OU MEN S BASKETBALL

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1 OU MEN S BASKETBALL THE PREVIEW 2 THE PREVIEW General Information... 2 Rosters... 3 Photo Roster... 4 Schedule... 5 Season Outlook... 6 Preseason Notebook Preseason Player Poll BOOMER SOONER Storied History Sooner Gameday Lloyd Noble Center Legacy Court Athletics Facilities National Exposure Postseason Pride Final Fours Sooner Success Sooner Spirit Strength and Conditioning Sports Medicine Community Outreach The University THE PLAYERS David Godbold Longar Longar Taylor Griffin Austin Johnson Keith Clark Tony Crocker Beau Gerber Ryan Wright Omar Leary Cade Davis Blake Griffin Tony Neysmith Dau Jok THE STAFF Jeff Capel Ben Betts Mark Cline Oronde Taliaferro Bryan Goodman Basketball Support Staff David L. Boren Joe Castiglione Athletics Administration Head Coaches THE OPPONENTS San Francisco/Denver East Central/Alcorn State Morehead State/USC TCU/Tulsa Stephen F. Austin/Arkansas Gonzaga/West Virginia Rice/Mount St. Mary s Kansas State/Kansas Texas Tech/Baylor Oklahoma State/Texas A&M Texas/Colorado Iowa State/Nebraska Missouri Big 12 Arenas Results vs. Big 12 Teams OU vs. All Opponents THE REVIEW Season Recap Season Statistics Season Results Points, Rebounds, Assists Game-by-Game Totals Season Superlatives Big 12 Leaders Game Recaps THE RECORDS Individual Records Team Records Lloyd Noble Center Records Career Leaders Single-Season Leaders Year-by-Year Leaders Yearly Team Stats Big 12 Championship Postseason Results Postseason Records ,000-Point Scorers Single-Game Scoring Highs Point Games Double/Triple-Doubles THE HISTORY Sooner Coaches Facilities Timeline Individual Honors Sooners in the NBA Retired Jerseys Letterwinners Year-by-Year Records Regular Season Events Sooners in the AP Poll Year-by-Year Rosters Year-by-Year Results MEDIA 197 INFORMATION Media Relations Staff Athletics Directory Coverage Guidelines Media Outlets Radio Coverage Television Coverage Big 12 Conference Big 12 Composite Schedule Big 12 Championship Bracket Maps and Directions Nike is the official footwear, apparel supplier and sponsor of the University of Oklahoma men s basketball team. MEDIA GUIDE CREDITS The University of Oklahoma men s basketball media guide was designed and produced by the OU Athletics Department in Norman, Okla., using Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop. The guide was printed by OU Printing Services of Norman and distributed at no cost to the taxpayers of the state of Oklahoma. The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution. PROJECT COORDINATOR & GUIDE DESIGN Mike Houck COVER DESIGN Scott Matthews CONTRIBUTORS Kellen Coleman, Debbie Copp, Mitch Heckart, Ryan Kasmiersky, Leslie Koch, Meredith Noonan, Phillip Rogers, Sheridan Samples, Kirstin Schmidt PHOTOGRAPHY Rich Clarkson, Lisa Hall, Mike Houck, Simon Hurst, Mark Kraus, Jackson Laizure, Jerry Laizure, ICON Sports Media, Ty Russell, Thom Kendall/Schwartzman Sports, Larry W. Smith, Shevaun Williams, John Williamson, Fayetteville News-Observer, OU Athletics Media Relations Archives, OU Western History Collections, UCLA, USA Basketball THE 101 ST YEAR OF OKLAHOMA BASKETBALL

2 THE PREVIEW GENERAL INFORMATION OKLAHOMA QUICK FACTS Location: Norman, Okla. Founded: 1890 Enrollment: 29,721 Nickname: Sooners Colors: Crimson and Cream Conference: Big 12 (South) Arena: Lloyd Noble Center (12,000) President: David L. Boren Athletics Director: Joe Castiglione First Year of Basketball: All-Time Record: 1, (.610) NCAA Tournament Appearances: 24 Final Four Appearances: 4 (1939, 1947, 1988, 2002) NIT Appearances: 7 Regular Season Conference Titles: 13 (1928, 1929, 1939, 1942, 1944, 1947, 1949, 1979, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 2005) Conference Tournament Titles: 7 (1979, 1985, 1988, 1990, 2001, 2002, 2003) Record: overall Big 12 Record: 6-10 (seventh-place tie) Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 7/5 Starters Returning/Lost: 3/2 Returning Scoring: 61 percent Returning Rebounding: 70 percent Returning Assists: 66 percent BASKETBALL STAFF Head Coach: Jeff Capel Alma Mater: Duke 97 Record at Oklahoma: (1 year) Career Record: (5 years) Career NCAA Tournament Appearances: 1 Career NIT Appearances: 1 Assistant Coaches: Ben Betts (Roanoke College 90), Mark Cline (Wake Forest 88), Oronde Taliaferro (Wayne State 94) Director of Basketball Operations: Bryan Goodman (Barat College 96) Trainer: Alex Brown Team Physician: Dr. Brock Schnebel Strength and Conditioning Coach: Darby Rich Video Coordinator: Dionne Phelps Coach Capel s Secretary: Renee Forney Office Secretary: Anny Whittle ATHLETICS TICKET OFFICE Local Phone: (405) Toll Free Phone: (800) Address: OU Athletics Ticket Office, 1185 Asp Ave., Norman, OK outickets@ou.edu Director of Ticket Operations: Billy Ray Johnson Associate Directors of Ticket Operations: Bob Cunningham, Amanda Horvath Assistant Ticket Manager: John Mahoney Box Office Manager: Matt Schaeperkoetter Staff Assistants: Betty Arbuckle, Barbara Archer, Cindy Smalley, Sylvia Wharton, David White Intern: Brad Landis South Ramp (Media Entrance) Lloyd Noble Center (Capacity: 12,000) Student Sections 2 OKLAHOMA MEN S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE

3 ROSTERS THE PREVIEW NUMERICAL No. Name Pos. Cl. Ht. Wt. Hometown (Last School) 00 Keith Clark* F So Oklahoma City, Okla. (Putnam City HS) 1 Ryan Wright F Jr Mississauga, Ontario (UCLA) 2 Tony Neysmith G Fr Norcross, Ga. (Norcross HS) 4 Dau Jok G So Olathe, Kan. (Iowa Central CC) 5 Tony Crocker* G So San Antonio, Texas (The Patterson School [N.C.]) 11 Omar Leary G Jr Portland, Ore. (Northeastern [Colo.] JC) 15 David Godbold*** G Sr Oklahoma City, Okla. (Douglass HS) 20 Austin Johnson** G Jr Amarillo, Texas (Palo Duro HS) 23 Blake Griffin F Fr Oklahoma City, Okla. (Oklahoma Christian School) 30 Longar Longar*** C Sr Rochester, Minn. (Laurinburg Institute [N.C.]) 32 Taylor Griffin** F Jr Oklahoma City, Okla. (Oklahoma Christian School) 34 Cade Davis G Fr Elk City, Okla. (Elk City HS) 45 Beau Gerber* F So Winfield, Kan. (Winfield HS) ALPHABETICAL No. Name Pos. Cl. Ht. Wt. Hometown (Last School) 00 Keith Clark* F So Oklahoma City, Okla. (Putnam City HS) 5 Tony Crocker* G So San Antonio, Texas (The Patterson School [N.C.]) 34 Cade Davis G Fr Elk City, Okla. (Elk City HS) 45 Beau Gerber* F So Winfield, Kan. (Winfield HS) 15 David Godbold*** G Sr Oklahoma City, Okla. (Douglass HS) 23 Blake Griffin F Fr Oklahoma City, Okla. (Oklahoma Christian School) 32 Taylor Griffin** F Jr Oklahoma City, Okla. (Oklahoma Christian School) 20 Austin Johnson** G Jr Amarillo, Texas (Palo Duro HS) 4 Dau Jok G So Olathe, Kan. (Iowa Central CC) 11 Omar Leary G Jr Portland, Ore. (Northeastern [Colo.] JC) 30 Longar Longar*** C Sr Rochester, Minn. (Laurinburg Institute [N.C.]) 2 Tony Neysmith G Fr Norcross, Ga. (Norcross HS) 1 Ryan Wright# F Jr Mississauga, Ontario (UCLA) * Letters earned at Oklahoma # Will sit out the season due to NCAA transfer rules Junior forward Taylor Griffin Oklahoma Staff Head Coach: Jeff Capel (Duke 97); second season at OU Assistant Coaches: Ben Betts (Roanoke College 90); second season at OU Mark Cline (Wake Forest 88); second season at OU Oronde Taliaferro (Wayne State 94, first season at OU) Director of Basketball Operations: Bryan Goodman (Barat College 96); second season at OU Pronunciation Guide Dau Jok: DOW JOCK Longar Longar: LONG-garr Tony Neysmith: NAY-smith Oronde Taliaferro: o-ron-day tal-uh FAIR-o OKLAHOMA MEN S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE 3

4 THE PREVIEW PHOTO ROSTER 00 KEITH CLARK 6-8, 240, So., Forward Oklahoma City, Okla. 1 RYAN WRIGHT 6-9, 229, Jr., Forward Mississauga, Ontario 2 TONY NEYSMITH 6-5, 203, Fr., Guard Norcross, Ga. 4 DAU JOK 6-1, 176, So., Guard Olathe, Kan. 5 TONY CROCKER 6-6, 193, So., Guard San Antonio, Texas 11 OMAR LEARY 5-10, 163, Jr., Guard Portland, Ore. 15 DAVID GODBOLD 6-5, 221, Sr., Guard Oklahoma City, Okla. 20 AUSTIN JOHNSON 6-3, 165, Jr., Guard Amarillo, Texas 23 BLAKE GRIFFIN 6-10, 243, Fr., Forward Oklahoma City, Okla. 30 LONGAR LONGAR 6-11, 234, Sr., Center Rochester, Minn. 32 TAYLOR GRIFFIN 6-7, 230, Jr., Forward Oklahoma City, Okla. 34 CADE DAVIS 6-5, 203, Fr., Guard Elk City, Okla. 45 BEAU GERBER 6-8, 224, So., Forward Winfield, Kan. JEFF CAPEL Head Coach BEN BETTS Assistant Coach MARK CLINE Assistant Coach ORONDE TALIAFERRO Assistant Coach BRYAN GOODMAN Director of Operations 4 OKLAHOMA MEN S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE

5 SCHEDULE THE PREVIEW DAY DATE OPPONENT SITE TIME TV Wednesday Oct. 31! Rockhurst Norman 7 p.m. Friday Nov. 2! Fayetteville State Norman 7 p.m. Thursday Nov. 8 # San Francisco Norman 7 p.m. Friday Nov. 9 # Denver or East Central Norman 4:30 or 7 p.m. Monday Nov. 12 Alcorn State Norman 7 p.m. SSN Thursday Nov. 15 # vs. TBA New York, N.Y. 6 or 8:30 p.m. ESPN2 Friday Nov. 16 # vs. TBA New York, N.Y. 5:30 or 8 p.m. ESPN2 Wednesday Nov. 21 Morehead State Norman 7 p.m. SSN Thursday Nov. 29 $ at USC Los Angeles, Calif. 10 p.m. FSN Sunday Dec. 2 at TCU Fort Worth, Texas 6 p.m. CSTV Wednesday Dec. 5 Tulsa Norman 7 p.m. SSN Saturday Dec. 8 Stephen F. Austin Norman 12:30 p.m. SSN Saturday Dec. 15 Arkansas Norman 2 p.m. ESPN2 Thursday Dec. 20 % vs. Gonzaga Oklahoma City, Okla. 8 p.m. ESPN2 Saturday Dec. 29 vs. West Virginia Charleston, W.Va. 5 p.m. ESPN2 Saturday Jan. 5 Rice Norman 2 p.m. SSN Monday Jan. 7 Mount St. Mary s Norman TBA Saturday Jan. 12 Kansas State Norman 5 p.m. ESPN Plus Monday Jan. 14 at Kansas Lawrence, Kan. 8 p.m. ESPN Saturday Jan. 19 Texas Tech Norman 3 p.m. ESPN Plus Saturday Jan. 26 at Baylor Waco, Texas 3 p.m. ESPN Plus Monday Jan. 28 Oklahoma State Norman 8 p.m. ESPN Saturday Feb. 2 at Texas A&M College Station, Texas 3 p.m. ESPN Plus Wednesday Feb. 6 Texas Norman 6 p.m. ESPN2 Saturday Feb. 9 at Colorado Boulder, Colo. 3 p.m. ESPNU Wednesday Feb. 13 Iowa State Norman 7 p.m. ESPN Plus Saturday Feb. 16 at Texas Tech Lubbock, Texas 3 p.m. ESPN Plus Tuesday Feb. 19 Baylor Norman 7 p.m. ESPN Plus Saturday Feb. 23 at Texas Austin, Texas 2:30 p.m. ABC Wednesday Feb. 27 at Nebraska Lincoln, Neb. 7 p.m. Saturday March 1 Texas A&M Norman 1 p.m. ESPN Wednesday March 5 at Oklahoma State Stillwater, Okla. 7 p.m. ESPN Plus Saturday March 8 Missouri Norman 2:30 p.m. ABC Thur.-Sun. March at Big 12 Championship Kansas City, Mo. TBA ESPN Plus/ESPN*! Exhibition # 2K Sports College Hoops Classic $ Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series % O Reilly All-College Classic * Championship game Dates and times are subject to change. All times are Central. Home games are in bold. ESPN Plus is Big 12 regional television. SSN is Sooner Sports Network NCAA Tournament Dates and Sites FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS March 20 & 22: Honda Center (Anaheim, Calif.), Pepsi Center (Denver, Colo.), Qwest Center Omaha (Omaha, Neb.), Verizon Center (Washington, D.C.); March 21 & 23: BJCC Arena (Birmingham, Ala.), Alltel Arena (Little Rock, Ark.), RBC Center (Raleigh, N.C.), St. Pete Times Forum (St. Petersburg, Fla.) REGIONALS March 27 & 29: Charlotte Bobcat Arena (Charlotte, N.C.), US Airways Center (Phoenix, Ariz.); March 28 & 30: Ford Field (Detroit, Mich.), Reliant Stadium (Houston, Texas) FINAL FOUR April 5 & 7: Alamodome (San Antonio, Texas) OKLAHOMA MEN S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE 5

