SB Nation User Blog: Jubanator14

Harlem Globetrotters Select Taylor Griffin with Top Pick in 2009 Draft

Jubanator14 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:10:00 -0000

Harlem Globetrotters Select Taylor Griffin with Top Pick in 2009 Draft

Congrats (?) to Taylor for being the first "pick" of the Harlem Globetrotter in the teams third annual player draft.

Willie Warren Returning For Another Season

Jubanator14 — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:31:57 -0000

Willie Warren Returning For Another Season

Great news out of Norman today as Willie Warren announced via text message that he will indeed come back for another year at OU. He made the right choice and I am not just saying that because I wanted him back for next year, he needs another year at least.

Coach Stoops Puts The * To Rest

Jubanator14 — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:33:25 -0000

I was originally going to stay out of all of this Texas 2008* Big 12 Championship stuff because it was last season and really, who cares anymore?

Well I found this story just too funny and pretty much sums up how we all should feel about this.

On Monday Coach Stoops was asked about all the hubbub about the * and what he thinks about it. Well Coach Stoops gave a great one liner that sums up how we all should probably feel about this.

It doesn’t matter to me at all. I know there isn’t one (an asterisk) on ours. I know where the trophy is.

So guys just remember, we know where the trophy is.

1st Annual Crimson & Cream Machine Bracket Contest Update

Jubanator14 — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:45:47 -0000

So the Final Four is set and ready to go. We have a tight race in the 1st Annual Crimson & Cream Machine Bracket contest with a possible Sooner related prize*.

*(Prize is still pending, might just be some respect)

So here are the current standings after the first weekend of action:

Rank	Bracket	Points	Possible Pts
1	ThunderMav	93	141
1	ReddirtSooners	93	141
3	Jubanator14's Bracket	87	103
4	Bracket 1	82	130
5	SoonerT	79	79
6	Alasooner	76	76
6	SoonersNews	76	76
8	boomer1	73	73
9	Redhawk's	72	120
10	No love for AJ	66	66

So we have a tie at first place and they both have the same possible point remaining, however; ThunderMav has North Carolina winning it all while ReddirtSooners has UCONN winning it all.

Next Monday we could have a title game of UNC and UCONN which would make for some drama in our challenge. Those two are the only two that have a shot at winning since the rest of us with teams remaining are the same as those two. A Championship matchup of Michigan St and Villanova would produce a tie though.

I will take some suggestions for a prize if there is something you guys think would make for a good prize in the comments. In the mean time, thanks for playing.

1st Annual Crimson & Cream Machine Bracket Contest Update

Jubanator14 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:24:48 -0000

We are done with the first two rounds of the tournament which means we now have some standings for the 1st Annual Crimson & Cream Machine Bracket contest with a possible Sooner related prize*

*(Prize is still pending, might just be some respect)

So here are the current standings after the first weekend of action:

ThunderMav - 53 points with 14/16 Sweet 16
Redhawk's - 52 points with 15/16 Sweet 16
nmajdan - 50 points with 14/16 Sweet 16
boomer1 & ReddirtSooners - 49 points with 13/16 Sweet 16
fourth place tie
Alasooner - 48 points with 13/16 Sweet 16
SoonersNews - 48 with 12/16 Sweet 16
Jubanator14 & SoonerT - 47 points with 11 Sweet 16
eighth place tie
No love for AJ - 46 with 12/16 Sweet 16

So we have a tight race for the maybe prize. If you would like to check out the group and follow it over the weekend, follow this link and it should let you see it. If it doesn't I'll bring another update next Monday.

1st Annual Crimson & Cream Machine Bracket Contest

Jubanator14 — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:24:39 -0000

Everyone fills out brackets so why not compete against each other. I am proud to announce the 1st annual Crimson & Cream Machine Bracket Contest.

I have set up a group on Yahoo and implore you all to sign up and join in because there is a good chance that there might be some kind of Oklahoma related prize for the winner of the challenge.

You can click this link and enter the group # 130757. The password for the group is: Boomer Sooner

Good luck...because you will need it against me.

Selection Sunday Open Thread

Jubanator14 — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:28:50 -0000

This is my favorite day of the year besides my birthday and Christmas hands down. All of the craziness that is Championship week finally culminates with Greg Gumble announcing which teams got what seeds and are playing where and then delivering the announcement to those unfortunate teams that have their bubble popped.

