Skill vs. Athletic ability

[thebigabd]

I do not like the idea that you can't impose your size on another team... The idea that OSU played 4 guards, and therefore, we had to play 4 guards doesn't hold water.

There are tons of defenses out there to play depending on your situation.

A simple box and one comes to mind...

Put Harkless on Cade....

Play a zone with Harmon - Reaves - Kur - Manek.

Now you don't have to totally surrender the rim.

 

[jaymOU]

Williams is OSU's only other really good shooter, why not try some type of zone. OU doesn't have that option and it hurts them - just need it for a change of pace

 

[BCSooners]

They are redshirt freshman... meaning they've been here 2 years now. Smart bet is to expect nothing from them, especially Issanza.



This is an insane response.... First off, he had 19 in the first game against OU. So picking out one game from a guy who averages 14 for a top 10 team is silly at best.

Lots of our guys can't even get on the floor. To act like it would be a waste of our time to have a guy like that makes absolutely no sense.

Gibson and Harkless are really good players, both of them... But right now OU is surviving on transfers from other D1 schools. There is a difference between who Kruger recruits in the traditional way and who he lands in the D1 transfer market.

Thank goodness Reaves, Gibson, and Harkless didn't like their situations at Wichita State, North Texas, and Cal State North-Ridge and ended up here.

The transfer market is a new form of recruiting with the portal & a free transfer without sitting out. More teams rely on it than don’t. It’s a way better market than juco.

Of the 9 players who play: 4 hs recruits, 3 transfers, 2 juco. That’s a really good way to build teams during this era.

 

[WTSooner]

The transfer market is a new form of recruiting with the portal & a free transfer without sitting out. More teams rely on it than don’t. It’s a way better market than juco.

Of the 9 players who play: 4 hs recruits, 3 transfers, 2 juco. That’s a really good way to build teams during this era.

I don't disagree that transfers are becoming more and more common, but I still think you'll see most of the top 25 teams be limited in how many are impacting them. It is going to be really tough to be consistently good if you are constantly shuffling guys in and out of your program.

I'd rather see us go find most of our guards the traditional way, and maybe rely more on transfers to fill some gaps inside, since that appears to be the tougher spot(s) for OU to recruit. Go find some of those underrated guys out of HS that find their niche inside at smaller schools, etc.

 

[vbdad]

Every point here is dead on, although I certainly don’t have the inside scoop you do regarding Vic. But as far as the on court stuff, I agree completely with everything here and it’s what I thought watching the games. The one thing I may differ on is whether it is best to double Cade. I’d go into a game planning to single him with EJ and take your chances, but by late in Saturday’s game, I was in favor of doing everything possible to get the ball out of his hands and force others to make enough shots to beat us.

I agree about getting the ball out of his hands Saturday he was fabulous. He actually missed down the stretch but they rebounded it every time. He also twice in last 5 minutes dribbled it to Harkless who knocked it out of bounds instead of picking it up cleanly. Just unlucky at the time.

Baylor is great defensively but he missed poorly several times with same defensive pressure Harkless put on him.

 

[thebigabd]

In the game against Texas, you saw it again... OU is just out-gunned from a size and athletic ability standpoint. But they are so skilled it makes them competitive.

 

[steverocks35]

In the game against Texas, you saw it again... OU is just out-gunned from a size and athletic ability standpoint. But they are so skilled it makes them competitive.

What we've seen the last 5 games is a regression to the mean. We caught lightning in a bottle for a few games, and that first Texas game they were missing three key players. We played one of our worst games of the year but Texas couldn't overcome their lack of players. We were picked near the bottom of the league and that's where we are going to finish so I guess we shouldn't be all that disappointed.

 

[BCSooners]

I don't disagree that transfers are becoming more and more common, but I still think you'll see most of the top 25 teams be limited in how many are impacting them. It is going to be really tough to be consistently good if you are constantly shuffling guys in and out of your program.

I'd rather see us go find most of our guards the traditional way, and maybe rely more on transfers to fill some gaps inside, since that appears to be the tougher spot(s) for OU to recruit. Go find some of those underrated guys out of HS that find their niche inside at smaller schools, etc.

Of the top 10 teams these are the transfer total & (starters) in their top 8:
Gonzaga: 2(1)
Baylor: 4(3)
Michigan: 2(1)
Illinois: 1(0)
Iowa: 0(0)
WVU: 2(0)
tOSU: 3(2)
Alabama: 3(2)
Houston: 5(3)
Villanova: 1(1)

Oklahoma: 3(2)

OU is right on par with what the rest of the top teams are doing.