Can Porter Moser go now and give these Sooners a chance?
Oklahoma's 18-point homecourt loss to Tennessee just part of another conference dive we've become so accustomed to since the Sooner coach took over
We’ve seen it before.
In fact, we’ve seen it every season since Porter Moser became the Oklahoma coach.
Saturday’s 70-52 loss to fourth-ranked Tennessee was just the latest example of which there’s bound to be more, because there’s always more.
The Sooners (16-7, 3-7 SEC) get worse as seasons gets longer, play with less and less energy as losses pile, exhibit dwindling confidence as the inevitable dawns.
Though Moser may pace the sideline for 40 minutes, yell constantly, fold and unfold his arms with the regularity of Rodney Dangerfield reaching for his collar explaining he gets no respect at all, he has no answers.
Or maybe he’s been tuned out because a coach who’s always in your ear, who never sits and folds and unfolds his arms with the regularity of Rodney Dangerfield reaching for his collar explaining he gets no respect at all is bound to be tuned out.
“It takes one game to turn it and one game that you win, with our schedule, that can just throw a dart up there with an unbelievable resumé win,” Moser said, not long after his team closed on a meaningless 12-2 run to lose by 18 points on its home court. “But it’s not going to happen if we don’t collectively come back together and have the resiliency to fight through the tough parts of the game.”
It probably feels that way for Moser, but OU snared a win like that only seven days earlier, outscoring Vanderbilt 61-27 after the half and 37-15 over the final 9:57 to win by 30.
The Sooners have since fallen twice by a combined 46 points.
One of those came at No. 1 Auburn, but OU was within four points 3:24 before the half only to fall 98-70.
Losing isn’t the crime.
It’s the disappearing act.
Since shooting 72.7 percent after the half to beat Vandy, no confidence has transferred. OU shot 33.3 percent (18 of 54) at Auburn and 32.1 percent (17 of 53) Saturday.
Tennessee canned eight straight shots and five straight 3s to lead 33-19 8:57 before the half, but that’s no excuse for OU lying down the rest of the game, finding points on just one of its next 10 possessions, allowing five second-chance points the back-to-back possessions Tennessee finally missed.
Explaining it, Moser unwittingly made the case for his dismissal.
“It’s happened two games in a row,” he said. “Some things didn’t go our way, we couldn’t string it together and the lead just ballooned.”
Yes, it did.
His team lacks mental toughness. It did last season, too, the season before that and the season before that.
“You have to have some urgency and you’ve got to collectively come back to where we were [earlier in the season],” he said.
That would be nice, but it’s never happened. Not this season, not previous seasons.
Of course, when you pace the sideline and yell 40 straight minutes, maybe nobody can respond to that longer than half a season.
“I thought this team was really resilient,” Moser said. “I was talking to you after a number of close games that we won, whether it was Providence, Arizona, Michigan, Louisville, just over and over.”
He did, each one a victory over a good team. But OU won games like that his first season and last season, too.
What no Sooner team under him has done is maintain the edge that delivered those victories; maintain the urgency and competitiveness that made those wins possible; maintain the earned confidence wins like that ought to cement.
Though a few players have stuck around year to year, the list is not long and that’s a whole other issue. It offers just one common denominator, too, and it’s not the players.
It’s the coach.
It’s believed Moser’s after-season buyout to be between $4 million and $5 million — isn’t it crazy how Sooner coaches aren’t placed in positions to bet on themselves? Brent Venables’ buyout remains north of $30 million — creating a decent chance OU might not punt him at season’s end.
Even the great Berry Tramel, writing this past week in The Tulsa World, opined the Sooners would be better off purchasing players with the dough canning Moser would cost.
I humbly disagree.
The best case scenario would be if OU could to talk Moser into taking his post-season buyout right now, knowing his remaining option to be taking it in March, and give this group of players the opportunity to respond to a different and interim voice the rest of the way.
Maybe the Sooners could reach the NCAA tourney with a 7-11 conference mark, but that requires four more wins that just aren’t on the schedule for a Moser guided squad.
It would mean breaking even their remaining eight conference games, six of which are against ranked teams, three of those on the road.
In only one of the eight should OU be favored, playing host to LSU (12-10, 1-8) in six days.
But that’s never going to happen, leaving us where we are, watching another Sooner team die a slow, torturous conference death.
Unless …
“You’ve just got to be extremely tough,” Moser said.
But they’re not.
They never are.
Isn't he just a mess? But really, the guy who needs to pack his bags and hit the road—along with moser—is castiglione. This guy hasn't done anything right in so long that his mere presence is an albatross. Regarding basketball, fears has done more damage to this team than anyone but moser for allowing him to do so. The turnovers are egregious and his smart mouth and permanent smirk deserve to be benched even more. He's trouble. As is Moore with his flapping mouth and tech fouls. He seems to have mental issues. Anyway, there's a very real chance that OU misses another NCAA tourney, but does that even impact the poor coaching situation or castiglione? Skipping to football: what HC also thinks he's capable of adding the DC title to his job? Or is allowed to by castiglione. venables is fighting a losing battle as HC and now thinks he can add to the list of things he can't do. OU sports other than several minor ones are in a death spiral and yet nothing gets done by the AD to correct the situation. Start everything by firing castiglione!