Post Whitney Team Analysis

[cowboysooner]

First, I think Sherri and the ladies are still in shock and may need a week or two to recover from the loss of Whitney and Maddie. So, lets all just give them a break for a while please.

Second, it will take some time and experimentation to figure out how to win, if we can, without whitney as her absence completely changes the team dynamic.

Third, Sherri has won with teams built to play offense, and she has won with teams that were built to play defense. I don't know if this team can be uniquely good at either phase.

When we lost Whitney the first time, Sherri went with a completely defense oriented team and won. However, she had five girls on that team that were as good an athlete as anyone they would face at every position. This team can't put, because it doesn't have, a stopper at all five positions on the court. And defensive teams are ultimately only as good as the worst player on the court.

While we can put 5 pretty good offensive players on the court (hook, kornet, ae, jo and griffin), this lineup makes us weak defensively.

Frankly, I'm not sure what I would do with the team we have left to play with, and I'm not sure Sherri will be able to figure it out midstream either. Who could possibly blame her fairly. We will get better over time this year and I think with an off season Sherri will be able to retool and rebuild.

An improved Griffin and hook, healthy KK, healthy maddie, improved and more experianced kornet gives me reason and hope that we will be improved next year. JMO, but I think the doom forecast are premature. Playing time is the single biggest issue in recruiting and this year we have a very young team, and this impacted recruiting. I think Sherri will have a realistic and better ability to sell opportunity to play in the next to signing periods and I say lets wait and see how she does in those periods before putting the team in a coffin.

 

[SoonerNorm]

Getting Kaylon and Maddie back will certainly help next year.

Whether this can be a good defensive team is yet to be determined but they sure need to perform much better than they did against Vandy.

 

[cowboysooner]

I agree Norm. But, there is a razor thin margin between a great pass that leads to an easy basket and a turnover. Sherri has always let her girls push that envelope, and most of the time it has worked out when she has had her best players.

She might have to rein in this team. This team, moreso than any other in recent history, will not be able to overcome excessive turnovers.

This team will have to become more focused, more selective in their shots and passing decisions, and more cohesive defensively, if it wants to compete. I don't think they can play like Sherri normally lets them play and win.

We, me included, complain and have complained for years, about turnovers. But, I have always thought that the number of turnovers we made was as much to do with the freedom Sherri allows the girls to play with than a lack of fundamentals, and that Sherri accepts turnovers in order to get easy baskets on other possessions. But, I have never talked to Sherri about that.

One of Sherri's greatest strengths is the focus on the game her girls seem to play with, e.g. they don't seem to be thinking about what is going on at the bench while they play. This can be bad in some instances and lead to slopply play, but at its best, puts a team on the court that is completely emmersed in the game on the court and thus gives us an advantage. In other words, there is good and bad to just "letting the girls play".

So, I agree the team needs to play better, but believe that we need to give them a week or two to adjust to the new playing responsibilites and lineup. Further, I think by the end of the year, we will see the strengths of a Sherri Coale team shine through again, that is we will play with great passion, effort and committment to team goals. I have never seen a team of Sherri's that didn't do this.

 

[SoonerNorm]

I do agree that it is possible we will regroup and play better after another week or two. For that to happen, I think a couple of things need to happen. First, play better defense. Secondly, we need to become an inside out offensive team. Give Griffin a chance to score and if she can't, let her find an open shooter. Thirdly, IF, we are running a motion offense, we need some actual motion. Last but not least, someone other than just Jo is going to have to grab some rebounds. We need every opportunity to score we can get and rebounding is critical. I would mention turnovers but it is what it is.

 

[Mac]

Getting Kaylon and Maddie back will certainly help next year.

Whether this can be a good defensive team is yet to be determined but they sure need to perform much better than they did against Vandy.

Yes having both players back should help us a lot next year. I think we should be playing better with out Hand, we have a player who started alot last year and the big 12 6th man of the year in our starting line up... Sherri said in the vandy post game the team is lost with out Hand witch i understand and that the team didn't know who should make the 1st cut to the basket because she would always be the 1st one to move. Hopefully with more practice this will be better, if we can remain a top 25 team and make the NCAA field of 64 then this will be one of the best coaching jobs by Sherri in a long time.

