University of Oklahoma Athletics
Sooner Profile: Blake Griffin
October 21, 2007 | Men's Basketball
NORMAN, Okla. -- The sixth McDonald's All-American ever to sign with OU, freshman phenom Blake Griffin promises to bring a new dimension to the Sooner basketball program.
Possessing exceptional strength and size for a freshman, Griffin already has the physical tools to go along with his supreme athletic ability. A high-flier with excellent post moves and guard-like ball-handling skills, Griffin will undoubtedly have an immediate impact on Oklahoma's success, as he showcased by leading the team in points and rebounds during the team's preseason trip to Canada.
A native of Oklahoma City, Griffin's decision to stay home and play for the Sooners centered largely around his relationship with Coach Capel and the players on the team, including his older brother Taylor. He also understands that Oklahoma not only has a great football tradition but a great basketball tradition as well, and he wants to be a part of its resurgence.
Being such a sought-after prospect coming out of high school, Griffin does not feel any pressure to lead the Sooners to the 'promised land.' With perhaps his most admirable quality being his humility, Griffin has focused simply on continuing to get better and doing the little things to help his team win as many games as possible.
For someone so humble and so grounded, Griffin is sure to see a lot of time in the air and will be a significant factor as Oklahoma makes leaps on the basketball court.
We recently sat down with Blake to talk about his decision to come to OU and the impact he hopes to make.
On what attracted him to play basketball at OU:
"Basically what attracted me here was my relationship with Coach Capel and also the guys who are already on the team who I am going to play with. Also being close to home and being able to play in front of my home state and have my parents be able to come see me play was important. I also have the opportunity to play with my brother again."
On how much the tradition of Oklahoma Basketball factored into the decision:
"It definitely did. A lot of people don't know that the basketball tradition here is great. They haven't missed the tournament that many times in the last 20 years. Growing up, I always watched OU Basketball and when it came time to make my decision, I realized how good of a program it was and how much success they've had over the years."
On his relationship with his brother and the opportunity to play with him again:
"At first during my junior year, I really didn't think about it a lot. When it came time to make a decision, he came home one night and started talking about all the good things Coach Capel, Coach Cline and all the new coaches had brought to the program. He told me that he really wanted to play with me again, and once I heard that it was almost a done deal just because I knew I had him behind me. He was a big influence in why I came to Oklahoma."
On whether he has felt any extra pressure with the expectations placed on him coming in:
"It does a little bit but I think it's good because it makes me work a little bit harder. Also, we have so many good guys on this team that it really doesn't add much pressure to me. I know that at any point any one of us on the floor can score and do any job we need to get done. Right now, I really don't feel any pressure from anyone else besides myself just wanting to do well."
On receiving the typical freshman treatment from teammates and coaches:
"Yeah, I'd say they do. They keep me in check. They keep all of us in check."
On how much pride he takes in working hard to continue to get better:
"I definitely take a lot of pride in that just because if we can get everybody to work as hard as they can, I really think the sky is the limit for us. That's one of the things I wanted to come in and do this summer and over the offseason before we started practice was just to work as hard as I could and hopefully get some other guys to work as hard as they can."
On his individual success on the Canada trip and the impact he hopes to make this season:
"I'm definitely hoping to do the same thing. Leading the team in scoring and rebounding isn't a big deal to me and I'm not going to worry about that. I just want to contribute and do as much as I can to help the team and hopefully help us win games, most importantly. Also, I want to help take some pressure off of Longar and off of our guards to hopefully make things easier for everybody."
On what he wants to bring to the team to get back to their winning ways:
"Basically what I'm concentrating on is defense and helping down low. It all starts on the defensive end. I also want to help our scoring inside, getting rebounds and putting them back. I think that's a big part of the game that a lot of people overlook sometimes. Those are the two things I'm really concentrating on and also hitting free throws. You have to hit free throws to win games."
On the style of play Sooner fans can expect from the team this year:
"I'm always trying to go as hard as I can to rebound and finish down low and run the floor and get out and dunk. So hopefully we can bring some excitement this year."
On whether it's safe to expect to see him playing above the rim throughout his career:
"I hope so.
That's definitely what I'm going to try to do every game. Every time I go out the goal is to dunk on somebody and try to push them back a little bit, so we'll see."
