Capel, Sooners Hold Media Day

October 23 | Media Day Interviews
Coach Capel Media Day Press Conference
Senior center Longar Longar (Rochester, Minn.)
Senior guard David Godbold (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
Junior forward Taylor Griffin (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
Junior guard Omar Leary (Portland, Ore.)
Sophomore forward Keith Clark (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
Sophomore guard Tony Crocker (San Antonio, Texas)
Freshman guard Cade Davis (Elk City, Okla.)
Freshman forward Blake Griffin (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
Photo Gallery

NORMAN, Okla. -- Head coach Jeff Capel and the OU men's basketball team held its annual media day Tuesday afternoon at the Lloyd Noble Center. View video of Coach Capel's press conference in addition to interviews with various members of the team by clicking on the links above.

Transcriptions of Coach Capel's press conference and interviews with select players are available below, courtesy OU Athletics Media Relations.

The Sooners tip off the 2007-08 season with a home exhibition game vs. Rockhurst next Wednesday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m.

Halloween with the Sooners
Bring your kids to the game to see the Sooners and celebrate Halloween at the same time. The OU Athletics Marketing Department will be holding a special Halloween event for kids beginning at 6 p.m. prior to the Rockhurst game. Meet at the southwest concourse of the Lloyd Noble Center for candy, prizes and fun! The kid with the best costume will win an OU bicycle.

Catch All the Action
Season tickets for the 2007-08 men's basketball season are available through the OU Athletics Ticket Office. Call (800) 456-GoOU to secure the best available seats! Can't make it for the entire season? Maybe a six game mini-season package is for you.

HEAD COACH JEFF CAPEL

Opening statement:
"Our practices have been going well, I believe today will be our 11th one. If you combine that with the 10 that we had before our trip to Canada we are over 20 practices in. We have done some good things and we still have a large room for improvement. I like the energy and attitude that our guys display just about every day in practice. We have been a little bit banged up and have had some guys miss practice with various knick-knack injuries. We don't think it's anything serious with anyone, but this is the time of the year that you start to get some bumps and bruises, especially as you start going a little harder and a little longer.

"Our guys have worked really hard and we feel that we can be a much improved team. We have some guys that have to grow up and mature very quickly for us, and I think that we have some guys that are capable of doing that. Our returning guys have improved. I think their year of experience last year -- Tony Crocker, Longar Longar and Taylor Griffin -- I think that has really helped them. I think guys like David Godbold and Austin Johnson being thrust into different roles last year than they have been accustomed to has helped them to where they can be better for us this year. We need our new guys to really step up this year and not act like freshmen."

On his starting lineup for opening night:
"I have no idea. If we open up tomorrow, I don't know. I know that's a question that a lot of people want to know, but I just don't know. Fortunately we don't have to open up tomorrow. We have until next Wednesday to figure that out. One of the things that I try to do in practice is to let guys earn it. Hopefully we have some guys that beat guys out. Guys that will beat guys out and not let them get that spot back. Beat them every day and put some separation there. So if we had to start right now I really would not know and, thankfully, I don't have to answer that now."

On the point guard battle:

"It's going okay. Omar Leary has had a great few days of practice here lately. Austin Johnson has been very steady. Tony Neysmith has had probably his best couple of days since this past Saturday. So the competition is heating up. Where it is now, I'm not really sure. But each of those guys have had very good moments. We are looking for someone who can be consistent, someone who can get us into our stuff and run our stuff, be good on defense -- because the point guard is usually the frontline of the defense -- and someone that can give us energy at that spot. So we will see. I think all of those guys have played well. We experimented some in practice and put Tony Crocker there to be a little bigger across the board -- you know, a little bit bigger lineup. In spots this year, not extended periods but in spots, that may be something that we look to do."

On the potential of freshman Blake Griffin:
"His potential is very, very high. He is very good. He works hard and there are a lot of things he can do on the floor. Obviously, with how physical he is, how athletic he is, how strong he is, he can do a lot of things around the basket. He has the potential, I think, to be a great rebounder. So he should be able to score offensive boards and should be able to get out in transition. He can also shoot the ball and really handle it well.

"I think the sky is the limit for him potential wise. I can say that because he is a guy that works at it. There are a lot of guys that want to be really good, but not many are wiling to pay the price to become really good. There is a process that you have to go through to become successful. Successful people to me are people that follow the process to become successful. He is a guy that is willing to do that. I think it helps him that he has teammates are pushing him and helping him become a better basketball player. I think his potential is very, very high."

On Keith Clark and his return from injury:
"Well, he is a guy that is talented and can do different thing on the floor. He is in better shape than he was last year when he first got here. He has had some very good moments in practice and then some moments where he looks like he has been out for six months. The one thing that we are hoping to get from him is consistency. He knee is a little sore from going back-to-back-to back-to back four days in a row, and all of a sudden that's something he hadn't done when we were preparing for Canada. We went two maybe three days at the most. It's different now because everything is for real.