6 THE PREVIEW SEASON OUTLOOK The return of center Longar Longar (left) and the addition of McDonald s All-American forward Blake Griffin should help give the Sooners one of the Big 12 s most talented frontcourts in BACK ON TRACK Blend of experienced veterans and talented newcomers generate heavy optimism in Norman as Sooners seek return to NCAA Tournament Jeff Capel s first season as Oklahoma s basketball coach didn t end the way he or his team hoped it would. After winning six of their first 10 Big 12 Conference games and standing at 15-8 overall, the Sooners lost seven of their final eight contests. Three of those defeats came at the hands of teams ranked in the top six nationally, while another came against a No. 19 squad that featured the nation s top player. The result was a final record that left the Sooners out of the postseason for the first time since The nation s longest postseason streak had come to an end. While not a surprise to many preseason prognosticators, including Big 12 coaches (OU was picked to finish in ninth place in the league s preseason poll), Oklahoma s inability to get over the hump in close games down the stretch left a bitter, long-lasting taste in the mouths of coaches and players. Vowing to avoid the same position in the future, OU s returning players dedicated themselves over the summer to improving their individual games and returning the program back to familiar territory come March. The coaches did their part, too, by signing a highly regarded recruiting class that filled needs and is expected to provide an immediate shot in the arm. The Sooners return 61 percent of their scoring, 70 percent of their rebounding and 66 percent of their assists from a year ago. Seven letterwinners are back, including four players who started at least 22 games. New to the team are six players: three freshmen, a junior college transfer, a transfer from UCLA and a walk-on sophomore guard. Leading the OU charge will be Longar Longar, a 6-11 senior center who is the squad s top returning scorer and rebounder. Longar averaged 10.4 points and 7.1 boards as a junior while shooting a team-high.553 from the field. He is a career.587 shooter who also provides a defensive presence in the paint with his length. Freshman forward Blake Griffin, a 6-10 McDonald s All-American, is the most heralded of OU s signees and is expected to team with Longar to form one of the more potent starting frontcourts in the league. Griffin averaged 18.8 points and 9.0 boards in less than 20 minutes a game during OU s August exhibition trip to Canada. Adding firepower to the Sooners frontline will be junior forward Taylor Griffin (6.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and sophomore forward Keith Clark (3.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg). A top-60 national high school player two years ago, Clark is returning from a knee injury that limited him to 11 games as a freshman. Taylor Griffin and Clark are two of the most versatile players on the team an asset that doesn t go unnoticed by Capel and his staff. Senior David Godbold (7.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg), junior Austin Johnson (7.0 ppg, 2.8 apg) and sophomore Tony Crocker (8.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg) anchor a backcourt that was up and down last year. Practices leading up to the team s excursion to Canada indicated overall improvement from the returning guards, although Johnson and Crocker did not make the trip due to injuries from which they are now recovered. Benefiting from quality playing time in Canada were Omar Leary and freshmen Cade Davis and Tony Neysmith. Leary, a first-team junior college All-American last year, is a point guard who will battle Johnson for a starting spot. He averaged 14.0 points and 6.3 assists a game a year ago. Davis, regarded as Oklahoma s second best high school player last year behind Blake Griffin, impressed on the wing in Canada by averaging 11.3 points and making a team-high 11 treys over four games. Neysmith was a top-100 national high school player as a senior and averaged 7.0 points and 3.0 assists in Canada. Another newcomer, transfer Ryan Wright played the past two seasons at UCLA, competing in a pair of Final Fours. The 6-9 forward will practice with the team this season and have two years of eligibility remaining with the start of the campaign. Participating as walk-ons this year will be a pair of sophomores in forward Beau Gerber and guard Dau Jok. Gerber played in 11 games last year while Jok is in his first year on the team. 6 OKLAHOMA MEN S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE

7 SEASON OUTLOOK THE PREVIEW QUOTING CAPEL Looking back, what are your thoughts on your first season as Oklahoma s basketball head coach? I thought we did some good things, had some good moments. Certainly, I thought our guys played hard. We were in a very good position at one point within the conference at 15-8 overall and 6-4 in the league. From that point on I think we ran out of gas a little bit. I think our team got a little mentally fatigued. But we laid a pretty good foundation for playing hard and for some of the things we ll do defensively this year and in the future. I expect us to be better in a lot of areas this year. Having more depth will allow us to have more competition in practice and allow us to run more. We ll also be able to extend our defense more. We were able to do that in spots last year, but not as consistently as I like. You said when you were hired that your teams would play as fast as your personnel would allow you to. Were you able to play as up-tempo as you wanted to last year? No, we weren t. I thought at times we did, but overall we didn t. There were times when we d get a defensive rebound and I d be yelling, Run! Go! And some of our players were giving me the hand signal that we need to slow it down. We certainly weren t able to do a lot of the things I like to do. But I think you have to coach your personnel. I m able to change and we coached our guys last year in a way that gave us the best chance to win games. If you look at things, we were right there in a lot of games and just couldn t get over the hump. That s where added depth this year will help. Last year we couldn t really practice as much as I wanted or do some of the things I like to do in practice. We were down to nine guys sometimes, counting walk-ons. When you re preparing for Texas A&M and you have a walk-on trying to simulate Joseph Jones, it doesn t give you the greatest picture of what you re trying to