Players Honored at Hoops Banquet

April 21, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. - A crowd of 400 fans celebrated a 23-12 Oklahoma men's basketball season on the floor of Lloyd Noble Center Monday evening at the team's annual year-end banquet, and listened to head coach Jeff Capel glance ahead if ever so slightly.

All 12 members of the squad were in attendance as a total of 12 awards -- most of them named after former OU players -- were issued. The night was titled, "Celebrating the Past and Present of Sooner Basketball, and Building the Future."

Freshman Blake Griffin, who was a first-team All-Big 12 selection, approached the stage for a team-high three awards on the night. One of the honors presented to Griffin from Capel was The Wayman Tisdale Most Valuable Player Award.

Griffin's brother, Taylor, along with Beau Gerber, David Godbold and Austin Johnson, took home two awards each.

Banquet Photo Gallery

During the latter part of the event, Godbold and Longar, the team's lone seniors, each addressed the fans one final time inside the building they called home for the past four years. Feature videos on both seniors, as well as one on the entire team, were shown on two large projection screens.

Near the end of the banquet, Coach Capel stressed the extreme importance of the upcoming offseason for his players. Individual improvement will be paramount to OU's improvement as a team, he said.

"I'm really excited about our future," closed Capel, "really excited about what we're building, piece by piece."

2007-08 OU Men's Basketball Postseason Banquet Awards
(listed in the order they were presented)

• The Brent Price Connection to the Community Award: Taylor Griffin
• The Roy Marler/Hollis Price Most Inspirational Award: Beau Gerber
• The Eduardo Najera Award for Intensity and Toughness: Blake Griffin
• The Mookie Blaylock Outstanding Defensive Player Award: David Godbold
• The Stacey King Award for Team Leadership: Taylor Griffin
• The Harvey Grant Award for Commitment and Overall Improvement: Cade Davis
• The Darryl "Choo" Kennedy Leading Rebounder Award: Blake Griffin
• The Terry Evans Assists Leader Award: Austin Johnson
• The Alvan Adams Award for Academic Excellence: Beau Gerber and Ryan Wright
• The Tim McCalister Iron Man Award for Most Minutes: Austin Johnson
• The Wayman Tisdale Most Valuable Player Award: Blake Griffin
• The Senior Appreciation Award: David Godbold and Longar Longar

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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