 

[jerry]

Yes having both players back should help us a lot next year. I think we should be playing better with out Hand, we have a player who started alot last year and the big 12 6th man of the year in our starting line up... Sherri said in the vandy post game the team is lost with out Hand witch i understand and that the team didn't know who should make the 1st cut to the basket because she would always be the 1st one to move. Hopefully with more practice this will be better, if we can remain a top 25 team and make the NCAA field of 64 then this will be one of the best coaching jobs by Sherri in a long time.

Don't hold your breath?? Whitney was the heart and soul and you won't get that back this year. Also, the 3 subs we have would been 9, 10 and 11 on the depth chart. Good news is Kornett and Durrett will get some much needed playing time.

 

[Oliver Hardy]

I am really concerned about Kay-Kay's return. An achilles is one of the worst injuries an athelete, especially a basketball player, can sustain.

Coming back from those is always much, much tougher and reinjury is not unheard of on these.

I certainly hope she can come back. I'm thinking it might take her until the start of conference next year to see the floor much.

 

[j2d2]

I do agree that it is possible we will regroup and play better after another week or two. For that to happen, I think a couple of things need to happen. First, play better defense. Secondly, we need to become an inside out offensive team. Give Griffin a chance to score and if she can't, let her find an open shooter. Thirdly, IF, we are running a motion offense, we need some actual motion. Last but not least, someone other than just Jo is going to have to grab some rebounds. We need every opportunity to score we can get and rebounding is critical. I would mention turnovers but it is what it is.

I think you are exactly right on every point and in order, too!!

 

[Mac]

Hook has been a little disappointing shooting the ball, I would change the line up start Hartman at the 1 move hook to the wing and then start Jo or Campbell at the 4, what on earth would we do if Jo and Nicole (big) got in to foul trouble in the 1st half...

 

[jerry]

Hook has been a little disappointing shooting the ball, I would change the line up start Hartman at the 1 move hook to the wing and then start Jo or Campbell at the 4, what on earth would we do if Jo and Nicole (big) got in to foul trouble in the 1st half...

What???????????? Hartman is by far the worst offensive player on the team.
Glad you are not the coach.

 

[35TangoTango]

Whitney was enough of an offensive threat to keep the defense from putting all their effort on denying Vegas. We need someone to become that threat. Right now, that's really just Morgan. One of the keys to watch on our journey is who's going to develop on the perimeter; Sharane or Nicole (K).

We kind of saw what happens when bigs get in foul trouble last game. Either we're going to have to take whatever Portia can give us or make Sharane play much bigger than she is.

I think the offense runs much smoother when Morgan is at point, but we've got to give her some rest, so she can make it through the game (and the season). Jasmine is going to have to become more offensive minded.

With the injuries, it's going to be interesting to see if we adjust the nature of the offense from "push and score fast" to a more deliberate game.

 

[Mac]

What???????????? Hartman is by far the worst offensive player on the team.
Glad you are not the coach.

Yes that is true, but Aaryn needs help moving Hook off the ball would make her free to take more shots.

 

[SoonerinNC]

I don't think Jas gets us into the offense very well. She dribbles around for awhile, turns her back to the basket and usually passes off to a wing. Rarely tries to penetrate.

 

[35TangoTango]

Yes that is true, but Aaryn needs help moving Hook off the ball would make her free to take more shots.

Your analysis of what is needed is correct, but I think we would be better served by having Campbell and Kornet in a competition to fill that role. Keep our best point guard at point guard. It would also help us more for next year (not that the staff will be thinking that way).

 

[Oliver Hardy]

We have to live and die with Hook at the point. Hartman is going to have to spell her. But Jaz isn't going to be good for more than 2 or 3 minutes at a spurt. No offensive skills whatsoever, and, as previously mentioned, all she does is dribble around for about 15 seconds and then finally make a pass to the wing. Coach probably needs to think about rotating in AE or Sharane there a bit. AE's ball handling isn't up to snuff, but she can drive. So can Sharane. Don't be surprised if you don't see some of that because limited bodies is going to make that necessary.

What we need is for Kornet to get better really fast. She is Whitney's heir apparent and she has to come in under fire and hit and drive and rebound. She has the talent to do it.

Portia will get better with some time, but not if she's not on the floor and she seems to be falling into Sherri's Zander/Jeffcoat abyss and is only playing as much as she is because Coale doesn't have enough bodies. Sherri seems to have significantly cooled on her and we all know what that means.

