The Downside of Lon Kruger

[SKSooner]

Jeff Capel probably did me a favor. I cared too much about OU Basketball prior to his arrival in Norman. My emotional investment into basketball games was the same as OU football. Losses stung! With Capel's tenure, it was really easy to just flip the channel and not care anymore. If his team didn't care about losing, why should I care?

Now that we have Lon Kruger and a team that plays hard, plays with pride, and is on the brink of going back to the NCAA Tournament, I'm emotionally attached to OU basketball again...which means losses like TCU and Texas really bother me.

And that is the downside of Lon Kruger. I can't help but care again! Obviously, it's really not a downside. Thank you, Lon Kruger, for forcing me spend emotional capital on your program. It is fun to be back on the roller coaster where you can enjoy the ride. Isn't that what our good friend SoonerTrav has told us over the years? The season is about the entire ride.

 

[AdaSooner]

Excellent post, SK. We've missed your insightful contribution to our discussions.

Welcome back!!!

 

[MsProudSooner]

Jeff Capel probably did me a favor. I cared too much about OU Basketball prior to his arrival in Norman. My emotional investment into basketball games was the same as OU football. Losses stung! With Capel's tenure, it was really easy to just flip the channel and not care anymore. If his team didn't care about losing, why should I care?

Now that we have Lon Kruger and a team that plays hard, plays with pride, and is on the brink of going back to the NCAA Tournament, I'm emotionally attached to OU basketball again...which means losses like TCU and Texas really bother me.

And that is the downside of Lon Kruger. I can't help but care again! Obviously, it's really not a downside. Thank you, Lon Kruger, for forcing me spend emotional capital on your program. It is fun to be back on the roller coaster where you can enjoy the ride. Isn't that what our good friend SoonerTrav has told us over the years? The season is about the entire ride.

Very well put. I think we can all relate.

 

[DenverSooner]

Jeff Capel probably did me a favor. I cared too much about OU Basketball prior to his arrival in Norman. My emotional investment into basketball games was the same as OU football. Losses stung! With Capel's tenure, it was really easy to just flip the channel and not care anymore. If his team didn't care about losing, why should I care?

Now that we have Lon Kruger and a team that plays hard, plays with pride, and is on the brink of going back to the NCAA Tournament, I'm emotionally attached to OU basketball again...which means losses like TCU and Texas really bother me.

And that is the downside of Lon Kruger. I can't help but care again! Obviously, it's really not a downside. Thank you, Lon Kruger, for forcing me spend emotional capital on your program. It is fun to be back on the roller coaster where you can enjoy the ride. Isn't that what our good friend SoonerTrav has told us over the years? The season is about the entire ride.

Capel was so bad at times I was happy when OU lost because I thought we were one step closer to no longer having Capel as the coach.

The TCU and Texas games sucked but that is road basketball in a major conference. People took Sampson for granted. Very few coaches can go on the road and consistently win even against the lesser teams. I think Lon Kruger is going to be a guy that goes .500 or better on the road on a pretty consistent basis once he gets his players and system fully implemented at OU. Next year will really only be his second recruiting class.

 

[SoonerJK12]

That was trick post, SK. And I echo Ada in saying Welcome Back!

 

[scrybe]

The only part of your (OP's) post that I don't understand is the part about not caring if we won or lost under Capel. I was a Capel apologist for a good portion of his tenure. I finally became convinced that our program would be bad as long as he was here, and I became ready to see the man go.

In any case, it has always hurt me to see my Sooners lose, regardless of how bad the team – or the coach – was. I also think you were wrong to say the players didn't care.

Just want you to know, I'm not trying to be critical. Your post was very good and you made some good points. Good to see you back on the board.

 

[cvangild]

I'm totally with you on this!! I first started following OU bball when I was about 12, when Tisdale got things rolling. So I have been lucky enough to enjoy 20+ years of winning basketball before Sampson left us for Indiana. Capel's first year was tough for me...not making any post season tournament. I had never experienced that...it hit me like a brick. The Blake years were great, then the wheels completely fell off. It was a lot like the John Blake years in football. I had never ever experienced a losing season in b-ball. When you expect to lose..it's easier to accept...and thats to the point I got to. This season has been different. I now get the same feeling I used to get when we lost a game we shouldn't have. I remember waking up in the middle of the night after the Texas game...and if was the first thing that I thought about....kinda like going through a bad break up or somehting!!

I just realize that probably all of us kinda took for granted what Tubbs and Sampson did here. It is tough to just get in the tournament, let alone the final four. Tubbs had several teams that were 1 seeds. There was about a 5 year span where OU was a top 5 team every year. I'll never take that kind of success for granted again!!!

 

[JBaker]

The only part of your (OP's) post that I don't understand is the part about not caring if we won or lost under Capel. I was a Capel apologist for a good portion of his tenure. I finally became convinced that our program would be bad as long as he was here, and I became ready to see the man go.

In any case, it has always hurt me to see my Sooners lose, regardless of how bad the team – or the coach – was. I also think you were wrong to say the players didn't care.

Just want you to know, I'm not trying to be critical. Your post was very good and you made some good points. Good to see you back on the board.

I'd say its not quite stopped caring, but more learned to accept and expect defeat.

 

[BigTime]

Jeff Capel probably did me a favor. I cared too much about OU Basketball prior to his arrival in Norman. My emotional investment into basketball games was the same as OU football. Losses stung! With Capel's tenure, it was really easy to just flip the channel and not care anymore. If his team didn't care about losing, why should I care?

Now that we have Lon Kruger and a team that plays hard, plays with pride, and is on the brink of going back to the NCAA Tournament, I'm emotionally attached to OU basketball again...which means losses like TCU and Texas really bother me.

