OU Faces Upset-Minded UW-Milwaukee

NCAA FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS
Making its 11th NCAA Tournament appearance under 12th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson and 24th in school history, Oklahoma (20-8 overall, 11-5 Big 12 Conference) enters Thursday's game against Wisconsin-Milwaukee (21-8 overall, 12-4 Horizon League) as the Minneapolis Regional's No. 6 seed. The contest, which will be played at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., will start at 11:25 a.m. CST. The Sooners are ranked 20th in this week's ESPN/USA Today poll and 24th in the AP version. UW-Milwaukee is the region's No. 11 seed and is unranked.

Should it advance to second-round play, Oklahoma will face the winner of the Florida (No. 3 seed) versus South Alabama (No. 14 seed) affair Saturday at 2:20 p.m. CST. The Gators sport a 27-6 record while the Jaguars are 24-6. Also in Jacksonville will be four members of the Atlanta Regional. They are No. 4 seed LSU, No. 5 seed Syracuse, No. 12 seed Texas A&M and No. 13 seed Iona.

OU Tournament Central | Notes (PDF) | Bracket | Season Stats

OU's NCAA Tournament games will air live on the Sooner Basketball Radio Network (flagship KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City) with Bob Barry, Sr. (play-by-play) and Mike Houck (analyst) calling the action. Thursday's and Saturday's games will be televised regionally by CBS (KWTV Channel 9 in OKC and KOTV Channel 6 in Tulsa). Tim Brando, Mike Gminski and Stephen Bardo will announce, while Ross Schneiderman will produce.

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 21 Taj Gray (6-9, 238, Sr., 14.2 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 1.5 bpg)
F 34 Kevin Bookout (6-8, 270, Sr., 11.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 0.6 spg)
G 2 Michael Neal (6-3, 191, Jr., 12.7 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.9 apg)
G 3 Terrell Everett (6-4, 188, Sr., 12.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 6.7 apg)
G 20 Austin Johnson (6-3, 168, Fr., 3.3 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.9 apg)

TOP RESERVES
F 24 Nate Carter (6-6, 220, Jr., 6.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 0.6 apg)
G 15 David Godbold (6-5, 217, Jr., 5.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.4 apg)
F 34 Taylor Griffin (6-7, 232, Fr., 3.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 0.5 apg)
C 30 Longar Longar (6-11, 225, So., 2.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg, *0.5 bpg)
G 1 Chris Walker (6-3, 188, Jr., 1.2 ppg, 0.8 rpg, 1.2 apg)

OU UPDATE
The Sooners, who finished in third place in the Big 12 Conference behind co-champs Texas and Kansas, had won six of seven and 11 of 13 before dropping their regular season finale at Texas and losing to Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals. In the 69-63 defeat at the hands of the Huskers on Friday, Oklahoma held a 27-23 halftime lead but shot just .364 from the field in the second half and was outscored 46-36 after the break. OU was outrebounded (36-30) for just the fifth time of the season and sustained its second-largest rebounding deficit of the year. Senior guard Terrell Everett, who spent eight second-half minutes on the bench with four fouls, registered a team-high 14 points and nine assists while freshman guard Austin Johnson, making his first start in six games, drained four 3-pointers and finished with 12 points and three assists. Senior forward Kevin Bookout contributed 10 points, a team-high eight rebounds and a season-high two assists. Senior frontcourt mate Taj Gray finished with nine points, six boards and two blocked shots. Junior guard Michael Neal, who had made 32 treys over the previous seven games, was 2-for-5 from the field (all 3-pointers and all in the second half).

Neal, OUs leading scorer in Big 12 games (14.8 ppg), is averaging 15.0 points over the last 14 games on 55-for-110 (.500) 3-point shooting and was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year on March 6. He has made at least four treys in eight of those 14 outings and has netted 34 triples over the past eight games. OU's sixth man the majority of the season, Neal has started the last seven games and is averaging 15.6 points and 4.0 treys over those seven outings. Included in those seven games were back-to-back efforts of 26 points at Colorado (seven treys) and a career-high 29 points against Iowa State (eight treys). Neal, who missed OU's first two league games with a strained groin (the Sooners lost both by a combined three points), led the Big 12 in conference play with his .495 3-point percentage and 3.9 treys per game.

