Ray Penn story that never was: The final chapter
2/8/2010 9:10:36 PM
Clarity arrived Monday in regard to the Ray Penn Facebook mystery.
Penn is a freshman point guard at Oklahoma State who made a cryptic Facebook post (“my season over”) following a loss Saturday at Texas Tech.
The post stirred speculation that he had aggravated a knee injury and might be gone for the rest of the season. OSU sources said otherwise Sunday and Penn ‘fessed up when he made another Facebook post Monday.
This one said, “Hello world. I have to clear this up. My status of ‘my season is over’ was just out of fustration. Take no regards to that and I would appreciate it if ya’ll would stop hyping up something that is nothing.”
Penn had missed four consecutive games with a stress reaction prior to playing against Texas Tech. OSU coach Travis Ford was asked about Penn’s health status during the Big 12’s weekly conference call Monday.
Said Ford, “He was a bit sore. It was to be expected. But, as of yesterday, he said he felt like he did before the game started. It definitely didn’t get any worse, so hopefully this week we will get him more ready to play since this is our bye week. But he came out of the week pretty good, kind of better than expected probably.”
So, there you go. That’s the end of the story that would never have existed if not for a social networking site.
--Jimmie Tramel
The OSU decade: who were the most valuable figures?
2/8/2010 11:25:00 AM
Oklahoma State football, 2000-09. Within a single decade, the Cowboys had seven bowl appearances and seven seasons of at least seven victories.
From a big-picture standpoint, T. Boone Pickens clearly was OSU's Person of the Decade. From a football standpoint, who were OSU's most valuable figures?
Coach: Les Miles, Mike Gundy or Larry Fedora?
Quarterback: Josh Fields or Zac Robinson?
Wide receiver: Rashaun Woods or Dez Bryant?
Running back: Tatum Bell, Dantrell Savage or Kendall Hunter?
-- Bill Haisten
False Alarm
2/7/2010 4:07:00 PM
Oklahoma State point guard Ray Penn created a message board stir when he made this Facebook post at 3:54 p.m. Saturday: "My season over."
Penn's petite post made it easy to jump to the conclusion that he had aggravated a knee injury in a Saturday road loss to Texas Tech and was perhaps out for the remainder of the season. He missed four consecutive games with a stress reaction before returning to duty against the Red Raiders.
But, as it turns out, Penn was either joking or speaking figuratively or maybe he was just having some fun with words. (He is single, but lists himself as married on Facebook because he is "married" to basketball.)
I checked Sunday with people who should know about Penn's status and the word is that the freshman is exactly where he is supposed to be in the rehab process. Until further notice, assume that Penn's post was a false alarm.
--Jimmie Tramel.
Robinson, Bryant and the black jersey
2/7/2010 2:16:59 PM
In an ESPN2-televised skills competition featuring NFL draft-eligible quarterbacks and wide receivers, Oklahoma State's Zac Robinson prevailed in the long-distance passing event (64 yards). There seemed to be no hangover from the shoulder sprain that affected his passing in the Bedlam and Cotton Bowl games.
Dez Bryant, typically dazzling athletically, was the winner of the route-running contest.
Both Robinson and Bryant were clad in the black jersey worn by the Cowboys during their Nov. 19 home victory over Colorado. OSU officials say there is no plan to use the black jersey on an occasional basis, but the players seemed to love it. So does at least one recruit – QB Nate Sorenson of Texarkana, Texas.
During ESPN's Colorado-OSU telecast, "I had some friends call and say, 'Are you seeing these black uniforms?' " Sorenson said. "I loved them. I hope OSU stays with them. They look really good. I think they could be a selling point (in recruiting)."
-- Bill Haisten
A conversation with Dana Holgorsen
2/5/2010 1:38:00 PM
Oklahoma State's Dana Holgorsen Experience begins on March 8, when the Cowboys open their spring-practice session in Stillwater. The spring game is set for Saturday, April 17.