I love the excitement you see when they got to the smaller schools live and see all of the players and fan celebrating when they see that they get to be the team that gets beat down by the number 1 seed.

With all that said, here are a few predictions from me about what could happen:

North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Louisville, and Memphis will be the number 1 seeds.
The Big East will lead the way with 7 teams in but the Big 12 will be second with 6. The Big 10 will end up only getting 5 teams in.
Oklahoma will get the toughest and final 2 seed and get to play in Kansas City while Kansas and Missouri get 3 seeds. Texas and Oklahoma St. will be in an 8/9 game while Texas A&M will get a 10 seed.
Either Wisconsin or Minnesota will be left out in favor for St. Mary's and the ESPN guys will go completely insane and scream about mid-majors getting in over mediocre major teams.

So here is the spot to join in on the discussion Selection Sunday bracket revealing happenings and to make fun of the ESPN show afterward.

Big 12 Conference Tournament Bedlam Game Thread – #7 Oklahoma State Vs. #2 Oklahoma

Jubanator14 — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:12:35 -0000

Tip Time: 2:35 p.m. CST

Location: Lloyd Noble

TV: Big 12 Network
KOCB 34 in Oklahoma City
KJRH 2 in Tulsa
ESPN Full Court

Radio: KOKC AM 1520 in Oklahoma City, KTBZ AM 1430 in Tulsa

Series: OU leads 125-89

Oklahoma State's Projected Starters
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Year	2008-09 Stats
F	33	Marshall Moses	6-6	235	So.	6.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 53.2 FG%
G	00	Byron Eaton	5-11	210	Sr.	14.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 5.5 apg
G	1	Terrel Harris	6-5	205	Sr.	14.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 36.7 3FG%
G	12	Keiton Page	5-10	168	Fr.	9.2 ppg, 1.3 apg, 41.7 3FG%
G	23	James Anderson	6-6	205	So.	18.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 43.0 3FG%

Oklahoma's Projected Starters
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Year	2008-09 Stats
F	23	Blake Griffin	6-10	251	So.	22.1 ppg, 14.2 rpg, 63.4 FG%
F	32	Taylor Griffin	6-7	238	Sr.	9.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 53.8 FG%
G	5	Tony Crocker	6-6	206	Jr.	9.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 36.6 3FG%
G	13	Willie Warren	6-4	207	Fr.	14.7 ppg, 3.1 apg, 37.8 3FG%
G	20	Austin Johnson	6-3	176	Sr.	8.6 ppg, 3.9 apg, 34.8 3FG%

Well this has been a crazy Big 12 tournament so far.

First Texas Tech knocked off Texas A&M behind Mike Singletary's 43 points last night, and now today Baylor knocked off the number 1 seed Kansas. So that leaves the Sooners are the highest remaining seed in the tournament.

This is the third and final Bedlam matchup this season and is probably the most important. They say it is tough to beat a team three times in a season, as Texas A&M found out last night, but if we come out and play our game, we will win this by double digits.

53 Game Thursday of Championship Week Open Thread

Jubanator14 — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:56:52 -0000

Today is one of the greatest days of the year for basketball fans. There are a mind blowing 53 conference tournament games today. We will have a Bedlam Pt. 3 Thread open around 5:00pm tonight but for all the other games, chat it up here.

53!!

So we are going to have an open thread for all of the games today not including Oklahoma. All of the power conference will have tipped off today and there are a few smaller conference's that are in their semifinals.

So with a very big H/T to Rock M Nation here is today's schedule with a link to watch it online for those of you stuck at work and want to watch some of these games.

Big 12 Quarterfinals (in Oklahoma City)

1 Kansas v. 9 Baylor (11:30am on ESPN2, ATDHE.net)
4 Kansas State v. 5 Texas (2:00pm on ESPN+)
2 Oklahoma v. 7 Oklahoma State (6:00pm on ESPN+)
3 Missouri v. 11 Texas Tech (8:30 on ESPN2, ATDHE.net)

Big East Quarterfinals (at MSG)

1 Louisville v. 8 Providence (11:00am on ESPN, ATDHE.net)
4 Villanova v. 5 Marquette (1:30pm on ESPN, ATDHE.net)
2 Pittsburgh v. 7 West Virginia (6:00pm on ESPN, ATDHE.net)
3 UConn v. 6 Syracuse (8:30pm on ESPN, ATDHE.net)

Pac-10 Quarterfinals (in LA)

