Oft-scarred Sooners reached NCAAs with each other's support

By John Rohde

Published: March 21, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Oklahoma men's basketball team has been written off, oh, a half-dozen times this season.

All that negativity, yet the Sooners still captured a No. 6 seed in the East Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

And now they're being written off again.

OU players have heard the pundits picking No. 11 seeded St. Joseph's in today's 6:10 p.m. first-round game at the BJCC Arena.

"Everybody says we don't have a chance, and we're here to prove the nation wrong,” freshman guard Cade Davis said.

The game essentially is viewed as a toss-up.

The Sooners are favored by one point, the smallest point spread of any No. 6 seed.

"That just kind of sparks our fire,” OU junior guard Austin Johnson said. "You get a little chip on your shoulder.”

But are the Sooners chippy enough to conquer the sharp-shooting, eagle-eye Hawks from Philadelphia?

"If people are with us, that's great. If not, we're still gonna take care of business,” sophomore guard Tony Crocker said. "We know that when we play, most people have us losing. But that doesn't affect us.”

OU has been scarred this season, both physically and verbally.

It began last summer when health issues prevented Johnson and Crocker from accompanying the team during its trip to Canada over Labor Day weekend.

Already plagued with a perpetually bad ankle, Johnson was knocked off his feet with a herniated disc in his lower back.

Crocker required immediate attention to relieve blood that had gathered in a confined area in his left leg. Surgery required 49 stitches and staples and left a foot-long scar on his left calf.

During the semester break, the team lost sophomore swing man Keith Clark to academics.

Freshman Blake Griffin injured his left knee. He then injured his right knee six weeks later, requiring surgery. Miraculously, he missed just two games.

Senior center Longar Longar broke a bone in his lower right leg, missed two games and remains on the road to recovery.

"This team has been though a lot,” Longar said, shaking his head in disbelief.

The Sooners somehow won enough games to stay in people's consciousness — barely.

"We've always been able to bounce back through the ups and downs,” Johnson said. "To me, that shows signs of a good team. Not all teams can keep things rolling. But for teams to bounce back, that shows a lot of character.”

In November, they won every game they were favored to win and lost the two they weren't (Memphis and USC).

In December, they beat NCAA Tournament teams Arkansas, Gonzaga and West Virginia back-to-back-to-back after an embarrassing 66-62 loss at home to NIT-bound Stephen F. Austin.

In January, the Sooners won three straight after back-to-back losses to Kansas and Kansas State.

In February, they won three straight after losing three straight.

So far in March, they've won four of the five games they've played.

"At times this season, there have been times when people have kind of spun off in different directions,” Davis said. "We've had to bring everyone back together.”

Crocker freely admits that getting some outside support would be nice.

"It's good to have people on your side, but it really doesn't matter,” Crocker said. "When we went to West Virginia (an 88-82 double-overtime victory on Dec. 29), we had our players on the bench and about 10 people behind the bench. That was it. It didn't matter.”

Constantly fighting for support and respect can be exhausting.

Is there enough gas in the tank for tonight?

"All that matters is who's in this (locker) room right now,” Davis said. "People can doubt us if they want. All we need is each other to get through it.”

Comments