INSTANT RECAP: The Return of Marcus Smart

Marcus Smart. Smarticus. King Marcus. Basketball Jesus

Whatever you want to call him, he was everything you could ever want tonight. That dude just keeps finding ways to blow me away. I mean, 39 points against the 11th ranked team in the country?! Absolutely incredible. He is already living up to the hype.

His final stat line: 39 points, 11/21 shooting, 50% 3-point shooting, 5 boards, 3 assists, 4 fouls. He also had a lot of help with what has turned out to be quite the dynamic duo. Those two combined for a total of 59 points.

Wow.

Jay Bilas said this during Smart's first half explosion: "Pre-season Big 12 Player of the Year. Any questions?"

Andrew Wiggins, I believe he's talking to you.

That's enough with the obvious. We know he had his best game as a Cowboy, and we are all impressed. I'm more mesmerized with the fact that he did it without much help from other key starters.

Cobbins, Brian Williams and Nash finished with a combined 28 points. Added to that is the fact that Phil Forte had very limited playing time due to illness. I was hoping for a Michael Jordan "Flu-Game" performance from him.

This team, however, works so well together. The growth that has been displayed already from last season is exponential, and if Stevie Clark can continue to be a valuable asset of the bench, then the Big 12 better batten down the hatches.

The ceiling for this team is as high as they allow it to be. After such a dominant performance against a team who many thought would give the Pokes trouble, Marcus Smart & co. may be looking at a position in the top 5 next week.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>That was a Final Four team I watched tonight. A long, long way to go but, my gosh.</p>&mdash; Pistols Firing (@pistolsguy) <a href="https://twitter.com/pistolsguy/statuses/403001717848948736">November 20, 2013</a></blockquote>

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Kyle over at Pistols Firing hit the nail on the head with that tweet. Play like that throughout the season, and we may be staring at a trip to Dallas in late March.

What a performance by this team.

Final Score: Oklahoma State 101, Memphis 80

Game Highlights

Smart dominated Memphis from the tip. First, this utterly ridiculous spin move.

Then, the fast break dunk!

The Pokes were able to put away Memphis early. The lob to Smart let everyone know, this game was over.

Smart's assist to the Freshman Stevie Clark. How great is Marcus' reaction?