Another Shouda, Coulda, Woulda in the books.

[vcboy2000]

. I actually thought that we looked really good on the floor tonight with the exception of a few bone head plays here and there.

. Remind me why OU is a top 25 team again?

. We shouda won this game because we coulda beat OU on their home floor and woulda caused some good pub to come our way plus a major confidence boost into Minnesota and conference play.

. While this tough ooc schedule is brutal, it has toughened our play up considerably, and should propell us through the first half of the conference season.

. While Ken Tutt is a great shooter off the pic and when wide open, i will be glad when we can get a guard who has a lil more height and can create his shot off the dribble.

. Good to see JB on the floor. Anyone know why he didn't start?

. We sure could have used Rouise out there for extra fire power and defense on Everett.

. Better c'mon home boys and rest up. Minnesota's a waitin'!

[rlh]

Saw the game on ESPN Fullcourt....I thought you had them...a couple of turnovers late really cost you...and a guy who had not hit a 3 in soemthing like 3 games goes nuts in the last 10 minutes....Anyway, great effort....maybe one of the better games I've ever seen Bluitt play...only question I had is why aren't more plays set for Tutt to come off picks...he hit a huge three late when you did that, but I don't remember another time that that happened....And YES....I thought Green was really good....he had a big battle on his hands with Bookout and held his own....

[Guest Rob Marshall]

The Sooners wisely attempted to doubled down (and sometimes tripled) on Green with every touch, which allowed him to lead the team with six (6) assists by finding open teammates (Michalec and Owens) who in-turn made some open looks. Green and Michalec combined for I think thirteen (13) turnovers though which was ultimately our demise as OU converted twenty-three points off turnovers for the game.

I think Michalec personally gave Scott Sutton 101 new grey hairs tonight. I know I have 57 new ones myself between our careless ballhandling and passing as well as our ineffectiveness in playing defense on Everett in the second half. Oh for an Earl McClellen!

[Guest Rob Marshall]

maybe one of the better games I've ever seen Bluitt play...

Bluitt did make some shots, but as I've said forever "making shots" has made more than one guy (and team) appear to have played better than he/they actually did. Bluitt had a couple of completely careless turnovers tonight and he put Michalec in a bad spot as well with a forced pass on the wing right in front of the ORU bench late in the game (Michalec ultimately fumbled the ball out of bounds for a critical and untimely turnover - Mickey's hands just aren't good enough to expect him to catch and control a pass like that into a closely guarded situation on the edge of the court - bad decision by Bluitt to try to go there even if that was the set; in the words of Bob Knight, "don't try to force something like that at that time dammit!").

Not to mention, Bluitt (though his heart may be that of a 6'10" center) at 5'8" is an absolute defensive liability against a team with 6'3 and 6'4 guards like OU. I don't care how many shots he may make, if the opponent makes more they win.

[maniac prez]

Agreed about JB. He is 5'7 at the most (I have been around him alot, he's small), he made several bone-head plays in the game, though he did make some shots which he hadn't been doing, but he also took shots I didn't think he should take, OU went on a 10-0 run in the first half when mickey got in foul trouble and JB came into the game. Mickey, though he had several turnovers, was our only chance at winning that game, every time he came out, we got pounded on the boards and inside, he gave us bulk and rebounds like a center should, we just don't have a backup like OU does w/the freshmen griffeth(sp?). I also agree about getting Ken some plays, everything is run through Caleb, and while I don't disagree with that, we need to run some through Ken to keep him involved in the game and to keep the other team off balance. I think Larry is really starting to figure this D1 thing out, he's starting to play like the guy we thought we would get outta juco, he is getting boards, steals, assists and he is finally figure out when and where he should take people on and to try to make a play and his shot is 100% better than last year. We are just lacking a floor general or leader to help us get over just "hanging with a team" and to get us into knocking off some of these teams. I am encouraged though about the way we played, just too many turnovers ultimately...

[EasyTELGuy]

I was there this evening and I'm gonna say that we played a solid basketball game - just came up on the losing end!

I was real excited for our guys to give themselves an opportunity at the end to win it. I think this is a game they build on and can really make them have an incredible game at Minnesota and even go like 14-2 in conference play or something like that!

