Breaking down OU basketball in 2010-11
Wednesday, the OU men’s basketball program issued a release, confirming the departures of Ray Willis and Tommy Mason-Griffin. Willis is transferring. Mason-Griffin is turning pro.
That hardly throws the book on this off-season.
Willie Warren is still determining whether to turn pro, too. And Tiny Gallon’s status remains in limbo and OU officials investigate the nature of a $3,000 wired deposit into his personal bank account by a financial advisor.
Still, closure on Mason-Griffin and Willis provides some clarity on what next year’s team might look like.
My best guess at this point is that Warren leaves and Gallon stays. Warren’s intention all along has been to bolt for the NBA. And unless something goes wrong with his recovery from minor ankle surgery, then you have to think he’ll follow through.
As for Gallon, my belief is that he’ll be back. He might have to sit out a few games, and pay back any illicit money. But I think he’ll be back.
That leaves OU’s roster rotation of returning players — as of right now — looking something like this:
PG: None
SG: Steven Pledger
SF: Cade Davis
PF Andrew Fitzgerald, Kyle Hardrick
C: Tiny Gallon, Orlando Allen
I’m not 100 percent convinced Hardrick or Allen will be back, but there’s been nothing to suggest they’re leaving either. So for now they stay in the rotation.
Now, add OU’s two signess, guard T.J. Taylor and forward Cameron Clark, and I think OU’s rotation adjusts to this:
PG: T.J. Taylor
SG: Cade Davis, Steven Pledger
SF: Cameron Clark
PF Andrew Fitzgerald, Kyle Hardrick
C: Tiny Gallon, Orlando Allen
This team has several weaknesses, but the starting lineup isn’t horrible, either.
As to the weaknesses: point guard play and frontline depth (not to mention scoring and defense). But improving point guard play should help the offense, added frontline depth will augment the defense.
Point guard play
Jeff Capel has to sign at least 1-2 junior-college points guards to plug the weakness here. Taylor is a nice player, but he’s more of a 2-guard than a true point. Relying on a freshman 2-guard to man the point all alone is asking for calamity.
According to OUInsider.com, Capel has offered three juco guards:
* Marquise Carter (6-foot-4) of Three Rivers C.C. He is the younger brother of former Sooner Nate Carter. Carter also has offers from Gonzaga and Wichita State. Carter is rated the No. 26 JUCO prospect by Rivals.com. Carter, however, is more of a combo guard. He averaged 17.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game.
* Josh Watkins (6-foot) of Howard College. Watkins is from New York Wadleigh High. He averaged 14 points, five rebounds and four assists this year while leading Howard to the JUCO national title game win over Three Rivers. He outplayed Carter in that game to earn tourney MVP honors. Watkins has been talking with Cincinnati, West Virginia and Florida State, among others.
* Daniel West (6-feet-2) of Pensacola JC. West originally signed with Tennessee out of Saginaw, Mich., but didn’t get past NCAA clearinghouse. He was also recruited by SMU and St. John’s coming out of high school.
Frontline Depth
If Gallon comes back, OU potentially could have a serviceable 1-2 punch inside with Gallon and Fitzgerald.
But after that, well, not much.
Allen didn’t play much at all this past season, even when OU had frontline issues. But Allen was a much bigger part of the rotation than Hardrick, who played a total of 4 minutes the whole season. Provided these guys don’t make dramatic improvement, they won’t be counted on to fill OU’s frontcourt void off the bench.
That means Capel, just as he does at point guard, needs to add some bodies on the post.
The guy Capel has been targeting for awhile is Southern Idaho (Juan Pattillo’s college) center Aziz N’Diaye. The 7-foot-1, 255-pounder has offers from Loyola Marymount, Oregon State, Washington and Colorado, among others.
N’Diaye took an official visit to Norman Feb. 5.
Landing N’Diaye could go a long way in alleviating the frontline depth woes.
Best-case lineup (assuming Warren leaves, Gallon stays)
PG: Josh Watkins, Marquis Carter
SG: Cade Davis, T.J. Taylor
SF: Cameron Clark, Steven Pledger
PF Tiny Gallon, Andrew Fitzgerald, Kyle Hardrick
C: Aziz N’Diaye, Fitzgerald, Orlando Allen
Now, is that an NCAA Tournament team? Doubtful.
