Tilting at Windmills

Bob Stoops was relaxed, Jeff Capel was funny and Sherri Coale was, well, resplendent in a teasingly low-cut loose gray dress – not that anyone noticed – as the Sooner Caravan made its stop at the Airport Hilton in Wichita Tuesday night.

Stoops was Stoops, praising the 350 in attendance and acknowledging Wichita’s growing significance to the football program as a recruiting hotbed.

“But not being specific,” Stoops said, chuckling. That’s OK, Coach. I will be. Blake Bell is going to take the Short Bus McCoy to the woodshed for the next four years.

He told the crowd that the Sooners will make another run at a natty next year – you know, that thing that Texans believe they’re entitled to, that thing that makes them cry like the entitled titty babies they are when it slips away – as it does every year.
Interestingly, the HBC tempered his criticism of the offensive line.

“They’ve done enough in the winter and spring to win,” Stoops said. “But I’m the sort of guy who wants to see it on the field.”
Stoops also guaranteed competition for the kicking positions.

And he paid homage to the four players who backed off the NFL for another run – Sam Bradford, Jermaine Gresham, Trent Williams and Gerald McCoy.

“I think that speaks volumes for the kind of program we run,” Stoops said.

Capel talked at length about his experience last week at the NBA Draft, including his excitement when Phoenix tabbed Taylor Griffin.
But he indicated that expectations won’t lessen with the Griffin brothers gone.

“It’s Willie’s team now,” he said.

Capel said newcomers Tommy Mason-Griffin, Tiny Gallon and Steven Pledger will play a big role on the club.

Coale was, as usual, the best speaker of the group, telling the crowd that the Sooner women will run and fire treys at will.
And, she expects to continue the program’s domination of post-season player and coaching awards.

“I think some other schools are getting tired of that,” she said, chuckling.

The 2009-10 Sooner women will be “more mobile,” Coale said, led by junior point Danielle Robinson, who’s playing international ball this summer.

But, senior Abi Olajuwon’s conditioning work this summer has led Coale to believe she’ll be a presence on the low block.

“No Dream Shake like her father, but we believe she’ll help us,” Coale said.

Finally, OU AD Joe Castiglione – who’s put on some serious weight – told the crowd that the department’s cumulative student athlete GPA is just short of 3.0.

He also talked about the AD’s contribution of millions to the school’s general fund “during these challenging times,” reminding the crowd that the school stood behind the AD while Donnie Duncan was trying to destroy the football program.

(Editor’s note: That’s my shot at DD, not Joe’s.)

Sadly, however, the OUAD seems to be lagging behind in the apartment collision department, with no reports of players under the influence – of a phone or whatever – crashing into buildings. I’m sure we can count on Joe to work on that weakness.

The University of Oklahoma just stepped up to the plate and again and made it even harder for Bob Stoops to leave, if he ever wanted to in the first place.

Stoops is set to become college football’s first $5 million man in the 2011 season.

Indeed we do.

According to the Tulsa World:

Stoops’ reworked deal, which was extended two years through Dec. 31, 2015, allows for a current guaranteed $2.975 million. It also calls for a $700,000 annual stay bonus, first payable Oct. 1. Meaning, when Stoops takes the sideline for the next OU-Texas game, he’ll be making $3.675 million.

An additional bonus, termed in the contract an “Additional Stay Benefit,” of $800,000 will be paid following Jan. 1, 2011. Factoring in the $700,000 bonus already in place, as well as the automatic $200,000 annual private-funds bump also built into the contract, Stoops stands to make $4.875 million in 2011. And that’s before performance-based bonuses also included in the deal. Should the Sooners compete for the Big 12 championship and a BCS bowl that season, as is typical under the coach, Stoops would clear the $5 million mark.

All told, his seven-year pact is worth $30.125 million.

It’s “interesting” that the story didn’t list Stoops’ performance bonus should he actually win a frickin’ BCS game, but I digress.

Stoops wasn’t the only benafactor of OU Regents’ largesse, though. Jeff Capel was rightfully extended through the 2016 season, receiving annual raises that will culminate in a guaranteed $2.84 mil in the 2013-14 season. The salary includes a retention bonus of $1.1 mil, payable on June 30, 2014. That’s a nice incentive to retain the services of a guy that will have every open job in the country thrown at him in the next five years.

OU has received their first verbal for 2010 with 6-3, Combo Guard TJ Taylor from Dennison TX.  Taylor can play both PG and SG and shows both a good outside game as well as the ability to finish at the rim. He’s currently a 3 star recruit by Rivals, but based on his  AAU play this summer that could easily go up. 

