Capel's options limited
By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
4/27/2006
Recruiting gurus weigh in on OU basketball, while the new coach tries to find the positives.
NORMAN -- Faced with the potential loss of three members of Oklahoma's recruiting class, what is Sooner coach Jeff Capel to do?
"There aren't really many options," said Dave Telep, national recruiting director for Scout.com. "Unfortunately for Coach Capel, it's not possible to replace the caliber of a Scottie Reynolds, Damion James or Jeremy Mayfield. Not right now."
Ninety-four of Scout's top-100 high school prospects have either signed with or are committed to colleges, many of which swooped in and picked off players last November during the early signing period.
A few leftovers were taken when the late signing period began April 12, or about the time Reynolds, James and Mayfield started having second thoughts about OU in the aftermath of Kelvin Sampson's departure for Indiana.
And if Capel wants to scrounge around for scraps, he has until Sunday to do so. That's when the period in which coaches can contact recruits ends.
Not that Capel's asking, but recruiting sages are offering advice.
"Take your medicine for this year," Telep said, "then go out and bust it for the 2007 (recruiting) class."
"He might find one or two serviceable guys for '06, but it's so late in the game that it might be better to wait until next year," said Jerry Meyer, national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. "He's better off weathering the storm and building the program in '07 with guys you know want to be there, guys that you want there and guys you can develop relationships with."
It is a terrible dilemma.
Assuming Reynolds, James and Mayfield never materialize after reopening their recruitment -- a maybe / maybe not prospect Capel must weigh during this process -- the Sooners stand to keep two of their November signees, Tony Crocker and Keith Clark. Clark must still qualify academically.
One scenario, then, has Crocker joining a team with seven scholarship players -- Michael Neal, David Godbold, Nate Carter, Austin Johnson, Taylor Griffin, Longar Longar and Chris Walker -- plus walk-on Kellen Sampson.
Thus the potential urge for Capel to fill a roster, however possible, between now and the start of next semester.
"Thing is, they have spent so much energy trying to maintain (the five November signees) that I don't know how much energy they have spent in trying to find new '06 guys," Meyer said. "They're in a bad spot."
Perhaps Capel can tap a few connections to make it better."
Crocker's former teammate at San Antonio Warren High School is Ben Uzoh, a 20-point, 11-rebound-per-game guard recently named San Antonio Express News area player of the year. OU has taken an interest in the unsigned Uzoh, as have Tulsa, Creighton and Wichita State.
Neal, meanwhile, played the 2004-05 season at Texas' Lon Morris College with Hernol Hall, a 6-10 center who was all set to play for Danny Nee at Duquesne next year, until Nee was fired and Hall asked out of his letter of intent.
Now, Capel has shown interest in the suddenly-available Hall, who was named NJCAA first-team All-American last year after averaging 14 points and eight rebounds.
If Capel's scramble can reap players of Uzoh's and Hall's caliber, it's worth the late scholarship offers.
Otherwise, he runs the risk of settling for players who are not of the same caliber, nor of the caliber he sees as a general standard.
"We want to always, here at the University of Oklahoma, have good players," Capel said this week. "It's going to require us to recruit good players, players that have good character, players that want to work their butt off on and off the court, and who are going to represent themselves, their family and their university in a first class manner."
But can Capel find such players to replace Reynolds, James and Mayfield under the crunch he's in?
"That's the big question," Telep said. "The best thing he can do is lock in on Blake Griffin (the Oklahoma Christian School forward widely regarded as the state's top prep prospect next year) and go to work on 2007. The caliber of player is simply not available right now."
"The ideal situation would be to hang in and have guys like Austin Johnson and Taylor Griffin come through for them (next season)," Meyer said. "They you're loaded up on scholarships to use on the '07 class."
Guerin Emig 581-8355
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