Sooner04
11/18/2008, 01:17 AM
I doubt I was alone, but I was pretty discouraged after the first half. If not for finding my friend TopDawg during the intermission and striking up a good conversation, there's a chance my mood would've been best described as downright melancholy. In my uneducated opinion, we looked like lukewarm death in the first half.
Let me count the ways.
First off, our free throw shooting was abysmal. If last year's championship game taught us anything, it's this: poor free throw shooting will get you beat. It's not if. It's when. I have no use for it, and zero patience for it. It's dedication to the repitition, and we sucked at it.
Carelessness. Yeah, I know, MVSU was lousy, but we ought to totally outclass those guys just by showing up and we were far from accomplishing that feat. 35-19 at the half? I think I'll rearrange my sock drawer.
Blake Griffin at point guard? Yeah, it's cool a big can bring the ball up the floor, but not when he turns it over as often as he misses a free throw.
So yes, I was gnawing through my bottom lip by the time the Sooners emerged from the tunnel for the start of the second half. Two minutes went by and we still looked like maggot-filled roadkill................until my eyes saw the very thing that could separate this team from others when things begin to go bad: the press.
We were getting open shots, but we couldn't hit them. It was affecting nearly everything we did, so Capel changed the pace and brought out the ol' press. Suddenly our guys looked like gazelles out there. LONG ARMED gazelles. It took us 22 minutes to score our first 35 points. Once the press was unleashed, it took us 8:40 to score our next 35. I was awestruck.
This team is uber-athletic, and I think we're deep enough to spell the guys we need to in spurts to really run the press and run it well. Am I overly enamored with the prospect of such a thing? Probably, but I think dictating tempo like that always serves a team well who's equipped to run it. We are, and I hope to see MUCH more of it.
You really can't take much else from this game because MVSU is lousy. Those guys played hard, but they were overmatched. Blake Griffin put up 20 and 19 tonight and I didn't think he played very well. That's as easy a 20 and 19 as you'll ever see. The real season starts tomorrow night with Davidson. Play like we did in the first half, and we'll probably get beat. Play like we did in the second half, and we'll drill their ***.
SCORING BREAKDOWN:
1st - 16 [hacking wildebeast]
2nd - 19 [spit]
3rd - 30 [stop..........hammer time!]
4th - 29 [the humpty dance is your chance............]
LEADING SCORERS:
20 - Blake Griffin: Manchild.
14 - Ray Willis: Only took him 15 minutes too. I'm going to start calling him "The Microwave" if he keeps nights like this up.
14 - Willie Warren: Skiddish, but getting better.
LEADING REBOUNDERS:
19 - Blake Griffin: Freak
4 - Two others. Got to spread it out a bit, fellas.
PLUSES:
1. Ray Willis: Hello! Once he made his first shot he was out looking for more. I love guys like that. It seems to me that he's already a pretty accomplished offensive player. I love bringing guys like that in off the bench. I just can't decide if I want to call him "Gamma" Ray or "The Microwave". Stuff like that will keep me up all night.
2. Blake Griffin's Rebounding: 19 rebounds is hard in a game of HORSE. To do it against another team is pretty remarkable. If he could only hit the freebies.
3. 2nd half: 59 points! Long live the press!
4. Ryan Wright and Omar Leary: I can't decide what it is I like about Ryan Wright. Maybe it's his footwork. I don't know, but he's solid. So is Leary. A real non-rocker of the boat off the bench.
MINUSES:
1. Free throw shooting: 7 of 14 in the first half. I can do that.......blindfolded. You could build a new parking garage with some of the bricks Blake and Orlando Allen threw up there tonight. They're going to be passing out hardhats for the guys holding the cables underneath the goals at this rate.
2. Leaving early: My landman duties required me to drive 235 miles today. Then I drove 170 more on a roundtrip to the game. I stayed til the final horn, why didn't you?
3. Turnovers: 16 is about eight too many. We play at a quick pace that looks for easy baskets at times, so I understand the ball will be turned over. But if you're going to have Blake at PG, I imagine it comes with the territory. ;)
4. Willie Warren's Outside Shooting: The next one he makes will be the first. Oi! That hitch in his shot has me concerned.
5. Tony Crocker: Four points? In 27 minutes? At that pace, "Gamma" Ray Willis would've scored 28. Tony, you're a major cog. You've got to bring it EVERY night.
Tomorrow should tell us more about our squad. If we smoke Davidson I'll allow myself to become more vested. I'm still skeptical because I'm not sold on our guard play. Flashes of brilliance followed by Sampsonian moments of ineptitude. Aggressiveness has got to rule the day. It did in the second half, and we looked like world-beaters.
