Month: February 2022

Men’s Basketball: How to watch, listen as the Sooners get set to host West Virginia

Find out how to watch, listen to Oklahoma men’s basketball as they get set to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers.

In the final week of the regular season, the Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball team is in crunch time. They aren’t a surefire lock for the NCAA Tournament and their postseason aspirations depend on finishing the season strong.

Next, they host the West Virginia Mountaineers (14-15, 3-11 Big 12) after winning in Morgantown 72-62 the last week of January. Tanner Groves led the way shooting a blistering 9 of 11 from the field and finishing with 21 points. His brother Jacob Groves pitched in 12 and the Sooners walked out with a modest victory.

The Sooners (15-14, 5-11 Big 12) will look to build off their 66-62 overtime win against rival Oklahoma State and continue stacking wins as they look to fill out their tournament resume.

The Mountaineers slumber into the game on a six-game losing streak and are looking to play spoiler for bubble teams like the Sooners and whoever else might line up across them. If the Sooners don’t allow West Virginia to speed them up, they should come up with another win in this one in front of their home crowd on Senior Night.

How to Watch

Date: Tuesday, March 1

Time: 6 p.m. CST

TV: ESPN2

Line: Oklahoma -5.5*

Money Line: Oklahoma -260, West Virginia +205

Over/Under: 134.5*

*lines courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook.

Stream

How to Listen

Sooner Sports Radio Network

The radio broadcast of Toby Rowland and Kevin Henry can be heard on Sooner Sports radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM The Franchise in Oklahoma City, KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Varsity Radio App)

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

Ja Morant sank an unreal buzzer beater while we were all still processing his jaw-dropping dunk

“JA MORANT INSANITY!”

Ja Morant really is that dude!

Monday night’s game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the San Antonio Spurs featured not one but two absolutely mind-blowing Morant moments fans are going to be talking about for some time. The first is this sensational dunk over poor Jakob Poeltl, who is going to be seeing this play in his nightmares for some time, with two minutes left in the second quarter.

Morant blows by Joshua Primo with unreal speed before going up and over Poeltl for this emphatic one-handed dunk. Seriously, look at Morant’s air time here! It’s absolutely bananas stuff. And as expected, the crowd goes WILD.

But that’s not all! As we were still recovering from that incredible dunk, Morant one-upped himself with this ridiculous buzzer beater to put the Grizzlies up 68-58 going into the half… and his feet don’t even touch the ground.

Just pure insanity from Morant on both of these plays, and they happened mere minutes apart! There are no words.

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Georgia football will send 14 Dawgs to the NFL combine, most in CFB

It’s a Bulldog takeover at this year’s NFL combine

The 2022 NFL Combine will kickoff on Tuesday and run through March 7.

Georgia football, your National Champions, will send the most players in college football to the event with 14.

The Bulldogs keep pulling national attention.

Alabama and Oklahoma each have 11 invitees, while LSU and Texas A&M are next with nine.

It seems like when UGA isn’t recruiting, they are still recruiting. I guess a national title helps with that.

Here’s every Dawg that will be working out in Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium this week:

  • Defensive lineman Jordan Davis
  • Defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt
  • Linebacker Nakobe Dean
  • Linebacker Quay Walker
  • Safety Lewis Cine
  • Cornerback Derion Kendrick
  • Wide receiver George Pickens
  • Linebacker Channing Tindall
  • Punter Jake Camarda
  • Running back James Cook
  • Offensive lineman Jamaree Salyer
  • Offensive lineman Justin Shaffer
  • Running back Zamir White

You can catch the workouts every day through March 7 from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET on the NFL Network. Saturday’s workouts will run from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET.

 

Former Notre Dame players in the minor leagues in 2022

Who should you keep tabs on this summer?

With Major League Baseball held up by a lockout, fans of America’s pastime might have to look elsewhere to get their fix for now. College baseball is the most obvious one at the moment since that season already has started. If fans have a little more patience, they will be able to keep up with the minor leagues in a month. Although there are much fewer teams than before, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of players to keep track of.

If you’re wondering if any former Notre Dame players are in the minors, you’re in luck. When the season begins, there will be quite a few players who once wore blue and gold working continuing their journey to baseball’s top level. If MLB gets its act together before it loses its whole season, you might see a few of these names with their parent club later this summer. Here’s who to look out for both this year and beyond:

George R.R. Martin had creative limitations during Elden Ring’s development

Director Hidetaka Miyazaki worked closely with the Game of Thrones author.

Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin might not have written much of Elden Ring, but that’s because it’s a FromSoftware title at the end of the day.

In an interview with The New Yorker, Elden Ring’s director Hidetaka Miyazaki explained how he worked with Martin. Apparently, Miyazaki put some key restrictions on Martin during the creative process. Not to hinder Martin’s freedom, but so that FromSoftware’s core design principles wouldn’t need to shift significantly with whatever Martin came up with.

“In our games, the story must always serve the player experience,” Miyazaki said. “If [Martin] had written the game’s story, I would have worried that we might have to drift from that. I wanted him to be able to write freely and not to feel restrained by some obscure mechanic that might have to change in development.”

It makes sense since Martin is known for ridiculously labyrinthine plots rife with detail, while Miyazaki’s games like Dark Souls are often esoteric as possible. The two of them greatly admire each other’s work and even became good friends while working on Elden Ring. Miyazaki was unwavering in his insistence that fans play FromSoftware’s games to be part of the story in some capacity though.

“That power of imagination is important to me,” Miyazaki continues. “Offering room for user interpretation creates a sense of communication with the audience—and, of course, communication between users in the community. This is something that I enjoy seeing unfold with our games, and that has continued to influence my work.”

