Watching My Horns in Stillwater

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What’s going on everybody? Just checking in to tell you about my trip to Stillwater on Monday night to see my Texas Longhorns take on – and beat – Oklahoma State. It ended up being a great game and ESPN was even there.

I went to the game with my friends from home plus Russell Westbrook, Kyle Weaver, Jeff Green, James Harden and D.J. White. I just wanted to support my guys. It was a good game, so I’m happy I went. It was cool just to see them. They’re people I really love and really care for, and it was especially good to see them do so well.

I’m glad I got to talk to them and see them in person, too. I got there right before tip-off so I saw them at halftime and after the game. I talked to Coach Barnes, asked him how he was doing and he said he was proud of me and just told me to continue to work. I really miss seeing those guys since I was there the whole summer and I’m looking forward to going back down there this summer.

As far as the atmosphere went, the fans were great and the student section was funny. I miss college a lot. I really, really miss it. Even though I was in OSU territory, no one really gave me a hard time. They really were just like, ‘hey how are you doing? Remember the game you played here a couple years back when it went to triple-overtime?’ It was just reminiscing. It was cool to have just friendly competition between myself and some Oklahoma State fans. Like I said, I was happy I went and hopefully I’ll go to more games in the future.

Texas was No. 1 but they lost three out of the last five I think. But they’ve been playing well. Every team goes through a spurt where they lose a couple of games here and there. That happens and they go through that every year. I think they’ll be alright. They’ve got a lot of talent on that team. They’re deep. I was hoping to see them this weekend at OU but we’ll be in San Francisco. So I’m happy I saw them. Seeing them once was better than not seeing them at all.

So what do you guys think of the college basketball season so far? Surprise teams or players, favorites to watch? Anyone a Longhorns fan? Let me know in the comments section.

We play the Hornets tonight in New Orleans. Make sure to send a prayer out for my bro Chris Paul. He injured his knee and I just want to see him healthy and back on the court as soon as possible.

Talk to you soon.

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Talking College Hoops

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What’s good everyone? We’re in Denver for our game against the Nuggets tonight. We had a tough loss against LeBron and the Cavs last night. It would have been good to get that one at home, but now it’s time to move on to the next one.

College hoops is back in full swing, so how about we talk about some college hoops today?

Don’t tell Russell this, but I always wanted to go to UCLA. I don’t know why. I always wanted to go to UCLA. That was a dream of mine. And once I started to get recruited, I was like, I hope UCLA calls. That’s where I wanted to go. But it didn’t turn out that way because they didn’t think I’d go all the way to the West Coast. But that’s the school I always liked. I liked watching them. I liked their colors. That kind of drew me to them as well. I was a big UCLA fan – the O’Bannons, Baron Davis, Earl Watson; I was a big Earl Watson fan, believe it or not.

Growing up near D.C., my godfather’s brother used to work at the MCI Center (now the Verizon Center), where Georgetown played their home games. He would get us $10 tickets to see Georgetown play, and I would go a lot when I was in high school. I would go to any game no matter if they were playing Coastal Carolina or Pittsburgh. I just liked to watch. That’s where I started to see the different type of players develop into what we have now in the NBA, so that was good to go back then and kind of get a dose of the game and learn different parts of the game.

Now, with me and my Thunder teammates, since a lot of us aren’t too removed from college, we like to have bragging rights. I think my team is doing the best out of everybody so far. We’re number 2 in the country. Actually Nick’s team is doing the best, Kansas, they’re Number 1, we’re Number 2 and I think we’re going to have a battle at the end of the year, Kansas versus Texas at the end of the year, so we’ll see how that turns out.

I think the biggest surprise this season is UCLA not doing as good as they usually do, so we get to talk trash to Russ a little bit.

As far as Texas goes, my Longhorns are talented. I spent all summer there working with those guys. This is the most talented team that we’ve had at Texas and I’ve watched teams before that went to the Final Four and the Elite Eight, and this is the most talented team there. It’s just a matter of them putting everything together. They’re such a good team and they can do a lot on the floor. The chemistry is there, they just have to get the experience. These first couple of games is where the young guys start to feel their way around and see how they need to play and the difference between high school and college, so it looks like they’re going to be pretty good.

Look out for Avery Bradley. He’s a freshman that’s pretty good. So is our center Dexter Pittman. We’ve also got a guy from Turkey named Dogus Balbay, who’s pretty good. I like his game a lot. And Damion James is kind of like the heart and soul, our leader. They’ve been playing very well. They’ve got a tough test coming up against North Carolina, so we’re going to see how they fare out there.

I’m also a big fan of John Wall…a big fan! I had the privilege to watch him in the Jordan Classic last year after the season. He was such a humble kid, always talked about getting better and always put his teammates first. And that’s what I liked, especially at a young age. Seventeen, 18 year old kids always thinking about ‘all me’ and ‘I need to score’ and ‘I need to do this’ but he was always team first and very humble and that’s going to bring him a long way. He’s talented, man. I’m in love with his game.

As far as who else impresses me in college basketball, I’m a big guy on being versatile, so I’m a big Evan Turner fan. He’s a 6-7 point guard for Ohio State. I like his game, but he’s hurt. He’s had two triple doubles this season already. He hurt his back so he’s out for a while but he’s been putting up numbers, I think averaging a double-double with six assists. That’s rare in college but I like his game.

In terms of teams, Kentucky’s good, of course. North Carolina’s got a young team. Kansas is pretty good. Cole Aldridge, I think, is probably the best young center in the country. There’s a couple good teams out there. You also can’t forget about the sleepers like Butler, Western Kentucky and teams like that.

Lately I’ve been following John Wall’s schedule because they play on TV a lot. I call it “The John Wall Show.” That’s the only team that I’ve really watched a lot. I haven’t really gotten a chance to see my Horns play on TV because we’ve maybe games and practice whenever they’re on, but of course I’m going to follow Texas. But every time John Wall’s on TV I make sure I tune in.

Man, I can talk about college basketball all day! So who are your favorite college teams and players? Who should I look out for this season? And who do you guys think are good enough to be National Champs? Let me know in the comments section.

Also, make sure to watch us take on Melo and the Nuggets tonight in Denver. I’ll be back with more posts later this week.

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