Playing time

[WichitaSooner]

As I read through the game thread this morning, I saw tons of complaints about Freeman and RO last night and people asking why Lon was playing them. So I guess my question is, should he have just played the starters 40 minutes each and let them get hopelessly worn down when we were already at a disadvantage having to guard a much bigger team inside? RO played 12 minutes and Freeman 15. Freeman obviously had a poor game and I wouldn't have complained had he only played about 10 minutes, but given how tired Manek was from having to battle Lawson for a good portion of the game, what real options did we have with Muni basically unavailable?

Also, our bench has been outstanding all season. RO kept us in the Northwestern game almost by himself in the first half. Freeman played a big role in a couple wins already, including Notre Dame. What kind of message would Lon be sending if he benches two key reserves based on a few bad minutes? The goal is obviously to win every game, but you also have to develop a team for the long haul by showing players that they aren't going to be yanked based on a few rough minutes. People were also complaining about Doo early in the game -- so I guess Lon should have just played four players and benched everyone else.

 

[Soonerinkc]

Freeman had a horrible game. LOL...without JM he'll get the extra time. Polla hasn't shown much either. It's a take your poison and hope for the best.

I thought a couple of things...Freeman was totally abused inside, with that said he HAS to get around and front the guy, hope we have backside help. I also thought he took some shots that he should have passed on.

Obviously no one (on either team) was hitting 3's last night and I know...a shooter keeps shooting.

I was surprised at the scoring...(other thread ku guards) Ku guards had 42 of the 70. I figured it'd be the other way around.

Odomes, I've got no problem with him except he loves the dribble drive and ku played him well...backed off knowing that is his deal.

Tough game, I kept looking at stats through out the game (even late in 1st half on the 16-2 run) and they weren't really lopsided like one would think.

 

[hoopsaustin]

Polla over freeman. Give odomes minutes to bieniemy and don't be afraid to go small and have him slide to 2 with calixte

 

[tmeyer3307]

Flat out James was bad bad.. No defense, got lost several times..just was lazy. Freeman is just a soft guy. He doesn't match up well with Kansas. Odomes is just easy to guard at times. He can only dribble left and can't shoot/plays way above his hype number ALL the time! I wish Lon would of got Polla into this game for a bit. I thought he was contributing and now he just ins't an option anymore looks like.

Good news.. I thought Calixte, Reynolds and the Bienemy all looked pretty good! Manek's mid range is really nice and I liked how he battled. Doolittle is key for this team. He's really one of the few elite athletes we have. He was a warrior last night..just need him to hit a few mid range shots and drive more.

 

[Soonerinkc]

Flat out James was bad bad.. No defense, got lost several times..just was lazy. Freeman is just a soft guy. He doesn't match up well with Kansas. Odomes is just easy to guard at times. He can only dribble left and can't shoot/plays way above his hype number ALL the time! I wish Lon would of got Polla into this game for a bit. I thought he was contributing and now he just ins't an option anymore looks like.

Good news.. I thought Calixte, Reynolds and the Bienemy all looked pretty good! Manek's mid range is really nice and I liked how he battled. Doolittle is key for this team. He's really one of the few elite athletes we have. He was a warrior last night..just need him to hit a few mid range shots and drive more.

agree...

I thought Doo was really hesitant a few times he caught the ball about the FT line. He NEEDED to use his shooting ability to open the lane..IMHO.

 

[stormspencer]

We were just in a tough spot against a really good team with size. Without McNease, we were going to have a matchup problem down low when it came to our subs. Freeman is too small and not physical enough, but I also think Polla would have had as much trouble as well due to his lack of quickness. Odomes is an enigma and will continue to be an enigma. He wasn't good last night.

Our guards were a mixed bag. James rebounded well and had a couple of good assists, but couldn't shoot. Calixte hit some 3s and had some nice drives, but turned the ball over too much. Reynolds never really got into a groove and also had 4 turnovers. I thought Bienemy played the cleanest game of all of the guards, but it's tough to give a freshman heavy minutes in his first game at AFH.

Overall, I thought we played really hard. But our backcourt has to carry this team and they were far too inconsistent last night.

 

[WichitaSooner]

We were just in a tough spot against a really good team with size. Without McNease, we were going to have a matchup problem down low when it came to our subs. Freeman is too small and not physical enough, but I also think Polla would have had as much trouble as well due to his lack of quickness. Odomes is an enigma and will continue to be an enigma. He wasn't good last night.

