Tramel's ScissorTales: Dillon Gabriel, Spencer Sanders take hit in ESPN quarterback rankings
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Dillon Gabriel is the OU quarterback, and Sooner Nation seems thrilled about it. Sooner QB is a high-pressure, high-profile slot.
Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, Spencer Rattler, Caleb Williams. No one in crimson expects Gabriel to be the bottom of that impressive barrel.
Spencer Sanders is the OSU quarterback, and the Posse seems thrilled about it. Sanders is one of six Power 5 quarterbacks who is entering his fourth season as the starter at his school.
That kind of experience is rare these days. But off that list – which also includes Minnesota’s Tanner Morgan, Texas Christian’s Max Duggan, UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Louisville’s Malik Cunningham and North Carolina State’s Devin Leary – Sanders is the only who has quarterbacked a team in a conference championship game (OSU lost to Baylor 21-16 last December) or a major bowl (OSU beat Notre Dame 37-35 in the Fiesta last New Year’s Day). Sanders is a major reason why the Cowboys should be optimistic about another stellar season in 2022.
But the exuberance over OU and OSU quarterbacks is provincial. Not everyone is so enthralled.
Tramel: How did Dillon Gabriel and Sooners grade out in the OU football spring game?
ESPN.com this week placed all 131 major-college quarterback situations into tiers, which serve as a defacto ranking. The usual suspects are in the top tier – Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Alabama’s Bryce Young, Southern Cal’s Williams (late of OU). Pay no attention to whether Williams deserves such status.
Instead, go down the list and seek out Gabriel. He’s not in Tier 2. Nor Tier 3. Gabriel, a transfer from Central Florida, is in Tier 4, with the likes of Thompson-Robinson, Kentucky’s Will Levis and South Carolina’s Rattler.
That puts Gabriel outside the top 15 quarterbacks in America.
But Sanders’ status is far below that. Sanders is in Tier 9 (called veterans with moxie, a description that fits Sanders). But that puts Sanders outside the top 36.
Gabriel at least is the top-ranked Big 12 quarterback. But Sanders ranks No. 6 in the conference, even though Sanders was the coaches’ pick as first-team all-Big 12 last season.
ESPN ranked the Big 12 quarterbacks this way: 1. Gabriel; 2. Baylor’s Blake Shapen, and the Texas duo of Quinn Ewers and Hudson Card; 4. West Virginia’s J.T. Daniels; 5. Kansas State’s Adrian Martinez; 6. Sanders; 7. Texas Tech’s Donovan Smith and Tyler Shough, Texas Christian’s Max Duggan and Chandler Morris, and Kansas’ Jalon Daniels; 10. Iowa State’s Hunter Dekkers and Rocco Becht.
I get the lack of enthusiasm for both Bedlam rival quarterbacks.
Much of the confidence over Gabriel stems from OU’s quarterback tradition, and that tradition is tied to Lincoln Riley, who now is out in Los Angeles with Caleb Williams.
Meanwhile, Sanders has been turnover-plagued in his career: 31 interceptions, with 50 touchdown passes. Sanders a year ago threw 12 interceptions, with seven of them in two games combined against Baylor.
Of course, the Bear defense could do that to a fellow. Ole Miss’ Matt Corral was injured early in the Sugar Bowl against Baylor, and maybe the Rebels’ star quarterback would have rallied, but he was off to a dismal start – 2-of-6 passing, for 10 yards and one interception.
Williams, the teacher’s pet on this ESPN list, against Baylor last November completed nine of 18 for 142 yards, with no touchdowns and two interceptions, plus no scrambles of note. So there’s a little bit of selective amnesia when it comes to the Baylor defense.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t knock the ESPN list. ESPN is just doing what the rest of us are doing. Trying to get through a long, tedious off-season dominated by name, image and likeness nonsense. We’re all ready for some focus on the gridiron itself.
And in general, OU and OSU are treated quite well in the national media. The Sooners, especially, are mentioned among playoff contenders.
But the OU and OSU quarterbacks, at least in this case, are not highly regarded. Lots of room for Dillon Gabriel and Spencer Sanders to take the nation by storm.
'Special group of guys': OU wins Norman Regional, advances to NCAA men's golf championship
Gotterup’s golfing rollercoaster
OU golfer Chris Gotterup had quite the 16 hours in Scottsdale, Arizona, earlier this week. Gotterup’s tale is a lesson in the humility of the game.
Gotterup, a transfer from Rutgers, invigorated the Sooners in 2021-22, becoming the No. 1 player on the top-ranked team in NCAA golf.
Following the trail of Jonathan Brightwell, who transferred from North Carolina-Greensboro and led the Sooners to the 2021 NCAA championship match, Gotterup had quite the season.
Gotterup, from Little Silver, New Jersey, won two tournaments – the East Lake Cup and the Puerto Rico Classic – and finished in the top five six times.
Then came Monday, the fourth round of the NCAA Championships. The stroke-play portion of the NCAAs determine the individual champion and the eight-team bracket for the team title.
OU safely was in the eight-team field, but the individual title was a horse race for the ages. Five golfers were tied for the lead at even par as Gotterup, in the final group, was on the 17th hole.
Gotterup missed a three-foot birdie putt that would have given him sole possession of the lead. Then on the 18th green, Gotterup missed a five-foot putt for par that would have sent him into the playoff, eventually won by Vanderbilt freshman Gordon Sargent.
Soon after leaving the 18th tee, Gotterup learned he had won the Haskins Awards, NCAA golf’s Heisman Trophy. Gotterup is the 2022 men’s player of the year.
“It’s a weird day, but it’s fun,” Gotterup said. “I had a good chance to win coming down the stretch, I gave myself the chances, I hit the shots when it mattered, just didn’t make the putts, but that’s golf and that’s how it goes.
“And then to lead up to this, to be named player of the year, it’s a weird feeling, you know? It’s pretty cool.”
Gotterup could be positive, because his personal shortcomings down the stretch didn’t affect the Sooners. A birdie on 17 or a par on 18 would have made OU the No. 1 seed in the eight-team bracket, but NCAA quarterfinal pairings rarely mean much. Every team is great, the match-play portion of the event is a crapshoot and the Sooners started anew Tuesday morning.
Alas, Gotterup’s game deserted him. He was swamped by Arizona State’s unheralded Preston Summerhays, who won five of the first seven holes, seven of the first 11 and closed out a quick 7-and-5 victory.
That put OU in an early hole, and Arizona State won the match 3-2 when Cameron Sisk beat Sooner freshman Stephen Campbell Jr. on the 19th hole.
Golf can be a cruel sport.
Unbelievably great year for Gotterup. Incredible success seemingly out of nowhere. But a gut-wrenching ending.
“I think the evolution of his understanding of who he is, you go back to the fall, he knew how good he was, but I don’t know if he quite understood he could be the best player in the country,” said OU coach Ryan Hybl. “It took the fall for him to be able to go, ‘I’m the man, I can beat all these guys.’”
Gotterup was in position to be OU’s first NCAA individual champion since Jim Vickers in 1952. Gotterup is OU’s first Haskins Award winner.
“It’s obviously super important for our program to have things like this happen,” Hybl said. “It’s no different than guys getting on the PGA Tour, it’s just a very proud moment.”
But Gotterup’s memories of the 2022 NCAAs at Grayhawk Golf Club will not be just of winning that trophy. They will include those two missed putts and a morning round in match play that he’d like to forget.
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NBA Finals: Refs will be the key
The 2022 NBA Finals are another testament to NBA parity. We all are just guessing on which team will win.
That’s rarely been the case in the 21st-century NBA. The 2020 Lakers were huge favorites over Miami. The 2015-19 Warriors were big favorites, especially the final three years with Kevin Durant, and Golden State was derailed only by injury (2019) and LeBron’s superpowers (2015).
LeBron’s Heatles were big favorites in 2011-14, though the Mavericks (2011) and Spurs (2014) staged upsets.
Before that came superteams from the Lakers (2009 and 2010) and Celtics (2008), and, well, you get the picture. Most Finals projections were for heavy favorites or big upsets.
But Milwaukee-Phoenix a year ago was a virtual tossup, and same with Boston-Golden State. The Warriors are slight favorites according to Las Vegas, but most of that can be tied to Golden State popularity.
The truth is, it’s a tossup series.
And here’s who will determine the champion: the striped shirts. This series will be defined by the officiating.
Will the referees allow the Celtics to play physical? If so, Golden State could be in trouble.
Golden State's Western Conference series against Dallas, Memphis and Denver were mostly benign. The Warriors were allowed to flow through their offense without physical assault. Meanwhile, the East was hand-to-hand combat. Celtic series against Miami, Milwaukee and Brooklyn were bone-crushing.
The Heat-Celtic series was determined by which team had more players who could dribble through the Oklahoma (football) Drill.
If the officials call it tight, advantage Golden State. The Warriors have more offensive fire. But if the officials let things get rough, Golden State will be bloodied and bowed.
Each team has a leader of the pack. Boston’s Marcus Smart and Golden State’s Draymond Green never met an alley fight they wouldn’t join, but I’d go with Smart in the toughness scale. And while Smart has some lieutenants in green, Green is a little bit of an outlier with the Warriors. Golden State prefers no-touch basketball.
Truth is, the NBA prefers no-touch basketball. Officiating emphasis over the last decade has encouraged more offense. With good reason – 89-82 games don’t move the television needle; 112-108 games do.
