Quickie Edition
With an impressive victory over Boise State in Round One, Louisville looks to move past the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since their 2005 Final Four run. And similar to that 2005 run, the Cards’ obstacle to get there is a dangerous BCS conference foe with a big man who could cause nightmares for the Louisville front line. Can Blake Griffin use his NBA lottery skill set to will the Sooners to an upset and surprise Sweet 16 berth? Can the Cards shut down the talented freshman much like the 2005 team did Georgia Tech and Luke Schenscher? A trip to the second weekend is on the line Sunday, but first we get to know Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Sooners (23-11, 9-7 Big XII)
Head Coach: Jeff Capel (2nd season, 39-26 career)
Key Players: F Blake Griffin (15.1ppg, 9.4rpg, 56.5% FG), C Longar Longar (11.6ppg, 5.7rpg), G Tony Crocker (11.4ppg, 2.0apg, 44.5% 3-pt FG)
All-Time Series: Oklahoma leads, 3-0
Last Time: Midwest top-seed Oklahoma knocked off the 5th-seeded Cardinals 108-98 in the Sweet 16, en route to a 1988 title game appearance against Danny Manning and the Kansas Jayhawks. Harvey Grant led the Sooners with 34 points and Stacey King added 24 points and 14 rebounds, leading a fast-paced Oklahoma attack that turned Louisville over 22 times to turn a 55-51 halftime lead into a 68-58 margin. Pervis Ellison scored 23 points and 14 rebounds and the Cards would close the margin to 74-70 with twelve minutes remaining, but could get no closer the rest of the way. All starters for both teams finished with double figures scoring.
How They Got Here: David Godbold scored a career-high 25 points, including five 3-pointers, to thwart St. Joe’s upset bid 72-64. The senior guard also supplied fantastic defensive pressure on Hawks star Pat Calathes, holding the senior to just six points on 2-of-11 shooting.
Required Reading
Blake Griffin Scouting Report from DraftExpress
Sooners Griffin Built Tough, Thanks to Family
Oklahoma Sooner Tourney Primer
Oklahoma’s Brothers Griffin Expected to Star in NCAA
Cade Davis Finding His Stroke
OU Keeps Big XII Atop NCAA Performance Chart
OU-St. Joe’s Recap and Louisville Mini-Preview
The Good
Blake Griffin While O.J. Mayo, Eric Gordon, and Michael Beasley draw all the headlines this season, freshman Blake Griffin could very well be as good as all of them despite his relative anonymity on the national scene. The best-kept freshman sensation secret is a real matchup challenge for Louisville, showing physical maturity well beyond his 19 years and drawing favorable comparisons to NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer. With a great motor and non-stop aggressiveness attacking the basket, Griffin will be a handful for the slow-footed Juan Palacios and lanky Earl Clark. His 9.4rpg are among the Top 35 in the nation, but his real threat is hitting the offensive glass for easy put-backs. Kenpom.com rates Griffin as one of the nation’s top offensive glass eaters, grabbing 13.9% of all offensive rebound opportunities for the Sooners. For the Cards to continue their perfect record for Sweet 16 appearances as a 3-seed (1979, 1982, 1994), they will have to keep this unheralded but very dangerous frosh from making a bigger name for himself on the national stage.
Defense The Cards aren’t the only team in the Birmingham pod that’ll throw a little D at you. While Tennessee, Boise State, and St. Joe’s try to outrun teams to 80, Oklahoma has learned to make up for their offensive deficiencies with a strong defensive attack. The Sooners rank in the Top 60 for both scoring defense (63.4ppg, 59th) and field goal percentage defense (40.6%, 39th). This is not a team that creates many turnovers (only 6.6 steals/game, 174th) or protects the rim to a great degree (3.9 blocks/game, 79th), but just plays solid, lock-down defense and gives opponents rushed, forced looks by working the shot clock. A game in the low 50’s is certainly a possibility with these two defenses.
Sweet Home Alabama A trip to Birmingham could be just what the Sooners need for a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Their last trip there came with many good memories for the Sooners, and also a not-so-pleasant result for the Cards. That’s because Birmingham was the site of Oklahoma’s 1988 run to the Final Four and the 108-98 victory over Louisville in the Sweet Sixteen.
Sweet Six-cess If Oklahoma needed more good omens for their NCAA appearance, they need look no further than that same 1988 tournament and the fortune of a Big XII six seed. That’s because the last current Big XII team to win the title was that ‘88 Kansas team, which ran through the tournament as… you guess it… a six seed. Danny Manning and head coach Larry Brown knocked off a #1 seed (Oklahoma), #2 seed (Duke), and #4 seed (Kansas State) en route to the 1988 title, giving Oklahoma plenty of good fortune to draw on.
Go Big or Go Home As a team, Oklahoma could very well be one of the biggest that Louisville faces in the postseason. With a 6′11″ center, 6′10″ power forward, and two guards taller than 6′5″, the Sooners may be on of the only NCAA teams capable of literally seeing Louisville eye to eye.
The Bad
Shallow Hals, Part Two While ten players average more than 13 minutes per game during the regular season, head coach Jeff Capel has really shrunk his bench with the onset of March madness. The Sooners have primarily played just a seven-man rotation with the return of Blake Griffin (knee) and Longar Longar (broken leg), who both recovered from injuries late in the season. Beyond the dynamic front-court duo, the Sooners are very thin in the paint. Foul trouble could spell numerous problems for the Oklahoma offense and any hopes of slowing Padgett and Clark on the defensive end.
On the year Oklahoma’s bench only accounts for 28.4% of all minutes, ranking 233rd in the country.
Youth Movement If experience breeds NCAA success, Oklahoma may see their Birmingham run come to a quick end Sunday. The Sooners are one of the youngest teams in the country, starting two freshmen and a sophomore for an average team experience of 1.5 years (225th nationally). While the Cards are just slightly more experienced at 1.6 years, two NCAA games last year while Oklahoma failed to make the postseason could be a tremendous advantage in a potential tight game with a Sweet 16 berth on the line.
The Ugly
Free Throw Shooting Another area where the Cards and Sooners share a common bond is making their fans cringe when bonus time arrives. While G Cade Davis is a perfect 22-of-22 on the season from the charity stripe, Oklahoma shoots just 68.1% as a team (191st nationally). The team’s top two players and most frequent visitors to the line, Blake Griffin and Longar Longar, are the worst offenders, hitting 59.8% and 60.4% respectively on a combined 333 free throws this season.
Assists Sooner… Nah, Later Don’t look for the round ball to fly around Oklahoma’s end of the court Sunday evening. The Sooners are not a team that enjoys sharing the ball, averaging just 12.5 assists per game (224th nationally) and assisting on just 52.3% of their total field goals (229th) on the season. With Blake Griffin patrolling the floor, one-on-one will be a common offensive theme despite being coached by one of Duke’s top career assist leaders.
