Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

Nirvana for me this week as an Oklahoma basketball junkie. The Thunder play four very interesting games against Toronto, Detroit, the Clippers, and Houston. I’m going to assume these four opposing head coaches are going to actually try to win the games unlike the joke on display Saturday night in Oklahoma City.

A compelling week of games for the Thunder. As the rogue Thunder blogger I am, I’ll grind it out and get my recaps done because I’m genuinely excited about the Thunder this week. All four should be quality games and we’ll actually find out tonight if OKC is No. 4 or No. 5 in my next Power Poll.

But I can’t lie, I’ve been watching OU hoops since I was in the seventh grade. My heart is with the Sooners this week. People outside of Oklahoma don’t fully realize how good the basketball has been for the most part since John MacLeod was coaching back in the Fieldhouse days. MacLeod had a nucleus of Scott Martin, Bobby Jack, Garfield Heard, and Clifford Ray. My first love as a basketball fan.

A really good team. My first OU team I became attached to emotionally. Ray and Heard went on to play in the NBA while John MacLeod went on to head coach the Phoenix Suns team which  played the Boston Celtics in an NBA Finals. The series went six games with Boston winning, but many still consider the Game 5 triple overtime thriller as. the greatest NBA game of all-time. Google it. It was simply an amazing game.

Then came a guy named Dave Bliss from Indiana as Bobby Knight’s head assistant. Bliss did a fantastic job at OU in his time here. In the ’78-’79 season he directed the Sooners to the Big 8 championship and a Sweet 16 appearance before bowing out to a team from Indiana State led by one Larry Bird. I can still name that team…John McCullough, Cary Carrabine, Lester Pace, Al Beal, Terry Stotts (current coach of the Trailblazers), and Raymond ‘Juice’ Whitley. Actually–this is my second favorite OU team of all-time because they played so smart.

But the coach who clearly kick started the OU program was Billy Tubbs. Tubbs was a Tulsa guy who had great success at Lamar before coming to OU. He not only changed OU hoops forever, he changed the landscape of the Big 8 and national college ball as well.

People can say all they want about Billy’s style of play, but he was named National Coach of the Year twice at a program where you don’t get the blueblood athletes like Duke, Indiana, North Carolina, and Kansas.

And of course, his ’88 team is not only my favorite OU team of all-time, but my favorite basketball team of all-time. Harvey Grant, Mookie Blalock, Stacy King, Dave Sieger (my favorite player along with Blaylock), and Ricky Grace. The bench went Terence Mullins, Tony Martin, Andre Wiley, Michael Bell, and Jason Skurzinski.

I’d have loved to seen Billy Tubbs coach Durant and Westbrook. Westbrook and Tubbs would have been a trip, but it would have worked. Because both of them hate losing so much.

If you’re an OU fan, that’s the team you’ve never forgotten. The Thunder NBA Finals team is right their with them, but I’ve been watching OU hoops since I was a kid so that team is an emotional thing with me.

Our Final Four is set with OU vs. Villanova in one national semi-final and North Carolina vs. Syracuse in the other semi-final. I’m sure North Carolina is a prohibitive favorite, but you never know because at the college level you only have to win the one game on Monday night, not the best four out of seven.

 

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter week-end with family and friends. Mine was wonderful. A perfect day of family, food, and hoops. A wonderful time with my father as our Sooners made the Final Four. Our team is making a run and if you’re a basketball fan it’s one of the best feelings in the world.

Sports are such an integral part of our lives we sometimes forget how it holds our lives together in so many different ways. Sports give us a reason to hope. A reason to believe. And a reason to dream. When you think about it sports have literally become an intertwined fabric of our daily lives in America.

It’s truly a beautiful thing when a group of young men embark on a common dream and in the end get there through hard work, tenacity, and the courage to dream.

I should have played this scene the other day. It’s one of my favorite movie endings of all-time. It embodies what we were and should dream of becoming once again in America.

There’s nothing wrong with dreaming. I love every nuance of this scene. It’s beautiful. Start dreaming again, America. Dream of being the shining light which the rest of the world can once again admire and respect.

Happy Easter

 

 

 

 

It’s refreshing in this day of bullies and phonies to see nice people have success in their endeavors. I actually liked Jeff Capel and wish it would have ended differently for him in Norman.  Joe C said at the time, ‘the firing of Jeff Capel was the toughest thing he’s ever done as the athletic director at OU.’

But in the end, Joe C was gold in that he convinced Lon Kruger to leave UNLV and come to Norman to get the program back to where it was under Billy Tubbs and Kelvin Sampson. Ask any local sportswriter what they’ve learned about Lon Kruger in his five years in Norman and you’ll hear words like… total class, true  gentleman, accommodating, professional, excellent teacher, someone you’d want your son to play for.

