Berry Tramel

Thoughts from The Oklahoman Sports Columnist Berry Tramel

Kentucky-Louisville: Where does it rank among rivalries? March 31, 2012 | Comment on this article

The Kentucky-Louisville basketball rivalry reaches its zenith Saturday night in New Orleans, when the teams meet in the Final Four. Let’s see. For a comparison on how big this game is, it’s basically what we thought might happen in football last December: Bedlam as a national semifinal. It looked the Bedlam... Read More

Mercer basketball: CIT title for Bob Hoffman March 30, 2012 Long-time Oklahoma coach Bob Hoffman has another championship. His Mercer University basketball team won the collegeinsider.com Tournament, beating Utah State 70-67 in Logan, Utah, on Wednesday night. Sure, the CIT is a fourth-tier tournament, but Mercer, a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, was impressive in... Read More

Oklahoma City Thunder: Lakers in the semifinals? March 30, 2012 The Lakers lost 102-93 to the Thunder on Thursday night, but the Lakers stayed third in the Western Conference standings. But will Los Angeles stay there? The Lakers have a rugged schedule the rest of the way: 15 games left, and three are against the Spurs, including two in San Antonio. The Lakers also host the... Read More

Oklahoma City Thunder: Russell Westbrook shines in LA March 30, 2012 Russell Westbrook returned to his hometown Thursday night. Such homecomings haven’t always gone well. It went well this time. Westbrook had 36 points and six assists, making 13 of 27 shots, as the Thunder beat the Lakers 102-93. And that’s starting to become the norm for Westbrook in LA. He’s starting to... Read More

Kansas State basketball: Kelvin Sampson not a candidate

March 29, 2012 Would Kansas State consider hiring Kelvin Sampson to replace Frank Martin? The answer is no. Sampson remains under the NCAA’s show-cause penalty until November 2013, which means any school hiring Sampson is subject to sanctions during that span. Sampson twice was penalized by the NCAA for illegal contact... Read More

NFL overtimes: Going the wrong direction March 29, 2012 The NFL voted to make its regular-season overtime the same as its playoff overtime. Now, both teams will get at least one possession. No more win the toss, win the game, without ever having to play defense. This has been a point of contention for years, and critics should be happy. I never thought it was a big... Read More

Oklahoma State football: Clint Chelf talks quarterback competition March 29, 2012 For the Thursday Oklahoman, I wrote about Clint Chelf and the Oklahoma State quarterback competition. How Chelf has replaced an iconic quarterback (Austin Box at Enid High School) long before his current bid to succeed Brandon Weeden. You can read that column here. But Chelf had some more to say that I thought... Read More

Power Lunch Chat with Berry Tramel: 11 a.m. March 28, 2012 Power Lunch Chat with Berry Tramel 1 Show / Hide Archive Comments The following comments are archived from the original publication of this post OU_Houston on Mar 28, 2012 @ 10:13 pm Wow a 30 minute chat at this time of year and no OU spring football questions? What is this world coming to. Read More

Oklahoma City Thunder: Drawing nearer to the top seed March 28, 2012 The Thunder’s 109-94 victory at Portland on Tuesday night keeps the good guys three games ahead of San Antonio in the race for the Western Conference’s top seed. The Thunder is 38-12; the Spurs are 34-14. That leaves OKC with 16 regular-season games remaining; the Spurs have 18 to go. Who has the easier... Read More

Bob Hoffman: Coaching Mercer in championship game March 28, 2012 Bob Hoffman coached Southern Nazarene to the NAIA women’s basketball national championship 23 years ago. Wednesday night, he tries to produce another title. This one, you probably haven’t heard of. Hoffman, in his fourth season as the men’s coach at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., has coached Mercer to the... Read More

NCAA women’s tournament: Not exactly March Madness March 27, 2012 The NCAA Tournament is 58 games in. Only five games left. America is on the edge of its seat. Ready to stand up and do something else. The NCAA women’s tournament has been awful. If not for Britney Griner’s dunks and Pat Summitt’s possible farewell, the women’s side of March would be void of virtually... Read More

Kansas State basketball: Frank Martin leaving hurts Big 12 March 27, 2012 Basketball coach Frank Martin has left Kansas State to take the South Carolina job. Which hurts Big 12 basketball. Kansas State has made a big difference for Big 12 hoops in recent years. While programs at OSU, OU and Texas Tech have faltered, K-State and Baylor have risen and kept the conference’s standard at... Read More

Oklahoma City Thunder: Great night of defense March 26, 2012 On a night when Kevin Durant played as good of a game as you’re ever likely to see, a night when Kendrick Perkins had five dunks, a night when James Harden had 19 points and missed one shot, the most impressive thing on the court was the Thunder defense. The Thunder beat the Heat 103-87, and because Miami shot... Read More

Oklahoma City Thunder: Northwest Division still on top March 26, 2012 A few weeks ago, we checked out the NBA’s divisions, ranking them one through six, based on combined record. The Northwest Division, led by the Thunder, ranked No. 1. And nothing has changed. The Northwest ranks No. 1 by a wide margin, with its five teams collectively 26 games over .500. The Southwest is... Read More

NCAA Tournament: Big 12 holds its own March 26, 2012 Thanks, Kansas. The Jayhawks historically have propped up Big Eight/Big 12 basketball, and 2012 is no different. KU’s rise to the Final Four puts the Big 12 on even footing with every other conference. The Big 12. The Big East (Louisville). The Southeastern Conference (Kentucky). The Big Ten (Ohio State). All... Read More

Big 12 expansion: To cheer or not for Louisville March 23, 2012 Rick Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals play Florida on Saturday for a berth in the Final Four, and even if your interest in college basketball is minimal, the game has significance for college football fans. The game could have some impact — albeit small — on conference realignment. If Louisville makes the... Read More

Peyton Manning: History says he’ll succeed March 23, 2012 At age 36, Peyton Manning starts a new chapter in his glorious career, going to the Denver Broncos. What is the likelihood of success for a quarterback at that age, with his injured neck, on a foreign team? Probably good. He’s a heck of a quarterback; the Broncos are an historically-solid franchise. But... Read More

Oklahoma City Thunder: Adjusting to new faces March 22, 2012 Derek Fisher now wears Thunder blue, not Laker gold. Which has got to be weird for Fisher. But it’s also got to be weird for his new Thunder teammates. Think about it. You’re in the middle of a game. You have to make a split-second decision to pass the ball, your arms rise to zip the ball and you catch a... Read More

NFL: Roger Goodell shows an even, if tough, hand March 22, 2012 American history is rife with peace officers who cleaned up the streets. Wyatt Earp out West. Eliot Ness in Chicago. Now Roger Goodell on the football fields of the 21st century. Goodell has laid down the law in his 51/2 years as the NFL commissioner. He’s come down hard on players for a variety of... Read More

Oklahoma City Thunder: Derek Fisher vs. Scott Brooks March 22, 2012 Newest Thunder Derek Fisher fingered himself as old Wednesday night when he talked about his relationship with Scotty Brooks. The 37-year-old Fisher pointed out that he played against his new coach. And Fisher wasn’t kidding. Back on April 3, 1998, Fisher’s Lakers beat Brooks’ Cavaliers 105-93 in Cleveland.... Read More