[dropcap]Basketball[/dropcap] season is well on its way. While Creighton is working to replace what most fans have known for the last four years, the non-conference has a home schedule that makes it fairly obvious what Coach McDermott wants to do with this team — get some confidence and play some winnable games to get ready for the Big East conference season.
On a home slate littered with the Chicago States and Texas Pan-Americans of college hoops, there is one huge game for the Bluejays that is a litmus test on where they are early in the season: #19 ranked and potential top-10 Oklahoma will invade the CenturyLink Center on Wednesday night.
There has been a quiet anticipation of this game, but with it being so early there is still a lot to learn about all the teams in college hoops. For this one we turned to the Oklahoma beat writer, Ryan Aber, who covers the Sooners for the Oklahoman newspaper and online at OKNews.com. Here is what he had to say about Oklahoma.
White & Blue Review: Oklahoma is starting the season as a top 25 team. Is that a good assessment and what are the expectations for this season?
Ryan Aber: It certainly is, especially with the recent news that Houston transfer TaShawn Thomas is eligible immediately. Thomas changes the dynamic on this team and gives the Sooners one of the best starting groups in the country and—more importantly—gives them some measure of depth inside.
WBR: How do you feel about how the direction of the program is going? Does it seem that bringing in Lon Kruger has made a big impact to lead the Sooners?
RA: It’s trending up. Lon Kruger doesn’t recruit five-star, top 10 players but he gets guys who fit into his system perfectly. This was a program that was way down by the end of the Jeff Capel era and Kruger has had them climbing ever since.
WBR: The Sooners have a lot of veteran players. Who will Creighton have to worry about the most?
RA: Buddy Hield. Everything on the offensive end starts with him for the Sooners. Hield was deadly from outside during last season’s run to the NCAA Tournament. He’s gotten back to being more aggressive driving to the bucket and that’ll help the OU offense better withstand the times when he does struggle to hit from the outside.
WBR: Which player should Creighton fans watch out for that might surprise them?
RA: Khadeem Lattin. I was going to go with Isaiah Cousins here but Cousins is a starter and he’s starting to gain respect nationally. Lattin, though, has shown that he can give the Sooners energy off the bench, especially in rebounding. So many times last season, Ryan Spangler had to carry all of the load on the interior and it took its toll. With Thomas and Lattin able to relieve some pressure, that should free up Spangler a bit.
WBR: I’m sure the Sooners are used to playing in big games on the road, especially going into places like Allen Fieldhouse against Kansas. Do they know what they are getting into coming into Omaha for a game?
RA: They’ve got a pretty good idea, having traveled to Kansas and Iowa State annually as part of the Big 12’s round-robin scheduling. But this will be a unique test for them non-conference wise and it’s a good one for a team with aspirations as high as the Sooners have. Still, the environment in Omaha will be en eye-opener for OU, especially the young players who have yet to experience the toughest road environments of the Big 12.
WBR: This is an interesting matchup especially with Oklahoma coming to Omaha first. Do you have any insight on how this home and home series came together? Is it more to get an opportunity to play in an arena they may be assigned to if they make the NCAA Tournament?
RA: From talking to people around the program, the biggest thing was finding a road environment this season. OU is playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas and the MGM Grand Showcase in Las Vegas but they had just one true road non conference game scheduled and that was at Tulsa. That isn’t going to exactly be a hostile crowd. They wanted to find something reasonably close to home that would be a good competition. With the Arkansas series having fallen apart in recent years, Creighton made the most sense. I don’t think it hurts at all that the arena is hosting tournament games this season. This OU team has high expectations and Omaha is the closest host site be a good measure this season. They wouldn’t mind ending up back here in a few months.
WBR: Have you had any experiences of your own coming to Omaha?
RA: I haven’t, sadly. I almost came up for the College World Series last year when I picked up covering Oklahoma State baseball during the postseason. But the Cowboys got bounced in the Super Regionals and that experience didn’t happen. I still want to get out there for the CWS sometime though.
WBR: What is your final prediction? What will Oklahoma have to do to escape the CenturyLink Center with a tough home crowd?
RA: I think Oklahoma gets out with a narrow win mainly because of their experience and I think TaShawn Thomas takes a step forward after not making much of an impact on the stat sheet in the season opener. But the Sooners must get good guard play, especially early. Buddy Hield isn’t going to replicate his 7-dot-7 performance from beyond the 3-point line so he must create offense closer to the basket at times.