4 Arizona State v. 5 Arizona (2:00pm on FSN, ATDHE.net)
1 Washington v. 9 Stanford (4:30pm on FSN, ATDHE.net)
3 California v. 6 USC (8:00pm on FSN, ATDHE.net)
2 UCLA v. 7 Washington State (10:30pm on FSN, ATDHE.net)

Atlantic 10 Quarterfinals (in Atlantic City)

1 Xavier v. 9 St. Louis (11:00am)
4 Temple v. 5 St. Joseph's (1:30pm)
2 Rhode Island v. 7 Duquesne (5:30pm)
3 Dayton v. 6 Richmond (8:00pm)

Big West Quarterfinals (in Anaheim)

3 Pacific v. 8 UC-Davis (8:00pm)
4 UC-Santa Barbara v. 7 CS-Fullerton (10:30pm)

Conference USA Quarterfinals (in Memphis)

2 Tulsa v. 10 Rice (12:00pm)
3 UAB v. 11 Southern Miss (2:30pm)
1 Memphis v. 8 Tulane (6:00pm)
4 UTEP v. 5 Houston (8:30pm)

MAC Quarterfinals (in Cleveland)

2 Ball State v. 7 Central Michigan (11:00am)
3 Buffalo v. 6 Kent State (1:30pm)
1 Bowling Green v. 9 Ohio (6:00pm)
4 Miami-OH v. 5 Akron (8:30pm)

MEAC Quarterfinals (in Raleigh)

3 Norfolk State v. 6 Bethune Cookman (5:00pm)
4 North Carolina A&T v. 5 Coppin State (7:00pm)

Mountain West Quarterfinals (in Vegas Baby Vegas)

1 BYU v. 9 Air Force (2:00pm)
4 San Diego State v. 5 UNLV (4:30pm)
2 Utah v. 7 TCU (8:00pm)
3 New Mexico v. 6 Wyoming (10:30pm)

Southland Quarterfinals (in Katy, TX)

2 Nicholls State v. 7 Texas State (12:00pm)
3 Sam Houston v. 6 UT-San Antonio (2:30pm)
1 Stephen F. Austin v. 8 SE Louisiana (6:00pm)
4 Texas A&M-CC v. 5 UT-Arlington (8:30pm)

SWAC Quarterfinals (in Birmingham)

3 Prairie View A&M v. 6 Mississippi Valley State (2:30pm)
4 UA-Pine Bluff v. 5 Southern U. (8:00pm)

WAC Quarterfinals (in Reno)

4 Boise State v. 5 New Mexico State (2:00pm)
1 Utah State v. 9 Fresno State (4:30pm)
2 Nevada v. 7 San Jose State (8:00pm)
3 Idaho v. 6 Louisiana Tech (10:30pm)

ACC Round One (in Atlanta)

8 Virginia Tech v. 9 Miami-FL (11:00am on ESPN360)
5 Clemson v. 12 Georgia Tech (2:00pm on ESPN360)
7 Maryland v. 10 N.C. State (6:00pm on ESPN2, ATDHE.net)
6 Boston College v. 11 Virginia (8:00pm on ESPN360)

Big Ten Round One (in Indianapolis)

8 Minnesota v. 9 Northwestern (11:00am)
7 Michigan v. 10 Iowa (1:30pm on ESPN2, ATDHE.net)
6 Penn State v. 11 Indiana (4:00pm on ESPN2, ATDHE.net)

SEC Round One (in Tampa)

E4 Kentucky v. W5 Ole Miss (12:00pm on ESPN360, ATDHE.net)
W3 Mississippi State v. E6 Georgia (2:15pm on ESPN360, ATDHE.net)
W4 Alabama v. E5 Vanderbilt (6:30pm on ESPN360, ATDHE.net)
E3 Florida v. W6 Arkansas (8:45pm on ESPN360, ATDHE.net)

Big 12 Conference Tournament Preview

Jubanator14 — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:43:08 -0000

(I posted this over at FanIQ but I wanted to share this with you guys too)

The Big 12 might be having a down season this year but they have the defending National Champion in Kansas and the likely National Player of the Year in Blake Griffin. Throw in teams that are playing their best basketball down the stretch like Texas A&M and Oklahoma St., in addition to the crazy hectic style of Missouri and you have what will be one very entertaining tournament.

