Why?

[Boom Soon]

So, without just hating on Moser, why do you guys think this team is so bad? I mean this is turning out to be the worst team of his tenure at OU. It’s hard to believe this is even the same team that beat OSU and Ole Miss. I honestly haven’t watched enough to really get a bead on why this team is so bad. Just curious for anyone who maybe wants to get in the weeds of it without just saying “Moser sucks” (tempting I know).

 

[steverocks35]

So, without just hating on Moser, why do you guys think this team is so bad? I mean this is turning out to be the worst team of his tenure at OU. It’s hard to believe this is even the same team that beat OSU and Ole Miss. I honestly haven’t watched enough to really get a bead on why this team is so bad. Just curious for anyone who maybe wants to get in the weeds of it without just saying “Moser sucks” (tempting I know).

A couple of obvious things: our guards are too small to compete in the SEC and we have no depth inside. We also are too unorganized on both ends of the floor and we don’t play hard for 40 minutes.

 

[WichitaSooner]

So, without just hating on Moser, why do you guys think this team is so bad? I mean this is turning out to be the worst team of his tenure at OU. It’s hard to believe this is even the same team that beat OSU and Ole Miss. I honestly haven’t watched enough to really get a bead on why this team is so bad. Just curious for anyone who maybe wants to get in the weeds of it without just saying “Moser sucks” (tempting I know).

I think it really does come down to how inept he is at building a team at this level. I’ve said this so many times: he doesn’t know what wins at this level. He changes his approach every year. He tried his Loyola way his first two years with unathletic rosters trying to play a system that simply won’t work at this level. Then he had better athletes but didn’t know how to coach that kind of team. He stifles creativity with his slow pace. Then last year he wanted shooters, and if Fears hadn’t fallen in his lap, he wouldn’t have probably lost 20 games with that roster.

This year he had enough money to bring in a good starting lineup, but he again plays a slow pace that neutralizes whatever athleticism they have. And he doesn’t demand effort defensively. His teams are always soft as can be. He also did a terrible job creating depth. Stuck with JN and Jones after seeing them for a year and he totally miscalculated on what they would be. Brought in a freshman as the only backup big, and it was obvious to anyone who watched video or read scouting reports that Kai wouldn’t be ready to play in the SEC this season. He wasted one roster spot on a baseball player, and another on a project who didn’t even get eligible.

And his actions never match his words. It is effing laughable that he of all coaches says DCO. He never has his team try to apply even the slightest amount of pressure. We don’t press, even in a token pressure kind of way, even though we do have decent length and athleticism in the front court. Instead, we sit back and play half court defense, which we clearly suck at.

This team has shown since the first game of the season that they don’t focus or play hard for 40 minutes. As usual, they haven’t improved as the season has progressed. They have a handful of good individual pieces, but he has no clue how to make them fit.

He truly is way over his head.

 

[cmdsooner]

They’re not connected. They’re too deep in the season to still look like they haven’t played together. They often start halves horribly. Some of the better players don’t play with enough urgency consistently. There’s enough talent to be better than they are. Last year’s group had some major limitations but I didn’t feel the same lack of urgency. Can’t shoot 19% from 3. Recently, the best shooter on the court is clanking everything he puts up. Open ones. The guards are matchup problems on defense. You have plays like Atak dribbling a sure layup out of bounds. Plays like Reid diving on the floor to get to a loose ball, & Jadon Jones immediately throwing it to the other team before they come back down and hit an open 3 because we’re all behind the play. Jones inexplicably losing the ball out of bounds on a rebound. Davis forcing into two defenders in transition to have his shot blocked instead of kicking to an open teammate. Guys stepping out of bounds multiple times a game. You can’t have a bunch of plays like that and win many P5 games. NIL numbers & fan support don’t help —they are very obviously not strong points for this program and I don’t think it magically changes with a new coach (they have the talent to be much better than they are though).

I’m leaving out the coaching aspects because you have it in your OP, but he’s obviously to blame for plenty of it. He won’t be in Norman next year though, no matter what happens the rest of this season. He’s either using a miracle run of wins to take another job, or far more likely, being fired.