"We are trying to get prepared for next Wednesday and Friday (for exhibition games) and then for Nov. 8 when we open up. He has done some really good things for us. He just needs to keep working. He can be a guy that can play different positions on the floor for us. He can score the ball a little and move back to the basket, but he can also be a guy who can float out to the perimeter occasionally and shoot the ball with range."

On how much the early practices and games in Canada have helped:
"It has helped a lot. I think we are probably a little bit further along with some of our execution overall and having some guys familiar with it. Last year when we started we probably looked like a cluster out there. It was because no one knew. It was new for me, new for these guys, new for me WITH these guys. We didn't really have a chance to do individual work-outs. I mean we did, but we only had three or four people healthy. So we couldn't do anything with them. We were able to figure out what some guys could do individually but nothing as a group. So last year we were trying to figure out what we could do.

"I have a little bit better feel this year. I think our returning guys can help our younger guys out, especially with some of the things we want to do with our offense since they are a little bit more familiar with it. Last year, they were learning it. It was like having a team full of new guys. So I think all of those games and the practices have helped us."

On rebounding improving the fast break:
"We stress every day to this group that we need to be a great rebounding team. I think that's something that should be a strength of ours. We have pretty good size and I think we have pretty good athleticism on our frontline and wings. Rebound is desire, it's an attitude. I think it's important to become a great rebounding team, not just good. I want us to be a great rebounding team. Hopefully by doing that we are able to get out into transition. I'm hoping we can create more opportunities from our defense into transition.

"We were a good defensive team last year. We were tops in several categories last year in the league, but our defense last year was more contained. We were more half-court contained. Hopefully we are able to extend our pressure. We have some guys who have earned the right to play that will hopefully extend our pressure a little bit. Those are things that we work on in practice this year. We tried to conserve energy last year in practice, especially as the season went on. Having more guys in practice this year definitely will help. We are able to work on different things and hopefully that does translate to our offense being better. Hopefully our defense will be able to create more scoring opportunities from rebounds."

On freshman guard Cade Davis:
"He is doing well. He is playing really well. Typical freshman, he has some days where is playing well and making shots, and then other days where he isn't playing well by turning the ball over and not making shots. The one thing that he does every day is that he practices his butt off. He plays with energy. He is trying to get better and comes with that mindset. He works and has done a very good job. I think in Canada he may have been our third leading and scorer and led us in minutes played. I think he is going to be a good four-year player for us. Where is he as far as playing? He has earned the right to play, but how much he is going to play is to be determined."

On perimeter shooting:
"Well, hopefully we are a lot better at making perimeter shots this year than we were last year. We need some consistency there. Just about every game we had lulls where we didn't score. We have to get away from that. Hopefully we can have some guys step up and become more consistent. Our perimeter has to be much improved from last year.

"Our post play should pretty good. Longar, like I said, should be even better than he was last year. I think Taylor should be better. When you add Blake and Keith Clark, they will help us recover from losing a guy that was pretty good in Nate Carter. Hopefully we are improved because of the guys we have returning and because of our new guys.

"We have to make a significant jump in our perimeter play. I talk to those guys about it all the time and it starts with our guys who are returning -- A.J. and David and Tony Crocker. Our new guys have to be ready to step up and hopefully we get great production out of those guys."

On sophomore guard Tony Crocker:
"Tony has been very good for us. It really hurt him not to be able to come on the trip to Canada with us. I was in communication with him when we were there. He worked his butt of to get back early. He was able to be here when we got back. He has played pretty well. He had a little bit of a lull, I think it was last Friday or Saturday when he sprained his ankle, but he was only out for a day and then came back. He has played well, and he has played hard. He has done some good things offensively. He has done some great things for us defensively, and he is probably one of our most consistent guys in practice."

On if he thinks Austin Johnson will be plagued by injuries his whole career:
"I hope not, I feel bad for him. Last year his ankle bothered him at times, and then different illnesses and things like that. Obviously he missed the trip to Canada with us because of a back injury. I know first hand that back injuries are something that can linger on. He hasn't missed a practice yet, which is a good sign. He has probably had some back discomfort but he has been able to play through it and he has done well. So hopefully that injury bug is gone and he can get through a season without injuries.

"Throughout the season everyone is going to get banged up. You have to be tough, there are no excuses. You have to be able to fight through stuff. The teams that become good teams fight through things. They fight through any kind of adversity they go through. Last year we had all kinds of adversity, and at time we fought through it -- down the stretch we were not able to do that. That's not an excuse, that's a reality. We have to be better with that this year, because we are going to face it at some point. We have some guys who are fighting through things right now, but if you want to be good you fight through it. The guys that become really good are the guys that fight through it, the teams that become really good are the teams that fight through it.