Holgorsen, whose 2009 Houston offense was the most prolific in college football, was hired as the Cowboy offensive coordinator last month. Here are a few Holgorsen comments from a recent telephone interview:
You are inheriting a 26-year-old junior quarterback in Brandon Weeden. He doesn't have much game experience, but is the presence of an older guy beneficial as you install a new offense?
Holgorsen: "I've heard good things about him. I've heard he's a smart, mature kid with a big arm. I'm excited about sitting down and talking with him and working with him and teaching him some things. The guy I left (Houston's Case Keenum) was a pretty mature guy even though he was only 21 years old. Maturity at (the quarterback position) – being able to handle situations – is very important."
Over the previous four seasons, OSU's run-pass ratio has been 50-50. In your five years as a coordinator (2005-07 at Texas Tech, 2008-09 at Houston), your offenses have gotten 79 percent of their yardage on pass plays. OSU's deepest and most talented returning position group is the running backs. Do you have the flexibility to include more run game or do you just use the backs more in the passing game?
Holgorsen: "It's all about touches. We've run the ball considerably more at Houston than we did at Texas Tech. At Texas Tech, we had three all-conference running backs. At Houston, last year we had the freshman of the year (in Conference USA) and he was a 1,000-yard rusher. This year, we had another freshman-of-the-year running back. The offense – you can call it whatever you want, (but) we've got a variety of runs, a variety of screens, a variety of passes. In some games, if it's working, we're going to run the ball more. And if we play against a team where we're a little outmanned up front, like (Houston was) against East Carolina (in the C-USA championship game), then I'm not going to keep calling runs if we're losing a yard each time we call it."
When you evaluate a quarterback, what do you consider the most important trait?
Holgorsen: "The cerebral part of the game – just being able to understand the offense and where we're going with the offense – is incredibly important. Being competitive is huge. Just having a burning desire to win. That may sound cliché, but it's not. The physical stuff, I think you can get better. You can get better at getting your release quicker. You can get better at being more accurate. You can get better at your footwork in the pocket. Through the course of practice, that tends to happen. The thing that you can't get kids better at is what he's got going on upstairs and the competitive nature."
From the standpoint of play-calling or audibles, how much control do your quarterbacks have on the field?
Holgorsen: "Quite a bit. Graham Harrell's last year (as the Texas Tech quarterback), he was calling about 75 percent of the plays. This past year . . . (Keenum) did it probably 50 percent of the time."
-- Bill Haisten
Overtime with Travis Ford
2/2/2010 2:24:00 PM
Oklahoma State basketball coach Travis Ford reached the “one more question” portion of his postgame press conference Monday night, then took questions for five more minutes.
Ford said he didn’t mind sitting through an extended press conference because it was more enjoyable than sitting through what happened "out there," referring to a homecourt loss to ninth-ranked Texas.
“As I told our team at halftime, I don’t care if the Lakers come in here,” Ford said. “You are supposed to win at home. That’s just what I believe.
“But we understood the challenge at hand tonight. We thought we would be overachievers. We should be and we thought we would be, but we weren’t. We got beat by a better basketball team. The better basketball team doesn’t always win. But they did tonight. We’ve got to regroup and put this one behind us on Wednesday and get back to work because we’ve got half the conference season left.”
Following are excerpts from Ford’s 12-minute postgame interview session:
--James Anderson scored 24-first half points against Texas and finished with 28. Ford said the Cowboys have to get Anderson a little bit of help.
“At halftime, I told the guys James isn’t going to be able to do this by himself. Somebody else is going to have to step up here. He’s not going to go out and get 24 points again. They are not going to let him do that. They are just not going to let him do that. Who else is going to step up? Guys tried. They tried a little bit better in the second half. Just not enough help.”
-- Ford said his team, which is 4-4 midway through the Big 12 season, is in the midst of a crucial stretch.
“As I told them, myself and the coaching staff and the players, we all need to look themselves in the mirror these next days and figure out what they can do to help our team become better to overcome some of our weaknesses and limitations and figure out how to have success with who we are.
“It can be done. We have proven it can be done. But it’s not easy. We’ll never win a game easy. That’s just not what we are made of. That’s not our makeup right now. And that’s fine. I don’t mind that all. I’ll go to war with guys who, if they will put up a fight, we will go to war and we’ll prepare and we’ll get after it and we’ll win some games. But, anything less than that, we will be very average.”
