chestram2:

 

[opsooner]

Not aimed at anyone in particular, but you can also make "if I had a nickel every time..." statements about those who say we're awful, we have no depth, our coaches are lost, we won't beat anyone, etc.... every time we have a bad game. Fans are a fickle bunch, but that's their job. I'd rather people be too optimistic than just automatically discount any good signs and assume the worst.

I missed yesterday's game, but I'm not ready to give up on this season yet. Even good teams have bad games, but on balance, I feel like we've shown some good signs to be optimistic about when considering all 8 games.

True but also fair for critics to reiterate their concerns in this thread if/when we don’t make the tournament again. None of us can predict the future but I think educated guess from most good basketball fans is that OU is a bubble or lower seed team and losing like we did yesterday is a hurt in either case. On the other hand, if we win 10 conference games it probably won’t be a big factor.


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[skyvue]

Yesterday's game couldn't have been much closer. It came down to this: Nova hit a late three; OU missed its late three. Reverse that, and OU wins. We had the guy we would want to take that three and it was wide-open and uncontested. Just didn't go in.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Yesterday's game couldn't have been much closer. It came down to this: Nova hit a late three; OU missed its late three. Reverse that, and OU wins. We had the guy we would want to take that three and it was wide-open and uncontested. Just didn't go in.

I think that’s a little overly simplistic. Those two shots didn’t erase a six point lead by themselves. There were also turnovers and missed free throws that played into it. It may not feel like we turned it over a ton compared to some of our games last year, but 13 is too many against a team that never turns it over themselves. And we missed two of four free throws when the game was absolutely in the balance.

I’m not by any means giving up on the team because we lost to a good team in a tough environment on the day they got their lottery pick back. But it’s fair to point out trends that have cost us probably half a dozen games the past couple years.

 

[skyvue]

OU lost by 4.

It was a very close game, is my only point. The team did so much right, much of which has gone unmentioned in this discussion: A rebounding margin of 12 boards (10 more offensive boards), for example; an 18-10 lead in assists. And the Sooners were in a position to tie the score with five seconds remaining against a good team in front of a partisan crowd of 17k in OU's first true road game of the season... games don't come much closer.

And some of those being critical after that very close, hard-fought loss were, shortly before the opening tip, expressing fear of a blowout defeat... I mean, that's quite the pivot.

I have no interest in moral victories. But as losses go, yesterday's was less painful than most. We were three-point underdogs, we lost by four (with a meaningless late free-throw making the difference). It's painful to come so close and fall short, but there are a lot of positives to take away from the game, too.

 

[oketex]

I thought OU played some of the best basketball they have played this season, the only draw back was three turn overs in the last two and half minutes.

 

[BoulderSooner]

I thought OU played some of the best basketball they have played this season, the only draw back was three turn overs in the last two and half minutes.

and the 2 missed FT from 2 good FT shooters

 

[SoonerBounce13]

The elbow to Hill’s nose def was not flagrant… nova guy didn’t even know hill was there…I wouldn’t have called a foul either…

i'm sure this is discussed but at one time, wasn't any contact to the head a flagrant regardless of intent?

 

[steverocks35]

I thought OU played some of the best basketball they have played this season, the only draw back was three turn overs in the last two and half minutes.

Yes, and still got beat by Villanova, who got beat by double-digits by Portland. So this isn't exactly encouraging. And yes, I realize 'Nova got their stud recruit back in time for our game, but he had 7 points and 3 rebounds in 20 minutes.

Most of our conference games will be tougher than the Villanova game. I am encouraged by the play of Sherfield and Godwin and the development of Jacob Groves and Bijan Cortes but I have many concerns heading towards conference play.

 

[MsProudSooner]

Yes, and still got beat by Villanova, who got beat by double-digits by Portland.

Villanova didn't have their 5* player in that game.

If you want to play the comparative scores game, OU beat Nebraska by 13 points. #7 Creighton lost to #2 Texas by 5 points in Austin. Nebraska beat Creighton at Creighton by 10 points yesterday.

 

[steverocks35]

Villanova didn't have their 5* player in that game.

If you want to play the comparative scores game, OU beat Nebraska by 13 points. #7 Creighton lost to #2 Texas by 5 points in Austin. Nebraska beat Creighton at Creighton by 10 points yesterday.

Sure, but we're talking about Portland here, a team not in a power 5 conference who also got beat by Kent State. Edited to add: they also lost by double-digits to noted basketball powerhouse Seattle University.

 

[Soonerguy06]

I still believe we will not be at the top of the conference until we have a productive, back to the basket center. Groves seems to want to shoot more 3s than he wants to take it to the hole or back someone up. I'm by no means an expert, but that's just my observation. I love how our perimeter players are coming along right now though. And Godwin is a very solid player.

Are both guys coming in next year 6'8" like I've read? If so, hopefully one of them will contribute immediately, or we can bring someone else in. IDK why none of our other bigs aren't getting an opportunity, if they won't in the non conference games, will they ever? I imagine they will portal-up

 

[BoulderSooner]

I still believe we will not be at the top of the conference until we have a productive, back to the basket center. Groves seems to want to shoot more 3s than he wants to take it to the hole or back someone up. I'm by no means an expert, but that's just my observation. I love how our perimeter players are coming along right now though. And Godwin is a very solid player.

Are both guys coming in next year 6'8" like I've read? If so, hopefully one of them will contribute immediately, or we can bring someone else in. IDK why none of our other bigs aren't getting an opportunity, if they won't in the non conference games, will they ever? I imagine they will portal-up

who in the big 12 has a back to the basket center??

 

[Soonerguy06]

Well i'm not talking about everyone else in the conference. I'm just referring to us and what I see we are lacking, compared to our teams of past that were successful, they not only had solid guard play, which we seem to have now, but they also had very solid play down low. Godwin is an unexpected surprise and definitely does his best down there though. I also thought Big Rick should have been given more PT though....But like I said, I'm no expert, just my observations.

On another note any idea why Keita or Northweather aren't seeing any minutes? Injuries?

 

[WichitaSooner]

Well i'm not talking about everyone else in the conference. I'm just referring to us and what I see we are lacking, compared to our teams of past that were successful, they not only had solid guard play, which we seem to have now, but they also had very solid play down low. Godwin is an unexpected surprise and definitely does his best down there though. I also thought Big Rick should have been given more PT though....But like I said, I'm no expert, just my observations.

On another note any idea why Keita or Northweather aren't seeing any minutes? Injuries?

Keita missed time in the offseason due to injury and I think he is just behind too many guys to get minutes, and Norweather is redshirting unless something changes.