I've heard coaches say that they never know what to expect the first game after finals is over. This game is a perfect example of why coaches worry about these kinds of games.
We have two mature players on this team - Tony and Cade. Lots of posters have given examples of poor play today and every example is related to maturity. With the exception of Tony and Cade, erratic is the best word you can use to describe them. When they are good, they are really good. But when they aren't good, they are really, really bad.
I liked Pledger today, most of the time. Seemed to be giving solid effort. TMG worked hard, too. Tiny was in and out, and Wright wasn't good. WW was baad.
Crocker played well until the end when he about gave away the game. This game is over until he shoots the ball at 1:30 left with 30 seconds left on the shot clock. Then he misses the front end of a 1 and 1, then he throws the ball away on the inbounds.
WW was the focus of their defense and didn't force things. He did nothing to hurt us. Now if he forces 20 scores and scores 4 points it's a problem. But he didn't.
As usual when the WW haters come out of the woodwork you can expect a couple monster games from him coming right up.
I'm going to disagree with many here and say that WW didn't play as bad as you think. He recognized that he wasn't on his game, but that two other guys were, deferring to them for shots. He only took 6 shots total choosing not to shoot us out of the game. Just a thought anyway.
This was the second game in a row where we fail to hit the necessary free throws to ice the game at the end. We get outrebounded and continue to not take care of the ball. And finally, Tiny played his second bad game in a row. If he can keep himself in the game we do much better.
I think WW just lets his frustration with no getting calls get the best of him. He needs to have a long talk with Blake about not getting calls and then realize that he's not getting punched, elbowed, and tripped and suck it up. I thought the officiating was even today, but piss-poor in general. I don't like hearing "the officials are really letting them play today" as that just means they're being pretty lazy and want to get the game over with as fast as possible. A foul is a foul and when you can hear somebody's arm being slapped on the TV broadcast, there had better be a foul being called. The team missed too many FTs today and really didn't box-out for crap in the last minute or so. I'm not trying to be a "hater" on WW, but he is reminding me more and more of Ebi Ere's 2nd season at OU.
Gotta agree. The team's best player has to play better. Four point, 1 reb, 3 assists and 5 TOs is not a good performance by any stretch of the imagination!
Yeah, I'm not trying to say that Ebi had bad attitude, I'm just saying that his first season he was driving to the hoop and nailing threes and looked like an AA, but he was just so inconsistent in that 2nd season. I can't recall but did he break his hand or something during his 2nd season?
I'm going to disagree with many here and say that WW didn't play as bad as you think.
Another blame Willie thread. So predictable. BOOMER SOONER BABY!!!
Nonsense, and I'll tell you why.
When was the last time OU's "star" player had as many "poor" games as Willie has already had this season? Hollis was the focal point. Blake was the focal point. Eduardo was the focal point. They might have had more bad games then I can remember, but none of them EVER hung their heads and didn't hustle like Willie has done.
I agree with another poster who said that Willie appears to be drunk off his own koolaid. We can only hope he goes pro after this year, b/c talent or now, that kind of behavior isn't good for the team or the program.