Other 2010 Targets include

Cameron Clark 6-6 WF Sherman TX. AAU teammate of Taylor. Already skyrocketing up rankings with huge start to AAU season.

Phil Pressey  5-10 PG  Dallas TX. Son of Tulsa and NBA Milwaukee Buck Paul Pressey. Also AAU teammate of Taylor.

Ray McCallum 6-2, PG Detroit, MI. Son of former OU assistant under Kelvin Sampson, Ray McCallum. 

Tobi Oyedeji 6-8, 210 PF Houston, TX. Plays on Houston Hoops AAU team, alums of that team are Gallon and TMG.

Harrison Barnes 6-7 WF Iowa. Top ten player nationally. OU is involved but probably trail UNC and Duke.

Luke Cothron 6-9, 220 PF North Carolina. OU is heavily involved for this elite PF from ACC territory.

Get used to seeing Warren make your guards look like passive-aggressive drama queens again (yes you, Texas), because Willie Warren has officially announced that he’s returning to OU for his sophomore year. This makes the second year in a row that Capel has been able to convince his top returning player to forego the lottery for a second year at OU, much to the displeasure of some children others around the Big 12.  

This really wasn’t a great surprise, though. Warren had been consistently saying that he was going to return and was instrumental in the recruitment of Tiny Gallon and TMG. I think the level of improvement shown by Blake was also a key factor in WW’s desire to return. It’s obvious that Capel is doing a great job developing his elite young talent (has Damion James been coddled improved at all ever since his freshman year?) and that pitch worked with Warren as well as the chance to return to the Elite 8 if the young players gel with the returning roster. 

Xavier Henry update: Memphis or KU or UK? It’s still up in the air. Calipari appears to be clearing room for both Henry and Demarcus Cousins. Jodie Meek and Patrick Patterson have both declared for the draft, but have not signed with agents. In addition, OU fans’ hopes of stealing Daniel Orton appear to be dead in the water. He’s pretty much said that he’s sticking with UK.

However, all this coaching chaos/player movement may end up helping OU after all. Nolan Dennis, a Top 50 player nationally, is a 6-5 SG from Dallas and has asked to be released from his Memphis LOI. Dennis is not going to end up following Calipari to UK. OU was originally a player for Dennis before his Memphis verbal, and along with Baylor and Uconn OU appears to be in line for a visit. Dennis would eliminate the one real weakness of this class a true big swing forward/shooting guard. 

Finally, the Michael Jordan Classic is on ESPN 2 tonight at 7pm. OU’s McD’s AAs Tiny Gallon and TMG are playing in this game as well, so I will post a recap of their game tomorrow after watching the action.

Sure, it may seem way too early to handicap the 2009-10 Sooners, but after watching Tiny Gallon and TMG in this week’s McDonald’s All-Star game, the clouds are starting to clear out of the crystal ball.

Atlantasooner filed a nice Q&A addressing some specific issues for next year’s club. One of the biggest plusses heading into this fall is the fact that we pretty much know the starting five, provided Tiny shows up on campus in shape and TMG just shows up.

The Sooners return two starters in Willie Warren and Tony Crocker with super-sixth man Juan Pattillo likely moving into the starting role at the 4. Warren will be counted on to carry the team in ’09-10, much as Blake Griffin shouldered the leadership role this past season. WW has shown that he has the ability to do just that, going off for 40 points and 9 threes in the two games the Sooners played without Griffin (Texas and Kansas). He had a tendency to disappear at times this year and deferred a lot to other players who were hot. He’ll need to show up every night next season if he’s going to fulfill his personal pledge: he said he’s coming back to OU because he wants to be The Man.

Don't tell us, Willie. Show us.

There’s obviously a lot more we could see from Crocker. He showed us flashes of his shooting ability against Syracuse and Colorado when he hit 6 and 7 threes, respectively. However, he brought a big bag of FAIL to the game with him between February 11 and March 21 (Baylor to Michigan) when he was a combined 7-31. He needs to show more consistency and break his reputation as a streak shooter. Crocker’s a little more consistent on the defensive end as he’s able to move his feet in time to take charges. However, his inability to fight through screens at times has led to his man being able to dribble-penetrate and create opportunities.

