Sooners Embracing Identity at the Right Time

With the arrival of March, a basketball team uncertain of its own identity most likely is a team not headed to the NCAA Tournament.

Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger admits his team had difficulty finding itself at various times this season.

“We've struggled to have a consistent identity, quite frankly, which isn't necessarily great,” Kruger said. “We've just been so inconsistent night to night, both individually and as a group.”

But with NCAA Tournament bids less than two weeks away, the Sooners appear to have identified themselves.

OU closes its home schedule against Kansas on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT (ESPN2) inside Lloyd Noble Center. A victory over the No. 13-ranked Jayhawks (22-7 overall; 11-5 Big 12) would give the Sooners (18-11, 6-10) their ninth straight victory in their home finale and their 14th in the last 16 seasons. It also would be OU's fourth victory in the last seven meetings in Norman against KU.

This year's Sooners play nothing like last year's Sooners, although the results have been eerily similar.

"We know we have to come out and play hard, not have a slow start. When we are clicking, there's no one thing we have to go to in order to be successful because everyone is able to make a play for themselves and for others.”
- Kristian Doolittle

Last season, OU started the season with a 14-2 record and climbed to No. 4 in The Associated Press poll on Jan. 15. The Sooners then lost nine of their next 11, including a stretch of six straight, and dropped out of the Top 25 in a span of five weeks.

This season, OU started out 13-3 and reached No. 19 in the coaches' poll on Jan. 14. The Sooners then lost seven of their next nine, including a stretch of five straight.

Junior forward Kristian Doolittle said he and his teammates did not suffer a case of déjà vu.

“We don't bring up last year at all, or any years in the past,” Doolittle said. “Every team is different and has to do different things to win.”

Doolittle insists this year's five-game skid is in the rearview mirror thanks to “having a look at the grand scheme of things, putting all the games in the past behind us, paying more attention to detail in practice, more intensity, making a more conscious effort to make the right plays.”

The Sooners ventured down an entirely different path during this year's journey.

OU's style of play last year was a high-scoring (84.9-point average), up-tempo attack led by freshman point guard Trae Young, who became the first player ever to lead Division I in scoring (27.4) and assists (8.7). Young is now an NBA Rookie of the Year candidate with the Atlanta Hawks.

Meanwhile, this year's Sooners have downshifted to emphasize defense with their overall length and athleticism, allowing opponents 68.1 points and a .402 field-goal percentage (second in the Big 12 and 21st nationally). OU also leads the conference in defensive rebounding (28.5) and ranks second in total rebounds (38.1).

An NCAA Tournament bid would make the Sooners one of only three Big 12 teams to make the Bid Dance in six of the last seven seasons.

While all things went through Young offensively last season, this year's team is more of an equal opportunity venture.

The Big 12 has 10 players averaging double-digits in points and at least six rebounds, and three play for the Sooners in senior Christian James (15.4 points, 6.8 rebounds), sophomore Brady Manek (11.6, 6.2) and Doolittle (10.3, 6.8). No other conference team has more than one player above these plateaus.

“Being able to have multiple playmakers on the floor at one time doesn't allow the defense to key on to one player or take away specifically one player,” Doolittle said. “Rebounding is huge. Being able to distribute the rebounds takes the pressure off specifically one player. Knowing if we box out someone else will be able to come clean it up.”

Even when OU was 4-9 in Big 12 play three weeks ago, it was still projected to make this year's NCAA tournament by prominent ESPN “bracketologist” Joe Lunardi.

“Speaking for me personally, I don't listen to anything outside this team,” Doolittle said of all the conjecture.

Lunardi's bracketology entering Monday night's games has eight Big 12 teams receiving bids, an unprecedented 80 percent of teams from the same conference. Kansas and Texas Tech are No. 3 seeds, Iowa State is a No. 5, Kansas State a No. 6, Baylor a No. 8, Texas a No. 9, OU a No. 10 and TCU a No. 11.

Count Kruger is among those who believe in the Big 12's overall strength.

“Oh, I do. Absolutely. I don't think there's any question,” Kruger said. “Plus, (last-place) West Virginia can beat people and (coach) Mike Boynton has done a terrific job at Oklahoma State. There's 10 teams that can go out and really beat anyone.”

The Sooners went 12-1 in non-conference play, which included victories over Florida, Notre Dame, USC, Northwestern, Creighton, Wichita State, Dayton, Vanderbilt and Wofford (ranked No. 22 this week). The lone loss came against No. 21-ranked Wisconsin at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.

“I thought we were pretty good defensively in non-conference, but a little inconsistent offensively,” Kruger said. “Then I thought we started worrying a little bit more about offense than defense and I thought that hurt us a little bit for a while. Again, we weren't shooting the ball very well. Some nights, we have different guys step forward, which is nice to have, but you'd like to have a little bit of a core group that's going to be there every night. And we really haven't had that consistency, which I think also contributes to a lack of consistency as a team, too.”

Of the 10 Big 12 players who are aveaging at least 10 points and six rebounds, three play for Oklahoma.

Recent performances have found OU getting off to quality starts, which have led to better overall consistency and resulted in success with three victories in the last four starts.

“We've shot the ball better, played with a lot more confidence and gotten good results, which always helps,” Kruger said. “Good to see, absolutely, for sure.”

In conference play, Doolittle is averaging 13.3 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists while leading the Sooners in scoring and rebounding. He is the only Big 12 player averaging at least 13.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in league competition.

“We know we have to come out and play hard, not have a slow start,” Doolittle said. “Any game where we come out clicking, it pretty much lasts us the entirety of the game. When we are clicking, there's no one thing we have to go to in order to be successful because everyone is able to make a play for themselves and for others.”

As is usually the case in basketball, OU's formula for success is clear-cut: The Sooners are 18-0 when they finish with a higher shooting percentage than their opponent and 0-10 when they don't (0-1 when they shoot the same).

OU is shooting .474 from the field (.371 from 3-point range) in its 18 victories and .395 (.306 on 3-pointers) in its 11 losses.

The Sooners finished 18-14 last season and have met or surpassed their win total from the previous season in five of the last six seasons.

OU is the only school this season to beat a team from every major conference (Power Five, plus the Big East).

With a victory tonight, the Sooners could officially bring an end to KU's 14-year reign as conference champs and seal OU's sixth trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last seven seasons.

“We talked about that briefly in the huddle (Monday),” Doolittle said of ending the Jayhawks' title hopes. “Just knowing what this game means as far as our team getting into the tournament and as far as the streak for Kansas, there's a lot at stake for both teams.”