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xianmudelaozu · 4 years

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*; OOC » SO I was rewatching the animation with my best friend while staying at her place bc my electricity was down and because I hate leaving things unfinished and also bc I was maybe trying to refresh my memory a bit for oc development reasons I continued watching where we left off.......

AND I COULDNT HELP BUT PULL OUT MY CALCULATOR AGAIN! Join me on Age/Timeline calculator road! (or skip to the bottom to read what I have come up with)

So, referencing this post of mine, we are safe to assume “it’s Year 25 when the Yiling Patriarch died. He’s been dead for 13 years which makes it the Year 38.” Easy as that. Basic Math, am I right? Cool, moving on.

Now, what I know is, that JC and WWX were about 15 when studying at Gusu, right? The study was supposed to last a year (it did for JC, but WWX got kicked out) which means JC was 16 when he returned from Gusu. At a certain flashback we hear Madam Yu’s voice claiming the boys are 16 and 17, and knowing WWX is older, it’s safe to assume it was after JC returned to Lotus Pier from Gusu.

Then, the Archery contest, thing... stuff you know Discussion Conference happened shortly after, followed by Wen Chao feeling humiliated and the Wen Clan destroying several clans, including the burning of Gusu’s Cloud Recess and the uhm.... recruitment of the other Clan’s students and them having to turn in their swords yadda yadda.

It is save to assume there wasn’t too much time in between those happening, let it be a month maybe, but JC and WW were still 16/17 respectively. So, they get pushed around by Wen Chao, find the turtle, rest 3 days, kill the turtle, recover 7 days (?) all in the same year. We also know WWX was younger than 20 as commented by JC that he killed such a wild beast before reaching adulthood (Age 20)

Madam Yu and JFM get into a fight. JFM leaves assumed for several days, (since Yanli is there when WWX wakes up but is stated to ‘have left 2 days ago’ the night the Wen’s attack). Lotus Pier fell in a single night, meaning that was a quick defeat.

It takes Lan Xichen several months (as stated by his uncle at his return to Gusu) to gather the clans for their cause. I guess it’s save to assume (since MXTX is like fuck timelines) That there possibly is a span of two or three months between attack on Gusu and the attack on Lotus Pier given the above statement.

WWX and JC wander for a few days before returning to Lotus Pier, where they stay for 5 days until Wen Chao’s returns. It is not stated how long it takes them to get to Baoshan Sanren’s mountain, but I’m assuming a few weeks. It is then that WWX gets attacked and thrown into the Burial Mounds.

I say, this might have all spiraled down in the span of a year, give or take a few months.

Fast forward to Sunshot Campaign starts. It is said their first attempt to take the Nightless City was unsuccessful which is why they split up and started smaller territorial battles. Now, War aint done in just a few weeks, so I guess it took a while. H O W E V E R, when Wen Chao attacks Chongyang he taunts JC and LWJ by saying he threw WWX into Burial Mounds a few days ago, so maybe it’s only been a week or two since the Sunshot Campaign started. Or Wen Chao is just a prick yknow.

EDIT 1: I forgot, the Sunshot Campaign is said to have been taken 10 days, or rather that the Clans fought the Wen for 10 days in total, so I guess that fixes that. If we say Wen Chao threw WWX into the mountain “a few days ago”, however long that was, WWX joined somewhere in the middle of those 10 days.

EDIT 2: Season 2 literally starts with the Nightless City being stormed in Year 23 and it is said to have lasted several weeks and ends with the Fall of Wen Rouhan.

WWX joining JC back when returning to Lotus Pier. The animation flashes ‘back’ to current times after his awakening titled “16 years later” --- he died 13 years ago. So he’s been acting as the Yiling Patriarch for 3 years before he died. that is safe to assume. Also fits with Sizhui being 3 years old when he was found by LWJ after WWX died.

What else we know is that Jing Ling is 15 (edit: at the end of the story! in the beginning he’s 14, close to 15 I believe) and Sizhui is 16. which means there is a roughly 2 year gap between the bloodbath of Nightless City and the Siege of Burial Mounts where WWX died in Year 25.

EDIT 3: It is questionable if the Sunshot Campaign really lasted about a year, but we have two different time stamps. One, with the Animation showing us Wei Wuxian being thrown into Burial Mounds and rejoining JC and JYL in Lotus Pier being 16 years before his resurrection, and another with S2 opening saying The Nightless City/Wen Rouhan fell in the year 23 in a battle that lasted several weeks.

Then again, we are told the Clans fought the Wen for 10 days which is just confusing the fuck out of me not gonna lie. How I understand it, the 10 Days/Several weeks are probably referencing the same period of time and refer to ONLY the battle of the Nightless City where Wen Rouhan fell and not the whole Sunshot Campaign. That would definitely make more sense anyway.

So we have Year 22 with the start and year 23 with the end of the Sunshot Campaign, leaving 2 more years until WWX’s death. We know the Lanling Jin Sect enslaved the remaining Wen in the same year. (S2, EP15 mentions those events to be 15 years ago. 38-15=23). Notable things WWX did in those two years are, resurrecting Wen Ning, taking in the remnants of the Wen, punching Jiang Cheng in the face leaving the Yungmeng Jiang Sect, awakening Wen Ning’s consciousness.

The Animation notes that “the issue” at Qiongqi Path took place “one year later”. Since Jin Ling was born in November and WWX was on his way to the one month birthday anniversary, I think it is just referring to “the next year” and not directly a year later, unless of course you take into consideration Jin Ling was still 14 at the beginning of the story (which I assumed was just bc he has a late birthday in November) but he might actually been born in Year 24! Tho the evidence suggests it is at the end of Year 24 (specifically December since JL was born in November and aged 1 month) that WWX and Wen Ning are on their way to the 1-Month-Banquet and WWX loses control and kills JZX..

Edit 4: It’s later referred to again that ‘the person [that cast the curse on JZX1] has reappeared after 14 years”, so it is save to say Jin Ling was born in November of Year 24 and his father died a month later in December. Since WWX died in the Year 25 it is safe to assume, with everything taking place at the end of Year 24, he died very early in the Year 25, most likely still in January. That is, however, like most of the rambling I put in here, purely speculation and assumptions. Tho I do believe it is closer to being accurate than my first half assed attempted at trying to figure out the timeline.

That concludes the timeline/years of Mo Dao Zu Shi so far as I can tell up to the beginning of the story!

Regarding the matter of Xue Yang and XXC, I have the following theorie which is mostly just speculation and assumptions! Feel free to hash it out more or get inspired by it if you will.

NHS mentions that about 11 years prior (of the current year) the trouble at the stone castles began, which was shortly after he was appointed sect leader because Nie Mingjue died. That leads to assume NMJ died in the year 26 or 27.

Xue Yang was imprisoned after WWX died and NMJ was still alive, so around year 25-26 (if we assume WWX died very early in January year 25 as mentioned above). Xue Yang was released AFTER NMJ died, probably in the same year (26-27) and then went on to get his revenge on Baixue Temple before returning to Lanling Jin Sect.

He helped JGY to plot JGS's death and once that succeeded, he was captured and abused before released/escaping prison. Then, XXC and AQing found him. If we assume, this all happened until Year 27.

During Year 27, he probably recovered from his injuries. We do not know how many years Xue Yang stayed with XXC, but it was at least 2 because he mentioned going night hunting with XXC 'two years ago', but given the fact his injuries needed to heal for several months I personally think he spend a year recovering and then started night hunting with XXC and stayed for the aforementioned two years = a total of 3 years

That would make it Year 30 - 8 years prior to WWX's resurrection - when he is found out and fights XXC and collects his shattered soul, as well as killing A-Qing

SO the only year we are explicitly given is the Year 25 when the Yiling Patriarch died and Year 23 when the Sunshot Campaign ended/Wen Rouhan died. Going from there, this is all speculations of timelines/ages unless we know the year/gap we’re given

* the happenings concerning Xue Yang, Song Lan, Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing are PURELY speculation on my part!

YEAR 20 - JC and WWX study at Gusu

(JC Age 15, WWX Age 16)

YEAR 21 - JC returns from his 1 year trip to Gusu

(JC: 16/ WWX: 17)

LATE YEAR 21 - EARLY YEAR 22 - Archery Competition/Discussion Conference in the Nightless City. Destruction of Cloud Recess, abduction of the Students by the Wen, death of the turtle.