We have a better rotation and 1st and 2nd player at the post with Nic and Jo. Nicole is having her best season so far.

Sharane and Jo are going to rotate at the 4, so Sherri does have the ability to shuffle a bit at the 4 and 5 to give some rest. Sharane also has to play the 3, but I think as the season goes on Kornet will fill in more and more there.

The girls, I think, will pick up their play as they adjust to no Whitney, but we are going to have to catch some good breaks to hang through this year and be competitive with the better teams. A good break would be nice since we haven't had any in about 2 years.

 

[35TangoTango]

Portia will get better with some time, but not if she's not on the floor and she seems to be falling into Sherri's Zander/Jeffcoat abyss and is only playing as much as she is because Coale doesn't have enough bodies. Sherri seems to have significantly cooled on her and we all know what that means.

I for one have no idea what you mean by that. You wrote that like you think it's purely a personality cult thing and there's no logical reason she shouldn't get a lot of playing time. I have to disagree. It was very obvious to me that she played matador defense and was generally clueless as to what she was supposed to be doing on the floor. When she's in, we're giving up points at way too fast a rate. If we want to stay in the game, we do better with Campbell or Kornett playing out of position than we do with Durrett. We have this thing called practice that they do in between games. She's going to have to get a lot better there before we can afford to give her much game time.

 

[tycat947]

I for one have no idea what you mean by that. You wrote that like you think it's purely a personality cult thing and there's no logical reason she shouldn't get a lot of playing time. I have to disagree. It was very obvious to me that she played matador defense and was generally clueless as to what she was supposed to be doing on the floor. When she's in, we're giving up points at way too fast a rate. If we want to stay in the game, we do better with Campbell or Kornett playing out of position than we do with Durrett. We have this thing called practice that they do in between games. She's going to have to get a lot better there before we can afford to give her much game time.

Exactly!

 

[O-State2009]

The doom & gloom over here is amazing. Whitney's career, there has to be some time for the team to get their feet back under them after something like that happens.
Eight players is not the end of the world, most coaches only play 7 or 8. Foul trouble is the only thing that should cause concern. But it isn't like Oklahoma has history with consistent foul trouble, even this year only 3 people have fouled out of games (95 opportunities). Joanna averages about 3 per game, while everyone else is at 2 or under.
Oklahoma still has the #38, 49, 80, 90, 20 players in their respective classes on the ACTIVE roster according to ESPNHG. That is a pretty impressive list of 5. Then, they have a JUCO AA. A 2-year starter at point, with significant minutes in her freshman year on top of that. And a fifth year senior for leadership.
The Big 12 looks to be down this year with injuries and all that was lost last year. Oklahoma is not in as bad of shape as you guys make it out to be on here. The Big 12 will once again be competitive from 2-10. Relax and have a fun time watching this team progress. Enjoy the year.

 

[SoonerNorm]

The doom & gloom over here is amazing. Whitney's career, there has to be some time for the team to get their feet back under them after something like that happens.
Eight players is not the end of the world, most coaches only play 7 or 8. Foul trouble is the only thing that should cause concern. But it isn't like Oklahoma has history with consistent foul trouble, even this year only 3 people have fouled out of games (95 opportunities). Joanna averages about 3 per game, while everyone else is at 2 or under.
Oklahoma still has the #38, 49, 80, 90, 20 players in their respective classes on the ACTIVE roster according to ESPNHG. That is a pretty impressive list of 5. Then, they have a JUCO AA. A 2-year starter at point, with significant minutes in her freshman year on top of that. And a fifth year senior for leadership.
The Big 12 looks to be down this year with injuries and all that was lost last year. Oklahoma is not in as bad of shape as you guys make it out to be on here. The Big 12 will once again be competitive from 2-10. Relax and have a fun time watching this team progress. Enjoy the year.

I would agree that 7 or 8 would not be too bad if there wasn't a significant drop off in talent, but there is.

 

[Oliver Hardy]

That was my point Tango.

Portia has to get a lot better and I don't know if she can or will.

I don't think she's lived up to her pre-season billing that was based upon her juco performances. We need her to pick it up substantially in practice and when she's in the game.

I also believe there is a bit of a "cult" thing going on in this team, to use your word for what I was describing and I don't think, from what I've seen to date, that Portia doesn't quite fit in with Sherri's idea of the model Sooner (which is Whitney).