Picking Oklahoma's carcass proves to be nourishing
March 13, 2007
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist
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The mushroom cloud continues to rise over Norman, Okla., where the Oklahoma Sooners were left out of the NCAA Tournament, the NIT and a juco invitational next month in Kansas.
This time last year, the Sooners were coming off a ninth consecutive 20-win season. They had one of the top five recruiting classes in the country. They were, as usual, going places.
When you see Scottie Reynolds and Kelvin Sampson in the West Regional, think about Oklahoma. (US Presswire)
Into the dumper, as it turns out.
If you think I'm happy about it, you're wrong. Oklahoma doesn't deserve to fall off college basketball's cliff. But after going 16-15 this season and losing two of its top three scorers, OU must rebuild around next year's solid, not sensational, freshmen. It doesn't look good.
But the possible death of Oklahoma basketball has given life to three other schools, each of which made it into the 2007 NCAA Tournament with help from OU refugees. Indiana and Villanova, specifically, should split their tournament proceeds with Oklahoma, which has become college hoops' jelly-of-the-month club -- the gift that keeps on giving, the whole year.
To Indiana, OU basketball gave coach Kelvin Sampson. While at Oklahoma he racked up record numbers of wins and cell phone minutes, numbers that are related. He parlayed his advanced work ethic, as he liked to call his remorseless cheating, into relationships with high school kids who chose to play for the Sooners and their telephonically gifted coach.
Sampson probably would have left for Indiana regardless, but with NCAA investigators closing in, Sampson couldn't flee that sinking ship fast enough. What was Indiana thinking? Indiana was thinking about the bottom line -- wins and losses -- and Sampson has delivered. The Hoosiers do not have NCAA Tournament talent, but they have an NCAA Tournament team, and a No. 7-seeded team at that. That is all Sampson. He's a great coach. A cheater and a liar and a hypocrite. But a great coach.
To Villanova, OU basketball gave Scottie Reynolds. He's the McDonald's All-American guard who signed with the Sooners but was released from his scholarship when Sampson took the Indiana job.
Reynolds is possibly the most dynamic player in the Big East, and definitely the reason Villanova scraped into the NCAA Tournament at 22-10. The Wildcats lost guards Randy Foye, Allan Ray and Kyle Lowry to the NBA and didn't adequately replace them on the recruiting trail. After winning 52 games and reaching the 2005 Sweet 16 and the 2006 Elite Eight, Villanova was going to crash in 2007. It's Newton's law of gravity.
But then came Oklahoma's law of cavity: If it falls out of our decaying program, you can have it. And the next thing you know, Villanova lucked into one of the best point guards in the country. Reynolds averaged 14.5 points and 4.1 assists, and by late February had figured out how to take over games. The Wildcats were 18-9 and squarely on the NCAA/NIT bubble when Reynolds went off, averaging 29 points over four straight victories to get Villanova into the 65-team field.
Thank you, Oklahoma.
Texas also sends along its gratitude. The Longhorns don't owe their entire season to an Oklahoma refugee -- Texas owes that to Kevin Durant -- but the Longhorns wouldn't be the NCAA championship threat they have become without power forward Damion James. He averages 7.9 points and 7.4 rebounds, and is second only to Durant among Big 12 freshmen with four double-doubles.
James was another member of Sampson's final recruiting class who asked to leave when the coach bolted for Indiana. The thing is, Oklahoma could have said no. Oklahoma could have told James that he had signed his national letter of intent with "Oklahoma," not with "Kelvin Sampson," and that unless he had the money to pay his way for a year at another school, he was stuck with the Sooners.
In a matter of weeks, Oklahoma had seen its entire program come crashing down. The NCAA was looking at blatant cheating. The coach left for Indiana. His best three recruits -- Reynolds, James and Jeremy Mayfield -- asked to be set free. Mayfield didn't lead UAB into the NCAA Tournament, but the Sooners could have used his 6-10, 240-pound presence and his 4.5 ppg and 4.1 rpg.
The Sooners could have used Mayfield. They could've used James and Reynolds. They could have lashed out at any or all of them. It wouldn't have been the right thing to do, but Sampson has carved out a nice career for himself proving to the OU administration that "the right thing to do" isn't the best way to get ahead in college basketball.
But the Sooners did the right thing. They rolled over. They played dead. They hired Jeff Capel and they released everyone who wanted to be released and they went 16-15 and they are finished this college basketball season while 97 teams continue to play.
So go ahead and watch Sampson lead Indiana and Reynolds lead Villanova in the West Regional. Watch Texas try to ride Durant, with plenty of help from James, out of the East Regional and on to the national championship.
Just don't forget the school that made it all possible. Don't forget the poor bastards left behind at Oklahoma.
Originally Posted by CtheB