do. That s nothing against our walk-ons because I love them and they do a great job for us. But added depth will really help us in practice this year. We ll be able to really get after each other with more bodies more talented bodies. All of our new guys, with the exception of Omar Leary, are very good at elevating off the floor. They re all good athletes. With that, we should really be able to get out on the wings and run. All of our post guys can run. Then, having a guy like Omar a true point guard will really help us. We also feel very comfortable with the ball in Austin Johnson s hands. I think A.J. s better when we re running. Those two guys, along with Tony Neysmith, will help with ball handling. Omar and Tony will help take some pressure off Austin. When you have to bring the ball up against pressure all game long and get into the offense, it really wears you down if you re not used to it. I thought that happened to A.J. at times last year. Do you have any concerns regarding this team? Shooting is an area where there might be some questions. We lost a good 3-point shooter in Michael Neal and another senior who shot very well from the floor in Nate Carter. Those two guys were experienced, played in a lot of big games and made some big shots. But at the same time we think we have some guys who will be able to put the ball in the hole. Longar Longar shot a great percentage last year and we look for him David Godbold, who owns a.347 career 3-point field goal percentage, leads all current Sooners in games played (88) and started (48). to continue to do that. David Godbold showed in spurts what he can do. If he commits himself, he can increase his scoring average. Tony Crocker is our leading returning scorer on the perimeter and he led us in 3-point percentage. We look for him to become an even more consistent shooter. And Austin Johnson shot the ball well, especially early in the season and at home. He struggled a little bit the second half of the year as he wore down some from injuries and different things he went through. As far as our newcomers, Cade Davis can shoot the basketball. Tony Neysmith is good mid-range. He needs to work on expanding his range, and he s doing that. He s getting better. Blake Griffin will be able to create different scoring opportunities. Blake can drive, he can handle it, he can pass it, he can run. Those skills should help him get open looks, and help his teammates get open looks. And Omar Leary shot 45 percent from 3-point range over his two years in junior college. So while we lost a couple of good shooters from last year, we feel we ve got some guys who are capable of putting the ball in the basket. How big of a benefit will familiarity of your players be for you in your second year? I think that will help. Last year we were all learning each other. When I was hired in April 2006, we had six guys who could go through individual workouts. Michael Neal and Austin Johnson were hurt. And even with those six guys, I couldn t really get to see all of the things they could do. But now, I know our returning players. I ve seen them in practice for a year. I know who they are and I know what their strengths are. With that said, I m looking for some change. Hopefully they re different in a good way when we start practice. That means they ve really dedicated themselves and worked hard on their games. I m a big believer that in order to become good you have to fall in love with the process of being good. That s what I ve talked about with our team since the season ended the process of What are some of the team s strengths? I think we should be a great rebounding team. With guys like Longar Longar, Taylor Griffin, Blake Griffin and Keith Clark on the inside, and David Godbold and Tony Crocker doing well on the boards as guards, rebounding should be an area in which we re really good. Also, when you become a good rebounding team, it increases your chances of becoming a good running team. We ll definitely be more athletic than we were OKLAHOMA MEN S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE 7

8 THE PREVIEW SEASON OUTLOOK Taylor Griffin this summer. He s put on some weight, gotten stronger. This is a big year for him. I think he ll be better because he ll be better prepared. He knows what to expect now. I think Taylor Griffin will be better. He played a lot of minutes last year but was kind of up and down. For guys who haven t played a lot, that s to be expected. Getting Keith Clark back will be big for us. I really thought he was starting to turn the corner when he hurt his knee (in December). He was getting in better shape and was playing very well. And we think Blake Griffin has the ability to be an impact player for us as a freshman. He s very talented and we certainly hope he can score the ball for us, but there are so many things he can do. He s a very good passer and rebounder, and has the chance to be a good defender. So we feel really good about our post guys and the opportunity they have to hopefully make up one of the best frontcourts in the league. Tony Crocker Frontcourt Longar Longar Taylor Griffin Keith Clark Beau Gerber Blake Griffin Ryan Wright* *Will sit out the season due to transfer rules Senior Center Junior Forward Sophomore Forward Sophomore Forward Freshman Forward Junior Forward becoming a good basketball team. You have to work. You have to work every day, you have to work at a high level and you have to prepare at a high level. If we do that I think we have the chance to be pretty good. Similarly for the returning players, will their familiarity of you and your system be beneficial for them? I really think so. Hopefully our returning guys will be able to talk to the new guys about the ways we do some things especially defensively and with some of our offensive sets. Those will be the same, but hopefully we ll be able to play a little bit differently on offense. I hope we can get out and run more, I hope our motion offense will be