Jay C. Upchurch
8/20/2007, 08:46 PM
NORMAN, Okla. - Like his players, OU men's basketball head coach is anxious for Tuesday -- the first time he will see his 2007-08 team in a practice setting.
The Sooners will hold their first official workout of the year Tuesday afternoon at Lloyd Noble Center's Bruce Drake Practice Court, thanks to the "foreign tour" in which they will be participating over Labor Day Weekend in Vancouver, British Columbia. The NCAA allows teams to compete in foreign tours once every four years and permits 10 practices leading up to the tours.
"This is going to be a great gauge for my staff and me," said Capel, "to see who's done what this summer. It's extremely exciting for me because I get to get back on the floor and teach. I missed that this summer.
"But more importantly, I want to see which players can do what. Most of our guys were at home for the better part of the last month, so I want to see who continued to work while they were gone."
The Sooners return seven letterwinners from last season, including seniors Longar Longar and David Godbold. Longar is OU's top returning scorer and rebounder from last year, averaging 10.4 points and 7.1 rebounds a game. The 6-11 center shot a team-high .553 from the field and recorded seven double-doubles. Godbold, the program's current leader in games played (88) and started (48), averaged 7.4 points and 4.6 boards per contest, as well as a team-high 1.3 steals.
Also back are junior forward Taylor Griffin (6.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg), junior guard Austin Johnson (7.0 ppg, 2.8 apg), sophomore forward Keith Clark (3.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg in 11 games), sophomore guard Tony Crocker (8.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg) and sophomore walk-on forward Beau Gerber (1.1 ppg, 1.1 rpg).
Newcomers include McDonald's All-American freshman forward Blake Griffin, freshman guard Cade Davis, freshman guard Tony Neysmith and junior-college All-America point guard Omar Leary. Junior forward Ryan Wright, a transfer from UCLA, will practice with the squad but must sit out games due to NCAA transfer rules. Wright will not play during the trip to his native Canada.
"We'll do a little bit of everything during these upcoming practices," said Capel. “I want to get our basic principles down and lay a foundation for our October practices. I'm also interested to see what kind of shape we're in and if we can make it through a two-and-a-half hour workout. I want to see if we can fight through the physical and mental fatigue."
While the NCAA allows for 10 practices prior to OU's departure for Canada, Capel said he isn't sure if he will use all 10. Because the regular basketball season is long enough, he said he doesn't want his guys to work so hard now that they get burned out when it matters most.
"I don't want to kill our guys. Normally the players have a chance to build up toward practice with preseason conditioning and individual skill work sessions. Our players don't have that luxury for this round of practices. We start tomorrow.
"It's a fine line," Capel added about deciding on the intensity level, duration and number of the August practices. "You don't want to overdo it, but you want to be sure you do enough."
Capel has experience with foreign tours. At the beginning of his second year as head coach at VCU, he took his team to play exhibition games in London, England, in October 2003.
"It was great," he said. "The building chemistry aspect of it was the best part. It was fun watching the players come together and I think that really helped us during the year. We made the NCAA Tournament that year."
The Sooners leave for Vancouver on Friday, Aug. 31, and play the University of British Columbia on Saturday, Sept. 1 (9 p.m. CT), face Simon Fraser (2 p.m. CT) and Trinity Western (10 p.m. CT) on Sunday, Sept. 2, and visit Douglas College on Monday, Sept. 3 (11 a.m. CT), before returning to Oklahoma later that day.
Said Capel, "These practices leading up to our trip will give us the chance to see who we are. Then it will be up to me to put the pieces together to see who we can become."
OU SID Report
The Sooners will hold their first official workout of the year Tuesday afternoon at Lloyd Noble Center's Bruce Drake Practice Court, thanks to the "foreign tour" in which they will be participating over Labor Day Weekend in Vancouver, British Columbia. The NCAA allows teams to compete in foreign tours once every four years and permits 10 practices leading up to the tours.
"This is going to be a great gauge for my staff and me," said Capel, "to see who's done what this summer. It's extremely exciting for me because I get to get back on the floor and teach. I missed that this summer.
"But more importantly, I want to see which players can do what. Most of our guys were at home for the better part of the last month, so I want to see who continued to work while they were gone."
The Sooners return seven letterwinners from last season, including seniors Longar Longar and David Godbold. Longar is OU's top returning scorer and rebounder from last year, averaging 10.4 points and 7.1 rebounds a game. The 6-11 center shot a team-high .553 from the field and recorded seven double-doubles. Godbold, the program's current leader in games played (88) and started (48), averaged 7.4 points and 4.6 boards per contest, as well as a team-high 1.3 steals.
Also back are junior forward Taylor Griffin (6.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg), junior guard Austin Johnson (7.0 ppg, 2.8 apg), sophomore forward Keith Clark (3.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg in 11 games), sophomore guard Tony Crocker (8.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg) and sophomore walk-on forward Beau Gerber (1.1 ppg, 1.1 rpg).
Newcomers include McDonald's All-American freshman forward Blake Griffin, freshman guard Cade Davis, freshman guard Tony Neysmith and junior-college All-America point guard Omar Leary. Junior forward Ryan Wright, a transfer from UCLA, will practice with the squad but must sit out games due to NCAA transfer rules. Wright will not play during the trip to his native Canada.
"We'll do a little bit of everything during these upcoming practices," said Capel. “I want to get our basic principles down and lay a foundation for our October practices. I'm also interested to see what kind of shape we're in and if we can make it through a two-and-a-half hour workout. I want to see if we can fight through the physical and mental fatigue."
While the NCAA allows for 10 practices prior to OU's departure for Canada, Capel said he isn't sure if he will use all 10. Because the regular basketball season is long enough, he said he doesn't want his guys to work so hard now that they get burned out when it matters most.
"I don't want to kill our guys. Normally the players have a chance to build up toward practice with preseason conditioning and individual skill work sessions. Our players don't have that luxury for this round of practices. We start tomorrow.
"It's a fine line," Capel added about deciding on the intensity level, duration and number of the August practices. "You don't want to overdo it, but you want to be sure you do enough."
Capel has experience with foreign tours. At the beginning of his second year as head coach at VCU, he took his team to play exhibition games in London, England, in October 2003.
"It was great," he said. "The building chemistry aspect of it was the best part. It was fun watching the players come together and I think that really helped us during the year. We made the NCAA Tournament that year."
The Sooners leave for Vancouver on Friday, Aug. 31, and play the University of British Columbia on Saturday, Sept. 1 (9 p.m. CT), face Simon Fraser (2 p.m. CT) and Trinity Western (10 p.m. CT) on Sunday, Sept. 2, and visit Douglas College on Monday, Sept. 3 (11 a.m. CT), before returning to Oklahoma later that day.
Said Capel, "These practices leading up to our trip will give us the chance to see who we are. Then it will be up to me to put the pieces together to see who we can become."
OU SID Report