Hey guys. I'm a new member here and am looking foward to contributing to the forum. What I do is try to find one winner everyday. I don't force plays. Somedays I won't have any plays if I don't like anything. I'll continue to post any plays I may have and hopefully I will provide a good amount of winners. Good Luck and thanks for all of the great information.
POD- OKlahoma -3
This looks like a trap and I know the public will most likely be all over the Sooners here, but quite frankly, I don't care. Here's the deal. Like Pitt yesterday, the Sooners are much bigger, more physical, and more talented than their opponents. A quick look at that stats will tell you that OK St. can score points, as they average 91 ppg at home and 83 ppg in conference games, but in my opinion, these numbers are a little skewed thanks to the lesser competiton the Cowboys have played thus far. Ok St. scored 100 points against N. Texas, 91 vs. Tulsa, 91 vs. Grambling, 104 vs. Mercer, 122 vs. Northwestern St., and 95 in a 97-95 home loss to Missouri. Let's take a closer look at what the Cowboys have done vs. some better, bigger, more physical teams. They managed 72 points vs. Texas A&M and we all know how the Aggies struggle on the road. They scored 79 against Mich. St. on a neutral court, but they lost 94-79. They put up 71 in a 83-71 neutral court loss to Gonzaga. And they scored a season low 65 points in a 83-65 loss @ Washington, a team that is very similar, IMO, to the Sooners. I'm not saying the Cowboys don't score points, but it's obvious they don't score as much vs. better competition and they do let up a lot of points, as they have allowed conference opponents to score an average of 82 ppg on 46% shooting. That's a lot of points and a high shooting % to allow against a team like Oklahoma that shoots 46% and holds opponents to only 66 ppg on 40% shooting on the road.
This game is also a match-up nightmare for Ok. St. as none of their regulars are taller than 6-6 and their bench isn't very deep, so foul trouble could become a mjor problem for the smaller State while trying to slow down the much bigger Sooners, who average 27 FT attempts per game. Leading scorer, Soph. G James Anderson (18 ppg) is the Cowboys biggest body at 6-6. Their next biggest bodies are a set of 6-5 Guards, Jr. Obi Muonelo (15 ppg, 9 rpg) and Sr. Terrel Harris (14 ppg). After that, they have a pair of small guards in 5-11 Sr. Byron Eaton (13 ppg) and 5-10 Fr. Keiton Thomas (10 ppg). The tallest player on the Cowboys, 6-8 So. F. Malcon Kirkland has played a total of 28 minutes and has totals of 8 points and 5 rebounds in Ok. St.'s 4 conference games thus far. This will be a big (no pun intended) problem for the Cowboys as the Sooners 5 starters are all taller than 6-3 and 3 of them are 6-6 or taller. The biggest problem will obviously be Player of the Year candidate Blake Griffin. The 6-10, 250 lb. sophmore is averaging 22 points and 13 boards this season and against Nebraska, a team that is very similar size wise to Ok. St., Blake had 27 and 18. Blake's older brother, 6-7 Sr. Taylor (9.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg) should also be a match-up problem for the Cowboys down-low. Here's the three players that intrigue me most: 6-4 Fr. G. Willie Warren (15.1 ppg.), 6-6 Jr. G. Tony Crocker (10.6 ppg.), and 6-3 Sr. PG Austin Johnson (8.1 ppg.), as two of these three will be guarded by 5-10 Keiton Page and 5-11 Byron Eaton. As we can see there are match-up problems all over the court here and I fully expect jeff Capel to exploit his teams huge size advantage.
Also of note, Ok. St. is 1-3 SU and 0-3 ATS versus teams scoring 77+ points per game. The Cowboys are 1-4 SU and ATS this season, 7-27 SU and 12-21 ATS over the last 3 seasons, and 22-70 SU and 40-49 ATS since 1997 as an underdog.
I'm laying the points with the bigger, stronger, more talented Sooners here.
POD- OKlahoma -3
Good Luck,
Metsfan
POD- OKlahoma -3
This looks like a trap and I know the public will most likely be all over the Sooners here, but quite frankly, I don't care. Here's the deal. Like Pitt yesterday, the Sooners are much bigger, more physical, and more talented than their opponents. A quick look at that stats will tell you that OK St. can score points, as they average 91 ppg at home and 83 ppg in conference games, but in my opinion, these numbers are a little skewed thanks to the lesser competiton the Cowboys have played thus far. Ok St. scored 100 points against N. Texas, 91 vs. Tulsa, 91 vs. Grambling, 104 vs. Mercer, 122 vs. Northwestern St., and 95 in a 97-95 home loss to Missouri. Let's take a closer look at what the Cowboys have done vs. some better, bigger, more physical teams. They managed 72 points vs. Texas A&M and we all know how the Aggies struggle on the road. They scored 79 against Mich. St. on a neutral court, but they lost 94-79. They put up 71 in a 83-71 neutral court loss to Gonzaga. And they scored a season low 65 points in a 83-65 loss @ Washington, a team that is very similar, IMO, to the Sooners. I'm not saying the Cowboys don't score points, but it's obvious they don't score as much vs. better competition and they do let up a lot of points, as they have allowed conference opponents to score an average of 82 ppg on 46% shooting. That's a lot of points and a high shooting % to allow against a team like Oklahoma that shoots 46% and holds opponents to only 66 ppg on 40% shooting on the road.
This game is also a match-up nightmare for Ok. St. as none of their regulars are taller than 6-6 and their bench isn't very deep, so foul trouble could become a mjor problem for the smaller State while trying to slow down the much bigger Sooners, who average 27 FT attempts per game. Leading scorer, Soph. G James Anderson (18 ppg) is the Cowboys biggest body at 6-6. Their next biggest bodies are a set of 6-5 Guards, Jr. Obi Muonelo (15 ppg, 9 rpg) and Sr. Terrel Harris (14 ppg). After that, they have a pair of small guards in 5-11 Sr. Byron Eaton (13 ppg) and 5-10 Fr. Keiton Thomas (10 ppg). The tallest player on the Cowboys, 6-8 So. F. Malcon Kirkland has played a total of 28 minutes and has totals of 8 points and 5 rebounds in Ok. St.'s 4 conference games thus far. This will be a big (no pun intended) problem for the Cowboys as the Sooners 5 starters are all taller than 6-3 and 3 of them are 6-6 or taller. The biggest problem will obviously be Player of the Year candidate Blake Griffin. The 6-10, 250 lb. sophmore is averaging 22 points and 13 boards this season and against Nebraska, a team that is very similar size wise to Ok. St., Blake had 27 and 18. Blake's older brother, 6-7 Sr. Taylor (9.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg) should also be a match-up problem for the Cowboys down-low. Here's the three players that intrigue me most: 6-4 Fr. G. Willie Warren (15.1 ppg.), 6-6 Jr. G. Tony Crocker (10.6 ppg.), and 6-3 Sr. PG Austin Johnson (8.1 ppg.), as two of these three will be guarded by 5-10 Keiton Page and 5-11 Byron Eaton. As we can see there are match-up problems all over the court here and I fully expect jeff Capel to exploit his teams huge size advantage.
Also of note, Ok. St. is 1-3 SU and 0-3 ATS versus teams scoring 77+ points per game. The Cowboys are 1-4 SU and ATS this season, 7-27 SU and 12-21 ATS over the last 3 seasons, and 22-70 SU and 40-49 ATS since 1997 as an underdog.
I'm laying the points with the bigger, stronger, more talented Sooners here.
POD- OKlahoma -3
Good Luck,
Metsfan
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