Notebook: Smith, Carroll Shine in Kansas Loss

I posted my five thoughts last night, but let’s empty the notebook before we head into what should be one of the more interesting Selection Sunday weekends for OSU in recent memory.

• Fran Fraschilla said Cam McGriff could be one of the best players in the Big 12 next year. Has been AllCconference level the last few weeks.

• I love the Bill Self cam. His angst and frustration just permeate my TV screen. I would pay YouTube TV an extra $15 in March for a Bill Self cam on every game Kansas plays.

• This made me laugh. Sima was unbelievable! A career high 11, and they all came in the first half.

#okstate pic.twitter.com/p3JhhiBdNf

— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) March 8, 2018

• OSU played with more energy for the first half, but you could almost literally see them hit a wall in the second half. Maybe that’s conditioning. Maybe it’s playing two games in less than 24 hours. Who knows. But it was real, and it was not spectacular.

• Including Thursday’s game, OSU is 16-2 when they make nine or more 3-pointers in a game, and 3-12 when they hit eight or less. They finished 5 for 22 on Thursday.

• I saw a Sima left-handed hook. I was not watching in a mirror (or at least I don’t think I was).

• Kansas’ 56.1 percent shooting from the field is the highest mark OSU has given up all season.

• Carson was on fire yesterday.

Lightfoot is pulling Luke Schenscher-ing pretty hard right now.

— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) March 8, 2018

• Is this Fran’s favorite day of the year? Has to be right? Four straight Big 12 Tournament games.

• My favorite part of the broadcast was definitely Holly Rowe backing Mike Boynton against Joey Brackets!

• I would have liked to have seen Cam lay into somebody on the backdoor oops. It felt like KU completed a dozen of them.

• Malik Newman was 11 for 15 from the field en route to a career high. Eleven. For. Fifteen.

• Boynton noted at halftime that OSU was making a conscious effort to attack Kansas on the interior. That was clear, but it also felt like, for whatever reason, they went away from it in the second half.

• How funny was it to see KU bring in one of its football players? The Adarius Bowman special! Because when you can bring somebody from that sport with their culture of winning into a postseason basketball game, you have to do it.

• Co-sign this one.

Kendall Smith has fully realized his potential & become the player Mike Boynton hoped he would be. #okstate

— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) March 8, 2018

• The RPI change for Oklahoma State between a win and a loss was outrageous. It was like 20 spots difference. I believe it was high-80s with a loss and high-60s with a win. Seems like you might have a bad system when it swings that much!

• Lindy Waters was not good on Thursday. He doesn’t have to be great, but he does need to be better than 1 for 2 for 4 points. Shine wasn’t much better.

• Smith has scored in double-figures in 12 of the last 14 games, including six 20-point performances.

• OSU didn’t get to the line very well. They only shot 13 free throws. Once the legs went, I thought they should have tried to muck it up and get as much rest and as many freebies as possible.

• I laughed out loud at Fran calling Solomon the Bixby Big Man.

• Carroll is now one of just 14 players in school history to rank in the top 25 in school history in both career scoring and rebounding. He’s 20th in school history with 1,353 career points, and 22nd in rebounding in OSU history with 559 boards.