OUr rebuilding plan

[soonertboy824]

This is going to take a few years for capel to get us back to where we want to be. I think the first adjustment he NEEDS to make is to go after character players and solid players. I think ever since he has been here he has gone all in on certain players. This started wih jai lucas and has continued. This has hurt us up to this yr w players like rickey scott. we wanted doron lamb bc he was more highly rated. we should have taken scott bc he wanted to come here and he is solid. he is still top 100 which is plenty good to build a program from. Capel neeeds to adjust this philosophy slightly. im not saying not to go after some of the big guys but we cant afford to strike out and be forced to settle for guys we shouldnt have like ray willis.No disrespect to ray but he just isnt a big 12 player. also im just using him to symbolize all those guys e have gotten throughout the last couple years.

Its going to take a few years so we need to not only focus on this years recruiting class. I have read people saying that we need to sign 7 or 8 guys in this class. I think that would be the biggest mistake we could possibly make. IF we sign 7 or 8 guys at least 3 or 4 of them are going to be complete reaches that will never play. Capel needs to sign only the players that can actually play at a high level or as a good role player for the next few years. Im not going to jump and say who these guys are or whether or not ppl like carter or aziz are, but we cannot setttle for low level players. Capel needs to get 2 or 3 solid bigs in this years class. Obviously we would love if it was someone like terrence jones, but if we were to get 2 juan patllos(that didnt leave the team haha) then i would be thrilled. We are kind of late in this yr so we should get what we can take even if they arent stars. we just need role players.

Getting role players may not sound good because you think role players have to be around stars. this is partly true, but again we need to realize this is goin to take a few years to get us to where we wanna be. we can start by getting role players and being decent next year. then we can look to get someone like roc christmas and build around him and make a run in 2011. but we cant say we arent gonna take anyone else bc we want roc. we need to take ppl that want to be here and hope we can get those guys to be our role players and then every yr get one high high level player...


thoughts

 

[NickZepp]

Good points and I agree. We need to build around guys that know what they want to do as players. That was a problem with our freshmen this year they weren't ever comfortable in what they wanted to do. They looked lost for a lot of the season. Sure they had good games once in a while but they weren't doing anything with consistency.

We need to start bringing in parts to a puzzle to make it a team. We have some good parts there even without Gallon, TMG, and WW although I hope we get one of those 3 back. Cade is a great role player who can basically do it all. Pledger can be a 3 point shooter like we had under Kelvin a lot Heskett, McKenzie, Neal, Newton there's probably one or two others I'm forgetting. But he can be that type of guy. Maybe a little taller than all of those guys. Fitz needs to learn a lot but he can be a solid post presence and his jumper he's developing can make him dangerous. We have some solid starting points we need to add guys that will add on to a team.

 

[topcat]

The frustrating part of all this is why should a major rebuilding plan be needed after a coaches 4th year. Its like paying a contractor 4+ million on a renovation project and he came back and said we have to scrap most of what we've done and start over. No excuses should be tolerated. Isn't that what Bob said in his first interviews?

We were playing the worst ball in the league at the end of the year. The personnel problems are all Capels. He has his work cut out for him. He recruited the guys and he's been the Captain of the ship so he better get it done.

 

[psk2080]

If we have only 4 scholarship players returning and 2 coming in, leaving us 7 short of maximum, then I would say we need 4 more minimum for next year...a real question is whether Honore or Randolph can contribute on any meaningful level...if they can then it would help while we are low on scholarship players...

 

[eric28]

It's funny because that is exactly what I was saying to somebody just yesterday. We need to stop putting all our eggs in the McDonald's All American basket and focus more on getting quality Big 12 caliber talent. Now by no means am I saying stop recruiting the elite prospects, however when we strike out on those guys we cannot afford to settle for guys who have no business in D-1 basketball.

 

[p230]

In general I agree I just wonder how many people have the patience to work on this kind of plan. I really don't think we can find 7 players all at once unless there are a bunch of decomits from other programs. It is a shame that it may take us four years to get back to last years level but it is what it is. I think that if anyone had told us this was going to happen we would have chased them off the boards! We can't blame Coach for not seeing everything come but he should have seen some of it. I still think he can make a go of it and I intend to support him and OU.

Go Sooners!

 

[psk2080]

As an alumni and fanbase, would we rather have a year or two where we are legitimate contenders for a title, followed by several years of being mediocre at best, or be a good solid team year in and year out, but never really a contender...always much better than mediocre, but never a contender...if you had to choose, which one would you choose?

You could say that with Capel, we will be feast or famine, while with Sampson we were neither...always somewhere in between...now, Sampson did have some excellent teams that were contenders, but for the most part, most of his teams were 20-10 types of teams...very good solid teams, but not really contenders...with Capel, I have a feeling we will always either be 25-5 or 15-15...with not much in between...

 

[yankeeDoodleSooner]

In general I agree I just wonder how many people have the patience to work on this kind of plan. I really don't think we can find 7 players all at once unless there are a bunch of decomits from other programs. It is a shame that it may take us four years to get back to last years level but it is what it is. I think that if anyone had told us this was going to happen we would have chased them off the boards! We can't blame Coach for not seeing everything come but he should have seen some of it. I still think he can make a go of it and I intend to support him and OU.

Go Sooners!

