Marshall Watches Oklahoma State vs. Kansas in 2004 in GIA for the First Time

Last week (which feels like it was three months ago) I watched Oklahoma State’s 2004 team make the Final Four when the Cowboys beat Saint Joseph’s in the Elite Eight.

Today I’ll back track a little with that team and watch the Pokes take on Kansas from Feb. 9, of that year. Like with the Elite Eight game, if I watched it, I don’t remember it. I was 8 when both games took place. So, follow along as I give my thoughts.

• Kansas was 15-4 overall and 7-1 in Big 12 play coming in. The Jayhawks one league loss was a 68-61 defeated at Iowa State. They also lost to Richmond in Allen Fieldhouse in late January. I can only imagine the freak-outs that must have been happening in Lawrence after that.

• OSU was 17-2, 7-1 entering the contest. The Cowboys got thumped in their first game of Big 12 play 83-62 at Texas Tech before rattling off seven straight. Their other loss was a neutral site game against BYU.

• Here are the starters.

Kansas:
Wayne Simien
David Padgett
Keith Langford
Aaron Miles
J.R. Giddens

Giddens got an extra boo. I’m guessing because he is from Oklahoma and went to Kansas.

Oklahoma State:
Joey Graham
Ivan McFarlin
John Lucas
Daniel Bobik
Tony Allen

• Right off the rip, it’s cool to see this 2004 team in its element. It’s one thing to watch the group play in a big arena in the NCAA Tournament. It’s a different animal watching it play in GIA.

• The version of this game I’m watching is on the OSU Athletics’ YouTube channel. There isn’t a thing telling me the score or the time. There are also no commentators, though I can faintly hear Dave Hunziker and Tom Dirato. It’s also grainy as all heck. Let’s do this.

• OSU starts hot with a Graham jumper and a Bobik 3. GIA is already losing its collective mind.

• OSU is 3-for-3 from 3 after a pair Tony Allen makes, a much different shooting start than the Cowboys had against Saint Joe’s.

Also this 3-point graphic is the most 2000s thing maybe ever:

• Kansas takes a timeout. GIA is in hysteria, and Allen looks as if he wants to fight someone in a pumped up way.

• Same Bill.

• Joey Graham has two quick fouls and Eddie sits him down.

• Keith Langford stole the ball from Allen near the top of the key and tried to get a quick layup at the other end, but all of Stillwater was there to stop him. Not sure if Allen or McFarlin got the block.

• Out of a media timeout, John Lucas hits a 3. This team couldn’t hit hardly anything from deep in the Elite Eight.

• After an Allen steal that leads to another bucket, Self takes another timeout. It’s 18-6 OSU. I don’t have the time but I’m guessing we’re like five minutes in, and Self has already called two timeouts to try to stop the onslaught.

• I was a lot more familiar with NBA Tony Allen. He wasn’t all that outstanding in the Elite Eight game. Graham said Allen was sick against Saint Joe’s on the pod last week. But this guy is a machine.

• Stop the fight!

• Bobik just got a rebound, dribbled to the 3-point line and drilled another. This is nuts.

• Self took another timeout. I don’t even know what he could say at this point. “Stop getting slaughtered.” “Play better.”

• It’s 26-9 with 11:58 left in the first half if I heard Hunizker correctly.

• Kansas had a water spill coming out of one of the earlier timeouts. Trainers tried to wipe it up, but Bobik has slipped in that area twice now.

• Bobik now took a charge. He probably would’ve been my favorite player of this group had I watched during the time period. Hits 3s, takes charges and has just the right amount of coordinator questions.

• Analytics don’t like a shot from just inside the 3-point line, but Joey Graham does.

• Yes on the and-one, and yes on the graphic that followed.

• Bill Self got a tech, and I’m honestly not sure what he was so fired up about. Maybe he wanted to get tossed so he didn’t have to watch the rest of this.

• Goodness.

• HALF | OSU 44, Kansas 26

There was probably a five-minute stretch where it looked like OSU was playing in a Big 12 game. The rest looked like an exhibition against Rogers State.

• The second half is starting a lot like the first. I can hardly keep up. Lucas hit a 3. He is 6-for-6 from the field and 3-for-3 from deep.

• I’m a fan of the “Spoooooon” chants every time Janavor Weatherspoon does anything.

• I don’t know how it took me this long, but Lucas is wearing some nice Jordan 9s. He’s my new favorite, sorry Bobik.

• There was an attempted lob to Weatherspoon that might have been the greatest lob in program history. He got fouled, though, and didn’t convert.

• My internal compass could be off, but did they used to do the Spirit Run in the opposite direction?

• FINAL | OSU 80, Kansas 60

• This thing was over about five minutes in.

• I got a better understanding for the team’s stars in this game, as Lucas and Allen were fabulous.

• GIA look fun. Similar to how some Kansas games lately have been and similar to the Trae Young OU game. Olds will say it was 12x better back then, but it looked similar. I want to see a pre-13,611 rowdy game from GIA. Maybe that’ll be my next find.

• Despite looking like a Division-II team most of the night, Kansas would go on to make the Elite Eight in 2004. OSU obviously made the Final Four.