Stinks/doesn’t stink: On OU’s Slide, OSU’s Title-Banners Only Policy, and KU’s Dominance

After a brief hiatus, stinks/doesn’t stink is back, baby. This week we’re breaking down Oklahoma stanking (spoiler alert), Kansas’ turnaround (also a spoiler), and OSU’s title-banner-only policy.

Let’s start with the banners.

Banner gate

As #friendoftheblog and PFB podcast host Carson Cunningham tweeted on Wednesday (which I was unaware of), Oklahoma State no longer hangs its Final Four banners inside Gallagher. Only championship banners.

I didn’t notice this when I was there, but Sean Sutton points out on @sportsanimal the Final Four banners no longer hang in Gallagher-Iba Arena – only national championship banners. That’s absurd. Especially for a school which likes to prop-up its basketball tradition.

— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) February 21, 2018

Kieran Steckley, who wrote for the O’Colly in 2015, noted that this was not a new development. Here’s what he wrote when it was a fresh development.

But when new banners were made and hung up in GIA this year, none were to commemorate any of the Final Four teams, nor the conference championship teams.

The athletic department decided to hang up only 51 banners, each one representing one of the 51 national championship teams in OSU’s athletic history. That’s most in the Big 12, fourth most nationally.

The only non-championship banners hanging are Remember the Ten, Remember the Four and “Rowdiest Arena in the Country.”

Look, I get it. Oklahoma State’s going for the #TitlesOnly mantra because, well, there’s so many they could line Boone Pickens’ suite ten times over. But for a program with proud tradition and deep hoops roots, it’s baffling to me why OSU wouldn’t raise its Final Four banners with pride.

Maybe I’m missing a solid reason why OSU should go with titles only — I can see the comments section lining up with “Where are we at in society?! Anything less than a title banner is like hanging a participation trophy!” — but the fact that OSU isn’t waving the wheat jumping up and down with excitement to share its proud, illustrious hoops history genuinely surprises me.

And I don’t like it.

Verdict: Stinks!

Oklahoma hoops

In Week 11 — the Jan. 15 edition of the AP Top 25, to be exact — Oklahoma was the fourth-ranked team in college basketball.

Fourth!

Since that time, OU has lost nine of its last 11 games, including a six-game losing streak that has many suddenly questioning whether the Sooners are even an NCAA Tournament team.

Let’s all take a moment of silence.

me walking up to church decked out in OSU gear after a bedlam win pic.twitter.com/zamH367xx7

— Kyle Boone (@PFBoone) January 21, 2018

Now, I’m not here to only bash Oklahoma. In fact, I think OU’s slide has been generally bad for the Big 12’s perception overall. But if it’s one thing I know, it’s that right now, OU might legitimately be the worst team in the league.

That’s a stunning fall from grace from where the Sooners were a month ago.

Verdict: OU stinks!

Kansas’ dominance

Kansas smoked hapless Oklahoma on Monday and all but guaranteed itself yet another share of a Big 12 regular season title for the umpteenth season in a row.

Nationally, KU’s dominance will have talking heads rolling with the “Big 12 isn’t that good if KU just wins it every year” narrative. And I’m being honest, as a fan, I’d definitely like to see someone else win it. Just once.

But KU’s dominance isn’t at all a bad thing for the Big 12 or for any other team, for that matter. The Jayhawks are the measuring stick year-in and year-out for success in the league. They’ve been a top 2 NCAA Tournament seed every year since 2010. And they make every team that plays them earn it. It’s like OU in football. If you can compete with them, you can compete with anyone.

I think it’s an era of dominance in regular season play we will rarely ever see again in our lifetime.

Do I wish it was OSU? Well, yeah. But OSU is chasing excellence (Kansas). I like rooting for the underdog.

Verdict: Doesn’t stink