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OU's Cooper on his way out?


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I think it's a real stretch to read too much into any of this.

What are Cooper's real options? Transfer and sit out a year to play a year? That seems unlikely. Enter the NBA draft? Cooper is a great college talent, but he sure doesn't look NBA-talented to my eye. And the D-league is a total wasteland. Go play in Europe? Maybe, but an agent will be able to command a lot more money for him there if he can help OU return to the post season again next year.

My guess is that a lot of OU's players are quite naturally bummed that their coach bolted, but they're not stupid. They know what they just did, and they know what they have back next year. Christian won't be looking to run anybody off that team... indeed, just the opposite; he's going to come in promising to help them keep a great thing going, and I expect that he'll will win them over, including Cooper. All of this momentary angst will pass, and OU will be just we expected them to be next year... really, really good.

P.S. The only kids who might have reason to be worried are the young guys on the back of the bench. They may be back next season, but they are all just a JUCO transfer away from being shown the door. That's Christian's M.O., and I don't see any reason it will change, unless OU administration forbids it. But I doubt that. He'll have a free hand, or he probably wouldn't have taken the job.

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I think it's a real stretch to read too much into any of this.

What are Cooper's real options? Transfer and sit out a year to play a year? That seems unlikely. Enter the NBA draft? Cooper is a great college talent, but he sure doesn't look NBA-talented to my eye. And the D-league is a total wasteland. Go play in Europe? Maybe, but an agent will be able to command a lot more money for him there if he can help OU return to the post season again next year.

My guess is that a lot of OU's players are quite naturally bummed that their coach bolted, but they're not stupid. They know what they just did, and they know what they have back next year. Christian won't be looking to run anybody off that team... indeed, just the opposite; he's going to come in promising to help them keep a great thing going, and I expect that he'll will win them over, including Cooper. All of this momentary angst will pass, and OU will be just we expected them to be next year... really, really good.

P.S. The only kids who might have reason to be worried are the young guys on the back of the bench. They may be back next season, but they are all just a JUCO transfer away from being shown the door. That's Christian's M.O., and I don't see any reason it will change, unless OU administration forbids it. But I doubt that. He'll have a free hand, or he probably wouldn't have taken the job.

There are a few sane people over here! You hit the nail on the head '82.

It's pretty clear that RootForRoo is just throwing around blasphemy on his horse$hit blog hoping to garner a few more hits from fans of the other MAC boards. His stories are full of speculation and other BS, and the only 'source' he has to cite is a 21 year old's Twitter feed.

Thankfully a few of you actually get it.

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There are a few sane people over here! You hit the nail on the head '82.

It's pretty clear that RootForRoo is just throwing around blasphemy on his horse$hit blog hoping to garner a few more hits from fans of the other MAC boards. His stories are full of speculation and other BS, and the only 'source' he has to cite is a 21 year old's Twitter feed.

Thankfully a few of you actually get it.

I'm not sure I'd be so quick to dismiss this. I was shocked when I saw Cooper's tweets. I'm on the record as saying that I don't see Cooper leaving, but I'd be worried that:

1) He indirectly but publicly questioned the hire

2) He missed the first meeting with Christian

3) He seems to only be worried about D.J. Cooper at this time (even more so than normal).

4) He has been non-committal to OU and has even retweeted "jokes" about going to Illinois, while his teammate (Offutt) quickly dismissed any speculation that he'd be leaving.

Again, I don't see him leaving...but I can definitely see the makings of a potential rift between Cooper and Christian.

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I'm not sure I'd be so quick to dismiss this. I was shocked when I saw Cooper's tweets. I'm on the record as saying that I don't see Cooper leaving, but I'd be worried that:

1) He indirectly but publicly questioned the hire

2) He missed the first meeting with Christian

3) He seems to only be worried about D.J. Cooper at this time (even more so than normal).

4) He has been non-committal to OU and has even retweeted "jokes" about going to Illinois, while his teammate (Offutt) quickly dismissed any speculation that he'd be leaving.

Again, I don't see him leaving...but I can definitely see the makings of a potential rift between Cooper and Christian.

I think I read somewhere that the players meeting yesterday was to tell them what was happening (and Christian met with the AD). The players meeting with Christian is today I think. That would mean Cooper would be there for the initial meeting. Can't remember where I read that though.

As an aside, I never thought I'd see the day when 5 of the top 9 threads (as of this post) on the ZN basketball board would be Ohio centric.

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I'm not sure I'd be so quick to dismiss this. I was shocked when I saw Cooper's tweets. I'm on the record as saying that I don't see Cooper leaving, but I'd be worried that:

1) He indirectly but publicly questioned the hire

2) He missed the first meeting with Christian

3) He seems to only be worried about D.J. Cooper at this time (even more so than normal).

4) He has been non-committal to OU and has even retweeted "jokes" about going to Illinois, while his teammate (Offutt) quickly dismissed any speculation that he'd be leaving.

Again, I don't see him leaving...but I can definitely see the makings of a potential rift between Cooper and Christian.

I like your rational view on this. I'm not going to say that he will stay, but for some guy to 'write' stories hinting to his departure based on 'sources' is irresponsible journalism. Granted, in this world of Twitter and blogs I probably shouldn't expect much, but I found it hilarious that RootForRoo went around to the other MAC boards posting his story yet didn't post it on BobcatAttack. He knows it's just internet fodder.

I hope Coop stays, but I'm sure he has some reasons for considering leaving. But as someone else posted already, it'd be stupid for him to transfer. Why would he want to sit a year out? The NBA is not realistic at this point, and why forego your senior year to play in Europe? He has a pretty solid foundation in his life (exactly the opposite of Bassett) and one would think he understands that if he finishes his career next year in the green & white and graduates that he'll see #5 in the rafters in the future.

And I'm selfish. Another year of Coop and Abreu going at it makes for great basketball.

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A few thoughts:

A. Given his senior status, I don't think anyone really thought he was leaving

B. If Cooper really did consider transferring, it's not like his mother was going to say that he did so

C. It sounds like someone from OU's program got to DJ and told him to start saying the right things

D. Mark my words: the relationship between Cooper and Christian will be a major storyline next year...those two are going to clash. The question is how much, and what the impact on the team will be

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C. It sounds like someone from OU's program got to DJ and told him to start saying the right things

D. Mark my words: the relation between Cooper and Christian will be a major storyline next year...those two are going to clash. The question is how much, and what the impact on the team will be

Really agree on both these.

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