Oklahoma Back in Its Comfort Zone

Oklahoma was in unfamiliar territory at the end of last season, and Coach Kelvin Sampson disliked the surroundings.

The Sooners were excluded from the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994, which also ended Sampson’s personal run of 10 consecutive appearances.

Uncomfortable in the NIT, Oklahoma lost to Michigan in the second round. The unfulfilling season disappointed the Sooner Nation, which had grown accustomed to its annual March trip.

It appears travel plans are on again.

The 13th-ranked Sooners are the biggest surprise in the tough Big 12 Conference, re-energizing their fans with high-level, high-intensity play.

Oklahoma, 16-2 overall and 5-0 in conference play, is tied with Kansas for first place and has won 10 in succession, including upsets of Texas and Oklahoma State in its last two games. The Sooners’ only losses are to 10th-ranked Washington, 96-91, in the semifinals of the Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 26 and to second-ranked Duke, 78-67, Dec. 18 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Junior forwards Taj Gray, a junior college All-American last season, and Kevin Bookout have set the tone, and Sampson has pushed the Sooners harder than ever, hoping to help them return to a familiar place.

They’re getting closer.

“No question about it, I was upset last year and I don’t mind saying that,” Sampson said. “It’s disappointing to sit back and watch everyone else be involved in the party and have so much fun when you didn’t get an invite, especially after you’ve been in it 10 straight times.

“But we just don’t have good teams here at Oklahoma, we’ve built a great program, so I used it as motivation. The thing that burned at you is that you wanted to get back into the national consciousness, and I knew our program would bounce back, but it was a tough off-season having to answer a lot of questions.”

Although the Sooners’ slight slide wouldn’t have raised eyebrows in some parts, it was big news in Norman.

Oklahoma (20-11 in 2003-04) had at least 20 victories for the seventh straight season and its 10 consecutive postseason appearances, including nine consecutive NCAA berths, under Sampson, who also guided Washington State to the NCAA tournament the season before he took control of the Sooners.

However, Oklahoma didn’t meet its high standards in the Big 12, finishing seventh in the conference at 8-8.

Sampson’s intensity never waned and the Sooners reflected his passion on the court, but eligibility doesn’t last forever.

Many key contributors from Oklahoma’s 2002 Final Four and 2003 Elite Eight teams had moved on, so Sampson was figuring things would be tougher.

The situation became more difficult than the Sooners could have imagined, however, when the burly Bookout underwent season-ending shoulder surgery after only 13 games. Considering the absence of Bookout and the team’s reliance on freshmen -- four averaged at least 10 minutes -- Sampson, selected the national coach of the year in 1995 and 2002, had one of his best seasons of coaching.

“We had a lot of injuries, and last year was kind of our reloading year,” he said. “We were only one year removed from an Elite Eight team and two years removed from a Final Four team. We were just young. Taj committed to us really early last year, we knew Book would be back and we knew those kids could play.”

The rest of the Big 12 would agree.

Bookout had 18 points and 13 rebounds Saturday in Oklahoma’s 64-60 upset of then-fifth-ranked Texas.

Bookout again topped the Sooners with 23 points and Gray contributed 22 points and eight rebounds Monday in a 67-57 upset of ninth-ranked Oklahoma State. The victory was Sampson’s 250th at Oklahoma.

Gray leads the Sooners with averages of 14.7 points and 8.2 rebounds. Bookout is at 14.1 points and 7.1 rebounds.

“Those two guys give us a terrific inside presence,” Sampson said. “They’re both good post-up players, they both can pass it and they’re both very good rebounders.

“We’ve always tried to get our team to play with a certain identity, a certain style. We want to play the game a certain way at all times, and both those kids really fit what we like to call ‘Sooner Basketball.’ ”

Besides Gray, junior guard Terrell Everett has made a smooth transition from junior college. He’s third in scoring at 11.7 points and averages a team-high 5.1 assists.

Guards Lawrence McKenzie and Drew Lavender, among the freshmen who had major roles last season, are averaging 9.9 and 9.7 points, respectively.

