Some Snap Judgments/Reactions from the game tonight

[atlantasooner]

Sherri was obviously force feeding the rookies minutes and resting veterans among other things.
Some quick thoughts from an out of town fan who has only seen this exhibition game

1. The story of Nicole Griffin's improvement appears to be very real. Her offense looked vastly improved especially going straight up and attacking the basket.

2. It would not surprise me if Durrett surpasses McFarland as the starting PF "4" with McFarland backing up both interior spots. Durrett showed a nice inside game, good mobility. Perfect 4 for this team?

3. It does not look like Cloman will be playing this year. A real shame we won't see Kaylon this year. Inside depth is gone.

4. Manning and Kornet are going to give Sherri her deepest backcourt in forever. Manning as a 6-2 PG (looked that height) is a matchup nightmare for teams. She looks Dales ish out there at times. Kornet just has a smooth jump shot and is very athletic. Overall all 3 rookies add a huge dose of athleticism to the roster.

5. Nice stretch there with Hook and Manning switching off playing point. Hook is an effective 2 guard as well.

6. Campbell might have a hard time finding her role with all the new talent at 2/3.

Interested in other opinions.

 

[euphguy]

I'm confused at the conclusion that Cloman won't be playing this year. We've had people miss preseason before (most recently Whitney Hand) and still come back to play at some point in the season. Kaylon is out for the season (6 months), but no such claims have been made about Cloman that I've heard.

 

[sybarite]

Not dissimilar from my own thoughts, but I saw the intra-squad rather than tonight's game. In that game, Sharane was still a scorer.

Joanna doesn't seem to have recovered either her shot or aggressiveness---yet. Portia seemed to have a nice shot, but never hit it in the intra-squad game. But, Whitney also struggled to score.

My only "conclusions" thus far are that Nicole Griffin seems much better, Hook seems solid, Vegas is still Vegas, and the newcomers aren't as far behind as newcomers usually are. They have some positives.

 

[euphguy]

Otherwise, I agree with all the assessments. I think Sharane having to play some 4 may have had an effect on her, but I don't expect it to last. I was most impressed by Nicole G., Portia, Maddie, and Nicole K. It's been one exhibition game, but it sure seems like this team gets up and down the court better than any team since the early 2000s.

 

[atlantasooner]

Euphguy,
Stephanie Kuzydym ‏@stephkuzy
Sherri Coale said Lyndsey Cloman will no longer be playing basketball. She will stay with the team but her back injury continues to worsen.

 

[SoonerNorm]

I think Sharane will likely have some ups and downs early but in a month or so, I expect her to be really good off the bench.

 

[atlantasooner]

Syb,
Again I've only seen the game tonight, it's just one game.
Campbell didn't get the same focus as the rookie guards. Probably will in the season.

I do think Sherri's 1-3 spots might be the most athletic, versatile group in a long time.
Aaryn, Manning, Kornet, Hand, Campbell, Hook, and Hartman.
If the bigs get in foul trouble at least Sherri can put out a very talented 4 guard look.

 

[Oliver Hardy]

Just created a thread for that. Sorry, guys.

I couldn't attend the game due to a little hospital recuperation, but I watched.

I don't know what you can gleen from this really because of the quality of the opponent, but it was nice to see all the girls play.

I have to say as one of her most vocal detractors on this site, that Nicole G. does seem to be a different player. But let's get a few more games against tougher opposition under the belt before we declare a permanent change. It will be nice if she can continue this though, really nice and we will be dramatically better than last year if she can.

I loved Manning! Wow. Durrett, Kornet really look we have three potentially great additions to the team. Keep it coming.

Looking forward to a great season.

 

[sybarite]

Sharane sprained her ankle.

 

[sybarite]

I just watched the first half on soonersports.com. Prior to watching, I had watched Sherri's post-game press conference. Sherri brought Morgan and Griffin to the press conference. But, Sherri was most complementary of Griffin, and her eyes lit up when she discussed Maddie. After watching the first half, I can see why.

The newcomers seem to set the pace for this team, and it is the pace that I think Sherri has always wanted to run. They can run. Everyone can get down the floor. Nicole is even better than she was in the intrasquad game.

Kornet has a beautiful stroke. Is she the best pure shoooter that OU has had? Maddie? I don't even want to talk about Maddie. I can't do it without sounding insane. She may be the most difficult player to deal with in the next few years not named Griner. Long arms, fast. Sherri says she has a fast motor. She isn't as fast as Danielle, but she pushes harder than DRob. The result is a team that is faster than that with DRob.

 

[atlantasooner]

syb,
Yep that's a great description of what I saw in Manning. Baby Dales.

I really hope Sherri adds the two Florida girls after watching Kornet and Manning.
Wow.

