Tilting at Windmills

Eight teams are still alive and by the beard of Zeus (and aliens taking over Tony Crocker’s jump shot), OU is one of them.

This is where a lot of us thought this team would be. Not because we have some sense of entitlement (we don’t). Not because we thought this was a team of destiny. Certainly not because we thought we had elite guards that could get us to the Elite round.

We thought OU should and would get this far because …

Blake had to injure himself this time.

Blake once again made OU’s opponent look like one of the Sarah Connors that wasn’t John’s mom. This time it was the fearsome Big Orange from the Big bad East. Instead of the Sooners succumbing to Boeheim’s defensive genius and prose, the Sooners unveiled their own harassing, switching defense and unleashed the three-point hounds to win by 13, and it really felt like 30.

How did it happen?

Blake. Let me just say that when Blake’s not around, I’ll be a mess without him. I’ll miss his laugh. I’ll miss his scent. I’ll miss those times we sat around with a bottle of muscatel, some Dan Fogelberg on the hi-fi and talking about our feelings – not that there’s anything wrong with that. Blake made Jonny Flynn know the meaning of pain and degradation, first with a Thunder (see what I did there?) dunk over the helpless little child of a guard, then by following up Flynn’s weak attempt to throw one down over Taylor with another poster-sized, majestic and powerful dunk on the other end (suitable for framing). The rest you know.

Blake, dahling ... champagnya?

Tony Crocker. As you well know, we at TaW have been singing Crocker’s praises all season. We were the ones who said don’t worry, that he’s just in a slump and will return to his regular, three-point bombing form just in time to help us win a crucial game. Crocker proved us right yesterday. We feel vindicated.

The supporting cast. Every starter had a solid game, which is something we haven’t been able to say since … well, ever? Taylor was solid, as usual, with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Willie and AJ combined for 15 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds and 4 steals. As they showed yesterday, the Sooners are literally unstoppable when they get production like that to take some of the load off of Blake.

Coaching. Just as he should have after the Michigan game, Joe Cash needs to open his checkbook again and pay Jeff Capel. That might not be enough. We might be naming a building after him by the time he’s done. Capel read all the clippings and heard all of the hype about Boeheim being the Mahavishnu of the zone defense. Capel one-upped him by switching defenses almost every Syracuse trip down the floor. One time they’d be in a straight-up man-to-man. The next time they might be in a tight 2-3 zone, daring the Cuse’s cold shooters to hit from outside. The next time they might drop into a 1-3-1 with Crocker prowling underneath the basket, waiting to take a charge from a Cuse slasher.

On the offensive end, instead of pulling Taylor or Blake out to the top of the key and running a high post game from there, he kept The Beast on the blocks and had Taylor flash to the free throw line, right in the middle of Boeheim’s zone. Taylor was like an option quarterback with choices of kicking out to a red hot Crocker, finding Blake over the top of a fronted post-up or taking it himself. His move in the first half where he deked a pass to the wing to make the defender lean that way, then putting it on the floor himself and scoring was straight out of Jamelle Holieway’s playbook.

They brought in Capel to run the wishbone.

Let’s bask in yesterday’s win and this great tournament run because they’ll never take it away from us. We’ll be telling our grandkids about Blake’s run in the 2009 tournament. This is just OU’s fifth Elite 8 since the tournament expanded to 64 in 1985 (H/T Wayman Tisdale and Keith Lee’s checking account). The Sooners are now 5-3 all-time in the Sweet 16 and have won 30 games for just the fifth time in school history.

OU is now in its third Elite 8 in the past 8 years. With a win over Sobbin’ Roy tomorrow, the Sooners will be in their second Final Four this decade.

Are the Sooners becoming an elite program? Maybe. Elite 8? Definitely.

Hello, Sweet 16!

Thanks to its first-ever NCAA tournament win over a Big 10 team, OU will be playing on the second weekend of the NCAA tournament for the first time in six years and just the fourth time in the last 20. A gutsy, deep, sharp-shooting Michigan team threatened to end the Sooners’ run, but some halftime personnel adjustments (or non-adjustments, as it were), timely defense and another dominating performance from the Cyberdyne Systems 101 made sure we would see the crimson and cream stay alive for another week.

What went right

Blake Griffin. Blake freaking Griffin. You can codpunch him. You can bodyslam him like Ken Shamrock in a hardwood-floored octagon. You can concuss him. You can make him play with a boll of cotton jammed up his sinuses and dripping gross, bright red pus and blood down his tender, moist, pursed, expressionless lips. You cannot stop him from completing his mission, though. All you can do is run and pray you don’t run into the next Sarah Connor in the phone book. Blake’s line Saturday: 39 minutes, 33 points on 14-20 shooting from the field, 17 rebounds (8 on the offensive glass), 3 assists, a steal and a block. In two 2009 tournament games, Griffin has 61 points, going 25 of 32 from the field, 30 rebounds and 5 assists. If there was any doubt before tonight, let it be put to rest now: Blake Griffin can have relations with my sister anytime he wants.

Guard play. Willie’s back. Hopefully AJ is, too. The backcourt duo combined for 28 points and collectively shot 6-13 from downtown. When those two guys are on, OU is one of the best teams in the country. Blake even gave it up to the two of them after the game, saying a lot of his easy looks were because of the defense having to stretch out to check Willie and AJ. Willie

Crocker’s defense. Before you check to see if your hippie neighbor has slipped some sunshine blotter into your Diet Slice, know that you’re not seeing things: Crocker did some things well. Namely, he took three charges in the game, two on Michigan’s best and most dangerous player, Manny Harris. Now, combined with the times Harris blew right past Crocker and either got fouled as soon as he turned the corner, or got to the basket and drew other players off of their man, maybe we’re talking a push here. The charges Crocker drew came at critical times, though, to stave Wolverine comebacks and give the team a psychological lift.

Coaching. Joe Cash, open up the checkbook for this guy. Capel did two things that showed he’s a pretty damned good Xs and Os guy:

1. Frustrated by the lethargic bench play in the first half, Capel stuck with the starters for nearly the entire second period. It worked. OU reeled off a 12-0 run coming out of the lockerroom and, except for a little blip with about 8 minutes left when Harris started to heat up a bit, they never looked back.
2. Capel admitted after the game that he had to tell Blake to go ahead and fight through the double-teams. Michigan was bringing guys 5-6” shorter and 40-50 pounds lighter to try and guard The Beast. Time and again, instead of looking for cutters and jump shooters like he is wont to do, he simply bulled his way through the weeds and finished off the play. Look, you really shouldn’t have to do much coaching when you have a player of Blake’s caliber, but give Capel credit for still working to make him a better player and, maybe even moreso, credit Griffin for listening and following through.

What went wrong

Failing to take advantage of opportunities in the first half. With Michigan’s Harris (foul trouble) and Sims (canaries circling around his head) out for a lot of the opening 20 minutes, OU should have taken advantage. Instead, they (understandably, at first) backed off of Wolverine bench and role players, allowing them to hit threes and gather critical offensive rebounds to lengthen offensive possessions. Anthony Wright, a 2 ppg scorer who had only hit 13 threes the entire year, nailed four of them in the first half. His deep shooting probably wasn’t in the scouting report, but after watching him nail two in a row, you must get up on that guy and deny him the ball. In no way should it have been a one-point game at halftime.

Crocker’s defense. See above. As an aside, I’m serious: think about what I’m saying next time you see Crocker with the ball and watch him not go to his left. Not only will he not do it, but I honestly don’t think he can. He’s a Division I basketball player in a major conference that cannot dribble with his off hand. That just blows me away.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who can't turn left.

The bench. I don’t know why O’Leary thinks it’s a better idea to shoot the ball rather than dump it into Blake when there’s an obvious mismatch (which was pretty much with anybody who tried to body him up). Pattillo played like he had food poisoning. The reserve Sooners scored one more point than I did, and that was on a Cade Davis free throw. The bench was a combined 0-3 from the field, had two rebounds and three assists. Obviously, we can’t have the starting five all playing 35 minutes or more. AJ played all 40 minutes, Blake was in for 39 and Taylor for 38. Good thing they have a week off.

So now we sit and wait to see who’s going to join the Sooners in Memphis: Teddy Pendergrass and Arizona State or the Jonny Flynn-led Cuse. Honestly, I’m hoping ASU does us a favor and takes out the big Orange, but really at this point, should it matter?

Sweet 16, baby.

