Basketball Articles
Texas Hoops vs. Ok. State Preview
Posted by Trips Right on February 1st, 2010 under Basketball
The brain is an interesting organ.
The same psychological defensive mechanism that prevents Vasherized from remembering a childhood of being beaten with reeds and wearing meat helmets, has caused me to forget we have a basketball game tonight. The thought of going into Gallagher-Iba with a team teetering on the brink of psychological disaster is almost more than my single-malted brain can bear. Thanks to Vasherized, that web-footed wonder, for reminding me.
Let’s talk Cowboy personnel.
The Backcourt
The Cowboys start two of sets of backcourts. Seriously, they play four glorified guards. From the same bizzaro world that brought you Rotnei Clark and Tyrell Reed, I offer you 5-9 melatonin challenged Keiton Page. He’s Travis Ford without a game, but he must be contested on the catch. Kid can fill it up at home. Obi Muenelo is a 6-5 shooting guard who’s been asked to play more wing this year considering the dearth of OSU size. The senior can fill it up from deep as his 46% from 3 will attest. But the bellcow is 6-6 junior and future NBA starter James Anderson. Anderson is the complete package inside and out. He can shoot it with the best of them and put it on the deck to get to the rack like an NBA’er. Want proof? Anderson has been to the foul line 9 times or more in a full third of his games. Sick. Justin Mason and Avery Bradley will have their hands full tonight. The fourth guard is 6-2 freshman Fred Gulley and he splits minutes with Nick Sidorakis who the Cowboys will bring in for more size.
The Frontcourt.
With the loss of Ray Penn five games ago, the Cowboys have had to lean on Marshall Moses in the paint. Moses is a wide body, but he only goes about 6-7 and struggles against longer players. The other forward is 6-8 junior Matt Pilgrim who isn’t much of a scoring threat. This team is tiny.
Keys
Tempo. I think the Longhorns would love to turn this game into a battle of attrition given OSU’s lack of size and depth. When Moses was saddled with early foul trouble against Mizzou, the Tigers were able to open up a lead and never look back. The Cowboys also turned the ball over 22 times against Mizzou’s fullcourt pressure. If I’m Texas the recipe is simple. Pressure the entire game to take advantage of depth and OSU’s propensity to turn it over. In spots, attack with your frontcourt mismatches when the game is halfcourt and try to get the Cowboy bigs in foul trouble.
Shot selection. Since the Horns will have such a huge advantage on the glass, it’s important that even though we’re trying to run, we still take good shots, because a good shot is likely to lead to second chance points if it’s missed. No early shotclock bailouts unless it’s of the primary or secondary break variety. If OSU has set up its zone, move the ball and probe for a good look. They can’t board with us unless we let them or make it easy on them.
Pack Your Zone Offense. After watching film of the Horns this last month, I’d be shocked if Ford doesn’t play a ton of zone to protect his undersized bunch. Texas must execute the zone attack with good ball movement, take good shots, and then punish the Cowboys lack of size and lack of blockout responsibilities via the offensive backboards. Watch for Balbay running the baseline in an effort to make the OSU backline defend. When Balbay’s at the point of our zone offense, wing jumpers become a virtual afterthought.
Have fun. Whatever Barnes tries, it won’t be successful unless these kids are playing loose and having fun. Playing tight has already manifested itself into missed layups and horrid foul shooting. If I’m Rick, I roll the basketball out there tonight and tell my kids to go have fun and play with passion. The Cowboys and their personnel should be a wheelhouse opponent for the Longhorns. The only thing that can get in the way of solid road victory can be found between the ears of the Longhorn players and coaching staff collectively.
If we can get out of our own way mentally, we should win.
Thoughts?
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Activity
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srr50 wrote a new blog post: Now THAT’S Taking One For The Team 1 hour, 51 minutes ago
Aggie Corp with “Squeeze Army?”
POSERS
Texas Tech forward Darko Cohadarevic doesn’t just talk the talk — he walks the walk.
Tuesday night Tech faced Seton Hall in a first round NIT contest. With the game tied at 10, Seton Hall forward Herb Pope delivered two below-the-belt blows to Cohadarevic.
After Pope was ejected, Tech went on
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Kevin Berger commented on the blog post Bracket Breakdown & Gambling Tips 3 hours, 34 minutes ago
Louisville has a great chance if Jerry Smith is healthy.
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Kevin Berger commented on the blog post Final Four Prediction 3 hours, 36 minutes ago
Good team that took number 1 seeded Louisville to the wire in last year’s tournament. Start 3 seniors and two juniors, very athletic. Solid pass first point guard. Their leading scorer was player of the year in the conference.
