All posts by Micah Hixon

A die hard Sooner fan through and through. Micah transferred his allegiance to the Oklahoma City Thunder the year the Mavs won the title (go figure). He believes the Thunder and Sooners have many titles to come in the not too distant future. Most of his comments are not backed up by any sort of fact based reasoning, but you can trust him.
General, Oklahoma City Thunder, Oklahoma Sooners

Weekly Wrap

Welcome to the Weekly Wrap where we dissect recent happenings across the local sports scene. Look for the Weekly Wrap published every Friday.

• So Blake Bell is apparently in the process of transitioning to tight end. Granted he has a natural frame to be a great tight end, I just wonder how effective he will really be at the new position. Not that there are really any premier players ahead of him on the TE depth chart that concern me, but I'd personally like to see him continue to push Knight at the QB position. We all know that Knight's heavy dose of QB scrambles put him at a high risk for injury and I'm not sure how great I'd feel having to turn the reigns over to another freshman if he were to go down again. I'll give Bell this though, he is one heck of a teammate sucking it up and moving to a position of need as opposed to just taking his ball and going home (transferring).

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• The Thunder have the best record in the NBA headed into the all-star break and are currently the favorite to win it all this year, at least according to a few ESPN writers. Westbrook's injury may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise, granting that precious extra playing time and responsibility to the likes of Jackson and Lamb that they likely never would have gotten with a healthy Westbrook. The Thunder were ill-prepared for life without Westbrook last season, but they are a better bunch this time around. Plug a healthy Westbrook back into the lineup and you've got the favorites to win it all this year.

• Tip of the hat to my partner in crime on his fantastic breakdown of the recent Sooner signings this week. While doing my best to keep up with signing day, I still learned quite a bit from the recaps on the offensive side of the ball. If you have any interest at all in the future of the Oklahoma football program, I encourage you to go check it out. You will not be disappointed. Keep an eye out for the defensive players breakdown coming in the near future.

• Is it too soon to crown Kevin Durant the MVP? Nope. While LeBron has won four of the past five, Durant has been vocal about being tired of playing second fiddle. Being the second best player in the world isn't good enough for KD. He's on a mission to be the best and is putting on a pretty good display of those talents lately. Barring King James leading the Heat on another 30-game win streak, this race is as good as over.

• So Mark Schlabach has Oklahoma listed at #5 in his Post Signing Day "Way Too Early Top 25" rankings. This was no doubt based on the Sooners stellar recruiting class off the heels of their Sugar Bowl win over the vaunted Crimson Tide, but there is still a lot of work left to be done in Norman. Trevor Knight is the key to the Sooners success in 2014. If he builds off his fantastic Sugar Bowl performance? OU should earn a bid to the first ever college football playoffs. If he reverts back to the Knight from the 2013 season opener? Well, let's not talk like that.

• Russell Westbrook is still scheduled to return sometime after the all-star break, but the Thunder aren't ready to commit on a specific date just yet. February 20th is still the target date, but it's far from set in stone. Fingers crossed for no further setbacks. I've enjoyed watching this team persevere without their all-star point guard, but I enjoy watching them more with him on the court. And let's be honest, any attempt at making a serious push towards an NBA championship has to include a healthy #0.

• Remember when everyone was so sure that Bob Stoops was going to be the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns? I believed it about as much as the "Saban to Texas is a done deal" rumors. Stoops is going to finish out his career in Norman, mark it down. There are plenty of reasons to list why, but they are too many to go over in this small space.

• Disagreed with my opinion piece on why the Thunder shouldn't trade Westbrook? Want some substance backing up my take? Sign up for an Insider account and let the big boys do the heavy lifting. The Thunder are "great without Westbrook; better with him."

• Former five-star Oklahoma recruit Trey Metoyer was dismissed from the team last October after being charged with indecent exposure. So what's Metoyer been up to lately? Oh nothing special, just kicking back and enjoying another round of indecent exposure charges. Seems like a lifetime ago that we were drooling over him during spring training and couldn't wait for #17 to explode into the next great WR in Norman. Yet another tale of a sad waste of talents. Metoyer finished his stint with the Sooners with a mere 19 catches for 166 yards and two touchdowns.

• Oh wait, the Westbrook trade rumors were all just made up by some random blogger? Never mind then, move along, nothing to see here. Per Royce Young: "The Thunder aren’t trading Russell Westbrook. Under any circumstance. It’s not happening. Therefore, any subsequent thing that involves his name and the word 'trade' in it should be ignored entirely, unless you just enjoy wild, pointless speculation."

Oklahoma City Thunder

Should the Thunder Trade Westbrook?

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This is a question I've seen floating around the rumor mill lately, so let me go ahead and get it out of the way right off the bat.

No.

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No, no, no, and no.

Not only should the Thunder not trade Russell Westbrook, but there's no chance Sam Presti is even considering it.

"But look how good they are doing without him! Imagine the return they could get for him! A big man? Draft picks galore? The possibilities are endless!"

Oh how soon some forget the 2013 playoffs. Remember that time when the Thunder went from virtual locks for a return to the finals to being bounced in the second round after a mere five games to the Grizzlies? The same Memphis team who was then immediately swept by the Spurs in the Western Conference finals.

There's also that little tidbit about KD having one of the best months in NBA history. Let's not kid ourselves here. Durant is one of the two best players currently in the league, but he's not going to be able to keep up that torrid pace forever.

Here's the simple facts. Westbrook is a top five NBA player. The Thunder were 21-4 to start the season before he underwent the knife yet again.

Oklahoma City is a better team every day of the week with Russell Westbrook on the floor. Let that sink in for a moment.

No amount of imaginary fairy-tale haul in return for Westbrook is going to be better than what the Thunder already have in place.

Ibaka has stepped up his game and playing the best ball of his career. Jeremy Lamb has finally got his first amount of legit playing time and is starting to blossom into the role player they hoped for when acquiring him from Houston last season. Reggie Jackson has filled in for Westbrook better than anyone could have hoped for, but he is no long-term replacement.

So please, let's put this terrible rumor to bed already. The Thunder are not trading Westbrook.

No doubt the Thunder have gone on a tremendous run despite the loss of their all-star point guard, but this should not ignite demands for a Westbrook trade. Instead, think of how much better this team will be with him.

Won't be too much longer now. I can't wait.

Oklahoma Sooners

West Virginia, Bedlam, and Other Sooner Rumblings

So the Sooners snuck out of Morgantown with a win, but didn't exactly build a lot of confidence heading into Bedlam week.

While the defense was the worst it's been in the history of Sooners football, there was one surprising bright spot: Landry Jones.

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I know, I know. I've ripped Landry Jones and ripped him on more than one occasion. Look, for all his faults, I've never said Landry Jones was a bad quarterback. What he is, is a wildly inconsistent quarterback. But Landry showed up to play last Saturday night and saved what likely would have been an epic beatdown had he not come through with one of the best games of his career. Save one terrible interception, Landry Jones played flawless including a check on 4th and goal to send Kenny Stills on a quick-slant route as opposed to the called corner fade route. Landry zipped in a perfect pass and Stills hauled in his fourth touchdown of the night.

The Sooners held on to win 50-49 and you can thank Landry Jones for that one. For as good of a game as Landry had, the defense had an equally epic bad game.

I could sit here and throw around some big stat-line numbers at you to prove just how bad the defense was, but take my word for it: they. were. awful.

Not awful as in getting gashed for a few big plays. Awful as in giving up the most yards in Sooners history. Awful as in allowing Tavon Austin rack up the 2nd most total yards in college football history.

OK, so I threw out a couple stats, but hopefully you get the idea. Mike Stoops should be embarrassed. Sticking with a loaded defensive back formation throughout the entire game even when it was clearly not working? Common Mike, you know better than that.

So the Sooners escaped with a win thanks to Landry Jones' heroics, but what about the upcoming Bedlam showdown?

Traditionally I would say that the combination of the game being played in Norman coupled with the fact that Weeden and Blackmon are now playing on Sunday's would lead to a relatively safe assumption of a Sooner victory. However, after dropping two home games already this season, I think we can agree that home field advantage is not what it used to be in Norman.

While OSU should be in a rebuilding year, they have quietly put together a 7-3 record and rank 21st in the BCS. Make no mistake, this is the furthest thing from a safe game for this Sooner bunch.

While OU is currently favored by a full touchdown, I think the line should be much closer. The simple fact is that it's impossible to predict which Sooner team will show up to play this Saturday. Will we get the aggressive and confident bunch who smacked around Texas at the Cotton Bowl earlier this season? Or will be see the tentative and hesitant bunch that took the field a mere two weeks later against Notre Dame?

I suppose I spoke out of turn last week crowning Kansas State the Big 12 champs with two games still left on their schedule. Baylor showed up to play and forced me to eat my words. Now the Big 12 title may be attainable for the Sooners, but they will still need some unfortunate help from the Longhorns next weekend (though I refuse to bring myself to rooting for the Horns, regardless). The Wildcats did screw up the Sooners clear path to a Fiesta Bowl though and now things aren't so clear.

One thing that is crystal clear, the Sooners must continue to win for any of it to even matter. Slip up this weekend against the Pokes? None of it matters.

Just win, baby.

Oklahoma Sooners

Exactly How Good Are The Sooners?

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A question that has been on my mind throughout this 2012 college football season is this: Just how good is this group of Sooners?

That is a question not easily answered, but one I think I'm ready to try and tackle.

The short answer? Good, but not (yet) great.

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While this team is still on track for a 10-win season, they have to take care of business down the stretch to really have a chance at salvaging this season. On it's own, a 10 win season isn't anything to sneeze at, but 10 wins alone does not a great team make.

So the Big 12 title is likely not going to happen with the Sooners sole conference loss coming at the hands of Kansas State who would have to somehow drop two of their final three conference games for the Sooners to have a shot. Let's be honest, that's not gonna happen.

A more likely goal for this young bunch to set their eyes upon is a BCS game in January. Pending that the Sooners and K-State Wildcats both finish the season without another loss (as they both should), then KSU will be sent on to the national championship while the Sooners would appear to be a lock for the Fiesta Bowl. Not only the Fiesta Bowl, but also a likely showdown against one of the top finishers from the media-loving SEC conference.

A 10-win season and a Holiday bowl victory doesn't exactly get me all excited, but a potential 11-win season with a BCS bowl victory over a top SEC team? Now you're talking.

The Sooners still have a real chance at accomplishing something very special in 2012. The upcoming final three-game stretch that looked so daunting in the pre-season now looks easily winnable. The Sooners will be favored in each of their final regular season games and should see themselves ending up in the Fiesta bowl which they've become so accustom to over the recent past.

But is this team even good enough to get there? Are they good enough to defeat one of the SEC's finest if they do get there?

Forgive me if I don't buy into the SEC bias. Texas A&M didn't exactly dominate the Big 12 last year (or any previous year for that matter), yet they are now a powerhouse simply because they defeated the mighty Crimson Tide? Are we maybe over-valuing the SEC because of their recent national title success? Don't get me wrong, I realize the SEC has some of the top teams in the land, but are they really that much better than the rest? I don't think so.

This Sooner team is far from flawless and still have many roadblocks ahead before we can start talking a showdown with the SEC in the Fiesta Bowl, but the path has been laid out for them. Will this year's team regroup after an unprecedented two home losses and do something special? Or will they find a new way to squander the opportunity?

Bob, please don't squander this one.