Loyola without Porter Moser looked like a dumpster fire in the first game of Day 2. I can’t ever remember a team in the Tournament shooting it so bad from the field, from beyond the arch, and the line in the same game.
Texas Tech rolling with that defense that might in fact bother Gonzaga. The two teams met in the regular season at Gonzaga with the Zags winning the game. On a neutral court, I’m not so sure what would happen.
Jaden Ivey might be the player I move into my No. 3 slot on my draft list. He has a complete offensive game. Maybe the best pick and roll player in college ball right now. Maybe the Thunder could draft him and then trade Shai for a big like Cam Johnson or DeAndre Ayden who can actually shoot a basketball. The Suns are going to need another guard to go with Booker once CP3 retires. That might be the way to get a big ready to play at the NBA level instead of waiting four years for Holmgren to mature. I would think Giddey, with his usage would actually be a better fit with Jaden rather than Shai. Just my thought at this point.
I hope we see Texas Tech vs. Gonzaga in the regional finals because that will give us a better feel on what Chet Holgren is and isn’t right now as an NBA prospect.
Cold and windy in Deer Creek today. Joe Biden, buddy, El Prez just made Day 2 a national holiday as well. Other than me going to get a pizza and some Diet Coke….I’m not moving today. Pauli still under the covers even with the daffodils blooming in our backyard.
I played the NFL’s version of One Shining Moment earlier this week, but forgot to play the real One Shining Moment from last year.
VA-Tech… don’t let me down. Beat Texas like a stepchild. I love Chris Beard, but hate the Horns!
And BTW… the Walk of Shame to A&M’s coach Buzz Williams for still bitching about the Aggies not getting into the Tournament.
OU had an NCAA Net Rank of forty and we’re over it. A much higher Net Rank than A&M. We’ve embraced the NIT as a possible team building experience for next season.
I’ll be right there with the Billy Baseline crazies when St. Bonaventure visits Norman on Sunday night. They look at me like I’m a God since I was with initial group in 1982 when the Sooners advanced to New York in Billy’s second season at OU.
I am torched. That was some beautiful chaotic first round basketball on Thursday.
John Calipari…my friend, I wouldn’t want to be you tomorrow. I have no idea what happened to your basketball team from the point you thrashed Kansas in Lawrence in the Big 12-SEC Challenge. It appears your season and that of Bill Self’s Jayhawks inverted from that game in Lawrence.
I just hope if they fire Calipari the Kentucky boosters don’t make Porter some kind of crazy offer he couldn’t refuse. I’m thinking though…if Porter has a secret dream job like Mike Gundy had with the Cowboys before he leveraged his alma mater with Tennessee and Arkansas, I’m guessing Porter’s dream job would be to coach at Notre Dame or Indiana. Just my gut feel.
Kentucky gone. Iowa gone… as I knew they would be with them being a charter member of the fake tough guy Big 10.
Baylor, Kansas, and Tennessee all looked solid. Gonzaga was shaky, but they’re in the easiest region with Duke as the No. 2 seed.
UCLA, Arkansas, Villanova, and New Mexico State survived and advanced.
VA-Tech, Auburn, Purdue, Texas Tech, and Illinois are the games I don’t want to miss today.
But at the end of the first night, it was the St. Peter Peacocks who stole the show.
This video always calms me. Now…I’m rebooted for the next round of games.
I just finished watching Gonzaga beat Georgia State by a 92-73 score in the first round. This was the eighth time I’ve watched Gonzaga play this season.
In this game he did nothing in the first half, then padded some stats in the second half when Georgia State either through injury or fouls didn’t have any bigs left to challenge anything near the rim on either end of the floor. I mean, for crying out loud, Andrew Timme was basically shooting uncontested layups the last twenty-two minutes of this game.
His lack of a body is a concern of mine, plus with big players like that there always has to be the concern of some orthopedic issues of which altered the careers of Bill Walton, Sam Bowie, and Greg Oden just to name three former Portland Trailblazers.
If I were Sam Presti, would I leverage the Thunder’s future on him? My answer would be no, even though I think he could be a nice NBA player.
I think this is where a general manager has to seriously calibrate the risk versus the reward. Like a hedge fund manager in essence.
I know Sam Presti has that cute little saying of his where he says, “Scared money don’t make money.” But I don’t think the Thunder with their current roster plus all the other assets needs to be taking a risk at this point.
So, if I were Sam Presti, and I had the opportunity to draft Jabari Smith in some manner of assets being aligned…I’d take Jabari over Chet Holgren in this summer’s draft.
So, who’s my third player in this draft? It’s not Banchero any longer. I’ve dropped him to No. 5 on my list. Keegan Murray’s performance today was okay, but of course his Big Ten overrated Iowa Hawkeyes were ousted by the Richmond Spiders. Color my surprised…not. Michigan will be out next round after Tennessee sends them back home to Ann Arbor.
