Tilting at Windmills

The worst-kept secret around the OU hoops program this year finally became public: Juan Pattillo will not be in the Crimson and Cream next season.

The 6’6″ forward was expected to start after the Sooners lost both of the Griffin brothers. Unfortunately, disappearing in games and fighting over teammates’ girlfriends appeared easier than cracking a Theory of Basketball book (anybody who watched him down the stretch last year knew he wasn’t attending that class).

Pattillo was one of TaW’s favorite players last year and we’re sorry to see him go, but unless you’re Blake Griffin or the great Wayman Tisdale, one player does not a program make. His absence hurts the Sooners’ depth, though, and means Capel needs to coach some other guys up in a hurry.

OU will now be looking at Ryan Wright or Orlando Allen to fill Pattillo’s shoes. The safe bet is probably 6’9″ senior Wright, given his appearance in 31 games with four starts. Wright is a good defender and rebounder, but limited on the offensive end. His most meaningful minutes came late in the season when Blake was hurt. Allen is a 6’11, 260-pound sophomore with tremendous upside, but limited experience. He played in 19 games, mostly in mop-up duty in non-conference blowouts. If he develops well enough to start in the middle, that would allow McDonald’s All-American Keith “Tiny” Gallon to play his natural four position and pop outside to show his range and draw defenders out of the paint.

Sure, it may seem way too early to handicap the 2009-10 Sooners, but after watching Tiny Gallon and TMG in this week’s McDonald’s All-Star game, the clouds are starting to clear out of the crystal ball.

Atlantasooner filed a nice Q&A addressing some specific issues for next year’s club. One of the biggest plusses heading into this fall is the fact that we pretty much know the starting five, provided Tiny shows up on campus in shape and TMG just shows up.

The Sooners return two starters in Willie Warren and Tony Crocker with super-sixth man Juan Pattillo likely moving into the starting role at the 4. Warren will be counted on to carry the team in ’09-10, much as Blake Griffin shouldered the leadership role this past season. WW has shown that he has the ability to do just that, going off for 40 points and 9 threes in the two games the Sooners played without Griffin (Texas and Kansas). He had a tendency to disappear at times this year and deferred a lot to other players who were hot. He’ll need to show up every night next season if he’s going to fulfill his personal pledge: he said he’s coming back to OU because he wants to be The Man.

Don't tell us, Willie. Show us.

There’s obviously a lot more we could see from Crocker. He showed us flashes of his shooting ability against Syracuse and Colorado when he hit 6 and 7 threes, respectively. However, he brought a big bag of FAIL to the game with him between February 11 and March 21 (Baylor to Michigan) when he was a combined 7-31. He needs to show more consistency and break his reputation as a streak shooter. Crocker’s a little more consistent on the defensive end as he’s able to move his feet in time to take charges. However, his inability to fight through screens at times has led to his man being able to dribble-penetrate and create opportunities.

Pattillo is a guy with a lot of athletic ability and a huge upside. We saw flashes of his game on both ends of the court this season. He runs the floor well, is an excellent shot blocker, puts himself in good positions on the offensive glass and is an exciting finisher at the rim. Like Crocker, Pattillo needs to show more consistency. He wouldn’t just take possessions off: he’d disappear for entire stretches, forcing Capel to bench him in favor of players with admittedly less talent, but more reliability. We’ll see how the dynamic changes with Pattillo as a starter rather than coming off the bench to spell Taylor. He’ll have a great young big man playing next to him and supeior athletes like Warren and TMG on the floor to help get him the ball. Pattillo’s not great at creating his own shot, but he’s excellent at finding open cutting lanes. In the off-season, he should also work on being ready to receive the dimes coming his way from Willie and TMG as he developed somewhat of a bad rep of fumbling dropoffs that should have been easy dunks.

Pattillo's athleticism will be key.