better. We really didn t run a lot of motion the last month and a half of the season because I don t think it really fit our personnel. We were better when we ran sets. But, yes, I think the fact that our returning players know what to expect this year will definitely help us. How do you feel about your inside game? I think our post guys will be very good. Longar Longar has the chance to have a very good senior year. He played very well in the last game of his junior year against Kansas and he had some great moments at various points of the season. The thing we ve talked to him about is being more consistent. I like the way he worked hard Your recruiting class was ranked high nationally. How do you grade your class? I think we filled needs. Blake Griffin is the most heralded of the group and is one of the best big guys in the national class. We were able to sign two other high school players in Cade Davis and Tony Neysmith who are both good athletes and have a pretty good basketball I.Q. Cade can really shoot the ball and Tony has a good feel. All three of the freshmen have the potential to be good defensive players. Just as important, I hope they can all be really good teammates. All three of them have won. We signed a juco point guard in Omar Leary. This is not taking a shot at anyone, but I like having a guy who s a point guard. That s what Omar is. He s not a 2, he s not a combo. He s played point his whole life. Then we also bring in Ryan Wright, a transfer who can t play in games this year but will be able to practice with us. He s a big, athletic guy with experience. I feel really good about our class. I m excited about these guys, I think they re all good players and they all want to be good. They all really want to be at Oklahoma and they re proud to wear the OU on their chest and represent this university. Is there a possibility that any of the newcomers will redshirt? Not right now. All of those guys have an opportunity to come in and have an impact. It s about how hard they work, how hard they compete. It s about beating out others. I promise one thing and that s opportunity. I promise that we re going to work with them and give them every chance to be successful. It s about who wants it the most. We ll have competition in practice now. Last year we had some guys who, no matter what they did in practice, knew they were going to play. We just didn t have a lot of bodies. That shouldn t be the case this year. These young guys are hungry to come in here and have an impact. I think the returning guys are hungry, too. Nobody wants to go through another season. Backcourt David Godbold Austin Johnson Omar Leary Tony Crocker Dau Jok Cade Davis Tony Neysmith Senior Guard Junior Guard Junior Guard Sophomore Guard Sophomore Guard Freshman Guard Freshman Guard How do you feel about player leadership with this year s group? That s an area where we have to improve. The guy with the most playing experience on our team is David Godbold. He s started off and on since his freshman year and has played in some big games. Our hope is that he and Longar Longar, our other senior, can take this team by the horns and guide it. It s important for any good basketball team to have good player leadership. You have to have it. I expressed the need for it in my conversations with our players over the summer. I think we have some guys who have the potential to be very good leaders. Blake Griffin and Cade Davis could be good in that department. Will it happen as freshmen? It absolutely could. It would be nice because we need that from different guys. What were your impressions of the Big 12 Conference your first time through it? I thought our league was very underrated last year and was as good as or better than any conference in college basketball. We had three teams that legitimately had a shot to get to the Final Four in Kansas, Texas and Texas A&M. Our league had the most clutch player in Acie Law. It had the best and most exciting player in Kevin Durant. I thought we had the best games in college basketball, with the Texas at OSU game, Texas at Kansas, Texas A&M at Kansas, Texas A&M at Texas. And we played in some really good games against Texas Tech and Kansas here 8 OKLAHOMA MEN S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE

9 SEASON OUTLOOK THE PREVIEW in Norman. There were so many great games in our league. We had four teams make the NCAA Tournament and it should have been five. I ve always been impressed with the league from afar, but having the chance to go through it, see some of the venues and see the fan support, it s a very good league with very good coaches and really talented players. Hopefully we start to get the respect on a national level that we deserve as one of the premier conferences in college basketball. How has new assistant coach Oronde Taliaferro adapted to the program? Oronde is going to be great for us. He hit the ground running in terms of recruiting and getting to know our guys. I think he s going to be a great ambassador for the University of Oklahoma and for our basketball program. With his connections in college basketball, as well as high school and AAU, I think he s going to have a big impact for us. Plus, he fits with our staff so well. Losing a coach like Rod Barnes is a big blow, but we offset it with the hiring of Oronde. Oronde and Rod are different, but they re equally good. Oronde will bring a lot to our program. What are your thoughts on this year s non-conference schedule? We have a very, very challenging schedule. We have a chance to play against six high-major teams, with one of those games being at home. We start a four-year deal with Arkansas by hosting them this year. They made a coaching change, but it s a program that has made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and will be one of the most talented teams in the SEC. They return all of their starters from last year s team. We start the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series