NORMAN — It was an interesting scene at Lloyd Noble Center Thursday afternoon. One might even call it surreal.
By invitation, media were invited to arrive at 5 p.m., when Oklahoma men’s basketball coach Jeff Capel would stand for questions at the men’s practice court, not 24 hours removed from winning, well, a sort of multicontinental championship.
Capel spent the last several days in San Antonio, head coaching Team USA at the FIBA America’s U18 Championship. After slaughtering all comers by crazy lopsided scores — a 122-89 semifinal victory over Canada was one of the closer games — Capel’s squad finally played a nailbiter in the gold medal game. But his band of American teenagers won that one, too, taking care of Brazil 81-78.
“I was honored by how hard the guys played,” Capel said.
Meanwhile, down the tunnel and on the arena floor, something else was taking place.
It’s a fantasy camp and it’s Capel’s baby. For a certain sum of money, Sooner fans can become, sort of, Sooner players for the length of the camp. Maybe the best part about it, is while camping, they’ll receive coaching and tutelage from some great former Sooners.
The following list is not complete and in no particular order, but you’ll quickly get the idea at the kind of roster assembled for the camp:
Alvan Adams, Billy Tubbs, Blake Griffin, Ebi Ere, Terry Evans, Terry Stotts, Choo Kennedy, John McCullough, Hollis Price, Longar Longar, Tim Heskett, Kevin Bookout, Al Beal, Harvey Grant.
The gang’s all there.
Among those ringing the court were two Big Eight players of the year in Adams and McCullough, a Big 12 player of the year in Griffin, a player who should have been Big 12 player of the year in Price, a former NBA rookie of the year in Adams, the first pick in the draft in Griffin, a former NBA head coach in Stotts and the all-time Sooner leader in floorburn in Heskett.
About the only guy missing was the greatest Sooner of all, but Wayman Tisdale is sadly unavailable.
“I’m looking forward to getting to know everybody,” Capel said. “Hopefully, they become part of our program … not just for these few days, but permanently become part of our program.”
An interesting question is just where Griffin fits in the pecking order. The first pick in last year’s draft will finally begin his NBA playing career next season with the Los Angeles with more hype than any previous Sooner. On the other hand, some of his fellow former Sooners have already done what he’s yet to do.
“I’m sure, throughout the rest of the camp, I’ll sit down with the rest of the guys and talk about what they do, what they’ve learned,” he said. “It’s always interesting to talk to guys who have done what you’re trying to do.”
Just looking around, one thought entered the mind. That is, for a football school, over time, there’s been some pretty good basketball played inside the building.
Also, considering Capel’s recent experience in San Antonio, barring more shoes dropping and any kind of awful still-unknown finding from the internal investigation the university has yet to wrap up or at least put down on paper, the future might still be as bright as so much of the history walking around inside the gym Thursday.
Even though it won’t be expected when they roll out the ball next November, Capel just finished proving he can take a team on short notice and turn it into a winner. Anyway, he still feels, looks and sounds like the right guy for the job.
Sooner basketball’s past looks to be in fantastic shape, and there’s still reason to believe its future might be, too. Only the present appears murky.
Soon, maybe, it can be left behind, too.
Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com
