ESPN Men's Basketball

Originally Published: December 29, 2003

OU winning, not whining

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By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
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Kevin Bookout's season -- and perhaps, Oklahoma's unblemished record -- are being kept alive by a blue jersey in practice.

Amid the Sooners' crimson and cream reversible tanks, Bookout is outfitted along the lines of Jason White on the football field. And, Oklahoma has adopted a similar hands-off policy usually reserved for quarterbacks in practice. No one is allowed to touch Bookout, let alone bump him during practices this past month.

The sophomore forward, who loves contact when healthy and is clearly the team's best interior scorer and rebounder, is trying to play through a sprained shoulder suffered Oc. 21 in practice. He's past he point of no return, having played in seven of the Sooners' first eight wins. He can't redshirt this season, but he does likely face surgery at the end of the season, according to Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson.

"He's day-to-day," Sampson said Sunday. "But he's been more aggressive the last two days in practice."

Bookout told ESPN Radio's College Hoops Today on Saturday that if his shoulder had slipped out again during the first six games of the season he would have taken a redshirt. But despite the pain, he's decided to play out the season as long as his shoulder remains stable. But it's clear he's favoring his left side. He can't scrimmage or take part in any drill that may result in banging or bumping into a teammate.

Bookout has essentially become a game-day player.

"So my timing is off," Bookout said. "I'm not doing the stuff with a defender in my face."

Bookout, who seemed poised for a breakout season, is averaging just under his numbers of a year ago. He has played as many as 32 minutes, but as few as 15, depending on his shoulder. He enters the week averaging just under 25 minutes a game, 8.3 ppg and 5.0 rpg. His free-throw shooting is also down from 54.4 percent to a high-risk 44.4 percent.

Sampson said he expects Bookout to redshirt in outdoor track and field in the spring where Bookout is one of the top shot put competitors in the Big 12. And, his big man's lack of "normal" practice has Sampson even admitting his practices have been anything but traditional at Oklahoma.

"We're holding this thing together with chicken wire and duct tape," Sampson said. "I'm not shocked we're 8-0 because of youth, but I'm shocked that we're undefeated with our injuries. We always take a lot of pride in our practices and we haven't been able to practice like normal."

With the gaps between games closing and the Big 12 season approaching, extended practices are over for the Sooners. It's time to prepare for each team on a given day.

Sampson gave the Sooners six days off from Dec. 20-26 in preparation for Monday's game against Texas-Pan American and Saturday's against Princeton in Oklahoma City. The Sooners play at Connecticut in two weeks (Jan. 11), before opening the Big 12 at Oklahoma State (Jan. 14) and against Missouri (Jan. 17).

The Sooners are without freshman Lawrence McKenzie (7 ppg), who suffered a stress fracture in his left foot two weeks ago and has already missed one game. Sampson is hoping he'll be back for the Connecticut game. Guard Jason Detrick, the team's leading scorer at 12.5 ppg, has been bothered by a abdominal muscle tear that first occurred in August and continued to fester on the trip to Costa Rica over Labor Day weekend. And guard DeAngelo Alexander (11.5 ppg) has a nagging right shoulder injury that kept him out of a preseason trip to Costa Rica and can still be troublesome.

Unlike Bookout, Sampson said Alexander probably wouldn't need surgery. But Sampson says Alexander's shooting has been affected by the injury, although the numbers don't support his theory, considering Alexander is shooting 42.9 percent overall -- up from 39 percent last year -- and 38.5 percent on 3s.

"It's been frustrating," Sampson said. "This team is going to have to be handled with care. And that leads to our chemistry on the court not being as good as it can be.

"Drew Lavender (a freshman point guard) is the real deal, but he's got to have a balanced attack and not having Kevin in there hurts the timing in practice. You can work five-on-zero all you want, but you don't learn game situations like that. The good news is that we won games during this stretch."

Two of its eight wins came against quality competition. Oklahoma outlasted Michigan State in Detroit, 80-77 in overtime, and five days later grinded out a 47-45 win over Purdue -- on Lavender's running jumper in Norman.

The injuries come during a season when the Sooners already must deal with the losses of graduated guards Hollis Price, Quannas White and Ebi Ere. And, while the Sooners have been bothered by bumps and bruises, they still haven't lost. And few would have guessed Oklahoma would be the only Big 12 contender undefeated at this point (Iowa State is also undefeated but not considered a Big 12 favorite).

