Tramel's ScissorTales: Hey, OKC Thunder, welcome to the NBA's version of March Madness

Jared Butler joined the Thunder a month ago. Sunday, he scored 25 points to lead the Thunder to a 115-100, virtual-exhibition victory over Memphis in an NBA regular-season finale.

Afterward, the second-year guard out of Baylor saluted his OKC experience, saying the youthful Thunder seems like a college team.

How fitting. The Thunder is embarking on a classic college experience.

Tournament play. Win and advance. Lose and pack in the sneakers. Season over.

Welcome to the NBA play-in tournament, which delays the league’s traditional model of playoff series to determine a champion.

Borrowing from and modifying the ultra-popular NCAA Tournament, the play-in tournament includes eight teams, half of which are playing double-elimination, the other half single-elimination, with four spots available to advance.

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The Thunder plays at New Orleans on Wednesday night, with the winner playing the Lakers-Timberwolves loser for the 8-seed in the Western Conference bracket.

Just like an NCAA regional. Win twice in a three-day span, and the Thunder keeps playing. Lose once, and the curtain closes on the 2022-23 season.

The play-in tournament seemed like a gimmick when it debuted in 2021. Which I suppose it is, trying to mix the NCAA Tournament and the NBA playoffs.

But sometimes gimmicks work and take hold. The designated hitter. Football overtimes. The 3-point shot.

And let’s be honest. We barely paid attention to previous play-in tournaments. The Pelicans beating the Clippers a year ago gave the Thunder another lottery pick, and that was cool for Oklahoma City.

But the 2023 play-in, featuring a packed Western Conference that for more than a month kept nine teams dancing from fourth seed to 12^th seed, has boosted fan interest, especially in OKC.

And now the Thunder has a shot at making the bracket playoffs, as an 8-seed. Winning two straight road games seems unlikely, but no more unlikely than Princeton beating Purdue and Missouri, or Florida Atlantic making a Final Four.

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“That’s what I’m excited about,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I’m excited to see what our best punch looks like, obviously, in a high-stakes game. Where there’s a lot of distractions and a lot of noise. See if we can hone in and play a really, really good game.”

NBA coaches for decades have been gameplanning for a series. Knowing that adjustments are part of the deal.

In the play-in tournament, and the NCAAs, the adjustments must be on the fly. There’s only one game.

“When you prepare for a series, you have to acknowledge the seven-game nature of it,” Daigneault said. “There’s an element of rolling out a gameplan in Game 1, knowing that you’re not going to end where you start, when you’re in a series, and neither is your opponent, from tactical purposes or rotations. Whereas a one-game and done, you end where you start.

“I would say that’s the biggest thing that changes is just the mindset of it. We’re going to treat it like another game. We’re going to put another gameplan out there. Make sure that our guys are really clear on it. We have two days to prepare, then throw our best punch.”

The best punch now is required. Just like in the NCAA Tournament.

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Mailbag: OU basketball exodus in transfer portal

The exodus of OU basketball players has some readers worried.

Tim: “Alarming is the only word (that) comes to me. I’m curious why the media is essentially ignoring what looks like the ruining of what was a very solid program? So many players have left in two years. Why? Culture? NIL? Empty arena? (Porter) Moser is a jerk? Is anybody at The Oklahoman digging to find out?”

Tramel: This might be new information to some people, but OU is not the only athletic department in America.

Why are Sooner players — Jalen Hill, Grant Sherfield, Jacob Groves, Joe Bamisile, C.J. Noland, Bijon Cortes — leaving?

Because they can. There is nothing different going on at OU that isn't going on almost everywhere. OSU has three of its four best players (Mousse Cisse, Kalib Boone and Avery Anderson) in the portal. Kansas State just lost Ismael Massoud, a valuable player who helped the Wildcats reach the Elite Eight. Texas Tech lost two good big men (Fardaws Aimas and Daniel Batcho). Baylor lost L.J. Cryer.

This is the new world. You rebuild your team every year. Literally. Players are going to leave. Sometimes you can figure out why they’re leaving; sometimes you can’t. It’s the spirit of the age. The key is attracting quality new players. That's the way the game is played now.

I suppose some teams will keep their core. Kansas did last year. Texas did last year. But that starts with winning. Players have no incentive to stick around a losing program.

It's a vicious cycle, but that's the cycle, and coaches who win will keep their jobs and coaches who don't will lose their jobs. They are paid quite well to produce. Time to produce.

More: Five transfer portal targets for Porter Moser and OU men's basketball team

OU football's Tyler Guyton supports Horned Frogs 

OU offensive tackle Tyler Guyton transferred from Texas Christian a year ago. His new team went 6-7, OU’s first losing season in 24 years. His old team went to the national championship game.

Strange times.

“I feel bittersweet about it, but I’m completely happy for my guys,” Guyton said.

He not only said it. Guyton proved it.

Guyton said he flew to Los Angeles last January to watch the TCU-Georgia Big Bowl.

“I was there, front row,” Guyton said. “I’m just so proud of them and everything that they’ve accomplished, because even when I was there, they’re still my brothers, and we’ve been through a lot.”

