To sign up for the CRFF 2012 Tourney Challenge, go to the CRFF Bracket Challenge on Yahoo where our Group ID # is 138341 and the Password is "finalfour2013"

You can track your picks online there, but if you're old school and like to print one out for all to see - there's a good printable bracket here

Top 3 winners get a shirt from CRFF.

Good Luck!

The graph above represents my favorite stat in all of basketball, Assists to Field Goals Made. Or to put it another way: What percentage of the made baskets came from good passing?

Forgive me for simplifying here, but over a wide sample (like a season), the teams that do well offensively tend to do so by getting a lot of easy shots. Layups and 10 footers don't have off nights like three-pointers, 18 footers, and circus shots do. So generally the teams that can get the most easy shots will perform better over time, and the only way to consistently get easy shots is through good passing. Take a look at that graph and the picture becomes clear as to why the Cowboy offense seems to be having a harder and harder time scoring over the past few years.... good passing, along with the leadership at the PG position, is simply not there. (isn't is nice when there is a stat that backs up what you already thought?)

For reference, here are the A/FGM ratios for the top teams in the nation right now. (I usually set the bar at 55% to consider the team to have a well run offense*)

* This stat doesn't work as well with dribble-drive offenses like Kentucky and the Eaton lead Cowboys because the official scorers don't give out the assists as freely when they are kickouts and handoffs as much of the passing tends to be in that offense.

And yes, we have pretty much given up on game preview and recaps around here. Those are kinda boring anyway no? Now it is all rambling nonsense or quick posts about a telling stat. Enjoy it.

Recap? What is a recap?

Winners

Justin Blackmon, Andrew Luck
Both solidified their high praise and further improved their respective draft stocks with this showing on a national stage. This improvement may have moved Blackmon into the top 5 and Luck to the Elway-gasm pick.

Justin Gilbert
The interception, solid coverage (for the most part), showcasing that ridiculous speed, and providing excellent run support. Time and time again the Stanford backs were getting around the corner, and every time JG was there, he held his ground.

Stepfan Taylor and the Cardinal O-line
That line is big and bruising and got the most push I have seen anyone get against the Pokes all season. They didn't so much open holes as move the entire pile forward. Then Taylor would drive into all the space and find at least 5 yards every time. Taylor's speed/size/power combo was impressive. That dude comes at you full speed by his 2nd step, doesn't stutter step, doesn't dance, just squares up and runs downhill. He is who I would love Smiff to be.

Markelle Martin
Delivered some huge hits, including the facemask rearranger that we will see in OSU highlight packages for years to come.

Continue reading this post »

A quick reference for fans and non-fans alike!

Q. What are the expectations this season?
A. There are a lot of young players on the team who will be depended on to develop quickly if there is to be success in 2012. While making the NCAA Tournament is always the bare minimum goal at Oklahoma State, I think most fans would be happy with seeing the foundation of a future good team being poured and a glimpse at the potential of a solid 2012-2013 season.

Q. Is there a rich basketball tradition at Oklahoma State?
A. Absolutely. The Cowboys play in historic Gallagher-Iba Arena, the rowdiest two-thirds-full arena in the country. The white maple floor in GIA onto which this season airballs harmlessly fall and 12 11 10 guys urinate all over has been in place for 74 years! Legendary coaches like Henry Iba and Eddie Sutton have graced the program, and the current coach is following in their footsteps in that he wears a suit and has hair.

Continue reading this post »

Last night it was announced that Reger Dowell was leaving the Cowboy basketball team and would be looking to transfer. This comes on the heels of Fred Gulley doing the same thing making it two point guards in a week to leave the team. There is plenty of speculation about why these two guys left, and I assume that no light will be shed on the situation through the press conference other than Coach Ford saying that it was best for both sides and hopefully not repeating his mistake of the Gulley press conference where he expressed excitement at his rotations now being easier to manage. So let's get to the two main interesting things to talk about here.

1. Are these events an indictment on the Travis Ford administration?
2. What will the player rotations be for the rest of this season (assuming no one else leaves the team... DIG!)

Continue reading this post »

Make of this what you will.

