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It’s March 25th..with the hallowed ritual of the NBA trade deadline being pushed back a month this year due to Covid. I have no clue what Sam Presti will do, but you would think George Hill will be moved to a contender of some sort for a second round pick.

The Trevor Ariza trade which was made previously… I didn’t even note on my blog because it was of such little consequence.

I would think Mike Muscala could be moved today as well despite how well he’s played this season. Hope he lands on a roster of relevance because he was a true professional this season. Good luck…Mike Muscala.

With Big Al Horford’s large contract I’m not sure what will be done with Big Al today if anything as Shai Gilgeous Alxander needs someone on the bench to talk to now that it appears Presti with 28 games remaining in the regular season may finally get serious about tanking.

It appears Shai has some sort of mysterious injury which will require him to sit for awhile. The injury is called fiduciary malpractice…as in if Sam Presti doesn’t come out of this draft with a top five pick it will be fiduciary malpractice on a par with OU hiring John Blake to be their head football coach back in the day.

The Thunder club level scrimmage team now stands at 19-25 with 28 games remaining since the league is only playing 72 regular season games this year. Shai is playing at too high of a level to keep putting him on the floor. He keeps winning too much. You can’t tell Secretariat to run slow…so you make up the seriousness of an injury and sit him. No one is buying tickets in Oklahoma City this season and this is worse than pro wrestling….so you sit him.

I would assume if Presti got lucky enough to get a top pick at this point…either Cade or the trending Evan Mobley would be at the top of his list. But who really knows…maybe Poku has a second cousin in the Greek C League or a lost brother on the Serbian Discovery Team.

The Thunder last night in Oklahoma Cty got blown out by the Memphis Grizzlies after leading by as many as ten points midway through the third period. It appeared to be a classic tank maneuver… a rollover at just the right time or else the Thunder would be standing 20-24 as I write this morning….and still foolishly in contention for a spot as the 10th seed in the West.

That’s it for me. I don’t recap scrimmages on my blog….only real sporting events. Maybe the hapless Little Nick Gallo and the millenial sychopants at the Daily Thunder will continue to cover the rest of this nonsense on a game by game basis… but they have to do it as they’re being paid by Presti to do so. I blog for the pure joy of blogging about real competition. Sam Presti…like me, was a double major with a history degree—so at some point he should start reading my blog.

Anyway…March Madness and the glorious Sweet 16 gets in gear starting tomorrow. My feature game of course will 15 Oral Roberts vs. 3 Arkansas. I saw both of these teams play other opponents during the regular season and this should be an interesting game.

I have ho idea who’s up next for the Thunder, but I know this—they need to lose the game. and I won’t be recapping it. But I will occasionally feature highlights from one of the youngters if they have a good night on the hardcourt.

OU played hard and well against top-ranked and unbeaten Gonzaga as the final score of 87-71 doesn’t represent this was basically a 9-11 point spread for most of the last eight minutes of the game.

Considering Devion Harmon didn’t play and Brady Manek went 1-8 and scored an invisible total of three points–it’s impressive the other OU players kept this game close and entertaining to watch.

Austin Reaves was superb scoring 27 points on an 11-17 shooting game. His toughness and competiveness is never an issue. If Brady Manek had Austin’s snarl—the Sooners would possibly still be playing in this tournament. I hope Austin can find a niche for his game at the next level as his game in some regards reminds of the rookie Ty Jerome who’s trying to carve a role with the Thunder. It has been a pleasure watching Austin these past two years after he transferred to OU from Wichita State. He’s got that Tyler Herro smirk I just love in a player. Good luck, Austin.

Elijah Harkless played his ass off as he always does. Seven points, nine rebounds, and two assists coupled with his toughness and smarts all over the court. I love EJ’s game. Lon Kruger has a running mate for Devion Harmon next year which will make the Sooners interesting to watch. Shoot more next season, EJ.

Alondes Williams played at a high level in my view. He scored 15 points and was key in keeping the Sooners in the game. Alondes is a senior, but I would think since the NCAA isn’t counting this Covid year eligibilty wise…Alondes would be a classic example of a player who should come back to refine and improve his game. His game is one of the most athletic on the team and his own case of Covid was a genuine detriment to his season. Alondes…hope you come back. Your game has a high ceiling if you keep working. Love watching you play when your confidence is in place as it was today.

