Our Problem is Recruiting

[SoonerNorm]

Some of us have talked about this a lot but the problem continues. We have to have better players to keep up with Texas and Baylor. Period. I know that some on here disagree. That's fine but, we stopped contacting Richards which makes absolutely no sense. We can't impress Wilson who would be starting right now if we had her. But, the staff keeps falling in love with players who can't play. Why??? Who is making those decisions? Bob Stoop had that problem and he cleaned house with positive results. I think it's time for Sherri to consider the same thing. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. I understand some players will have bad shooting nights. I don't understand why we don't have capable backups who can come in and score. Losing to a bad N. Texas team should get Sherri's attention. Let's hope it does.

 

[Mac]

If we had 5 double digit scores we would be hard to beat. I don't think Wilson would make a deference, she's still a guard. We need to go away from that 4 out 1 in motionless motion offensive that Sherri has been trying to run the last 7 or so years. More often then not we have players just standing around, not moving with out the ball, not cutting towards the basket, no back door cuts or anything, it's a lot of passing to the post, our post will kick out and then everyone stands there and watches who ever has the ball... The reason I knew Manning wouldn't be a good starter is because her games is that of a guard, she's being used as a post but she doesn't seem to have the mentality of a post player, with only Kay Kay under the basket it's harder to rebound. I've been saying for years now we need a power forward our best teams had The Paris teams inside or Courtney and Rush who was undersized, but was still a post player... I really think we need a stretch 4, a girl about 6'1 or 6'2 with a real mid rang/game to the arch, every year Sherri recruits this type of player and every year she misses out...

My post might be all over the place, but what do you expect when we lose to a team like North Texas?! This team has a lot of wholes to fill, the players we have been signing, the offensive, the list could go on and on... And people wonder why I thought we would be tied for 3rd in the big 12...

 

[Mark]

If losing to N. Texas at home don't get Sherri attention about recruiting, sadly nothing will.

 

[Mac]

I think it's time to question the coaching staff once again, sounds like most of the fans here think making it to the big 12 sim- final and then to the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament ever year, with an occasional sweet 16 run OU is is still an elite program, but it's going to be a long way back to the top...

 

[cowboysooner]

Not as down about the North Texas game as some of you it seems. We will be alright. Clean up some of the turnovers and the game really came down to missing shots.

I think Sherri does a great job and support her as coach. Personally I have always thought her biggest deficiency was that her kids were not well conditioned. I have never understood why she lets some kids carry the weight they do. I have felt this was the case for Sherri's entire career, save and except last year, and for reasons I don't know, the kids looked really fit last year to me anyway. That is really the reason I was high on the team most of the year.

When kids are out of shape, one of the first tell tell signs is poor shooting, including free throw shooting. In any event, conditioning can be improved in a 4-6 week time period with a daily regiment of sweat.

Otherwise and on a positive note for me, I liked sherri's approach. Run the offense through the post, pitch it out to little, Ortiz and Wyatt for threes and let Maddie generally create, which is her strong suit. This being said, I sort of agree with RonBrown that it wouldn't hurt to try two bigs against some teams (depending upon match ups). Frankly, I don't thing ViVi and KK would work well together (lots of reasons), I would make the second big EJ or Treese (when she gets back).

On another positive note, I think Kellogg will merge nicely into a back up 4 to Maddie over the course of the season.

Most kids aren't in game shape when the year starts, you sort of get that as the year goes along.

 

[SoonerNorm]

If we had 5 double digit scores we would be hard to beat. I don't think Wilson would make a deference, she's still a guard. We need to go away from that 4 out 1 in motionless motion offensive that Sherri has been trying to run the last 7 or so years. More often then not we have players just standing around, not moving with out the ball, not cutting towards the basket, no back door cuts or anything, it's a lot of passing to the post, our post will kick out and then everyone stands there and watches who ever has the ball... The reason I knew Manning wouldn't be a good starter is because her games is that of a guard, she's being used as a post but she doesn't seem to have the mentality of a post player, with only Kay Kay under the basket it's harder to rebound. I've been saying for years now we need a power forward our best teams had The Paris teams inside or Courtney and Rush who was undersized, but was still a post player... I really think we need a stretch 4, a girl about 6'1 or 6'2 with a real mid rang/game to the arch, every year Sherri recruits this type of player and every year she misses out...

My post might be all over the place, but what do you expect when we lose to a team like North Texas?! This team has a lot of wholes to fill, the players we have been signing, the offensive, the list could go on and on... And people wonder why I thought we would be tied for 3rd in the big 12...

