Happy Friday, friends and fans! It’s the beginning of a big weekend for the Oklahoma Sooners. For starters, Sooner baseball is back! You can find more information on all the action in the links below. Also, Sooner Softball takes the field once again in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and part two of the basketball version of the Red River Rivalry is on Saturday.

Now folks, if you haven’t already, don’t forget to vote for the Sooner Schooner as the best sports tradition! As of this very moment, Oklahoma is ranked 4th out of 20 spots. So vote now! And share with all your Sooner brothers and sisters!

Once you get that out of the way, take a look at the Hot Links whipped up for today. Below you’ll find out which NBA legend spoke with Trae Young, what Baker Mayfield feels has been his most unfair critique, that Boone Pickens believes Mike Gundy can beat Lincoln Riley and more!

OU Links

• Boone Pickens hasn’t been able to visit the Oklahoma State campus in a relatively long while due to his declining health, but his passion for the Cowboys is as strong as ever. It’s worth remembering that in the past, Pickens himself said Mike Gundy couldn’t beat OU. Now Pickens is changing his tune, going on record to say he that believes Gundy can beat Lincoln Riley.

• This has me pumped. And I love those pinstripes, too.

• It’s game day for Oklahoma Baseball! Make sure to keep up with the Sooners today as they open the season against the Indiana Hoosiers! First pitch was at 11 a.m. CT, and you can find the radio and stats links in the second tweet below.

• As a child, Oklahoma short stop Brandon Zaragoza used to practice base running in his living room with pillows. Now, he’s turned into one of the Sooners better defensive players on the diamond.
• Trae Young received a phone call from one of basketball’s greats: Oscar Robertson. It’s awesome to see a player the caliber of ‘The Big O’ to reach out to a young generation guy like Trae. Also, ESPN’s Jake Trotter wrote about how stars like Oscar Robertson and LeBron James have helped advise Trae Young along the way.

• So what was Trae Young’s response to what happened in Lubbock? Young says he tends to block out the noise from the fans, but he admits that he heard what was said after the game.
• Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard spoke about the expletives chanted at Trae Young and apologized for what they did. Also, it wasn’t just a few fans, Chris.
• Has the Trae Young Show become too much for some to handle? I understand growing tired of a player I’m not regularly rooting for to constantly hoard air-time, but at some point the outrage has to be directed at the media, not Young.
• Amid all the struggles on the basketball court as of late, Christian James has been putting in some serious work on the offensive end since his return from an illness. With James being one of the more veteran players on the team, he’s going to need to keep producing at a high rate in order for this team to climb out of the funk.
• Baker Mayfield spoke with New York Post columnist Steve Serby about his thoughts on playing at the next level and what he feels is the most unfair criticism that he’s heard. Mayfield feels quite strongly about scouts knocking his overall game down because of his height, and they aren’t placing as much focus on how he makes his teammates better.
• For all the drama surrounding the two, Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury actually had some great things to say to NFL scouts about Baker Mayfield. Kingsbury knows he can’t do anything about what’s already happened, but he wishes Mayfield the best of luck going forward.

Around the Sports World

• After the FBI’s involvement, the systemic corruption in college basketball is coming to light. Whether it is revealed before or after the upcoming NCAA Tournament is still to be determined. What many are surmising is that there will be as many as 50 schools losing postseason eligibility, which would mean the eventual champion will more than likely have to vacate its championship if the findings come out after the fact.
• Mike Leach is still at Washington State, but has lost six assistants over the past six weeks. That’s a lot of turnover without a head coaching change.
• Denver Nugget center Nikola Jokic just messed around and recorded the fastest triple double probably ever. That’s absurd.

• Tune in to watch the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game tonight at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN. There’s a four-point line in this game, so that’ll surely entice somebody to take a shot from that range.

Stick to Sports!

• The Academy Awards has released its list of the first 12 presenters. Immediately I see Black Panther and Spider-Man on this list, I mean Chadwick Boseman and Tom Holland. Also, are Laura Dern and Baron Davis still a thing? I guess you’ll have to tune in on Sunday, March 4th to find out. Or you can just Google it. Whatever works for you.

Follow Crimson & Cream Machine on Twitter!