Oklahoma quarterback Keith Nichol made the announcement today that he is going to transfer. The bottom line is that he just didn’t see much of a future in Norman. He came to OU with hopes of getting early playing time. That wasn’t going to happen.

     He was a highly recruited player who had a lot of potential. One of the big problems was that he just didn’t progress. In fact, this spring he didn’t play as well as he did a year ago when he first arrived at OU.

     This happens all across the country, especially with quarterbacks. When they see they aren’t going to get a chance to play, they head elsewhere.

     Just look at how many highly recruited quarterback have left OU since Stoops has been at Oklahoma–Tommy Grady, Brent Rawls, Hunter Wall and Rhett Bomar. Of course, Bomar was asked to leave.

     With Sam Bradford just a sophomore the Sooners seem to be just fine at quarterback. But that could change quickly. What if he gets hurt? What if he leaves early for the NFL draft? Hey, anything can happen.

     It’s now important for the Sooners to bring in a highly recruited signal caller with the upcoming recruiting class. Landry Jones is just a freshman. He was highly touted. But you still don’t know what kind of college quarterback he will be in the future.

     As for Nichol it will be interesting to see where he goes to school. Out of high school he first committed to nearby Michigan State. But the smart money might be on Michigan. The Wolverines are in deperate need of a good quarterback. And Nichol’s run-pass talents would be perfect for their new offense.

     Then you have guys like a Mark Clayton, a Mark Bradley or a Derrick Strait. Schools weren’t exactly trying to knock down their doors to sign them to letters of intent. But look at the type of college players they were.

     A player to watch closely the next few years at Oklahoma will be Ryan Broyles. Remember the Sooners waited forever to offer him a scholarship. And he was just a couple of miles away from them at Norman High School.

     In fact, there are those who believe the only reason OU did pull the trigger and extend the offer was because Broyles had given Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy a verbal commitment to attend Oklahoma State.

     Now Broyles hasn’t done anything yet at OU. He was set to get a lot of playing time last year as a true freshman at slot receiver. But before the season ever got underway he got into off the field trouble. So he wound up getting redshirted.

     And this year at spring practice he only went through four sessions and then suffered a broken collarbone. Still, you get the feeling the Sooner coaching staff is very high on his potential.

     ”We’ve seen enough of Broyles since he has been here to know that he has a chance to become a very good player for us,” said Bob Stoops. “He does a lot of things really well.”

     Receiver coach Jay Norvell is also extremely high on this redshirt freshman.

     “I know he was only out there four days in the spring, but he’s the type of player that can get you excited with some of the things he brings to the table. He is a very athletic player.”

     What Broyles does bring to the Sooners is a receiver with a lot of speed who can make things happen once he gets his hands on the ball. That’s something OU didn’t show much of in the spring.

     Jarboe was one of the biggest catches in Bob Stoops’ recent recruiting class. He was recruited by many of the big boys of college football. This Ellenwood, Ga. native is a big receiver with blazing speed. He was a player that the OU coaches thought could come in and contribuite immediately.

     That was until he got into trouble.

    “He’s a gifted receiver. He’s big and fast. But he has to work some things out,” said Sooner receiver coach Jay Norvell.

     Yeah, the things that he has to work out is getting that felony charge dropped. Jarboe claims it wasn’t his gun that was in the car at the high school. He says he didn’t know it was there.

     Well, there are many that are saying now that the charges will be dropped, maybe sometime by mid-June. If that does happen it appears he will make it to Norman this summer.

     But this gifted 6-3, 195-pounder still has some academic hurdles to clear. He was suspended from high school, but is currently finishing up his classes on the internet. He is one point shy of qualifying on his ACT score.

     If Jarboe does get to Oklahoma, he will be a great asset for the Sooners. He might be able to take up some of the slack for Malcolm Kelly’s departure. He has a lot of potenial. The key now is for him to steer anyway from any type of trouble.

     Many people were surprised when Reggie Smith and Curtis Lofton decided to give up their senior year at Oklahoma to venture into the NFL draft. No one was shocked when Malcolm Kelly made the move. That was expected for quite some time.

     Okay, who made the right move?

     There’s little doubt that Lofton and Kelly made the wise choice. Let’s look at Lofton. He’s undersized and he not the fastest of linebackers. He was never going to wow people with his dimensions.

     So he wasn’t going to get any taller. And he wasn’t going to get any faster. The reason he made the correct move was because it was a weak year for inside linebackers. If he came out next season he might not have been a second round pick like he was Saturday by the Atlanta Falcons.

     And then there’s Kelly. No one disputes that he’s a big receiver with great hands. Many thought he would be the No. 1 receiver in this draft. That was until he ran poor 40 times for the pro scouts. So should he have come back to work on his 40 speed?

     No!

     “We all knew that Malcolm Kelly was a guy that ran about a 4.7 40. That’s what he would run for us,” said one Sooner coach. “He’s a tremendous receiver, but he just doesn’t have blazing speed that a lot of teams are looking for these days.”