And that is the downside of Lon Kruger. I can't help but care again! Obviously, it's really not a downside. Thank you, Lon Kruger, for forcing me spend emotional capital on your program. It is fun to be back on the roller coaster where you can enjoy the ride. Isn't that what our good friend SoonerTrav has told us over the years? The season is about the entire ride.

SK,

I know that you and I got into some spats (mostly me) during parts of the Capel era. The fact is/was that you were mostly right and I was mostly wrong. I think I WANTED so hard to believe that Capel knew what he was doing and would get it done, that I missed some pretty glaring (now obvious) problems.

Good to see you back in the saddle - posting.

-BT

 

[IndySooner]

My wife doesn't like Lon Kruger because she had winters relatively sports free for the past few years. I'm currently at the airport headed for KC leaving her with the kids for the rest of the week!

 

[SKSooner]

The only part of your (OP's) post that I don't understand is the part about not caring if we won or lost under Capel. I was a Capel apologist for a good portion of his tenure. I finally became convinced that our program would be bad as long as he was here, and I became ready to see the man go.

In any case, it has always hurt me to see my Sooners lose, regardless of how bad the team – or the coach – was. I also think you were wrong to say the players didn't care.

Just want you to know, I'm not trying to be critical. Your post was very good and you made some good points. Good to see you back on the board.

I understand what you are saying. However, I quit caring when I saw the types of players who were being recruited and how they refused to play defense, refused to play hard, and were quite selfish. When you look at how Kruger does things, it's very clear that we have a team again. I don't think we ever had a team under Capel. We had Blake Griffin for a couple years, but that was about it. If the players don't really care to be a part of a team, it's really hard to care when they lose. I'm a believer that we have a fixed amount of emotional capital, and I don't think it's a good idea to waste it on stuff that isn't worthy.

 

[jerry]

I understand what you are saying. However, I quit caring when I saw the types of players who were being recruited and how they refused to play defense, refused to play hard, and were quite selfish. When you look at how Kruger does things, it's very clear that we have a team again. I don't think we ever had a team under Capel. We had Blake Griffin for a couple years, but that was about it. If the players don't really care to be a part of a team, it's really hard to care when they lose. I'm a believer that we have a fixed amount of emotional capital, and I don't think it's a good idea to waste it on stuff that isn't worthy.

Agree with you completely SK. I was never a Capel fan. We all knew Blake was special and that is the only reason we won those 2 years.

 

[Big Old Booger]

SK,

I know that you and I got into some spats (mostly me) during parts of the Capel era. The fact is/was that you were mostly right and I was mostly wrong. I think I WANTED so hard to believe that Capel knew what he was doing and would get it done, that I missed some pretty glaring (now obvious) problems.

Good to see you back in the saddle - posting.

-BT

You think? :ez-laugh:

To anyone who really knows basketball, it was obvious from about the middle of :capelspin first season that he was in over his head. The fact Kelvin recruited Taylor Griffin made :capelspin a very rich man though at the expense of the OU program and OU basketball fans. Its still not back to where it was when :capelspin was hired, but we are getting there. :krugs

 

[skyvue]

Agree with you completely SK. I was never a Capel fan. We all knew Blake was special and that is the only reason we won those 2 years.

I think the other players deserve some credit too, but most of them weren't Capel's recruits.

 

[WTSooner]

To anyone who really knows basketball, it was obvious from about the middle of :capelspin first season that he was in over his head.

Then we don't have many people around here that really know basketball, because I sure felt like I was on an island alone in my criticism of Capel during that first year. Everybody wanted to pin it on my love of Sampson, when the truth was, I just saw Capel for what he was sooner than most.

I never thought a coach could change how I felt about OU basketball like Capel did. He really made me change my priorities while he was at OU. OU basketball just wan't fun. Glad LK has us going in the right direction again.

 

[jerry]

I think the other players deserve some credit too, but most of them weren't Capel's recruits.

Without Blake we would have been at best 15-15 with the other players.

 

[Big Old Booger]

Thank we don't have many people around here that really know basketball, because I sure felt like I was on an island alone in my criticism of Capel during that first year. Everybody wanted to pin it on my love of Sampson, when the truth was, I just saw Capel for what he was sooner than most.

I never thought a coach could change how I felt about OU basketball like Capel did. He really made me change my priorities while he was at OU. OU basketball just wan't fun. Glad LK has us going in the right direction again.

You weren't alone on an island because I was temporarily banned from Hale's basketball board (on the old ouinsider) for my disdain with Capel in his first season. Then I came here with a new name hoping to start on the right foot and quickly made enemies (not friends). If Ada hadn't been the main mod during that time I would have been banned here, but he gave me a bunch of warnings.

I can name about 3-4 others (romulus, denver, ABD, etc.) who weren't convinced :capelspin knew what he was doing.

 

[Big Old Booger]

without blake we would have been at best 15-15 with the other players with :capelspin as the head coach.

fify

 

[Big Old Booger]

I have a good buddy of mine who used to call me all the time, when Sampson was coach, complaining about OU basketball.

"Why can't we score more than 60 points?"
"Why can't Calvin coach offense?"
"Why can't we win an NCAA tournament game?"
blah
blah
blah

So when Sampson left for IU and :capelspin was hired, all I heard was:

"now we are going to win"
"now we will know how to play offense"
blah
blah
blah

After the 09/10 season, the same friend was then calling/texting me with:

"what has happened to our basketball program"
"dude, we are terrible"
"why are we in last place in the conference"
"how on Gods green earth did we lose to Chaminade"

 

[scrybe]

YI can name about 3-4 others (romulus, denver, ABD, etc.) who weren't convinced :capelspin knew what he was doing.

Do you mean 3 or 4, or are you saying 75 percent?