Sooners better get Cade under control Monday night in GIA………..

  MY PREDICTION BELOW – SOONERS OR POKES MONDAY NIGHT?

When all things are equal or even close in most respects except one, like having a supreme talent on the floor for the opposing team having to deal with, the flies will gather on the loser when that superior talent goes off.

Cade Cunningham, the best college basketball player in the country finally had his “game of games” Saturday on the home floor of the Oklahoma Sooners, gunning for forty and putting a significant loss on the Big Red in an ever so important time of the year.

Cade Cunningham is special, so special, that he could be the best college basketball player the state of Oklahoma has viewed since Blake Griffin, with respect to Trey, Buddy, and even fellow Poke Marcus.  Cunningham has the tools to be a big time NBA star, as he displays talents that only the  best performers possess. At age 19 he is a nearly complete player as a college freshman and with a huge upside, the six foot eight point guard can, as we see, dominate a top echelon college team, as he did OU Saturday.  His breakout star performance was eye opening for the basketball world.

Lonnie Kruger’s Sooners had problems beating the Cowboys in the LNC and it will be even more difficult in GIA Monday night. The Sooners will have to turn Cunningham into Cunningham “light” if they hope to gain the split.  Yes, it can be accomplished.  But if Cunningham is allowed to do what he did Saturday, a Sooner win will not happen. Forty points is a great achievement and another big time performance by Cunningham is something that the Sooners might not survive, again. And it might be easier with the Pokes getting their second best player, Isaac Likekele, back for this tussle with his troubled ankle much the healthier.  Likekele, the bulldog team leader, will made a significant contribution for the OSU defense if healthy.  That is good news not for OU.

A third seed in March Madness is at stake for OU.  Three straight defeats, if OU falls Monday, do not help the cause. OSU, if allowed to participate in the Madness, could be a bitch to deal with if Cunningham continues to show off.  Saturday was an indicator that he has just started to be a little more selfish in crunch time. That is bad news for Poke opponents.

My score for Monday tells me the Sooners win a nail biter.  OU 83 and OSU 82 in another OT game.

That is the way I see it sports fans.

Photo credit:  Cade Cunningham drives to the basket in overtime in the Cowboys’ upset win over Oklahoma. Alonzo Adams/USA Today Sports

Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham (2) gets around Oklahoma’s Jalen Hill (1) in the first half of a 94-90 overtime win Saturrday in Norman. [Sara Phillips, The Oklahoman]