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OUSKINS
12/31/2008, 02:39 PM
After each game, I send an email out to fellow OU fan friends of mine, many of whom are in the Dallas area and can't watch the locally televised games. For those that saw the game, you can ignore the recap.

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First of all, it was a really interesting game. For the Dallas guys that didn't
get to see it, here's a quick recap:

--Arkansas came out on fire, took a 21 point lead midway through the first half.

--Led by Warren, OU went on an 11-0 run to cut the lead to 10, but Arkansas
immediately responded to go back up by 19. OU ended the half on a decent run and
were down 15.

--OU did not make a run early in the second half. Arkansas stayed hot and Warren
went cold. With 11 minutes left, Arkansas hit a three that put them up by 25. It
certainly looked like lights out.

--For the next 3-4 minutes, OU was flawless. Tony Crocker went nuts hitting
three's, getting steals, etc.. This from a guy who picked up his third and
fourth fouls and a technical with 10 minutes to go IN THE FIRST HALF! In just
about three minutes, OU shaved 14 points off the lead and found themselves down
by 11.

--From there, Arkansas got back into a groove, but OU was even better. Warren
got hot again and Blake came to life a bit and OU was down 4 with about 4
minutes left. But that was as close as they would get. The story of the night
was OU's inability to get stops-- and Arkansas kept hitting dagger shots. It was
a foul-fest at the end, and Arkansas won 96-88. Warren finished with 35.

Analysis:

--Arkansas was brilliant. Pelfry is doing really good things there-- I like that
team a lot. They are very young and I suspect they'll lose some games you'd
think they'd win, but I also bet they beat some good teams along the way. The
two freshmen they start are very, very good (one of them is Rotnei Clarke from
Verdigris). Their freshmen PG (Fortson) DOMINATED Austin Johnson and anyone else
who tried to guard him. He was in the paint all night, making plays for himself
or others.

--Some of it was luck. Everything the Hogs threw up was going in. They were
bringing in scrubs off the bench who were tossing in no-look runners and deep
three's. Even when OU had people in their face, they were hitting shots.

--OU's defense was putrid all night. The team was totally confused at
times....gotta blame Capel on that one. As I mentioned, their penetration from
the guards killed us.

--The Griffin brothers are HORRIBLE defensively. Blake is weak. I'm not sure if
he just isn't as strong as we think or if he doesn't care, but he got ABUSED on
several occasions in the post. There were also times when he let penetrating
guards whip right by him. He comes up with a few highlight-reel blocks each
game, but his defense is terrible. I'm not sure what is up with Taylor-- he
looks downright awful out there right now on all fronts.

--Warren is a beast. For the second game in a row, he's the only OU player that
showed up from the get-go. He was red hot early and then got ice cold. But he
showed some real moxie, hitting big shots and making plays down the stretch to
get us back into the game. He is a stud.

--This game was a microcosm of Crocker's career at OU. He was nowhere to be
found early, then he did some really dumb things, piling up fouls and a T, and
then out of nowhere, he looks amazing. For 3 or 4 minutes he was Michael Jordan
out there.

--Hairspray Davis is somewhere between bad and totally worthless right now.
Maybe my compliments went to his head?

Summary:

Two things stuck out to me about this team that we could NEVER say under
Sampson:

1. They play to the level of their competiton.
2. They are incredibly explosive.

Under Kelvin, OU played the same grinding, plodding style every game. It was
boring, but rarely did they lose to inferior teams. This particular group
definitely exhibits some laziness. The good news is that they've been able to
raise their level against better teams.

Under Kelvin, OU NEVER could explode offensively like they did last night.

Overall, I'm not too bummed we lost-- it was going to happen and we lost on the
road to a dangerous team that was absolutely on fire all night long.

Kinda looks like the team may have let some of the hype and media love go to
their heads a bit right now. They clearly came out flat and then exploded when
challenged. Ultimately, 25 points was just too big of a hole.

I'll be interested to see if this wakes them up a bit or if we'll continue to
see them play to the level of the competition.

As good as Arkansas was last night (and they were great), it was pretty clear in
the 2nd half that OU was the more talented team.

We now have two throw-away games before conference play starts next Saturday
against K-State. I'll be there Saturday and Monday against Coppin St. and
Maryland Eastern Shore, but only because I enjoy going to Norman. We won't
"learn" anything from those two games at all. We'll be 14-1 heading into
confernece play which is pretty good. The next real test will be on Jan. 12th
when UT comes to town. Hopefully, we'll get a few things figured out between now
and then. I'll keep those of you out of the loop updated on our games this
weekend, but again, don't expect much analysis.

