Sooner04
12/6/2009, 11:12 PM
take off your rainbow shades.
From Kansas City to San Jose, from Milwaukee to Norman; the Eisenhower Interstate system is littered with the carcasses of Wildcat dreams wrecked at the hands of Sooner Basketball. We've beaten Steve Kerr in Kemper and smoked Luke Walton by the Bay. We've grounded Jason "Jet" Terry in the upper Midwest and survived Sean Elliott in Tornado Alley. Long story short, we own the Wildcats. It doesn't matter if they're coached by "Midnight" Lute Olson or Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen; when we play those sissified puttytats on the hardwood we come out on top.
Tonight was nothing more than Exhibit "Q" in support of that thesis. We controlled the tempo from the opening tip and had Sean Miller doing jumping jacks on the sideline for every 30-second timeout he had to call. 6-0 begat 13-7 which begat 22-11 which led to 27-12. If this were a boxing match they would've run out of towels to heave into the ring.
You want to be really excited about a win like this, but can you be? I say you can because even though this Arizona team is struggling it's not like they're a bunch of clowns from Palooka Tech. We just took our four guard lineup and played harder, moved quicker and reacted faster than them on every possession for the first 35 minutes of the game. It was a dismantling, and in a season where we've followed up nearly every stretch of stellar play with an equally festering turd-like stretch of hideousness it was refreshing to follow up the throttling of Arkansas with an even more robust shellacking of Arizona.
These young whippersnappers are growing right before our eyes. Does that mean the Gentlemen of Centenary will come in on Wednesday and take us down to the wire? Dean Blevins says its 70/30.
SCORING BREAKDOWN:
1st - 22 [this happened once before....]
2nd - 22 [when I came to your door....]
3rd - 25 [no replyyyyyyy....]
4th - 10 [does not compute]
LEADING SCORERS:
25 - Willie Warren
14 - Tiny Gallon
13 - Tony Crocker
10 - Tommy Mason-Griffin
LEADING REBOUNDERS:
7 - Tiny Gallon
5 - Tony Crocker
4 - Tommy Mason-Griffin
PLUSES:
1. Willie Warren: For a long while Willie was neck and neck with Arizona in scoring. They had no answer for him, and you got the feeling that if he felt like being selfish tonight he could've gone for 35. If his 25 were any easier he would've been eating pomegranates while being fanned by his adoring masses during time outs.
2. Tony Crocker: I almost had Tony at #1 again. The Crock Pot is the "it" guy right now. He's got his fingers in everything. Deflections on defense, key rebounds, throwing his body around, stopping opponents' spurts; he's doing it all. I used to want Crocker's night to add to 20 (points, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals), but I think he's barking up the 25 tree these days. Tonight the Crock Pot's combined totals were 22. Not bad, but I'm liking the assertiveness he's showing for his team.
3. Cade Davis: Perhaps no player has benefited from the switch to the four-guard mandate more than the pride of Elk City. Cade's lone calling card last year was a three-point stroke that took up residence among the FAA flight patterns, but now he's focusing much more on defense and seeing a large increase in minutes because of it. He and Crocker out on the perimeter will be fun to watch.
4. Tommy Mason Griffin: A beautiful passing game. Six assists and no turnovers. Who was that guy in Anchorage? Not the one we've seen in Norman the past two outings.
MINUSES:
1. Long Ball Dependency: We were basically 2008-2009 O-State in the first half. By my count we took 15 treys in the first half. We're not always going to be hot, and I know we're thin inside, but there's nothing wrong with taking it to the tin. Willie should go to the line at least eight times a game. DRIVE!
2. Depth: Are we really seven deep? Fitzgerald's minutes are dwindling more and more while Pledger continues to struggle on the defensive end. We'll wear down REAL quick in conference play if we can't play more than that.
3. The End of the Big 12 Championship Game: [shudder] After that kickoff for the Corn sailed out of bounds it was like a never-ending loop of the Zapruder Film, Theismann's leg snap and the Roseanne Barr sex tape. I'd be sick for any team to lose like that, but for the Horns to be the beneficiaries? Sweet mother of mercy..........it was awful! It's seared into my retinas!
4. The Master of Ceremonies: He's still there, so my call for an assassin has yet to be answered. If you had "yes, more hair gel" in your office pool you'd be a winner. Word on the streets is that Mike Gundy saw the game and is a little preturbed at his "look" being lifted.
OK, let's see: for five halves in Anchorage we look like the Washington Generals JV team. Then we wake up against Nicholls State, drum Arkansas and annihilate Arizona. I'm confident we'll play well against Centenary, but the litmus test comes this Saturday when we travel to Big Love-ville to take on the Runnin' Utes. There are no Keith Van Horns or Andre Millers waiting on us in Salt Lake City, but it will still be mighty tough. We'll know then how much progress has been made.