this year on the road against a very, very talented USC team. They re coming off an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance and bring in a great recruiting class headlined by O.J. Mayo. We play at West Virginia, which will be a very challenging game. Bob Huggins is the new coach for a team that won 27 games and the postseason NIT last year. We don t know our All-College opponent yet, but that will be a tough game. That s an event that excites us every year. We also will play in the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament early in the season. We ll play two home games against what are right now unknown opponents. If we re fortunate enough to win those two games, we will go to Madison Square Garden to play two games against potential opponents Connecticut, Kentucky and Memphis. We also play Tulsa at home and we play at TCU, as well as face some other quality opponents. We re going to be challenged very early. We ve got a lot of new players and we re going to have to do a lot of growing up quickly. Your wife gave birth to your first child in April. How difficult is it to balance work responsibilities with the huge task of raising a daughter at home? You know, it s not really that hard. Luckily for me, I have an amazing wife who understands my work responsibilities. She grew up in a similar situation where her father was an attorney and was involved in politics. She knows about time commitments with her career as well, also being an attorney. So she understands what I do and that makes it easy. I will say that things are a little different now, though. When I go on the road, I m a little more excited about getting back to see our daughter. I like watching her grow and I don t like to miss anything. When I m gone, my wife has to send me pictures of our daughter every day or let me listen to her cry on the phone. It s not really an adjustment with my job, as much as it s an adjustment with my life. It s an incredible blessing and the most amazing thing that s ever happened to me. Austin Johnson was OU s leader in assists last season and shot.441 from 3-point range in home games. Leading Returnees by Category Scoring Longar Longar 10.4 Tony Crocker 8.6 David Godbold 7.4 Austin Johnson 7.0 Taylor Griffin 6.3 Rebounding Longar Longar 7.1 Taylor Griffin 5.2 David Godbold 4.6 Tony Crocker 3.7 Field Goal Percentage Longar Longar.553 Tony Crocker.450 Keith Clark Point Field Goal Percentage Tony Crocker.357 Austin Johnson.346 David Godbold Pointers Per Game David Godbold 1.4 Austin Johnson 1.2 Tony Crocker 1.1 Free Throw Percentage Austin Johnson.926 Tony Crocker.741 David Godbold.725 Assists Austin Johnson 2.8 Tony Crocker 1.8 David Godbold 1.7 Blocked Shots Longar Longar 1.4 Taylor Griffin 0.9 David Godbold 0.6 Steals David Godbold 1.3 Tony Crocker 0.8 Austin Johnson 0.8 Minutes David Godbold 27.9 Longar Longar 26.2 Austin Johnson 23.6 Taylor Griffin 23.4 Tony Crocker 23.3 Keith Clark 12.2 Beau Gerber OKLAHOMA MEN S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE 9

10 THE PREVIEW SEASON OUTLOOK Capel s Player-by-Player Comments David Godbold (Senior, Guard) David s been a constant in this program for three years, kind of a utility guy who does a little of everything. He usually guards the other team s best perimeter player. I think he has the potential to be better offensively. That s something he has to work at, though, and he has to become more assertive. Not just as a player, but as a leader. He s the most experienced player we have and the team will lean on that experience. Longar Longar (Senior, Center) He had a good year last season and showed some good signs. We re expecting big things from Longar and I think he can have a very good senior year for us. From what I hear, he s been working hard this summer. He continues to add weight and get stronger, which will benefit him tremendously. I thought he made very good progress last season and now he s excited about his last year and going out with a bang. Taylor Griffin (Junior, Forward) Taylor had some moments last year when he was very good. Having the experience of last year playing in every game and starting a lot of them will help him as a junior. He has physical gifts that you just can t teach. He s a good defender and I think he can be a good offensive player. Taylor just needs to be confident in Taylor all the time. He needs to allow the game to come naturally and not over think things. When he did that last year, he was very good. Austin Johnson (Junior, Guard) A.J. played very well in some games early last season, some of them against good teams. When we played Memphis and Purdue, I thought he was steady. Unfortunately, he had some illnesses and injuries. We need A.J. to be better. We need him to be tougher, more serious about becoming a good player. If he does that, he has the chance to be a really good guard in this league. He s talented, he has a good feel for the game and, because of his length, can create some havoc defensively. Omar Leary (Junior, Guard) We re excited about Omar. We think he ll provide depth at the point guard position and he ll have a chance to contend for a starting spot. He s won everywhere he s been and there s a good reason for that. He has good leadership qualities, he can shoot the ball and he can pass it. He also has the chance to be a good defender. I m excited about getting the chance to coach him. Ryan Wright (Junior, Forward) Ryan is very athletic. He s a little raw offensively, so I think a year off after transferring from UCLA will be the best thing that happens for Ryan in his career. He ll be able to work with us every day and we expect him to be a great practice player and a very hard worker. He really wants to be good and because of that I think he ll be a very good listener. He has a great body, is strong and comes from an environment of winning. Hopefully the experiences he s already had in college will rub off and help our program. I think he also