     This was a weak year for receivers in the draft. That’s a solid reason why he was selected by the Washington Redskins in the second round. If he stayed, he might not have been drafted that high next season because it’s a better crop of receivers that will be in the draft.

     And then there’s Reggie Smith, who went in the third round. He was the 75th player picked in the draft.

     There’s no doubt this Edmond native made a big mistake by not returning for his senior year. He has been battling injuries since December. He didn’t play in the Fiesta Bowl.

     Smith ran a 4.65 40. That’s slow for a cornerback to be selected high. He should have come back. When he was healthy he’s quicker than a 4.65 guy. He cost himself some big bucks by leaving a year early.   

     Patillo is a guy who will really upgrade the Sooners in athleticism. He’s a 6-6 forward who can play inside and outside. He’s a good shooter and an excellent defensive player. He played at Southern Idaho, which was one of the best junior college teams in the country.

     On the day Patillo signed, OU announced that Tony Neysmith would be transferring. Neysmith played sparingly as a freshman this year and didn’t figure to be a promient figure in future. There were those who thought the extra scholarship would be given to Keith “Moose” Clark, who is currently at Rose State trying to get his academics in order.

     Well, Clark may not get that scholarship, but there’s still a good chance he will be back on the team. Sound confusing? It really is.

     The word is that Clark will be back, but as a walk-on player. The Sooners are struggling with NCAA guidelines in having so many players that must graduate. If they don’t comply with those guidelines, they will eventually lose scholarships.

     If Clark comes back, they want to make sure he can take care of all his academic work. They want to make sure he’s on pace to get a degree. Of the two seniors this year, David Godbold is graduating, but Longar Longar is not.

     Clark would be a welcomed addition to this team.

     “He was just starting to come into his own,” Capel said when he was ruled academically ineligible in January. “He was just starting to get healthy after that knee injury he sustained last year. You could tell he was playing with more confidence.”

     Clark is extremely talented and would give OU a 6-8 forward who can shoot and pass. If he does come back the Sooners are very deep up front with Blake Griffin, Taylor Griffin, UCLA transfer Ryan Wright and junior college transfer Kyle Cannon.

     If all of the players at Kansas and Texas do head into the NBA draft, there’s a chance that OU could be pre-season favorite in the Big Eight race. The program has come a long way from Capel’s first season when the Sooners didn’t get into a post-season tournament.

     There might have been some Oklahoma State fans upset when they heard that Travis Ford was going to be the next basketball coach. They had heard all along that Boone Pickens was going to open his checkbook and bring in one of the nation’s elite coaches. This never happen.

     However, I think when Cowboys fans heard Ford at his opening press conference, they became excited. They heard a dynamic speaker. And the had to like his promises of playing at a high speed on both offense and defense. Poke fans will enjoy his racehorse style.

     Ford has done an excellent job coaching at UMASS and at Eastern Kentucky. He was becoming a hot commodity on the coaching circle. That’s why Providence recently offered him a job.

     There’s no doubt the key for the new coach will be his ability to recruit. We don’t know much about that. He hasn’t signed the high profile player yet in his head coaching career.

     But it will be easier to recruit to Oklahoma State than it has been at his two previous stops. Just bring the recruit into Gallagher-Iba during a game and he has to be impressed. Another key for Ford will be his ability to bring in junior college players. That’s essential to have any kind of success at OSU.

     I was hoping the Cowboys could get someone like Tim Floyd at USC or Lon Kruger at UNLV. They both are quite familiar with this part of the country. And they have had a lot of success recruiting in the juco ranks.

     But I think Ford was a nice choice. He inherits a pretty talented team. So there’s no reason why the Cowboys can’t get into the NCAA tournament next season.

     The Oklahoma State hoops coach was in Las Vegas visiting one of the top junior college players in the country–Juan Patillo of Southern Idaho. Patillo is a 6-7 small forward/power forward. He a great athlete who can really shoot the ball.

     One problem that Sutton may have in recruiting right now is that rival coaches may be telling Patillo that Sean might not be coaching at OSU next season. Still no word from athletic director Mike Holder, who is in DesMoines watching the OSU Cowgirls play in the NCAA tournament.

     It just doesn’t seem fair to Sutton. There are all kind of rumors swirling right now. One of the more prominant one is that Billy Gillispie may be the next Poke coach. This seems a little hard to believe that he would leave a presitigious program like Kentucky and head to Stillwater. There are those who insist, however, that he may be unhappy in Lexington because of all of the pressure that comes with that job.

     But Sutton has just been going about doing his job. He is trying to reassure recruits that he will be the coach next season. But until Holder says something, the specualation is hot and heavy.

     Patillo is scheduled to visit Oklahoma State next weekend. Who are the Cowboys biggest rival? Well it appears to be none other than Oklahoma. Jeff Capel and his staff have been working hard at landing this versatile player. He is good enough that he would come in and start immediately for both the Cowboys and Sooners.

