Yooler official game thread

[Weatherdemon]

One geme does not a season unmake or make. Love how up and down our fans are. Very few exceptions on the up and down. We could come and make up for this loss, and play totally differently after a few games with Garcia back, or not. Nobody knows, no matter how doom and gloom you want to be.

Single games don’t necessarily matter at this point in the season.
Emerging patterns from previous seasons do.

That said, I think Smikle needs more minutes. Yea, he’s a freshman and will make those mistakes but we need his energy, athleticism and willingness to do whatever it takes to win.
Garcia will help for sure but last night was a total mess.

 

[aTUfan]

what has happened? TU sports used to be Fun.

 

[dougheffking]

what has happened? TU sports used to be Fun.

Hiring bad coaches is the problem.

 

[loca2874]

what has happened? TU sports used to be Fun.

I made that same type of statement to Nevada last night. TU Sports as a whole has just been awful the last couple of years. That said I eagerly await that moment it snaps and we are national talk.

 

[dougheffking]

I made that same type of statement to Nevada last night. TU Sports as a whole has just been awful the last couple of years. That said I eagerly await that moment it snaps and we are national talk.

We are going to be waiting awhile.

 

[GOB10]

My goodness everyone please calm down. This is the 5th game of the year and yes it was absolutely disgraceful last night and I will never defend anything like that there are no excuses!!!! That said please lets wait until we get JG back (should be very soon) before we start wanting to fire the coach. The pieces are certainly in place for this to be a very good team lets see what happens.

 

[lawpoke87]

My goodness everyone please calm down. This is the 5th game of the year and yes it was absolutely disgraceful last night and I will never defend anything like that there are no excuse!!!! That said please let’s wait until we get JG back (should be very soon) before we start wanting to fire the coach. The pieces are certainly in place for this to be a very good team let’s see what happens.

The problem is due to our schedule and these losses to make the NCAA tourney we will have to win the conference tourney. Not sure I see that type of upside even with a very good team.

 

[dougheffking]

The problem is due to our schedule and these losses to make the NCAA tourney we will have to win the conference tourney. Not sure I see that type of upside even with a very good team.

Konkol should be on the hot seat with that pathetic performance last night. I am still in shock over what I witnessed.

 

[dougheffking]

My goodness everyone please calm down. This is the 5th game of the year and yes it was absolutely disgraceful last night and I will never defend anything like that there are no excuses!!!! That said please lets wait until we get JG back (should be very soon) before we start wanting to fire the coach. The pieces are certainly in place for this to be a very good team lets see what happens.

LOL Garcia will be a helpful piece but let's not act like he's a savior.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

This is starting to remind me of the “Wait till Kuko gets here” posts from several years ago.

 

[dougheffking]

This is starting to remind me of the “Wait till Kuko gets here” posts from several years ago.

Heff is fully off the Konkol train. FULLY

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Heff is fully off the Konkol train. FULLY

This has been building for over two years now, you just wouldn't listen.

 

[dougheffking]

This has been building for over two years now, you just wouldn't listen.

Hey, give me a break. I'm listening now....you are a wise old Ox.

 

[Bill Lowery]

Last night was extremely disappointing. It’s apparent we need Garcia back and quick. Our bigs are not getting the job done. Granted, they’re young but I’m not sure they have a future at TU, except for Smikle. He needs as much time as he can get.

Watching last night’s game made me think of what we might have been if one player had not decided to take the money and run. Statistics show that the money better have been good because the grass was definitely NOT greener at other schools.

Bryant Selebangue left TU after a year where he played 31.4 minutes/game, while averaging 12 pts and 9.2 rbs.

At Arizona State he played 15.7 minutes/game, while scoring 4.8 pts and 3.9 rbs. He then transferred to McNeese State in 2024 where he’s playing 14 minutes/game while averaging 4.3 pts and 3.8 rbs.

I would have liked to have seen Selebangue playing the last 2 years at TU and seen how we would have done with him giving us an inside scoring and rebounding presence. Although he’s not a great shot blocker, his defense would have been a huge improvement over what we currently have.

Needless to say, I hate the NIL. He would have been a difference maker for us. Hopefully, our coaches (whomever they may be next year) can come up with another gem, like they did with Serebangue.

