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This video above is one I’ve been saving for about a year to use at the appropriate time. I think this is that time.

Mike Boynton was hired as the O State head coach four years ago in the midst of O State’s program possibly headed towards dark deep waters in the aftermath of the LaMont Evans situation.

This was not an ideal setting for a young coach to become the head coach of Power Five progam which had been lost for a decade in the aftermath of legendary Eddie Sutton’s exit from the O State head coaching job.

One of my friends who was a basketball beat writer covering O State for that decade told me about Mike Boynton just after Brad Underwood left to take the Illinois job.

I asked him, “Who do you think Holder will hire?”

He said without the slightest hestitation…” Mike Boynton. He’ll knock it out of the ball park in his interview. You’ll see.”

So when I watched this presser four years ago as Mike Boynton accepted the head coaching job…I must admit I wondered where he’d have the O State program four years down the road.

Where he has them is in the NCAA Tournament with the presumptive National Player of the Year with a chance to be a No. 3 seed depending on how O State plays in the Big 12 Tournament this week in Kansas City.

On Saturday without both Cade Cunningham and Issac Likekele… Mike Boynton’s Cowboys rode sophmores Avery Anderson and Kaleb Boone to an improbable 85-80 road win over ranked West Virginia.

Avery Anderson led all scorers with 31 points and is in my estimation the most improved player in the Big 12 this basketball season. Second on that list might very well be his teammate Kaleb Boone from Tulsa.

Back when Billy Donovan left the Thunder this summer…I wrote a piece somewhere here on my blog on how Sam Presti should interview Mike Boynton for the head coaching job. I didn’t just come out and say he should be the next Thunder coach, but at the least I thought Presti should just interview Mike Boynton if at nothing else as a future possibile candidate down the road.

Boynton is an old school former point guard who played four seasons at South Carolina on a Gamecocks’ team which made the NCAA Tournament his senior year.

Before landing the O State head coaching job.. he was an assistant at six different stops. Mike Boynton earned the opportunity to get this job and will now start to become a national name in the college coaching ranks.

It’s the 2nd Rule of Coaching with Mike Boynton all the way: ‘You coach thru your unique personality, character, and passion.’ Be who you are.

His teams never quit and they grind no matter what the situation. You’ll never see a Mike Boynton team lay down and quit.

And that is exactly what we saw in Morgantown today as with only nine players dressed to play and on a brutal stretch of three games in seven days all against ranked teams…Mike Boynton’s team without Cade Cunningham collectively said– ” No big deal,” and won a game in one of the toughest venues in college basketball.

Congrats to Coach Boynton and his team from fighting back from a 1-3 start in Big 12 play to become one of the teams every basketball scribe in America is going to be following heading into March Madness.

Sam Presti— you should have interviewed Mike Boynton.

I can’t wait to watch.

March Madness, the NHL heating up, the Masters, MLB to start on March 29th, the OKC AAA Dodgers to start a month later, fishing….I’ll be okay. I have multiple strategies in play.

You know…you look at these Poku prospect highlights and you know what you don’t see much of… talented black players. Evidently not many talented black players in the Greek B League.

This is how I looked as the starting two guard on my 9th grade Herbert Hoover basketball team because they were no talented black players to beat out for a starting spot.

We went and played Capitol Hills’ 9th grade team over there and they had this 6′ 6″ black guard named Winfred Boynes who blocked three of my shots in that game. Winfred would later in life become the Oklahoma City High School Player of the Year and earn a scholarship at a West coast school. I think he even got drafted.

But right then and there even though I played a season of JV basketball at fully integrated John Marshall—I knew that me being a combo third baseman-left fielder who could hit was going to be my basketball future at John Marshall.

So as I ponder the Presti Poku experiment in the more than fully integrated NBA…I wonder how this Poku experiment will turn out for Sam Presti two to three years from now.

The Thunder announced of course as the G League is about over that The Poku has to come back and play for the Thunder the second half of the season. He has to come back—that’s a team policy. His stats in 13 G League games were …25.2 mpg, 7.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 4 apg, and 1.1 blkpg. You can’t in the G League trade Poku for Jalen Green. They won’t let you do that even though my buddy OKC Jim on the Daily Thunder messageboard is hoping that’s something Presti could do.

BTW…OKC Jim > Justin My Red-Haired Stepchild. Just saying. That was somewhat escoteric so don’t try and figure it out.

This probably means since Poku got 17 minutes a game before he was exiled to the G League that one of my favorite Thunder players Mikey Muscala or Kenrich Willaims is about to be benched or traded.

