Norm Peterson

One thing that probably appealed to Donovan is that Okie State's coach has a history of recruiting high school players. One thing perhaps not so appealing is that last year's group of four 4-star freshmen *combined* for 42 minutes and 12 points per game. And, now, they're experienced. And an athletic bunch. With good size. And strength. And not likely to just let a ball handler seal them with a shoulder on the way to the rim. So ... good luck Donovan. Work on your perimeter game.

I thought recruits didn't want to play for defense-first coaches. “Let’s Work!”More than just a catchy team slogan, this is the foundation for Mike Boynton’s brand of basketball at Oklahoma State, and the results speak for themselves.In just two seasons in Stillwater, Boynton and the Cowboys have produced seven wins over top-25 teams, including four top-10 victories, had four players earn All-Big 12 recognition and hauled in one of the nation’s top recruiting classes.In short, it’s clear that Boynton’s defense-first, blue collar mentality has taken hold. https://okstate.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/coaches/mike-boynton-jr-/1688

Like Sanogo and also liked what I see of Nutter. Wouldn't mind landing them both on consecutive classes.

Here's another good video of a Patrick School game feat. Sanogo, Zarik Nutter and Jonathan Kuminga (among others):

So is Kobe Webster being slotted as a probable starter at PG? He has one season where he shot over 40% from 3, but otherwise, his 3-point numbers have been fairly average. Do we have a REALLY GOOD 3-point shooter on the roster for next year? I mean, ideally, I'd like to have 3-4 so you can have at least 2 on the floor at all times. But, aside from Thor, who are our top 3-point shooters going to be?

Sooooo ... Last year, we had one scholarship player with returning minutes on the team (Thor.) This year, barring further departures, it looks like we'll have a grand total of 4 players with returning minutes. That's still a pretty substantial roster overhaul. That's not like Hoiberg Year 2; that's more like Hoiberg Year 1, version 2.0. Adjust expectations accordingly.

Have to keep reminding myself how young Yvan is. Played the whole season at 17 years old. If Adama Sanogo doesn't reclassify, then he still has his senior year of high school to play. Imagine Yvan tearing it up at the HS level right now, playing next season as a senior in HS. He'd be a beast. But, having said that, from what I've watched, Adama looks not only more explosive and athletic compared to Yvan, but he also looks more skilled. And Yvan is NOT really 6'9". He's more like 6'7". If Adama is a legit 6'9", he'd be taller and probably longer than Yvan as well. I think we need a big like Adama to compete with other bigs in this league but I'll let HCFH populate his roster as he sees fit.

Should we change the thread title from "Cam Mack - LOI" to "Cam Mack - LOL"?

I'm watching the Masters. Looks like Tiger has a shot.

Who's this Kobe guy?

All I can say is it's good to be back. Good to be able to enjoy warm showers again. Looking forward to all the off-season improvement our returning players are going to have. I'm especially looking forward to the improvement in free-throw shooting acumen by significant rotation players like Dachon, Jervay and Cam Mack. Now, let me dig into some of the threads I missed out on and see how the season went.

Anything interesting happen while I was away?

Reminds me of a woman at work.

Hey, guys, sorry to worry everyone. I'm not doing any sort of protest, nor am I disillusioned or anything. I was invited to participated in a sort of "observance" that asks men to give up certain things starting 90 days before Easter. Non-essential internet use is one of those things you're asked to give up. I figured if there was ever a year for me to do this program, this was the year. You get one of your sacrifices back on Sundays and I want you all to know I chose you all over taking a hot shower today. You're welcome.

Yeah. There's a big difference -- some people forget or don't understand -- between where a guy is now and where he could be down the line. Yvan could be a HS senior right now. Heck, there are probably plenty of HS juniors roughly his age. And if he was a HS junior or senior right now, he'd probably be getting tons of recruiting attention from traditional powers. But, as a college freshman, you can see a lot more of where his growth needs to come from and where he needs to develop. And pointing it out doesn't nullify any of that about how good he'd look if he was a senior in HS somewhere.

Twelve Big Ten teams in the Kenpom top 40. But John Rothstein says the Big East is clearly the best conference in the country. Whatevs.

You're welcome. I apologize for my occasional inefficient use of government resources. You didn't always get the most bang for your buck when I was on guard duty.

Excellent choice on Breaker Morant. Excellent. Love that movie. Nobody has mentioned "Midway" yet. "Platoon." "We Were Soldiers." "Hurt Locker." "American Sniper." "Heartbreak Ridge." Back when I was in the Army, we loved quoting "Heartbreak Ridge": "This is the AK-47 assault rifle. It's the preferred weapon of our enemy. It makes a distinctive sound when fired at you." Boy wasn't that the truth.

Valiant comeback. (Compare with the home loss to Rutgers, for instance.) Dug too deep of a hole. This is one we can definitely learn from and grow from. It's tough to win on the road in the Big Ten conference. Just ask Purdue. And Iowa.

That would not be a bad thing at all.

There's an important distinction here for Charlie besides getting his school paid for (for a semester.) It also means he gets some of the other advantages reserved for scholarship players. For instance, I believe walk-ons don't get the full training table treatment that scholarship athletes get. So … food. Which is a big deal to some of us.

I totally agree he's young. I'm just pointing out an area where I think he needs to improve the most. And it's finishing around the rim. Depending on what he works on and how the coaches work with him, he could significantly improve his finishing numbers literally overnight. Yet this season. A lot of it is technique issues. Again, just look at the difference between the way Kevin Cross was finishing against Iowa and the way Yvan was getting stuffed. Go up strong like Kevin and he's going to start flushing some of those dishes.

I'm going to argue with you here and say that if you look at the "how Yvan scores" chart from that tweet I posted, Yvan is best when he posts up. But he's gawdawful on putbacks, basket cuts, and as the roll man. Those are shots not converted within 3 feet of the basket. Review the Iowa highlights vid I posted. Kevin is getting those dishes from Cam Mack and throwing them down. Yvan is getting stuffed at the rim. Leslee Smith could finish. Yvan is not finishing. He needs to learn how. And I think a big part of it is that he needs to attack the rim with gusto. Use his shoulders to create space to get the shot off. And make quick decisions down low.

@hhcmatt it's not the post-up PPG that I was concerned about. It's his overall (it looks to me like it's an overall) finish percentage that I found worrisome. Also, from the "how Yvan scores" chart, it looks to me like he's actually MOST effective when he posts up.