Uzan's struggles

[WichitaSooner]

This is the biggest mystery of the season for me. A couple of the new guys have been better than I expected, and a couple have been about what I anticipated. I expected Oweh to make a leap, and he has, although he is leveling off a bit in conference play. But I also though Los would take a big jump. His numbers last year were solid, but I thought his play was much better than the numbers. He was poised, confident, always seemed to make the right play, and even though he didn't shoot a lot, he seemed confident when he did.

It's hard to understand what is happening. He looks like a shell of himself, and seems to have no confidence. I don't think we need him to score 20 a night, but 8.7 on inefficient shooting on all levels is just not going to get it done. We don't have two guys combining for 40 per game like KU does, which lets Harris get away with being a passer who rarely looks to score. Los has only cracked double digits 8 times, and a couple of those games were right at 10 points. We are seeing how much tougher it is for JM to control games in the Big 12. He needs some help, and Los needs to be that guy. I don't think anyone else on the roster is capable of drastically upping their production. If Los could get to 12-13 per game on improved shooting, it would make a big difference.

In the first month of the season, I was very concerned with his play, but saw a lot of people saying he was fine, it was early, his game would come along. We are now nearly two-thirds of the way into the season, and I am worried that it just might not happen for him this year. I have been trying to think of any recent OU comps for him, and nothing comes to mind as far as a guy who was so good as a freshman, but took a noticeable step back in year two.

I recognize that he still does some good things, and that stats don't always reflect that. But I think we all agree that we had higher expectations for him than being a steady role player. I mentioned in the thread Saturday that even though Oweh sometimes makes some overly aggressive, silly mistakes, I would rather have that than Uzan being invisible for long stretches and never even looking to attack or create. We need him to somehow find his confidence and start playing to the level we all expected.

 

[Boom Soon]

I think a fair comparison would be Jamal Beinemy. (I think that was his name). I remember he was a critical member of the team in 2018-2019 then really didn’t make a jump from freshman to sophomore year. I think he ended up transferring down to G5 and doing quite well.

 

[TINY]

His shot looks flatter to me. His stroke last year was picturesque.

On the other hand, everyone else’s shooting form looks to have improved. It really is weird.

On the bright side, there is little chance he is going pro after this year. I still expect much better days ahead for him this year and beyond.

 

[OrlandoSooner]

I feel like he can get his shot from 10 feet almost any time he wants. I'd like to see him get a couple more of those early in a game to get him in a better rhythm. It just seems like he has lost a bit of touch on his 3 ball. Seeing the ball go through the rim early helps the shooter confidence.

 

[allday92]

He's a sophomore.

Last year he was probably 3rd or 4th on the scouting report behind Sherfield, T. Groves and maybe Hill. Now he's at the top. Teams are taking away his spots, especially in the paint where he likes to get to his floater. It's an adjustment, but he's talented enough to grow and take another leap. Paul Jesperson should help here with his time from the Hawks. He needs minutes with Luke more than anything. Moser needs to make the switch to a 5 out offense.

 

[CoachTalk]

Finding myself in the same boat with milos

 

[WaymanFan]

I think we can all agree that we expected more. Kelvin Sampson used to say players would usually make the biggest leap between their freshman and sophomore years. That is probably why Milos appeared on so many 2024 NBA Mock Draft boards. Unless he turns things around, he won't be appearing on any more of those. The Texas game confirmed my biggest fear of this team - no "go to" player when needing a score in conference play.

 

[TEvans4Three]

The key to Milos success has to do with him and a little bit of the offense.

He is best when he is aggressive, attacking the paint. The way he can maneuver and get to a spot is incredible.

That being said, he doesn't do that nearly enough and it seems when he does, our offense is a bit too stagnant to take advantage. Our backside movement in a motion offense is absolutely abhorrent. It drives me insane. Not to mention, our bigs just haven't been the offensive juggs we need. I know I will get flack for this, but Tanner would flourish with these guards opening the middle of the floor for him. Granted, he would get eaten alive on the defensive side, that is not my point.

Los is best when attacking, he needs to do it more but we need more off ball movement to make our offense more efficient and ready for Los.

(probably a bit too much Los hype, but man, can he look smooth when he attacks)

 

[WichitaSooner]

The key to Milos success has to do with him and a little bit of the offense.

He is best when he is aggressive, attacking the paint. The way he can maneuver and get to a spot is incredible.

That being said, he doesn't do that nearly enough and it seems when he does, our offense is a bit too stagnant to take advantage. Our backside movement in a motion offense is absolutely abhorrent. It drives me insane. Not to mention, our bigs just haven't been the offensive juggs we need. I know I will get flack for this, but Tanner would flourish with these guards opening the middle of the floor for him. Granted, he would get eaten alive on the defensive side, that is not my point.

