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 know our record didn't prove well, but not sure I would classify last years team as "terrible".
Lost to Northern Iowa by 3 in OT. (Should have won that game we were up 20 at one point)
Lost to Wichita State in OKC by 3. We were leading the entire game.
Lost to Memphis in OT. (Lawson bros, Kansas guys now)
Lost to Auburn by 4. Had a really slow start (which was our problem last year. Close game though)
Lost to TCU by 3. (winning at half time)
*beat a tough WVU team at WVU*
Lost in 2OT to (great) Iowa State. Such a tough break.
Lost by 1 against Texas at the buzzer (TWICE). Couldn't close games! Too young.
Lost to OSU by 2 and 4. Should have won the game in Norman. Forte made 3-4 threes in a row.
You split these games and you are 17-16 and borderline NCAA team. But, definitely NIT (similar record as TCU)
Also, why is it bad to have a clear best player on your roster? It isn't bad to have a go to guy (glue guy) on your team! You have to have a best player. The reason we couldn't win games last year is because no one wanted the ball at the end of the game! We have two others that are more than capable shooters (manek and james). Two post guys that have better than average moves and are insane rim protectors. We a great driving/slashing and defender in Odomes. I think sometimes we forget how good this guy is on defense.
Yes, we have 4 guys that are struggling (sophomore slumps). But I do have a couple of points to their defense. Shep has such a tough job of picking up where Trae left off. What do we expect? Also, he is getting 10 min a game. Not enough time to play through mistakes. We are seeing a prime example of why Non con games are so important in Doolittle. Mcgusty plays a lot of one on one ball. He is having a hard time adapting to moving without the ball (James does this super well). Freeman, honestly is just out matched out there. Not sure I see him staying long.
Many teams play 6 rotational guy consistently and throw in others for breaks. We have a great 6 players and 3 others that are slumping, but man are they better than some of the options we had 3-4 years ago.
Final thoughts on my rant. The Buddy team didn't have a deep bench, at all. Teams that win the Tournament (or get to the final four) aren't always the most well rounded. It is who gets hot. Here is to hoping we are like the 2011 UCONN team with Kemba. That team lost 9 games that year and got hot at the right time behind an insane player.
