Berry Tramel on Louisville’s WKRD
So here’s the show. One warning: we were preempted late in the segment by bad weather. One of those interruptions where programming is knocked off the air for about a minute. So that explains the jump in the discussion.
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Power Lunch Chat with Berry Tramel: 11 a.m.
Oklahoma State football: Shades of 2010 Longhorns?
Mike Gundy greets Mack Brown before Oklahoma State University (OSU) plays the University of Texas (UT) at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium at Joe Jamail Field in Austin, Texas on Saturday October 25, 2008. By Doug Hoke, The Oklahoman
An OSU football fan sent me an email the other day, a little worried. He found a few too many similarities between the 2010 Texas Longhorns and what he expects from his 2012 Cowboys.
* Both coming off 12-1 seasons in which Alabama won the national title at their expense — Texas by losing to Bama in the Big Bowl, OSU by getting nosed out by Bama in the final BCS rankings.
* Both trying to replace iconic quarterbacks — Texas’ Colt McCoy, OSU’s Brandon Weeden.
* Both apparently a little thin at receiver; Texas had few playmakers in 2010, OSU is facing a major shortage at the position that has been such a strength.
* Both apparently sporting a solid defense; Texas actually was good defensively in 2010, OSU appears poised to field a defense better than the high-yardage, high-takeaway unit that it fielded in 2011.
The fear is that OSU 2012 could have the same kind of season as Texas 2010. Those Longhorns never got out of quicksand. They went 5-7, losing at home to UCLA, Iowa State, Baylor, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. Those Longhorns didn’t play a nine-game conference schedule, so they had three virtual-automatic victories — Rice, Wyoming and Florida Atlantic. These Cowboys have just two such games (Louisiana-Lafayette, Savannah State).
I think those similarities are valid, but here’s why I think OSU avoids such a crashing season: offensive identity. The 2010 Longhorns didn’t really know what to do with new quarterback Garrett Gilbert. He was more a classic dropback passer than Vince Young and McCoy, the all-Americans who had manned the position the previous seven seasons for UT. Texas never did figure out its offense: what it wanted to do or what it should do.
The Cowboys should avoid that pitfall. None of the quarterback candidates — Clint Chelf, J.W. Walsh and Wes Lunt — can approach Weeden in style (or substance, presumably), but at least OSU knows what it wants to do on offense. The Cowboys will tinker with their offense to suit the quarterback’s strengths, but State most certainly doesn’t want to get too far from the Dana Holgorsen offense implemented before the 2010 season and kept mostly intact for 2011 even after Holgorsen took the West Virginia job. The Cowboys — over two head coaches and four offensive coordinators — have shown a commitment to an offensively style. OSU does not screw around on offense. The Cowboys don’t have one foot in the water, one foot out. They go all in with whatever offense they deem best. That will do the Cowboys well in 2012.
Texas 2010 is a good lesson. Even the most stout of programs can misstep, if attention to detail withers. The Cowboys have made huge strides in their program, and 2011 was a magical season, with a Big 12 championship and the No. 3 final ranking. But nothing is assured.
Iowa football: Greg Davis has another job
Greg Davis, who coached Texas quarterbacks to great heights but lost his job when the Longhorns misfired at the QB position, is back in college football. He’s the new offensive coordinator at Iowa.
And this strikes me as the ultimate Big Ten move.
Nothing against Davis, who I think is a pretty good football coach. Davis installed the shotgun option (zone read), which turned Vince Young into a superstar, and groomed Colt McCoy into a four-year star. Then one bad season, 2010, with Garrett Gilbert — and little offensive weaponry otherwise — and out the door went Davis despite 18 seasons as Mack Brown’s sidekick (three at Tulane, two at North Carolina, 13 at Texas).
But is Davis the answer at Iowa? When last we saw the Hawkeye offense, it was shut out through three quarters by OU in the Insight Bowl. Kirk Ferentz has retooled his staff; offensive coordinator Ken O’Keefe resigned to join the Miami Dolphins staff.
O’Keefe was like Davis — urged aside despite being the only offensive coordinator Kirk Ferentz had had in 13 seasons at Iowa. Texas fans complained that Davis was too conservative; every offensive coordinator not in the Mike Leach/Dana Holgorsen family has been accused of being too conservative. OSU’s Todd Monken was ripped during the 2011 season for being too conservative, I kid you not.
Like I said, I think Davis is a good coach. But I don’t think he will become a Big Ten innovator. I think his offense will look a lot like the Iowa offenses of the last 13 years. Like a lot of Big Ten offenses. The Big Ten gets a bad rap; the Big Ten does throw the ball. It runs it, too, but the Big Ten is not afraid to throw. But the Big Ten doesn’t spread it out and make defenses cover the entire field all that much.