There were plenty of makeable shots in these 55 that did not drop and plenty that weren't even close. I'm pretty sure that JPO caused structural damage to the basket supports with a few of those chucks he threw in the general direction of the rim. Why aren't these shots dropping? Do we need 500 hours of shooting drills? Is it a confidence thing? Do we just have a team full of bad shooters?

Whatever the cause, this needs to be fixed soon if there is to be any hope of a postseason for the Cowboys.

It shouldn't come as surprising news that Stanford and Oklahoma State fans don't have a lot in common and don't know a lot about each other. Oh, you didn't know that? How did you not know that? Well, they don't. There are just so many differences in the schools, the regions, the people, the number of Asian students, etc. Just so many differences. For example, Stanford is located in California while Oklahoma State is not. This is just one difference. There are more.

In an effort to bridge the gap between the fans and offer a bit of understanding of the other side, I asked for a list of Oklahoma State related questions from a fake guy I know that fake goes to Stanford. What follows is a list of things that he was wondering about Oklahoma State fans. I told him that we would do our best to read his questions. Then we would try a little less hard to actually answer a few.

Continue reading this post »

CRFF gets a quote from a stereotypical fan.

Over the weekend, Robert Griffin III became the first Heisman winner in Baylor history as he beat out Andrew Luck and Trent Richardson for the prestigious award. What do you think about this?

Oklahoma State Fan
"But he had a terrible game against us! Why isn't more emphasis placed on one bad performance? At Oklahoma State, we are firm believers that you are as bad as your worst performance."

Baylor Fan
"Yeah! We're all gonna get LAIDDDD....ladles of Dr. Pepper served to all!"

Oklahoma Fan
"Fucking Heupel."

CRFF gets a soundbite from a fanbase's most stereotypical fan.

Last night, Justin Blackmon won the Belitnikoff award becoming only the 2nd player to ever win the award twice. What are your feelings on this?

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"Blackmon is the best. I can't wait to watch him in the BCS title game
and to see if he can win the award a 3rd time as a Senior."

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"Hey, they showed something about Crabtree during the award presentation! Tech is relevant again! Get yer 2008 Guns up!"

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"Fucking Landry"

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Spacing, Spacing, Spacing.
This 4-out approach seems to have become the main half court offensive set for the Pokes, and compared to what they were doing in the Stanford game, it is an improvement. It gives Page more opportunities for catch and shoots coming off screens (where he is deadly)*, it gets Nash the ball on the block with space to operate, and it gives the slashers (JPO, Brown, Williams, Dowell) room to slash.

Towards the end of the 1st half, the Cowboys went away from the 4-out approach because they had 2 low post players in the game in Cobbins and Nash, and as a result the area inside the 3 point line was constantly clogged. In the 2nd half Cobbins and Nash were in together a lot and instead of each sitting on opposing low post spots, they gave each other space to work by clearing for the other when the situation called for it.

With all the slashers and athletes on this team, the entire key to the halfcourt offense working is there being plenty of space for them to operate. Athleticism doesn't matter if you are playing in a space the size of a closet. That is why I love the 4-out set as it provides plenty of room for everyone, and when 2 low-post players are in at the same time they can still apply those principles of spacing even though 2 guys will be inside the arc most of the time.

*I wish I had access to super advanced play metrics as I would guess that Page shoots about 40% better when he does not dribble before the shot. I would bet he shoots like 70% on catch and shoots, and 25% off the dribble. In addition, he is a great passer when he draws the defense with the dribble. The 2-man game with Page and Nash/Cobbins/Jurick has become one of the brighter spots of the offense. What I am saying is, Page should almost never shoot once he has put the ball on the floor unless he can get all the way to the rim.

Continue reading this post »

Thanks to the heroics of Cezar Guerrero, the Cowboy hoopeyballers have the pleasure of taking on the Stanford Cardinal in Madison Square Garden this evening at 6:00 central time.  Since the Cowboy's gameplan heading into each game is "eh.. let's play everyone in the first 5 minutes and whoever looks good stays in", there is no great way to preview this team. But we can talk a little about the matchup and a few things the Pokes need to improve upon if they want to advance to the finals to take on either Syracuse or Virginia Tech, but really Syracuse.

