Young taking his talents to the NBA

By Michael Kinney

In what may have been the worst kept secret in college basketball was made official Tuesday when freshman Trae Young announced he was leaving Oklahoma to make himself available for the NBA draft.

It’s a move most saw as a possibility the day Young committed to the Sooners as a senior at Norman North. But it became more and more evident over the course of his freshman campaign that he would not be long for the college game.

“Coach Lon Kruger and his staff started to recruit me as a ninth-grader at Norman North High School, and I trusted him from the beginning,” said Young. “As much as anything, Coach Kruger taught me about poise, about handling pressure and difficult circumstances with calm and clear-mindedness.”

Young wasn’t as heralded as some of the freshmen who entered the 2017-18 season. Missouri’s Michael Porter Jr was considered the top player in the class and Alabama’s Collin Sexton was seen as the best point guard.

Yet, it didn’t take long for Young to quickly become a force and put the OU basketball program back on the national scene.

At 6-foot-2, Young is the first player in NCAA Division I history to finish the season leading the country in both scoring (27.4) and assists (8.7).

Young’s 27.4 points per game mark the highest scoring average ever recorded by an Oklahoma or Big 12 player. His 8.7 dimes per game are good for the best assist average in OU history and are second in Big 12 history only to Doug Gottlieb of Oklahoma State (8.8 assists per game in 1998-99).

According to the Sooners, Young is the first major-conference player in NCAA Division I history to total 800 points and 250 assists in the same season, finishing the year with 876 points and 279 assists.

“We’re extremely pleased for Trae,” Kruger. “He had the type of season that deserves this attention and put him in the position that he’s in now. We’re very excited for him going forward and the next chapter in his basketball career. We expect it to all work out for him in a fantastic way.”

Young’s season didn’t go without its difficulties. After a blistering start where he seemed to be the run-away choice for the Player of the Year in the Big 12 and in the nation, Oklahoma hit a rocky patch once it entered conference play.

After beating Kansas on Jan. 23, the Sooner won only three more games. And they didn’t win a single game away from Lloyd Noble Center in 2018.

During the postseason, was one and done in the Big 12 tourney and the NCAA tourney, where many college basketball analysts didn’t think OU belonged.

I will regret that I didn’t help the Sooners win a national championship. I have always wanted to honor the legacies of Wayman Tisdale, Blake Griffin and Buddy Hield, OU legends who led the program to Elite Eights and Final Fours,” Young told ESPN. “I wanted to take the Sooners the distance — all the way to a national championship. When I chose OU, I imagined I’d have more than one chance at the NCAA tournament, but things changed and this season became my only opportunity.”

According to CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish, Young will be a lottery pick and has him going to Chicago with the No. 8 pick.

Several have stated Young is not ready for the grind of the NBA. Young doesn’t seem to mind the doubters.

“I know there will be doubts again as I prepare for the draft,” Young told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. “I don’t pretend to be ready to play in the NBA today, but I am determined to do what I’ve always done: invest in the work to prepare for the league and the incredible challenges it presents. I’m going to start training immediately for the draft, building up strength throughout my body, sharpening my skills and studying the best of the best. I’ll never regret a moment I spent at the University of Oklahoma, or my decision to stay home and become a Sooner for life.”

Michael Kinney is a Freelance Content Writer for Eyeamtruth.com

 

Westbrook racks up weekly award

By Michael Kinney

Russell Westbrook’s recent level of play has not gone unnoticed around the NBA. Coming off his fifth straight triple-double and six straight wins for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Westbrook was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for games played from March 12 through 18.

During that span, the Thunder racked up a 4-0 record. That included Sunday afternoon’s win over the East-leading Toronto Raptors.

Over the four-game stretch, Westbrook posted a triple-double in each game while averaging 25.5 points, 11.3 rebounds and 12.0 assists. He also shot .526 (41-78 FGs) from the field.