That’s cultural and it’s also geographical. Watch Sunday Night Football, when the players introduce themselves and their universities. You see a whole bunch of Michigans and Iowas and Wisconsins and Penn States when the offensive linemen announce themselves. Play to your strength.
But still, it’s sort of strange, the way college football cycles. The impression was that Davis no longer could get it done at Texas, but Kirk Ferentz, a solid head coach, believes Davis can get it done at Iowa. Like Brent Venables to Clemson, it probably was just time for a change for Greg Davis. Iowa certainly is a change from the University of Texas.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Russell Westbrook’s UCLA history
It's possible that the only person who saw Russell Westbrook's rise from UCLA reserve to NBA superstar coming was Russell Westbrooko. AP PHOTO
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love spent some time together on the court Sunday night for the Western Conference in the All-Star Game. It wasn’t the first time they were teammates.
In 2007-08, Westbrook and Love were UCLA teammates. The Bruins reached the Final Four, where they lost to Memphis 78-63. That Memphis team was led by Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose.
In that NCAA semifinal, Rose was sensational, with 25 points on 7-of-16 shooting, nine rebounds, four assists and just one turnover. Douglas-Roberts scored 28 points in that game. Rose, of course, is the reigning NBA MVP. Douglas-Roberts played the previous three seasons, averaging 7.7 points a game, but now is out of the league.
But in that NCAA semifinal, Westbrook was equally superb. Westbrook had 22 points on 10-of-19 shooting, with three rebounds, two assists and three turnovers.
That was a loaded UCLA team: 35-4, including 16-2 in the Pac-12. Love led the Bruins with 17.6 points and 10.7 rebounds a game. Westbrook was the shooting guard and averaged 12.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists. The point guard was Darren Collison, who now quarterbacks the Pacers; Collison averaged 14.5 points and 3.8 assists. Yet another Bruin, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, also made the NBA and has made 180 starts for the Bucks the last four years.
Interesting to note that Westbrook led that UCLA team in assists, even though Collison clearly was the point guard. Love made first-team all-Pac-12. Collison made second team. Westbrook made third team but was named the league’s defensive player of the year.
People, me included, long have popped UCLA coach Ben Howland for not doing more with such a lineup, but the truth is, you put Derrick Rose with coach John Calipari and another NBA talent, and you’ve got a ballteam. So there’s no shame in that UCLA season.
The previous UCLA team, 2006-07, did not have Love, who then was a high school senior, but it did have Arron Afflalo, now the Nuggets’ sharpshooter.
Those Bruins reached the NCAA semifinals before losing to that great Florida team 76-66. UCLA went 30-6, 15-3 in the Pac-12.
Westbrook was a bit player. He averaged nine minutes a game, eighth on the squad, and made just one start. The starters were Afflalo, Josh Shipp, Collison, Mbah a Moute and Lorenzo Mata.
Westbrook averaged 3.4 points a game. He took just 22 3-pointers. He made just 54.8 percent of his foul shots.
That same season, Kevin Durant was down at Texas, averaging 25.8 points and 11.1 rebounds a game. He was the national player of the year.
And Sunday night in Orlando, when Durant had 36 points and was the all-star MVP, when Love had 17 points and seven rebounds to go with his three-point contest title, when Rose had 14 points in 18 minutes, Westbrook had 21 points and enough scintillating dunks to wow a crowd that had come to be awed.
When we look at Westbrook’s trajectory, the amazing improvement is consistent.
From lightly-recruited high school player to UCLA role player. From UCLA role player to UCLA starter. From UCLA starter to NBA starter. From NBA starter to NBA franchise cornerstone. From franchise cornerstone to NBA star. And now, from NBA star to NBA superstar.
Sam Presti, who gambled with his fourth pick of the 2008 NBA Draft by taking Westbrook, doesn’t claim to have seen such a remarkable rise. I talked to Howland once about Westbrook; he loves Westbrook, but he doesn’t claim to have seen it, either. Neither does Scotty Brooks, another flag-waver in the Westbrook parade.
I think it’s quite possible only one person ever saw Russell Westbrook becoming what Russell Westbrook is today, or even what he might become.
That person is Russell Westbrook.
Oklahoma State basketball: Playing what-if on Eddie Sutton
Inductee Eddie Sutton talks to the media during a news conference for the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame induction Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
Watching the OSU-Kansas game Monday night, my mind drifted to another OSU-Kansas game. The 2005 regular-season finale at Allen Fieldhouse, when the Jayhawks won an 81-79 game that was as rousing as any I’ve ever seen.
