OSU Preview from an OSU Point-Of-View

Chris Batchelder – one of the best guys I know – has been nice enough to cut into his busy schedule and put together a quick look at the game on Saturday from an OSU point-of-view.

Chris is an OSU graduate and former employee of the OSU Alumni Association. He is one of the biggest OSU fans I know and offers a unique glimpse into......... blah, blah, blah.

Anyway – thanks for putting this together Chris – we hope you guys enjoy.

(oh yeah – apparently he is not quite over the events of October 21 just yet either.)

-sb

What's up Aggie fans?

Well, after a joint effort between TAMU and OSU to chop Varsity's horns off last night, I'm feeling better about providing an A&M/OSU preview for Saturday.

The good news for you guys is that the Pokes will have to use today (Wed.) for rest and film and then start preparing for the Aggies on Thurs. with a light practice before leaving Friday evening.

You'll never believe this, but the early forecast calls for bad weather up here again on Friday or Saturday so I imagine they'll want to get going pretty early on Friday and get down there.

It doesn't seem like we can make the trip to College Station without some sort of drama here in recent years.

State of the State

OSU's bench woes are no secret.

There's no way they should have been able to survive a triple overtime game against Texas having two guys foul out.

The only players on the bench left were Kenny Cooper, who for some reason didn't even play, and Adarius Bowman, star wide receiver that has recently joined the team. I think he could have put either of them in and they'd have done better than Monds but that's why I'm not coaching.

(You'll remember Monds getting thrown out of OSU's game against Southwestern Oklahoma State.....in the first half.....by his own coach.)

So foul trouble or injuries could really affect a game like this one.

A&M's big men will give the Pokes fits and if Boggan, Monds and Dove have typical foul problems, this could be over early.

Curry and Boggan are the obvious leaders. Harris has continued to improve and has his phantom mask off now. Eaton had his best game of the year, effort-wise last night before suffering an ankle injury that affected him the rest of the game.

The good news for you guys is that the team summary is really pretty short because the bench is.

Saturday's Game

I think this game comes down to the Big 2 for each team.

You've got the #2 and #4 scorers in the league going for OSU against the #10 and #14 for A&M.

41 ppg vs 30 ppg.

Boggan and Jones vs. Curry and Law.

We all know they'll put Dove for OSU on Law but I don't know from A&M who gets Curry.
Probably Carter or Kirk.

Jones will eat Boggan up on the offensive end. Boggan is lazy and Jones is really good. He'll go for anywhere from 24-30.

Law will have a hard fought 18 mostly coming when Dove is out with foul trouble. I think JamesOn will be down, he had a great game against Texas. I expect around 12-16 from him.

So the X-factor is really Boggan.

Will he be the Texas Boggan or the Kansas Boggan? One was pretty good, the other was just shamefully awful. I would say it's because of Kansas' big men but he's done well against some pretty good big guys this year.

The more I watch of this kid Gray from Pitt the more I appreciate that win (He had 22 and 19 again last night).

But the law of averages suggests that the real difference will be who is going to make up the 11 points that A&M is short from their two stars. If they manage to do that, this could be another one down to the wire in College Station.

Prediction

Conference play so far suggests 81-72 Oklahoma State.

I'm going to go 70-59 A&M.

I think OSU has some soul searching to do on the road in this one to put the Kansas game behind them. But A&M will have the place crazy and ready to play and we found out last week how the Pokes react to that type of atmosphere.

I also think for A&M to prove their worth to the league and nation, they HAVE to have this win. I'm not saying all hope is lost if they lose it, but this would be a HUGE step toward their goal.
Beating a team ranked close behind them, having the front runner position in the South going forward.

I think you would have to say that a win for OSU here after beating Texas would make them the favorite for the 2 seed going into OKC. Early to say that but it would be a huge confidence boost.
This is a really big early Big 12 game, should be a blast.

Good thing there's no such thing as 4th and 13 in basketball or I'd declare this one over right now. Unbelievable. 4th and 13. How does that even happen?