We’ve talked a lot about the two high school All-Americans that will be on campus next year. Keith “Tiny” Gallon has some serious offensive game for a man struggling to stay under 3 bills (when you’re that big, you’re not a kid … you’re a man). In the McDonald’s All-Star game this past week, he immediately hit an NBA three when he came into the game. Tiny nailed 10 threes in the 3-point competition, which had to be an unbelievable spectacle to see a human being that large have that kind of shooting range. In the game, he tracked down loose balls, showed some nimble feet on offense, had a nice touch on a soft 12-foot jumper and used his size to create rebounding space. His biggest problem is going to be conditioning. Tiny should start at the 5 immediately and be a leading candidate for Big 12 Freshman of the Year as long as he sticks to house salads and Sweet Leaf Tea.

Tommy Mason-Griffin struggled with his shot the other night, but you saw his quickness and ability to create off the dribble. He came in second in the 3-point competition, so there shouldn’t be any worry that he can actually shoot the basketball. TMG’s game is the perfect compliment to WW. Both can get into the lane at will, both can fill it from deep and both are great distributors. Honestly, the dynamic between the two of these guys is probably what I’m most excited about seeing next year. OU has potentially the best backcourt duo in the Big 12 if TMG shows up as-advertised.

OU’s bench should be deeper and will be more experienced next season. Cade Davis and Ryan Wright both played extensive minutes at times and looked good for stretches. On the downside, Cade can be a defensive liability and Wright’s offensive game isn’t anywhere near Pattillo’s or Tiny’s. However, as we know, when Cade hits a couple of threes and gets rolling, he’s hard to stop. He’s also a serviceable rebounder when he wants to be and he runs the floor very well. Wright uses his length on the defensive end to create problems for other teams’ bigs. He’s an excellent rebounder who does things technically correct on the defensive end by blocking out and squeezing the ball when he gets his hands on it. Anything we get from Wright offensively is a bonus.

OU will need Davis' shooting.

Orlando Allen is still a work in progress in the post, but Capel really likes him and he has a lot of potential. As atlantasooner said in his Q&A, look at what Mark Cline did with Longar Longar and his development. Allen has loads more natural talent than Longar, so it will be interesting to see how much he can improve.

The other guy coming back is Ray Willis, who was suspended for a big part of the season. He apparently worked his way out of Capel’s doghouse to log some minutes late in the year. Willis has better offensive potential than any of the wings and can use his long arms on defense to harass bigger opponents. He could use some weight training in the off-season, hopefully by working with the OU trainer and not doing 12-oz curls.

Incoming freshmen Andrew Fitzgerald, Kyle Hardrick and Steve Pledger will be battling to get on the floor over this experienced group of Sooners. Pledger might have the best shot at playing time. TMG is the team’s only true point and when he goes out, WW will slide over to the 1, meaning Davis, Crocker and Pledger will get looks at shooting guard.

Finally, probably the best news of all heading into next fall is that Jeff Capel will be returning after a myriad of rumors to the contrary. Capel has quickly become one of the best young coaches in the country and just reeled in one of the best recruiting classes in school history. With a scholarship to give and coaching musical chairs going on at Kentucky and Memphis, 6’10″ Oklahoma high school phenom Daniel Orton could be in play. Capel landing a healthy, in shape Orton would change the landscape of the Sooner program next year. The Sooners will likely be preseason Top 10 as it is. With Orton playing alongside Gallon, Pattillo, Warren and TMG, the Sooners could be lethal come next March.

Here’s a quick Q&A to address some of the hoops questions surrounding next season’s Sooners.

Predicted starters are marked with an asterisk:

PG/Wing Players

*PG – Tommy Mason-Griffin, 5-10, 200, Freshman
*SG – Willie Warren, 6-4, 200, Sophomore
*W/SG – Tony Crocker, 6-6, 210, Senior
SG – Cade Davis (SG) 6-5, 200, Junior
SG – Steven Pledger (SG) 6-4, 200, Freshman
W – Ray Willis (Wing) 6-6, 185, Sophomore

Post Players

*F – Juan Patillo, 6-6, 220, Senior
F – Ryan Wright, 6-9, 240, Senior
F – Andrew Fitzgerald, 6-9, 245, Freshman
F – Kyle Hardrick, 6-7, 235, Freshman
*C – Keith “Tiny” Gallon, 6-9, 290, Freshman
C – Orlando Allen, 6-11, 260, Junior

Key Questions

With OU’s vastly improved frontcourt depth does Patillo log more minutes at the 3?

You’d have to think that potentially with WW and TMG at guard, you have the penetrating attacking guard duo that might allow for Patillo to play out on the wing. Add in the fact that Gallon and Fitzgerald both have better shooting range, perhaps you don’t need a long ball threat from the 3. Pattillo hasn’t shown 3-point range, but does have nice moves to the basket and we know he can get to the rim.

Who are the biggest wildcards on the Sooner roster from returning players?

Ray Willis and Orlando Allen. Willis has serious offensive game potential both on the perimeter and attacking the basket. He projects to having a more consistent offensive game than Tony Crocker. But can Willis reach this potential to give OU a real threat during the games where Crocker is stone cold? Willis needs to improve on defense and could benefit by adding 10 or 15 pounds to his frame.

Orlando Allen has showed some flashes of being a player during the Sooners’ NCAA run, but was relatively disappointing much of the season. Before you dismiss Orlando, remember the amazing development progress Longar Longar made over the years by working with Mark Cline. With Orlando, Cline might have more actual physical skills to develop.

Where are the Sooners going to get the 20+ points that Blake was scoring?

Part of this scoring load will obviously fall to Willie Warren. It’s not unreasonable to expect Warren to average around 20 ppg. Gallon has showed elite offensive skills, so projecting him to be in the 10 to 12 ppg range is not a stretch at all. Patillo will probably replace Taylor’s scoring averages. The other scoring improvement should come from TMG replacing AJ. Griffin has a much better overall game, including a more consistent 3-point game and better skills at attacking the defense. Finally, the OU bench will have to be more of a factor next year. I think you will see positive scoring from Fitzgerald and Pledger (3 point shooter specialist) and potential from Cade Davis/Ray Willis and Orlando Allen. 

Where will OU rank in the Big 12 and what do you think will be OU’s initial ranking?

For purposes of this discussion, we’ll just assume that Blake is going to the NBA. It appears that KU will be the primary recipient of the Calipari Chaos in getting Xavier Henry. if the Jayhawks return Aldrich and Sherron, KU will be the top preseason team in the Big 12. After KU, with Missouri losing their top 3 scorers, it’s probably a tossup between OU and UT. Both teams have big time players coming in to replace their bioggest losses (Avery Bradley for AJ Abrams, Gallon for Griffin). How quickly the newcomers blend with the returning talent will determine the battle for 2nd place. Baylor and ATM both lose a lot in terms of scoring. OSU is a wildcard for next year. Losing Eaton, but adding a talented HS PG (Raymond Penn) and potentially a real inside scoring threat (Torin Walker). Nationally, I think that OU will find themselves somewhere in the 11 to 15 range in the initial rankings. Willie Warren gives OU significant star value, as does the addition of 2 super blue chips players. 

Is this a deep tourney run type team for OU?

The potential is clearly there. It’s going to depend greatly on the newcomers providing scoring power at PF/C and TMG and WW becoming a great 1-2 punch at guard. The final issue is that OU must consistently get scoring from the 3 position. If Tony Crocker can’t provide that, it will have to come from a combination of Ray Willis and Steven Pledger.

The Associated press is reporting that super six man and fan-favorite Juan Pattillo is out for the Tech game, suspended for the onerous “violation of team rules.”

Medical staff and coaches are still evaluating Blake, too. He hasn’t participated in a full practice since sustaining the concussion against Texas last weekend and his availability for Saturday’s game in Lubbock is in doubt. Also, for those who saw the Kansas game the other night, you also know that AJ appears to be dealing with a back injury.

It may very well be up to Willie Warren and Taylor Griffin to carry the Sooners past Tech.

A great start got OU out to an early 22-8 lead. They had Kansas on their heels, Willie was nails and it looked like we wouldn’t miss Blake that much.

Capel then sent Willie to the bench for the Blake-rest (extra time sitting down with the under-10 TV timeout). Kansas promptly went on a 28-7 run.

Turnovers are killing us, especially some silly ones from Pattillo. Wright’s 0-5 from the line and the Sooners are 3-9 from the stripe overall.

After doing a nice job on Aldrich and Collins early, it’s starting to show how we really miss Blake, especially with Taylor picking up three first half fouls (the third of which was complete crap). Wright and Pattillo just are not used to playing this many long stretches of minutes. It’s a huge dropoff from Blake to those two guys (he says, knowing he could have written that a month ago).

OU needs to remember what got them out to that big early lead: run the offense through Willie and let him create. Control the defensive glass (like Wright and Warren were doing early) and get up on their shooters.

It’s an extremely interesting and important game tonight with #15 Kansas coming in to play the third-ranked Sooners. Of course, Blake will not play tonight, meaning Ryan Wright and Juan Pattillo will have to step up and fill that huge void. Willie Warren needs to put this team on his freshman shoulders, like he did in the second half in Austin the other night.

OU only dropped one spot from 2 to 3 after Saturday’s loss. Apparently the national media actually picked up on the fact that OU played 3/4 of the game without The Beast. Kudos to the attention-payers.

The winner tonight is probably in the driver’s seat for the #1 seed in the Big 12 tournament as both schools are 11-1 in conference. Both lost games on the road to their big rivals.

Wright takes Blake’s spot in the starting lineup, like I thought.

Blake nattily dressed in a button down and sweet blazer. Ray Willis is sitting right next to him, dressed more like the casual fan in the mezzanine. If you didn’t know either one and somebody told you “one of those guys will be in the NBA next year,” it wouldn’t be too hard to figure it out.

Tony Crocker, let me pack your frickin bags for you.

Crocker nails one from deep. Doesn’t matter. I already have his thermals folded and stuffed in a rolling valise.

oh my lord, Willie Warren, folks. wow.

TAYLOR FOR 3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

My lord, Taylor. Hit a 3, then commit a silly, second foul 40 feet from the basket. Dude.

Pattillo redshirt reference. DRINK!

Collins missing the mark for Kansas so far. OU doing a good job of limiting the Jayhawks to one shot.

Willie Warren can take my sister out for a nice seafood dinner and never call her again, if he wants.

Remember that game when Crocker took bad shots, turned the ball over and let his man blow past him all night? I loved that game.

Kansas is a horrid 4-14 from the floor right now. Wright’s doing a great job on Aldrich.

Willie is fearless.

My lord. Willie is making some NBA jack tonight, folks.

10:18 mark … Willie 10, Kansas 8.

OU’s running Kansas out of the gym right now with the best player in America on the bench. How different would this game be with Blake participating? Willie’s M.O. is to let the game come to him and play a role. Tonight he knows his role is to take up Blake’s scoring slack.

Wright is doing a great job in the middle, taking it to KU’s bigs on the offensive end and closing out defensive rebounds on the other. That’s exactly what we need tonight.

Kansas finally finds hits a 3. They’re still shooting just 5-17 from the field.

KU’s Taylor banks in a three. I didn’t hear him call it.

Tommy Griffin saying Blake got hammered at least three times the other night with no call. You’re on the money, coach.

Kansas has gone on a 6-0 run while Holly’s been doing this interview. Somebody throw some snacks her way and distract her so she’ll shut up.

KU adopting the strategy of hacking Willie whenever he gets into the lane, hoping the refs won’t call it. It’s working.

Somebody freaking put a hand in 15′s face. Shit.

Smooth let them back in the game. Get the ball to 13 and get 5 off the freaking floor, Capel.

Somebody duct-tape Alex Brown’s ass cheeks together, stuff him in a locker and tell Blake to suit up for the second half.

Aldrich just threw Crocker to the floor. No call.

Crocker’s on Collins. I realize I’m not a basketball coach and am just some random, casual fan, but c’mon.

Taylor Griffin gets kicked to the floor and a foul is called on him. You have got to be freaking kidding me.

Two straight stupid turnovers by Pattillo.

Oh my lord, what a horrible foul by Pattillo near midcourt.

Kansas hasn’t played especially well until these last couple of minutes. OU brain-farted itself into a seven point halftime defecit.

Crocker calling for a clearout so he can dribble away from the basket, then gets called for over the back on the other end.

Aldrich is killing us on the glass. Wish Blake would pull a Willis Reed here.

Crocker cannot dribble with his left hand. Wow.

Crocker loses his man (Tyshawn Taylor now), who promptly drives the lane and dishes to an open man for a layup.

My god, how bout a blockout, guys.

Aldrich has a bunch of rebounds. We get it, whRon Franklin.

Willie’s gone cold. Somebody … anybody … needs to step up here.

Wright and Taylor Griffin both have four fouls now. OU’s 1-9 in the first nine minutes of the half.

Capel going to a fullcourt trapping press with O’Leary and Pattillo. Still plenty of time left to make up 13 points, but we have to get stops and turnovers. First press, first turnover. Good start.

8-0 run ever since Capel went to this press, including back-to-back threes from O’Leary and Cade. Here we go, guys.

CADE FOR 333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

Finally got a good (no) call from the refs. I’ll take it.

AJ’s been out of the game for awhile now. Wonder if his back’s still giving him problems.

Three point game, three minutes left. Seems like everybody on the floor is nailing threes now. BIG MONDAY MADNESS!

Willie with an ill-advised attempt to drive between three KU defenders. Looked for sure like he got fouled, but it’s going the other way. You probably call that foul on the principle of Willie’s poor decision.

Inexperience is starting to show up.

Willie fouls out. That should just about do it.

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.

Gridlocked traffic. Tex-Mex. Barton Springs. Pink granite. Live Music Capital of the World. BBQ. Burnt-orange clad douchebags. Matthew McConaughey.

OU travels 5.5 hours down I-35 to meet up with their BFFs in Austin tonight. This isn’t an ordinary rivalry where everybody shakes hands and has beers together afterwards. No, each fanbase probably wishes a meteor would strike the other school’s campus. Sorry Sooner fans, it was close last week. Try again.

Some tips for those coming down or up or over for the game tonight (wherever you happen to live … the Sooner Nation is omnipresent): park in the state lot at 15th (Enfield) and Trinity. That will put you within a couple blocks of the Erwin Center and right next to Scholz Beer Garten, a favorite pre-game watering hole. OK, for those of you who already knew that, some out of the way places you might want to try close by are Nuevo Leon (best margarita in Austin) on east Sixth and the Crown & Anchor (pool tables, darts, pub grub and a shit ton of beers), just north of campus where San Jacinto meets Speedway.

Good criminey, that's some tasty goodness.

Another crew coming to Austin is ESPN College Gameday. They’re here to watch the 25-1, #2-ranked Sooners who, should they get by Texas as expected, will be the number one team in the nation next week. At 17-8, unranked and losers of four out of their last six (two in Austin), Texas is grateful just to be in the national discussion today.

The Texas fans and media homers seem to get it somewhat, others not so much. Local sports radio personality and longtime Dallas Morning News columnist Chip Brown said this week that UT would keep it close or be tied with a minute and a half to go, “then who knows.” A caller immediately thereafter said that Texas would win it on a 35-foot buzzer beater by Abrams. What this tells me is, based on this scientifically accurate data sample, UT fans are basically saying they’ll win if prayers are answered.

