1. Life is not fair. At all. Need evidence? After missing most of 2011-12 with an ACL injury, Oklahoma State’s JP Olukemi will now miss the rest of his senior season with another knee injury. This was supposed to be a year of celebration for Olukemi, who earned an NCAA waiver to play his final semester this winter after months of controversy. Instead, his future is now uncertain after this nightmarish scenario. We all remember when Robbie Hummel injured his knee a second time, but Olukemi might not get another chance to lace up the sneakers. That’s tragic for a guy who’s been through hell and back so far already.
2. Get comfortable, Bob Huggins (as if he weren’t already). West Virginia announced yesterday that it has signed the head coach to an extension through 2022-23, six years past the term of his original deal. This is a no-brainer for the school, no matter how bad Huggins’ team looked against Gonzaga in its season opener. And we’d be willing to bet almost anything Huggins will stick around through the duration of this deal, considering he’s a hometown kid and alumnus of the school. More importantly, he once left behind Michael Beasley and Bill Walker at Kansas State to coach in Morgantown. Need any more proof? Huggins For Life in Morgantown.
3. If you’re tuning into Oklahoma’s showdown with UTEP in the opening round of the Old Spice Classic this afternoon, listen for a ruckus in the stands. That’s probably freshman Buddy Hield‘s family, which is making the trip to Orlando to celebrate Thanksgiving and watch some hoops. He apparently hasn’t seen a few of his siblings in almost two years, so, in that case, the louder the better! Hield’s not a bad player, either. The Bahamas native and coveted high school prospect went off for 17 points against UT-Arlington last week.
4. Finding an amicable split between coach and school in college basketball is about as rare as finding two divorced people who still get along. It just doesn’t happen. Usually, when a coach gets fired or leaves on bad terms, there’s a bloodbath. Ask a Kentucky fan how he/she feels about Billy Gillispie, and you’re likely to get a slew of curse words thrown your way. That’s why it’s so refreshing to read about how Iowa State and former coach Greg McDermott found a way to cut ties with each other and then find success with alternate paths. The Cyclones didn’t fire McDermott, but after a fairly unsuccessful tenure in Ames, he bolted for Creighton before things got really ugly. His old school hired a Cyclone legend in Fred Hoiberg and made the NCAA Tournament within two years, and McDermott found a cozy gig with a basketball-crazy program and now coaches his son (who happens to be an All-American) with good talent surrounding him. It could not have worked out better for either party.
5. Meanwhile, things are not working out well for Richard Hurd, the former Baylor basketball player sentenced to 18 months in prison. Hurd pleaded guilty in September for attempting to extort former Bears’ quarterback and current Washington Redskin Robert Griffin III. He told Griffin he’d release negative information unless the star NFL prospect gave him a million dollars. You’re not really allowed to do that under our legal system, of course, so he’ll spend some hard time in prison somewhere in Texas.

dnspewak (343 Posts)

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 22nd, 2012 at 7:31 am by dnspewak and is filed under big 12, microsites, morning 5. Tagged: baylor, bob huggins, buddy hield, fred hoiberg, jp olukemi, oklahoma, oklahoma state, west virginia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.