Hey everybody, I hope you all had a fun-filled weekend watching some Winter Olympics action (or not watching some Winter Olympics action). There was also plenty of great action for several squads for the Oklahoma Sooners as well. Patty Gasso and the softball team have gotten off to a great start after a 5-0 clean-sweep at the GCU Kickoff Tournament. Both the men’s and women’s gymnastics teams also came away with some victories.

As for men’s basketball, the Sooners continue to struggle. Now having lost three in a row, and six straight road games, No. 23 Oklahoma (yep, still ranked in the AP Poll) is at a definite low point in the season. The next game is tomorrow night in Lubbock against the top team in the Big 12 - No. 7 Texas Tech. Trae Young and company defeated the Red Raiders in the first matchup but will need to play at an optimal level for an entire game if they want a repeat of that performance.

For today’s edition of Hot Links, Baker Mayfield should be the obvious pick for No. 1, Lincoln Riley says he doesn’t pay attention to class rankings, and Tanner Mordecai was name offensive player of the year!

OU Links

• If the tape shows he’s the best, and the numbers back him up, an NFL team needing a QB would have to be out of their minds to pass on Baker Mayfield.

• Diehards’ John Shinn answers the questions of what schematic changes Oklahoma fans could see out of the defense next season and if the influx of defensive line talent is any indication for those changes.
• Check out this incredibly insightful interview with Orlando Brown, conducted by Draft Wire. Brown answered questions about his strengths as a player, his mentors, and even Baker Mayfield.
• Lincoln Riley says he isn’t caught up with where Oklahoma’s recruiting classes are ranked, but after back-to-back top 10 recruiting hauls, his Sooners are putting together some impressive groups.
• With the early signing period taking care of the bulk of the 2018 class, Oklahoma’s coaching staff was able to get a head start on the 2019 class. By all indications, the prospects in this upcoming recruiting cycle are as talented as any, if not more.
• 2018 Oklahoma quarterback signee Tanner Mordecai has been named Texas 6A Offensive Player of the Year. Congratulations, Tanner!
• Former strength coach Jerry Schmidt reflects on his 19 year run in Norman and explores the next chapter in his career in College Station.

Around the Sports World

• Johnny Manziel opens up about his time away from football and reveals he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in this Good Morning America interview.

• So how did the second-year head coaches in the FBS fare with their second recruiting classes compared to their firsts? Many improved drastically, but others actually saw their class rank fall several spots.
• LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers have some brand-new pieces and look like a brand-new team now, and all of this has James looking as happy as ever.
• Redmond ‘Red’ Gerard is only 17, but he’s already a gold medal-winning Olympian. Get to know this superstar snowboarder in the making who has won USA’s first gold medal in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
• American Chloe Kim dropped the two highest scores in the qualifying round of the women’s halfpipe event. In between runs, Kim was really craving some ice cream, so she went to Twitter to express her hankering.

Stick to Sports!

• Beginning this summer, Best Buy will no longer be selling CDs in store. Quite frankly, I don’t know a lot of people who still purchase CDs, but this is clearly a sign of the times.

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