"I told our guys that no one is going to give it to us and no one is going to feel sorry for us. There are a lot of good teams on our schedule this year and a lot of good teams in our league this year. They want to beat us. They want to embarrass us. They want to kick our butt. If we don't come with the mindset that we are coming after them and be the hungrier guys, our chances for having a year like we had last year increase. We need to have the mindset of no excuses and have everyone on the same page. Then our chances of being a better basketball team increase."

On this year's schedule:
"I think it is a very challenging schedule. It is also a schedule of opportunity. We start out with San Francisco, who had a couple of guys who sat out last year. If we are fortunate enough to win that, we play the winner of Denver and I think East Central -- I'm not sure, I'm so focused on San Francisco right now that I haven't looked that far ahead. If we win that we have an opportunity to go to New York where Memphis will probably waiting on us, the pre-season No. 1 team in the country. From there we will play Kentucky or UConn. Those are three of the better programs in college basketball.

"Arkansas has been a tournament team the past few years, and they return their whole team. We have them here at our place. With the success that Gonzaga has had over the past five or six years, they have probably won as much as anyone, they are going to be really, really good this year. We have them here in Oklahoma City in the All-College Classic. Then we have USC, which is as talented a young team as there is in college basketball. They have arguably the most touted freshman in the country in O.J. Mayo, and Taj Gibson. They are a pre-season top-10, top-15 team and we are at their place.

"Then we are at West Virginia, who won the NIT and returns their whole team from last year. They have a new coach, but a good new coach, so that's going to be a challenge for us. Then we have the Big 12 schedule. So this a very challenging schedule, but a schedule full of opportunity. If we are able to come out and win those games, that really increases our chances to accomplish some of the things that we talk about wanting to accomplish this year."

SENIOR GUARD DAVID GODBOLD

On Coach Capel:
"Last year was an adjustment year and everybody felt like freshmen because we didn't know what he wanted out of us or how he wanted the offense run until right before the season began with him coming in late. Now we have had a whole year, a whole year of talking and a whole year of running plays and how to get it set up."

On the depth of the team:
"Offensively, it has an impact because we have 10 or 11 guys who are willing to work every day instead of just seven and Coach Capel coming out with us like last year. It has been fun and everybody's working hard."

"We make sure everybody stays fresh. He says that if you are tired you should take a break because we have guys who can come in and make sure things stay at a high level. The pace is full speed every time."

SOPHOMORE FORWARD KEITH CLARK

On his health:
"My health is coming along good. I am just trying to get my knee back to full strength and trying to keep my body weight down, but other than that everything is good."

On his ideal playing weight:
"I would like to get it down around 235 pounds and then move up to around 240 with muscle, but I know it's a long time and the doctors keep telling me it can't happen in one day. Right now I am sitting at 237 so I have two or three pounds to lose and then I will be fine."

On recovering from last year's knee injury:
"As I was sitting out I spent a lot of time off my feet, but I still had the ball so I worked on little things like dribbling without looking at the ball and the basics. I figured out that it helped a lot on my shooting and things like that. Instead of spending time looking down at the ball, you can spend more time looking up and seeing the court. I have a better feel of where the ball is."

SOPHOMORE GUARD TONY CROCKER

On the team's depth and new players:
"We have a lot of good players on this team, so if someone is not playing well we have someone on the bench who can come in and pick up their slack. We have a lot of guards and then Blake (Griffin) and Ryan (Wright) on the inside, even though (Wright) can't play this year. It helps all the big men out with size going against bigger guys and better guys. We have a lot of depth."

On the improvements to the offense:
"It's a lot of slashing and cutting. All of that helps with motion, and when you get everybody moving it makes it a lot easier for someone to make a bucket."

FRESHMAN GUARD CADE DAVIS

On making the transition from high school to college:
"It's a big difference, there is so much to learn. The atmosphere and all of that, playing against kids that are as good as you or even better, going hard every day. The biggest thing is knowing what you have to do to be successful and I feel that Coach Capel stresses that to us all the time."

On the team:
"We have some tremendous players. With Blake(Griffin) and Taylor(Griffin), they will be able to step up and score and they're going to be able to lead our team, along with Longar (Longar) and David (Godbold), our two seniors this year."

FRESHMAN FORWARD BLAKE GRIFFIN

On playing for Coach Capel:
"To me, Coach Capel is the ideal coach, just because he has been in our shoes not too long ago and he knows what we are going through. He likes to get the ball out and run and he likes to get the ball inside more than you would think for a guy who was a guard in college."

On how good the team can be:
"If we all tie in and really focus on what Coach Capel is trying to teach us and how we are supposed to play, then the sky's the limit for us."

FRESHMAN GUARD TONY NEYSMITH

On the team's guards:
"I think we are really athletic. Omar (Leary) is a real quick guard who can get up and down the court as fast as anybody. We just have some really athletic guards. Our guards will go against Blake (Griffin) and Longar (Longar) and try to block their shots and we will try to dunk on them. We are real fearless when we go up to the rim and that is one of the strengths that I think we have."

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