Daily Bullets (Jan. 21): A Culture That Doesn’t Scare Off Chuba Hubbard

Enjoy the pep rally today at noon if you’re around Stillwater.

Bullets Rundown

• Culture that lures Chuba back (or doesn’t stop him from returning)
• Fun thoughts on Cade Cunningham
• Unfun thoughts about Cowboy Basketball

OSU Bullets

• While there are fair criticisms about Mike Gundy, there’s one undeniable quality about his program that is apparently terrific for those involved.

But you can’t control wins and losses. Not even someone as supremely talented as Hubbard can do that.

What can be more controlled is the kind of atmosphere surrounding the program. The vibe in the locker room. The relationship between players and coaches. The expectations for everyone.

Gundy has worked hard for years to develop all of that. He calls it The Cowboy Culture, and while it’s a bit ethereal – you can define it but not quantify it – it isn’t a bunch of touchy-feely mumbo jumbo either. [NewsOK]

When you see the third wave of stars return to play together, you can’t deny that there’s something that made it appealing. It’ shard to imagine players returning to a toxic environment.

Thank goodness for a culture that encourages guys capable of this to come back.

Chuba Hubbard ended 2019 with 15 runs of 30+ yards.

Four more than any other RB. pic.twitter.com/sApigpiObf

— PFF Draft (@PFF_College) January 17, 2020

• Gosh, Cade Cunningham sounds like he’ll be a great time. Like a more accurate version of Jawun Evans/Byron Eaton with a better shot and easier time finishing around the hoop. 

Difference between making the right pass and making the right pass that is accurate and on time. Not sure I've seen anyone deliver more precise passes that Cade Cunningham. Head always on a swivel, uberly-efficient with the dribblehttps://t.co/dd1n2iWkJ0

— Corey Evans (@coreyevans_10) January 20, 2020

• In a hard-to-read article surveying Cowboy Basketball history, this coaching fact stuck out.

How ugly is this? Since OSU joined the Big 8 in the 1958-59 season, the coach with second best conference winning percentage is Travis Ford.

Ford (.458) is the only other coach besides Sutton (.630) with a winning percentage over .400 in conference play since joining the Big 8 in 1958-59. Iba was .399 in his last 12 seasons. Of the five winning records in conference play mentioned above, Ford has three of them, possesses the only season of double-digit conference wins outside of the Iba/Sutton eras (13-5 in 2012-13), and the only back-to-back winning records in league play. [CRFF]

I was too young but with the players that I hear Leonard Hamilton had, it’s surprising they weren’t better in conference play.

• ESPN listed breakout players for their top 25 preseason football teams – they didn’t dig very far and came up with Kolby Harvell-Peel

• Enjoyed Ragusa’s look at the drive that Kasey Dunn called last year (while coaches were stuck in the elevator at Oregon State)

• Gundy landed his first commit for the 2021 class yesterday

Non-OSU Bullets

• This SGA article from The Ringer was a lot of fun
• This article was on reading was great and I loved this quote:

Successful people converge on three ways to learn: lots of reading time, some exercises and projects, and some conversations with people who are slightly ahead of them. [Medium]

I like this MLK quote in honor of yesterday’s holiday:

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. #MLKDay pic.twitter.com/f94fd0NB8b

— Juwan Howard (@JuwanHoward) January 20, 2020