 

[loca2874]

I had an argument with a guy at my job for about 30 minutes over the NIL thing. He is pro NIL all the way around saying the athletes should be getting paid. I am against the schools paying athletes and I am against boosters paying athletes. They want to market themselves then by all means but boosters and the schools should not be paying players

 

[I.I.]

Last night was extremely disappointing. It’s apparent we need Garcia back and quick. Our bigs are not getting the job done. Granted, they’re young but I’m not sure they have a future at TU, except for Smikle. He needs as much time as he can get.

Watching last night’s game made me think of what we might have been if one player had not decided to take the money and run. Statistics show that the money better have been good because the grass was definitely NOT greener at other schools.

Bryant Selebangue left TU after a year where he played 31.4 minutes/game, while averaging 12 pts and 9.2 rbs.

At Arizona State he played 15.7 minutes/game, while scoring 4.8 pts and 3.9 rbs. He then transferred to McNeese State in 2024 where he’s playing 14 minutes/game while averaging 4.3 pts and 3.8 rbs.

I would have liked to have seen Selebangue playing the last 2 years at TU and seen how we would have done with him giving us an inside scoring and rebounding presence. Although he’s not a great shot blocker, his defense would have been a huge improvement over what we currently have.

Needless to say, I hate the NIL. He would have been a difference maker for us. Hopefully, our coaches (whomever they may be next year) can come up with another gem, like they did with Serebangue.

Yes, Selebangue and Haggerty were the two impact players who left Konkol for the money. It appears according to Haisten this morning in the World that the collectives (Hurricane Impact) may dissolve in the summer of 2025 and the University pay the full amount of NIL that each school can and probably donations will then be done through the school . I remember Rick worrying that type of donation might canibalize the Champions Fund but I suspect Justin Moore will solve that as he seems to be the strongest NIL proponent and wanting winning to be the goal of Tulsa athletics.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Hey, give me a break. I'm listening now....you are a wise old Ox.

Bless your heart. You've come a long way from the days of accusing me of pretending to be a Tulsa fan.

 

[t-townpod]

Sure NIL will help. However, I still am concerned about our recruiting and offensive and defensive philosophy. So many times our guards broke down the defense last night only to have no one moving inside and instead they were throwing passes to the perimeter with guys just standing beyond the line. Makes no sense unless you have 4 guys that can hit 40%+ from the 3.
On defense, we are very bad at handling screens and picks. Must try some zone for sure.

 

[cmullinsTU]

My biggest concern from last night is the fact UALR had 3 bigs that were all playing much better than our bigs. I am assuming they don’t have NIL to throw at those guys but we will face teams with much better inside players than UALR.

If we had even passable inside play last night we could’ve won.

We are now 200 in kenpom. This just isn’t fun. Sadly, I miss the Wojcik days of boring offense and bland defense but they at least got boards and blocks.

Incoming hyperbole… He wouldn’t have lost a game like this one.

 

[loca2874]

Here is a stat that I don’t believe is getting the attention it needs. We had single digit turnovers in the wins and double digit in the losses.

NW st. - 9 turnovers which led to 10 points
UAPB - 7 turnovers which Led to 13 points
ORU - 5 turnovers which led to 2 points

Losses

Missouri st - 18 turnovers which led to 18 points
Little Rock- 14 turnovers which led to 13 yooler points

 

[lawpoke87]

Here is a stat that I don’t believe is getting the attention it needs. We had single digit turnovers in the wins and double digit in the losses.

NW st. - 9 turnovers which led to 10 points
UAPB - 7 turnovers which Led to 13 points
ORU - 5 turnovers which led to 2 points

Losses

Missouri st - 18 turnovers which led to 18 points
Little Rock- 14 turnovers which led to 13 yooler points

Somewhat to be expected. Those wins were against really bad teams who aren’t able to apply ball pressure. Those losses are against average teams who can apply some ball pressure.

 

[loca2874]

That is true but how many of those turnovers last night were unforced? I saw a few. Dragging your pivot foot, throwing the ball to an open space, etc

 

[I.I.]

1. Have to have coaching that will use set plays to get open shots for your best shooters from the place they shoot the best from. Example getting Willis and Archie open shots from the corner.....

2. Recruiting like Little Rock- Euro players with basketball skills and portal players who were previous 4 stars and didn't get PT at P5 schools e.g. Haggerty, Lawson @ Little Rock.

3. Use the zone consistently when getting beat off the dribble or getting huge mismatches inside. Terrible job last night.