Must Improve - Perimeter Defense
Aaron Bright is what makes the Cardinal go. He is a small (5'11) guard who can do a little bit of everything.  Dude is their leading scorer (14 ppg), shoots 49% from the floor, and shoots 53% from beyond the arc this season.  His 2-point shooting actually hurts his overall percentage... that is a ridiculous stat. On top of that, Bright dishes out 3.5 dimes a game and is the primary ball handler for the tree. If the Pokes want to have any shot at containing him they are going to have to get about 47 times better at defending the high screens and they are going to have to have someone step up and guard Bright.  UTSA killed the Cowboys by bringing a big (or 2) up to set a ball screen for a guard who would try to either drive off or it, hit the screener on a roll, or pass to another open guard if the Cowboys brought help. It was painful to repeatedly watch both Cowboy defenders go high, or both go low, or both just wet themselves.
The difficulty in defending this is somewhat understandable as there was a big change for the Pokes in that they played exclusively man-to-man defense in the UTSA game. They will have the same problem this week unless the perimeter defenders can contain Bright, and figure out how to properly defend the screens.

Continue reading this post »

I hate typing "2 others" as though they don't matter, but truthfully I don't know who they are yet.

Women's Head Basketball Coach Kurt Budke and assistant Miranda Serna were on their way back from a recruiting trip last night when their plane went down in Arkansas. All on board were killed.

This really isn't our specialty, so I will just offer this space to leave your thoughts and send well wishes, prayers, etc to the families, friends, players, teamates, colleagues, supporters, and all of those affected by this tragedy (all of us included).

Sad day for the Cowboy Family.

Updates and details here.

Last night, Cezar Guerrero did something I didn't think was possible right now - he overshadowed the football program.  It may have only been for a few hours, but there was a magical time at about 9:30 last night where more OSU fans were focused on basketball than on our #2 football team. This is what the program needs, transcendent athletes. Can Cezar, and possibly Le'Bryan Nash, become transcendent and bring basketball passion back to the Oklahoma State fanbase?.

In all the talking and complaining that has been done over the past few seasons about attendance at the basketball games continuing to decline, I haven't heard anyone mention what I believe is the main cause of this.  Most theories have pointed to the rise of the football program, the unceremonious exit of the Suttons, the hiring of an "outsider", and lack of success as the culprits for this fall off in interest... and sure, all of these are factors.  But all of this could have happened in 1999 and we still would have gone to the games.  Why?  Because we did not want to risk potentially missing something special from Desmond, Doug and Joe. The thing these last 4 years or so have been lacking as much as anything is exciting players that the fans latch on to. A player or two that transcend wins and losses, that fans indentify with, and that people can't wait to get to GIA to watch play (or even just warm up).

While James Anderson, Obi Muenelo, and Marshall Moses were great Cowboy players, they weren't particularly dynamic.  You were never worried that you might miss something special if you went to the concession stand while they were playing .  I would say the last guy we had that was transcendent like this was JamesOn Curry, and he left 5 seasons ago (I would listen to a case for Eaton, but I always felt the fanbase was torn on him). Could Cezar and Le'Bryan reach this transcendent level?

First, what makes a basketball player transcendent? I think they have to have 2 qualities.

1. They have to be capable of doing something on the court that is instantly exciting.  Something that can come out of nowhere and turn a game around.  Some examples:
   Dunking ability - Desmond Mason
   Flurry Scoring - Adkins, Curry, Baker, Graham, Allen, Lucas were all capable of a quick scoring flurry that either stretched a lead or brought us back from a deficit.  
   High Energy - Victor Williams, Gottlieb, Andre Williams. Typically non-scorers who could up the tempo, apply defensive pressure, and bring an energy to the team that would spur a nice run.
2. They have to be relatable to us as fans. We need to see emotion on the court. We need to see them enjoying themselves when things go well and to be fired up and possibly pissed off when things weren't going well. We want to see some semblance of our fan emotions being expressed through the athletes mannerisms, expressions, and play.

