Hello once again, friends and fans! It was an overall great weekend across the landscape of sports for the Oklahoma Sooners. Perhaps the most notable result came on Saturday, when Trae Young and the squad put an end to their six-game losing streak by defeating Kansas State. Trae Young added another remarkable performance to a long list from this season, but when asked about Big 12 Player of the Year, Wildcats head coach Bruce Weber doesn’t think Trae Young should win the award.

Kansas head coach Bill Self also holds a similar sentiment about the POY award. In that case I guess a Kansas player should have won each of the past 14 seasons, right? Cry me a river, guys. It’s an individual award, and it’s not the Heisman Trophy (although Trae Young could very well win the Wooden and/or Naismith Awards).

As for the rest of today’s edition of Hot Links, Kyler Murray is making plays on the diamond, Sooner Curling is in play for a National Championship, Oklahoma men’s gymnastics continues to dominate and more!

OU Links

• Kyler Murray, the Sooners’ likely starting QB for Week 1, is making plays on the baseball field. He recorded his first career home run, a double and a stolen base over the weekend. Unsurprisingly, Kyler is also quite adept as a centerfielder as he’s able to track down a lot of balls that others simply can’t. What an incredible athlete. Also, here’s a recap of OU’s weekend finale complete with postgame interview footage.
• Which former Sooner could be a dark horse in the upcoming NFL Draft? We already know guys like Baker Mayfield and Orlando Brown are likely first round candidates, but what about Dimitri Flowers, Jordan Thomas, and Steven Parker?
• Sooner softball is now 9-2 on the season after a 3-1 weekend in California. While Oklahoma defeated its first ranked opponent of the season in Arizona State, it was also shut out by Arizona for the first time since early last season.
• If you’re anything like me, you’ve watched a ton of Olympic Curling over the past couple weeks. Well guess what? The Oklahoma Sooners also do a bit of curling. In fact, the club team is actually pretty good and is on its way to a national championship.

• Way to go, Kaitlin! Her score of 62 was also a Big 12 record and one shy of tying the all-time NCAA record. Boomer!

• Oklahoma men’s gymnastics team continues to do big things. With the way they’re performing, looks like this group is set to bring home another championship by season’s end. Boomer!

• Kayvon Thibodeaux, the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit from the class of 2019, has narrowed down his list to a top 12, and the Sooners made the cut. Thibodeaux is a weak-side defensive end out of California, but given his list, it appears he is very open to leaving the west coast. According to recruiting analysts, USC is the team to beat, and Oklahoma is likely on the outside looking in, but there’s plenty of time between now and the next signing period.

• The Football Brainiacs’ Brandon Drumm fielded a monster lineup of guests in his latest Under the Visor Podcast, featuring former Sooner and current Miami Dolphin Kenny Stills, 2018 signee linebacker Dashaun White, and elite 2019 wide receiver prospect Theo Wease Jr. Check it out as soon as you can!

Around the Sports World

• The latest AP Poll has been released, and Oklahoma is still unranked. Perhaps a strong run to finish the regular season and in the Big 12 Tournament could vault the Sooners back into the top 25.
• The Waste Management Phoenix Open is a golf event unlike any other. Not only is it the most attended golf tournament in the nation, it might also be the biggest non-party party. It helps that many who attend are Arizona State-minded when it comes to large gatherings, which basically means lots of booze, chanting, and costumes. Good times in the desert, indeed.
• Ronda Rousey picked up and put down Triple H. I might have to start watching more WWE now.

• Usain Bolt, the fastest man in history, is making the move from sprinting to soccer. I would definitely watch Bolt play soccer simply from a curiosity standpoint.
• Speaking of soccer, this is pretty cool. For those who aren’t in the loop of this one, the player’s gesture and the ‘Wakanda Forever’ saying are both from the Marvel blockbuster Black Panther. Very neat.

• Iowa point guard Jordan Bohannon intentionally missed a free throw so that he wouldn’t break the school record for consecutive makes held by Chris Street, who tragically lost his life in a car accident 25 years ago. Amazing stuff.

• This guy messaged Utah Jazz G Donovan Mitchell, the 2018 Dunk Contest winner, for game tickets, and Mitchell came through! Stay in school, kids, and one day you could be taking your high school sweetheart out to an NBA game with tickets you received from a pro athlete. Okay, maybe not, but never stop dreaming!

• The Simpsons has been known to be quite prophetic in its history. So what are some of the more notable sports events that later became reality?

Stick to Sports!

• With rising privacy concerns and potential camera hackings, pop-up cameras could become the next big thing. Some laptop devices are already implementing the pop-up cameras, and the tech could be moving to mobile devices as soon as this year. It’s an ingenious concept for sure, and hopefully would cut down on the annoying FBI agent memes (or create different ones).

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