Very Proud Sooner Fan

[bcsoonerfan]

This game had me worried. ISU was desperate for a win and at home, but OUr boys fought till the end.

Rest them legs and keep going. We're the best team in this conference and it will show in the end.

 

[Soonersincefitty]

This game had me worried. ISU was desperate for a win and at home, but OUr boys fought till the end.

Rest them legs and keep going. We're the best team in this conference and it will show in the end.

As you alluded earlier, pretty shitty having to play that kind of talent 3 games in a row, two on the road no less. I think our guys were pretty depleted, emotionally anyway.

No need to get all maudlin about it.
Long season out in front of us where we ought to shine in the long term.
Not, gonna, worry, about it.

 

[Plainosooner]

The conference is going to be as hard as it's ever been before. Especially for OU, there are no gimmees, because OSU is at the bottom of the pack, but they will always play us tough. There are five teams in the top 20, so any trips to those places are going to be really tough. Since we're one of them, there will only be four, but the other five teams are all going to be a challenge at least at their place. Texas is also a quality team. Tech beat the Horns in Lubbock.

It was a tough break to play a Monday night road game after playing West Virginia Saturday afternoon. That press takes something out of you. Woodard had a tough night shooting. Lattin had a tough night. More than a few blocks, though he wasn't given as much credit as he had blocks. They said three mid first half when I know I'd seen at least five. But he gave up a ton of offensive rebounds. Everybody in the conference has a loss. Everybody but WVU, KU and Baylor have two. Baylor hasn't played any of the top five yet. Texas has only played Iowa State, at home.

I thought tonight was a real positive. Buford was terrific. James was better than he has been. Manyang made his first real contribution since the conference games started. We really need these guys to keep growing. And Cousins got his stroke back.

The difference in the game was poor defensive rebounding, and not getting much going inside offensively. I thought Iowa State had a great plan. And OUr guys played their guts out. I think OU will likely end up a one or a two seed. The conference is going to hurt everybody's record a little. I look forward to OU students making Lloyd Noble as tough as Hilton was tonight.

I believe that 14-4 will win the conference. That is attainable. I get the feeling that Texas will decide who the conference champion is. Whoever gets a win in Austin is going to have a leg up on everybody else.

 

[SoonerTulsan]

The conference is going to be as hard as it's ever been before. Especially for OU, there are no gimmees, because OSU is at the bottom of the pack, but they will always play us tough. There are five teams in the top 20, so any trips to those places are going to be really tough. Since we're one of them, there will only be four, but the other five teams are all going to be a challenge at least at their place. Texas is also a quality team. Tech beat the Horns in Lubbock.

It was a tough break to play a Monday night road game after playing West Virginia Saturday afternoon. That press takes something out of you. Woodard had a tough night shooting. Lattin had a tough night. More than a few blocks, though he wasn't given as much credit as he had blocks. They said three mid first half when I know I'd seen at least five. But he gave up a ton of offensive rebounds. Everybody in the conference has a loss. Everybody but WVU, KU and Baylor have two. Baylor hasn't played any of the top five yet. Texas has only played Iowa State, at home.

I thought tonight was a real positive. Buford was terrific. James was better than he has been. Manyang made his first real contribution since the conference games started. We really need these guys to keep growing. And Cousins got his stroke back.

The difference in the game was poor defensive rebounding, and not getting much going inside offensively. I thought Iowa State had a great plan. And OUr guys played their guts out. I think OU will likely end up a one or a two seed. The conference is going to hurt everybody's record a little. I look forward to OU students making Lloyd Noble as tough as Hilton was tonight.

I believe that 14-4 will win the conference. That is attainable. I get the feeling that Texas will decide who the conference champion is. Whoever gets a win in Austin is going to have a leg up on everybody else.

BIG positive seeing Coach Kruger get some productive minutes from the bench. Short-term pain for a long-term gain. I'd like to see us shore up our interior Defnse in the paint, but really like what I'm seeing.

 

[Plainosooner]

There is nobody in conference tougher to defend than Miang. Well, anybody we have to defend. His match problems create a lot of space for everybody else. They got a lot more open looks tonight than we did. Part of it was being on the road. But part of it was that they just had better structure. In the last three weeks, Spangler has had nights when he just contributes nothing offensively. I believe he's still hurting.

He is such a terrific rebounder usually. But tonight, they were using OU's switch philosophy one through four, to get Ryan out on the perimeter. And when Lattin went to block every shot, it opened up the offensive boards for the in a big way.

I would like to see Lattin do less of the Chamberlain block and more of the Bill Russell block. Wilt's was more impressive. Russ's more effective and harder to do. Wilt liked to bat the ball eight rows into the stands. Bill prefered a tap to a teammate. I wouldn't be inclined to go check the tape to count them, but I'd bet that all but one, maybe two batted balls or blocks that Lattin made, ended up in Iowa State's hands or for their throw in. An intelligent block can get the transition going quickly. He had been improving his offensive game so much. Tonight we got almost nothing inside from Khadeem or Ryan. You can't win tournament games without somebody scoring inside. ISU's defense was very solid tonight. But it's not that good. I do believe part of it was carry over from a very exhausting game 50 hours earlier.

This is no sprint; it's a marathon. The key is to keep improving, cutting the minutes of the key guys to keep from wearing them out, and building the confidence of the guys on the bench.

I also think they need to look inside to Manyang at least occasionally. If the other defense has to defend tough on the post, it will cut way down on how clogged up the lane gets. So long as we stay in the top five or six, I'm fine with how this seems to be developing.

And I always think you're better off heading the the NCAA's with no more than two conference tournament games. Let somebody else play three nutcracker games in three days. Give me fresh legs.

One thing for sure. We'll be battle tested.

 

[Plainosooner]

I was wrong about Baylor. They lost to KU. Huge.

 

[Schoonerman]

Nice post bc. Disappointed with the loss, but not terribly surprised going up against an ISU squad, who at one time was ranked in the Top 10 and we had to play them on the road after a tough game on Sat. vs. WVU. Was so glad to see Cousins finally break out and play like we've been expecting him to all season. Hopefully that will be the spark he needs to elevate his game the rest of the season. Also, I'm very impressed with Buford, Walker, James and Manyang. Hope to see these guys get more time off the bench and give us some needed depth, especially as we get deeper into conference play.

 

[BillyRay]

No reason to be anything less than proud of this team. Sucks they lost as soon as they got that #1 ranking, but hell every other program in the country would LOVE to be where the Sooners are. Lots of season left.

 

[hOUston...]

Just win the last game in April.

Updated thanks to Plaino. It's now March "madness" and April ??? (any ideas). World series in the snow? Super Bowl in February. NBA into June.

 

[Plainosooner]

You also want to win two in April.

 

[Sooners83]

pre

You also want to win two in April.

pretty much like a February Super Bowl