Random Thoughts

[SKSooner]

Well, you know you care about OU basketball again when losses like that hurt so much. And that one really hurt, especially knowing that we had a solid four point lead (that should have been a five point lead if Woodard hits both free-throws). So that's the most positive thing I will take from the game. I felt emotionally invested in the team again, and when they lost in the NCAA Tournament, it felt like old times. Losing should hurt, and it did.

The team fought hard. Let's be honest with ourselves...North Dakota State is a good basketball team. They are fundamentally sound and had two excellent post players. That's where we lost the game - in the post. Spangler can't do it all himself, and Spangler had a rough game. It's really as simple as that... not enough production from the interior (in terms of scoring & rebounding).

I know people were complaining about us shooting too many three pointers, but I had no problem with it. In fact, I wouldn't have minded us seeing take a couple more. I felt like there were times when we passed up wide open three point shots to take a much worse, contested shot in the lane. We continually tried to penetrate (with some success, I recognize), but we were so inconsistent with the turnovers and blocked shots. At least with an open three point shot, you know it's an open three point shot. People only say it's a bad shot when you miss it.

How unfortunate for Buddy Hield. One of his worst games he's played in a long time, and he had a great, great look to win the game. I thought he was going to nail that shot with a few seconds left. It just wasn't his night. If he plays just a little bit better, we win the game. I feel sorry for Buddy, because he's the ultimate competitor, and you know he probably takes it as hard as anybody on the team.

The people who are blasting Kruger are totally ignorant. I thought he coached a fantastic season, and even in the game against NDSU, I think we were doing exactly what we needed to do. We just didn't make free-throws down the stretch, and we lack post depth. If someone wants to criticize Kruger, criticize the fact we are so thin at post, but don't criticize his coaching. The man's a stud and will have us back in a better position next year.

I hope everyone sees how hard it is to win games in the NCAA Tournament. North Dakota State's a good basketball team. If they play well, they are going to be hard for any team in college basketball to beat. And against us, they played very well. Any time you have a freshman come off the bench (who looked so out of it, I thought he was high) who hits two free-throws and clenches the game for you with another bucket... it's your night.

The improvement of Cousins is unbelievable. If you compare where he was last year to where he is this year, you wouldn't believe it could be true. It's not even close to the same basketball player. I have no doubt that he'll just be even better next year. Same with Woodard & Hield. These guys will all continue to improve and will provide us with a lethal backcourt next year.

I'm really excited about next season. If we can develop better interior play, both offensively and defensively, we're going to be a really good basketball team. It's all going to come down to post play, though. I don't think I have ever seen an OU basketball team with such a lack of production at the post as I have this year. We were completely & totally reliant on Ryan Spangler, and as good as Spangler is, he's not offensively gifted enough to completely rely on.

 

[SoonerJK12]

Good post, SK.

 

[IndySooner]

I hope everyone sees how hard it is to win games in the NCAA Tournament. North Dakota State's a good basketball team. If they play well, they are going to be hard for any team in college basketball to beat. And against us, they played very well. Any time you have a freshman come off the bench (who looked so out of it, I thought he was high) who hits two free-throws and clenches the game for you with another bucket... it's your night.

This is a really important point, in my opinion.

Iowa was ranked in the top 10 earlier this year. Lost.
Ohio State was ranked in the top 10 earlier this year. Lost.
Louisville was ranked in the top 10 earlier this year. Almost lost.
SDSU was ranked in the top 10 earlier this year. Almost lost.

EVERYONE in this tournament, outside of one or two 16-seeds each year, can beat anyone on any given night. We got a really bad physical match up last night and they played really well. We didn't. That's the way basketball is, unfortunately.

 

[OUHoops]

How unfortunate for Buddy Hield. One of his worst games he's played in a long time, and he had a great, great look to win the game. I thought he was going to nail that shot with a few seconds left. It just wasn't his night. If he plays just a little bit better, we win the game. I feel sorry for Buddy, because he's the ultimate competitor, and you know he probably takes it as hard as anybody on the team.

I feel awful for him. Nobody works harder and wants it more than he does.

 

[MI Sooner]

I feel awful for him. Nobody works harder and wants it more than he does.

That's what makes me excited about him and the rest of the team two years out. He improved his shot a ton, and he could always finish. Now he really needs to work on his ball handling going to the rim.

From a mental standpoint, he could also work on shot selection and defense.

 

[campbest]

The team fought hard. Let's be honest with ourselves...North Dakota State is a good basketball team. They are fundamentally sound and had two excellent post players. That's where we lost the game - in the post. Spangler can't do it all himself, and Spangler had a rough game. It's really as simple as that... not enough production from the interior (in terms of scoring & rebounding).

Specifically don't want to single him out because he doesn't get much help down there...but he did have tough outing.

