Bad Beat - OSU (1)

The bottom line is that the loss to OSU may have cost the Aggies a 5-0 start to conference play. OSU has not been this vulnerable in the last 5 years and they will not be this vulnerable in the next 5 years. They are loaded with freshman and were without two starters last night, Dove (easily their best defender) and Monds (a 10 & 6 guy), both of whom will be back by Feb. 11th when the Cowboys come into Reed for a payback game.

A win last night would have catapulted Old Army firmly into the top half of the league and would have been a MAJOR step after last year's resurgence.

Big Joe was awesome and Acie easily had his best game as an Aggie. Law was simply amazing last night and couldn't miss. Most everyone will look at his 35 points, but did you know he parlayed that with 7 steals? He was getting it done on both ends of the floor.

Big Joe is a beast and they did a great job of getting him the ball down low when he was behind the defense.

JamesOn Curry will not see a better man-up defender than DoMinique Krik all season long.

There are a handful of momentum changing plays and calls that we could talk about that caused them to leave Stillwater without the win, but at the end of the day, they needed one more bucket or one more stop. The great thing about Basketball (as opposed to football) is that one loss does not de-rail your season. Still plenty of games they can steal along the way.

I told you guys on Monday that they have to find a 3rd scorer to win games and that was never more evident than last night. Joe and Acie accounted for 62 of the team's 75 points. That simply will not work over the long term in a league as tough as the Big 12.

Dominique Kirk played 30 minutes and only took 2 shots (a missed layup and one 3 point attempt). Josh Carter only played 6 minutes and took one shot. Carter is your best pure shooter and he was on the bench for the last possession while your two worst shooters (Pompey and Walker) were on the floor.

Everyone knew Law was going to take the last shot, but at least have guys on the floor that OSU would have to consider guarding. There is no reason to cover Pompey and Walker and that allowed OSU to double both Joe and Acie.

Oh well (See note below on Gillispie).

You can't help but think that there has to be something going on behind the scenes with Carter for him to only get 6 minutes while Kenneth (Red) White played 15 minutes (most of which were in the second half). At this point your guess is as good as mine. The only thing I can think of is that Red can probably give you a little more defensively than Carter. Gillispie is a great ball coach and we pay him a lot of money to make those decisions. I guarantee you he knows better than you and I.

We will now see how they respond on Saturday when OU comes to town (1:00 ESPN2 - national broadcast again!). If they focus on the positives from last night and continue to work hard this week in practice, they can undoubtedly beat the reeling Sooners.

The students are back in class next week and I hope those that are back in town will roll out on Saturday. When Reed is packed and rockin' it can be a tough place to play.

The team responded nicely after their loss at Pacific to come home and beat Tech. Hopefully we will see more of the same on Saturday.

After their 0-2 start I would look for OU to come in wounded and hungry, desperate to get a win. They will bring their "A" game, no doubt.

One thing to keep an eye on is OU superstar Taj Gray. He re-aggrivated his back in pre-game warmups vs. Missouri on Tuesday and played in obvious pain all night. It would be a huge boost for the good guys if he can't go or is limited.

I hope Joe and Pompey can stay out of foul trouble trying to keep up with Gray and Bookout.

If the Aggies are able to come away with a win on Saturday they will be 2-1 in the league and considering the 3 opponents so far, you have to say that you'd take it.

Go split at K-State and at Iowa State next week and you are 3-2 when Kansas comes to town.

As you were.

-sb