Naming Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield as one of the best players in America shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, not with him being the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year and a preseason All-American.
Never mind the fact that all he’s done to back up such lofty praise is averaged 20.8 points and 5.5 rebounds a game, shoot 44.9-percent from the field, and 48.6-percent from deep. All of which, may we add, are career highs.
But his running mate, Isaiah Cousins, is turning in a career year as well, the combination of the two making Oklahoma the kind of team who can blow out Villanova by over 20 points on Monday evening. The combination of which might be the most lethal in the country.
Cousins is averaging 14.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game thus far, proving that the acclaim he earned last season was no fluke, and that he was fully ready to be Hield’s running mate. Somehow, though, the efforts of both seem to be going more unnoticed than is fair so far.
Part of that may be due to the play of Denzel Valentine and Kris Dunn, both of which keep churning out triple-double efforts and leading their teams to the top of the college basketball rankings, and into the Top 25 in Providence’s case. But it’s not like the Sooners are on the outskirts of such rankings. This is a top ten team, a team that will challenge for the Big 12 title. Yet, here we are, begging for attention to be paid to them?
Rest assured, though, any opponent who does the same disservice will be laced with regret.
