Trae Young

[kfaerber]

His dad just tweeted that two writers for the Norman Transcript are the reason Trae will not be attending OU.

 

[OUHoops]

Link to tweet below. Yikes.

https://twitter.com/rayfordyoung/status/823011382249615360

 

[Soonermarty]

Yikes is right

 

[BCSooners]

Dad seems like an idiot. If he plays bad at KU they will rip him in the media just like everywhere else. Norman transcript has no affiliation with OU.

 

[OUHoops]

And now the tweet is deleted. I don't know why I continue to be interested in recruiting after the crazyness social media has added to the process, but I am.

 

[Stikboy]

It's down.

But anyway, that takes care of that! Seems kind of bush league though. Seems like he's just making any excuse he can. Why would he hold whatever some local rag did against a school?(I don't know what happened)

 

[kfaerber]

And now the tweet is deleted. I don't know why I continue to be interested in recruiting after the crazyness social media has added to the process, but I am.

His dad tweeted that he didn't want to delete it. I really hope they aren't going to discredit Lon's work because of two idiot writers. Everyone knows Trae is amazing. Those writers are just idiots. He'd be appreciated much more than not. I know I've said I want him more than any single football recruit. And I've been a football fan way longer than I have a basketball fan.

 

[OUHoops]

Here's the article Trae's dad linked that drew his ire. I'm gonna be honest, I'm not sure I've ever seen a column critique a high school program before. Then again, I've never read the Transcript's high school stuff.

http://www.normantranscript.com/spo...cle_9c2459f7-f90e-5137-9195-6352484ead80.html

Timberwolves going nowhere playing like this

SHAWNEE — It’s unclear if the Norman North boys have what it takes to back to the Class 6A state tournament.

Ranked fifth behind Union, Edmond North, Midwest City and Westmoore, there may be a line of demarcation behind the Jaguars.

It’s true, North beat Westmoore back on Jan. 3. On the other hand, the Jaguars never lost to … Stillwater.

So, it’s unclear if the Timberwolves are going back to the state tourney. However, it's abundantly clear they won’t sniff it if they make their home anywhere near the same time zone and zip code they found themselves in against the Pioneers late Friday night.

There are 32 teams in Class 6A and the coaches, at least momentarily, do not see fit to place Stillwater among the top 20.

Nevertheless, the Pioneers beat the Timberwolves 80-77 in the semifinal round of the Shawnee Invitational.

It was quaint the way Stillwater celebrated like they’d just won their own regional. Probably, that’s as good as it will get for the Pioneers this season. Also, they deserved it.

Stillwater played harder than North. Stillwater played smarter than North. Stillwater played more defense than North.

Though North, not Stillwater, boasted a deep athletic advantage. The Pioneers were quicker than the T-Wolves, too, simply because they reacted faster. That tends to happen when one team’s more interested than the other.

Trae Young netted 44 points. Yet, he also made 1 of 10 from 3-point land, with 9 of the 10 attempts coming from more than a full stride from beyond the arc.

The deepest one he took, if you can believe it, came with a foot placed along the volleyball dividing line between up and back, almost twice as close to half court as the top of the key. The first one he attempted from within a couple feet of the arc came with 3 minutes remaining.

A minute later, he fouled out. Worse, he fouled out because one of his five fouls was a technical foul taken in the second quarter.

On the other hand, he wasn’t alone. Senior post Charlie Kolar took a technical, too, leading to his fouling out with 2:35 remaining in the third quarter.

A third teammate did, as well, though it wasn’t clear who. What was clear was it was for chirping near the end of the bench, a good 20 feet or more from where coach Bryan Merritt was standing directing his team.

You can’t take technical fouls because A) you can’t take them; B) it almost guarantees you’re not going to get the close calls the rest of the game; and C) it means your best player, and the state’s best player, fouls out early in what was then a three-point game and your best big man goes out early, too, taking his 10 rebounds with him.

Young can’t be shooting from the parking lot. It’s one thing to try to get yourself going, but four first-quarter trifecta tries from nowhere near the arc? Maybe run a pick for him. Maybe try to get him a good look from 22 feet instead of a bad one from 27.

There were times North appeared decidedly uninterested, frustrated, done. And when the T-Wolves appeared interested and in it, even when all five on the court appeared interested, they didn’t appear interested together.

