Capel Wants Improvement in Year Two

Oct. 24, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. (AP)
-- Jeff Capel got to see where he could take Oklahoma's basketball team after starting off behind schedule. His second season as the Sooners coach begins with a headstart.

After taking over for Kelvin Sampson in mid-April last year, Capel had limited contact with his players once he arrived from Virginia Commonwealth. When the season started, he was still trying to figure out what each of his new players could do and experimenting to find the best combination to put on the floor.

"I have a little bit better feel of that this year, and I think we have a better feel of that this year," Capel said Tuesday at the Sooners' annual media day. "I think our returning guys can help our younger guys out now, especially with some of the things that we want to do in our offense, because they're a little bit more familiar with it.

"Last year, they were learning, so it was like having a team full of new guys."

A Labor Day weekend trip to Canada and the 10 days of practice that preceded it gave Capel an early chance to mold his team this season and build on the foundation formed during his first year in Norman. That season ended up as Oklahoma's 26th straight with a winning record, but it began with some confusion.

"Last year when we first started, we probably played like a cluster out there just because no one knew," Capel said. "It was new for me, it was new for these guys, it was new for me with these guys."

Capel now has a better idea what to expect from his returning players, including a quintet who spent significant time in the starting lineup. Add to that a recruiting class that includes McDonald's All-American power forward Blake Griffin and junior college transfer Omar Leary at point guard, and Capel has reason to be optimistic.

"We think we have a chance to be a much-improved basketball team from a year ago," Capel said. "We have some guys that have to grow up very quickly for us, that have to mature very quickly, and I think we have some guys that are capable of that."

Griffin, the brother of starting forward Taylor Griffin, comes to the Sooners after winning four straight state titles at Oklahoma Christian School. His averages of 18.8 points and nine rebounds during four exhibition games in Canada were tops on the team, and they came in only 22 minutes per game.

He could provide needed scoring punch for a team that tied for 10th in the Big 12 in that category a year ago and lost two of its top three leading scorers.

"Do we have a guy that can be a 16-, 17-, 18-point a game guy? I don't know. No one's done it yet," Capel said. "Hopefully we have a guy that can step up and really become kind of a go-to guy for us. Right now, that's what we're still trying to figure out is who that guy or guys can be."

While Capel said the Sooners need "a significant jump" in their perimeter play, the team's strength should be inside. Even before Griffin's arrival, Oklahoma tied for third in the conference in rebounding margin and ranked second in scoring defense.

Along with the Griffin brothers, the Sooners will have Keith Clark back healthy and UCLA transfer Ryan Wright available after sitting out last year to join Longar Longar, their top returning scorer and rebounder.

"We stress everyday with this group that we need to be a great rebounding team. I think that's something that should be a strength of ours," Capel said. "We have pretty good size and I think we have pretty good athleticism on our front line.

"Rebounding is desire, it's an attitude, and so I think it's important for us to become a great rebounding team -- not a good one, I want us to become a great rebounding team."

The improvements will be needed if Oklahoma wants to return to postseason play after snapping a 25-year streak of NIT and NCAA tournament berths that was the longest in Division I.

"Our team that we have, there's no reason that we should not make the NCAA tournament and get far into it," guard Tony Crocker said. "We've got a lot of talent."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors