We ARE a One Man Show. Don’t Fight It, Embrace It

[OUSKINS]

We were terrible last year. Basically unwatchable. At least in terms of having a really good reason to tune in to the last half of the season last year. It was brutal.

Now, we are a top 10-15 team and on target for a top 4 seed in the Dance. And yes it is ALL because of TY. With a sprinkling a Manek.

We are absolutely horrendous defensively and during the few minutes per game that TY sits, basically can’t score. The offense is ALL TY. He either creates something easy for someone else or does something ridiculous for himself. In games at the LNC he’s had some help as guys have hit a far higher percentage of shots. But make no mistake— it’s still ALL TY. He either makes it go or it does NOT go. Part of this is due to the limitations of his teammates. Part of it is due to some of the challenges posed when one player is so far superior to everyone else. What I mean by that is a guy like McGusty would likely be having a better year if TY wasn’t here. And OU as a team would be far worse.

TY is a once in a generation talent. He’s a phenom. He is playing on teammwith guys who are not on his planet. We win when he goes bananas. We lose when he is merely awesome. Looks like Lon has some good guys lined up the next few years. Hopefully the program is heading in a direction where they will be consistently good. For right now, I’d say soak this up for what it is and don’t worry about what it isn’t.

 

[Escape Goat]

It wasn’t Mahones throwing for 900 yards unwatchable but they have to get better on defense. It’s a mindset (plus missing James didn’t help), they can find it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Stikboy]

We were terrible last year. Basically unwatchable. At least in terms of having a really good reason to tune in to the last half of the season last year. It was brutal.

Now, we are a top 10-15 team and on target for a top 4 seed in the Dance. And yes it is ALL because of TY. With a sprinkling a Manek.

We are absolutely horrendous defensively and during the few minutes per game that TY sits, basically can’t score. The offense is ALL TY. He either creates something easy for someone else or does something ridiculous for himself. In games at the LNC he’s had some help as guys have hit a far higher percentage of shots. But make no mistake— it’s still ALL TY. He either makes it go or it does NOT go. Part of this is due to the limitations of his teammates. Part of it is due to some of the challenges posed when one player is so far superior to everyone else. What I mean by that is a guy like McGusty would likely be having a better year if TY wasn’t here. And OU as a team would be far worse.

TY is a once in a generation talent. He’s a phenom. He is playing on teammwith guys who are not on his planet. We win when he goes bananas. We lose when he is merely awesome. Looks like Lon has some good guys lined up the next few years. Hopefully the program is heading in a direction where they will be consistently good. For right now, I’d say soak this up for what it is and don’t worry about what it isn’t.

Great post, and thanks for the clarity. As weird as is sounds, I keep wanting Trae to score less so other players will pick up the slack and show OU isn't a one man team. That way we can go farther when Trae inevitably gets shut down in other big games/the tourney. But like you say, it looks like at this point is it what it is, it's all Trae. Thanks for emphasizing what I guess I subconsciously knew. Go Trae!

 

[scrybe]

Some truth to the OP's statements – with a heaping helping of hyperbole mixed in.

This team, minus TY but with Manek and an improved RO and CJ, would win some of the games it lost last season. Still, probably only a borderline tournament team.

 

[ousooners1baby]

Me too stik. However, me thinks we are dreaming instead of being realistic. This team, love em, isn't good.They were playing really well about 8 games in but have since forgot what defense was. Lost some confidence for some reason. In fact, without Trae we are probably looking at a mirror record with last year. And dont get me wrong, I absolutely love Manek and think he'll be a very special guy at OU.

 

[BoulderSooner]

we were a pretty good 4 man show last night

 

[skyvue]

This team, love em, isn't good.

We're 16-5, ranked in the top 15 (top 10 if we win in Austin on Saturday) and have more top 25 and top 10 wins than any team in the country. I hope we're that bad every season for the rest of my life.

 

[CoachTalk]

We're 16-5, ranked in the top 15 (top 10 if we win in Austin on Saturday) and have more top 25 and top 10 wins than any team in the country. I hope we're that bad every season for the rest of my life.

My mind is blown. Folks are saying the 12th ranked team is trash.

What a world we live in...

 

[AdaSooner]

My mind is blown. Folks are saying the 12th ranked team is trash.

What a world we live in...

I didn’t see the word “trash” anywhere, so let’s not go down that road.

Some posters, myself included, are concerned about two things: This team is not very good defensively and our backup players struggle to score. Those are facts supported by plenty of evidence.

They are also flaws that can be corrected. The time to do that is now, not throw up our hands at tournament time and wish we had taken advantage of what may be Trae’s only season.

 

[skyvue]

I didn’t see the word “trash” anywhere, so let’s not go down that road.

Some posters, myself included, are concerned about two things: This team is not very good defensively and our backup players struggle to score. Those are facts supported by plenty of evidence.

They are also flaws that can be corrected. The time to do that is now, not throw up our hands at tournament time and wish we had taken advantage of what may be Trae’s only season.

No one would have argued with "this team, love em, isn't perfect" or "this team, love 'em, still has plenty of room to improve." It certainly isn't and it certainly does, in the areas you described.

But "not good"? Sorry, but given the team's accomplishments this season, that statement is over the top. If some have overreacted in an optimistic sense to the team's successes this year (a fair observation that some have made), others are now overreacting in a negative sense to the current downturn.

 

[ocugolfsooner]

This team actually has quite a bit of talent around Trae. Bunch of highly recruited guys. Doolittle and McGusty were our 2 best players at the end of last season and had great freshman years. But they are both having tremendous sophomore slumps, probably worse than James had last year. They just have not found their rhythm or role on this team with the addition of TY and Manek. Appears to be mental at this point and that can be hard to pull out of. If McGusty and Doolittle can even approach their level of play from last season, this team could make a special run.

 

[coolm]

I'm gonna go ahead and trust Lon on this one. He's experienced enough to not only see the issues but address them at the right time to help the team peak at the right moment.

I think we're destined to be 3rd-4th place in conference and Lon won't be focusing on things to necessarily alter that to the chagrin of peaking at the right time - the Big-12 and NCAA tourney.

This isn't his finished product that he needs to tweak and change like some seem to believe. This is still a work in progress that he wants to be fully realized and playing at its' best at the end of the conference race. He's been doing this long enough and been to enough final fours to know how to do that. I will trust his gameplan.

 

[thebigabd]

I think what many people are seeing is that this team, despite season success, has no chance in March. Or at least that is the concern. It's just a weird team that fans are having a hard time wrapping their head around.

0 bench points, or practically no bench points in multiple games. Guy scoring 40+ multiple times. Seem capable of losing to anyone, or beating anyone... Role players may score 18, or may score 0. Substitution and lineup patterns are weird and changing seemingly every game.

It's a weird team...

 

[Crimson King]

I think what many people are seeing is that this team, despite season success, has no chance in March. Or at least that is the concern.

Totally agree. If the regular season, other than winning the B12 (highly unlikely) meant anything anymore, the unrest wouldn't be as much. But nailbiters at home against second division teams on a night where Trae has 44 and Manek was nearly perfect from the field give one the dread that we will suffer a bitter first-round NCAA loss with a once in a lifetime talent.

 

[oketex]

You guys may eat my lunch for what I'm about to write but here goes: We are a one man show and this is not good. I have seen a lot of basketball in my life and teams that are "One Man Show" don't fair so well. I am glad that Mr. Young is a Sooner and yes I like the fact that he can score but because of his "one man show" others on the team have a tendency to stand around and watch. Mr. Young has a lot of turnovers and part of that is because his team mates are not looking or ready for his passes they are not participating in the game. In order for this team to be really successful everyone on this team must work their butts off and not depend on one man to carry this team, if the others don't step up then our time at the Big Dance will be short and we will be on the sideline looking in.

Just an old man's thoughts

 

[OUSKINS]

You guys may eat my lunch for what I'm about to write but here goes: We are a one man show and this is not good. I have seen a lot of basketball in my life and teams that are "One Man Show" don't fair so well. I am glad that Mr. Young is a Sooner and yes I like the fact that he can score but because of his "one man show" others on the team have a tendency to stand around and watch. Mr. Young has a lot of turnovers and part of that is because his team mates are not looking or ready for his passes they are not participating in the game. In order for this team to be really successful everyone on this team must work their butts off and not depend on one man to carry this team, if the others don't step up then our time at the Big Dance will be short and we will be on the sideline looking in.

Just an old man's thoughts

I partially agree with this.... where I differ is that I think the others are already doing the best they can. I don't mean to bury them, but the cold hard reality is that OU was a bad basketball last year. Perhaps they weren't quite as bad the record indicated, but it was still one of the worst seasons in program history. So we have this team that did not do well at all last year and we add TY and Manek. Now they are hovering around the Top 10. That's about as good as you can possibly hope for.

There isn't anyone else on this team in the same stratosphere with TY. I know some people talk about Jamuni and the NBA, but that is a massive, massive stretch. There aren't any other NBA talents on this team-- not even close. Maybe Manek will blossom into one later in his career, I could see that because he is a special shooter and has great size. But right now, you have one of the best players we've ever seen on a team with guys who set school records for futility last year. This doesn't mean they are all bad players. For example, I really like Odomes. He is tough. He works his tail off. He plays bigger than he is. I also like James in that I think he is a clutch shooter and has skill, although both he and Odomes are under-sized. But we are already probably getting all those guys have to offer.

I don't think TY should ever revert to the way he played in Stillwater. That was extreme and kind of silly. You will never win more than a fluke game playing that individually. But for the most part, he takes what is there and does what the team needs him to do. Sure, in an ideal world, he'd take 17 shots, score 28 points and have a bunch of teammates who fill in the gaps both inside and out and we overwhelm teams with our overall talent. But outside of TY, the talent just isn't there.

Our best bet is to get a good draw, hope the supporting cast hits open shots, and cross our fingers that TY can sustain Superman mode for multiple games in a row-- I think there is evidence that suggests this is very possible.

 

[CoachTalk]

I didn’t see the word “trash” anywhere, so let’s not go down that road.

Some posters, myself included, are concerned about two things: This team is not very good defensively and our backup players struggle to score. Those are facts supported by plenty of evidence.

They are also flaws that can be corrected. The time to do that is now, not throw up our hands at tournament time and wish we had taken advantage of what may be Trae’s only season.

Correct... not “trash” but it was between the lines!!

 

[stormspencer]

I didn’t see the word “trash” anywhere, so let’s not go down that road.

Some posters, myself included, are concerned about two things: This team is not very good defensively and our backup players struggle to score. Those are facts supported by plenty of evidence.

They are also flaws that can be corrected. The time to do that is now, not throw up our hands at tournament time and wish we had taken advantage of what may be Trae’s only season.

Agree 100% Ada. I think a better way of phrasing our team currently is that we are not playing our best right now because of some of glaring deficiencies.....those being the two you mentioned above. There are two ways of looking at this. One, we are in the midst of a mid-conference slump (not so much record wise, but certainly execution/effort) and that we do have some answers to those issues above. The other way of looking at this is that we've been "figured out" and will be further exploited as the season progresses. I hope it is the former.

 

[inoref]

I think the deal with this team and it stands out or does IMO..We have one very good player with TY then some very avg players. It's almost like other team are leaving one player not covered and taking their chances that the one TY can get the ball to won't hurt them. Now when OU is hot and playing well those tactics don't work out so good for the other team but when it does most of the OU games will be a dog fight down to the wire.

 

[oudna]

We were terrible last year. Basically unwatchable. At least in terms of having a really good reason to tune in to the last half of the season last year. It was brutal.

Now, we are a top 10-15 team and on target for a top 4 seed in the Dance. And yes it is ALL because of TY. With a sprinkling a Manek.

We are absolutely horrendous defensively and during the few minutes per game that TY sits, basically can’t score. The offense is ALL TY. He either creates something easy for someone else or does something ridiculous for himself. In games at the LNC he’s had some help as guys have hit a far higher percentage of shots. But make no mistake— it’s still ALL TY. He either makes it go or it does NOT go. Part of this is due to the limitations of his teammates. Part of it is due to some of the challenges posed when one player is so far superior to everyone else. What I mean by that is a guy like McGusty would likely be having a better year if TY wasn’t here. And OU as a team would be far worse.

TY is a once in a generation talent. He’s a phenom. He is playing on teammwith guys who are not on his planet. We win when he goes bananas. We lose when he is merely awesome. Looks like Lon has some good guys lined up the next few years. Hopefully the program is heading in a direction where they will be consistently good. For right now, I’d say soak this up for what it is and don’t worry about what it isn’t.

I agree it’s largely a one-man show.

Though by ripping the defense while not acknowledging Young is at best our second worst defender seems disingenuous.