--Ford was asked about what appeared to be a skirmish between Marshall Moses and Matt Pilgrim during a timeout.
“They didn’t really get into it. I know it probably (looked like it). But it was actually positive. Marshall is an emotional guy. It wasn’t negative. We were just trying to calm him down. He gets pumped up and Matt was trying to help him. It wasn’t negative. I’m sure it looked that way, but it wasn’t.”
--OSU is 2-2 without starting freshman point guard Ray Penn, who has a knee injury that is being described as a stress reaction. The Cowboys play a Saturday game at Texas Tech. Ford said Penn’s status remains day-to-day.
“I know I keep saying that, but it’s the craziest deal I’ve ever seen. Until he feels no pain, we are not going to let him back on the court. We’ll get him out there and see if he’s got any pain tomorrow or Wednesday.
“If he does, we will put him back on the shelf and try him again on Thursday and try him again on Friday.
“We’ll see. We could use him. No question we could use him, but there are other guys who have got to step up as well and play and produce. Too many goose eggs on our side.”
-- For the first time since Penn was injured, Keiton Page started at point guard. Fred Gulley, who started the previous three games, came off the bench. Page was scoreless against Texas and teammates said running the offense may have taken away from Page’s offensive production.
Said Ford, “I’m not giving anybody any excuses. There are no excuses. This is the Big 12. The moment you start making excuses and feel sorry for yourself, you are going to be on the bottom looking up. So there are no excuses.”
--Ford suggested OSU must play over its head the rest of the season, especially when facing talent-rich teams like Texas.
“ We do have some limitations. In most games, nine out of 10 conference games that we are going to play, we are going to be smaller, other teams are probably going to have more depth and probably have more experience.
“But that’s OK. We have proven, at times, that we can overcome that if we understand that we have got to fight and scrap and claw every second of the game. There can’t be mental lapses. We can’t go through three trips and not know who you are guarding. We just don’t have that much room for error. We don’t have that. That’s not who we are. We are not that deep yet. We don’t have that talent yet. We don’t have those weapons yet.
“And tonight we had guys get lost on match-ups. And I’ll take responsibility. We had guys playing positions that they hadn’t played. That wasn’t good. I should have known better. But we were just trying to get more size, a little bit more physicality about our basketball team. But I told our team the moment you forget who you are – and this goes for any team, whether it be Texas or Kansas…. Play to your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. If you do not do that, camouflage your height or overcome your weaknesses or whatever you want to say -- we say minimize – then you will struggle as a basketball team.”
--Jimmie Tramel.
James Anderson's best numerical achievement is zero
2/1/2010 3:00:00 PM
The Tulsa World published a story today about Oklahoma State basketball player James Anderson and the story was accompanied by a big blob of statistical accomplishments.
I looked over the stats and decided the most significant number in Anderson’s career thus far is 0.
Anderson seemingly has zero ego. Has the Big 12 ever had a leading scorer who is more modest and soft-spoken?
Before Anderson’s first game at OSU, I detoured through his hometown (Junction City, Ark.) on the way to a college football game in New Orleans.
Former Junction City basketball coach Joe Hammett, who stopped pouring concrete at the high school baseball park long enough to take a few questions about Anderson, talked about the kid as if he was too good to be true.
I dug through my laptop and dusted off a few of the things Hammett said that day. Such as:
-- “In 20 years of coaching basketball, James was by far my best player, but besides that he was my best kid as far as character and values. He’s a super kid. He’s one of these that you always tell do the right thing no matter if anybody is watching. Well, James is that type of kid. He is going to do the right thing most of the time. I’m not saying he’s perfect, but he’s a super kid.”
-- “Even after James started getting recognition and everybody began coming to watch him play, you wouldn’t know it. He’s one of these guys that, in high school anyway, teammates just loved to play with. He is very unselfish and he is going to do all his things within the team. He is not going to try to stick out.”
-- “I think the best way to describe James is you take the last player on the team, your No. 15 guy, and he would make that guy feel just as important as one of the starters, and that was James. From the top guys to the bottom guys, he made them all feel special, so I think that was one of the things about James is there wasn’t anybody any better than anybody else as long as we all won.”
Nearly three years later, I’m sure of this: Nobody can accuse Hammett of false advertising. Anderson is the anti-punk.
--Jimmie Tramel.
Penn's crutches answer the question
1/26/2010 1:48:25 PM
Unless someone comes up with a miracle cure, Oklahoma State will have to pick and choose spots to employ freshman point guard Ray Penn in practices and games.
Penn, a starter, missed OSU's victory at Kansas State in order to rest a knee injury. Will Penn play Wednesday against Texas A&M?
While Travis Ford was being asked Monday about Penn's status, the "click-clack" of Penn's crutches as he walked nearby more or less answered the question.
Penn did not practice Monday. Ford said Penn is day-to-day and said Penn's return will be determined by the athletic training staff.
"Speaking with the trainers and everybody, this is a situation we're going to have to monitor," Ford said.
"It's unfortunate. He's not going to get to practice as much as we'd like. We'll try to save him for games as much as possible. And that's never a good scenario, especially for a freshman. If he was an older player, you'd feel a little better about it. But freshmen need as much practice time as possible."
If you were the coach and had to pick one game for Penn to play this week, would you choose a Wednesday home game against Texas A&M? Or a Saturday trip to Missouri? The Cowboys can use all the ballhandlers they can get against the Tigers' press. But Penn at less than 100 percent could be a liability against the press.
What's Penn's exact injury? Ford was asked Saturday if Penn has a stress fracture and the coach said Penn was headed that way.
"It's kind of been a strange deal, the whole thing, where it's at," Ford said Monday. "It's not real, real bad, but it's a thing that can get worse. So it's a very fine line you have to walk."
--Jimmie Tramel.
Status of Barnett's commitment now uncertain
1/25/2010 2:04:04 PM
To quote a source familiar with the Oklahoma State-Calvin Barnett relationship, "this situation has gotten squirrelly."
Barnett is a Booker T. Washington High School defensive tackle. A four-star national prospect and a U.S. Army All-American, he committed to OSU in August. As recently as last week, he said, "I've been solid since the day I committed."
But Barnett visited Arkansas over the weekend. An attempt to contact him on Sunday night was unsuccessful.
Eric Bennett, Barnett's high school teammate, has committed to the Razorbacks and apparently is trying to persuade Barnett to switch his commitment.
If Barnett is wavering on his Cowboy commitment, OSU has opportunities to fortify its position. It is believed that Cowboy coach Mike Gundy and defensive coordinator Bill Young are scheduled to visit Barnett's home on Wednesday. Barnett has said that he plans to make an official visit to OSU this weekend.
Because they are scarce, elite defensive tackles are treasured in recruiting. The 320-pound Barnett is considered to be an impact interior defender, and his commitment is a significant reason why OSU's current commitment list is rated No. 12 nationally by Scout.
If OSU were to lose Barnett on Feb. 3 (national signing day), the 2010 Cowboy class would not pack quite the same punch.
-- Bill Haisten
Recruiting update: Barnett visits Arkansas, Sorenson meets with Gundy
1/22/2010 6:56:26 PM
Should Oklahoma State fans be worried about the commitment of Calvin Barnett?
A 6-foot-3, 330-pound defensive tackle from Tulsa's Booker T. Washington High School, Barnett announced his commitment to OSU in August. Last week, he said this to the Tulsa World: "I've been solid since the day I committed."
Barnett, however, made an official visit to Arkansas this weekend. Eric Bennett, Barnett's BTW teammate and friend, has committed to the Razorbacks. Barnett, a U.S. Army All-American who is rated a four-star national prospect by Scout, has said that his four finalists were OSU, Arkansas and Texas Tech.
Barnett says he will make an official visit to OSU next week.
Last week, Cowboy coach Mike Gundy traveled to Texarkana for a meeting with quarterback commitment Nate Sorenson of Texas High School.
Following OSU's hiring of Houston offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen, the 6-foot-4, 205-pound Sorenson – a dual-threat QB who runs the football well and is a track star – expressed concern about the direction of the Cowboy offense. Sorenson says he hopes that OSU will retain the quarterback run game as part of its attack.
When asked in a text message about his conversation with Gundy, Sorenson replied, "Everything went really well. I did hear what I wanted to hear."
Sorenson said he has not wavered from his commitment to OSU.
OSU's list of 27 committed recruits is ranked No. 11 nationally by Scout and No. 21 by Rivals.
-- Bill Haisten
Will packed houses ever return to Gallagher-Iba?
1/20/2010 9:14:00 AM
Home basketball attendance continues to be an issue at Oklahoma State, which once took packed houses at Gallagher-Iba Arena for granted.
What have the attendance numbers been lately? It's hard to say. OSU used to list actual attendance and paid attendance on box scores. Now you can only find a paid attendance figure.
Second-year coach Travis Ford was asked attendance-related questions during a session with media this week.
"When I was studying to take this job one of the things I read a lot about was the significance of the home-court advantage here, the significance of Gallagher-Iba Arena and the rowdiness and one of the toughest home-court advantages in the country," Ford said. "I read a lot about that and we’ve had that on occasions. (It's) kind of like our basketball team. We’d just like to have more consistency.
Pick a theory -- any theory -- about why attendance sagged in recent seasons. Maybe fans jumped off the bandwagon because of three first-round NIT defeats. Maybe Sutton Family loyalists were looking for a reason to divorce themselves from the program. Maybe fans spent so much money on football tickets that they didn't have spare cash to spend on basketball, the sport that was OSU's cash cow when football didn't have a pulse. But paid attendance is still more than 10,000, which means that many fans who bought tickets and failed to show up are paying NOT to go to games.
"There are tickets to be gotten," Ford said. "Every game, there’s probably a 1,000 or 1,500 tickets on sale, but that’s all that’s left. We are successful at selling most of our tickets. That’s not the problem. We just have to get the people with the tickets to come watch the game and support this team. They did against Texas Tech and we thought it would start once the Big 12 Conference play got here. Hopefully (they) will continue to do that."
Know what solves attendance problems better than anything else? Winning. OSU started 3-6 in league play last season, then caught fire and played meaningful home games in February. And, at least temporarily, the roar was restored at GIA.
"The last three or four home games were terrific," Ford said.
For whatever reason, the carryover effect into this season was minimal. Some blame a lack of big-time opponents on the nonconference home schedule. But when has OSU ever played a nonconference home schedule that featured "name" opponents? Hardly ever.
The loudest crowd of the season thus far showed up for a Big 12 opener against Texas Tech. "I'd take that night in and night out," Ford said. "It was terrific."
Because virtually every arena in the Big 12 has become a snakepit for visiting teams, Ford wants GIA to be rocking "just for the reason that we need every advantage we can get.... Hopefully our fans will come out and support us. "
--By Jimmie Tramel.
Ford pondering changes?
1/19/2010 10:59:12 AM
Oklahoma State has suffered back-to-back losses for the first time this season, dropping road games at Oklahoma and Baylor.
Now coach Travis Ford will try to react without overreacting.
Will his reaction include a change to the rotation or starting lineup?
Ford said he doesn't like what has been going on and said a lot of scenarios have gone through his head in regard to possibly mixing things up. He wonders if a lineup change would help get players' attention.
Ford said those things after being asked if he would consider putting Matt Pilgrim, who hasn't started since the first two games of the season, back in the starting lineup.
"There’s no question Matt Pilgrim needs to be playing starter-type minutes," Ford said. "And you hear all the time it doesn’t matter who starts and as a coach you really know that and you understand that and that is an absolute 100 percent truth.
"But, you know, starting lineups can motivate people and can do different things. With that said, I don’t know yet, for the fact that I don’t know who I would take out right now. I know who I would like to take out and motivate... but I don’t know if it’s the right time, right place to do it."
Ford said he could start Pilgrim alongside Marshall Moses in the post and move Obi Muonelo to the three spot.
