I think Sam Presti just made a smart trade which will help the Thunder down the road at some point.
Diallo is a good kid who won the dunk championship and was a fan favorite of the Thunder fanbase. But he was on an expiring contract and quite frankly the Thunder didn’t need him for two simple reasons. Those being…Lu Dort and Kenrich Williams.
Presti already has two intangible guys in his his top ten players on cheaper deals than it would have cost to resign Diallo. Plus, Diallo struggles shooting the ball at times and his strengths are replications of what Dort and Williams can give the Thunder every night.
I watch a lot of college basketball and I’m sure most who casually follow the Thunder don’t even realize Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk played for the Kansas Jayhawks in the Big 12. This will be the last time I spell that name out on my blog…hence moving forward this 6’7″ swingman will be referred to as Svi. I like his game. Thumbs up, Sam Presti. Be able to shoot a basketball isn’t a bad thing.
He can shoot the ball and indicates to me Mikey Muscala who is on his option year is probably not going to be a member of the Thunder too much longer. Plus…Presti got Detroit’s second round pick in 2027.
I wish the best for Diallo and one would think maybe he and Jerami Grant will have some fun trying to make the Detroit Pistsons a better team. Hypothetically speaking…if you picture Cade Cunningham alongside Jerami and Diallo—I think the Pistons could have a Renaissance of sorts and would sell plenty of tickets.
Just a feeling, but at this point I’m guessing Cade will either be a Houston Rocket or Detroit Piston or Timberwolf when all this is concluded this summer in the NBA draft.
The interview above is Mike Boynton fourteen months ago after a tough regular season loss to Baylor. It’s vintage Mike Boynton. This was a tough moment after a loss to Baylor. This isn’t one of those feel good moments. This is what coaching is about. You hurt for your team.
No excuses. Just a frank appraisal of his team and their need to keep ‘chopping the tree’ to get where they want to be eventually.
Today is that day to chop that tree down so to speak as his team is not only playing for the Big 12 championship, but in my estimation a No. 1 regional seed in March Madness.
Here’s why. With a win O State would enter the Tournament with ten Top 25 wins which would be the most in the country. They would enter the Tournament as champion of the toughest league, plus the hottest team in the country. O State in the last month has done more than Gonzaga has done the last two years combined. Michigan will be tough. So will a couple of other Big Ten teams plus, Chris Beard’s team isn’t one I’d sleep on either.
If O State can get past Texas, which won’t be easy, they’ll be the team on the cover of USA Today on Monday with their coach Mike Boynton front and center as the lowest paid coach in the Big 12.
If I were the people in Stillwater who run that atheletic department I’d have a new contract waiting for Mike Boynton on Monday with a bonus attached for this season as well. I would put the cheap ass ways of Mike Holder in my rear view mirror and make sure I keep Mike Boynton.
How ironic that today in Kansas City we have two young black coaches in the Big 12 Finals. In fact…the only two black head coaches in the conference in Mike Boynton and Shaka Smart.
This in fact is how Shaka Smart four or so years ago became the head coach at Texas after his then VCU Rams became the Cinderella darlings of March Madness and advanced to a Final Four. Again…if I’m the people in Stillwater… I’d put my Mullet King mentality to the side and pay Mike Boynton.
This will be a war today. If you watched the Texas win over Texas Tech you know this will be a knife fight last guy standing. A showcase of what Texas high school basketball has become to the Big 12 conference. Why in fact—the tournament should be moved back to Oklahoma City and Texas.
I bet Fran is already up like me at 5:00am because he’s jacked about this game. I can’t sleep and I’m an OU fan for godssake.
But here’s the thing…if I’m going to a knife fight on a basketball court…I like my chances with Cade Cunningham holding the knife.
Coach Sutton would be very proud of what he’s seen from Mike Boynton’s team so ‘far’…now finish.
I’m not going to recap the game right now because I’m going to watch the women play Bedlam III.