Everett, who leads the Big 12 and ranks fourth in the nation with his 6.7 assists average, has scored in double figures in 15 of OU's last 17 games. In league play, Everett averaged 13.7 points, 3.9 boards, a Big 12-best 6.9 assists and 1.9 steals. He has led OU in assists in 23 of 28 games this season and was named a second-team All-Big 12 selection by the league's coaches and a first-team all-league pick by multiple regional newspapers.

Gray, who also earned second-team All-Big 12 honors and was named to the league's all-defensive team, leads Oklahoma in both scoring and rebounding this year with his 14.2 and 7.6 averages. He is shooting .570 from the field to rank third in the Big 12 and has shot .500 or better from the field in 23 of the team's 28 games this year. Bookout has played the last 13 games with a fractured navicular bone in his left wrist (he sustained the injury Jan. 21 against Texas Tech) and has averaged 9.8 points and 5.8 boards during the stretch. An honorable mention All-Big 12 pick, Bookout ranks fourth on the squad in scoring and second in rebounding with his 11.1 and 6.8 season averages. Owner of OU's second-best career field goal percentage (.574), he is shooting .562 this year. Bookout was also named an ESPN The Magazine third-team Academic All-American on March 1. He became the fourth men's basketball Academic All-American in OU history.

SOONERS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Oklahoma, which owns a 32-23 NCAA Tournament record, is making its 24th tourney appearance and is 11-10 under Kelvin Sampson. The Sooners had lost five straight first-round games prior to their Sweet 16 showing in 1999 but are 11-6 over their last six tournaments. The 1939, 1947, 1988 and 2002 squads advanced to the national semifinals with the '47 and '88 teams losing in the championship game. Below is a year-by-year look at OU's NCAA Tournament appearances, seeds and records.

1939: no seed...1-1
1943: no seed...1-1
1947: no seed...3-1
1979: No. 5 seed...1-1
1983: No. 7 seed...1-1
1984: No. 2 seed...0-1
1985: No. 1 seed...3-1
1986: No. 4 seed...1-1
1987: No. 6 seed...2-1
1988: No. 1 seed...5-1
1989: No. 1 seed...2-1
1990: No. 1 seed...1-1
1992: No. 4 seed...0-1
1995: No. 4 seed...0-1
1996: No. 10 seed...0-1
1997: No. 11 seed...0-1
1998: No. 10 seed...0-1
1999: No. 13 seed...2-1
2000: No. 3 seed...1-1
2001: No. 4 seed...0-1
2002: No. 2 seed...4-1
2003: No. 1 seed...3-1
2005: No. 3 seed...1-1

MORE NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES
This marks Oklahoma's 11th NCAA Tournament appearance in Kelvin Sampson's 12 years as head coach (OU's lone non-appearance was in 2003-04 when it finished 20-11). Sampson coached Washington State to an NCAA Tournament berth in 1994 and is making his 12th appearance in the last 13 years.
OU is 8-3 over its last three NCAA Tournaments. It advanced to the Final Four in 2002 (lost to Indiana), to the Elite Eight in 2003 (lost to eventual national champ Syracuse) and to the second round last season (lost to Utah).
Half of OU's 12 players have NCAA Tournament playing experience (Kevin Bookout, Terrell Everett, David Godbold, Taj Gray, Longar Longar and Kellen Sampson). Only Bookout has played in multiple NCAA Tournaments (also in 2003). Bookout, Everett, Godbold and Gray started OU's two NCAA Tournament games last year.
OU's No. 6 seed is the program's lowest since it was a No. 13 seed in 1999. That Sooners squad upset No. 4 seed Arizona and No. 5 seed UNCCharlotte to reach the Sweet 16.

UW-MILWAUKEE SERIES HISTORY
Oklahoma and UW-Milwaukee have never met in men's basketball.