Jalen Hill played well at the small forward slot and scored 11 points. It was good to see Jalen play well in the two NCAA Tournament games because he’s going to be a huge part of the Sooners’ season next year. He’s smart, tough, competitive and a guy who should shoot more from the perimeter given the fact he should get Brady Manek minutes next season.

Kur Kuath played well. He gave the Sooners rim protection and helped keep OU in the game with his energy. I love watching Kur play because he has a boundless joy for playing the game. Kur is a senior and has said he’s moving on next year. I think this is a mistake personally because if he developed a shot he could be an interesting player. But I wish Kur the best because he did whatever he could this season to make the team competitive.

Moj Gibson only played 21 minutes in this game which I think was a bit of a mistake by Coach Kruger given Moj went 2-4 shooting the three ball in the first half. OU did not make a three in the second half and this was key. You gotta score the three ball to hang Gonzaga. Moj’s confidence seemed to slump down the stretch this season, but for most of the year he was a difference maker after transferring to OU from North Texas. I would think Moj being the third or fourth guard next year for Lon Kruger is a big part of the Sooners’ plans.

As far as Gonzaga…they have a nice team with Timme, Kispert, and Jalen Suggs. I’ve now seen OU play both Baylor and Gonzaga and I would say that could be a helluva game. I would give Gonzaga a slight edge.

Like most NCAA Tournaments there have been upsets galore in these first two rounds…but for most of this Covid ridden season we thought Gonzaga, Baylor, and Michigan were the top three teams…and you know what—those are those three teams standing along with thirteen others who are chasing the same dream.

As far as the Sooners—they finish at 16-11 and gave me as a fan some great fun this season. OU and Cade Cunningham filled a void for me because I don’t watch tanking teams game in and game out. It’s not legitimate competition. Pro wrestling has more integrity….seriously. Obviously…Adam Silver agrees with me because he added two play-in rounds this season because he’s tired of watching this bullshit in his own league.

Oral Roberts played OU this season and lost to the Sooners by a 79-65 count if my memory serves me right. Who would have thought they’d be the team from Oklahoma in the Sweet 16? I think I’ll follow Oral Roberts and see where that leads coming out of the Sweet Sixteen.

But here’s the thing, Oral Roberts has a point guard and a forward who can dominate the game…and that makes this an interesting proposition moving to the next round as sixteen teams are still chasing the same dream.

(8) Heartfelt postgame message for resilient Cinderella squad – YouTube

Upstart Cinderella Oregon State put an end to Cade Cunningham’s one and done season with a 80-70 win inside of Butler Fieldhouse on Sunday night.

Cade C finished with 24 points, but Oregon State’s Ethan Thompson was the best player on the floor with 26 points and a clutch performance worthy of Jimmy Chitwood in the classic hoops flick Hoosiers. Maybe Sam Presti will draft Ethan since his semi-tanking Thunder have won too many games to get a top three player. That would be the ultimate epilogue to the James Harden trade.

Oklahoma State pulled to within three at 70-67 with 3:39 left, but then for some reason forgot what got them to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. That being, getting the ball in Cade Cunningham’s hands and Cade getting to the free throw line.

It was an array of bad shots by the wrong players in the wrong situations. It was ugly is what it was and a cruel ending for those of us in Oklahoma who have enjoyed watching Cade’s ‘one and done season’ in Stillwater since we haven’t had a legitimate Thunder season of basketball or tanking.

When I looked at the box score after the game I was stunned. Oregon State out-rebounded the Cowboys 52-32. The Beavers blocked 11 shots and they lived on the free throwline. In retrospect—it’s somewhat amazing Mike Boynton’s team was even in this game at the end.

Avery Anderson with 16 points and Keylan Boone with 13 points were Cade’s only help on a night when Issac Likekele, Kaleb Boone, Rondel Walker, and Bryce Williams didn’t pull their links on the proverbial chain.

I’m sad because there’s that hoops romantic in me who wanted to see Jimmy Chitwood take Coach Sutton’s program back to glory on Championship Monday.

But it was not to be because on this night in storied Butler Fieldhouse…Ethan Thompson was Jimmy Chitwood and the Oregon State Beavers along with Abilene Christian, Buddy Boehiems’s Syracuse team, and Oral Roberts still have that hope alive in me we’re going to see something truly remarkable as we head towards One Shining Moment.

Mike Boynton, dude…I love you. But when you have Jimmy Chitwood—you put the ball in his hands the last 3:39 and let someone else run the picket fence play. Just saying.

A gutty win for OU over Missouri without Devion Harmon on Saturday evening by a 72-68 count.

