Proud to be a Sooner tonight

[skyvue]

Very tough loss, obviously, but that game couldn't have been more even, and in the end, it came down to a miscue. I feel so bad for Spangler, and all of you who are trashing him right now in the game thread should be ashamed of yourselves. He has made key plays in every one of our games down the stretch. Have his offensive numbers been great of late? No, but he's had key baskets, rebounds and blocks game after game. He leaves it all out on the court every night.

If Buddy had had even an average night shooting, we win by six-to-eight points, but he fought through an off night and delivered his share of points and plays. Thomas had a great second half, Woodard had a very good game all the way around. The guys fought back and did us all proud. A very disappointing final result, but I'm not disappointed in the team -- not by a long shot. I'm proud as hell of them.

And I'll take Ryan Spangler on my team every night of the week.

 

[opsooner]

Agree; I am not hanging my head over this one. Good effort and good heart. I can get frustrated with our play sometimes but not tonight.

I figure it is a tough road loss but makes us better now.

 

[sooner 1234]

I agree ,I feel so bad for a guy that overachieves every fricking game he plays . Hes averaging over 30 minutes a game , and is basically(just lke last season) ran into the ground.
Buddy was the difference, BIG 12 POY played like a third teamer.

 

[StatGeek]

Very tough loss, obviously, but that game couldn't have been more even, and in the end, it came down to a miscue. I feel so bad for Spangler, and all of you who are trashing him right now in the game thread should be ashamed of yourselves. He has made key plays in every one of our games down the stretch. Have his offensive numbers been great of late? No, but he's had key baskets, rebounds and blocks game after game. He leaves it all out on the court every night.

If Buddy had had even an average night shooting, we win by six-to-eight points, but he fought through an off night and delivered his share of points and plays. Thomas had a great second half, Woodard had a very good game all the way around. The guys fought back and did us all proud. A very disappointing final result, but I'm not disappointed in the team -- not by a long shot. I'm proud as hell of them.

And I'll take Ryan Spangler on my team every night of the week.

Absolutely, two good teams played a good game right down to the wire. Looking forward to the Tourney!

 

[KBaden145]

Very tough loss, obviously, but that game couldn't have been more even, and in the end, it came down to a miscue. I feel so bad for Spangler, and all of you who are trashing him right now in the game thread should be ashamed of yourselves. He has made key plays in every one of our games down the stretch. Have his offensive numbers been great of late? No, but he's had key baskets, rebounds and blocks game after game. He leaves it all out on the court every night.

If Buddy had had even an average night shooting, we win by six-to-eight points, but he fought through an off night and delivered his share of points and plays. Thomas had a great second half, Woodard had a very good game all the way around. The guys fought back and did us all proud. A very disappointing final result, but I'm not disappointed in the team -- not by a long shot. I'm proud as hell of them.

And I'll take Ryan Spangler on my team every night of the week.

Completely agree. I'm a little worried Ryan is wearing down as the season goes along. Same thing seemed to happen to him last season. They'll all have some time to get their legs back under them.


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[Delta Sooner]

I'm very proud of the way our team played this evening. Spangler missed an easy shot, but I hope we take this energy into the NCAA and win a couple.

 

[152219]

Agreed.

Like I said in the game thread, time to move on to the most important tourney of all.

 

[AdaSooner]

Completely agree. I'm a little worried Ryan is wearing down as the season goes along. Same thing seemed to happen to him last season. They'll all have some time to get their legs back under them.


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I think you're right. The extra day or two of rest the team will get now might be the best in the end.

 

[Max Power]

I think you're right. The extra day or two of rest the team will get now might be the best in the end.

You would think so, but we have not played well this year on Saturdays following big mondays

 

[slappy in OP]

It's all about the matchups from now on. I think we have a chance to make a run if we can get a good bracket. Tough, hard-fought game tonight against a good team with lots of weapons. No shame in losing tonight.

 

[AdaSooner]

You would think so, but we have not played well this year on Saturdays following big mondays

In that case, we're due for a change.

 

[Max Power]

In that case, we're due for a change.

Man, I always love how optimistic you are.

 

[AdaSooner]

Man, I always love how optimistic you are.

That's the only way to live. Life is too short to be pessimistic.