OU VS. FLORIDA AND SOUTH ALABAMA
Florida beat Oklahoma in overtime, 76-72, on Dec. 30, 1995, in the only meeting between the programs. The All-College Championship game in Oklahoma City was played at The Myriad during Kelvin Sampson's second year as OU's head coach. Eddie Shannon led the Gators with 20 points while LeRon Williams had 17 points and 12 rebounds and Dametri Hill had 15 and nine. The Sooners were paced by Tyrone Foster's 22 points and Ryan Minor's 21. Ernie Abercrombie netted 15 points and pulled down 18 boards.

The Sooners are 2-1 all-time against South Alabama. OU won 102-68 on Dec. 12, 1969, in Mobile and 79-72 on Jan. 6, 1982, in Norman. The Jaguars won 75-72 (in overtime) on Jan. 22, 1972, in Norman. Sooners head coach John MacLeod was on the sidelines for the first two meetings while Billy Tubbs coached OU to victory in the most recent.

NOTING OU AND THE NCAA TOURNEY FIELD
The Sooners played 11 games this year against 2006 NCAA Tournament teams and went 7-4.
Oklahoma faced No. 1 seed Villanova and No. 2 seed Texas (twice) this season. OU lost at Villanova (85-74 on Dec. 3) after leading by 10 in the first half and split with Texas (won 82-72 Jan. 28 in Norman and lost 72-48 March 5 in Austin).
OU went 3-2 against Big 12 teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament. It was 1-1 against No. 2 seed Texas, 0-1 against No. 4 seed Kansas and 2-0 against No. 12 seed Texas A&M.
Villanova is the only Minneapolis Regional squad that Oklahoma faced during the regular season.

OU BOASTS NATION'S LONGEST POSTSEASON STREAK
Oklahoma is making its 25th consecutive postseason appearance (20 NCAA and five NIT), good for the longest current streak among Division I programs. The last time OU did not compete in the postseason was in 1980-81. The Sooners have competed in the NCAA Tournament 11 times in the last 12 seasons.

BIG 12 TOURNAMENT LEFTOVERS
This marked the first year since 1999 that the Sooners failed to win at least one Big 12 Tournament game.
OU had advanced to the Big 12 Tournament title game each of the four previous times it was the No. 3 seed.
Oklahoma was 11-for-24 from 3-point range (.458) against Nebraska but just 12-for-34 from two point territory (.353). Its 11 treys tied as the second most of the season.
Kevin Bookout's two assists versus Nebraska matched his season total entering the game.
OU started the game with an 11-2 rebounding margin but was outboarded 34-19 the rest of the way.
Austin Johnson's four 3-pointers were twice as many as his previous career high of two. His 12 points were two shy of his career high.

AN NCAA TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND WIN WOULD...
Be Oklahoma's fourth straight opening-round victory in the Big Dance and would improve OU to 6-5 in the first round under Kelvin Sampson. Sampson would move to 12-10 at OU in the NCAA Tournament.
Improve Oklahoma's record to 9-3 since the start of the 2002 event.
Improve OU's mark as an NCAA Tournament No. 6 seed to 3-1. In 1987, it beat No. 11 seed Tulsa (74-69) and No. 3 seed Pittsburgh (96-93) in Tucson, Ariz., before losing to No. 2 seed Iowa (93-91 in overtime) in Seattle.
Improve the Sooners to 3-0 under Sampson in NCAA Tournament games against Horizon League teams. As a No. 2 seed in 2002, OU beat No. 15 seed Illinois-Chicago in the first round, 71-63. As a No. 1 seed in 2003, Oklahoma beat No. 12 seed Butler in the Sweet 16, 65-54.

AN NCAA TOURNAMENT SECOND ROUND WIN WOULD...
Advance the Sooners to the Sweet 16 for the third time in their last four NCAA Tournaments. It would mark the program's fifth Sweet 16 performance under Kelvin Sampson.
Improve Oklahoma's record to 10-3 since the start of the 2002 event.
Improve OU's NCAA Tournament second-round record to 9-8 (4-2 under Sampson).

