New name. New coach. New attitude.
Let's do this.
Smiles"When I got the job, he called, we were still playing, and he tells me not to worry about us. I start looking into it, and they are a tournament team, and they have everybody back."
-oscar about Bob Chipman
“I think Shane (Southwell) has been pretty solid for us. He gives us a different look, and he can play really one, two or three."
-oscar on the Straw
“Coach tells me that I am so dominant with my left hand, why not use your right hand to mess with defenders? I have been working on it and I will continue to work on it.”
-JO on oscar
I can't help but root for this guy. I know I hated him when he first came here. I know I am not nearly as emotionally invested as with Frank. But Jesus Christ this guy is adorable and ridiculous. Maybe this is a coping mechanism, but whatever. Give me more oscar. The relentless drum beat of guys throwing Frank under the bus and praising oscar has me wanting to be patient to see what happens when the bullets fly. The "we're relaxed" and "we're closer as a team" quotes are laid on so thick that I will be watching. Now a lot of that may be Nino butthurt for not playing at all. But McGruder has had quotes like that too. Nothing else to add on oscar so far.
Nino is RevHoney, the King of the Energy drink I don't think he will be a legit Big 12 regular, but for an "energy" guy he is great! I mean Merriweather? Ojeleye?
WOOF! The fact that Vic did not get us Semi, is making me upset. Let's move on.
ROD hit his 3's, hustled, rebounded. O-Rebounded a FT, then chased down a steal. Overall a frustrating night for him with foul trouble and a lack of good looks. Still smiling here.
JO OK showed a bit more skill away from the basket. At one point hit a turnaround baseline J. Also, will watch for increased use of his right hand messing with people.
Tay-Straw-Gruds-Nino-DJamer fun lineup that oscar used to press out of a timeout. Went on a 5-0 run before subbing in Omari and moving Straw to the 3 and they started looking like crap. We are very vulnerable if Angel is not having a good game because our guard play deteriorates quickly after that. But this team could go big guards/small forwards and really frustrate teams. Obviously I think subbing Angel for Tay there makes that lineup significantly better, but it worked especially well because Washburn went zone out of that same timeout. I could see us trying something like this against Baylor for a few minutes out of a timeout.
Straw mostly stirred, only sucked a little He is really the best passer on the team against zone. Against man I think it is Angel because he can create space off the dribble (and Gip is really underrated). He also hit a jumper that looked like it had two inches of arch, then
HIT A 3!DJamer is going to be good His defense is not very good, but he can finish in the post. His body looks like it needs to get bigger, but if Gip is any indication, his conditioning and size should be great in a year. Excited about this guy.
Diaz has set sail for all of my Good Hopes He banged the O-boards. Very active. Still looks like he could be skilled, but more importantly does a good job timing his boards and put backs on O. On D? Still not good.
CRIESAngel had a blister on his foot This makes me sad because of what I had to see from the other scrubs that tried to play his position on the basketball court. oscar needs to get our bigs to crash the rim so Angel can throw oops. He is always looking for them and he looks sad when he gets enough space to toss them and no one is there so he calmly stutters and then passes to McGruds for a corner 3. T's and P's Angel.
Sprads off to a bad start There is no way to sugar coat a performance like that from a third year player. He went 1-5 from 3, he turned down a couple opportunities for his one effective shot (floater), his defense was bad, his ball handling and decision making worse. The most telling moment was that he was not PG with anyone except for a small stretch toward the beginning of the game. Not sure if that was a change or what, but he did not handle on-ball pressure well at all. He also looked out of shape, subbed himself at least once that I saw, looked gassed. Hoping he was sick or something.
Omari may be a great lover, but he's not a generous baller he dribbles without purpose and holds the ball too much. Doesn't really take people off the dribble, doesn't move the ball. Can't be a PG. oscar seemed disappointed in his play as though he is showing more in practice shooting. We will need him to do that, because I just can't see Will being up to it.
Orris looks about as good as Will right now which means he will be better I think. He looked quick and had a good energy about him. Handled the ball with Tay in the game (which is more about Tay, I think) and looked ok. Looked scared to do much.
Tay doesn't look like he developed at all Played a little point when it was that weird/fun lineup and luckily didn't have to do much, once the linuep got broken up and he was running with the 2's he could not handle the ball pressure or organize the attack. I am legitimately scared about what happens if Angel is hurt.
Gip was in troubs and had to play with the scrubs Looked like his body was completely different. He looks ready to dominate. Had a couple nice passes that were wasted on the turds he was playing with. Was doubled every time he touched the ball and handled it reasonably well. Which he will have to.
If an Ichabod falls in the fOOD, does it make a noise? No one was there. This was all I could think up. Sorry.
