CanadaSooner23
New member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2024
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 16
Hi fellow Sooner basketball lovers! I have been lurking this board since about 2013, but just recently decided to join. I was born and raised in the Tulsa area and spent the first 19 years of my life there. In 2013, I moved to Canada to be with my girlfriend. The rest is history; we got married and are coming up on our 11 year wedding anniversary. I have been a devout follower of OU basketball since the end of the Kelvin Sampson era, around 2004 or 05. I loved how tough, hard-nosed, disciplined and gritty his teams were. Some of my favorite players were Kevin Bookout, Terrell Everett (lefty point guard like me lol), and Nate Carter. The pinnacle of my basketball career was averaging 8 ppg on my high school JV team as a sophomore; now I just play in a rec league here in Canada on Tuesday nights.
I have several thoughts so far about this team. First, I will preface my thoughts by saying I was not ready to see Lon Kruger go but I was excited about the Moser hire. I believed that Moser deserved a third year, and providing OU makes the NCAA Tournament this year, I believe he deserves a fourth year. That is not to say that I dont have complaints about Moser because there definitely are things about him and this team that I feel need improvement.
First, I think Moser is doing a really good job dividing Hugley's and Godwin's minutes. Before the season, I thought Hugley would get 25 to 28 min a game and Godwin would get 12 to 15, but they are about at a dead even split. I like that they offer different skill sets. Hugley gives us a bruising post man that we can throw the ball to and he can go get a bucket and that is something that Godwin does not offer. Hugley reminds me a lot of Tiny Gallon from the 09-10 team; the talent is undeniable but he needs to continue to get in better shape. In both the TCU game and last nights game, we fed Hugley on several possessions in a row and he went and got a bucket. To me, that could prove to be very valuable come postseason play, especially since we can be prone at times to scoring droughts. On the other hand, Godwin has less natural talent but he plays with heart, hustle, makes winning plays and is a sneaky good athlete. On one of the first possessions of the 2nd half, Godwin grabbed an offensive rebound and then had an assist in the same possession. He is also a very good screener and has become great at rolling off the pick and roll and finishing with either hand. They both provide us value, just in very different ways.
Next, I love Milos Uzan but I never understood the NBA draft hype about him. Since about the midway point of last year, I projected him as a really, really solid 4 year player that will be drafted late or undrafted and will get his shot in summer league or the G-League. Uzan reminds me a lot of the upperclassmen version of Isaiah Cousins. A steady, rock solid guard that competes on both ends, can hit threes at a solid clip, has good size (both are 6'4), and can play on or off ball but I believe both are better as lead guards. I am super happy to have him on our team and I really hope we get to keep him for 4 years. If I am wrong and he is good enough to leave before then, I will gladly eat crow and be super happy for him.
Lastly, in my opinion, Jalon Moore is a significant upgrade over Jalen Hill. I love Jalen Hill to death and I hated to see him go, but Moore's athleticism is such a boost both to on-court results and psychologically. I realize there stats are similar, but Moore's ability to impact the game using his athleticism is something I think opposing coaches probably have to game plan for. Offensively, there is nothing Jalen Hill did that opposing coaches had to go out of their way to prepare for. Moore's athleticism allows him to be comparable to Hill defensively, and it energizes the whole team.
On the topic of winning conference road games, I am not at all worried about that right now. Kelvin Sampson said the other night that every team in the Big 12 can expect to lose their share of road games, even really good teams. I think we will finish 9-9 because while I do not expect us to win more than 2 road games, I also do not expect us to lose more than 2 home games. I am excited to see how the rest of the season unfolds. BOOMER SOONER!
I have several thoughts so far about this team. First, I will preface my thoughts by saying I was not ready to see Lon Kruger go but I was excited about the Moser hire. I believed that Moser deserved a third year, and providing OU makes the NCAA Tournament this year, I believe he deserves a fourth year. That is not to say that I dont have complaints about Moser because there definitely are things about him and this team that I feel need improvement.
First, I think Moser is doing a really good job dividing Hugley's and Godwin's minutes. Before the season, I thought Hugley would get 25 to 28 min a game and Godwin would get 12 to 15, but they are about at a dead even split. I like that they offer different skill sets. Hugley gives us a bruising post man that we can throw the ball to and he can go get a bucket and that is something that Godwin does not offer. Hugley reminds me a lot of Tiny Gallon from the 09-10 team; the talent is undeniable but he needs to continue to get in better shape. In both the TCU game and last nights game, we fed Hugley on several possessions in a row and he went and got a bucket. To me, that could prove to be very valuable come postseason play, especially since we can be prone at times to scoring droughts. On the other hand, Godwin has less natural talent but he plays with heart, hustle, makes winning plays and is a sneaky good athlete. On one of the first possessions of the 2nd half, Godwin grabbed an offensive rebound and then had an assist in the same possession. He is also a very good screener and has become great at rolling off the pick and roll and finishing with either hand. They both provide us value, just in very different ways.
Next, I love Milos Uzan but I never understood the NBA draft hype about him. Since about the midway point of last year, I projected him as a really, really solid 4 year player that will be drafted late or undrafted and will get his shot in summer league or the G-League. Uzan reminds me a lot of the upperclassmen version of Isaiah Cousins. A steady, rock solid guard that competes on both ends, can hit threes at a solid clip, has good size (both are 6'4), and can play on or off ball but I believe both are better as lead guards. I am super happy to have him on our team and I really hope we get to keep him for 4 years. If I am wrong and he is good enough to leave before then, I will gladly eat crow and be super happy for him.
Lastly, in my opinion, Jalon Moore is a significant upgrade over Jalen Hill. I love Jalen Hill to death and I hated to see him go, but Moore's athleticism is such a boost both to on-court results and psychologically. I realize there stats are similar, but Moore's ability to impact the game using his athleticism is something I think opposing coaches probably have to game plan for. Offensively, there is nothing Jalen Hill did that opposing coaches had to go out of their way to prepare for. Moore's athleticism allows him to be comparable to Hill defensively, and it energizes the whole team.
On the topic of winning conference road games, I am not at all worried about that right now. Kelvin Sampson said the other night that every team in the Big 12 can expect to lose their share of road games, even really good teams. I think we will finish 9-9 because while I do not expect us to win more than 2 road games, I also do not expect us to lose more than 2 home games. I am excited to see how the rest of the season unfolds. BOOMER SOONER!
