TaShawn Thomas Scouting Report

[WTSooner]

I completely understand why LK and staff are pushing for immediate eligibility. Spreads the scholarships out a bit more evenly. Gives us an extra scholarship to offer for the 2015 class, which we are chasing a lot of quality players in. And it keeps LK from having to start Buford as a frosh, only to likely send him to the bench as a sophomore. We've already had one player leave b/c of a similar type situation. I'm hopeful that Buford would understand such a situation, but kids are kids.

 

[WTSooner]

If he has to sit out a year, the shot spread for the team in 2 years is going to be interesting. You are going to have Woodard as a junior. Cousins and Buddy in their senior years. Booker as a junior. Buford and Lattin as sophs. And Thomas as a 5th year senior. A lot of players deserving of offensive looks. Hopefully it would all "fit" nicely together, but you don't know until you get them on the court and two years, and let them play.

 

[CoachTalk]

If he has to sit out a year, the shot spread for the team in 2 years is going to be interesting. You are going to have Woodard as a junior. Cousins and Buddy in their senior years. Booker as a junior. Buford and Lattin as sophs. And Thomas as a 5th year senior. A lot of players deserving of offensive looks. Hopefully it would all "fit" nicely together, but you don't know until you get them on the court and two years, and let them play.

Good teams figure it out. LK wont lose this team. They'll be hitting the road ala Jelon...
Sometimes the glove doesn't fit.

 

[garyeb2]

I completely understand why LK and staff are pushing for immediate eligibility. Spreads the scholarships out a bit more evenly. Gives us an extra scholarship to offer for the 2015 class, which we are chasing a lot of quality players in. And it keeps LK from having to start Buford as a frosh, only to likely send him to the bench as a sophomore. We've already had one player leave b/c of a similar type situation. I'm hopeful that Buford would understand such a situation, but kids are kids.

I think you are way off on that WT. You are trending toward that tenure/incumbency bias. If Thomas sits out a year and Buford starts this coming season, It will be Spangler with the hard to find minutes the next year.

While I would certainly agree that a lineup of Woodard, Buddy, Cousins, Spangler, and Thomas is what we would need to navigate Nov. and Dec. this coming season, I would also project that Lattin and Buford would pass Spangler at some point.

In the words of Dennis Miller, " that is just my opinion, I could be wrong."

 

[NickZepp]

We'll see how good Buford is but why can't 3 or 4 post players rotate and play a lot? Remember the Kelvin Sampson team that had McGhee and Brown as the main starters in 2001-02. Selvy and Gilbert both played more minutes than Brown that year at the post. And it isn't like those teams were unproductive at guard.

I can understand saying 4 post players is too much with our guards. We are a little deeper at guard than those teams were. Not better mind you, just more players really. However having 3 post players play 20+ minutes should be a thing we strive for. It'll be much better come NCAA time if all 3 of them are at least solid players.

 

[WTSooner]

Good teams figure it out. LK wont lose this team. They'll be hitting the road ala Jelon...
Sometimes the glove doesn't fit.

That was point. You don't know until the kids are put in that position. LK can only do so much in regards to chemistry.

 

[garyeb2]

We'll see how good Buford is but why can't 3 or 4 post players rotate and play a lot? Remember the Kelvin Sampson team that had McGhee and Brown as the main starters in 2001-02. Selvy and Gilbert both played more minutes than Brown that year at the post. And it isn't like those teams were unproductive at guard.

I can understand saying 4 post players is too much with our guards. We are a little deeper at guard than those teams were. Not better mind you, just more players really. However having 3 post players play 20+ minutes should be a thing we strive for. It'll be much better come NCAA time if all 3 of them are at least solid players.

There is nothing wrong with that. What I am saying is that the staff worked long and hard to land a Buford type player. He is exactly the kind of player they want. They have a role in mind for him to fill and they can't wait for him to get here and start filling it.

 

[WTSooner]

I think you are way off on that WT. You are trending toward that tenure/incumbency bias. If Thomas sits out a year and Buford starts this coming season, It will be Spangler with the hard to find minutes the next year.

While I would certainly agree that a lineup of Woodard, Buddy, Cousins, Spangler, and Thomas is what we would need to navigate Nov. and Dec. this coming season, I would also project that Lattin and Buford would pass Spangler at some point.

In the words of Dennis Miller, " that is just my opinion, I could be wrong."

We differ on this. I just think if two players are in the same ball park as far as what they are bringing to the team, LK is going to trend towards the older, more tenured player. I think he wants his upperclassmen to play the biggest roles on the team. He wants to create a culture of his older players being his better players, and his leaders. Of course if we bring in a Julius Randle type, he isn't going to sit him and play Cam or Spangler, just b/c of the experience factor. I'm just not sure I see Buford as a sophmore unseating Spangler as a 5th year starter that has started the two previous seasons at OU. LK understand the "chemistry" issues that can create. Again, not saying he is going to start a worse player. I just don't expect two posts to be head and shoulders better than Spangler. Maybe I'm wrong on that. It will all depend on Spangler's development. With Thomas on board, I really expect them to push Spangler to learn the 15 footer that Osby was so successful with. And of course, with our added quality depth, it will certainly mean fewer minutes per game for him, which is a good thing.

We'll see how it all plays out.

 

[Northbase]

With Spangler's warrior mentality, I surmise that he is working hard on his game, and comes back in the fall an improved player from his highly regarded debut season.

 

[DenverSooner]

While I would certainly agree that a lineup of Woodard, Buddy, Cousins, Spangler, and Thomas is what we would need to navigate Nov. and Dec. this coming season, I would also project that Lattin and Buford would pass Spangler at some point.

In the words of Dennis Miller, " that is just my opinion, I could be wrong."

I like Spangler and want him to have success but for the program I hope you are correct. If Spangler is playing 15 minutes a game, I doubt there will be many teams in the Big XII having a player that talented coming off the bench. He is a borderline All Big XII player which is proven by the fact that he got honorable mention last season.

 

[WTSooner]

The other good thing about starting Spangler is that he doesn't have to have shots thru the offense to contribute. I get the feeling he is content doing the other things, and getting the occasional shot. That helps offset the fact that we'd be starting so many other talented offensive players. A lot like Kelvin's old teams. He never put 5 good offensive players on the court together, and I think he liked it that way. There was never any doubt who should be taking the shots for his teams.

 

[garyeb2]

I like Spangler and want him to have success but for the program I hope you are correct. If Spangler is playing 15 minutes a game, I doubt there will be many teams in the Big XII having a player that talented coming off the bench. He is a borderline All Big XII player which is proven by the fact that he got honorable mention last season.

I'm not knocking Spangler. He is a good player. I'm a big fan. I just don't think it is about who is the best player between Spangler and Buford. I think that it is more about who is best between Spangler and Thomas. If it is Spangler, great. If it is Thomas, that is great too. I just don't think that it will be a long term automatic move of the 2nd best of that competition to fall into a different role ahead of someone else that has been slotted for that role.

If the five best players on a team were all point guards, you wouldn't start five point guards. Or, you wouldn't start five similar power forwards even if they were the best players on the team.

Because of first hand conversations I know this. The staff would love to have a kid like Houge from Iowa St. A tough hard nosed enforcer type off the bench. They thought that they might have that guy in Goodman. But, he slipped away. With the team starting to load up with power forwards, can you think of anyone that might could fill that role?

 

[SoonerTraveler]

Mr. Spangler is pretty dang good, and he is bound to improve and get even better. If you guys are correct, and Spangler is NOT one of our two best post players while he still has eligibility here, then the Sooners could be the Monsters of the Midwest.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

Traveler, I know you saw the interview with Thomas on OUI that James Hale did.... he's doing a good job of staying up with spring recruiting.

It surprised me that Thomas isn't hopeful his waiver will be approved to play next season. It sounded like the OU coaches are pushing it more than he is. He's kind of resigned himself to sitting our next season as a redshirt.

Yes, it does seem that Thomas is expecting to redshirt. At least with that mindset, he should be prepared mentally to handle it if the NCAA denies the waiver.

 

[garyeb2]

Mr. Spangler is pretty dang good, and he is bound to improve and get even better. If you guys are correct, and Spangler is NOT one of our two best post players while he still has eligibility here, then the Sooners could be the Monsters of the Midwest.

You are preaching to the choir.

 

[NickZepp]

I'm not knocking Spangler. He is a good player. I'm a big fan. I just don't think it is about who is the best player between Spangler and Buford. I think that it is more about who is best between Spangler and Thomas. If it is Spangler, great. If it is Thomas, that is great too. I just don't think that it will be a long term automatic move of the 2nd best of that competition to fall into a different role ahead of someone else that has been slotted for that role.

If the five best players on a team were all point guards, you wouldn't start five point guards. Or, you wouldn't start five similar power forwards even if they were the best players on the team.

Because of first hand conversations I know this. The staff would love to have a kid like Houge from Iowa St. A tough hard nosed enforcer type off the bench. They thought that they might have that guy in Goodman. But, he slipped away. With the team starting to load up with power forwards, can you think of anyone that might could fill that role?

How many true centers are there? Even in the NBA the amount of true centers in the league is way down. Look around in college basketball and you see most starting centers are probably about 6-8 or 6-9 for the most part. Maybe a few are 6-10.

 

[usedtobe1]

I'm not knocking Spangler. He is a good player. I'm a big fan. I just don't think it is about who is the best player between Spangler and Buford. I think that it is more about who is best between Spangler and Thomas. If it is Spangler, great. If it is Thomas, that is great too. I just don't think that it will be a long term automatic move of the 2nd best of that competition to fall into a different role ahead of someone else that has been slotted for that role.

If the five best players on a team were all point guards, you wouldn't start five point guards. Or, you wouldn't start five similar power forwards even if they were the best players on the team.

Because of first hand conversations I know this. The staff would love to have a kid like Houge from Iowa St. A tough hard nosed enforcer type off the bench. They thought that they might have that guy in Goodman. But, he slipped away. With the team starting to load up with power forwards, can you think of anyone that might could fill that role?

I really like Spangler, too, but he played out of position last season. The wear and tear of banging with bigger guys on the inside wore Ryan down late in games, especially late in the year. If Thomas can play this season, he is more of a 5 and Spangler can move to his more natural 4 position and play a little further out on the floor. Of course, that's the same spot Buford will play. It doesn't particularly worry me because getting into the 8-9 player rotation is more important than who starts. I would rather finish the game than start it, but there are plenty of minutes for Thomas, Spangler, and Buford to share.

I sensed that losing Goodman was a big loss. They obviously would rather have had him than Cunningham (especially after getting Buford) but Thomas is a great and unexpected consolation prize. Just my opinion.....

 

[BCSooners]

For those who say there aren't enough basketballs to go around with certain lineups I would argue that Woodard prefers the true point guard role and doesn't worry about shots. Same could be said about Spangler caring more about hustle points than actual points. As for the freshmen I believe Buford will have to make his own points off put backs and other people setting him up, I don't believe any plays will be ran for him. Lattin seems more defensive minded to care about shots as a freshman.

 

[KBaden145]

I think what the starting unit and second unit decisions will come down to is best fit. I believe a lot of what 15-16 will look like will be determined this off-season and season. Like I've said, I'd be shocked if we got post players better than Spangler while he still had eligibility. Maybe Thomas and Buford are or will be but I need to see it. I trust CLK, obviously, and I could definitely see a scenario where Ryan would be okay coming in with the second unit and playing starters minutes. What a front court that would be!


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