Border wars always get the passion going in college basketball. Think of the annual showdown between Illinois and Missouri in the Braggin’ Rights battle in St. Louis, and now Oklahoma is throwing its hat in that ring.
OU and Arkansas announced they have agreed to a multi-year series to take place at the BOK Center in Tulsa, a perfect neutral site for the two schools.
The first will one will be this December, followed by next year in December as well.
“We're excited about it. We've been talking to Arkansas for two or three years about the possibility and I think with Eric Musselman coming in, it got a little bit more real, and it turned up a little bit,” head coach Lon Kruger said. “Joe C., of course, leading that way, Mike Shepherd's been at the center of all of the conversations throughout. I think it'll be a fantastic series.”
The games are currently schedule for the week after the Big 12 football championship, and the tickets will be divided 50/50 between the Sooners and the Hogs.
The BOK is 125 miles away from OU and 116 miles away from the Arkansas campus, and there is familiarity galore.
Kruger hired Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman as an assistant back when Kruger was head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. Arkansas assistant coach Chris Crutchfield was an assistant under Kruger for eight seasons before leaving to join Musselman in Fayetteville last season.
It has been these types of challenges and quality scheduling that helped the Sooners earn NCAA tournament berths when some have questioned their inclusion.
It seems as though the Sooners are on track to do that once again for 2020-21.
“It would rank right there, I would think,” Kruger said. “You think through, I mean, every year like you say we’ve had challenging schedules. They’ve been very good for us as it relates to preparation for Big 12 play. And as it relates to, I think, selection into the NCAA Tournament. We’ve benefitted greatly from success in non-conference play.”
‘Mo’ reinforcements
The Zoom call with Kruger was the first time he has publicly talked about guards Umoja ‘Mo’ Gibson and Elijah Harkless transferring to the program.
OU lost Jamal Bieniemy and Corbin Merritt to the transfer portal, but keeps on rolling with the additions of Gibson and Harkless.
“Both of them in talking to their coaches from previous schools, they said the same things in terms of being very team-oriented, very self-motivated, gym rats,” Kruger said. “They love to work on their game, willing to do whatever. They said all the things that as coach you like hearing about a player.
“Both those guys, I’ve talked to them on the phone and visited with them. They’re so excited to be coming here and can’t wait to get here.”
Of course, with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, nobody knows for sure when those transfers and the rest of the team can get back together in Norman.
Forecasting the season?
Everybody wants to know, but nobody can actually know the status of the college football season, yet alone the college basketball one.
And Kruger definitely wasn’t about to walk out on a ledge and speak out of turn.
“I think everything’s up in the air right now. We can start on time, we can start late, we can start without fans,” Kruger said. “The starting point is what everyone’s thinking. Who knows what’s going to be case a month from now? If we can re-open and be safe and make great progress, then hopefully that will continue to trend in that direction. If it blows back up on us and we have another surge in cases, it could throw it back a few months.
“I think the craziness and unfortunate thing about all this is the uncertainty of what lies ahead. There’s not an ending point. Every week there’s different information. Every week you might have an answer to something that you gave last week that looks ridiculous this week, because circumstances change.”
Conditioning dilemma
College basketball becomes a little bit out of sight and out of mind after the NCAA tournament, but those immediate months after are huge in terms of conditioning and starting to build that team camaraderie for the next season.
Clearly, this year is completely different. And the conditioning question and issues will be something to watch heading into the summer months.
“If they're not here in June and July, then we'll miss that greatly,” Kruger said. “We already missed the opportunity for individual workouts in April, and usually that's a real key time for individual skill development. We talk to them on the phone. We encourage them to be doing something each day to make themselves a better player, and yet, they're on their own.
“And yet these guys want to be good players. I would imagine most are doing something to work on their game, but we're not there, and so if we're not there in June or July, if they're not here with us, if we're not able to work them out, then we'd miss that time greatly, as would every other program in the country.”
OU has some veterans like Brady Manek and Austin Reaves, but this time would have been huge for that 2019 class in De’Vion Harmon, Victor Iwuakor and Jalen Hill to go along with redshirt post players Rick Issanza and Anyang Garang.