Back to the entire topic of this post, could Cezar and/or Le'Bryan leap to this transcendent level and bring a bunch of disenfranchised Oklahoma State basketball fans back to GIA?  If last night is any indicator, Cezar is already there. Don't want to miss a second of action when he is on the court... check.  Shows emotion, plays to the fans, makes us love him... check (times 20).

I have heard plenty of detractors today saying "it was only UTSA".  If you really believe this, you are perpetuating the attitude that has lead to this attendance and interest drop off, and you are a borderline bad fan.  After all, it is only UTSA, why should anyone go to that game?  Every game matters, every game is a big deal because it is Cowboy Damn Basketball and 6 years ago we were pumped up about every freaking game that we were lucky enough to witness.  We didn't become the rowdiest arena in the country because we sat in our living rooms and said "pfftt... it's only UTSA".  It's our job as much as it is Coach Ford's to bring the excitement back, and it starts with caring about every game. (yes this paragraph was off topic, but I have heard this like 10 times today and it was pissing me off)

So no, the rowdy is not back just yet, but I do believe that having an established transcendent player (Cezar), and one that is poised to have his breakout moment (Nash), is a huge step toward getting it back to the level we all want it to be at.  I just hope that right now, everyone is as excited as I am for New York and what this exciting, albeit young and mistake prone, team can do while the nation is watching, and can't wait for the next opportunity to watch them on the white maple.

Although you can never be sure that you have left Lubbock completely unscathed until the blood-work comes back 4 days later, the Cowboys walk away from this one having crushed the souls of the Red Raiders, and converted most of the nation to believers in the process. The MDM Brandon Weeden was on point, the protection was there all day, the WR's were consistently open, and the RB's were finding plenty of holes that were 3 times wider than their shoulder pads to blast through en route to handing Tech its worst home loss in history.

66 POINTS!

Oh yeah, the defense played alright also. They only gave up 834 yards, and got lucky that Tech stalled out, that their QB had a terrible game, that some loose balls bounced their way, and that they could hold in the redzone. (shhh... don't compliment the defense, they are thriving on this no respect thing)

Also, the hoopeyballers pulled a football team and laid the white maple to the TAMCC with a 71-39 victory. Everyone except for Czechers Soucek played at least 11 minutes and the Pokes recorded one of their best assist/turnover ratio's of the past 2 years with 11 assists and only 6 turnovers.

Recaps for both will be coming soon, for now leave your comments below.

If your herpes related search term brought you to this page, I apologize, google now officially sees the search terms "herpes" and "Texas Tech" as having the exact same meaning.

If you are here to discuss this ballgame today, then by all means head on into the comments and let's discuss away.

This is your GameThread.

As was declared last season between games 9 and 10, CRFF is officially on board the "unreasonably optimistic" bandwagon, and all naysayers are heretofore put on notice that doubting comments will be met with punishment, shunning, or at least replied to with a passive aggressive comment of our own (ooohhh you don't want that).

9-0 sons and daughters... 9 AND 0.

No more self-doubting, no more uttering the "P.C." term, no more waiting for the other shoe to drop.  This team is good enough to reach its goal, and while there are no guarantees that they get there, that is no reason to be pragmatic about this.

In celebration of this policy shift at CRFF, the official CRFF logo is further updated from this post after the Missouri game, to this:

Act accordingly.

The season officially gets underway in two days when the Cowboys take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Well, in lieu of something proper, enjoy this mess of a collection of thoughts, notes, poems, assessments, evaluations, accidental porn links, and predictions based on what we have seen of this team so far. I'll just list a bunch of structureless things here and write some stuff about it, since I have been accused of getting long winded typed when it comes to bball, and the existence of a #2 football team is a huge distraction from the hoopeyballers, I'll try keep each section short and to the point.

Tempo - This team is definitely playing faster than last season. It's not even close. It all starts with the sometimes full, sometimes 3/4, sometimes half court press/trap that is leading to a lot of forced turnovers and fast breaks, but the tempo is also pushed thanks to quick outlets on defensive rebounds, quick inbounds after makes, and terrible shot selection with 15 seconds still on the shot clock.

