Once 'overrated,' OU now second to one
Published: 2/15/2009 4:59 PM
Last Modified: 2/15/2009 4:59 PM
Greg Anthony was a terrific college basketball player, the point guard for one of the sport's most dominant teams of the past 20 years, the UNLV Runnin' Rebels of 1989-91. Let's just say he's not quite as precise when it comes to college basketball analysis.
Anthony's pick as the most overrated team in Rivals.com's preseason top 65? Oklahoma, the current No. 2-ranked team in the nation.
"While Blake Griffin is a flat-out stud and Jeff Capel is one of the best young coaches in the country, this team will need far better play from its backcourt this season," Anthony wrote (or said) last October. "Tony Crocker and Austin Johnson will have to be better decision-makers when it comes to running the offense and shot selection. Also, they will have to rely on junior college players Kyle Cannon and Orlando Allen, who missed all of last season because of injury...
"Capel will have his hands full because of the high expectations. This may be his greatest challenge to date. I love the potential, but this is a team that has struggled to stay healthy. I'm not sure they're a top-10 team."
Well, Anthony got the Griffin and Capel stuff right. And he was correct to key on the backcourt's need to improve. It seems he wasn't sure Johnson and Crocker were up to the task, which, it turns out, they were.
Also, Anthony went wrong by focusing on Cannon and Allen, not Juan Pattillo, for transfer impact.
Easy to make someone look bad well after the fact, I guess. And the truth is, I enjoyed the work Anthony did in the past as a studio analyst for ESPN's NBA coverage.
But when you swing and miss like this, you're subject to a team's bulletin board and a beat writer's blog.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