(JC about 17, WWX 18)

(- 16 years) YEAR 22 - Start of the Sunshot Campaign. WWX becomes the Yiling Patriarch/Develops Demonic Cultivation

(JC: 17, WWX: 18) // Sizhui is born (just for reference) My heart bleeds imagining JC was just sweet 17 hot damn

(-15 years) YEAR 23 - END of the Sunshot Campaign / Death of Wen Rouhan (confirmed in S2 EP1 of the Animation), Death of Wen Ning/Resurrection as the Ghost General (S2 EP5) | JYL & JZX get married

( -14 years) LATE YEAR 24 - Jin Ling is born in November, about a month later, JZX dies on Qingqi Path / Wen Qing & Wen Ning’s execution and Bloodbath of Nightless City / JYL dies.

(JC: 18/19, WWX: 19/20)

Beginning of YEAR 25 - Siege of the Burial Mounds - WWX dies

(JC: 20, WWX: 21 (deceased) | Jin Ling: 1, Sizhui: 3)

YEAR 25-26 - Massacre of Yueyang Chang Sect / Imprisonment of Xue Yang one month later - Nie Mingjue insulting Jin Guangyao

(Speculated Age for Xiao Xingchen 17-18, Song Lan: 17-18, Xue Yang: 15-16)

YEAR 26-27 - Trouble in Nie Sect Stone Castles / Speculated death of Nie Mingjue / Release of Xue Yang / Baixue Temple Masacre / Assumed Death of Jin Guangshan / JGY abusing XY / XY escaping prison / XXC and A-Qing finding XY in the streets

(JC: 22, WWX: Deceased | Jin Ling: 3, Sizhui: 5)

(Speculated Age for Xiao Xingchen 18, Song Lan: 18, Xue Yang: 15-16)

YEAR 28 - Xue Yang and XXC start night hunting together

YEAR 30 - Song Lan confronts Xue Yang, dies / XXC confronts Xue Yang, dies / Xue Yang kills A-Qing / Xue Yang spends 8 years trying to piece XXC’s shattered soul back together

(Speculated Age for Xiao Xingchen 22/23, Song Lan: 22/23, Xue Yang: 20)

(+13 years) YEAR 38 - WWX gets resurrected

(JC: 33 / WWX techincally 34 | JL: 14/15, LSZ: 16)

(Speculated Age for Xiao Xingchen 30/31, Song Lan: 30/31, Xue Yang: 28)

#「羡慕的老祖」━━━ ᴏᴏᴘꜱ ɪ ᴅɪᴅ ɪᴛ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ ꕤ OOC▸#「羡慕的老祖」━━━ ᴀᴛ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ʏᴏᴜ’ʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴜɴᴛᴀᴍᴇᴅ ʜᴇʀᴏ; ᴀᴛ ᴡᴏʀꜱᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴏꜰꜰᴇɴᴅ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ᴡʜᴇʀᴇᴠᴇʀ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏ ꕤ HEADCANONS▸#//Me vc: Gosh I LOVE Math and a series that gives us the vaguest fucking timeline ever #//Im trying to keep this spoiler free but ???? how???#//It's impossible to keep it spoiler free when I am literally trying to analyze the timeline akdhasjd #//In other news I have so many emotions for Jiang Cheng I love him #//EDIT: The Sunshot Campaign took 10 days #//ALSO: since LWJ and NHS are about the same age as WWX and JC I am not adding them separately. You can just... go along with this I guess #//ALSO ALSO - reblogging for reference is fine! :)#//EDIT 2: Specific year of the end of the sunshot campaign/Wen Rouhan's death #//EDIT 3: Wen Ning's Death #//and... SO MANY other things

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thecollegefootballguy · 4 years

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The Top 25 Teams of the Decade: #4 Oklahoma

Hello everybody, we’re celebrating the arrival of the 2020′s by looking at the 25 best programs of the previous decade.

We’ve made it to the top five! If you’ve been reading this whole time thank you. Here’s the 4th best team of the 2010′s:

University of Oklahoma Sooners

Record: 109-25 (.813) Conference Titles: 7 Bowl Seasons: 10 Major Bowls: 7 Playoff/BCS Berths: 4 Final Top 25 Finishes: 9 Final Top 10 Finishes: 6 Final Top 5 Finishes: 4 Best Season: Maybe 2017

Oklahoma was an odd duck in the decade of the 2010′s. The Sooners were one of the most consistent winners in the whole decade, but they were never good to actually win a title. The computers put their best team in 2011, when OU only managed a third place finish in the Big 12, yet they won 7 conference championships, more than any team in these past ten years.

Oklahoma more or less picked up where they left off in the 2000′s. The Sooners were also one of the best in the previous decade as well, perhaps even higher than 4th place, after all they actually won a national title in 2000. Bob Stoops had built up his squad into one of the two heads of the Big 12′s two-headed monster of OU and rival Texas. Both teams spent those years competing with each other and a select few other programs for national championships every year. In fact, Oklahoma’s 8-5 record in 2009 was considered a shocking under-performance, and that was with Heisman contender Sam Bradford out for essentially the entire season.

With Landry Jones having established himself at QB, the Sooners were expecting a return to form in 2010. Business as usual in Norman. OU began the year ranked 7th in the nation after finishing the previous year outside the top 25. That’s a vote of confidence. After avoiding a slip up in Game 1 against Utah State, Oklahoma torched #17 Florida State 47-17 at home which should have righted the ship. However, the Sooners kept struggling through their non-conference schedule, beating Air Force by three points and only managing to scrape past Cincinnati by two. September wasn’t exactly a confidence-builder, and it didn’t bode well for Red River. #8 OU held off #21 Texas 28-20 and then thumped Iowa State 52-0. It wasn’t a pretty 6-0, but halfway through the year and Oklahoma was still undefeated. That’s as far as they got. The #3 Sooners’ first true road test was a cross-division visit to #18 Missouri, where they were handed a 36-27 defeat by the Tigers. OU put away bloodless Colorado to climb to 7-1 before falling to unranked Texas A&M at Kyle Field 19-33. Oklahoma washed down to 19th in the polls, but with Texas Tech rebuilding and Baylor barely better than average, the Sooners only had one team to worry about. #14 OU entered Bedlam technically as an underdog to #10 Oklahoma State, but Oklahoma’s knack for crushing their arch-rival’s spirit would carry over from the 2000′s into the 2010′s. The Sooners won 47-41 and OU entered a three-way tie atop the Big 12 South with the Cowboys and A&M. The tiebreakers broke Oklahoma’s way and the now-#10 Sooners were pitted against rival #13 Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship Game. In an emotionally fraught game, heightened by NU’s impending departure for the Big Ten, OU gave their nemesis one final kick in the ass with a 23-20 victory after coming back from a 17-0 deficit. Oklahoma was 11-2 and Big 12 Champions, nowhere near good enough to be considered for the BCS Championship Game, but they’d get the conference’s slot in the Fiesta Bowl. The #9 Sooners blew out an overmatched #25 Connecticut 48-20 in Glendale. Another top ten finish in the books.

OU was really aiming high in 2011. Oklahoma was the preseason #1 and expectations were as high as could be with such a talented roster. However, a black cloud surrounded the program as the year began after the death of linebacker Austin Box back in May. After the Sooners beat up Tulsa to start the season, several players announced their intention to transfer. The bad vibes weren’t translating to the field. OU once again handled #5 Florida State, this time in Tallahassee 23-13. Oklahoma pushed past Missouri and murdered Ball State to once again go undefeated into Red River. This time, the Sooners left no doubt as they ran #11 Texas off the field in a 55-17 slaughter. It should have been smooth sailing heading into OU’s end of October date with Kansas State, but Oklahoma was upset by a not particularly good Texas Tech squad 38-41 in Norman. It was the Sooners’ first conference loss at home since 2001 and basically ended the national title hunt then and there. #11 OU rebounded by blowing out #10 Kansas State in Manhattan and then breezed past A&M in their last meeting with the Aggies as members of the Big 12. Oklahoma climbed back to 5th in the polls but were then upset by #25 Baylor 38-45 led by eventual Heisman Robert Griffin III. It was their first EVER loss to the BU. The Big 12′s contraction from 12 to 10 teams mucked with the schedule, so Bedlam was again played in Stillwater. I’d say home field advantage had some role to play in what happened but I don’t think the outcome would have changed if it had been played at Owen Field. #3 Oklahoma State handed the Sooners their most lopsided defeat in the contest since 1945 when the Cowboys blew up OU 44-10. Statistically, 9-3 Oklahoma was perhaps a top five team in the nation, but they weren’t anywhere close thanks to their three losses which placed them tied for 3rd in the standings with the Bears. The #19 Sooners beat unranked Iowa 31-14 in the Insight Bowl to end their frustrating season with a win.

