7 Things to Remember for the NCAAs

If you can’t tell, I’m very into lists. Random ones too, the top 6 RB duos in Big 12 history (Jeremy Smith and Joseph Randle are going to make a run at that this year), James Anderson’s 8 best college games, Justin Blackmon’s 7 most well-run routes, Byron Eaton’s 2 best assists (I’d make it longer but, well…you know).

So with that now out in the open, I present to you the least in-depth, most hyperbolic NCAA golf tournament preview you’ll read all day. Easily.

1. Big thanks to Ryan Herrington for reminding us that the last time the Mavs and Heat played for the O’Brien trophy, Oklahoma State hoisted its 10th national title. This also doubles as the only redeeming thing that came out of the Conference Finals.
2. Oklahoma State actually has the 4th most golf titles of any D-1 program, with a lot of work to do. Yale has 21, Houston 16, and Princeton 12.
3. OSU has finished second sixteen (!) times at the NCAA Championships.
4. Wind = Friend according to Mike McGraw: “Coach Holder and I prayed for wind back in ’03 and we got calm four straight days, so I won’t do any praying on the wind. I’ll stay away from that, but it would be nice to have some wind. I think it would be good just to get everybody’s attention and make you know you’re alive. You’re in Oklahoma.”
5. OSU is 66-7-1 against the other 29 teams in the tournament including 49-0 against teams seeded #11-#30. Here’s a full list of the teams and seeds.
6. This was supposed to be Rickie Fowler’s senior year.
7. The last time the NCAAs were held at Karsten Creek, +39 (Clemson) won the title. The next closest score to that in the last decade was Georgia’s +15 in 2005 at Caves Valley in Maryland. This year the champs will be determined by match play so that number is safe, but that should tell you how tough the course plays.

Lastly, this is Mike McGraw basically telling Peter Uihlein, Kevin Tway, Sean Einhaus, Morgan Hoffman, and Talor Gooch they don’t even deserve to play golf at OSU, in the most passive-aggressive way possible of course:

“Our record isn’t as good as three or four [other OSU teams] that I’ve seen. The ’77 team was amazing. They lost two tournaments and finished runner-up in those two events. The ’84-’85 team won 10 times. Alan Bratton’s senior year they won nine times. So we haven’t achieved what those three teams have achieved for sure, but I’m real proud of the way that our kids have kind of pulled together for a common cause this year. It’s pretty obvious what they want to do and what they want to accomplish. We have basically the same goals every year. ”

The next six days are going to be a blast. I’ll be updating daily on the blog and via Twitter but get out to Karsten if you can and support your Swingin’ Petes!