But here’s what I would say again in regards to Poku…there is something adorable in watching him play basketball even with that low trajectory shot of his which Winfred Boynes would hve blocked five times a game.

The thing is you can’t take your eyes off him even when he’s playing like a complete trainwreck. There is something about him which makes you want to adopt him.

If I were Sam Presti I would at this point try and turn Poku into the Serbian version of Ben Simmons and not Tony Kukoc. His skill set minus shooting a basketball isn’t horrible and there’s that reach which is going set some sort of metric record for defensive pass deflections if he stays in the fully integrated NBA.

I wish Poku well and let’s get March Madness rolling.

Mike Holder will forever be known as the athletic director who connected T Boone Pickens’ money into upgrading athletic facilities across the spectrum on the Oklahoma State University campus.

He never would have become athletic director at that time to replace the very capable Harry Birdwell if Boone hadn’t made it a stipulation in his original donation to the university that the money wouldn’t come unless Mike Holder was his man.

I will write this about Mike Holder first—during his sixteen year tenure as O State’s AD his job rating in overhauling facilities is an A+++. In fact– I would say I wish we had a governor in our state as adept at overhauling state infrastructure as Mike Holder has been as the AD in Stillwater.

During Holder’s tenure the university not only built T Boone Pickens Stadium, but built the Sherman Smith Indoor Facilty. Then there was the Karsten Creek golf course which became the facility for the golf team. Then the new tennis and soccer facilities. And now as Holder is stepping down…the completion of O State’s state of the art baseball facility.

It was MAPS Stillwater. Smart guy.

While MAPS was and is still going on in downtown Oklahoma City…what Mike Holder has been a part in rebuilding and modernizing O State athletic facilities has been nothing less of phenomenal.

Walk the campus sometime if you doubt me.

He brought on Mike Gundy…which in the beginning was a good thing. In fact..Holder, Boone, and Mullet King won a Big 12 championship in 2011 with a team in which to this day is easily the best O State football team I’ve ever seen from the prism of being an OU fan. That wouldn’t have happened without Mike Holder.

Holder brought on Josh Holliday to restore the baseball program. I actually met Josh Holliday on one of my flights back from Denver. Nice guy. I meet a lot of interesting people on those flights back from Denver…just saying.

Holder had to fire Sean Sutton…which had to be done. He had to work around the Eddie Sutton situation at the end. I didn’t even mention the expansion of Gallagher Iba because in reality I wish they hadn’t done it. They ruined a historic basketball gym. I never would have expanded GI Arena beyond 8,500 seats…. but that’s just me. I love history.

As an OU fan that was my favorite basketball venue until they did the expansion.

The O State basketball program under Holder has not been smooth or successful. Since the time Eddie Sutton stepped down…which was around sixteen years ago… O State before this season made the NCAA Tournament field a total of two times and won ONE March Madness game….as in one.

Holder was responsible for the Travis Ford ten year contract which was a fiasco. Ford’s teams made the NCAA Tournament field one time with the Byron Eaton group and never made the field with Marcus Smart’s teams.

To Holder’s credit he did hire Brad Underwood, but then didn’t keep him because he was too cheap to pay the going rate for mens basketball coaches. Of course… Underwood now coaches a top ten Fighting Illini team at Illinois.

But I do give Holder credit for hiring Mike Boynton…which I think will prove to be a solid hire. Not a home run hire, but a solid hire. Bill Self would have been the home run hire.

My major criticism of Holder would be he didn’t keep the Mullet King in check in the years which followed the 2011 football team. The football program became somewhat of a joke with all the theatrics of Mike Gundy playing Boone with the job offers at Tennessee and Arkansas.

You never ever once saw this with Bob Stoops and Joe C. Joe C would have fired Bob Stoops if that had been the case. Mike Holder’s enabling and mishandling of the Mullet King is the one big red mark I give Mike Holder on his final report card….and I think Mike Holder knows he should have handled Gundy differently in retrospect. I’m sure he and the recently departed Burns Hargis both have regrets on that one.

Otherwise—I give Mike Holder A’s across the board as a visionary who helped his alma mater step forward into the future of overall athletic excellence in Stillwater.

School of Rock Students Perform “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen – YouTube

O State losing at Baylor was not a shock. Nor was OU losing its fourth straight—this time to Texas in another close loss. Then—of course the Thunder…the team which should be losing won at San Antonio.

Typical… Oklahoma bullshit.