The Cowboys had John Lucas (22 points) and Joey Graham (19) and Stevie Graham (10). Freshman JamesOn Curry had 15 points on eight shots. Ivan McFarlin did his usual dirty work in the middle.
Kansas countered with Wayne Simien, Keith Langford and Aaron Miles, with the likes of J.R. Giddens, Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun playing supporting roles.
A week later, in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals, the Cowboys won a 78-75 thriller, then beat Bobby Knight and Texas Tech the next day for the trophy.
What a couple of games between those Cowboys and those Jayhawks. Kansas is still trotting out teams like that. OSU, not so much.
Barring an unprecedented four-wins-in-four-nights performance in Kansas City next week, OSU is about to post its fifth non-NCAA Tournament season in the last seven years. Think about that. OSU went 13 times in Eddie Sutton’s 15 full seasons but has been just twice since 2005.
When we talk about the decline of OSU basketball, we usually focus on the fall of Sean Sutton, how his 21/2 seasons as head coach were massively disappointing and his eventual arrest on prescription drug charges furthered an OSU tragedy. Or we focus on Travis Ford’s four years, how he went to NCAA Tournaments his first two seasons, with Sutton’s recruits, but has struggled since.
But a different viewpoint came to mind Monday night. If we’re going to play what-if – What if Sean Sutton had built upon that 15-1 start in 2006-07? What if drug addiction hadn’t wrecked his OSU career and threatened to wreck his life? What if Ford had been able to better build off those initial successes? – let’s play an earlier what-if.
What if Eddie Sutton hadn’t relapsed? What if the guy we thought might retire after the 1995 Final Four, or after the 2004 Final Four, actually still had the fire to keep coaching at a high level? Heck, we know Sutton still had the bug to some degree, since he went to the University of San Francisco in December 2007 and coached out that season?
What if Sutton had remained on the reins of Cowboy basketball?
Well, we know 2005-06 would have been a struggle. The Cowboys were just 13-10 overall, 3-6 in the Big 12 when Sutton drove drunk and crashed his car just before OSU’s trip to a game at Texas A&M. That was a totally rebuilt team, featuring really only two veterans, Curry and Marcus Dove, and Dove played just 22 games due to injury. Mario Boggan was a talented junior-college transfer, freshmen Byron Eaton and Terrel Harris played major roles, as did juco transfers Jamaal Brown and Torre Johnson.
With Sean Sutton taking over, those Cowboys went on to finish 17-16, 6-10. No real difference. Even without Sutton’s fall, OSU would have likely missed the NCAA Tournament.
But in 2006-07, there is no doubt Eddie Sutton, provided he still had the fire, would have produced a top-flight team. That team had Boggan as a senior, Curry as a junior, freshman Obi Muonelo, veterans David Monds and Dove, and sophomores Eaton, Harris and Kenny Cooper. That team started 15-1, 1-0 in the Big 12. Then the bottom fell out; the Cowboys stumbled to a 6-10 conference finish, lost in the first round of the NIT and was 22-13.
Eddie Sutton would have kept that team playing at a high level. Eddie Sutton’s teams got better – usually much better – as the season wore on. Those Cowboys would have been not just NCAA participants, but threats to go a long way.
In 2007-08, same deal. James Anderson arrived to join Eaton, Harris and Muonelo. That’s a perimeter quartet of prowess. The Cowboys were thin, due to attrition, with an hobbling Dove and Ibrahima Thomas the primary inside guys. Under Sean Sutton, OSU went 17-16, 7-9. Would the Cowboys have had the same defections under Eddie Sutton? No way to know. But it’s not difficult to imagine Eddie Sutton coaching a team of juniors Eaton and Harris, sophomore Muonelo and freshman Anderson to a winning conference record.
I don’t know if Eddie Sutton would have kept coaching into 2008-09, what became Ford’s first year. But he might have, and if he had, wow. The same team back, with Eaton, Harris, Muonelo and Anderson all veterans, plus whatever extra inside guys the Suttons had collected. That would have been a powerhouse. Ford didn’t do a bad job; he coached the Cowboys to a first-round victory over Tennessee, then they played top-seeded Pitt to a great game in the second round of the NCAAs, before losing, 84-76. The game was tied 74-74 with 21/2 minutes left.
You can’t go back in time. Eddie Sutton did relapse. Sean Sutton did fall and fail. Travis Ford did take the job. But how OSU basketball might have been different had Eddie Sutton not succumbed to the demons. The Cowboys might not have missed a step.
