It would appear I’m not the only person in the state of Oklahoma not pleased with Ben Arbuckle’s offensive coordinating performance in Ann Arbor. My feel is Ben Arbuckle will be coaching for his job the remainder of this season, perhaps the next five weeks to be more exact. Good for Barry Tramel for having the balls to ask that singular prescient question after the offensive-ugly Michigan loss.
Tramel the aged scribe of Oklahoma Territory is the only one in the Oklahoma sports media who ever asks the tough questions when it needs to be asked.
Sam Anderson should have had a place for him in Boom Town.
But this isn’t the place or time for that, besides as we witnessed in Stillwater last Saturday… perceptions can change in a hurry in the world of NIL-Transfer Portal college football.
Maybe Duck coach Dan Lanning was on an LSD acid trip when he went for it on that last fourth and six down gamble, we’ll never know…only that it was the most stupid singular coaching decision the Swami can remember in quite some time.
It feels way, way too hot in Oklahoma for me to even be writing about the Thunder and NBA basketball, but it’s not that far off before we in Oklahoma are focused on the Thunder’s upcoming season.
In my Thunder player evaluations… I have Isaiah at No. 5 and Chet at No. 6 even though Chet is on a max contract deal and was the second player taken in his draft class and participated in last February’s All-Star Game.
Actually, is’s probably more like Isaiah 5a and Chet 5b with me. Situational…matchup players depending on the opponent. Chet with his offensive Caitlin Clark-like skill set will look like the more polished and skilled players against the twenty-five or so ‘pretty’ teams in the NBA who have little if any chance of winning the O’Brien Cup
But here’s the thing, even with Isaiah’s limited offensive skill-set tool box…if JDub is healthy…it’s Isaiah I want as my center if the opponent is San Antonio, the Knicks, the Nuggets with Jokic, the T-Wolves, and maybe the Cavs or some surprise team in the East we’re not considering just yet.
Boston and Detroit we have to see first. Then perhaps Atlanta and Toronto. Miami we’ll just to wait and see as well. How’s that team going to look?
But in the West…most of us are looking for another Thunder-Spurs showdown in the Western Conference Finals.
And if and when we get there eight or so months from now…I want Isaiah as the Thunder’s center with much physical support from JDub, Caruso, and company as far as using lower body levarge on Mr. Wemby when that time of spring arrives.
Chet will look skilled and pretty in the regular season with his offense, but when it comes down to grind time…it’s Isaiah I want out on the floor..and if it’s with Chet out there that’s fine. But Sam Presti agrees with me. He saw more than enough in the Western Conference Finals. Hence Isaiah’s new extended Thunder contract. Sam Presti is buying time and he knows it.
That’s why Chet is No. 5b on my list heading into this NBA regular season.
If you put Caitlin Clark, Kevin Durant, and Chet Holmgren in a cage fight…who wins? See the Swami’s point and you don’t even have to pay for those type of insights on okcthunderground.com
It’s nearing the shank of Wednesday evening out here on the Deer Creek mini-ranch. It felt like another hundred degree day to this Yogananda Guru Swami and it’s hump day…I need an optimistic song to pull me through to Saturday for the Ole Miss-LSU game. A song of some sort of love could be refreshing.
Eternal divine love,
MJ Yogananda