Shepard - good and bad

[jaymOU]

Shepard, who I think needs to get the majority of minutes at PG for the remainder of the year certainly played like a freshman last night.

Was great for a big part of the second half - hit two huge threes, but then had two costly turnovers in the final minutes.

Be interested on thoughts / comparisons for him. Love for him to have a little more explosiveness going past guys, but he's got a decent "set" shot from three and, generally, plays under control. I like his game, just wonder if he has enough athletic ability to be a high-level starter in the Big 12?

 

[sheepdogs1]

He still lacks some confidence as a number of his shots are when the clock is about to run out. He also needs to take the ball to the basket some and not be afraid of the outcome.

 

[Stikboy]

I think he's got good tools. Can shoot, pass, handle, and can really jump. He just needs to continue to hone his shooting and get stronger. Just needs experience! I wish they'd give him 30+ mins the last 5 games.

 

[Darwin]

Strong Moore and Shepard should both get a lot of work, the future is next season.

 

[CoachTalk]

He'll be a good back up for T. Young. (hopefully)

I like his game though. Poor man Austin Johnson maybe. long and lanky.

 

[chuckb]

He'll be a good back up for T. Young. (hopefully)

I like his game though. Poor man Austin Johnson maybe. long and lanky.

Agree with this. And he's a freshman...there's going to be good and bad.

The 1st 3 he made was a horrible shot. He had a perfect pick & pop opportunity with Buford and just missed it. Didn't see it. He'll get it the more he does it. And the fact that he can make that shot is a plus, obviously. The more these guys play, the better they'll get but we can't expect them to be great immediately.

The 2nd 3 was a much better shot. He was open and absolutely should take it.

 

[Big Old Booger]

His main weakness I see is he's not aware of the shot clock which leads to last second shots and as we saw last night a 10 second count.

Other than that I think he's pretty good. He's a much better ball handler than Cousins was as a true frosh.

 

[CoachTalk]

Not sure how athletic he is. Which will hurt at times. Shoot has to get quicker, I think that will happen in time. He's a gym rat.

 

[jaymOU]

Not sure how athletic he is. Which will hurt at times. Shoot has to get quicker, I think that will happen in time. He's a gym rat.

Gym rat = will get better

I've heard he is close with Trae too, for what that is worth

 

[cvangild]

Not sure how athletic he is. Which will hurt at times. Shoot has to get quicker, I think that will happen in time. He's a gym rat.

I agree. He's not quick enough IMO to be the full-time guy for us to get back to where we want.

Hopefully we get some GREAT news tomorrow! If we don't, next year is going to be a challenging one if we don't add anything else of quality. That would make next year's class a must for a high quality PG.

Not sure how tomorrow will go down. I think as far as stepping right in to a guaranteed starting role at PG and being able to run the complete show and getting as many minutes as you want has to give OU a good chance. In the USA Today article, Trae practically mentioned all those things.

At KU it isn't as much of a for sure thing to me. I don't care what Self has told them, assuming Grahmn comes back (and I think he will), I could see him moving to PG and running the show to help with his draft stock. And you also have to factor in the Malik Newell kid who is a 5 Star combo guard and can play the point as well. And they still have the other 4 Star PG commit who is a good player as well.

 

[Larry72]

Best part of the game last night was consistent effort. There was hustle that has not been seen lately.
He is not super quick, but can really jump and has long arms to play good D
Shepard will get stronger with the ball and on D. He has the talent to be an off guard for Trae as well.

 

[Soonerinkc]

Was great for a big part of the second half - hit two huge threes, but then had two costly turnovers in the final minutes.

honestly the 1 he was triple covered...immediately and as I've said a million times we run NO press breaker at all.

Overall I like his game better than Strongs, especially considering Strong is a Jr and Shep is a Fr.

 

[hoopsaustin]

Might be a good depth player someday if we return to an elite team. Idk if we do that tho with Kruger. Hopefully

 

[jaymOU]

honestly the 1 he was triple covered...immediately and as I've said a million times we run NO press breaker at all.

Overall I like his game better than Strongs, especially considering Strong is a Jr and Shep is a Fr.

Agree on press break. I did notice McGusty and Buford "discussing" something after one of the near turnovers and McGusty was pointing to himself, looking like he was saying "my fault".

I hate their press break. Nobody in the middle, no picks, little north/south movement. I would press OU all day.

 

[tmeyer3307]

Like Shepard BUT the guy dribbles way too much. That is the only thing I don't like right now about him. I think by the time he is a jr he will be a real solid player and get lots of minutes at both the 1 and 2 guard positions.

 

[Stikboy]

All of our PGs dribble way too much. That's because in the halfcourt all the other players are just standing around half the time.

 

[hoopsaustin]

Agree on press break. I did notice McGusty and Buford "discussing" something after one of the near turnovers and McGusty was pointing to himself, looking like he was saying "my fault".

I hate their press break. Nobody in the middle, no picks, little north/south movement. I would press OU all day.

Ya wish kruger were a little better coach and fix these glaring issues

 

[jaymOU]

Ya wish kruger were a little better coach and fix these glaring issues

I love LK, but when you see something wrong can you not point it out? If you look at WVU, OSU and Texas (twice) - just off the top of my head - late game press really hurt the Sooners. Sometimes I think Lon wants his teams to work through things, so maybe that is it, but a I think a simple diamond press break would help in those situations. Am I as good of a coach as LK, not even close, but have a seen less athletic teams break, and hurt, a press - yes I have.

 

[StatGeek]

Problem isn't X's and O's in the late game situations, it's composure.

 

[chuckb]

Problem isn't X's and O's in the late game situations, it's composure.

Yep. That comes with experience.