But if Clark, a top-30 rated prospect, is as good as advertised, and Gallon can turn around his off-the-court issues, it is a team you can rebuild around.
However, if Gallon is forced out due to his financial advisor issues, OU can’t sign a juco point, and N’Diaye decides to go elsewhere, next year could be a long season, with little light at the end of the tunnel.
That’s why the next month will be something to follow for OU basketball. Both in who leaves. And in who Capel is able to bring in.
-JT
Follow Jake Trotter on Twitter: @Jake_Trotter.
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Comments
Your guess is Tiny will be back? This is exactly why OSU fans went crazy because Dez was suspended a year for taking a gym membership for the day. OU players can take all the money they want and still play. It’s crap.
Hopefully, your grammatical error is an oversight. In your section “Frontline Depth” you used a subject pronoun after the preposition “with” rather than an object pronoun. This kind of misuse is common enough in spoken English but is glaring in written English where it most often appears in sports writing.
Ryan – Dez got screwed.I think we cvan all agree on that. We don’t yet know about Tiny.
We can also agree that the NCAA is akin to fascism BUT…
One thing I can tell you is that it is not an OU/osu thing.
Drop the victim mentality and grow up.
actually dez got suspended for lying to the ncaa. Stoops and Capel have been major strict in disciplining players who get caught up in stuff like dez and tiny. that is why the ncaa interference is minimal with them. (basically OU throws out their own trash). Know your facts Ryan or don’t post.
Tommy Mason-Griffin leaving to go pro is a joke, as it will be if Willie leaves. Neither of them are remotely ready to play pro basketball. They weren’t even great college players.
How about a new reality tv show entitled “As the Sooners Basketball Team Turns”
ABC….listen up….could be a hit!!!
Dear Mr. Grammar Police,
Jake should’ve written “him,” but nobody cares. It is an interesting and informative POST, and that’s most important to the rest of us. That being said, I wish everyone would use correct grammar 100% of the time — even on quick posts. Your response is missing a comma or two,and possibly a dash.
@ Bruce you are correct! Anyway Mr. Trotter failed to mention Capel is still in the hunt for two very sought after McD’s players Terrence Jones, and Terrence Ross. If he nabs both or one of them OU will play in the post season next year-that is if next years new team improves on DEFENSE!!!!!
@ Ryan don’t blame OU blame the NCAA! They’re the ones who suspended Dez not the school, and it’s bullcrap that they did, Dez deserved to play! It’s not against the law to LIE! UNLESS YOU’RE UNDER OATH OR THE FREAKIN NCAAA
Ryan…the CRAP is from you typical OSU fans that try to compare and forget the facts…Dez LIED to the NCAA after he had a “Chance” meeting with a potential agent. OU has nothing to do with how the NCAA treats these violations. The NCAA makes the decision on allowing the player to return to the program. If Dez hadn’t lied, he would probably have been allowed to return. The CRAP sir is from you whiners that want to point fingers at some other program when you still have problems of your own…Just my opinion…
Hey great breakdown of the upcoming potentioal for OU b-ball. It seemed hopeless to me until I gazed your outlook. That seven footer would look damn good in the low post baby!
THIS THING IS GOING DOWN HILL FAST, PLAYERS LIKE CLARK, TAYLOR NEED TO GET OUT FAST. ASK 4 A FULL RELEASE!!! OTHERS PLAYERS LOOKING THIS WAY SHOULD THINK 2 OR 3 TIMES…
Bruce,
I have read both are interested in OU but they also have schools like Kansas, Kentucky, and UCLA on the list. I’d love for Capel to land one of them but I say it’s doubtful.
BOOMER
What a great line-up for next season…the Sooners will be lucky to match this year’s horrible record. Not to mention that if Gallon’s alleged acceptanec of money is true, that OU could be facing sanctions because of what Kelvin Sampson left in his wake… I would brace for a terrible season again.
Does anybody know anything about the high school forwards out of Oregon (Terrence Jones, Terrence Ross). OU was a finalist for both but I haven’t heard much of anything in a while. After everything that’s happened the past few weeks I have no idea why a top prospect would chose OU, but you never know.