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Gotta say, love the idea by the people at OU to offer incentive-based free season tickets to students for men’s basketball.

Attracting students to games has been a problem, for some mysterious reason, dating way back. Lloyd Noble isn’t at the center of campus, but it isn’t a gas-guzzling excursion, either. And the product has been good, great at times, with the potential for the latter high for this fast-approaching season.

But rather than complain and do nothing, a group led by ticket manager Billy Ray Johnson gathered and got creative. And they came up with a calculated plan that refunds students the cost of their season tickets ($130), provided they — or a stand in — attend at least 16 games.

Make it to at least 14 and the school gives back 50 bucks.

It’s a move to put butts in seats. Simply giving season tickets to students up front, which some schools do, doesn’t guarantee that.

For OU, it’s not as much about the money, as it is the energy and atmosphere boost that students provide.

And a full and frenzied LNC could help recruiting, whether drawing prospects or keeping coach Jeff Capel on board if/when so-called basketball schools come calling.

– By John Helsley

* University of Texas newspaper columnist takes a swipe at Stoops.

* ESPN blogger Tim Griffin (who does a great job of linking to our stuff) gets some link love back. Here’s his State of the Big 12.

* Some in Iowa still dream at night that Bob Stoops will come be their head coach.

* Update on basketball newcomer Ryan Wright, who will try to fill in for Longar Longar.

* Reaction to Jarboe continues here, here, here,

* Bleacher Reporter gives it up to Sam Bradford.

* Even with Keith Nichol sitting on the bench, Michigan State thin at QB.

* Local scribe talks with new OU wide receiver Jameel Owens of Muskogee.

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.

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.

(more…)

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

Now that we can embed video on the blog, here are some Willie Warren highlights. Enjoy.