What if Blake Griffin was still a Sooner?
Published: 2/20/2011 10:56 PM
Last Modified: 2/20/2011 10:56 PM
Maybe it's because of what has happened to Oklahoma since he left, but it seems like Blake Griffin has been gone forever. It floored me to read this in the Minneapolis Star Tribune last week:
"Jeff Capel probably wishes he would have stayed four years. Griffin would be a senior right now."
With that, the Trib's Myron P. Medcalf locked up Understatement of the Year. Capel PROBABLY wishes he would have stayed?
The last time anyone wished anything so badly, she was clicking her red ruby slippers together.
Griffin at OU this year and last? Oh Lord. Let's be honest, college basketball this year and last has taken a sizable dip. No dominant player, no dominant team.
Seems completely reasonable to assume Griffin alone could have carried the Sooners another step as a junior, to the Final Four. Think anyone on Duke, Butler, Michigan State or West Virginia could have handled him?
See anyone out there this year who could? By now, the only thing that could have stopped Griffin's ransacking of college basketball is legal authorities.
Meaning, he might have been declared certifiably insane had he stayed in college this long. Nobody dunking over Optimas needs to waste any time throwing down on Jorge Brian Diaz or Jordan Henriquez-Roberts.
More likely, Griffin might have found it harder to blow off the hip-checking, hair-pulling, tripping, flipping and whipping opposing teams resorted to his first two years at OU. Big brother Taylor wouldn't have been around to help keep Blake from snapping.
I merely suggest OU attorneys might have been brushing up on "justifiable homicide" by now.
Yeah, all right. Absurd. Griffin didn't so much as sneer at Morgan State goon Ameer Ali after Ali's Tito Santana maneuver in the NCAA tournament. He'd have kept to himself and his business, just like he did as a freshman and sophomore.
But how's this: Would Griffin have been poisoned by the Sooners' chemistry last season? Let's consider.
Maybe Tiny Gallon doesn't even come to OU, knowing Griffin is going to stay a while and gobble up playing time ahead of him. But then, Gallon supposedly signed to play alongside good buddy Tommy Mason-Griffin, not just to take a superstar's place.
Mason-Griffin wouldn't have been affected by Griffin's situation. He was on board either way.
Then there's Willie Warren. Would Griffin's presence have had the same positive impact it seemed to in 2008-09, when Warren was content to play second fiddle as a freshman?
Taylor Griffin was the Sooners' warden that season. Without him or his brother in 09-10, Warren, Gallon, Mason-Griffin and Tony Crocker were left unaccountable.
Would Blake have been able to rein in that wild bunch without Taylor's help? I think so. His commanding presence would have given him time to develop a commanding voice.
There are so many other variables to this dream scenario. Yes, Griffin keeps 'em coming back to the Lloyd Noble Center, now an afterthought unless fans are let in free. Yes, he keeps the heat off Jeff Capel.
If Griffin is still at OU, fans are still wondering about Capel's future. Only, it's: "How do we keep him from leaving?"
From another angle, does Griffin prevent Jeffrey Hausinger from wiring money to Gallon? Does he keep assistant coach Oronde Taliaferro on the straight and narrow? Does he prevent the NCAA from budding back into his university's athletic department?
Back in present day, are Gallon, Warren and Mason-Griffin still around? Who among OU's current players are sharing the court with college basketball's soon-to-be three-time national player of the year?
Very few, I suspect. Wonder who's here in Norman instead?
Also, does Chewbacca show up at the Lloyd Noble to get an autograph instead of giving them? Why yes, I believe he does. Peter Mayhew knows his hoops.
You could spend hours dreaming of possibilities. Given what's happened to their basketball program since Griffin's departure, would you blame Sooner fans for doing just that?
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
