Tramel's ScissorTales: Oklahoma State softball coach Kenny Gajewski wonders if OU indeed will leave for SEC
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Ten reporters and OSU softball coach Kenny Gajewski were talking Bedlam on a chilly Tuesday morning when Gajewski dropped a bombshell.
Concerning OU’s eventual move to the Southeastern Conference, Gajewski turned skeptic.
“I don’t even know that they’re going to the SEC,” Gajewski said. “Do you think so? You think that’s all going to happen? I just think there’s a lot of unknowns.”
Gajewski admitted he’s a conspiracy guy, and the chaos that has come to college sports is enough to make anyone wonder about the future.
“I just think this whole thing is going to blow up,” Gajewski said. “I just think this whole thing is going in a weird place. Everybody’s kind of jockeying.”
So count him as dubious that the Sooners and Texas are SEC-bound.
“Until it happens and happens for sure and they have that patch that doesn’t say Big 12, it says SEC...” Gajewski said.
Tramel: What will the future of Big 12 softball look like after OU & Texas flee to the SEC?
But Gajewski has it all backwards. The chaos and weirdness of college sports in the ‘20s is the reason OU and Texas would not consider changing their minds about defecting from the Big 12. The chaos and weirdness, embodied by the transfer portal’s immediate eligibility rule, which has caused a land run on free agency, and the name, image and likeness bull market, which is causing economic lunacy among boosters and fear among administrators, would make a school run even more swiftly towards the SEC.
The primary reason for OU’s and Texas’ decision was money. Increased conference payouts, primarily through the television package. What exactly has occurred that has made money less important? Nothing. Finances are driving college sports more than ever before.
Bigger staffs. More administrators. More amenities. What major school is seeking to step back and try to rein in the madness? Not one that I know of. Whether you’re a blueblood or a little engine that could, you’re charging into the flames of the chaos.
I’m not saying OU is without regret over the SEC decision. Maybe the Sooners have some. I’m not saying the Sooners don’t have some anxiety about the future.
But I am saying the Sooners are going full bore towards the SEC, in every decision they’re making. From personnel to infrastructure to economics.
OU is planning for life in the SEC. Lincoln Riley didn’t talk about it much in his four months as an SEC-bound Sooner coach. But Brent Venables has talked openly about it in his five months as an SEC-bound Sooner coach.
Look at the staffing. Have you seen all the new positions created around OU football? It’s impossible to keep up with them. Have you heard Venables talk about the facility upgrades he desires? That’s not to stay ahead of Texas Tech.
OU is acting like a school about to jump from a $38 million a year conference payout to a $70 million a year conference payout. There’s no turning back.
Now, Gajewski’s view of the landscape isn’t myopic. The college landscape is crazy. But that just means more changes, not reverting to previous relationships.
Fewer and bigger conferences. The demise of the NCAA. A Power 5 Conference jailbreak from mid-majors. Anything seems feasible.
Anything except going back. That does not seem feasible. Chaos brings more change. Not less.
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Thunder report card: Mike Muscala
Mike Muscala played in 43 of the Thunder’s first 51 games, then sat out the rest of the season. He underwent ankle surgery in March. But Muscala was excellent before the injury.
Our series of Thunder report cards continues with the nine-year big man from Bucknell.
Value: A. Let’s be honest. The Thunder suffered through a miserable season; a 24-58 record and outscored by an average of 8.1 points per game. Yet somehow, when Muscala was on the court, the Thunder outscored the opponent, by 0.5 points per 100 possessions. That’s remarkable. In games in which Muscala played, the Thunder was outscored by 9.9 points per 100 possessions while he was on the bench. That’s a difference of 10.4; Giannis Antetokounmpo territory (11.0). All while making $3.5 million.
Improvement: A. Focusing on improvement is a Thunder hallmark during this rebuild. But improvement usually centers on young players, in rookie or second seasons. Muscala keeps getting better; at age 30 in 2021-22, he had his best NBA season. Muscala had career highs in 3-point shooting (.429), points-per-36-minutes (20.9), true shooting percentage (.630) and player efficiency rating. If the Thunder becomes a playoff contender anytime soon, Muscala absolutely could be a major contributor to the cause.