Subtexts are prolific at this time of the year, one game and one week before the conference tournament and two weeks before we see just how good we really are. The implications for today’s game are clear:

• OSU needs a win to virtually lock up an NCAA tournament spot. They’re still on the good side of the bubble right now, thanks to a Top 25 RPI, a ranking primarily based on a Top 10 strength of schedule. Caveat … this demonstrates a little RPI absurdity that OSU gets a pass for playing 10 teams in the RPI Top 40 despite going 2-8 against them.
• OU is still playing for a number one seed in the NCAA tournament. Of utmost importance is stopping the three of four losing skid. The Sooners have likely already lost the top seed in the Big 12 tournament, relegating them to the Mizzou side of the bracket. This is a bad time of the year to be playing your worst basketball. The Sooners could really use a confidence-builder today.

Most importantly, though, today is the last time we’ll see Blake Griffin on the floor of Lloyd Noble Center. I’ll run down just where Blake fits on the lanai of OU basketball history in a later post. I don’t think anyone bothering to cruise an OU blog has any trouble understanding the significance of the first potential #1 NBA draft pick ever at OU finishing up his collegiate career.

So what needs to happen today to get OU on the right track headed into the postseason?

Blake needs to just be Blake. OU’s only lost twice with him on the floor this year (you’ll see this meme repeated ad nauseum on TaW, so humor the lazy writer), neither of those games played in the state of Oklahoma. OSU simply does not have an inside presence that can do anything with him and it showed on their home floor earlier this year when he went for 26 and 19 (three more than the Pokes got all game) in an 8-point win.

So, we know what OSU will try to do in order to neutralize OU’s superior halfcourt game: put on a full-court press like Bernie Madoff at a south Florida retirement center. OU turned the ball over 23 times in Stillwater. The Sooners gave the ball up 21 times at Missouri the other night. They cannot be that sloppy with the ball against a team as good at forcing turnovers as OSU. Working in OU’s favor is that Capel likes to have Blake bring the ball up the floor a lot of times. That will definitely be an advantage over OSU’s four-guard trapping as the big man can throw right over them.

What’s changed from then to now? OU’s lost three of four (two of those with Blake watching /meme) and OSU is riding a six game winning streak, including convincing wins over Texas and Kansas State. James Anderson is averaging 24 points over the past seven games, including two games of 30 or more. Considering that Crocker’s defense on him will be to break the wrong direction, then flap his sleeves in hopes that the vortex will slow his man down, this is a mismatch in favor of OSU.

The Pokes’ four-guard offense could also test OU’s dysfunctional backcourt. If AJ and Willie can quit comparing manhood sizes for a couple of hours and play like they were just a couple of weeks ago, they can neutralize OSU’s quick, slashing scorers. In the past two games, Warren has 7 more points than I do, on 3-11 shooting. AJ’s in an even bigger slump, shooting 30 percent from the field while averaging just under 7 ppg over the last 7 games. What got OU to 25-1 was their inside-outside game with the long-range sharpshooting from AJ and the always-reliable shooting and slashing from Willie distracting from The Terminator down low. Simply put, if AJ and Willie can’t figure it out in a hurry (read: immediately), OU’s chances of a deep tournament run are in serious jeopardy.

It happened.

We knew OU probably would not run the table in conference, although they had a great shot. We, along with the rest of the country, knew that as Blake goes, so goes OU. We knew that UT hadn’t been playing well as of late, but was talented enough to play over their heads and if they got the right breaks, could upset these Sooners in Austin.

Done, done and done.

The summary

The unthinkable happened last night at the Erwin Center: Blake went down with a concussion after only playing 11 minutes and OU missed out on its chance to be the #1 team in the nation for only the sixth time in school history.

Reports vary as to just how Blake was injured. Some folks think it was Dexter Pittman grazing his big mitt over Blake’s nose (no foul called on the play). The Oklahoman indicates it might have been PG Dogus Balbay slapping Blake around. ESPN highlight video shows and talks about reserve center Clint Chapman throwing an elbow to the back of Blake’s head at about the 5:40 mark of the first half.

However it happened, it happened and the Sooners had to play without its best player in school history for most of the game last night. How did they respond? Like a Top 5 team. They scratched, clawed and gritted their way the rest of the way and it wasn’t until A.J. Abrams decided to go bonkers that the game was finally decided. Hey Crocker, nice sleeves. Guard somebody.

What went well

Willie Warren continued his outstanding freshman season, putting the team on his back by pouring in 27 points, 18 of them coming from long range, and dishing 6 dimes. He showed his heart late in the second half when as he fell to the floor, bothered by a cramp in his calf, he was unable to run to the other end of the floor. He saw Austin Johnson grab a steal, made his way to his feet, called for the ball, got it and drained a three (putting OU up by 5) before falling to the ground again, writhing in pain. It was an extremely masculine move that said a lot not only about Warren, but about the team in that they weren’t going to lie down and take it.

