better shooting, more foul trouble
The shootout is on! The beginning of the second half looks totally different, both teams less sloppy. But both teams continuing to drag themselves into foul trouble. Which is a bigger problem for OSU than Gonzaga, considering Ford would really prefer to just go 7, maybe 8 deep.
Oh wow, and Thomas just picked up his fourth. This guy has GOT to figure out how to stop picking up ridiculous fouls.
-ac
Foul trouble
Almost five minutes until the half and Ibrahima Thomas and Terrel Harris are on the bench with 3, Anthony Brown is down with two and James Anderson just picked up his second. Problematic.
Malcoln Kirkland just replaced Brown.
-ac
OSU up one …
Considering that Byron Eaton is not playing well at all, this is going pretty well through about 12 minutes. Eaton seems to be throwing up some ill-advised shots and the turnovers are bad. Losing Terrel to early foul trouble hurts a ton, on offense and defense.
On the bright side, Anthony Brown has been awfully impressive on the boards. Thoughts, anyone?
Ice cold start in Orlando
Yowza. We’re about five minutes into this thing and OSU’s only bucket is an Ibrahima Thomas 3. OSU has gotten some decent looks but also has a bunch of turnovers early on.
ESPN’s Andy Katz said Travis Ford and Butch Pierre told him how well the Cowboys are picking up the system, and that they think OSU can play with anyone in the country. They’re going positive with Katz, because with me Ford is constantly talking about how slow all the implementation is going. Interesting.
Byron Eaton needs to get Terrel Harris and James Anderson some points. OK, back to the action.
by andrea cohen
Akol at home
Oklahoma State center Teeng Akol did not make the trip to Orlando with the men’s basketball team. The 6-foot-11 post has not yet been declared eligible by the NCAA and thus was not able to travel with the team. Akol “validated” his ACT test last week and OSU is waiting for the NCAA Clearinghouse to make a decision.
Coach Travis Ford said Monday that he was hopeful Akol would be able to practice this week and make the trip to Orlando for the three-game All Spice Classic.
by andrea cohen
Cowboys chasing national awards
By Scott Wright
Matt Fodge has been to Orlando before. Went to Disney World a couple times.
But I’d be willing to bet his next trip will be more enjoyable than meeting Mickey.
He’ll be in Orlando for the ESPNU College Football Awards show next month, where he is one of three finalists for the Ray Guy Award. And the OSU senior has a pretty good chance to win it, too. Statistically, he’s equal to or ahead of his competition, West Virginia’s Pat McAfee and Utah’s Louie Sakoda.
Particularly, Fodge is second nationally — and ahead of both of his competitors — in net punting, which Fodge says is one of the most important statistics to a punter.
“I wouldn’t even be considered for this award if it wasn’t for (my teammates) getting down there and covering the ball,” he said. “All the credit is to them.
“I’m not gonna say I’m real worried about winning. I’m going to enjoy the whole experience. It’s been a goal of mine since I’ve been here to get to that point. It’s just such a big honor to be considered among the top three in the nation.”
He’ll be there with two teammates. Receiver Dez Bryant is a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, though it will be hard to unseat incumbent Michael Crabtree. And tight end Brandon Pettigrew is up for the Mackey Award, though the three games he missed earlier in the season hurt his numbers and his chances of winning. But just making the final three despite missing nearly a month of the season is a sign of how good the country thinks he is.
One other note on national awards. Here are the statistics of four running backs in college football:
Running back A: 278 carries, 1,729 yards, 6.3 per carry, 144.1 per game, 17 TDs
Running back B: 370 carries, 1,590 yards, 4.3 per carry, 132.5 per game, 21 TDs
Running back C: 210 carries, 1,244 yards, 5.9 per carry, 113.1 per game, 15 TDs
Running back D: 210 carries, 1,434 yards, 6.8 per carry, 130.4 per game, 14 TDs
Now, guess which one was not nominated as a finalist for the Doak Walker Award?
If you said ‘A,’ you just picked Georgia’s Knowshon Moreno. And you’re wrong.
If you said ‘B,’ you selected Iowa’s Shonn Greene. And you’re wrong.
If you said ‘C,’ you picked Michigan State’s Javon Ringer. And you’re wrong. No, seriously.
If you said ‘D,’ you went with OSU’s Kendall Hunter. And (surprisingly) you’re right.
Despite his astounding statistical performance, not to mention a knack for playing his best in big games — he averaged 142.3 yards in three road games against top-5 opponents — Hunter was not among the finalists for the Doak Walker.
In case you’re curious, if Hunter had as many carries as Ringer at his current pace (yes, I know that would be hard to keep up with an extra 160 attempts) he would have 2,527 yards. Even if Hunter averaged just five yards per carry for another 160 rushes, he’d have 2,234 yards.
A little basketball buzz
This fall I couldn’t help but notice a distinct lack of interest in Oklahoma State basketball. People didn’t seem to be talking about it, people didn’t seem to be reading about it, people haven’t been showing up to games. I think that might be starting to change after last night.
The lack of interest was probably a combination of things — the football team being so much fun to talk about, disappointment on the basketball court the last couple of years, etc. But Oklahoma State’s dismantling of Tulsa took a lot of people (including Travis Ford) by surprise. The Cowboys made a Sportscenter highlight (appropriately Byron-to-Thomas, the play that worked so well all evening), the OSU message boards are buzzing about basketball and I’ve even received a couple hoops emails today.
In postgame Ford mentioned that he doesn’t know how good the Cowboys are yet. I — and I bet a lot of you fans — are looking forward to finding out next week in Orlando. Anyway, let’s hear it. What are your thoughts on OSU hoops? Have they changed this week?
by andrea cohen
a link and a thought or two
We haven’t discussed the ‘09 recruiting class since signing day, but today ESPN weighs in on Travis Ford’s first recruiting class.
More after the game tonight, which I think could be awfully interesting if Ibrahima Thomas gets into foul trouble against Tulsa’s 7-footer. The Cowboys have some rebounding issues, as we saw the other night against North Texas, and the Golden Hurricane is capable of exploiting that weakness.
-by andrea cohen
Ford says OSU could use a hand (and some loud voices)
Gallagher-Iba Arena has been decidedly sparse in OSU’s first two games, and after Monday’s win over North Texas Travis Ford dropped a not-so subtle hint that the Cowboys could use some fans Thursday against Tulsa.
“We need to pack this place out and make it a great college game,” Ford said. “Not just because we need to try to win but we need this Gallagher-Iba to be the Gallagher-Iba we all think of it to be. We need to get our students in here and we need to get them excited because this is a very good Tulsa basketball team.”
Tickets scanned in GIA haven’t reached 6,000 yet, and OSU has only sold 1,600 of its 3,600 available student tickets. The arena got loud a couple times on Monday — James Anderson’s reverse alley oop dunk comes to mind, as does every time Keiton Page shoots the ball — but by and large it was pretty quiet.
For a story I wrote last week about student tickets I spoke with a sophomore who said, kind of wistfully, that she heard Gallagher-Iba could be really, really loud when it was full. But she’s never seen it. Neither, for that matter, has Travis Ford. Wonder if it’ll get close tomorrow night.
by andrea cohen
