Oklahoma State Basketball
After last night's convincing win over #4 Syracuse, I realized I still haven't written a post about OSU basketball. What the Hell is wrong with me? Well, easy way to fix that...
I think this team is even better than last year's team, and last year's team was the best OSU team I'd ever seen (yes, even better than Desmond's Final Four team). Let's take a look at the lineup:
* Point Guard: John Lucas, Daniel Bobik. I'm sorry, but I'm still pissed that Tony Allen got Player of the Year last year. Make no mistake: John Lucas was the best player in the Big 12 last year. He was the difference maker; he turned this team from a good group of players into a championship team. And Bobik? A 4.6 to 1 assist to turnover ratio, while being a 34% 3point shooter? Yeah, I'll take that as my "backup".
* Shooting Guard: Stephen Graham, JamesOn Curry, Daniel Bobik. This is the "who's hot"? Position. Last night it was Stephen. I feel like he's out of position at guard--he's a small forward--but if he has any hopes of playing at the next level, it will be here. Very solid.
* Small Forward: Joey Graham, Stephen Graham. Joey's a potential player of the year, though I'm a little disappointed in him thusfar. He hasn't taken his game to the next level, that "Wow he's a top ten pick no question!" level. I've been more impressed with Stephen, who has stepped his game up another level, though he's still not on par with Joey.
* Power Forward: Ivan McFarlin, Terrence Crawford. God I love IMac. He weighs less than I do. Unbelievable. I think he might be the worst looking good basketball player I've ever seen. He looks so goofy out there, but he's great. Crawford...I can't stand this guy, I think he's horrible. It's not all his fault; his knee problems have made it so he moves like Patrick Ewing did when he was with the Sonics. However, he is good as the "go in and hit somebody" thug type, and for some reason the crowd loves him, so when he does ANYTHING right, it's a huge emotional boost to the team.
* Center: Ivan McFarlin, Frans Steyn. FRANZ!!!! I have yet to see him play yet this year, but Sam says he's doing really well. All I know is, the guy is 7'2" 289. He can contribute something. Nothing cracks me up more than watching McFarlin play center, but hey, again, somehow it works. Warick only had 13 points last night.
This is a really deep team of Seniors who know each other very well, and play Eddie's system very well. They didn't lose anyone of consequence after last season (Tony Allen was Even Stephen! He hurt you as much as he helped you!), and the players who have needed to step up this year (Stephen Graham, Bobik) have done so.
I think Joey MUST bring his game to that Player of the Year level in order for OSU to win it all. Even if that doesn't happen, however, this is a top five team in the country all season--no question. Syracuse is a great team, playing in close to their home court, on Prime Time TV, and OSU still did exactly what it needed to do to beat them, and beat them fairly soundly. That was a high quality win for OSU. This is a talented team that is entertaining to watch.
Go Pokes!
I think this team is even better than last year's team, and last year's team was the best OSU team I'd ever seen (yes, even better than Desmond's Final Four team). Let's take a look at the lineup:
* Point Guard: John Lucas, Daniel Bobik. I'm sorry, but I'm still pissed that Tony Allen got Player of the Year last year. Make no mistake: John Lucas was the best player in the Big 12 last year. He was the difference maker; he turned this team from a good group of players into a championship team. And Bobik? A 4.6 to 1 assist to turnover ratio, while being a 34% 3point shooter? Yeah, I'll take that as my "backup".
* Shooting Guard: Stephen Graham, JamesOn Curry, Daniel Bobik. This is the "who's hot"? Position. Last night it was Stephen. I feel like he's out of position at guard--he's a small forward--but if he has any hopes of playing at the next level, it will be here. Very solid.
* Small Forward: Joey Graham, Stephen Graham. Joey's a potential player of the year, though I'm a little disappointed in him thusfar. He hasn't taken his game to the next level, that "Wow he's a top ten pick no question!" level. I've been more impressed with Stephen, who has stepped his game up another level, though he's still not on par with Joey.
* Power Forward: Ivan McFarlin, Terrence Crawford. God I love IMac. He weighs less than I do. Unbelievable. I think he might be the worst looking good basketball player I've ever seen. He looks so goofy out there, but he's great. Crawford...I can't stand this guy, I think he's horrible. It's not all his fault; his knee problems have made it so he moves like Patrick Ewing did when he was with the Sonics. However, he is good as the "go in and hit somebody" thug type, and for some reason the crowd loves him, so when he does ANYTHING right, it's a huge emotional boost to the team.
* Center: Ivan McFarlin, Frans Steyn. FRANZ!!!! I have yet to see him play yet this year, but Sam says he's doing really well. All I know is, the guy is 7'2" 289. He can contribute something. Nothing cracks me up more than watching McFarlin play center, but hey, again, somehow it works. Warick only had 13 points last night.
This is a really deep team of Seniors who know each other very well, and play Eddie's system very well. They didn't lose anyone of consequence after last season (Tony Allen was Even Stephen! He hurt you as much as he helped you!), and the players who have needed to step up this year (Stephen Graham, Bobik) have done so.
I think Joey MUST bring his game to that Player of the Year level in order for OSU to win it all. Even if that doesn't happen, however, this is a top five team in the country all season--no question. Syracuse is a great team, playing in close to their home court, on Prime Time TV, and OSU still did exactly what it needed to do to beat them, and beat them fairly soundly. That was a high quality win for OSU. This is a talented team that is entertaining to watch.
Go Pokes!
posted by Michael Pondrom at 1:00 PM
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