Pledger and Fitzgerald

[AdaSooner]

If Pledger and Fitzgerald continue to play as well as they have so far, I honestly don't know how you can keep them out of the starting lineup? Lack of experience and defense doesn't fly anymore. They're playing just as well on defense as the veterans, maybe better. OU expanded their lead every time those two were on the floor today.

Pledge: 21 points on 8-9 from the field (4-5 from three) shooting, in only 19 minutes. WOW! He's now 8 of 11 (73%) from three in two games, counting the exhibition. DOUBLE WOW!!! Steven is sure doing a nice job of making my case that he may go down as the best three point shooter in OU history!

Fitz: 14 points, 5 rebs (3 offensive), after logging 10 points and 5 boards in the exhibition game. I said he would get starter-like minutes by early in the conference portion of our season, but no way did I think he would play this well right out of the gate.

Starters or starter-like minutes aside, this is one heck of a class of newbies Coach Capel brought in this season! They put up a combined 54 points today and 46 in the exhibition game, not to mention getting more than their share of rebounds. Consider me impressed!!! :clap

 

[Seymore Cox]

Coach needs to not BS and go ahead with his best 5. It's hard because you can't really put Tony on the bench, but I would not be opposed to seeing the 4 freshman and WW log lots of minutes together. Those guys are skilled and all can knock down shots. I say rotate TC in at the three and four, rotate WW at the 1 and 2, rotate Cade at the 2 and 3, and let Allen and Wright fight for minutes behind Fitz and Gallon.

 

[OULad]

Id like to see Pledgers +/- today.

 

[Cheno]

Ada well said I couldn't agree more.

 

[NickZepp]

If these 2 play like that consistently there's no one else besides Kansas and Texas that can beat OU in Big 12 play.

 

[SKSooner]

Totally agree, Ada. I think we need to get these guys as many minutes as possible so they don't have such a "deer in the headlights" look when conference play come along and we have some tough road games. It's time to look to the future, and we have some excellent young players.

 

[kansasooner]

Start them, Jeff.

 

[DenverSooner]

Fitzgerald played more than any other big guy.

Pledger is going to put Crocker on the bench if this continues.

 

[opsooner]

Look forward to seeing them play. I could only listen today but sounds like they have a lot of potential. Having both Mason-Griffin and Warren to set everyone up will make this an interesting year. I hope Pledger can continue to knock it down like he did today.

 

[AdaSooner]

Start them, Jeff.

Welcome back, KS! Haven't seen you around in a while.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

Alot of folks not understanding basketball posting in this thread.

You don't always START your best five players. I'd imagine very few teams around the country do. We're just fine starting Wright and Crocker, and giving their minutes to Fitz and Pledger.

You don't need five guys on the court that need shots, or can score like that. OU is better off being able to bring scorers off the bench when they have to rest guys like Tiny or WW. If you are starting the "best" five, you have guys like Pledger defaulting shots to WW, and also playing tired when WW comes out, if that makes sense.

Anyways, Coach knows what he is doing.

 

[NYC-Fool]

I agree not to start Pledger and Fitz... it's great to have that firepower off the bench. It's also a recruiting too to tell recruits that they are getting Crocker's spot or Ryan's spot.

 

[artvandelay]

this just in....

Capel can evaluate.

 

[Arkboysooner]

 

[Navy2004]

I had seen Pledge play about 5 times up here in Va Beach and he played against great comp all the time and it showed on the court. Once he gets all the tools together the sky is the limit. I know he didn't come to OU just to play ball, he came here to start and get us a long way in March and today was a start but, he will have his struggles along the line so lets be calm and let him grow into his role...

 

[AdaSooner]

Alot of folks not understanding basketball posting in this thread.

You don't always START your best five players. I'd imagine very few teams around the country do. We're just fine starting Wright and Crocker, and giving their minutes to Fitz and Pledger.

You don't need five guys on the court that need shots, or can score like that. OU is better off being able to bring scorers off the bench when they have to rest guys like Tiny or WW. If you are starting the "best" five, you have guys like Pledger defaulting shots to WW, and also playing tired when WW comes out, if that makes sense.

Anyways, Coach knows what he is doing.

First, the put down wasn't necessary in stating your opinion. You don't have an exclusive on knowing a little something about basketball.

No one is saying Coach doesn't know what he's doing or that he should be starting Fitz and Pledger this early in the season. But you'd better believe that if those two guys continue to outplay the veterans, Jeff won't hesitate to insert them into the starting lineup.

I can see bringing Pledger off the bench, at least for now, because he is instant offense with his three point shooting. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if Fitz replaces Ryan as a starter before long. He is, to put it simply, a better all-around player, and we don't lose a thing on defense when he's on the floor.

 

[Cheno]

Well said Ada. Crocker and Wright are upperclassmen so they got the start. But like Ada said if this trend continues Capel won't hesitate to start them.

To say most teams don't start their best players at each position is silly.
I can see if your 3 best players are posts you can't start all 3. But we're talking about two freshmen that play the same positions as the two upperclassmen ahead of them.

 

[Edmond_Sooner]

Look, i love Pledger and think he is going to be a star for us but there is no way he takes TC's spot...

Reason? this team's major weakness right now is it's lack of focus on the defensive end, they all are capable, but you can see they take breaks and are not sure on assignments in spots...Crocker's level of intensity was clearly above anyone elses on the court at that end...he had some major sparks in this game and i can see that playing out all season...he's also not a shabby performer on offense either...


I love Pledge off the bench for a quick spark and play a lot of minutes rotating those 4 guards (ww/tmg/pledge/tc).....and if there were another option besides replacing TC i would agree, IMO it just doesnt make sense...

I think the real player it hurts is Cade, he and Ray are going to be the odd men out...

 

[tomkar98]

First, the put down wasn't necessary in stating your opinion. You don't have an exclusive on knowing a little something about basketball.

No one is saying Coach doesn't know what he's doing or that he should be starting Fitz and Pledger this early in the season. But you'd better believe that if those two guys continue to outplay the veterans, Jeff won't hesitate to insert them into the starting lineup.

I can see bringing Pledger off the bench, at least for now, because he is instant offense with his three point shooting. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if Fitz replaces Ryan as a starter before long. He is, to put it simply, a better all-around player, and we don't lose a thing on defense when he's on the floor.

What you said! I'm really excited to see whats going to happen with this team, this year. There will be some interesting things happening with this team, no doubt.

 

[TGuidry25]

I want Pledger coming in off the bench, maybe like a JR Smith.