Ryan Wright logged 20 minutes spelling the concussed Griffin and really gave OU a lift off the bench. While Juan Pattillo was struggling, Wright did a solid job on the wide-bodied Pittman, helping limit him to 5 points for the game.

OU’s heart. Playing most of the game and the entire second half on the road in the most hostile of environments without the national player of the year, OU could have easily folded and been blown out. They came together as a team, though, and showed that they’re more than just Superman and a supporting cast. We’re Oklahoma so we don’t believe in moral victories, but damn guys. If I’ve ever been proud of a team in a loss, this was it. Capel summed it up nicely:

“We didn’t have anything to prove to ourselves. We’ve played hard all year. Again, I’ve been saying all year, and our guys know it, that it’s not Blake and the Sooners, it’s Oklahoma. We didn’t prove anything to ourselves. We lost and we’re disappointed.”

You could make an excellent case that Capel outcoached Rick Barnes last night. Instead of continuing to try and counter UT’s bigs down low, Capel went small ball with Austin Johnson, Willie, Crocker, Pattillo and Taylor Griffin on the court at the same time last night. OU got back in the game with that lineup, thanks to Willie being able to get past anything in front of him and finding cutters who were just quicker than UT’s front line.

What went wrong

Tony effing Crocker. 16 points and 7 rebounds aside, I thought we might be in trouble when I saw him on Abrams late in the game. I was exasperated to the point of wanting to run out of the Erwin Center flailing my arms when, not only did he let Abrams get open time and again in the final three minutes, but he totally lost him on UT’s last possession. Even though Abrams missed the shot, Pittman was able to bull his way for an offensive rebound and putback. Had Crocker been able to play a shred of defense, he could have better denied Abrams the ball and OU would have been down only one point with 30 seconds to play. Then to compound the problem, he took the inbounds pass, dribbled the length of the court and threw up a wild three that didn’t even come close to going in. I honestly do not know what Capel sees in this guy.

Juan Pattillo finally had a bad game. Pattillo had a respectable 7 points and 4 boards coming off the bench, but was repeatedly responsible for turnovers, mainly by not being ready to receive easy passes thrown his way. He was outplayed by Wright and just killed OU at times when they really needed a basket to either get back in the game or stave off a UT run.

Officiating. When you start off saying “I’m not gay, but,” that’s usually an indicator of gay. I don’t like putting things on refs because there are so many other times in a close game when the losing team should have just taken care of business and didn’t. However, we know for a fact that Blake was clubbed out of the game. We also know that there weren’t any calls on any of the aforementioned clubbing. Bottom line, though, OU should have gotten stops when they had the chance, period.

OU let Balbay get into the lane over and over. Like I pointed out in the preview, he was the overlooked guy for the Horns that I thought could make a difference. He took advantage of Blake being out by repeatedly driving to the hoop and either finishing at the rim, or more times than not, dropping it off to somebody like Damion James for an easy two. Balbay finished with 10 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds. When your point guard is filling up a stat sheet like that, you’re going to win a lot of games.

What’s next

Oh crap, it’s Kansas tomorrow on Big Monday. Too bad OU doesn’t have the week of rest that it had last week. Blake had an MRI today that was negative, but his status is still uncertain for tomorrow night’s game in Norman. If he doesn’t play, Wright probably starts in his place and OU will have to go to the formula they used against Texas and ride Willie if they’re going to maintain first place in the Big 12.

Time for your second-ranked, 24-1 Oklahoma Sooners to try and add to its 12-game winning streak, squaring off against the struggling 12-12 Red Raiders, who have lost 8 out of their last 10.

I just re-watched the Baylor game after watching it live at the Golden Tit in Waco the other night. I’ll combine that post mortem with this one after the game.

A 13th straight win today would be the longest OU winning streak since they won 13 in a row in January 2002.

Tech has not won on the road this year. Anywhere.

Looks like the blue hairs have even showed up today. The Cleveland County Quilting Convention must have been postponed.

OU starts with the same lineup that’s won 24 games: AJ, Willie, Crocker’s sleeves, Blake and Taylor.

Twice down the court, twice into Blake on the low block, twice Tech doesn’t double him. Get’cher popcorn!