 

[ben]

Skyvue isn't optimistic he's just sane. I won't even look in the game thread because if people are really bashing Spangler they need to punch themselves in the face. That kid works every damn game as hard as possible, and it really pissed me off when he apologized a week ago about his recent play, because he doesn't need to. This is what happens when football dominates your school-- it turns your fans into huge assholes.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

I still clearly remember some tough times for OU basketball a few short years ago. I am so proud of how far the OU basketball program has come in the past four years.

> Top-20 ranking for much of the season.
> Second place in conference regular season, 2 years in a row.
> Likely #4 seed in the Big Dance.
> 20-plus win seasons becoming the norm once again.
> Sooner basketball is relevant again.
> Sooner basketball is fun again.

Lots of young men have made it happen over the past few years.

Young men like Isaiah Cousins, Buddy Hield and Ryan Spangler have made it happen. I hope they can stay together next season for a really special senior season.

Best wishes to all the fine student-athletes on the OU roster for a fun run in the NCAAs. Thank you for all you do.

 

[stormspencer]

It's all about the matchups from now on. I think we have a chance to make a run if we can get a good bracket. Tough, hard-fought game tonight against a good team with lots of weapons. No shame in losing tonight.

Yep....OU and Iowa State are pretty even teams.....and that is a compliment to both teams.

 

[OklaSooners]

Tough loss, but the sunshine pumping is being poured on thick tonight on the board

 

[coolm]

Tough loss, but the sunshine pumping is being poured on thick tonight on the board

well then you're an idiot. but that was obvious already.

I am VERY happy with this team and proud of what they've done. I suspect these trials by fire will make their first 2 NCAA games much easier and I believe they have a good shot to make the second weekend.

 

[OklaSooners]

well then you're an idiot. but that was obvious already.

I am VERY happy with this team and proud of what they've done. I suspect these trials by fire will make their first 2 NCAA games much easier and I believe they have a good shot to make the second weekend.

Explain how the other 9 trial by fires this season didn't pay off in the big 12 tourney but this one will in the ncaa tourney. Fact is we lost because our bench is very bad. That can't be fixed this season. Not enough talent. Starters are pretty good though

 

[skyvue]

Explain how the other 9 trial by fires this season didn't pay off in the big 12 tourney but this one will in the ncaa tourney. Fact is we lost because our bench is very bad. That can't be fixed this season. Not enough talent. Starters are pretty good though

I think you really might be 1234. In any case, you're parroting his nonsense. Go back and look at the last 10 games of the regular season; there were games we won BECAUSE of our bench. So get off their backs. We win as a team; we lose as a team.

ISU's bench outscored OU's, 17-2, which would seem to support your argument. But OU's starting five outscored ISU's starters, 63-50. Which all but cancels out ISU's bench advantage.

So if OU's starting forward had hit his wide-open layup just before the buzzer or if OU's Big 12 Player of the Year had gone 3-13 from behind the arc instead of 2-13, the game would have either gone to OT (in the first scenario) or OU would have won (in the second scenario), and no one -- not you, not 1234 -- would have been talking about OU's bench.

It would be different if our starters had been gassed at game's end, if we'd lost the game because our starters just had nothing left in crunch time. But that wasn't the case. In fact, if we'd gotten to OT (I know, ifs and buts...), I strongly believe we'd have won the game, because we were the ones who were surging, not ISU. We had a great play to send it to OT. ISU left a guy wide open, and 99 times out of 100 Spangler scores on that play and we're in OT.

So while ISU's bench outscored ours, our starters outscored theirs by almost as much. And if Hield had hit one more trey or Ryan had scored the tying bucket (and we had won in OT), do you suppose ISU fans would have said, "Our bench is great, but our starters suck"?

Maybe a couple of idiots would have -- every fanbase has them -- but overall, they'd have said, hey, tough, hard-fought game. We fell one bucket short. And that's what any sensible OU fan should say, but some guys (you) just have to blame a loss on someone, something. There has to be a goat.

Yeah, if the bench had scored a few more points, we'd have won. But if Hield had even approached his season shooting average, we also would have won. Or if Spangler had hit that final shot, we might well have won.

It was that kind of game. The margin for error was microscopic for both teams.