Clearly…for me on my okcthunderground.com blog…Lon Kruger’s No. 9 ranked surging Sooners are the basketball lead story as this basketball season heads into late February. The Sooners have won six of their last seven games with five of those wins coming against nationally ranked teams and the lone loss a one possession loss at ranked Texas Tech.
I have the Sooners on my preliminary bracket sheet as a Sweet Sixteen team. Depending on where the Sooners are placed in the tournament field in relation to Baylor and Gonzaga.. the Sooners could be a be a legit threat to make the Elite 8….and perhaps beyond.
OU is deep. They are multifaceted in that they can play small with three guards or they go with a big lineup with Kuath, Manek or Victor O. Victor O is a rebounding stud if you haven’t seen OU play yet.
The Sooners are especially deep at the guard position with Austin Reeves, Elijah Harkless, Moj Gibson, Olandis Williams and with true frosh 3 pt bomber Trey Phipps.. if that need ever occurs beyond the top ten rotational players.
The Sooners make free throws as well. Guard play, team defense, and free throw efficency are all winning ingredients for a team to make a deep run in March Madness.
Plus, the Sooners have a Hall of Fame coach in Lon Kruger who instead of getting older seems to be getting better with coaching age.
Again…I laugh at the notion Sam Presti has a head coach with the Thunder who has never been a head coach at either the NBA or Power 5 level of basketball coaching. G League—yes…and it appears that is what the Oklahoma City Thunder are for the time being…a glorified G League franchise like the Triple AAA Dodgers in Bricktown who develop players and then disperse them around Major League Baseball depending on the Dodger’s current needs.
But the difference is…the big boy Dodgers just won the world championship and are contenders every season whereas the Thunder haven’t won a first round playoff series since Kevin Durant escaped from the land of Donald Trump birtherism nut jobs.
BTW…Andre Roberson just signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Brooklyn Nets and has hooked up with former Thunder stars Kevin Durant and James Harden. Good for Andre. I hope his health will allow him to be a contributor. You’d have had one helluva a basketball team in Oklahoma City if……………. .
The Sooners host Texas tomorrow at 5:00pm in the second game of this season’s Red River Rivalry. OU won the first game in Texas without the Sooners most clutch finisher Austin Reeves and versatile wingman Olandis Williams. This is a big game for OU because if they get past this game with another win they have Baylor still coming bak to Norman which was postponed due to Baylor’s Covid issues.
If you haven’t seen the Sooners with EJ Harkless and Moj Gibson…you should take the time because the Sooners are a different basketball team with them in the lineup.
Keep this in mind, due to the NCAA’s ruling on Covid…every single starter on this OU team, much ilke the Iowa State football team, can come back and play again next season in Norman.
The NCAA for next season has already expanded scholarship limits to fifteen and Coach Kruger has already signed another nice guard and another nice foward. So– in essence OU’s roster is already full for next season. Another thing–if one of the seniors do leave…Coach Kruger has proved himself especically skilled in using the transfer portal to bring skilled players to Norman.. much like Billy Tubbs used to do in his hay days with bringing nationally elite jucos to OU.
What I’m saying is the basketball future at OU looks very bright right now and the Thunder need to get their ass in gear and come out of this summer’s NBA draft with something other than a project from Serbia if they want to sell tickets.
Mike Boynton’s No. 23rd ranked Cowboys host Iowa State at a special 3:00 pm start today due to the weather. Iowa State has some 3 pt bombers and should make this a somewhat entertaining win for Cade and Co.
I’m bumping the Thunder tonight with Portland in town because PBS has a special on black music in America and its impact on the country…and I still have to finish Frank Sinatra Week no less.
I’ll try to watch some of the Thunder game on the replay, but in all honesty the Thunder are a fifth tier story currently and I think its good we have interns at the Daily Thunder covering the team like the school newpapers do in Norman and Stillwater.
More snow coming this afternoon…stay warm and help others get through this historical weather event which has driven short term natural gas prices off the charts in Oklahoma and Texas. If Boone were only still living he’d have a big smile on his face today and could maybe buy out Mike Gundy’s contract feeling no angst.
On with the music as more snow rolls into Oklahoma.