 

[daqman]

is everyone wrong and the talent just isn't there?
do the pieces just not fit together?
flat out terrible coaching?
would a good coach have this team in the top half of the conference?

 

[WichitaSooner]

is everyone wrong and the talent just isn't there?
do the pieces just not fit together?
flat out terrible coaching?
would a good coach have this team in the top half of the conference?

I am not as high on the roster as most. I still think the team two years ago was at least as talented, but it’s close. But a good coach would definitely have the team in the tourney easily and probably in the middle of the pack in the league.

 

[hoopsaustin]

is everyone wrong and the talent just isn't there?
do the pieces just not fit together?
flat out terrible coaching?
would a good coach have this team in the top half of the conference?

Yes.

This team could be at least middle of the pack and even better. Its just Porter Bum Moser.

He has no offensive scheme. There's terrible movement. Often only 2 players will move an entire possession. Then its AAU ball, desperation shot.

We have do defensive intensity. Bum doesn't demand rebounding.

Its all of these things adding up to a exponential crap show.

 

[WTSooner]

I just don't think Moser is a good coach. Outside of a couple of seasons at Loyola with Krutwig and 1-2 others, his record as a HC has been pretty awful. Specifically, he has been downright terrible in conference games, which is where you have to be, and should be, good. Those are your peers, and Moser consistently loses at an alarming rate in those games.

You won't convince me our talent isn't better than the team we are putting on the court. And if it isn't, or if it isn't the right mix of talent, that is 100% on Moser given that we landed MOST of our initial targets.

 

[Hecubus]

Everyone eventually gets promoted to their level of incompetence. Unfortunately we seem to have been Moser’s last move up. He was good at Loyola, should have stayed and built it .. but the temptation was too much.

 

[WaymanFan]

Everyone eventually gets promoted to their level of incompetence. Unfortunately we seem to have been Moser’s last move up. He was good at Loyola, should have stayed and built it .. but the temptation was too much.

No coach in their right mind is going to pass up the financial difference in coaching at Loyola vs Oklahoma. To your point, the temptation was too much. He wouldn't be human if it wasn't. As for the original question in this thread, it's likely all about CHEMISTRY. I'm guessing these guys just don't want to play together...it's going to happen on occasion with any school when you have to put together almost entire new rosters every year. The way it's playing out, this could end up as the second most under-achieving year in men's basketball history. Nothing will top the 2009-2010 team which featured Willie Warren, Tiny Gallon and Tommy Mason-Griffin, but this year may end up being next in the pecking order.

 

[snydrosooner]

Leadership from players. Does not have to be the best player, but someone needs to push other players besides coaches. Maybe it’s there, but Jmo.

 

[Boom Soon]

Leadership from players. Does not have to be the best player, but someone needs to push other players besides coaches. Maybe it’s there, but Jmo.

I pointed this out at the beginning of the season. I’m glad you brought it up. I don’t think there is a single true leader on the team. We can hate on Godwin but he was a leader and a glue guy. Same with Moore. Two guys who loved OU. Who’s that on this year’s team?

 

[daqman]

I pointed this out at the beginning of the season. I’m glad you brought it up. I don’t think there is a single true leader on the team. We can hate on Godwin but he was a leader and a glue guy. Same with Moore. Two guys who loved OU. Who’s that on this year’s team?

that's going to be a problem under the new nil/mercenary system.
we have one okie on the team who isn't very good....no true sooners or anyone who even cares what a sooner is.
just players cycling in and out every season..

 

[WichitaSooner]

I pointed this out at the beginning of the season. I’m glad you brought it up. I don’t think there is a single true on the team. We can hate on Godwin but he was a leader and a glue guy. Same with Moore. Two guys who loved OU. Who’s that on this year’s team?

I'm always reluctant to try to assess that kind of thing from the outside. No one really knows what goes on at practice and in the locker room. Not saying you are wrong, just that it is hard to know. And when teams play poorly, people always point to a lack of leadership or chemistry. FWIW (nothing in my eyes, because I don't think he knows what he is talking about), Moser said many times before the season that this group was all bought in and their focus was on winning.

My take is that when the coach has no clue how to best use his players and his approach to playing time and substitution patterns changes every five seconds, it is probably tough for the players to really know what is expected.