As is always the case with OU the game went down to the end with Jalen Hill hitting two clutch free throws to ice the game.

It was a very even game throughout as OU held on to advance to the NCAA second round for the fourth time since 2015. With a win over top ranked Gonzaga the Sooners could make it to a Sweet 16 for the third in that time period.

Austin Reeves led the Sooners with 23 points while Brady Manek addded 19 points.

Elijah Harkless double doubled and contributed 16 much needed points.

Olandis Williams played one of his best games in a while and along with Jalen Hill and Moj Ginbson will be critical if the Sooners want to hang with No. 1 Gonzaga on Monday.

A nice win for these guys who’ve been affected by Covid throughout the season.

This is where it would have been nice to have a 6th or 7th seed because OU is as good as anybody on that side of the draw. Gonzaga will be especially tough without Harmon playing because they’re going to make it tough on Austin Reaves I would think. Gibson has to step up.

Big 12 went 6-1 in the first round with the only casualty being Texas who somehow found a way to lose to Abilene Christian on the big stage after getting that semi-final bye which led to them winning the Big 12 Tourny.

All three teams from Oklahoma are alive in the second round which is extremely cool. Good luck to all three teams.

Virtual Boomer Sooner – YouTube

It was a good day for Mike Boynton’s team on multiple fronts as they overcame a pesky Liberty club on an evening in which Cade struggled from the field going 2-14.

The silver lining was Avery Anderson, Issac Likekele, and MA Moncrief all stepped up and put the Cowboys in a position to close the game with Cade hitting a big three and then getting to the line as he always does at the end of close games.

From the 2:52 mark to the .55 second mark — Cade did his thing scoring nine straight points for the Cowboys at winning time in close games. On the game even despite the 2-14 from the field… Cade still finished with 15 points.

Tennessee got handled rather easily by Oregon State so the Beavers will be O State’s next opponent in the second round and I would think Mike Boynton feels good about this evn if he won’y say it publicly.

The Big 12 went a collective 4-0 on the first night of the tournament, whereas the Big Ten has so far lost Michigan State, Purdue, and Ohio State. Congrats to Oral Roberts for the upset win over Ohio State.

It was nice seeing March Madness back in place. Seeing those Rutgers kids win an NCAA game for the first time in over thirty years was a fun moment.

OU’s best two way player Devion Harmon as of last night was listed out per Covid protocol for Saturday’s NCAA first round game against Missouri.

That’s a tough blow for OU because Harman and teammate EJ Harkless are OU’s two most solid two way players. It’s especially tough for Devion because as a freshamn last season after OU made the field the tournament was cancelled. Hopefully, for Devion the Sooners can get past Missouri and he’ll be declared go to in the second round.

I hate this for Devion because he showed so much improvement in his game this season.

OU tips at 6:35 pm on Saturday while Mike Boynton’s Cowboys tip later today versus Liberty at 5:35 pm.

The playin games were excellent last night. All single digit game with the UCLA Bruins defeating Michigan State in overtime in the last game of the night.

Just a miserable wet, cold, windy day at the ‘ranch’ in Deer Creek, Oklahoma. The mating wild turkies wouldn’t come up from the wind protected low lands. I had to induce Pauli to go outside with a bacon/onion omlette and use the bathroom.

March going out like a lion with three days till the official start of spring.

Even the hockey game with the Rangers vs. the Flyers was a trainwreck rout. Didn’t watch any basketball.

Just one of those days in life.

Tomorrow wil be different though.

Have a nice Thursday.

BTW…hope you had a great St. Patrick’s Day.

A special ST PATRICK’S DAY from Trump, Cuomo, My Pillow, Dave Chappelle & Mitch McConnell – YouTube

37 Lines From “Seinfeld” That Prove We’re All George Costanza – YouTube

I’m slowly but surely decompressing from the Donald Trump presidency on my blog. I’m healing in my own way….day by day.

So many ‘notable’ accomplishments capped off by an asassination attempt on his own sitting GOP vice-president Mike Pence.

I’ve always maintained since the George character lived in Queens that Trump deliberately morphed himself into the George character only with a $420 million trust fund from Daddy.

We have 75 million of these Trump ‘people’ loose in our country who in my view pose a greater threat to American democracy than radicalized Jihadists.

I know at this point it’s pointless to attempt talking to these people—even those you’re related to.

So for these people…from the mouth of George Constanza, ” Just remember .. It’s not really a lie if you believe it’s true.”

