What Joe Lunardi has to say about OU.....

[WTSooner]

And I wouldn't say West Virginia is literally 'better' than OU, but I would say that OU went a little above their head and got that road victory. Especially falling behind like that. You can't say it was a good road win without at least implying OU played above an expectation. Otherwise, did anyone believe before the season that winning @Morgantown would be par for the course?

Nonsense. OU has now beaten WVU twice, and he haven't even played them in Norman yet. A neutral site win, and a road win. The only thing that made that game in Morgantown even close was that they were unconscious from 3 in the first half. Without that, OU probably wins by 15-20.

The before the season stuff doesn't matter either. We all thought, on paper, that WVU should be better than they obviously are. They aren't a very good team. It happens. Same with UT. Sure Kobango would help, but I think it's safe to say they haven't lived up to the hype either. KSU appears to be a little better than most of us thought they might be.

My question to you - what is a reasonable expectation?
In other words, who remaining on our schedule are we "not better than"?

Kansas is definitely better than us.

Baylor is probably better than us, but they haven't played up to their talent level yet, and their lack of coaching and style of play make them "upsetable".

And I'd argue that KSU is probably a little better than us, mostly based on their experience level at the guard positions. Their "best" might not be much better than our "best", but I think they are going to be able to bring their best more consistently than us.

To me.....that is it. OSU might have more talent, but I've seen enough to say we're at least as good of a team as they are. I think we're better than ISU, but their multitude of 3 point gunners means they can upset anybody on any night.

I expect this team to finish the Big 12 with a record of 9-9, 10-8, or 11-7. I think 10-8 gets us Dancing if we win one Big 12 Tourney game. 11-7 we're probably in no matter what. 9-9, we'd probably need to be in 5th place alone in the Big 12, and we'd probably need to win 2 Big 12 Tourney games, and that MIGHT get us in.

That is why I harp on that stupid SFA game so much. Sure, that game doesn't mean much most seasons. But this OU team has bubble written all over it. And that one loss.....that one OOC game against a team like SFA.....that might mean the difference in us getting in or not.

Edit:
I should add that while I think OU is better than ISU, OSU, UT, and the others, outside of TCU that gap isn't very wide. But part of being a good team is beating the teams you should. I firmly believe OU should be able to beat TCU, TT, and WVU twice. @TT is probably the toughest game left out of those 6. But I also believe we can pull an upset and beat a Baylor or KSU at home.

 

[skyvue]

that one OOC game against a team like SFA

By which I assume you mean a team that has a good shot of being in the tourney themselves?

 

[WTSooner]

By which I assume you mean a team that has a good shot of being in the tourney themselves?

I'm not sure why you are so hung up on that.

They play in a terrible conference. Not every team that gets an "auto-birth" qualifies for the "good team" label.

I'm not saying they suck. They are a good team for what they are. But that is a game that could come back to bite OU, regardless of whether or not they win their crappy conference.

 

[skyvue]

I'm not sure why you are so hung up on that.

I'm hung up?

Funny, and here I thought it was you who was hung on the SFA loss; you mention it over and over. I'd never bring it up on my own, believe me.

 

[DenverSooner]

I'm not sure why you are so hung up on that.

They play in a terrible conference. Not every team that gets an "auto-birth" qualifies for the "good team" label.

I'm not saying they suck. They are a good team for what they are. But that is a game that could come back to bite OU, regardless of whether or not they win their crappy conference.

That one, the Arkansas game, and the second half of the KSU game are the ones that hurt right now. Expecially the first two. If OU had won those first two games they would be ranked.

 

[AdaSooner]

You are probably right about the number of invites, but I've been listening to the KC sports media and the guys I listen to were saying 3 teams most likely, maybe 4.

BOB, maybe you need to find another radio station.

I realize the Big 12 is not as strong as it used to be. Still, when was the last time the B-12 had fewer than four teams in the dance? I could be wrong, but I honestly don't remember that ever happening. I'll buy four teams, but definitely not three or less.

 

[WTSooner]

I'm hung up?

Funny, and here I thought it was you who was hung on the SFA loss; you mention it over and over. I'd never bring it up on my own, believe me.

