Mayor's Cup Game Discussion

[ashVID]

I would say Owens is better than Crow, especially if Crow stays so tentative. I dont think Tutt/McDade is even at all. Tutt is far superior on offense. McDade is the better defender but has not shown hardly anything this year.

ash =o)

[Weatherdemon]

I would say Owens is better than Crow, especially if Crow stays so tentative. I dont think Tutt/McDade is even at all. Tutt is far superior on offense. McDade is the better defender but has not shown hardly anything this year.

ash =o)

In a shocking turn of events...

[JoeyO]

I'm surprised that Plank broke away from his extensive coverage of the Nascar circuit to actually talk about a real sport. He epitomizes a LOCAL radio talk show host. Hilarious.

I guess it's time for someone to get ballsy here. TU sucks and if we don't beat them by 25 then we suck too. I know they had their game against OU last night but there is absolutely NO CHANCE THAT TU WILL WIN SATURDAY. I really hope Coach Wo brings them back to being a respectable team but right now they are not, regardless of how few they lost by last night. Except for the handful of TU fans that post on this website, TU fans are terrible too. I have never heard a whinier bunch of fans or students. Throwing stuff on the floor? Terrible. Student section full of OU fans? Disgraceful. It is nice to bask in the fact that TU sucks. They took their shots at us a few years back and it's our turn to take our shots. My prediction is that they try to drop into a zone and we absolutely light them up. It's going to get ugly.

[ashVID]

So WD... you honestly think any 3rd party objective view would say Tutt/McDade are a wash? Tutt averages double the points.

The Crow/Owens match-up is fairly even on offense with DC getting the nod for being the much better shooter as opposed to slasher, but Owens is a much better athlete, defender and rebounder.

ash =o)

[ORUTerry]

The great thing about this is that we get to see the answers on Saturday... That said, the intangible element is which team shows up focused. As I mentioned previously, seriously outmanned ORU teams have pushed or beaten more talented TU teams by playing over their heads and maintaining focus/intensity.

If ORU shows up with intensity - and makes their shots - it should be interesting.

BTW, which of the teams do you think bring the most emotion to this game? Do the the new TU kids / new coach have an understanding of the bragging rights associated with this game?

[Gold*]

If you think TU fans are whiney, listen to Duke, OSU, Kentucky, North Carolina, or ILLINOIS fans some time. If and when you make the tournament, you'll learn. I might be wrong here, but it seems like a lot of the teams you play don't have the fan base that TU does -- fans everywhere are whiney, but there are some programs that make an art of it.

The student section was hardly full of OU fans. That's been rehashed to death on the TU board.

As for matchups:

I too saw Ramsdell guard MM at Champions, but I wonder if TU will put Price on him instead and try to double Green with Ramsdell and Crow. I think the MM matchup really affects TU's strategy and I've wondered if that's our big weakness -- that being said, our bigs held their own with Gray last night.

Like I just hinted above, I think TU will use several different players on Green over the course of the game. I could see Reese getting some minutes on him on D, as well as Wheatly and Mitchell, in addition to Crow, Ramsdell, and Price. It will have to be a team effort.

I think Tutt's shooting is a big factor. Everyone we've played this year, other than the game we won, has had a guard go off on us. I think Reese will be a really good player for us down the road, but he wasn't in position to stop Everett in the first half last night -- he sat most of the first half when he kept getting beat. Tutt is a different matchup than Everett though -- Everett is a bit more physical and is listed at a couple of inches taller than Tutt.

The Owens matchup against Crow and/or Ramsdell could be fun.

Bluitt needs to watch tape of what Walker did for OU in the first half last night. I thought he killed us with his defense and passing, even though he wasn't scoring that many points. Bluitt is stupid fast, but I'm not sure that he's as physical as Walker

I honestly have no idea what TU will do at the point Saturday -- many on the board have wanted Wallace to start there. I'm not a big Chris Wallace fan and I think he's too slow for Bluitt. Wallace might match up better with Tutt, at least for his defense -- he doesn't bring much to the table offensively unless your defense is doing a bad job running a zone. James has a lot of heart, but don't be deceived by his height advantage with Bluitt. He's very inconsistent -- I think he could eventually be a steady contributor but it won't be by virtue of his athletic ability. He is nowhere near the same neighborhood in terms of speed. Hansen looks out of position at the point -- I think the coaches must see something there that I don't. He has a nice shot, though.