Half-Court Offense - The worst aspect of this team right now. There is poor chemistry, no consistency, poor spacing, and bad timing. Good possessions are rare, and most of the scoring from the half-court sets comes in the form of putbacks, individual effort, and the occasional nice two-man game. This isn't all that shocking considering all the new faces on the team, and the lack of defined roles at this point. The initial answer to fixing this will probably be to simplify the offense for a while, spread the floor, let the slashers create in space, and hope the individual talents can overcome the lack of cohesiveness.  By the time conference play starts though, some chemistry will need to develop or we will be in for some frustrating, ball hogging, low shooting percentage, high turnover performances.

Defense - The trap press has been very effective at producing turnovers, and in the OBU game the Cowboys were able to recover very well when the press was beaten (in the first game this was not the case). The press reminds me a lot of the pressure the Frank Anderson Mizzou teams used to apply. The Cowboys try to force the ball into certain spots on the court that are most ideal to spring a trap or go for a steal. It isn't an intense man press by any means, and often times looks more like token pressure than a real threat, but when the trap springs it is quick and decisive and has lead to a lot of favorable results thus far. Also, the on ball defense has been impressive thus far, and there was a huge improvement in defensive rotation from game 1 to game 2.

Continue reading this post »

Warning: egocentric blogger speaking for an entire fanbase ahead

Oklahoma State fans are tortured souls.  I know there are disasters in the world that are much worse than supporting a perpetually middling football program so using a word like "tortured" is a little over the top. Famine, for example, is worse than this. Drug cartels, war, floods - all bigger disasters. Hell, there are probably even more things in the world than these four that are just as tragic than being a long-time Oklahoma State fan... NUCLEAR MISSILES! I knew I could think of one more.  So when I use the term "tortured soul", take it in the context that there are worse things out there (at least 5), and I am simply using the term in lieu of a better phrasing that I am too unoriginal to come up with. 

So how does this torture manifest itself?  First, a brief history of the experience of being an Oklahoma State fan over the past 50 years...

OU OU OUOUOUOUOUOUOUOUOUOUOU no one cares about wrestling, golf, baseball, basketball ou ou OUOU OU! OU? Yes, OU! OUOUOU OUououOU Henry Iba OUOUOU OU OU OU OU BOOMER OU OU No Big 8/12 championships OU OU ou ou OU Hey, Pistol Pete was in an ESPN commercial OU OU ou ou OU oU SOONER OU OU ou ou Bob Simmons OU page 5 of the Daily Oklahoman sports section OU OU

Don't misunderstand, this is not OU's fault (unlike everything else, including all the disasters I mentioned in the first paragraph). It really isn't anyone's fault that we have been wired this way.  What has happened is a result of Oklahoma State always feeling as though there were a shadow cast over it.  In our minds, Oklahoma State is like the beautiful farm house with the wholesome family living inside, big healthy horses and livestock out back, and an attractive farmhand who likes to work the fields with his shirt off (uh uhm, I'm off track - anyway, there is a lot of nice stuff)... but all this beauty is hidden from street view by a massive corporate farm/asshole factory.  In a way, the fact that our farmhouse is so secluded is what made us love it in the first place.  It was as though we were in on a great secret that all those looking at the corporate farm as they drive by were not privy to.  We love this about our school, our fellow alumni, and the city of Stillwater.

Continue reading this post »

The official BCS standings are out, and as expected the Pokes take the #2 slot, and have a nice margin over the Tide at #3. The Pokes are #2 in the Harris, tied for #1 in the computer composite, and #3 in the Coaches right behind the neck beard's team, although by a very slight margin. You may commence urinating your pants now.

Full standings here.

A few quick hitting points about all the things Oklahoma State fans are feeling, doing, and feel-doing on this huge weekend for Cowboy sports.

Did everyone catch that #1 vs #2 game last night? 9-6...WOW! LSU eventually won on penalty kicks and is now in the drivers seat to get to New Orleans. The path for Oklahoma State to the title game became a little more direct as well, since there is no way voters will put a one-loss Bama above the Cowboys.  You can't ask for a rematch in the title game when the home team lost the original matchup. If they couldn't beat them at home, why should they get a neutral field shot? Also might want to look into a new kicker. I hear Gus has some eligibility left.