Pattillo is a guy with a lot of athletic ability and a huge upside. We saw flashes of his game on both ends of the court this season. He runs the floor well, is an excellent shot blocker, puts himself in good positions on the offensive glass and is an exciting finisher at the rim. Like Crocker, Pattillo needs to show more consistency. He wouldn’t just take possessions off: he’d disappear for entire stretches, forcing Capel to bench him in favor of players with admittedly less talent, but more reliability. We’ll see how the dynamic changes with Pattillo as a starter rather than coming off the bench to spell Taylor. He’ll have a great young big man playing next to him and supeior athletes like Warren and TMG on the floor to help get him the ball. Pattillo’s not great at creating his own shot, but he’s excellent at finding open cutting lanes. In the off-season, he should also work on being ready to receive the dimes coming his way from Willie and TMG as he developed somewhat of a bad rep of fumbling dropoffs that should have been easy dunks.

Pattillo's athleticism will be key.

We’ve talked a lot about the two high school All-Americans that will be on campus next year. Keith “Tiny” Gallon has some serious offensive game for a man struggling to stay under 3 bills (when you’re that big, you’re not a kid … you’re a man). In the McDonald’s All-Star game this past week, he immediately hit an NBA three when he came into the game. Tiny nailed 10 threes in the 3-point competition, which had to be an unbelievable spectacle to see a human being that large have that kind of shooting range. In the game, he tracked down loose balls, showed some nimble feet on offense, had a nice touch on a soft 12-foot jumper and used his size to create rebounding space. His biggest problem is going to be conditioning. Tiny should start at the 5 immediately and be a leading candidate for Big 12 Freshman of the Year as long as he sticks to house salads and Sweet Leaf Tea.

Tommy Mason-Griffin struggled with his shot the other night, but you saw his quickness and ability to create off the dribble. He came in second in the 3-point competition, so there shouldn’t be any worry that he can actually shoot the basketball. TMG’s game is the perfect compliment to WW. Both can get into the lane at will, both can fill it from deep and both are great distributors. Honestly, the dynamic between the two of these guys is probably what I’m most excited about seeing next year. OU has potentially the best backcourt duo in the Big 12 if TMG shows up as-advertised.

OU’s bench should be deeper and will be more experienced next season. Cade Davis and Ryan Wright both played extensive minutes at times and looked good for stretches. On the downside, Cade can be a defensive liability and Wright’s offensive game isn’t anywhere near Pattillo’s or Tiny’s. However, as we know, when Cade hits a couple of threes and gets rolling, he’s hard to stop. He’s also a serviceable rebounder when he wants to be and he runs the floor very well. Wright uses his length on the defensive end to create problems for other teams’ bigs. He’s an excellent rebounder who does things technically correct on the defensive end by blocking out and squeezing the ball when he gets his hands on it. Anything we get from Wright offensively is a bonus.

OU will need Davis' shooting.

Orlando Allen is still a work in progress in the post, but Capel really likes him and he has a lot of potential. As atlantasooner said in his Q&A, look at what Mark Cline did with Longar Longar and his development. Allen has loads more natural talent than Longar, so it will be interesting to see how much he can improve.

The other guy coming back is Ray Willis, who was suspended for a big part of the season. He apparently worked his way out of Capel’s doghouse to log some minutes late in the year. Willis has better offensive potential than any of the wings and can use his long arms on defense to harass bigger opponents. He could use some weight training in the off-season, hopefully by working with the OU trainer and not doing 12-oz curls.

Incoming freshmen Andrew Fitzgerald, Kyle Hardrick and Steve Pledger will be battling to get on the floor over this experienced group of Sooners. Pledger might have the best shot at playing time. TMG is the team’s only true point and when he goes out, WW will slide over to the 1, meaning Davis, Crocker and Pledger will get looks at shooting guard.

Finally, probably the best news of all heading into next fall is that Jeff Capel will be returning after a myriad of rumors to the contrary. Capel has quickly become one of the best young coaches in the country and just reeled in one of the best recruiting classes in school history. With a scholarship to give and coaching musical chairs going on at Kentucky and Memphis, 6’10″ Oklahoma high school phenom Daniel Orton could be in play. Capel landing a healthy, in shape Orton would change the landscape of the Sooner program next year. The Sooners will likely be preseason Top 10 as it is. With Orton playing alongside Gallon, Pattillo, Warren and TMG, the Sooners could be lethal come next March.

It’s official – Jeff Capel will get a new contract extension to remain the head coach at the University of Oklahoma.

OU President David Boren issued an official statement through the university tonight:

“We’re very pleased and proud of the leadership Coach Capel has provided to our basketball program and the significant improvements that he and our team have made. We intend to provide a reasonable raise for Coach Capel next year based on his performance and the compensation of his peer group. The final action on this matter will of course be made by the OU Board of Regents.”

I don’t know what a “reasonable raise” would be, but I take that to mean that the next time suitors show up in OU’s living room to court our coach, Boren will be sitting there cleaning his shotgun and giving them the “have him home on time” look.