I don’t know who’s third and fourth on my list right now.
I love the first Thursday of March Madness. It should be an official national holiday. I never got out of my pajamas today. I rank today just behind Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and the Fourth of July.
If Joe Biden could turn Super Thursday into a national holiday, he’d get a ten percent bump in his approval rating.
I guess if I’m going to do an official Final Four, I’d go…Baylor, Gonzaga, Tennessee, and the winner of Kansas vs. Auburn.
I’m very interested in the next round when Notre Dame plays Alabama…if the Dame beats the Tide that could be Cinderella knocking on the door…just a feel.
March Madness…I love you.
Sa
Sam Bowie…the player drafted behind The Dream and in front of Michael Jordon. A must-see video if you’re a younger NBA fan.
Note to 405 Baller…send me 400 words on your analysis of Chet Holgren next Monday. Ask Luke if he wants to send one as well. At some point…you guys have to break clear of that shit. You’re better than that. If you need inspiration…just watch the Ukrainians. Ask Johhny Thunder as well. I’ve always liked him. For some reason…I just sense of a little bit of his spirit in you.
I hope you saw that Rutgers-Notre Dame play-in game. Holy yikes. What a great game! That was the spot I thought OU as a #11 should have been playing in. But how can I be pissed after seeing that magnificent basketball game?
Notre Dame now gets a No. 6 in Alabama. I would have to like Notre Dame based on what I saw from Alabama at the end of the season.
Meanwhile…OU plays St. Bonaventure on Sunday night in Norman with the opportunity to advance to the Elite 8 of the NIT.
Everything has a reason at the end of the day. If OU wins on Sunday, they’ll improve to 20-15 and need to win one more game to advance to Madison Square Garden. If Moj Gibson decides to stay, as he should so he could be a possible first team All-Big 12 player next season…Porter will have his top six players in line for next season with the three freshmen coming in who are all Top 75 in this recruiting class.
Now, as far as this NCAA Tournament goes…America from coast to coast needs this one to be special. As a country…we appear to be exhausted from Covid, the Jan. 6th Insurrection, and now the situation the world finds itself in with Putin.
Sports can sometimes be a great societal balm in momentous moments of history. Jesse Owens at the Olympics at Berlin. The 1980 U.S. men’s ice hockey team. Whitney Houston singing our national anthem at the Super Bowl after 9/11, etc.
This is one of those times for America as it seems evident to me our country could be at a tipping point if we’re not careful.
VA-Tech, Auburn, and Texas Tech are the teams I’m rooting for…and maybe even Notre Dame. And of course, Baylor and Kansas.
This just in off the wire from reliable sources…. 405 Baller, the enigmatic truth-seeking voice of the once viable Daily Thunder stunned the Thunder universe today with his sudden retirement.
Stated 405 Baller, ” I looked around and said to myself, Can I continue to grow my career at a blog with a renowned reputation within the industry for being highly restrictive towards freedom of speech and other issues of content creativity.”
Award winning blogger, El Prez, from the highly respected okcthunderground.com had this to say,” He’s someone I’ve had my eye on for quite some time. His on-air courage is something I truly admire. He was a man among feckless little women over at Daily Thunder.”
Dr. El Prez added, “Don’t hold me to this, but ever since The Athletic decided not to purchase the Daily Thunder for $217.43, the shareholders of my uniquely eclectic organization have been urging me to make a highly significant move to increase market share since the Daily Thunder has no visible written content whatsoever.”
When pressed to elaborate further, El Prez stated, ” Let’s just say… Troy Aikman and Joe Buck joined ESPN to do Monday Night Football this month. I’ll leave it at that for the moment, gentlemen. But in closing…I’ll just say when the smoke clears this could make Lincoln Riley to USC seem totally irrelevant within this market.”
I’ll do a recap tomorrow. I’m whipped, it was a long day.
We got there early and sat on the second row behind OU’s bench. Porter was pretty wound up, so I passed on that conversation. I had my fake ESPN press pullover on and was going to tell him I was with Fran on the ESPN telecast. But I thought better of that and maybe I’ll try in Round 2 on Sunday night.
I did get to talk to EJ Harkless briefly. He was sitting behind the bench with his crutches. I told him how much I love the way he plays and ask him if he was definitely coming back next season.
He didn’t flinch or hesitate. He said he was absolutely coming back. I didn’t get a chance to speak with Moj who had another solid night with a twenty-eight-point performance.
I loved EJ from Day 1 when he came to OU to play for Lon Kruger.
‘We’ve shut down all of our talented players for like half of the season if you account for giving scrubs minutes that didn’t deserve it.
Projecting that we’re still a tanking team next year because of extreme tanking measures barely working this year seems highly stupid to me.
