Post by Administrator on Jun 1, 2002 15:17:51 GMT -5
Former Kentucky guard and McDonald's All-American Rashaad Carruth checked into Oklahoma on Tuesday, registered for summer school and made his way to the newly expanded Loyd Noble Center practice courts to see if the Sooners were really as tough as their national rep.
The report from the players to the Sooners' staff: Carruth got pushed around a bit.
But, getting humbled during a little "rat ball'' is a good sign -- at least in Norman.
There were no fights, just some good old fashion Sooner ball. The kind of physical play that saw Arizona forward Luke Walton get shoved out of the lane and out of bounds by an elbow from much shorter Quannas White during OU's Sweet 16 victory in March. The kind of rugged, swarming defense that led Oklahoma all the way to Atlanta and the Final Four. The type of basketball Kelvin Sampson preaches and Carruth will certainly learn to play with a passion over the next few years.
"He had a hard time with discipline (at Kentucky). I sat him down and had some serious talks about this not being the easiest system,'' Sampson said about his decsion to accept Carruth's transfer request after a troublesome season at UK. "I'm not interested in his opinion on it, he's just got to go out and play. He's willing to buy into it. He's not a bad kid. He's made poor decisions."
The report from the players to the Sooners' staff: Carruth got pushed around a bit.
But, getting humbled during a little "rat ball'' is a good sign -- at least in Norman.
There were no fights, just some good old fashion Sooner ball. The kind of physical play that saw Arizona forward Luke Walton get shoved out of the lane and out of bounds by an elbow from much shorter Quannas White during OU's Sweet 16 victory in March. The kind of rugged, swarming defense that led Oklahoma all the way to Atlanta and the Final Four. The type of basketball Kelvin Sampson preaches and Carruth will certainly learn to play with a passion over the next few years.
"He had a hard time with discipline (at Kentucky). I sat him down and had some serious talks about this not being the easiest system,'' Sampson said about his decsion to accept Carruth's transfer request after a troublesome season at UK. "I'm not interested in his opinion on it, he's just got to go out and play. He's willing to buy into it. He's not a bad kid. He's made poor decisions."