Much to the chagrin of Big 12 fans who wanted no more part of Jeff Capel in their league, current USC head coach, former Iowa State coach and NBA two-time loser Tim Floyd will be the next head basketball coach at the University of Arizona.

It’s an annual rite of passage that teams (college and pro) around the country will sniff around Norman to try and pick up a football or basketball coach to help out their floundering, but once-glorious program. Joe Castiglione has all but kept those dogs at bay by paying Bob Stoops the equivalent of a South Pacific island nation’s GNP, although some people still can’t help themselves dreaming a little dream every year that Stoops will move on. Kelvin Sampson was rumored for nearly every job opening for 10 years until finally taking his antique rollover minutes to Indiana.

The latest in the “will somebody please take this guy off our schedule” tilting is Jeff Capel, who was first rumored for the Georgia job. There’s no way Capel goes to coach in that barn, especially after Mike Anderson turned them down, but we’ll probably still have to put up with this rumor crap until they hire some mid-major sucker coach. Then it was rumored he would go to Virginia. Didn’t happen. Finally, a little story in some Super Saver weekly picked up steam yesterday and people like Austin’s ESPN sports radio flailed at the drumbeat of Capel going to Arizona. Again … wishful thinking.

Seriously ... Georgia?

Capel, who as we all know pulled OU’s program out of the ditch and put them into the Elite 8 three years later, apparently likes the idea of coaching three McDonald’s All-Americans next year. One of them, Keith “Tiny” Gallon, has dropped about six months’ worth of quarter pounders and looked great in last night’s all-star fest.

So, welcome back from wherever people had already sent you, Jeff. We’re not naïve enough to think we’ll have you forever at OU, but we’re sure glad you’re our guy right now.

We’re not going to talk about it.

Take it one game at a time. The hurdles are getting larger as each successive one appears, so thinking about the hurdles still to come and the accolades that would come by surpassing them is silly when the first one is so important.

You don’t want to mention to Jeff Capel that he has a 300 bowling game in the works. You just want to wish him luck on getting another strike.

By the way … OU’s one game away from the Final Four, baby. Oops.

This afternoon’s game against Sobbin’ Roy and MJ’s alma mater would solidify Jeff Capel’s arrival on the national scene. What he’s done in three years at Oklahoma is nothing short of a miracle. It’s on par with the job Bob Stoops did when he took over OU’s moribund football program in 1999.

But beating North Carolina in the Elite 8 and advancing to the Final Four? Again … open that checkbook, Joe Cash, and pay the man whatever he wants. I’ll even chip in a hundy, if it helps.

Hijinx submitted a great, in-depth breakdown of what to expect from the Carolina blue, but at a high-level, most of us know what they bring to the table, mainly the two All-Americans Lawson and Hansbrough. The former is hands-down the best guard OU has seen this year and the latter the best big man on the Sooners’ schedule. OU won’t just have their hands full today … they’ll need two trips.

Hansbrough knows all about needing two trips ...

Capel will counterpunch with perhaps the best 1-2 combination UNC has see all year, too. Blake Griffin scares people just by walking in the door with his wrap-around Gargoyle sunglasses and God-knows-what lurking beneath his army jacket. Alliteration aside, when Willie Warren winds up, he’s as good as any 2-guard in the country. Also, if they play at their best (which we’ve seen lately), Tony Crocker and Austin Johnson can follow-up that jab-cross with an uppercut and knockout right hook.

The DOK’s Berry Tramel said it best in his blog today:

North Carolina is better than OU. Not a lot better, but a little. The Tar Heels would win a series against the Sooners. More elite players. More depth in general. But the NCAA Tournament is not a series. It’s a shootout. One and done or one and won.

The Sooners don’t have to play over their heads to win. In fact, play like they did against Syracuse, and OU will win.

Eight teams are still alive and by the beard of Zeus (and aliens taking over Tony Crocker’s jump shot), OU is one of them.

This is where a lot of us thought this team would be. Not because we have some sense of entitlement (we don’t). Not because we thought this was a team of destiny. Certainly not because we thought we had elite guards that could get us to the Elite round.

We thought OU should and would get this far because …

Blake had to injure himself this time.

Blake once again made OU’s opponent look like one of the Sarah Connors that wasn’t John’s mom. This time it was the fearsome Big Orange from the Big bad East. Instead of the Sooners succumbing to Boeheim’s defensive genius and prose, the Sooners unveiled their own harassing, switching defense and unleashed the three-point hounds to win by 13, and it really felt like 30.

How did it happen?