Crocker with two bad shots, two defensive lapses and a foul in the first 2.5 minutes.

So after hearing a bunch of silly platitudes about the great defense Crocker played against Baylor (I was there, didn’t see it), his man today has torched OU for 10 points in the first three minutes of the game.

Blake’s on pace for 72 points and 24 rebounds.

Pattillo enters at 14:15 with OU down by 2.

Jeff going with a lineup of O’Leary, AJ, Cade, Pattillo and Blake. Really, you could grab four band geeks to put on the court with Blake today and probably be fine.

Blake sits down at the 12:17 mark at 1:03 p.m., just before the under 12 timeout. The Blake Rest-o-meter clock is on.

Blake is 6-10 from the field. The rest of the team is 2-13 combined. Ugh.

Blake back in at the 9:45 mark at 1:09 p.m. He missed 2.5 minutes of gametime, got 6 minutes of actual rest.

Griffin parents sighting! DRINK!

Blake’s done everything but bang Pat Knight’s wife in the first half. I hope she’s well-rested.

Pat Knight should ask his dad if it’s a good idea not to double Blake.

Blake with a first half double-double and now owns the single-season school record. Alvan Adams and Gar Heard, thank you for your service.

Cade starting to rain threes. Bench scoring, holla.

Blake with 21 and 12 in the first half and now Tech wants to piss him off? I need more popcorn.

Rebounding: Blake 13, Tech 9.

“You don’t need jelly, cause Blake’s bringing the jam!”

Somewhere, Tubbs is loving this game.

Blake is making Tech look like children. I’m almost starting to feel sorry for them. Almost.

Wayman highlights! Can’t see enough of those.

This is the last game OU plays before Texas. They get a week off, then go to Austin. Nice scheduling, Joe C.

Blake sits down with 11:40 to go. With 34 and 20, I bet he’s done.

Cade is just frickin making it rain.

Blake’s back. Capel’s just running the offense, fellers. Nothing to see here.

Oh my lord. Blake did so many fundamentally sound, professional moves on that play … footwork, recognition of where he was on the court, shielding the defender, using the glass …

Tech double-teams Blake for the first time all day aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand … he finds Willie cutting to the lane for a layup.

Capel explaining the double-dribble rule to O’Leary. Good grief.

Rebounding: Blake 23, Tech 18.

Oh dear lord. We’re gonna see that on YouTube, Gerald.

Seriously?

21-point win, Blake goes for 40 and 20, Cade rains threes off the bench, Willie looks good … more in the post mortem.

So, 24 games into the season and being fans of the only 23-win team in the nation, we Windmill Tilters decided it’s probably time we jumped into this strange world called “basketball coverage.”

First, a personal admission: I was a big Kelvin Sampson fan. When I say “was,” I mean “am.” I’m a fan of the way the man coaches basketball. His personal transgressions aside, the man can flat-out coach. That man does more with less than anybody I’ve seen this side of Lyle Lovett’s reflection in the mirror. The knocks on him were that he never could land top flight recruits because they didn’t “fit his system” (partially true), his style was “boring” (only if you don’t really like the sport of basketball), he didn’t know how to coach offense (maybe, it certainly wasn’t his point of emphasis) and his baffling string of first-round NCAA exits (biggest knock I have against the guy).

Look, the guy wasn’t Billy Tubbs. A lot of OU fans seem to think that Sooner basketball began and ended with that crazy mother. Tubbs is another guy who could flat-out coach. He’s reportedly one helluva guy, too, and like just about every member of the Sooner Nation, I was and am still a huge fan of that guy, too.

Times change, though. That was 20 years and 30 (ok, 40) pounds ago.

Kelvin was the salve to the open wound that was beginning to be Sooner basketball in the early 90s. Kelvin eventually ran his course, too, with a lot of success on the court. It was his off-the-court “who me?” petulance that soured him with the rest of Sooner fans who didn’t already hate him just because they didn’t like his particular brand of thuggish, first-team-to-60-wins basketball.

Times change … enter Jeff Capel. Back to the confession: I’m a fan of Kelvin Sampson’s success at OU. It hit me hard when and how he left and took me awhile to warm to Jeff. In just his third season, Capel looks to be another dynamite hire by Joe C and I couldn’t be happier. It’s not out of reach to think we might be entering a Tubbs-like era of success like Billy had in the 80s, only this time Jeff probably won’t be taunting refs into technicals and telling other teams to “get better” if they don’t like 150 points scored on them.

