OU-Nebraska, 4 p.m., ESPN.
Full bracket:
espnevents.com
Porter Moser
Team chemistry?
We talked about how we were going to respond after that first gut-wrenching loss because that can rock your confidence. We talked about why it happened. The guys have been real receptive and building it. Two of the three after that have been somewhat tight. You had to make winning plays. You can really build on that chemistry and confidence down the stretch. Here’s what we really built on. Our opening game, they scored like 32 points through 34 minutes and then scored in seven of the last eight possessions. In our last game, South Alabama didn’t score a basket in the last five minutes. The confidence and the teaching point of you cannot let up defending and rebounding. In the last four minutes, you have to defend and rebound possession for possession. A lot of times you think it’s I missed this shot, this free throw. A lot of times, it’s getting stops. We got stops and found a way to win. A lot of teaching moments when you win close games.
Doc Sadler after first week?
“But it's been great for me because I know him and when you know somebody and he's been where he's been, he's not afraid to voice his opinion with me or tell me what (he knows). So I love bouncing some stuff. I love bouncing ideas off him. I love asking him what he thinks. Sometimes when you don't know the person they're afraid to tell you the truth. I'm a big believer you need truth tellers in your life. And you get truth tellers when people you know and trust. And so he's in the beginning stages of building relationships with the guys because he really just has had only one or two practices with them. But he's an easy guy to like, I’ll tell you that right now. Doc's an easy guy to like and you'll get to know him. And he brings a lot of knowledge of the game and a lot of experience to the game to our program right now.”
Benefits of an early-season tournament?
“Your conference tournament, the NCAA Tournament, you’re winning and trying to advance. You're having short turnarounds. You're doing game preps in hotels. You're playing high-level opponents. All those and above are things you can build on. Learn from. You do look forward to them. I mean, we know they're going to be high-level opponents on a neutral court. You're looking at preparing some for down the road in the Big 12 tournament. The NCAA Tournament. Those are what you’re preparing for. So yeah, it's definitely those neutral site tournaments. You can really talk to your guys and say ‘We're going to be in this situation again sometime down the road.”
Tanner bouncing back?
“So I saw him yesterday. And he was almost like joking. Like ‘That ain't gonna happen again.’ That's how I’m talking to him. I told him when he was 0-for-7. At one point I pulled him over and I said, ‘Man, if I ever missed my first five or six, I would talk to myself and just say, ‘I'm about to get cooking. It's about to get going right now.’ I think you got to talk to yourself instead of listening to yourself. I think it's a big thing. You can listen to yourself. You hear all these voices and instead of just talking to somebody. ‘I'm a great shooter.’ Yesterday in practice he had a great bound. He hit some shots in practice. We're going right back at him. I want him to shoot. Heck, I wanted to shoot more than 10. He passed up another 10. If you really watched the tape, he passed up another 10. So it's what you do with a shooter. You got to keep shooting..You gotta keep shooting. You can't go the other way. No, you can't have doubt. Can't seep into it.”
Full bracket:
Bracket - ESPN Events
Porter Moser
Team chemistry?
We talked about how we were going to respond after that first gut-wrenching loss because that can rock your confidence. We talked about why it happened. The guys have been real receptive and building it. Two of the three after that have been somewhat tight. You had to make winning plays. You can really build on that chemistry and confidence down the stretch. Here’s what we really built on. Our opening game, they scored like 32 points through 34 minutes and then scored in seven of the last eight possessions. In our last game, South Alabama didn’t score a basket in the last five minutes. The confidence and the teaching point of you cannot let up defending and rebounding. In the last four minutes, you have to defend and rebound possession for possession. A lot of times you think it’s I missed this shot, this free throw. A lot of times, it’s getting stops. We got stops and found a way to win. A lot of teaching moments when you win close games.
Doc Sadler after first week?
“But it's been great for me because I know him and when you know somebody and he's been where he's been, he's not afraid to voice his opinion with me or tell me what (he knows). So I love bouncing some stuff. I love bouncing ideas off him. I love asking him what he thinks. Sometimes when you don't know the person they're afraid to tell you the truth. I'm a big believer you need truth tellers in your life. And you get truth tellers when people you know and trust. And so he's in the beginning stages of building relationships with the guys because he really just has had only one or two practices with them. But he's an easy guy to like, I’ll tell you that right now. Doc's an easy guy to like and you'll get to know him. And he brings a lot of knowledge of the game and a lot of experience to the game to our program right now.”
Benefits of an early-season tournament?
“Your conference tournament, the NCAA Tournament, you’re winning and trying to advance. You're having short turnarounds. You're doing game preps in hotels. You're playing high-level opponents. All those and above are things you can build on. Learn from. You do look forward to them. I mean, we know they're going to be high-level opponents on a neutral court. You're looking at preparing some for down the road in the Big 12 tournament. The NCAA Tournament. Those are what you’re preparing for. So yeah, it's definitely those neutral site tournaments. You can really talk to your guys and say ‘We're going to be in this situation again sometime down the road.”
Tanner bouncing back?
“So I saw him yesterday. And he was almost like joking. Like ‘That ain't gonna happen again.’ That's how I’m talking to him. I told him when he was 0-for-7. At one point I pulled him over and I said, ‘Man, if I ever missed my first five or six, I would talk to myself and just say, ‘I'm about to get cooking. It's about to get going right now.’ I think you got to talk to yourself instead of listening to yourself. I think it's a big thing. You can listen to yourself. You hear all these voices and instead of just talking to somebody. ‘I'm a great shooter.’ Yesterday in practice he had a great bound. He hit some shots in practice. We're going right back at him. I want him to shoot. Heck, I wanted to shoot more than 10. He passed up another 10. If you really watched the tape, he passed up another 10. So it's what you do with a shooter. You got to keep shooting..You gotta keep shooting. You can't go the other way. No, you can't have doubt. Can't seep into it.”