“We’re playing two sophomores, two freshmen and a bunch of juniors,” Sampson said. “We only have two seniors who are even on the roster. The schedule we’ve played has really helped us jell.”

The Sooners lost to Duke and Washington but also have quality nonconference victories over Minnesota and No. 19 Connecticut.

“We played Connecticut, Duke, Washington, Minnesota -- a lot of good teams,” Sampson said. “We struggled early, but we were winning a bunch of a games, and you could tell that we were better than we were playing.

“You just can’t fast-forward success or progress. My message to our kids was, ‘It’s OK to fail. Let’s just make sure we do this the right way.’ We kept getting better and better and better. Now, we’re almost into February and this team is still improving.”

And soon, perhaps, headed back to its favorite spot.

What About Us?

If form holds, the West Coast Conference hopes to receive at least one at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, regardless of how Gonzaga fares in the WCC tournament.

In recent seasons, the WCC has received an at-large bid only when Gonzaga lost in the conference tournament, whose winner receives the automatic berth. The WCC has had two participants in the NCAA tournament only five times in the last 15 years.

The conference has the seventh highest Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), which is among the criteria the NCAA uses in selecting the tournament field.

“For a conference with the seventh-best RPI in the country, I think we should get two” tournament bids, said St. Mary’s Coach Randy Bennett, whose team is in first place in the conference after a 79-69 victory over visiting San Diego on Thursday.

“There are a lot of good teams in the country and a lot of teams that are deserving to go to the tournament. But if we’re going to use the RPI, and we’re the seventh-best conference in the country, then we should probably get two.”

Gonzaga (No. 12), San Francisco (No. 44) and St. Mary’s (No. 49) also have high team RPIs, but Santa Clara is 126th among 330 schools.

“Last year, Gonzaga went to the tournament and nobody else in our conference got anything ... we were shut out,” said Bennett, who led the Gaels to the WCC championship game.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have gotten anything, but those teams that are doing well now were here last year too. I think some people recognize that now, but we’ll see.”

And Then There Were Two

It wasn’t surprising that Duke failed to go through the top-RPI-rated Atlantic Coast Conference undefeated.

That Maryland would be the first team to defeat the second-ranked Blue Devils, however, was unexpected.

The Terrapins had lost three of their previous five games, each by at least 15 points, but Coach Gary Williams led them to a 75-66 victory Wednesday at Durham, N.C., providing another indicator of the depth of the ACC.

Duke’s loss leaves top-ranked Illinois (20-0) and No. 8 Boston College (17-0) as the only undefeated teams, and both schools still have many tough games ahead.

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Who Are Those Guys?

Oklahoma may have been overlooked in the preseason in a loaded Big 12 after missing the NCAA tournament last season, but the Sooners have come together at the right time. A look at Oklahoma’s key players, and where they were a year ago:

TAJ GRAY; F; 6-9; Jr.

Last year: At Redlands (Okla.) Community College. This year: Leading Sooners with 14.7 points, 8.2 rebounds.

KEVIN BOOKOUT; F; 6-8; Jr.

Last year: Started for 13 games before a shoulder injury. This year: Gaining steam in conference play, and averaging 14.1 points, 7.1 rebounds.

TERRELL EVERETT; G; 6-4; Jr.

Last year: At Southwest Missouri State-West Plains Community College. This year: Leads team with 5.1 assists per game while scoring 11.7 a game.

DREW LAVENDER; G; 5-7; So.

Last year: One of the Big 12’s top freshmen, averaging 11.3 points while starting every game. This year: Averaging 9.7 points, 3.9 assists.

JAISON WILLIAMS; G; 6-3; Sr.

Last year: Scored 5.8 points a game off the bench. This year: A senior leader as a starter, averaging 8.1 points, 2.9 assists.

LAWRENCE McKENZIE; G; 6-2; So.

Last year: Part-time starter as a freshman, and averaged 8.2 points. This year: First player off the bench, with scoring average improving to 9.9.