OU basketball team signs Edmond star Jordan Woodard
BY GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Friday, November 16, 2012
11/16/12 at 5:32 AM
NORMAN - Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger picked up a point guard and a pair of junior college power forwards Wednesday, the first day of college basketball's early signing period. He was also able to keep one of the state's top prospects close to home.
Edmond Memorial point guard Jordan Woodard signed with OU after drawing interest from the likes of Memphis and Stanford.
"Jordan is a terrific young guard who has played the point all his life and can really shoot it," Kruger said in an OU release. "That's a good combination as he prepares to make that transition to college."
First, Woodard will make another run at the Class 6A state tournament with the Bulldogs, after winning a gold ball and finishing second the past two years.
"Jordan is what I consider to be the consummate point guard," Edmond Memorial coach Shane Cowherd said. "Somebody who sacrifices himself for the betterment of his teammates. The kid knows how to win."
Woodard averaged 13.1 points, 4.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds on the Bulldogs' 27-1 state runner-up a year ago.
Kruger went to Texas to sign Trinity Valley Community College forward Dominique Elliott.
"Dominique is in the lines of a mobile four man who can run the floor and provide versatility in terms of handling the ball and attacking off the dribble and making plays for others," Kruger said of the 6-8, 240-pounder. "He can do a lot of different things."
Elliott averaged 8.2 points and 8.7 rebounds while shooting 57.4 percent for Trinity Valley last year. He is at 11.4 points and 9 rebounds through five games this season.
The Sooners also added Keshaun Hamilton, a 6-10, 270-pounder currently at Labette (Kan.) Community College He averaged 7.4 points and 7.3 rebounds at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Fla., last year.
"Keshaun is a big lefty, a big body that we don't have in the program right now," Kruger said. "He's got a good soft touch and good hands around the goal. We feel like he's going to make progress every day that he's here and bring that low post scoring that we haven't had a lot of."
OU is glad to add any big man it can, considering Romero Osby and Andrew Fitzgerald, two of the first three forwards in its current rotation, are seniors.
Original Print Headline: Sooners add Edmond star, two juco players
Guerin Emig 918-581-8355
guerin.emig@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
Edmond Memorial's Jordan Woodard (right), who signed with Oklahoma, drives past Edison's Ehron Ponds during a Class 6A state tournament game in 2012. MATT BARNARD/ Tulsa World file
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