I was also wondering why OU wasn't ranked. I checked out their season last night, after they won a road game against Northwestern, and I saw the 20 point loss to a really good, but not great Wisconsin team. Other than that, they've been pretty solid. 11-1, top 25 in KenPom and Sagarin, okay SOS. All of it says lower end of the Top 25 for sure. And I also checked on the differences between last year's team and this year's, because they went from about the 45th best team to about the 22nd best team. They are pretty much the same team except that they're missing that one guy. I think the perception is that if you lose your leading scorer, you will not be as good. So I guess most voters in the Big 12 polls, most moved them from 6th in the conference down to 9th or 10th. But just like the Hawks, OU was a worse team with him than without him.
I always wondered how good Tech would have been if he followed his parent's wishes and signed with Tech. Would they have been a better team than the one that went to the Elite 8? Because he was a Top 5 draft pick and surely that's the kind of player that make your team better, right? But his defense last season was atrocious. Not bad, but horrible. I don't know if Beard would have been tolerant of that. And he set the NCAA record for turnovers in a season with a few games to play. I'm not saying he would have been a bench warmer for Beard, but I'm sure he wouldn't have displaced Keenan Evans and that he wouldn't have been jacking up 30 shots a game.
Did Kruger get him to sign by promising that he would start from Day One and be the focus of the offense and say to hell with team results? One and dones help your program as a recruiting selling point even if they don't help produce on the court wins
I also found an interesting stat on ESPN's site. It's called Real Plus-Minus (RPM) I don't know how good it is at measuring a player's worth, but Harden, George, Anthony Davis, Jokic, and Irving are the top five. Trae Young is number 456 of 457 players listed. I have been convinced that his liability as a defensive player hurts his team more anyone will admit