Mr. Picker, ORU will recover very quickly when Jarvis is out of there. In the Summit League first round, Jarvis went 2-12 and 0-6 from the
field. He would have been in there five minutes for a real coach. He is the consummate "ball hog" and the other players detest those characteristics. With him gone, there will be FIVE players on the team again.

Picker, thanks for your personal email, but if my comments had gone "across the line," they would have been removed. Bullying in the privacy of email is even worse.

Let's keep it in the open and try to put on a happy face. Here, I'll get you started:

The Picker's column is a staple AND a luxury good.

The Picker brightens my brights and whitens my whites.

Four out of five dentists recommend The Picker.

Usually Final 4 teams have 3 ingredients; a decent center, a good small &/or power forward, & a “solid” pt. guard. OU’s inside game is Final 4 “potential” but their erratic, guard play w/ no true point guard or good ball handler will be them Sooners downfall.

OSU over OU? Who has more 2 play for? Whose quicker off the break? Whose guards can consistently penetrate the middle? Whose more ready for the pro’s; Anderson for OSU or Warren for OU? Snicker might just be right! But there is the Byron Eaton factor, makes a great play then ‘duffs one!

Why is KU (The Big 12 Champ & probable tourney champ) considered a #3 seed & OU a #1 or #2 seed?

Will any Big 12 team make it to the sweet 16?

Texas didn't need 3 people to control Blake Griffin, only Dexter Pittman.

You mean virtual as in your online girlfriend? What kind of "virtual" lock are you talking about?

It is nice to see someone liked my name so much they had to imitate. I know you think I'm cool and all, but please... that is kind of stalker"ish".

Is ORU still playing basketball?

Marguerite, there will be two ways to get at the bracket contest: directly, at tulsaworld.com/madness09. Or on the World's home page, there will a March Madness bug -- both will lead you to a bracket and the prizes.

Gene M., thanks for the ORU thought -- never seen such a lack of response to the state of the program.

Yes, it's true, OSU plus the points against OU Thursday is the official pick. The number was ten and a half last time when OSU could have won outright had Warren not squeezed in that long three-pointer. The number should be about 8 this time and could bring our point spread streak to 20 of 21.

A quick question: What is everybody talking about when it comes to TU and the NCAA tournament?

It has to beat Memphis at Memphis, it's that simple.

And Memphis could be playing for a 1 seed.

Will a Big 12 team hit the final 16? Good question. Yeah.

But it's all about match-ups; so today's bright idea is Monday's Mulligan.

At this point, it's NC and Pitt versus the field.

Thanks, Mr. Picker, for the link to the men's basketball college basketball tournament contest. Where's the one for the women's tournament?

Hey Picker, why are you wasting your talent in Tulsa? You could be working any where in the country. Maybe in one of those states that you like the teams better, Florida or Texas. I'm sure one of their papers would have an opening for you.
Maybe in the circulation department..delivering
papers...

Woah, hold on Pick. You had OU beating OSU by 10. They only lost by 4. I believe that brings your current streak to 18 of 20, not 19 of 20...

Wait a minute. I see what you've done here. The actual spread was 10.5, so you picked 10. This way, if OU had won by more than 10 you could say it was a win for you. And even though OSU lost by less than 10, you still picked a number beneath the spread amount therefore you could say your streak of "beating the spread" still continues.

That's pretty cheap, Pick. I'm starting to see exactly what Robin Segal is saying.

Here's a quick way to fix it. How about you release your record based only on YOUR spread amount and not on a mixture that gives you a win-win situation? To think I used to actually respect your picks...wow, that's pretty low.

The problem with citing statistics is that terms like "the spread," for example, have several meanings, depending on whose spread you mean.

It is possible to say something that is statistically true, but still wrong or at least misleading, by most standards. Here is an example: the average person has one testicle.

Well, picker was right on the OSU/OU game tonight. . .