R. I. P. Sooner WR Father Have Just Died In An Automobile Accident….

Sooners Illustrated’s Josh Callaway, James D. Jackson and Tom Green break down the Oklahoma wide receiver and tight end rooms ahead of spring practice, analyze the latest staff changes and size up the path to the NCAA Tournament for both OU men’s and women’s hoops.

As the college basketball season winds down and football spring camp approaches, the Sooners Illustrated Podcast is back with a brand new episode.

Host Josh Callaway and analysts James D. Jackson and Tom Green open the show by continuing their position status reports series with the Oklahoma wide receivers and tight ends.

“I think you feel better, at least going into the season, than you did a year ago (about the wide receivers),” Green said. “It was a big question mark last year. You didn’t know who was going to be that No. 1 guy, who was going to step up, how some of these guys were going to develop. But you look at the production of that room, obviously losing Drake Stoops is difficult…but you’re returning everybody else basically.”

“The tight end position, I think, becomes more valuable now with Joe Jon Finley stepping up to that role (as co-offensive coordinator,” Jackson said. “A lot of the times last year, when (OU) was in a sticky situation in the red zone, it was a Drake Stoops screen pass or something like that instead of going to the tight end position…I really feel a lot better about (the tight ends).”

The guys then dive into the latest staff movement with the departure of J.R. Sandlin and the hire of Jolie Ale before turning their attention to the hardwood and both men’s and women’s basketball’s hopes for reaching the NCAA Tournament.

“(Oklahoma) is still in a pretty good position,” Green said. “Right now they’re 18-8, they’re 6-7 in the conference, sitting in eighth place. Most bracket experts think that the Big 12 is going to get nine teams in. So, Oklahoma is still right there in the thick of things.”

“I think two more wins probably gets you there,” Callaway said. “Three and I think they’re a lock. (Oklahoma) is pretty firmly in (the field) now…Now, all wins aren’t created equal. You go beat Houston and that’s a little different than beating (Oklahoma State) this weekend.”

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With Kansas getting key injured players back, and Oklahoma missing a couple, the Jayhawks entered this game as slight road favorites, despite a lot of uncharacteristic struggles on the road this season, even against the bottom of the of the conference. It was tough and go for a long time, but the Jayhawks eventually got the big road win their resume needed.

Kansas star Kevin McCullar, Jr returned from a nagging injury that had sidelined him for two straight games, the second of which was an embarrassing blowout loss in Lubbock. And while Dajuan Harris hasn’t missed any time, he did roll his ankle a week ago and didn’t look 100% against Tech this past week. It probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the two starters combined to shoot 8-26 (31%) from the floor, 3-12 (25%) from deep, and made it to the line for just four total attempts, only half of which went in. That said, the two players came up with some big plays when Kansas needed them, and getting the win ahead of a full week off will likely be a more positive experience coming off just the second road win for Kansas in Big 12 play, this one coming against a ranked opponent.

The first 30+ minutes of this game were ugly, largely for both teams. Oklahoma built up a team-high 11 point lead in the 1st, but they were getting locked down inside the arc and a lot of that lead was built on streaky 3 point shooting that wouldn’t last. Once the Sooners’ cooled off, this became a bit of a defensive slog for a good portion of the 2nd half. The offense would wake up eventually though. After Oklahoma clung to a six point lead a few minutes after the halftime break, and things finally started to go Kansas’ way. It took until the 9:07 mark for Kansas to finally take back the lead, 49-46. Shots started to drop from that point forward, and it took just until the 5:57 mark for KU’s first 2nd half lead, and their first double digit lead of the entire game.Oklahoma never put another run together, and Kansas improved to 8-5 in league play (though just 2-5 in Big 12 games) with a 67-57 victory that could definitely be described as a scrappy win.

Hunter Dickinson was the clear player of the game, with 20 points, 16 boards, and four assists. Despite their shooting difficulties, McCullar and Harris combined to score 21 points, with McCullar grabbing eight boards while Harris dished out seven assists. Johnny Furphy got his great run of form going again as well, scoring 15 with nine boards and four steals, exactly one week after he racked up six steals against Baylor. He also found his three point shooting groove again, hitting 3-5 after going just 1-13 from deep across the last three games.

As I previously mentioned, the Jayhawks get a well-deserved full week off before a home game against a Texas team that’s only won two of their last six. The Jayhawks sit at 8-5 in Big 12 play, which lands them just 4th in the conference. If the team wants to get things clicking again before March comes around, McCullar, Harris, and everyone else will need to spend the week healing up as we head down the final stretch of regular season play.