OUMonster
12/31/2008, 06:34 PM
Two things stuck out to me about this team that we could NEVER say under
Sampson:

1. They play to the level of their competiton.


Great analysis, but I disagree that KS's teams rarely or never played down to the competition. His teams would often lose at least one game each year and wina few nailbiters against the Murray States of the world not counting games in the tournament. IMO KS's teams were characterized by playing highly motivated when the underdog and many times played without fire when playing a motivated opponent.

PhiDeltBeers
1/2/2009, 12:56 PM
1. They play to the level of their competiton.


Bingo.

Sooner04
1/2/2009, 02:27 PM
Excellent recap, skins. You've got a few things on me; one, namely, is that you know basketball.

Sorry about your Redskins, though. You carpetbombed my Vikings last year, so I can't feel too terrible for you.

OUSKINS
1/4/2009, 08:45 AM
Excellent recap, skins. You've got a few things on me; one, namely, is that you know basketball.

Sorry about your Redskins, though. You carpetbombed my Vikings last year, so I can't feel too terrible for you.

Being a Skins fans is an exercise in torture. Since 1990 when I discovered that sportbars had satellites (I was 13 at the time) until today when I now have Sunday Ticket myself, I've missed less than 10 games. I'm not sure people realize how much torture that is. Since 1992, the Redskins are one of only three teams in the NFL (excluding the Texans) who haven't one 11 games in a given year.

Those memories of the three Super Bowls are great, and I do appreciate the fact that I have those memories and fans (like say, Vikings fans, :) ), don't. But with each passing year, those Lombardi trophies feel like they are from another lifetime.

Making matters worse, I also shell out my money every year for the MLB package so I can watch my Cincinnati Reds-- another exercise in futility.

But the sports Gods did send me an angel. Have you ever met an Oklahoman who was a die-hard Cleveland Cavs fan? I don't mean a Lebron fan-- I mean a guy who suffered through the misery of a 17 win season the year before Lebron arrived. Someone who paid good money to watch awful teams embarrass themselves in front of empty arenas.

But they sent down Lebron, a sports fans ultimate gift. I am banking on LBJ to break my personal string of sports fandom futility.

And by the way, 04, give yourself some credit, you clearly "know" basketball. It's always a pleasure reading your stuff.

TopDawg
1/4/2009, 06:06 PM
I forgot that Clarke was from Oklahoma. Punk. ;)

Our defense was awful, but it wasn't helped by the crazy shot-making clinic they put on. That was unbelievable. Are the Griffin brothers bad or are they just playing uninspired right now? It seems like since about the time of finals, our defense has lacked. Is it just because we let the ranking go to our head, we're out of the regular routine, we're not playing big games like we were earlier? What is it? Maybe all of those...but it seems like they can play good defense sometimes.

Sooner04
1/4/2009, 11:35 PM
SKINS, I admire your tenacity, but you've met your match in futility.

I picked out four professional sports teams when I was about six years old (all picks driven by coolness of uniforms except for the Padres, whom I was brainwashed to love from the age of two) and I rooted for all of them with extreme ferocity. Two of those teams no longer exist, the Hartford Whalers and the Seattle Supersonics, and the other two find new, fun ways to tear out my guts yearly: the San Diego Padres and the Minnesota Vikings.

One thing I have that you'll never have: in my lifetime, none of my professional teams have won a championship. Not once. Zip. Zero.

The Reds won it in '90. The Redskins have three Lombardis.

So forgive me for not feeling too much guilt over your shame. You've got Jordan over Ehlo, I've got Hoffman giving up three runs in the wild card playoff. And I've got many, MANY, others.

TopDawg
1/5/2009, 12:44 AM
If it weren't for the Sooners, 04 would have nothing.

And until the 2000 season, 04 was probably too young to remember the Penn State game (3 years old at the time?) but old enough to remember the Miami losses and the 88 Final Four.

I guess he still had the '94 CWS.

OUSKINS
1/5/2009, 08:20 AM
You've got Jordan over Ehlo,.

You just HAD to bring that up, didn't you :)

Sooner04
1/5/2009, 09:52 AM
I guess he still had the '94 CWS.
'88. Ugh.

I do have the '94 CWS! A good family friend of ours wanted to go to the final but he was present at Kemper, and didn't want to risk the heartbreak again, so he watched from home.