4. Use a hard zone press if you are going to use one where the dribbler can't see to pass several times a game.

5. Don't sub out players who are on a hot shooting streak. If you have ever played, you know those players could make 5 in a row.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Make up for it how? It’s like you try to be too cool to just prove a point.

Make up for it by winning games, but that is obvious I would think. I take how we do in nonconf as a measure, not how we do against Missouri St. Twelve games, not 1 game.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Heff is fully off the Konkol train. FULLY

You stepped off when you got off Wilson. You fully support TU or you don't support TU, no in between. It's rather amusing.

 

['Cane-man]

I thought he got an extension?

This is starting to remind me of the “Wait till Kuko gets here” posts from several years ago.

Yes, Ermal was a legend. Wonder whatever happened to him. I think he was afraid to compete against J.T. Ivie.

 

[dougheffking]

You stepped off when you got off Wilson. You fully support TU or you don't support TU, no in between. It's rather amusing.

I always support TU, but I can want new coaches. Funny how I’m the only “amusing” one to you, yet for some reason you argue and seem to think last nights results are OK. Fact of the matter is that at large is now 100% dead and off the table due to our schedule.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Never said last night's results were ok. And, at large is not off the table over two losses. It just becomes a little more difficult.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Yes, Ermal was a legend. Wonder whatever happened to him. I think he was afraid to compete against J.T. Ivie.

Ermal Kuqo is a retired Albanian-Turkish professional basketball player who played the majority of his career for Efes Pilsen. He is also a basketball executive for the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA working as Director of International Pro Player Personnel. He is widely accepted as the greatest Albanian basketball player of all times. Kuqo was a part of the Turkish national team from 2004 until 2010, but in the summer of 2010 got granted the wish to play for his birth country Albania national team.

 

[dougheffking]

Never said last night's results were ok. And, at large is not off the table over two losses. It just becomes a little more difficult.

It is bc we don’t play enough teams good enough to make up for it. Our season is over.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

We play Loyola Chicago & UCF in nonconf, and Memphis & whomever becomes hot in conf, That is enough to recover. But pretend it's not enough. Also pretend we can't win the tourney. LIke I said, it becomes more difficult now, but not impossible.

 

[dougheffking]

We play Loyola Chicago & UCF in nonconf, and Memphis & whomever becomes hot in conf, That is enough to recover. But pretend it's not enough. Also pretend we can't win the tourney. LIke I said, it becomes more difficult now, but not impossible.

We won’t win a single game out of those 3 teams you listed

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Funny how I’m the only “amusing” one to you,

You are amusing because before the switch, TU could do no wrong. After, they can do no right.

 

[dougheffking]

You are amusing because before the switch, TU could do no wrong. After, they can do no right.

I never said they could do no wrong. I said we are improving, but last night was absolutely atrocious and a bad sign of things to come.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

I never said they could do no wrong.

Yes you did, you just didn't realize it.

I'll still watch those games.

 

['Cane-man]

This team can play better. Even without Garcia. Each one of them takes breaks on some plays, both physical and mental. They have yet to exhibit much mental toughness. They did down the stretch in the second half at Missouri State, but that was after playing like lumps which got them behind in the first place.

Sometimes fear is a man's best friend. Coaches like Richardson, Smith, Self and Eddie Sutton could be real sumbitches but their players would run through a wall for them. I'm not sure our current staff scares anyone.

 

[TUPond]

This team can play better. Even without Garcia. Each one of them takes breaks on some plays, both physical and mental. They have yet to exhibit much mental toughness. They did down the stretch in the second half at Missouri State, but that was after playing like lumps which got them behind in the first place.

Sometimes fear is a man's best friend. Coaches like Richardson, Smith, Self and Eddie Sutton could be real sumbitches but their players would run through a wall for them. I'm not sure our current staff scares anyone.

I 100% agree with this. Fear can be a great motivator and Konkol is just too nice. Can you imagine what would have happened on that sideline if Richardson, Smith, or Self was coaching last night? It would have been a nuclear explosion! Konkol just isn’t the guy who can bring TU back to the glory days. IMO it’s going to take a gritty type of coach like those legends I mentioned to turn this 20 year mess around.

 

[I.I.]

Self would kick players out of practice but they respected him. There is a fine line that Self is brilliant with. The good coaches are.