 

[originalsooner55]

The team fought hard. Let's be honest with ourselves...North Dakota State is a good basketball team. They are fundamentally sound and had two excellent post players. That's where we lost the game - in the post. Spangler can't do it all himself, and Spangler had a rough game. It's really as simple as that... not enough production from the interior (in terms of scoring & rebounding).


Don't know what game you watched,but there were alot of mistakes made as a team. To set there and say we lost the game in the Post is completely inaccurate. As I have said all year "Live By The 3, and Die By The 3", that has won us games and hurt us in games. We missed some crucial Ft's and made some crucial TO's during the game, so we lost as a team, but for someone to put the blame on one position or one person, shows you really did not pay too much attention to the game, and that's to bad for you because our Team played hard(not the best they have played)and I am glad I am a SOONER. Congrats to LK and the Sooners for a fun year, lets get better and have another good year next year. We are young

 

[campbest]

Don't know what game you watched,but there were alot of mistakes made as a team. To set there and say we lost the game in the Post is completely inaccurate. As I have said all year "Live By The 3, and Die By The 3", that has won us games and hurt us in games. We missed some crucial Ft's and made some crucial TO's during the game, so we lost as a team, but for someone to put the blame on one position or one person, shows you really did not pay too much attention to the game, and that's to bad for you because our Team played hard(not the best they have played)and I am glad I am a SOONER. Congrats to LK and the Sooners for a fun year, lets get better and have another good year next year. We are young

There is a reason we shoot so many 3's...can't finish at the rim or get consistent production. On defense, we can't protect the rim. No one is blaming Spangler, there just isn't enough beef down there to get production on both sides of the court.

 

[SKSooner]

You tend to live by the three and die by the three when that shot is your strength, and you really don't have another option. We really don't have the option to pound the ball inside, because we really don't have anyone who can post you up and score at will.

We ran countless plays for Clark to get free for his mid-range jumper. We penetrated with the intent of trying to get to the free-throw line.

We actually shot the three point ball pretty well. In fact, if you look at the stats, we would have been much better served to have shot more of them. Inside three point line was a disaster. I'm not sure what you are saying when you think we lost the game becasue of poor three point shooting. That's not the case at all.

I say we lost the game in the post because they absolutely whipped our tails because we couldn't defend their post players. Then our post players didn't do a whole lot on the offensive side of the ball. Just look at the stat sheet, and it will reveal that we got whipped in the post and not at the guard spot.

 

[MsProudSooner]

The team fought hard. Let's be honest with ourselves...North Dakota State is a good basketball team. They are fundamentally sound and had two excellent post players. That's where we lost the game - in the post. Spangler can't do it all himself, and Spangler had a rough game. It's really as simple as that... not enough production from the interior (in terms of scoring & rebounding).


Don't know what game you watched,but there were alot of mistakes made as a team. To set there and say we lost the game in the Post is completely inaccurate. As I have said all year "Live By The 3, and Die By The 3", that has won us games and hurt us in games. We missed some crucial Ft's and made some crucial TO's during the game, so we lost as a team, but for someone to put the blame on one position or one person, shows you really did not pay too much attention to the game, and that's to bad for you because our Team played hard(not the best they have played)and I am glad I am a SOONER. Congrats to LK and the Sooners for a fun year, lets get better and have another good year next year. We are young

Because of our problems in the post we missed a lot of rebounds that would have extended possessions. And as others have said, we shoot so many 3's because we don't have an effective inside game. Basketball offenses, like football, need balance. We didn't have that this year.

 

[Triple Threat]

I know the free throws missed were crucial, but the foul we committed with a 4 point lead was one of the biggest mistakes. Stops the clock and puts them on the line. Not a smart play. Stopping dribble penetration killed us all year. Kruger knows what needs to be fixed, and I trust he'll get it done.

 

[j2d2]

The TEAM didnt play particularly well. Period. I'm not much interested in the blame game-it's counter productive, but , in any event, the TEAM as a whole didnt play well.

 

[originalsooner55]

You tend to live by the three and die by the three when that shot is your strength, and you really don't have another option. We really don't have the option to pound the ball inside, because we really don't have anyone who can post you up and score at will.

We ran countless plays for Clark to get free for his mid-range jumper. We penetrated with the intent of trying to get to the free-throw line.

We actually shot the three point ball pretty well. In fact, if you look at the stats, we would have been much better served to have shot more of them. Inside three point line was a disaster. I'm not sure what you are saying when you think we lost the game becasue of poor three point shooting. That's not the case at all.

I say we lost the game in the post because they absolutely whipped our tails because we couldn't defend their post players. Then our post players didn't do a whole lot on the offensive side of the ball. Just look at the stat sheet, and it will reveal that we got whipped in the post and not at the guard spot.

Lawrence Alexander ring a bell and I guess 37.5% 3fg in the first half is good, I started to understand your thinking I guess, I guess my good and your good is a little different, but being a BB coach for 23 years I guess I need to revamp my expectations. Thanks for widening my knowledge.

