This is why coaches get fired

[Matthew G]

Dude, come on... OU was ranked in the top 5 heading in January. You have preseason expectations, but those get changed based on how you actually play... When you go from a top 5 ranking to barely making the NCAA Tournament and getting ousted in the first round, there really isn't a positive spin on that...

Then, it turns out all the stuff people were speculating about was at least partially true... You guys branded me as some sort of villain for daring to imply that something was wrong with this particular team... Now TY leaves, McGusty is gone, Shepherd is gone, others may be gone as well... Manek, the most promising young player, is on record saying the team gave up.

It's like some of you guys aren't acknowledging these things....

Can't help people if they fell for false hype.


This idea that OU performed worse than expected is a similar lie to those who say "KU wasn't the favorite to win the conference." OU performed how most thought they would. Barely getting in the tournament and losing. That was expectation, we met that. There's not a lot of hope going into next season like many hoped, but that has nothing to do with the previous season's expectation.


So unless you only have a successful season based on how people think next year goes, then this season met expectations.

 

[152219]

Dude, come on... OU was ranked in the top 5 heading in January. You have preseason expectations, but those get changed based on how you actually play... When you go from a top 5 ranking to barely making the NCAA Tournament and getting ousted in the first round, there really isn't a positive spin on that...

Then, it turns out all the stuff people were speculating about was at least partially true... You guys branded me as some sort of villain for daring to imply that something was wrong with this particular team... Now TY leaves, McGusty is gone, Shepherd is gone, others may be gone as well... Manek, the most promising young player, is on record saying the team gave up.

It's like some of you guys aren't acknowledging these things....

Go back and bring up the preseason expectation thread. The issue with this season is that the team played well for about 6 weeks and beat a number of quality teams and then it fizzled for a number of reasons. The defensive issues were even there when the season was going well, which was always going to bite this OU team if they didn't continue to shoot at a great clip (they didn't).

Even when OU was #5, I still wasn't expecting more than a Sweet 16 from this team.

The issues that Kruger and OU face are that (a) TY wasn't supposed to blow up like he did early in the year and was expected to stay 2 years. (b) The role players didn't buy in to specific role, which caused a number of players to get upset because they didn't like their new role (see McGusty) (c) Recruiting was set up for 2019 because this team was supposed to make a possible run in 2018, which is no longer the case with TY leaving and now McGusty/Shepherd leaving.

 

[WTSooner]

Eh, preseason expectations are garbage. Based on a lot of guessing. If OU fans had known what TY was going to look like, our expectations would have been a lot higher.

 

[thebigabd]

Eh, preseason expectations are garbage. Based on a lot of guessing. If OU fans had known what TY was going to look like, our expectations would have been a lot higher.

This.

 

[152219]

Eh, preseason expectations are garbage. Based on a lot of guessing. If OU fans had known what TY was going to look like, our expectations would have been a lot higher.

Ummm, even when OU was ranked #5 you were expecting a Final Four run from this team?

 

[Max Power]

So when boynton and chokie state miss the tournament again, will he be on the hot seat? That will be 2 bad seasons in a row.

If they were paying boyton what we pay lon, absolutely

 

[SoonerBounce13]

Can't help people if they fell for false hype.


This idea that OU performed worse than expected is a similar lie to those who say "KU wasn't the favorite to win the conference." OU performed how most thought they would. Barely getting in the tournament and losing. That was expectation, we met that. There's not a lot of hope going into next season like many hoped, but that has nothing to do with the previous season's expectation.


So unless you only have a successful season based on how people think next year goes, then this season met expectations.

I tried to find a preseason prediction thread but couldn't. I did find this one and it seems the general consensus is that 6th was a bit harsh. From what I remember, the average was probably around 3-5 on where we should finish.
So yes, we underachieved...especially considering Trae was a lot better than we thought he would be, as well as manek

http://ouhoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40836

 

[WTSooner]

Ummm, even when OU was ranked #5 you were expecting a Final Four run from this team?

That is a poor way of looking at expectations.

But no, at that time I expected us to continue getting better as a team and individuals, not regressing. I expected us to do better than 8-10 in Big 12 play, and I expected us to not have a terrible end to the season.

My expectations were more on how the team looked and our Big 12 record. The NCAA is a bit of a crap shoot, but had we had the type of season we should have, we'd have been favored to win at least one game in the Dance, maybe 2. Instead we lost to a team that quite honestly really didn't impress me much.

