Capel’s Sooners claimed a big non-conference win over No. 21-ranked Davidson Tuesday night, then added a recruiting coup Wednesday, signing big man Keith “Tiny” Gallon to a national letter of intent.
A 6-foot-9, 300-pound center who plays at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, Gallon is considered a top-five prospect at his position by ESPN, Rivals.com and Scout.com. A teammate of Tommy Mason-Griffin – another OU signee – Gallon is averaging 18.8 points and 11.1 rebounds for a team ranked No. 4 nationally by ESPN RISE.
Gallon is the fifth player signed in what is shaping up as a probable top-10 recruiting class for the Sooners. Capel and his staff signed four players when the early signing period began last Wednesday, but were waiting and hoping to add Gallon, with Mason-Griffin wooing him on the other end.
“This is a great day for our program, to have Tiny officially become a Sooner,” Capel said. “I think Tiny is one of the elite players in this class, definitely one of the elite post players in this class.
“He’s a really big kid, but a really skilled kid. He can score it, can pass it, can shoot the ball well. He’s got long arms and he moves really well. We’re excited about him.”
Excitement is bubbling over in Norman.
The No. 12 Sooners, now 3-0 after their 82-78 win over Davidson in the NIT Season Tip-Off, return to action Saturday at 1 p.m. against Gardner-Webb. OU also knows its semifinal opponent Wednesday in the NIT at Madison Square Garden: UAB, a 72-71 winner over Arizona.
Capel said the signing of Gallon completes this recruiting class.
Along with Gallon and Mason-Griffin, the Sooners have also signed forwards Andrew Fitzgerald and Kyle Hardrick and wing man Steven Pledger.
“As it stands today, this moves OU to No. 8 in our national rankings,” said Dave Telep, the national recruiting director at Scout.com. “Tiny Gallon is an extremely interesting guy.
“He’s a heck of a talent and I think this really gives Oklahoma a recruiting class for the ages. They’ve got a lot of pieces to work with – two true forwards, a big center, a point guard and a guy who can really bang it from downtown. That’s a heck of a recruiting class.”
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The crowds are better...students are fired up...team is good, our coach is superior...I don't even mind that my season tickets got moved to bring the students in closer. Looks good on the dvr'd review from last night - sounded loud on ESPN. Two years ago I could carry on a conversation with the ref's from my third row seat in Nov...it's getting better all the time. Come see me, Toby Keith, Thunder members, Gerald McCoy, and others cheer on the team - win or lose!
Steve - what's sad is last night's turnout was better than we usually do in November, and that's encouraging. But I don't disagree with you, I've said over and over again (many times on these comment threads) that we need bigger, better crowds at the LNC. By the way, why the hell haven't they done some renovating and moved the seats closer to the court?
Judging by the size of the crowd last night it won't matter how good of players we get because they have no crowd support. What an embarrassment for an altheltics program that is supposedly one of the best in the nation.
Looks like we are on our way back to the days in the mid to late 80's where we were competing for both the BBall and FB national championships. Capel needs to take a page out of Bob's playbook and call out the donors to actually use their seats or give them to someone who will.
Capel is doing a very good job bringing in competitors I watched videos on "Tiny" and the guy is a beast OU is definitely headed in the right direction keep up the good work Capel.
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