It's all on the guards
Published: 3/19/2008 5:52 PM
Last Modified: 3/19/2008 5:52 PM
Forget Blake Griffin, as hard as that is to do. Forget Longar Longar and that brittle bone in his right leg. Forget Jeff Capel, even, and all that chatter about South Carolina.
If the Sooners beat Saint Joseph's in Friday's NCAA first round, it will be their guards who make the difference. It will be because Tony Crocker, Austin Johnson, Cade Davis and David Godbold are making shots. Open shots, because it appears they're going to get their share.
St Joe's will double down on Griffin like everybody else. The Sooners have seen their share of that defensive strategy. But whereas Big 12 Conference guards are quick enough defensively to recover from the double teams and close on outside shooters, it remains to be seen if the Hawks can do so.
Something else, courtesy of Davis this week -- the Hawks collapse into the lane to close off dribble penetration, leaving shooters alone for kickouts from the penetrator.
As much as Griffin has done, OU's guards in general, and Johnson in particular, have been the team barometer all season. They get it going and make shots, the Sooners are very much a 6-seed capable of winning a game (or two) this weekend.
They struggle, as they did at the Big 12 tournament, and can't find the basket with a map, it gets ugly.
The guards who showed up in Stillwater, Waco, Lubbock and Charleston had better be in Birmingham. If not, OU won't be staying past Friday night.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
