SEASON OUTLOOK
Quoting
Kruger Q: Looking back, how would you sum up your first year at OU? A: “Our guys did a good job. It wasn’t a case of us winning as many games as we would’ve liked, but they worked hard, they competed, handled things off the court very well and did a good job in the classroom. I think now they have a much better idea of what it’s going to take to make progress and to take the steps necessary to win more ball games. Our core of guys returning — the leadership — will be pretty strong.” Q: Do you like where the program stands right now? A: “What you’re always looking to do is improve that starting point — each week, each month, each year. We return most of our guys from last year and have a good influx of newcomers. So we like the fact that our starting point is a step or two up from last year. So now our goal is to do the same thing next month, next year, and keep improving that starting point.” Q: What did you think were the team’s biggest deficiencies last year, and do you feel better about those areas heading into this season? A: “We worked hard but we didn’t really compete as hard as we needed to in order to get loose balls, to get stops, to get rebounds. It’s not a result of lack of effort as much as just not competing for the result and doing whatever you have to in order to be successful. I think we’ve improved in that area, but we’ve got to be more physical. We’ve got to be tougher both mentally and physically on both ends of the floor.” Q: From what you’ve seen so far, do you think this team has the ability to do that? A: “This team will take a good step, no question about that. Again, with the group of core guys returning and a nice influx of athletic ability and guys who can make plays off the dribble, I think we have much more competition internally. That will be healthy.” Q: You came to OU with a reputation of playing an uptempo style offensively and in your face defensively. Is the makeup of this year’s team one that will allow you to better play the style you like? A: “This group will be quite a bit more athletic, certainly deeper than a year ago. We’ll be more physical as a result of guys understanding what we have to do to be effective. So yeah, we’ll
be more aggressive in pushing the ball and be more aggressive in getting up into it defensively.” Q: You’ve got 17 players on the roster, a pretty large number. Is that a number that you typically carried on your other teams? What is the benefit of having that many players? A: “Yeah, we like 16, 17 guys. Thirteen is how many scholarships you can have, and we’ve got four who aren’t (on scholarship) but will be critical to the success of the group. So it’ll be 17 guys who give us good energy and effort every day in practice. “Just with our general philosophy, we like having three groups of five so you can keep the pace up in practice. If you do have an injury or two, you’re still able to go with three groups of five. If you get into the season and someone needs to be held out due to fatigue or injury precaution reasons, you’re able to still have those three groups and not beat each other up throughout January and February.” Q: You have to feel pretty good about the fact that you return your top six scorers from last year. Can you talk about that core group coming back and how that helps heading into year No. 2? A: “The experience is invaluable. Regardless of what you’re doing, when you have experience in something, you’re better for it. Whether it’s a good or bad experience, you learn from it, you grow from it. This group was right there in a lot of ball games SEASON PREVIEW
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