04's Attempt: OU vs. Kansas Recap

[Sooner04]

Most of you don't know me, but those who do know this one just kills me. To quote Diane Chambers on Cheers I "hate Kansas with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns." If Kansas played the Nazis I'd swipe Hitler's dry cleaning in support of the SS All Stars. If Kansas played Satan's Minions I'd come to the game with a foam pitchfork.

I hate 'em. Hate 'em, hate 'em, hate 'em. I look at our school, and I see our teams constantly having to play crucial games at supposed "neutral" sites. I don't see any gifts like playing for a title 30 miles from home. I don't see anybody gagging free throw after free throw down the stretch like Memphis did for them last year. It eats at my gut throughout the year.

But I could not help but grudgingly admire what Kansas did to us tonight. We threw a few haymakers at them and appeared to really do some bruising to their spirit. It's 22-8 and it looks like we might really keep them at arm's length for quite a while. But then our old bugaboo appeared from the shadows: lousy free throw shooting. On a night when we needed everything he had, Ryan Wright strolled to the line and missed five consecutive free throws. Each could've prevented a KU run from expanding, none found the bottom of the nylon. The air gradually seeped out of the LNC as the Jayhawks turned into cold-blooded assassins.

You kept waiting for an ebb to this horrendous flow, but it never came. They outscored us 50-16 in one of the more disheartening displays I've ever seen from a good Sooner squad. We were fragile mentally because of Blake Griffin's absence, and Kansas never gave us a chance to counter their merciless assault. From 22-8 to 58-38 in 19 agonizing minutes. By the time we settled on a lineup sprinkled with reserves who REALLY got after it, we'd dug ourselves too deep a trench.

And then, just when it looked like we might have them on the cusp of collapse, the bugaboo appeared yet again. Cade Davis, who'd been pouring in teardrops from 24 feet in a blazing display of second-half marksmanship, missed two free throws that could've cut the deficit to two from four. We did eventually cut it to three, but we were spent. Our chamber was devoid of bullets, and a chance at our first undisputed conference championship since 1988 was gone.

Sickening. And to know that Kansas has played us twice since Blake Griffin's arrival and only had to put up with him on court for a measly five minutes let's me know that Bill Self sold his soul to the devil for good luck and a fiendish toupee.


SCORING BREAKDOWN:
1st - 20 [I was just a skinny lad, never knew no good from bad.]
2nd - 9 [oh the humanity.]
3rd - 11 [barf-eg-nugen.]
4th - 38 [but it's too late baby, now it's too late.]


PLUSES:
1. Cade Davis and Omar Leary: Provided energy at the guard position where there had been absolutely none. Crocker disappeared once again and AJ is once again ailing. Cade and Omar damn near brought us back.

2. Willie Warren: Another phenomenal effort, but too tall an order to take on the KU defenders single-handedly.

3. Jeff Capel: I like it when coaches take losses hard. You could tell he was hurting on the radio.


MINUSES:
1. Dexter Pittman: Oaf.

2. Sherron Collins: First Abrams, and now Collins. I know how our opponents must have felt early on when Austin Johnson was raining in threes from all over.

3. Free Throw Shooting: I was worried it would get us eventually. It hit us hard tonight.

4. Turnovers: 16, with the lion's share coming during a stretch where all our guards tried to do too much. The paint was a den of thieves for much of the night, and we're not strong enough with the ball to get things done against a defensive juggernaut like Kansas.


Well, I'm worried. I'm worried because losses can really mess with the mind of a down team. We've got a few days off until we travel to Lubbock. Do we get our mind back right and go dominate an inferior team, or does this thing fester? I hope we'll have Blake back and things can fall back into place for the tough stretch run. We've gone from the penthouse to the possibility of the 3rd place outhouse in the conference race and a date with that dreaded 8:30 quarterfinal game in a matter of two days. It's a nasty feeling, and I hope we see a ship righted on Saturday in Lubbock.

I've got all the faith in the world in Jeff Capel, and I'm eager to see how he attacks this malaise. It could tell us a bunch about the future of our program. I'm ready to see it.


Thank you for your time.

[jdsooner]

Don't worry. We win out and kick *** in the Big 12 Tournament. The two losses will make us mean, angry, and dangerous. Number 1 seed and we will be on a mission.

[noobalicious]

I won't totally put this one on the refs. They were bad and certainly we would have had a better shot if they were more competent.

However, scoring only 20 points for the middle half of the game is unacceptable. The amount of turnovers is unacceptable. I think AJ and Crocker vanished from this game because they put a lot of effort into the game in Austin and played almost all the minutes (actually I think Crocker played every minute). We needed them big time.

Cade needs some more playing time.

Aldrich pushed off and went over the back at least 8 times and wasn't called for it. Ryan Wright will hopefully get another chance and prove that this game was a fluke, but he could have played much better.

[piusbovis]

Aldrich pushed off and went over the back at least 8 times and wasn't called for it. Ryan Wright will hopefully get another chance and prove that this game was a fluke, but he could have played much better.

That really frustrated me. At one point in the game, I forget when, the announcers said something like: "Well Aldrich got away with a little bit of a push there, but a good no-call" then not a minute or two later OU gets called with a foul and the announcers say "I love this officiating. They are calling it early and often blah blah..."

I don't know how bad the officiating was and honestly I try to put it out of mind because I know how often in the games we win the other fan's forum is saying the exact same thing we did about these two games but those got-danged announcers make me wanna...

[Harry Beanbag]

It's basketball, of course the officiating is going to suck, that's not why OU lost the game though.

I love having the ball in Willie's hands.

