NIT Here We Come

[jdsooner]

Very disappointing loss. Very disappointing year after a promising start.

[badger]

[OUSKINS]

Capel gets an F- tonight. Losing is one thing. Getting throttled by an average team at best is another. I understand and acknowledge that we lack talent at the guard spot and that there isn't much Capel can do about that. They will have decent games and awful ones. However, THAT type of offensive performance is unnaceptable under any circumstance.

A team should not looked THAT lost and unprepared at this time of the year.

For the second year in a row, we appear to be getting worse as the season winds down. Not a good sign.

No one likes Capel more than I do, but you gotta call it like you see it here.

And yes, this is made worse by the fact that OSU is on fire right and appears headed in the opposite direction. Could be VERY ugly next week in Stillwater.

[Soonerus]

I wonder if Jenna Plumley could start for the men's team ???

[Curly Bill]

A team should not looked THAT lost and unprepared at this time of the year.

Are we talking about the Fiesta Bowl again?

[Blue]

For the second year in a row, we appear to be getting worse as the season winds down. Not a good sign.

Yup. This concerns me.

[Collier11]

OR if you look at it realistically, our lack of talent and quality depth is catching up with us...Longars injury is bothering him...and we are still 2 home wins or a win at okie state from likely being in the tourney with only one player that could start for Texas or Kansas...Lighten up guys, many thought we would win 4 games in conf this year

[Rock Hard Corn Frog]

Hey we were god awful tonight. Last I checked though it only counts as one loss. Just about every team has 1-2 games on the road where they just look terrible. It is only one loss though. I'm not saying we don't have our work cut out for us but it we win our remaining home games we probably make the tourney.

Not saying tonight didn't suck but we still can regroup.

[Jay C. Upchurch]

A little more than two weeks ago in the midst of a three-game losing streak, all of these same posts came oozing out of the woodwork, talking about how disappointing the team was and how Capel wasn't getting the job done... same type of crap that was posted after the Sooners lost to Stephen F. Austin at home back in December...

I guess no one has really been paying much attention to this team?

Consistency hasn't been this team's forté, mainly because of a lack of overall depth. The starting five has looked tired at times and it has really shown up via some poor shooting performances.

This group scored 52, 54 and 58 points respectively during that three-game slide in early February. After the loss at Colorado, lots of "fans" were writing the Sooners off... and then suddenly they rebounded with three straight wins, including a 66-62 triumph over a Texas Tech team that had not lost a game at home all season.

After losing to S.F. Austin, this same team went out and beat Arkansas, Gonzaga and West Virginia back-to-back-to-back.

So whining and throwing in the towel at this point is ridiculous.

If the history of this season tells us anything, it is that these Sooners are resilient, if nothing else.

With a struggling Texas A&M team coming to Norman on Saturday, OU should have a chance to get back on the right foot. Yes, O-State is playing better, but they certainly are not unbeatable at GIA, and Mizzou has pretty much little to play for when it comes to Norman on March 8.

It certainly is not unreasonable to think Capel can squeeze three victories out of his young crew between now and the Big 12 Tourney. Even if they go 2-1 in those games, that means the Sooners finish 8-8 in league play. Couple that with at least one win in Kansas City and this team still has a very realistic shot at getting its NCAA dance ticket stamped.

[King Crimson]

we certainly haven't made it any easier on ourselves and seem to be allergic to prolonged success, but i ain't giving up yet.

[Blue]

I don't think saying he's disappointed is throwing in the towel or whining.

Thanks, Jay.

[NorthernIowaSooner]

the most frustrating things to me is road losses to CU and NU. granted theyre on the road but theyre losses you look at the schedule and think you should win and based on play this season CU shouldve been an easy win and NU a win but not as easy. just frustrating, but the lack of bodies is starting to show up, just at the wrong time of the season

[jdsooner]

The problem is that we have stunk it up in the last two games and we have now fallen into a four way tie for 5th in the Big 12. We had a good chance of finishing in 4th by ourselves before this slide. There are currently five teams with better overall records than us and who have a better conference record. Unless we win at least a couple of games in the Big 12 Tournament, our bubble has burst.

