ODB Mailbag - Matthew Mayer’s Kneegate Edition: Answered

can we finally get an update on a new contract for Coach Drew????

Posted by PioneerSkies

Joe Goodman: At least it isn’t an Aranda contract question. But I’ll defer to Evan’s answer regarding Baylor contracts. We’re a private school, they don’t have to announce these things publicly. We will know when the school thinks it’s most advantageous for everyone to know.

BNT: Seeing this question

I didn’t catch the game

Anyone have a video of said purposeful knee to the head?

Posted by RSWaco

Joe Goodman: I never saw a knee to the head. I did see someone try to maliciously headbutt Mayer’s knee though. Thank God he’s ok, trying to force leg injuries with a headbutt is dirty if you ask me.

Andrew Miner: If you have ESPN+, you can rewatch the game and said play. Clearly incidental, but we have plenty of precedents for F1 fouls being called after review in the past. Bears certainly caught a break as that would have been Mayer’s fifth foul. His turnaround three never would have happened and who knows what else.

BNT: No video, but I did have it blown up, framed and now it hangs prominently in my house.

Texas started the season in the top 5 and has now fallen completely out of the rankings!

Has anything like this ever happened before?

Posted by Your_Bailey_Bear

pbpope: Never in the history!

Joe Goodman: It may have happened to someone, but certainly not Texas.

David Hornbeak: Point of clarification: which sport is the delegate asking about?

Andrew Miner: If you google this question, the answer is ‘see football rankings.’ I took this to be rankings in general. Only time off the top of my head someone has fallen out of top 5 in any sport was in 2007 when No. 5 Michigan lost to App St. And fell completely out.

BNT: Back in 2017 it happened to their dance team.

Who

Will Mayer knee in the head next?

Or will the team pass around the mantle as we go forward?

Posted by the Calvinator

Joe Goodman: At least Mayer didn’t lose half a knee cap in someone else’s arm, cause he’s done something similar to that already. I’m thinking Mayer tries to expand beyond teeth and knees.

pbpope: I’m trying to build on Joe’s answer but can’t get it to go anywhere wholesome.

BNT: I have it from a reliable source that part of the teams weekly training is a mixed martial arts session. Don’t be surprised to see other players use the knee, flying kick, etc in future games. You can’t say Sic ‘em without thinking Kick ‘em.

Did Mayer think he could hurdle Groves?

Watched it many times and still not sure what he was trying to do.

Posted by Your_Bailey_Bear

Joe Goodman: In all reality I think he realized Groves wasn’t also going up and was actually moving under him, so he picked up his legs in a knee jerk (ha) reaction. So yes, I think he was trying to hurdle him. (edited)

Andrew Miner: It looked like Groves lost a handle of the entry pass, and as he turned to go after it ran right into Mayer. Really unfortunate play for Groves, and one could certainly argue that Mayer was out of control coming across the lane leaping into the air before the pass was even received. But if you are Groves, you have to keep your cool. He made two mistakes: 1) was knocked out & then gave up on the play in trying to run back (which is somewhat understandable), but 2) he then went to the ref to give him an earful in a five-point game, at home with all the momentum. Consequently, OU fouled to stop play (mistake because it put a shooter at the line for a 1&1 and then Groves got a Technical. Four free throws later its a nine-point game and no momentum for the Sooners who had gone on that 12-3 run. It reminds me of the 2017 NCAA second round game between Gonzaga and Northwestern. Northwestern cut a huge deficit down to five, and had the ball when their coach got a technical for arguing a clear missed goaltend call. Zags got all the momentum back and won comfortably on their way to the final four.

BNT: Obviously Matthew was trying to inflict pain on OU’s 36 yr old grad transfer, Groves. Evidently it worked as Groves cried to the refs for 5 minutes.

Posted by Your_Bailey_Bear

Does Baylor have to beat Kansas twice to win the Big 12 crown?

Posted by CactusBear

Joe Goodman: No, a split will do. The Jayhawks are begging for teams to beat them right now.

Andrew Miner: No, but it is imperative to beat them in Waco; It is near impossible to win at Phog Allen. But there is no telling how the rest of the season goes, so it will be important to almost win out the rest of conference play—including at Texas Tech. I think four losses cold get the job done, but it is far from a guarantee as in this league anything goes.

BNT: No, a split will be suffice. KU does have a superstar in Abajani, but their inside game is no match for us. Having said that, we will sweep KU this year. That’s right, I said it!

Repeating What Your_Bailey_Bear Said

What Millennium will Texas not be ranked in the top 10 preseason rankings?

Posted by SicEmOSo

BNT: The zombie apocalypse millennium. What’s going to be hilarious is when they run like a scalded dog...I mean cow, to the SEC. It will be so much fun to see the conference preseason poll having them outside of the conference top 10. But as the old saying goes, it’s not how you start but how you finish.

What’s with all of these MBB broadcasts on ESPN+?

