Author: Mike

Kid Poku didn’t play still nursing a sore arm from throwing too many sliders. Lu Dort was benched because he might have been able to guard Steph Curry. These were the Thunder storylines in a season which can’t end fast enough for anyone with a half a brain.

Long story short—the Thunder are in hyper Tank mode and with this eighth straight loss have now put themselves in the No. 5 slot for the chance to land a top three pick this summer in the NBA draft.

Steph Curry without fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson shredded the feeble Thunder defense with a 42 point night in but only three quarters of play with no one even remotely guarding him. In a super nimble ninja tankster move… Sam Presti banished Lu Dort to street clothes the night after Dort himself went off for 42 points against the mighty Utah Jazz.

I watched about three minutes of this bullshit before clicking onto the NBC Cable Sports Network and watched an excellent hockey game in which the Colorado Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues in a 4-3 thriller.

Chris Fisher on the Thunder telecasts must be thrilled with his career right now. He left his job doing play by play for USC to become the Thunder television announcer. He could have done the calls for the Mobley Brothers this season, but instead finds himself covering the dumpster fire Thunder with Michael Cage still not understanding the Thunder are tanking.

First year head coach Mark D must be equally thrilled having all this on his coaching resume. It’s a sad story.

I would assume Sam Anderson from Boom Town fame is still out there lurking in the Daily Thunder shadows watching all of this with a smile on his face.

Me? I’m okay. I’ve adopted the Portland Trailblazers and Miami Heat. The OU Spring Game is just around the corner and the glorious Stanley Cup Playoffs are just around the bend.

Can the Thunder lose seventeen more games in a row to close out the season on a twenty-five game losing swoon?

I don’t think it probable, but I wouldn’t rule it out either.

Of course the Thunder lost their seventh game in a row with a 106-96 loss to the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City. No surprise there as the tanking Thunder fell to 20-34 and into the seventh slot for the upcoming NBA draft this summer.

As I’ve written on here before—I don’t cover tanking teams on my sports-life blog. I only cover people who are trying to win championships. That’s why I don’t cover professional wrestling, Oklahoma State football, or the Dallas Cowboys either.

Life is short and I don’t know how much time I have left on this sphere of being. The Cupcakes at the Daily Thunder cover the Thunder ad nauseum as if the reader is four years old…so that market niche has already been filled.

But last night while I didn’t watch the game per se…I did keep track of Lu Dort’s 42 point night against the team in the West with the best regular season record….the Utah Jazz.

As I’ve written on here earlier both Lu and Kenrich Williams are my two favorite players the Thunder still have left on their roster who still play in games. SGA, Big Al Horford, and Mikey Muscala don’t play in Thunder games any longer…but the Daily Thunder have per Sam Presti’s permission let it be known these three may actually appear in a game sometime in 2023.

Lu Dort’s 42 point game puts him in an elite club per Thunder Era trivia. He becomes the sixth player in the Thunder Era to score 40 or more points in a game.

Lu joins Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and SGA in this regard.

Super rookie phenom Kid Poku didn’t play against the Jazz because of some arm soreness….sigh. My seventeen month-old grandson Little Robert has more toughness than Kid Poku. Good lord.

Glass half full approach is the Thunder only have eighteen more games they have to fulfill per the NBA bylaws to bring this season to a close in Oklahoma City.

If you’re going to lose then lose big is what I say. Lose the last eighteen to close on a 25-game losing streak and see if you can land Cade, Evan Mobley, or Jalen Suggs with your own pick. Maybe see if you can steal Jared Butler or Devion Mitchell with a late first round pick via the Heat as well.

I’m now going to adopt my two teams I’ll be rooting for the rest of the NBA season since we don’t have legit NBA hoops in Oklahoma City this season.

I’ll take Portland with Terry Stotts because I love Coach Stotts. I’ll also take Tyler Herro with that smirk of his as the Miami Heat try to get back to the NBA Finals.

Lu Dort…I love you, kid. Keep playing hard on both ends, buddy. Same with you, Kenrich. Don’t become NBA pretty boys.

Sam Presti, dude…I know you tried to acquire Tyler last season, but you need a white boy with a smirk to go along with Lu, SGA, Kenrich, Mikey Muscala and whoever else you draft or acquire this summer. First time I saw Tyler I knew he was John Marshall all the way in a previous life. Just saying.

It was a very busy week for me. The grand kids came in from Denver and were in a word….delightful. They got Baptized by Dr. Miller in Tulsa yesterday and it was a wonderful day.