 

[Soonerguy06]

idk if anyone else has said this, but I just don't think players continue to believe in PM's vision past the first couple losses in conference play. This team has zero passion and fortitude and they've already stopped caring, if they ever really did. What really surprised me is that this team never seemed to even get going, and they're more talented than last year's team full of midmajor guys. Lack of effort is because of bad coaching IMO. This season is over - I don't see this team winning more than 5 more games, if even that. This had better be PM's last year if the AD cares AT ALL about this program because it just won't get any better regardless of who else comes in.

the women's program is also starting to show that this coach and her staff have limitations and aren't able to do anything when they finally get talent, but it's at a slower pace than Moser's plummet, not that he was ever high enough to fall from to begin with.

 

[OklaSooners]

the problem is counting on Wague to be a starting center. He is a backup. Pack and Brown, although good to decent offensive players are beyond terrible at defense and really small. You can’t start both. That’s why from the opening tipoff we get killed defensively. Pack can’t score in the SEC. He needs to come off the bench.

Nwankwo should have been processed after last year. Forscythe isn’t a power 4 player. We should have upgraded both in the portal.

 

[skyvue]

the women's program is also starting to show that this coach and her staff have limitations and aren't able to do anything when they finally get talent, but it's at a slower pace than Moser's plummet, not that he was ever high enough to fall from to begin with.

Sorry, but this is far from the truth.

For one thing, this women's team is MUCH younger than the men--twice as many freshmen and sophomores see minutes compared to the men. And SEC women's hoops are much tougher than the men's side this season--four of the top six teams in the country are from the SEC.

Tonight the Sooners beat #2 So Carolina by 12 points in OT. South Carolina had won 67 of its past 68 SEC games. They also had not been outscored in the paint this season--until tonight, that is. And that was with both of OU's post players, one of whom was a true freshman (Cullitson was injured), were in foul trouble for more than half the game.

Moser and Baranczyk arrived at OU at the same time, and Porter's been choking on Jenny's dust the entire time. The women just lost three in a row, but two of those were to teams in the Top 6, nationally. The other loss was to #18 Old Miss a game the Sooners definitely should have won, but every team lays an egg now and then).

Jenny's teams aren't perfect, but they VERY rarely come out looking lackadaisical (the same certainly can't be said of Moser's teams). They play with grit and hustle and they support the hell out of each other.

Sorry, but Moser's not fit to shine Baranczyk's shoes, as far as their tenures at OU. For pete's sake, the women have been to the tourney every single year of Jenny's tenure. What more do you need to know?

 

[Soonerguy06]

Yeah this was posted prior to the South Carolina game, which I honestly didn't think we could win based off of LSU. Finally showed that fortitude they have been lacking thus far. So happy they won that game, I hope they can build off of that momentum and play that way all of their games. I think if they play this Way moving forward they could be very dangerous!.

 

[skyvue]

Yeah this was posted prior to the South Carolina game, which I honestly didn't think we could win based off of LSU. Finally showed that fortitude they have been lacking thus far. So happy they won that game, I hope they can build off of that momentum and play that way all of their games. I think if they play this Way moving forward they could be very dangerous!.

Frustrating losses will happen in the course of a long season, especially against top 10 teams. The Sooner women finished fourth in the SEC last year, won the Big 12 in 2024, shared the Big 12 title in ’23 and finished fourth in the Big 12 in ’22. They've had success at a level Moser can only dream of. His stink should in no way be rubbed off on her because of a brief skid.

 

[Sooner Season]

Yeah this was posted prior to the South Carolina game, which I honestly didn't think we could win based off of LSU. Finally showed that fortitude they have been lacking thus far. So happy they won that game, I hope they can build off of that momentum and play that way all of their games. I think if they play this Way moving forward they could be very dangerous!.

I'm not a big women's basketball fan in terms of attendance or support but listening to Brian Brinkley's post game interview with Jenny and the players last night reminded me of the fun of watching and listening to a team that really loves and supports each other and are truly excited for each other's success. I know some of them make big money as well but it doesn't sound like a mercenary talking about their latest team. Very refreshing.