The biggest commonality Capel and Tubbs have early in their careers is signing a franchise player – Tubbs with the great Wayman Tisdale and Capel with maybe an even better player (gasp), Blake Griffin. The fact that both kids are home-grown Oklahoma boys is not lost on Sooner fans who would gladly give up their sister to either one of them.

There’s time to assess what could be down the road for Capel. Right now, let’s look at and enjoy where we are: 23-1, #2 in the nation and sporting the most dominant, intimidating force in the nation with Griffin.

So … how did we get here?

The schedule

In just the third game of the season, OU survived Stephen Curry’s 44 points on national television to down last year’s March Cinderella, Davidson, by four points. Lost in ESPN’s Curry lovefest was that Blake went for 25 points and 21 rebounds. Willie Warren also had his coming-out party with 20 points.

Ten days later, in what looked like would be a pretty stout test, #13 OU was playing in the finals of the NIT Season Tip-off at Madison Square Garden against then 9^th-ranked Purdue. For those who hadn’t yet heard about him, Griffin announced his presence to the nation with authority, bruising the Boilermakers for 18 points and 21 rebounds in an overtime thriller that propelled Oklahoma into the Top 10 for the first time this season.

The only blemish on OU’s 24-game schedule this season came a month after that Purdue game, when OU nearly got run out of the pig barn in Fayetteville. The Hogs turned around a couple days later and did the same thing to Texas, so we didn’t feel so bad about it. However, with the benefit of what we know now, taking out UT like that really wasn’t that big of a deal.

OU hasn’t lost since, is now atop the Big 12 standings and is a UConn slipup away from the coveted #1 ranking in the land.

Key games remaining: Feb. 21 at Texas, Feb. 23 Kansas in Norman on Big Monday, March 4 at Mizzou.

The players

Blake Griffin. If the collective of OU’s opponents was King Edward Longshanks, Blake would be William Wallace telling the English to ride across the field, bend over and kiss its own arse before proceeding to throw down a windmill backboard-breaker between three of their archers at the Battle of Stirling.

Blake is the runaway Big 12 and national Player of the Year, leads the country in rebounding, and is the conference leader in scoring, rebounding, FG percentage and general kickassedry. With apologies to Tisdale and those who still have his poster over their bed (I finally took mine down sometime around ’92), Blake is the most complete basketball player ever to step on the court at the University of Oklahoma. I sincerely hope that every Sooner fan (and college basketball fan, for that matter) savors every minute of ball they see this kid play in a Sooner uniform because you’ll tell your grandkids about him someday. We’ll see him in Crimson for another six weeks or so, then it’s cross your fingers and hope the Thunder can keep him in OKC.

Willie Warren. I said when I saw this kid’s high school highlight reels that he reminded me of DWade. Knowing myself that I’m prone to hyperbole, I tried to contain that thought and do the requisite wait-and-see-what-happens when this kid puts on a pair of Crimson shorts. Turns out, I may have been right. Willie is everything we thought he’d be coming out of Fort Worth: he can fill it up from anywhere on the court, he can get in the lane anytime he wants, he has great vision, he’s probably the best finisher at the rim on the team and is capable of producing Sportscenter Plays of the Day if you go to sleep on him. What’s impressed me the most with this kid is his poise and overall basketball I.Q. Willie knows his role on the team, even if others might not have early on. I have yet to see him force any action (see: Tony Crocker). Instead, he defers to team leaders like Blake, Austin Johnson and Taylor Griffin. At times when OU has needed some backcourt punch because AJ and Crocker are struggling, Willie seems to know just when to pick up his game and give the team the lift it needs. Through 24 games, Warren is averaging 15 ppg (11^th in the conference), has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.5-1 and is shooting right at 50 percent from the field, 37 percent from three-point range. He’s had five games over 20 points, two of them 30+. He really hasn’t played a bad game. He’s also the only freshman in the Top 20 scorers in the conference and should be a no-brainer lock for Freshman of the Year in the Big 12.

