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Daily Bullets

Daily Bullets (May 14)

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Beefing Up

Mike Gundy reiterated a hot take on his offensive line last week – is it coachspeak or crazy?

 “I would be shocked if our offensive line play is not better than it was last year,” Gundy said.

“The potential six guys who could play the majority of the first few games have enough experience, strength and expertise to be successful, in my opinion.”

For the majority of spring practice, the offensive line consisted of Johnny Wilson at center, Shane Richards and Deionte Noel at guards, Teven Jenkins and Arlington Hambright at tackles. [NewsOK]

Replacing multiple starters with years of experience (Lundblade, Crabtree, and Cochran) doesn’t intuitively lead one to conclude improvement is on the horizon. While that list doesn’t include the guard starters in Marcus Keyes and Larry Williams, Josh Henson has both layered the roster with more talent and made it into cohesive units. Does that secret sauce lead to better play?

Guarding the Perimeter

What will adding a 6’4″ point guard do for the 2018-2019 roster?

Saturday, OSU announced Likekele’s signing, with Boynton saying Likekele can play both guard positions.

“He loves the challenge of defending the opposing teams’ best player and he is a terrific passer who can also create shot for himself and finish in the paint,” Boynton said in the release. “We look forward to working with Isaac on enhancing his skill set, but he is someone who will make a great impact on our program immediately.” [NewsOK]

I hate to say this (#amateurism) but this appears to be a dramatic improvement at the backup point guard spot. The ability to defend multiple guard spots, create and hitting > 25 percent of shots at the rim will be a boon for the Pokes. It feels like the OKC Thunder’s swap of Ray Felton for Semaj Christon, worth a handful of wins.

And here’s some valuable context about his recruitment context (per GoPokes):

One reason, I believe, he wasn’t more highly recruited was he was sidelined for four months last year after an ankle injury in July. He had originally committed to Fresno State last year, but decommitted and was granted his release on April 9 when head coach Rodney Terry left to take the job at UTEP. [GoPokes]

That explains the decommitment and the interest in UTEP as well.

OSU and NCAA Notes

Cowboy great Josh Fields weighs in on Kyler Murray‘s go pro in baseball-or-stay decision….Cowboy Golf headed to Ohio for their regional….Cowgirls finished fifth at the Big 12 softball tourney….Don’t know that I agree with this list of Big 12 head coaches ranked by pro potential

Heaven help us if this means anything.

After dropping yesterday’s game to Baylor (7-3), below is the title-clinching scenario.

Cowgirls heading to Fayetteville for the tourney

Catch Driven round two tonight:

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