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Oklahoma State lights up South Florida 93-67

Videos, thoughts, and more from a Monday night in Tampa.

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Oklahoma State torched South Florida on Monday night 93-67 in a game that was neither close nor enjoyable as a basketball fan. It was, however, enjoyable as an Oklahoma State fan.

USF hung around early on but Oklahoma State went on a big run to end the first half that culminated in a 60-foot jump shot by Marcus Smart that touched 0 percent of the rim.

Even without the suspended Stevie Clark OSU is too much for teams like South Florida. Markel Brown tossed in 25 points, 8 boards, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks to go along with Marcus’ 25 (23 in the first half) and he and Marcus just overwhelmed the Bulls.

That’s what elite teams do. Overwhelm their opponents. And that’s exactly what OSU is doing right now, no matter what kind of squad you throw at it.

Here are some more thoughts from Monday night…

• Do you guys think this game or Monday Night football got a higher rating?

• Marcus Smart following up his 24-point first half against Memphis with a 23-point first half against South Florida in a nondescript game on ESPNNews is the most Marcus Smart thing ever (8/13 shooting, too).

• This wink from Dave Hunziker to Travis Ford CRUSHED me.

• To the South Florida fans booing Marcus Smart: 1.) He’s probably the reason half of you are there, 2.) He’s one of the few reasons college basketball is cool, your team not being one of the others.

This is like Thunder fans booing Kobe when he comes to OKC. Oh, you hate him because he’s great? That seems reasonable.

• I had a lustful thought during the first half: What if the NCAA had a four-year rule and we got 2.5 more years of Marcus Smart?

• I like their oops going the other way, but this will do.

• It feels like this OSU team can name the number of fouls it draws. That’ll be a good thing come tournament time.

• I’m not sure how many teams in the country are going to beat OSU when it only commits nine turnovers. Maybe none, maybe a couple, the number certainly doesn’t hit double digits.

• Brian Williams is a grown man. He is pretty easily the third-best player on this squad. I’m not even sure how close it is.

• Could Marcus Smart have been a top pick in last year’s draft, all announcing crews ever? Are Josh Stewart and JW Walsh good friends?

• Great line from one of the announcers: “Brian Williams has learned shot selection.” He took 56 shots total last year.

• Upset of the night? The game lasted less than two hours.

• Markel and Marcus (and BW, for that matter) posting up is one of my favorite things this offense can do, among the 29,394 things it can do.

• Marcus Smart, potentially not human.

• I think we saw tonight OSU’s bigs still have a long way to go (Soucek shouldn’t be getting first-half minutes on the No. 25 team in the country, much less No. 5) but when you’re rolling two first-round picks out there at guard, it might not even matter.

Murphy and Cobbins got abused at times but unless Julius Randle is walking through that door then I think OSU will be OK.

• This happened.

• Hey ESPN, I love Marcus Smart as much as you but how about we let him get past game No. 38 before we start tossing Oscar Robertson comps out there.

• Teams that think they can run with Oklahoma State are kidding themselves. To beat this team you’re going to have Villanova in ’85 it. Youngsters, Google it.

• This Brian Williams dunk was just insane.

• Am I the only one who thinks Jabari Parker’s photo on the ESPN broadcast looks like James Anderson? I’m not actually sure the two guys look alike in real life, but this picture does:

Screen shot 2013-11-25 at 7.37.33 PM

• Hate to break this to any Nash fanboys out there (is there such a thing?) but he’s a role player at this point. You’re hoping for 10 boards and some free throws from him and a prayer that he doesn’t do his best Keith Toston impression and cough it up in the open court (field).

Don’t be fooled by what he did late. He is A-Rod without the numbers.

• I know some of you hate my “Markel will play PG in the NBA” prediction (hey, Nate) but it’s going to happen. He had some time there tonight in Stevie’s absence and was incredibly smooth and a lot more calm than he has in the past. It’s pretty clear he’s been working on it. And OMG that stepback J.

If we’re ranking “favorite OSU plays” the Zac2Dez and Weeden2Blackmon fades are top five, Gottlieb2Desmond is up there, too. But Markel’s stepback J is climbing the ladder. It might end its career in the top five.

• Think about how good Marcus Smart would be if he worked as hard as Phil Forte.

• We’re at a point with Markel Brown’s dunks that it takes an auto-SportsCenter top 10 dunk to even get me out of my seat. Two-handed tip dunk while flying through the lane? Yaaaaawn.

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