"But I don’t know if that’s the answer for Obi at the 3," Ford said. "I don’t think that helps our team particularly just to try to get bigger. I don’t know if that’s the answer right now.
"But... things have been going through our head after losing two in a row. We don’t want to make too many changes right now, but it’s been a thought."
-- Jimmie Tramel.
At Cotton Bowl, Cox removed from OSU sideline
1/14/2010 4:22:00 PM
Sources indicate that during Oklahoma State's Jan. 2 Cotton Bowl meeting with Ole Miss, Perrish Cox was removed from the Cowboy sideline by OSU security personnel.
A day earlier, Cox, an All-American senior cornerback, was suspended by Cowboy coach Mike Gundy for having committed curfew violations while in Dallas for Cotton Bowl preparation.
"I don't know how that happened," Gundy said. "(Cowboys Stadium) is a big place. I guess he found his way in."
It is believed that Cox twice missed curfew, with second of the transgressions apparently having occurred on New Year's Eve.
Cox not only was prohibited from playing against Ole Miss, Gundy explained, but from being on the sideline. Cox was not a passenger on any of the OSU team buses, but somehow gained entrance to the field level and walked to the OSU sideline.
"I just know that guys earned the right to be there and play in that game and be on that sideline," Gundy said. "And when a selfish decision is made – like (Cox) made – they don't deserve to be on that sideline, in our opinion.
"I want Perrish to do well at the next level, but I was extremely disappointed with the decisions he made 48 hours before his last college football game. I think over a period of time, he'll realize that he made a mistake. I hope he'll come back and still want to be a part of Oklahoma State. But that doesn't mean that discipline wasn't necessary at the Cotton Bowl."
"I don't hold grudges on guys like that," Gundy added. "We just enforce the rules."
A finalist for the Thorpe Award, given annually to the top defensive back in college football, Cox led the nation in passes defended (four interceptions, 15 break-ups). The Waco, Texas, native ranks as the Big 12's all-time leader in kickoff-return yards.
– Bill Haisten
OSU playing it safe with Big Game James
1/14/2010 3:19:36 PM
Oklahoma State basketball coach Travis Ford, in his first media availability session since a Big Monday loss at Oklahoma, indicated Thursday that the Cowboys are playing it safe with guard James Anderson, who leads the Big 12 in scoring.
Anderson, who sustained a head injury against OU, did not practice Wednesday, but will practice Thursday, according to Ford.
OSU athletic trainer Jason Miller said through a sports information spokesman that Anderson has not exhibited any concussion-related symptoms.
Asked if Anderson was held out of practice Wednesday as a precautionary measure, Ford said, "More than anything. We wanted to make sure he is OK. He felt fine, but, still, I don’t think he was feeling 100 percent. So, as of today, I think he is 100 percent."
Miller indicated that an extra day of rest would be good for Anderson, who is expected to play in OSU's next game (Saturday at Baylor).
Ford also said post players Marshall Moses and Jarred Shaw missed practice Wednesday due to sickness.
"It's kind of typical of our year," Ford said.
--Jimmie Tramel.
Ford expects to get OU's best shot
1/10/2010 4:26:34 PM
Yes, Oklahoma has struggled for much of this basketball season.
Yes, the Sooners suffered a 31-point loss Saturday at Baylor.
But Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford suspects the Sooners will bring their A-game when the Cowboys make a Monday road trip to Norman. Hey, it's Bedlam. What else would you expect?
"They'll be ready to go," Ford said. "Jeff Capel is a great coach, one of the best coaches in America. He's proven that."
Ford explained away OU's lopsided loss at Baylor by saying "this is not an easy league. Plain and simple. It can happen. You can go on the road and things don't go your way, it can happen."
Ford said Baylor is not 31 points better than OU and he said his team, after an 81-52 victory over Texas Tech, is certainly not 29 points better than the Red Raiders.
Then, transitioning back to Bedlam, Ford said, "They (OU coaches) will have that team ready to go. We fully expect to get their best shot. And they'll end up having a good season. They've got a nice team and a great coach."
--Jimmie Tramel
|
