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>>>>>>>OU-CSU Baskersfield Gameday Thread<<<<<<<
http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31000&ATCLID=210809819
http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31000&ATCLID=210809819
SETTING THE SCENE
Making its 30th NCAA Tournament appearance and fourth straight under fifth-year head coach Lon Kruger, No. 7/7 Oklahoma (25-7 overall, 12-6 Big 12) enters Friday’s first-round game against No. 15 seed CSU Bakersfield (24-8 overall, 11-3 WAC) as the West Region’s No. 2 seed. The contest will be played at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City and will tip at approx. 3:15 p.m. CT (or 30 minutes following 12:30 p.m. game). If the Sooners prevail in their tournament opener, they will play Sunday against the winner of Friday’s contest between No. 7 seed Oregon St. and No. 10 seed VCU.
ON THE AIR
All of OU’s NCAA Tournament games will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM in Oklahoma City; KTBZ AM 1430 in Tulsa) with Toby Rowland (play-by-play) and Scott Thompson (analyst) calling the action. Friday’s game will be televised nationally by TNT with Carter Blackburn, Mike Gminski and Jaime Maggio announcing. It will also air on the Westwood One Network (Sirius 93, XM 203) with Tom McCarthy and PJ Carlesimo on the call.
SOONER STORYLINES
• LET'S DANCE: Making its 30th NCAA Tournament appearance and fourth straight under head coach Lon Kruger, No. 7/7 Oklahoma (25-7 overall) enters Friday’s first-round game against No. 15 seed CSU Bakersfield (24-8 overall) as the West Region’s No. 2 seed. The contest will be played at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City and will tip at approx. 3:15 p.m. CT. It will mark the Sooners’ second-ever meeting against the Roadrunners, which are coached by former OU assistant (2006-07) Rod Barnes. If OU wins its tourney opener, it will play Sunday against the winner of the No. 7 Oregon St. and No. 10 VCU matchup.
FAST FACTS ON THE ROADRUNNERS
• CSU Bakersfield, coached by former OU assistant coach Rod Barnes (2006-07), enters Friday’s contest with a 24-8 overall record, including an 11-3 mark in the WAC. The team has won six straight and 10 of its last 11.
• The Roadrunners, who moved to Div. I in 2007-08, are making their first trip to the Big Dance. CSUB hit a 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left to beat New Mexico State, 57-54, in the WAC Tournament championship game last weekend.
• This will mark the second-ever meeting between OU and CSUB (100-75 Sooners win on Dec. 19, 1978).
• This season, CSUB was 14-1 at home, 7-7 away and 3-0 at neutral sites. The Roadrunners deploy a balanced offense, as five players are averaging double-figure scoring.
• CLOSE TO HOME: Oklahoma will open the 2016 NCAA Tournament at Chesapeake Energy Arena in OKC for the first and second rounds, which is approximately 21 miles north of OU's Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners have four student-athletes on their current roster hailing from the state of Oklahoma (C.J. Cole, Daniel Harper, Ryan Spangler and Jordan Woodard).
• KEEPING IT 100: The Sooners aren’t short on experience or leadership this season. OU’s quartet of Isaiah Cousins, Buddy Hield, Ryan Spangler and Jordan Woodard has started every game (100 consecutive) for OU the past three seasons, tallying 400 combined starts during that span. With the addition of Khadeem Lattin (32 starts), OU boasts a starting five with 459 combined career starts. Each member of the 'core four' has at least 1,000 points in his respective career at Oklahoma.
• GETTING OFFENSIVE: OU currently ranks third nationally in 3-point field goal percentage (.426) by hitting 334-784 of its shots from downtown. Oklahoma’s all-time record for 3-point field goal percentage in a campaign is .414 (1986-87). OU has connected on at least 10 treys in 21 games this year (a school record) and it’s 10.4 3-point makes per game ranks sixth nationally (first in Big 12). OU's 334 total 3-point field goals made this season ranks fifth in the country (first in the Big 12).
• BUDDYBUCKETS: Senior Buddy Hield is currently averaging 25.0 points per game, which ranks first in the Big 12 and second nationally (first among Power 5 conferences). The two-time Big 12 Player of the Year has scored at least 20 points in 23 games this season and his 46.4 percent (127-274) shooting from downtown ranks fourth in the country. His 4.0 3FGM per game is tops in the nation. The Bahamas native has 10 games of at least 30 points this season (same total as the rest of Big 12 combined, tied for most in the nation) and 12 total such games in his career at Oklahoma (second-most in Big 12 history).
NCAA TOURNEY QUICK HITTERS
• Oklahoma owns a 37-29 overall record in the NCAA Tournament (in 29 previous trips to the Big Dance). This year’s NCAA Tournament appearance marks OU’s 31st postseason showing in the last 35 years and its 26th NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 34 seasons (tied with Michigan State for ninth-most nationally and second-most among Big 12 programs).
• This marks the ninth time OU has been a top-two seed in the NCAA Tournament (five times as a No. 1 seed, now four times as a No. 2).
• The last time Oklahoma was a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tourney, Blake Griffin and company advanced to the Elite Eight in 2009.
• OU’s No. 2 seed marks the highest by a Lon Kruger-coached team. Florida was a No. 3 seed in 1994 (advanced to Final Four). OU was also a No. 3 seed last postseason.
• Entering this postseason, No. 2 seeds are 117-7 all-time against No. 15 seeds, with the last loss coming in 2013, when Georgetown fell to FGCU. No. 15s went 10 years without a victory from 2002-11, then picked up three first-round wins between 2012-13, before going winless the past two years (all losses coming by double figures).
• This marks the 10th time OU has been assigned to the West Region. The Sooners have come out of the West in three of their four Final Four appearances (1939, 1947, 2002).
• Last time OU played in OKC for the NCAA Tournament was during the 2003 postseason, when the Sooners (a No. 1 seed) defeated South Carolina St. and California in the opening rounds. Oklahoma went on to advance to the Elite Eight that year.
• Oklahoma has played 17 of its 32 games this season against a total of nine teams who are in the 2016 NCAA Tournament field, and is 11-6 in those contests. OU has beaten eight of those nine squads (did not defeat Kansas).
KRUGER IN THE BIG DANCE
• Three years ago, Lon Kruger became the first head coach in history to take five Division I programs to the NCAA Tournament (Kansas State, Florida, Illinois, UNLV and Oklahoma). To this day, he is the only person to coach five different programs to at least one NCAA Tournament victory each. He has won at least two NCAA Tourney games at all five schools.
• This marks Kruger’s 17th NCAA Tournament appearance as a head coach and eighth in the last 10 seasons. He owns a 16-16 record and is 9-7 in opening-round games. In his last coaching stop at UNLV, Kruger took the Runnin’ Rebels to the NCAA Tournament in four of his final five seasons.
• Last year, Kruger became the first coach since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 to take four programs to the Sweet 16 or beyond (Kansas State to the Elite Eight in 1988, Florida to the Final Four in 1994, UNLV to the Sweet 16 in 2007 and Oklahoma to the Sweet 16 in 2015).
• Kruger participated in the 1972 and ’73 NCAA Tournaments as a player at Kansas State and helped the Wildcats to regional final (Elite Eight) appearances both seasons. K-State went 1-1 in 1972 when Kruger was the Big Eight sophomore of the year (beat Texas 66-55 before losing 72-65 to Louisville). The Wildcats again went 1-1 in 1973 when Kruger was the Big Eight player of the year (beat Louisiana-Lafayette 66-63 before falling 92-72 to Memphis).
