It's a win some, lose some kind of day for Oklahoma. On the downside, the Sooners suspended forward Juan Pattillo for Saturday's game against Texas Tech, further weakening an already depleted frontcourt.But on the upside, that might be Oklahoma's temporarily depleted frontcourt.
While the Sooners were announcing news of Pattillo's suspension for violating an unspecified team rule, according to the Oklahoman, player of the year candidate Blake Griffin was doing something he hadn't done in almost a week -- playing basketball.
Griffin returned to practice Thursday for the first time since he suffered a rather large concussion against Texas last Saturday night. But, there's no guarantee that he'll be ready for this Saturday's game, according to Sooners head coach Jeff Capel, also via The Oklahoman.
Griffin sat out Monday's game against Kansas due to the injury, while Pattillo, whose developed into a nice complimetary player since turning in his redshirt 11 games ago, scored 15 points.
Pattillo will not play Saturday. Griffin probably shouldn't either.
Why? Well, for starters, the Sooners should be able to beat the Red Raiders without Griffin and Pattillo. Obviously losing Griffin hurts Oklahoma's chances in any game, but they certainly have the talent to take down Texas Tech without him. They did, after all, nearly "upset" Kansas with Griffin sitting on the bench.
Additionally, as I noted following the Kansas game, the Sooners need, more than anything else, to make sure Griffin is healthy when they head into the postseason. If Capel jumps the gun and puts him on the floor against the Red Raiders and he suffers further injury, it would be the worst coaching mistake of his young career.