has a chance to be a good leader. Keith Clark (Sophomore, Forward) Moose is very talented. It s going to be interesting to see how he recovers from his knee injury. I have no doubt that he will be 100 percent and maybe even better physically. But anytime someone suffers an injury like he did, you worry about the mental hurdle they have to clear. He was starting to play really well last year when he got hurt. He s an inside-outside type guy who can shoot the ball and can pass it. He has a good skill package. He needs to dedicate himself to getting in great shape and working on his game. We know there s going to be some rust, but we hope we can get that out of him and he can be the player we all think he can become for us. Tony Crocker (Sophomore, Guard) I thought Tony had a good freshman year and showed flashes of brilliance. He s an athletic wing who surprisingly led our team in 3-point field goal percentage. His shooting was probably a question going into the year but he shot it well. He has the ability to slash, and I thought he was a very good rebounder and defender for us. He needs to improve his ball handling and continue to work on expanding his shooting range. If he can do that, he can make the jump from a good player as a freshman to a very good player as a sophomore. Keith Clark returns from a mid-season knee injury. Beau Gerber (Sophomore, Forward) Beau is a guy I love. He s one of my favorites. He s one of the hardest workers on our team and he s a great teammate. He will do anything asked of him. He loves being at the University of Oklahoma and he s a young man who can really help us. I have no reservations about putting him in a game. He knows all of our stuff, he knows how we do things. He s a great communicator and is more or less what you want all your players to be like. Dau Jok (Sophomore, Guard) We re excited to have Dau become a member of the Sooner family. He s already kind of like family because he s Longar s cousin and has been around the program a lot. He s a kid who works hard and we think he ll be a great teammate and a good practice player for us. He s an extremely, extremely smart young man and our program is lucky to have him. Cade Davis (Freshman, Guard) We re really excited about Cade. He has great leadership qualities. I think he already has a Big 12-ready body. I like his ability to shoot the ball, I really like his athleticism and I love his willingness to compete. Cade loves to play; he s a ballplayer. He s not afraid to work, he s not afraid of being physical and we expect him to be a very good player in this program. Blake Griffin (Freshman, Forward) Blake is the most heralded of our newcomers. He s got a Big 12-ready body. He has the chance to be a really, really good player, an impact player on both ends of the floor. I think he has really good leadership qualities. I love everything about Blake. One of the things that people might not realize is how good of a passer he is and how well he can handle the ball. People who have watched him play in high school or in AAU probably didn t see that because he was constantly double- and triple-teamed. He s very skilled for his size. A lot of people just see power when they look at his body. But I love his ability to pass and dribble, so we ll use him in different spots on the floor. His bread and butter, though, will be around the basket. Tony Neysmith (Freshman, Guard) Tony s a guy who comes from a winning tradition at Norcross High School in Georgia. I think he has the chance to be a very good basketball player. I like his size at the guard spot, I like his athletic ability. He has a good feel for the game and has an opportunity to be a very good defender. He s one of those guards who can play just about anywhere on the floor. We ll use him at point some but he can also play off the ball and create some things. He can get out and run on the wing and finish in transition at the rim. He can come in and contribute right away. 10 OKLAHOMA MEN S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE

11 PRESEASON NOTEBOOK THE PREVIEW EARLY START Oklahoma s Nov. 8 season opener against San Francisco in the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic will mark the earliest game in school history. In fact, with the 2K Sports Classic scheduled to conclude the following day, the Sooners will get two games under their belt earlier in the calendar than they ve ever played one. Additionally, the contest will mark the earliest ever played by a Big 12 Conference men s basketball team. Last year s Nov. 10 OU opener against Norfolk State had been the earliest game played by the Sooners, while Texas (last season) and Kansas (in ) both started a campaign on Nov. 9. OH, CANADA The Sooners got an early jump on the season by virtue of their three-day, fourgame tour of the Vancouver, B.C., area over Labor Day weekend (Sept 1-3). OU posted a 4-0 record, winning at the University of British Columbia (81-62), Simon Fraser (86-57), Trinity Western (107-58) and Douglas College (90-61) by an average of 31.5 points. Four Sooners averaged double figures in points, paced by true freshman Blake Griffin s 18.8 scoring average (in just 19.8 minutes per game). Senior Longar Longar, (14.5 ppg), freshman Cade Davis (11.3) and sophomore Keith Clark (10.0) also averaged double figures in scoring. Griffin, who is the younger brother of OU junior Taylor Griffin, also averaged a team-high 9.0 rebounds per contest and shot a team-best.609 from the field. A pair of guards who started the majority of OU s games last year did not make the trip. Junior Austin Johnson and sophomore Tony Crocker stayed in Oklahoma due to injuries. Their absence meant more playing time for newcomer guards Davis, Omar Leary and Tony Neysmith. Leary, a junior college All-American, averaged 7.3 points and 3.0 assists while Neysmith, a freshman, contributed 7.0 points and 3.0 assists per outing. THE MOOSE IS LOOSE Sophomore forward Keith Clark is back for his sophomore