OUSKINS
2/24/2009, 06:54 PM
The atmosphere last night was unreal....as good as I've ever seen in the LNC. Incredibly pakced and incredibly loud...the place was going nuts during the comeback. Very cool to be there.
Here is my overriding thought after the game, and it became crystal clear to me last night:
OU is still transitioning into the "Capel era." Right now, here our the top 6 players in our rotation:
Blake
Taylor
Patillo
Crocker
Willie
AJ
Those 6 can be divided into two distinct groups. We'll label them A and B.
In group A, you have Blake, Patillo, and Willie. These are three players that have been brought in by Capel.
In group B, you have Crocker, AJ, and Taylor. These players were holdovers from the Sampson era.
Group A consists of extremely ahtletic players...two of which have serious NBA hopes and the other (Patillo) can most likely make a living playing hoops as well if he hones his game a bit.
Group B consists of players that will most likely never play an organized game after their OU days are over. They are all solid college players and hard workers, but they are limited either in athleticism or skill.
When Group A is out there and going well, the Group B players get better looks and generally play with more confidence for obvious reasons. When a member of Group A is unavailable, the guys in Group B get exposed to a certain extent.
Kansas basketball is akin to OU football...all Americans leave and are immediately replaced by more all Americans. From a pure talent angle, KU is almost always going to have more than (or at least equal to) the talent level of their compeition. This particular KU team is young, but very good and getting better game by game. To beat teams like that, your "lead dogs" need to be on their game and when your top dog is on the bench it makes things tough.
I appreciate Taylor, Crocker and AJ for what they have done this year and for hard they play and we will definately need them down the stretch, but those guys aren't meant to be "lead dogs" on the big stage. It has nothing to do with heart or effort, just talent and skill.
With Blake and Willie we are an excellent team. If one of them goes down, the group B guys get exposed and we become a solid team, but nothing special.
Willie did all he could last night and Leary and Davis did their part. We needed one more big dog out there.
Having said all that, for the second game in a row, it took a ridiculous performance from an opposing guard to beat us without the best player in the country. Collins was amazing and his shots were absolute daggers.
This is the reality and the good news is that Capel appears to be recruiting mostly Group A type of players which bodes very well for our future.
We still have fish to fry this year and while we have learned that we are very mortal minus Blake we will not be minus Blake when it matters. It stinks that KU is going to win another Big XII regular season title in qa year in which we have clearly been the better team. That is the battle, not the war.All of our goals are still very attainable and this little set back may prove to galvanize the team a bit and stir them up for the stretch run.
Here is a prediction for you: OU is about to win six games in a row. We will win at Missouri and we will win the Big XII tournament. I, for one, will be rooting hard that we meet KU in the final.
Blake is coming back and when he does the Sooner team that has taken us on a magic ride this year will return as well, possibly better than before.
Here is my overriding thought after the game, and it became crystal clear to me last night:
OU is still transitioning into the "Capel era." Right now, here our the top 6 players in our rotation:
Blake
Taylor
Patillo
Crocker
Willie
AJ
Those 6 can be divided into two distinct groups. We'll label them A and B.
In group A, you have Blake, Patillo, and Willie. These are three players that have been brought in by Capel.
In group B, you have Crocker, AJ, and Taylor. These players were holdovers from the Sampson era.
Group A consists of extremely ahtletic players...two of which have serious NBA hopes and the other (Patillo) can most likely make a living playing hoops as well if he hones his game a bit.
Group B consists of players that will most likely never play an organized game after their OU days are over. They are all solid college players and hard workers, but they are limited either in athleticism or skill.
When Group A is out there and going well, the Group B players get better looks and generally play with more confidence for obvious reasons. When a member of Group A is unavailable, the guys in Group B get exposed to a certain extent.
Kansas basketball is akin to OU football...all Americans leave and are immediately replaced by more all Americans. From a pure talent angle, KU is almost always going to have more than (or at least equal to) the talent level of their compeition. This particular KU team is young, but very good and getting better game by game. To beat teams like that, your "lead dogs" need to be on their game and when your top dog is on the bench it makes things tough.
I appreciate Taylor, Crocker and AJ for what they have done this year and for hard they play and we will definately need them down the stretch, but those guys aren't meant to be "lead dogs" on the big stage. It has nothing to do with heart or effort, just talent and skill.
With Blake and Willie we are an excellent team. If one of them goes down, the group B guys get exposed and we become a solid team, but nothing special.
Willie did all he could last night and Leary and Davis did their part. We needed one more big dog out there.
Having said all that, for the second game in a row, it took a ridiculous performance from an opposing guard to beat us without the best player in the country. Collins was amazing and his shots were absolute daggers.
This is the reality and the good news is that Capel appears to be recruiting mostly Group A type of players which bodes very well for our future.
We still have fish to fry this year and while we have learned that we are very mortal minus Blake we will not be minus Blake when it matters. It stinks that KU is going to win another Big XII regular season title in qa year in which we have clearly been the better team. That is the battle, not the war.All of our goals are still very attainable and this little set back may prove to galvanize the team a bit and stir them up for the stretch run.
Here is a prediction for you: OU is about to win six games in a row. We will win at Missouri and we will win the Big XII tournament. I, for one, will be rooting hard that we meet KU in the final.
Blake is coming back and when he does the Sooner team that has taken us on a magic ride this year will return as well, possibly better than before.