North might have played 4 good minutes, closing from down double digits to withing 47-45 in the third quarter and from down 71-57 to within 73-70 in the fourth.

That was it.

One wonders what’s wrong. One wonders how Stillwater, somehow, got 39 points better between Dec. 6 and Thursday; because way back when, the second game of the season, the T-Wolves throttled the Pioneers 89-53.

The good news?

The good news is North just got its worst game of the season out of the way.

It must have.

It can't be this bad again.

A state tourney team?

It seems like it should be. It still has state’s most dangerous player and a supporting cast that’s plenty strong enough to get there.

But not like this.

Never again like this.

There’s an old basketball cliche: play hard, play smart, play together.

Maybe the T-Wolves could start there.

 

[pnkranger]

Time to let him go and fill the ship with a point guard ASAP. LOn has had trouble getting a solid true PG in the program...but he has done a fine job developing them.

Also, the criticism of Trae is valid. I've watched him play enough to know that he'/ doing his best curry imitation at the expense of playing good basketball.

 

[AdaSooner]

Here's the article Trae's dad linked that drew his ire. I'm gonna be honest, I'm not sure I've ever seen a column critique a high school program before. Then again, I've never read the Transcript's high school stuff.

http://www.normantranscript.com/spo...cle_9c2459f7-f90e-5137-9195-6352484ead80.html

I'll go one step further. Nothing in that hatchet job makes me want to read another Horning column.

Geeeez! He's writing about high school kids. If I had a son on that team, I wouldn't like it either.

 

[sooner 1234]

Dad seems like an idiot. If he plays bad at KU they will rip him in the media just like everywhere else. Norman transcript has no affiliation with OU.

We will dodge a bullet with this player/father .

We have a great core of young players that will take ou back to elite status within a couple years .
Players with crazy parents can rip a team apart .
Besides we need a true pg , we already have two scorers

A good talent , but with that a parent like that he could be a huge cancer .

Ryan Humprehy all over again . Hopefully we pass and focus on a new target

 

[MsProudSooner]

I'll go one step further. Nothing in that hatchet job makes me want to read another Horning column.

Geeeez! He's writing about high school kids. If I had a son on that team, I wouldn't like it either.

I don't ever remember seeing an article about a high school game like that unless there was some kind of egregious misbehavior by the players, coach or fans such as fights breaking out.

With some writers, you are surprised when they write a bad article. With Horning, you are surprised when he writes a good one.

 

[AdaSooner]

I don't ever remember seeing an article about a high school game like that unless there was some kind of egregious misbehavior by the players, coach or fans such as fights breaking out.

With some writers, you are surprised when they write a bad article. With Horning, you are surprised when he writes a good one.

Pretty sad, if you ask me. A knuckle sandwich might change his attitude and soften his heart at the same time. If he continues to single out players by name and write unkind things about them, a disgruntled father may give him what he deserves someday.

 

[Big Old Booger]

Dad is just trying to get some NT writers fired it seems to me.

 

[TINY]

Dad is just trying to get some NT writers fired it seems to me.

Heres to hoping clay gets canned along with just about everyone else at the ok newspapers who continue to write ou smear jobs.

 

[coolm]

well ... I know a bunch of busybody guys at the courthouse and northside who are all concerned about trae's career because thats a macho thing I guess and they claim to be friendly with the dad and blah blah blah.

I hear stories and gossip all the time and, frankly, I want nothing to do with him or it or his dad or any of the other crap. Yeah he's a great player but if it's going to be all this personal crap over the team then I'd rather get someone else.

 

[oudna]

Nobody has ever liked Horning.

But I highly doubt that's the real reason.

 

[j2d2]

Emig is the best sports writer on OU, period.

 

[garyeb2]

Nobody has ever liked Horning.

But I highly doubt that's the real reason.

I like Horning. And this whole thing is starting to remind me of the Stevie Clark drama.

 

[WaymanFan]

Psychology 101 - His dad does not like OU and he's simply going out of his way to justify why he doesn't want his son to go there. Whether you like or don't like someone or something, you'll find a reason to justify your thinking...and you usually won't have to try that hard. If that Norman writer chose to treat a high school kid like a high school kid, Trae's dad would have simply found another reason to say his son won't go to OU.

What this comes down to is how much Trae is influenced by his dad. There is obviously someone in his family (his mom?) who wants him to go to OU or he would have eliminated them a long time ago.