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Big day for Oklahoma as the Sooners pick up two verbal commitments

Lon Kruger

Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger shouts to his team during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Kansas in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012. Kansas won 72-61. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

AP

Not sure if the news would count as late birthday presents for Lon Kruger (August 19), but the Oklahoma basketball program received two verbal commitments on Thursday.

Just hours after 2014 big man Jacob Hammond made his pledge, 2013 guard Jordan Woodard announced his decision to attend the Big 12 school via webcast on NewsOK.com.

Woodard, who plays at Edmond (OK) Memorial, averaged 13.1 points and 4.7 assists per game as a junior and helped lead the team to an appearance in the state Class 6A finals last season and a state title in 2011.

“Jordan is a tremendous team guy,” Edmond Memorial head coach Shane Cowherd said. “The role I asked him to play the last two years is not the role he’ll be asked to fill this year. People will see a different kid than the Jordan Woodard they watched the last two years.

“He’s willing to do what the coach and the team require of him. He’ll accept the role that best helps the team win, and I think that embodies everything Coach Kruger believes in.”


Hammond is a 6-10, 235-pound interior player who hails from Duncan, Oklahoma, was another player that Kruger and his staff zeroed in on.
“I feel like I have connected real well with the coaches the entire time,” said Hammond, who is 6-foot-10, 235 pounds. “OU was the first school to show interest. They let me know early that they wanted me.”

Kruger and his staff have made a concerted effort to bring some of the state’s top talent to Norman in their short time at the school, and it paid off in a big way on Thursday.

Raphielle is also the assistant editor at CollegeHoops.net and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.