Rebounding: C. Muscala, at 6-foot-10, often has been a mediocre rebounder. His rebounding rate (percentage of available rebounds while on the court) was 11.2, the lowest of all the Thunder big men. But his defensive rebounding rate was a career high 19.1, ahead of fellow big men Isaiah Roby and Olivier Sarr.
Three-point shooting: A. Muscala’s .429 percentage from deep was even more astounding when you realize he made just 34.5% from the corners. His first two OKC seasons, Muscala shot .375 and .426 from the shorter-distance corners. All of which means Muscala made 44.8% of his above-the-break 3-pointers. That’s incredible shooting, and that’s on 134 attempts. Muscala is a legitimate deep threat.
Defense: B. Muscala’s defense is better than you think, and he showed it during the 2021-22 season. His defensive rating (team points allowed per 100 possessions with a particular player on the court) was 104.9, third-best on the team among players who appeared in more than 13 games. And opponents shot just 41% when being guarded by Muscala, a solid number for a big man.
More: NBA Draft Lottery has Thunder fans on edge. As for the players? They 'don't really care'
Mailbag: NFL receiver worth
The Titans traded A.J. Brown to the Eagles. The Ravens traded Marquise Brown to the Cardinals. The Chiefs traded Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins. The Cowboys traded Amari Cooper to the Browns. The Packers traded Davante Adams to the Raiders.
What is going on with wide receivers in the National Football League? One reader believes he knows.
Brett: “A Green Bay Packer fan was lamenting the Packers missing out on the elite wide receiver prospects in the first round, especially after losing Devante Adams. Another said, ‘It will be interesting to see how these huge contracts work out. I think the second big contracts are going to look a lot like running backs. Good teams are deciding that it’s not worth it. You can get a comparable replacement (80% of a superstar) on a rookie contract. Each year the draft produces more and more NFL ready wide receivers. Each year is described as a good/great wide receiver draft class.’ Building a team with an expensive wide receiver seems a misallocation of cap space when teams are trotting out four- and five-receiver sets and spreading the ball around.”
Tramel: Excellent points. It’s simple supply and demand. There are more than enough exceptional wide receivers. Why would you overpay for one? Why would you pay $70,000 for a loaded Ford F-150 when you can get a good Chevy Silverado for $40,000? If the difference in price is $2 million a year, OK, maybe you get an Adams or a Brown or a Hill. But if the difference in price is $10 million a year? No way. Not worth it.
Teams can spend the extra $10 million on a defensive tackle and a guard, and your team is better.
Look at OU and OSU football. The Sooners and Cowboys have had plenty of receiver stars over the last decade or so, but the cupboard never runs bare. Someone always falls out of a tree. Mike Woods and Tay Martin transfer in. Drake Stoops and Landon Wolf walk on. Dede Westbrook and James Washington emerge.
Spend your money on talent that’s hard to come by. Edge rushers. Left tackles. Quarterbacks. Cornerbacks. Not wide receivers.
OKC Thunder offseason primer: Draft picks, salary decisions and preparing for 2023
Do flagrant foulers’ reputation precede them?
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is not happy. Not happy at all.
The Warriors’ Gary Payton II suffered an elbow fracture Tuesday night in Game 2 of a Western Conference playoff series against Memphis, on a play in which the Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks was assessed a flagrant foul-2 and ejected.
Brooks hit Payton in the head, from behind, on a fast-break layup less than three minutes into the game. Payton crashed to the floor and landed on his elbow. And Kerr didn’t mince words.
He yelled a profanity at Brooks as he left the court, and though Kerr had calmed down in his post-game press conference, his words carried weight.
“I don't know if it was intentional, but it was dirty," Kerr said. "There is a code. This code that players follow where you never put a guy's season, career in jeopardy by taking somebody out in midair and clubbing him across the head … He broke the code. Dillon Brooks broke the code.”
There is irony, of course, in that Kerr has won a bunch of games with a code-breaker himself, Draymond Green, who happened to be ejected from Game 1 of this west semifinal series, for a flagrant-2 foul.
