Question for our resident TU fans

[ctt8410]

scrimmage

I still think OSU is a good team, but Ford's style won't work very well with 29.3% 3-point shooting through 7 games now.

 

[DenverSooner]

Correct.

I do think it is the perfect size for TU.

I wish they would play the big school state championships there this year rather than ORU. Much smaller gym. ORU is in the 11,000's while TU is just under 9,000.

Does ORU fill that gym? I would think TU has a much larger fan base than ORU.

 

[MsProudSooner]

Does ORU fill that gym? I would think TU has a much larger fan base than ORU.

When Ken Trickey was the coach, they filled the Maybee Center. I don't know if they do now or not.

 

[thebigabd]

Does ORU fill that gym? I would think TU has a much larger fan base than ORU.

ORU almost never fills the Mabee Center.

The Mabee Center is more of an "all purpose" facility than a basketball gym, whereas the Reynolds Center was made for basketball and made to get loud. However, I will see that it is possibly the most comfortable arena I have ever been to.

 

[earlpearl]

I watched the game on the internet. That place was rocking. It kind of reminded me of the old GIA.

 

[ctt8410]

A 5 point loss wouldn't be bad. A 20 point loss is always bad.

It's a good thing we didn't lose by 20 then.

 

[Seymore Cox]

I watched the game on the internet. That place was rocking. It kind of reminded me of the old GIA.

The old GIA was a great place. The new one not so much. As for Tulsa, if Wojik wins a game in the tourney this year, he's gone.


Book_it.

 

[earlpearl]

True enough. The new arena is great but it still does not have the same ambience.

As for Wojick I believe you 100%.

 

[brettromar]

Does ORU fill that gym? I would think TU has a much larger fan base than ORU.

ORU never fills that gym. I think TU got smart and built a smaller gym because they know they won't sell it out every game if they have 12,000 seats which is what I think ORU is close to when full.

TU has a good base of fans, but when they win they can fill their place up. IT is too bad they have had some down years here lately. When they were rolling it was a fun place to watch games. The main reason for TU's struggles the past few years has been the lack of Tulsa and surrounding area talent. When TU was rolling they had Shea Seals, Eric Coley, Antonio Reed, Jason Parker, Marcus Hill, Dante Swanson, Tony Heard, DeAngelo, all Oklahoma kids. They just don't have those players for TU right now or the kids are now getting better offers.

 

[ctt8410]

That was A reason, but I wouldn't call it THE reason. We also had non-Oklahoma kids on those teams like Harrington, Ruffin, Kevin Johnson, Shelton, Kurtz, Charlie Davis, Jarius Glenn, etc.

At Tulsa you have to find under-recruited players who can all fill a role around maybe 1 or 2 stars. Whether those guys are from Eufaula (Coley) or Jamaica (Jerome Jordan) makes little difference in the success of the team.

As for Wojcik, I think he'll be very picky about his next job. It really needs to be a big 10 school for him to be successful in the long term. Either way, the cupboard isn't bare once Jordan and Uzoh are gone.

 

[thebigabd]

Iowa is 2-5 and I would imagine Wojcik would be on a short list for a Big 10 school.

It has been a long road for Wojcik at Tulsa, and at times I have not liked him too much. He always whines about the fans and his offense is usually about as entertaining as watching grass grow. He can coach defense and his guys play really hard, but they can get as stagnant as I have seen.

 

[brettromar]

That was A reason, but I wouldn't call it THE reason. We also had non-Oklahoma kids on those teams like Harrington, Ruffin, Kevin Johnson, Shelton, Kurtz, Charlie Davis, Jarius Glenn, etc.

At Tulsa you have to find under-recruited players who can all fill a role around maybe 1 or 2 stars. Whether those guys are from Eufaula (Coley) or Jamaica (Jerome Jordan) makes little difference in the success of the team.

As for Wojcik, I think he'll be very picky about his next job. It really needs to be a big 10 school for him to be successful in the long term. Either way, the cupboard isn't bare once Jordan and Uzoh are gone.

I didn't say they had to be all five but notice when TU went down, so did the talent level in Tulsa. I think your second paragraph is correct also. That is why not having as many good players in the area has hurt TU. They have a good team this year, however this might be the first time in a long time they have made the tourney. Was that the problem when Tulsa had a lot of good HS talent? No, they could get these kids and win at a high level. Self and I agree on this one. Tulsa lost out on the small number of goodp players and couldn't find any diamond in the ruff kids. They didn't get the Caleb Greens that powered ORU to several good years.

It is not the only reason, but it is the main reason.

 

[ctt8410]

I didn't say they had to be all five but notice when TU went down, so did the talent level in Tulsa.

That's a correlation/causation fallacy. The 2 are loosely related at best.

John Phillips and his staff couldn't properly evaluate talent and they emptied the cupboard from 2002-2005. Athletes in Oklahoma don't grow up dreaming of playing for TU, so obviously good talent in Oklahoma goes to OU and OSU anyways. That's what makes evaluation the key.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

so obviously good talent in Oklahoma goes to OU and OSU anyways. That's what makes evaluation the key.

Disagree. The great talent go to OU/OSU. SOME of the good talents go there as well. But not all of them, and typically not the kids who might have been late bloomers, or tweeners, or possible grade casualties.

I agree that evaluation is the key, but it is easier when there is an abundance of quality recruits in the area. I do think that number has been down in recent years. Proof is that there aren't a bunch of OK kids that TU should have been recruiting that are sucessful at other schools.