Speaking of asses (hey ho! Insulting segue champion!), how about this video of Herbstreit during the quake of 2011.

And last but not least, and the thing I am most serious about, everyone that is available, and is not performing earthquake repairs, head up to Stilly again today at 2:00 to watch the ridiculously athletic Cowboy basketball team take on OBU in the last exhibition contest. I think you can get tickets for $10, and it is a hell of a show to watch. OBU actually has a 7 footer and some 6'6 and 6'7 guys so this should be a little more telling example of how good this team could be than the Panhandle State game.

K-State recaps will be coming over the next couple of days. For now, let's sum it up by saying Collin Klein can be really really good, and Bill Young needs to look into spying on 4th and 7's when they have successfully run it with the QB 4 of the last 5 plays.

The Cowboys were able to hold on in spite of the admittedly amazing performance by Collin Klein, Coach Snyder, and the K-State Wildcats... .and in spite of 4 turnovers from our 2 heisman candidates.  With the loss by Bama, it is assumed that this victory pushes the Cowboys into the coveted #2 slot in the BCS standings. Also, we all just got our asses whipped by an earthquake. So to recap, Oklahoma State did not choke in-spite of all the signs pointing to a classic orange kick in the groin, and the entire state of Oklahoma just got absolutely rocked by another earthquake. 2012 yall... 2012. This is your celebration/earthquake insurance questions thread.

No. 14 Kansas State at No. 3 Oklahoma State

Nov 5, 2011 | 7 p.m. CT | Boone Pickens Stadium | God's Country

TV: ABC

Internet: ESPN3

Here we go.  #1 vs #2. The national championship game is today in Alabama.  Oh, also, Oklahoma State is playing Kansas State in what should be a nice matchup.

This is your GameThread. Chat it up.

Since CRFF, and every other Oklahoma State site out there, have spent the last month calling everyone who points to total defense as a reason Oklahoma State is once again on "upset alert" a bunch of overweight, ugly, small-genitalled jackholes, and have continually been proven correct, I figured we could move past the proving phase and move into the pride phase.  Let's take some pride in this total defense ranking.  In fact, I want to officially go on record as saying that I will be pissed if we give up less than 580 yards to K-State and move forward in these rankings.

Now then, the path to the BCS title game is clear and uninteresting at this point, so how about a look at the path to being the worst ranked total defense possible.  Here is a table of the defenses standing between Oklahoma State and the magical 120. The last column represents how many more yards per game the Oklahoma State defense will need to give up than the listed team in order to fall below them in this ranking at season's end.

Indiana is totally within our grasp as the OSU D only needs to allow 5 yards per week more than the Hoosier D for the remaining 4 games. After than, Arizona and Troy will take some work, UAB, Ball State, Memphis, and Rice will take a lot of work and a little luck, and falling any lower than 118 will take an absolute miracle. What would it take for the Oklahoma State defense to allow 200 more yards per week than the Fighting Turner Gills? Perhaps we could start just lining up at the goal line for every defensive play, thus allowing the opponent to freely move to the 1 on every possession, but no further.  Maybe we could allow the Raven D to stand in for Kansas. Or we may just have to resign to the fact that we won't be able to fall any further than 118th this season. Sad news day. I guess we will have to console ourselves by focusing on the battle to get to the title game. Boooorrriiinnnggg.

So the Cowboy basketballers are taking on the Oklahoma Panhandle State Aggies tonight at 7:00 at GIA in an exhibition game, and rather than pretend that I know anything about this opponent or that the matchup matters, I figure we should just talk/type about what we will be watching for in this game.  Exhibition games aren't meant to be won or lost anyway, they are intended to serve as team evaluators... and we have a ton of new stuff to evaluate.

If you haven't been keeping up with the basketball team, or missed my first couple of previews (part 1 | part 2) because you have been distracted by the guys in white/gray/black helmets that throw the touchdown passes and are apparently really good at it, there are a lot of new faces on the Cowboy roster, and an assortment of talented and unique players that will make for some interesting lineups. As a result, no one really knows what to expect out of this team this season. That is why tonight's game will be so interesting.  Hopefully we can glean some insight into how all these pieces will be used and if they will be able to work together.

