As Cowboy basketball gets closer to the halfway point of Big 12 play, Travis Ford spoke with the media about how Oklahoma State is doing. You can watch the nine minute interview thanks to Oklahoma State Athletics above, but there were a couple of things I wanted to point out.
To open it up Ford was asked if he enjoyed coming back home.
"Yeah, It's always good to be back home. ", Ford responded. "The road definitely hasn't been kind to us, but you know, there's nothing guaranteed. You got to have the right mindset here as well, you know, we got to start having a better mindset away from here."
Understatement of the year, and yes, I know we are only a few days into the new year, but I'm confident that this one is going to hold up for a while. Travis Ford is 13-42 on the road in Big 12 play during his time in Stillwater.
The next exchange of questions was pretty interesting as well. It was pointed out that the Cowboys lead the Big 12 in 3-point shots taken, and ford was asked if he was okay with that.
"Yeah." Ford replied with a half grin, and after saying he was comfortable with Phil Forte, Jeff Newberry, Tavarius Shine, and Jeffery Carroll taking the shot he continued, "I'd like to start making a few more, but I have no problem with the 3's we're taking"
"I don't really care where we shoot as long as it's a good shot. I study every game pretty intensely, and we're taking good shots. We're not taking a lot of bad shots.
Um, what? Are we watching the same games? How many times have we seen a Travis Ford team look absolutely lost if the first look doesn't materialize? Forte either ends up trying to go inside to draw a foul, or they just jack the shot up anyway. I don't know though, perhaps I'm being harsh. After all, after last season I was pretty adamant it was time for Ford to go.
Maybe we should ask a guy that's played on a Travis Ford team, and see what he thinks, Marcus?
Welp, moving on...
Robert Allen and Coach Ford get into an interesting little exchange about the four minute mark. Robert asked Ford if, as they come up on the halfway point of conference play, now is a good time to take stock of where they're at, and where they want to go.
"Yes, I think you have to. You better look, you know, things are starting to shake out. That's when you start having must win games if you need them.", Ford replied. "Ya, I think midway point, you need to start paying attention. Right now I'm not."
This I can agree on. I hate it when a coach sits there and says, 'were taking it one game at a time right now'. Sure, you're focused on the game in front of you, but any coach worth their salt has to be aware of where they are... wait what?
"Right now I'm not", Ford said again with Emphasis.
Robert Allen was quick to point out that the next two games could be fairly important when it is time to take stock, considering it's nearly the midway point, and these games are at home.
"Ya, if you're fortunate enough to get them, they could matter, but again, I'm not to the point now of even looking that far." Ford replied. "We've been in both positions where we've won a lot of games early some years, and, you know, we were talking about it the other day. We started the league 3-6 my first year here, and ended up winning eight or nine straight."
Ignoring the whole, "if you're fortunate enough to get them, they could matter", THAT WAS SEVEN YEARS AGO!!! Oh, and Oklahoma State still finished 7th in the league. Sigh, seven years... To put it into perspective, the flip phone has a better chance of making a comeback than a Travis Ford team.