UNTIL NEXT TIME
Sooners fall, but help is on the way
KANSAS CITY, MO. – The ball went around the perimeter at a decent rate Wednesday night. It wasn’t really sticking in Sooner hands. It wasn’t for a lack of trying that OU struggled to find a good shot.
On this particular series, with the shot clock about to expire, Christian James, with no clear shot, decided to make one more pass and found Jordan Shepherd on the wing. The freshman point guard went up for a shot, but that annoying shot-clock buzzer went off, and another OU possession was doomed.
Soon enough, so were the Sooners. TCU routed Oklahoma 82-63 in the Big 12 Tournament’s first round, putting this kooky OU season out of its misery. A year after the Sooners made the Final Four, they limped to an 11-20 record, the most losses in program history.
But hope is on the way. A spoonful of Trae Young makes the medicine go down. This debacle of a season has felt different in the three weeks since the Norman North phenom pledged his future to Lon Kruger.
“I feel like we can be scary good next year,” said James, a sophomore who was a quality sixth man a year ago on the Final Four run but struggled to find his bearings this season.
A difference-making point guard will go a long way to restoring OU basketball to prominence. Jordan Woodard’s unstable senior season – he had trouble adjusting to life without Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins and Ryan Spangler, his fellow Four Horsemen who started 105 straight games together, followed by an ACL injury – left the Sooners vulnerable at basketball’s most important position.
Newcomers Darrion Strong-Moore and Shepherd played well at times, but in this sport, particularly in this league, strong point guard play is mandatory.
Just look at TCU on Wednesday night. The Frogs played two point guards together. Jaylen Fisher and Alex Robinson Jr. combined for 13 assists and one turnover.
TCU found quality shot after quality shot and finished 60 percent from the field. Hard to win games when the other team shoots 60 percent.
I doubt Trae Young is a defensive savior, so Kruger will have to shore up that end of the court.
But Young can make a huge difference on offense. Against TCU, like much of the season, the Sooners had to rely on too much one-on-one. Had to resort to brute force at times to get the ball into the paint, which is no game plan for a bunch of guys 6-foot-4 to 6-foot-6.
The OU offense should be much better next season with a high-flying point guard who can score.
Granted, OU did find some good offensive players. Freshmen Kam McGusty and Kristian Doolittle became solid scorers; sophomores Rashard Odomes and Jamuni McNeace made huge leaps. Junior center Khadeem Lattin caught a late wind and showed some of the offensive promise we’ve seen over three years – he had 18 points and nine rebounds against the Horned Frogs.
Put that core with an elite point guard, and the Sooners should be doing more than just avoiding the play-in night of the Big 12 Tournament next March.
“It’s been an emotional year, for sure,” Lattin said. “We’ve had a few woes, but we grew a lot this year. We have been through some wars and we learned from each one. I’m proud of my young guys for figuring that out, and I’m excited for what we’re going to do next year.”
The blossoming of young players came at a high price. An entire season. A team coming off a Final Four season shouldn’t be setting a school record for defeats.
“A lot of these young guys got experience,” Kruger said. “That wasn’t the goal itself. We wanted to win games as well; disappointed not to win games that we had in decent position to win. But this group did grow. They had great attitudes about making progress all year long.”
And better yet, help is on the way.