OU is offering a lucky fan an interesting experience at OU Fan Day, which is August 6.
Win the auction and you can hang out with coach Stoops and have first shot at some Sooner autographs.
For all the information, go here.
July 2008
Monthly Archive
SoonerSports.com has a good summer Q&A with basketball coach Jeff Capel here.
Among the highlights:
How does Blake Griffin’s decision to return affect this team and the program as a whole?
“It affects it a lot, in so many positive ways. If you look at the landscape of college basketball, how many guys came back that were definite top-10 picks? None, except Blake Griffin. That means we’ll have one of the top players — if not the top player — in the country returning. Also, hopefully it gives more attention to our program and will spark more interest in it. I think we’ve already seen that nationally with some of the publications and what people are thinking about us. For our team, it should give us confidence.
“Also, it should help us on the recruiting front — kids knowing that they can come here and develop into a pro, into a potential lottery pick, which is what Blake will be. So it helps us in so many different ways.
“Blake makes the game so much easier for his teammates. As good as he was last year, we expect him to be even better this season because of how hard he’s been working and how determined he is to become a better player. Because of his size, his speed, his strength, he’s a guy teams have to gameplan for. At the same time, our other guys getting better helps make the game easier for Blake. So it goes hand in hand. I think he understands that now. The maturity level of his game and of him as a person has grown dramatically since the end of last year.
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Thursday’s links
* Stoops picks the brains of some NFL coaches.
* OU has 2 of the top 5 running backs in the conference? ESPN says yes.
* Venables is the second best assistant coach in the Big 12? ESPN says yes.
* Weighing in on Jarboe’s rap - here, here, here, here, here.
* Stoops above average when coaching in close games.
* Paul Thompson, all-around good guy, visits a high school team.
* An interesting look at the 1987 Sooners.
* ESPN horning in on more college sports territory.
* Crimson and Cream Machine wants to know the best recent OU All-American.
* Austin newspapers takes on OU’s bowl game woes.
* Red Dirt Kings vs. Sooner Billy.
* Sooner raffle will benefit Habitat for Humanity.
CBS is going to offer fantasy college football on its web site this year, using the players’ real names.
The NCAA is saying that it breaks its bylaws, but they are just going to keep an eye on it.
Former University of Oklahoma wrestling national champion Michael Lightner has been named the program’s volunteer assistant coach, head coach Jack Spates announced Monday.
In an objective “prestige” rating system of NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs since the start of the 1984-85 season (when the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams), ESPN.com this week ranked Oklahoma No. 12.
Assigning point values for various successes and failures (for example, one point for a 20-win season, five points for a 30-win season, minus-three points for a losing season, etc.) and for individual player honors (five points for an AP first-team All-American, three points for a second-team All-American, etc.), the Web site calculated the Sooners’ point total at 221 for the past 24 seasons. That figure ranked ahead of every Big 12 program with the exception of Kansas, which finished with a No. 3 ranking.
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Hoops happenings
So these are the dog days of summer.
Hardly dull days, not for the OU men’s basketball team.
Lots of news. Good news.
* Item: Sooners release non-conference schedule, which could feature as many as 11 teams that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament. There’s some good games, some tests, too. But for a team expected to challenge in the Big 12 and nationally, it’s nothing that can’t be navigated. Games at Arkansas and Tulsa are intriguing. USC visits Norman, yet it’s far from the O.J. Mayo-led Trojan squad that beat OU in SoCal last year. The highlight of the sked, however, is the NIT Season Tip-Off, which should send the Sooners to Madison Square Garden around the Thanksgiving Holiday. OU could win the thing.
* Item: Blake Griffin is named to Blue Ribbon Basketball Yearbook’s Preseason All-America Team. Get used to the honors. While the Blue Ribbon nod is Griffin’s first, there will surely be more to come. He is, after all, projected to be the first player taken in next year’s NBA Draft by some.
* Item: Sooners get a commitment from Houston point guard Tommy Mason-Griffin. This is a big commit, and not just because Mason-Griffin is the No. 5 point prospect in the country according to ESPN.com. It’s big because Jeff Capel’s been coveting a standout point man for his offense. And now, apparently, he has one. And he has a key piece to plug in if/when Griffin leaves for the NBA after this season.
– By John Helsley
Here’s a link to OU’s introduction video. That ought to get Sooner fans pumped up.
TOLUCA, Mexico — Leslie Cole and Scottesha Miller will return to Oklahoma with a little extra luggage after claiming gold medals at the NACAC Under-23 Track & Field Championships in Toluca, Mexico. In addition, Latoya Greaves grabbed silver and bronze medals competing for Jamaica.
While the NCAA season concluded over a month ago, track and field athletes from the University of Oklahoma continue their competition on the international level. Senior Leslie Cole and junior Scottesha Miller will represent the U.S. as junior Latoya Greaves competes for Jamaica at this weekend’s NACAC Under-23 Track & Field Championships in Toluca, Mexico.