I haven’t blogged a word in close to a week and I honestly can’t remember the last Thunder game I watched and made a comment on of sorts.

I watched some of the Frozen Four this past week…congrats to UMass. I watched a bit of the Masters until Xander went full blown Tin Cup and tried to stick an eight iron 180 yatds on the 16th hole.

So…to get back in the flow on here a little …maybe a little Lindsey Graham-Donald Trump romantic music for all the Lindsey Graham-Trump hopeless romantics out there.

Mike Pence…deal with it, dude. Donald may want to hang you, but otherwise he’s just not that into you.

This should be a great hire for OU basketball. I’m very impressed Joe C was able to sale Porter Moser on leaving Loyola to to become the new Sooners’ head coach.

This isn’t a rebuild. OU basketball since 1947 has played in two NCAA championship games, four Final Fours, seven Elite 8’s, and multiple Sweet 16’s.

Bruce Drake, Dave Bliss, Billy Tubbs, and Kelvin Sampson won conference championships at OU. Jeff Capel is the only OU basketball coach to be fired in the modern era and he coached a NPOTY and got his team to an Elite 8.

OU basketball success for a football powerhouse in my view only falls behind Florida and Ohio State in this regard.

Joe C in Porter Moser gets a ‘young’ energetic coach who has proven he can win the right way.

Porter Moser in Joe C gets the best athletic director in the country who broke his teeth in the business being an associate basketball AD at Maryland. Hoops mean something to Joe C. Name the current ADs who have a football national champiomship and a basketball Final Four on their resume.

Coach Porter has already added PK Brown to his staff to recruit the state of Texas. The transfer portal I would think will be a big part of Coach Porter selling OU to recruits all over the country.

If you follow Big 12 basketball you now know how good the high school basketball in in the state of Texas has become. Even Gonzaga’s Drew Timme was a Texas high school kid.

If I’m Coach Moser the first call I’m making is to Devion Harmon…then some of the other players still on the roster (I hope) as in EJ Harkless, Jalen Hill, Moj Gibson, Victor Iwankor, and maybe Alondes Williams. I don’t see Brady Manek’s skill set being a match with the way Coach Moser plays defense.

I’m already excited about OU basketball next season. But in the end you have to recruit and win games. I think Joe C got a coach who can do both.

When my American Lit teacher Juanita Elijah took my Dan Jenkins books away from me back during my formidable years at John Marshall High School… she in essence turned me onto four American writers as substitutes for Dead Solid Perfect and Semi-Tough.

She knew I was somewhat limited so she steered me towards Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Jack London.

Jack London is probably my favorite because of Call of the Wild and White Fang. Steinbeck is second favorite and then Ernest Hemingway.

My favorites by Hemigway are The Sun Also Rises, Old Man and the Sea, and A Farewell to Arms.

I never would have read these books if not for Juanita Elijah.

PBS is airing the Ken Burns documantary on Hemingway this very week. Like most Ken Burns films…it’s spectacular.

Hemingway’s ending was of course tragic as he took his own life.

Very interesting person. I think the film is effective in getting beyond the myths of Hemingway and revealing as who he was as a human.

It’s a must see both from a literature and historical standpoint in that Hemingway was the most influential American writer in the previous century.

Be sure and take the time to watch it on PBS.

Footnote clarification: If you voted for Donald Trump twice or Mr. Pillow once White Fang was written by Jack London…not Ernest Hemingway. Carry on.

I’ve had to wait two years to play this since Virginia edged Texas Tech in a classic overtime win in 2019.

Such a stunningly easy win for Baylor as they basically knocked Gonzaga out with an intial 9-0 run and led by 35-16 in the first half as well.

Baylor left no doubts as to who was the best team in college basketball this season as their deep balanced team lined up and ran Mark Few’s team out of the arena.

Baylor’s three guard combo of Jared Butler, Devion Mitchell, and Casias Teague were in a word awesome as they carved up Gonzaga in every imaginable way.

The storyline in this game was Gonzaga couldn’t guard Baylor and couldn’t keep the Bears off their defensive boards. Gonzaga looked like a slow white team which played in a weak conference…while Baylor looked like the best team in the rugged Big 12.

Some are saying the UCLA game took too much out of Gonzaga. I would counter with the fact Gonzaga never played any tough games this season in a cupcake league and they ran into a buzzsaw on Championship Monday by the name of the Baylor Bears.

This was the Big 12’s first national title in hoops since Kansas did the trick in 2008 when they escaped Derek Rose and the Memphis Tigers.

This game was a highlight reel of what Texas high school basketball has become on the national stage.

I feel sad for the Gonzaga kids, but I mean in my view UCLA was for the most part the better team on Saturday night. I’m not dogging Gonzaga, but I think this speaks volumes to the league they play in as opposed to some of the tough Power 5 leagues.

I loved watching the tournament this year especially since we don’t have legit NBA basketball in Oklahoma City this season.

My three favorite games of the tournament were 1 Oral Roberts vs. Ohio State, 2 UCLA vs. Alabama, and 3 UCLA vs. Gonzaga.

Congrats to Coach Scott Drew … he’ll never have to be dogged again as to the question if he’s a championship level coach.

Baylor….THIS IS YOUR ONE SHINING MOMENT!

First off…Happy Easter. I hope you are at peace with your loved ones.

What a basketball game last night in Indiana!!!

Best game of the tournament, best game of the season, and the Chuckster might be right in that it could have been the best college game in the last decade.

Gongaza appeared to be beaten at the end of regulation, but these guys behind Andrew Timme and Jalen Suggs just a found a way in the last six minutes of play to extend their unbeaten perfect season versus Baylor on Championship Monday.

Bravo to both teams for a wonderful evening of basketball. It helps wash away the stain the Thunder’s pathetic season of on again then off again tanking. How fitting it is CJ McCollum on the eve or Easter once again showed Sam Presti where his team is currently on the NBA food chain. If CJ and his father were in town today…we’d invite them to Easter dinner again.

I have to write this to Coach Mick Cronin of UCLA… bless you and your players for your inspirational six game run in this tournament which was spawned in the play in game versus Michigan State.

Sir– your players beat Michigan State, Michigan, Alabama…and came within a whistle of beating No. 1 Gonzaga. Your team played with a combination of smarts and toughness which makes old timers like me proud to be a fan of the game.That was the best exhibition I’ve seen of TSN (Toughness, Smarts, Nasty) in quite some time. Just beautiful, sir… your father is proud of you and well he should be.

As far as I’m concerned regardless of what happens on Monday night…your team won a share of the national championship on Saturday night.

Bravo…bravo, bravo!!!!

As Lombardi once said, “We would like to win all the time, but sometimes we don’t. But if we gave everything we had in the tank and came up just short….we can live with that result.”

Monday night…I would have to go with Timme and Suggs after what I just witnessed. Baylor has a solid team, but I like Gonzaga by about 6-7 points on Championship Monday.

I can’t wait to play One Shining Moment and then talk about Joe C’s very impressive basketball coach hire at OU.

Enjoy the the day and be one within the spirit of goodness and kindness.

It seems all fell into place this week-end in college basketball and in the state of Indiana simultaneously.

Former Hoosier Mike Woodson was hired as the new coach of the once iconic Hoosier program while former estranged Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson took his team to the Final Four with a win over Cinderella Oregon State last night in March Madness.

It feels as if the basketball gods have made this good for all parties involved.

Kelvin was fired at Indiana and banned from coaching college basketball for in essence doing things which aren’t even violations anymore. He continued coaching as an assistant in the NBA and when his ban had expired he took the job at Houston seven years ago.

The story was culminated last night as for the first time since the glory days of Guy Lewis in the mid ’80s the Houston Cougars have made the Final Four field with a gritty team which embodies the very basketball personality of Kelvin.

As an OU fan who enjoyed watching Kevin’s teams I think it’s great he has turned Houston back into the national power it once was back in the day when mens’ college basketball was more prominent than it is today as far as viewership and interest.

Nice to see Baylor advance as well as Scott Drew’s story in Waco is truly one of the remarkable stories in collegiate sports considering the dark siuation he inherited when he took the job seventeen years ago. I’ll maybe touch on that more once our Final Four field is completed later this evening.

Only one compelling basketball game on Sunday in the Sweet 16 as the 11th seeded UCLA Bruins continued their grind to an Elite 8 matchup with Michigan by defeating Alabama in overtime.

I thought this was one of the best games of the tournament so far as we now begin Elite 8 games today with a Baylor vs. Arkansas matchup and a Houston vs. Oregon State battle to give us our first two members of the Final Four.

On Tuesday we get Gonzaga vs. USC and Michigan vs. UCLA. Despite some of the normal upsets along the way in the first two rounds…we have the top three teams in college basketball still standing in Gonzaga, Baylor, and Michigan.