Los is best when attacking, he needs to do it more but we need more off ball movement to make our offense more efficient and ready for Los.

(probably a bit too much Los hype, but man, can he look smooth when he attacks)

Couldn’t agree more about our lack of movement. When we get in a halfcourt game, we are so stagnant. That’s an example of one of the coaching things that has driven me crazy for three seasons. As the announcers have said, our offense seems like just a constant series of screening and rescreening at the top of the key, and a lot of times, those screens are set way too high. I think it’s safe to say at this point that the halfcourt is going to be a struggle, which has me wishing that we would be more aggressive on D and try to create more turnovers.

 

[TEvans4Three]

Couldn’t agree more about our lack of movement. When we get in a halfcourt game, we are so stagnant. That’s an example of one of the coaching things that has driven me crazy for three seasons. As the announcers have said, our offense seems like just a constant series of screening and rescreening at the top of the key, and a lot of times, those screens are set way too high. I think it’s safe to say at this point that the halfcourt is going to be a struggle, which has me wishing that we would be more aggressive on D and try to create more turnovers.

I hear you and echo a lot of it, but there is a fine line in the coach/player blame (however, a lot does fall on the coach).

The (4 out for us mostly) 5-out motion requires players to move, screen away from the ball, and find open cut lanes. So when you see a high point screen from Godwin up top, they both crash on the PnR, your wings can either slide in and fill the 3pt line to allow a kick out OR notice they are being ball denied by a lazy defender and cut backdoor for an easy bucket.

Our players on the backside of the offense seem to just sit around and watch. There are only so many times a coach can call a timeout and tell people to MOVE without the ball, it should be nonstop in practice. But in game times, guys will get stuck ball watching and allowing a player to attack on his own. Which, with Javian or Los, may leave them out there on an island against a good defense.

It is my issue with motion offenses, you have to have proper bball IQ and player movement without the ball for it to be absolutely dominant. We got away with it early in the year, bc we PnR lower level teams and the kickout was open. We were getting some wide open shots, which led to wide open lanes...and Oweh having a lot of success. When players stand around, defenses can be lazy and deny your main point ball offense.

Also we almost NEVER screen away from the ball and that hurts me.

Maybe we should dedicate a "MOVE MOVE MOVE" coach or GA who just yells at backside players to move and cut without the ball the entire game, I don't know.

TL;DR - We don't cut enough or move enough without the ball in Big12 play and it is killing our offense. I blame both players/coaches.

 

[WichitaSooner]

I hear you and echo a lot of it, but there is a fine line in the coach/player blame (however, a lot does fall on the coach).

The (4 out for us mostly) 5-out motion requires players to move, screen away from the ball, and find open cut lanes. So when you see a high point screen from Godwin up top, they both crash on the PnR, your wings can either slide in and fill the 3pt line to allow a kick out OR notice they are being ball denied by a lazy defender and cut backdoor for an easy bucket.

Our players on the backside of the offense seem to just sit around and watch. There are only so many times a coach can call a timeout and tell people to MOVE without the ball, it should be nonstop in practice. But in game times, guys will get stuck ball watching and allowing a player to attack on his own. Which, with Javian or Los, may leave them out there on an island against a good defense.

It is my issue with motion offenses, you have to have proper bball IQ and player movement without the ball for it to be absolutely dominant. We got away with it early in the year, bc we PnR lower level teams and the kickout was open. We were getting some wide open shots, which led to wide open lanes...and Oweh having a lot of success. When players stand around, defenses can be lazy and deny your main point ball offense.

Also we almost NEVER screen away from the ball and that hurts me.

Maybe we should dedicate a "MOVE MOVE MOVE" coach or GA who just yells at backside players to move and cut without the ball the entire game, I don't know.

TL;DR - We don't cut enough or move enough without the ball in Big12 play and it is killing our offense. I blame both players/coaches.

That's a very good breakdown. At the KU game, my friend who has coached some and is very knowledgeable about Xs and Os commented on some of the issues he saw with the way we run and execute the PnR. The PnR can obviously be a great weapon with the right personnel, which is why NBA teams use it so often.

Do you think we have the right personnel? Godwin obviously isn't a shooter, so he isn't a pick and pop option. It seems like when we feed him rolling to the basket, it doesn't go well. Hugley is at least a threat to shoot, but I don't see him as a guy opposing coaches worry about shooting the three. And our wings aren't really shooters, either. Soares and Moore are much better slashing, and Dart has been so streaky.

