Men's basketball: Revamped Purdue, Oklahoma teams looking strong
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No. 10 Boilermakers, No. 11 Sooners play for NIT preseasson title today
11/27/2008 - 11/28/08
NEW YORK — Purdue coach Matt Painter and Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel bumped into each other at their hotel earlier this week, their teams on opposite sides of the bracket in the NIT Season Tip-Off.They got to reminiscing a bit. It wasn't long ago that they were at the Maui Invitational, the Boilermakers still trying to get on track after the departure two seasons earlier of longtime coach Gene Keady, and the Sooners growing accustomed to life without Kelvin Sampson. Both teams lost in the opening round of that tournament.
My, how far they've come.
The 10th-ranked Boilermakers (5-0) and No. 11 Oklahoma (5-0) will meet for the preseason NIT championship today.
"We joked how much better our teams are now. Back then we were both new programs and trying to get our guys in there," Capel said, smiling at the memory. "I'm happy for Matt and the success he's had at Purdue."
Indeed, the two coaches followed similar blueprints in their rebuilding.
Painter took over a team that had won just seven games the year before he arrived. He knew there wasn't enough talent to compete right away, and the first year bore that out: just nine wins. But Painter also knew he could sell recruits on the opportunity to play early, and players like E'Twaun Moore and Robbie Hummel climbed on board.
"We gave kids a chance to come in here and be a part of the building process," Painter said. "I think that's how we sold a lot of our younger guys on coming here."
Moore has developed into an inside-outside scoring threat, a sophomore guard who was second-team all-Big Ten last season. Hummel, an Indiana prep star, became the first Purdue freshman ever to earn first-team all-conference honors. It's a team that prides itself on defense and balanced scoring.
"We all look for each other. We don't feel like one person is the man or one person is above one another," Moore said. "We look for our open teammates and make a pass."
That showed in Purdue's win over Boston College in the tournament semifinals. Four players scored in double figures as the Boilermakers won 71-64.
"They're so well coached, they're disciplined, they're physical, they have such good guards," Capel said.
In short, they're very similar to his own team.
While Purdue returns almost everybody from its best squad in a decade, one that finished second in the Big Ten and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament, Oklahoma returns Blake Griffin, the preseason Big 12 Player of the Year who's so far averaged 27.2 points and 18.8 rebounds per game.
He's surrounded by a supporting cast that also came to Norman hoping to turn things around.
In their first season after Sampson's departure, Oklahoma was just 16-15. But the Capel-coached Sooners won 23 games and made the NCAA tournament a year ago.
A big reason for that turnaround is Griffin, a 6-for-10 forward, who had 32 points and 15 rebounds in a semifinal win over Alabama-Birmingham.
"I hate to put a name on it, I hate to say — Karl Malone was a great player, great player — but if he reminded me of anyone, I'd say Karl Malone," UAB coach Mike Davis said, trying to describe Griffin.
Boston College and UAB will play in the third-place game in a rare start this afternoon, followed by the Boilermakers and Sooners for the title — and perhaps a chance to solidify themselves as an early national championship contender. Who would have thought that two years ago?
