Month: April 2019

The basketball gods can work in beautifully mysterious ways at times just when you don’t expect it. Even though I’m a little down on the Thunder’s season and how it will probably end in the first round against Steph, Klay and Kevin Durant…I’m okay. This week-end of regional final March Madness was perhaps the best set of four regional finals I can ever remember taking place on one week-end.

Obviously, OU is my team, I was prepared for a second round exit by the Sooners to Virginia. But what has transpired with both Texas Tech and Auburn has made this an unexpected treasure of an NCCA Tournament for me. As these two teams have made their first ever program runs to the Final Four… I’ve become caught up in their moments so to speak. Plus, I’ve always been a big Tom Izzo fan so this is truly a magical Final Four to follow for a basketball junkie who needs to divert his eyes from the burning rubble of a third straight Thunder season without Kevin Durant ending in a quick first round flameout.

Texas Tech with Chris Beard will be making its first ever Final Four and is a great story. But Auburn beating Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky in successive rounds is a magical story. These three programs Auburn just beat are the three most winning programs in the history of mens college hoops. If Duke had advanced versus Michigan State–then Auburn could been facing the fourth on the list versus Coach K in the national finals.

This is truly remarkable stuff we’re witnessing from Coach Bruce Pearl and his never say die Auburn Tigers. Even with the crushing season ending injury to Chuma Okeke these Cinderella Tigers just keep winning and in an impressive manner.

This year’s Final Four will be in Minneapolis. I haven’t seen the Vegas odds yet, but I would guess Michigan State is a slight favorite over Texas Tech and Virginia is probably a slight favorite over Auburn. Auburn and Tech are two teams in the same field who have never made the Final Four in the histories of their respective programs.

This has truly been a great tournament and if Carson Edwards and the Boilermakers were facing Auburn in the national semis it would be a perfect field for me. But you can’t have everything.

Our national semi-finals are set with Texas Tech vs Michigan State on one side of the bracket and Auburn vs. Virginia on the other side of the bracket.

Even if only by marriage did I become an Auburn fan–it’s a great time to be an Auburn Tiger.

The good thing for me was that I was in a state of euphoria following Auburn’s amazing overtime win over Kentucky to advance to their first ever Final Four. I must admit… at that point I pretty much decided to take a break from the Titantic-like Thunder and get ready for the Duke vs. Michigan State game. A very smart move on my part and one I had made around 9:00am given the situation with the self-abusive Oklahoma City Thunder basketball squad.

Of course, I’m weak and a self admitted hoops junkie and couldn’t hold true to this pledge and punished myself by watching around half of the Thunder’s predictable 106-103 home loss to the tanking Dallas Mavericks who on most nights aren’t even trying to win games at this point in their season.

I’m not an unreasonable blogging person. I pride myself on being fair and even handed. There comes a point when you can only challenge a team’s lack of heart in print so many times that it becomes as predictable as hearing the Thunder homers make excuses for what has happened to this team since the game before the All-Star break in New Orleans.

I’m not Jim Traber. He doesn’t like the Thunder. I like the Thunder even though their media relations/communications approach is a literal piece of dog shit. Consider this…if the Thunder had taken the polar opposite approach of what they do…maybe the Thunder players would think there’s a degree of self accountability on how they compete night in and night out. Maybe…if they weren’t coddled and pampered at some point as a group a collective competitive anger would swell inside of them and they would find a way…any way to become a better team than what they’ve shown the past twenty-two games where with one of the highest payrolls in the league and a primary owner who has gone through two major health issues in the past year…. maybe, just maybe as a group they would pull themselves together and play hard and with some mental focus with just a touch of professional pride attached.

But apparently that isn’t the case with this Oklahoma City Thunder squad who for whatever reason quit on themselves, their coach, their owner and their fans way back in New Orleans on a Thursday night just before the All-Star break thinking nothing more was required of them as a team.

Next up…the LeBronless LA Lakers inside Cheasapeake Energy Arena.

If you live for the butterflies and rainbows approach this blog probably won’t be for you until the Thunder show some heart.

*On recheck…I correct myself, the dead team walking Thunder are 7-14 since New Orleans. It’s the best I’ve felt about this team since the Miracle in Philadelphia.

When you have some talent, a good coach and a truckload of heart this is what can happen even when your best player can’t go because of a season ending knee injury. Winning is fun and becomes contagious.