Happy Friday, friends and fans! It’s the end of the week, and there’s no football or basketball to watch involving the Oklahoma Sooners. What on earth can you do to pass the time? I’ll tell you what you should do, you need check out the action on the diamond! Oklahoma Baseball begins conference play tonight, starting with the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Sooners are 14-9 on the season, while the Mountaineers are 9-9. And if you haven’t watched much of the baseball team up to this point, fear not, because there’s plenty of season left. You can also get a little sneak peek at how Kyler Murray looks in action before football season. That dude can fly!
OU ace Jake Irvin (3-0, 2.83) will get he start on the hill tonight. I’m confident in OU’s ability to win the early games in a Big 12 series, but things have been a bit hairy for the Sooners on Sundays due to a relative lack of quality pitching depth. The talent is there, but the consistency has been iffy. Hopefully they can start it and end it on a high note this weekend.
GAMEDAY⚾️#Sooners vs. Mountaineers tonight at 6:30 p.m. in Norman.
— Oklahoma Baseball (@OU_Baseball) March 23, 2018
Preview➡️https://t.co/eF2r9GhxPa pic.twitter.com/9UUJa6Gapx
Now what can you find on the docket for today’s edition of Hot Links? Blake Griffin and Buddy Hield were each the best college players out of their respective pro teammates, Trae Young’s draft stock continues to look shaky, construction on the stadium’s northern video board is now underway and more!
OU Links
- Like baseball, Oklahoma Softball also gets conference play underway tonight versus the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Sooners have won 16 straight games overall coming into the series, and are currently undefeated at home (10-0) on the season.
#Sooners begin their hunt for 7⃣ straight Big 12 regular season titles today. It's GAME DAY!
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) March 23, 2018
Texas Tech
6:30 p.m. CT
Marita Hynes Field
https://t.co/w8LXmpDv1E
https://t.co/TCwDKc4oCf#ChampionshipMindset pic.twitter.com/Kfbt0HncFr
- So who will be selected higher in their respective drafts, Baker Mayfield or Trae Young? The odds makers have spoken, and according to the odds, it’s really not even close.
- Speaking of Trae Young and his draft status, in CBS Sports’ latest mock NBA Draft, Young has fallen outside the top 10.
- Which NBA players balled the hardest in college? For the Detroit Pistons and the Sacramento Kings, that title belongs to former Sooners Blake Griffin and Buddy Hield, respectively.
- Construction for the new video board on the north side of the stadium has begun, and it is expected to be more than three times larger than the old video board. The board should be finished and ready to go in time for the upcoming football season. I know I can hardly wait for that, and fans seated in the south end zone will greatly appreciate it.
Around the Sports World
- Loyola-Chicago is the Cinderella team we’ve always wanted, and now the Ramblers are on their way to the Elite Eight. Out of all the magic that has come from this incredible run, Sister Jean is perhaps the purest thing, and you better believe nobody is happier than she is that her team busted her own bracket.
“I don’t care that you broke my bracket."
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 23, 2018
-Sister Jean on @RamblersMBB moving on to the #Elite8 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/MJoMz66wAL
- Remember the catastrophic mess that was Tennessee’s head coaching search a few months ago? Of course you do, it was an absolute train wreck of epic proportions. Anyway, it’s still getting stranger, especially after some documents have just surfaced, including an all-caps text from Brady Hoke and a couple very Mike Leach-like texts from Mike Leach.
- Former Miami Hurricane Frank Gore is back in Miami, this time with the Dolphins. Gore has been a steady running back that always seems to produce, but with him now being 34, this may be his last stop before retirement.
- The Charlotte Hornets exterminated the Memphis Grizzlies by 61 points. That should be impossible in the NBA, but when you gotta tank, you gotta tank.
- Former NBA player Mike Bibby has been retired for six years, which apparently is enough time for him to be unrecognizable to a couple guys playing a little ball at a park. Bibby’s son recorded his dad owning these regular Joes in a game of 21, and they just thought it was some guy named Chris. Hilarious stuff right here.
My dad went to my sisters volleyball practice and played two guys in 21, and told them his name was Chris pic.twitter.com/JUUE9jGF70
— Michael Bibby (@bibby_michael) March 22, 2018
Stick to Sports!
- Man, those folks up at MIT are always doing some amazing stuff. They've now developed a robotic fish made of soft materials that mimics the swimming motion of an actual fish. The robot is outfitted with a camera that will help scientists observe the marine life in the area, hopefully without disturbing the animals. It’s so cool, I want one.
MIT scientists unveil a soft robotic fish that can swim alongside marine life in the hopes that it will be able to do close observations without disturbing real fish. https://t.co/T4RPXyR0iB pic.twitter.com/DWXl6iFxY6
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 23, 2018
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