Mickey had too many turnovers tonight...he wasn't careful with the ball under the basket and that turned into 4 or 6 easy points for OU! And yes, JB made a bad move in trying to get Mickey that pass late in the game like that...if at any point in the game we needed a bucket, it was that possession.

I'll stick up for JB at this point, I saw him leading the troops tonight. They came out of a timeout and he was doing on the floor coaching getting ready for an inbounds and what is encouraging from a team chemistry standpoint was that everyone was listening intently. Nodding, pointing, saying okay, etc. Green, Vealy, Larry, Ken, & JB were on the floor I believe. That and all through the game, I actually thought JB showed strong leadership, BUT I agree with others on this board that he is physically way small for certain situations on the floor. Guys like Adam Liberty help solve that issue going forward into next year but again, JB showed me some things tonight.

I feel bad for our guys that they lost, because it's a game we could have won, had we shot FT's better and turned the ball over just 25% less. Those 2 things happen better and we win the game!

Anyways, GO EAGLES! GO WIN @ MINNESOTA!

[ORU GRAD]

My observation was that Yemi with the starting five at the beginning was the right combo and they seemed to have the proper chemistry. If I were Sutton I would play that combo more and let JB come in for some transition game tactics as they did in the start of the second half. I did think the refs took Micky out of the game in the first half with cheap fouls and that took us out of our game plan. This starting five with Yemi could play with anyone but once Bluitt got in the game changed. Bookout was fouling and pushing all night and never got called for the foul. The refs were homer especially when Kevin got on them. That was a game we could and should have won. That is my take! They are not a top 25 Team in my opinion.

[Guest Rob Marshall]

How does Bluitt play 27 minutes and only have ONE (1) assist?

How does OU get TWELVE (12) more shot attempts in the second half than we did?

OU MADE more FT's (20) than we ATTEMPTED (17) and that's NEVER a good stat to be on the wrong end of.

[Guest pfsEd]

OK,

When there was about 5 min. left tmh leaned over to me and pointed up the the team foul situation and ORU had 4 team fouls for the half and OU had 6. He stated that there was no way the refs would let it stay that way through the rest of the game. We looked up at the end of the game and would you believe it...OU 9 fouls ORU 10+. I didn't think it was too badly homered on the ref side of things but for two or three calls.

The guys played great. There was no intimidation, no awe, just ballers on both sides striving to win a tight game. Now, as Isbig said on the way back last night, can we play with that "looseness" when there's 100 people in the stands at Chi. St. and dominate like we should. Three more on the road I think so a 7-7 record coming home would be good.

Freethrow shooting was so-so, but definitely turnovers were the key. We out shot them and were even to up on the rebounding, they had 11 steals to our one. that plus the travelling calls put us on the short end. They had something like 16 more shot attempts even though the rebounding was even. Protect the ball.

Lets all lift the buys up and hope the strides they are making carry over to league play.

[tmh8286]

It's tough to lose a game when you shoot 54% overall, and 50% for 3pt., especially when your opponent shoots 43% and 38%, respectively.

I agree with pfsEd, I felt little if any frustration with the officiating, except for a couple of calls at the very end of the game. Other than those I felt it was a VERY well officiated game - unlike in the MSU game, where I almost needed physical restraint to keep from running onto the court and throttling a couple of those goons . . .

One question I have that maybe someone more knowledgeable can answer for me - is the total number of turnovers a team has the critical issue, or is the disparity in turnovers more important? Or maybe saying it in another way, is it points off of turnovers that is really the critical factor? If OU had had 15 turnovers to our 18, might the game not turned out differently, especially if we had converted some of those to points? Instead, they had just 5, which is a pretty incredible number. Rob's point of the disparity of 23 to 4 in points off of TO's seems to support this. Anybody have an answer for me?

If you consider the ratio of POT/TO, OU's comes out to 1.28, while ORU's comes out to 0.8. So they were much better at converting turnovers to points.

What were all the head-swinging, arm-swinging goofball gyrations that Gray and Everett were making last night? Imitating And-1 or NBA? It looked like a joke. Just play the game, guys, and don't try to look so silly!