season after torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee on Dec. 28, 2006, against SMU prematurely ended his freshman campaign. Clark averaged 3.8 points and 2.3 rebounds in 12.2 minutes a game prior to his injury and, according to head coach Jeff Capel, was starting to come into his own when he got hurt. The 6-8, 242-pound Oklahoma City product, who was ranked as the nation s No. 57 overall player by Rivals.com his senior year in high school, was cleared for full activity the first week of July and showed no ill-effects from the injury during the team s Labor Day weekend trip to Canada. According to OU athletics trainer Alex Brown, Clark will wear a brace on his knee until OU s regular season begins. ALL IN THE FAMILY For the first time since the school year, brothers Taylor and Blake Griffin will play on the same competitive team this year. Separated by two years, the pair prepped together under their father (Tommy Griffin) at Oklahoma Christian School during the and seasons and won two state titles together. Taylor, a junior forward, averaged 6.3 points and 5.2 rebounds a game last year for the Sooners, while Blake, a freshman forward who won four state high school championships at OCS, was a McDonald s All-American last year and is regarded as one of the top collegiate newcomers in the country. TALIAFERRO JOINS STAFF Oronde Taliaferro, who spent the past four years as an assistant coach at Arkansas, was hired in May to replace Rod Barnes. Barnes left the program last spring to become the head coach at Georgia State. The 35-year-old Taliaferro, who grew up in Detroit, Mich., but was always an Oklahoma basketball and football fan in part because of trips to visit family in Oklahoma City, said it was great to get on the OU practice court when the team began preparations for its Labor Day Weekend trip to Canada. It was a great feeling. Growing up, I didn t expect I d wind up here. It s kind of like a homecoming, so to speak, considering I grew up watching so many OU games and having family here. It s a weird feeling, but it s a good feeling. It probably means more to me because of my attachment to the city and to some of the history. Taliaferro, who was an assistant coach at Kent State when it reached the NCAA Tournament s 2002 Elite Eight, was labeled by Rivals.com in 2006 as one of the nation s top 25 recruiters. Assistant coach Oronde Taliaferro CANADA EXHIBITION TRIP STATISTICS (SEPT. 1-3) REBOUNDS Player G-GS MIN-AVG FG-FGA PCT 3G-GA PCT FT-FTA PCT OFF-DEF TOT-AVG PF-D A TO BK ST PTS AVG Blake Griffin Longar Longar Cade Davis Keith Clark Taylor Griffin David Godbold Omar Leary Tony Neysmith Beau Gerber TEAM Oklahoma Opponents SCORE BY PERIODS 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total Oklahoma Opponents OKLAHOMA MEN S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE 11

12 THE PREVIEW PRESEASON PLAYER POLL Members of the Oklahoma team participated in a 29-question player poll in late September, supplying the name of a teammate for various categories. Self votes were not allowed and only players with multiple votes are shown below: Who s the best dresser? Taylor Griffin 7 votes Tony Neysmith 5 votes Who s the worst dresser? David Godbold 4 votes Dau Jok 4 votes Beau Gerber 3 votes Who s the biggest eater? Keith Clark 3 votes Beau Gerber 3 votes Dau Jok 3 votes Longar Longar 2 votes Who s the best pool player? Cade Davis 6 votes David Godbold 2 votes Tony Neysmith 2 votes Who s the cheapest? Tony Crocker 4 votes David Godbold 4 votes Blake Griffin 2 votes Who s the most outgoing? Keith Clark 7 votes Cade Davis 2 votes Beau Gerber 2 votes Who s the most reserved? Ryan Wright 6 votes Dau Jok 3 votes Omar Leary 2 votes Who s the best singer? Tony Crocker 7 votes Cade Davis 3 votes Who s the worst singer? Omar Leary 5 votes Longar Longar 4 votes Who s the best freestyle rapper? Keith Clark 5 votes Beau Gerber 2 votes Omar Leary 2 votes Longar Longar 2 votes Junior forward Taylor Griffin was the top vote getter in six categories: best dresser, first to get married, most respected, cleanest locker, most impressive in the weight room and best future head coach. Who s the best video game player? David Godbold 6 votes Longar Longar 5 votes Who s the worst video game player? Omar Leary 3 votes Ryan Wright 3 votes Tony Neysmith 2 votes Who s the biggest prankster? Blake Griffin 6 votes Keith Clark 2 votes Tony Neysmith 2 votes Who s the smartest in the classroom? Beau Gerber 8.5 votes Taylor Griffin 3 votes Who s the biggest comedian? Blake Griffin 3 votes Keith Clark 2 votes Omar Leary 2 votes Tony Neysmith 2 votes Who s the best dancer? Tony Crocker 8 votes Tony Neysmith 3 votes Who s the most competitive? Blake Griffin 6.5 votes Longar Longar 4 votes Who will be the first to get married? Taylor Griffin 9 votes Tony Crocker 3 votes Who will be the last to get married? Longar Longar 5 votes David Godbold 4 votes Dau Jok 2 votes Who s the most respected? Taylor Griffin 3.5 votes David Godbold 3 votes Longar Longar 3 votes Who has the messiest locker? Longar Longar 9 votes Keith Clark 2 votes Who keeps the cleanest locker? Taylor Griffin 6 votes Cade Davis 2 votes Ryan Wright 2 votes Who s the best dunker? Tony Crocker 7.5 votes Blake Griffin 3.5 votes Who s the fastest from baseline to baseline? Omar Leary 6 votes Tony Crocker 3.5 votes Cade Davis 2.5 votes Who s the most impressive in the weight room? Taylor Griffin 8 votes Tony Neysmith 2 votes Who s the hardest worker? Blake Griffin 4 votes Tony Crocker 3 votes Beau Gerber 3 votes Who s the biggest trash-talker? Keith Clark 8 votes Longar Longar 3 votes Who s the most likely to become a millionaire (not by playing pro basketball)? Beau Gerber 8 votes Taylor Griffin 3 votes Freshman Cade Davis was voted as the team s best pool player. Who will make the best future head coach? Taylor Griffin 6 votes Beau Gerber 2 votes Omar Leary 2 votes 12 OKLAHOMA MEN S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE