Daily Bullets (Nov. 10): Marcus Smart Talks Cade Cunningham

I have many mixed feelings about our comments section being closed, but the thing I keep going back to is how much better and more fun The Chamber has been. I don’t know why this is the case, but it is. You should come join us (it’s free).

Bullets Rundown

• Watson news
• Yor Yor
• Marcus Smart talks Cade Cunningham

Scores

• MBB: OSU 69 | UMKC 51

OSU Bullets

• It got a little buried on Friday, but Marshall Scott did a great job reporting that the Payne County DA will not pursue criminal charges against Marcus Watson.

The district attorney’s office reviewed the Oklahoma State University Police Department’s investigation on the matter and decided to not pursue criminal charges against Watson, a freshman on the Oklahoma State basketball team.

Watson still faces the emergency protective order filed against him, for which he is scheduled to be in court on Nov. 26. That hearing was originally scheduled for Thursday before a scheduling conflict with the petitioner’s counsel caused for a motion of continuance. [PFB]

There are also some pretty intensive Title IX and student conduct processes for him to go through, but it’s definitely a good thing for him that the DA won’t even pursue it.

• More Yor.

After taking over late in OSU’s win against Oral Roberts on Wednesday, Yor Anei was again dominant against the Kangaroos. Anei finished with a team-high 13 points to go with three rebounds, a block and two steals. And he did all that in 18 minutes.

Senior Cam McGriff also filled the stat sheet. In 26 minutes, McGriff put up 12 points. He also had team-highs in rebounds and assists, with six and four respectively. [PFB]

Me not believing that Yor would be good at the beginning of last season is going to go down as one of my all-time worst takes.

• Marcus Smart on Cade is kinda tough.

Cunningham’s decision wasn’t an enormous surprise. His brother Cannen was hired by Oklahoma State earlier this summer, which seemingly put the Cowboys in the lead. But Smart, who is also from the Dallas area and has played pick up against Cunningham, said part of Cunningham’s decision was due to his competitive nature.

“He has the same mentality I did when I decided to go OK State,” Smart said. “He could have went to Kentucky, he could have went to probably Duke, he could have went to these big schools, but he didn’t want to play with the best. He wanted to play against them, like I did.” [Mass Live]

Maybe not the greatest phrasing, though I appreciate where he was coming from.

• Steelers-Rams today, which means Zac-Rudolph (kind of). Here’s a good story about their history.

It was the beginning of a relationship that helped Rudolph go from green teenage prospect to polished NFL draft pick three years later. On Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field, Rudolph will look across the field and see his old mentor on the Rams sideline. Robinson, 33, is in his first season as assistant quarterbacks coach for Sean McVay. “We still talk once a week,” Rudolph said. “But I’m blocking his calls this week.” [Post-Gazette]

There’s some really good stuff in there. Zac is awesome. I hope he’s coaching OSU in some capacity someday.

• Good story here on PRB and how he landed at OSU.

• Good stuff here from RA on Gunnar’s senior night.

• Big Rick got a bacterial infection on his honeymoon. Sounds not great.

• By the way, here’s why we cover recruiting as hard as we do.

• Pokes are No. 46 in KenPom after two games. his predictions on their games for the rest of 2019.

Non-OSU Bullets

• Penny Hardaway (allegedly) paid James Wiseman’s family in HS, and now the NCAA has ruled him ineligible. But Penny says he’s still going to play him. Whoo boy.

Updated tiers pic.twitter.com/Ca4bOwhx1f

— Matt Hinton (@MattRHinton) November 10, 2019

“Arguably” is one way to put it https://t.co/tSDs9ZlBSU

— Joel Penfield (@jtpenfield) November 10, 2019

• The Coach O speech in the LSU locker room after they beat Bama (which I cannot link because this is a family-friendly blog!) is wild. I can’t imagine Gundy ever doing anything like. He goes off about pounding Bama in crootin! Twenty minutes after a game in November!