I wrote this as a reply to another thread, but it was way too long to add to another thread without it becoming a total thread jack, and, frankly, I didn't want anybody p*ssed at me for adding it to their thread, so...
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In regards to excuses...
The excuse now is, "this team's been making excuses (or, rather, having excuses made for them) all year long, so now the excuses ARE our excuses."
I've been saying it for a while now. At first, I was the bad guy. (Cue the "Scarface" reset...) Then, gradually, a few people started saying, "Well, maybe this Skull guy's on to something..." Now look at this "team." We haven't played a truly solid basketball game since... well, since WHEN, exactly? I mean, I honestly think you could make the argument that we haven't played a solid game since A&M at Collie Station. Maybe ISU in Ames. Maybe Baylor in Waco. Maybe Tech in Norman... but if that's the most recent solid game we've played, keep in mind, it was almost a month ago... Baylor in Waco was OVER a month ago. And now, looking back at our schedule, those wins over Purdue, USC, and Utah seem like they happened last SEASON, not last year.
This team, ESPECIALLY the guards, started reading their press clippings. Couple that with the fact that teams have caught on to the sad truth that we don't have a point guard on the roster that can play well, consistently, on both ends of the court for an entire game, and yeah, we've been exposed, basically. I'm seeing talk that people on here are sad that we're "probably" going to have to settle for a 2 seed. At this point, I think we're LUCKY to get a 2 seed. I'm thinking a 3 is more likely, and a 4 or 5 is more well-deserved. We've been getting by, both on the court AND in the polls, with the "Blake was hurt for their losses" excuse, but he's been back for how long now, and we still haven't put together a good, 40-minute effort since he's gotten back.
We're a team that will expose a poor to decent team's weaknesses, but we don't have a team that's capable of making a deep tournament run; something else I've caught H*ll for saying... Great players can, occasionally, put their team on their back and take them to a Final Four. (Think John Wallace in 1996...) Blake is a great player. But, when Blake is being doubled and tripled on every possession, someone else needs to have a good game. When Blake is being doubled by nobody taller than 6'6", he, in addition to somebody else, needs to have a good game.
Tonight, Blake had 17 points and 19 boards. A good game. However, he also, once again, led the team in turnovers with 5. We had 19 as a team. We only forced 10. Blake single-handedly had half as many turnovers as OSU did. That doesn't win games. Yes, he's a stud. Yes, he's (already) one of the greatest players to ever don the Crimson and Cream. But, I'm sorry... It needs to be said. He simply MUST do a better job of taking care of the basketball. It's great to see those 20/20 nights out of him, but I'd rather see a 10/10 night out of him with no turnovers at this point. Our guards are having a hard enough time handling pressure without Blake (and Juan, and Taylor, and...) finding another stat to keep leading the team in.
Also, since when did all of our guards turn b*tch end up at the same time?
vs. OSU: 15.8% on 19 shots. (52)
vs. OSU: 29.4% on 17 shots. (47)
vs. Mizzou: 22.2% on 18 shots. (60)
That's the last eight days of Sooner basketball. A total of 12 out of our last 54 3-pointers attempted have actually found the bottom of the net. That's an outstanding 22%. Yeah, 22%. I shoot a higher percentage than that from the free throw line left-handed. (I'm a righty.)
Also, what are the numbers in parentheses? I'm glad you asked. They're our total number of field goals attempted in each game. We're only shooting 22% from the arc in our last three games, yet, for some reason, even though we have arguably the best post player in the country on our roster, 34% of our shots have been three point attempts. One-third of our shots are threes, but we're hitting less than one-fourth of them. At what point do you have to shift blame from the players that couldn't hit sand if they fell off a camel to the coach that keeps letting them fire away from there?
Also, OSU, with only one starter taller than 6'5", came away with 7 offensive rebounds. That is unacceptable.
Crocker is KILLING this team. (How many 1-5, 2-8 nights are we going to settle for out of him?) He's shooting less than 40% from the field on the season, and over half of his shot attempts are 3's. He also has 57 turnovers on the season, compared to only 36 assists. When I compared him to the Invisible Man, I was hoping he wouldn't see it as a good thing. Maybe he watches Heroes, I don't know, but at this point, we might be a better team if Sylar catches up to him and decides he wants Crocker's power to disappear in games that mean something, if ya know what I mean.
Only half of the players in our top eight have more assists than turnovers on the season. Only two of those players start. None of them average more than 4 assists per game.
We're not getting good shots, and, when we are getting good shots, we're not knocking them down. Blake being beat to death and double and triple-teamed isn't a new development. It's been happening all season. The difference now, is, instead of driving the ball to the basket on the kick-outs, our guards are settling for jumpers. The only problem is, we don't have a single guard on the roster shooting better than 48% on the season... our starting point guard, our starting 3, and our lead reserve (AJ, Crocker, and Davis) are all shooting less than 42% on the year.
We are a decent-to-good basketball team right now, AT BEST. When our guards are knocking down their shots, and Blake isn't throwing the ball to the wrong-colored jerseys, we're a good-to-great team. But, at this point, we haven't been that team in at LEAST a month, maybe longer. I think the window on finding that team again may have closed. Right now, I'm seeing a second-round loss in the NCAA's... depending entirely on our draw. Two months ago, I'd have said Sweet Sixteen, MINIMUM. Now, if we get there, I'll be happy and quite surprised.
I hope that this team starts working hard again, 'cause this settling for "good enough" crap isn't going to cut it. "Aw shucks, I guess the shots weren't falling again tonight." What the sh*t is that? Play ball already, Sooners! If I'd have known you were only going to play half a season, I'd have politely asked you to play the SECOND half...
Bottom Line: We don't have any intensity on defense, and we don't have a true sense of urgency on offense. We're panicking and putting up the first decent shot instead of continuing to reverse the ball and consistently get GOOD shots.
And for those of you who want to say that I'm being Chicken Little and sh*t, it's not like I made any of this stuff up. We're a dominant post team that is settling for jumpers, and we play, basically a three-guard lineup that, somehow, still can't handle full court pressure. How is THAT a team that's going to make a deep run in the tournament?
the_ouskull
). This team doesn't have it. A month ago, they did. Then Texas at Austin happened. Damn you Pittman, you fat ****.
Originally Posted by SicEmBaylor
Re: My take on our current forecast...
Re: My take on our current forecast...