Big 12 football: Scheduling marathon finally over
I visited Big 12 headquarters Monday in the trendy Los Colinas area of Irving, Texas. I had an hour-long interview with commissioner commissioner Chuck Neinas about a variety of subjects, which I’ll be writing about over the next few weeks. But I also got to chat with a few Big 12 staff members, including old pal Tim Allen, the associate commissioner who is the happiest man in America, now that the conference football schedule is set.
Allen showed me some of the computer program that helps develop the conference schedule. He jokingly said there were about 17,000 options in putting together the schedule, but he’s not far off. Allen called up one file full of schedules: 300something options were listed. Another file had another 300something. And the program contained file after file of such options.
The Big 12 schedule contained a few parameters. No team should open the conference season with two straight home games or two straight road games. No team should have three straight road games, and three straight weeks of no home games (two road games and a bye, for example) should be avoided.
Then some solid-date games are added, like OU-Texas for whatever is the selected date during the State of Fair of Texas, and whatever December games are selected for television.
Then Allen punches a button, and the computer does the work. But not all the work. He has to scan 17,000 — or whatever the number is — schedules. Which is the best way I’ve heard in awhile to go absolutely batty. So what Allen does is pick out a schedule, and if it seems like it would work, he scans the 10 just above it and the 10 just below it, because they will be very similar, with likely only one change. Of those 21 schedules, he picks one he likes the best.
Then Allen moves on and finds some more to his liking, developing a collection for the schools to consider.
If Allen’s initial pick doesn’t seem all that solid, he moves on down the list aways.
Of course, it’s possible that the networks still could ask for games to be moved around. But Allen said the longer we go, the less likely that is to happen. A Thursday night game for ESPN is possible, but it requires much negotiation, since Fox Sports holds the cable rights to any Big 12 game, and Fox Sports would have to sign off on allowing ESPN to air a game. Fox has done that, but wants something in return. That could be all kinds of negotiations — cash, scheduling considerations, even a game to air on Big Fox, the national over-air network which airs the NFL, Major League Baseball and NASCAR but has no regular-season college football. ABC/ESPN holds the rights to over-air network games for the Big 12.
College football: Ranking the head-coaching changes, 1-26
We’ve had 26 head-coaching changes in major college football from last season. That’s a lot. We had 21 last season, 23 the year before. Who did the best job of hiring? Who did the worst? Let’s rank the hires, one through 26. This isn’t based just on who is the best coach. It’s based on the best fit. See them all here, one through 26.
Oklahoma City Thunder: OKC clearly among NBA’s four elite teams
The all-star break comes at an interesting time this condensed season. It is very close to the mid-point of the regular season; teams have either played exactly half their games (33) or just a tad more or less. So it’s a great time to study how this season shapes up.
The teams are playing themselves into clear status. Oh, for some, you can’t pigeon-hole them too much. Memphis, for example, without Zach Randolph has kept its head above water. Nobody in their right mind should want to the Grizzlies come the playoff, if Randolph is back. And who knows about the Knickerbockers and whether Jeremy Lin’s magicdust will endure.
But for the most part, we can produce six categories of teams, grouped by winning percentage: 1. elite, absolute championship contenders; 2. dangerous teams that could rise — or fall; 3. good teams that likely will make the playoffs but don’t figure to be much of a threat when they get there; 4. teams likely to fall on the wrong side of .500 and/or the playoffs; 5. teams that stink but are at least interesting; 6. teams that stink and aren’t the least bit interesting. Here goes:
ELITE
Miami 27-7, Oklahoma City 27-7, Chicago 27-8, San Antonio 24-10.
It will take upsets to knock out these teams before the conference finals. The Spurs are more likely to coast the rest of the regular season than they are to endure another playoff disaster, as they did a year ago against Memphis. The Heat and the Thunder are just too good, and the Bulls have been this good despite back trouble from Derrick Rose.
DANGEROUS
LA Clippers 20-11, Indiana 21-12, Orlando 22-13, Dallas 21-13.
This group is a little squishy. The Clippers and Mavericks are rock solid, but can the Pacers keep up this pace? Well, Indiana has played just 14 home games, so the schedule gets a little lighter. And who knows about the Magic and Dwight Howard? But if you ask me if these four teams remain in the top eight of the league record-wise, I’m going to answer yes. If an NBA finalist doesn’t come from that four-team elite group, it will come from this group.
