I attended both the OU womens’ Senior Game last week and the OU mens’ Senior Game last night in Norman. The women are in the NCAA Tournament regardless of what happens in the SEC Tournament. In fact..they’ll probably be a host team for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Jenni’s team is ranked No. 7 nationally and on a very good run coming down the stretch.
Do I think Jenni’s team can win the national championship? No…I do not. But for me the serious-attainable goal for this team is to get to an Elite 8 game and then play their best game ever in the Jenni B era and see where that lands them.
I think the fact they beat South Carolina and played a great second half at Texas makes this an attainable goal. Beyond that…I don’t know. I do know that in March basketball as in life and the cancer journey…it’s One Day at a Time. Breathe in through your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth. Charity preached that to me constantly when I was at Ground Zero in the early stages of my cancer rehab when I weighed a 158 pounds and couldn’t do a push-up.
So…last night in Norman it was the last home game of the season and Senior Night as well. I didn’t sit near the student section, pep band, or the poms. I had a great seat second row, baseline near Joe C. New AD Roger Denny was down there as was Bob Stoops for a awhile.
As I watched the game… I was constantly looking at both Joe C’s face and Roger Denny’s face for any hints of how the impending decision will go in regards to Porter Moser’s future at OU beyond this season.
I’m not really sure how I feel right now and I’ve probably watched more OU basketball than either of these three guys. I was in junior high watching Johnny MacLoud’s teams back in the old Fieldhouse. Other than Berry Tramel and Al Eschbach …I can probably drop more OU basketball trivia than anyone else still breathing.
I might need to slightly push back on what I wrote about Porter after the team fell to 1-9 in the SEC and 11-12 overall. I said, “He should be replaced.”
Well not so fast there Mike J because since that juncture of the season the Sooners finally got Dayton Forsythe healthy, shortened the rotation to a tight eight man rotation, and have won five of their last seven SEC games to improve to 6-11 in the SEC and 16-14 overall.
Coming into this Missouri game … OU’s NCAA Net Ranking was 61. By beating a hot Missouri team by 16 points last night I would think the Sooners’ net ranking will improve to somewhere around 54-56 when the computer adjusts to last night’s results.
So…what OU needs to do next is go beat Texas in Austin on Saturday to keep the NCAA Net ranking trending in the right direction heading into SEC Tournment play next week.
For OU to get to the NCAA Tournament I don’t think they have to have a magical run like that NC State did several years ago in the ACC Tournament and win it. Just win a game or two like last season. But I do think OU has a solid puncher’s chance because of the overall strength of their schedule which included tough road assignments in non-conference versus Gonzaga, Nebraska, Arizona State, Wake Forest, and Marquette.
OU won two of those games and of course beat O State by ten at PayCom for another nice non-conference win. Plus, OU played No. 10 Nebraska to the hilt in a three point loss before anyone had at that point realized the special season these Cornhuskers would have to date being a Top Ten team.
What I’m saying is…I think the computer will be kind to OU if they can beat an ordinary Texas team on Saturday. OU’s Jeremiah Fear’s team beat Texas in the very same situation last March. This team is better that that team.
OU’s first eight players are now playing at a higher level than that team which played UConn tough in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. When Big Mo can stay out of foul trouble and stay on the floor and nourished properly through Ramadan…these Sooners are pretty good.
So…keep Big Mo fed with peanut and jelly sandwiches and keep fighting the good fight, Sooners.
I’m proud of you guys. You didn’t roll over. You didn’t feel sorry for yourselves and you’ve given yourselves a chance.
And as Coach Moser so aptly said in this presser, ‘That’s not only basketball, but’s that’s life, guys. Pulling yourself back up when everybody else was counting you out.”
Beat Texas. I mean, seriously, really…Beat Texas.
Mike J