By John Shinn
Monday night’s victory over Texas was just the second game of the Big 12 Conference season. But Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel went in a rare direction following the game.
“One thing coaches don’t do, and I know I don’t, is we don’t enjoy wins enough,” he said after the 78-63 victory snapped a six-game losing streak against the Longhorns. “I’m going to enjoy this one. We hadn’t beaten these guys in a while. This is the first time since my freshman year in college I’m with a team that’s 16-1. Let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about this basketball team and where we are right now.”
Tuesday morning the Sooners woke up to find themselves firmly entrenched as conference favorite. If they weren’t already, they’ve become part of the discussion when it comes to teams with a favorable chance to reach the Final Four.
What OU wants to know is why it took a victory over Texas to enter the discussion?
“Hopefully other people around the nation will see that we’re not just a mediocre team,” Blake Griffin said. “We’ve heard so much talk about Texas; talk about their big guys, talk about their guards, talk about (A.J.) Abrams. We thought people kind of disrespected us a little bit with the way they talk about our guards or the way they talk about our post defense. Coming out and making a statement like this was big for us and our program as a whole.”
There was little doubt OU used lack of respect as a motivational tool. Every team goes to that reservoir at some point during the season. The Sooners clearly found some extra energy from the fountain of the slighted.
The performance gave the Sooners four wins over ranked teams. Monday night’s was clearly the most impressive, though. OU led from start to finish, and outside a Texas run midway through the second half, the Sooners completely controlled the game.
But the lack-of-respect bravado couldn’t be turned off once the buzzer sounded. Capel was clearly miffed that it took a big win like Monday night’s to elevate his team on the national radar.
“All I hear about is what we don’t do well. We don’t shoot the ball well. We don’t have good enough guards. I read stuff, I hear stuff, people say stuff about what we don’t have,” Capel said. “Still, we’re 16-1. We just beat a team that everyone talks about as a Final Four team.”
It happened at exactly the right time for the Sooners. They are cursed with playing in a football crazed state. Most eyes don’t turn to Lloyd Noble Center until the football season has ended.
There will be at least one more. OU’s ticket office announced Tuesday the March 7 game against Oklahoma State is also a sellout. There’s six home games before then and OU would like to see that same kind of atmosphere and attention.
After Monday, the Sooners are clearly worthy.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