One final point: last night OU really played a half-court game. I don't remember any points off of fast breaks, although there may have been a couple that I don't remember. In fact, in the first half it almost seemed to me that they were running down the shot clock. They didn't even seem to be looking for a shot until the shot clock got below 10 sec. Their guards were passing up wide open looks. Anybody else notice that?

[rlh]

Of course this isn't a 100%...but I was told early in my broadcasting career by a coach I worked with that the difference in turnovers is worth 1 point each on the scoreboard...if you watch the difference over the years, that will pretty much hold up...so the differential will usually indicate what's going on on the floor...however, WHEN turnovers occur can't be overlooked either....but as a general rule, I look at differential when analyzing what we're watching. If you've watched any of our Mid-Con telecasts, you'll note that we mention that many times during the game......

[Guest Rob Marshall]

One question I have that maybe someone more knowledgeable can answer for me - is the total number of turnovers a team has the critical issue, or is the disparity in turnovers more important? Or maybe saying it in another way, is it points off of turnovers that is really the critical factor? If OU had had 15 turnovers to our 18, might the game not turned out differently, especially if we had converted some of those to points? Instead, they had just 5, which is a pretty incredible number. Rob's point of the disparity of 23 to 4 in points off of TO's seems to support this. Anybody have an answer for me?

If you consider the ratio of POT/TO, OU's comes out to 1.28, while ORU's comes out to 0.8. So they were much better at converting turnovers to points.

What were all the head-swinging, arm-swinging goofball gyrations that Gray and Everett were making last night? Imitating And-1 or NBA? It looked like a joke. Just play the game, guys, and don't try to look so silly!

Tim, you're much smarter than you give yourself credit for ... SIMPLY SAID, a turnover is one less scoring opportunity for your team and ultimately results in an additional scoring opportunity for your opponent. THAT is how a team can shoot a lower FG% and yet win the game because they have more shot attempts which clearly leads to more opportunities to score.

The fact that OU also actually MADE more FT's (20) than we ATTEMPTED (17) is part of this recipe too ... commiting 13 more turnovers than the Sooners as well as giving up 5 more OFFENSIVE rebounds translated into 14 more FG attempts and 9 more FT attempts for OU last night. Thus, more scoring opportunities which allowed them to win the game.

FINAL POINT, be careful Tim with your final paragraph there because Green, Bluitt, Owens, and Michalec are all guilty of showing too much outward emotion at times (note Larry's exit after fouling out last night and the Bluitt/Green antics following JB's layup in transition that lead to an OU timeout during an ORU run in the second half). I fully agree with your point, but think how our guys look to opposing fans when they have similar outward displays of emotion. :idea:

[tmh8286]

You may have missed my point, Rob, regarding Taj Gray and Terrell Everett. I wasn't talking about displays of emotion after a play, but the exaggerated moves during the play itself. There's really no problem with it, but to me it looked silly. It is kind of a one-on-one face-down that they were doing with their defender. I don't watch the NBA, so I'm not sure, but I imagine that it is the kind of one-on-one stuff they see NBA players doing. No big deal really, Rob.

But I DO agree with your point about the displays of emotion of some of OUR players. I really don't mind exuberance after a great play, but when it appears to be associated with taunting, I become uncomfortable with it. Hope we can keep that under control. I think it only serves to fire up the other team, and even more so their fans.

One question though: I saw Larry smiling when he came off the court after he fouled out - was that what you were referring to? Did you think that that was done in a taunting manner? I really didn't pick up on that.

[ORUTerry]

Larry was not taunting - I did not think. He was frustrated about the game and fouling out. He was smiling and may have responded to the (small) OU student section - but no intent to taunt.

[ORUIsbig]

my question is.. when does losing these close games to next level team begin to wear on our psyche? That was alot of effort out there. Can they get that same intensity for Min? We saw that at both USU games, Marquette, and OU. Especially when its several in a row, it must be tough.

I know how hard it is to cheer your guts out in one of those games only to come away disappointed and reluctant to put as much in the next game. (But you know me, i am ice once that wistle blows. I go into full cheering mode. )

[orumom]

Yemi was sick with the flu at half time. Not many people could play that hard & blow chunks at half time.