blueskymesa said:

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The team has had a few weeks now to practice and play games without Akinjo and Sochan. We saw a better team against WVU without them, I think they will continue to get better and gel as time goes on. When Akinjo and Sochan return I think we'll have a better overall team.

On another note, the two loses at home being #1 would have devastated me pre-national championship years. While I was disappointed, I wasn't really "devastated" by the loses. We have proven that we can win it all and I think we will do it again and again. We are just on a different path this year and will be in years to come.

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As disappointing as the losses were.....I had us repeating as BIGXII Champs with a 14-4 conference record with losses to Tech, Okie St, Kansas, and one other random game.

This season is going about how I expected except that I thought the losses to Okie St and Tech would be on the road.

Better to get these losses out of way instead of in March/April.

This, we really need a healthy Akinjo and Sochan sooner then later. I get the goal is to be 100% healthy come tournament time and rightfully so. But we are playing for seeding. Seeding is very important come March. Sustained winning is going to be awfully hard without them. We're vulnerable every game we play without them because we have 2 guys right now who just aren't scorers (Thamba, Bonner) and another Brown whose just struggling. Realistically right now we're playing with 4 guys who can score. That's why I said in the game thread those bonus points from Thamba and Bonner are so huge. Just a hunch but I think you'll see KB play out of his mind today

This just makes me appreciate last years team so much more. You could not have scripted a better national championship team than last year. No explanation needed.

I said earlier for this year, for comparisons sake, that:
Flagler needed to = Butler
Cryer needed to = Mitchell
Mayer needed to = Teague
Thamba and JTT have no comparison, but keep improving.
...and nobody could ever replace Vital's unique style. A player like Vital is a once in a decade type guy.

If the guards can be consistently good and KB can find his game by getting more involved in the offense and picking up the scoring slack, we have a good chance to make at least an Elite 8 level. From there you just have to peak like last year when we really hit our stride after the Villanova game.

Married A Horn said:

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I said it before and I'll say it again: this is a blessing in disguise. It is helping us realize we do have weaknesses. That we can't rest and sit back and read our press clippings. That we may be in an underdog position. And when those 2 get back to 100% - WATCH OUT!

Plus Bonner is getting a baptism by fire and has already shown improvements from that first deer-in-the-headlights game when Akinjo went out. This should help quite a bit come tournament time.

Blessing in disguise!

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I've been saying this for several days. And the rest of the analysis matches my thinking: having 2 major contributors out forces others to step up. We saw the "Mayer & Cryer show" in Morgantown & I hope we see more of that (although Iowa, I think, noted that' we cannot expect 45 points from the two regularly). Also, Bonner was forced to play more minutes & has done some good things. He's not going to be another Freddie Gillespie but he can contribute in a meaningful way, allowing the leaders to get more of a break & be better rested towards the end of a game. That will be good for the team.

Oklahoma's C.J. Noland (concussion) and Ethan Chargois (undisclosed) are both OUT for today's game against Baylor, per Porter Moser.

These are the Sooners' top two subs.

Noland averages 4.8 PPG.
Chargois averages 4.6 PPG.

Wouldn't surprise me if Sochan is out for another week. Probably be back for the Bama game.

Akinjo is worrying. I'm sure many of you have had lower back issues before and know how crippling it can be. I remember I had once had a flare up so bad I thought I was having kidney stones.
Idk how bad his is but they might've given him a cortisone shot and depending on when he got it it might not have kicked in yet.

Coach Drew, let's give Bonner more minutes AND play Loveday please. Thank you in advance.

Loveday would only play if JTT and / or flo get injured. Please, no

Are both out?

He's had a year in the system, with Sochan probably out, having him able to spell them for rest or god forbid foul trouble is good both now and in case we face adversity in the future.


If he isn't ready at even the smallest of what would be needed then Coach Drew should tell him his career would thrive elsewhere.

I think both are doubtful. Sochan being out until next Sat wouldn't surprise me. Lower back issues ****ing suck so who really knows with Akinjo. If they gave him cortisone and e-stim he could be back sooner rather than later; assuming it's a lumbar strain.

Here's the entire Big 12 injury report btw:

https://www.rotowire.com/cbasketball/injury-report.php?conf=103

Akinjo is playing, thankfully

idk - he doesn't look 100% to me. i'd vote to sit him one more game at least. he isn't his all-American self yet.

historian said:

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Akinjo is playing, thankfully

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He's definitely nowhere near 100%. That lower back is affecting his shots

agreed

Might have been wiser to let him sit out another game. But he's there & I trust Drew & co. to manage things well

FLAGLER!!

Flagler might be dependent on Akinjo in order to go off himself.

He's been horrid since Akinjo got hurt vs OKST.

Maybe. Last year, maybe his success was off of Butler, Mitchell, and/or Teague.

But he's got ability. He needs to learn how to generate his own energy without depending on others.

Yeah, I don't want to say he plays passively cause he's a gunner but since he's an off ball player and shooter he does need a type A personality PG like Akinjo and the three horseman from last season.

He'll be a better player when he learns how to play without that. And he's already very good.

With Keyonte coming in next year and Love healthy he might not have the chance to.

They need him bringing the ball up more instead of Mayer or KB to start learning that mindset

That DEEP 3 from the Akinjo drive basically shows he thrives off of type A guards creating spaces in the defense with their presence or driving ability