What Was Lon Kruger Brought Here To Do?

[MsProudSooner]

Was he brought her to take a good program to the next level? No, he was brought here to revive a program, to restore respectability to a program that that had sunk to perhaps the worst it had ever been since Go-Go Stevens was here in the 1960s. Is he doing that? If your answer is anything but yes, you weren’t paying attention to the 2 years prior to his arrival. When he first arrived, the fans were just tickled that the team had learned a little bit about help defense.

I read a post earlier that mentioned that we only had to replace Cameron Clark from last year’s team. That’s true, but perhaps we are overlooking the experience that Cam brought to that team and how valuable that was to the team. The only senior on this team is playing in his first and only Big XII season and frankly, except for Cam, I don’t think the juniors ever had solid upper classmen to learn from. Young players always learn from the way upper classmen conduct themselves in games, as well as from their coaches.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, right now, this team is lacking in confidence and toughness – mental and physical -in close games. They need a leader on the court to show them the way. I have no idea if any of the current players have the type of personality to be that kind of leader or not.

Is this team better than when Kruger arrived? Damn right they are. Are they where they want to be or where the fans want them to be? Not yet. Are fans too impatient? Almost always.

 

[bocabull]

Lon is doing exactly what he was brought here to do. Build a stable foundation of 20 win teams who consistently make the dance. He's not taking recruiting risks that would jeopardize this goal.

For us to take the program up a notch the caliber of talent would have to improve. He's not a magician and when the Baylors, Kansas States, West Virginias and Iowa States of the world have comparable talent & coaching we will likely split those games.

The good news is we have not lost to any of the bottom feeders (TCU, Texas Tech & Okie St) and have the chance to sweep Texas & split with Kansas. It would be a great success to sweep the bottom feeders & Texas while splitting with Kansas and our peers. That would put us at 13-5 which would be a fabulous finish. Hopefully Cousins injury is no big deal.

 

[OUSKINS]

For me, regression is the issue here. I understand OU does not have elite talent and likely will not under Lon. I am OK with that and willing to accept a perennial 20 win team with a rebuilding year here or there--- but I'd also like a year here and there where they maybe step up in class. I thought they had a chance to do that this year and they've actually taken a step back.

Thomas has been a net negative compared to Cam. We are worse off so far from that exchange, which is disappointing. Spangler, Woodard, Booker are three guys who I believe are LESS effective than they were last year. Buddy and DJ are about the same. Cousins is really the only guy I think has clearly improved.

We are overrated right and lucky to benefit from early season hype. If you look at our season, that looks like a bubble team resume to me; we are fortunate that most consider us a lock still at this point.

Very blah season thus far. Very disappointing.

 

[MsProudSooner]

For me, regression is the issue here. I understand OU does not have elite talent and likely will not under Lon. I am OK with that and willing to accept a perennial 20 win team with a rebuilding year here or there--- but I'd also like a year here and there where they maybe step up in class. I thought they had a chance to do that this year and they've actually taken a step back.

Thomas has been a net negative compared to Cam. We are worse off so far from that exchange, which is disappointing. Spangler, Woodard, Booker are three guys who I believe are LESS effective than they were last year. Buddy and DJ are about the same. Cousins is really the only guy I think has clearly improved.

We are overrated right and lucky to benefit from early season hype. If you look at our season, that looks like a bubble team resume to me; we are fortunate that most consider us a lock still at this point.

Very blah season thus far. Very disappointing.

I don't compare Thomas to Cam. We don't get to say would we rather have Cam or Thomas. I ask myself are we better off with Thomas in this year than without Thomas this year. I think we are better off with him. But, he, like some other players on the team has been bit the inconsistent bug.

 

[bgrch1350]

We have a terrible bench. You can deny it all you want it doesn't make it any less real. The loss of Hornbeak and Buford was huge. Baylor had 19 points off their bench and we had 6. We're losing to teams with better benches.

 

[garyeb2]

We have a terrible bench. You can deny it all you want it doesn't make it any less real. The loss of Hornbeak and Buford was huge. Baylor had 19 points off their bench and we had 6. We're losing to teams with better benches.

Baylor does have a better bench. It's name is Prince. They have their starters plus one guy that are pretty good.

 

[MercedeSooner]

OU BBall fans should expect success and at a high level.

 

[MsProudSooner]

OU BBall fans should expect success and at a high level.

No one says that they shouldn't. But it takes longer to get where you want to be when you do things the right way rather than the wrong way.

 

[Options]

3 and 3 is not very good

 

[Sooner Season]

3 and 4 is worse

 

[WTSooner]

OU BBall fans should expect success and at a high level.

Define high level?