"Our overall chemistry is strong as a team because this is an egoless team and a fun group to coach," Sampson said. "We've got an 18-year old point guard (in Lavender) who has great poise and doesn't lose his composure. We're progressing and evolving into an NCAA team."

Taking care of business in 2003, Oklahoma put itself in position to once again dance in March. But a few other teams are facing critical weeks to start 2004. Days that could help shape their NCAA futures.

Oregon (5-2): The Ducks open Pac-10 play this week in Los Angeles, where they visit USC on Friday and UCLA on Sunday. Oregon desperately needs a split, but a sweep would send a strong message that the Ducks are a legit contender.

Oregon's best win so far is at home over Fresno State. The Ducks lost to Kansas in Kansas City and blew a chance to beat Alabama in Las Vegas, failing to give Oregon a major non-conference victory.

The difference, according to Oregon coach Ernie Kent, is the Ducks didn't have freshman center Mitch Platt. He was out with an ankle sprain, but he's back for this weekend's trip. Kent won't say how much he'll play but he will be in the rotation.

"It's the first time we've got everyone on the court," said Kent, whose Ducks had to start the season without the injured Matt Short. "When we're healthy, we can battle with anybody in the conference and we should be one of the better teams in the conference."

Kent is honest in that he doesn't see anyone in the Pac-10 as a lock, although he admits that undefeated Stanford and one-loss Arizona are playing above everyone else.

"We're next in line with consistency," Kent said. "This will be a huge weekend for us, that could give us momentum and confidence."

SMU (5-3): The Mustangs turned heads in the WAC with a win over Texas Tech at home and then at Purdue earlier this week. The Mustangs didn't play well at San Diego in a loss, although it was without leading scorer Bryan Hopkins. SMU also lost to Wake Forest, which was expected. A loss to Appalachian State, however, wasn't.

SMU now faces an intriguing week before the WAC tips off, with games at Navy and against Oklahoma State in Oklahoma City Saturday. The Mustangs are in a crowded field in the WAC where every team, except San Jose State and Louisiana Tech, can make a legit run to the conference title. SMU coach Mike Dement is looking for a shred of consistency with a game it should win and another that it could possibly steal.

Arizona State (5-2): The Sun Devils are facing a similar situation. ASU hasn't picked up a marquee win after losing at Nebraska and by one at Northwestern. The Sun Devils host their annual Hoops Classic and could match up with a dangerous Western Michigan squad in the title game Tuesday. Arizona then comes to Tempe on Saturday to tip off the Pac-10 slate. The Sun Devils usually play Arizona tough at home and can make a statement about staying in the race for a top-three finish in conference if they can steal a home win.

Georgia (7-2): We're still not sure of the real Georgia. The Bulldogs who took Gonzaga to overtime in Spokane turned in one of the season's toughest defensive performances. But this same Georgia team also fell flat in a 20-point loss to Winthrop.

Georgia has a tough week ahead, but one that could determine just how good this team will be in the SEC. Georgia plays at Pittsburgh and hosts Georgia Tech, two teams that are undefeated so far.

"We're hoping that we can find a way to compete with the best teams in the country," Georgia coach Dennis Felton said. "We were within one possession of beating Gonzaga. We'll find out how much we've developed (this week)."

Felton said the Bulldogs have no room for error and a poor effort (see: didn't play hard) against Winthrop led to the loss. Georgia' defense has to be tight for the Bulldogs to have a chance not only this week, but during the SEC's long season.

Villanova (8-2): Don't expect the Wildcats to beat Kansas at Phog Allen on Friday night, but a good showing could do wonders for this team's confidence and its national profile.

The last time the nation saw Villanova, the Wildcats were the shell of itself, getting beat up and spit out during the Maui Invitational. The Wildcats lost to Chaminade, but player suspensions and injuries made that 'Nova team look like it was still in preseason form.

Now, the Wildcats are back to full strength and are ready for the challenges of playing at Kansas and hosting Memphis in the coming weeks before the Big East. And don't sell Villanova's guards short. Randy Foye and Allan Ray are two of the more prolific scorers at their positions in the Big East, and the emergence of Curtis Sumpter as a scoring threat makes this team even more balanced. They should be able to keep them in games all season.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. Click here to send Andy a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.