In no way am I shocked O State won this game. Just read my preview from this morning. But I am surprised to the degree in which the Cowboys went on a 13-2 spurt to end the game.
Cade…dude….You’re better than Danny Manning and these guys around you are much better than the Miracles. Not even close.
I called my O State writer buddy this morning and told him of my thought if that O State beat Baylor and then won the championship game they should be the team from the Big 12 with the No. 1 Regional seed.
He tried to calm me down and bring me off the ledge. But I think we all know know right now Mike Boynton’s team is one win over Texas from having this program in an Eddie Sutton state of mind.
It was a healing day in Minneapolis for the family of murdered George Floyd. I know Bob Jackson has a smile on his face right now up in lawyer heaven.
This case was so pathetic in its mixture of cowardice and racism…this would have been an instance in which Bob would have enjoyed prosecuting this piece of gutless human trash who I will not mention by name on my blog.
I’ll have more to write on this after the criminal verdict is rendered. I can assure you those within my orbit who voted for Donald Trump twice should stay away from me for at least a month. Don’t say a word to me…as in not one word about your wonderful Mr. Trump and his followers.
The committee could possibly have two No. 1 seeds playing each other at 5:30pm this evening inside the T Mobile Sprint Arena.
Baylor seems to have gotten its legs back under itself after Covid halted their season for almost three weeks while red-hot Oklahoma State and Cade Cunningham are currently the ‘it’ story in college basketball.
Last Thursday in Waco—the Cowboys lost a competitive game to the Bears without Cade Cunningham and Issac Likekele. But both will be on the court for O State on Friday evening inside of Phog Allen East.
You wouldn’t think the zebras would have a preference in this game since Kansas isn’t playing so this should be a great college basketball game with the entire country of hoops fans taking notice as we near the cusp of March Madness.
In a sense I consider this the Big 12 Championship Game even if Kansas advances because I’m almost certain the zebras will be punitive against the other three teams with the home cooking the Jayhawks always get in this event.
The Big 12 needs to start moving the tournament around again. The event shouldn’t be slanted to Kansas in such an obvious manner. Texas Tech was the last Big 12 team to make the Final Four or the championship game. Let’s start rewarding all of the parents of Texas high school players in the league and start rotating the event south.
I know–the Big 12 football game is played at Jerry’s World and the Big 12 baseball tournament is played in Oklahoma City. But at the least with the Big 12 becoming such a nationally prominent hoops league I’d like to see the event played in Texas and Oklahoma City again as it once was before the Thunder dominated the basketball scene in the region. Rotate it between Kansas City, OKC, and a Texas city on a regular basis.
Kevin Durant is gone and is back East on the Brooklyn Thunder. James Harden, Jeff Green, Andre, Timothy and even Blake Griffin are there with him. The OKC Thunder haven’t won a first round series in four years with Russell Westbrook, Paul George, or Chris Paul on their roster.
The Thunder aren’t winning one anytime soon in the forseable future. It would be nice for the Big 12 to give the other programs minus Kansas a shot at winning its post season tournament. OU has won Big 12 football championship games in both Kansas City and San Antonio…why can’t the Jayhawks be asked to do the same.
As far as this game tonight…it will feature the best two players in the league in Cade Cunningham and Jared Butler. It will also showcase the two deepest most balanced rosters in the league… with Texas right there as well.
Baylor’s coach Scott Drew has always taken heat for his bench management skills and this will be his chance to show if he’s the real deal…a complete head coach who can take the Baylor mens’ program to the same level of the nationally elite Lady Bears.
For Mike Boynton…he’s a win or two away from becoming the hottest young coach in America if not already. If the Kentucky or Duke or North Carolina jobs opened I wonder if Coach B would get a call. His alma mater South Carolina just finished a miserable 6-14 Covid affected season by losing 76-59 to Ole Miss. There’s talk maybe Frank Martin who Mike Boynton worked for could possibly be in trouble.