Who knew that imaginative wiggle-room would lead to “maidenless” memes.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Top 5 football recruits from the state of Ohio in the class of 2023

Top 5 football recruits from the state of Ohio in the class of 2023 #GoBucks

The 2022 recruiting cycle is almost in the books and the Ohio State Buckeyes did very well with a consensus top-five recruiting class in the nation and what is widely considered the best class in the Big Ten by a wide margin. This class has been marked with heavy hitters like C.J. Hicks, Devin Brown, and Kenyatta Jackson.

Another big deal was the reclassification of what was supposed to be a five-star stud in the class of 2023 in Sonny Styles to the class of 2022 and he will be enrolling in time for spring, but it is never too early to take a peek at what the next class has to offer.

How to Watch: Premiere of USA TODAY High School Sports Awards’ series ‘Why We Play’

See the real reasons why we cry, why we laugh, why we sweat and why we dream.

Why We Play is a show about life through the lens of high school sports. Hosted by USA TODAY High School Sports Awards‘ Randy Buffington, the stories of courage capture the beauty of high school sports on and off the field. See the real reasons why we cry, why we laugh, why we sweat and why we dream.

Set to premiere on the USA TODAY News Channel this Tuesday, March 1 at 5 p.m. ET and on the USA TODAY SportsWire Channel this Tuesday, March 1 at 9:30 p.m. ET. 

USA TODAY SportsWire Channel:

·    Amazon News – The Amazon News app is automatically downloaded to your Fire TV device, and you should see it on your home screen in the ‘Your Apps and Channels’ row. From there, you will see a list of channels, including our news and sports channels.

·     TubiTV 

·     XUMO – Channel 733

·     PLEX

·     STIRR

·     Stremium

USA TODAY News Channel:

·     Samsung TV Plus

·     Redbox TV

·     VIZIO WatchFree + – Channel 180

·     TiVo+

·     The Roku Channel

·     Amazon News

·     TubiTV 

·     XUMO – Channel 147

·     PLEX

·     STIRR

·     Stremium

Want to nominate an athlete for the 2022 High School Sports Awards? Make sure to follow along on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

PFF: Georgia football’s Brock Bowers dominant in redzone

No surprise here, Brock Bowers is one of the highest graded redzone TEs since 2018…

Georgia tight end Brock Bowers is coming off the most prolific tight end season in Bulldog history. And that’s as a freshman nonetheless.

Bowers totaled 56 receptions for 882 yards (15.8 avg.) and 14 total touchdowns and earned an absolutely incredible list of awards:

 

  • All-America First Team – USA Today, ESPN.com, The Athletic
  • All-America Second Team – Associated Press
  • True Freshman All-America – ESPN.com, The Athletic
  • Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award
  • Football Writers Association Freshman of the Year Award
  • Coaches’ SEC Freshman of the Year
  • AP SEC Newcomer of the Year 

One of Bowers biggest advantages is in the redzone, where – just like in almost every other aspect of his game – was one of the best pass catchers in the last few seasons.

Florida’s Kyle Pitts and Penn State’s Patt Freiermuth, who are both NFL starters now, were both upperclassmen at the time and Bowers was this good in his first season.

If the Napa, Cal., native can improve with experience, Bowers may go down as one of the best receivers in Georgia and SEC history.

 

Watch: New Georgia OL coach Stacy Searels arrives in Athens

Stacy Searels is welcomed in Athens

Georgia football hired North Carolina offensive line coach Stacy Searels to its open offensive line position on Monday.

Searels, who spent the last three seasons in Chapel Hill, coached the Bulldog’s front from 2007-2010 under Mark Richt.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CahrcoNl8fd/?utm_medium=copy_link

Georgia football released this homecoming video following Searels hire:

North Carolina averaged 235 and 212 yards rushing per game the last two seasons, which was at the top of the ACC.

While the rush numbers are promising, you have to look at sacks as well.

UNC allowed 49 sacks in 2021, which ranks 127 in the FBS out of 130 teams.

Searels will definitely have to improve that number if the Dawgs want to make a deep run next season. Having a treasure trove of talent along the Bulldogs should make that doable.

Starters Broderick Jones, Tate Rateledge, Sedrick Van Pran and Warren McClendon all return along with former five-star Amarius Mims, who could find a starting spot next fall.

 

Jocelyn Alo named Softball America’s Player of the Month for February

Oklahoma softball star Jocelyn Alo added another honor to her lengthy list after Softball America named her its Player of the Month.

Jocelyn Alo has another honor to add to her collection. Softball America named Alo its Player of the Month for the season-opening month of February for the 2022 college softball season.

Alo already has seven home runs on the season, 20 RBI and a .473 batting average. In a blistering three-game span against McNeese State, Houston and Texas State in the Houston Classic on Feb. 19-20, Alo blasted five home runs and racked up 10 RBI in the three games combined.

With her homer against Texas State, Alo tied former Sooner Lauren Chamberlain atop the NCAA record books with 95 career home runs. During this past weekend in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, Alo didn’t have many legitimate opportunities to break the record as teams pitched around her.

In fact, of Alo’s 16 walks on the season, 10 came during the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. When teams have pitched to her, Alo has been every bit of the superstar that helped her earn 2021 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year honors.

Oklahoma’s next scheduled date is on Monday, March 7 when the Sooners welcome in Minnesota for OU’s home opener at Marita Hynes Field at 5 p.m. After that game against Minnesota, Oklahoma will travel to Alo’s native state of Hawaii for the Rainbow Wahine Classic from Honolulu.

OU plays Baylor there on Thursday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m., Cal on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and then a pair of games against Hawaii on Friday at 10 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m.

Whether Alo breaks the record at home against Minnesota or in her native state of Hawaii, it will make for quite the celebration.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.