Not sure if AW will have time for a game preview tonight or not, but we did exchange some questions with Matt from Crimson and Cream Machine about tonight's hoops game. Our own answers are already posted over at Matt's place.
If Texas elects to play zone to take away Longar and the Griffin boys, who will the Horns also have to worry about on the perimeter?
Crimson and Cream Machine - David Godbold has been hot as of late and is the most consistent perimeter shooter but doesn’t take as many shots as we think he should. Austin Johnson and Tony Crocker can both kill you from outside but they are both very streaky and were ice cold against A&M on Saturday.
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What's the feeling on Blake Griffin in Norman? He won't be freshman of the year because of Michael Beasley but could Griffin leave for the NBA after one year or will he stick around to play another season with his brother?
Crimson and Cream Machine - Michael Beasley isn’t just the best freshman in the conference! Like Durant last year he is the best player in the conference. Blake Griffin isn’t that far behind though. He is tough, athletic and the best player the Sooners have had in a very long time. He is an absolute beast around the rim but has no mid or long range game at all. That is one of the reasons I think he’ll be back another year. Obviously the other reason is because of his brother who will be a senior next season.
Who will draw the defensive assignment of DJ Augustin and how will the Sooners keep DJ out of the lane?
Crimson and Cream Machine - David Godbold will most likely get the assignment of guarding him. As for keeping him out of the lane that will be up to Longar, and the Griffins who are all averaging at least one swat per game. They are all tall and athletic and I think more than capable of defending the lane. So because of that I’m more worried about his mid-range jumper than anything else.
Two of your losses this season were to Kansas and Memphis. Who is the better team?
Crimson and Cream Machine - Kansas without a doubt! The Tigers may have the better player in Derrick Rose but the Jayhawks are deeper at every position, play in a much tougher conference and have at least four NBA caliber players in their starting five with Arthur, Chalmers, Jackson and Rush.
Lots of former Coach K players and assistant coaches have gone on to fail as head coaches elsewhere. Jeff Capel appears to be an exception. After just a season and a half, what is your assessment of Capel as a coach?
Crimson and Cream Machine - I think Capel won over the hearts of Sooner fans last season when the Longhorns came to Norman. You might remember there was an obvious missed call on Texas not getting across the time line and Capel was given a technical foul for his protest. A few minutes later when the ball rolled to Capel during a stoppage of play he refused to hand it to the ref who had given him the technical, and missed the 10 second call, and instead zipped it down to the opposite end of the court to the ref under the basket.
There was no way Oklahoma was going to win that game because they were just simply outmanned. However, they went down fighting and made no excuses for losing afterwards. That is the kind of coach that Jeff Capel is. He’s not going to back down from anyone and his team plays with that same mentality. Until that game I had never before seen Oklahoma fans offer a standing ovation to a coach who had lost to Texas.