Daily Bullets (January 25)

Blue Devil Gone Orange

Sideline reporter extraordinaire Bobby A. has a gut feeling about who the next defensive coordinator will be in Stillwater.

As of now, we think the most likely hire is Duke defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Knowles has been at Duke as the defensive coordinator for eight seasons and has made a reputation of doing a lot with the material he has to work with and his defense has worked well along with head coach David Cutcliffe and his offensive philosophies. A native of Philadelphia, where defensive football has always been popular, Knowles went to school and played at Cornell. He rose up the coaching ranks and eventually became the head coach at his alma mater for six seasons.

At Dukes his defenses have been consistent and according to the Blue Devils bowl guide the 2017 defense was one of his best. [GoPokes $]

While I’d be more inclined to grin about hiring offensive coordinator to the Manning family-David Cutcliffe’s offensive coordinator, picking off a Power Five coordinator feels big league.

A Lot to Like

Longtime Cowboy reporter John Helsley had some astute thoughts on this Cowboy Basketball club.

This is Boynton’s team, too. Gritty. Tough. Relentless. At least for now, until he can upgrade the roster.

Let’s be honest, this isn’t an especially talented team. No pros. No five-star recruits. Probably no All-Big 12 performers.

These Cowboys can only win one way, through the intangibles instilled by Boynton; the grit and the fight and the scrap. It’s rarely pretty and never graceful. It’s never going to be easy and who knows what OSU’s record will be come mid-March?

But it’s a Cowboys team that is easy to cheer. [GoPokes]

There’s always been a distinctly different feel to college basketball – some call it slow but there’s a purity to the game with players not cashing checks right after the game. This Oklahoma State team feels like a blue-collar, defense-first-if-we-want-to-win type of team, one that’s easy to cheer for.

OSU and NCAA Notes

Second halves are hurting the Pokes on the road….CRFF talks about why to get behind Mike Boynton….NewsOK looks at three questions around the open coordinator position in Stillwater….Marcus Smart sat last night after an injury at the hotel….Louisiana governor thinks college football coaching should have a cap on spending

Who saw that coming?

James Washington is roasting these corners. They can’t handle him on vertical routes.

— Jonah Tuls (@JonahTulsNFL) January 24, 2018

Oklahoma State WR James Washington, who led the FBS in deep receiving yards (815) this season, explodes past Murray State's D'montre Wade on the post route! #SeniorBowl pic.twitter.com/c9nk8znEVK

— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) January 24, 2018

Tough to win when the bigs don’t clean house.

Going back over some numbers from last night's #OKState loss to Texas Tech. Mitchell Solomon (6-9) and Yankuba Sima (6-11) played 23 second-half minutes without grabbing a single rebound.

— Mark Cooper (@mark_cooperjr) January 24, 2018

Man. Big 12 could use a basketball version of Kansas (maybe with a terrific football program) to give this league a night off.

#ESPN Basketball Power Index #Big12MBB #RockChalk 7, #HailWV 9, #WreckEm 13, #GoFrogs 18, #BoomerSooner 28, #KState 40, #Hookem 42, #SicEm 43, #OKState 69, #CyclONEnation 84. All 10 #big12MBB teams in the Top 85 nationally. Wow @Heartland_CS

— Matthew Postins (@PostinsPostcard) January 25, 2018

Did not realize Big Mitch would end up being aligned with some of those big-time OSU names.

500+ career rebounds ✔️
100+ career blocks ✔️
Career shooting % of 50+ ✔️@BigMitch_41 joins Leroy Combs, Joe Atkinson, Byron Houston, @reeves_bryant, Andre Williams, @McFarlinIvan82 & @The1_MikeCobbs as the only Cowboys to hit those numbers. #letswork pic.twitter.com/0igNcuXvDR

— Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) January 25, 2018

What You Missed on PFB

• Five Thoughts from OSU’s loss in Lubbock
• The good, bad, and ugly from the loss at Texas Tech
• Did Kansas hold the top spot in the latest Big 12 power rankings?
• Get to know OSU’s softball coach – who’s going to be around for a while

Other Stuff I’m Reading

• Thoughtful piece on why you’ll marry the wrong person from NYT
• NBA taking steps to get their share of sports gambling money
• Godin parses out the difference between perfect and important