Our guards were a mixed bag. James rebounded well and had a couple of good assists, but couldn't shoot. Calixte hit some 3s and had some nice drives, but turned the ball over too much. Reynolds never really got into a groove and also had 4 turnovers. I thought Bienemy played the cleanest game of all of the guards, but it's tough to give a freshman heavy minutes in his first game at AFH.

Overall, I thought we played really hard. But our backcourt has to carry this team and they were far too inconsistent last night.

I agree with most of this. And sitting at the game, it definitely felt like Freeman got abused frequently. But in reality, neither Larson or Doke killed us in the paint. They combined for 21 points, which is way below their cumulative average, and a lot of Larson's buckets came when Manek was on him in the second half. Given Muni's absence, I actually thought we did a very good job limiting their inside game. Most of KU's easy buckets came in transition in the first half and had noting to do with their size advantage. If we hold Larson and Doke to 21 when we play them in two months, I would take it in a heartbeat. Doke is going to get at least a couple dunks a game, no matter who is guarding him.

 

[stormspencer]

I agree with most of this. And sitting at the game, it definitely felt like Freeman got abused frequently. But in reality, neither Larson or Doke killed us in the paint. They combined for 21 points, which is way below their cumulative average, and a lot of Larson's buckets came when Manek was on him in the second half. Given Muni's absence, I actually thought we did a very good job limiting their inside game. Most of KU's easy buckets came in transition in the first half and had noting to do with their size advantage. If we hold Larson and Doke to 21 when we play them in two months, I would take it in a heartbeat. Doke is going to get at least a couple dunks a game, no matter who is guarding him.

I agree and given the circumstances, I thought we played about as well as we could inside. They got us on some offensive rebounds, but other than that, they didn't truly "dominate" us like I thought they would. Our guards played inconsistent and poorly at times....that is why we lost IMO.

 

[BCSooners]

As I read through the game thread this morning, I saw tons of complaints about Freeman and RO last night and people asking why Lon was playing them. So I guess my question is, should he have just played the starters 40 minutes each and let them get hopelessly worn down when we were already at a disadvantage having to guard a much bigger team inside? RO played 12 minutes and Freeman 15. Freeman obviously had a poor game and I wouldn't have complained had he only played about 10 minutes, but given how tired Manek was from having to battle Lawson for a good portion of the game, what real options did we have with Muni basically unavailable?

Also, our bench has been outstanding all season. RO kept us in the Northwestern game almost by himself in the first half. Freeman played a big role in a couple wins already, including Notre Dame. What kind of message would Lon be sending if he benches two key reserves based on a few bad minutes? The goal is obviously to win every game, but you also have to develop a team for the long haul by showing players that they aren't going to be yanked based on a few rough minutes. People were also complaining about Doo early in the game -- so I guess Lon should have just played four players and benched everyone else.

Agree with everything

 

[TheMont]

At KU was certainly a ho-hum game for RO. He has found ways to contribute all season long, even sometimes in limited minutes. There have been games when I've wondered why he was the 4th or 5th guy off the bench, especially when he's consistently provided a big spark. He went on like a 12-0 run by himself against Northwestern. He's a solid glue guy (except that free throw stroke -- woof). But, as someone mentioned, KU is well coached and played him very well.

Last night was perhaps the worst game all season for CJ, Freeman, Odomes, and Reynolds. Hell, even Muni just came in for an airball. And we STILL made it a 4 point game with less than a minute left. Speaks volumes to the toughness and depth of this team. A lot of truly great teams go into the Phog and lose. We'll be just fine.

 

[sperry]

Odomes is a good player getting the right amount of minutes. Freeman isn't very good, but we are thin up front with Muni and Kuath out. Don't have many options, especially against a team like Kansas where we can't get away with a lineup without any bigs.

 

[skyvue]

Odomes is a good player getting the right amount of minutes. Freeman isn't very good, but we are thin up front with Muni and Kuath out. Don't have many options, especially against a team like Kansas where we can't get away with a lineup without any bigs.

One bad game doesn't erase the fact that Freeman has been a solid contributor this season.

 

[Darwin]

I try not to over think a loss, especially an expected one. I loved the effort given the the issues inside. This team just needs to stay tough, work and get even better chemistry for February and March. All teams have tough shooting nights and hot ones. Our KD is like a Swiss army knife.

