Even when we signed guys like Drew, LMac, Humphrey, and Alexander, these careers manage to fizzle out at OU and thrive at other Universities.
The revisionist history continues apace.
None of those careers "fizzled" at OU, and none of them did a thing elsewhere that they couldn't have done in Norman under Sampson.
Humphrey went to ND to do EXACTLY what he was doing at OU. Nothing about his college achievements or NBA career path changed one iota. Humphrey himself has admitted as much, admitting he made a mistake in leaving OU.
LMac, who claimed homesickness, hardly set the Big 10 on fire--he did fine, but he could have easily matched those accomplishments in Norman-- and is there a Sooner fan alive who honestly thinks he should have been allowed to play the point, as he was demanding? I think not.
It's a widely accepted fact that both Alexander and Lavender had off-the-court and attitude problems. Drew had undeniable disciplinary issues (and they continued at Xavier, where he came under charges of disorderly conduct and marijuana possession), and he refused to do what Sampson asked him to, which was push the ball (anyone who attended an OU game in those years saw Sampson pleading with Drew to get the ball up the court more quickly). DL did okay after leaving, but were his achievements at the level of a McDonald's AA player? Is he now in the NBA? No, and no.
The same can be said of Alexander, who may have benefited from a change of scenery, but, like Lavender, his problems in Norman were widely reported to have been of his own making. And like Lavender, his improvements may also be attributed, to some degree, at least, to playing against a softer schedule.
And like Lavender, Alexander did fine, but hardly set the world on fire. And he isn't in the league -- never even got a sniff.
None of those players you mentioned experienced the night-and-day shift in their careers that you describe. Not one of them.
I feel as though I've written this freaking post three dozen times over the past couple of years. Perhaps I should save it as a file and just cut and paste it next time. There's sure to be a next time; after all, the same distortions and half-truths (and I'm being generous in choosing those terms) just keep getting repeated.
Meanwhile, Coach Capel's "run off" (I don't believe that, but fair's fair) a few pretty good players himself. But he doesn't get blamed for those players leaving (nor should he, in my view), somehow.
Why? Because no one has an anti-Capel agenda to push, that's why.