Rinse and repeat. In 2012 OU began the year ranked 4th in the AP poll, and really, there was no expecting anybody else to win the Big 12 with Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon gone from OSU. Of course, Oklahoma lost 19-24 in Week 4 to #15 Kansas State, this year’s “it” team in the conference. The Sooners rebounded by winning three in a row, including smoking #15 Texas in Dallas for the second season in a row 63-21. The “it” team in all of college football in 2012 was Notre Dame. OU had the misfortune of scheduling the Irish for that season and #8 Oklahoma fell 13-30 at home. The Sooners won three straight again heading into Bedlam, this time #14 OU scraped past #22 Oklahoma State in an overtime shootout 51-48. KSU held the tiebreaker over Oklahoma, and took the Big 12′s spot in the Fiesta Bowl. The #12 Sooners were relegated to the Cotton Bowl, where they faced off against an old foe. #10 Texas A&M was the hottest team in the whole sport by the end of 2012, and the Aggies smoked OU 41-13. A second straight year of disappointing 10-3 finishes and a ranking outside of the top ten.

The frustrating 2011 and 2012 seasons finally caught up with Oklahoma. For the first time since their national championship season in 2000, the Sooners began the year ranked outside of the top ten, with a #16 ranking in the AP poll. OU did well without the bright spotlight, taking care of the non-conference schedule including paying back #22 Notre Dame 35-21 in South Bend. Oklahoma had only risen to 12th in the polls before Red River. The Sooners were facing an unranked Texas team that seemed to be falling apart. Mack Brown’s tenure was coming to an end. A few years prior, a bad UT squad would suggest that OU would now dominate the conference, but upstarts OSU and KSU had so far thwarted Oklahoma’s ambitions. Of course Texas won, beating their rivals 36-20 to send Mack out on top. The Sooners went back into cruise control, beating hapless Kansas and a frankly overrated #10 Texas Tech. 2013′s upstart was #5 Baylor, who blew out Oklahoma 41-12. OU was knocked down from 12th to 22nd, but they won out in workmanlike fashion. The #18 Sooners capped the regular season with a 33-24 victory over #6 Oklahoma State, denying the Cowboys a share of the Big 12 title. 10-2 OU was selected to face off against #3 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. The Crimson Tide spent the lion’s share of 2013 as the #1 team in football, only kept out of the BCS Championship Game by the the Kick Six, a play that many people didn’t even know was possible until it happened on national tv. The game was considered a foregone conclusion, but nobody told Oklahoma. The #10 Sooners shocked everyone, upsetting the vaunted Tide 45-31. Whether OU was the only team to ever catch Saban’s Tide asleep or their modern no-huddle offense really did just overwhelm Bama, that strong 11-2 finish was miles ahead of their previous two disappointing 10-3 campaigns. We can also thank Oklahoma for shocking Alabama into adopting modern offensive principles, so thanks for that.

Of course the strong finish to the 2013 season put OU back into the spotlight in 2014. Oklahoma began the year #4 in the country, and certainly looked like it as they skipped through September in fast motion. It was a bit too easy, and Oklahoma was brought back down to earth by #25 TCU, who would end up being the Big 12′s upstart “it” team in 2014 (sort of). The Sooners broke in new Texas head coach Charlie Strong with a 31-26 win over the Longhorns, but then fell to #11 Kansas State in a crushing 31-30 loss. OU took care of business against Iowa State as they should have, but was handed their third loss on the year at the hands of #10 Baylor in an embarrassing 48-14 blowout at home. For the first time since later 2009, Oklahoma tumbled out of the polls. They’d only stay gone for a week before wins over Texas Tech and Kansas carried the Sooners back into the top 25. They could save face with a surefire win over 5-6 Oklahoma State and a bowl victory to earn another 10-3 record. It wasn’t ideal but hey. Instead, OU was shocked at home by the Cowboys, falling 38-35 in overtime to again fall out of the polls. Oklahoma was pitted against #18 Clemson in the Russel Athletic Bowl and they were taken to the shed, losing 40-6. It wasn’t the last time they’d see the Tigers in the postseason, or the last time they’d lose to them. The 8-5 finish was the Sooners’ worst in the 2010′s. Though many teams would kill to have that as their floor, it wasn’t gonna fly in Norman. Bob Stoops was under fire with some people speculating that he was overstaying his welcome the same way Mack Brown had in Texas.

Stoops canned co-offensive coordinators Josh Heupel and Jay Norvell following the disappointing finish in 2014 and brought in Lincoln Riley with the hopes of breathing new life into the program. How’d that turn out? Well, it was a bumpy transition to begin with. OU had trouble putting away #23 Tennessee and were taken to double overtime by the Vols in Week 2. Oklahoma began the year ranked 19th because they were coming off 8-5 and not 6-6, but after a victory over #23 West Virginia 44-24 in the first week of October they climbed up to 10th place. The Sooners were beginning to really enter the 2015 Playoff discussion when the Red River Shootout rolled around. Of course, they were upset by Texas, falling 17-24. OU tumbled back down to #19 in the AP, but the schedule eased up which really allowed transfer QB Baker Mayfield to take control of the offense. Oklahoma annihilated Kansas State, Texas Tech, KU, and ISU by a combined 232-50 including a 55-0 shutout in Manhattan. The end of the season was a murderer’s row featuring the three top teams in the Big 12 but the Sooners were up to the challenge. The first leg featured #12 OU travelling to Waco against undefeated Baylor, Oklahoma won 44-34. The Sooners vaulted into the top ten with the win and entered a tie for second place in the standings. They were tied with the #11 TCU Horned Frogs, who were next up on the docket. OU managed to scrape by with a 30-29 win and were now tied with Oklahoma State, meaning Bedlam was a contest for all the marbles. #5 Oklahoma blew out the Cowboys 58-23 to emphatically seal their 11-1 regular season record and the Big 12 Championship. The Sooners entered into the Playoff as the #4 seed, they were selected to play undefeated Clemson in the Orange Bowl. OU wasn’t able to get any scoring going against former DC Brent Venables’ staunch defense and fell 17-37. Oklahoma finished 11-2 and 5th in the polls. It was a pretty good rebound season.

The Sooners had an interesting year in 2016. With the return of Baker Mayfield, OU was expected to contend to make their way back to the Playoff. #3 Oklahoma began the year in NRG Stadium against the defending Peach Bowl champions #15 Houston. The Sooners were upset by the Cougars 23-33, severely denting their repeat hopes to get back to the top 4. OU dropped down to 14th in the poll, and basically cost Oklahoma an appearance on College Gameday. In Week 3, the Sooners hosted #3 Ohio State in a game that was billed as a Playoff preview. Instead, the Buckeyes ended OU’s Playoff hopes with an emphatic 45-24 victory in Norman. A 1-2 September knocked Oklahoma all the way out of the polls and cast a shadow over conference play. Big 12 competition began in October with a trip to #21 TCU. The Sooners overcame the Horned Frogs 52-46 to climb back into the top 25. OU managed to put away Texas 45-40 and then more easily handled Kansas State. In a matchup of future NFL Quarterbacks, Baker Mayfield outdueled Pat Mahomes of Texas Tech in Lubbock in an incredible 66-59 boat race. After this win, Oklahoma began to really settle into form. The Sooners beat Kansas and Iowa State without much fuss, which wasn’t too remarkable, but once again the final three games featured the three other best teams in the conference. By now, OU had climbed back into the top ten, and were hoping they could take advantage of potential chaos in the last month to make a final push for the Playoff. The first matchup featured #9 Oklahoma hosting #25 Baylor, the Sooners won handily 45-24. The next week, #8 OU went to Morgantown and blew out the #10 Mountaineers 56-28. Bedlam was again a battle for first place against #11 Oklahoma State. #7 Oklahoma ran over their rivals 38-20 to complete a perfect 9-0 season in Big 12 play. They’re still the only team to have ever had a perfect record in conference play since going to 9 league games. Unfortunately for the champs, the Sooners only made it to #7 in the Playoff rankings. They couldn’t live down the two non-conference losses in September, which was justified in this case. As Big 12 champions, OU faced off against #17 Auburn. As you might imagine, the 8-4 Tigers were a bit overmatched. Oklahoma won 35-19, completing another 11-2 season capped with a ten game win streak and a final #5 AP ranking. After the disappointing few seasons between 2011 and 2015, the program appeared to be entering a Renaissance under Stoops having won back to back conference titles. However, Stoops shocked the nation by announcing his retirement. He retired as one of the winningest coaches in the game and held 11 Big 12 titles in 18 seasons.