But I don’t think right now that’s on Mike Boynton’s mind. Boynton is old school and he won’t say anything but nice things about his old boss Frank Martin.
Mike Boynton has worked his tail off for four years to have the Oklahoma State program in this game tonight with this much on the line.
I haven’t even looked at the spread. On a neutral floor…I’d have it as a pick ’em game…maybe Baylor by 1.5 just because they’re an older team.
Since the Baylor vs. Gonzaga game scheduled earlier this year was never played due to Covid…this all the sudden has become the game of the year minus maybe the Michigan-Ohio State game.
What a great time to be a Big 12 hoops fan with not only seven teams with a chance to make the Sweet 16, but with nine players from the league projected to go in the NBA’s two round draft this summer.
As Fran Fraschilla of ESPN often says, “The state of Texas has become a nationally elite hotbed of college high school basketball talent.”
This should be a great game. I envy Fran and still remember how kind he and Ron Franklin were to me on that day in Norman back when Durant was a freshman at Texas.
For the first time in the Thunder era I didn’t watch one minute of the live action of a Thunder game. So for that reason instead of finding the highlights of tonight’s game on video …I’m just calling it in putting this video of a preseason game on my blog instead.
It’s so disheartening…with Cade Cunningham virtually in Sam Presti’s lap…the GM who traded James Harden for Jeremy Lamb and Alex Abrines and then allowed Kevin Durant to walk is going to let the Houston Rockets or Minnesota Timberwolves lose their way to the rights for Cade. It’s just so f–king Oklahoma.
Dallas didn’t help that’s for certain as on the second night of a back to back they sat both Luka and Porzingus on the same night. I wonder if Mark Cuban is colluding with the Rockets for some sort of quid pro quo.
Poku fresh from his reign of dominance in the G League had a decent night with a 14 pt, 8 rb, 3 assist night in thirty minutes of action.. He was +4, 4-11 shooting the basketball, 2-6 shooting the three, and 4-4 from the line. So good for Poku. Eat your fruit and veggies, buddy.
I watched the last Big 12 quarterfinal with Shaka Smart’s Texas Longhorns edging Chris Beard’s Texas Tech Red Raiders by a 67-66 count. Just a great day of Big 12 Tournament action. I’m somewhat whipped and frazzled from all the hoops. All four games were won by the Vegas favorite and were competitive single digit games. Pretty much the games were a microcosm of the regular season I would say.
I need a song like this after the hosing OU took in the final four minutes from the Jayhawk friendly zebras.
Austin Reaves…don’t feel bad, buddy…Bill Russell, Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Lebron wouldn’t win a game played anywhere withing thirty miles of the Lawrence campus either.
Billy did beat the Jayhawks once in the Big 8 Tournament at Kemper with the Skeeter Henry group in a blowout so one-sided that even the locale refs couldn’t screw OU.
You’re not going to win close games at either Phog Allen Field House or in Kansas City unless it’s a blowout. The whistles never go the way of the visitor in close games played within thirty miles of the Phog.
Anyway…proud of the OU players for fighting back froma 23 point deficit to within three points late in the game. That’s something to build on going into March Madness which thankfully is going to be played in Indiana instead of Kansas.
Go Cade!
I’ve got a little angst after those two no calls on Austin. I need a second song by the girls.
What an exciting game which had a little bit of everything attached to it to the very end.
O State survived itself and West Virginia to escape with a hard fought 72-69 win to advance to the Big 12 semi-finals against the winner of the Baylor-K State game.
Mike Boynton’s club was pretty much horrible the first twenty-five minutes, but pulled it together enough to overcome a second half double digit deficit against the Mountaineers.
This is what I mean about Mike Boynton and his ball club…they embrace the same dogged mental toughness Boynton had as a point guard at South Carolina.
Next guy up. Forget the last turnover and make a play. Make a sequence of them. And that’s what happened in this game as the Cowboys went on a second half 16-3 spurt which was just enough for the Cowboys to claim their sixth straight win with Cade in the lineup coming down the stretch of the goal acheiving portion of the season.
