NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - It's time for a fresh start at Oklahoma.
After the program's first back-to-back losing seasons since 1967, turnaround wizard Lon Kruger was put in charge and asked to restore the winning tradition that had the Sooners playing in the NCAA tournament's regional finals just three years ago.
Since then, the fall from grace has been rapid. Jeff Capel was fired after last season, and the program is in hot water with the NCAA for its second set of major rules violations in five years.
With that cloud hanging over them, the Sooners start the season with the hope that better days are ahead - and are working to make sure that's the case.
"The team didn't like losing at all. I think that's why now we're going so hard because we don't want to have another season like that,'' point guard Carl Blair said. "I know it personally killed me to lose all those games and I hated to see coach Capel go. He was the coach that brought me in.
"But that's life. ... Whatever is thrown at you, you've got to respond and conquer whatever comes your way.''
Nearly the whole roster is back, so there's a level of familiarity within the locker room even as the players learn Kruger's system. Guard Cade Davis, who led the team in scoring and tied for the team lead in rebounds, is the only starter who's gone and Kruger has brought in junior college transfers Sam Grooms and Casey Arent as part of his first recruiting class.
One key addition could be Romero Osby, who was an unhappy bench player at Mississippi State for two seasons before transferring and sitting out last year's losing season at Oklahoma. He's expected to add both inside muscle and a wing presence now that he's eligible to play.
"I'm loose, I'm happy, I'm just working hard because I know everything's going to fall into place if I just do what I need to do,'' Osby said. "If I just play hard and talk to my teammates and be a great teammate, the rest will come into place.''
Osby left his home state and his newborn daughter - who's now 1 year old - for a chance at playing time and perhaps even a path to the NBA. He found it in Norman, where he's under his third different coach in as many years.
"I was just looking for an opportunity to play basketball,'' Osby said. "I just felt I was cooped and confined within a system that really didn't fit me, and it was just frustrating for two years sitting on the bench when you're used to playing a lot and you feel like you've worked hard enough to be at that level.''
That only gives him an additional reason to want change, not to mention the teammates who are tired of losing after going a combined 27-36 the past two seasons.
Kruger has had plenty of success in these situations before, resuscitating struggling programs at Kansas State, Florida, Illinois and UNLV, and getting each of them into the NCAA tournament.
"I feel like he has brought a whole new attitude to the team. You can feel it in the locker room, just the way we talk amongst each other,'' Blair said.
"The goals on the season are totally different than what we had at the beginning of last year. I think just that mindset will help us have a better outcome this year.''
Junior Andrew Fitzgerald said that last year's team "wasn't really that much together,'' but Kruger has done a good job of bringing everyone together
"That's the only way that we can win games,'' Fitzgerald said. "We're not winning games with individual effort.''
There's also the benefit of minimal roster turnover despite the regime change.
"I think the longer you're around each other, the closer you get. So, it's a bond we have amongst each other now that I don't think nobody can break,'' Blair said. "I think it'll really help us because it's more of we're a family now. We've been around each other, we've all taken the bumps and bruises from last year and we're all a part of the same transformation right now.
"We're all on the same page, and it's really helping us.''
Big 12 head coaches picked Oklahoma to finish tied for last place with Texas Tech in the 10-team conference.
"It's OK. I understand that maybe at this point in time we don't need to be ranked high,'' Osby said. "That's something we can't control. We've got to go out and just compete as hard as we possibly can and let the chips fall where they may.''
Read more:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...st.ld.writethru.0970/index.html#ixzz1bph0wpIc