Carry on.

The Last 15 Seconds of Every NCAA National Championship Title Game Since 2010 (2010-2018) NCAAB – YouTube

Great video above with the endings of the NCAA Championship Game from 2010-2018.

We forget how many of these games have come down to the last possession with future NBA stars or eventual role players or NBA busts making the plays.

From an Oklahoma City Thunder perspective three things stood out for me:

1 Jeremy Lamb in 2011 was the U Conn Huskies MVP in the tournament and a player everyone thought was a can’t miss wing player in the NBA. Let’s not kid ourselves Jeremy Lamb historically was supposed to be the most important piece Sam Presti got back in the Harden trade. Instead…I would have to describe Jeremy’s NBA career a bust considering the expectations.

2 Kyle Singler on one of the Duke championship teams seemed to be the kind of wing player who would fit the Thunder’s needs when he was one of the key pieces Presti brought back in the Reggie Jackson to Detroit deal along with DJ Augustin. Instead another bust from a blueblood championship team.

I actually met DJ’s mother that game when I was sitting with Fran and Ron Franklin after the Durant game in Norman. I was wearing an ESPN pullover myself and told her I was doing a piece for ESPN Magazine. We had a great talk. A lovely woman. I see where DJ got his his beautiful skin from.

3 Kevin Ollie the former Thunder journeyman guard who succeeded Jim Calhoun at U Conn and won another national championship team as his squad basically had to win the Big East Tournament to get in the NCAA field with Shabazz Napier as their star guard. I wonder how close if at all Kevin Ollie was to becoming the Thunder head coach?

Anyway… tomorrow the four play in games get going–then we get the tournament itself getting started on Saturday.

OU didn’t do itself any favors by dropping to an 8th seed in the same regional as Gonzaga…but by the other token if the Sooners beat Missouri they have nothing to lose in the second round and can play with no pressure. Just have fun and see if they can pull a Buster Douglas win of sorts. Throw some haymakers and see what happens against the No. 1 seed in the tournament.

Unfortunately…O State plays Liberty which is one of those teams who play like Princeton. On the positive side for Mike Boynton is that both K State and Texas Tech play a deliberate style of play so I hope the Cowboys are ready to play this type of basketball. Can’t turn the ball over too much in this game.

I’m ready for March Madness.

(6) Serge Ibaka – Rugged Rim Protector (OKC) – YouTube

The game wasn’t much as the Thunder got blown out in Chicago by over twenty points.

But it was a spectacular night for Moses Brown as he recorded 20 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots. The only other Thunder player to ever do this before was Serge Ibaka with a 20/15/5 game back when Serge was the stud who made the NBA’s All-Defensive Team three seasons in a row.

I’m not in any way comparing to Moses to Serge because their games are different. I tell you who Moses reminds me of…Jericho Simms of the Texas Longhorns as far as build, mobility, and overall game around the rim on both ends of the court. Or of course his namesake…Moses Malone.

Poku wasn’t pitiful in this one, but he wasn’t much to write home about either. But the kid is making better decisions and that’s a positive.

I really like Ty Jerome as the fourth guard. Presti is building some nice guard depth like the Raptors had on their championship team. Just add Cade and this team of Presti’s would be a legit contender in two years … just about the time LeBron retires.

Kenrich was of course his gritty self as usual and Lu Dort was an injury scratch for the second straight game.

All in all a good night. A loss. Brown and Jerome looked good and we saw some Thunder history on a night when the Thunder were never in the game.

Houston Rockets may not win another game this season… so keep going with the Moses Train is my thought right now.

If could be worse…the Thunder could be the New Orleans Pelicans who choked a 17 point lead to Dame Lillard in the last six minutes tonight in Portland.

As I’ve written on my blog before the Sixers were my favorite NBA team until we stole the Thunder from Latte Boy in Seattle. It started for me with Billy C and Hal Greer as a youngster. My favorite Sixer team of all-time was the 1983 championship team which featured Dr. J, Moses and our own Mo Cheeks. One of my three favorite NBA teams of my life time.

Trivia question…Where did Mo Cheeks play his college ball? West Texas State. I was actually in a beer line one night at the Peake and one of Mo’s college teammates gave me the low down on Mo Cheeks in college.

My other two favorite championship teams would be the 1977 Portland Trailblazers and 2012 Oklahoma City Thunder.

Hope you take the time to watch the video…it contains some genuine NBA history.