The Five Biggest What Ifs of the Travis Ford Era

The Travis Ford era will soon be over (I think … right? It will be over soon, correct?! I’m not wrong about this, am I?!), and OKC Dave already looked at the Ford era leaders. Today I wanted to go back over what went wrong and, specifically, five of the biggest what ifs of the last eight years for OSU and for Travis Ford.

Situations that, if they had gone differently, might mean we wouldn’t be waiting breathlessly around Twitter waiting for @OSUMBB to type those fateful words …

1. What if Byron Eaton had missed that layup against Tennessee?

We’ll start at the very beginning. Too much emphasis is placed on games in the NCAA Tournament. For better and for worse. OKC Dave and I were discussing recently how Ford’s KenPom ranking over the course of eight years hasn’t been that bad. It hasn’t been good, but it hasn’t been egregious. The point is that could have been buoyed by a couple of NCAA Tournament wins.

What does this have to do with Eaton missing the layup against Tennessee? Well it works the other way too. Maybe Ford doesn’t get the monster contract if he loses in the first round that first year. That’s good for OSU and probably good for him. Nearly upsetting a No. 1 seed to go to the Sweet 16 in your first season as head coach feels a lot different than getting bounced in the 8/9 game in Round 1.

2. What if OSU hasn’t gotten Oregon in 2013?

This is the most obvious one. That was easily Ford’s best squad and it got the worst draw of any of his five NCAA Tournament teams. By far. Oregon hammered No. 4 seed Saint Louis in the second round before falling at the hands of Louisville in the regional semifinal. Are things looking different these days if OSU had made it to the Sweet 16 that year instead of losing to a No. 12 seed? (see NCAA tournament imbalance in rant above). They might be. That leads us to …

3. What if Marcus Smart had left after that game?

A reader named Cody Ott pointed this out to me, but the 2013-14 season was basically the end for Ford because of that Weeden-Blackmon-like press conference when Marcus Smart and Co. announced they were coming home back. That set expectations George Muresan levels of high. Almost all they could do was be underwhelmed.

But if OSU beats Oregon and Saint Louis, I’m not sure Smart stays. And if that doesn’t happen, strange as it sounds, it’s helpful to Ford.

Expectations aren’t as high and you get to float the, “well I lost the best guy we’ve ever had THE NBA IS RAIDING OUR ROSTER” theory for a year or two. Instead, he had to swallow the, “we couldn’t win a single NCAA Tournament game with two legitimate NBA players and the best scorer Japan has ever seen.”

4. What if Brady Heslip didn’t hit six threes on February 1, 2014?

This is the most obscure one. Let me take you back to the beginning of the end for Ford though. OSU had won 13 straight in GIA. They hadn’t lost since a 68-67 2OT thriller to Kansas in February of 2013. I repeat, it had been nearly a full calendar year since that team had lost in GIA.

But then Heslip got ’em for 20 at home on Feb. 1 and Baylor clipped OSU which would go on to lose its next five highlighted by Marcus Smart going into the stands in Lubbock. They would go on to get throttled by Gonzaga in the first round and the script had largely been written by then.

5. What if Phil Forte hadn’t gotten hurt?

This narrowly edged out “what if Stevie Clark hadn’t peed out a car window in 2014?” for No. 5 on the list. Shocking, I know. I know we all think it wouldn’t have mattered much if Phil Forte had played all year. My response to that is that Texas Tech (Texas Tech!) made the NCAA Tournament this year by going 9-9 in the Big 12. Could OSU have gotten to nine wins with Forte?

The Dance, remember, is so heavily weighted that, I’m convinced, if Ford had gone to four straight (and two with “depleted” teams) it would have been a lot more difficult for Holder to let him go with that albatross of a contract still sitting there.[1. Heck, it still might be … ] And who knows? Maybe you get in the first round, string an upset or two together and all is right in Cowboy nation again. Probably not … but that’s why it’s a what if.