The Oklahoma Sooner Basketball program made great strides that began with the hiring of fabled coach, Lon Kruger. Looking to build upon some of the success they achieved, Kruger and staff have done a fair job in recruiting given the situation they are in. The trail sparked up early and ended late as the Sooners added two transfers in Ryan Spangler and D.J. Bennett to go alongside headliners Jelon Hornbeck and Buddy Heild. However, there has been a new development that pits the Sooners in a bit of a conundrum.
It was first believed that Oklahoma would be able to land Stevie Clark or Jordan Woodard. Clark as well as Woodard are local Oklahoma City metro area products who happen to play the same position...point guard. This is a huge area of need for the Sooners as the only viable option from last season seemed to be Sam Grooms. While it would be great to get both, the likelihood of that reality is slim to none.
Now, Oklahoma may have had it's hand forced. It is not new knowledge that Clark has considered graduating a year early making him eligible to play college hoops this upcoming season. This idea was birthed out of the head coach at Douglass, Terry Long, deciding to take a job at Mustang. The vacancy has yet to be filled but there is still hope.
His mother, Dorshell Clark, told MaxPreps on Sunday night that if Douglass assistant coach Gerrell Thomas is promoted to the head job, her son will stay and complete his senior year. Otherwise, he's headed for college. The school will decide on the new coach within two weeks. - MaxPreps
Here is where the problem lies. Clark and his mother are now calling around to colleges whom expressed interested. Their goal is to see if that interest is mutual as well as if there is a scholarship currently available. This late in the game, it would be hard to come by a full-ride. This is the case for Oklahoma as they already sit at the limit for allowed scholarships. In this case, Clark was not factored in for the 2012 season and would put the Sooners over their scholarship limit.
Could Clark qualify academically for a full-ride? He sports a 4.0 GPA and is ranked among the top five in his class. And on top of that, he won't be enrolled in summer courses to try to finish out his secondary schooling as he has completed enough credits to graduate already.
All the pieces are there and Oklahoma is definitely interested. But, due to a scholarship limit, Clark could end up playing somewhere else while the Sooners hold out for Woodard. At this point, I'll take the wise words of JP from Angels In The Outfield, "Hey, it could happen."
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