Austin Johnson. The guy Kelvin once called “gummy foot” because of “the worst sprained ankle” he ever saw, AJ’s having his finest season as a Sooner. For the first three years, a lot of people thought this kid was a bust. Sure, he was an angular, good on-the-ball defender who could block shots and use his quicks to pick steals, but his offensive game was … offensive. The Amarillo Palo Duro all-stater has really turned it on this season, though. It’s probably easy to say that the reason he’s starting to look like the All-Big 12 PG is because of the attention focused inside on Blake, but that would be taking away from AJ’s game. His statistical averages this year are the highest of his career, across the board, and he’s leading the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.92). He was named Big 12 Player of the Week when, over a three-game stretch against Texas, Texas A&M and Nebraska, he went for 49 points and 16 assists with 7 threes, some of those from at least 25 feet. Where has he been the last three years? I posit that it’s more a product of that nasty ankle injury than anything, but you could argue that it’s none other than the former Duke PG, Capel, who has turned AJ into a bonafide winner.

Juan Pattillo. Other than the Americanized pronounciation of Pa-TILL-oh, this kid has few flaws. His story of wanting to redshirt the first half of the season is talked about so much on broadcasts that it’s the new Juan Pa-TILL-oh Drinking Game. Whatever his reason, we’re all glad he decided to lace ‘em up and play this year. Capel has to be giddy about being able to bring this JUCO off the bench when Crocker starts puking his expected turnovers all over the court. It’s long been known that this team’s Achilles heel is its bench. Pattillo somewhat neutralizes that argument. This guy is Jamal Mashburn on a trampoline. Since beginning to play significant minutes five games ago against Baylor, the 6’6” Pattillo has averaged 9.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and two blocks per game while playing just an average of 19.2 minutes. He’s a long, very athletic, high energy player who knows where to be, plays great defense and you can feel the team’s energy ratchet up when he enters the game.

The bench

Other than Pattillo, OU has had some flashes of good reserve play, but it has been sporadic.

Cade Davis can rain threes with his eyelashes, but he’s a streaky shooter who could hit five threes in a half, then go 0-for a week.

Ryan Wright has been serviceable, but just hasn’t gotten enough minutes for me to get a good read on him. Capel has a fantastic frontcourt rotation of Blake, Taylor and Pattillo right now, which has kept Wright’s minutes down. If OU wants to go deep into March, though, it’s going to need Wright to spell one of these guys at crucial times.

Like Wright, Orlando Allen is another big space-eater that might need to step it up at a pivotal time later on this season. Capel likes this kid, so I guess I do, too.

Omar Leary has shown flashes, but I’d really like to see a point guard that makes better decisions than this guy. He’s a good deep shooter when left open.

Ray Willis’ indefinite suspension for DUI is a blow to OU’s depth, but Pattillo has taken his unused milky minutes anyway and unless that smart-aleck AT&T kid’s mom turned her back at the yard sale, he wasn’t ever going to get them back.

Coaching

As I said above, Capel has really surprised me with how well he’s done so early in his Sooner career. I think we all knew early that he was a great recruiter, but it looks like he’s a pretty damned good Xs and Os guy, too. Capel inherited a team from Kelvin Sampson that lost its entire recruiting class and, two years later, it’s playing its way into a #1 tournament seed. It’s also important to emphasize how hard it is to manage a team with a bonafide superstar on it. This has probably been Capel’s best work. Capel has made this team into an actual team, instead of just four guys surrounding Superman. It will be no surprise at all when he gets some national Coach of the Year love. The only worry we will have with this guy is actually keeping him in Norman. I’ll start worrying about that in April, though.

Where we are

OU’s off to its best start (23-1) in school history. It has a legitimate shot at running the table in conference, which was a laughable thought just two years ago. Since I went to school in Missouri as a kid, I still have a little bit of show-me and OU still has yet to prove anything. All of this will be for naught if OU gets bounced out of the tournament by North Carolina A&T on the first weekend of the tournament. We have seen some things of concern, namely lack of focus at times that leads to defensive lapses. Also, the Big 12 is down overall this season and might be giving us fans a false sense of security that we’re actually better than we think we are because we’re comparing ourselves to a lot of mediocrity.

Don’t bet your nearly-foreclosed mortgage on those negatives, though. This team has already faced some adversity both at home, on the road and on neutral courts and with the exception of the Bay of Pigs, they’ve answered every challenge so far.

Bottom line, we’ll go as far as Blake can carry us. We’re not a Final Four team without all of the requisite parts on the court, but we’re dead in the water without Blake. This is the legitimate #2 team in the country and could end up being very special. I know it hasn’t happened very often in school history, but don’t be surprised to see Blake finish his college career in the Motor City.