Not only will the Big 12 Tournament be very entertaining this season, there are also at least six teams playing for NCAA tournament seeding and bids. Oklahoma and Kansas are a Big 12 Championship away from a 1 seed while Missouri is in the running for a 3 or 4 seed. Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma St. are all battling it out to get the best 7-10 seed that they can get while teams like Kansas St. and Nebraska are clinging to outside Tournament possibilities.

The Favorites

#2 Oklahoma - The Sooners have been a #1 seed lock up until recent struggles but in my opinion they are the best team in the conference. They are led by conference player of the year Blake Griffin and conference freshman of the year Willie Warren. The Sooners started out the season 25-1 but a Blake Griffin concussion has had the Sooners semi stumbling to the finish line as they went 2-3 over their last 5 games. The Sooners could have a very tough road to the Conference Championship with possible games against Oklahoma St., Missouri or Texas A&M, then Kansas. If the Sooners win the tournament they will be the final number 1 seed and get to play their 1st and 2nd round games in Kansas City.

#1 Kansas - The Jayhawks won their 5th consecutive regular season championship this past season and 9th in Big 12 history. The Jayhawks have a great inside-outside combo in Sherron Collins who was named first team All Big 12 this week and Cole Aldrich who has been a beast in the middle this season. Freshman Tyshawn Taylor has been up and down all season but has seemed to turn the corner these last 5 games. The Jayhawks have a slightly easier path to the tournament finals with possible games against Nebraska or Baylor, then Kansas St. or Texas in the semifinals. The Jayhawks have an outside chance at a number 1 seed in the Big Dance but a conference tournament championship would lock up a 2 seed and 1st and 2nd round games in Kansas City.

#3 Missouri - The Tigers have had a renaissance this season under Mike Anderson and are just as dangerous Kansas and Oklahoma since they have beaten both this season. The only problem is both wins came in Missouri and the Big 12 Tournament is being played in Oklahoma City. Missouri has All Big 12 first teamer DeMarre Carroll, Big 12 sixth man of the year Matt Lawrence and Big 12 defensive player of the year JT Tiller. Missouri averaged 81 points per game this season and they play Mike Anderson's run and gun style perfectly. Missouri likes to push the ball every chance they get and put some kind of full court ball pressure on their opponent. Missouri could possibly play their way to a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament if they are able to knock off Oklahoma and Kansas in back to back nights.

The Sleepers

#6 Texas A&M - The Aggies have been playing their best basketball of the season here at the end of the year and have won 7 in a row to close it out. Texas A&M has wins over Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma St., and Arizona this season and have all the piecies to put together a run through the Big 12 tournament.

#7 Oklahoma St. - The Cowboys also are playing thier best basketball of the season right now. They have won 6 of their last 7 and are scoring a Big 12 high 82 points per game this season. The Cowboys also play a frantic 4 guard, fire up as many shots as they can kind of style that is hard to prepare for and can wear teams down. If the Cowboys can get their shots to drop, they could make a magical run through the Big 12 tournament.

The Big 12 also did something new this year as they moved their conference tournament up a day so the final is now on Saturday night instead of Sunday right before the Selection Sunday special on CBS. They did that so the Big 12 Champion could get a better look at a better seed since by the time the Big 12 tournament final was finished, the bracket was usually already done.

Wednesday (All times Central and my pick will be bolded)

11:30am: #8 Nebraska vs #9 Baylor
2:00 pm: #5 Texas vs #12 Colorado
6:00 pm: #7 Oklahoma State vs #10 Iowa State
8:30 pm: #6 Texas A&M vs #11 Texas Tech

Thursday - Quarterfinals

11:30 am on ESPN2: #1 Kansas vs #8 Nebraska
2:00 pm: #4 Kansas State vs #5 Texas
6:00 pm: #2 Oklahoma vs #7 Oklahoma St.
8:30 pm on ESPN2: #3 Missouri vs #6 Texas A&M

Friday - Semifinals

6:00 pm: #1 Kansas vs #5 Texas
8:30 pm: #2 Oklahoma vs #3 Missouri

Saturday - Big 12 Title Game

5:00 on ESPN: #1 Kansas vs #2 Oklahoma

That is how I see this Big 12 tournament playing out. Yes I know it looks like a homer pick and Kansas has already beaten Oklahoma this season in Norman but that was without Blake Griffin. A healthy Blake Griffin means too much for Kansas and the Sooners win a classic Big 12 championship game and lock up that final number 1 seed in the Big Dance.