As much of a football fan as I am, I've always dreamed of OSU being a Basketball school. I was lucky enough to grow up in the Eddie days of sold out GIA and elite 8's. Its nothing that the younger generation has ever experienced in Stillwater, even the 2011 football season (in my opinion).
I think even the most ardent OSU football and Mike Gundy fan would admit we will never be a blueblood in football. That is no indictment of HCMG, football is just a different animal and we don't have the history or resources to compete with the Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, OU's of the world. We can certainly be a top 20 program but never top 5 or 10 program year in and year out.
Everyone knows football is king in Oklahoma but basketball is a close second-especially nationally. Wrestling and baseball are great (as well as Softball and Soccer, etc) but neither captivate an entire nation for a month like March Madness. It would be nice to have big brother bragging rights for six months of the year in a major sport. It would be nice to be in the elite 8, while sooner fans only have spring practice to look forward to.
The thing is OSU has tradition, facilities, and an arena to be a top program - we just needed a coach to get us there. We got close with Eddie but his age and unfortunate demons got in the way, but now it looks like we have a guy that might get us there. Its a financial winner as well, if I remember a post from last year correctly Kansas had a slightly higher total revenue than we did even with the putrid teams outside of basketball they had.
I think even the most ardent OSU football and Mike Gundy fan would admit we will never be a blueblood in football. That is no indictment of HCMG, football is just a different animal and we don't have the history or resources to compete with the Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, OU's of the world. We can certainly be a top 20 program but never top 5 or 10 program year in and year out.
Everyone knows football is king in Oklahoma but basketball is a close second-especially nationally. Wrestling and baseball are great (as well as Softball and Soccer, etc) but neither captivate an entire nation for a month like March Madness. It would be nice to have big brother bragging rights for six months of the year in a major sport. It would be nice to be in the elite 8, while sooner fans only have spring practice to look forward to.
The thing is OSU has tradition, facilities, and an arena to be a top program - we just needed a coach to get us there. We got close with Eddie but his age and unfortunate demons got in the way, but now it looks like we have a guy that might get us there. Its a financial winner as well, if I remember a post from last year correctly Kansas had a slightly higher total revenue than we did even with the putrid teams outside of basketball they had.
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