This was O State’s eighth win of the year over a Top 25 ranked team. O State and Iowa lead the nation in that regard.
I’ll write this on my blog…if O State beats Baylor tomorrow in the semis…I think they get a second regional seed in the same bracket with Gonzaga.
If they win the tournament—the committee has to think about placing two Big 12 teams as No. 1 regional seeds because the way a team finishes is a significant consideration with the committee.
We’ll see.
Great way to start to start the Big 12 quarterfinals.
It’s offical for me…as we head into March Madness both the men and the women have pushed my blog’s storyline into new levels of interest tierdom wise for me at least.
The Thunder to me right now are just a notch above professional wrestling in that none of us from game to game know which games they’re honestly trying to win and which ones they’re trying to lose. If you want the Sunshine Pump–Rainbows and Butterflies takes then the Daily Thunder is your blog. I can’t believe we have to go through thirty-six more of these ‘games’.
But I will say this—the Thunder players are playing hard and conducting themselves as professionals. I just wouldn’t pay $5 dollars to see it in person and pay for parking. It’s not real competition…it’s like professional wrestling this season. Evidently Adam Silver agrees in that the league added the playoff play in games to try and deter league wide tanking.
My tiers right now go… 1 Cade and O State men, 2 OU men, 3 March Madness as a whole, 4 NHL, O State and OU women, and 6 OKC Thunder’s developmental franchise which drafts good players and then locates them around the NBA in both the Eastern and Western conferences.
I don’t watch enough women’s college basketball to write about it on my blog with knowledgable comfort…but I do watch some here and there on Fox Regional every now and again.
Above is Jim Littell the O State head coach of the women’s team. He won the Big 12 Coach of the Year honor this week. His team went 17-7 overall and was 13-5 in league play. Coach Littell succeeded Kurt Budke who was killed in the second tragic O State plane crash several years ago. Congrats to Coach Littell and his young women for their excellent season.
In Norman–Sheri Coale’s team finished strong to get to 11-11 and are on the bubble heading into Kansas City where they will have to play O State for a third time this season in a post season version of Bedlam. I would think the Sooners need a win.
Tomorrow night at 8:30 pm it’s Bedlam III for the women and it won’t be tough for me to bump the Thunder for a good womens’ tournament game.
Austin Reaves took control in the last four minutes scoring the ball from the field and the free throw line to lead No. 24 OU past Iowa State by a score of 79-73.
Austin led all scorers with 21 points. EJ Harkless played excellent. Devion Harmon was okay, but will need to be better if the Sooners hope to be beat Kansas tomorrow evening in a 5:30pm quarterfinal.
OU’s bench got solid play from Kur Kuath, Jalen Hill, and Olandis Williams. The bench was much better. Brady Manek is basically an offensive situational player and was okay for what he can do.
Moj Gibson for the second straight game only scored three points. That has to change. The Sooners need Gibson in doubles figures making at least three three point shots a game.
Just a tremedous slate of four quarterfinal games tomorrow in Kansas City.
O State plays West Virginia in the 10:30 am game and the Sooners play Kansas in the 5:30pm. Texas tangles with Texas Tech in the late game while Baylor takes on a Kansas State team which has been playing much better down the stretch.
The 15-21 Oklahoma City Thuner host the Dallas Mavericks in a game which you would think the Thunder need to lose. But then again who knows what the Thunder are doing right now with their season.
Clearly…the Thunder are the third tier story basketball-wise this week. Heck…I might even put Sherri Coales’ Lady Sooners ahead of the Thunder this week as the girls could play their way into March Madness with a win or two in the Big 12 Tournament.
OU all-time is 2-1 versus Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament and the Jayhawks will be without their best player tomorrow due to Covid protocol. I would say Moj and Devion have to bring their A games for the Sooners to advance.