Oklahoma State Scouting Report

[ucp990411]

FWIW, OSU had best bunch of fans I've ever encountered at a Final Four. We were watching their game in Dick's on the Riverwalk and it was all orange from fans who came to town without a ticket just to party. They were stunned when they found out we had tix, though. "Why aren't you inside?" No beer! Duh!

One thing that impressed me the most about OSU fans in the 2004 final 4 was how well blonde went with orange. Definitely the most attractive female fan base I have ever seen.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

With the motor Andre has I’d be surprised if we had a letdown game. If he doesn’t start I could possibly see us coming out flat. Maybe we come out loose and confident after our win too? Who knows.

 

[mauconnfan]

Interested to see Sanogo against a long experienced defender again, hasn’t shown much improvement in those games as of yet. A couple passes were a bit better but he’s struggling to get good shots off.

Fun to see how they react at home after the tourney win, being ranked high and versus a team that will defend hard yet again.

 

[REB1094]

It seems like their backcourt is much smaller than ours. Bodes well for us if they do decide to press or trap. Newton should be able to see over it and get good passes off. I’m sure they’ve been working on that in practice as well, since it was one of the few things we did wrong against Iowa St

On the flip side…if we press and trap, we have the bigger and more athletic players. We can probably cause some havoc early

 

[MTBingNinja]

I'm a bit concerned about a post-trip let down. But we'll see. I'm sure the coaches are all over it. They're on a mission this year.

OSU's D isn't quite as good without Likekele, but it's still quite good. They're going to be playing with a chip on their shoulder about all the press we got this week. A bit like Michigan vs. VIrginia last night. Glad it's a home game, but can't get complacent.

Have to keep making the smart plays. Would be nice to get Cisse into foul trouble. Thankfully we've played a few somewhat similar teams at PKI.

What negative press? I don’t read anything outside of The Boneyard.

 

[MJKI]

This team feels a bit like Oregon, with height to match ours but otherwise question marks all around. Better defensively but worse offensively. If shots are falling this should be a big W for the boys, in the realm of another 83-55 point win. Hoping for no intensity let down after such a strong week.

 

[Get a Job]

This team feels a bit like Oregon, with height to match ours but otherwise question marks all around. Better defensively but worse offensively. If shots are falling this should be a big W for the boys, in the realm of another 83-55 point win. Hoping for no intensity let down after such a strong week.

I highly doubt UConn will win by 83!

 

[AntG168]

I think this could be a tougher than expected match up, maybe the toughest test Uconn faces, of the P5 teams faced so far but I think UConn keeps them at arm's length for the duration and wins by 10-12, maybe something like 68-56 or 72-61 type of game.

I'm not too nervous as long as there is not any ice-cold shooting and excess of mental errors I think UConn will remain 2-3 possessions away from a tight game in the closing 20.

Iowa St and Alabama are significantly better than Oklahoma St. They also can’t shoot the 3 and turn the ball over a ton. That doesn’t guarantee an easy win. But we’d either have to be ice cold or they’d have to get uncharacteristically hot for this to be our toughest test

 

[MJKI]

I highly doubt UConn will win by 83!

Haha! 83-55 I meant!

 

[HuskyHawk]

Thanks for this @Hey Adrien! You're the Boneyard MVP for doing all this work. Really helps with perspective on the teams we face. I feel pretty good about this one, it's really about avoiding a letdown and playing hard for 40 minutes.

 

[Travelman6]

Iowa St and Alabama are significantly better than Oklahoma St. They also can’t shoot the 3 and turn the ball over a ton. That doesn’t guarantee an easy win. But we’d either have to be ice cold or they’d have to get uncharacteristically hot for this to be our toughest test

I didn't say they were better, just that, matchup wise they could pose as tougher opponents for UConn.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Iowa St and Alabama are significantly better than Oklahoma St. They also can’t shoot the 3 and turn the ball over a ton. That doesn’t guarantee an easy win. But we’d either have to be ice cold or they’d have to get uncharacteristically hot for this to be our toughest test

NMSU was a bad 3-point shooting team and went 11-17. It can happen.

 

[AntG168]

NMSU was a bad 3-point shooting team and went 11-17. It can happen.

“They’d have to get uncharacteristically hot”. It absolutely CAN happen.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Boneyarders, thanks for all the kind words! Means a lot.

 

[ucp990411]

Thanks for all your hard work. This is great stuff.

 

[Waquoit]

One thing that impressed me the most about OSU fans in the 2004 final 4 was how well blonde went with orange. Definitely the most attractive female fan base I have ever seen.

And could talk hoop with you all day long. I admit I was smitten.

 

[CL82]

I highly doubt UConn will win by 83!

 

[auror]

What negative press? I don’t read anything outside of The Boneyard.

Meant Oklahoma St will come out trying to prove the positive press and shine UConn has gotten all week wrong.

 

[Husky25]

I'm not worried as worried about a let down as I would be if they played Tuesday or yesterday. I'll bet Tuesday's practice was not the most crisp, but they should be over the jetlag by now and back into their routine.

I am interested in how Hurley treats Hawkins. He's got to be motivated after the benching, but does he start? Does he play under control or force his presence? Is he still in the doghouse?

 

[ctchamps]

Thanks for this @Hey Adrien! You're the Boneyard MVP for doing all this work. Really helps with perspective on the teams we face. I feel pretty good about this one, it's really about avoiding a letdown and playing hard for 40 minutes.

Co MVP with @auror.

Recruiting would have to go with @husky429 and @Ricker

 

[UCFan1513]

Iowa St and Alabama are significantly better than Oklahoma St. They also can’t shoot the 3 and turn the ball over a ton. That doesn’t guarantee an easy win. But we’d either have to be ice cold or they’d have to get uncharacteristically hot for this to be our toughest test

Just took a list at KenPom, Sagarin, Torvik, and Evan Miya and, for what it's worth, Iowa St. and Oklahoma St. shake out similarly across the board. Definitely some similarities in style of play (hard-nosed defense, small-ish guards, etc.) as well

 

[dvegas]

My buddy the OSU '84 grad (lives in Austin now, we tore it up at the 2004 Final Four) thought it was an excellent report. He added:

"Great analysis. Notice our sub 30% shooting from 3 point range - pathetic.

The one thing this analysis didn't point out is how unintelligent our team plays - it's like they collectively never learned the basics of basketball - like watching a collection of AAU summer league players playing together for the first time. Obviously that's on the coaching staff."

 

[UCFan1513]

My buddy the OSU '84 grad (lives in Austin now, we tore it up at the 2004 Final Four) thought it was an excellent report. He added:

"Great analysis. Notice our sub 30% shooting from 3 point range - pathetic.

The one thing this analysis didn't point out is how unintelligent our team plays - it's like they collectively never learned the basics of basketball - like watching a collection of AAU summer league players playing together for the first time. Obviously that's on the coaching staff."

With that last quote he'd fit right in on the BY it seems

 

[Waquoit]

The one thing this analysis didn't point out is how unintelligent our team plays - it's like they collectively never learned the basics of basketball - like watching a collection of AAU summer league players playing together for the first time. Obviously that's on the coaching staff."

Doesn't this sound like the kind of team UConn can eat for lunch?

 

[uconnfan68]

That is one skinny team!
6'3" 158 pounds
6'3" 163 pounds

That usually means wiry strong and twitchy fast.