One of the things I always hear Self talk about is how he wants the ball to get to the second and third side -- force the defense to move side to side by passing the ball quickly, and moving away from the ball. I always think about that when we go through our stagnant stretches.

 

[TEvans4Three]

That's a very good breakdown. At the KU game, my friend who has coached some and is very knowledgeable about Xs and Os commented on some of the issues he saw with the way we run and execute the PnR. The PnR can obviously be a great weapon with the right personnel, which is why NBA teams use it so often.

Do you think we have the right personnel? Godwin obviously isn't a shooter, so he isn't a pick and pop option. It seems like when we feed him rolling to the basket, it doesn't go well. Hugley is at least a threat to shoot, but I don't see him as a guy opposing coaches worry about shooting the three. And our wings aren't really shooters, either. Soares and Moore are much better slashing, and Dart has been so streaky.

One of the things I always hear Self talk about is how he wants the ball to get to the second and third side -- force the defense to move side to side by passing the ball quickly, and moving away from the ball. I always think about that when we go through our stagnant stretches.

I know CT and SB can chime in probably more than I can as they played/coached higher than myself.

Playing AAU and HS, I played in a lot of motion offensive sets. Coaching (HS level), my preferred is high-low post with traditional bigs...but it is out of style now. Think late 90s early 00s Wisconsin. I trained under Terry Evans and helped him with basketball camps at Midwest City and UCO. We talked basketball theory a lot. One thing that he always preached with me was fundamentals and he loves to run and gun. But he WANTS shooters. (Dan Hayes school of thought in that realm of fundamentals though.)

Looking at our roster this year, it fits more of what Moser wants to run. I think the thing he is missing is his perfect big. High IQ passing big who has a mid/long-range game. I like Godwin for an off the bench big, but he is a G5 starter, not a Big12 starter. Big12 is eating him alive. Hugley IV could be that starter, but he just is not in run-n-gun shape. He is more of a back to the basket big, one-on-one and post move type of player (which we rarely feed down low). The downside is the PnR game those two just are not athletic enough to be consistently dominant there. This is the most space our bigs have had to work with in 3 years, but we just don't efficiently use it in Big12 play.

One thing to note, it is VERY tough to find a dominant athletic big. They all go blue bloods. I think Tanner, with this roster, could have been ideal. We actually can space it out and attack more. You have the threats of shooting WAY more than last year, the lane isn't as clogged.

Oweh should be a cutting machine. I would love to see him go to the Klay or Steph Curry school on moving without the ball camp. I could see him rolling up from a baseline screen, them undercutting it and then an IMMEDIATE backdoor cut for an easy bucket.

Personnel wise, we are so much better fit for the offense than we were last year. We just need to get better at creating those opportunities with off-ball movement. Screening and actually curling to the basket with a fill or flare from the screener would go a long way to making the offense hum a little more.

 

[tmeyer3307]

Los - Best passer and one of if not the best on ball defender on team. He's a real nice player that isn't shooting it great or scoring enough. My guess is that his hope/coaches hope is to get him to that 13-15ppg range and still be the creator for this team/future group.

I think we need to go small with Moore at the 5 a bit more often. Oweh/Soares in at the 3/4 then. Go small/athletic run and gun more.

 

[SoonerDutch]

Really awful execution at the end of H1 against Tech with that rushed shot but seems like he has been playing better offensively in conference season.

Would agree though, one of the bigger disappointments (all relative) so far this season after his play last year.

 

[vbdad]

I love Los’ game but he hasn’t scored like we need. The second half of Tech game was much better. He missed so many easy ones in the first half. He has to score for this team in conference. Our shooters aren’t great so they need wide open looks from guys who have been scoring in the paint.

 

[Seymore Cox]

McCullom is eating up his game. Both are sharing the ball, but McCollum is more alpha,

That was A good thing in the non conference when OU played lesser competition, but now McCullom needs to get under control and Uzan needs to play like a vet.


he also needs to quit leaving his feet to pass the ball.

 

[CoachTalk]

Hope this means we get one more year of Los!

 

[WichitaSooner]

Hope this means we get one more year of Los!

Well, he has zero chance of playing in the NBA next year, so he will be playing college basketball somewhere next season.

 

[allday92]

Hope this means we get one more year of Los!

Fingers crossed! Surround him with more shooting, and his game will take off.

 

[CMSOONER]

Fingers crossed! Surround him with more shooting, and his game will take off.

I mentioned this in the game thread, but Los has improved in every statistical category except shooting. Shooting has dropped significantly, over 10% in each. It's bizarre.