Good club that plays multiple defenses.
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ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post Bracket Breakdown & Gambling Tips 4 hours ago
I just took Baylor going to the Elite 8. It’s a crazy mixed up world we live in.
Is it just me, or does it pain anyone else to not be able to determine who is going to beat Duke early? It’s bound to happen, but who will it be?
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Art Vandelay commented on the blog post Final Four Prediction 4 hours, 3 minutes ago
By “we” I meant the Horns. Kevin, why should I take Siena over A&M?
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Kevin Berger commented on the blog post Bracket Breakdown & Gambling Tips 4 hours, 17 minutes ago
colorado ag, Utah State is as athletic as Nebraska. You’ll be fine as long as they don’t go 16 for 31 from three.
Siena, on the other hand, is going to beat you like you stole something. Maybe not, but the Saints should win.
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Kevin Berger commented on the blog post Bracket Breakdown & Gambling Tips 4 hours, 20 minutes ago
Great article Scipio. Also, thanks for the dime.
Looking at the Tournament futures market, Vegas is telling us what they think about Onuaku’s health. The Orangemen have the easiest region and road to the fianl four, yet they’re +700 to win it all, while UK and Kansas, teams with much tougher roads, are +250
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Art Vandelay commented on the blog post Final Four Prediction 4 hours, 25 minutes ago
My brackets are pretty much locked down except the South. Can’t get myself to take Baylor, and Duke doesn’t feel right. Nobody seems to be high on Nova. It’s all about the Big East and Big 12 this year.
It’s a crying shame we suck so bad. We are in a good
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James commented on the blog post Bracket Breakdown & Gambling Tips 4 hours, 36 minutes ago
Scip, like a peaceful Indian in the 1800’s, I never trust a Mormon that can shoot. Utah State has me worried.
If we escape the first weekend, things get very interesting with a potential Sweet 16 match-up with Duke. Ugly up the game and guard like hell on the perimeter in front of a
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Scipio Tex commented on the blog post Bracket Breakdown & Gambling Tips 5 hours, 6 minutes ago
CJD -
Possibly. However, I’m telling you – the beauty of these intergame lines is that when you see that all-too-familiar big early game lead that you know will evaporate down the stretch as soon as the team starts regressing to their 3 point shooting mean, there’s some money to be made.
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Scipio Tex commented on the blog post Bracket Breakdown & Gambling Tips 5 hours, 8 minutes ago
uthookem-
I’d say you have your priorities straight.
colorado -
Anytime. How far do you think the Aggies go? A lot of people think Utah State is the most dangerous pure shooting team in the tournament.
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uthookem commented on the blog post Bracket Breakdown & Gambling Tips 5 hours, 18 minutes ago
Last year in Vegas, Friday morning, stumble to the line at 8:30 to make my bets, put $20 on a four-team parlay on the four 9:00 am games, nailed it! Three of the four games’ spread was determined in the final 0:30. Walked away with $220.
Yeah, so what if that is the only
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James commented on the blog post Sending Aggies to the NFL 5 hours, 19 minutes ago
Jordan, all just wild, premature conjecture. I’d hedge that only a third of that 2013 list ever makes an NFL roster. It is picking which third that is the tough part.
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James commented on the blog post Bracket Breakdown & Gambling Tips 5 hours, 22 minutes ago
Very interesting piece. These games can’t start soon enough. Thanks, Scip.
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Scipio Tex commented on the blog post Final Four Prediction 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
I have:
Syracuse
Kansas
West Virginia
BaylorThese will all likely change 3-4 times before tomorrow morning.
I don’t have as high an opinion of Ohio State as you do. Evan Turner is fantastic, but I don’t like their odds of taking down Georgetown and KU back-to-back.
Baylor scares me. They have no idea what
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Kevin Berger wrote a new blog post: Final Four Prediction 5 hours, 36 minutes ago
Arinze Onuaku’s injury has forced me to turn this year’s bracket prediction into a “Multiple Endings” story. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not hyper-geeks playing Dungeons and Dragons here. We may be wasting billions of dollars in worker productivity, but we’re not killing Orcs with plus 10 vorpal swords of magic.
So, in
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Kevin Berger wrote a new blog post: The Definitive Bracket: 63 Guaranteed Winners! 5 hours, 41 minutes ago
But only if you call now! I’ve gone 85 percent against the numba for the last two decades!! So picking straight up winners is, bada-boom bada-bing, easy! Only Sammy “the nose” Pistachio and Billy “buttercups” Birmingham can approach this many winnaz! It’s ridiculoso, hermoso!!
