You don't count Crocker, but don't assume that I have to agree with you.
It's not up for debate. He was a signed-on-the-dotted-line Sooner when Capel took the gig. Period. And again, if you're going to give Capel credit for "keeping" him, then you have to hold it against Capel that the other three recruits left. You can't have it both ways, sorry.
This guy brought in an obnoxious amount of McD AA's, so I don't think you can make the claim that he can't recruit. Some of them caused more harm than good, but Capel still had to go up against some of the best programs in the country to get them.
Oh, they were obnoxious all right, no doubt about that, and Capel let them run rampant; it was the inmates running the asylum. And actually, for Burger Boys, there were surprisingly few top programs pursuing those guys. There's a reason Capel was able to snag them.
The team that made the Elite 8 run was Capel's, and it's absurd to say otherwise.
Three of the five starters that season were Sampson recruits.
Let me repeat that for you: Three of the five starters that season were Sampson recruits.
Was Griffin the main man on that team? Absolutely, but the Sampson recruits were key contributors and you'd be foolish to try to deny it (and Blake ended up at OU because his brother was there, and who recruited Taylor? You know the answer to that one.)
Pattillo, with his six ppg, was the sixth man on that team, which arguably makes it a 50/50 split (for the 18 games Pattillo managed to stick around).
Here are the splits between the Sampson recruits and the Capel ones during the tourney (with Blake's totals and Pattillo's in parentheses). Obviously, Blake was the diference maker, but Sampson's recruits contributed plenty, which you have yet to acknowledge.
Morgan State: 29/44 (BG--28; JP-4)
Michigan: 23/49 (BG-33; JP-0
Syracuse: 46/36 (BG-30; JP-0)
UNC: 10/50 (BG-23; JP-9)
Over the four games in the Elite Eight run, Pattillo averaged 3.25 points. And then a few weeks later, he got his butt kicked off the team. So can we please stop touting him as some kind of major get for Capel?
In 2009, Crocker and Taylor both averaged 10 points per game for the season, and Austin Johnson averaged 9. Juan Pattillo averaged 6 ppg. willie Warren averaged 15, which is impressive, but guess what, so did Scottie Reynolds, who would have been at OU had Sampson not left (or if Capel had convinced him to honor his letter of intent).
And as far as is known, Scottie Reynolds didn't bed any of his teammates' girlfriends, creating dissension in the locker room. He also played four years, not two (with a huge fall-off in year two). Given the choice, I'd take Reynolds over Warren every time.
Had Sampson been around, we may have had an Elite 8 run (or more likely, a first round exit), but the team would have looked drastically different. Crocker would have been on the team, as would Johnson, but that's about it. My guess is that neither Griffin would have been around, nor would Willie or Patillo. Sampson would have stood a decent chance to get Cade.
Your guesses don't carry much weight when you struggle so with the facts. In addition to the players you cited, you neglected to mention Reynolds, Damion James and Jeremy Mayfield. Any sane person would opt for James and Reynolds over Warren and Pattillo in a heartbeat.
Most agree we would have also had both Griffins, though we admittedly can't know that for sure, but in your rush to spin things in pro-Capel fashion, you don't even acknowledge that possibility. We almost assuredly would have had Cade Davis, too.
The biggest thank you Capel has to say to Sampson is for the freshman PG he handed over that averaged 3.0 points per game. That's really not saying much. If you don't like Capel, that's fine, but give credit where it's due.
No, the biggest thank-you Capel owes Sampson is having Taylor in Norman. That's how Capel snagged Blake, without whom Capel might well have not had a single winning season. He should also thank him for Tony Crocker and Austin Johnson, both of whom were solid contributors to the two good seasons Capel managed to notch.
He should also be thankful for apologists like you who are willing, four years later, to spin the facts in his favor.
As I stated earlier, that's not an impressive group. It's littered with one year rentals and average players.
This is hilarious. One year rentals and average players? Really? Let's look at Capel's recruiting record:
Ryan Wright, who scored a total of 139 points in two seasons at OU. Orlando Wright, who totaled 45 points in two seasons at OU. TJ Taylor, who never played a minute for OU. Calvin Newell, who showed promise but didn't last even two seasons. Nick Thompson (hahahaha!). Carl Blair, who averaged 8 and 4 points per game over two seasons (at least he didn't embarrass the program or get kicked off the team, no small accomplishment for a Capel recruit). Bobby Maze, who lasted just one season before getting shown the door. Tommy Mason-Griffin and Tiny Gallon, each of whom played just one season at OU and did us much more harm than good.
Not one player on that list (and there are others) is fit to tie the shoes of the Sampson players you have repeatedly dissed. Perhaps with a decent coach in place, some of them could have been molded into better players and (in some cases) quality human beings, but it didn't happen under Capel.