     Patillo, who is from Las Vegas, averaged 17.7 points and 7.2 rebounds a game. He shot 54 percent from the field and 35 percent from three point range. He averaged playing only 21.8 minutes a game becuase his team won so many games easily. Two other teams in consideration may be UAB and Washington.

     Sutton deseves to keep is job at OSU. And it’s time that Holder comes out with a public statement because right now the Cowboys recruiting is getting hurt because of this fiasco. 

     As the NCAA tournament play is about to get underway, both Jeff Capel and Sherri Coale have to be wondering what is going to happen with their teams. It isn’t easy trying to figure which club will come out and play.

     Early in the year just about everyone thought that Coale’s team could get to the Final Four this year. On paper they appeared to be loaded. And early in the year they played like a Final Four team. They played a tough schedule and performed well.

     But then teams started to figure them out. Just gang up on Courtney Paris inside. See if the other four players could beat you. Well, lately the other four aren’t doing very much.

     Now the Sooners have to just be hoping to get to the Sweet 16. A second round game against Notre Dame is looming. That won’t be easy. Then if you win that encounter OU will most likely face Tennessee in Oklahoma City. The Sooners would be a huge underdog in that game.

     The problem that both the OU men and women suffer from is they don’t know how their guards are going to shoot the ball. The women have been terrible from the perimeter lately. The men have been streaky.

     Not only has the outside shooting woes hinder the men, the health of Longar Longar hasn’t helped the team.

     “We knew when he suffered that stress fracture a couple of months ago that he wouldn’t be 100 percent for the remainder of the season,” said Capel. “We were watching some film of Longar earlier in the season and we can see he’s not the same player because of the injury. He just doesn’t explode like he did when he was healthy.”

     The Sooners have had a good week of practice. But does that mean anything. St. Joseph’s will not be an easy game. Hey the bookmakers have the Sooners as a slim two and a half point favorite.

     It’s just the same old story for this Oklahoma team. If the guards shoot the ball well you can expect an OU victory. If they shoot it like they did in the Big 12 tournament then you can expect the Sooners to be one and done in Birmingham.

     There wasn’t any room for optimism at that point. His team came into the Big 12 tournament playing very well. It left playing very poorly.

     Most media insiders were saying Oklahoma could get a seventh seed at best for the NCAA tournament. There was even a chance they could fall to an eight seed. That’s not good because if you win that first game, you’re playing either a one or two seed in your second game.

     Well, the Sooners got a reward this afternoon when the NCAA committee awarded them a sixth seed. This was almost more than they could have hoped for because of the way they played in Kansas City. They got about as good of a draw as they could have asked for.

     Now the question is how far can they go?

     Well, if they played like they did in the Big 12 tourney, they will not get beat St. Joseph’s. No way! This isn’t a bad team they are playing.

     But if they play like they did in their last three regular season encounters against Texas A&M, at Oklahoma State and Missouri, then they might be able to do a little damage in Birmingham.

     The key for this club, and it’s been this way all season, is the guard play. When they shoot the ball well, they’re a decent team. When they don’t shoot it well, they are very bad.

     Capel doesn’t know what to expect. How can he? The guards have neen inconsistent all year long. They are up and down. You just don’t know what you are going to get from this group.

    No matter what happens in the NCAA tournament this has to be considered a good year for the Sooners. Capel has done a really good job with this club. There are too many limitations.

     However, it would be a disappointment if Oklahoma didn’t win at least one game in Birmingham this weekend. Sixth seeds are supposed to beat 11th seeds.

     A couple of year ago everyone was talking about Courtney Paris. In fact, people are still talking about one of the most dominating players who has been a part of the women’s college game. She is simply amazing.  However,  if you look back now, OU coach Sherri Coale should have been able to recruit some of the top guards in the country when Paris was a freshman.

     Why wouldn’t you want to be a guard and play with Paris? Opponents are always putting two or three defenders on her. If you are a guard, you’re going to get wide open shots. But the big=time shooting guaard never came to OU.

     Well, the Sooner became more athletic in their recruiting class. But the players they brought in just weren’t that talented of a basketball player. You may be a great athlete, but it means little if you can’t shoot the ball.

     And that’s the problems the Sooners have had most of the season. They just don’t have players that can hit a jump shot. Other teams are going to let Paris do her thing, but they believe it’s a pretty easy job to shut down everyone else.

     You’re not going to beat a lot of good teams if you can’t hit an open jump shot. This Oklahoma team can not hit the perimeter shot. It’s been a glaring weakness most of the campaign.

     It will help Oklahoma in NCAA play that it will go against teams that it hasn’t faced before. Still, every scouting report will say, let Courtney have her points and just shut down the rest of those players and you win.

     Let’s see what happens to this Sooner team in NCAA play. The expectations can’t be real high right now. If you can’t shoot the ball, you’re not going to beat high quality teams. And that’s a major problem OU faces at this moment.