Thou shalt not get blown out by A&M.

The guys at Barking Carnival at least have somewhat of a clue what’s about to hit them: Blake Griffin. Tech really didn’t do us any favors by showing the devastation that can happen when you leave Blake single-covered, and the BC guys astutely picked up on that. Where they missed the mark is by thinking Blake’s a black hole once he gets the ball in the post. I hope Rick Barnes thinks that, too, but I’m pretty sure he’s seen film of Blake dishing to a cutting Taylor or Willie or Juan Pattillo (pick one) for an easy layup or dunk many times.

Last time these two teams met in Norman was hella-fun, if you’re a Sooner. OU was up by 9 at the half and it really didn’t feel that close as the Sooners eventually won by 15, led by Blake’s 20 and 10. Damion James, UT’s asshat forward who decommitted from OU as soon as he figured out Capel wouldn’t grease his pockets like Sampson would, rode the bench most of the game in foul trouble. A.J. Abrams, UT’s best offensive weapon, was just 3-15 from downtown and was really never a factor.

James' password wasn't that hard to crack.

For their part, OU had four players in double figures, including Tony Crocker’s once-a-month good game. OU could probably handle Texas tonight without hitting on all cylinders, but it would be nice to blow them out of their own gym and watch a line of orange leave the HumDrum midway through the second half.

Since that game in Norman, Texas is 5-4, which includes a home loss to Nebraska and getting their asses handed to them by A&M. Oklahoma is, of course, a perfect 9-0 over that same stretch with four of the wins coming on the road and five wins by double-digits. Sounds like a recipe for an old-fashioned woodshedding, doesn’t it?

Definitely, but that brings up the only fear: that UT will play over its head and get the win it desperately needs to impress the tournament selection committee. The Whorns would also like nothing better than to deny OU its first number one ranking since March 13, 1990.

We know UT’s weapons: Abrams and James, not necessarily in that order. Abrams has allowed himself to be taken out of games as of late and a couple of things happen when he does: he forces bad shots and the rest of the team seems a little lost. Austin Johnson did a great job shutting him down early in the Norman game, contributing to OU’s fast start. It also helped that James was in foul trouble pretty much from the get-go, played just 20 minutes before fouling out and didn’t look all that great during the time he was in. Barnes was so fed up with James’ frustration that he benched him in favor of Dexter Pittman’s manboobs and reserve Gary Johnson, even in situations where it would have been appropriate (given his foul situation) to play him.

UT will try to guard Blake with a frontline of Connor Atchley, Pittman and Johnson. Atchley’s a 6’10” stiff who will get abused if Blake gets him on his hip, 1-on-1. Johnson is a nice post in the Ryan Wright mold, but think about Wright trying to keep Blake from rolling to the basket.

Count it.

Pittman is UT’s best post defense against Blake. He’s big and could push The Beast around a bit, but honestly that’s about it. Pittman hasn’t started every game for the Horns and Barnes will have a dilemma here: does he start Pittman knowing that’s the best way of slowing down Blake, or does he go ahead and tell him to skip the pre-game nachos run and get in immediately, knowing that he could easily get into foul trouble early, like James did in Norman. Another problem Barnes will have here is Pittman wearing out his gelatinous body trying to keep Blake from dropping 40, and not being able to do anything on the offensive end. Today’s game preview in the Austin American-Statesman indicates Pittman will take a seat in a very large chair to start the game. That same story quotes Pittman, who needed an oxygen tank and defibrillator after spending 21 minutes on his feet in Norman, as saying yeah, Blake wore his big ass out so much that he couldn’t keep up on the offensive end (Big Dex rained 6 points on 2-7 shooting that day):

“I was caught up more on the defensive end trying to stop Blake Griffin from scoring and rebounding. I forgot about the offensive part of it.”