OU'S 2005 NCAA TOURNAMENT RECAP
The Sooners participated in the Austin Regional as the No. 3 seed. They beat No. 14 seed Niagara, 84-67, before falling to No. 6 seed Utah, 67-58. Both games were played in Tucson, Ariz.
The first-round game marked the first NCAA Tournament competition for seven of the 10 Sooners who played. Senior Johnnie Gilbert and junior Kevin Bookout had each seen NCAA Tourney action at OU while senior Jaison Williams played in the 2002 event as a freshman at Xavier.
A season-high six Sooners scored in double figures while three players (also a season high) reached double digits in rebounding. Taj Gray and Kevin Bookout each posted double-doubles.
Niagara started 4-for-6 from beyond the 3-point arc before going 2-for-22 the rest of the game.
OU held Niagara senior forward Juan Mendez, the nation's No. 3 scorer (23.5 ppg), without a second-half field goal until the 1:14 mark. He missed his first 11 field goal attempts after halftime.
Oklahoma's 48 rebounds against Niagara were its second most in an NCAA Tournament game (it had 62 vs. Louisiana Tech in 1989).
Niagara's 28 3-point attempts were the most ever by an Oklahoma opponent in NCAA Tournament play.
Against Utah, OU shot just .318 from the field (its second worst effort of the year) and a season-low .105 (2-for-19) from 3-point range. The Utes shot .595 from the floor and .625 (5-for-8) from beyond the arc.
Taj Gray led the Sooners with 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in the loss to Utah. He averaged 16.0 points and 14.0 boards over OU's two games.

QUICK TIPS
The last time OU lost its Big 12 Tournament opener (1999), it advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 as the No. 13 seed.
Dating back to last year, Oklahoma has outboarded 29 of its last 35 opponents.
Three of OU's five Big 12 losses came by a combined four points.
The Sooners have held leads of at least seven points in six of their eight losses (10 points at Villanova, nine vs. West Virginia, 10 at Nebraska, seven against Missouri, 16 at Kansas and eight at Colorado).
OU is 14-1 this year when committing the same number of or fewer turnovers than its opponents. It is 6-7 when it commits more turnovers.
Kevin Bookout (.574) and Taj Gray (.563) rank second and third in OU history in field goal percentage.
Gray has shot .500 or better from the field in 23 of 28 games this year while Bookout has done it 22 times. Gray is shooting .570 on the season and Bookout owns a .562 mark.
Bookout has played in 107 career games and has started 106 of them. As a freshman in 2003, he yielded to Jozsef Szendrei on Senior Day.
Terrell Everett ranks fourth nationally in assists (6.7 per game). He has led OU in assists in 23 of 28 outings this year and in 47 of his 61 career games.
Michael Neal has made at least two treys in 22 of his 26 games. In Big 12 play, he led the conference with his 3.9 treys per game and his .495 3-point percentage.
Over the last eight outings, Neal is averaging 15.9 points and 4.3 treys.
Opponents are shooting .393 from 3-point range (OU ranks last in the Big 12 in the category). Last year, OU set a school record by allowing foes to shoot just .292 from beyond the arc.
OU has registered double-digit offensive boards in 26 of 28 games while foes have done it 13 times.
OU posted a 3.14 team grade point average during the fall semester, a record for the Sooners under 12th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson. Eight team members posted at least a 3.0 GPA and all 12 registered at least a 2.5.
The Sooners have won 30 of their last 32 home games and 78 of their last 84.

GOOD POINT
Seven of Oklahoma's games this year (all in Big 12 play) have been decided by one point (the Sooners are 5-2 in those contests). Prior to the regular season finale at Texas, OU played four straight one-point games and won each of them. Based on polling of the nation's men's basketball media relations directors, it is believed to be the first time that any Division I school ever won four consecutive games by one point each. Here are more notes about OU's one-point games this season...