SOLID BUT NOT DANGEROUS
Philadelphia 20-14, LA Lakers 20-14, Houston 20-14, Atlanta 20-14, Memphis 19-15, Portland 18-16, Denver 18-17. I don’t see any of these teams making a Finals run, with the possible exception of Memphis. Not the Lakers, not the Hawks, not the Sixers. I suppose a Laker trade could make us reassess.
MEDIOCRE
Minnesota 17-17, New York 17-18, Utah 15-17, Boston 15-17.
The Knickerbockers and Celtics almost surely will make the Eastern playoffs, but only because the format demands eight teams. The Timberwolves and Jazz face uphill battles to make the Western playoffs. But Minnesota and Utah have stabilized their organization and have decent futures. The Celtics are old. The Knicks? Again, who knows? But none of these teams are likely to move up or down from out of his group.
AT LEAST INTERESTING
Golden State 13-17, Cleveland 13-18, Phoenix 14-20, Milwaukee 13-20.
None of these teams will challenge for a playoff berth. Oh, I suppose if the Knicks implode, always a possibility, the Cavaliers or Bucks could sneak in. But at least these teams are fun to watch or have shown flashes of decency. If anyone moves from this group, it’s Milwaukee. Going down.
EL STINKO
Sacramento 11-22, Detroit 11-24, Toronto 10-23, New Jersey 10-25, New Orleans 8-25, Washington 7-26, Charlotte 4-28.
If any team moves out of this group, I assume it’s Sacramento. But I don’t see it. And these are widely varied teams. The Hornets and Wizards have the same level of success, even though New Orleans has heart and a coach. Washington has neither.
Big 12 basketball: Final weekly rankings
The final weekly rankings of Big 12 basketball, which basically are a prediction of the finish that will determine the Big 12 Tournament pairings.
1. Kansas 14-2, 24-5: The Jayhawks have a two-game lead and a magic number of one. Any KU victory or Missouri loss hands the Jayhawks the outright Big 12 title and the No. 1 seed. All things considered — the 19-point comeback in a virtual conference title game, in what is the last scheduled game in an arch rivalry that is coming to an end — KU’s overtime win over Mizzou has to rank as one of the top five victories in the Jayhawks’ glorious history.
2. Missouri 12-4, 25-4: Mizzou finishes with a home game against Iowa State and at Texas Tech. KU finishes at OSU on Monday night, then hosts Texas.
3. Iowa State 11-5, 21-8: The Cyclones finish at Missouri, then hosting Baylor. Iowa State lost at Baylor earlier in the season, but if ISU beats Baylor in the rematch, the Cyclones would win a tiebreaker with Baylor, based on its ISU’s victory over Kansas.
4. Baylor 11-5, 24-5: The Bears host Texas Tech before going to Ames. So ISU-Baylor is really for third place. Winner likely gets on the side of the bracket with Missouri, Texas and OSU. Loser gets on the side with Kansas and Kansas State. Probably want to win.
5. Kansas State 8-8, 19-9: Wildcats go to Texas A&M, then host OSU. If the Cowboys somehow won out to tie K-State, OSU would win the tiebreaker, via its victory over Kansas. If the Cowboys tie KSU without beating KU, K-State would win the tiebreaker. If OSU, Texas and K-State end up tied, the order would be KSU, OSU, UT.
6. Texas 8-8, 18-11: The Longhorns host OU, then go to Kansas, so the Longhorns seem a sure bet for 9-9.
7. OSU 7-9, 14-15: The Cowboys host Kansas, then go to K-State. OSU would beat Texas in a tiebreaker because of OSU’s victory over Missouri. If the teams split their two games, the next tiebreaker is how you did against the No. 1 team in the league, then go down accordingly.
8. Oklahoma 4-12, 14-14: The Sooners go to Texas, then host Texas A&M. The Sooner-Aggie game figures to be for eighth place.
9. Texas A&M 4-12, 13-15: The Aggies host KSU, then go to Norman. If the Sooners beat A&M to tie for eighth, OU wins the tiebreaker, so long as KSU finishes above Texas. If the Aggies beat OU to tie for eighth, A&M wins the tiebreaker.
10. Texas Tech 1-15, 8-20: The Red Raiders are assured of 10th place.
So, here’s the best guess for the Big 12 Tournament pairings:
First round: No. 7 OSU vs. No. 10 Texas Tech; No. 8 OU vs. No. 9 Texas A&M.
Quarterfinals: No. 1 Kansas vs. OU-A&M winner; No. 4 Baylor vs. No. 5 Kansas State; No. 3 Iowa State vs. No. 6 Texas; No. 2 Missouri vs. OSU-Tech winner.
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