 

[TINY]

Eh, preseason expectations are garbage. Based on a lot of guessing. If OU fans had known what TY was going to look like, our expectations would have been a lot higher.

If ou fans had known guys like Doolittle, mcgusty, and Lattin would not put in the work to be great, then I think that would have brought the expectations back down to NCAA berth. It takes a lot more than one player to be great in a team sport. Ben Simmons didn’t even make the tournament.

 

[Matthew G]

Eh, preseason expectations are garbage. Based on a lot of guessing. If OU fans had known what TY was going to look like, our expectations would have been a lot higher.

This is a weird comment. Yes, preseason expectations are a lot of guess work, but that's how you build an expectation. If OU fans had known the chemistry behind the scenes with team they would be shocked we won 18 games as well. This is a 2 way street. You can't say "if OU fans knew that TY would be great they'd change their expectations" without saying "if OU fans knew how bad the rest of the team would be and the lack of effort and chemistry problems behind the scenes, they'd change their expectations."


Reality is, going into this year, everyone expected what we did. How we got there was not expected. Losing Trae this early wasn't expected, but the end result for the team was. No one should ever base the season off non conference play, otherwise, you will be disappointing almost every year. GTown played a **** schedule, but won a ton of games because of it. They shouldn't change their expectations based on false narratives.

 

[WTSooner]

If ou fans had known guys like Doolittle, mcgusty, and Lattin would not put in the work to be great, then I think that would have brought the expectations back down to NCAA berth. It takes a lot more than one player to be great in a team sport. Ben Simmons didn’t even make the tournament.

You have no idea how much work those guys did or did not put in. Nobody here does. Heck, I look at how this team was coached and I question whether the coaches put in the work to be good, not even great. How bout dat?

 

[TINY]

You have no idea how much work those guys did or did not put in. Nobody here does. Heck, I look at how this team was coached and I question whether the coaches put in the work to be good, not even great. How bout dat?

That’s fair. I have made my feelings known about the new hires Lon made, but Lon did not suddenly forget how to coach. If another year passes and we see no individual improvements with new faces, then I believe we need to make wholesale changes to the assistants, with only crutch being safe. Lon won’t fire his son, so let’s hope we see some improvements.

 

[opsooner]

Ummm, even when OU was ranked #5 you were expecting a Final Four run from this team?

I wasn’t expecting it but I thought it was possible. I didn’t expect Texas Tech and KSU to almost get there. I definitely did expect more from OU after the pre-conf schedule than I had expected at start of season.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[WTSooner]

That’s fair. I have made my feelings known about the new hires Lon made, but Lon did not suddenly forget how to coach. If another year passes and we see no individual improvements with new faces, then I believe we need to make wholesale changes to the assistants, with only crutch being safe. Lon won’t fire his son, so let’s hope we see some improvements.

I agree that "Lon didn't forget how to coach", but this entire team looked ill-prepared at time. Hard to place the blame all on the players, when just about every player had the same issues. That is a coaching/system problem, IMO.

 

[BoulderSooner]

ou finished 6th in the big 12 just where they were picked to finish ou was not in the last 4 in

 

[pnkranger]

As someone who has coached kids that are entitled and don't want to get better, I can tell you that no amount of coaching cures that.

 

[mict085]

It’s always a red flag when several players leave, but with this team it should be expected. They were soft and lacked fight, even quit. Lon is doing what is necessary to try and fix it. I don’t know what some of you expected, but if players aren’t buying in and are creating a divided locker room, then they have to go.

Yes, Lon recruited them and he’s made mistakes too. However, he’s going about fixing it now.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

As someone who has coached kids that are entitled and don't want to get better, I can tell you that no amount of coaching cures that.

well, you could sit them on the bench and make them earn minutes

 

[stormspencer]

well, you could sit them on the bench and make them earn minutes

It appears that is what Lon did with Kam. However, it also appears this move soured Kam's attitude....and thus he's gone. I don't know enough about the situation internally, but if this is indeed the case, I would rather move forward without him. All parties are at fault here.

 

[Jccouger]

So Tiny Gallon, Willie Warren, and Tommy Mason Griffen are leaving.

Looks like we will be signing CJ Washington, Nicholas Thompson & Carl Blair JR.