Thank you for your time.
From Kansas City to San Jose, from Milwaukee to Norman; the Eisenhower Interstate system is littered with the carcasses of Wildcat dreams wrecked at the hands of Sooner Basketball. We've beaten Steve Kerr in Kemper and smoked Luke Walton by the Bay. We've grounded Jason "Jet" Terry in the upper Midwest and survived Sean Elliott in Tornado Alley. Long story short, we own the Wildcats. It doesn't matter if they're coached by "Midnight" Lute Olson or Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen; when we play those sissified puttytats on the hardwood we come out on top.
Tonight was nothing more than Exhibit "Q" in support of that thesis. We controlled the tempo from the opening tip and had Sean Miller doing jumping jacks on the sideline for every 30-second timeout he had to call. 6-0 begat 13-7 which begat 22-11 which led to 27-12. If this were a boxing match they would've run out of towels to heave into the ring.
You want to be really excited about a win like this, but can you be? I say you can because even though this Arizona team is struggling it's not like they're a bunch of clowns from Palooka Tech. We just took our four guard lineup and played harder, moved quicker and reacted faster than them on every possession for the first 35 minutes of the game. It was a dismantling, and in a season where we've followed up nearly every stretch of stellar play with an equally festering turd-like stretch of hideousness it was refreshing to follow up the throttling of Arkansas with an even more robust shellacking of Arizona.
These young whippersnappers are growing right before our eyes. Does that mean the Gentlemen of Centenary will come in on Wednesday and take us down to the wire? Dean Blevins says its 70/30.
SCORING BREAKDOWN:
1st - 22 [this happened once before....]
2nd - 22 [when I came to your door....]
3rd - 25 [no replyyyyyyy....]
4th - 10 [does not compute]
LEADING SCORERS:
25 - Willie Warren
14 - Tiny Gallon
13 - Tony Crocker
10 - Tommy Mason-Griffin
LEADING REBOUNDERS:
7 - Tiny Gallon
5 - Tony Crocker
4 - Tommy Mason-Griffin
PLUSES:
1. Willie Warren: For a long while Willie was neck and neck with Arizona in scoring. They had no answer for him, and you got the feeling that if he felt like being selfish tonight he could've gone for 35. If his 25 were any easier he would've been eating pomegranates while being fanned by his adoring masses during time outs.
2. Tony Crocker: I almost had Tony at #1 again. The Crock Pot is the "it" guy right now. He's got his fingers in everything. Deflections on defense, key rebounds, throwing his body around, stopping opponents' spurts; he's doing it all. I used to want Crocker's night to add to 20 (points, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals), but I think he's barking up the 25 tree these days. Tonight the Crock Pot's combined totals were 22. Not bad, but I'm liking the assertiveness he's showing for his team.
3. Cade Davis: Perhaps no player has benefited from the switch to the four-guard mandate more than the pride of Elk City. Cade's lone calling card last year was a three-point stroke that took up residence among the FAA flight patterns, but now he's focusing much more on defense and seeing a large increase in minutes because of it. He and Crocker out on the perimeter will be fun to watch.
4. Tommy Mason Griffin: A beautiful passing game. Six assists and no turnovers. Who was that guy in Anchorage? Not the one we've seen in Norman the past two outings.
MINUSES:
1. Long Ball Dependency: We were basically 2008-2009 O-State in the first half. By my count we took 15 treys in the first half. We're not always going to be hot, and I know we're thin inside, but there's nothing wrong with taking it to the tin. Willie should go to the line at least eight times a game. DRIVE!
2. Depth: Are we really seven deep? Fitzgerald's minutes are dwindling more and more while Pledger continues to struggle on the defensive end. We'll wear down REAL quick in conference play if we can't play more than that.
3. The End of the Big 12 Championship Game: [shudder] After that kickoff for the Corn sailed out of bounds it was like a never-ending loop of the Zapruder Film, Theismann's leg snap and the Roseanne Barr sex tape. I'd be sick for any team to lose like that, but for the Horns to be the beneficiaries? Sweet mother of mercy..........it was awful! It's seared into my retinas!
4. The Master of Ceremonies: He's still there, so my call for an assassin has yet to be answered. If you had "yes, more hair gel" in your office pool you'd be a winner. Word on the streets is that Mike Gundy saw the game and is a little preturbed at his "look" being lifted.
OK, let's see: for five halves in Anchorage we look like the Washington Generals JV team. Then we wake up against Nicholls State, drum Arkansas and annihilate Arizona. I'm confident we'll play well against Centenary, but the litmus test comes this Saturday when we travel to Big Love-ville to take on the Runnin' Utes. There are no Keith Van Horns or Andre Millers waiting on us in Salt Lake City, but it will still be mighty tough. We'll know then how much progress has been made.
Thank you for your time.