And if they have to be on ESPN+, can we at least get King McClure on the broadcast?

BNT, I direct these questions to you because I know how much influence you have over the evil four letter network....

Posted by PioneerSkies

Joe Goodman: So here’s the thing. ESPN+ sucks. It really does. BUT, a lot of people are looking at this backwards. ESPN is trying to grow the service, not relegate it to being where the nobodies play. They are going to put some big matchups (not from a certain southern conference that they promote on the mothership) on ESPN+ because they have to give people a reason to subscribe and watch. Also look at it this way. The next TV contracts are going to involve streaming rights negotiations. Building metrics now that prove you can drive the needle for streaming views and subscriptions helps us down the road. It sucks, but honestly there are some not awful things behind it.

pbpope: Sometimes I hate it when Joe tries to be the voice of reason.

Andrew Miner: I actually really do love ESPN+. It’s really nice to have so many games in one place. As viewers and fans, we should want that. And honestly the quality is fine at least 90 percent of the time. The only time that sucked was the Baylor-Texas State football game, but we dont need a gazillion camera mega cast with Jimbo Fisher and staff evaluating the plays for every game.

BNT: Let me check with Lance Blanks and get back to you.

Rank the Big 12-SEC match-ups from most intriguing to least.

Posted by Your_Bailey_Bear

Joe Goodman:

1. Kentucky/Kansas (Let’s be real)
2. Tennessee/Texas (get em Rick)
3. Baylor/Bama (Bama is weird, they lost to Georgia but beat LSU)
4. Oklahoma/Auburn
5. WVU/Arkansas
6. Miss St/Tech (wonder if Leach shows up)
7. Mizzou/Iowa State
8. LSU/TCU
9. Okie St/Florida
10. Kansas State/Ole Miss

pbpope:

1. OU/AUB for me
2. Baylor/Bama
3. KUUK
4. UTUT
5. Honestly take your pick beyond those. I’d probably put the UT-UT game in that category too. (But it MUST be pronounced “uht-uht”)

BNT:

1. Baylor/Bama (only game I care about, which is all that matters)

Jim Grobe has been named to the playoff committee

Posted by Mike E

Joe Goodman: The Wake Forest vs Baylor natty will be elite.

Andrew Miner: This is pretty cool; I wonder if he was on a lake fishing when he got the call?Deonte Epps: Jim Grobe on the committee means Baylor makes the playoff next season. Mark it down.

BNT: A cool mill for one season at Baylor should buy a little pull, am I right?

Ummmm

Is MBB really good or just sorta good? Are injuries hurting us, or do we have some real weaknesses?

Posted by JustinAllison16

Joe Goodman: Really good. We were never going undefeated. We’ve had guys hurt. And the staff is still learning the best possible rotations with a lot of new guys. The OSU game was a stinker, but those happen and we still almost won. Heck, KU needed a massive comeback to beat KSU. Keep the faith, and focus on March.

pbpope: Really good. We weren’t going undefeated, but if Sochan hadn’t gone down, we’d still be undefeated right now. What I’m pleased to see is that the team responded to the losses and has rebounded nicely. Better to lose mid-January than mid-March

Branden MacKinnon: I’m personally optimistic about the growth of Bonner and Cryer through the injuries and I think it’ll help on the first Monday of April.

Andrew Miner: Extremely good. I think we learned through injuries that we do indeed have some gaps after losing Butler, Teague and Mitchell. Sochan is clearly the x-factor, the defense looked otherworldly with him back—and the defense was almost unstoppable without him. A lot of teams have players banged up, but in Baylor’s worst game without their point guard and Sochan they still held Oklahoma State under 60 points excluding that irrelevant last second layup. Just hope that this team can be fully healthy in March.

BNT: I’d say being 18-2 is elite. I mean, we beat KSU by 25 without Akinjo. Lunardi still has us a 1 seed for the Dance. Akinjo’s injury has been a blessing in disguise and given Flagler, Bonner, and to some extent Cryer opportunity to develop their ball handling and game management. Against KSU Bonner dropped a dime to JTT for an uncontested dunk that looked like an Akinjo pass. I’m still planning on being in New Orleans April 2-4. Anyone else?

Who would win in a fight: Judge Joy or Matt Mayer’s knee?

Posted by PioneerSkies

Joe Goodman: Judge Joy would never resort to violence. And if she ever needed to, she would win.

pbpope: One is “scandalous” (according to ESPN+ and their attempt to build viewership metrics) and one is wholesome through and through. Joy in a landslide.

Deonte Epps: Ode To Joy.

BNT: I was torn by this question as I am a huge fan of Matt’s knee, but also love Joy. So, I consulted with my Vegas bookie who told me that the Vegas odds would be Joy 5000 to 1. Guess I’ll go with Joy.

As always, thanks for the questions. If you have additional comments or questions, leave them below.

xoxo

BNT