Pundits High on Men's Hoops Team

May 1, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. - Blake Griffin's April 9 announcement that he will come back to OU for his sophomore season put the Sooner men's basketball faithful at ease.

Now, Griffin's decision, coupled with the return of several key teammates and the arrival of a highly touted recruiting class (including McDonald's All-American Willie Warren), has generated significant buzz among national media outlets regarding OU's prospective 2008-09 fortunes.

Oklahoma, which will be under the direction of third-year head coach Jeff Capel next season, is ranked in the top 25 by several national pundits even though the first game is more than six months away.

One online publication, Rivals.com, has the Sooners rated seventh nationally -- the highest spot occupied in the poll by a Big 12 program. Rivals.com's voting was conducted under the premise that each of the underclassmen who have entered the draft will be leaving college for good.

Other rankings include a No. 16 positioning by SI.com (Luke Winn) and ESPN.com (Andy Katz), as well as a No. 24 rating by FoxSports.com (Jeff Goodman).

Additionally, ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi projects the Sooners as a No. 4 seed in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.

Griffin, a first-team All-Big 12 selection as a freshman, headlines OU's crop of returning players. He averaged 14.7 points and 9.1 rebounds a contest for the 23-12 Sooners this past season while ranking third in the Big 12 with his .568 field goal percentage. Griffin logged 10 double-doubles on the year, the last seven against NCAA Tournament teams (he averaged 20.3 points and 14.7 rebounds in those seven outings).

Also back for Capel next season will be seniors-to-be Austin Johnson (8.6 ppg, 2.9 apg), Taylor Griffin (6.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg) and Omar Leary (3.9 ppg), juniors-to-be Tony Crocker (11.3 ppg, 64 3-pointers) and walk-on Beau Gerber, and sophomore-to-be Cade Davis (3.7 ppg).

After a year of practicing with the team following his transfer from UCLA where he participated in two Final Fours, junior forward Ryan Wright will also join the playing rotation.

Warren, a consensus high school All-American who led the McDonald's All-American game in scoring with 23 points, is expected to deliver major point production from the guard position. He is joined in the recruiting class by fellow high school guard Ray Willis (ranked No. 109 by Rivals.com) and junior college transfers Orlando Allen, Kyle Cannon and Juan Pattillo. Cannon and Pattillo were preseason first-team juco All-Americans last year.

For information on men's basketball season tickets, contact the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (800) 456-4668 or (405) 325-2424.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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