You claim to be some kind of an OU fan. But, you don't seem to know what the standard of performance is around here. For literaly a generation, a top 40 10/11 seed type of team was kind of a down year.
A 6th place league finsh is exactly like a 10th place finish. It isn't good enough. I don't have anything against the kids on a personal level. Or do I hold it against them. I don't blame any of them for wanting to come to Oklahoma to play basketball.
Capel is the one that rounded up a bunch of mid-major talent. And now Kruger has to play a BCS conference schedule with them. I know you don't like the mid-major reference. But, you don't seem to uderstand that a good mid-major wouldn't have much trouble finishing 6th in the Big12.
If you want to lower the goals and the expectations for OU Basketball just so you can build a case that you favorite players are great, that is your business.
I'm not going along with it. Kruger said that his goal is for OU to be a top 20 team every year. I'm with him. OU has been beaten by the only 4 top 40 caliber teams that they have caught this season for the very simple reason that the other teams had better players. That is a strong indicater of a talent problem.
OU will never be a good team again on the backs of the Capel leftovers. It will take new players that are better.
It's tough to have conversations with you because you are ALL over the place. You are arguing several completely different points within the same post, mixing them all together. It makes no sense.
Goals and expectations for THIS OU team, and goals and expectations for OU's program both in the past and going forward are completely different. They have nothing to do with one another. Yes, there isn't a fan in the country that would try to convince you OU's talent is up to par with where it's been in the past, or where it needs to be in the future to achieve the things Kelvin did for over a decade. There is no debating that.
What is up for debate, apparently, is exactly how much talent the current roster has. Without Newell, and with both Cam and Neal playing like crap, I think we have the talent to win 5-6 games. Increase that by a game or two if Cam starts playing AT LEAST like he has in the past.
My biggest issue with you Gary is that you want to dog our best players, and assume THEY are the reason we don't have the talent to be better as a team this year. I think that is complete crap. Steven Pledger is not the reason we won't make the Dance this year. And for that matter, Andrew Fitzgerald, including all his faults, won't be the reason either. Plug either one of those guys into most past OU teams, and those teams would be just as good as they were. Plug Fitz in for Gray, or probably even Bookout. Plug Pledger in for Michael Neal, or Tim Heskett, or Tony Crocker, or Cade Davis, or David Godbold, all players that started MULTIPLE games on good OU teams.....and those OU teams don't miss a beat.
You are right, Pledger and Fitz both have limitations that keep them from being on the level of Hollis, or Najera. So? That doesn't make them mid major players like you keep saying. And the fact that you keep saying that makes you look like you know NOTHING about the sport of basketball. I'm sorry, but it's an insane comment to make that is simply 100% false and incorrect.
This team's "talent issue" is mostly at the other spots, and on the bench. This is probably OU's worst bench, possibly excluding last year, in the last 15+ years. Without Newell, we have ZERO true guards on the bench. How good can a team be with ZERO guards on the bench? I don't care who you are starting, that will kill you. Also, when Cam plays like he has much of this season, we're essentially starting a guy that would be getting next to no minutes if we had normal depth. And as much as you love Grooms, OU would be much better off having a pg that could consistently score the ball (or at least be a threat in that manner) at this time, given our lack of scoring everywhere else. Grooms only works as a pg if he has talent all over the court. OU currently doesn't have that.
You may be right about OU not making it back to the top 25 until most of these guys are gone. But that is misleading since most of them will be gone after next season, and it's a little bit overly optimistic to expect either Hield or Hornbeak to come in and take major minutes from these upperclassmen, no matter how talented they are. Of course, if Cam keeps playing this badly, it may be possible to actually beat him out.
This team doesn't need a major overall to make it back to the top 25. It's need production at the 3 spot, and it needs better/deeper bench play. That alone gets OU back to a decent spot, and in time LK will make the adjustments to get us all the way back. Nobody, except for you I guess, expected LK to turn this around immediately.
And don't ever question my expectations for this program. I can assure you they are probably as high as anybody on this board.