Yes, you are right. When discussing OU and our Tournament chances, I do bring up a loss to a team that is likely to finish somewhere between 80-120 in the final RPI.

 

[skyvue]

Yes, you are right. When discussing OU and our Tournament chances, I do bring up a loss to a team that is likely to finish somewhere between 80-120 in the final RPI.

And when you do, I'm more than happy to point out that they're currently 17-1, have an excellent shot at being a tourney team, and have been praised by more than one national commentator, who said that losing to them was no shame because they're pretty darned good.

I know RPI matters, but it's not all that matters. You seem convinced that it is.

 

[stoops4pres]

The question though is if being in the top 4, or 4th place in the conference is good enough? KU is in unless they lose every game, which isn't happening. KSU is likely in with their non-con wins. Then you have OSU and us at this point.

We need to beat KU at home, because that could separate us from KSU providing we beat KSU at home too.

The Big 12 is so poor this year it would not surprise me at all if we only got 3 teams in the dance, and maybe even just 2, but 3 is likely. 4, IMO, is a reach.

Regardless, if we finish 10-8 or even 9-9, I will be happy because we are headed in the right direction and OU basketball means something again. I'd just hate it for Osby if we didn't make it to the tourney. He deserves to showcase his skills on the big stage.

Read my mind.

 

[campbest]

SFA drops two conference games, they will need to win their tournament to get a bid. It's not a bad loss right now, but a slip-up at Sam Houston or somewhere else will immediately make it one.

 

[ouwxman]

To get to 10 wins in conference, we need to win 6 more games in the next 13. Just looking at OU's schedule over the last 8 games, I think they can win 6 there. To make the tournament, I think we will either need to win all of the games we're expected to win or steal a game or two against KU, K-State, or Baylor. If we go 0-6 against them, it'll be tough. But, I think we have a decent shot against K-State and Baylor at home.
vs. TCU
@OSU
@TTU
vs. Baylor
@UT
vs. Iowa State
vs. WVU
@TCU

 

[WTSooner]

So.....SFA lost today. Is it a bad loss yet?

 

[Ham]

It's only a bad loss if it keeps us out of the dance.

 

[sanguinetti]

Lunardi owes his cushy ESPN gig to Jerry Palm (who used to do Lunardi's job for free on his website).....and i think Joe is a tool....but he's i think he's right about us.

we're an NIT team. and that's OK with me. we are getting there but we are what we are. we beat OSU and a mediocre Texas team at home. we should. let's not jump up and down too much.

this is a .500 conference team all said and done imo.

nothing wrong with that.

 

[schoonerdriver]

So.....SFA lost today. Is it a bad loss yet?

They lost on the road to a team OU had beaten. It's a wash.

 

[garyeb2]

Doesn't SFA have a higher RPI than the worst teams in the Big 12? If so wouldn't that mean that there are worse losses available for all conference teams than OU's to SFA? I'm sure one of the stat Einsteins can answere that one.

 

[DenverSooner]

Peaked my @$$. Suck it Lunardi.

I say this team has a shot at becoming a Sweet 16 team. I think they make the tournament, win round one and are in a competitive game in round two.

I think these guys finish 12-6 in conference play.

 

[bocabull]

Our RPI is at #16 after 19 games and 7 conference games. At a certain point we are what we are which is a legit top 25 team that continues to improve.

There is nothing flukey about what we are doing. The talent is there & our biggest weakness is handling pressure due to some inexperience at guard which time will cure.

 

[WTSooner]

The talent is there & our biggest weakness is handling pressure due to some inexperience at guard which time will cure.

Our biggest may end up being rebounding against teams with "good" bigs. KU and Baylor kicked our butt in that regards.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

After the past few years, the OU program has to fight to earn respect. Just keep winning, and the respect will come. The respect will have been earned.

Four road wins (so far) helps a lot.
Getting the road win in Waco helps a lot.
Beating K-State on Saturday will be huge.

During most of the past 35 years, it was considered the normal course of events for OU to beat just about anybody at the LNC. It would be nice to return to that. Coach Kruger could be the man to get it done.