Whistles aplenty in forgettable Bedlam basketball

Originally Published: Feb 6, 2011 5:0 PM CDTWith all due respect, the first Bedlam basketball game of the season was memorable, all right. Memorable for

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 1:33 pm

By: News 9

Originally Published: Feb 6, 2011 5:0 PM CDT

With all due respect, the first Bedlam basketball game of the season was memorable, all right. Memorable for all the wrong reasons. With all due respect, everything from the level of play to the intrusive officiating led to this Bedlam battle seem like a 50-round pillow fightflyweight division.   My biggest pet peeve is announcers complaining about the refs. But this game had no chance of finding a rhythm; a flow. Non-stop whistles led to 70 free throws. OSU shot 25 in the first half alone. The peas in refs’ whistles were so busy in the first half they earned a letter.  It was not the Gallagher Bedlam we’ve grown to love.  Short on energy a good part of the game, empty seats and average players. And those whistles.    The winning team went down 15 early, made only 1-of-14 three point attempts, saw their opponent make 24 of 26 free throws, and had only 8 assists with 11 turnovers.  Speaking of assists; point guards generally set the tone for the game. And that was the case Saturday for the Sooners.  OU incredibly went 18 minutes without an assist. Not one. And OU’s point guard tied an all-time basketball record. No assists. None. Very, very hard to do.  2-of-9 shooting, no three, six turnovers and handed out no assists. You read that right. ZERO assists.  Zero was also the number of points OU got out of Cameron Clark, their up and coming star.  Zero was also the number of points OU got from its sharpshooter through 35 minutes. Steven Pledger scored 38 a few days ago and was out of it much of this boring Bedlam.  The most impressive thing of the game was the Cowboy defense playing solid in forcing turnovers from Carl Blair and taking Clark and Pledger out of the game. OSU also got 15 offensive rebounds; a tribute to them but also a glaring deficiency for the Sooners. And of OSU’s 44 FTAs, they made 32 of their final 34.  There you go. Stillwater Bedlam is in the books. Thank goodness.  OU’s second half offense consisted mostly of four players standing a watching and hoping the fifth guy would make a one-on-one play. Didn’t work. Drove Jeff Capel nuts. That’s not the offense they work on in practice. The Sooners also saw OSU out-rebound them by ten.  OSU’s offense wasn’t much better. Lots of standing and watching. And hoping. And it’s not like everyone was mesmerized watching a Larry Bird or Pete Maravich take over a game going one-on-one. With all due respect, no one on that floor Saturday reminded anyone of Bird or Pistol Pete. The only Pistol Pete in action was the fella standing around with his pistols ready to fire.    Check us out on the Blitzand you can follow me on Twitter: @deanblevins