What do Jeff Capel and MTV have in common?
Being the hip-hop fan that he is, I’m sure Oklahoma basketball coach Jeff Capel watches MTV from time to time when he’s not working.
On Friday night, he wasn’t watching MTV. He was watching basketball. And so was MTV.
Capel and an MTV camera crew — not together — were at the Putnam City West gym. Capel was there watching PC West’s Tyler Neal, the yet uncommitted 6-foot-6 swingman, who scored 22 points despite some rust on his usually smooth jumper after missing the last three games with an ankle injury.
The 6-foot-9 Amric Fields flashed some of the astounding athleticism that earned him a scholarship to TCU, where he signed before the season. He had 22 points as well, including a few high-flying, two-handed slams and a couple 3-pointers. PC West rolled into the second round of the playoffs with an 82-56 win over Moore.
More on Neal in a moment, but Capel missed the more entertaining game of the night, Mustang’s 49-43 win over Choctaw. Of course, there wasn’t much reason for him to be there, unless he’s helping Bob Stoops wtih his scouting of recent OSU football commit David Glidden of Mustang.
MTV was on hand for the Broncos and Yellowjackets, though they weren’t shooting much game action. Their crew has been at PC West much of the week for a show detailing the lives of high school students at several locations across the country. The network had to get special permission from the OSSAA shoot during the game, it had to have all the players sign waivers, and it put up a big sign outside the entrance to the gym warning fans that they could end up on camera.
The game itself was a wild one, featuring two of the more athletic point guards around, Glidden and Choctaw’s Mark Florie. It was a fun battle to watch all night.
Mustang seemed to be ready to dominate the game, but saw a 12-point, third-quarter lead slip away as Choctaw went up by five with about three minutes left.
But Jacinto Biorato hit a clutch 3-pointer from the corner, Jacob Strassle and Glidden converted some key free throws and Ben Berry came through with a couple big baskets as Mustang closed the game on a 12-1 run.
Now Mustang will try to pull off the same upset from two weeks ago against PC West. Mustang knows what it needs to do, but the Patriots are extremely motivated because of the 91-88 double-OT loss to the Broncos on Feb. 12.
Back to Neal, he held off from committing or signing anywhere in November for this very reason — to try to improve his stock and land an offer from a big program. There’s no offer yet from OU, but there’s interest.
Before the season, Neal was being recruited by programs like Oral Roberts and TCU. Since then, he says he’s picked up a couple more offers, but declined to name the schools. He told me in November that he wanted to wait until the season ended to really get deep into his recruitment, and that’s why he didn’t want to discuss his offers publicly — it’s the playoffs and he wants to win a state title. He wants to keep the focus on his team and its goals.
Qualities like that would make him a good fit at OU — his team-first attitude, his work ethic and his good behavior. He’s the kind of kid that pulls a team together rather than driving it apart. Besides that, he’s got decent size, he rebounds well and his shooting range is limitless.
At 6-foot-6, Neal might not be the ideal size to play the four in the Big 12, but Capel has made it work with guys like Nate Carter and Taylor Griffin. And Neal has a better outside shot than either of them did, which is a weapon Capel really likes to have in a big guy to stretch defenses.
There’s no doubt Neal has plenty to offer, but wherever he goes, he hopes he’s taking a state championship ring with him. And that’s his only focus right now.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
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