In the weeks leading up to the NCAA tournament, seeds are the primary focus of attention.  Would Oklahoma State’s bubble be strong enough to get them in the dance?  Could the Cowboys win over Kansas propel them into the upper half of seeds?  Did OU fans realize that basketball season was going on?  Once the tournament brackets were announced on Sunday, discussion of how teams matched up against one another was the obvious next topic.

Of course, matching up is not a topic that many Cowboy fans want to talk about.  While the CBS analysts were wondering what OSU would do if they survived round one in order to face Ohio State and their 6′7″ point guard, people who follow the Cowboys were already wondering how Oklahoma State would match up against Georgia Tech’s normal sized floor general.

I don’t have the statistics at my fingertips, but I’m going to wager that Travis Ford’s Cowboys have the shortest team in the NCAA tournament.  Basically, with the exception of whomever the under-appreciated James Anderson is guarding (Anderson is a typical height for his position), the guy from the opposition is likely going to have a serious height advantage.  The lollipop guild didn’t give up as many inches to Dorothy and the Tin Man as the Cowboys do to whatever team laces up against them.

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Yesterday, when I wrote 800 words on why Travis Ford’s verbal abuse of Obi Muonelo had lost him the respect of his team, I had it wrong.  Now, I think he saw this kid in the stand and was calling him a “f***ing idiot.”

Here’s a pointer.  If you are so full of school spirit that you must paint your face…and your school colors are orange and black…and you’re a white kid:  Paint your face orange.

For more on the photo above, read Deadspin.

The summer of 2005 was huge for the Oklahoma State basketball program.  After an unexpected Big XII title and run to the Final Four that came a Will Bynum miracle shot from making the championship game, the outlook for 2006 was just as bright.  Despite the loss of Tony Allen as a first round pick of the Boston Celtics, the program returned the other four starters, and brought in Tar Heel cast off JamesOn Curry, the all time leading scorer in North Carolina high school history.  Eddie Sutton’s first national title was on the way.

Of course, that’s not where the bulk of optimism was linked to for OSU fans.  After years of belly aching about how Coach Sutton relied on junior college transfers or cast offs from other schools for talent, the Sutton recruiting team finally hit a stride.  Parlaying the incredible results of 2004, the promise of a succession plan of Sean replacing Eddie (ending the competitor recruiters from scaring players that a Eddie’s pending retirement would leave the player in the lurch), and an abundance of playing time available for the new recruits due to the team having seven seniors in 2005, the Cowboys got five of the top-100 high school seniors (including two McDonald’s All-Americans) to sign letters of intent.  To bolster the class, the basketball program signed three more JUCO All-Americans.

The internet message boards were loaded with fans pumping sunshine.  Those anonymous commenters (I one of them) who usually find the most minuscule reason to bemoan the fate of their favorite team, were proclaiming how OSU was building a dynasty to close out the Eddie Sutton era and usher in the Sean Sutton era.

How wonderful those predictions turned out.

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