Next Year

[shock-it-to-me]

Alright .. updating my thoughts with the developments from the last few games

No eligibility

• Ridgnal
• Germany

Must Keep

• Rogers
• Ballard
• Good Cortes

Keep but in a different role

• Bell

Pretty Neutral on, could keep, but could also recruit over

• Pohto
• Beverly (might move him up to keep)
• DeGray

Probably should go

• Abidde

Keep because they are young

• Bamba
• Joy

Absolutely has to go

• Bad Cortes

agree with all of this 100%

[ShockerFever]

Making snap judgments based on one game is interesting.

[Aargh]

I think Cotes is figuring it out. After hardly playing at OU and then not playing at all the first semester, he hadn't seen significant court time since high school. We tend to give Juco guys an entire semester before we make serious judgements about them.

I'm not comparing Cortes to Porter,but wan to show some perspective. Porter sure didn't look like an NBA player his entire first year here.

[Shocker82/85]

Cortes has averaged 4 assists per game in the last 11 games in 20 minutes per game. His assist to turnover ratio has been 2 to 1. His bad moments have been less and less, and his confidence in his ability to score seems to be increasing as well.

[Dan]

I keep reminding myself that Cortes was a 4 star and Mr. basketball for all of Oklahoma. There is talent in there.

[ShockHat]

DeGray is neutral? The dudes been making all sorts of hella plays lately, stepping up from 3 ball to tons of rebounds. Sounds like he’s under appreciated. I think he’s a keep, especially if he trends upward. He’s certainly more of a keep than Bell imo.

I feel extremely conflicted about the state of the guards. Like I know we need improvement there, but I’m just not sure which needs to back up. Beverly (today’s version and last game) was a monster. But he NEEDS a 3 shot. Maybe Bell needs to land on the bench or go, but he’s also the hometown guy.

i truly don’t know.

Also even though Cortes has been good these last two games, I think he’s still a neutral for me. He’s good but still leaves enough to be desired to be extremely competitive.

[Shocker82/85]

I tell myself that Kruger recruited Cortes for a reason.

I want as much continuity are possible. I think the 7 rotation players who could return would be in their final year of eligibility which isn’t the greatest thing. Are Pohto and Bell ok with coming off the bench? Are any of the 7 looking for a bigger college payday? Are any of them just done with college? I would like to see Mills bring in a couple guys who could challenge for starting roles or at least be in the rotation? A lot of questions are going to get answered pretty soon but hopefully not for a week or so. It just occurred to me that none of the 5 players currently starting played with each other last year.

[ShockTalk]

Alright .. updating my thoughts with the developments from the last few games

No eligibility

• Ridgnal
• Germany

Must Keep

• Rogers
• Ballard
• Good Cortes

Keep but in a different role

• Bell

Pretty Neutral on, could keep, but could also recruit over

• Pohto
• Beverly (might move him up to keep)
• DeGray

Probably should go

• Abidde

Keep because they are young

• Bamba
• Joy

Absolutely has to go

• Bad Cortes

You also need to include who is already coming in and their positions into this "equation". Pipkin is a 1-2 and Williams a 2-3 so Joy and Bamba will be competing with them along with possibly Rogers, Cortes, and Bell at the 1/2 and Beverly at the 3.

While DeGray had a so-so game against Memphis, he was a big part the previous game in getting us there against Rice (more so than Beverly).

[asiseeit]

Todays game could change my mind but BC has looked like a totally different player the past two days. Bottom line is I don't think we are nearly as desperate to recruit over him as before. XB the past two games 11 assists to 2 turnovers. I'd like to see all seven return. We suddenly have some continuity on offense. Bamba is an unknown. If Joy had what it takes he would have gotten more minutes a long time ago the way we were playing. IA could develop in the off season but he probably goes portal along with Joy. Providing our top seven all return I think PM can be pretty selective with the portal. Jucos are probably already picked over. Would like to see us go strong after the two Sunrise guys.

[Stickboy46]

Todays game could change my mind but BC has looked like a totally different player the past two days. Bottom line is I don't think we are nearly as desperate to recruit over him as before. XB the past two games 11 assists to 2 turnovers. I'd like to see all seven return. We suddenly have some continuity on offense. Bamba is an unknown. If Joy had what it takes he would have gotten more minutes a long time ago the way we were playing. IA could develop in the off season but he probably goes portal along with Joy. Providing our top seven all return I think PM can be pretty selective with the portal. Jucos are probably already picked over. Would like to see us go strong after the two Sunrise guys.

I'm still hesitant to ignore 30 games worth of really bad basketball because of two (one against awful competition) good ones. Which returning the top 7 would tend to do that. The remaining one or two scholarships would have to be absolute home runs.

[Shocktoberfest]

I'm still hesitant to ignore 30 games worth of really bad basketball because of two (one against awful competition) good ones. Which returning the top 7 would tend to do that. The remaining one or two scholarships would have to be absolute home runs.

I think there is zero chance everyone is coming back. So we will have schollies to play with. We need some more dudes.

[1972Shocker]

I think Cotes is figuring it out. After hardly playing at OU and then not playing at all the first semester, he hadn't seen significant court time since high school. We tend to give Juco guys an entire semester before we make serious judgements about them.

I'm not comparing Cortes to Porter,but wan to show some perspective. Porter sure didn't look like an NBA player his entire first year here.

I had that same thought about Bijan but after I looked up his OU stats that did not seem to support the no significant court time premise. Over his 2 years he played in 59 games and averaged 14.3 mpg. As a sophomore he played in 29 games and averaged 17.3 mpg. That is not an insignificant amount of playing time.

However, something is going on with him. In his 1st 11 games with the Shocks he had 18 assist to 27 turnovers. In his last 11 games he has 44 assists to 21 turnovers. It appears to me that, in general, the game may finally be slowing down for him plus he is getting more comfortable in Coach Mills' system and he is learning how to best play with and involve his teammates. Perhaps a lot of that is just the natural maturation of a player. The fact that he is starting to knock down some shots is also result of this and may also indicate he is gaining confidence.

[Stickboy46]

I had that same thought about Bijan but after I looked up his OU stats that did not seem to support the no significant court time premise. Over his 2 years he played in 59 games and averaged 14.3 mpg. As a sophomore he played in 29 games and averaged 17.3 mpg. That is not an insignificant amount of playing time.

However, something is going on with him. In his 1st 11 games with the Shocks he had 18 assist to 27 turnovers. In his last 11 games he has 44 assists to 21 turnovers. It appears to me that, in general, the game may finally be slowing down for him plus he is getting more comfortable in Coach Mills' system and he is learning how to best play with and involve his teammates. Perhaps a lot of that is just the natural maturation of a player. The fact that he is starting to knock down some shots is also result of this and may also indicate he is gaining confidence.

Biggest difference I've noticed is he's not attempting the "home run" play all the time like he was earlier in the season. Both on offense and defense. Those would often end in turnovers or easy baskets for the other team.

Both Cortes and Beverly haven't been relying on the one handed cross court hook pass like they loved early in the year

[jcdshocker]

Cortes was hyped coming in. POY in Oklahoma. Then the ineligibility issue due to grades. First games were KSU and KU if I recall correctly. High competition. He tried to do too much and prove himself. The harder he tried to make a difference the worse it got. I admit I had high hopes for him coming in and I was really disappointed in his play. I didn’t think he would return next year. However I think the last 5 games are showing he can listen to coaching and is really a big reason for our recent success. But, the jury is still out on him.

[TrackSuitAndTie]

I was very happy to see WSU beat Memphis yesterday. However, this roster NEEDS to get better this off-season.