Happy Tuesday, friends and fans!

After trailing by as many as 27 points, former Oklahoma Sooners hoops star Buddy Hield rallied his Sacramento Kings on the road to shock the Minnesota Timberwolves in OT, 133-129. He also set a new NBA career-high with 42 points on — you guessed it — 24 attempts. Yeah, Buddy!

Check out this amazing stat that Hield is now part of. Is it a coincidence? Who’s to say, but one thing I will say is that this world often turns in some mysterious ways.

Hield, who has worn No. 24 throughout his career in honor of his idol, Kobe Bryant, said after the game that this performance on Monday night was in dedication to the late Lakers great. Watching this all unfold was truly moving to witness.

Now on to today’s Hot Links! OU Softball checks in at No. 3 in NFCA preseason poll, Mykel Jones is officially surfing the Green Wave, Beaux Pelini is back to the bayou and more!

OU Links

• The Franchise’s John Hoover wrote about how DeMarco Murray has made such a quick progression from starring as a record-setting running back at OU to coaching the position in his old stomping grounds.
• Speaking of Murray, on Tuesday he is making a visit to see class of 2021 running back Camar Wheaton, who is currently rated as the nation’s No. 1 RB and the No. 6 overall recruit. If OU’s newest coach lands this cat, look out.

• Backup redshirt sophomore placekicker Calum Sutherland has reportedly entered the NCAA Transfer Portal after losing his starting spot early in the 2019 season amid a Title IX investigation.
• Oklahoma Softball will start the season as the No. 3 team in the nation, according to the NFCA Preseason Coaches Poll. The top five is a stout group all by itself, with reigning national champs UCLA sitting just one spot behind the Sooners.

• Bob Stoops is excited to get back on the sideline and coach up a real, live game as the XFL season nears. He recently previewed what’s to come, and he’ll be surrounded by a few familiar faces like former Sooners QB Landry Jones and DE Frank Alexander.
• It’s official: former OU WR Mykel Jones has enrolled at Tulane as a graduate transfer. Good luck with the Green Wave, Mykel!

Around the Sports World

• The LSU Tigers are reuniting with Bo Pelini after hiring the former Nebraska and Youngstown State head coach as their defensive coordinator. Coach Bo last led the Bayou Bengals’ defense when they won the BCS National Championship at the conclusion of the 2007 season.

• It appears that the Houston Astros have found their new manager in Dusty Baker, who was last with the Washington Nationals in 2017. After firing A.J. Hinch amid the illegal electronic equipment cheating scandal, bringing in a veteran and three-time NL Manager of the Year like Baker looks to be a move in the right direction.

• Former Philadelphia 76ers icon Allen Iverson was recently the victim of a theft at a hotel in Philly. Reportedly, a backpack that belonged to A.I. was stolen, along with approximately half a million dollars worth of jewelry.
• Kansas City Chiefs RB LeSean McCoy doesn’t have plans to retire right away following Super Bowl LIV, but when he does, he says it’ll be back with the team that drafted him — the Philadelphia Eagles.

• There’s a petition to change the NBA logo from a silhouette of Jerry West to that of Kobe Bryant following the sudden passing of the Los Angeles Lakers great. As of this Tuesday morning, the petition has reached nearly 2 million signatures, with a current goal of 3 million.

Stick to Sports!

• Today is the 34th anniversary of the launching of NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986 that saw all seven on-board astronauts and accompanying crew members tragically lost just 73 seconds into its flight. It’s one of those defining events in history in which people remember exactly where they were when it happened. To this day, this is the last NASA mission to lose its passengers and shuttle below the Kármán line.

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