Basketball overdrive: Checking in on Bedlam rivals
The magic of DVR has left me dreary-eyed but basketball-smart. Over the weekend, starting with early Saturday morning, when I watched the final three quarters of the Thunder-Grizzlies nailbiter, through Sunday night, I watched six basketball games and two NFL games. The hoops? Two Thunder tilts, plus four Big 12 games: OU-Kansas women, OSU-Kansas State men, OU-Texas Tech men and OSU-Colorado women.
Here’s what I saw:
* By far the most exciting player is OSU’s Andrea Riley. If you haven’t seen Riley this year, you’re missing it. Maybe you remember her as the little gunner who never saw a shot she didn’t like. Maybe you remember her as the punk who keeps getting in trouble and still will have to sit out a first-round NCAA Tournament game for punching that LSU player two seasons ago.
Oklahoma State's Andrea Riley (10) shoots in front of Kansas State's Brittany Chambers (2) in the second half during a women's NCAA college basketball game at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010. Oklahoma State won 66-56. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Nate Billings)
Either way, you’ve got to see Riley this year. She’s still a gunner — which is not a bad thing in women’s basketball, where getting up shots is always positive — but she’s turned into quite the passer. Seriously, she makes more nifty passes than Doug Gottlieb. No-look passes. Behind-the-back passes. Flick-of-the-wrist passes. And she’s got a couple of teammates, notably Tegan Cunningham, who corral them for easy buckets. Riley is our state’s must-see ballplayer this winter.
* Bedlam women in going to be a ball. The Sooners are at their best when they run. Danielle Robinson is a jet-stream point guard. She beats opponents down the floor and is actually a better closer than even Riley. The Sooners are at their best when they run at full blast, and I expect Sherri Coale sees that, too. I would expect OU to turn it up even more as the competition stiffens. Riley, a first-team all-American in 2008, is the nation’s best point guard, but Dani California isn’t far behind.
* Travis Ford’s coaching job in Manhattan is one for the ages. The Cowboys were without their point guard, the injured Ray Penn, against a Kansas State team that eats opposing backcourts for lunch. Then OSU was in supreme foul trouble, with State’s only two legit inside players, Marshall Moses and Matt Pilgrim, eventually fouling out. Yet the Cowboys survived an opening blitz by ninth-ranked K-State and survived a run midway through the second half that seemed to hand all momentum to the Wildcats in front of their rejuvenated crowd. Bramlage Coliseum has become the Big 12′s rowdiest arena; that’s the way KSU was in the old Ahern Fieldhouse days, but that was more 20 years ago.
The resulting OSU victory was stunning. A season-maker. OSU went from probably out of the NCAA Tournament to probably in, all in a two-hour span. Give total credit to Ford. You coach what you’ve got and put them in position to win. That’s exactly what Ford did.
* Not such a great coaching season for Jeff Capel. The Sooners’ problems continued in a loss at Texas Tech. OU had an 11-point lead, but that evaporated quickly. Tiny Gallon is a total mystery. With Willie Warren sidelined, the Sooners got little production outside Tony Crocker and Tommy Mason-Griffin. For whatever reason, this team is not cohesive and not improving. Capel did a marvelous job his first three years in Norman — Blake Griffin didn’t hurt — but this is not a great coaching job. This team has far more talent than an 11-8 record suggests.
Oklahoma's Tommy Mason-Griffin drives against Texas Tech's Mike Singletary during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010, in Lubbock, Texas. (AP Photo/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Zach Long)
* James Anderson is the Big 12′s best player. He scored 30 points against Kansas State and kept the Cowboys in the game until Obi Muonelo came up big late. Anderson should be the Big 12 player of the year. No question.
* My favorite Cowgirl, other than Riley, is freshman center Toni Young. She’s the high-jump champion from Del City who can dunk, but what a solid player she is. Catches the ball inside and scores, without a hint of emotion. That’s a good player.
