Woodard

[BigTime]

What do you think he needs to work on or progress in his game in order to take OU to the next level (beyond the first round/compete to win the league)?

For me, it's finishing at the rim and with contact. He missed an incredible number of chippies last year after making nice moves to get to the rim. If he can finish with more consistency then help defenders will have to respect him more and it will lead to easy dump off passes to Spangs (and hopefully Thomas).

What say you?

 

[CoachTalk]

Just making that jump that Buddy and Isiah made. Getting bigger and stronger. Another full yr in the program.
All that stuff you mentioned will come naturally. I think he wore down, as expected for most freshmen. His def will get better, as will the whole teams.

 

[usedtobe1]

I think he needs to work on a couple of things. First, he needs a jump shot. His perimeter game is just a set shot so teams were ignoring him on the perimeter. He's so short that they were helping out on Buddy and Isiah and had time to get back to him if he was setting up for the set shot. He needs to be able to create his own mid-range shot off the dribble. It's either a set shot or a wild drive to the bucket.

I think he needs work on his man defense, too. His man was taking him off the drive too often. Maybe that's a matter of getting stronger.

 

[brettromar]

Pull up Jumper and a floater in the lane. He is quick and strong, this would be tough to stop if he could learn that floater in the lane.

 

[BCSooners]

Perimeter defense is first on my list. He got beat off the dribble constantly last year. Next will be a mid-range pull up jumper. I believe he will be much improved in his 2nd year.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

it's finishing at the rim and with contact.

this for me. Maybe even drop off "with contact"

 

[WTSooner]

Given his height, he is always going to struggle finishing inside against pressure. He needs to learn a little floater. I think he'll be fine. Good bball player, seems relatively smart, I fully expect him to make a nice jump forward this year.

 

[KBaden145]

Woodard and Booker both...


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[brettromar]

Given his height, he is always going to struggle finishing inside against pressure. He needs to learn a little floater. I think he'll be fine. Good bball player, seems relatively smart, I fully expect him to make a nice jump forward this year.

Hey we are finally on the same page for something. Is it April 1? Haha

 

[WTSooner]

Hey we are finally on the same page for something. Is it April 1? Haha

We agree fairly often.

 

[brettromar]

We agree fairly often.

I was just joking around.

 

[garyeb2]

Given his height, he is always going to struggle finishing inside against pressure. He needs to learn a little floater. I think he'll be fine. Good bball player, seems relatively smart, I fully expect him to make a nice jump forward this year.

That is right. Woodard is about 5'10".(with his shoes on) He isn't going to get taller. He is pretty quick. But, not elite quick. Within the Big 12 and against quality non conference opponents he will always run up against some quards that can out quick him on both ends of the court.

With that said, Woodard is a really smart player and has been fun to watch him develop. He has come a long way since arriving on campus and will continue to improve.

He is starting to get really good at baiting quicker defenders into committing and then blowing by and showing patience in waiting to catch defenders switching before going.

 

[SoonerinNC]

Woodard is the right kind of guy to have in your program for 4 years. He is a good but not super athlete but very smart. We will see a big improvement in him next year.

I felt that he finished around the rim pretty well but didn't seem to do as well late in the season.

He needs to improve his shooting from both long and mid range but he is already pretty good, just not a constant threat yet.

 

[vbdad]

He will be much improved next year for all of the reasons above. He needs to also increase his overall toughness which will come with maturity.