So here we are with Oklahoma needing a win over Villanova to advance to their third national championship game in the program’s history. In 1947, the Sooners lost to Holy Cross in the championship game. But of course, the one game which agonizes OU hoops fans most was the 1988 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks in the title game which was played at Kemper Arena in Kansas City. Some call it ‘the crime of the century.” I still haven’t gotten over it. Billy Tubbs and I are soul mates in that regard.

I still have visions of Ed Hightower raising his arm on a foul call on Stacy King with the Sooners in possession of the ball and a chance to tie in the last twenty seconds. Tubbs has forgiven Hightower, but not me. But at least I’m honest about it. I actually sat next to Tommy Tubbs at a game during the Jeff Capel era (Missouri-Cade Davis played sick) and told him this. He smiled knowingly. Billy Tubbs isn’t fooling me.

OU was clearly the best team in college ball that season and beat Kansas twice before the NCAA Tournament. Kansas was a huge disappointment in the regular season and was something like a sixth seed. The thought of them somehow advancing to the home court setting in Kansas City never really crossed anybody’s minds. But Danny Manning and the Miracles caught fire and beat the Sooners 83-79 in a final played with a decided home court advantage for the Jayhawks. Guys named Milt Newton, Chris Piper, Mark Pritchard, and Mike Maddox were the Miracles. Pritchard was a Tulsa kid and Maddox played at PC North in OKC. Traitors.

Having written this, it doesn’t really crush me Villanova ended Kansas’s season last night. Bill Self is a nice guy, but still I could care less. They have our trophy in their case and things eventually need to be righted in the basketball universe. Ironically–in OU’s magical run in ’88 they beat Villanova in the Southeast Region to advance to the Final Four. The Sooners then handled Sean Elliot’s Arizona team in the semis while Kansas was beating Duke. I think that was the Danny Ferry team.

In that same ’88 tournament a young coach by the name of Lon Kruger coached Mitch Richmond and the Kansas State Wildcats to a regional final where they lost to the Kansas Jayhawks. So many ironies between ’88 and what is unfolding in front of our eyes.

And to think, when this season started everyone in Oklahoma thought the story would be if Durant in his free agency year could finally get OKC’s Thunder over the hump. Instead–the storyline’s been stolen by a well mannered coach and a player from the Bahamas who decided to stay for his fourth season in Norman.

Clay Bennett is a smart dude. He’s on the OU Board of Regents. One of his teams got to the Final Four. Nothing wrong with hedging.

2015 season

2016 season

 

 

 

Oklahoma City Thunder 111 — San Antonio Spurs (JV) 92

It didn’t really matter all that much to me because it was all about Buddy Hield and the Sooners whipping the Oregon Ducks to advance to the Final Four for the fourth time in the school’s surprisingly sneaky good hoops history even though OU is known more for the Mike Price School of Business and its college football icondom (word?).

While every stud Spur short of David Robinson, Avery Johnson, and Bruce Bowen were sipping Hurricanes and listening to Jimmy Buffet from the Spurs bench, Buddy Hield was on fire scoring 37 points and winking at his bud Kobe Bryant in the Anaheim crowd.

Note to KD and Russ…nobody cared about Saturday night inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena because Greg Popvich basically said he’s more important than the fans, television viewers, the league, and maybe even Donald Trump. But when you have five rings you can pretty well tell everyone else they don’t matter.

Trump-Popovich 2016 anyone? Those would be some interesting cabinet meetings for sure. I’m president, Basketball Boy. No, I am–I have five rings, you just have a bullshit reality TV show.

Anyway let’s wrap up this recap of the Thunder basically beating the Spurs junior varsity.

Durant scored 31 and grabbed 10 rebounds. He would be my No. 1 Star of the  Game, but he can’t because Greg Popovich is my No. 1 Star of the Game for basically saying to everyone else…they don’t matter. But, hey, Danny Green played.

Westbrook had 29. Kanter went 20, 10. Ibaka had 15 points. The Thunder bench absent of Kanter was a complete clusterf–k. Dion went scoreless against a JV team and pretty much displayed why you can only count on him about one every three games. Which would mean in a seven game series he might matter twice. Maybe.

OKC’s win streak against mediocre teams grows to seven games while the Thunder improve to 51-22 overall.

Great game looming on Monday night in Toronto as the Thunder take on a Raptor team which has seriously challenged the Cavs for the No. 1 seed in the East. I’ll actually be jacked for this game and be ready to write a recap on the same night of the game.

My early line on OU vs. Villanova in the National Semi-Final Game is I have the Sooners listed as the favorite at -1.5 because they have a guy who Kobe Bryant wanted to see play in person.

How about that… Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Let’s see you two guys get to a Final Four this season. You guys have some serious work in front of you.

Rant over.

