5:10 p.m. update
Not really too many new developments to speak of, other than the SportsCenter report that mentioned a series of tests that Oklahoma administered Blake Griffin after he sustained the concussion on Saturday at Texas.
Holly Rowe reports that the medical staff administered a Standard Assessment of Concussion test to Griffin more than once and he has yet to pass it.
Looks like this was an easy decision for OU coach Jeff Capel.
After tonight’s KU game, Oklahoma doesn’t play again until Saturday when it travels to Texas Tech. The Sooners could probably defeat the Red Raiders in Lubbock without Griffin, so if I’m Capel, I do everything I can to ensure that Griffin is 100 percent for March 4 when OU travels to No. 11 Missouri.
That should be about all for now, friends. Feel free to keep discussing in the comments section below. Enjoy the game tonight.
2:35 p.m. update
So it’s official: No Blake Griffin on Big Monday. So what does this mean?
Well, let’s take a look first at projecting a starting lineup. I think OU will look something like this tonight:
Look for Juan Pattillo and Cade Davis to be the Sooners’ primary options off the bench. There’s a chance Pattillo could start, but Wright, at 6-9 and 231 pounds, is more of a natural ‘5.’ Pattillo is listed at 6-6, 218.
Should be interesting. What are everyone’s thoughts on these new developments?
I think Kansas now has the best two players on the floor in Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich. It seems an overwhelming majority of KU fans would have liked to see Griffin tonight to see how a young Kansas team would respond to the challenge of facing the nation’s leading rebounder and the conference’s leading scorer.
My thoughts are rather similar. I wanted to see Griffin and the No. 3 Sooners take on No. 15 Kansas for the right to see who’s in the driver’s seat for the Big 12 regular-season crown. May the better team win. Will we know who the better team is after tonight? Probably not.
I suppose these teams could meet down the road in the Big 12 tournament at full strength, but a lot of chips have to fall in the right place for this to occur. The possibility of an upset of either team along the way is realistic.
1:53 update
The Oklahoman is reporting that OU star forward Blake Griffin will not play in tonight’s 8 p.m. Big Monday matchup against Kansas.
The decision was made after consulting with the OU medical staff, which suggested Griffin needed more time to heal after sustaining a concussion in Saturday’s loss to Texas.
OU coach Jeff Capel gave no timetable for how many games Griffin would miss.
11:45 a.m. update
Jeff Capel just finished speaking with the media on the Big 12 coaches teleconference and there’s still no word on whether Blake Griffin will play tonight. However, the Oklahoma coach said he “should know something within the hour.”
Stay tuned to KUSports.com for Griffin’s status updates.
Capel did make one thing clear, though: It won’t be Griffin making the decision.
“He won’t have any (say),” Capel said of Griffin. “It’s the medical staff when it’s a situation like this. If it was just up to him, Blake would play. He wanted to come back in the second half (on Saturday) and at least give it another try. But you don’t mess around with something like this.”
10:20 a.m. update
Bill Self just spoke for 10 minutes on the Big 12 coaches weekly teleconference. Not surprisingly, the Kansas University coach was asked if he wanted to see Blake Griffin, whose status is currently questionable because of a concussion he sustained over the weekend against Texas, on the court tonight.
“Selfishly speaking, I think everyone wants a chance to play against the best,” Self said. “I told our guys we want (Griffin) to play and they agreed because how often do you get to play against the top player in the country and the No. 1 player in the (NBA) draft? I hope he plays, but not at the expense of a risk because they have a chance to play at the highest of stakes. But I hope he’s clear and I hope he plays. It’ll be a tough matchup for us either way, but we’re pulling for him to be healthy.”
Self was also asked how many teams he thought the Big 12 would land in the NCAA Tournament. For reference, the conference sent six teams last season.
“Some people are saying our league will only get four (teams), and that may be true,” Self said. “But if the other teams in consideration can play well the next few weeks, we may get six in. We have some bubble teams, like Nebraska, A&M and Okie State. K-State is playing extremely well and I think Texas will get in for sure. I think five is realistic, but we have a chance for six.”
9:30 a.m. update
Welcome to today’s edition of Conference Chatter, where the big story is whether Oklahoma star forward Blake Griffin will play against Kansas at 8 p.m. tonight in Norman, Okla.
The Big 12 coaches weekly teleconference begins at 10 a.m. with Kansas coach Bill Self. I’ll update the blog shortly after Self speaks.
Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel is scheduled to speak to the media at 11:20 a.m. this morning. If there are any updates regarding Griffin’s status at that time, I’ll let you guys know.
After the teleconference, I’ll get into some other topics regarding tonight’s game. I’ll start out by asking for opinions: What do you think of the opening line of OU minus-4? Who’s the most important player for KU tonight? Be sure to make your opinions known in the comments section below.
Also, be sure to check out the latest edition of the Big 12 Soundoff podcast, where Jesse Newell and I debate whether KU fans should want to see Griffin tonight.
For now, let’s get this entry started with the Sorrentino Scale. The number that follows in parenthesis is what place the team was ranked last week:
