PDA

View Full Version : Thoughts From the GW Game....



OUSKINS
11/23/2008, 10:20 AM
I waited patiently for 04's thread, but it hasn't popped up yet, so I figured I'd start my own. If and when he posts it, please feel free to merge this post with his.

First of all, this game had a very eerie feeling to it for me personally. My season tickets are in sec. N5, Row L. Those are pretty much the worst seats in the house....but I have really come to love them. You can see everything that's going on, and we are super close to the concessions, bathrooms, and we can make a fast getaway once the game ends. Only once in my three years with these seats have I taken advantage of being able to move down to the lower level.......last year my Dad and I moved during the Stephen F. Austin game.

Holy cow, it was deja' vu! We wound up sitting in the exact same section we did last year. And the game played out as almost a carbon copy. It was kind of freaking me out.

Obviously, the outcome wound up different (thank God), but it was a pretty sickening feeling there for awhile.

Thoughts:

You can look at this game from two very distinct viewpoints and both would be completely legit:

1. OU showed major weakness in having to struggle to beat a team like GW.
2. OU showed some guts to rally to win the game.

--People love to say, "if they play like against......they'll get killed." True. But they won't. The team was pretty clearly flat out there to start the game. Coming off the Davidson win and knowing they are getting ready to head to NYC, it looked like they wanted to try and go through the motions against GW. Many times, a team like OU can do that w/o a problem. But this wasn't one of those games. They suddenly found themselves behind the 8 ball, and they played very hard for the final 8-10 minutes of the game. Overall, Capel's teams are generally very well prepared and motivated, so I won't worry too much about one dud.

--It's pretty clear our achilles heel is going to be outside shooting. No secret there. 7-27 from three point land tells the story. We did miss Cade Davis, as I think he is the one guy on the squad that isn't a "streaky" shooter-- I think he's someone we can count on to hit open shots. Crocker, Johnson, and Warren are all streaky shooters--- and if they happen to be missing on the same night, it can be ugly.

--We finally got smart and stopped heaving three's and started pounding it inside. Not only did we get the ball into Blake, but our guards started putting the ball on the floor, which created a distinct advantage in the paint.

--Blake was obviously the MVP of game: 35 points, 21 boards, 5 assists. Really? But I thought Willie Warren made the "biggest" plays of the game for us. When GW took that 5 point lead and things started to look bleak, WW got real aggressive on the offensive end and kept us in the game. That was a huge key...and something that was missing in that loss to SFA last year.

--Tony Crocker played about as poorly as is humanly possible. He is normally a stellar defender, but he was taking chances and getting burned on backdoor cuts. Offensively, he was putrid. He decision-making was awful and he couldn't throw it in the ocean. I accept that Crocker is going to be a bit of a "wild card" for us, but we can't have him play that poorly.

--As good as Blake is, his post defense needs work. Their big man gave him trouble and backed him down much more easily than he should.

--Unsung hero of the game and the team so far is Austin Johnson. He is as good of an on-ball defender as I've ever seen. GW had a little guard who scored 16 points in the first 10 minutes. From then on, AJ put the clamps on him and he finished with 19 for the game. AJ also had some key steals and blocks down the stretch.

Bottom Line:

--We got a bit fortunate. GW played much harder than we did and they were better prepared...Capel said so after the game as well. We clearly tried to "take a day off" and instead found ourselves in a dogfight with a team that played really, really well. At the same time, it's certainly always better to win....and in a way, I think coaches like these games, because you get the W, but you can still ride your team hard after the game.

--On the nights we don't make shots, we can be defeated. However, even on those nights, we still have a fighting chance because of Blake and because when we want to, we can absolutely suffocate teams on defense--especially our guards.

--Maybe I'm a homer, but I'm just confident in this team. I don't think it will be easy, but I think we're going to win the NIT.

King Crimson
11/23/2008, 12:13 PM
the 02 Final Four team played an OT game against La Tech and a pretty close game to St. Bonaventure...back to back. So, who knows. it was an exasperating game to catch on the radio.

I'm wrong about a lot of stuff, but i had this pegged as a trap game based on GW being decent enough to win at Rupp and for scheduling between NIT games.

Ardmore_Sooner
11/23/2008, 01:35 PM
GW is 0-3

There 3 losses by a combined 9 points.

OUSKINS
11/23/2008, 09:17 PM
GW is 0-3

There 3 losses by a combined 9 points.

I was surprised when I saw that....I'll bet they do very well in their conference this year-- that was a well coached team.