 

[SoonerinNC]

To this point the 4 key guys off the bench have averaged 65minutes, 11.6 rebounds and 20 points a game. Last night we only got 42 minutes, 7 rebounds and 7 points, all by Bieniemy. Hopefully just an outlier. Of course the folks from the knee jerk section would have had them out of the game the first minute, never to return.

Our depth has been one of our greatest strengths so far but not so last night. Odomes never got into position to do his normal thing and Freeman missed two shots that he often hits. Kansas always play good defense and that often leads to big runs like the one in the first half that sunk us last night. The run got going with our reserves in the game.

Biggest positives were the play of Manek and Doolittle. Also after being shut down early James recovered to achieve a double double. In former years once he disappeared he usually didn't recover.

Bieniemy has begun to understand that he can score the ball at this level. His continued development is encouraging and very important to the development of this team.

Biggest questions are whether our depth is for real and whether McNeace will ever be effective in this his senior season.

 

[opsooner]

Freeman, Doo, and Manek did a good job of defending. It is just not ideal for any of those guys to defend a big 5 or an athletic 4. However, I thought they were pretty good defensively except for a few play here or there. Manek blocked out very well and Doo fought all night long.

Main thing was that Freeman was just way off on his shot and didn’t look comfortable. Odomes ran into some athletic defenders and tried to force a few things. Wasn’t just them - no one was hitting the way they are capable. Some of that was KU having an athletic defense and some of it was just missing. The same thing can be said for KU on offense.

I saw some of the typical moaning in the game thread but most people realize we had some bad matchups and some people are just emotional. If Freeman could have hit some shots KU would have had to adjust their D and it might have opened up the lanes more.

Look forward to playing them again.


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[ocugolfsooner]

Odomes relys on his strength/athleticism to prey on weaker defenders. KU is not a good matchup for him. They're defenders are strong enough not to get bullied. He'll be a solid contributor for us. Freeman prob needs to play less but is going to have to while Jamuni is out.

 

[steverocks35]

If Freeman isn't hitting shots then he really can't be on the floor. What else can he do? I would rather see Polla in the game to bang inside and possibly give some fouls.

 

[skyvue]

If Freeman isn't hitting shots then he really can't be on the floor. What else can he do? I would rather see Polla in the game to bang inside and possibly give some fouls.

One way to make sure Freeman doesn't hit his shots is to keep him on the bench. He's 0-for-his career from there.

He took all of four shots last night. I wish he'd hit two or three of them, but how many missed shots are enough to bench a guy? We've all seen plenty of games where a player missed several shots, only to get hot late (see: Doolittle's late-game heroics not so long ago).

I see so reason to single Freeman out (except for the fact that he's generally the guy who gets singled out, especially with Lazenby redshirting).

Freeman had one foul last night so if you just want a guy in there to foul, you might as well stick with him, since there's a chance he could get hot. Polla, on the other hand, is very unlikely to get a hot shooting hand, so with him in there, you take away the possibility of getting points from that position.

 

[steverocks35]

One way to make sure Freeman doesn't hit his shots is to keep him on the bench. He's 0-for-his career from there.

He took all of four shots last night. I wish he'd hit two or three of them, but how many missed shots are enough to bench a guy? We've all seen plenty of games where a player missed several shots, only to get hot late (see: Doolittle's late-game heroics not so long ago).

I see so reason to single Freeman out (except for the fact that he's generally the guy who gets singled out, especially with Lazenby redshirting).

Freeman had one foul last night so if you just want a guy in there to foul, you might as well stick with him, since there's a chance he could get hot. Polla, on the other hand, is very unlikely to get a hot shooting hand, so with him in there, you take away the possibility of getting points from that position.

I get that, and I see your point, but in a game against a team with large bodies inside you need a guy that can bang in the paint and defend and get rebounds, at the very least. Freeman is what he is, a spot up shooter. He is not equipped to play inside against big bodies like KU has. I guess the hope is that Freeman can offset his deficiencies by making three-pointers. If he isn't making them then he's really just a warm body out there. And I'm just being honest about what I see on the floor. I'm not trying to disparage the kid, he does what he does and he deserves a spot on the team. I just wish that Lon had used Polla more and Freeman less in that specific situation.

 

[skyvue]

And I'm not knocking Polla, but I don't know that he's really up to mixing it up with KU's inside guys.