I've been kind of quiet so far this year, but that isn't because I'm not watching. It's because I've had a hard time coming up with words for what I'm seeing.
I consider myself a knowledgeable and reasonably well grounded fan, if not an outright cynical one. But truth be told, on the whole, year after year, for all of the teams I pull for, I'm sure I've overrated more often than underrated. I think as a fan you generally look at the brightest possible side going into a season and hope to achieve that. Sometimes perhaps you paint a brighter possibility than is realistic.
For example, with the Thunder last year, I knew a title was out of the question. I thought 50 wins was possible and the 4 seed in the west. In reality, at 47 wins and the 6 seed, the team probably went as far as they possibly could have gone in any realistic sense. And deep down, I guess I knew that because I didn't feel disappointed in the season. Yet, I still probably had higher hopes than I should have. You can likely rinse and repeat on that throughout the majority of my now 40 (gulp) years on this earth.
But this OU basketball season is a complete anomaly for me. And it has me all messed up. The team is going SO far above what I thought they were capable of that there is almost this sort of arrogance going on-- like, well, there is no way I of all people, could be THIS wrong about an OU basketball team, so there must be some sort of regression coming soon.
So I'm watching these games, enjoying them, awed by TY, all the while looking over my head like the Wile E. Coyote waiting for the anvil to drop. But with each passing game and with each passing record TY breaks I am beginning to wonder if there is no anvil after all?
The ultimate kiss of death may have come Wed night when I turned to my Dad after Manek canned another three and said, "You know Dad, they might be the best team in the country." That statement is both totally ridiculous and completely on point.
We SUCKED last year. We can spin it any way we want and I do think a whole heap of close losses early in the season likely skewed the record a bit, but bottom line is that we set W/L records in terms of futility and at the end of the day it's hard to escape that. They were not a good basketball team. At all. And one year later we might be the best in the country? A #1 seed? While only really adding two freshmen? Both local kids, one of who is the least physically imposing-looking kid we've recruited in years? What is going on here?
A month ago it was all about Trae. HE was amazing. HE is the best freshmen we've seen. Did you see what HE did? While there is no mistaking that he is reason #1, 2, and 3 that we are where we are right now, there is a slow turn from just HE to WE. Because the team looks damn good. We are weak inside offensively and struggle on the glass against any team that has big bodies. But that is made less impactful because, well, we don't miss shots. These kids can straight shoot the rock. And shots will continue to be open because defenses have no clue what to do with TY- so they will throw the book at him and it will inevitably lead to open looks all over the place for everyone else.
Not to bring it back to the Thunder, but it is sort of like Melo right now. An epiphany. All I need to do here is catch-ball, shoot-ball? Well, OK, sweet.
Manek, McGusty, James, etc. all have merit on their own as players, but the presence of TY is more or less leaving them with open space no self-respecting basketball player should have. And they are doing exactly what they should do: Catch, shoot, splash, rinse-repeat. And while we are likely to have a few poor outings or some games where shots don't fall, it is unlikely to me at this point that we will see any major regression. Because TY isn't going to "regress." If anything, he will get more comfortable as he sees more and more defensive looks.
OU is least-imposing looking team during pre-game warmups in history. If you were an alien dropped into the LNC on Wed (an alien that knew a lot about basketball let's say) you for sure would have sided with the team in Orange based on the eye test when everyone is in warm-ups (those God awful sleeveless hoodies we wear don't help). We LOOK small and unathletic. Then the game starts and they fly around the court like something out of a video game and you before you know it they have 40 points ten minutes into the game. And you kind of shake your head to see if it's real and....it is.
So I think we're going to lose in Morgantown. I think this because it is the logical conclusion, not because I'm a downer. I mean, we can't win them all, right? Right? I mean, they can't, right? I mean you don't go from worst record in program history to #1 in the nation, right? Freshmen PGs don't do this, right?
