OU Sooners NewsOK.com Blogging Community

By Scott Wright

Let me preface this blog by stating that I don’t think OU deserves a top 25 spot right now. Win at A&M, hang tough with Texas next week and don’t blow it at Colorado, then we’ll talk. For now, I don’t see them as one of the 25 best teams in the country.

That said, I’m still a little shocked that the Sooners were not among the 46 teams to receive votes in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll last Monday. UNLV, Kent State, BYU and Houston all got at least one vote from the panel of 31 coaches. So did Baylor, West Virginia and Gonzaga, three teams OU has defeated on the road or at neutral sites.

So that made me curious. Who are the coaches that vote in the poll?

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Here’s a press release on a new charitable venture by Malcolm Kelly:

Former University of Oklahoma wide receiver Malcolm Kelly recently announced his plans to enter the 2008 NFL draft. The 21-year-old, All-Big 12 Conference performer will begin his professional football career by publicly endorsing the global charity Mercy Ships at a press conference on February 5 in coordination with the charity’s International Board of Directors Meeting being held at the offices of Clifford Chance at 2001 K St NW, Washington, DC 20006.

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Catching up with some OU links from around the country.

 * More from the Griffin brothers on OU’s Bedlam win.

* Malcolm Kelly is so good, this mock draft has him going twice.

* Another take on the Bedlam game. Too rough?

* This blogger’s take on Bedlam? OSU’s coaches have lost it.

* Adrian Peterson says he’s good to go for the Pro Bowl.

* While he was in Arizona for the Super Bowl, Adrian Peterson taught kids about money.

* The OU basketball team has convinced someone they can go far.

For the second time in three weeks, Oklahoma’s Steven Legendre has been named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday.

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Following her all-around title that propelled OU to its highest score of the 2008 season, gymnast Kiara Redmond-Sturms was named co-Big 12 Gymnast of the Week by the league Tuesday, sharing the honor with Nebraska’s Emily Parsons.

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OU women game notes

OKLAHOMA VS. KANSAS
No. 11/10 Oklahoma (13-4, 3-2 Big 12) hosts Kansas in the final matchup of its five-game January home stand Wednesday.

The game will be televised on the Sooner Sports Network (KAUT-TV in Oklahoma City) with Bob Carpenter on play-by-play and Debbie Antonelli providing color analysis.

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Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris remains one of 31 candidates in women’s basketball vying for the 2008 Naismith Trophy, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Tuesday.

This is the third season Paris has been a Naismith semifinalist. The 2007 National Player of the Year was one of four finalists for the award as both a freshman and sophomore.

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Some cool photos here from last night’s Bedlam game from a guy named John “Kato” Akingbola. Some really striking stuff.

The final preseason softball poll was released Tuesday as the ESPN.com/USA Softball Preseason Poll has Oklahoma ranked No. 5 in the nation. Last week, the Sooners were also tabbed No. 5 in the USA Today/NFCA Preseason Poll.

Oklahoma is one of five Big 12 schools in the poll and one of three in the top-10 with Texas A&M coming in at No. 3 and Baylor receiving a No. 9 ranking. Missouri (No. 21) and Texas (No. 24) round out the top 25 for the Big 12 Conference.

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Oklahoma’s Shardae Boutte was named the Co-Big 12 Men’s Track and Field Athlete of the Week by the conference office on Tuesday.

Boutte shares the honor with James Galvan of Iowa State after claiming the triple jump title in last weekend’s Arkansas Invitational. Boutte’s jump of 52 feet and 11.5 inches (16.14 meters) earned him an automatic qualification in the 2008 NCAA Indoor National Championships. The senior’s mark is the nation’s second-longest jump and is 10 inches longer than the second-best jump in the Big 12 this season, held by fellow Sooner Tydree Lewis.

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