Rivaldo Soares ‘23 Highlights

[WTSooner]

Will be interesting to revisit this in 11 months. If he averages 16 ppg and absolutely carries us through the entire noncon, I will be impressed. Also, you seem very quick to praise every incoming player, and downplay every guy who leaves. You spent a lot of time hyping Grant while he was here, and frequently mentioned that we allegedly beat Gonzaga for his services. Was McCollum being heavily recruited by any top 5 programs?

Agreed. If McCollum is going to out-perform what Grant did this past season, I'd be pretty surprised if it was by much, statistically speaking. I'm honestly hoping that from a numbers-perspective, he is simply able to be Sherfield's equal.

 

[WTSooner]

I think our opponents were more than happy to give up shots to everyone on the team last season besides Sherfield. I hope Los makes a leap next season. He is more of a slasher like Oweh and Soares.

He shot it really well last year from 3, 40% I think. I didn't think he was billed as that type of player, so I'll be curious to see what he does in year 2.

The problem last year was that outside of Sherfield and Uzan, nobody was really a threat from 3. J. Groves had stretches of shooting it well, but he'd go ice cold too. T. Groves didn't shoot it well. Hill didn't. Oweh, Noland, and Bamasile didn't. Cortes has a solid percentage, but only took wide open looks.

 

[TINY]

I think our opponents were more than happy to give up shots to everyone on the team last season besides Sherfield. I hope Los makes a leap next season. He is more of a slasher like Oweh and Soares.

Uzan is a tremendous shooter. 41% from 3 last year as a true freshman (over 50% from 2 also). He was known as a shooter in high school, too. He can slash, too. He is an NBA guy.

 

[steverocks35]

He shot it really well last year from 3, 40% I think. I didn't think he was billed as that type of player, so I'll be curious to see what he does in year 2.

The problem last year was that outside of Sherfield and Uzan, nobody was really a threat from 3. J. Groves had stretches of shooting it well, but he'd go ice cold too. T. Groves didn't shoot it well. Hill didn't. Oweh, Noland, and Bamasile didn't. Cortes has a solid percentage, but only took wide open looks.

Correct, he did, he just didn't take that many. I just looked and he took 71 for the year and made 29. Hopefully next season he will take more but I don't think that's really his game.

 

[steverocks35]

Uzan is a tremendous shooter. 41% from 3 last year as a true freshman (over 50% from 2 also). He was known as a shooter in high school, too. He can slash, too. He is an NBA guy.

Oh boy, here we go with the NBA predictions again...

 

[WichitaSooner]

Uzan is a tremendous shooter. 41% from 3 last year as a true freshman (over 50% from 2 also). He was known as a shooter in high school, too. He can slash, too. He is an NBA guy.

He did shoot very well, the key will be whether he can maintain a high percentage with greater volume. That can be difficult for a lot of players, especially when they go from a secondary scoring option to a main guy, which Los might be asked to do this season. It can be especially tough when you are the primary ballhandler. I think that is why Reaves didn't shoot it as well at OU as he did at WSU. He had to do so much for us, and that makes it hard to knock down a high percentage of 3s. I love Los, but he will absolutely be the first guy on the scouting report for every team we play next season.

 

[BoulderSooner]

He did shoot very well, the key will be whether he can maintain a high percentage with greater volume. That can be difficult for a lot of players, especially when they go from a secondary scoring option to a main guy, which Los might be asked to do this season. It can be especially tough when you are the primary ballhandler. I think that is why Reaves didn't shoot it as well at OU as he did at WSU. He had to do so much for us, and that makes it hard to knock down a high percentage of 3s. I love Los, but he will absolutely be the first guy on the scouting report for every team we play next season.

or he goes the other way and becomes the star that some of us think he can be ..

 

[steverocks35]

or he goes the other way and becomes the star that some of us think he can be ..

Exactly, I hope he makes that leap

 

[WichitaSooner]

or he goes the other way and becomes the star that some of us think he can be ..

Of course, that's what we all want. But in building a team, you can't just assume that will happen next season, which is why many of us feel like we still need to find additional shooters.

 

[BoulderSooner]

Of course, that's what we all want. But in building a team, you can't just assume that will happen next season, which is why many of us feel like we still need to find additional shooters.

OU is not going to be playing 6 or 7 guards/wings ..

no team does ..

 

[WichitaSooner]

OU is not going to be playing 6 or 7 guards/wings ..

no team does ..

Of course. Heck, I am the one who laughs when people talk every year about depth and how many guys we have who can play. But you sure as heck better try to fill your scholarships with good players and let them compete for playing time. As the roster is currently constructed, we have at most two guys (Los and McCollum) who you could consider good shooters. That's not enough. Find more. If that mean Soares doesn't play much, fine. If that means Oweh (who I really like) becomes a bench guy who comes in and gives us great energy and defense and slashing for 20-25 minutes, fine.

 

[Soonerb98]

We played the following at guard/wing last year

Grant, Uzan, Oweh, Cortes, Bam, CJ

6 guards/wings over the course of the season seems reasonable, especially if we struggle finding bigs and have to play small lineups often.

