ONE-ON-ONE: KELVIN SAMPSON
By Steve Richardson
The following is a Q-and-A with Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson, who took his team to last season's Final Four. The Sooners, under, Sampson, have been to every NCAA Tournament since he became coach at OU in 1994-95. The Sooners are the two-time defending champions of the Big 12 Post-Season Tournament.
Q: Last summer, you were an assistant coach on the USA Team (composed of NBA players), which played in the World Basketball Championships. The team did not win a medal. What did you learn?
KS: "Foreign teams don't play in a crowd. American players play in a crowd and shoot shots with a degree of difficulty. They will get by their man and drive to the basket and try to jump over a guy. The American player penetrates and then wants to make the great play. The foreign player, when he
gets by his man, when the crowd comes to him, he draws them and then kicks to a teammate (for an open shot). The foreign teams space out because of their game. It is a team game. That is why their shooting percentages are so high. They never take a bad shot. Foreigners never play in a crowd. They pass. They
draw the defense and then pass."
Q: Is there anything from the international game which would be good for the college game?
KS: "If you add the trapezoid lane you would have to probably adjust the three-point line (bring it further out). If you do not, it would be too congested. The three-point line is not that hard in college. It is amazing how we invented the game, but the international rules make it better."
Q: Discuss the parity in college basketball and why teams such as Creighton, Tulsa, Kent State, Southern Illinois and Gonzaga are making impacts in the NCAA Tournament?
KS: "Why a lot of mid majors are competing at a high level, they will take a kid who is not as highly developed or highly ranked, but by his junior or senior year he is as good as any in the class. The best players are not even at the best schools anymore."
Q: Have NCAA rules created this situation?
KS: "There has been a domino effect. The 8-5 rule has benefited mid-majors. The big schools can't stock pile players anymore. The days are over where North Carolina and UCLA red-shirted kids. They would recruit two kids, one they needed and one they wanted. And then red-shirted the one they
wanted. Now they aren't recruiting them. And the mid-majors are signing them. There's not that much difference with the top two or three players on a lot of teams. Creighton's top two or three players can play with anybody on a neutral court."
Q: Any current NCAA rules you would change?
KS: "What bothers me is school ends on Mother's Day and until the end of August, they (players) receive no instruction from us. You can't work the kids."
Q: Your current team lost a couple of games to Alabama and Mississippi State. But then OU beat Michigan State and Connecticut. Were you worried at any time?
KS: "I think it is important you don't get caught up with any early wins and losses. Virginia had great wins in November and December (in 2001-02) and didn't make the NCAA Tournament. We played Alabama, Mississippi State, Michigan State and UConn. I didn't think we were going to win all four.
I thought we had a chance to split them. Going 2-2 didn't hurt us. I think it helped us."
Q: Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is a close friend of yours, isn't he?
KS:"It is tough to play him. He will be the first person to call me tomorrow (on Sunday after playing the Spartans on Saturday). He and Tom Crean of Marquette. And I will talk to both of them for an hour."
Q: Does big man Kevin Bookout need to get more involved in the system?
KS: "Kevin Bookout is a block player. He is not an outside or a mid-post player. It is harder to get him the ball than it was Aaron McGhee last season. We just got the ball to Aaron. Mario Austin only averaged 7 points (7.9) his freshman year. I think he (Bookout) may be as good as he was his
freshman year."
Q: Are you concerned your offense may be geared too much toward your guards, Ebi Ere and Hollis Price?
KS: "Shooting is not an equal-opportunity position. Your best player should take the most shots. This is not a democracy."
Q: Is this Oklahoma team as good as it can be in January?
KS: "Some teams I have had at this time of year, what you see is what you get. But this team has the potential to get a lot better."
