Daily Bullets (March 5)

Count Them Out at Your Own Peril

The Oklahoman’s Jenni Carlson makes a compelling case for why the Pokes should be dancing come next Sunday.

OSU has four wins over top-10 teams this season. No other team has more. Oklahoma also has four top-10 wins, but the Sooners made their hay early in the season. The Cowboys have all of their top-10 wins since Jan. 20. That means the Cowboys have played some stellar ball in the final weeks of the season.

Now, some might counter that they have also lost to TCU, Baylor and Kansas State on home hardwood during that time, but those three teams are NCAA Tournament teams. No one is debating whether those squads will be at-large teams, so you can’t say those are bad losses for OSU.

Losses, yes.

Bad losses, no. [NewsOK]

When the best argument against the Pokes is unsubstantial out-of-conference wins the counter is this: well then don’t make them a five-seed. Don’t be concerned by how they played in November anyways – worry about how they look now. And they just spanked a top-ten team.

Beyond that – isn’t OSU the ultimate 8, 9 seed? What one seed wants to see a team that swept Kansas, beat Tech and won in Morgantown?

Sum of the Parts

Mike Boynton briefly explained the 3-1 uptick over the last couple of weeks.

”I think if you watch us play and certainly if you’ve watched us play here in the last two weeks, you look out there and say, ‘Wow, that team is really good,’” Boynton said.

“We don’t wow you with a bunch of pros, but collectively, we’ve got a pretty good group and they showed that today against a team that will likely be a No. 1 seed and I don’t know if they’ll be No. 1 overall, but they’ll be on that top line.” [TulsaWorld]

I’m sure we’ll dig into what’s made Mike Boynton overwhelmingly successful as a first-year coach – whether that be a solid group of seniors, the ability to motivate, x’s and o’s, and getting the most out of what you’ve got – but undoubtedly he’s done a masterful job rallying the troops at this key point in the schedule.

Check out the emphatic fist pump from @thacoachmike after Lindy Waters ended Kansas. Love it! #okstate pic.twitter.com/ooDz5RgApH

— Cowboys Ride For Free (@CowboysRFF) March 4, 2018

OSU and NCAA Notes

Adam flagged this great chalk talk with Mason Rudolph and an old 49ers coach….Big 12 poised to break NCAA-bid record next Sunday….Recapping Game 18 in Big 12 Basketball….Cowgirl Basketball fell on Saturday night in Big 12 quarterfinals

Loyal and blue (cold).

If the pokes win I’m taking a fireball shot and jumping in my pool #55degrees

— YardChipper (@cppoke) March 3, 2018

#done pic.twitter.com/cJnUDmuPij

— YardChipper (@cppoke) March 3, 2018

Pokes (most definitely) feel in but this doesn’t seem like a crazy idea.

More on this later in the column … If I were selection committee, I'd take #OKState over #Sooners right now. I'll settle for this proposal: Bedlam at Big 12 Tournament as an NCAA play-in game.

— Guerin Emig (@GuerinEmig) March 3, 2018

In defense of Stillwater, Mike, you can’t fold a slice of Big Country.

ICYMI: @thacoachmike sat down with fellow Brooklyn native @franfraschilla for a trivia showdown on their hometown. #letswork #okstate pic.twitter.com/ZjK7EMOQkL

— Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) March 4, 2018

Like this argument. It’s not OSU’s fault it plays in a rumdum-less league to pad its resume with fluff wins.

Reason why USC is OUT and Oklahoma St. is IN: Cowboys boast five Quad 1 wins to USC's two and zero bad losses (Trojans have a pair). RPIs are worlds apart, but Committee should ignore an antiquated measurement and focus on true signature wins.

— Brad Evans (@YahooNoise) March 4, 2018

Glass building some dudes.

Win the offseason. #okstate #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/mdRYukJjrD

— Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) March 1, 2018

OU Trolling Tweets

🙂

Baker Mayfield 4.81
Fayetteville police 4.79

— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) March 3, 2018

Mind blown.

A fact I will never, ever comprehend:

225 lb bench press:

Orlando Brown – 14 reps
Ben Grogan – 14 reps

— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) March 2, 2018

What You Missed on PFB

• Porter looks at if 8-10 in the Big 12 been enough to get into the Big Dance
• Is OSU’s win against Kansas enough to get into the Big Dance?
• Jeffrey Carroll made third team All-Big 12
• Watch the Pokes run the 40 in Indianapolis
• Gundy brought in some dudes for a recruiting visit against KU

Other Stuff I’m Reading

• Finished The Nix by Nathan Hill on Friday – well-written tale on how shaping relationships are
• Thinking deeply in an age of distraction
• Australian Basketball League is another solid alternative for basketball prodigies