Shaka Smart & Mike Boynton.....

[thebigabd]

Playing a great game here in the Big 12 championship.... total vindication. They got the talent on the floor, they are talented coaches, and they've brought their programs up to another level. Both will get top 4 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Young coaches will have some ups and downs, learn a lot, but the potential in these guys was always there. I really love watching both of them coach.

Shaka Smart just got Texas its first ever Big 12 championship.... they have an unbelievable team. Great guards, total studs in the paint with Sims and Kai Jones....

Boynton and OSU have one of the youngest teams in the country.... They will lose Cade, but I feel confident in their future.

 

[soonerbms]

Texas consistently gets top notch recruits. OSU just got the best player in entire country. We, on the other hand, don’t get ****.

 

[sheepdogs1]

Playing a great game here in the Big 12 championship.... total vindication. They got the talent on the floor, they are talented coaches, and they've brought their programs up to another level. Both will get top 4 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Young coaches will have some ups and downs, learn a lot, but the potential in these guys was always there. I really love watching both of them coach.

Shaka Smart just got Texas its first ever Big 12 championship.... they have an unbelievable team. Great guards, total studs in the paint with Sims and Kai Jones....

Boynton and OSU have one of the youngest teams in the country.... They will lose Cade, but I feel confident in their future.

Crumbled Walls had 21 pts and 14 rebounds (6 offensive).

 

[mict085]

Playing a great game here in the Big 12 championship.... total vindication. They got the talent on the floor, they are talented coaches, and they've brought their programs up to another level. Both will get top 4 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Young coaches will have some ups and downs, learn a lot, but the potential in these guys was always there. I really love watching both of them coach.

Shaka Smart just got Texas its first ever Big 12 championship.... they have an unbelievable team. Great guards, total studs in the paint with Sims and Kai Jones....

Boynton and OSU have one of the youngest teams in the country.... They will lose Cade, but I feel confident in their future.

Baylor is the Big12 champ. Winning a weekend tourney, only playing 2 games, does not make you a conference champ. I still don’t think Shaka smart is a great coach but texas has recruited some very talented players. I think Boynton is a good coach but we’ll see how he does without CC.

I agree that OU needs a new coach and Lon should retire. I just don’t buy smart and Boynton. This was an unusual year and this season will always have an asterisk.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Playing a great game here in the Big 12 championship.... total vindication. They got the talent on the floor, they are talented coaches, and they've brought their programs up to another level. Both will get top 4 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Young coaches will have some ups and downs, learn a lot, but the potential in these guys was always there. I really love watching both of them coach.

Shaka Smart just got Texas its first ever Big 12 championship.... they have an unbelievable team. Great guards, total studs in the paint with Sims and Kai Jones....

Boynton and OSU have one of the youngest teams in the country.... They will lose Cade, but I feel confident in their future.

Probably a good thing for Texas that they didn’t fire him a year ago, which was all but certain had the tourney been played and Texas ended up not making the field.

 

[thebigabd]

Baylor is the Big12 champ. Winning a weekend tourney, only playing 2 games, does not make you a conference champ. I still don’t think Shaka smart is a great coach but texas has recruited some very talented players. I think Boynton is a good coach but we’ll see how he does without CC.

I agree that OU needs a new coach and Lon should retire. I just don’t buy smart and Boynton. This was an unusual year and this season will always have an asterisk.

Texas is hanging a banner that says Big 12 Champions... They are getting rings... You can poo poo all you want, but in basketball, tournaments decide championships. Screw the asterisks, they just beat arguably the hottest team in basketball to win it. That was a Final 4 caliber matchup.

On top of that.... Shaka just did something Rick Barnes, Tom Penders, etc NEVER did. Win the conference. All the talent that has flowed through the Texas program, and Shaka just did it.

How the hell did they not do this with the TJ Ford, Royal Ivey, Brandon Mouton, James Thomas group?

Someone other than Bill Self had a better regular season, and someone pretty new won the tournament. I dig it.

How about Mike Boynton as well.... Showed flashes while putting the foundation down, and now here is he is at age 39 on the national stage... damn near won the conference, had the hottest team in the country, and is going to get a 3 seed (most likely) in the NCAA Tournament. They also swept their primary rival (OU).

Boynton killed it this year.

 

[sheepdogs1]

Texas is hanging a banner that says Big 12 Champions... They are getting rings... You can poo poo all you want, but in basketball, tournaments decide championships. Screw the asterisks, they just beat arguably the hottest team in basketball to win it. That was a Final 4 caliber matchup.

On top of that.... Shaka just did something Rick Barnes, Tom Penders, etc NEVER did. Win the conference. All the talent that has flowed through the Texas program, and Shaka just did it.

How the hell did they not do this with the TJ Ford, Royal Ivey, Brandon Mouton, James Thomas group?

Someone other than Bill Self had a better regular season, and someone pretty new won the tournament. I dig it.

How about Mike Boynton as well.... Showed flashes while putting the foundation down, and now here is he is at age 39 on the national stage... damn near won the conference, had the hottest team in the country, and is going to get a 3 seed (most likely) in the NCAA Tournament.

Speaking of seeds, I saw where it's possible the Big 10 can end up with 4 #2 seeds or better.

 

[MrAnderson]

Speaking of seeds, I saw where it's possible the Big 10 can end up with 4 #2 seeds or better.

Almost a certainty, unless iowa drops to a 3

 

[soonerdanny]

On top of that.... Shaka just did something Rick Barnes, Tom Penders, etc NEVER did. Win the conference. All the talent that has flowed through the Texas program, and Shaka just did it.

You're wrong about at least one thing in every single post you make.

