Why the loss?

[j2d2]

1. poor, very poor defense. Terrible defense. At times nonexistent defense. Didn't learn defense. Really confused defense.
AND
2. Bad shooting night. Cold.
AND
3. They played lights out.

 

[whatasooner]

1. Not enough passing on O
2. Too many turnovers
3. Bad shot selection
4. Poor defensive fundamentals
5. They played the game of their season

 

[NickZepp]

You have to add Willie Warren playing bad. If Willie plays bad we will probably lose this season.

 

[DenverSooner]

Bad defense. If a teams plays good defense the other things have a way of working themselves out. That is why Sampson was able to win so much. His teams played good defense.

 

[j2d2]

Denver's got it!!!

 

[OUsky]

#1

 

[campbest]

Defense travels....felt like I have said this before somewhere....

 

[AdaSooner]

Bad defense. If a teams plays good defense the other things have a way of working themselves out. That is why Sampson was able to win so much. His teams played good defense.

I agree with this statement. But it's not like this should have come as a surprise to anyone. The majority of regulars here said all along that rebounding and defense would be a problem for this team, at least early on. You don't lose two quality seniors and the #1 player in the country and make those losses up overnight, when you start two freshmen and bring two more off the bench as part of your seven-man rotation.

Those three starters were pretty darned good defensively and in rebounding, too. Blake, Taylor and AJ averaged 23 rebounds between them, and they were credited with 105 of our 156 blocks as a team last year. You don't make up for those losses in three regular season games and an exhibition. Truth is, we may not do it the entire season.

 

[SoonerInJersey]

Inability to attack a full court trapping press. Yes, our defense was poor. But in the first half we passively played into their defense. We took the ball up slowly and did not take advantage of our edge in terms of athletic ability. We should have attacked the trapping full court press and did not. That would at least have given us a chance at matching their lights out shooting.