I'm not really sure what I'm seeing right now. But I am in no hurry to close my eyes.
I consider myself a knowledgeable and reasonably well grounded fan, if not an outright cynical one. But truth be told, on the whole, year after year, for all of the teams I pull for, I'm sure I've overrated more often than underrated. I think as a fan you generally look at the brightest possible side going into a season and hope to achieve that. Sometimes perhaps you paint a brighter possibility than is realistic.
For example, with the Thunder last year, I knew a title was out of the question. I thought 50 wins was possible and the 4 seed in the west. In reality, at 47 wins and the 6 seed, the team probably went as far as they possibly could have gone in any realistic sense. And deep down, I guess I knew that because I didn't feel disappointed in the season. Yet, I still probably had higher hopes than I should have. You can likely rinse and repeat on that throughout the majority of my now 40 (gulp) years on this earth.
But this OU basketball season is a complete anomaly for me. And it has me all messed up. The team is going SO far above what I thought they were capable of that there is almost this sort of arrogance going on-- like, well, there is no way I of all people, could be THIS wrong about an OU basketball team, so there must be some sort of regression coming soon.
So I'm watching these games, enjoying them, awed by TY, all the while looking over my head like the Wile E. Coyote waiting for the anvil to drop. But with each passing game and with each passing record TY breaks I am beginning to wonder if there is no anvil after all?
The ultimate kiss of death may have come Wed night when I turned to my Dad after Manek canned another three and said, "You know Dad, they might be the best team in the country." That statement is both totally ridiculous and completely on point.
We SUCKED last year. We can spin it any way we want and I do think a whole heap of close losses early in the season likely skewed the record a bit, but bottom line is that we set W/L records in terms of futility and at the end of the day it's hard to escape that. They were not a good basketball team. At all. And one year later we might be the best in the country? A #1 seed? While only really adding two freshmen? Both local kids, one of who is the least physically imposing-looking kid we've recruited in years? What is going on here?
A month ago it was all about Trae. HE was amazing. HE is the best freshmen we've seen. Did you see what HE did? While there is no mistaking that he is reason #1, 2, and 3 that we are where we are right now, there is a slow turn from just HE to WE. Because the team looks damn good. We are weak inside offensively and struggle on the glass against any team that has big bodies. But that is made less impactful because, well, we don't miss shots. These kids can straight shoot the rock. And shots will continue to be open because defenses have no clue what to do with TY- so they will throw the book at him and it will inevitably lead to open looks all over the place for everyone else.
Not to bring it back to the Thunder, but it is sort of like Melo right now. An epiphany. All I need to do here is catch-ball, shoot-ball? Well, OK, sweet.
Manek, McGusty, James, etc. all have merit on their own as players, but the presence of TY is more or less leaving them with open space no self-respecting basketball player should have. And they are doing exactly what they should do: Catch, shoot, splash, rinse-repeat. And while we are likely to have a few poor outings or some games where shots don't fall, it is unlikely to me at this point that we will see any major regression. Because TY isn't going to "regress." If anything, he will get more comfortable as he sees more and more defensive looks.
OU is least-imposing looking team during pre-game warmups in history. If you were an alien dropped into the LNC on Wed (an alien that knew a lot about basketball let's say) you for sure would have sided with the team in Orange based on the eye test when everyone is in warm-ups (those God awful sleeveless hoodies we wear don't help). We LOOK small and unathletic. Then the game starts and they fly around the court like something out of a video game and you before you know it they have 40 points ten minutes into the game. And you kind of shake your head to see if it's real and....it is.
So I think we're going to lose in Morgantown. I think this because it is the logical conclusion, not because I'm a downer. I mean, we can't win them all, right? Right? I mean, they can't, right? I mean you don't go from worst record in program history to #1 in the nation, right? Freshmen PGs don't do this, right?
I'm not really sure what I'm seeing right now. But I am in no hurry to close my eyes.