* With apologies to Warren, Mason-Griffin is the best OU men’s player. This team is fast becoming Mason-Griffin’s team. I don’t know all the stuff going on with Warren, and I suspect he’s a victim of circumstances as much as anything. But TMG is starting to take the reins of this team. There will be bumps in that transition, but in the long run, Mason-Griffin’s ascension will pay off for Capel and the Sooners.
* Coale’s OU women appear to be one player short of being really good. That one player, of course, is the injured Whitney Hand. But the Sooners go about four deep, maybe five if Carlee Roethlisberger is playing decent. But put Hand out there, and you’ve got four ballplayers running around with Abi Olajuwon, who really is getting better in the middle. That’s a team, right there. But without Hand, the Sooners sort of have to piece it together.
* Keiton Page can’t play point guard in the Big 12. The mighty mite OSU guard has struggled as a shooter this season, but the answer is clearly not at the point. The Cowboys survived with him playing 37 minutes against KSU, but that can’t continue. For OSU to progress, Page must fall back into a role, and that role is zone-buster. Otherwise, he’s just eating up minutes that could be going to someone productive offensively or defensively.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
Right on observation of Jeff Capel BT…after his childish idea of shutting them out of the lockers etc., I would expect him to “Man Up” and take responsibility for his poor coaching in the last 5 minutes of both the Tech and the A&M game…especially the A&M fiasco…holding the ball until the last 4 to 5 seconds and then trying to execute??? My suggestion for the coach…you dish it out to the players…and you “Man Up” when you stink it up…and you did stink…not once, but twice…Way too much talent for this poor coaching show…Re-evaluate yourself, not the players…just my opinion…
Thank you for acknowledging that Andrea has grown up a lot since her altercations. People still want to call her a thug. Too bad they can’t grow up. The team will have to pay the price if they make the tournament. She tied the Big 12 assist record so she has learned that it takes team effort to win.
GO COWBOYS AND COWGIRLS!!!!!
Sorry Berry but James Anderson is number 2 statistically. LaceDairus Dunn is clearly number 1. In Conference play, scoring, Dunn, 25.8 points per games, Anderson 24.4. Rebounds, Dunn 7.8 per game, Anderson, not in the top 20. FG percentage, Dunn .524, Anderson .462. FT percentage, Dunn .895, Anderson .867. Steals, Dunn 1.75, Anderson 1.60. 3-Point percentage, Dunn .571, Anderson, not in the top 20. 3-Point field goals made per game, Dunn 5.00. Anderson 2.20. No question that Anderson is a great player. But not player of the year, at least at this point in time.
You will notice that when Mr. Page is not playing point guard he may lead the team in assists and steals. He is a great passer. I think he can play the point when another good ballhandler is on the floor. In the K-State game he was asked to play too many minutes and the K-State3 coach knew it and had his team harrass him contantly toward the end of the game. Not even Eaton could have played 37 minutes under those circumstances. Our friend Mr. Tramel is a good writer and is usually right, but he needs to leave the harsh criticism to the ESPN guys who can get by with it on the national stage. He is also too quick to write off Warren, too. He is still a kid who will grow up a lot if he stays around OU.
Steve, you are wrong. Head to head, Anderson is better than Dunn. First off, you can’t just count conference games. Yeah, they are of quality competition, but the non-conference games are an important part of a teams schedule. Overall so far, Anderson is better in the following categories: Points Per Game, Assists Per Game, Rebounds Per Game, Blocks Per Game, and Steals Per Game. Just so you don’t accuse me of lying, here is where I compared the stats. (www.espn.go.com). Dunn is better in the following categories: Three Point Percentage. Anderson is the MVP of Oklahoma State’s basketball team. He can do it all. From shooting the three, to getting the ball to other shooters, to driving the lane for two, Anderson can do it all. Dunn is a good player. They match up well on the court, but Anderson is the better, smarter player.
Can’t complain much about the 37 minutes he put in against KSU as the PG. May not have filled up a stat line, but he was quietly productive in other ways and you don’t win Big XII road games with a terrible PG