Big 12
Team Conf. W-L Tot. W-L
Texas 11-2 24-4
Kansas 10-3 25-3
Kansas St. 8-5 18-9
Texas A&M 7-6 21-7
Baylor 7-6 19-8
Nebraska 6-7 17-9
Oklahoma 6-7 18-10
Oklahoma St. 6-7 15-12
Texas Tech 6-7 15-12
Missouri 5-8 15-13
Iowa St. 4-9 14-14
Colorado 2-11 10-17

[Collier11]

Nebraska isnt a bad team guys, they are 17-9 with the same conf record as us...they have beaten Arizona st, Oregon, and now beat Kstate, A&M, and us back to back to back. We played horrible but atleast it was a decent team

[Jay C. Upchurch]

NIT here we come...????

You're right, that's not throwing in the towel.

My bad. I had forgotten the NIT is actually a better tournament than the NCAA.

-----

The truth is, OU controls its own destiny. If the Sooners go 3-0 the rest of the regular season, they are NCAA bound.

If they simply win their two remaining home games, they will be at worst 8-8 in conference and 20-11. That would probably put them alone in fourth place because A&M still has to travel to Baylor and to Kansas to finish the regular season. If OU goes 3-0, Baylor would also have to win out, by beating A&M and Missouri at home and Texas Tech at Lubbock... not very likely. OU has the tie-breaker over Baylor.

If OU earns fourth place, it gets a bye in KC and then would face a team it should have a good opportunity to beat. There are obviously no givens with this Sooner crew, but even with the last two disappointing performances in tow, OU still has a very realistic shot at going to the Big Dance. The Sooners are currently 31st in the RPI ratings.

[OUSKINS]

No one is throwing in the towel. I view the title of the thread more as frustration over the loss than someone quitting on the team. Hey, OU hoops can use all the passionate fans they can get

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised to see us only dip to #31 in the RPI this morning-- that is encouraging. And there is NO doubt that OU controls their own destiny the rest of the way.

I was just very upset at the WAY we played last night. I don't think at this point in the season you should be scoring 12 points in a half against an average team. That's all.

[Newbomb Turk]

OR if you look at it realistically, our lack of talent and quality depth is catching up with us...Longars injury is bothering him

I think this pretty much nails it.

I just don't see us going 3-0.

[Boomer.....]

I wouldn't pin this all on Capel. The team just isn't shooting the ball well. You can't teach shooting.

Instead of a few players being in a slump, like earlier in the season, the whole team is in a slump.

[OUSKINS]

I wouldn't pin this all on Capel. The team just isn't shooting the ball well. You can't teach shooting.

Instead of a few players being in a slump, like earlier in the season, the whole team is in a slump.

You can't coach talent and you can't make shots for them. However, why did we turn the ball over on 5 of our first six possesions last night? Why did we get hammered on the boards? I don't blame Capel when our guards get open looks and can't knock them down, and I DO give Capel a ton of credit for having us at 18-10 at this point, but last night was a poor coaching job, period.

[cheezyq]

Not seeing the game, I can only go by what I see in the box score. The first thing that jumps out is the shooting percentage. OU = 37%, NU = 50%. Neb was better at the line, too. Just going by that statistic, I can't imagine that coaching is the problem. I know it's Capel's job to put in plays that are designed to score, but ultimately the player has to hit the shot.

Rewind back to the game on Saturday. OU didn't just miss outside shots in that game. They were missing layups (Blake missed 4 layups/dunks in a row on one possession). They missed wide open, medium range shots. They missed FTs. They missed everything. OU's schemes were getting the ball in good position to score, but we just weren't hitting shots.

I imagine that's probably what happened v. Neb. Seriously, if we can't even hit an unguarded shot at the FT line, how are we going to be able to hit a guarded shot anywhere else on the court?

Here's an observation from the entire season: When we don't score early in the shot clock, we don't score at all. On our toughest shooting days, we spend a lot of time passing on the perimeter, trying to get the ball inside. We spend so much time on it that the shot clock drains down and if we don't get a shot for someone down low, we jack up some ridiculous shot that usually clangs off the back of the rim. I think this is a result of two things: the type of defense that's played against us (keeping the ball on the perimeter), and the fact that we don't have anyone who can create off the dribble.

Or...it could just be the fact that Capel started another "finish" campaign, and we're hosed from a karma standpoint.