As far as OU’s swoon…I have my thoughts on how the Sooners went from one of the hottest teams in the country to a team now headed to the Big 12 Tournament as the 7th seed. This means the Sooners in a ten day period played themselves out of a Regional No. 2 seed and in all probability depending on how they play in Kansas City… will be either a sixth or seventh seed in March Madness.

I have my thoughts on this. But this isn’t the appropriate time to vent on Senior Night. Coach Kruger is too nice…I’ll just leave it there for the moment. He’s an extremely nice man.

I have no idea what the Thunder are doing at this point. Maybe Poku has a younger brother playing in the Greek B League and Presti’s headed that way again. Who knows?

I love these kids at the School of Rock.

It’s storming out in Deer Creek.

Have a nice Friday.

(1) Ferris Bueller Ending Credits – YouTube

Alex Ovechkin Highlights 2018 Stanley Cup MVP – YouTube

All-time my favorite hockey player of all-time is the one from Parry Sound, Ontario…one Bobby Orr. His greatness cannot be debated—he changed the change of hockey and ruled it until his knees betrayed him.

Second…would the other immortal Boston Bruin defenseman…Raymond Bourque– who won his Cup with the Colorado Avalanche at the end of his career.

Third for me would either be Super Mario or Mark Messier. I like players who are tough and are five skill team players…that’s why Gretzky doesn’t make my list until maybe No. 7.

Five team hockey skills are…skating, checking, fighting, passing, and then shooting the puck.

I have to admit I’ve loved Ovechkin, but I really shot him to the top of my current list when he was big enough as a player to change his game in 2018 and become a total team hockey player. A hockey player who led by example to everyone on his team.

So when I watch the Bruins play the Caps nowadays…I’m actually kinda rooting for Alex if that makes any sense.

Caps at the Bruins on Friday night. It should be great.

(1) Washington Capitals vs. Boston Bruins | EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS | 3/2/21 | NBC Sports – YouTube

Dallas came into the game as one of the hottest teams in the NBA and without All-Star Luka Doncic easily rolled the now on again tanking Oklahoma City Thunder by a 87-78 count inside of American Airlines Arena.

The Thunder were virtually unwatchable in this game as they were 29-87 (33%) from the field and an even worse 9-39 (23.1%) shooting the three ball.

Lu Dort and Darius Bazely went a combined 4-20 from the field. Even Mike Muscala who’d been a bright spot all season… didn’t make a shot or score a point.

If you’re a glass half full Little Nick Gallo sycophant…Kenrich Williams, Theo Maledon, and Ty Jerome were all bright spots.

The Thunder are completely back on track with losing. They now stand 14-21 and are a four full games out of the 10th spot, but at the same time having screwed around too long to make a run for Cade Cunningham it would seem.

Typical.

But at least there was that two game stand where the Thunder stunned the Spurs and then got Lloyd Pierce fired from the Atlanta Hawks job.

But I’m more than okay because the last two nights the hockey has been spectacular. On Tuesday–in the same American Airlines Arena… the defending Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightening shut out the struggling Dallas Stars by a 2-0 count in a great hockey game. Dallas actually outplayed Tampa, but couldn’t buy a power play goal if their life depended on it.

Then last night as the Thunder almost missed everything they shot—the Washington Caps in a shootout defeated the Boston Bruins in Zdeno Chara’s return to Boston. Just an incredible regular season game and the two teams meet again on Friday in Boston.

Plus…we get competitive basketball tonight as Cade and Co. are in Waco to take on the Baylor Bears, while the Sooners try to get back on track against the Texas Longhorns.

So I’m okay with the Thunder back on track losing again and trying to salvage a top five pick in the NBA draft.

(1) Donald Trump ADMITS to Getting Vaccinated – YouTube

You know, at some point as a blogger—you hope to get enough readership so you at times can have an impact on those who occasionally read your blog. We all secretly wish at some time we could have Pioneer Woman’s numbers….even this guy.

I would call it giving back if you may.

I live in Oklahoma and I know a lot of these white Republican Trump crazies here pretty much only follow Trump, Putin and the idiot governor in Texas Greg Abbott per their ideological daily lives.

At this point I’m not preaching. It is what is in places like Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi. Maybe at some point…evolution will be taught in these places…but then again–maybe not.

So moving forward…please ignore eveything Greg Abbott in Texas does and use your common sense a little longer to get thru all of this so we can get back to our normal lives.

So here’s your still Commander in Chief in Red America…Donald Trump urging all of us to get our Covid vaccinations.

