Capel -- "We're not a very good team right now"
by trueorangeblood on Nov 27, 2009 12:00 PM CST
10 comments
As many of you know, the Big 12 preseason rankings had Kansas and Texas 1-2 respectively, but who was given the 3rd place ranking aka "the darkhorse"? The Oklahoma Sooners, with a very capable coach in Jeff Capel, a Naisman watchlist guy in Willie Warren, a senior glue guy in Tony Crocker, and a very good recruiting class. I haven't watched them -- maybe it's chemistry issues -- but through the very early going OU has come out of the gates with a 2-3 record against very suspect competition.
After cruising in two home games against cupcakes (most teams do this, so can't rag on them there), they traveled to VA to face a VCU team formerly coached by Capel and most recently in the national spotlight from Eric Maynor's Duke Dagger. But this team didn't have Maynor. VCU hit a barrage of 3's, went on a HUGE run, and OU never got closer than 10. Capel sounded relieved in his postgame remarks, glad that the country saw that his team isn't as good as everyone said they were -- paraphrasing.
OK, a road test under the belt and some things to work on (like guarding 3 pt shooters), they travel up to Anchorage for the Great Alaska Shootout as arguably the marquee team (argument could be made for Wazzu). The tournament has really dropped off the radar since the turn of the century, and the list of teams is not exactly a whos-who in college basketball.
First up...the Sombreros, I mean Toreros of San Diego (can't think of San Diego without thinking of Anchorman, thanks Ron Burgundy!) Give them credit, they beat Stanford, and they come from a pretty darn good west coast conference with the likes of Gonzaga, Portland (just creamed UCLA), and Saint Marys. OU seems to have a knack for giving up big runs, usually a sign of a poor defensive team. 290-lb Tiny Gallon has been averaging double figures in rebounds, yet OU has been getting out rebounded. Capel once again was brutally honest about his squad, saying, "we're not a very good team right now."
OK rough first game, who's up next? UH Cougars, who had to travel even farther, coached by none other than our old friend Tom Penders and led by "fire and ice" -- Aubrey Coleman (30 pts/game and Kelvin Lewis 18 pts/game). Good offensive team averaging over 90 pts per game vs. a poor defensive team? Recipe for disaster for OU -- they let UH put a hundo on the scoreboard. OU actually went on a little run of their own to give them a comfy lead, but alas they showed their true colors, and let UH go on runs of 11-0 and 19-4 to seal the deal.
The good news? Well, not sure there is much. Warren and Gallon are putting up the numbers we thought they would, so thats not the issue. They have a pretty good coach? That's all I got.
The bad news? That was the easy part of the non-con schedule, with games against arkansas, zona, and the zags up coming. They play in the Big 12. They are young, not very deep, and not defensively tough. Capel: "Houston, we have a problem"......... Penders: "apparently"
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as much as i have no idea on the potential/actual skill of the portland team
i know UCLA is god awful this year with no real scoring option outside of Lee. I dont mean to take away from the conference but im not sure how quality of a win this will be for Portland. Other than that, i agree. OU has a lot of problems but im sure theyll get them ironed out in time and make a run at / in the NCAA tourny
by ibleedburntorange49-9 on Nov 28, 2009 1:47 AM CST reply actions
you're probably right
but i thought i’d revel in their mediocrity for the time being
oh and portland just beat ranked minnesota (not sure how good they are either), but seems like another WCC team building a nice program..lots of bball talent in the NW
by trueorangeblood on Nov 28, 2009 1:13 PM CST up reply actions
Who the hell cares about OU basketball
If you're so sure of what it ain't, how about telling us what it am!
U been watching Texas the last few seasons?
OU is always a challenge, to say the least. In a tough conference, it would be a relief to have a little less competition from north of the border.
Watch out, I bite.
by EddieTheAlbinoSquirrel on Nov 28, 2009 11:16 AM CST up reply actions
I would say that saying OU is a challenge is the most you can say about them
They beat us once last year when they had the best player in the country and Barnes was still trying to find the right lineups, and other than that they haven’t posed any kind of real threat since the ‘04 season. I think that in the next few years OSU, Baylor and aTm are going to be harder to beat than OU, whose coach is just kind of coasting until he gets to leave for Duke. Without the football rivalry to make the games sound important OU shouldn’t be more than an afterthought. Barnes is a better recruiter, a better coach, and at a better basketball school (which says something about OU’s basketball program).
If you're so sure of what it ain't, how about telling us what it am!
you can't ignore the recruiting job Capel is doing
I thought Baylor might be relevant once every 4-5 years but they look to be building something (until the coach leaves for greener pastures)… aTm is recruiting houston well and they have a really good coach, but i think they will be resigned to be that team that pulls 1 or 2 upsets every year rather than a team with consistency.
im not sure you can coast and then get the Duke vacancy, alum or not.
listen, i’m not as threatened by OU basketball as I am about OU football, but they are relevant and still a rival of ours in basketball (2nd to kansas?)…just thought i’d update BONers on whats going on and poke some fun at how theyve struggled
by trueorangeblood on Nov 28, 2009 1:21 PM CST up reply actions
No doubt
I appreciate the look at their team this year, but I just don’t think they are really that much of a threat. I certainly don’t agree that they are our second rival after KU, despite their ranking. Capel can usually get one or two good recruits every other year, but a lot of their team is just kids who were pretty good around here (in OK and TX), and I would say (although this is definitely my opinion) he is maybe the 4th or 5th best coach in the conference. I live in OKC so I think maybe I just get tired of hearing about them; I didn’t mean to imply it wasn’t worth taking a look at how their team is doing this year.
Beating OU is always important, regardless of sport.
If you're so sure of what it ain't, how about telling us what it am!
so who is our 2nd most heated rival in bball?
atm? okie state? or baylor?
serious question
by trueorangeblood on Nov 28, 2009 3:07 PM CST up reply actions
I don't know if there is a definite #2
But I would be more worried about any of those teams, and Mizzou, more than OU. Do you realize they are 2-3? aTm definitely plays us harder than OU does, I like Baylor’s coaching much more even though they lost a lot of talent this year, and OSU and Mizzou are definitely better than OU, and I expect the gap to increase with both of those teams. I just don’t take OU’s basketball program seriously. Their athletic department has so much income from football that they can throw a lot of it at the basketball program to make it somewhat respectable, but they aren’t anything to really get concerned about.
If you're so sure of what it ain't, how about telling us what it am!
Who leads the OU-UT series in basketball??
OU does. Its 46-28 OU. However, since 2003 OU has gone 4-12 against the Horns. That speaks volumes about Barnes and of course Durant. From 2000-2002, with Sampson as coach however, we had an 8 game winning streak. Just curious of you guys knew. OU is more competitive in basketball than you guys think, Capel will have this team coached up in time for UT…..BOOMER!
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