While I agree the 4 out 1 in is not what we should be doing, I'm not yet convinced Maddie can't be effective as a PF playing the normal PF position. At least, we should give it a try.

I have to disagree about Wilson, she would be starting in Gioya's position right now.

 

[SoonerNorm]

I think it's time to question the coaching staff once again, sounds like most of the fans here think making it to the big 12 sim- final and then to the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament ever year, with an occasional sweet 16 run OU is is still an elite program, but it's going to be a long way back to the top...

Bingo!

 

[cowboysooner]

I think we have recruited pretty well. This year, as with most, we have the talent to win with and do.

As I stated earlier, I think we will be fine as the season goes on. Lets wait a few games before deciding to throw either or both the baby or bath water out.

In addition, I think Treese and Carter would make a big difference.

 

[sybarite]

Not as down about the North Texas game as some of you it seems. We will be alright. Clean up some of the turnovers and the game really came down to missing shots.

I think Sherri does a great job and support her as coach. Personally I have always thought her biggest deficiency was that her kids were not well conditioned. I have never understood why she lets some kids carry the weight they do. I have felt this was the case for Sherri's entire career, save and except last year, and for reasons I don't know, the kids looked really fit last year to me anyway. That is really the reason I was high on the team most of the year.

When kids are out of shape, one of the first tell tell signs is poor shooting, including free throw shooting. In any event, conditioning can be improved in a 4-6 week time period with a daily regiment of sweat.

Otherwise and on a positive note for me, I liked sherri's approach. Run the offense through the post, pitch it out to little, Ortiz and Wyatt for threes and let Maddie generally create, which is her strong suit. This being said, I sort of agree with RonBrown that it wouldn't hurt to try two bigs against some teams (depending upon match ups). Frankly, I don't thing ViVi and KK would work well together (lots of reasons), I would make the second big EJ or Treese (when she gets back).

On another positive note, I think Kellogg will merge nicely into a back up 4 to Maddie over the course of the season.

Most kids aren't in game shape when the year starts, you sort of get that as the year goes along.

Interesting. I don't know that I agree with the conditioning thing. Don't see many bigs in great shape anywhere.

If the season continues the way it has started, I'm not so sure that I wouldn't consider Shaya more at the four, with more frequent rotations of Maddie at the two or three. Except for one game, we have had some difficulties at the two.

Has Gabbi scored this year? Strange.

This game was ugly, but winnable. It would have taken at least some thought.

 

[Mark]

I think we have recruited pretty well. This year, as with most, we have the talent to win with and do.

As I stated earlier, I think we will be fine as the season goes on. Lets wait a few games before deciding to throw either or both the baby or bath water out.

In addition, I think Treese and Carter would make a big difference.

I will admit I do like the recruits we get coming in Chelsea, Nancy and specially Ana The following year. There's no secretly A blind man can see we are much better team with Gioya than without her. Still even without Gioya we still should have beat N.Texas handily at home.

 

[sybarite]

I doubt that it makes any difference, but I think I'll email Sherri to hire one of you experts as recruiting coordinator. Maybe after you fall on your faces, you'll appreciate what the job entails and realize that you don't have the expertise. She won't listen. But, neither will you.

 

[j2d2]

It's true that the elite players that we go after we very rarely get. I agree that a big, quick power forward would be the addition (for the last several years) that would mean the most. I have no idea how many we have recruited but it's been a bunch and havent gotten even one. We are continually one good - very good - player short. Baylor does a far better job recruiting and it looks like texass is showing the same signs.

 

[IllTemperedSeaBass]

Two things that stood out to me as I watched the game.

Offensively we struggled to get good open looks from the outside. And when we did, we didn't make many of them. We don't really have a playmaker on offense except for occasionally Peyton Little. We REALLY struggled down low. I don't know if I have ever seen so many bad bad misses from so close.

Defensively we struggled to stay with our (wo)man. They had a very nice motion offense going and some good penetration that set up some wide open looks for their shooters. Which they knocked down. I was impressed by the 1st year coach for UNT. She had her players in good position on both ends of the floor.

 

[Soonerbay]

...and when you get the top players, especially post players, you have to know how to develop talent. Then there is that coaching thing. You've got to coach them just as strategic on the court as you do off the court.

 

[SoonerSpock]

OU pays Sherri an elite salary in excess of a million dollars. Sherri annually says the teams goals are to compete for conference and national championships.