 

[campbest]

Lawrence Alexander ring a bell and I guess 37.5% 3fg in the first half is good, I started to understand your thinking I guess, I guess my good and your good is a little different, but being a BB coach for 23 years I guess I need to revamp my expectations. Thanks for widening my knowledge.

Where do you coach?

 

[Big Old Booger]

Well, you know you care about OU basketball again when losses like that hurt so much. And that one really hurt, especially knowing that we had a solid four point lead (that should have been a five point lead if Woodard hits both free-throws). So that's the most positive thing I will take from the game. I felt emotionally invested in the team again, and when they lost in the NCAA Tournament, it felt like old times. Losing should hurt, and it did.

The team fought hard. Let's be honest with ourselves...North Dakota State is a good basketball team. They are fundamentally sound and had two excellent post players. That's where we lost the game - in the post. Spangler can't do it all himself, and Spangler had a rough game. It's really as simple as that... not enough production from the interior (in terms of scoring & rebounding).

I know people were complaining about us shooting too many three pointers, but I had no problem with it. In fact, I wouldn't have minded us seeing take a couple more. I felt like there were times when we passed up wide open three point shots to take a much worse, contested shot in the lane. We continually tried to penetrate (with some success, I recognize), but we were so inconsistent with the turnovers and blocked shots. At least with an open three point shot, you know it's an open three point shot. People only say it's a bad shot when you miss it.

How unfortunate for Buddy Hield. One of his worst games he's played in a long time, and he had a great, great look to win the game. I thought he was going to nail that shot with a few seconds left. It just wasn't his night. If he plays just a little bit better, we win the game. I feel sorry for Buddy, because he's the ultimate competitor, and you know he probably takes it as hard as anybody on the team.

The people who are blasting Kruger are totally ignorant. I thought he coached a fantastic season, and even in the game against NDSU, I think we were doing exactly what we needed to do. We just didn't make free-throws down the stretch, and we lack post depth. If someone wants to criticize Kruger, criticize the fact we are so thin at post, but don't criticize his coaching. The man's a stud and will have us back in a better position next year.

I hope everyone sees how hard it is to win games in the NCAA Tournament. North Dakota State's a good basketball team. If they play well, they are going to be hard for any team in college basketball to beat. And against us, they played very well. Any time you have a freshman come off the bench (who looked so out of it, I thought he was high) who hits two free-throws and clenches the game for you with another bucket... it's your night.

The improvement of Cousins is unbelievable. If you compare where he was last year to where he is this year, you wouldn't believe it could be true. It's not even close to the same basketball player. I have no doubt that he'll just be even better next year. Same with Woodard & Hield. These guys will all continue to improve and will provide us with a lethal backcourt next year.

I'm really excited about next season. If we can develop better interior play, both offensively and defensively, we're going to be a really good basketball team. It's all going to come down to post play, though. I don't think I have ever seen an OU basketball team with such a lack of production at the post as I have this year. We were completely & totally reliant on Ryan Spangler, and as good as Spangler is, he's not offensively gifted enough to completely rely on.

A lot of good points in this post. Thanks for posting. I can't disagree with anything you said. If you put some of our lesser (offensively) starting centers over the years on this team: Big Time Jones, James Mayden, Renzi Stone to name 3 and we win that game last night. Not because they score a lot but because they provide a presence we just didn't have at any point. It was obvious to me as the game wore on and Spangler kept getting the ball 12-15 foot out. That's by design because we have no true inside presence so we spread teams out and hope our guards and Clark can go to work. On defense, the presence of one of those guys above gives us enough physicality to match-up with their big who was really good offensively. He had a nasty fast spin move, a good hook shot and really a lot of tools in his toolbox, and we had no counter for him as the night wore on. The season took it's toll on Spangler and last night he wore down. None of this post is a knock on Spangler because I'm a huge fan of his and thankful we have him.

As someone posted last night, the loss of the 2 JUCO posts LK had recruited for this season really hurt us last night. Heck, add M'Baye to this team and we win easily last night. So the loss of those 3 really put us in a hole in the interior. We have an undersized 4 and an undersized 5 who is a heck of a rebounder but we needed just a little more from the inside last night and we win and probably win by 7-10 points.

JMO. I'm sure someone will tell me I'm wrong. LOL

 

[BoulderSooner]

Lawrence Alexander ring a bell and I guess 37.5% 3fg in the first half is good, I started to understand your thinking I guess, I guess my good and your good is a little different, but being a BB coach for 23 years I guess I need to revamp my expectations. Thanks for widening my knowledge.

and being a coach doesn't mean much ... several NBA coaches (lifers) have not been retained because of their refusal to adapt and adjust coaching to advanced metrics ..

with the way OU shoots .. the more 3's they shoot the better.

 

[Big Old Booger]

Where do you coach?

Great question.

 

[originalsooner55]

The TEAM didnt play particularly well. Period. I'm not much interested in the blame game-it's counter productive, but , in any event, the TEAM as a whole didnt play well.

This