We'll see what mindset takes over tomorrow night.
Thank you for your time.
Let me count the ways.
First off, our free throw shooting was abysmal. If last year's championship game taught us anything, it's this: poor free throw shooting will get you beat. It's not if. It's when. I have no use for it, and zero patience for it. It's dedication to the repitition, and we sucked at it.
Carelessness. Yeah, I know, MVSU was lousy, but we ought to totally outclass those guys just by showing up and we were far from accomplishing that feat. 35-19 at the half? I think I'll rearrange my sock drawer.
Blake Griffin at point guard? Yeah, it's cool a big can bring the ball up the floor, but not when he turns it over as often as he misses a free throw.
So yes, I was gnawing through my bottom lip by the time the Sooners emerged from the tunnel for the start of the second half. Two minutes went by and we still looked like maggot-filled roadkill................until my eyes saw the very thing that could separate this team from others when things begin to go bad: the press.
We were getting open shots, but we couldn't hit them. It was affecting nearly everything we did, so Capel changed the pace and brought out the ol' press. Suddenly our guys looked like gazelles out there. LONG ARMED gazelles. It took us 22 minutes to score our first 35 points. Once the press was unleashed, it took us 8:40 to score our next 35. I was awestruck.
This team is uber-athletic, and I think we're deep enough to spell the guys we need to in spurts to really run the press and run it well. Am I overly enamored with the prospect of such a thing? Probably, but I think dictating tempo like that always serves a team well who's equipped to run it. We are, and I hope to see MUCH more of it.
You really can't take much else from this game because MVSU is lousy. Those guys played hard, but they were overmatched. Blake Griffin put up 20 and 19 tonight and I didn't think he played very well. That's as easy a 20 and 19 as you'll ever see. The real season starts tomorrow night with Davidson. Play like we did in the first half, and we'll probably get beat. Play like we did in the second half, and we'll drill their ***.
SCORING BREAKDOWN:
1st - 16 [hacking wildebeast]
2nd - 19 [spit]
3rd - 30 [stop..........hammer time!]
4th - 29 [the humpty dance is your chance............]
LEADING SCORERS:
20 - Blake Griffin: Manchild.
14 - Ray Willis: Only took him 15 minutes too. I'm going to start calling him "The Microwave" if he keeps nights like this up.
14 - Willie Warren: Skiddish, but getting better.
LEADING REBOUNDERS:
19 - Blake Griffin: Freak
4 - Two others. Got to spread it out a bit, fellas.
PLUSES:
1. Ray Willis: Hello! Once he made his first shot he was out looking for more. I love guys like that. It seems to me that he's already a pretty accomplished offensive player. I love bringing guys like that in off the bench. I just can't decide if I want to call him "Gamma" Ray or "The Microwave". Stuff like that will keep me up all night.
2. Blake Griffin's Rebounding: 19 rebounds is hard in a game of HORSE. To do it against another team is pretty remarkable. If he could only hit the freebies.
3. 2nd half: 59 points! Long live the press!
4. Ryan Wright and Omar Leary: I can't decide what it is I like about Ryan Wright. Maybe it's his footwork. I don't know, but he's solid. So is Leary. A real non-rocker of the boat off the bench.
MINUSES:
1. Free throw shooting: 7 of 14 in the first half. I can do that.......blindfolded. You could build a new parking garage with some of the bricks Blake and Orlando Allen threw up there tonight. They're going to be passing out hardhats for the guys holding the cables underneath the goals at this rate.
2. Leaving early: My landman duties required me to drive 235 miles today. Then I drove 170 more on a roundtrip to the game. I stayed til the final horn, why didn't you?
3. Turnovers: 16 is about eight too many. We play at a quick pace that looks for easy baskets at times, so I understand the ball will be turned over. But if you're going to have Blake at PG, I imagine it comes with the territory. ;)
4. Willie Warren's Outside Shooting: The next one he makes will be the first. Oi! That hitch in his shot has me concerned.
5. Tony Crocker: Four points? In 27 minutes? At that pace, "Gamma" Ray Willis would've scored 28. Tony, you're a major cog. You've got to bring it EVERY night.
Tomorrow should tell us more about our squad. If we smoke Davidson I'll allow myself to become more vested. I'm still skeptical because I'm not sold on our guard play. Flashes of brilliance followed by Sampsonian moments of ineptitude. Aggressiveness has got to rule the day. It did in the second half, and we looked like world-beaters.
We'll see what mindset takes over tomorrow night.
Thank you for your time.