The coach and team + top 5 pick this year is too good to tank like this again without having disastrous consequences. I can tell you Shai is done with the tank and other players are joining him. You don’t want to bring a rookie into that environment of the GM crapping all over the players. It’s hard enough to get any outside respect when you tank. It ruins your coach’s record and demoralizes the players very quickly. But if you have a base of talented players to continue the tank like this you start to rot from within.
Finish up the job this year. Trade up from the Clipper pick and get another impact player if necessary.’
Respectfully, 405Baller
‘Very nice. Solid work. Pretty much my thoughts, minus perhaps the fact I want to see Mark D coach one legitimate NBA season before I cross that bridge as it appears you have already done. Write something of this length on Chet for me. I think we’re in agreement there, but I’d like your take in more detail. Ask Luke what he thinks…he’s a bright kid who should have his own blog or at the least be featured on here as well from time to time.
On a personal note, it’s nice to see you trying to help Justin find himself. There was a time when he was right there only ten yards behind El Prez in the Thunder blogosphere. Kind of like Gundy with Big Game Bob. Now look at him. It’s pathetic. I wonder if he squats to pee when Thunder Girl takes him out for a walk.
I mean, dude…you’re Lady Gaga and Justin, bless his heart, has become Bradley Cooper. Truth hurts.
The truth makes real men strong though. Don’t ever forget that.
I have to go. My cousin Taylor and I are heading down to Norman to talk to Porter before the game. We were both original members of Billy’s Baseline Bums back when it started in 1982. We want to see if Porter wants to get serious about giving Lloyd Noble a home advantage feel like it used to have.
Hopefully…we have a great March Madness. But here’s the thing… on the night the bracket came out the NFL stole the show with the news Tom Brady is coming back next season in Tampa.
What a week for the NFL. Tom coming back to Tampa. Aaron staying in Green Bay. Russell Wilson headed to the Denver Broncos. The Bengals signing two offensive linemen to protect Joe Burrow. Amari Cooper headed to the Cleveland Browns.
As far as sports news cycles go this wasn’t even close…the NFL stole the show on what is supposed to be March Madness territory for the next three weeks.
Think about this and just in my fourth paragraph I will mention Matthew Stafford is the dude with the ring right now.
This is why the NFL is so far ahead of any other American sports entity. They know how to market themselves almost twelve months every year.
If I were the NCAA basketball committee and CBS…I’d think seriously about what they can do to get their sport back in the limelight.
Duke a #2 seed are you serious? Iowa State even in the tournament? Texas anything higher than a 9th seed? Virgina Tech only an 11 seed? Texas A&M missing the field? Are you people serious?
I’m totally calm with the OU decision because I at various points questioned their place in the tournament during the season because of their inability to close out close games.
Jim Nance and Chuck…do us all a favor. Tell the NCAA to reduce the number of Big Ten people in the mix and help restore men’s college basketball get back to where it once stood in the American sports calendar.
So with OU not making the field…where is my heart in this NCAA Tournament? It’s in two, maybe three places. One place is with Mark Adams and his defensive minded Texas Tech Red Raiders, the other place is with the sharp shooting Virgina Tech Hokies who kind of remind me a little of Mick Cronin’s UCLA Bruins last spring when they had to play their way into the tournament. And then third, ‘maybe’…with my wife’s Auburn Tigers and Coach Bruce Pearl.
Tom Brady.. here’s the thing, bud…glad you’re back, but right now Matthew Stafford is the residing GOAT for at least until the next Super Bowl.
We lost a great one this week-end in actor William Hurt. Hurt turned himself into one of our best actors with a subtle guile which endeared me to some of his films.
My favorite film of his was Broadcast News where he played the network news anchor who rode the Holly Hunter character’s coattails to the top of the broadcast news industry. Pretty much like me at the Daily Thunder moving those people to a status they genuinely never really deserved. If you doubt me…read their current content.
Then I would rank Body Heat as my second favorite William Hurt movie because of the incredible performances by Hurt, Kathleen Turner, and Richard Crenna. What an ending…what a movie!
Then my third favorite movie of Bill Hurt would be Gorky Park where Hurt as a clumsy Moscow detective matched wits with the arrogant American capitalist played by Lee Marvin.
I came across this interview last night and would like to share it because to me the interview itself magnifies the brilliance of William Hurt as an actor.
William Hurt, you will be missed.
Bravo, sir.
I’ll get started with my March Madness/NIT coverage tomorrow and I’m at this point going to assign the last fifteen Thunder games over to my intern 405Baller by way of the 405Baller Thunder Journal for the remainder of this pathetic Thunder basketball season. I might freelance at times with some of my own keen insights per 405Baller. This will free me up to cover both March Madness and the NBA as it should be covered on Oklahoma City’s premier underground basketball blog.