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View Full Version : 04's Attempt: OU vs. Gardner-Webb Recap



Sooner04
11/23/2008, 09:02 PM
Basketball is not like football, friends. Whereas things are out of your hands at times in the sport that features an odd-shaped ball, you always control your destiny in basketball. Two months from now, nobody will remember that we were pushed to the limits by a team called Gardner-Webb.

I have no idea where Gardner-Webb is.
I don't know what state Gardner-Webb calls home.
All I know is that they went back to where they came from with a loss, and that's fine with me.

Win, and move on. Don't care how, and don't bother telling us why, just win and move on. We did, so yay. We played a game very similar to this last year against the Mighty Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin and got beat. They out-hustled us, just like Gardner-Webb. They made big shots late, just like Gardner-Webb. BUT, they won, and Gardner-Webb lost. Whew. Take it, and move on.

SCORING BREAKDOWN:
1st - 25 [90 days, Jerry. When you hot, you hot!]
2nd - 17
3rd - 15 [chunks a'blowin]
4th - 23 [Let's spend the night together!]

[u]LEADING SCORERS:
35 - Blake Griffin: Captain Obvious with a call on line two.
17 - Willie Warren: Starting to shoot well.
12 - Taylor Griffin

LEADING REBOUNDERS:
21 - Blake Griffin: Four for four in leading both scoring and rebounding. Perhaps we're the one-man team.
7 - Taylor Griffin

PLUSES:
1. Blake Griffin: I'm running out of ways to describe this guy. You can only call him an animal so often, but he's a rabid wildebeast out there. Perhaps a disenfranchised yeti. I don't know, but he's killing people. I'm not sure he'll face anyone on his level this season.

2. Willie Warren: 17 points, yeah yeah. OK. NO turnovers. That's what I like to see.

3. Offensive Rebounding: 18 of those babies, and every one of them was needed.

4. Scoring: The last time we scored more than 80 in our first four games was in November/December of 1996. As is a common theme for guys throughout life's journey; put it in the hole, fellas!

4. The football team: Holy ****! I was confident we'd beat Tech, but my God, we massacred those clowns. Tyson/Spinks had more of an ebb and flow than this game did. A team in red and black hasn't taken an asswhipping like that since the Allies firebombed Dresden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II). And massive kudos to whoever signed off on playing Jump Around right after Lewis's INT. If it had been any wilder, people would've been heaving newborn babies off the upper deck.

MINUSES:
1. Tony Crocker: I think Tony had money on Gardner-Webb. Seriously, how does one explain a performance so putrid? Two points on 1-11 shooting while throwing up six bricks from behind the arc. He doubled his point total with four turnovers. That is AWFUL! And those white sleeves......oh the humanity!

2. Taylor Griffin: Taylor had a real nice game, but he was the culprit on one of the most ignorant plays my eyes had ever seen. Leading 80-76 with a couple of seconds to go, the ONLY WAY Gardner-Webb gets the game to OT is by fouling and making a three-pointer. So what does Griffin the Elder do? He clocks a Gardner-Webb guard in the forehead at half court as he shoots a desperation heave. If that shot had gone in they would've had to haul me out of there in that contraption they used to wheel Hannibal Lector around in. Mercy.

3. Post Depth: We have none.

4. Hustle: Every loose ball seemed to go to Gardner-Webb. It was epidemic, and the lack of hustle is really the only way to explain it. Crap like that will get you beat.

5. Defense: I'm no defensive guru, but I saw way too many of our guys yakking at each other to not believe defensive assignments were missed. UAB's got some good guards, so we better shore that crap up.


And so now on to Madison Square Garden, a place where we've played like horse dung for years. To add insult to injury, Mike Davis is coaching the UAB Blazers. I think we all remember the last time we faced that guy, and I doubt I'm the only one who has yet to recover. Hopefully our play in the Garden will improve, and hopefully our record against him will improve as well.

I think Jeff Capel is just the man to do it.


Thank you for your time.

King Crimson
11/23/2008, 09:23 PM
. Tyson/Spinks had more of an ebb and flow than this game did. A team in red and black hasn't taken an asswhipping like that since the Allies firebombed Dresden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II).

heh.

Ardmore_Sooner
11/23/2008, 09:45 PM
Anyone ever figure out why Cade didn't play?

soonervegas
11/23/2008, 09:53 PM
Three things:

Basketball teams can't bring it every night.

Great teams get pushed to the limit and sometimes beat by lesser opponents all the time in November.

This was a horrible spot for a game like this. After curry, before NYC, and a big party waiting for them that night.

Best part was we won. That's all that matters. We will see where this team is at later this week.

King Crimson
11/23/2008, 09:56 PM
Anyone ever figure out why Cade didn't play?

turned his ankle in practice. i read on another board that Coach thinks he'll be OK by UAB.

boomersooner28
11/23/2008, 11:32 PM
If it had been any wilder, people would've been heaving newborn babies off the upper deck.


:D

OU_Sooners75
11/24/2008, 03:50 AM
Damn 04....
Want write a blog on my site?
If so, click on the link in the sig and sign up. Let me know if you do.

Ton Loc
11/24/2008, 09:15 AM
Excellent work 04. I didn't see the game (how no one picked this up for tv is beyond me) but I did listen to it while painting a bedroom. And your analysis seems dead-on.

Especially about the post play. I was hoping that Ryan Wright or Orlando could at least add some defense, but right now they seem lost. Here's hoping that improves over the course of the season.

NormanPride
11/24/2008, 10:21 AM
Awesome, 04! I reeeeeally wanted to go to this game, but finding tickets for Tceh was harder than I thought it would be. And Tceh is a priority over the runnin' bulldogs, sorry. :O

A master wordsmith, truly!

Sooner24
11/24/2008, 01:56 PM
Awesome, 04! I reeeeeally wanted to go to this game, but finding tickets for Tceh was harder than I thought it would be. And Tceh is a priority over the runnin' bulldogs, sorry. :O

A master wordsmith, truly!

Nothing should have a higher priority than OU Basketball. :mad:

8timechamps
11/24/2008, 03:23 PM
Another great report 04!

After watching the bottom line scroll on ESPN to get a score, I got frustrated and "watched" the second half on ESPN. Well, "watched" is not really the right word. I used the play-by-play feature in the scoreboard section. It's a nerve-racking way to watch the game.

The best thing was, with about 6:00 left in the game, my 9 year old son came and sat in my office to see what I was doing. He's a big Sooner football fan, but hasn't really had the same interest in Sooner hoops as I did when I was his age(see 04's last game report on how he used the Sooner scoring to help with his math skills and you'll get an idea of how I was).

Anyway, he ended up sitting with me and "watching" the last few minutes.

Needless to say, I was worn out afterward.

I'm with ya 04, a win is a win...take it and move on.

Soonerfan88
11/25/2008, 08:54 PM
Great report. The team really looked lethargic to me but at least they focused enough to pull out the win.

BTW, I asked one of their fans - GW is 45 miles west of Charlotte.

Hella Sideburns
11/26/2008, 04:03 PM
i thought crocker's sleeves were awesome, but after a 1-11, i bet we don't see those bitches again