But Green is not the NBA’s only black-hat defender. Several players have reputations as a dirty or overly-aggressive player. And Brooks goes on that list. Along with Patrick Beverley, Grayson Allen, Chris Paul. There are others, all of whom fall in the grand tradition of Bill Laimbeer and Kevin Garnett and Bruce Bowen.
But are flagrant fouls, especially flagrant-2 fouls, the more severe of the two designations, a sign of a dirty player? Is it possible players can just get caught in a difficult situation and make a mistake?
Sure. Here are the leaders of this NBA season in flagrant-2 fouls:
Jae Crowder, James Harden and Karl-Anthony Towns, four each. Crowder has some reputed dirty moves. Harden’s always have been deemed more unethical than dirty, trying to sway officials’ whistles.
Lugentz Dort, Ayo Dosunmu, Danilo Gallinari, Jonathan Kuminga, Georges Niang, Marcus Smart and Lance Stephenson, three each. Certainly Smart and Stephenson have a history of riling up opponents. Maybe the Thunder’s Dort is getting there, too, I don’t know. I haven’t seen it, but perhaps you overlook what you don’t want to see. Truthfully, Gallinari had a little bit of that going on in his Thunder season. Dosunmu and Kuminga are rookies; maybe they just don’t yet know how to play, though Grayson Allen was adequately identified as a menace long before he graced NBA courts.
Among the players with two flagrant fouls-2 this season were Russell Westbrook and Bobby Portis; they have shown the ability to lose control of their emotions. Kevin Durant is on the list, too, for what that’s worth. Plus Nerlens Noel – seemed like a peaceful dude in his extended period with the Thunder – and Olivier Sarr, who played 22 games for OKC this season and seemed to need a lot more aggression, not less.
So you never know. Allen and Brooks and Green are not on the list of multiple offenders. Not this year.
But Brooks and Green have reputations. They have lived up to those reputations in the Golden State-Memphis series.
The List: Kentucky Derby names
The Kentucky Derby arrives Saturday, and with it comes my annual ranking of the horses’ names, which I find by far the most interesting part of the race:
1. Barber Road: I love the idea of horses with “Road” in the name. Just think around here. Choctaw Road, Mustang Road, Britton Road. All would be excellent names.
2. Messier: I don’t know if this horse is named after old New York Rangers star Mark Messier, but I’m generally fine with naming thoroughbreds after great hockey players. Gretzky, Esposito, Lemieux. Bobby Orr would be a fine name for a horse.
3. White Abarrio: This proud beast is off-white, a Derby rarity. If you’ve got it, flaunt it.
4. Cyberknife: One-word horse names are best, and if they’ve got a little edge to them, even better.
5. Zozos: I have no idea what it means, but it sounds cool.
6. Happy Jack: Sounds like a cereal. Not that there‘s anything wrong with that. Apple Jacks. Frosted Flakes. Fruity Pebbles. Malt-O-Meal would be an exquisite name for a horse.
7. Zandon: I’m a sucker for words and names that start with Z. I could have gone for being named Zenith.
8. Classic Causeway: I didn’t know causeways came in various forms of time, but this has a cool ring to it.
9. Ethereal Road: Another “road” name. “Ethereal” is a little high-brow to rank very high.
10. Epicenter: Unlikely to ever win a naming contest, but solid.
11. Summer is Tomorrow: Three-word phrases are a no-no, but this isn’t terrible.
12. Crown Pride: Regal-sounding names almost always are a winner, but this just doesn’t click.
13. Simplification: Maybe I have it too low. I think Multiplication would be a good name.
14. Pioneer of Medina: Medina Pioneer would be much better.
15. Tawny Port: I have a cousin named Tonnie, so the misspelling on the name bothers me.
16. Tiz the Bomb: I would like this much better if it was “Tis.” My love for the letter z goes only so far.
17. Smile Happy: Certainly preferable to Smile Sad. We need no clowns in the Derby.
18. Mo Donegal: Sounds like a St. Louis Brown, circa 1936.
19. Charge It: No thanks. I’ll pay cash.
20. Taiba: I have no clue what this is or means. But I know how it sounds.
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: Oklahoma State coach Kenny Gajewski wonders if OU will leave for SEC