At some point people have to quit making excuses for Capel. Every year he has brought in a bunch of players that quit immediately. These are his players and if they are causing problems and destroying the program, it's ultimately his fault. I don't see this happening at other programs to the extent that it happens hear every single year.

 

[NorthCarolinaSooner]

There are a lot of teams in the NCAA tourney that compete well with lesser talent (or PERCEIVED lesser talent). Don't tell me we wouldn't be able to pull in a lot of guys like that to be role players at a place like Oklahoma.

Personally, I feel like Capel PROBABLY went a little bit away from what made him successful at VCU because he knew he could go after the "Big Fish" recruits because he was at a bigger school in a bigger league. He needs to go back to his 'roots' so to speak and recruit those guys with a chip on their shoulder that outwork the "McD's AA"-type kids. Hopefully you get one of the big dogs occasionally but there are SEVERAL kids who have been GOOD college players we probably could have had that we didn't get because we went after 'bigger' fish. (i.e. John Roberson and Ben Uzoh...among others). I hope Rickey Scott doesn't end up being the same story.

Give me 10 HARD working top 150-200 kids over 5 primadonas who think they are already NBA-ready studs ANY DAY!!!! I want to see HUSTLE, HARD-WORK, TOUGHNESS, and DESIRE!!!!

THEN I will be happy again!

 

[Mr.B!!!]

At some point people have to quit making excuses for Capel. Every year he has brought in a bunch of players that quit immediately. These are his players and if they are causing problems and destroying the program, it's ultimately his fault. I don't see this happening at other programs to the extent that it happens hear every single year.

I can think of one that was sent home before he ever suited up, but who are all of these players of whom you speak?

 

[Krugerfan52]

As an alumni and fanbase, would we rather have a year or two where we are legitimate contenders for a title, followed by several years of being mediocre at best, or be a good solid team year in and year out, but never really a contender...always much better than mediocre, but never a contender...if you had to choose, which one would you choose?

You could say that with Capel, we will be feast or famine, while with Sampson we were neither...always somewhere in between...now, Sampson did have some excellent teams that were contenders, but for the most part, most of his teams were 20-10 types of teams...very good solid teams, but not really contenders...with Capel, I have a feeling we will always either be 25-5 or 15-15...with not much in between...

Or 30-6.

I'll take the ups and downs. The downs are tough but they make the ups so much more fun. Billy Tubbs had some great teams and a few trips to the NIT as well. That was a fun ride. As long as Capel has a few more big years, I can handle a few bad ones when we have a team full of talented freshen.

 

[yankeeDoodleSooner]

I can think of one that was sent home before he ever suited up, but who are all of these players of whom you speak?

Neysmith, Early, Patillo, Canon, Maze. If the rumors turn out to be true you can add TMG, WW, Tiny, Allen, and possibly Hardrick/Willis. I'm sure I probably missed a couple of others too.

 

[NickZepp]

Neysmith, Patillo and Maze played and some started one year. Cannon never really played, Early was kicked off. Willis was here 2 years. Those guys didn't quit before they started. They tried hard for full seasons. With the exception of maybe Cannon.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

Neysmith, Early, Patillo, Canon, Maze. If the rumors turn out to be true you can add TMG, WW, Tiny, Allen, and possibly Hardrick/Willis. I'm sure I probably missed a couple of others too.

Oh, I thought you said immediately.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

Neysmith, Patillo and Maze played and some started one year. Cannon never really played, Early was kicked off. Willis was here 2 years. Those guys didn't quit before they started. They tried hard for full seasons. With the exception of maybe Cannon.

That is kind of what I was thinking as well.

 

[yankeeDoodleSooner]

Neysmith, Patillo and Maze played and some started one year. Cannon never really played, Early was kicked off. Willis was here 2 years. Those guys didn't quit before they started. They tried hard for full seasons. With the exception of maybe Cannon.

I'm not sure if you're speaking to me or not, but I point was that it has to fall on Capel for bringing in too many players that are not sticking around or making a long term impact.

 

[NickZepp]

I'm not sure if you're speaking to me or not, but I point was that it has to fall on Capel for bringing in too many players that are not sticking around or making a long term impact.

I do agree we need to get guys that stick around more. But that's hard to predict. A lot of Kelvin's guys left early for one reason or another also. It's just the nature of CBB today. The problem is that Capel hasn't done a good job replacing those guys that have left. Look at OSU in their first couple years under Ford they've had huge roster turnover under Ford yet they were a tournament team one year and nearly won a tournament game the next year.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

I'm not sure if you're speaking to me or not, but I point was that it has to fall on Capel for bringing in too many players that are not sticking around or making a long term impact.

Like Blake, he left after only two years in the program.

 

[yankeeDoodleSooner]

Like Blake, he left after only two years in the program.

Yes he did, because he was going to be the top player drafted. That's why he wasn't on the list. If we had a bunch of players leaving because they were going to be top draft picks, we wouldn't be in this mess.

 

[psk2080]

Here's the thing: it's ok to have the occasional 1-and-done or 2-and-done player, like Blake, so long as the rest of the team is balanced (evenly distributed numbers of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors)...an evenly distributed team could probably withstand the loss of a couple of early jumpers or transfers...anytime a program has to bring in more than 4 players at one time it could have issues...that's simply too many people to have to bring in and assimilate at once...too many unknowns all at once...