Tulsa World: OU basketball: Guarded optimism

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OU basketball: Guarded optimism
OU's talented backcourt is the team's strength.

The Sooners hope sophomore guard Willie Warren can average 23 points like Blake Griffin did last season. Stephen Pingry/Tulsa World

By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Published: 11/1/2009 2:28 AM
Last Modified: 11/1/2009 12:11 PM

NORMAN — Starting big men Blake and Taylor Griffin moved on to the NBA. Returning frontcourt players Ryan Wright, Orlando Allen and Beau Gerber scored a total of 100 points last year. This is what it means for a basketball team to be turned inside out.

"Our guards are talented," noted Oklahoma Sooners coach Jeff Capel. "That's the strength of our basketball team right now."

OU won 30 games and reached the Elite Eight last season by running their offense through national player of the year Blake Griffin. Now, the Sooners will go as far as their backcourt can take them.

"Willie and Tommy," Capel said of Willie Warren and Tommy Mason-Griffin. "Steven Pledger has been really good for us. Cade (Davis). Ray Willis has been very good in practice. He's matured a lot from last year. We have a lot of different options. We haven't even mentioned (Tony) Crocker. I think 'Crock' is really going to have a good senior year for us. We need those guys to be very good every day for us."

And in a variety of ways.

The Sooners need Warren to average the 23 points that Griffin did a year ago.

"Willie can produce the same numbers as Blake," Capel said. "Certainly not rebounding numbers, but scoring numbers could be there."

The rebounding must fall more to the guards than it did a year ago, when Taylor Griffin grabbed the few boards his younger brother did not.

They're going to have to push the tempo more, which is fine with their new point guard.

"That's

my style," Mason-Griffin said, "just get out and run and get easy layups, easy buckets in transition. I'll slow down in shot-clock situations or at the end of the game. But I like to get out and run."

They're liable to move faster on defense, too. And pressure more, if Capel elects to use a smaller lineup.

"In order for us to do that, though, we have to have a lot of ball pressure," the coach said. "We have to have great help-side (defense) and our communication has to be really good."

More than anything, the guards must set a tone that goes beyond style of play. That's what the Griffins did a year ago. Now that falls to Crocker, OU's four-year starting senior, and Warren, the Sooners' superstar, in particular.

"Most teams usually take on the dynamic of the best player or players," Capel said. "I've always felt like if you can have more than one leader on a team, that helps you have better leadership. The two guys for us this year are Willie and Tony Crocker."

Guerin Emig 581-8355
guerin.emig@tulsaworld.com By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer

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