Here is what we will be watching for, feel free to add your own in the comments:

Nash Nash Nash
Will he dazzle as he did at Homecoming and Hoops, will he look like the savior we hope he will be, and to back up a few spots, where the hell will he play on the floor?  Will he mostly play from the wing?  Will he try to find room inside?  Will he crash boards? Will he play the point? If his skill set is as developed as it has been said to be, then the answer to all of these should be yes.

What will the starting lineup be?
I generally put more stock into playing time than starting lineups, but for the first exhibition game the starting 5 will be our only indicator of who Coach Ford is leaning towards giving the most time during the season.  My guess is that he will go pretty conservative for this one and start off with this lineup:

PG - Fred Gulley
SG - Keiton Page
SF - Jean-Paul Olukemi
PF - LeBryan Nash
C - Philip Jurick

That is probably the most traditional assorment of guys that fit at the 1-5, although I could certainly see Reger Dowell in there instead of Gulley. My assumption is that Ford will start off with this somewhat standard lineup, then start subbing to get to all the crazy, matchup nightmare ones that we are all excited to see (are we all excited?).  Which brings us to...

Continue reading this post »

As was very well covered by Anthony Slater at the O'Colly in article form here, and video form above, the currently unemployed Kevin Durant was bored in Gallardia last night and ended up participating in an intramural flag football game in Stillwater. He just hopped in his car/van, drove 50 minutes north, played for the Sigma Nu B team (SNAKES! ssss! sss!), recorded 4 TD passes as the teams QB, and picked off 3 passes as the team's safety.

Once news of this broke, spontanious "millionaire who is just like us", and "these guys need to get a deal worked out" stories popped all over the webinet, and rightly so, but we here at CRFF know what the true motivation behind this trip was.  REVENGE!

And since the 2007 Cowboy baskeball team wasn't in town, KD's wrath was unleashed on an unexpecting scrub flag football team instead. Mario Boggan could not be reached for comment.

In what can only be described as a total disappointment, Oklahoma State surrendered 622 yards to Robert Griffin III and the Baylor Bears offense. Coming into the game, genius football minds like Robert Smith and Kirk Herbstreit warned us that this game could be a huge letdown for the Pokes, who have not been able to stop anyone from gaining yardage all season. I guess we should have listened to those that are so educated from their reading of total defense rankings.

The Bears did whatever they wanted in gaining all those yards. Their vaunted offense, lead by their Heisman candidate who never whines or fakes an injury to get a roughing the passer call, marching like the Patriots over a JV team on their way to 105 total plays, 38 and a half minutes of possession, 446 passing yards, all without ever calling their punter onto the field.

This Oklahoma State team was overwhelmed. "How can we continue to keep failing and giving up all these yards?" they must have been thinking. Why did we not listen to everyone who tried to tell us that a 100+ ranked total defense will continue to give up these kinds of yardage totals, especially to such a deadly dual-threat quarterback like RGIII.

We will have more in-depth analysis of this disaster over the next few days... for now, leave your thoughts and condolences in the comments.

Oh, and for those who are into more obscure stats, the disappointing Cowboys did win the game 59-24, and were up 49-3 entering the 4th when many of the starters were pulled. Of course, that is little consolation given the much more important gaudy yardage totals the Baylor offense put up.

Baylor at No. 3 Oklahoma State
Oct. 29, 2011 | 2:30 p.m. CT | Boone Pickens Stadium (God's Country)

TV: ABC Sports (Bob Wischusen, Bob Davie and Jeannine Edwards)
Internet: okstate.com and espn3
Satellite Radio: Sirius Ch. 138 and XM CH. 196

It is homecoming, and there are 3 certainties about homecoming...
1. The AGR's will win house dec
2. King will urinate on said house dec
3. The Cowboys will take down the Bears

RGIII is in the house and looking to score his first touchdown against the Pokes.  It should be easy since the Cowboys are sporting the 246th ranked defense, and are terrible in every way except forcing turnovers, coming up with big stops, consistently holding opponents to manageable point totals, shutting down top opposing receivers, being more fresh than their counterparts late in games, and winning games.

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