Jason Detrick Journal No. 1

OU senior guard Jason Detrick takes Sooner fans behind the scenes as Oklahoma plays its 2003-04 season. This is the first installment of his weekly journal. Submit your own question to Jason by clicking the link at the end of this journal entry.

Jason Detrick
Journal Entry No. 1 (Nov. 19, 2003)
Welcome to my journal. Every week I'll have a new entry and answer some questions from the fans. This is my first entry:

First, our exhibition games. We were really just trying to get to know each other and compete against another team. We were trying to gets some guys out there to get some experience. The first game didn't go as well as we expected it to go. We had a lot of guys out there who hadn't played before so it was probably good to get out there and take the loss. It let us know that we've got to get a lot better.

The second game gave us a chance for a lot of guys to get better, improve and get a lot of minutes. We had some guys sitting out so some new freshmen got to get out there and play.

The exhibition games were real good for the young guys -- and the veterans -- to finally get out there and play as a team.

We're going to depend a lot on all the younger guys. Drew Lavender -- he's going to be our point guard. He can do a lot of things with the ball. Lawrence McKenzie and Jimmy Tobias on the wing -- they're both really fast and quick and they can provide a lot of energy for us. Whether they start or come off the bench, both of them can do so much. Brandon (Foust) is just like Daryan Selvy from two years ago. Those four are a good core group and you should see a lot from them in the next few years. They'll be a big part of how far we go this year.

I think Coach Sampson is going to enjoy this season. We're going to depend on him a lot more. The past two years, he kind of just would put the ball out there and we had Hollis, Quannas, Ebi and Jozsef -- they led the way in practice and guys just got behind them and followed what they did. This year we have a lot of new guys and, with the injuries, we're really depending on Coach Sampson to teach everything.

I think he's enjoying it. He's been very hands-on and he's doing a lot of teaching.

I tore or strained my abdominal muscle from my pelvis bone in practice in late August. I got an elbow right in that area and in the third game in Costa Rica I pulled it off the bone. When I went for a rebound in the game, I felt it. It kind of hurt. I knew I had messed it up. It hurts to jump or really run and explode. So, I can't do much of that.

With my injury this season -- it's been a lot more frustrating being on the sideline than it was last year. It's finally my senior year and I'm ready to play and now I have this injury. I haven't been able to do much and I'm not sure if I'll play this weekend. It's not real fun to be watching the team and knowing you could be out there competing and playing in the games and having fun and getting better. I'm just on the sideline riding the bike. You always want to play your home opener. Especially since I sat out a whole year. It will be tough but as long as the team wins -- I'll be alright. I can handle it.

We've been working a lot on my abdominal muscles to get them stronger and my hip flexes so I can jump.

I've watched a lot of film on Eastern Washington this past week. They have a real good system and they're well-coached. The first thing I thought when I watched them was that this team could beat us. If we don't come out with the right mentality and right attitude -- they can beat us. They have a lot of returning players and a lot of seniors. They're going to be poised. They've played a lot of big games before and they've beat some big teams. They have everyone coming back and they have the preseason player of the year in their conference. We have to be prepared to play. It should be a good game for us.

It's a real big thing when you have everyone in the crowd here at Lloyd Noble behind you. It just gives you a big rush and a lot of energy -- especially when there's a big crowd here and you're feeding off them. They scream and they're just going crazy -- they come out and support us. We try to put on a good show for them, we try to compete hard for them. It's just great when they're out there cheering for us.

So, we hope to see you on Friday and Saturday for the Sooner Inviational.

- #5 Jason Detrick

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