Both Baylor and Michigan have come back to their norms after serious Covid issues derailed their seasons in mid to late February. In Houston we have a team which has been on a solid trajectory all season long. Arkansas is on a tear and winners of eleven straight and is the sole SEC team left standing.

The Big 12 and the Big Ten have both been whittled down to one team apiece. The surprise in this tournament is that three PAC 12 teams in USC, UCLA, and 12th seeded Oregon State are still alive on this Monday morning.

Houston vs. Oregon State should be a war with the primary focus being if Houston’s tough defense can grind down Ethan Thompson’s star studded run in this tournament so far.

Then there’s Gonzaga the No. 1 team in the tournament with Evan Mobley and Company standing in their way to a Final Four opportunity to create a another shot at their elusive first ever NCAA mens hoops championship.

We’ve gotten this far in Indiana with this bubble approach to pulling off the tournament and the teams we have left standing should give us a compelling finish.

From a regional view in the Big 12 both Oklahoma and Texas sometime this week will both probably be naming new basketball coaches while Indiana named Mike Woodson their head coach yesterday.

In the NBA…the question to be answered is if LeBron and AD can both get healthy and win another ring. Not much competitive drama if they both get healthy. But if one of them doesn’t get back in form, unlike last season, we could have an interesting spring of NBA Playoffs.

But for now…it’s March Madness front and center heading towards Easter week-end.

This was clearly the best Sweet 16 game of the day as Arkansas survived a last three point attempt by Max Abmas at the buzzer to beat Oral Roberts 72-70. It was a great play drawn up by head coach Paul Mills as with only 3.1 seconds he got Max Abmas baseline to baseline… a very makeable three from the right wing which didn’t miss by much.

Coach Mills is from the Scott Drew coaching tree at Baylor and I wonder if Joe C at Oklahoma Coach Mills on his short list of three to interview for the Sooners’ head coaching vacancy. He’s third on my list currently behind 1 Dana Altman, Oregon and Grant McCasland, North Texas, who BTw is another young hot coach from the Scott Drew/Baylor coaching tree in Waco.

This was a great game as Oral Roberts led most of the way and led by as many as 12 points in the second half before the Razorbacks’ offenive rebounding turned the game around in the final eight minutes of play.

A tough end for the Golden Eagles from Tulsa, but at the same time an exhilirating ride for a team which beat Ohio State and Florida on this remarkable journey.

For Arkansas and Coach Musselman it’s the first time since 1994-95 in the glory days of Nolan Richardson that the Razorbacks have advanced to an Elite 8.

Arkansas now has Baylor in front of them and both teams are in essence a mirror of one another. Both are deep and talented, but Baylor is the more experienced team and the Razorbacks next year will be one of the national picks to do big things with an added year of roster maturity.

If I were going to handicap this game…I’d go Baylor as a 4.5 favorite to get to the Final Four.

Houston and Oregon State both advanced on the day as well. Great job by both clubs. As an OU fan, of course I’m very happy for Kelvin and proud of the great job he’s done with the Houston program with his son Kellen who played for Jeff Capel. Plus.. the fact former OU Final Four’ers Hollis Price and Quannas White are on the Cougars’ staff.

Houston from this point moving forward will be my sentimental team to root for in the tournament as they can get to the Final Four with a win over the Cinderella Beavers.

Houston hasn’t been this far in the tournament since 1984-85 when Guy Lewis lost back to back games in the national finals if I remember correctly. I might need to google that just to make sure.

How Houston lost that epic game to Jimmy V’s NC State team is one of the greatest memories in the tournament as in ever as it spawned the screeplay for the best ESPN film of all-time in Win, Survive, and Advance.

And that’s exactly where we are in this tournament heading into this Sunday of the second set of Sweet 16 games. My feature game will be the USC vs. Oregon game. This should be a great game if you haven’t seen both teams this season.

Enjoy the beautiful Oklahoma spring weather today and enjoy a Sweet 16 game as well. Nobody tanks in the Sweet 16. It’s not allowed in real competition. You don’t tank in college, in your livelihood, in your business, or in high school sports. I can’t remmember once when Bob Jackson pulled me aside and told me he was going to tank in a courtroon on his client either. Just saying.

Sam Presti…I’m calling bullshit for the time being on your claims of sustainability. If sustaining in Oklahoma City …then why tank?