OU Bound for Canada over Labor Day

June 19, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. -- The Oklahoma men's basketball team will get an early jump on the 2007-08 season when it travels to Vancouver, British Columbia, for a four-game Labor Day weekend trip against colleges from the Vancouver area.

The Sooners are scheduled to play exhibition games against the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Trinity Western University and Douglas College. Other Division I basketball teams scheduled to compete in Vancouver with the Sooners against the Canadian schools include Air Force, Boise State, Idaho and UC Santa Barbara.

"Our program is excited for this opportunity," said second-year OU head coach Jeff Capel. "It will give us the chance to start working with our young guys. We have five new players who will be able to play and we'll get an early start on implementing our system -- some of the things we want to do offensively, some of our defensive principles.

"On top of that, we'll get game competition. Our staff will get to see our guys in game situations very early. That's important for this team because we have so many new bodies."

Coach Capel's Mailbag

The Sooners will play the University of British Columbia on Saturday, Sept. 1, Simon Fraser and Trinity Western on Sunday, Sept. 2, and Douglas College on Monday, Sept. 3, before returning to Oklahoma later that day.

In addition to the four games in Vancouver, Capel said his team will benefit from the court time preceding the trip.

"We get 10 practices over 11 days prior to leaving, so we're really looking forward to that. The trip will also allow us to get film of our players earlier than usual. I think a lot is learned by watching tape. So with our practices and our games, we'll have an opportunity to see things we did well and things we didn't do well. We'll have a much better idea of what we need to work on as we move toward October practice."

Oklahoma finished 16-15 overall last year and 6-10 in the Big 12 Conference. The Sooners return seven letterwinners from last season and welcome six newcomers. One of the newcomers, junior forward Ryan Wright, transferred from UCLA and will sit out the 2007-08 season. Wright is from Mississauga, Ontario.

The NCAA permits athletics teams to participate in a certified foreign tour once every four years. The OU men's basketball team last took part in a foreign tour in 2003 when it traveled to Costa Rica over Labor Day weekend.

Vancouver Trip Itinerary (All Times Pacific)
Friday, Aug. 31: Depart for Vancouver
Saturday, Sept. 1: vs. University of British Columbia (7 p.m.)
Sunday, Sept. 2: vs. Simon Fraser (noon) and vs. Trinity Western (8 p.m.)
Monday, Sept. 3: vs. Douglass College (9 a.m.); Return to Oklahoma

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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