OU participated in seven of the nine Big 12 league contests that were decided by one point.
The seven one-point decisions are the most in single-season school history, as are the five victories. Oklahoma played five one-point games in 1955-56 and 1979-80 and won three one-point decisions in five different seasons (1944-45, 1961-62, 1969-70, 1997-98 and 1998-99).
This is just the second time a current Big 12 program has had four straight games decided by one point. In 1925-26, Oklahoma State played four consecutive one-point games (it won the first three and lost the fourth).
The record for one-point games in a season by a current Big 12 school is eight by Texas A&M in 1968-69 (it finished with a 6-2 record).
Kelvin Sampson is 16-4 at Oklahoma in one-point games.

NINE STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASONS
With a win over Oklahoma State on Feb. 27, Kelvin Sampson has now coached OU to nine consecutive 20-win seasons. Including this season, only four other coaches have posted 20 victories each of the last nine years: Tubby Smith (13) Mike Krzyzewski (10), Jim Boeheim (nine) and Jim Calhoun (nine). Lute Olson needs one more victory to extend his streak of 15 straight 20-win campaigns.

THE REAL DEAL
Michael Neal, nicknamed “Real Deal,” missed OU's first two Big 12 games with a strained groin (the Sooners lost both contests by a combined three points). Neal has returned to play in each of the last 15 games, 11 of them wins. In Big 12 outings, Neal averaged a team-high 14.8 points and shot a league-best .495 from beyond the 3-point arc (54-for-109). He set a conference record by averaging 3.9 treys per league contest. Here are more notes on OU's sharpshooter...

Neal has made 34 treys over the last eight games.
Neal canned 26 3-pointers over a four-game span (6.5 average) from mid to late February.
Neal is averaging 15.6 points and 4.0 treys over the last seven games (all starts). Included was a 26-point game at Colorado (seven treys) and a career-high 29-point effort versus Iowa State (eight triples).
Neal has made at least one 3-pointer in all 26 of his games, at least two in 22 contests, at least four in 11 outings and at least five in six games.
In Big 12 games, Neal led the league in 3-point percentage (.495) and 3-pointers per game (3.9).
Neal has made at least four 3-pointers in eight of the last 14 games (he made two treys in four of the other games and three in another).

RETURNED TO FORM
Over the second half of the season, senior guard Terrell Everett has looked like the player that Kelvin Sampson labeled as OU's MVP last year. Everett is averaging 14.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.8 steals over the last 15 outings (OU is 11-4). Everett's recent performances are reminiscent of his efforts late last season when he averaged 15.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.7 steals over OU's final six regular season games to help claim a Big 12 regular season title (the Sooners were 6-0 in those contests).

WINTER WARMTH
Oklahoma endured below-average 3-point shooting over its first 13 games but has turned up the heat in its last 15 outings. In their first 13 contests, the Sooners shot .294 from beyond the arc and averaged 5.0 treys. Over the past 15 games, however, OU is shooting .416 from long range and is averaging 6.9 makes. Michael Neal has made 56 treys on 114 attempts (.491) during the stretch. The Sooners have shot .400 or better from 3-point range in 10 of the last 13 contests.

WINDOW WIPERS
Oklahoma is outboarding its opponents 1,025-771 on the year and ranks fourth in the nation with its +9.1 rebounding margin per game (Connecticut leads followed by Texas and LSU). Here are more rebounding notes...

OU has outrebounded 23 of its 28 opponents. Included were margins of 28 against Samford, 22 against Belmont and Alabama, 21 versus Texas Tech, 20 versus SMU, 18 against Binghamton, 17 versus Missouri, 16 versus Tulsa and 15 against Texas Tech.
Oklahoma has grabbed 410 offensive boards (14.6 per game) while its foes have secured just 249 (8.9).
Last year, OU registered 20 or more offensive rebounds twice in 33 games. This year's squad has already accomplished the feat four times with other games of 19, 18, 17, 17, 17, 15 and 15 offensive boards.
Taj Gray or Kevin Bookout have led OU in rebounding in 27 of 28 games (16 times by Gray and 11 by Bookout).

ROCK SOLID BOOKOUT
Senior forward Kevin Bookout has, yet again, overcome multiple injuries and has put together a more-than-solid senior season. A two-time All-American in the shot put, Bookout averaged 9.9 points and 6.1 rebounds a game while shooting .578 from the field over his first three years (he missed more than half of his sophomore season with a shoulder injury). This season, he is averaging 11.1 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting .562 from the field. He ranks eighth in the Big 12 in rebounding with 6.8 per game, despite playing the last 13 contests with a broken bone in his left wrist. The wrist and his thumb are heavily taped, limiting his ability to catch and handle the basketball. Bookout also had right elbow surgery Sept. 15 to reposition the ulnar nerve.

MORE BOOKOUT
Against Kansas on Feb. 5, Kevin Bookout became the 34th player in school history to score 1,000 career points. He now has 1,094 points to rank 28th all-time at OU. Bookout also ranks No. 2 all-time in field goal percentage (.574) and ranks 14th with 674 career rebounds.

DIME DROPPER
Although he was not recruited to OU as a point guard, senior Terrell Everett leads the Big 12 and ranks fourth in the nation with his 6.7 assists per game. Over the last eight games he is averaging 8.6 assists. The slender 6-4 lefty, a natural wing who played some point last year, has led the Sooners in assists 47 times in his 61 career games, including 23 times in 28 outings this year. He had a career-high 15 assists against Baylor on Feb. 11, 11 against Iowa State on Feb. 18 and 10 more Feb. 25 versus Kansas State.

BIG 12 KING
Kelvin Sampson has amassed 111 regular season Big 12 victories, most in league history. He is 111-49 (.694) in conference play since the formation of the Big 12 in 1996-97. Sampson also holds the Big 12 record for most combined regular season and conference tournament wins (he is 128-56) and holds the mark for most overall wins by a conference coach since the Big 12 was formed (he is 238-85).

PREACHING PROTECTION
Dating back to the start of the 2003-04 season, Oklahoma has committed more turnovers than its opponent just 28 times in 92 games (30 percent of the time). OU finished 20-2 last year when committing fewer (or the same number of) turnovers than its foe and is 14-1 this year under the circumstance.

RECRUITING HAUL
Kelvin Sampson announced the signing of five prep players on Nov. 9, a recruiting class that ranks as the nation's fourth best by Rivals.com and fifth best by Scout.com. Joining the Sooners as freshmen in 2006-07 will be Keith Clark (Oklahoma City/Putnam City HS), Tony Crocker (San Antonio, Texas/The Patterson School [N.C.], Damion James (Nacogdoches, Texas/Nacodoches HS), Jeremy Mayfield (Irving, Texas/Gulf Shores Academy [Houston]) and Scottie Reynolds (Herndon, Va./Herndon HS).

“This is as good a class as we've had since I've been here,” said Sampson, who is in his 12th year at OU. “Sure, all five players are rated high, but just as important is the fact that they're high-character kids. They love to play basketball and they're fun to be around. Our staff is very, very happy with this class.”

2005-06 SIGNEES
Keith Clark (F, 6-8, 220, Oklahoma City, Okla.)
Ranked No. 43 in nation by Hoopmasters

Tony Crocker (G, 6-5, 180, San Antonio, Texas)
Ranked No. 6 post grad prep by Scout.com

Damion James (F, 6-8, 225, Nacogdoches, Texas)
Ranked No. 16 in nation by Rivals.com

Jeremy Mayfield (F/C, 6-10, 234, Irving, Texas)
Ranked No. 4 post grad prep by Scout.com

Scottie Reynolds (G, 6-0, 170, Herndon, Va.)
Ranked No. 31 in nation by Scout.com

UNDER KELVIN SAMPSON...
OU has made 12 postseason showings in 12 seasons (11 NCAA Tournaments and one NIT).
OU has advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 (1999), Final Four (2002) and Elite Eight (2003).
OU shared the 2005 Big 12 regular season title with Kansas (the Sooners won the only head-to-head meeting).
OU has posted a 111-49 (.694) regular season Big 12 Conference record.
OU has recorded a 161-22 (.880) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 79 of its last 85 home games.
OU has won at least 20 games each of the last nine years.
OU has averaged 25 victories over the past eight seasons.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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