Guyton is a 6-foot-7, 316-pound redshirt junior from Manor, Texas. He played in only one TCU game in 2020. Guyton played in eight Frog games in 2021, splitting his time between tackle and fullback(!). Guyton even caught a touchdown pass against Iowa State.

With the Sooners a year ago, Guyton played in 10 games and made five starts — Texas-El Paso, Kent State, Nebraska, Texas Tech and Florida State.

Guyton figures to be a major part of the OU offensive line in 2023. But his odyssey is a reminder of the strange times, where players move quite frequently, sometimes not because they’re unhappy but because of the new frontiers available.

And when the old school hits the jackpot, it’s only natural for former players to feel, as Guyton said, bittersweet.

More: OU's Jackson Arnold is adjusting well in spring workouts. 'Football's really easy for him'

The List: Week 0 college football games in 2023

Can’t wait for college football? Well, we’re only 4½ months from the first games, and those games are the Week 0 kickoffs that offer a headstart on the season.

Seven Week 0 games are scheduled for Aug. 26, 2023. Here are the seven, ranked in attractiveness:

1. Notre Dame vs. Navy in Dublin, Ireland: Last season, Northwestern stunned Nebraska in Dublin, hastening the end of Scott Frost’s Cornhusker days.

2. San Jose State at Southern Cal: The Spartans weren’t bad in 2022 (7-5) but aren’t likely to stand up to Lincoln Riley’s Trojans.

3. Ohio at San Diego State: Good mid-major matchup — Ohio was 10-4 a year ago. But wait. Will San Diego State still be a mid-major? A Pac-12 invitation seems to loom.

4. Hawaii at Vanderbilt: These programs played in Week 0 last season and it seemed like a chance for the Rainbow Warriors to knock off a Southeastern Conference foe. Vanderbilt won 63-10.

5. Texas-El Paso at Jacksonville State: Historic game for the Gamecocks, who are making their NCAA Division I-A debut. Jacksonville State is coached by former West Virginia and Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez, who led the Gamecocks to a 9-2 record in 2021.

6. Massachusetts at New Mexico State: Two of the traditionally weakest programs in America, but New Mexico State went 7-6 in 2022 under coach Jerry Kill, beating Bowling Green in the Quick Lane Bowl.

7. Florida International at Louisiana Tech: Nothing much to get excited about here, except the reverse coaching matchup. Louisiana Tech is known for head coaches who were the sons of head coaches — Skip Holtz, Sonny Dykes, Derek Dooley, Jack Bicknell III. But the Bulldogs now are coached by former Texas Tech quarterback Sonny Cumbie. Meanwhile, Florida International is led by former Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre, son of former Vanderbilt coach George MacIntyre.

More: Tramel: Can OU football rise up in 2023? Schedule might be easiest in Sooners history

Rudy Gobert culture problems persist 

The Rudy Gobert Game now has some ambiguity. Which one?

March 11, 2020, when the pandemic was launched by Gobert testing positive for the coronavirus and the players being pulled from the court just before the Thunder-Jazz game in Oklahoma City?

Or Sunday, when a showdown game between Gobert’s Minnesota Timberwolves and the New Orleans Pelicans was overshadowed by Gobert taking a swing at teammate Kyle Anderson during a timeout?

Man, the drama never subsides with Gobert, the 7-foot-3 French Resistance who is one of the best NBA defenders of this generation but who suddenly seems like a guy you don’t want on your team.

The Utah Jazz traded Gobert to Minnesota last summer for Walker Kessler, Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Leandro Bolmaro, Jarred Vanderbilt and four first-round draft picks.

Now, no team would trade Kessler straight up for Gobert, much less all that other bounty.

The last few years of the Jazz was marked with internal strife between stars Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, leading Utah to trading both in the off-season and embarking on a rebuild.

But that turmoil has followed Gobert to Minneapolis, with obvious conflicts among the players.

When Gobert landed a punch on Anderson’s chest, Timberwolf Taurean Prince immediately went after Gobert, before team officials grabbed Gobert and ushered him to the Target Center tunnel.

This is a Gobert problem and a Timberwolf culture problem. All teams have personal conflicts, even the keep-everything-under-wraps Thunder.

But the good-culture teams keep such strife within the lines. They don’t let it fester.

Adding to the Minnesota misery, defensive whiz Jaden McDaniels suffered a broken hand when he slugged a wall Sunday, in apparent disgust with an officiating call.

To their credit, the Timberwolves rallied and beat New Orleans on Sunday, earning the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. That sent the Pelicans to No. 9, and New Orleans will host the Thunder on Wednesday night.

But Gobert has been suspended for Minnesota's game Tuesday night against the Lakers, and McDaniels will miss the play-in tournament.

Too bad the Thunder didn’t draw the short-handed Timberwolves. Beating either the Pelicans or the T-Wolves is/was not going to be easy for the Thunder. Every little bit helps. And the Timberwolves’ culture problems definitely would help OKC.

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.   

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder in play-in tournament, NBA's version of March Madness