Stoops’ young OC Lincoln Riley was promoted as head coach. Even as a coordinator, Riley was one of the hottest names in coaching circles, even attracting NFL attention. Now Riley was given the reigns to fully flex his muscles. The Sooners erupted out of the gate in 2017, destroying UTEP as they should have, and in their second game of the year, easily handled #2 Ohio State on the back end trip of the home and home 31-16. The win vaulted #5 OU firmly into the top four with renewed Playoff hopes. Baker Mayfield was lighting up the competition and Oklahoma could easily outpace all comers. Sort of. A Baylor team that had completely collapsed and would finish the season 1-11 nearly beat the Sooners in Waco. Two weeks later after a bye, #3 OU was upset 31-38 by Iowa State. Oklahoma handled business through the rest of October with wins over UT, KSU, and Texas Tech. Once again, the schedule toughened up in November just in time for a Playoff push. #8 Oklahoma outpaced #11 Oklahoma State 62-52 and followed it up with a 38-20 victory over #8 TCU. It was enough to push the Sooners back into the top four and cruised to an 11-1 regular season record with easy wins over Kansas and West Virginia. In an effort to keep the Big 12 from getting snubbed from the Playoff like they did in 2014, the conference reinstated the Conference Championship Game in 2017. Which in this case could have backfired if #2 OU lost to the #10 Horned Frogs who themselves had no chance of making the top four. Thankfully Oklahoma once again handled Texas Christian, this time 41-17. Baker Mayfield was awarded the Heisman Trophy for leading the most dynamic offense in college football. This might have been the best Sooner team of the decade, and had the best chance of winning the national championship, but their dreams ended in the Rose Bowl. In the best semifinal game in the young Playoff era, OU blew a three-score lead to #3 Georgia and then lost in double overtime 48-54. It was another bitter disappointment, but as far as first years for head coaches go, it was pretty good: 12-2 with a final #4 ranking.

Heisman winner Baker Mayfield was gone in 2018, but Texas A&M transfer Kyler Murray was waiting in the wings to make a seamless transfer of power. For the second year in a row, Oklahoma began the year ranked 7th in the nation and the favorite to win the Big 12. The Sooners had no problem mopping up FAU and UCLA before paying ISU back 37-27 in Ames. Army’s triple option got under OU’s circuitry and took Oklahoma to overtime before falling 28-21. The Sooners boat raced Baylor 66-33 to end September 5-0. The only way to beat OU, it seemed, was to somehow outscore them. And guess what happened when they met Texas at the State Fair? The #19 Longhorns managed to outpace their rivals 48-45, dealing a huge blow to #7 Oklahoma’s Playoff aspirations. It was enough of a let down to get DC Mike Stoops fired. It was a road bump for sure, but the Sooners rebounded quite well. OU never even fell out of the top ten and demolished TCU and Kansas State before outpacing Texas Tech 51-46. Oklahoma went down to the wire in Bedlam again, but once again prevailed over the Cowboys 48-47. To end the season, the Sooners only beat Kansas by 15, which is relatively disappointing and then overcame #12 West Virginia 59-56. This time, the Big 12 Championship Game came in handy, as #5 Oklahoma parlayed their rematch with #9 Texas with a 39-27 victory. Kyler Murray was conferred the Heisman Trophy, the first time two QBs from the same school won it in back to back years. OU was given a 4 seed and had to go up against 13-0 #1 Alabama. It was a disaster. OU fell behind 28-0 after just 17 minutes of play. If you didn’t turn the TV off after the first quarter, you would have missed a valiant comeback attempt. Oklahoma actually outscored the Tide for the remainder of the game, but come on, they started out behind by four touchdowns. Bama won 45-34 and the Sooners were sent home with another 12-2 record and #4 finish.

With Kyler Murray gone to the NFL, the torch passed to former Tide QB Jalen Hurts of all people. Once again, OU was in the mix in the preseason, carrying over their 4th place ranking into 2019. Things basically went as expected. Hurts put up Heisman numbers as Oklahoma torched their way through the competition through the first half of the season. The defense had finally come together under new coordinator Alex Grinch, who had taken over for the lackluster Mike Stoops. The Sooners outscored their non-conference opponents 167-59 before annihilating Texas Tech and Kansas heading into Red River. This OU made sure to put their rivals away in the regular season, beating #11 Texas 34-27. Oklahoma manhandled West Virginia before finally being upset 41-48 by Kansas State. November was another brutal stretch, which began with a 42-41 win over emerging thorn-in-side Iowa State. In the regular season conference championship, the #10 Sooners faced off against undefeated #13 Baylor. The Bears were the “it” team in College Football in 2019 and took a lead deep into the game before OU snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in front of a shocked Waco crowd. #8 Oklahoma squeaked by TCU 28-24 before putting away #21 Oklahoma State 34-16 to end the regular season 11-1 yet again. The Sooners needed a bit of help getting back into the Playoff. #6 OU beat #7 Baylor in the Big 12 Championship Game, again ripping the Bears’ hearts out in with a touchdown win in overtime. Thankfully, #4 Georgia and #5 Utah lost their Championship Games, giving Oklahoma their third straight Playoff appearance. Unfortunately they had to face #1 LSU in the Peach Bowl. If Alabama dominated the Sooners in one quarter bad enough to beat OU in the 2018 semifinal, the Tigers did it for the whole 60 minutes. Louisiana State completely lit up Oklahoma 63-28 with most of the scoring coming in the first half. 12-2 and another loss in the semifinals for the third straight year.

What a weird decade. Oklahoma’s spent most of the 2010′s as one of the best teams in College Football, but they were never the best. The Sooners’ best years from a pure quality standpoint were in 2011 and 2017. In 2011, OU finished 10-3 and third place in the Big 12. In 2017, they featured the best offense in football and came excruciatingly close to a trip to the Championship Game. Hey, two Heismans and SEVEN Big 12 Championships. It wasn’t a total wash.

Oklahoma will certainly carry their success into the 2020′s. If I had to put money on which team would win the Big 12 the most times in the coming decade, it’d be the Sooners. I think you’d put your money down as well.

I’ve spent the last paragraph of each one of these Top 25 lists speaking on how each team performed against their rivals. OU had no problem on that front. Oklahoma went 8-3 against rival Texas, though those three losses really stung. The Sooners went 8-2 against Oklahoma State in arguably the Cowboys’ most successful decade in program history. That’s how you dominate little brother. Unfortunately the rivalry with Nebraska ended with conference realignment, but Oklahoma did get the last laugh with a win in the Big 12 CG in 2010.

#college football #Oklahoma Sooners

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roominthecastle · 5 years

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For someone who hasn't seen TBL since... early season 4? (and even then only watched a couple episodes) could you give me a quick rundown of what I have to know in order to watch the beginning of season 6? If that's too much hassle I understand but I thought if anyone can put that car crash of a show into a sorta sensible summary it's you.

“car crash of a show” well, that is… too real. like you can’t help but stare and wonder what might emerge from the wreckage. :)

Thank you for the vote of confidence, I tried my best to recall the main events from each season. If something important is missing or I misremembered, hopefully somebody corrects that in a reply or a comment, and you will be able to see those, too.

(putting the rest behind a cut bc length)

Alexander Kirk is the latest contestant of the increasingly crowded “who’s your daddy” competition. He was in love w/ Liz’s mom, has a life-threatening blood disorder, and a pathological fondness for kidnapping. He takes Liz and Agnes to her childhood home that triggers some vague memories of Katarina. Kirk is sure he is her father and has a DNA test to prove it. Liz also finds Katarina’s journal in which Katarina mentions how she was assigned to honeytrap Reddington.

Meanwhile, Red uses Mr. Kaplan’s connections to learn where Kirk keeps Liz and Agnes, then tips off the task force. Despite feeling betrayed by the fake death stunt, they roll out to rescue her but Kirk gets away and they take Agnes, too (they play hot potato with that poor kid). Red takes Mr. Kaplan to the woods and shoots her for her betrayal. But she survives the headshot (not unprecedented as we learn later that she survived a head injury before and has a metal plate in her head) and is nursed back to relative physical health (but apparent psychological unwellness) by a hermit in the woods. For now, nobody else knows she is alive.