Call now and we’ll throw in an opening round N-I-T super-dupa live dog
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Scipio Tex commented on the blog post Making it Official: Tighter Officiating’s Effect on the Tournament 5 hours, 42 minutes ago
Awesome write up.
SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });
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Scipio Tex wrote a new blog post: Bracket Breakdown & Gambling Tips 5 hours, 49 minutes ago
So I’m listening to Bill Simmons’ podcast and he has on Chad Millman, Vegas Insider. Basically, Chad’s job is to interact with the guys who set the line, professional gamblers, sharps, and wise guys. He had some interesting comments about the tournament:
By the end of the year, markets are fairly efficient as
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Bob Jones commented on the blog post Math… Everyone’s favorite subject 6 hours, 40 minutes ago
As a Baylor fan I loathe math: it’s either inexorably against us or when favorable, completely inapplicable.
SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });
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Kevin Berger commented on the blog post Making it Official: Tighter Officiating’s Effect on the Tournament 7 hours, 22 minutes ago
Should have that up soon, ts.
SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });
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Nate Heupel wrote a new blog post: Oklahoma Sooners – Recruiting So Far 7 hours, 22 minutes ago
I was reading a thread on OUInsider whining about how a beat writer for a UT website seemed to favoring UT recruits. Get the hell out of here with that nonsense. Next, you’re going to tell me that Oklahoma sports media coverage is slanted towards OU.
While Ketchum’s rankings seemed to be
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J Rog commented on the blog post March Mad(nba)ess! 7 hours, 29 minutes ago
EVERYTHING would be different. Great post!
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James commented on the blog post Two Loops & A Hooey – Herm Edwards Edition 7 hours, 30 minutes ago
ha, nice Tim burn.
I was wondering where you went Ded. I got sick of looking at the same article everyday for 2 weeks. I’ve been up to Taos a few times this season, but it’s not that far from ABQ. I am absolutely convinced that everyone in Texas has been to Angel
SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });
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Brownbear commented on the blog post Math… Everyone’s favorite subject 7 hours, 55 minutes ago
Atleast I was wearing flannel when I wrote it.
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admin commented on the blog post Math… Everyone’s favorite subject 8 hours, 7 minutes ago
Same source or just similar facts: http://fantake.com/forums/topic.php?id=876#post-5197
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admin commented on the blog post Bracket Analysis: The Beasts of the East 8 hours, 9 minutes ago
I think I’m riding the Huggy bear to the Final Four.
SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });
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ursa major commented on the blog post Math… Everyone’s favorite subject 8 hours, 20 minutes ago
“in the history of baylor basketball this has never been in discussion”
except for that pesky final four appearance we made…
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Sancho commented on the blog post All Signs Point to March Madness Expanding to 96 Teams 8 hours, 24 minutes ago
I just had diarrhea in my pants thinking about how many horrible teams would allowed to play
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Sancho commented on the blog post 2010 Football Schedule Released 8 hours, 28 minutes ago
8-4 would be pretty good, 9-3 would be stellar, in fact quite amazing. I still say we are two years away from having an impact year in college football, though.
On another note, the game against tech is gonna be on ESPN. Time for SMU to step it up on the national stage again.
travis said:
February 1st, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Is taking a ranked road team that’s mentally not all there a trap or go ahead and lay it all down on us giving the two points because law of averages will be on our side since we have lost 8 ATS in a row?
Name (required) said:
February 1st, 2010 at 12:49 pm
We lose by double digits. Mark it down.
Trips Right said:
February 1st, 2010 at 12:49 pm
I’d play Texas -2 all day.
Newy25 said:
February 1st, 2010 at 1:12 pm
I picked the wrong day to stop
sniffing glue. The pokes beat us by 15.
ballrific said:
February 1st, 2010 at 1:54 pm
yeah, I don’t think we’ll lose a close one. If it’s a 2-3 pt game, we win, if not, we get blown out. Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to free throws or something difficult like that….
Bob in Houston said:
February 1st, 2010 at 1:55 pm
The line the last few games has been sinking like a stone from the overnight. Today, there is some support for the Horns from the overnight of -1.5.
Interesting, IMO…
Pederast Hanrahan said:
February 1st, 2010 at 1:56 pm
I’m with TR. I see an overrated, overhyped team on the verge a complete meltdown going on the road to play a competitive OSU team. It’s like what TR said in a different thread, the Horns have GOT to get out of their own head. They’re miserable and they’re playing miserably. Here are the problems I see:
1. No team identity.
2. A pissed off coach getting more and more pissed. It seems that all RB knows how to do these days is get pissed when these 18-22 year olds miss a shot. How ’bout a little coaching and a smile every now and then…maybe a pat on the back? How many times have we heard that the attitude of the players comes from the coach (a la Mack Brown and Will Muschamp?) He’s adding to the stress by scaring the beJesus out of these kids. If you make a mistake on the court, you know what’s coming — pine time along with the cold stare by the sunken-in eyes of your head coach who seems to be saying “I f%$*ing hate you for making me look bad” as you sulk to the end of the bench to be with your fellow berated players. Barnes is so consumed with his pissed-offedness, his coaching calls have been erratic as evidenced by his substitution patterns. There is no opportunity to for the players to warm up or get a feel for the flow of the game before they’re yanked and subjected to the aforementioned walk of shame.
3. No leaders on the floor. DJ is tough and is doing his part, but’s he’s not vocally rallying the troops. He needs to latch on to the idea of being “the leader” not just by his play, but by his words to his teammates. He has the potential to offset a lot of the confidence-killing vibe being offered by Barnes. He’s a small 4 playing like a 5 on the boards. That’s not where you want to get your leadership.
4. The play itself. There’s plenty of blame to toss around here, but I’d have to say the biggest letdown for me has been Dex. He’s disappeared. I don’t know why…I just shake my head. He was supposed to be one of the most dominating players in college basketball this year. Instead, he looks like the stay-puft marshmellow man (before he got pissed.)
5. Predictability. All you gotta do is run tape. Good coaches have figured us out…period.
Bottom line…we’re playing scared. Scared of other teams now that we’ve been exposed and scared of the coach. Somethings gotta give to turn this thing around or it’s gonna get uglier. It starts tonight…
TxTower said:
February 1st, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Someone’s has to pay for the last few weeks and its gonna be the Pokes. Tonight we win and we win big.
Vasherized said:
February 1st, 2010 at 2:17 pm
There’s not much left to be said. Barnes needs to pull his head out of his ass, take the pressure off his guys, and let them play basketball. Sometimes you need a little positive reinforcement.
magnusbleuveigner said:
February 1st, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Tx Tower calling for The Mudhole?
Not so fast my friend. I have zero confidence right now, however, I’ve told myself to light a fire, get something to sip on and just relax and enjoy it. It is inevitible afterall.
SkyMonkeyHorn said:
February 1st, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Today is test #1
If Barnes lets the team run maybe 60% of the time its the Good Guys over OSU. 11-13 points.
If we get into a half court game for 75% of the game it the Good Guys over OSU. 5-6 points
If Barnes has not taken a hard look at his team and continues with his own crazy patterns of games it’s OSU by 4-6 points.
Now the real important stuff.
Take Trips -2 over Ipowers if Trips stays with the single-malt hooce.
The contest will be Basketball IQ, Pop Culture, Words spelled correctly, quickest to eat a bowl of Cereal with a fork.
If Ipowers starts to talk in strange tongues or gang rap or his run over sentences are running over to the next page then he is disqualified for an intention foul smell. If Ipowers drops a name such as in D.Telep or something like that from scout.com he is sent to Barnes to have his tonsils taken out.
This should be a fun evening is all goes well.
ballrific said:
February 1st, 2010 at 2:57 pm
oh yeah, this Barnes quote over the weekend gave me the warm fuzzies…good response coach. I’m optimistic now!
Despite averaging 85.3 points, Texas is among the worst free-throw shooting teams in the nation at 61.8 percent, and it made 54.1 percent in the last four games.
“If we want to win, they’re going to have to figure it out,” coach Rick Barnes said. “I wish I could come up with a remedy for it.”
Art Vandelay said:
February 1st, 2010 at 3:09 pm
I’d like to see Barnes lose it with the refs and get tossed (on purpose if need be). His team would probably play loose and be focused, and would show Barnes he is contributing to their poor play.
Another option would be to roll out a little Mack Brown rap pregame to get the players loose.
If we play like we did against Baylor we lose by double digits tonight.
Vasherized said:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:09 pm
If you want to know my true feelings, I think we should stage a coup and have SLX coach the team for the rest of the season with Chris Ogden as his zany sidekick. Todd Wright is the muscle for if and when things go terribly wrong. Kenton Paulino is the new mascot. Trips Right is the assistant coach who takes over after SLX gets ejected in the first five minutes of every game. HenryJames is the waterboy, as usual.
CrazyJoeDavola66 said:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Now that my irrational enthusiasm has been burned off by the last 6-7 games, I’m actually kind of looking forward to the game tonight. Being on the road in a truly hostile environment might be good for this team.
We’re still going to suck from the line, and we’re still going to look like a Special Olympics team from time to time, but whatever. I did my mourning/raging last weekend, and Baylor just executed the killing blow. Now I can watch with the appropriate mixture of interest and detachment that I usually have about the Texas team at this stage of the season.
But I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be so blasé if we hadn’t had the football recruiting weekend we did.
Trips Right said:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:26 pm
CJD, great point. It’s no coincidence that Barnes does his shittiest work just on or around National Signing day. It’s like playing with house money as far as our fan base is concerned.
jc25 said:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:28 pm
You mean there’s a game tonight? Shit. I was all right with moral victory losses against UConn or K-State, but a Baylor, @OSU, @OU, Kansas stretch littered with losses is terrifying.
How is James Anderson still in college? And STILL a junior? Feels like this dude’s been making it rain on us for a decade.
If we stop Tony Allen we may have a chance.
Bob in Houston said:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:42 pm
If SLX were the coach, there would be no need for a zany sidekick.
Vasherized said:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Bob,
They mysteriously always tend to come in pairs.
Barking Carnival — Blog — Open Thread: Texas Longhorns @ Oklahoma State Cowboys said:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:44 pm
[...] Trips with a great preview here. [...]
TShak said:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Barnes simply drives me crazy at times. I understand we can’t recruit top tier players running the Princeton offense, but would it kill us to run a few set plays? How about encouraging the kids every now and then?
I think our best chance is to press full-court the entire game. Move JB to your backup point guard with some minutes at the 2. Jai doesn’t play unless with Balbay at the 2. Most importantly we need special rules for Jordan. Maybe something like.. you must pass the ball twice before you can shoot unless its a fast break, while also playing defense or you will not play.
Not sure I even want to watch the game tonight… but I will.
Trips Right said:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Something to look for tonight, reading the tea leaves it sounds like J’Covan Brown is going to get a ton of minutes. Barnes mentioned he was pleased with Brown’s defensive effort and if you can translate Barnesian, that means he’s worthy of more playing time. Something to watch for.
Clubber Lang said:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Predection? PAIN!
The Emperor said:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:58 pm
I predict this will be the end of your pathetic national title hopes and your friends on the forest moon of Endor are walking into a trap right now.
Your overconfidence is your weakness.
Your trust in Rick Barnes is yours!
nordberg said:
February 1st, 2010 at 5:11 pm
We don’t have a lot of trust in Barnes right now, Palpy.
kafka said:
February 1st, 2010 at 5:59 pm
I’m guardedly optimistic. It was never realistic to expect that 3 frosh would all play like All-Americans so it should not be that crushing when they are erratic. This is going to be an up and down team. The horns have been down recently so its about time for the up cycle.
The horns will be facing a lot of zone D which should mean more PT for Brown and Jordan. It also means more practise on zone O, which should help O execution. On D, maybe the thing to do is for Jordan (and Brown?) to forget about help D and just stay with their man. The other horns will need to play D a bit more conservatively, knowing there may not be help.
Dex should play more high post on O and be a passer. Embrace the collapsing zone and exploit it. On D he should forget about hedging screens, maybe just play a 1 man zone.
Confidence is a huge thing in basketball, especially shooting. It is time for Barnes to build them up. When devising O strategy, he needs to take a collaborative approach.
Sailor Ripley said:
February 1st, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Emperor – I would like to offer you your own blog where you combine sports commentary with Star Wars references. I think that could be epic.
Blake Borron said:
February 1st, 2010 at 6:15 pm
All I want to see is something different. Some change or effort to try to try something different, exotic, fun, or exciting. Hell, the Durant team wasn’t ever going to be the best team to grace the court, but at least they enjoyed the game and were a shitload of fun to watch…
Sailor Ripley said:
February 1st, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Jay Bilas just said we have not been good on offense but can really guard you.
torre said:
February 1st, 2010 at 7:00 pm
What site does(s) SLX post, here with an undercover name?
torre said:
February 1st, 2010 at 7:01 pm
*site(s)
Barking Carnival — Blog — Texas Hoops vs. Oklahoma State Preview II said:
February 24th, 2010 at 8:47 am
[...] your primer on Oklahoma State from earlier in the [...]