[GrapevineSooner]

That really frustrated me. At one point in the game, I forget when, the announcers said something like: "Well Aldrich got away with a little bit of a push there, but a good no-call" then not a minute or two later OU gets called with a foul and the announcers say "I love this officiating. They are calling it early and often blah blah..."

I don't know how bad the officiating was and honestly I try to put it out of mind because I know how often in the games we win the other fan's forum is saying the exact same thing we did about these two games but those got-danged announcers make me wanna...

That's the delicate genius of one Fran Fraschilla.

The man contorts himself into all kinds of contradictory logic in defending the refs.

No, certainly not the reason we lost. But it is a reason why I can't stand listening to that blowhard call any games.

[GrapevineSooner]

And once this thing flowed, it seemed like WW and El Chupacabra took it upon themselves to try and get OU back into the game through what one certain hockey commentator refers to as independent contracting.

That is, try to take on all 5 KU defenders at once instead of working the ball around and trying to find a good shot.

Which must have affected our mental effort at the other end of the floor.

I was simply amazed at the mental flatulence displayed by our boys tonight during the first 10 minutes of the second half. And when they finally did get it together and looked like they'd pull off one of the more memorable wins of the year, they couldn't hit free throws.

[Boomer.....]

I love having the ball in Willie's hands.

I agree but the kid can let his emotions get the best of him. During the barrage of 3's late in the game, he hit a monster one and the Collins hit another dagger. WW was so determined to get the ball and score that he turned it over inside.

That possession, the Juan missed dunk, the Taylor 3 point attempt, etc. are what killed us down the stretch.

[primetime43]

Very Very disappointed. However once again I'm extremely proud to call myself a Sooner fan. At one point in the second half when we were down 15 or so with less than 10 minutes to play my wife said "babe just go to bed there to far down". But I knew my boys had one last run in them. If there is one thing we know about this team is that they don't lay down and they certainly don't give up. Hats off to Kansas they were the better team. I'm sorry for every bad thing I've said about you Cade Davis. You showed up last night. I think my favorite play from Cade last night wasn't the 3's but the block. I didn't know that kid had that kind of lift. Anyway a message to the Big 12. I hope you had your fun because superman is in the phone booth.

[TopDawg]

The threes from Collins were agonizing, but he turned the game around in the first with his defense.

[kc sooner]

Hey 04, I think you and I hate Kansas about the same. I despise them, when they play in the tourney, I root for whoever is playing them like they are OU. So, today is a horrible day. Living here in KC makes it even worse, I can't even listen to the radio today, it is pathetic, I was screaming at the radio on my way to work today with all these idiots going crazy about how great their victory was last night. Again, I was still proud of our boys for coming back, but without Blake, we have no inside game, he creates so many shots, not only for himself, but for every one else, we are sooo much better with him in the game it's not funny. All these idiot KU fans can say is no excuses, we beat the team on the floor, but I would love to have heard them if Blake played and Cole Aldrich didn't, it would be the other way around!!

[oumartin]

I'm definately no bball coach but I like the way Willie plays when he runs the point. He seems much more into the flow of the game when he runs the point.
When Austin was sitting in the first half Willie was going off.
They bring AJ back in and he seemed to dissappear for awhile. Maybe it was the defense but it just seems to me that he is so much more active running the point.
Maybe have AJ play the shooting guard. This is the second game in a row where AJ has really not shown up on the offensive end.

[8timechamps]

Gut wrenching.

I sold myself on winning this won despite the loss of Blake.

I didn't take the loss to Texas as hard as I am taking this one.

I just hope we come out better against Tech.

[cjames317]

I'm drinking the "this'll make the team stronger when Blake returns" koolaid. But, is this the level of play that we should expect next year? No post and a "child shall lead them"?

[oumartin]

two huge McDonalds all americans coming in next year if Capel stays

[cjames317]

Tommy is the "child" I was thinking of. Tiny is gonna fill Blake's shoes at post? Will this team be able to continue its inside-out game (my favorite, since I first began following basketball as played by Wayman and by Hakeem's Rockets? Or, will they have to change to a guard-driven game with lots of movement?

[soonerfan28]

I think everyone seems to forget the most important thing. We're a football school. Just kidding, but we have no inside defense without Blake. We can play some o without him , but damn without him we aren't very good inside. Next year will be better with an entire offseason to prepare the team and Capel will make it work. I think Gallon will fill a huge void next year, but there is nobody with Blake's athletisism. I would really like to see Orlando Allen improve in the offseason especially with Cannon gone and maybe I was crazy but I thought I saw Ray Willis on the bench in street clothes.

[Sooner04]

two huge McDonalds all americans coming in next year if Capel stays

You know, you're the only guy out there who's still talking about Jeff leaving town.

[Rock Hard Corn Frog]

I'm definately no bball coach but I like the way Willie plays when he runs the point. He seems much more into the flow of the game when he runs the point.
When Austin was sitting in the first half Willie was going off.
They bring AJ back in and he seemed to dissappear for awhile. Maybe it was the defense but it just seems to me that he is so much more active running the point.
Maybe have AJ play the shooting guard. This is the second game in a row where AJ has really not shown up on the offensive end.

Let's not forget that AJ's back was apparently giving him fits last night. I know that injuries have plagued AJ from day 1 on campus but while I think Warren is explosive and provided a huge spark in the first half but AJ has had some pretty big games this year and I think last night had as much to do with him being banged up as anything.

[badger]

two huge McDonalds all americans coming in next year if Capel stays

If Capel stays?! Why in the world would he leave?! So much unfinished business, so much upside, so much improvement done, so much more still to do!

KS was forced out by Boren/Castiglione/grumpy fans. Castiglione and Boren seem to want young Jeff to stay. You aren't a grumpy fan, are you martin?