What went right in 2012-13?

[Cartierfor3]

Better players obviously. But what else? There has to be SOMETHING that oscar did right that year. We lost 8 games and were a 4 seed, that's a v good year by my standards as a KSU fan, and was our best season of the post Wooly era save 2009-10 IMO.

[Mr Bread]

Better players obviously. But what else? There has to be SOMETHING that oscar did right that year. We lost 8 games and were a 4 seed, that's a v good year by my standards as a KSU fan, and was our best season of the post Wooly era save 2009-10 IMO.

It was a very ken doll season.  Looked good on the surface, but didn't actually have any dick or balls to it. 

[EMAWzified]

Point guard play. Angel had the best year of his career.
McGruder was all-conference.
Shane had an uncharacteristic three-point shooting year.
The team of veterans to very good care of the ball.
Residual Frank toughness, especially on defense. Something it's becoming clear Weber can't coach, instill.
Team was hungry and probably so was Weber and his staff. Should have said "I told you so" and quit after that year.

[Cartierfor3]

PG play was huge wasn't it. Man I loved having guards who could create.

[kso_FAN]

Rodney McGruder.

A ridiculous season from Shane.

Great buy in on offense and multiple shooters (fit oscar's motion well).

Good guard play, (Angel, Will, Tay) didn't turn over the ball.

Residual toughness; ie. oboarding.

Ultimately shaky defense cost us against LaSalle.

[EMAWzified]

Rodney McGruder.

A ridiculous season from Shane.

Great buy in on offense and multiple shooters (fit oscar's motion well).

Good guard play, (Angel, Will, Tay) didn't turn over the ball.

Residual toughness; ie. oboarding.

Ultimately not having clue about how or when to use JO cost us against LaSalle.

We're mostly in agreement. I edited a bit at the end.

[Mr Bread]

The longer players spend with oscar the less they respect him.  That is an immutable bruth. 

[TownieCat]

It was a combination of schedule, experience, and talent.

-The Big 12 was very down that year...We only won 3 total games in the NCAA Tourney.
-5 of our top 7 players were either juniors or seniors, and the other two were soph. That same group of guys had played the previous year together.
-Rodney was a boss.

[Mr Bread]

So his first season or two with any given player or players is his best bet to actually reach them and get them to do what he wants. 

[TownieCat]

Really, all of our success that year belongs to Rodney. Statistically he was not as good as his junior year, but he held everyone on that team accountable. oscar was able to get him to buy in and then Rod got the rest of the team to buy in.

[Panjandrum]

The longer players spend with oscar the less they respect him.  That is an immutable bruth.

The point/counterpoint is Gipson and Nino.

But I think Nino is more of a byproduct of the fact that the kid probably realizes that, as a 6'4" power forward, his P5 options are very limited, and he's just going to make the most out of a very unique opportunity.

Watching what's happened to Gipson is just sad.  He's always been quiet, but you could tell he enjoyed the game and was a good teammate, especially when Shane was here.

Maybe Shane was the positive glue that kept everyone together?  Maybe it was him that held the team together in spite of oscar?

[sys]

i heard someone, may have been gottlieb, talking about how a player can learn more from multiple coaches than from a single coach.  like, it doesn't take four years to pick up on most of what a coach is trying to teach.  you can get most of it in a year.  move to a new coach and you'll learn different stuff.  leading to a greater sum of learning.

kinda made sense to me.

[Mr Bread]

The longer players spend with oscar the less they respect him.  That is an immutable bruth.

The point/counterpoint is Gipson and Nino.

But I think Nino is more of a byproduct of the fact that the kid probably realizes that, as a 6'4" power forward, his P5 options are very limited, and he's just going to make the most out of a very unique opportunity.

Watching what's happened to Gipson is just sad.  He's always been quiet, but you could tell he enjoyed the game and was a good teammate, especially when Shane was here.

Maybe Shane was the positive glue that kept everyone together?  Maybe it was him that held the team together in spite of oscar?

Is Gipson a counterpoint?  I think he is just a very good teammate.  oscar doesn't have him, the team does.  He also regressed statistically I believe, at least on the boards.  Like Shane did last year shooting.  I don't know that that has anything to do with what we're talking about though. 

As for Nino, I should maybe qualify: players who play a lot of minutes.  I don't know that this particular bruth remains true for players that were previously role-players.  I think the allure of obtaining major minutes for the first time keeps, or at least can keep, them invested. 

I was thinking Angel, Marcus, Wes as far as cats go.  There are exceptions to every rule of course. 

[Skipper44]

Everyone on the list below would be the best defender at his positions on this year's squad

JO
Shane
Rodney
Sprads
Angel
Martavious

really, only Wes is an above average defender at his position imo and Gip & Nino do a decent job at drawing charges but are only average at best for Big 12 bigs.