The guy who concerns me is 6’0” Turkish guard Dogus Balbay. A veteran of Euro-style basketball, Balbay is an excellent pass-first point guard. He can duct tape dimes to his person and distribute them freely without fear of being molested by a sadistic Sağmalcılar narc. His strength is getting others involved, which he did in Norman, handing out six assists. Problem is, UT has to have people who can knock down what he’s giving them and that’s been a big problem for them over the past three weeks. The knock on Balbay is that he can’t shoot. He’s a pedestrian 43% shooter from the field, but is an absolutely horrendous 34% from the FT line. Teams have been known to back off of him when he has the ball, knowing he’s Doug Gottlieb with his shorts adjusted properly. So, there’s an easy solution to guarding Balbay here: put Crocker on him. It’s not like you have to worry about contesting his shot or letting him get the first step, then fouling him in an effort to catch up.

Finally, back to magaritas, beer and Mexican food: Pittman just calls that “pregame.” So, while he’s ordering the #9 heart attack on a plate platter and a frozen swirl (no salt), fans should be piling into the EC, ready to see a long-anticipated game that we thought earlier in the year would actually mean something. Well, it might not have much bearing in the overall Big 12 scheme of things (don’t tell that to Kansas and Mizzou), but it sure means a lot to us as fans. Since I live about 10 minutes from downtown Austin, I’m pretty much obligated to go. I love living here for the weather, the music, the nightlife and for the love of god, Tex-Mex is an actual food group. The best times here, though, are when the Longhorn faithful are whining once again that OU has somehow screwed them out of something. On Monday, I fully expect the entire Sooner Nation to hold up an index finger with their right hand, a middle finger with their left and proclaim the University of Oklahoma Sooners the number one team in the nation for the first time in 18 years … at the expense of the Texas Longhorns.

It really doesn’t get much better than that.

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.

It’s been 30 years since Baylor beat Oklahoma in basketball. It will be at least 31 after tonight. The Bears looked to be the favorite for 2008-09 Cinderella darling early in the season, cracking the Top 25 after beating then-No. 14 Arizona State and racing out to a 15-3 record by late January.

Then they went to Oklahoma on Jan. 24 and that’s where the wheels came off for these Bears. Blake went for 20 and 17, and four Sooner starters scored in double-figures in OU’s 19-point win. Baylor hasn’t won since, dropping five straight and really only competing in two of them – a 10-point loss to Kansas at home and a 7-point decision to Tech in Lubbock.

What does Baylor need to do tonight to stay with the #2 Sooners?

Shoot the ball

One thing Scott Drew’s team can do is shoot the long ball. The Bears rained 12 threes on their last trip to Norman, eight between the guard combo of Curtis Jerrells and LaceDarius Dunn. They’ll need to light it up again tonight in Waco to have any shot.

Spread it around

Five Bears average double-figures in points per game, and it would serve them well to spread that wealth tonight. Jerrells is a pure scorer, but he won’t beat Oklahoma by himself. They’ll need to balance him out by rotating the ball to the backside when he gets bottled up. This goes back to the first point – Baylor needs to hit from the outside to have any chance tonight.

Make OU play defense

One of the Sooners’ Achilles heels has been that it gets complacent on defense at times. Teams who can exploit that will have success. Baylor will be playing in front of a home crowd on national TV tonight and at 3-6 in the conference, they’re definitely sloping towards the downside of the NCAA tournament bubble. They desperately want to end their five-game losing streak and what better opponent and time to do it than against OU tonight.

What does OU need to do tonight to win?

Play Oklahoma basketball

OU’s starting five is as solid as anybody’s in the country and Juan Pattillo is quickly becoming one of the best sixth-men in college basketball. OU just needs to play smart, feed the Beast and defend the perimeter.

Don’t lose focus

Baylor likes to get at you early in the game. OU has a tendency to let inferior teams stay around much too long. This might not be Kansas or Missouri we’re playing tonight, but Jerrells can score and Baylor’s little bandbox of a gym can get loud if it has a reason to. OU needs to eliminate that reason.