Mike Jackson

Hard to believe this happened thirty-six years ago. Even harder to imagine how much America has divided in the time since. It makes a person cynical to watch this and realize how much has gone the wrong way in the time since the Miracle on Ice. Even in the aftermath of Richard Nixon and the Iranian hostage crisis–America back in 1980 still had the ability to pull itself together and be one.

Even in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 the country pulled together. But in watching what’s going on now it’s tough to imagine the country ever becoming one again because there’s so many different factions pulling in various directions with only their own selfish interests at play. I need this to inspire me and to remind me what America is capable of when steered properly. We need to be praying for our country right now. Hoping our country can remember why it became the greatest nation in the history of mankind.

 

 

Lots of Thunder and NCAA Tournament ball coming up here in the next few days. I knew the GOP dimwits couldn’t go through a 24 hour news cycle without shaming us all again. These two clowns are close to making Sarah Palin look like Margaret Thatcher. But anyway—at this point can we be even remotely surprised by the antics of the Knucklehead Twins. I love this video… Trump is in the background with the ‘face on fire’ look. How can SNL parody these guys when their real life campaigns make the parodies seem tame in comparison?

 

 

Congrats to Lon Kruger and his Sooners for advancing to the Elite 8 on Thursday night with a surprisingly easy 77-63 win over Texas A&M in the West Region semi-finals in Anaheim. OU will play Oregon for the right to play in the Final Four.

Kruger becomes the fifth coach in NCAA history to take five different teams to an Elite 8 appearance by taking Kansas State, Florida, and OU to the Elite 8. Kruger’s Florida team made the Final Four.

OU was led by Jordan Woodard, NPOTY Buddy Hield, and Ryan Spangler  on Thursday night as OU coasted to a 19 point halftime lead and were never seriously challenged in the game.

This marks a streak for OU basketball as well as now the last four OU basketball coaches have led their teams to an Elite 8 appearance. Billy Tubbs with three, Kelvin Sampson with two, Jeff Capel with one, and now Lon Kruger with one.

Not bad for a school which is regarded more for its iconic football program than its hoops.

Oregon will be tough, but there’s no reason OU can’t win this game if they play their game.

 

 

Oklahoma City Thunder 113 — Utah Jazz 91

While the world stood still riveted to a twitter/instagram war between half wits Donald Trump and Ted Cruz over their wives, OKC’s Thunder quietly went about their business on Thursday night with an easy 113-91 win over the Jazz inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The Thunder caught the Jazz on the second night of a road back to back and it was fairly easy for the Thunder as they coasted to their sixth straight win while improving to 50-22 for the season. With the Clippers swooning of late, OKC’s lead for the third seed has increased to 5.5 games with ten games left to play. It would appear the top three seeds in the West will hold firm heading into post season.

Six different OKC players scored in double figures and it was a game in which both Durant and Westbrook played light minutes–so light in fact even Sam Presti’s special project Josh Huestis saw the floor for five minutes of action and made a basket.

OKC’s bench scored 52 points on the night with Enes Kanter and Dion Waiters going for 16 and 17 points respectively. For the second straight game, Dion Waiters was good and he’s my No. 1 Star of the Game.

OKC now embarks on a final ten game stretch of ten games with seven being played on the road. The Spurs are in Oklahoma City on Saturday night for the national NBA Game of the Week where we’ll see if there’s something to this six game streak or just a case of OKC beating six mediocre teams in a row.

Some potentially great games in this stretch with the Spurs twice, at Toronto, at Detroit, at what will be a desperate Houston team, at a Denver team which has been playing well of late, and at the dumpster fire Sacramento Kings as the George Karl experiment winds down. They should have kept Michael Malone as their coach, but that’s in essence why they’re the Kings.

Can’t wait to see what happens on Saturday night. Have the Thunder turned a mini-corner or has it just been the ease of the recent schedule? Either way–the Thunder are playing better and there’s a more upbeat feel in Oklahoma City about the season heading into the playoffs.

Mike Jackson

Clearly, Kasich has no chance. But he clearly was the most presidential candidate on either side in the aftermath of the terrorism attack Brussels yesterday. Such a foreign concept in America—actually electing a person qualified to be president.

 

It’s gotten to the point with the Twin GOP Knuckleheads Trump and Cruz — that’s it’s shocking when one of the two doesn’t say something incredibly stupid every day even if it is blatant pandering to their demographic followers. It’s like following two fourth graders running for the presidency. This latest statement from Cruz about police patrolling Muslim neighborhoods is another item I’m putting on my Trump-Cruz Blatant Pandering List For Whites Who Don’t Care Anymore.

I wonder if Donald Trump and Ted Cruz realize there are 900 Muslims in the NYC Police Department or that nearly 6,000 Muslims serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. Doubtful, because neither one of these make believe hawks have done either in their lifetimes. Just when you think it can’t get any dumber–it gets dumber.