For McCollum, I think we can improve offensively even if he doesn't quite replace Grant, points wise, but shoots more efficiently. At times Grant seemed to look for shots when he got frustrated against big 12 level defense

 

[WichitaSooner]

We played the following at guard/wing last year

Grant, Uzan, Oweh, Cortes, Bam, CJ

6 guards/wings over the course of the season seems reasonable, especially if we struggle finding bigs and have to play small lineups often.

For McCollum, I think we can improve offensively even if he doesn't quite replace Grant, points wise, but shoots more efficiently. At times Grant seemed to look for shots when he got frustrated against big 12 level defense

Ture, but very seldom, if ever, did all six play in the same game. CJ didn't play the final several games, and Bam was only in the rotation for a few games. And Cortes missed some games and didn't play much in others. Oweh didn't join the rotation till late January.

I think the ideal college rotation is 8-9 guys total. How that is divided between frontcourt and backcourt should depend on what kind of roster you have and what system you play.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

For McCollum, I think we can improve offensively even if he doesn't quite replace Grant, points wise, but shoots more efficiently. At times Grant seemed to look for shots when he got frustrated against big 12 level defense

I think it is going to be hard for anyone to be more efficient than Grant this year

 

[BoulderSooner]

We played the following at guard/wing last year

Grant, Uzan, Oweh, Cortes, Bam, CJ

6 guards/wings over the course of the season seems reasonable, especially if we struggle finding bigs and have to play small lineups often.

For McCollum, I think we can improve offensively even if he doesn't quite replace Grant, points wise, but shoots more efficiently. At times Grant seemed to look for shots when he got frustrated against big 12 level defense

120 1/2/3 man min ..

Uzan is going to get 30+ of those <90 min remain

let put Oweh down for 23 (i bet he plays more then that ) <67 left

lets conservativly put McCollum down for 25 (i bet he plays more then that <45 left

let put Cooper down for 20 that takes it to <22

Lets say OU signs a 4 that can start and play 25 min that gives Soares 15 min at the 4 and 10 at the Wing <12 left and really more like <5 left if any

 

[TEvans4Three]

Ture, but very seldom, if ever, did all six play in the same game. CJ didn't play the final several games, and Bam was only in the rotation for a few games. And Cortes missed some games and didn't play much in others. Oweh didn't join the rotation till late January.

I think the ideal college rotation is 8-9 guys total. How that is divided between frontcourt and backcourt should depend on what kind of roster you have and what system you play.

According to KP, MIN% (Last 5 Games):

1 - Uzan (85) Cortes (7) Sherfield (7)
2 - Sherfield (77) Cortes (10) Bam (7)
3 - Oweh (53) Hill (29) Bam (11) Cortes (7)
4 - Hill (56) J. Groves (41)
5 - T. Groves (73) Godwin (23)

 

[WichitaSooner]

According to KP, MIN% (Last 5 Games):

1 - Uzan (85) Cortes (7) Sherfield (7)
2 - Sherfield (77) Cortes (10) Bam (7)
3 - Oweh (53) Hill (29) Bam (11) Cortes (7)
4 - Hill (56) J. Groves (41)
5 - T. Groves (73) Godwin (23)

Good post. Confirms that CJ didn't play at all, and that Bam and Cortes were largely afterthoughts by that point.

 

[TEvans4Three]

Good post. Confirms that CJ didn't play at all, and that Bam and Cortes were largely afterthoughts by that point.

Yea, to your point, ideally looked at:

Backcourt
Uzan, Sherfield, Oweh, Hill, Cortes, (small) Bam

Frontcourt
J. Hill, J. Groves, T. Groves, Godwin

8-9 deep, depending on how you look at things. Cortes still got look in 1-3 and Bam in 2-3, albeit Bam in a very limited role.

 

[TINY]

He did shoot very well, the key will be whether he can maintain a high percentage with greater volume. That can be difficult for a lot of players, especially when they go from a secondary scoring option to a main guy, which Los might be asked to do this season. It can be especially tough when you are the primary ballhandler. I think that is why Reaves didn't shoot it as well at OU as he did at WSU. He had to do so much for us, and that makes it hard to knock down a high percentage of 3s. I love Los, but he will absolutely be the first guy on the scouting report for every team we play next season.

Sure, anything can happen. But it is illogical to expect regression after more time in the program. He was the primary ball handler after about 10 games last year.

After last week, I am feeling confident that the roster next year will be more talented than what reaves was working with. There are more top 100 players on the team next year than we have had in many, many years. We have added 3 good transfer on paper with more to come.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Sure, anything can happen. But it is illogical to expect regression after more time in the program. He was the primary ball handler after about 10 games last year.

After last week, I am feeling confident that the roster next year will be more talented than what reaves was working with. There are more top 100 players on the team next year than we have had in many, many years. We have added 3 good transfer on paper with more to come.

You think next year will be more talented than AR’s last year? That included Manek, and Alondes Williams, plus Harmon. That team was in the top 10 and had a historic January by some measures before being hit by Covid and faltering down the stretch. They still ended up winning a tourney game and competing well against Gonzaga. You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, but after posting that you think so highly of the talent, I will be very curious how you evaluate Moser if the team again languishes around .500 and doesn’t sniff the tournament.