What's your big question about this team?

[MNsooner]

Mine is rebounding. We lost the majority of our rebounding last year. Whose going to step up and be our guy grabbing the boards? I think most of us are pretty sure that if nothing else we'll get boards from Spangler, but we'll probably need some of our perimeter players and Cam Clark to do more work on the glass. Will Bennett get boards? Hamilton? That'd take a lot of pressure off our guards and help them run ahead of the defense in transition.

So, what's your big question for this years team?

 

[pnkranger]

Not too worried about rebounding because we've got some really good rebounding guards and size around the perimeter. Buddy, Hornbeak, and Cam are all really good rebounders, as well as Spangler and Bennett. It will be a weakness against big teams, but I think we can deal with that for the most part.

My big question is depth in the post. Clark, Neal, and Hamilton are going to need to give good minutes in the post or we're sunk. Will be important to see how Bennett and Spangler play in game action.

 

[garyeb2]

My only questions are of the abstract variety. How will the respond to adversity? Do they have the will and determination to compete to the end and finish games?

 

[WTSooner]

My biggest is half court offense, and I guess if you broke that down further, jump shooting. I don't think we have the athletes to get easy, open shots in the half court against the good teams. Last year we had 2 guys that were able to knock down tough jumpers at a rate that made us fairly good on offense. Will we have that this year? Because I don't think the ball pressure, pressing defense will create a bunch of layups against the top half of the Big 12.

Second question would be half court defense against good teams. I know we'll be able to pressure and trap in space, and create turnovers. But will we be able to defend well, as a TEAM, for 35 seconds, without getting beat off the dribble, or missing a rotation? Young teams struggle with that.

 

[AdaSooner]

I said on another thread that our post depth worries me some. I expect Bennett to start with Spangler when he recovers from his injury. But the only reliable back up we've got (Cam) is a tweener three who will be forced into action at the four if someone gets in foul trouble.

I have no idea what to expect from Hamilton at this point? If he continues to improve, I'll feel better about our depth. The same is true of Neal. He can help us on offense if he is hitting his shots. If not, he's too much of a liability on defense to be on the floor too long. I really like Tyler, so I would love to be wrong about him.

My main concern, though, is perimeter shooting. I'm somewhat optimistic that two or three guys who are capable of shooting a decent percentage from behind the arc will come through when it counts. Decent to me is 30% or above. I would be thrilled if one or more players averaged 35% or more. Fail to shoot well from the perimeter and it may be tough for this team to score in their half court sets. We don't have a Ro to bail us out by getting points the hard way this year.

 

[opsooner]

I agree with the last two posts - half court offense in general; more specifically the ability to create offense and perimeter shooting.

 

[MNsooner]

My only questions are of the abstract variety. How will the respond to adversity? Do they have the will and determination to compete to the end and finish games?

These are huge questions. Young teams often fold in games when things go bad or don't close out games they should win. We really relied on Osby in those situations last season.

 

[BCSooners]

Half court scoring. Lack of a true post scorer and possible weak perimeter shooting puts a lot of pressure on our guards to get constant penetration. We could see quite a bit of zone as a result.

Also who will be our 8th and 9th man this year, and more importantly how will they play. Will we have 5-8 minutes every game cringing as we hope Neal, Hamilton, and/or booker won't hurt us in their limited playing time.

 

[BigTime]

Where do we get points when the shot clock is winding down in the half court?

 

[CoachTalk]

Mine is 1/2 court offense. That being said... LK doesn't want very much 1/2 Court offense, he wants to get out and go and creat offense from his defense. Limiting how much 1/2 CRT offense to actually be played.

 

[CoachTalk]

Where do we get points when the shot clock is winding down in the half court?

I think our guards can create, cousins has some "street" baller in him. Buddy can get his own shot and I think Woodard can as well.

These guys are "young" but they aren't typical Soph, they played a ton last year. It will make a huge difference.

 

[sperry]

Just offense in general. Where is the scoring coming from.


Defensively, can the guards stay out of foul trouble. All three of them had big time issues with foul trouble last year. This year when they're asked to play more minutes, will they be able to stay on the court?

 

[TheGimper]

Will we have a 3 point threat? It kind of echos everyones thoughts about our half-court offense, but if we don't have a reliable three point threat to stretch the defense it's going to be hard to get any penetration.

 

[dubyac]

Scoring in general.. I don't know who can or will make shots...

 

[MisterF]

I agree .... Points.

Where are they going to come from. It's about buckets!!!