Steph Curry getting open shots is what the masses want to see. Steph Curry getting open shots is what the Celtics have been conspiring to prevent since beating Miami in Game 7 Monday night.
There will be no conspiracy. No one in the NBA office is telling the referees that the league would benefit from Golden State success.
But NBA officiating supervisors very likely could be telling the referees to remember the emphasis of recent years – allowing freedom of movement, protecting shooters, police the bully ball that sometimes can prevail in the playoffs.
Of course, the Celtics would prefer those whistles get swallowed.
My guess: the whistles are active. Advantage Golden State. Warriors in seven.
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The List: Cold-weather softball powers
The Women’s College World Series begins Thursday, and as usual, it’s a Sun Belt series. Six of the eight schools are from the Sun Belt, and another, Oregon State, is a Pac-12 team 48 miles from the Pacific Ocean.
Only Northwestern could be classified a cold-weather school. But northern teams have had some WCWS success.
In the pre-NCAA days, when the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women operated female college sports, northern teams often dominated.
The AIAW conducted 14 softball championships, 1969-82, and the NCAA didn’t begin sponsoring the sport until 1982. In those 14 AIAW World Series, Northern Colorado made 11 appearances, Nebraska-Omaha and Missouri State 10 each, Western Illinois and Illinois State eight each, and Michigan State six. John F. Kennedy won the inaugural AIAW title. Yes, John F. Kennedy College of Wahoo, Nebraska, which opened in 1965, closed in 1975 and in between was a pioneer of women’s athletics.
Soon enough, or not soon enough, actually, the southern schools began implementing women’s programs, and now softball is dominated by the Sun Belt.
Here are the 10 most success softball programs from northern schools, in the NCAA era:
1. Michigan: The Wolverines have made the WCWS 12 times in the 41-year NCAA era, including winning the championship in 2005.
2. Nebraska: The Cornhuskers have made the WCWS seven times, though just twice in the 2000s.
3. Northwestern: The Wildcats have made the WCWS six times, including 2006, 2007 and 2012. Northwestern is part of a strong Chicago presence in World Series history. Both DePaul and Illinois-Chicago have made the modern WCWS.
4. Missouri: The Tigers have made the WCWS six times, including three straight from 2009-11, when Mizzou when its final Big Eight days.
5. Iowa: The Hawkeyes have made the WCWS four times, 1995-97, plus 2001. Iowa was in the one of the most memorable games in World Series history, a 14-inning, 9-7 loss to Michigan in 1995, in front of an overflow crowd of 3,252, before the explosion of fan attendance and run-scoring. A 9-7 softball game in 1995 was the equivalent of Billy Tubbs’ 172-112 basketball scores.
6. DePaul: The Blue Demons made the World Series four times, 1999-00, 2005 and 2007.
7. Massachusetts: The Minutewomen – yes, the gloriously-named Minutewomen – came to OKC in 1992, 1995 and 1997.
8. Utah: The Utes made the WCWS thrice, but not since 1994.
9. Creighton: The Blue Jays made the WCWS twice, but not since 1986. I guess Nebraska was a softball hotbed back in the day.
10. Indiana: The Hoosiers made the WCWS twice, but not since 1986.
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Mailbag: Patty Gasso’s greatness
Last week I proclaimed Patty Gasso the greatest coach in OU athletics history. Yes, greater than Barry Switzer or Bud Wilkinson or Port Robertson or Billy Tubbs. Most people agreed.
Larry: “Your opinion piece on Coach Gasso was spot on. I’ve said for years she should have been paid much more not because the sport brings in a lot of money (which of course it does not) but because she has brought such favorable attention to OU.”
Tramel: Thanks. But Gasso is well-compensated, at more than $1 million a year. And not just for the reasons you suggested.
Frankly, only a successful football coach’s salary can be justified using mathematical equations. Bob Stoops at OU, Nick Saban at Alabama, Dabo Swinney at Clemson. Those guys produced more much revenue for their universities, with their success, than they took home on a paycheck.
Few other coaches, including men’s basketball, do not warrant their exorbitant salaries.
But two things are work. One is what Larry suggested. Gasso, like Sherri Coale for most of her Hall of Fame career in women’s basketball, created incredible public relations for the university. I said many times, I’d have hired Coale as an OU vice president many years ago. Make her a fund-raiser and she’d set records.
Gasso isn’t the public speaker that Coale is, but Gasso’s steadiness and the excellence of her teams has promoted the OU brand in incredible ways.
And of course, the other reason to pay Gasso above $1 million is the marketplace. If you don’t pay Gasso $1 million, someone else will.
That’s no excuse to pay every coach that kind of salary – most coaches are easily replaced. Gasso is not.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football's Dillon Gabriel, OSU's Spencer Sanders downgraded by ESPN
