While it’s unfortunate that the Oklahoma Sooners aren’t on their way to the Sweet Sixteen, this college basketball season ought to be commended for the victories along the way. Several seniors played their final minutes as college athletes, and one of those players was grad transfer Miles Reynolds, whose one-year career at OU ended seemingly as swiftly as it began. The former Pacific guard was overcome with emotions following Sunday night’s loss.

For him to show so much pain and gratitude all at once says everything about the strength of this program and the powerful bond Reynolds quickly forged with his new teammates. In less than a calendar year, he’s become a true Sooner through and through, and if anybody ever doubted his desire, I’d have them watch, and more importantly listen, to this clip.

Transfers have made some big impacts for Oklahoma in the recent years of OU Athletics. On the gridiron, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray both lit the college football world ablaze. Giselle Juarez and Shannon Saile have fortified the pitching staff for Sooner softball this season. Finally, Aaron Calixte and Miles Reynolds made major contributions en route to this Round of 32 NCAA Tournament run, finally earning a trip to the Big Dance in their final collegiate seasons. Examples of players who began their collegiate careers in one place only to wind up and excel in Norman can be found throughout the athletic department. Hopefully they continue to make their mark and leave a legacy.

Now onto this week’s Monday edition of Hot Links! Oklahoma Baseball and Softball both sweep Big 12 opponents, Trevor Knight runs one in for the Hotshots, Jeremy Lamb hits the buzzer-beater of the year and more!

OU Links

• American Airlines is taking some serious heat from Mr. Dangerous himself. I wouldn’t recommend putting oneself on Baker Mayfield’s hit list. Somebody better fix this real quick or a lot of bad pub is coming down the pipeline. In all seriousness, it’s not nice of them to switch up Emily’s arrangement like that. Also, going after a major airline for this kind of BS is something even the haters can get behind.

• Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury continues to be asked about the No. 1 overall pick as well as the future of QB Josh Rosen. With each passing day, it seems more likely that Kyler Murray will be the first player selected in the 2019 NFL Draft, and Kingsbury’s answers seem to suggest as much.
• Oklahoma baseball has enjoyed a nice start to the 2019 season, especially in conference play, as the Sooners swept Kansas to open the Big 12 portion of the schedule. OU is now 21-4 on the year, 3-0 in league play.

• Oklahoma Softball is now 29-2 on the season and 3-0 in Big 12 play after sweeping Texas Tech in Lubbock. Check out the four home runs the Sooners hit in Game 3, including freshman Grace Green’s first career grand slam.

• Donovan Mitchell, Blake Griffin and Kyle Kuzma would all vote for Trae Young as NBA Rookie of the Year. That’s some mighty high praise, especially with the year Luka Doncic is having in Dallas.

• Former Sooner QB Trevor Knight scored on a sweet rushing touchdown for the AAF’s Arizona Hotshots. Show ‘em how it’s done, Trev!

• In case you missed it over the weekend, 2020 JUCO WR Kundarrius Taylor has decommitted from Oklahoma. Taylor originally signed with the Sooners in 2018 before having to take the JUCO route.

Around the Sports World

• Jeremy Lamb made the shot of the year with this rainbow heave of desperation behind half-court to give the Charlotte Hornets the win over the Toronto Raptors. Stunning.

• PointsBet, an Australian-based online sportsbook, is offering a bonus bet for any bettors of UCF and the moneyline. Duke winning that game in that fashion was not only improbable, it caused a lot of outrage because of a pair of likely missed calls that maybe should have gone the other way. I don’t quite know how I feel about relief systems in betting, but I suppose it helps in case there’s ever a real case of conspiracy at work.
• New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski announced his retirement from football on Sunday. In just 10 years, Gronk significantly changed the game by standing as the evolution of the position.
• If an MLB pitcher were to harness these five pitches, they would be unstoppable. Fortunately for the sport, five different pitchers were gifted with one each, spreading the wealth.
• If the Los Angeles Lakers tell Luke Walton to pack his bags, Jason Kidd would reportedly be near the top of the list of candidates to replace him. That would be a great hire for a team that severely needs leadership and organization.

Stick to Sports!

• When it comes to airports, what’s worse than a delayed flight? How about taking a flight to a completely different location and only finding out about it after you reached the destination? That’s what happened to a plane-load of passengers who wanted to go to Germany from London but instead found themselves in Scotland. Apparently there was an error in the paperwork, and the pilot was led to believe Edinburgh was the stop to make. I would be so beside myself if this ever happened to me. At least Edinburgh is beautiful, even if nobody wanted to go there at the time.

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