Westbrook is on the verge averaging a triple-double for the second straight season. He also surpassed 100 career triple-doubles last week.

Heading into Oklahoma City’s matchup with Boston Tuesday, Westbrook is riding a streak of five consecutive triple-doubles. It’s a mark he has already done twice in his career.

The reigning MVP is putting up record-breaking numbers in all areas of his game. He handed out his 6,000th assist on March 18 at Toronto. He joined Cleveland’s LeBron James as the only active players with at least 6,000 assists and 4,800 rebounds and just the 13th NBA player to do so.

On the season Westbrook is averaging 25.3 points, a league-leading 10.2 assists, 9.7 rebounds and 1.79 steals in 36.2 minutes. He has now earned Player of the Week honors two times this season and 17 times in his career.

Michael Kinney is a Freelance Content Writer with Eyeamtruth.com

Struggles continue for WVU tennis

By Michael Kinney

NORMAN, Okla. — Coach Miha Lisac thinks it’s about time. It’s been six seasons since the WVU women played their first Big 12 tennis match, and in all that time they have yet to make a mark in the conference win column.

It’s a feat that has not gone unnoticed.

“This is still very much as a young program, as a young team, and we have been working on building this program to the point to where we will belong into the Big 12,” Lisac said. “Not just against certain teams but against everybody. Now to get there, there is a little bit of a path to take.”

Since 2013, the Mountaineers are 0-47-1 against Big 12 opponents. The latest defeat came March 16, at No. 50 Oklahoma.

The final tally was 4-2. But the Mountaineers (4-6, 0-1 Big 12) came out of it believing they let an opportunity to get that first conference win slip away.

“Unfortunately, today, we kind of let a couple of those (matches) slip through our fingers, so the end result was too far down,” Lisac said. “But with the amount of opportunities we had, we absolutely had the opportunities to turn this match into our favor, so that’s the positive that we’re taking out of today.”

Yet, the WVU coaches and athletes do not believe it is a disparity in talent that has caused them to be unsuccessful in the Big 12. With the likes of Giovanna Caputo, Lyn Yuen Choo and Paula Goetz, they can hang with most teams.

However, it’s the mental head games the Mountaineers play on themselves that they must overcome.

“I guess to get past it, just stand your ground the whole time and just keep believing and fighting,” freshman Anne-Sophie Courteau said. “Pretty much all the matches are close, so you know that you’re able to compete well against them and just keep playing the same game plan and keep going through your shots.”

Lisac agrees it is not a talent problem. WVU won its share of individual matches when taking on even some of the best teams in the conference.

Yet, when it’s time to take that step from being a threat to a contender, WVU has come up short.

“One of the things we have to kind of own is, we need to believe. Where the program has been in the past, that belief doesn’t necessarily come automatically,” said Lisac, who is in his fourth year at WVU. “In the past, the program wasn’t always competitive in the Big 12, so in order for us to start to believe more and more and more, we have to be putting ourselves in positions.”

When Lisac talks about taking a path to success, it means getting to the point where they no longer accept being close.

“One of those matches we will be able to close in our favor, and that’s going to turn the tide completely for us,” Lisac said. “So, it’s still kind of a building process into getting to that point but belief is huge in that way.”

Today, the Mountaineers have another opportunity to break through the Big 12 ceiling they have been hitting for five seasons. They face No. 19 Oklahoma State in Stillwater.

The Cowgirls are 9-1 on the season and opened their Big 12 slate Saturday, against Iowa State. Their loss was a 4-2 battle to No. 11 Ole Miss, in January.

“Oklahoma State is just like Oklahoma,” Lisac said. “I mean, a very talented team. They’ve had a good program for a long time and we know that they will come ready to play, that they’re not going to just necessarily just give us opportunities. We will have to go out and prepare those opportunities, but I want to see us continue to get better and better at closing those opportunities out when they are there.”

Story appeared in The Dominion Post

Michael Kinney is a Freelance Content Writer for Eyeamtruth.com