2001-02 Final-4 Team and JUCO Players

[SoonerTraveler]

Here are the points-per-game (PPG) for the seven leading scorers on OU’s 2002 Final Four team.

16.5 ... Hollis Price (G, 6-1, 165, Junior)
16.0 ... Aaron McGhee (F, 6-8, 250, Senior)
14.6 ... Ebi Ere (G, 6-5, 215, Junior)
_9.2 ... Jason Detrick (G, 6-5, 210, Junior)
_7.6 ... Quannas White (G, 6-1, 190, Junior)
_6.7 ... Daryan Selvey (F, 6-6, 215, Senior)
_4.8 ... Jabahri Brown (C, 6-10, 210, Sophomore)

Times have changed. Looking back on this roster, I was reminded that 6 of the top 7 players were TRANSFERS. From the list above, only Hollis Price signed with Oklahoma directly out of high school.

Jabahri Brown spent a year at Florida International University. He TRANSFERRED to Oklahoma, sat out a year, and became eligible to play in December, 2001. He attended classes at Rose State College in Midwest City, Oklahoma for the fall 2000 semester.

Five of the above-listed players were JUCO TRANSFERS:

Aaron McGhee TRANSFERRED to OU from Vincennes University, a 2-year college in Vincennes, Indiana.

McGhee started his career at Cincinnati, where he played one season (1998-99) and averaged 2.8 points and 1.9 rebounds in 30 games. He left Cincinnati to become a first-team National Junior College Athletic Association All-American in 1999-00 at Vincennes (Ind.) University where he averaged 26.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.6 blocked shots per contest. He was named MVP of the 2000 NJCAA national tournament when he averaged 34.5 points per game as Vincennes went 32-5 and placed fifth in the national tournament. Set a Vincennes single-season scoring record (874 points).

Ebi Eri played college basketball at Barton County Community College from 2000 to 2002. He TRANSFERRED to the University of Oklahoma before the 2002 season.

Jason Detrick TRANSFERRED from Missouri State-West Plains.

Quannas White TRANSFERRED from Midland (Tex.) Community College.

Daryan Selvy, originally from West Memphis, Arkansas, was a junior college All-American at Carl Albert Junior College in Oklahoma.

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The following article from the USA TODAY is a good read:

Team chemistry has been key for Sooners
By Tom Weir, USA TODAY
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/spor...2tourney/2002-03-18-usat-cover-price-team.htm

 

[BoulderSooner]

just a note ... while ebi did come from juco he also signed with OU out of high school .. if i remember correctly ..

but very good point ..

 

[WTSooner]

Kelvin certainly knew how to build a "roster". LK is pretty good at it as well.

 

[thebigabd]

I remember Kelvin talking about that at one point... That you recruit positions, fill roles, etc. A lot of coaches argue that you take the best player available, but Kelvin believed you needed 3 really good players and the rest of the team to fill roles like shooting, slashing, rebounding, etc.

 

[DenverSooner]

It will be interesting to see how Sampson does at Houston. I know many OU fans didn't like Sampson but I was always a fan.

 

[cvangild]

I have wondered multiple times what would have happened if Kelvin had never left OU for Indiana. With that recruiting class coming in (Damion James, Scottie Reynolds, etc.) I have heard Kelvin as being quoted of saying we would have ended up getting Darell Arthur in that class too. Can you imagine how could we could have been?!?! There's nooo telling. KS had already done some really good things but was on the brink of really getting OU rolling before he left.

 

[WTSooner]

Hadn't heard that about Arthur, but he was in on a lot of kids, some JUCO's, in both that class and the next. A few of them (blanking on the names) ended up at IU with him. I really think had he stuck around, he'd have elevated the program to that next step.

 

[WTSooner]

I remember Kelvin talking about that at one point... That you recruit positions, fill roles, etc. A lot of coaches argue that you take the best player available, but Kelvin believed you needed 3 really good players and the rest of the team to fill roles like shooting, slashing, rebounding, etc.

That only works if you are going to give kids roles, and make them stick. Especially in terms of shooting the basketball. Kelvin wanted the majority of his shots taken by, like you said, about 3 guys. Capel and LK spread the wealth a bit more, so they can't really afford to take as many guys that are only good at one thing.

 

[brettromar]

Kelvin really liked JUCO kids as he felt they didn't come in with a sense of Entitlement. The juco guys played in front of small crowds, little gyms, not as much gear and were many times tougher around the edges.

I just talked Yo Yo about this last weekend. He was a juco player too on those teams.