Kirk is trying to find a cure. Tom and Liz keep failing in their side-mission to get Agnes back, but Red uses Kirk’s doctor to track him. This leads him to a trap but Liz tips him off just in time. This is the first time (IIRC) that Red hesitates to trust her (kinda understandable since he’s still reeling from the fake death thing) and he almost dies as a result. Then Liz lures Kirk, gets Agnes back, but Kirk collapses and is hospitalized. He needs a donor to survive. Liz volunteers bc getting answers trumps everything. Red tells her that the DNA test proving that she is Kirk’s daughter was faked and it gets confirmed bc Liz is not a match, she can’t save him. Kirk’s goons rescue him from the hospital and Liz is taken again. Red volunteers to trade places w/ her and even manages to secure the cure for Kirk to sweeten the pot. Liz is released but Kirk, now aware that he is not the father, tortures Red. He demands Red confess that he (Red) is Liz’s father, which he finally does under insane duress, then whispers sth to Kirk that convinces him to let Red go. We still don’t know what he whispered or where Kirk is now, but this is the end of the first big arc of S4.

Liz gets her FBI badge back thanks to Red applying pressure and securing a presidential pardon. She and Tom try playing house and keep failing bc Tom will never be what she wants him to be: his meek teacher cover role from S1. Red looks for and finds a new cleaning crew but what he did to Mr. Kaplan is eating at him. Dembe gets worried about his mental state and tells Liz what happened to Kaplan, which drives Liz further down the “blame Red for everything” path but they continue working together. After Kaplan recovers, her revenge mission kicks into gear and the various ways in which she tries to dismantle Red’s criminal empire is the second big arc that lasts until the end of the season.

Kaplan tries to strip Red of his resources and connections. Her methods range from clearing out his back accounts to trying to sabotage the Task Force. She goes as far as poisoning Red, for which she tries to frame Dembe to destroy their relationship but Dembe (w/ Aram’s help) proves he didn’t betray Red and their bond becomes tighter than ever. Then Mr. Kaplan unearths 86 bodies (including Diane Fowler’s, so Cooper & Co. now know Red killed her), which launches an official investigation that threatens to expose the Task Force and its ties to Red. Mr. Kaplan also meets with Liz, tells her about their past connection (in a flashback episode, we learn that she worked for Katarina as Liz’s nanny and she handed her off to Sam after the fire, then started working for Red at his request), and tries to convince her to turn on Red but Liz refuses.

Meanwhile, Ressler is trying to get justice for the murder of Fowler’s replacement, Reven. He knows Hitchen (the National Security Advisor) killed her but he has no solid proof. Mr. Kaplan reaches out to the doctor who tampered w/ Liz’s memory when she was a child, and hires him to mess w/ Ressler’s head, planting fake memories and almost driving him to kill Hitchen. He is stopped in time, the doc is captured and he tells Liz he was also hired 2 years ago to take away some of her memories again (concerning Red) at the request of a man they both know, but we still don’t know who this person is. Red denied it was him and I, for one, believe him.

Red decides to set a trap for Mr. Kaplan, playing on her blind fixation on Liz. He hires a blacklister to kidnap Liz, feeds clues to Kaplan that lead her to where Liz is kept. Red tells Liz he is willing to refrain from killing her (Kaplan) but if Kaplan doesn’t stand down, she has to die. When she walks into the trap, Red offers truce. Mr. Kaplan refuses, the FBI also shows up, there’s a shootout and Mr. Kaplan escapes. Red visits Dom bc he needs a key he hid on his property and tells him his granddaughter, Liz, is alive. Then he meets with Kaplan, offers her that key to a remote and secure paradise in exchange for ending this war but she once again refuses. The agent investigating those 86 bodies shows up but Red escapes and Kaplan agrees to testify in exchange for immunity.

Red and Ressler reach out to the blacklister who cleaned up after Hitchen and use the evidence he kept to blackmail her into scrapping the inquiry concerning the task force, Red, and those bodies. Vague national security excuse works every time. Liz reaches out to Kaplan and they go on a drive. Kaplan promises answers but Red and his men show up and she commits suicide by jumping off a bridge. Her death triggers a protocol to release Red’s secret, aka the suitcase w/ the skeleton in it, that lands in Tom’s hands but for now nobody knows he has it. Ressler visits Hitchen and accidentally kills her when they get into an argument, so he calls the blacklister that previously cleaned up after her to clean up after him now. Cooper runs a DNA test on a sample from an old bloody shirt in evidence that belonged to Reddington, compares it to Liz’s sample and tells her it’s a match. Liz tells him she ran a test too, soon after Red showed up in her life, but never checked the result bc she was afraid to know. She now confronts Red w/ the news and he neither confirms nor denies, just lets her hug him - which is their basic dynamic in the first half of the next season.

Most of the first block of this season is about Red trying to rebuild his organization from scratch in various ways - first as a bounty hunter and then once again working w/ the task force. He seems to enjoy the freedom that comes w/ hitting rock bottom. Liz helps out, too, acting jarringly happy. Meanwhile, Tom decides to keep the suitcase a secret from her and asks Nik to help him identify the human remains inside. He also steals Liz’s ID to be able to access official databases and they reach out to another guy to have the bones DNA tested. Then Nik is killed when he goes to get the results and the skeleton gets taken.

Still not knowing about Tom’s involvement or the suitcase, Liz asks Red to help find Nik’s killer and Red soon discovers that Nik was working with Tom and that he had the skeleton. Tom tracks down the girlfriend of the guy who ran the DNA test to ask for help finding him. She helps, they find him, but then all of them get captured by a US Marshall named Garvey who is v much interested in the skeleton, too, bc he has a very personal ax to grind w/ Red. Tom escapes and he takes the skeleton. He calls Liz and tells her to meet at home but reveals nothing concrete, so you know he is not long for this world. That’s where Garvey and his men find them. He stabs Tom and Liz gets badly injured, too. Red and Dembe come to the rescue and take both to the hospital.

Tom dies, Liz is in a coma for 10 months and struggles a lot after she regains consciousness. She asks Tom’s mother, Scottie, to look after Agnes, makes Red promise to keep working cases with the task force and to not follow her, then moves to a remote cabin in Alaska where she saves a witness from the bad guys who want to silence him by killing them all in a Home Alone meets The Shining manner. After this, she decides to return to find out why Tom was killed and get revenge. She works this case separate from the task force.

The blacklister, Prescott, who cleaned up after Ressler last season starts blackmailing Ressler, threatening to reveal that he killed Hitchen if Ressler doesn’t derail an investigation. Ressler refuses but with Red’s help they manage to arrest Prescott who then intends to deliver on his threat. Red kills him and removes any implicating evidence. So Ressler goes to Cooper to deliver his written confession but Cooper says he will hold onto the letter as long as the task force is up and running bc none of them are who they were before, each of them has a letter like that, so to speak, but the work they do here is too important. They will hold each other accountable after it’s done.

Liz is investigating on her own. She tracks down one of Garvey’s goons and ends up killing him when they get into a fight but she also learns that Nik was helping Tom. She then dissolves the body Stewmaker-style but leaves a piece of evidence behind by accident, so she also breaks into the evidence room and steals it to cover her tracks. She draws the attention of a detective in whom she later confides about looking for Tom’s killer and even shows him the Post Office. Red helps out w/ her investigation, too, they both want the suitcase back after all. Liz confronts him about his motives (saying he only wants to keep his secret, nothing else matters) and responsibility in Tom’s death. Red tells her Tom died bc he didn’t heed his warning and that this secret is something he has to keep, so he isn’t telling.

Liz finds some notes among Tom’s belongings that eventually lead her to Dom. She doesn’t know he is her grandfather, he doesn’t tell her, but they talk. Dom denies being a spy code named Oleander (from Tom’s notes) but tells her he used to work as an analyst and came to the US after the Cold War (he really is Oleander, tho). He also tells her he knew Katarina well but doesn’t reveal their connection other than “we worked in the same building”, and he refuses to say anything about Red.

Red learns that whoever killed Tom and took the skeleton has law enforcement ties and Liz decides to rejoin the Task Force but only to up her chances at capturing Tom’s killer. This reinstatement requires a psychological evaluation and Liz goes a few rounds with Dr. Fulton who later turns out to be a serial killer killer/vigilante. Liz corners her at a crime scene but then lets her go bc she might need her help one day, and Fulton green lights her official reinstatement.

With the help of the detective she confided in, Liz finally identifies Garvey as Tom’s killer but Garvey kills the detective. They wanna take Garvey down by proving he is not only a murderer but also has ties to drug trafficking. Liz also approaches a woman Garvey keeps visiting in a diner and tells her everything, hoping she will flip on him. This is when the woman reveals she is Jennifer Reddington whom Garvey has been protecting from her father for decades. Red wants to kill Garvey but he cannot do that as long as he has the skeleton, so he kidnaps him. Then Garvey escapes and goes to the diner. Red and Dembe follow him there. Garvey shoots Red. Liz and Dembe shoot Garvey. Garvey later dies in the hospital w/o revealing anything.

