January | 2019 | sportsprofessor

My bad…

This is what the kid’s say these days when they make a mistake. My only hope is that you are reading this blog before reading the one I put out on Monday. You see I was caught up in a bad case of Sooner euphoria. OU had come back from the dead to beat OSU and then followed up that win with a beat down of Vanderbilt. Then again, at my age I should have known better.

I was hopeful that we could avoid a third season of the late season swoon disease. That happening now is unlikely. I really did not see this one coming. Baylor is not a bad team as the Baylor basketball team is a mirror image of its football team, a team full of athletes. They made OU look like a high school team as they shot off to a 21 point first half lead before finishing out the Sooners by 30.

No sense bashing the LNC or the students or for that matter the donors who failed to find their way to Norman Monday night. OU basketball is what it is and I guess we will have to accept it as such. At this point, surviving the season with an 8 seed and having a shot at winning a game in the tournament would appear to be the best thing we can hope for.

In any case, thankfully spring football and softball are right around the corner. I will spend the next few weeks looking at these sports…you know, the sports that OU officials seem to care about.

Again, my bad…

What a difference a week makes…

I know I said I was taking a break from basketball, but I can’t help myself. That game in Stillwater last week forces me to hit this subject again. How in the world does any team come back from a 19 point deficit on the opponent’s home court and win?

I really do wish that someone at ESPN could research this matter for me. I would bet someone else’s money that the odds of this happening on the other guy’s floor are less than a million to one. That’s right…winning the lottery is more likely.

The Sooners’ win in Stillwater motivated the Sooners to beat a decent Vanderbilt team from the SEC on Saturday which should now create some momentum going into Monday night. I don’t want to give the SEC or Big 12 Commissioners too much credit, but it was as if they planned this game for a reason.

OU and Vanderbilt have the worst home court advantages in America. OU plays in a concert hall with home fans sitting half a football field from the playing surface. Vanderbilt fans not only sit fifty feet from court side they also sit five feet below the playing surface. Seriously, you have to see this to believe it.

Okay, back to the news…the bottom line is this…this OU team has used an improbable win in Stillwater on Wednesday to create a beat down of Vanderbilt on Saturday. If OU can shuttle enough students to Lloyd Noble on Monday to create a home court advantage, the Sooners may find themselves on a winning streak. Last week at this time, this team was dead in the water…now who knows.

What a difference a win makes…

Boomer Sooner…

Do over…

Today’s blog was a do over…the first one had the Sooners down for the count for this year. I was assuming that the third nail in the Sooner coffin would happen in Stillwater on Wednesday night. That loss would have set up the Sooners up for a third straight late season swoon. Everything was on schedule as the Sooners had lost a home game to K-State and a road game to Texas and were trailing by 19 at Agwater. Then it happened, OSU realized that they were Aggies and OU realized that they were Sooners.

I don’t want to get carried away because as we know the Sooners still play at LNC where home court advantages are hard to come by. The Sooners are also trying to rebuild from the Trae Young year that cost the Sooners dearly. Last year it was as if the team took the year off to allow Trae to audition for the NBA.

In any case, this team now has a chance to finish in the top half of the conference and more importantly, finish the season with 20 plus wins. This fact plus the OU’s tough non-conference schedule should provide the Sooners with a four or five NCAA tournament seed. This should allow the Sooners to get off the schnide of losing the opening round tournament game every year.

With Manek and Bieniemy improving with every game, next year looks a lot better for the Sooners. Possibly, the Sooner men’s team can also find fans to occupy those red chair back seats at LNC, a move that will help us win games and cut into the red ink that sucks the life out of the athletic program. Those dollars can go toward the so-called minor sports like softball and gymnastics…you know those so-called minor sports that win championships and bring the university positive attention. We can use a lot more of that these days.

Boomer Sooner…

63-28…

63-28 was the half time score for the OU women’s team against Iowa State on Saturday. That’s right Sherry’s girls were down by 35 at the half. I don’t know a lot about basketball, but I do know that teams that spot their opponent a 35 point deficit in any sport are not likely to be successful. Making matters worse is that this practice has become standard operating procedure for Sherry’s girls this year. We lost to K-State by 30 just a few days back.

Sherry’s current team reminds me of my 16 year old Dachshund, a weinie dog to most people. Brodie is blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other and has developed a bad case of dementia. Yes, Brodie’s best days are behind him, but we still love him like a child and we will continue to do so as long as he is around. Then again…

I would not take Brodie to the dog park in his current state where other dogs could make fun of him. Same goes for Sherry Coale’s latest team. Joe C. should hide the keys to the bus and not allow this team to venture outside of Norman. Taking this bunch to Ames, Manhattan and yes, Stillwater where basketball fans can be cruel to the disadvantaged is just not right.

Seriously, in Sherry’s defense, I blame Joe C. for what has happened to the OU women’s program…a blind man could have seen this coming from a mile away. I also believe that we owe it to Sherry for resurrecting the program some thirty years ago…as a result Joe should find a way out of this mess and allow her to bow out gracefully.

Regardless, of whose fault this is, it is time for Joe C. to put on his big boy pants and do what needs to be done…make it happen…this is embarrassing. Until this happens, that 63-28 half time score should be emblazoned on Joe’s head.

Patti…

What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago Sherry Coale was the life of the women’s athletic program. Today, Sherry is getting beat by an unranked Kansas State team by thirty and trying to scratch out a winning record. Patti Gasso has become the headliner for OU women’s sports.

Patti Gasso recently showed us why this is the case as in similar fashion to OU football she decided to reload her program instead of rebuilding. She was forced to replace possibly the best starting pitcher in OU history in Paige Parker and an unbelievable reliever in Page Lowary. She has done so by bringing in Arizona State’s ace and two quality relievers.

Giselle Juarez is a left handed pitcher who last year at Arizona State had a 1.22 ERA with 305 strikeouts. In 2018, she led the Sun Devils to the World Series where she lost to Paige Parker in a pitching duel. Apparently, Juarez wants to be on the winning side this time around. Two solid relievers will join Juarez in the circle this year. These pitchers will join an unbelievable core group from last year’s team that includes Caleigh Clifton, Shay Knighten, Sydney Romero, and all-world hitter Jocelyn Alo.

You gotta love a program that does not take a year off between great teams. That can be so frustrating…if I wanted to live in that kind of world, I would be an OSU fan. It’s also nice to have something to look forward to after football season.

Boomer Sooner…

Offseason…

With spring practice some three months away and with fall practice even farther out, we are going to struggle for tidbits of good news these days. This weekend provided us with just that.

First off Lincoln hired Alex Grinch who hopefully will become the next Brent Venables. Can you imagine a Clemson-type defense to go with Lincoln’s offense? I know about as much about the new guy as you do, but then again, Cousin Eddie would be better than what we’ve had.

Mix in additional good news about the retirement of Tim Kish and the defensive side of the ball has gotten exponentially better. Kish was hired from the dismantled Arizona staff along with Mike Stoops a few years back. The word on the street for years has been that Kish was basically just taking up space in Norman. With Mike gone, it was just a matter of time before Kish waved adios, as well.

Lincoln, like the rest of us knew what had to be done two years ago, but he knew that with Bob still in town, he had to bide his time. Either Lincoln is wise beyond his years or he was given some good advice two years ago. David Boren lived through the Howard Schnelenberger fiasco twenty five years ago when Howard went crazy firing staff members and yes hiring bad replacements. I suspect that Boren made sure that Riley did not make the same knee-jerk mistakes this time around. Patience is a virtue these days.

He must have known that the football gods would watch over the program. For us to go 24-4 with two conference championships and two playoff berths during this time is off the chart amazing. Without this record, OU would not be boasting a top three Rival’s recruiting class. OU would not have been able to recruit four five-star recruits and three of the top four wide receivers in the country in this recruiting class.

If this offseason gets any better, we won’t be able to live with ourselves.

Boomer Sooner…