 

[rocjunkie]

What impressed me about the "newbies" is how easily they fit in with the rest of the girls. Talking with our regular "crew" in our section, we were in agreement that Nicole K., Maddie, and Portia didn't look out of place. They all seemed to feel comfortable in running the offense, and played solid defense. Besides some of the bad passes, which will happen early, I liked the different combinations Sherri used on the floor. I didn't care who they played, I was more concerned about their execution, and passion on the floor. This is going to be an exciting team to watch. Scoring from all parts of the floor. The improvement in Nicole G., the lack of constant dribbling tonight, loved the movement on the floor. Still some work to be done, and we will need to make sure that Nicole, Jo, and Portia rebound like demons. Kornet has a big body and can help down low. Maddie may end up being the toughest player on the floor. I watched her take four head shots during the game, the last knocking out a contact lens, and just keep coming back for more. Its early, but I like what I see so far. If we can hold our own on the glass, we could be very difficult to beat this year.

 

[gosooner2]

Looked to me like Sherri and her staff spent most of the offseason eating. The team looked good though.

 

[sybarite]

The second half was sloppy. Jasmine only had seven minutes, the least on the team. Sherri said she knew what Jasmine could do. But, it also seemed to me that Jasmine got trapped a lot at the point. She still seems to be a defensive player.

A week ago, Sherri said this would be a long-armed team. It is. It seems that the team's long arms are everywhere. It also seems that we have guards that can pliay inside quite effectively.

I was a little concerned about rebounding. We got more, but we also let a lot get by us.

In the intrasquad scrimmage, Joanna seemed to retain her timidity, both as a shooter and as a rebounder. In tonight's exhibition, she appeared to have regained her shot.

We are ten deep in players who can play.

 

[SoonerNorm]

I would agree with others who pointed out that rebounding is not a strong portion of our game at this point. Hopefully, Sherri can turn that around soon.

 

[j2d2]

We've never rebounded as well as I have hoped. If we rebound well and defend better than we have generally, we will give any and all serious trouble since the offense is there.

 

[rocjunkie]

During these exhibitions, the things I look from our new kids is how well they have been coached in the fundamentals. The things I noticed about Nicole K. and Maddie was when the ball went up they actively looked for someone to block out most of the time, Portia, not so much, but I loved her passion and toughness under the basket. With a little work she will be fine.

Defensively, Nicole G. did some things that pleased me. There were two specific times down low when her man goes to the elbow, and a driver was coming to the basket. She effectively switched and stopped the drive. In previous years she would have followed her man and left the back side wide open. There were a couple of times that some bad passes were thrown to her and she was able to knocked them down, collect and either score or pass back out. She is definitely developing softer hands. Once she learns to pump fake a little more and gets more comfortable within her space down low, she is going to be a nice weapon to open up the outside for us.

We gots us some shooters!!!! I hope we have a LOT of games where two or three of our guards just wear out the nets and make our inside game that much better. I see some good games from Portia, Jo and Nicole down the road, and we will need it from them all.

 

[SoonerinNC]

I agree that Griffin's hands and offensive positioning and moves are improved. The only negative I saw was that some of the rebounds she should have captured got away from her. Like the way she runs the floor. Withholding a little judgment until I see how she does against bigger more athletic players.

Manning reminds me of the hotshot from LSU (can't remember his name) who put up 50 points at times. Not as much talent but like him all arms and legs and full speed with a variety of shots and no fear.

Hopefully Campbell's injury is not too bad. Also too bad about Cloman. Now we have to sweat foul trouble.

Also like Kornet's stroke. Think she will be a better outside shooter than Whitney with similar other skills. She does a nice job of getting open. Again we have to wait and see how she does against better competition.

Kind of a wild game. At times too wild leading to too many unforced turnovers. But that has always been the thing with Sherri's teams.

Fun team to watch.

 

[SoonerShamrock]

Looked to me like Sherri and her staff spent most of the offseason eating. The team looked good though.

Well, that's certainly a relevant observation.

I would point out that one of the coaching staff is fighting breast cancer, one of the coaching staff just lost a sister to breast cancer, and they're all very close. Between medications/treatments and stress eating, if I were in that situation, I'd weigh somewhere around 300 pounds now. None of them approached that.

 

[OKUman]

Ok here is my snap judgments. How many years can an OU player play for Coach Cole before she is sat down for making a cross court pass at an angle? How many years can a player play for Coach Cole before she learns not to try to thrown into the post from out of bounds near the half court line? How many years can a player play for Coach Cole before they learn not to dribble over to the side line when they are double teamed? Other than those repeated mistakes I see every year, they looked pretty good over all. Nicole looked much more aggressive with her post moves, and she ran as hard as he long legs would allow going back down court. I thought Morgan Hook looked as good as I have seen her this early in the season. Freshmen looked very capable to me. My one wish is that Jass Hartman can contribute as a solidifying player when she is in there and be the glue for the subs on the floor.
And I hope for a 45% three point shooting average this year, as it has been pointed out that we don't have much depth on the inside. Looking forward to the season.