OU has not won a regular season championship in the last six years nor have they won a Big 12 Tournament Championship in he last eight years. In fact in the regular season OU has finished 2nd, 6th, 6th, 3rd, 2nd and 3rd in the regular season. Obviously she is not consistently achieving her stated team goals. She has been hired and paid to produce an elite basketball program. She is not getting the job done.

If she is not meeting expectations it must be because of coaching or the lack of the needed players. Both are Sherri's responsibility. I envision Sherri being OU's coach as long as she wants the job. But I just want her to step up and get the job done as it should be done. Finishing 6th as often as she finishes 2nd is not acceptable from my perspective. Baylor has won ten during that interim. No reason she cannot win about a third of all the conference championships. Just go get the players then coach them up.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Big_12_Conference_champions#Women.27s_basketball

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_12_Conference_Women's_Basketball_Tournament

 

[soonerstar]

Colton Coale is listed as a graduate assistant on page 42 of this years media guide. Maybe Coale is getting him ready for a full time assistants job or maybe prepping him to replace her in a few years. Stranger things have happened.

 

[sybarite]

Yeah. I figure we must have lost a game.

 

[SoonerNorm]

OU pays Sherri an elite salary in excess of a million dollars. Sherri annually says the teams goals are to compete for conference and national championships.

OU has not won a regular season championship in the last six years nor have they won a Big 12 Tournament Championship in he last eight years. In fact in the regular season OU has finished 2nd, 6th, 6th, 3rd, 2nd and 3rd in the regular season. Obviously she is not consistently achieving her stated team goals. She has been hired and paid to produce an elite basketball program. She is not getting the job done.

If she is not meeting expectations it must be because of coaching or the lack of the needed players. Both are Sherri's responsibility. I envision Sherri being OU's coach as long as she wants the job. But I just want her to step up and get the job done as it should be done. Finishing 6th as often as she finishes 2nd is not acceptable from my perspective. Baylor has won ten during that interim. No reason she cannot win about a third of all the conference championships. Just go get the players then coach them up.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Big_12_Conference_champions#Women.27s_basketball

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_12_Conference_Women's_Basketball_Tournament

Absolutely!!!

 

[SoonerNorm]

Colton Coale is listed as a graduate assistant on page 42 of this years media guide. Maybe Coale is getting him ready for a full time assistants job or maybe prepping him to replace her in a few years. Stranger things have happened.

He needs to go work for Geno or Staley for a few years then come back if he's doing a great job.

 

[SoonerinNC]

Looks like Bay is back. A bad loss is like blood in the water. I have never understood the intense dislike for Sherri.

Having said that, the book on Sherri is that she is good at motivating her team. Yet all too often they come out extremely low energy and we get a bad loss. And at other times they come out with their hair on fire. Why the inconsistency. Quite possibly it is the lack of strong leaders on the floor. Sherri is a dominant personality and maybe she needs to challenge some of her players to take on more of a leadership role.

Like most fans I would like to see us win every game but that is not in the cards unless you are a UConn fan and they lose one once in a while that they should win. But we have slipped behind Baylor and maybe Texas but I have yet to see Texas capitalize on their so called super recruits.

Dawn Staley at South Carolina and good old Kim at Baylor seem to have broken through the Geno, McGraw, Vandever monopoly so it can be done. We seem to fall short of that.

I don't consider Sherri a strong recruiter but I do like Mulkey, Dungee and Llanusa. She does land some talented players like the Paris twins, DRob and Vegas. However we don't seem to be getting anywhere with a fair number of talented in state and north Texas recruits.

We do best if we can run. We usually do that well but like last night other teams can shut down the running game and then your half court offense needs to click and ours often doesn't. Our half court game seems to more of a one on one thing with limited screening and movement. Too many nearly impossible passes are picked off. Too many bad decisions on shot selection, driving and passing.

We often have a rough early season and usually get quite a bit better after Christmas. You have to give Sherri credit for that. You don't have the record she has without some coaching talent. And the Hall of Fame selection isn't handed out without some merit. Clearly she is a credit to the University.

20 years in the same job is a long time. You have to keep reinventing yourself or the game passes you by. Stoops seems to have revived the football team with some very good new hires. Lincoln Riley, The offensive coordinator is a breath of fresh air and Cooks the defensive back coach is doing a superb job. While they give up a bad one occasionally there have been countless times where the opposing quarterback has no where to throw the ball.

I don't have a clue how well Sherri's assistants do in their job or even what their responsibilities. However, Stoops had to make a very tough decision and get rid of the hero of our last national championship. Maybe we have some opportunities to upgrade the womens basketball staff but I don't have a clue how. I just know it can be done.