Daily Bullets (March 16)

 Phil or Keiton?

A good answer here to one of life’s more difficult questions, akin to choosing your favorite child perhaps.

Who’s the better shooter? Phil-er-up Forte or the Pawnee Pistol?

“I knew that one was coming,” Page laughed the other day after he was stopped while walking through Gallagher-Iba Arena. “See, if the camera wasn’t on, I’d give you a different answer. But since it’s on, I’ve definitely got to say me.”

Forte took the same tact. “I’m going to say me,” Forte said.

Of course, Page is the better expert on the subject. He has seen virtually all of Forte’s OSU games. Forte saw only a few of Page’s games live. But they were memorable.

“I think the moment that sticks out the most to me was the Texas game,” Forte said. “I was a senior in high school, he was a senior here. I remember that 40-point performance.”

Page indeed had 40 against the Longhorns, including 27 in the first half. That explains my vote on the Page/Forte debate. I’d probably go with Forte as the better deadeye shooter and Page as the better all-around offensive player. [NewsOK]

It’s fascinating to think about context for each guy. Inherited from the previous coach (albeit for different time periods), both made a living as undersized shooters with unlimited range. Both played with some prolific offensive players: Keiton with James Anderson in early years, Markel and Le’Bryan Nash later years while Forte with Nash, Marcus Smart and Jawun. An era will end without the undersized white guy bombing from the logo.

To try and combat recency bias, check out the highlights from one of Keiton’s epic games (hung 40 on UT).

December Madness

ESPN did a fun thing where they played out the 2017 football season with a 68 team playoff…. and the Pokes meet the Wolverines in the Elite Eight.

Regional semifinals

(7) Oklahoma State 31, (11) Colorado 20: After pitching one defensive gem after another in the tournament, the Buffaloes can’t corral the Cowboys and red-hot quarterback Mason Rudolph, who reaches the 1,200-yard passing mark in three games and leads the Pokes into the Elite Eight.

Regional final
(5) Michigan 35, (7) Oklahoma State 28: Coach Jim Harbaugh goes a third straight year without beating Ohio State, which never goes over real well in Ann Arbor, but he steers the Wolverines into the national semifinals. QB Wilton Speight plays his best game of the season and engineers an 80-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to win it. [ESPN]

This was great: had the Pokes knocking off 10 seed Ole Miss in the first round, upsetting No. 2 LSU in the second round, shutting down the upstart Buffaloes for the second year in a row before Harbaugh strikes. Seeing rational, unbiased people talk about the 2017 team like they’re a top eight team is really fun and I think we need to get used to it.

The Oklahoma State Bruins

A new comp here for the Pokes from a Michigan site.

And what Oklahoma State is going to give Michigan is not much time to think, similar to what the Wolverines experienced at UCLA in early December.

Against the Bruins, there was no time to dwell on any mistake, missed shot or failed opportunity during the back-and-forth affair because the ball was immediately heading the other way. UCLA’s quick-strike offense wiped out a seven-point deficit in the final minute before halftime and turned a five-point game into a double-digit lead within a blink of an eye in the second half.

“Events can change quickly,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “While we do want to run and we want to take the advantages of that, we got to make them spend some time with their offense so that they don’t get easy looks.”

That’s easier said than done considering that Oklahoma State likes to work quickly and get off shots early in the shot clock. [Detroit News]

This is a distinguishable quality of the Pokes: no lead is safe against them. Think of how they stayed in games late at Iowa State and KU. OSU can look at the Iowa State-Michigan comparison and tremble, but Michigan has a better case for frustration. They’re a 7 seed playing a 10 seed that resembles a UCLA team that beat them by nearly 20 in December.

OSU and NCAA Notes

Phil Forte is the poster child for “He’s Still in College?”…. The 68 best players in the Big Dance ranked (Jawun is up there followed later by Carroll)….A peek into Baylor’s quarterback situation….Guerin Emig from the TulsaWorld predicts the first two rounds for the Big 12….Doug went on Detroit radio and explained why the Cowboys will beat Michigan….So weird that KU has two Bama transfers eligible in the fall

Skiing in Colorado. Always fun hitting the slopes with the boys. pic.twitter.com/g2CPm6UIw1

— Mike Gundy (@CoachGundy) March 15, 2017

Gundy family vacation, sponsored by Cabela’s.

First-round game with most-lopsided action @LVSuperBook: Oklahoma St-Michigan. 81 percent of bets, 94 percent of money on the Wolverines.

— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) March 15, 2017

94 percent of money on UM!

Cowboys Rout New Mexico https://t.co/7zUt3NEJKU

— Oklahoma State (@OSUAthletics) March 16, 2017

Cowboy Baseball took out New Mexico 3-0 yesterday then 13-0 today. But hey, wasn’t that show “Breaking Bad” filmed in New Mexico? Good for them.

What You Missed on PFB

• Check out how your bracket compares with the guys at PFB
• Fun stories on Rickie Fowler at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill
• The spring previews continue with the linebacker position
• Cowboy inexperience in March Madness quantified
• Check out some highlights so far from 2016-2017 Cowboy Basketball
• NCAA wrestling championships scoring for dummies (super helpful)

Other Stuff I’m Reading

Must-see Twitter: Jimmy Fallon’s March Dadness…. Eddie Lacy has 385,000 reasons to lose some weight….Intrigued by the Pelicans and where they go now….Christians need to fight for the religious freedoms of everyone