While recovering, Red uses one of Garvey’s goons to track the skeleton to Costa Rica and learns that it’s in the possession of another enemy of his, Sutton Ross. Liz follows Red and wants to find the remains first. Ross is captured by the Task Force. Liz offers a secret deal and he agrees bc he was tasked by Garvey to reveal the skeleton’s secret bc Jennifer deserves to know the truth. Together they put on a show for Red: Ross escapes, takes Liz hostage and then pretends to torture her to force Red to give up his secret. Just when Red is about to break and reveal it, the Task Force storms the place and captures Ross again. Red doesn’t seem to know he has been played but he takes the skeleton, shoots Ross, then walks away. He takes the remains back to Dom’s place where he burns them. Dom warns him that Liz is not gonna give up. He is not wrong bc it is revealed that Liz was not only working w/ Ross, she now also knows the remains belong to the real Reddington, so Red is an imposter and not her father. She vows to find out his real identity and then destroy him w/ the help of her half-sister, Jennifer.

Oh and Samar and Aram’s relationship takes a few turns over the season as well. They start dating and then Aram prepares to propose, which ends in a fight and an almost break-up. Then Samar gets abducted by a blacklister and the last thing she says to Aram is that she would have said yes. She also ends up in a coma but regains consciousness at the end of the finale, so their engagement is now official.

#apicturewithasmile #the blacklist #long post

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buddyrabrahams · 5 years

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College basketball teams off to rocky starts in conference play

With conference play now firmly underway in college basketball, we’ve reached a healthy point in the season to start assessing not only how teams stack up this year, but also how they’ve handled the transition into conference play.

Certainly some teams were playing well before the switch and have continued to do so. There’s also, naturally, teams who have done the opposite and struggled versus both non-conference and conference foes.

Then there’s an interesting crop of teams: Those who have seen a difference between their play early in the season and more recently against their league rivals.

While some have improved, perhaps due to a coaching change or a more consistent schedule, the more interesting group is those who were succeeding this season, but have hit a bump in the road now. These are teams whose early non-conference wins led to high hopes and dreams of a run in March. Now with a few conference losses thrown in, their fates have become much more difficult to discern.

Here are nine teams who have surprisingly cratered in conference play.

9. Florida State

The Seminoles entered ACC play riding high. Their only loss came in a tight game against the defending national champion Villanova Wildcats on a neutral court.

Leonard Hamilton has been coaching long enough to know that things would be tougher sledding against ACC competition, and the schedule did his team no favors. Florida State opened conference play with games at Virginia, versus Miami and Duke, then at Pitt.

There’s no shame in losing to Virginia and Duke, two of college basketball’s best clubs. Losing to Pitt and then BC to fall into a 1-4 hole isn’t exactly what Hamilton had in mind.

Thankfully, the schedule lightens up over the next several weeks, by ACC standards. Games against Clemson, Miami, and Georgia Tech could be the chance to bounce back and look like a top 15 team again.

If the Seminoles struggle in that stretch, however, their upcoming trips to Syracuse and Chapel Hill will start to look even more daunting.

8. Old Dominion

We’ll start on a smaller scale, with a mid-major team that has put itself behind the 8-ball. The Monarchs peaked when they were ranked 72nd per KenPom’s metrics, just before starting play in Conference USA.

Old Dominion started the season by going 10-3 in non-conference play and had some nice wins already banked onto its resume. The Monarchs won at Richmond, topped VCU at home, and even went to the Carrier Dome and beat Syracuse. Old Dominion clearly placed itself as the favorite in Conference USA.

After that, the Monarchs began just 2-2 in conference play, with a home loss versus Marshall and a bad road loss at Florida Atlantic. Defensively, conference play has been a real struggle for Old Dominion. On the entire season, the Monarchs have been the 55th best defensive team in the nation per KenPom, allowing only 96 points per 100 possessions. In four conference games, that number has skyrocketed to 108.5 points per 100 possessions, third worst in the league.

This change was most glaring in the loss to Florida Atlantic. The Owls have one of America’s 100 worst offenses by the numbers, yet were able to post 1.25 points per possession and shoot 12 of 21 from outside the arc against Old Dominion.

The Monarchs were once playing like a team with an outside chance at an at-large bid, or at least the ability to earn a seed that could allow them a chance in the first round of tournament play. Now Old Dominion has looked much worse and is third place in Conference USA.

7. Mississippi St

The Bulldogs started the season 7-1 against top 100 competition, with wins over Cincinnati and Clemson under their belts. Mississippi State opened SEC play with losses to South Carolina and Ole Miss, before a home win over Florida (whom we’ll get to in a minute here) and win at Vandy.

The Bulldogs’ defense has dropped off drastically in recent games. In conference play, Mississippi State opponents are shooting a better percentage, turning the ball over less frequently, and grabbing more offensive rebounds.

Offensively, the Bulldogs are coughing the ball up more frequently in SEC games. After averaging 12.8 turnovers per contest in non-conference matchups, Mississippi State has turned the ball over at least 15 times in each of its three conference tilts.

6. Texas

Things in the Big XII have been a mix of good news and bad news for the Longhorns so far this season. It started with some good, two wins over Kansas State and West Virginia. On January 7, the Longhorns were 10-4 on the season, undefeated in conference, and tied atop the standings.

After that, Texas lost three straight games. Two of those losses were heartbreakers with a margin of less than one possession.

Again, there is good news. Not only were all three games close, but Texas’ competition in their recent swoon has been very strong. The first loss in the stretch came at Oklahoma State, in a building that is never easy for road teams to steal a win. Next, losing a home game to rival Texas Tech wasn’t ideal for Longhorn fans, but the Red Raiders are a top ten team. Finally, Texas joined the long, long list of victims to lose at Kansas, and even kept things uncomfortably close for the Jayhawks down the stretch. At least they responded by beating Oklahoma to end the losing sreak.

The schedule really won’t get easier for Texas in college basketball’s best conference, but Shaka Smart shouldn’t need to make major changes moving forward.

5. Ohio State

The Big Ten has the most unique conference schedule of any league in America. Teams play one home game and one road game against a conference opponent in early December as a way to break up the non-conference slate and inject some excitement earlier than usual.

For Ohio State, this was no big deal. The scheduling gods gifted them games against Illinois and Minnesota, both of which the Buckeyes won with ease.

Since re-starting conference play, however, things have not gone as smoothly. Ohio State has now lost four in a row. First, the Buckeyes dropped a home game to Michigan State. Then Ohio State turned in two road clunkers, losing at Rutgers and Iowa before falling at home to Maryland.

The scheduling karma of two easy wins early on is now coming back to bite the Bucks. Ohio State will host top 20 KenPom team squad Purdue in its next game, followed by trips to face a strong Nebraska squad and the very daunting Michigan Wolverines. It’s not crazy to imagine Ohio State losing all four and sitting at 2-7 in Big Ten play. Even one win in that stretch goes a long way to stop the bleeding.

4. Creighton

The Bluejays dropped four straight Big East contests recently before finally ending the skid with a win at Georgetown. Three of their losses were by a 12-plus point margin, but the fourth was the real signal of problems.

Creighton led Marquette by three points with the ball and under one second to play. Had the Bluejays’ inbounder simply handed the ball to the Marquette player guarding him, or rolled the ball into play, or done just about anything except what he chose to do, Creighton seals up a big win. Instead, Creighton tried a long pass down the floor, the ball went untouched, Marquette then inbounded to an open Sam Houser, who hit the game-tying three. The Golden Eagles then won in overtime.

All of Creighton’s issues are on the defensive end of the floor. No team in college basketball is allowing more than 116.7 points per 100 possessions this season, per KenPom. In conference play, the Bluejays are giving up 120.6 points per 100 possessions. Crieghton’s Big East opponents are sinking better than 43 percent from long range and have made 53 threes in just 5 games. Those numbers absolutely untenable and would lead to dark days for Creighton the rest of this season.

3. Florida

The Gators are another team whose defense has not been ready to face tougher competition in conference play. Florida had been one of college basketball’s ten best defenses in non-conference play, but has struggled of late. They have allowed the highest 3-point shooting percentage and the second-highest effective field goal percentage in the SEC. Allowing opponents to make easier shots has led to a 2-3 conference record, including two home losses for the Gators.

