Open Game Thread: K-State vs. Oklahoma

Should be a good chance to see just how good this young K-State can be.

Go State!

I promised an OU preview, but got swamped with the Big 12 Outlook, so this will have to suffice:

Blake Griffin is not the key to this game. Yes, you have to play honest on him, and be physical, but he’s going to find a way to break 20 so we just have to accept that.

Willie Warren is also not the key. Not because he is not a threat, but because I have 100% faith that Dominique Sutton will hold him to 12 points or less. Warren is a less polished version of O.J. Mayo, and Pullen and Sutton combined to control him pretty well last season. Brandon Rush was ineffective for an entire half against Sutton, and that was when Dom only had a few games under his belt.

The key is twofold: don’t let Taylor Griffin beat you underneath with easy shots, and control the perimeter. Taylor is an underrated threat, and his brother draws so much attention that he often gets uncontested looks off the extra pass. Kent and Samuels MUST be on top of their game and prevent this from happening, as Colon and Anderson will have their hands full with Blake.

As for the perimeter, I do not believe the Sooner guards are anything to be overly concerned about (other than Warren, who I have already addressed). Johnson and Crocker can light you up if you let them, but I have also seen them shoot OU right out of a game and forget that they have Blake Griffin on their team for long stretches of time. Pressure them (and we will), and they will make dumb decisions.

Pullen and Clemente, rotating with Brown and Awaji, should do an adequate job denying entry passes, pressuring the basketball as it comes up the floor, and guarding shots. The X factor in this game (other than the crowd, which should be a distinct advantage for the Cats), is which team’s bench shooter will contribute more: Cade Davis or Fred Brown. If one of them comes out hot and just nails 3s, it could turn the entire game. Davis scares me a lot more than Johnson or Crocker – he’s a more polished version of Werner, a male Laurie Koehn. We CANNOT leave him open on the perimeter, ever.

I like the Cats to win 74-70, but it will be a hard-fought contest either way. Can’t wait to tip this off. I’ll be in and out on here periodically.

Anyone have a link to the game ??

D.

This is good.

Sutton had position for a full second.

about our post men’s defense. Ron and Jamar are holding their own

“Do you know I am Blake’s brother? You can’t call charges on me. See? My last name is the same as his.”

Griffin brothers: 8-13
Rest of team: 0-10

Gotta find some kind of offense, but I don’t know how. Posts can’t do anything b/c they get hacked and Jake and Fred are playing PG like crap.

is that we now have the talent at all 5 positions to match up with teams like this. Even last year we lacked that 4th or 5th player that could compete against these teams.

No other way about it. And it’s more because of mistakes we’ve made, not that Oklahoma is picking our pockets.

The first half showed us what happens when we follow through with our defensive game plan and are patient on the offensive end. Towards the end of the first half, our guards started forcing the ball inside, too often with dribble penetration. Turnovers lead to easy points for OU, and we weren’t able to recover. The second half pretty much exemplified all of our shortcomings on both ends of the floor. We have a tendency to get lazy on the defensive end, which leads to silly fouls and easy points. On offense, we make silly mistakes and turn the ball over, or we force low-percentage shots too early in a possesion.

While I’m not happy about the loss, I definitely expected this type of outcome considering how young and untested we were. Look at it this way, besides Texas (who we only play once), the rest of our schedule doesn’t get much more difficult than this.

A couple of thoughts moving towards Tuesday’s contest in that city down the river. I’m comforted in knowing that our post players can keep Cole Aldrich in check for most of the game. As long as the refs stay objective and don’t get blinded by this supposed “phog”, our guards should be able to pressure their backcourt into making silly turnovers. I feel very confident, although I can guarantee that other school will be pumped and ready to play in front of their home crowd.