OU Hoops: Be disappointed, not worried
When a team loses three seniors, two NBA draft selections, a No. 6 overall pick, and college basketball's unanimous national player of the year - they expect a setback.
Yet, for Oklahoma, I'm not sure anyone could have predicted this.
328 starts left with Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins, and Ryan Spangler, which may have had something to do with OU being last in the Big 12 in scoring margin, shooting percentage, assists, and assist-to-turnover ratio.
It could also help explain why the Sooners are 1-8 in games decided in overtime or by fewer than five points - often with a great opportunity to win before squandering the game through turnovers and/or missed free throws.
So a year after going to the Final Four with a 29-8 record, Oklahoma is 8-15 and has lost nine games since January.
Nobody expected the anxiety to build in Norman so quickly after one of the best seasons in school history. Still, that's exactly what has happened to fans unsure how to feel about their program going 2-13 in their last 15 games. Anyone can realize that kind of play is unsatisfactory, but at what point does that displeasure become concern?
Be disappointed OU is 0-8 in games Jordan Woodard has scored fewer than 14 points, six of which have occurred since his return from injury on January 10.
Be disappointed if you flipped this team's record in close games they would be 15-8 instead of 8-15.
Be disappointed in Christian James' sophomore slump.
Be disappointed Khadeem Lattin didn't have a bigger jump on offense.
But don't be worried.
Why?
Well, for starters, Lon Kruger hasn't had back-to-back losing seasons since his second and third years coaching the Pan American Broncs from 1983-85.
Also, take a closer look at who is playing the best basketball on Oklahoma's roster -- like the best types of mutant ninja turtles, they're teenagers.
There has been a narrative starting to build among some OU fans that Kruger, while a good coach, simply can't recruit at a competitive level.
Don't tell that to his class of 2016, which scored 60% of the Sooners' total points in a loss to No. 13 West Virginia on Wednesday. That group of newcomers includes last year's No. 51 ranked prospect, Kameron McGusty, who has developed into a dangerous offensive threat averaging 15.4 points per game in conference play. McGusty is in the midst of an 11-game double-digit scoring streak - the longest by an OU freshman since Jeff Webster in 1990-91.
Former Edmond Memorial power forward Kristian Doolittle has also proven himself to be a force for the Sooners in conference games. He is the sixth leading rebounder in Big 12 play (7.2), seventh overall in free throw percentage (78.9%), and scored 29 points in an 84-83 loss at Texas last month.
The crowd size at the Lloyd Noble Center has been down, which probably isn't fair considering what this program accomplished a year ago, but it is consistent with most losing years in Oklahoma's history.
OU will return nearly everybody next season, minus Woodard and C.J. Cole, and Lattin is the only other upperclassman on the roster. Their young talent will have a year of experience under their belt, and, pending Thursday's announcement, may have five-star point guard Trae Young joining them.
Supposing that the Sooners do land Young, who just set an Oklahoma high school record with 62 points against Edmond Memorial on Friday, the expectations will be to reach the NCAA tournament after a sub-.500 season, which is something Kruger has already done in 2012-13, when they went 20-12 a year after going 15-16.
It was a year that saw then true freshmen Hield and Cousins get their footing behind Romero Osby, Amath M'Baye, and Steven Pledger. Three years later, that duo that once averaged 7.8 and 2.7 points per game respectively, would become NBA draft picks that lead their team to a Final Four and one of the most exciting seasons in program history.
Like in Field of Dreams, for Oklahoma basketball, 'If you build it, they will come,' and Kruger has earned the time to assemble.