What I think will happen:

TU will have to run gimmicky stuff on offense, like they will all year, and try to wear out ORU physically while playing good D. Crow and Ramsdell will be really important and I think McDade will get a lot of minutes off the bench.

If you'd asked me a couple of months back, I would have told you that there is no way that TU would wear anyone out this year, but I think, other than all the offensive boards they gave up to Bookout, they hung tough with OU last night. The TU starters played a lot more minutes than OU's did.

Wojcik is trying to instill an aggressive, physical style to this team. Even when they've lost this year, they dive for balls, crash into the other players, and hustle. Last year's team didn't do that. I think TU's conditioning is much better this year, too. That could make a bit of difference with rebounding and help keep the game close.

[tmh8286]

Good post, Gold*. You make some excellent points. I think a Ramsdell/Vealy matchup would be fun to watch, although I don't know that Vealy is quite where the coaches want him to be in order to play major minutes. I guess we'll find out soon. I think Vealy's athleticism and shot blocking ability would lessen the Ramsdell threat from outside.

[Gold*]

I think Vealy will end up being a lot like Jarius Glenn -- it took Glenn a year to adjust to the speed of D-1. But that would be a big time for him to have a breakout game.

I think both teams have several players that have a chance to break out on Saturday.

[ORUTerry]

Gold.... nice analysis. On TV it looked like the OU players were a bit winded and not as conditioned as the TU players. Did you notice that at the game - in person?

One thing the game last night showed me is that unlike last year when I thought TU basically quit in the 2nd half against ORU, the Hurricane will not pack it in if they get behind. That shows you what a difference coaching can make.

[Gold*]

I was sitting on the TU side, and didn't have a good angle of OU's bench. I'm not sure if their players were tired or not, but I can tell you the TU players didn't look tired. Part of that is probably conditioning and perhaps a bigger part of that is enthusiasm. When we played them last year, part of the reason we lost if that our front court players were all wiped out. It's really cool to see a guy like Ramsdell get to make a big impact after being lost in the mess -- Big Al even said he thought Ramsdell was a goner after last year.

OU is really big. They reminded me of how ripped the TU players were the Elite 8 year. But I think you have look like a linebacker in the Big 12. I'm not sure all that muscle translates into success, as it seems like OU is always broken down by mid-January. I thought OU's guards would wear out TU, but TU seemed to be able to run with them late in the game.

This staff and team are both very different. Don't forget that, including the walk-ons, we have 10 new players, also. After all the dust settled, I think Phillips was a very good Xs and Os coach that made a couple of bad decisions in the direction of his team and hired the wrong assistants who recruited the wrong players, both in terms of ability and personality. This team has such a different mindset than the last couple of years and that goes back to a gigantic attitude adjustment. (There were some great stories about what the staff did to clean house that do not need to be repeated.) Last night, our players didn't want out of the game, whereas we had a couple last year that would ask to be taken out.

[orumom]

The TU starters played a lot more minutes than OU's did.

Gold,

I will say TU played much better than I expected & I won't be talking smack because we don't know who will win Saturday until AFTER THE GAME. But, I think you could read between the lines with TU's starters playing more than OU's. Perhaps OU was confident enough, after the first half, of winning that they felt like it was a good opportunity to let some of their bench players get more playing time and they could always send the starters back in if they actually felt threatened?

[Gold*]

And part of that was because OU had some players in foul trouble. Fouls are often a result of who is winning the physical part of the game.

I think the bigger point was that TU didn't get worn out. OU's ranking has a lot to do with their depth.

[ORUIsbig]

you wont believe this but.....

I will be rooting for TU on Saturday

....that is the one playing in FL.

I just don't think TU has an answer for Caleb Green, and you know Caleb gets up for this game. Wojeck will learn first hand what the rivalry is all about and how hard it is to win at Mabee. No way TU wins this year.

TU, there is alway 2007! (yes, we win next year too)