Blake. Let me just say that when Blake’s not around, I’ll be a mess without him. I’ll miss his laugh. I’ll miss his scent. I’ll miss those times we sat around with a bottle of muscatel, some Dan Fogelberg on the hi-fi and talking about our feelings – not that there’s anything wrong with that. Blake made Jonny Flynn know the meaning of pain and degradation, first with a Thunder (see what I did there?) dunk over the helpless little child of a guard, then by following up Flynn’s weak attempt to throw one down over Taylor with another poster-sized, majestic and powerful dunk on the other end (suitable for framing). The rest you know.

Blake, dahling ... champagnya?

Tony Crocker. As you well know, we at TaW have been singing Crocker’s praises all season. We were the ones who said don’t worry, that he’s just in a slump and will return to his regular, three-point bombing form just in time to help us win a crucial game. Crocker proved us right yesterday. We feel vindicated.

The supporting cast. Every starter had a solid game, which is something we haven’t been able to say since … well, ever? Taylor was solid, as usual, with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Willie and AJ combined for 15 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds and 4 steals. As they showed yesterday, the Sooners are literally unstoppable when they get production like that to take some of the load off of Blake.

Coaching. Just as he should have after the Michigan game, Joe Cash needs to open his checkbook again and pay Jeff Capel. That might not be enough. We might be naming a building after him by the time he’s done. Capel read all the clippings and heard all of the hype about Boeheim being the Mahavishnu of the zone defense. Capel one-upped him by switching defenses almost every Syracuse trip down the floor. One time they’d be in a straight-up man-to-man. The next time they might be in a tight 2-3 zone, daring the Cuse’s cold shooters to hit from outside. The next time they might drop into a 1-3-1 with Crocker prowling underneath the basket, waiting to take a charge from a Cuse slasher.

On the offensive end, instead of pulling Taylor or Blake out to the top of the key and running a high post game from there, he kept The Beast on the blocks and had Taylor flash to the free throw line, right in the middle of Boeheim’s zone. Taylor was like an option quarterback with choices of kicking out to a red hot Crocker, finding Blake over the top of a fronted post-up or taking it himself. His move in the first half where he deked a pass to the wing to make the defender lean that way, then putting it on the floor himself and scoring was straight out of Jamelle Holieway’s playbook.

They brought in Capel to run the wishbone.

Let’s bask in yesterday’s win and this great tournament run because they’ll never take it away from us. We’ll be telling our grandkids about Blake’s run in the 2009 tournament. This is just OU’s fifth Elite 8 since the tournament expanded to 64 in 1985 (H/T Wayman Tisdale and Keith Lee’s checking account). The Sooners are now 5-3 all-time in the Sweet 16 and have won 30 games for just the fifth time in school history.

OU is now in its third Elite 8 in the past 8 years. With a win over Sobbin’ Roy tomorrow, the Sooners will be in their second Final Four this decade.

Are the Sooners becoming an elite program? Maybe. Elite 8? Definitely.

With Billy Gillispie out at Kentucky, Jeff Capel better start making space available on the OU roster.

The father of Scout.com’s #3-ranked center prospect for 2009, Daniel Orton of OKC’s Bishop McGuiness, indicated earlier this week that should Gillispie be out, his son just might start looking around.

“People are trying to get Daniel to change his mind about Kentucky. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State want him bad. His cousin is coach at OU. If Gillispie is not there (next year), I guarantee he will call. There will be a lot of people calling. I bet Florida will call,” Larry Orton said.

Orton, the 8th overall prospect and top center on the board of the Rivals 150, averaged 13.7 points, 11.2 rebounds and 5.2 blocks as a junior, but missed most of his senior year after having knee surgery last November. The 6’10”, 260-pound center who projects as playing possibly the four at the next level, returned in the state tournament to try and lead Bishop McGuiness to a fourth straight tournament title. While still not at 100%, Orton scored 10 points in the fourth quarter in a losing effort during the round of 8. He was reportedly getting back into basketball shape and returning to form at the time, too.

Capel has a scholarship to give with the dismissal of Kyle Cannon earlier this season. The Sooners will already be loaded in the frontcourt with 6’8”, 300-pound McDonald’s All-American Keith “Tiny” Gallon, 6’7” Andrew Fitzgerald and 6’8” Kyle Hardrick coming in next fall to battle for playing time with Juan Pattillo, Ryan Wright and Orlando Allen. However, you just can’t pass up a 6’10” forward/center with the footwork, shooting touch and ability to finish at the rim like Orton.

Also in OU’s favor is the fact that Orton played AAU ball with Blake Griffin and Capel-signee Kyle Hardrick, and his uncle is OU assistant coach Oronde Taliaferro.