Its amazing how far Jeff Capel’s Oklahoma program has fallen.
Astonishing really.
The Sooners lost 68-64 this afternoon to Chaminade. Yes, Chaminade. The Silver Swords. The high school dweeb that hangs out with the cool kids because his parents let him throw parties. Chaminade has hosted the Maui Invitational since 1984. Every year. Coming into tonight, they had played 78 games in their tournament. They had won five.
Chaminade is not a terrible basketball team by Division II standards. They hung tough with Michigan State, losing by just eight points to the No. 2 team in the country, at one point leading by five in the second half. They kept it close with Wichita State into the second half.
But keep in mind, just 20 short months ago, Oklahoma and 2009 Player of the Year and No. 1 overall pick Blake Griffin were squaring off with North Carolina for the right to go to the Final Four.
Today, they lost to a Division II team.
But, hey, they finished 8th in both tournaments.
The question that now must be asked is how long will Jeff Capel have his job as head man in Norman?
He completely whiffed on his last two recruiting class. McDonald’s all-americans Willie Warren, Tommy Mason-Griffin, and Tiny Gallon all turned out to be massive busts. There is some talent on this roster -- Cade Davis, Steven Pledger, Andrew Fitzgerald, and Cameron Clark are all capable high-major players -- but in five years at a school like Oklahoma, that group is far from impressive. Part of recruiting is identifying if a kid is capable of functioning in society off the court as well as his ability on the court.
I think its safe to say that Capel has not yet mastered this aspect of the recruiting process.
Does he have the talent on this roster to make a turnaround? Because if he doesn’t make a significant improvement with this team, he may not be around to see the next crop of recruits develop.