Thank you and God bless both Americas.

Nolan Arenado Highlight Mix | “Roxanne” – YouTube

I’m not even sure when the Major League Baseball season starts this season, but when it does my favorite player Nolan Arenado will be a member of the St. Louis Cardinals and not the hopeless Colorado Rockies.

In typical Colorado Rockie fashion… they traded the best third baseman in baseball and got little in return except for unloading Nolan’s contract.

Nolan’s a Golden Glove fielder and a guy capable of forty home run seasons.

This should be a trade which gives Nolan a chance to show his skills in late season when the baseball world heads into post season.

I can’t wait for when our Oklahoma City Dodgers get their AAA team back on the field again down in Bricktown.

If you haven’t taken the time to watch the Netflix film ‘The Battered Bastards of Baseball’ you should. It’s one of the best sports docu films I’ve ever seen which primarily deals with Bing Russell, father of Kurt Russell, buying and running a minor league baseball team in Portland.

If you love off the beaten path type of stories—you’ll love this film.

This is the next horizon at okcthunderground.com…actually creating our own eclectic Youtube ‘films’ to music. Since I don’t know how to do this just yet … I could use some help from Thunder Chick over at Daily Thunder to help me produce this first one.

Who knows…maybe after this even the ‘El Prez Podcast’?

TC…if you could help me with this I’d forever forgive you for banning me from my own messageboard over at Daily Thunder.

I’d like to use the video below to take cuts from for our Youtube ‘film’. I’d like a frozen wide angle freeze of the pic of Trump’s bulbous fat ass next to Lindsey on the golf course….that pic is the brand for our award winning Youtube ‘film’.

I know you can do this. Thanks, TC.

See Lindsey Graham’s stunning about-face on Trump and impeachment – YouTube

(1) #16 Oklahoma vs #17 Oklahoma State Highlights | College Basketball Highlights 2021 – YouTube

For the time being, two basketball programs inverted in a three day span as Mike Boynton’s Cowboys completed a Bedlam sweep of OU with a hard fought 79-75 win inside of what once was iconic Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Even though Cade Cunningham is the best college player in the country you can’t say this was just Cade in the second game of a Bedlam doubleheader because he didn’t make a basket until seven minutes remained in the game.

OU changed their defensive posture with Cade Cunningham in Game 2 of Bedlam and had two or threes guys around the presumptive No. 1 pick every time he touched the ball.

On the night Cunningham was 3-8 shooting the ball and finished with a line of 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. But as was the case in Game 1…Mike Boynton made sure Cade had the ball in his hands down the stretch where his star could get to the free throw line and ice the game.

Other O-State players stood up and made baskets as what in essense was O State had a 4 on 3 setup everytime they ran a possession in a half court set. Cade Cunningham didn’t force the issue, but instead made the right pass—the right basketball play.

This is why I think he would be such an automatic fit with the Thunder’s young set of guards..especially Shai Gilgeous Alexander…. because in essence Cade can play the point, the two guard, or the small forward position to varying degrees on any possession. He can literally morph his game as the other team’s defense dictates.

Kaleb Boone had 17 points, 9 rebounds, and one assist and from the game’s opening possession and was the Cowboy who most benefitted from OU putting two players on Cade every time he touched the ball.

For Lon Kruger and the Sooners their season isn’t over, but some stark realities were exposed in this two game Bedlam set. The first being even with Brady Manek having his best game of the season in Game 2 with a 20, 9, 4 night — his Sooners couldn’t get over the hump on a night Cade Cunningham only shot the ball EIGHT times.

The depth we all thought OU had on their bench was non-existent. To be blunt…Coach Kruger got virtually nothing out of Jalen Hill, Olandis Williams, Kur Kuath, and Victor Iwuakor. As in nothing. He barely played any of them in Game 2 and combined they didn’t score a basket or make any contribution rebounding the ball or playing defense. Nothing.

Both coaches used eight guys in this game, but what Mike Boynton got out of 6, 7, and 8 was profoundly better than what the Sooners’ got from their bench.

Moving forward…neither team can lose sight of the reality both play tough Big 12 games on Thursday. O State is at Baylor in a game I can’t wait to see, while the now struggling Sooners host the struggling Longhorns in a game which will probably decide who’s seeded sixth and seventh at the Big 12 Tournament next week in Kansas City.

How quickly things changed for O State and OU in a three day span. But by the same token–we have to wait and see what happens with Cade and Co. at Baylor and West Virginia to close out the Big 12 regular season death march.