Frozen Sooner started a thread and made a number of great points, as has come to be expected with him. Please, allow me to try to make a few counterpoints in defense of Coach Sampson.
...but don't get me wrong. I'm not happy with the outcome of this season either. I just happen to have a bit more information to work with than many...
----------
Myth #1: Kelvin Sampson is not a good coach and we need to find a better one to replace him.
-- If Kelvin Sampson was not a good coach, he would not have 4 Conference Championships (3 tourney, 1 regular-season), a Sweet 16, an Elite 8, and a Final 4 under his belt... not to mention medalling with USA Basketball. Kelvin Sampson IS a good coach.
Myth #2: Kelvin Sampson's players do not improve.
-- Eddie didn't even speak English when he got to campus. I'd say he came along. However, this, I personally feel, is one of the more valid arguments that can be made against him, along with my next point. His players do not improve ENOUGH. Kelvin's system doesn't make for a bunch of scoring. His leading scorer usually averages around 15-18 points per game. It's how much more involved the rest of the team gets that makes the difference.
Myth #3: Kelvin Sampson cannot coach offense.
-- This is the other point that I'll hear arguments on. His teams have consistantly under-performed, especially against zone defenses. There are, however, a couple of reasons for this: 1) We've never really had a point guard that was a dual threat of taking it all the way to the rack or being able to kick it back out once the defense collapses. Quannas White was the closest thing I've seen us have to that, and we did pretty well with him here. 2) We've never had a post player that consistantly demanded a double-team, opening up our perimeter shooting. Aaron McGhee was the closest thing I've seen us have to that, and we did pretty well with him here. Taj Grey could have been a close second, BUT...
Myth #4: Kelvin Sampson's offense is slow and unpredictable.
-- Tying in with the last point, ANY offense is slow and unpredictable when the only player that can consistantly move the ball against medium pressure is also the biggest ball hog on the team (and maybe in OUr recent history) and doesn't get along, off of the court, with our best player. A lot of those shots that Terrell jacked up this year were shots that he was dumping off to Taj last year. And, just to be clear, I'm calling our best two players Taj and Terrell, and yes, I'm saying that they didn't get along well off of the court this year. It DID carry over into gameplay, but when the only player you've got that can halfway handle the ball is causing trouble, it would cause even MORE trouble for you to NOT play him.
Myth #5: Kelvin Sampson recruits too many "project" type players...
-- Oleg Retsov. Renzi Stone. Josepf Szendri. Longar Longar. Victor Avila. Johnnie Gilbert. This, too, could be a valid argument... but he's also managed to develop some of those projects... Like Eduardo. Like Ernie Abercrombie. Granted, the list is shorter, but it's there. I feel like, if Coach Sampson would go after more "home-grown" talent and less "heart, hustle, hardwood" talent, he'd be in a better place... BUT... that was his team THIS year, and look how that worked out. ...and can any of you imagine you'd ever hear the phrase, "Imagine what this year would have been like with a leader like Johnnie Gilbert on the team." There wouldn't have been the Taj / Terrell drama that many of you didn't know existed because he would have squashed it, the way that Kevin SHOULD have and Kellen TRIED to.
Myth #6: Kelvin runs off all of our good players.
-- How quickly we forget what the truth is when the sensational is presented to us...
Ryan Humprey: Head case. Transferred to a school that would help hiim "showcase his offensive talents NOT playing center." Then proceeded to showcase his MENTAL talents by transferring to a school that had an All-American playing the 4, hereby, sticking him at center.
McKenzie, Lavender, Foust: In order, one-demensional gunner, defensive liability, and head case, the sequel. Yeah, I'd have liked to have seen Drew have some court time with the athletes we had this year, but, at the same time, I'd have had to remember the bad times... the, post-him-up-on-every-possession times...
Kelvin doesn't run off our good players... Hard word does. These are guys that were expecting college to be an extention of High School for them... coddling and pampering instead of players being as good as and even better than you, and people kissing your *ss. Coach Sampson may be a lot of things, but an *sskisser will NEVER be one of them.
----------
I'll leave you guys with those for now. I have to head to work. More later.
the_ouskull
Originally Posted by KABOOKIE