Baylor won the conference. Texas won the conference tournament. Rick Barnes won the conference three times at Texas. Shaka Smart has never won the conference.

 

[WichitaSooner]

You're wrong about at least one thing in every single post you make.

Baylor won the conference. Texas won the conference tournament. Rick Barnes won the conference three times at Texas. Shaka Smart has never won the conference.

This times a million. Conference tournaments are a blast. Some of my favorite memories of OU hoops come from attending the tourney in Kemper when I was in my early 20s and the Sooners owned the event. But I’d trade all three of those tourney wins for one regular season banner, and so would Kelvin and every college coach except those in one-bid leagues. Texas won a three-game tourney (and got a walkover along the way). Baylor won the conference and proved beyond all doubt who the best team in the league is.

 

[AdaSooner]

This times a million. Conference tournaments are a blast. Some of my favorite memories of OU hoops come from attending the tourney in Kemper when I was in my early 20s and the Sooners owned the event. But I’d trade all three of those tourney wins for one regular season banner, and so would Kelvin and every college coach except those in one-bid leagues. Texas won a three-game tourney (and got a walkover along the way). Baylor won the conference and proved beyond all doubt who the best team in the league is.

Exactly! The conference tourney trophy may look good in the trophy case. But there is no way winning a long weekend tournament rises to the level of winning the regular season title. The degree of difficulty alone settles that argument.

 

[WaymanFan]

But I’d trade all three of those tourney wins for one regular season banner, and so would Kelvin and every college coach except those in one-bid leagues.

No trade necessary. We won the regular season in 2005. Due to the fact they did not utilize tie-breakers, Kansas technically won a "share" of it (though we beat them in the regular season). We were the #1 seed in the 2005 conference tournament. We also won the regular season in 1979, 1984, 1985, 1988 and 1989.

 

[vbdad]

Boynton had a great year. Winning 5 games in overtime certainly help. He has always been able to have his kids play hard. This will win you a bunch of games. This year he did a great job by going small. It is easier to do when your point guard is bigger than most centers in the league.
He should get credit for Anderson and the Boone’s improvement. This is why they were better at the end of the year.
Shaka does a great job recruiting. Talent on his teams have been great. They don’t usually play up to their ability.

 

[WichitaSooner]

No trade necessary. We won the regular season in 2005. Due to the fact they did not utilize tie-breakers, Kansas technically won a "share" of it (though we beat them in the regular season). We were the #1 seed in the 2005 conference tournament. We also won the regular season in 1979, 1984, 1985, 1988 and 1989.

Oh I know we have multiple regular season titles, I should have clarified that I’d trade tourney titles for one MORE regular season crown. They are that much more valuable in my eyes.

 

[sanguinetti]

4-5 times i've seen the pokes this year i thought they played hard, get to the glass on both ends, d'up pretty good. seem to get a really good shot *a lot* of the time when they needed a hoop...having Cunningham helps, sure....and 2 of those times were against OU. limited sample, sure.

that said: hard not to respect that...and Boynton must be doing something right. we'll see after losing CC....but, my opinion of him as a coach has risen significantly.

 

[Soonerinkc]

Just curious ... does reg season champ vs tournament champ get trophy and rings? Football is only after championship... right?

Do other big 12 sports do a teg season vs tournament?

I’d agree reg season is better than tournament... especially this yr.

I’m all for Lon moving on but this definitely has a big * by it.

 

[BoulderSooner]

Just curious ... does reg season champ vs tournament champ get trophy and rings? Football is only after championship... right?

Do other big 12 sports do a teg season vs tournament?

I’d agree reg season is better than tournament... especially this yr.

I’m all for Lon moving on but this definitely has a big * by it.

In football the championship game is part of the regular season.


In basketball. The regular season champ gets a trophy a net and rings.


The tourney champ get a trophy that says big 12 tourney champ

 

[thebigabd]

You're wrong about at least one thing in every single post you make.

Baylor won the conference. Texas won the conference tournament. Rick Barnes won the conference three times at Texas. Shaka Smart has never won the conference.

Texas received the following:
Big 12 Championship
Cut down nets
Championship Rings
Banner will be hanging from the rafters at the Frank Erwin Center

Nobody trying to impugn the league tournament can change that. It just is what it is. It doesn't require defense. It doesn't require context.

As for all of you talking about Baylor... they are a great team, no doubt... But don't act like Texas has an asterisks and Baylor doesn't.

They played, what, 13 regular season Big 12 games? Kansas played 17. Tech played 17. WVU played 17.. That's 3 more opportunities they had to lose, have an injury, go on a slump, have a bad night, etc that others didn't have. Other teams were playing without major pieces on their roster at times, like OU... Baylor just didn't show up.

They need to stop awarding anything for "regular season" champs. It's completely inconsistent with everything in the sport.

Gonzaga doesn't get to be regular season NCAA Champion. They have to win a tournament, that they probably won't win, in order to claim a national championship.

 

[Max Power]

In football the championship game is part of the regular season.


In basketball. The regular season champ gets a trophy a net and rings.


The tourney champ get a trophy that says big 12 tourney champ

How is a conference championship game where only 2 teams out of 10 get to play regular season, but a conference tournament where all 10 team play isn’t? If the end goal is playoffs and ncaa tournament then both conference tournament and conference championship games are regular season

 

[Sooner04]

If you win the conference tournament you get a net and it is PROMINENTLY displayed on championship rings. I've held the rings in my hand for the tourney champs in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

Just because Lon has been dreadful in KC doesn't mean winning the conference tournament isn't a big deal. Kelvin was super thrilled with our three peat and extremely proud of the accomplishment. I had a picture of Top Daug standing atop the rim in Kansas City after our 1990 title in my bedroom for years. I wish I knew where that picture was now.