By John Shinn
OKLAHOMA CITY — Some players enter the season confident while others are cautious. Oklahoma guard Michael Neal fits into the former category. And you can add another category he fits in: insulted.
The Sooners were picked by the Big 12 coaches to finish ninth in the conference. It’s a label that has Neal seeing red. He made sure anyone within earshot got his take on it Thursday at Big 12 Men’s Basketball Media Day at the Cox Center.
“This was just a slap in the face,” Neal said the first time a reporter asked him about the preseason poll. And he repeated for anyone who wanted to hear it again.
Unlike past seasons, the Sooners, who open exhibition play Oct. 31 against Oklahoma Christian, have virtually no buzz going into the season. The lofty preseason accolades that have surrounded them for several years are absent.
The usual heavyweights like Kansas, Oklahoma State and Texas are up there. But seeing schools like Texas A&M;, Texas Tech, Baylor and Kansas State pass OU in the expectations game hurts.
All those teams were picked ahead of Neal and his chums.
Neal was the Big 12’s best 3-point marksman last season, shooting 49.5 percent from beyond the arc in conference games. He believes most are missing the mark when considering the Sooners’ potential.
He acknowledges Taj Gray, Kevin Bookout and Terrell Everett are gone and their departure leave OU without the constants of the past two seasons. But no building in college basketball is ever complete and no foundation is permanent.
The predicted swoon of Sooner basketball is a huge topic in the locker room.
“We heard it a couple days into practice,” Neal said. “When we heard it, we came into the locker room and were like, ‘Did you see what they wrote about us?’
“We talked about that as a team. We don’t address that with the coaches. They know it. We just show it to them in our drills and in how hard we work.”
Sooner coach Jeff Capel never mentioned a word about it to his team. Probably because no one mentioned it to him.
“I didn’t know we were picked ninth,” he said. “That’s the honest-to-goodness truth. I didn’t know until today.”
The only way he would have known would have been to have it plastered across the Sooners’ practice gym. What goes on in there is his biggest concern.
His expectations are simple.
“Our expectations are going to be the best team we can be and hopefully be a championship team every year,” he said. “Our expectations with this group is to get better every day. It’s a work in progress.”
Practices started last Friday. So far, he likes what he sees. He said the effort and energy has been great.
Perhaps, the slap the Sooners received a few days ago has lit a fire that won’t burn out.
“I know our guys have seen it,” Capel said. “If they want to use it as motivation, good for them. Whatever you can use to play better or work a little bit harder, that’s fine.”
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