Florida’s defensive issues have been compounded by their own shooting woes on offense. The Gators are shooting just 36.6 percent from the field in SEC games, including a dismal 30.8 percent outside the arc.

Either Florida’s defense needs to rebound and return to its pre-January form or the Gators need to start finding and hitting shots to keep them in games down the stretch.

2. UConn

When the so-called “Catholic Seven” group of schools drifted away and took with them the “Big East” conference name, many casual observers felt sympathy for schools like UConn. The Huskies have won two of the last nine national titles, yet are still middling in the American Athletic Conference. Despite being one of the best programs in the nation in the last decade, UConn is forced to play road games at the likes of Tulsa, Tulane, and East Carolina.

Perhaps that slog has taken its toll, as the Huskies this year have struggled against their AAC opponents. UConn is just 2-4 in conference play, with noteworthy losses at South Florida and Tulsa.

All season long, UConn defenders have struggled to get stops without fouling. Husky opponents have made the 5th most free throws of all 353 Division I programs. UConn has allowed the highest free throw rate and the highest percentage of points from the free throw line in the AAC this year.

It is more damning that the foul issue has been season long, not a short term issue. Something on a larger scale, either strategy or the players on the roster, will need to be overhauled to correct this issue.

1. Penn State

After winning 26 games and the NIT last season, Penn State had high expectations entering basketball season for the first time in many years. A rocky start to the season featured losses to Bradley and DePaul before the Nittany Lions lost both early Big Ten games to quality competition.

More recently, Penn State has played six more Big Ten games and lost all six, three of them in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions season hit a nadir when, during a loss to Michigan, head coach Patrick Chambers shoved one of his players, earning himself a one-game suspension.

Some expected Penn State to have a chance to fight for an NCAA Tournament berth this season. Halfway through the year, and sitting a game and a half behind trainwreck programs like Rutgers and Illinois in the Big Ten standings, this year will be more about staying afloat and building for the future than making a run in 2019.

Shane McNichol covers college basketball and the NBA for Larry Brown Sports. He also blogs about basketball at Palestra Back and has contributed to Rush The Court, ESPN.com, and USA Today Sports Weekly. Follow him on Twitter @OnTheShaneTrain.

from Larry Brown Sports http://bit.ly/2sHNtG4

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mitchbeck · 6 years

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CANTLON: PACK HITTING THE ROAD AGAIN

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Both the Hartford Wolf Pack and the New York Rangers are embarking on critical road trips with both squads not running on all cylinders. The Rangers lost to the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-1, on Thursday night with scoring and team cohesiveness a trademark issue currently for both teams. The Wolf Pack's shoddy performance Wednesday night included another lackluster start to the game and has been the case the past three years and covering two different coaches and basically three different teams each of those seasons. At this point, it's on the players. They need to be prepared, and the youngsters who want to get to the NHL must show they are ready for prime time. This present Wolf Pack team is .500 (4-4-1-0) and with the exception of a couple of players, clearly not ready to make the leap to, "The Show." Dustin Tokarski's goaltending on Wednesday night was shoddy at best. For a solid AHL veteran, he was laconic and beaten easily on two of the three goals he surrendered in just 4:36 of action before getting the hook. Mazanec was slightly better, but two of his goals were eerily similar to goals surrendered by Magnus Hellberg when he flamed out here two years ago. Both netminders are very well compensated this season and the team was hoping they would be the rock on which they could build the foundation of the team as the younger players went through the expected growing pains. Wednesday's top line of Lias Andersson-Ryan Gropp-Mikael Lindqvist had a rough night putting up a combined minus-8 while the fourth line, with Shawn O’Donnell leading the way with two goals, finished a plus-5. Not to diminish a great effort by the fourth line, but when they are the best line on the ice, something is clearly very wrong with that picture. Expect Saturday's game, the first of the season against in-state, divisional, and franchise rivals, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, to come complete with some new line combinations and defensive pairings as head coach Keith McCambridge looks to shake things up to change the current fortunes that have seen the team drop three of their last four games. On Sunday, The Pack starts a second long road trip. This one consists of five games, but not like road trips of the AHL of yesteryear. Credit Patrick Williams of the NHL.com for researching and coming up with this beauty from the Baltimore Skipjacks, circa 1989-90. The Skipjacks covered 3,400 miles with eight games in eleven days. The team started with a Saturday night game in Glen Falls, NY against the Adirondack Red Wings. The next day they played a Sunday afternoon game in Moncton, New Brunswick. Then, at the end of the trip, they had a Thursday night matchup in Halifax and then a Friday night contest in New Haven. Tack in the time change from Atlantic Standard time, it’s miracle they arrived on time for the game. The trip concluded in Utica the following night. Baltimore then followed with a four-games-in-four-days jaunt. It's no surprise they didn’t make the playoffs that season. It's reminiscent of the great New Haven Nighthawks end of the season in 1991-92 with a Canadian Maritime road trip of eight games in eleven days. The trip started in Fredericton on Wednesday. A Saturday/Sunday pair in Halifax followed. It was on to Cape Breton on Tuesday; Wednesday in Moncton, Thursday and Saturday in St. John’s and then concluding on Sunday in Cape Breton. The Nighthawks lost to eventual Calder Cup champion Adirondack Red Wings in five games in the first round. AHL FUTURE The AHL will likely be adding two more Pacific Division teams in the next two years according to several sources. The expected announcement in early December that the NHL will grant Seattle an expansion franchise to bring the NHL to 32 teams with equally split conferences at 16 teams apiece. Seattle has started the renovation process of the Seattle KeyArena, with the announcement that they will be building a brand spanking new 180,000 square foot, $70 million, three-rink training facility, at the soon-to-be-renovated Northgate Mall. It will be called the Seattle Ice Center. The next piece will be their AHL team. The two most likely candidates are the Tacoma Dome which is located 30 miles south of Seattle. It's undergone a $30 million makeover that originally was priced at $21.3 million. The building last hosted hockey with the now-defunct West Coast Hockey League's Tacoma Sabercats from 1997-2002 and the WHL's Tacoma Rockets (1991-1995). The arena is the fourth largest in the US and seats 19,106 for hockey. It opened in 1983 with renovations starting this year. They have had five NHL preseason games, mostly in the 1980’s and two in the 1990’s. The last one was in 1996. The other candidate could be Everett, WA at the Angel Wings Arena. It is the current home to the WHL Everett Silvertips (2003-present). It's 40 minutes North of Seattle and the arena was opened in 2003 and seats 8,149. It's a perfect size for the AHL. The building is part of Spectra family of buildings who operate in the US and Canada, including the XL Center. Originally, the arena was known as the Everett Events Center and it was the Xfinity Arena up until a year ago when the Stillaguamish Tribe signed a 10-year, $3.4 million dollar naming rights deal to change it to the Angel Wings Arena. That new AHL team will likely come in two years. The Vancouver Canucks will likely move from Utica after this season, the last of their five-year lease. Utica has been a model AHL citizen. It's very well run and did everything you can do to make it a good place for prospects. The combination of geography and money make it likely the Canucks make a true Pacific rival coming into the NHL while saving money on its AHL recalls when they move the farm team closer to home. Canucks owner Francis Anquillini has hinted that they are looking at Abbotsford, about 45 minutes from downtown. They exited the AHL five years ago after a disastrous run with Calgary that saw the city write a check for $5.5 million for the Flames to leave. The Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre is another Spectra run facility that holds 7,046 seats for hockey - again, perfect for the AHL. The other possibility floated by Acquillini is the now vacant, and the original Canucks home, the PNE Coliseum. It was built in the late 1960’s. The WHL Vancouver Giants moved out two years ago to a smaller arena in nearby Langley, BC. So if they go to the PNE Coliseum, the Canucks will have to get new chillers or repair those that have not been in operation for two years. They'll need to renovate the locker rooms and training facilities and section off the seating as well as fix up the building. It seats 16,281, far too large for AHL hockey. The mayor of Abbotsford, Henry Braun, is on record as saying he wants the Canucks AHL team to come to Abbotsford. It looks like they will come to some sort of satisfactory lease arrangement for both sides. The AHL Pacific Division travel only plays 68 games which makes it much more palatable to return the AHL to Abbotsford. Seattle’s new team nickname is down to the final two - Sockeyes and the Totems. The Totems was the name of the old Western Hockey League franchise (1958-1975) and in this PC era will likely raise a ruckus with the use of a Native American symbol. Sockeyes refers to the fish and longtime Maritime fishing industry in the Pacific Northwest. Very shocked Sea Lions didn’t make the cut in the Seattle Times name the team contest. Canlton's Corner endorses Sockeyes with no black uniforms. NOTES: Ex-Pack, Ryan Sproul’s, odyssey for finding an AHL place to play is on its third stop. He spent training camp with Stockton was released, signed with the Toronto Marlies, played one game got where he got an assist and was let go from PTO deal. He is now with the Laval Rocket on a PTO deal. Paul Carey (Salisbury Prep) is sent to Belleville by Ottawa. Alex Biega (Salisbury Prep) is recalled from Utica by Vancouver. Ex-Sound Tiger, Matt Finn, was assigned to Florida (ECHL) by Grand Rapids. Shane Starrett (South Kent Prep) is reassigned by Bakersfield to Wichita (ECHL). Former Wolf Pack, Rory Rawlyk, opts not to play in Poland and signs a deal with Evansville (SPHL). Enfield’s Robbie Baillargeon departs Tulsa (ECHL) and signs with Milton Keynes Lightning (England-EIHL). Ex-Pack, Danny “Monte” Kristo, finally officially leaves Brynas IF (Sweden-SHL) and signs with HC Rapperswil-Jona (Switzerland-LNA). Ex-Pack, Zdenek Bahensky, signs with ASC Corona Brasov (Romania-MOL). Ex-Pack and Sound Tiger, Joe Combs, signs with EHC Kloten (Switzerland-LNB). Forner CT Whale, Wojtech Wolski, had his contract brought out by Metallurg Magnitogorsk (Russia-KHL) and is looking to Switzerland or maybe another KHL team. Former New Haven Senator, Harijs Vitolins, is doing some work as an assistant coach for HK Kurbads (Latvia-LHL) during the Continental Cup tournament. Last year, he was with KHL Gagarin Cup champion SKA St. Petersburg (Russia-KHL). Jordan Sims, son of the former Hartford Whaler and Nighthawk, Al Sims, was traded from Cincinnati (ECHL) to Greenville (ECHL). Former Springfield Falcon, Trent Vogelhuber, retires, and become the assistant coach for Cleveland (AHL) where he played for three years. He might be the first player to retire after going through training camp and had been assigned to San Antonio. Another ex-Falcon, Yann Sauve, signs with Medvescak Zagreb (Croatia-EBEL). Former UCONN defenseman, David Drake, was reassigned to Reading (ECHL) by Lehigh Valley. Ben Sanderson, the son of former Whaler, Geoff Sanderson, has been changing addresses frequently lately. He started the season with Dubuque (USHL) and left after two games. He heads back to play with the Okotoks Oilers (AJHL) for a game before being traded in a Junior A interleague deal to the Vernon Vipers (BCHL). Vernon’s head coach and Director of Hockey Operations is former New Haven Senator and AHL All-Star defenseman, Mark Ferner. Sanderson is a 2019-20 commit to Colorado College (NCHC) Josh Primeau, the nephew of ex-Whaler, Keith Primeau, is loaned for the rest of the season from HC Rapperswil-Jona (Switzerland-LNA) to HC Thurgau (Switzerland-LNB). Read the full article

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buddyrabrahams · 7 years

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Six college football programs on the rise

In the world of college football, the rich tend to get richer. Alabama will always bring in loaded recruiting classes. Ohio State will always contend as long as Urban Meyer is at the helm. Oklahoma is consistently among the best. Programs at the top tend to stay at the top.

But other programs tend to fall off after having success, sometimes due to recruiting struggles or players not panning out. After a few down years, some of those programs reload with new players or make coaching changes and then surge back to what they were before.

Here are a few of those programs that appear to be on the rise again — as well as a couple lesser-known schools with the potential to make noise nationally in 2017.

1) Auburn Tigers

Gus Malzahn’s Tigers have never quite been able to match their national championship appearance in 2013. In fairness, that’s a high bar to match, but Auburn settled into a string of seven and eight win seasons since.

In 2016, Malzahn started out 1-2 and looked like he might lose his job, but a win over LSU possibly saved it and cost Les Miles his. Ultimately, the team recovered, jumped out to an 8-3 record, and then promptly lost their last two games to finish 8-5 with a Sugar Bowl loss.

There is reason to believe Auburn could approach double digit victories again in 2017.

A big reason for that is Baylor transfer Jarrett Stidham, who will take over as quarterback and try to bring Auburn’s passing attack up to par with their already well-established run game. Watch out for sophomore defensive end Marlon Davidson, who should anchor the defensive line.

The Iron Bowl is at Auburn in 2017 as well, and while the Tigers may not best Alabama, they could finally return to the status of offering the Tide a real challenge for SEC West supremacy.

2) Oregon Ducks

After a disastrous 2016 that saw the once-elite Ducks finish with just two Pac-12 victories, Mark Helfrich was jettisoned in favor of South Florida’s Willie Taggart. That may well prove to be the first step in restoring Oregon to the status it hasn’t consistently enjoyed since Chip Kelly was roaming the sidelines at Autzen Stadium.

The big key for Oregon will be to get their defense back on the right track, as it was shredded numerous times under Helfrich in 2016. New defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt will have his hands full with a fairly young unit, but many of those players will be returning with added experience in 2017. The same goes for quarterback Justin Herbert, who will have a lot of help from senior running back Royce Freeman, a member of the Doak Walker watch list.

Taggart’s tenure has already been marred by controversy, but he looks like the right man to lead the team forward, and it’s hard to believe we won’t see significant improvement from the Ducks in 2017.

3) Texas Longhorns

The Longhorns have experienced several false dawns, particularly in the Charlie Strong era, but they have still failed to find any real, consistent success in several years. The last time Texas had double-digit wins was in 2009 when Mack Brown was coaching and Colt McCoy was the quarterback. Since that BCS title game loss, they have just three seasons in which they’ve had a winning record in the Big 12, and only once have they finished the season ranked.

The job of new coach Tom Herman is to change all that, and there is reason to believe that he can do what Strong did not.

First, Herman’s very familiar with recruiting in Texas — in fact, he’s blamed himself for playing a role in opening the state up nationally. He also has a track record as a successful coach in the state, having turned Houston into a winning program.

While the loss of D’Onta Foreman will hurt, quarterback Shane Buechele will be back, and a young defense that struggled in 2016 will mostly return under the leadership of new defensive coordinator Todd Orlando. There is talent here, and Texas is a solid bet to have a winning season in Herman’s first year.

4) Miami Hurricanes

The last time Miami football won ten games or more, they were in the Big East and Larry Coker was the head coach. That was 14 years ago, and Mark Richt, who accomplished the feat nine times at Georgia, looks like he may be the coach to bring the Hurricanes back to that point.

Make no mistake — losing quarterback Brad Kaaya to the NFL will hurt Miami. However, the bulk of the team, both offensively and defensively, will be back to build on a nine-win 2016, with running back Mark Walton the cornerstone of the returnees.

Hiring Richt was a coup for the Hurricanes, as his track record at Georgia was excellent. He is exactly the sort of thing a once-proud program like Miami needs after being so consistently mediocre for over a decade. Amazingly, the Hurricanes have never won the ACC Coastal. That could change in 2017.

5) South Florida Bulls

USF lost coach Willie Taggart to Oregon, but they did well to bring in Charlie Strong, who has shown that he can be a successful coach despite a weak reign at Texas. Strong is also very familiar with the state of Florida, as he spent a long time working as an assistant with the Gators.

It also helps that Strong is inheriting a pretty good team.

The 2016 Bulls won 11 games and finished the season ranked in the top 20. Most importantly, they have electric dual-threat quarterback Quinton Flowers back for another season.

This is a squad that has tasted success and will want more of it after losing just one AAC contest all season, plus a bowl win over South Carolina. They could be this season’s Western Michigan, with a New Year’s Six bowl within reach.

6) SMU Mustangs

Chad Morris is building something at SMU. After all, there is a reason that Baylor wanted him as coach last season. After June Jones restored the Mustangs to relevance, it fell upon Morris to keep them from sliding back into the abyss following a 1-11 season. After winning just two games in his first season, SMU improved with five wins in 2016, including an upset of AAC darlings Houston.

The Mustangs will be expecting another step forward this season, and it may be one that sees them contend for a division title.

Courtland Sutton is one of the nation’s better receivers, and it will be incumbent upon SMU to find the best quarterback option to throw to him. The defense has talent as well. The Mustangs have the players on both sides of the ball, but it’s a matter of putting it all together consistently. If they do, they’ll be back in a bowl game and contending for an AAC title — and Morris will rightly be hailed for one of the country’s finest coaching jobs.

from Larry Brown Sports http://ift.tt/2v3gKhz

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